Beneath
Chapter Forty-One – Images
Mead – more common at the evening table than the midday one – flowed freely as the first tales from the recent battles were told in the Feasting Hall of Asgard's palace. Thor found himself drifting in and out of the shouts and raucous laughter; attitudes had shifted since the meeting at the Ambassadorial Estates, at least temporarily, aided by sleep and drink. It was history in the making, he thought. Bragi, chuckling across from him, had composed his Ice Saga over meals much like this one, and he and Loki and all other Asgardian children since had had to memorize it. Will Volstagg grow his verses into a saga, and will my sons, and daughters, memorize it when they study this war? He glanced around the room. And how many of these men will be here for it? he wondered, some of the words of the poem Volstagg was creating drifting through his thoughts. Already some had fallen. Sif had been able to join them, but Fandral and Hogun were still in the Healing Room. They were expected to recover. Others were lost forever.
Mead flowed freely, but the Aesir constitution was strong, and no one was drinking to excess. A meeting would be held as soon as the table was cleared, and a horn could sound at any second.
Observance of the enemy's tactics and discussion of what appeared to be their strategy and what may be their – or more specifically Gullveig's – weakness, aided also by sleep and some would swear by drink, fueled expansive discussion and debate that lasted for hours. There was general if reluctant consensus that if the enemy was going to get "creative" with their tactics and strategy, then Asgard would have to do so as well, although Asgard would have to find ways of doing it within the bounds of honor. Thor couldn't help noticing that the "bounds of honor" were taking on something of an elastic nature.
"The Fire Giants sent us their women. We shall send them Sif to beat them into submission, Maeva to magic them into submission, and my mother-in-law to nag them into submission!" one of the younger advisors from the far end of the table shouted.
Thor stole a glance at his father, whose lips had pulled into a smile, and took that as his permission to laugh heartily. Sif and Maeva symbolically raised empty tankards toward each other as an Einherjar approached the group. "I've met your mother-in-law, Bosi," Thor said. "We won't need Sif and Maeva."
The table roared in laughter, a welcome release from the seriousness of the preceding hours.
Thor turned away from the group, realizing now that the Einherjar was coming straight toward him. He missed whatever idea Sif was proposing, a rather more serious one judging from her tone of voice, as the guard reached his side and leaned in, speaking in a lowered voice meant only for him. "Prince Thor, Heimdall has sent me. Your friend has contacted him and requests your presence."
Thor's brow drew together with worry. Now was not a good time. On the other hand, it was possible that for a long time to come, "now" would not be a good time. "Wait here a moment. I need to speak to my father."
"There may be word of Loki," he whispered after going to his father's side at the head of the table, feeling eyes on him even as whoever was now speaking continued. "Should I go now?"
"When discussion devolves into sending Bosi's mother-in-law to fight the Fire Giants, I think it's safe for you to depart," Odin said, his eye still sweeping the table, his ears still following the conversation. "Be back at the Ambassadorial Estates in three hours. I want you there for Tyr's presentation."
Thor nodded and returned to the Einherjar, hovering several feet away from the table. "Where must I go?"
"Heimdall has brought the tesseract back out to the wooden observatory."
"What do you know of Jolgeir?" Thor asked him after retrieving Mjolnir from where he'd left it at the entrance to the Feasting Hall.
"Only that he's seriously injured, my prince," the man accompanying him said. "I…I've heard rumors that he's lost the use of his arms."
Thor nodded, keeping up a brisk pace, for three hours with Tony was like half an hour with anyone else. This rumor gave him hope, though. Damage to limbs could usually be repaired. If the damage was severe it could take time, but the Aesir were a sturdy people, and their healers were skilled.
As they neared the observatory beside the still-dead bifrost, Thor heard his name being called and turned. Geirmund, the newly appointed supplies advisor, was approaching at a run, another Einherjar at his side per the edict that no one travel outside alone. Thor waited for him impatiently, while the guard who had walked with him backed away a respectful distance.
"Geirmund," Thor said in curt greeting.
"Prince Thor, if you do not object, the All-Father has permitted me to join you, so that I may separately discuss the potential for trade with your Midgardian friends."
Thor thought it over quickly. Geirmund didn't know why he was going to Midgard; the search for Loki, even the fact that Loki's location was unknown, was still a secret. Only Hogun, Heimdall, and Thor's family knew the truth. Thor wasn't sure how this would work, but if his father had approved it, he supposed somehow it would. "All right," he agreed. "Let's go."
Two dozen Einherjar encircled the makeshift observatory; the man who'd gone to Thor took up a position at the door after Thor went inside. "Good afternoon, Heimdall," Thor said, echoed by Geirmund.
Heimdall returned their greetings, but followed it swiftly with a warning. "If we fall under attack again, I will have to take the tesseract to the Weapons Vault for safekeeping immediately. The heavy enchantments there will make it too dangerous for me to try to bring you back. I will have to find a place away from the battle, but where we can still protect the tesseract, and I may not be able to do that right away."
This gave Thor serious pause. Missing a war strategy meeting would be bad enough. Missing a battle…that could be disastrous. "I will return as quickly as I can. Heimdall, if we're attacked-"
"I will get you back here as quickly as I can, my prince."
Thor nodded, took a deep breath, and put his hand over the tesseract. With a nervous glance to Thor – he was familiar with bifrost travel, but thus far only Thor, Odin, and Loki had traveled via the raw power of the tesseract – Geirmund did the same. There was no need to discuss the destination; Heimdall knew. The observatory dissolved into blue and Thor again found himself outside Tony Stark's tower in New York, Geirmund at his side. This time, though, Tony was waiting for him at the door in black jeans and a long-sleeved black T-shirt, glass in one hand, small black device in the other.
Their arrival was silent, and for an instant, they were unnoticed. Thor took in his surroundings – it was nighttime in New York, but the city was still bright, more so than Asgard at night. It brought a certain unnaturalness to the city, as though it were trying to pretend it was still daytime. He could only make out a few stars, and there was an unnaturalness in that, too. Down below, the streets were identifiable by the streaks of red and white made by the vehicles that apparently continued to fill the pathways all night long with no abate. Thor had liked New York in the daytime. He decided he preferred Puente Antiguo and Tromso at night.
"Come on," Thor said to Geirmund, who had wandered to the edge of the circular platform they were on and was gawking over the city; at the same instant Tony looked up from the device in his hand, no doubt informed by his invisible servant of their arrival.
"Thor! Welcome back! And you brought along a friend for a play date," Tony said, coming forward and extending his hand, the device he'd held now in his pocket.
Thor grasped Tony's arm at the elbow, which seemed to surprise the man, and Thor remembered this was not the usual way mortal friends greeted one another. Tony went with it, though, and grasped his arm the same way. "Tony, it's good to see you. This is…" He turned to find Geirmund had only taken a few steps toward them, and was still taking in the view. "Geirmund, come, we don't have time for touring."
"Actually, we do, if you want," Tony said. "New York is the city that never sleeps, as they say. I can give you a VIP tour, even get you into some places that are closed to the public now. We can take-"
"We are at war, Tony."
Tony fell silent and stared, blinking for a moment. "Oh." He glanced between Thor and Geirmund, who was now back at Thor's side. "This is the Seven Realms Versus Asgard thing?"
"Yes," Thor answered with slight hesitation, somewhat wary of the word "thing" now around Tony. "This is Supplies Advisor Geirmund Faldarson. He would like to discuss with you the possibility of trade with Midgard for food."
"It is good to meet you," Geirmund said with a deep nod of his head.
"You too," Tony said, sticking out his hand; the two exchanged an awkward handshake. "So you, ah, you want to buy weapons with food?"
"No, good sir, you misunderstand. We don't need weapons. We may, however, need food in the future."
"Hm, well, they say there's a first time for everything. I've done weapons sales, other tech sales, energy sales-"
"Perhaps Geirmund can discuss it with your…Jarvis," Thor said, interrupting. He suspected that if he was going to make this a quick trip he was going to be doing a lot of interrupting. "While we discuss other matters."
"Uh, okay, big guy, I get it. Let's go inside," Tony said, continuing as Thor and Geirmund followed him in. "What you need is Pepper. And luckily for you, she's here."
This news set Thor on edge; he'd told Tony that this matter of Loki's presence needed to be kept in strictest confidence. He hoped Tony had respected his wishes. Pepper was sitting on a sofa bent over a stack of papers on a low table, but rose and came to them as soon as she heard them enter. Thor was first struck by how different she was from Jane, particularly in her clothing, a form-fitted dark blue suit and white shirt. Then, as she introduced herself politely and with no unnecessary words, he was struck by how different she was from Tony. "I'm pleased to meet you as well, Pepper Potts. Tony has spoken highly of you," Thor said, then took her hand and kissed it. He caught Tony's look of discomfort at that, and might have chuckled over it under other circumstances.
Geirmund introduced himself next, and likewise kissed Pepper's hand.
"And are you part of the royal family as well, Geirmund?" she asked after clarifying how he should be addressed.
"Oh, no. I am merely an advisor to the All-Father, and a new one at that. Tony has suggested that you may be able to assist in the provision of food for trade."
"He has?" Pepper asked, eyeing Tony. "I suppose we never did exactly define my job description, did we? All right. This is a new one, but I'm game for a challenge. We can discuss that here, and let Tony and Thor go discuss their business. Shall we?" She extended an arm to lead him to direct Geirmund toward the sofa.
"We'll just be a few floors down," Tony said. "So no more of that…hand-kissing. Or any-other-thing-kissing. Understood?"
"Of course. I-" Geirmund paused, distracted. "You…have fishponds inside your buildings here?"
"Don't ask," Thor said.
"We're working on getting rid of it, Thor," Pepper said with an apologetic smile and a sharp look at Tony.
"Let's go to your home theater, Tony. I have little time," Thor said, hoping desperately to preempt any further discussion along these lines. No one who wasn't there had any need to know what humiliation his brother had endured here – necessary though it was at the time.
He watched Tony lean into the middle of the vehicle to peer out as its door slid closed. Thor was just wondering if he should reassure Tony that he had nothing to worry about, that Geirmund was a happily married man with his first child on the way, that even were he unmarried, he would never so dishonor Asgard's allies and thus Asgard's king, when Tony spoke up instead.
"I like that, by the way."
"What?"
"The hand-kissing thing. Very dashing. Gallant, even. Still…don't ever do it again on Pepper's particular hand, okay, Prince Charming?"
"It's merely an expression of respect."
"Uh-huh. Well, you can show Pepper you respect her by telling her so. And maybe with a nice respectful wave, from the other side of the room."
Tony's smile was halfway toward a grimace, and Thor really wasn't sure if this was a jest or not. With Tony it usually was, but… Thor settled on a reassuring smile, and then the doors opened again and they stepped out into the same floor they'd gone to before. Thankfully, Tony then turned to the matter at hand.
"I'm glad you came yourself this time. Not that your other friend isn't a swell guy…Hogun? But, he's kinda hard to have a conversation with. And besides, I think you're going to want to see this yourself. How is Hogun, by the way?"
"Not well, at the moment. He was severely injured in an explosion at our palace. He's with our healers."
Tony's steps faltered just as they reached the room with the black chairs and silver tables they'd spoken in before for privacy. "Yeah. War. I'm sorry, buddy. Your family's okay?"
"They are. Thank you for asking."
"Okay, well…after you," Tony said, closing the door behind them once they were both inside. "Jarvis, bring down the screen and pull up that webpage. We may have some real progress here in Operation Where in the World is Loki Odinson. Thor…I know you're in a rush, but do you think you'll have time for a little trip?"
/
/
After lunch Jane went out to the Dark Sector Lab to work on reprogramming the structural integrity field. She could work on it from anywhere, really, but the jamesway wasn't all that comfortable to work in, and she decided she should try to make her pattern of activity look as normal as possible. That meant the DSL, where she used to do most of her work.
Selby and Wright were there, too, and that was awkward. She'd really been almost childish toward Selby, and he hadn't deserved any of it. Wright had told her to "man up." Now she knew she had to make things right, to apologize. But she'd have to do it when they were alone. She found herself eyeing Selby from time to time. Maybe she could even tell him the truth. It would be wonderful to be able to tell someone. To not have to deal with this alone. That part would have to wait, though, until after Loki left. Like everyone else here, it was safer for Selby if he didn't know.
Wright came back from the telescope side of the building and sat down at the computer he used in the DSL, and Jane suddenly remembered the picture on their blog that included Loki. She wondered if it was still there, and wasn't sure whether she wanted it to be or not. She decided to ask, in as casual a tone as she could manage. "Hey, Wright, did you ever take that photo down, the one with Lucas in it?" His name sounded awkward on her tongue now, as lies always did.
"Yeah, as soon as you asked me to. And no comments from any crazed relatives or anything, so I think he's safe."
"Crazed relatives?" Selby repeated, breaking the silence he normally maintained around Jane now.
"He just doesn't want everyone to know he's here. It's not a huge deal. I just thought I'd ask."
/
/
"What is this?" Thor asked. He knew it was a projection of an image, perhaps from a computer; he'd learned that much in his previous time on Midgard. He remembered being shown an image of Jane on a computer, being given an assurance of her safety. He had a sudden longing to speak with her again, to hear her voice.
"Just watch," Tony said, depositing his empty glass on one of the low silver tables.
The image began to move. A group of men – or they could have been women, it was hard to tell underneath the bulky attire – were sliding around on what looked like ice, each of them with a long stick in his hand. They seemed to be chasing something flat and round across the ice.
"I…I don't understand, Tony," Thor said in confusion. He was quickly coming to understand what he was watching, a team-based game of strategy and sport that already had him mildly intrigued; what he didn't understand was why he was watching it.
"Patience is a virtue. So I'm told. Wait for it…"
As Thor watched, suddenly the image swung up and around in a blur, settling for a moment on a cheering crowd, then swung back down to the ice in another blur. The image then stilled.
"Did you catch that?"
"Catch what? No, Tony, I-"
"Jarvis, go to the money shot and pause it."
The image jumped back to the crowd. Thor shook his head, still not sure what this was about. "Is Loki participating in this game? Is that why you-"
"Zoom and enhance."
Thor blinked heavily, utterly lost now, but realized even before the image cleared up that Tony was still speaking to Jarvis. Then his mouth fell open. "Is that…that's Loki?" He wore that flat hat Thor had seen in New Mexico that stuck out in the front and hid most of his forehead – it looked strange and very unlike his brother. But the face…though the image was still imperfect, a little distorted, it was undeniably Loki.
"Computer says it's an 85% match."
"I say it's a 100% match." He then noticed the dark purple tunic. "That's what Loki was wearing when he left Asgard."
"This video was taken that same day, at a semi-pro hockey game in Melfort, Canada, and posted to YouTube the next day," Tony said with a quick nod. "I thought since security cameras weren't getting us anywhere, why not expand? Security camera footage gets expunged or overwritten pretty fast. Stuff people put on the internet tends to stick around. A lot longer than you want it to, sometimes. Believe me, I know. There's this-"
"Tony," Thor interrupted, trying to tamp down the rising tide of his temper, "Asgard could come under attack again at any moment. We already knew he was sent to Canada. Why did you-"
"We didn't know that Baby Brother found himself some friends," Tony said, raising his voice just enough to be heard over Thor's.
Thor looked again at the image projected on the large white screen, this time not just at Loki, but at the people sitting next to him. "Who is that?" he asked. "That man standing next to him." The darker, mustached man was leaning in toward his brother, mouth open to tell him something, and Loki's head was frozen at an angle halfway between the ice and the man's face, apparently listening to whatever the other man was saying.
"I thought you'd never ask. Loki may be hard to track down, but this guy, not so much. Your brother is watching the Melfort Mustangs play the Weyburn Red Wings at the Northern Lights Palace in Melfort. He's sitting in a block of seats bought by the Campbell Mining Corporation. And that gentleman chatting up our favorite tyrant there is company engineer Mr. Mohsin Tarkani. Wanna go meet him?"
Thor stared hard at Mohsin Tarkani, as if the man could turn his way and start answering his questions. Could Loki really have befriended this man so quickly? It isn't his nature, and he holds these people in such disregard. Could he have harmed him, could he be controlling him in some manner? The enchantments should prevent such a thing… Thor wanted nothing more in that moment than to speak to the man in the video. "Heimdall could send me to this place, but he says it isn't safe for mortals to travel this way."
"Yeah, well, last I looked, you and me both came with our own transportation."
"I have only three hours – less than that – from the time I arrived. Is it enough?"
Tony grinned and a familiar glint appeared in his eyes. "It is for me. Care to have a little contest?"
/
/
Thor hadn't cared to have a little contest. Asgard was at war, and vastly outnumbered, and Thor, the mightiest of all Asgard's warriors save Odin himself, ran the risk of being trapped on Midgard. A contest was completely inappropriate, and he'd told Tony so. But Tony had needled him, making jest after jest about his hammer – some of them with lurid innuendo – and Thor was by nature highly competitive. And accustomed to winning. It would have turned into a contest even without Tony's needling.
Now, as they walked toward Mohsin Tarkani's dwelling, Thor pictured himself conducting a test to determine how fast he could make Tony fly with a nice brisk swing of Mjolnir, just to make him cease his taunts. They had snails on Asgard, too, and Thor didn't appreciate being compared to one. "You should be glad I left Mjolnir in that children's park," Thor warned him. They only had about twenty minutes left now, and that was with Thor at his top speed.
"Playground. I told you, it's called a playground. And you know, maybe Mjolnir's actually part of the problem. Too much drag. Maybe that's why you're slower than my grandmother."
Thor tensed, then sighed at the absurdity of it. He wasn't used to being teased so incessantly…Loki was, perhaps…but Thor shook off that thought. They were almost at their destination, and it was no time to get caught up in the past. "Then perhaps when Asgard has won another victory, I'll return and challenge your grandmother to a race, and we shall see."
Tony chuckled. "She uses a walker, so I'll only give you a couple minutes' head start."
They approached the left door of a small single-story building with two doors, and Tony knocked. "Remember, let me do the talking," he said.
Thor nodded and glanced down at himself, suddenly feeling nervous for some unknown reason. He felt awkward in the clothes that had been delivered while he and Tony met in the home theater – dark blue slacks, his own gray and blue tunic he normally wore under his other attire, and a dark blue "blazer" that was a little too tight across the shoulder and in the upper arm. Tony had put on a black suit that didn't look nearly as fine as the one he'd had on when Thor last came to New York, followed by the armor he now carried in a suitcase. Thor heard sounds behind the door and tried to straighten his posture without ripping the seams out in the material of the uncomfortable blazer. I suppose I've worn stranger attire, he thought with a bit of a smile, caught up for a brief moment in a very old memory.
A woman with a long braid of dark hair down her back, in a long flower-print green tunic over loose green pants, partially opened the door. "Yes?" she said, eyeing Thor and Tony. A waist-high damp-haired little girl in a pink dress poked her head around the open door.
"Mrs. Tarkani? We're with the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement," Tony said, pulling out something from his wallet and holding it up for half a second before putting it away again. "We'd like to speak with Mr. Tarkani if we could. We just have a couple of questions we'd like to ask about someone he met."
Thor stared at Tony, barely able to recognize this persona.
"This is Canada," the little girl said.
"What is this about?" a man's voice asked, and the woman stepped back into the dwelling with the little girl. The man opened the door wider; it was Mohsin Tarkani. He wore jeans and a plain gray sweatshirt.
Thor clamped his teeth down tightly together to keep himself silent. He was accustomed to winning, and he was accustomed to doing the talking, not being told…"know your place."
Meanwhile, Tony pulled out a color printout of the image from the computer. "What can you tell us about this man, sir? One Loki Odinson. Although he may have gone by another name when you met him."
Mohsin looked at the picture in confusion, but clearly recognized the image. "Why are you asking about him?" he asked. Thor recognized a certain wariness in his expression, even in the slight changes in his stance.
"Well, sir, he's what we call an illegal alien. We're just trying to get his visa status straightened out. What can you tell us about him?"
"Zara was right, then. You're in the wrong country."
"Well, to be honest, sir, he comes from a rich family, and they really want to avoid any trouble, any publicity. So, could you do us a favor and help us out? He's not in any real trouble, we just need to find him."
Mohsin hesitated, but finally nodded and spoke. "I don't know that much. It was back in…the beginning of February I guess, the day that picture was taken. He, ah, Loki had some car trouble, and-"
"Car trouble?" Thor repeated. Loki had a car?
"That's right. I found him walking down Highway 6, and I gave him a ride into town. He was alone, and my family was still in Toronto, so I offered him my daughters' room for the night. I had tickets to the hockey match, so we went, then we talked for a little while and said good night. The next morning he went on his way and I went to work. That was really it. I haven't seen or heard from him since."
"Did he say where he was going?" Thor asked.
Tony cleared his throat and Thor glanced briefly at him with a frown, certain this was what Tony would've asked next anyway.
"No, he didn't."
"And he didn't…cause any trouble while he was here? Anything funny happen?" Tony asked.
"No, of course not. I wouldn't have let him into my home if I'd sensed any trouble in him. He was a nice man. A little quiet, but kind."
Tony put his hand up over his face and coughed.
"May I see where he slept?" Thor asked.
Mohsin appeared skeptical of that idea. "Ahhh, I…"
"Please. I would be in your debt."
"Uh, Tom, maybe we shouldn't-"
"I would see where my brother slept," Thor said, rounding on Tony, his voice creeping upward in volume. Tony sighed and Thor immediately realized what he'd let slip.
"The rich family," Tony said with a grimace, thumb out and pointing at Thor.
"You're his brother? From Norway?"
Four eyes snapped back to Mohsin. "That's right," Tony said. "So, Mr. Odinson mentioned his brother here?"
Mohsin glanced between the two of them. "Just that he – that you – live in Tromso. That he missed you and your family, and wanted to see you again. I remember because my sister's in Trondheim."
Thor never caught what Mohsin said about his sister. He no longer even saw Mohsin or his dwelling; Midgard had fallen away. The quiet, kind Loki that he remembered from Before, the Loki he yearned so badly to have at his side again, the Loki he'd never given up hope on – he'd no sooner arrived on Earth than he'd begun to seek out Jane. The person in this realm Loki knew he could use to hurt him most deeply. He had argued for this mercy to be shown to his brother, to give him a chance to learn, to be rehabilitated, and Loki had seized it as an opportunity to twist a knife in Thor's heart.
"My youngest daughter is asleep in that room now, so I would rather…"
Thor tuned out Mohsin's words, and the exchange that followed, his thoughts tumbling wantonly, dangerously darkened by anger and piercing betrayal.
The door closed. Thor blinked and the world snapped back into focus around him. Mohsin's kind, quiet Loki was nothing more than an illusion. "A nice man," he'd said. A lie. When did the lies begin? The betrayals? He sabotaged my coronation. Betrayed me. The negotiations on Alfheim. Baldur. No. No. That was a thousand years ago. No…
"Thor," Tony said, loudly enough that it was obvious it wasn't the first time. "Time to go, Your Tallness. Your war awaits," he continued once Thor finally turned away from the door.
They walked in silence for several minutes down a deserted street. "He went after Jane," Thor rumbled, anger still boiling in his blood.
"Maybe he just wanted to get to know her. You know, meet the potential sister-in-law."
Thor shot him a look to let him know what he thought of that possibility. "At best he wanted to use her as leverage against me. At worst…"
"Hey," Tony said, speeding up and stepping in front of Thor, bringing them both to a halt. "I'm not exactly a dues-paying member of the guy's fan club, okay? But he didn't have any temper tantrums here, and there weren't any mysterious deaths. I checked. Tarkani back there actually liked him."
"Loki is a talented liar." Always has been.
"Look, it doesn't matter. Tarkani knows more than he's saying – he's protecting Loki. I think he knows Loki was headed to Tromso. We know he was later in Warman, which is on Highway 11, between Melfort and the nearest real airport, in Saskatoon. So, fine, Loki wanted to go find Jane in Tromso. Even if he did make it there, she was long gone by then. She's fine. Wherever Loki is, he's not with Jane."
"I know. But not for his lack of trying. I don't…I don't know who he is anymore." Thor paused; his eyes grew distant. "I would fight my way through an entire army of enemies to save him. To protect him. And he…"
The moment lingered, Thor lost in thoughts shifting from anger to something akin to grief, and Tony uncomfortable.
"A dose of realism isn't a bad thing. But neither is hope. You guys live, what, basically forever? That means there's always room for hope, right?"
Thor took a deliberately deep breath and let it out slowly. Snow had begun to fall and the temperature was dropping.
"You're out of time, buddy. We should keep moving."
With a nod from Thor they set off again, soon coming to the children's park – playground – where Mjolnir rested undisturbed beside the swings. Thor called it to his hand when they were a few feet away; no one was around at night to see.
"Sorry about your clothes. The ones you've got on and the ones still at my place. There's no time to go back for them."
"I have more than one set of clothing, Tony."
"No kidding. Well, thank God for that. Don't get a big head, Charlton, I don't mean you. I'll keep looking, okay? I'll check flights into and out of Tromso. It's a small city, can't be that many flights. And I'll come back up here tomorrow, talk to the other people who were in the same block of seats at the game, in case they know anything. It'll go a lot faster since I won't have to slow down for you. But I'd be surprised if we get anything new."
"This man spent the most time with Loki," Thor said with a nod. "Thank you for bringing me here, Tony. I…Thank you for continuing this search. And for helping Geirmund with his task," Thor added, his thoughts now refocusing on Asgard, where a presentation of strategies for attacking Vanaheim was about to begin, perhaps already had begun without him. "We have few allies now…we have no allies now," Thor corrected. "We appreciate your friendship and assistance greatly."
"Don't worry about it. I told you, we would've voted for Asgard. And you're up to 75% likability now. Hogun's all right – give him my best, by the way – and Geirmund, too, if he can keep his lips off of Pepper."
"He'll probably kiss her hand when he leaves."
"Then I'd better hurry back. You too, you're late."
Thor nodded. "Tony, if you speak to Jane again…I would ask that you not mention the war. I don't want her to worry."
Tony agreed, and the two exchanged final goodbyes, including an arm-clasp that went more smoothly this time, and Thor called for Heimdall to bring him home, hoping to feel the powerful pull of the tesseract.
/
/
Jane leaned back in her chair, rubbing her eyes. This wasn't her favorite kind of work. And the sad thing was, there were probably nearly half a dozen people here who could do it better than her. But anyone good enough to reprogram a structural integrity field generator – a technology that didn't exist commercially yet, certainly not at this level of sophistication – would also be good enough to realize what they were working on and ask difficult questions.
She was making good progress, but needed a break. There were just a few minutes left before they lost the satellite window, so she made a quick check of her e-mail – four new messages, including one from Erik, which she quickly copied into a Word document for later reading. What would he think of me, for helping Loki? She thought about Wright's and Selby's blog again. Although Jane hadn't started one herself, a lot of the Polies did, and she'd sent a few of the blog addresses to her friends…but of those, only Erik was likely to recognize Loki in that picture. He would have said something if he'd seen it, though…unless Loki was controlling her incoming e-mail as well as her outgoing mail.
Loki had controlled so much. Everything, it seemed. But he never knew about that picture… Jane glanced at the time; four minutes left in the satellite window. Wright and Selby had gone back to the station, so she was alone. She pulled up the blog, found the post on the sunset dinner and party. The picture was gone, just as Wright said. She copied the title of the post into Google and ran the search, clicking on the cached version of the website. Again no picture; the search engine had already crawled the blog again since Wright took the photo down. She ran a search for internet archive sites and clicked on one, then typed in the address of the sunset post. She selected March 27 – after sunset but before Wright had taken down the photo – and found a red "x" where the photo with Loki in it had been; apparently the site archived only text, and pulled images from the current version of a web page. And that was it. No more satellite, no more internet.
The only evidence that Loki had ever been here. Gone.
The only thing Loki hadn't controlled, and she'd made Wright get rid of it.
She'd tried to protect Lucas from his horrible family, and had instead protected Loki.
She stared at the red "x" and felt very, very alone.
/
/
By late afternoon Loki had already finished making the control switch to turn the transmitter on or off. For good measure, then – mostly to keep his mind occupied – he made a second one. That would require another transmitter with modified battery, so he got to work on that, too, all from the machinist's shop at MAPO in the Dark Sector. Having watched Jane work on the circuit board for the last one, he thought he could do it, and wanted to test himself.
Jane's science was different from his. Inferior, of course, but…but I wouldn't be on my way to Svartalfheim to get these curses removed without it. At this point, now that he understood all the components – what they were made of, what function they performed, how they performed it – he could have created it all through magic, by changing the structure of other materials to the structure needed. He still clung, however, to the ruse that this was all some test of his ability to accomplish a task without magic. He knew Jane was skeptical of that, but it was a comfortable lie, perhaps for both of them.
He finished the additional transmitter, using magic to form the battery – his one cheat that Jane didn't need to know about – and sat back. His eyes fell to his hands, and the memory started again, the fury and rage followed by sudden realization. He had told Jane he hadn't been afraid. It was true; he hadn't been afraid of dying, hadn't realized that Odin's curse was at work, hadn't realized that it was his own hands and not Jane's constricting his throat, hadn't realized that if he'd continued he would have killed her and drawn his last breath right after.
So no, he hadn't been afraid for himself. But there'd been a flicker of something else there in that moment, when so much had rushed through him. Not fear for himself…fear of himself. Fear of the unknown path he was hurtling down, of his complete lack of self-control, so uncharacteristic of him. He saw Jane's face, looking up at him in terror, and his features grew hard, settling into anger. It was her fault. She provoked me. She wanted a reaction, and she got one. Now she's learned not to provoke a god.
His certainty in blaming Jane faltered, and along with it, his anger. She fought with words; he fought with words, as a preference. She was weak next to him; words were all she had. He was weak next to Thor, his words far more effective than his fists. He could have walked away, out of range of her words, but no, he'd tried physically to make them stop. How many times had Mjolnir appeared in Thor's hand in response to Loki's words? It was Loki who would walk away. It was Thor who never could.
Loki leaned forward, face pressed into his hands, elbows resting on the worktable before him. He began to laugh. Perhaps he would now live up to Odin's ideals, since this was apparently what he wanted in a son all along. He wasn't sure where these thoughts ricocheting around his mind were leading or what they even meant, only that he wished to create another thousand switches to stave them off. They were another sign of lack of control, lack of focus, lack of…of something. Jane's fault. He needed to leave.
What happened, happened. It doesn't matter why. I will leave this place. I will go to Svartalfheim. Brokk will remove the curses. I will begin anew. I will leave the past to itself and never look back. I am Loki…of anywhere I want to be.
/
OK, at this point, my dear readers, I'd love to be able to take a poll. Do you think (a) Loki will travel via Pathfinder, (b) Jane will, (c) both will, (d) neither will, or (e) some combination of Jane, Loki, and someone else will? You'll find out very soon, BTW!
This is Ch. 41. Chapter 42, possibly titled "D-Day," is already written (as is the norm, if you follow the updates on my profile page). But believe it or not, "Chapter 43: Knives" is also already written, and has been for months. Which is very odd for me, but there's a reason. That means technically you could get two chapters today. But you aren't going to. I know, I'm cruel. But I still want my extra time for any edits I feel I should make to Ch. 42. Still, you may get slightly speedier new chapters than normal for the next two chapters. I've also written a little bit of the beginning of Ch. 44...
*Question to those who watched the new Loki deleted scenes online: What does "The Other" say to Loki right before Loki says (I think) "Mow them down"? Please, help!*
Previews from the next chapter: Loki starts thinking about packing and may run afoul of the United States Antarctic Program; Jane gets a magic demo that catches hers and Loki's attention; plans shift a bit in Asgard; Jane gets some answers but isn't sure what's true; Jane comes up with a new use for duct tape and considers giving Loki a parting gift (not necessarily related!); Loki experiences something he hasn't - or hasn't admitted to himself - in quite a while.
And the excerpt:
"What are you going to do when you get home?" Jane asked quietly.
Loki froze for a moment, then scrolled further down the screen. "Go to my mother and apologize for what I've done…have a long talk with Thor, I suppose...try to make amends." How thoughtful of you to ask me to plan my own torture.