4. A Game of Hnefatafl
Natasha slept fitfully, waking every few minutes to sit up and check her phone for the time. If she was honest with herself, she was also afraid of another mind-blowing sex scene in her dreams. At that moment, it was the very last thing she wanted or needed.
When early sunshine straggled into her room, she went into a deep slumber at last. She fell through dark billows of velvet and blood-soaked bandages, a forest of lopped-off limbs and metal structures. As she hurtled past them, she saw they were huge hypodermics filled with different liquids, all in lurid colors.
She landed with a jerk on the limb of a huge tree, shaking with fear. Her breath rattled in her throat, and for a moment she considered throwing herself onto the spire of the needle-buildings, impaling herself on one spike to end her own agony.
"Hello." The voice was quiet, calm. Natasha looked up, saw Loki, and scuttled to the opposite end of the branch.
"No," she moaned. "Don't. Don't touch me. Not – not now."
"I thought we might play a game," the voice went on imperturbably.
"No!" she shouted. "No games, no magic, and I want none of your damned lovebites showing up in another dimension…"
"…I meant a game of Hnefatafl." Loki didn't move to touch her. "It is rather like chess, but there is only one king; the opposing player has more pieces to attack. Here." He took out a beautiful board, carved from some unknown substance, and began to set up the pieces.
"I don't…"
"The game has its own strategy and requires a great deal of concentration. I shall be the side with the king – you try and attack me. I have fewer pieces but more flexibility with my moves." He handed her a die with intricately carved runes on each side.
Concentration. That would mean she wouldn't have to think. Unwillingly she edged nearer and watched as he pointed the pawns, the king, and explained how to score the runes; as he spoke she studied the board. It was laid out differently from a chessboard with diagonal lines and circles instead of neat squares.
Once she grasped the game, he stopped talking. They played in silence, the wind rushing through the leaves around them. Natasha peered over the edge of the huge branch where they sat; an impossible distance lay beneath them.
"Do not fall," Loki advised. "I already plunged through the void once and would prefer not to do it again."
"She's pregnant," Natasha said suddenly. "One bout of sex with him and she's pregnant. She has my face and my surname, but God knows she does not have my medical history."
His hand froze in the act of moving a pawn, and he looked at her.
"How can someone be so like me and so different, all at once? Why is she allowed to have something I never will? Could you please explain that to me? I am a creation, a superbeing – but did my creators deliberately design my body to smother the life I held inside me? Or was it simply a huge, regrettable mistake in the file folder marked 'Romanova'?"
She looked at the board. The pieces were lined up in two defensive positions; instantly she saw five possibilities for winning the game. Natasha tilted her head, trying to narrow them to the deadliest, surest one.
"Fenrir," he said as he moved one of his pawns. "He was my son, born in the form of a giant wolf. The oracle said he was a threat to the All-Father and would eventually kill Odin, so he was imprisoned on an island and bound with a silk cord that continually tightened around his neck. Magic, of course."
Natasha swallowed and looked down at her lap. "Loki. I – " For once her life, she didn't know what to say. She knew pity was the last thing he wanted; she felt the same way. "I imagine he put up one hell of a fight, since he was your son." She captured one of his pieces, bent one knee and cupped her chin on it to look at him.
"Just so. He bit off one Aesir's hand before he was bound, but later Fenrir was slaughtered." Loki considered the board, moved a pawn to take hers. "There." Flashing his own cheeky grin, he flipped the pawn up in the air and caught it in his fist.
The king on the board was secure; there was no other move she could make. With one turn he had won. Natasha sat back, silently conceding. Above them, the leaves still rustled, and she heard a few chitterings from some birds overhead. She tilted her head, absorbing the peace of the moment; she felt as though she and Loki were enclosed in a green bubble shot through with shafts of late sunlight.
"The birds you hear are magpies," he said. "They live in the top of Yggdrasil. I could take you there one day, if you like."
She felt something melt inside her and gave him her secret smile. "I would like that." A moment of hesitation, and she took the plunge: "I gave birth to a girl, long ago. Rose, her name would have been. She was born too early – my body strangled her while she grew inside me. All part of the bio-engineering, of course. I am the perfect assassin, but the world's worst incubator."
There was a muffled snap, the sound a walnut would make when it was cracked open. Loki opened his fist and showed her the pawn he held, broken cleanly in two pieces.
"I suppose it was then I gave up on the idea of love, or any kind of emotion. It was easier to keep it all brewing underneath, to hide it – and after a while, I believed it myself: that I had no need of feelings."
"I am the opposite," he replied. "As you have seen, I give full rein to my feelings and allow them to sway me, often with tragic results."
"May I ask you something?"
He nodded, caressing the two halves of the white pawn in his hand.
"Who was Fenrir's mother?"
"My wife, Angrboda. She bore me three children: Fenrir, Jorgmunsdir the serpent, and Hela, my daughter. I loved all of them – and I loved their mother too, for a time. That seems like a memory of a memory now."
Natasha raised her eyebrows. She had never considered the fact of Loki being married and having children. "And?" she asked.
"And, after a long series of betrayals and hysterical accusations on her part, we agreed to dissolve our marriage. She went on her way, and I can only assume she is dead and become dust, ages ago."
Ages ago. The words seemed to echo in their shared space among the leaves and magpies, and Natasha felt a piercing melancholy enter her chest. She stared straight ahead and brushed the red curls off her face.
"Here." Loki held out the ruined pawn, closed it in his fist, and opened his fingers. The small piece had been repaired, the two halves fitted together. He held it out to her, and slowly she took it from his hand. "I think our time is at an end, Natasha, for tonight, at least." He made a quick gesture with his fingers and the board, the other pawns, and the king disappeared. "Think of me."
"I will," she answered, but she was speaking to no one. The leaves, the tree and Loki himself had dissolved, and she was back in her own rooms in Stark Tower.
Natasha sat up and exclaimed. In one hand, she still held the tiny white pawn. Carefully she put it in the drawer, next to the letter and the black curl of hair.
Her phone showed it was late into the morning; she had slept far longer than usual. Still, after the nightmares had given way it had been a beautiful dream: the game in the green space. Although she and Loki hadn't kissed – he hadn't even attempted to touch her – it seemed they had grown closer than if they were actually coupling.
Natasha flipped through her contacts and found the one she was looking for. The phone rang, and a moment later Jane answered. "Natasha?" Her voice was bright with friendliness. "I'm so glad you called! How are you?"
"I'm okay. I was just wondering, is Thor there? I figured the quickest way of finding him would be to call you…"
Jane laughed, a note of pure joy. "You got that right. Yes, he's here." Natasha heard her call his name, heard his instant response followed by the sound of a long kiss and Jane's breathless laugh.
"LADY NATASHA. ARE YOU ON THE OTHER END OF THIS DEVICE?" Thor bellowed into the phone.
She held it away from her ear. "Yes, it's me. I was wondering, actually, if I could come and speak with you. And Jane too, if she isn't too busy."
"YES. YES INDEED. IT WOULD BE OUR HONOUR." The phone clicked off.
A moment later, it rang back with Jane on the other end. "Sorry about that. He isn't really used to phones yet."
Natasha felt one of her rare chuckles erupt from her throat. "I have a proposition for you both. Nothing too painful, don't worry. Are you at your facility in New York by any chance? May I stop by this afternoon?"
"Yes, absolutely - we'll be here all day. It will be great to see you."
She hung up and padded off to get ready. After she showered, got dressed, and slid the photo of herself into the back pocket of her jeans, she took a look around her rooms. If she had it her way, she wouldn't see them again that evening, perhaps for much longer.
On her way out of the door, she dialed Fury's number. Hill picked up with the response, "Nothing for you yet, Agent Romanoff."
"I know. I was just hoping to talk to Nick quickly…"
"He's been called in to the council," Hill replied in her level, passionless voice.
Is that what I sound like most of the time? Natasha wondered, stifling her dismay. "Very well," she replied. "Tell him I'm talking off for a day or two – perhaps longer. I'll check in, so leave a message with Clint if you need me."
"Will do." Hill cut the line without saying anything further.
In the taxi headed to Jane's lab, Natasha was about to dial Fury again. She thought better of it and sent a quick email instead, requesting the Clerkenwell report. I know it is confidential, she typed, but it will not go any further on this planet. She considered her wording and hit Send; Nick would understand what she was trying to say.
A few minutes later, his reply came through: Agent, I take it your day off is not being spent at the beach. The following is for your eyes only – on this planet.
Attached was the report she needed, heavily encrypted. She copied the file and hid it in a remote app titled Kitty Emoticons, popped the app into a Games Manager folder, and made the entire thing doubly protected with text and image passwords. She deleted Nick's message as well as all sensitive SHIELD info and put her phone in her back pocket, next to the old photo. The information would be ready when she needed it.
The taxi drew up outside the building where Jane worked. Natasha paid the driver with an extra tip. Ignoring his thanks, she jumped out and ran through the door and up the stairs, eager to find Thor and begin the next phase.
SHIELD had decided to put Jane (and Selvig, when they worked together) in an old storefront by the river. The idea was the obscure address and appearance would act as camouflage. Once inside, there was a complex lock mechanism hidden within a scarred door from the previous millennium. Natasha held up her all-access pass and submitted to a visual scan before the door slid open, revealing a long, white corridor.
Selvig stood inside; he had been alerted as soon as Natasha entered the building. She returned his greetings and asked for Thor.
"He's in Jane's office," Selvig said, jerking a thumb in the direction. "Been there all week."
She thanked him and headed down the hallway. As she approached, she heard Jane's soft laugh mingled with the deep tones of Thor's voice. "Aegir insisted we needed bait to go fishing, so I used one of his oxen and caught a whale."
"No way," Jane said. "First, whales don't eat oxen."
"They do in the Sea of Marmora."
"Not to interrupt, but what are you designing there, my own big guy?"
"Ah." Thor sounded triumphant. "Behold! It is a new weapon, one to dispatch many enemies in one stroke – a variant on this catapult designed by the Midgard mathematician called Pythagorus. I seek a way to throw several projectiles at once, in different directions."
"That sounds interesting. May I see?" Natasha was just about to knock, when she saw Jane lean over Thor, and rest her hand on his shoulder. "Always warfare, though – why don't you concentrate on peace instead?" the scientist asked.
"But battle is glorious!" The god's voice softened as he cupped her face with one massive hand. "Nearly as glorious as your bright beauty."
Natasha retreated silently, pretended to sneeze, and followed it up with a long bout of coughing. When she approached again, she was bombarded. Jane threw her arms around Natasha, and the god enfolded both women in his long arms.
"It's so good to see you!" Jane enthused. "Any chance we can kidnap you and take you to dinner?"
"Actually, I was hoping to kidnap you. Both of you."
Thor's face creased in a laugh. "So devious! What is afoot, Lady Natasha?"
She slipped her arm through Jane's and looked up at him. "Can I convince you to take me to Asgard? And Jane as well? I need someone there to help me with negotiations, and having another person from Midgard there would help me acclimate."
"Asgard now? Negotiations?" Jane's forehead puckered. "What do you mean?"
A look of hope crossed Thor's face. "Do you mean to help free my brother?"
Natasha felt her determined resolve strengthen, and she nodded. "At the very least, I want someone there to know what he did here on Earth for me and for SHIELD. I doubt it will be enough to win him his freedom – I also highly doubt he really deserves to be out of his dungeon or whatever it is – but Loki's good deeds cannot continue to go unnoticed." She stopped, realizing she was beginning to sound like Thor.
Scientist and god eyed each other. "Can we do it without the Bifrost, Thor?" Jane asked. "I know Heimdall hears everything you say, but what if you are whisked back to Asgard leaving us here alone?" Leaving me here alone was the hidden message.
"You have the program Loki wrote for you," Thor replied without hesitation.
"Wait, Loki wrote a computer program for you?" Natasha felt bewildered.
"Well, yes, if by 'wrote' you mean hacked into my computer, stole my work on a map of wormholes connecting us to various coordinates in space, and added a layer depicting the nine realms of Yggdrasil… Still, I take your point. You can navigate with my map and Loki's magical addition, pinpointing a spot in Asgard to land us." Flushed with enthusiasm, Jane went to her computer and concentrated on the screen.
"Can you do it with three people? Er, two people and one god?" Natasha asked. "And, do we need to pack a bag, or…" Her voice trailed off.
Thor threw his head back in loud laughter. "Nay, Lady Natasha – we travel with the clothes on our backs, and naught else."
