Loki and Ingrid 30 (!!)

The Fight

Don’t trust anyone.” I hear it as a whisper at first, then louder. It’s Lyd. “You should all learn that by now.”

          “Lydvor, what are you trying to tell us—” begins Thor.

          “Don’t trust anyone! It’s not over; they’re coming?”

          “Who? Who’s coming!”

          “Aura and—”

          The door is thrust off its hinges in the explosion, as we all jump back. It’s Aura, and she’s not alone. “Did you think I would let you go so easily? Take a look at this.” She rips a tracker off Sif’s cloak. “I threw that at the last minute. Put one on your brother, too,” she narrows her eyes at me, “But I don’t care about him. I followed whoever could lead me to Loki. Revenge.”

          “Revenge?” Sif says, angrily, “Revenge? What did he ever do to you! What happened on Midgard was—”

          “What did happen on Midgard, dearie?” Aura puts her hand under Sif’s jaw, “Tell me. Where are the stones?”

          Sif gasps for air, as Aura forces her had over her throat, “I. Don’t. Have them!”

          “Liar. If the stones were all I was after I would have used the machine and been done with you. I could get that from any of you. But Loki must pay for what he did. Killing my sister.”

          “That’s a lie! I was there, I saw it! It was Thanos!”

          “Do not speak lies to me, girl. I left him alone in the room with Nova, and you, but I wouldn’t expect you to do the culprit—I come back, and Loki is—” Aura inhales deeply, keeping a grip on Sif.

          “Stop!” Thor shouts from behind, throwing Mjolnir and catching Aura off guard, as Sif escapes her grasp.

          Aura smiles, looking back at her new bodyguards, all female, all exotic, one a pale blue, one pink, one a copper color. “We know not to fall for that again. Let her go.”

          “I’m not going anywhere!”

          “Stop. Do you want to die?”

          Sif stands her ground. “Do you want to kill me?”

          “You’re disposable,” laughs Aura, “Did you really think—”

          “Have some humanity, Aura.”

          “Have some common sense. I will get the stones. From Loki. For satisfaction and honor. And to make him pay for what he did. And then…”

          “I think I have something to say about that.”

          “Loki! So nice to,”

          “I won’t fall for that.”

          “I said, and then—”

          “You’ll kill me? Well I guess you’ll have to go ahead, since, I’m not giving you the stones.”

          Aura laughs, “Oh, no. Not yet at least. I like to savor the moment. Maybe we’ll just kill all of your friends, and then bring you to Thanos for a real lesson?”

          “I won’t give them to you.”

          “Tell me what you did with those stones. The tesseract you were to bring Thanos? The scepter he gifted you? Tell me, or I they’ll all die.”

          “You won’t do it, Aura.”

          “Oh yes. I will.” She nods to one of her bodyguards, who throws a knife straight at Sif.

          “Oh,” laughs Aura, as Thor rushes to her side, “She’s his girlfriend.”

          “Stop it. Now!”

          “Oh, the Frost Giant? Your magic won’t hide her from me, Loki. And tell me why I should listen to her….”

          “Stop it!” Lyd catches one of the bodyguards, and begins fighting her, weaving in and out with her technique….

          “Oh, we’ll deal with them in time,” begins Aura, but let’s make this—”

          “You can’t!”

          “Oh yes, I can. And I am in full control over the situation!” Aura’s lips curl upwards as she uses the device again, on Loki. Not me. Everything seems normal.

          “What are you doing?” I ask her. “I thought you wanted to make him watch.”

          “Oh, you know where the stones are, don’t you? I’ll get them from you, to bargain for his life…”

          “You said you would kill him!”

          “I never said anything of the sort.”

          “But you want to, don’t you?”

          “No. Of course not. You are afraid, little girl. Afraid of me? You make me laugh, I can see them now, glistening…the tesseract…but where is it?” No. Wait, what is she doing in my head? I’m using all my willpower to resist, and suddenly, I know I’ve lost. But wait…maybe the key to success is not in resisting it—it’s outplaying her in her own game. I smile as I fire it back at her, and begin, “You thought you could win? I feel a cold hatred. You want to kill him, don’t you? You want to kill him now…get it done, destroy him for killing her…in your heart you know it is a lie, but your resentment…it grows, and you miss her? You were the oldest sister, Nova, the youngest, and you said nothing would ever happen—”

          “Augggghhhhh!” Aura screams as she turns on the chip, and I’m thrown back from the shock and pain. “How dare you get in my head?”

          “How dare you?” I struggle with the chip as I try to remain afloat, conscious, present in the situation. It seems worse each time I feel it. The despair, the pain…fear. Fear. What did Thor say about the chips feeding on fear? Think happy thoughts, Ingrid. I remember running in the field with my brothers when I was seven. Colby was nine, and Calder…no, Calder tried to kill Loki, with the spear wound…he may be back. No, I can’t think like that. Loki. Such an insecure young Prince, so much ahead of him that he could never imagine. We’re in the library, and he told me to get up…no, that’s not good enough. And when he proposed I just felt sad and confused…have I ever been happy…I can remember the grape story he told me about when he was six; I can laugh at that, but he still remember what he talked about the prisoners…in his cell…. everything he had lost. No, I can’t think about that, or my own parents or anything…Thor hitting me over the head with a hammer, Sif stabbing Loki by accident, their banter as Sif flung open all the windows. It was a beautiful morning, so much sun, and Sif was so happy. I never wanted to leave that garden with Loki. The Jotun beast he fed his old scraps. Colby shooting me his own foot during target practice. The horse story. Singing the book. Flowers. Lyd and Loki arguing. Poetry. Loki’s laugh. Thor’s Mjolnir games. The beauty of Asgard. Loki….

          I exhale, picking myself off the floor, dusting myself off. Wait, did I just override the chip? How is this possible? How…?

          “Loki you can override it! Think happy thoughts!”

          “Ingrid…”

          “You have to!”

          “I can’t…”

          “Stop.”

          “Remember what I said? You can’t tell me how to think!”

          “And right she is,” says Aura, “She has no power. But I can.”

          “No.”

          “What did you say?”      

          “I said ‘no.’”

          “What you said, was turn up the chip.” Aura’s lip curls as she switches the lever.

          “STOP!”

          “What, girl?”

          “I said, stop!”

          “Are you going to give me the stones?” Am I? Am I? Maybe I’ve had enough. Maybe….

          “What do you want me to tell you?”

          “Oh, just the locations of each stone. And who hid it there. So, I know who to kill.”

          “Will you spare him if I—?”

          “Hmmm. That’s a tough one.”

          “Aura, he didn’t do it! I did!”

          “You?”

          “Well, I was the only other person in the room, so it logically must have been me.”

          “You’re out of your mind.”

          “No. You are.”

          “Fine. Give me the stones, and I will spare his life.”

          I take a deep breath. “The tesseract is—”

          “Stop!”

          “Loki? How did you--?”

          “You had her distracted—so I did what you said. Mostly you actually.”

          “Me?”

          “We’ll talk later. But you can’t give her the stones.”

          Aura looks furiously at me, as Loki struggles to his feet. “I was this close to having them!”

          “Not anymore.”

          “Excuse me?”        

          “Well, there are many ways you are different from Nova. She actually cared about people. It may not have seemed like it, but does it seem like I care?”

          “Yes,” says Aura dryly.

          “But there is one thing you have in common.”

          “And what’s that?”        

          “You’re pathetic.”

          “You dare threaten me? After that?”

          “Ingrid, I know you probably don’t trust me—but I’ll be needing a weapon.”

          “What?” Aura steps back, “Arina! Karisa! Dola!” She shouts to her bodyguards, but it’s too late. They’re already beaten down by Lyd and fleeing the scene, as Loki seamlessly catches the knife I have started carrying for such encounters.

          “I have one last word to say to you.”

          “And what’s that?” says Aura, coolly trying to ignore the knife pointed straight at her throat.

          “Pathetic.”

          Everything happens in an instant as I jump back quickly, to the sound of the room beginning to crumble, Asgard itself screaming, ready to swallow Aura into the depths of hell.  Lyd has let the bodyguards go now and is looking around frantically at the crumbling room. “Loki! We have to go!”

          “Go where? I did what I needed to do.” He holds the knife to the light, gleaming, in some places, but stained red.

          “Keep it,” I whisper, “You earned it. Uh, we gotta go…”

          “Thor?”

          “Bifrost not an option. No uncharted planets right now…”

          “She came to us,” sighs Lyd, dramatically, “Come on, idiots!”

          “Loki! Go, now! Get us to the forest!”

          With a gold flash, the spell surrounds us, just as the entire wing of the building bursts into flame.

---

“You killed her?” Thor looks slightly surprised as Loki quickly recounts what happened.

          “And I have evidence,” he says, showing Thor the knife.

          “Alright, good. Let’s worry about Sif. We’re going to need you.”

          “What happened?”

          “You missed the knife throw? How did you?”

          “I was a little busy, okay? And I saw it, I was busy after that.”

          “Ok, so she was bleeding. A lot. The knife went in here,” Thor shows Sif’s knife wound, on the right side of her chest. “She lost consciousness about when Ingrid was yelling at you to think happy thoughts; ironic.”

          “I’ll tell you later.”

          “So, you know magic or not?”   

          “Shut up, okay?”

          “I am the mighty Thor! I will not—”

          “Everybody, step back!”

          “Thank you, Loki.”

          “I got it. She’s going to be okay. Just take a bit to recover.”

          “Thank you. You did a lot back there.”

          “Yeah. You still hate me though.”

          “What?”

          “You still hate me…”

          “Stop!”

          “I don’t feel well.”

          “Well of course he doesn’t, idiot!” snaps Lyd, “Leave him alone?”

          After everything, I finally get a good look at Loki in the light. The wound from Calder’s spear never properly healed, appearing infected, and he’s covered in scratches and bruises from fighting, and from the chip.

          “Are you okay?”

          “Don’t ask.”

          “Of course not, I’m an idiot.”

          “No, Ingrid, you’re brilliant! You figured that out!”

          “Yeah. I did. But you killed Aura.”

          “I couldn’t have done it without your diversion.” I don’t tell him it wasn’t a diversion, I was seriously about to hand over the stones.

          “Yeah. But you were still great.”

          “Did I miss anything, mumbles Sif, suddenly waking up, “Why do I feel all weird and numb?”

          “He saved your life, idiot,” says Lyd.

          “Thor?”

          “No, Loki did.”

          “Oh, thanks! So, what happened.”

          “Long story,” begins Thor, proceeding to tell her everything, but I ignore that.

          I take another look at Calder’s wound. “That looks bad.”

          Loki winces. “It’s nothing.”

          “It’s not nothing. And I feel like apologizing for my brother.”

          “Don’t, that’s stupid.”

          “Okay. But can you use your magic on yourself?”

          “That would be selfish and weird. I never tried.”

          “Can you try?”

          “I don’t think I have any magic left in me, Ingrid.”

          “You’re exhausted. We all are.”

          “I suppose…”

          “You should rest.”

          “I won’t rest until Thanos is defeated.”

          “I know. But you have to try.”

          “Okay. I’ll try…” and with that, he closes his eyes, with the first real sleep in months.