The Demigod
Chapter 3: The Demigod
Hours later, Thor and Loki were standing in front of a police station in the middle of a busy Grecian street. The station was covered in posters of missing persons in all languages, flipping like flaglets. The brothers studied the pictures, showing individual persons as well as families missing together. There were also groups huddled together by the door. Loki inched closer to eavesdrop.
“The last time I talked to him was in the afternoon. He said Kalambaka was beautiful,” a woman, with a heavy Italian accent, shared with the group as she controlled her sobbing. “I never thought that would be the last time I get to hear my son.”
“I wonder how they died. There were no bodies,” another woman said, who sounds like a French person.
“How about you, sir?” A man interrupted Loki’s concentration. He looked down at the man. “Are you looking for someone?”
“Uh, I’m…” He paused as he looked for his brother. Thor was talking to another group of people looking for their missing loved ones. “I’m looking for my brother.”
The man nodded and patted Loki’s arm. He instinctively flinched and wanted to swat the man’s hand away but he decided against it and allowed the man to do it, thinking he would allow this from a Midgardian, if this gesture gives the man any comfort. “Hopefully we will find our families.” The man gave him a sad smile. Loki’s jaw clenched and gave him a curt nod.
He left the group to pull Thor back to the mission. “I have a question,” Loki started. “Do we really have to work with the Avengers?” Loki made quotation marks in the air when he said “the Avengers”.
Thor, whose brows are furrowed in disappointment, studied his brother. “We have to. This also concerns Midgard.”
“But I can work on this, without even putting Midgard in peril, if that’s what you want.” Loki glanced lazily at him, arms crossed on his chest.
“Oh, really?” Thor snarked.
Loki rolled his eyes and sighed. “Don’t even start on that..”
But Thor was on a different page. “Father specifically instructed us to work together on this. You on finding out what is going on with the tesseract -”
“La, la, la, la…”
“-you team up with the demigod guardian-”
“La, la, la, la…”
Thor’s anger was rising up. “-and we have to work with the Avengers.” Thor pressed the handle of his umbrella on Loki’s chest. Thunder rumbled from a distance. Loki stepped back and raised his arms, feeling the weight of Mjölnir. “Are you even listening?”
Loki laughed sarcastically. “I heard you perfectly, Thor.” He patted his shoulder. “But I can really do this on my own.”
“We need Lady Lords. She knows who we’re facing.”
Loki groaned. Despite his want to see her again, he still badly wanted to work on the tesseract case on his own. But he kept this sentiment of his. There is no way he will tell Thor about it. “Fine, fine! At least I won’t get shoved in a box unconscious this time.”
“Who would even do that?” Thor asked.
Theo and the SHARP society did, Loki thought.
“Are we going in together or just me?” Thor asked Loki.
“Are we really going to have this discussion? Of course, we are going in together.” Loki said and started going up the stairs. “Come on then, hen.” Thor followed his brother.
“Hi, there,” Thor said in an upbeat manner to the police officer who was on the front desk. The police officer gawked at the two gods towering over him. “We are looking for Detective Stella Nys-”
“Stella Lords,” Loki interrupted quickly. “We are here for Detective Stella Lords.” He glared at his brother. The police officer stared at him, still fazed. Loki found this quite annoying and leaned forward. “Did you hear me,” Loki said in Greek. His gaze hovered at the man's nameplate pinned on his chest, "Officer Simonides?"
The police officer snapped from his daze. “I’m sorry. What are you here for? Are you here for your missing loved ones? The table over there -” he pointed at the desk near the door “-caters for those concerns.”
Thor smiled at him. “But we’re not here for the missing loved ones. We are here for Detective Lords, specifically.”
The man’s forehead crunched. “She’s rather tied up with the Kalambaka case and she instructed us to only notify her of highly important matters.”
Loki’s patience was as thin as a thread by this time but he tried so hard not to show it. “We are here for an urgent matter that we have to discuss with the Detective,” he said, his voice feigning friendliness. Thor glanced at him with a frown, hoping his brother won’t brandish a knife in the middle of a Midgardian police station.
“Do you have an appointment with Detective Lords?”
“Just get us to her!” Loki snarled, throwing the officer off guard.
He froze and blinked. “Ah yes. I’m sorry,” he mumbled and picked up the phone. “Detective Lords, there are two men here who wanted to see you,” the officer said in Greek. “She asked who you are.”
“Tell her the Asgardians,” Thor replied in Greek as well.
“Asgardians,” the officer repeated the word slowly, unsure if it was happening for real or not. “Right. They said they were the Asgardians?” the officer nodded and put down the phone. “Her office is at the back. Go straight, then right. You won’t miss it.”
Loki grinned at him. “Well, that was easy. Thank you very much, Midgardian,” he said in English and they started walking. “Didn’t you read her profile? She refers to herself as Lords, not Nystrom.” he hissed at his brother.
“But Nystrom was the one written on top of the page.”
Loki sighed. “She could blast you back to Asgard if she hears you call her Nystrom.”
“But why not use Nystrom?”
Loki stopped walking and faced his brother. “Leave it be. She possibly has her reasons and we stay out of it. Clear?”
“Alright,” Thor said and they turned right. “Ah, here it is.” They stopped at a door that said ‘Detective Stella Lords’. Thor opened the door. "Lady Stella Lords! Daughter of Zeus!" he boomed.
Loki winced. Ah, yes. Announce her secret to the world, brother. That will definitely get you in her good graces.
“Ah yes, the Asgardian brothers.” Stella looked up from her paper-covered desk when they entered. Loki took a good look at her. Her hair was fixed in a messy bun, a few loose strands framing her face and accentuating her brown, almond-shaped eyes. She was wearing a buttoned-up white shirt with sleeves folded up to her elbows. He remembered her flushed face the first time he saw her, taking down a god who tried to slice his head off. The woman before them was far from that warrior who saved him. “To what do I owe this visit?” she said.
Thor and Loki, being the well-built warrior gods of Asgard, have occupied most of the space in Stella's already cramped office. They sat down in front of her desk upon her invitation. "Apologies for the mess. Earthrealm cases have been filling up most of my time."
"I was not aware you do detective work apart from being…" Loki paused to think of the right word.
"Being Olympus' liaison for all the other realms, yes," Stella finished his sentence for him.
"Is that what you call it?" Thor asked. "The Allfather said you were a guardian."
"Kind of like that." she tapped a finger on her desk. "So, is this about Kalambaka?" Loki nodded. "What do you know? Did Heimdall see anything peculiar aside from people disappearing out of nowhere?"
"We had difficulties determining who did that. Heimdall could not see who it was." Thor replied. “But he did mention whoever attacked the town made everyone disappear.”
“Yes. True enough we cannot locate every single person who is in town, locals nor tourists,” she said as she pats the file on her desk. “Our phones are ringing non-stop, receiving calls from all around the world.” She looked up from the folder she was reading and leaned back on the chair. “I’ve never seen this kind of attack ever in my life,” she said, her eyes distant and defeated. “It is possible someone obliterated them with dark magic.”
"Is there a possibility that it would be Ares?" Loki asked.
She looked at him and leaned on the desk. "He's incarcerated. Except if he has someone working for him. Would you like to visit the site?"
"How far is it from here?"
"We'll walk for a few seconds, find an empty alleyway, and we'll take it from there." she stood and put her gun in her holster.
"Are you saying we're going to -"
"Yes, we are." Stella didn't let Loki finish. "Don't worry, I'll handle it." They left her office. "You don't need to use your powers; as I understand it diminishes when you're here in the Earthrealm."
"Not really," Loki replied arrogantly. "Why do you have a gun?"
"Standard issue." They left the station. "I couldn't tell them I can conjure magic from my hands, they'll impale me."
"They still do that?" Thor said and Loki side-eyed him for that ridiculous question.
"I'm just kidding, Thor. They would actually burn me." Stella replied seriously and Thor got it this time and chuckled. Loki smirked. They turned to an empty alley and hid behind a wall. Stella snapped and Loki felt like they were in a thick glass case. She opened her right palm and a ball of blue light appeared. Then she covered it with her left hand and...
They were in the middle of the wrecked town. Thor and Loki looked around. Loki could immediately feel the vibration of the magic used to destroy the town. He sighed heavily as they tread on.
"You can feel it, don't you?" Stella asked him when he caught up with her. "At first I was trying not to think about it but I gave in."
"I believe sorcery was indeed involved here, and it is possible that was the reason why everyone disappeared," Loki answered. Stella flicked her hand to the rubble and the blue wisps settled on the debris to show the yellow residue of magic. Loki knelt and poked at the residue. The residue reacted to his energy and the rubble vibrated violently.
"What was that?" Thor asked and the yellow residue moved in front of them, piling up on each other until it looked like a person as built as Thor.
"It's a Mres warrior!" Stella said and she and Loki simultaneously conjured a protective force field around the three of them.
“Does that answer your question, brother?” Loki tells Thor.
While they were covered in a mist of blue and green, the Mres warrior hacked their shield with a spear. The impact caused a boom, toppling the warrior.
Loki raised his hand to lift a huge chunk of cement using his magic and threw it at the attacker's direction, hitting the head. "It's solid, alright," Thor said and he stepped out of the force shield, already clutching Mjölnir. He swung the hammer to the warrior, hitting it on the chest.
The warrior fell back. Loki and Stella extinguished their force shield and they started attacking the beast with their magic. When the beast managed to stand up, Stella blasted her energy into the chest. Little did she know Loki also thought of it. Blue and green beams sank into the beast's chest. It wailed and exploded, sending puffs of yellow debris into the air.
"It's Ares. Definitely his work," she said after the air settled.
"Do you hear that?" Thor asked them. Loki and Stella looked at him. "I hear footsteps."
They stood in silence. From a distance, they could hear a crunching sound of a shoe stepping on gravel. Stella walked towards the direction of the sound, followed by the Asgardians. She snapped her fingers and the sound of their steps disappeared. Stella raised a fist, signaling them to stop before she entered another house.
"You shouldn't be here." they heard her say.
They followed her and saw that she's pointing her gun to a man inside the house, his back facing them. The man turned to face them. "This will be my father's land." the man said and his eyes glowed yellow.
Stella holstered her gun and a sword appeared in her right hand. "Who are you?"
Loki and Thor readied themselves for an attack. They slowly walked closer to Stella. The man picked up a sword from the ground and walked towards her. As he was walking, his outfit changed into an armor. "I am a son of Ares," he said as he extended the sword to Stella.
Stella's outfit changed into her white and gold armor they are familiar with, losing her Midgardian detective outfit. "A demigod, huh?" she said.
In less than a minute, the man closed their distance and swung his sword to her left. Stella blocked it with her cuffed arm and kicked him square on the chest. Thor looked at Loki, “should we do anything?”
“Let them be,” Loki said, amused. “We’ll just watch her back. Except if you feel the desire to help, you can go ahead and get stabbed. I’ll just stay here until I need to pull you out of it.”
The young man stood up from his fall and his hands glowed yellow. Suddenly, the shadow warriors appeared. “Attack the two men,” the young man commanded. “I will deal with the woman.”
“How cute,” Stella growled and she pulled out a sword from her back.
“Do try not to get hurt now, brother. I don’t want to do all the work.” Loki said as he looked at his brother and swapped their Midgardian clothes to their Asgardian armor. Thor wielded Mjölnir and Loki his blades.
For the next 30 minutes, Loki and Thor dealt with the 10 shadow warriors as Stella dealt with the young man. And at the last minute when the brothers defeated the shadow warriors, Stella disarmed the young man and pushed him against the wall, her blade on his throat.
“Was it you who did this to the town?” she sneered. The man laughed maniacally. Stella shoved the blade further his throat and he grunted.
“We should probably take things slow,” Loki suggested.
“There’s no time for a good cop, bad cop scenario here.” Stella glanced at him. Loki grinned at Thor, who was not so sure what was gonna happen next. “Now, tell me. What happened here and who did this?”
“You probably should know by now.” the man replied.
“Your father? Is it him?”
It’s nice to know we aren’t the only dysfunctional godly family in the universe. Loki thought.
“You know you were the talk of the century. Someone who always wanted to be noticed by - OOF!” Stella threw a punch at the man and he fell. Loki raised an eyebrow over the man’s statement.
She grabbed him by the hair and placed the tip of her blade back to his neck. “One last time, did Ares send you?”
The man gave a sinister smile. “I am one of many.” the man said as he popped something inside his mouth. “Ares might be behind bars but we will do what he was meant to do if it means overthrowing Olympus.” he started to choke on the froth that was bubbling on his mouth. “Earthrealm...will be...ours…” He spat before he passed out.
Stella dropped the man as he faded away from humanity. She bit her lip as she stood up. She took a deep breath and faced the Asgardians. “It’s Ares,” she told them as she put back her sword on its sheath. “He commanded his demigod child to do this.”
“And a demigod is?” Thor asked.
“Half-mortal, half-god.” she stopped on her tracks and looked at them. “You Asgardians don’t have that kind of thing?”
“We have not heard of such an occurrence,” Loki answered. But I can possibly make an exception…
“Well, it’s a thing for Greek gods.” They gathered outside the house. “Especially Zeus.”
“Your father,” Thor said.
Stella looked back at the house. “Yeah, my father,” she repeated with a faraway look in her eyes.
“I didn’t expect you to be a ruthless detective, Lords,” Loki said with a smug look on his face.
“He obliterated every innocent person in this town in the name of his father, the god of war. Would that not piss you off?!” Stella lashed out since the first minute she had stepped into this torn town.
“Okay,” Loki mumbled and glanced at Thor, stepping back to stay behind his brother. Thor tilted his head to the side and frowned. Stella turned her back against them and returned to the house. They both looked at her and saw her open her palm to blast a blue light on the man’s body and the man was obliterated. “What did you do?!” Loki said in disbelief.
“Sent him to the underworld. He can’t be seen here.” Loki sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “You don’t have to worry about him. He’s dead,” she added. “I think I need to pay Ares a visit.”
Loki looked at Thor and started to walk towards Stella. Thor held a hand to stop his brother. “Let me do it.”
Loki stared at him. “Are you sure? You aren’t the most...tactful.”
“Trust me.” Thor gave him a reassuring nod and he entered the house. Loki threw his hands in exasperation and shifted his attention to their surroundings. Thor caught a glimpse of the spot where the man once was and saw a sliver of his saliva. “I was impressed by your power since the day you grabbed Ares by the neck in Asgard, Lady Stella.”
“It was just something I had to do. Put him in his place. Olympus is in danger with him running about.”
“I was thinking it would be better for us to work together,” Thor stood next to her. “Putting Ares in his place, you say?”
“I’m always available to work with you and your brother, your highness.”
“Please, you can call me Thor.” She nodded. “I also know a group of mortals protecting Midgard. They might be helpful for us. They will be glad to assist us in the case.”
“Did Fury send you?” Stella faced him, her voice was calm but a serious look on her face. Loki entered the house when he heard her question. “He told me about the group. Is that the group you meant?” she thoughtfully said while caressing her metal cuffs. Thor nodded. “So you two work with him?”
“Um, not really,” Loki said.
“Yes, we do,” Thor said otherwise. His younger brother gave him an eye.
“Okay.” Stella was getting weird signals from Loki. He might or might not be working with Fury but she knows - she feels - that he is deeply concerned for his brother and does not want anything to happen to him. That could work. “Whatever it is, whether both of you work with Fury or not, I’m here to help Asgard. Anyway, this has been your case too since Ares attacked you.” She referred to Loki.
“Fury works as a guardian of Midgard,” Thor explained. “He brings capable people together to defend Earth against threats from anywhere.”
Stella nodded, letting all the information sink in.
“I know there are a lot of things to process. You can take your time -”
“I’ll check on Ares,” she said and pulled out something from her pocket. “Meanwhile, I don’t know if you two will go back to Asgard after this, but I’ll find you.” she looked at the engraved rocks from her pocket. “I’ll tell you my decision in person.” she gave them the rocks.
“And what is this for?” Loki raised an eyebrow.
“Think of it as a tracker. That’s how I can find you,” she said. Her hands glowed and after a few seconds, she vanished.
A second later, Stella arrived in Olympus’s high-profile security prison only to find all the guards dead. “Shit!” she hissed and ran to Ares’ cell only to find it empty as well.