Melting His Icy Heart
Chapter 5
Andrea and Jane had been friends for many years, long before Jane had met Thor, and they kept few secrets from each other. Jane had finally decided to go out to lunch, but Darcy had dragged Andrea with her and her new intern to crash the date…all because one of Jane's little devices had been giving an odd reading. Eventually they ended up in what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse.
"Are you sure this is the right spot Jane?"
"It's in this building somewhere…it has to be…whatever it is."
The sound of footsteps made them all jumpy and Darcy was quick to bring out the sarcasm she was so known for.
"I am not getting stabbed in the name of science. It's okay we're Americans."
"Is that supposed to make them like us?"
A group of kids came out of hiding, and it took a bit of persuasion and sweet-talking but they got the kids to show them what they'd found. The kids took them to where a big old truck was sitting and she watched, mouth agape like the others, as one of the kids lifted the thing with one hand and set it into a slow rotation while floating in the air.
"That doesn't seem right."
Darcy's comment echoed what they were all thinking and Jane asked the kids how they could do that. They took the group up several flights of stairs and stopped between floors. One of the boys dropped a bottle of soda down the stairwell and it vanished just below where they were all standing.
"Where'd it go?"
Jane question was answered by the kids pointing up the stairwell and they all watched as the bottle reappeared and then vanished again.
"That's…that's incredible."
Jane picked up an old soda can and dropped it over the side, only it didn't come back.
"What Happened?"
"Sometimes they come back…sometimes they don't."
Andrea watched Darcy and Ian throw things over the side, shaking her head with a smile as they were acting like a pair of kids with a new toy. Ian, known by Darcy as the intern, tossed in a set of keys…only they didn't come back.
"Amazing job…Now how are we supposed to get them back?"
When she realized Jane had wandered off Andrea went to find her since Darcy and Ian were too busy goofing off with the anomaly to notice.
"We shouldn't get separated Jane. You never know who, or what, might be lurking on a place like this.
"Mmhmm."
Jane was clearly focused on her device and Andrea just followed silently, keeping her eyes open in case of muggers or something. They both noticed an odd energy coming from a doorway, but when they tried to turn around and leave they felt themselves being dragged through by an unseen force. They were surrounded by dark cold stone and a giant monolith was the only thing in sight. Andrea growled softly when Jane went to look at the thing, the scientist's curiosity leading her to ignore Andrea's whispered warnings about it not feeling right. Something dark came out of the gap in the stone and started sinking into Jane's skin and Andrea screamed at it to leave her friend alone. When it tried to latch onto her as well her flames flared up around her skin and caused the darkness to retreat. Andrea felt herself falling into unconsciousness and struggled to remain awake, afraid that if she slept the dark thing would hurt her.
When she finally came back to awareness she noticed that they were both back in the warehouse, and Jane appeared to be ok. She noticed it seemed darker and wondered how long they'd been out for and why no one had come to look for them.
"What the hell was that?"
"I don't know Jane…but I definitely don't like it."
When they left the warehouse they found Darcy and Ian with a bunch of police cars and officers as thunder rumbled overhead. They both groaned, knowing that the site was lost to them now and it made Jane snap at Darcy in frustration.
"Jane, Andrea! Where the hell were you guys?!"
"Tell me you didn't call the police."
"Well, what was I supposed to do?"
"Not call the police?"
"I was freaking out."
"You call the cops, they call the Feds. Next thing you know we have SHIELD crawling all over, Area 51-ing the place."
"Jane."
"We has a stable gravitational anomaly. We had unimpeded access. Out only competition was ten years old!"
"Jane. You guys were gone for five hours."
"What?"
Both Andrea and Jane were shocked at Darcy's words. Five hours was a long time, but to them it had only been mere minutes…as far as they knew. Jane got a confused look on her face and Andrea soon realized why. It was pouring rain, but there was a circle around them where no rain was falling. Darcy voiced their thoughts nicely, closely followed by Andrea's own confused questioning.
"That's weird."
"What the hell is this?"
Jane's face changed completely to one of shock and Andrea followed her line of sight to see Thor and his trusty hammer standing nearby. Andrea snorted softly in amusement as he looked a bit like a drowned golden retriever…in armor.
"Well I'll be damned…look who came back."
Jane headed straight for him, with Andrea right on her heels, taking the dry spot with her. Darcy huddled in on herself as Jane left her with the handheld device and the rain.
"Jane."
Jane slapped Thor right after he said her name and he gave her a confused look.
"Sorry. I just…needed to make sure you were real. It's been a very strange day."
"I am. Jane, what…"
Thor was cut off by yet another slap, making Andrea bite her tongue to keep from laughing. The last thing she wanted was for her friend to turn her anger onto her.
"Where were you?!"
"Where were you? Hiemdall cannot see you."
"I was right here where you left me. I was waiting, and then I was crying, and then I went out looking for you. You said you were coming back."
"I know. I know, but the Bifrost was destroyed. The Nine Realms erupted into chaos. Wars were raging, marauders were pillaging. I had to put an end to the slaughter."
"As excuses go, it's not…terrible. But I saw you on TV. You were in New York!"
"Jane I fought to protect you from the dangers of my world but I was wrong. I was a fool. But I believe that fate brought us together. Jane, I don't know where you were, or what happened, but I do know this…"
"What?"
"I know…"
"You do?"
"Do what?"
"What?"
Andrea had turned her back to the two lovebirds as the little spat started taking a more heated turn. She neither wanted to see it, nor interrupt it. Apparently Darcy held no such concern.
"HEY! Is this you?"
As she stood there holding a jacket above her head the rain suddenly stopped altogether.
"Um, we're kind of in the middle of something here."
"Um, I'm pretty sure we are getting arrested."
"Hold that thought."
Jane ran off to go and talk to the police while Andrea and Darcy stayed with Thor.
"We need to talk Thor."
The larger male gave Andrea a wary look, sensing the unhappy hostility coming from her.
"I had no control over my father's decision Lady Andrea. I plead for mercy for Loki, I explained that it was not Loki's fault. My father would not hear of it. He believed I was merely trying to spare my brother as I have done in the past."
"Then you should have told him to talk to me and the other Avengers. We were there…he was not."
Before Thor could answer her one of the officers tried to grab Jane's arm only to be blasted back by a burst of strange red-black power that knocked everyone down. Thor shielded Andrea and Darcy before running to Jane's side. Andrea followed as Jane struggled to deal with her confusion. The officer clearly didn't know when to leave well enough alone though.
"Thor?"
"Are you alright?"
"What Just Happened?"
"Place your hands on your heads. Step back."
"This woman is unwell."
"She's dangerous."
"So am I."
Andrea shook her head at the officer as he requested armed officers, essentially calling for back-up. She couldn't help herself.
"What good do you think that's going to do against a god? Are you honestly that stupid?"
She looked at Thor as he told Jane to hold onto him and realized what he was about to do.
"Don't you dare go back without me Thor. I can help. I need to be there Thor. Please?"
Thor gave her a short nod and she clung to him as he wrapped an arm each around her and Jane, just in time for a beam of intense light to come down over them. She and Jane both looked out in amazement as stars and galaxies flew past their sight. She decided that travelling through this Bifrost thing was possibly the greatest thing she'd ever been able to do. The look on Jane's face once they landed seemed to echo that feeling.
"We have to do that again. Hi."
Andrea turned to see a rather intimidating man in armor looking down from a dais at them.
"Is that…?"
"Welcome to Asgard."
Andrea couldn't stop the tiny little squeal of excitement that came from her, making both Thor and Jane laugh. Her cheeks flared a bright red but she laughed along with them before giving Heimdall a short bow of her head.
"Thank you for the welcome."
"No need to thank me Lady Andrea. I have faith that you can do what must be done for the prince."
She didn't have to ask which Prince he was referring to, not when she knew he was the watcher of the realms and saw pretty much everything.
"I'm certainly going to try."
He gave her a short bow before returning to his watch as Thor lead her and Jane across the rainbow bridge, both of them gaping in wonder at the realm of Asgard. Andrea didn't understand how they could ever willingly leave this place, it was breathtaking. She didn't know yet how quickly she would come to understand why Loki, at least, would be so eager to leave.