Chapter 2 - On The Run
Unfortunately, the one bad thing about being on a mission like this, in a place like this means that she gets the honor of having to sit out through... well, stupid plays. Anika never minded the operas Palpatine watched too much, but she...
It hurts to be seeing these when he's not here and she's not sitting beside her. Considering her role, she has to be here, and is usually used to ignoring whatever her surroundings are, but right now...
Well, it's hard.
Loki's rambling doesn't make a syllable of sense, either, no offense to him. He is so dramatic. She watches him with fond adoration, even if she's starting to get the feeling that she's the only one – everyone laughs whenever Thor interjects to mock him. Loki handles it very well, she has to admit, just shrugging it off with a glare at his brother and keeps right on talking, but she doubts he's as unaffected as he's acting.
And that something is wrong.
"Ugh, that is not acting," Thor whines dramatically, slumping over the railing beside Anika. He pushes himself up, looking over at Hela where she stands. "When can we start throwing cabbages at him? I brought a whole bushel, and they're rotten."
Anika rolls her eyes at them, but the Force is starting to twinge in warning. "I'm glad you're not my brother." The Force screams with warning, something tearing and ripping open as whatever is twisted in the time tries to right itself again. She can feel something ripping, tearing, and over Thor's quiet gasp the sky alights with a brilliant green light, twisting in the air. Everyone explodes into panic, scrambling away from the storm. It's a Force storm, but never about anything she's ever experienced before.
Loki, being the literal only idiot who's willing to stand right there in the middle of everything, right beneath the vortex, is the first to get yanked towards it.
Anika jumps over the platform, raising her hands and wrapping the Force around him, yanking him back down. It's hard, admittedly. Usually, telekinesis comes easily to her, but when this is a violent, raging Force-storm, it's different than holding against gravity or air.
This thing is powerful, but she is the Chosen One, allegedly, and she is stronger.
She yanks him down far enough, safely out of reach of the storm, and it drops him, letting him fall.
Loki smacks the ground with a grunt.
Anika smirks at him with a levity she definitely doesn't feel, but she's grown used to trying to make things easier for her men, no matter how she has to go about it.
"So nice of me to drop in," Loki tells her with a smirk, still the perfect picture of calm despite how shaken she can feel he is.
Anika laughs with a surge of fond adoration, but the chaos isn't over yet. It's going to keep trying to drag people through, and off it goes, ripping through the top of the balcony building she and the royalty were on just a minute ago. "Stay down," she advises the prince, lifting her hands skywards and closing her eyes.
It's a Force-storm, and she has no idea what she's doing, but short of ripping the thing apart with the Force as well, or trying to close it over, she really doesn't know what to do. The storm is strong. It's comprised of the energy of the entire reality she realizes rapidly as it presses against her, buzzing and crackling, brilliant and green. And then it lashes out, a crashing wave of the Force, sending her stumbling to the ground.
She hits the ground, Loki's hand on her arm to keep her somewhat upright and she's leaning on him way more than she's proud of. "Ohh. Nice of you to drop in, too," he quips, and then the danger goes again.
Thor yells. Loki gasps softly beside her, and Anika looks up, shaking the stars from her vision and throwing her hair from her face.
Hela. She's being pulled upwards.
Anika reaches out, trying to catch her, to pull her down, too, but her mind is hazy, and the storm is too strong. It all happens too fast.
Hela disappears into the green light with a strangled cry. The scepter she holds crashes downwards, spinning and flipping, clanking onto the ground in front of her.
Loki helps Anika to her feet, still holding that stupid skull that could almost be his newborn baby for how gently he's holding the thing.
Not that she finds it easy to joke right now. Hela's dead. She seemed like a good person. For a fleeting moment, when the storm opened, she could see the other side. It was just... a void.
They're right. These people are dying. But it seems more complicated than that.
In front of her, Thor lifts the scepter, its end glowing green.
The scepter is glowing? It's the same green as the storm almost as if it was the scepter summoning the storm. She felt it. Whatever the object is, it's strong in the Force. She needs to look over the scepter more. That's what's tearing this world apart.
Loki's looking at her – he knows she figured something out, but he's not asking yet. It's not the right time.
Hela's dead, which means Thor is the new king.
"The Queen is gone," Hogan says, stepping forwards, He looks sad, though Anika doesn't have high opinion of his ability to remain calm. "Long live King Thor Odinson."
Everyone in the vicinity kneels as is tradition in the crowning of a new king.
Loki's still in denial. Anika can feel that, but Thor's grief is already morphing into an irrational rage. As though there were any form of fury which could be enough to deter the storms. "Thor," Anika says, slowly standing. "I'm..." What? His sister just died. There are no words which can make up for what just happened. "I'm so sorry."
"Sorry? You speak to me of sorry?" Thor asks, hands gripping the scepter.
Oh, here they go. Everywhere she goes indeed.
"My sister is gone, lost to the storms that are tearing our world apart. The storms the Scarlet Witch summoned you to stop. But they've only grown stronger each day."
"I'll find a way to stop them," Anika vows, eyes narrowing, "And now, I have a lead."
"She is cursed. Seize her," Thor cuts her off.
The guards move forwards.
"Your majesty," she says flatly, "You might like to stop and think about what you're doing."
They have swords. She has a lightsaber. It's a joke. But here they come, so she ignites her 'saber, Force-shoving them back despite the exhaustion still lingering. She throws a glance at Loki and the stupid skull – it's picked up the energy from the storm, and it'll have something she needs if she can't get the scepter.
"Can I borrow that for the day?" Anika asks, snatching the skull from Loki's hands, ignoring his shrieks – he named the thing? – and force-jumps onto the building's top. She looks between them, braced for action – they're following, but she's still faster.
Thor's going to tear the place apart to find her. That's just what he's like.
Anika extinguishes her lightsaber and runs.
**w**
She needs some pointer tips on where to go, and mostly, a few people to help her. And right now, Anika's betting her heaviest on that most near the king will aid her despite how Thor himself is against her. Because if she doesn't have help or some pointers, well – it's nice and all to have the skull, but she's got nowhere safe to analyze it right now.
So back she sneaks, into the palace, crouching on a ledge to safely overhear what Wanda has found. She needs to know from Wanda herself what's happening. The Witch is probably the only one who can get answers or guidance.
It's times like these that Anika really, really misses Qui-Gon. She's used to the feeling of constantly being watched, of never being alone, and she never realized how constant that sensation was until right now.
"My liege, the cracks are growing in strength and number across the globe," Fury is telling Thor down below.
"Nebula's Observatory, Isle of Ego. Fare thee well, Groot Groves. You were the finest winery in the land," Hogan is listing off.
"Oh, no, not the wines too," Thor whines, slouching further in his throne. Anika has to try so very hard not to laugh at him. "This may be our darkest hour, but I will not let it be our last. Not while I'm on this throne. I want Skywalker found."
As though this is Anika's fault somehow? The failure still hangs over her head, and Hela was her friend as well. She understands Thor's grief, but it's just making this harder for everyone. A pity it couldn't have been Loki chosen as king instead.
"Skywalker's not the cause of this, my lord," Wanda argues immediately jumping to her defense. She's a good friend, too. Anika will give her that. "But I still believe she is the key to our survival, for I sense there is another. A person from a time that is still to come."
A person... A time-traveler?
"Poppycock," growls Hogan.
"Calm yourself, Hogan," Thor chides. "Mind your affliction." Anika still doesn't believe that he turns large and purple when he's angry, but she'll see it someday. "A future person?"
Yeah. That's what she's saying. Someone time-traveled. The scepter. It...
"More of a lost traveler," Wanda muses, red magic shimmering on her hands as she looks back, figures moving inside it, though Anika can't make out what it is. The way the Force churns around her when she moves is still unnerving. "A Forerunner who has fallen through time, unaware that their presence is causing our universe to collapse."
"And how, pray tell, shall we find this fellow?" Thor asks.
Wanda sighs tiredly. "The answer is beyond even my capabilities."
That's fine. Anika will find a way. She needs to talk with either Wanda or Loki, personally, to get some advice. She needs a mechanical expert. Not that she isn't one herself, but because she needs the parts. And this place is the most backwater world which Anika has ever visited.
"Sounds like you have your mission," Fury comments.
Anika suppresses a light laugh, mostly because unlike all other missions, this is about an entire reality. The whole universe is collapsing, and she's their only hopes at stopping it.
Chosen One? Yeah, no pressure. It isn't as though she had to kill her father to be hailed as a hero last time.
**w**
She's betting an awful lot on someone as chaotic as Loki. Maybe the world really is doomed, Anika decided bemoaningly, but she's hoping the prince will know to be serious when the world depends on it. But either way, for better or worse, here she is, climbing the palace wall and waving what she hopes is his bedroom window open with the Force and hopping inside.
For how he wears white, his entire room is black and green. It's ridiculous.
Loki yelps, kicking his blanket off – it's green – and bolting upright. "Oh –"
"Shhh!" Anika hisses, "Yes, I have your Yorick, and if I can keep it for a little while, I'll hopefully save the universe and bring him back in one piece. Can I trust you?"
Loki slides off his bed to what she's certain is his writing table, based on the scroll piles and other such things strewn about, and the candles still burning on it. "Oh, yes, of course. What do you need a midnight visit for?"
Anika sighs, tiptoeing closer. "Can you point me to someone who's a good mechanic and a genius? And don't say you, because you can't help me without Thor knowing, and then we'll both be on the run."
"Well, there's a farmer, his name is Stark. He's kind of a genius, if you count building fancy farming machines."
Anika blinks, a little confused, mostly unhappy. "Stark? Isn't that the one who got Wanda's parents killed?" Whatever in the galaxy illegal, unexplored farming machinery are. Anika has actually no idea what's going on here. But with the things she's heard and is gathering, she's betting Stark was some sort of engineer in the future.
Some of this technology is clearly futuristic compared to what the most of this world is.
Like the Destroyer. That's a droid she's only heard of, but advanced beyond even what she's experienced. If it is anything like what she's heard, that is.
"Unfortunately." Loki waves his hand, "You know, I can't just magic something into existence, I'm not a witch."
"You do have the Force," Anika replies, amused, because she can feel it, flickering brilliantly. His presence shines brightly. He's not light, by any means. Years of depression have darkened him, but he's still bright. And she is certain that he's more than he looks. The whole royal family feels... different. "Or some version thereof."
Loki shrugs. "Sure. Anyway, Stark should be the one you're looking for. Be sure not to get run over by a self-driven plow."
Anika snorts. "Thanks for trying to believe in me."
Loki shrugs, smiling, despite the grief that he's still so strongly radiating. "Sure. Just bring Yorick back."
Anika laughs. "Sure. After I save the universe." She pauses, hearing and sensing distant motion in the hall. "See you in a bit. Just keep an eye on that scepter, will you?"
Loki's question is lost in the wind as she jumps back through the way she came, disappearing into the night's darkness.
**w**
Finding Stark is thankfully only a bit more difficult than Anika was already forewarned about. He's pretty famous, which is for once a good thing in tracking down somebody she needs.
He's in a barn when someone points him out to her, and Anika lets herself inside, sighing softly. Hasn't gotten to sleep in a while. She's exhausted, but that's normal from the war, and this universe is counting on her. She's starting to think it's wearing on her though, slowly, bit by bit. Almost as though while sapping the universe itself, it's also destroying her as it ceases to exist.
Based on what Wanda was saying, it's like two points in time are colliding.
Based on what she's been seeing, too. This is... going to be fun.
Anika yanks up a water bucket, unable to resist, dumping a tiny bit of icy water over the man's face.
"Oh!" he shrieks, bolting upright. "Wet! Ugh." He shakes his hands, and she jumps back, suppressing a laugh.
"Good morning, Stark," Anika tells him with a laugh.
"Five more minutes," he whines, flopping back into the hay pile.
Alright, fine, if he really needs to rest, she can't keep pressuring. He's probably the one doing the work, anyway. They don't have machines or droids to work for them anymore. Anika knows well what that kind of exhaustion is like.
Instead, she gets about setting up what she needs, setting the skull set up on a table and digging out a microscope – thank the Force they at least have those, though it's not half as good as a proper, good-fashioned scanner.
"Friend of yours?" Stark asks, approaching.
"Ah, it's a friend's toy. I gotta give it back to him, but I'm looking for something, and I heard you're the one to come to. When the storm opened, this nearly went inside, and I think it's imbued with some of the storm's energy. I think, in theory, this should lead me to what I'm looking for. Can you get a read?"
"Uh. Sure. Who are you?" Stark asks, shoving a tiny piece of the skull onto the microscope.
"Anika Skywalker. Summoned here from another universe to save yours. Wanda Maximoff thought I was the one who could save it, but the king thinks I'm responsible, so I have to figure this out myself."
"Huh. Sounds like you're in a pickle."
"Been in worse. Can you figure it out?"
"Yeah, of course. It looks like you're right. This stuff gives off an energy."
Anika leans over, looking at the brilliant green light. "Hmm. Might be radioactive."
"Ooh, wait. Active-what now? God, I love your made-up words. I need more of this," Stark requests.
This world. Honestly. Maybe it's just her, but the farmer is starting to grow on her. Even if he's not all good. "Hyperspace," she goes for, knowing that's definitely a word he's never seen. "Hyperdrive? Oh, what about hydrospanner? Do you guys have screwdrivers yet?"
Tony laughs. "Yes!"
"Anyway," Anika goes for. "I'm looking for someone. They call him a Forerunner, the first person transported here from the future. That's what the Scarlet Witch thinks. That's why the reality is collapsing and causing these storms. Should he have the same energy as those?"
"Yes." Not even a beat. He is smart, and she's a Jedi.
"Good. Could you trace the energy?"
"In theory, yes. But in reality, the magic needed to power such a device..."
She sighs, rubbing her head and pacing behind him. "Okay. Right, I keep forgetting. You don't have electricity or power couplings back here. I don't even know if this planet has those resources."
"Again with the beautiful gibberish," he quips, "Keep talking. It's like opium to my ears."
"Is there anything we can use as a power source?" Anika inquires.
"Well, there is one thing rumored to have enough power to propel a thousand ships," Stark offers.
"Hmm?"
"The king's scepter."
Uh. She knew that was the key. "Thor's not going to let me borrow that. He wants me dead. I mean, I'm on Loki's good side, but I don't want to ask him to turn on his brother."
"Well, then, sounds like you need a thief to help you steal it," Stark shrugs.
Anika's eyes narrow. "You have someone in mind?"
"Rogers Hood," he shrugs.
"Rogers Hood?" she repeats dubiously. "What kind of name is that?"
"He's a famous thief. Why'd you think we make it around here? He steals from the rich, hands it out to us. Or, you know, other people who need it."
Wow. She can appreciate that, could have used some of it on Tatooine, but at the end of the day, stealing is still wrong, no matter what good excuse there is for doing it. "Okay. Can you hand me some pointers? Sounds like I have a long way to go."
**w**
Turns out that Stark is basically a lifesaver, because he gives her the exact directions to a road that he typically attacks people on and should probably have someone nearby on watch that she can find fairly easily. Luckily for her, she's got nothing to be stolen. Left the skull with Tony and asked him to please, please take good care of the thing. Well... she's still got a few supplies this world hasn't seen, but she's saving bacta for a situation where someone is actually nearly dying. Not gonna waste it.
Hopefully Wanda can get her home when all's said and done.
Right now, she needs to focus on the universe.
The forest is... large. The trees are towering, and they're beautiful. It's so peaceful out here. Anika could use a bit of that, walking amongst nature, walking through the plants. She's glad to be here. It's a nice place. If only she could just... breath for a while. To meditate, maybe. She's had a hard time focusing, but there's not the luxury to stop.
She needs to keep walking. Keep looking, the road's just up ahead. They should be right up ahead, even if she's getting really tired of walking, and – a horse's panicked whinnying catches her ears further up. Anika picks up her pace, breaking into a sprint – they're probably mid-robbing somebody. While there are definitely corrupt people, well... Anika might agree with the morals just a bit, but it can hurt innocents, too.
She skids to a stop, almost rolling her eyes when she sees the eight-legged horse – oh, yeah, Sleipnir is the royal mount, but from the look of it, Loki borrowed him for a while. And despite her still-present grudge-match with Thor, she's not taking it out on the royal family.
Definitely not on Loki. He's... a friend. He and Wanda are the first real friends she's got here.
"Hey!" Anika yells, and is admittedly proud of how all three men freeze. "Attacking the royal carriage? Seriously? Are you guys that stupid?" She crosses her arms over her chest, one flesh and the other mechanical, raising a disbelieving eyebrow at the bunch.
"Whoa, who are you?" one of the man asks. He's dressed in something red and gray, ridiculous looking, and not that normal of the time.
"I'm Anika Skywalker, and I need your help with something far more important than money." She paces forwards. "So, if you don't mind, leave my friend alone, and let's go someplace to talk. If you really are Rogers Hood, or whatever title it is the commonfolk have given you."
"What would you like our help with?" Rogers – or whatever his real name is – inquires, jumping down from atop the carriage.
"If I told you 'saving the universe' would you laugh at me?"
He looks at the other. The third man – is his arm metal? – shrugs. "Sounds fine to me."
"But they got marzipan," the other protests, whomever he is. "And pineapple cakes, and pie!"
May the Force help her.
She did not realize Loki was one for sweets, though. Can't say she's all surprised. It seems fitting.
"Mind the champagne," Loki calls to them. "It's very expensive."
He is not helping.
"Okay," she says, "So, it's like this. I need something to save this world and stop those storms, and I need someone to help me find it. Steal it, to be specific. The locals pointed me to you."
"That sounds like our thing," Rogers agrees, approaching her slowly. "But out of curiosity, how can we know we aren't being double-played?"
Smart question. Anika's first instincts is a snarky because that's your thing? But she needs to give them a real answer. "Because I came here," she answers instead. "I found you, and I'm a thief, too. I had to steal when I was a kid. It was the only way to get by." Anika doesn't talk about Tatooine. She hates thinking about the time she spent there, her time as a slave, but she can never make it go away. It's a part of her, though one she loathes, never one she can shake. "I'm from another world. One of the poorest planets in my galaxy. Or... at least it was for me. My mother and I barely had enough to live on. So yes, I stole. To eat, for my projects, for my friends. For my mother. It was the only way to get by."
The man with a metal arm, shifts forwards, throwing a look at Rogers. "We should help," he starts saying, and then the carriage abruptly bolts forwards.
Anika tackles Rogers out of the way and they roll across the dirt, prying themselves apart. "I am not forgetting this," she yells after Loki as he disappears down the road. He's probably laughing at her. She feels a swell of fondness as she watches him disappear, then pulls herself to her feet and brushes her robes off, offering a hand to Rogers.
He grabs it and lets her pull him to his feet.
"Is there someplace we can talk?" Anika inquires. "It'll make a lot more sense than standing here in the middle of the street. "
"I can take you to our base," he offers finally.
"Have you guys tried these eclairs?" the other man asks, popping out of nowhere again, stuffing his mouth. "They're amazing. They'll blow your mind."
Anika rolls her eyes. "I'd like you more if you weren't stealing from my best friend."
Final Notes: Reviews are always appreciated! ^-^
Come hang out on Discord (delete spaces), discord . gg / nqSxuz2 or find us on tumblr at fanfictasia (our more serious blog which does have controversial posts on it; I won't be offended if you choose to block it, promise), and disastertriowriting (which is our fun blog with crack posts or incorrect SW quotes)
We've got a YT channel for tributes! (delete the spaces) youtube channel / UC_g1M5rSCxJUzQCRS29B6pA