Sifki Week, Day 6- AU
For Dani (arrowthroughmyolicityheart), because this is basically all her fault ;)
AU/Crossover that you should recognize pretty quickly.
In which Loki finds his rescuer to be most unexpected.
Loki was awakened by the sound of the cell door hissing open, heavy boots stomping into his cell. He slowly raised himself so he was propped up by his elbow, still lounging on the hard surface that passed as a bed. He quirked an eyebrow at the burly armored man before him who tilted his head at Loki, seeming utterly confused.
"Aren't you a little tall for a Stormtrooper?" Loki drawled, looking the guard up and down, noting how the white armor seemed too small for his frame.
"Hmm?" the strange man questioned dumbly, causing Loki to roll his eyes. Honestly, where do they find these people? he wondered.
"Oh, the uniform!" the Stormtrooper realized, unfastenting his helm and pulling it off, revealing long blonde hair and a scruffy beard. "I'm Thor Odinson, I'm here to rescue you," he said cheerily, wide smile on his face.
Loki looked at the man, Thor, dubiously. "You're who?"
"I'm here to rescue you, I've got Hogun and your message, and I'm here with Lady Frig!" Thor said quickly, glad when Loki stood in surprise.
"Lady Frig? Where is she?" he demanded, passing Thor and heading to the open cell door.
"Come on," Thor said unnecessarily as he followed the prince out of the cell.
As soon as they made it out into the hall they were met with the sound of blaster fire. Loki and Thor pressed themselves up against the wall behind a bulkhead as a dark haired woman and a large, rotund man rushed over and slid in next to them. They also wore apparently stolen Stormtrooper uniforms.
"Can't get out that way," the woman announced, blaster held in front of her at the ready.
"Looks like you managed to cut off our only escape route," Loki said irritably.
The woman snapped her head around to face him with narrowed eyes, her hair whipping around her head from its high ponytail, "Maybe you'd like to get back in your cell, Your Highness," she said, her voice sickeningly sweet, the honorific dripping with disdain.
Loki growled, how dare this woman, didn't she know who he was? But before he could chew her out they were being fired upon and were forced to back down the hallway.
"Fandral, Fandral! Are there any other ways out of the cell bay? We've been cut off!" Thor yelled desperately into his communicator, pushing Loki against the wall behind him, the woman and her companion continuing to return fire from the other side of the narrow hall.
Loki watched, helpless without a gun, as enemy fire continued to pin them down.
"What was that, I didn't copy?" Thor asked again, talking to this Fandral, Loki guessed.
After a moment of silence, besides the blaster fire, Thor let out an annoyed breath at whatever Fandral had told him. "There isn't any other way out," he shouted to them, clearly displeased with this turn of events.
The blaster fire continued to pin them down, everyone in their little rescue party unsure of what to do next. The stout man who stood next to the woman let out a growl of annoyance as he kept firing.
"I can't hold them off forever!" the woman yelled, taking out an enemy Stormtrooper who left himself exposed. "Now what?"
"This is some rescue," Loki said sarcastically, ignoring the glare she sent him. "Tell me, when you came in here, didn't you have a plan for getting out?" he asked smoothly, unable to keep the smirk off his face.
The woman spared him a glance between firing. "He's the brains, sweetheart," she shouted, gesturing at Thor before turning back and continuing to shoot.
"I didn't…" the tall blonde sputtered, trying unsuccessfully to defend himself.
Loki rolled his eyes and grabbed the blaster from Thor, shooting a hole in a nearby vent, one just behind where the woman was standing.
"What the hell are you doing?!" She cried, dodging forward, barely avoiding a blaster burn to her leg.
"Somebody has to save our skins!" Loki yelled, darting into the middle of the hall and laying down cover fire. "This vent clearly leads somewhere that is not under fire. Into the ducts, warrior woman," he said smirking as he reached her, tossing the blaster back to Thor.
The woman rolled her eyes before she turned back, shooting once again.
Thor turned and shot down the hall as Loki crawled into the vents.
"Well? Aren't you coming?" the prince called, briefly sticking his head back out long enough to chastise them before he disappeared once more.
The woman turned to her companion with a raised brow. "You heard him, get going," she ordered, before turning to fire another shot down the hall, winging a guard.
"I'm not sure that's a good idea, Sif," the man tried, scratching the back of his neck. "It smells something awful-"
"Get in there you bottomless pit! I don't care what you smell, just hurry along and don't worry about it!" the woman, Sif, urged him, flattening against the wall as the barrage of laser-fire increased.
The large man grumbled but ducked down and entered the duct, barely managing the tight fit.
"Wonderful man," Sif called sarcastically to Thor, referring to the prince. "Either I'm going to kill him or I'm beginning to like him," she smirked, aiming for an unlucky trooper.
Thor gave her a confused look before he fired as well, his aim significantly worse than hers.
"Get in there!" she yelled, moving out slightly to cover him, firing faster in an arc as Thor ran across the tiny hall and climbed into the vent. Sif shot a few more times, giving a satisfied cry when she hit someone, then dove into the vent after the others.
She crawled ahead before she reached a corner, idly wondering where the rest of them were when suddenly the bottom of the duct gave way and she found herself falling. Fortunately, her landing was soft. Unfortunately, it was because she had landed on a pile of garbage. In the trash compactor.
"Hatch is stuck," her companion called out grimly, his significant strength not enough to make the handle budge.
"Just great," Sif complained as she pulled who-knows-what off her armor. "The garbage chute was such a wonderful idea," she said sarcastically, glaring at Loki. "What an incredible smell you've discovered!"
The prince only glared back, delicately picking the refuse from his clothing.
"Let's get out of here," she grumbled, turning towards the hatch and raising her weapon. "Move back, Volstagg," she called to the large man still trying to open the door.
Volstagg quickly backed away, knowing better than to question Sif when she used that tone.
"No, wait!" Thor cried out, raising a hand to stop her, but it was too late.
Sif fired at the door, the laser blast ricocheting around the compactor for a few tense moments, everyone ducking and trying to avoid being shot, until it hit a pile a trash, causing it to sizzle and smell even worse, if that was possible.
"I already tried that," Thor said, clearly annoyed. "It's magnetically sealed."
"Put that thing away, you're going to get us all killed!" Loki admonished, stalking towards the woman.
"Absolutely, Your Worship!" Sif said in that sweet, mocking tone that Loki was coming to despise. "Look, I had everything under control until you led us down here," she yelled, poking the prince in the chest.
"Oh really?" Loki scoffed, slapping her hand away. "That's not what I saw. And who are you, anyway?" he demanded, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Lady Sif, smuggler extraordinaire, at your service," she said, mock bowing. "That's my right hand man, Volstagg over there," she said, gesturing to the rather hefty man by the door. "And you've already met the noble Thor," she added, her voice slightly mocking, "who we all have to thank for bringing us together into this lovely situation."
"Hey!" Thor cried, but could think of nothing to say to refute her statement.
"Lovely," Loki muttered.
"You know, it's not going to take them long to figure out what happened to us," Sif continued, looking around the small room.
"It could be worse," Thor suggested, shrugging.
Suddenly, there was a loud gurgling noise, the garbage shifting under their feet.
"It's worse," Sif said, glaring at Thor who just smiled sheepishly.
"There's something alive in here," Loki said, eyeing the sludge beneath them warily.
"That's only your imagination," Sif assured him, although she too looked around cautiously.
"Something just moved passed my leg," Thor called, spinning around as he stared at the ground. "Did you see that?"
"See what?" Sif asked, looking over, not noticing anything besides the abundance of trash.
Thor suddenly cried out as something tentacle-like wrapped around his leg and pulled him down into the sludge.
"Thor!" Sif cried as everyone rushed over to where he had just been standing.
The three sifted through the garbage, trying to locate the blonde man when suddenly he surfaced, gasping for air. "Blast it! My gun is jammed!" he cried in between gulped breaths.
"Where?" Sif asked, trying to locate the creature.
"Anywhere!" Thor gasped, as he was pulled under again just as Sif shot the sludge around them.
Volstagg headed back to the door, desperately trying to open it as Sif and Loki continued to stare at the murky garbage-water where Thor had just disappeared.
There was a mechanical clanging noise from somewhere in the walls around them and the water stilled, bubbles rising. Sif and Loki shared a worried look when suddenly Thor broke the surface, gulping in air as he thrashed.
"Thor!" they both cried, rushing over to pull him out of the sludge.
"What happened?" Loki asked insistently, eyes darting around them, waiting for the next attack.
"I don't know," he coughed, "it just let go of me and disappeared."
Sif looked doubtful as she patted Thor's back. Another clanking sound echoed around the room. "I have a bad feeling about this…" she trailed off, looking around.
A whirring noise began, accompanied by what sounded like the turning of gears and the walls began to close in on them.
"The walls are moving," Thor pointed out quite obviously.
"Don't just stand there!" Loki yelled admonishingly, beginning to dig through the trash. "Try and brace it with something!"
Loki managed to find a long metal pipe, lifting one end out of the muck, but it was too heavy for him to move all alone. "Help me!" he demanded, not to anyone in particular, but he was surprised when it was Sif who appeared at his side, lifting the pipe with more strength than he would have thought her capable of.
The two managed to wedge it between the slowly closing walls, watching nervously as the metal began to bend under the pressure.
Thor pulled out his communicator again, hoping his friends on the other end could help them find a way out of this mess, no pun intended. "Fandral! Fandral, come in! Where is he?" he cried, bracing himself against a wall in a futile attempt to slow its progress.
Volstagg groaned as he tried to push back on the opposite wall. "It's no use!" he cried.
Sif continued to try and hold the pole in place even as she could feel it starting to give. Loki surprisingly remained at her side, helping her keep it in position as Thor continued to yell uselessly into his communicator.
Sif pushed Loki back as the metal finally snapped, holding him protectively behind her. Loki gave her a strange look at her actions but said nothing.
"One thing's for sure," she mused, catching Volstagg's eye. "We're all going to be a lot thinner."
Her friend shot her a glare as she laughed, idly patting his large stomach.
The walls were only a few feet apart now as everyone struggled to remain on top of the garbage and not be sucked down. Loki found himself with Sif's arm around his waist, holding him up when he lost his footing and almost fell down into the trash. He looked up into her eyes and thought he saw something there, when Thor's cries caused them both to turn towards him.
"Fandral! Finally!" he was yelling into his comm. "No, listen to me! Shut down all the garbage mashers on the detention level, will you? Do you copy? Shut them down!"
The four were now bracing the walls apart with their arms, huddled together in the center of the compactor. Loki cursed everything he could think of that these people were the ones to come rescue him.
All of a sudden the whirring ended with a loud thud and the walls stopped moving. There was a brief moment of complete silence before everyone started cheering. Fandral must have managed to shut down the masher after all.
Loki found himself crushed in a strong grip, looking up to see it was Sif hugging him, her eyes lit up with joy, a huge grin on her face. He gave her a tentative smile, not used to such physical contact, especially from someone he didn't know; especially from a woman he didn't know.
"You did it! Yes, we are fine Fandral!" Thor laughed, exuberant over their miraculous rescue. "Now open the pressure maintenance hatch on unit number, where are we, 3-2-6-3-8-2-7!"
The hatch above them opened with a loud hiss, startling Loki and Sif apart, both looking unusually embarrassed. Volstagg helped boost everyone up to the hatch before Sif and Thor reached down and helped haul him up into the corridor.
Loki watched as the three rescuers removed their stolen armor, slightly jealous that he had not had a layer of armor to keep some of the muck off of him in the garbage masher. He brushed off some of the worst bits from his robes, surreptitiously watching Sif straighten the clothes she was wearing underneath. Loki thought in passing that the form fitting black pants and the loose white shirt with a tight black vest suited the smuggler. He quickly shook his head of those thoughts, though, when she turned back around to face him.
"If we can just avoid any more royal advice, we might be able to get out of here alive," she jibed, smirking at him.
Thor smiled as he took the blaster she offered him. "Let's get moving then."
"There it is again!" Volstagg suddenly cried, pointing back at the hatch they had just crawled out of.
A tentacle was slowly working its way out of the hatch and along the floor towards them. Sif raised her weapon, pointing it at the familiar monster.
"No wait, they'll hear!" Loki tried to shout, but Sif ignored him, shooting a blast at the appendage, causing the creature to groan and disappear back down into the masher. The blast noise echoed around them.
Loki had had enough. "Listen. I don't know where you came from or why you're really here, but from now on, you do as I tell you," he hissed at Sif, walking up to her until they were face to face.
Sif blinked at him for a moment before letting out a cruel laugh. "Look, Your Worshipfulness, let's get one thing straight," she growled, walking forward and bumping her chest into his until he was forced to back away, the look on her face menacing. "I take orders from one person! Me!" she yelled, pointing to herself before she spun around and stalked down the hall.
Loki glared at her back. "It's a wonder you're still alive," he mocked, trudging after her until he found Volstagg blocking his path. "Will somebody get this overgrown garbage disposal out of my way?" he snarled, mentally slapping himself for the reminder of their recent adventure as he pushed passed the man.
"No reward is worth this," Sif muttered to herself as she led their merry band of misfits towards the docking bay and her ship.