UNEXPECTED ALLIES

 

 

Jane didn’t know what Selvig was planning or whether he would be able to get Thor out of the mess he had created by crashing illegally into the S.H.I.E.L.D. post. What would he tell them? What if they arrested Erik, too, and kept him along with Thor? Every time the wind blew or a car passed by the lab, Jane jumped. Finally, Darcy sent her to the trailer to get some rest, insisting that she’d tell her when Selvig and Thor returned.

Just as Jane was falling into a fitful sleep, there was a loud rapping on the door. Jumping up, she threw it open to see Thor standing there, Selvig thrown over one shoulder. Jane’s hand went to her heart, and she let out a loud gasp. “What happened?” she said. “Is he…?” She didn’t dare say the word aloud. But then Selvig groaned and mumbled something about gods of thunder and realms, and she caught an unmistakable odor.

It seemed Selvig and Thor had gone out to celebrate Thor’s escape from S.H.I.E.L.D. She should have known.

Gesturing behind her, Jane stepped aside so Thor could come in. There was something different about him. He seemed quieter, less sure of himself. She wondered what had happened after she’d left the base to make him act this way. Gently, Thor placed Selvig on the bed and then patted the old man’s cheek. Yes, Jane thought, something must have happened.

Then she realized Thor was no longer looking at Selvig but glancing around the trailer at the empty pizza boxes, old newspapers, and cookie wrappers. “Can we go outside?” Jane suggested.

Thor nodded, and they walked out of the trailer and headed over to the lab. On the roof, Jane had set up some chairs and a telescope and there were a few blankets.

“I come up here sometimes when I can’t sleep,” she explained. “Or when I’m trying to reconcile particle data. Or when Darcy’s driving me crazy.” She paused as a smile crept over Thor’s face. “I come up here a lot, now that I think about it.”

Thor didn’t say anything. Instead, he just looked up at the night sky, as if it could provide him with answers. Once again, Jane was struck with the clear sense that the Thor she had known this morning was different from this Thor. This Thor seemed more human despite the impressive muscles.

Finally, he spoke up, his deep and somber voice in the stillness of the night startling Jane. “You’ve been very kind,” he said. “I’ve been far less grateful than you deserve.”

“I also hit you with my car a couple of times, so it kind of evens out,” Jane said, teasing him.

Thor grinned and nodded. Then he reached into the pocket of his pants and pulled out Jane’s notebook. He held it out to her. “It was all I could get back,” he said apologetically. “Not as much as I promised. I’m sorry.”

Jane took the notebook and opened it gently, as though scared it would disappear again. He had no idea how important this notebook was. It meant that she wouldn’t have to start from scratch. That she could still prove her hypothesis. It was the greatest thing he could have gotten back. “Thank you,” she said softly.

Then her face clouded over.

“What’s wrong?” Thor asked, concerned.

“S.H.I.E.L.D.,” she answered. “Whatever they are, they’re never going to let this research see the light of day.”

“You must finish what you’ve started.”

“Why?” Jane asked, surprised at the urgency in his tone. And the confidence.

“Because you’re right,” he said simply. “It’s taken so many generations for your people to get to this point. You’re nearly there. You just need someone to show you how close you really are.”

As he spoke, Thor moved closer. Jane’s heart hammered in her chest as he reached over and took her notebook from her hands. Opening it to the image of what he called the Bifrost, he smiled. He was going to show her just how close she really was.

He drew a picture of Yggdrasil, the World Tree, from which all things sprang. Its branches reached out to the Nine Realms. “Your ancestors called it magic,” he said. “You call it science. I come from a place where they’re one and the same. Your world—this world, Midgard—is one of the Nine Realms, linked together by the branches of the World Tree.”

He looked at her. She was listening. Also she was very beautiful, Thor thought. He kept talking, telling the story, just to keep her looking at him and listening.

In the banquet hall, Volstagg did what he always did. He ate. He cleared platters of food, threw them aside, and went on to the next. Sif stood looking out the window, ill at ease, trying to think of a way to get Thor back to Asgard without Loki’s interference. Hogun and Fandral watched Volstagg, awed as always by his endless appetite.

Finally, Fandral couldn’t stand it anymore. “Our dearest friend banished, Loki on the throne, Asgard on the brink of war, yet you manage to consume four wild boars, six pheasants, a side of beef, and two casks of ale. Shame on you!” he shouted. “Don’t you care?”

He swiped Volstagg’s latest platter off the table. Furiously Volstagg drew his sword. “Do not mistake my appetite for apathy,” he warned.

Sif understood. Volstagg loved to eat, but right now he was eating because it made him feel good in the midst of a bad situation.

“Stop it, both of you!” she said. “We all know what we have to do. We’re just too afraid to do it!”

This shamed them all. It was true. They were hesitating because they were afraid. That kind of fear was not worthy of an Asgardian.

“We must go,” Hogun said. “We must find Thor.”

“It’s treason, Hogun,” Fandral protested.

“Not to mention it’s suicide,” Volstagg added.

“Thor would do the same for us,” Sif said quietly.

The Warriors Three fell silent. It was true. They owed it to their friend, and they owed it to Asgard.

But before they could act, an Einherjar Guard entered the banquet hall. Lady Sif and the Warriors Three tensed. Was this the moment when Loki would move against them?

“Heimdall demands your presence,” the guard said.

Volstagg looked gloomy again. He was thinking what they all were thinking: If Heimdall had heard them discussing treason, they might be in very deep trouble indeed.

“We’re doomed,” he said.

One did not refuse a summons from Heimdall. They found him standing at his station, before the Observatory’s controls. He stared at them for a long moment, until all four of them were thoroughly unsettled and nervous.

At last Volstagg spoke, just so someone would say something. “Good Heimdall, let us explain—”

Heimdall cut him off immediately. “You would defy the commands of Loki, our king, break every oath you have taken as warriors, and commit treason to bring Thor back?”

The four of them looked at each other, then back to Heimdall. What could they say? Volstagg nodded at Sif, trying to prompt her to say something. She was the one who usually spoke without putting her foot in her mouth.

She glared back at him, then looked to Heimdall. “Yes,” she said, “but—”

Now it was her turn to be interrupted by Heimdall. “Good,” he said.

For a moment they were sure they must have misunderstood him. But he said nothing else.

Eventually, Volstagg asked the question all of them wanted to ask.“So you’ll help us?”

“I am bound by honor to our king. I cannot open the Bifrost to you,” Heimdall said.

This was a letdown. Sif and the Warriors Three were once again confused.

Then Heimdall strode past them, leaving them alone in the Observatory.

“Complicated fellow, isn’t he?” Fandral observed after a while.

Volstagg waited another moment. He still feared being overheard. Then he asked, “Now what do we do?”

Sif had been looking around the Observatory, frustrated at being so close to the Bifrost, yet still unable to help Thor.

Then she saw something. “Look!”

The others turned and saw what she was pointing at. They all started to grin at each other.

Heimdall had left the Observatory, but he had also left his sword in the controls. The message was clear: He was letting them use the Bifrost, at great danger to himself.

Now all they had to do was open it up and go find Thor.

Heimdall took up his station outside the Observatory, after Sif and the Warriors Three were gone. He had his sword again and feared he would have to use it… for Loki was approaching him on the short spur of the Rainbow Bridge that connected the Observatory to Asgard proper.

“Tell me, Loki,” Heimdall said as Loki stopped a few feet in front of him. He carried Odin’s spear, Gungnir. “How did you get the Jotuns into Asgard?”

Loki did not bother to deny the accusation. “You think the Bifrost is the only way in and out of the realm?” he said with a smirk. “There are secret paths among worlds to which even you with all your gifts are blind. But I have need of them no longer, now that I am king.”

Then he grew more serious. “And, I say, for your act of treason, you are relieved of your duties as gatekeeper. And you are no longer a citizen of Asgard.”

“Then I need no longer obey you,” Heimdall said, and raised his sword. He had known this moment would come.

He struck at Loki, but Loki moved just a bit faster. Pointing Gungnir at Heimdall, he unleashed a storm of frost. Ice collected on Heimdall’s armor, slowing the stroke of his sword. Heimdall pushed forward with all his strength, baring his teeth with effort. Still his great sword moved, but more and more slowly. Loki’s skin turned blue and his eyes took on the red color of his true father, Laufey.

Heimdall was a fearsome warrior, but even he was not quite strong enough to overcome the combined power of Gungnir and Loki’s magic. He was frozen solid, with the edge of his sword scant inches from the side of Loki’s throat.

Loki paused. Gradually, the Jotun blue left his skin and his eyes returned to their normal green color. That had been closer than he would have wanted. He leaned away from Heimdall’s sword and turned on his heel.

There was one final task to complete.

The Vault was silent. The Cask of Ancient Winters stood on its pedestal. Loki stepped around the pedestal and gestured toward the gate holding the Destroyer back.

The gate folded away into itself and the Destroyer stepped forward.

“Ensure my brother does not return,” Loki said.