Loki and Ingrid 29

Here

“Who’s there?” I call out, to the rapping on my door. “If your name is Calder then I will—”

          “Don’t,” says Loki.

          “It’s Thor.”

          “What are you doing here again?” asks Loki, angrily, “I told you not to come back.”

          “Sif is with me. Let us in, please.”

          “YEAH, LET US IN!”

          “Shut up, Sif.”

          “I’ll let them in,” I say, getting up to answer the door. “Hello, Thor. Hello, Sif. I’m sorry about the glass.”

          “Long story, really,” begins Sif.

          “Any word on Calder?” I ask, beginning to worry.

          “No, I’m sure he’s fine,” says Thor.

          “What are you doing here?” says Loki, bitterly, “I asked you to leave until you could forgive me, and you said—”

          “That it would take some time, and that I wasn’t coming back, yes, but something has happened…”

          “What is it, then? Just tell me so you can go away?”

          “I’m afraid I’m going to need your help.”

          “Are you crazy? Why would you need my help? Last time I helped you—”

          Thor waves his hand to get Loki to stop, then begins again, “I have gotten a distress call by a victim of Thanos.”

          “Thor’s saving-the-universe side business, and I don’t want any part of it right now. Give me some time, then maybe I can—”

          “We aren’t helping just anybody, Loki.”

          “Who, then? I don’t know anybody—don’t tell me it’s father,” he groans.

          “Not father. He is on Midgard as far as I know, thanks to you!”

          “Then bring him back for all I care,” sighs Loki, “Better that way.”

          “He can’t rule Asgard.”

          “Well neither can I, so I’d like you to stop saying I can.”

          “Doesn’t look like I have a choice, do I?”

          “Fight me for it!”

          “No.”

          “Why not? I want to see you put up a fight!”

          “I don’t want the throne back. This is important. We’re wasting valuable time.”

          Loki raises his hand to cast a spell, but Sif catches his arm, “Let him talk, idiot.”

          “I don’t know everyone anyone else. Everyone I care about is either in the room with me or dead because of me.”

          “Not everyone, Loki.”

          Loki considers him for a minute, then pales, asking it, barely above a whisper, “Lyd?”

          “I’m afraid so…”

          “No, this is ridiculous. A few weeks ago, I didn’t even know she existed.”

          “But you know now, and that’s what matters.”

          “I can’t.”

          “We have to break her out…”

          “They’re using her as bait for me, and I know where the stones are—! I can’t hold out—”

          “We all know where the stones are,” says Sif, “You, Thor, Ingrid, and I,” they could use any of us.”

          “They must want something special with me, then.”

          “I don’t know. But We can’t do this alone.”

          I raise my hand, “I’m in.”

          “Well, that makes three,” says Sif, rolling her eyes, “And she did punch her brother in the nose….”

          “Don’t remind me, okay? But yeah, I’ll help.”

          “So easily Ingrid? They’ll just torture you again…”

          “Loki, I have to. We did stuff with Lyd….”

          Loki lunges at Thor, casting a spell. “I DON’T CARE! SHE ABANDONED US!” He backs up, “Did I hurt you, brother?”

          “I think I can handle it.”

          “NO, HE CAN’T AND YOU NEED TO STOP--!” Sif is yelling now, “Don’t you hurt him!”

          “STOP!” I scream, “All of you, stop! We can’t waste any time!”

          “You can’t go back!”

          “I HAVE TO!”

          “I won’t let you.”

          “Stop. We’re going together. And Thor and Sif will be there.”

          “No.” The look on Loki’s face about sums up how I feel about going back, but I can’t let anything happen to Lyd….”

          “Loki…”

          “I CAN’T!”

          “I may still hate you,” says Thor, “But I would never ask something of you if I knew—”

          “Do you know what they did to her?”

          “Loki,”

          “They were going to kill her…I had to watch and she…she asked me—”

          “Shhh, Loki.”

          “I think I’m going to be sick. Nova and Thanos…”

          “I know. All of us can’t give up the stones for anything…we have to be willing to die for the fate on the universe.”

          “Is saving Lyd really worth it?” Sif asks.

          “Don’t talk about my sister that way!”

          “But you said…”

          “I can’t go back, Sif…”

          “You two,” she points at Loki and Ingrid, “You need to tell us more. We can’t help you if we don’t know what happened.”

---

“Oh my God, Ingrid, you told me things…. but not everything.”

          “And you only heard one side of the story.”

          “True. But you were the one getting tortured!”

          “All I remember is pain…”

          “And I remember…everything,” says Loki, “I can’t forget. And I can’t go back. Never. They’ll just keep trying with me…using them as bait—to get to me…it’s my fault, and it will keep happening! Just kill me now so Thanos doesn’t kill anyone else.”

          “That’s not happening under my watch,” says Sif, “Remember, I’ve got your back.”

          “What if I start to tell…will you kill me then?”

          “Of course not!”

          “He can’t have them.”

          “We’ll find another way, don’t worry.”

          “No. It might be—”

          “Stop,” says Thor, “We’re wasting time.”

          “I can’t do it.”

          “Of course, you can.”

          “You still don’t believe me? What I saw and what I felt?”

          “I believe you.”

          “That’s why I can’t do it.”

          “Do you want to do the right thing, or live with the guilt of doing nothing?”

          “Stop.”

          “It’s your choice, but I’d advise the first option.”

          “You two were alone last time,” says Sif, “This time we’ll be here. You’re not in this alone, we promise.”

          “What if something happens?”

          “Nothing will happen!”

          “But what if it does? What if the four of us…”

          “Don’t talk like that.”

          “It’s true.”

          “Then I’ll remember you as the boy who checked on me when I fell off my horse.”

          “Thanks, Sif. You’re—”

          “So, Ingrid? Your brother Colby is awfully tech-savvy. Helping me find the best way in.”

          “Great,” I say, falsely optimistic, “Let’s go then!”

          “Do we have a plan?” asks Loki.

          “Not really…”

          “We need a plan…”

          “No time. We’ve wasted enough as it is.”

          In an instant, the door flies open, and Colby comes running into the room, breathless, “Canute just told me,” he pants, “They’ve got Calder.”

---

“Welcome back,” Aura’s smooth voice greets us as the hallway is filled with light.

          “Some plan,” whispers Loki.

          “I guess that’s it for sneaking around…”

          “Oh. And there are four of you? Perfect. The legendary Thor, of course. And who’s this?” She walks up to Sif, grabbing her cheek, “You’re so lovely, my dear…”

          “I am Lady Sif of Asgard, and I ask you to STOP.”

          “No. Give me the stones.”

          “I—I don’t have them,” says Sif, her voice echoing in the bright hallway.”

          “Where are they?”

          “The stones?” Aura’s lip curls upwards, “Only Loki knows….”

          Loki pales and takes a step back, “Aura please!”

          “Please? Please? That’s what I get from the great Loki?” She slaps him, hard.
You won’t even put up a fight?”

          “Where are Lydvor and Calder?” asks Sif, loudly.

          “That I won’t tell you. Of course, they would all be yours, if you would just give me the stones…Loki. Then your friends wouldn’t have to suffer…”

          “Please….”

          “We all know where they are!” shouts Sif, “Come and get ‘em!”

          “No…. Sif….! Don’t think about—”

          Sif screams, as she’s thrown back on the ground by one of Nova’s old devices. “The girl is lying, isn’t she now?” Aura looks wickedly at Loki, getting closer.

          “Please…. don’t you understand? We can’t give you the stones…half of the universe…”

          “It’s worth the price.” She laughs maniacally as she gets ready to use her device again.

          “No! Please! He can’t take it!”

          “He can’t take it you say?” He can’t take it?” Aura laughs again, “Well maybe then I can get it out of him.”

          “No!” I can already tell this detonator is bigger and more powerful than the normal ones Nova used…just powerful enough to be worse than that, but not powerful enough to kill, like the one she used on me.

          “Loki. Loki, look at me.” It looks worse than Nova’s devices if that is fathomable. I grit my teeth and try to force him to make eye contact. “You can’t give them up. No matter what. You hear me? You can’t—”

          “Make it stop! Please…”

          “I can’t. I’m sorry. But I need you to—” I can already tell that Aura is turning up the power, as I feel the shock of it afresh.

          “THOR, I NEED HELP!” I scream, “THOR!”

          “Sif has never felt this before…”

          “Please! Bring her! You’re the only one who isn’t—”

          “Do you really think he can help you,” says Aura, coldly, “When he’s too busy saving his girlfriend?”

          “I’m not his girlfriend,” croaks Sif, trying to pull herself up, “And you won’t win…”

          Another wave, and now Thor is caught in it, too. Oh, how much longer? I was hoping to never feel this again. Oh, how much…? Loki. I have to help Loki. “Loki? Loki, can you hear me?”

          “Yeah. And I’m tired of letting her do this.”

           “I know.”

          “I’m here…”

          “Thor?”

          “Yeah?”

          “I’m here…and Sif is….”

          All of the voices sound like they’re in a tunnel, distant, as I lean into someone’s arms, maybe Thor, maybe Sif, and await the inevitable rest of death.

---

It’s been going for so long now, I feel numb. I’m losing my concentration, I can’t think. I somehow managed to grab ahold of Loki’s hand in my muddled state, and he is thankfully, unconscious. Thor and Sif are still with me, and someone has to stay awake to stop her from reading the minds of the unconscious...I have to stay awake.

          “What are you doing with my sister?” As abruptly as it started, the pain stops, I sit up, in a daze, “Calder?”

          “Where’s Lyd?” whispers Loki, suddenly waking up.

          “I don’t know. Are you okay?”

          “Talk about that later.”

          “Okay.”

          “Who are you, and what are you doing with my sister?”

          “I am—”

          “Her name is Aura,” says Sif struggling to her feet, “And she wants information from Loki and Ingrid, information, which in the wrong hands may cause—”

          “Got it.” I can see for a brief second that Calder takes pleasure in seeing Loki’s pain, but he quickly shifts his gaze to Aura. It all happens so fast, Calder and Sif slashing, hitting, biting, a frenzy of air and blood as Aura is pinned in the corner.

          Sif has her sword out now, “I’m not afraid to kill you. Monster,” Sif spits in Aura’s face, bringing the sword closer to her neck.

          “And if you ever hurt my sister—” Calder begins.

          “Or my brother,” Thor readies Mjolnir.

          “Or my sister…where is she anyway?”

          “I’m ready,” says Sif, replying to the cold gleam in Calder’s eyes. “Three…two…”

          “Wait!” says Loki, “If we spare you, then will you release us? Lyd too?”

          “Give me the stones—”

          “Okay, or we’ll just kill you and find her ourselves.”

          “No! I yield, I yield!”

          “That’s my girl,” smirks Sif, “Now tell us where Lyd is.”

---

“Where’s Calder?”

          “He doesn’t want to be around me,” says Loki, “I’m sorry.”

          “He saved us.”

          “He saved you.”

          “Yes. He can’t save me without saving you.”

          “Stop with the love nonsense,” sighs Lyd.

          “How was it? Did she go easy on you?”

          “Definitely not,” says Lyd, “Not that I care,” but I can see the wounds of torture behind her eyes. It’s a kind of pain you don’t forget.

          “And what about you, Sif?” asks Thor.

          “What about you?”

          “Fine. Felt it before. Not fun for someone like me. But it feeds on emotions. And fear. If I know what’s coming…”

          “It makes me more afraid,” whispers Loki.

          “That’s why it’s so much worse for you…she knows what your fears are and preys on them.”

          “I can’t help it. I’m scared, Thor.”

          “And you’ve come a long way in admitting that.”

          “Can you forgive me?”

          “Do you want me to be honest. I love Father.”

          “I want you and him to die.”

          “I understand it makes you vicious.”

          “I’m always vicious.”

          “Loki, you have a long way to go, but you’ve come so far. And I’m proud of you.”

          “Really?”

          “Yes. You went back.”

          “Oh yeah, thanks for that, by the way,” snaps Lyd, “Not like I needed it.”

          “That’s what mother said,” says Loki, ignoring Lyd. “Father never said that to me. To you plenty of times, but.”

          “I can’t control what Father did or said.”

          “I know. And I never should have blamed you for anything.”

          “It’s fine. So, Sif? Are you okay?”

          “Not at all!”

          “Sif…”

          “But I’m willing to fight them…”

          “Are you hurt, Sif?” Thor looks concerned as he sees the blood on her arm.

          “Oooh, Aura hit me right there…with a knife.”

          “Calder hit me here with a spear yesterday,” says Loki, “Wow it’s been a long two days.”

          “You need to get some sleep. We all do.”

          “I don’t want to go to sleep. The nightmares…I have them every day.”

          “Why didn’t you tell me?”

          “He didn’t tell me, either,” I tell Thor, “He said he didn’t…”    

          “You weren’t here, and we barely talked, and I didn’t have time to tell you everything…I missed you.”

          “Well, I’m here now.”

          “And so’m I,” I say.

          “And me,” groans Sif, looking at one of her bruises, “That’s a big one.”

          “And I’m here but I sure as hell don’t wanna be,” says Lyd, “Does anyone have a spaceship?”

          Loki smiles slightly, his head on Thor’s lap, and closes his eyes. “All of my favorite idiots.”          

          “We’re right here.”