Ghosts
Chapter 12: Ghosts
Loki returned to his room and sat on the couch. He rests his elbows on his knees and runs his hands through his face. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about. He kept on repeating to himself. But the more he says it, the more he’s unconvinced by his words, the more he wants to find out why Stella perceives him as such. In a world where everyone either avoids him or looks at him with such animosity, here is Stella Lords telling him that there’s good in him. He couldn’t understand what had happened. Unlike the other Avengers who are reluctant in trusting him, Stella showed that she trusts him fully, and it seems that she made sure to show it since they met again in Kalambaka.
He went back reflecting on his thoughts back when they were in Athens. Have I grown fond of her? But this was not a question of him growing fond of her, the question was why she felt that way. She was not afraid of him nor acting cautiously around him. It was like she didn’t know what he did. Maybe she indeed doesn’t know anything, he thought. Or has she grown fond of me?
No, it can’t be. He stood up and paced through the window, overlooking the busy New York skyline. If she surely knows my sins in this city, she can’t accept me. But why would she offer her hand when she said she wanted to know me? He felt his stomach churn unnaturally. His emotions were overwhelming and he wanted to throw up. Now, only one question reverberates in his head: why?
On the other hand, Stella was not so pleased to be stuck in the medical bay, thus she requested to borrow one of the Avengers’ spare laptops to work on some possible leads, talking to Alexis over a video call and asking for any developments on the case. Alexis told her that he is in contact with a few trusted demigods within the Ministry of Defense and they are working on how to report the incident to the mortals.
“At this point, we’re willing to fabricate a story. The gods have nothing to say about this.”
“You mean our fathers?” Stella interrupted.
Alexis snickered. “Yeah. And congratulations on being tied to an IV after two decades.” He laughed.
Stella rolled her eyes. “So, it’s up to us,” she said after his laughter died down.
“No. It’s up to you.” He pointed at her. “It’s up to you and the Avengers. What we’re doing here is crowd control. And we still don’t know where he is right now.”
“That’s why I’m working with these guys but I’m tied up at the moment, you see.” She raised her hands connected to the IVs.
Alexis chuckled. “You better slow it down this time, Stell. I don’t want you to hurt yourself further.” He moved on his seat. “Anyway, you said the daggers are enchanted?”
Around lunch, her gyro cravings were satisfied when Bruce came back with 3 gyros - one for her, one for him, and one for Loki, much to the Asgardian’s surprise.
Since Natasha was on the field with Steve, Tony was out of the tower, doing Stark Industries business, Bruce was on the move, going in and out of the tower and spending most of the time in the lab, Alexis went offline, Stella was left to her thoughts. Her conversation with Loki was on replay in her head. She opened her palm and closed her eyes. After a few seconds, a Rubik’s cube appeared on her hand. Satisfied with her simple act of magic, she shuffled the cube.
Her thoughts wandered back to the conversation.
She felt her chest swell when she remembered Loki saying “I am not here for a long run.” Why would he say that? She thought as she turned each side of the cube. She was also wondering why Loki would save her, to the point of taking care of her. Even though she was heavily drugged by pain medicines he injected into her back in Athens, she’s grateful for the care he has given her. She dropped her hands on her lap and closed her eyes as her body remembered the sensation of his arms around her, her back against his chest, his warm breath against her skin. She smiled and let out a soft moan. She remembered his soft, low voice.
She badly wanted to know him more. Loki was a mystery she wanted to unveil. Loki’s flight from her room did not deter her.
Back in his room, Loki was on the barstool, a laptop open in front of him, and the dagger on his left. For the whole day, he was scavenging for any information about the dagger. He wanted to know if it has any historical significance. So far, he couldn’t find any information regarding the weapon. Sometimes he wished he was in Asgard with the dagger so he could extract the enchantments with the potions available there. He had no choice but to depend on Midgardian technology and his energies.
Despite busying himself with his research, Stella’s words were still nudging him.
He placed his elbows on the table and buried his face into his raised hands. He might be the god of tricks but this was a tricky thing to solve. He hopes Agent Romanoff and the Captain would bring back new information.
The alarm blasted over his head. “Attention! Level 51 has been compromised.” The PA security system blared.
Level 51. That’s where the scepter is.
Loki got out of his room and he was swarmed by the same shadow soldiers Ares summoned in Asgard and the ones they fought off in Kalambaka. He cloned himself and pulled his usual tricks, making the soldiers stab each other or his clone stabbing the soldiers. When he has defeated all of the shadow soldiers both with his clones and magic, he translocates himself to the 51st floor.
In the infirmary, Stella took a moment to observe beyond the room’s windows when the alarm filled the silent bay. “JARVIS, what’s happening?”
“There has been an intrusion, Miss Lords. I will be reinforcing your room’s security.” A steel sheet appeared on the door and covered the windows. Stella remained calm, putting her trust in JARVIS and Tony.
“Who attacked the tower? Can you give me a live view?” The television hanging from the ceiling came to life and it showed her a hallway with shadow soldiers. She cleared her throat. “Show me Loki.” The video changed and she watched as multiple Lokis tackle on the shadow soldiers blocking his way on the corridor. “Any shadow warriors on this floor?” She kept her voice steady.
The images on the screen switched to show the floor empty. The nurses and doctor on duty were locked and secured in one room.
For Stella, silence from the god of war was not a good sign.
She heightened her senses and placed the Rubik’s cube aside. She opened her palm and concentrated, imagining her sword taking its shape on her -
Her eyelids flew open when her hands were grabbed away from her body. JARVIS activated the lights, blinding her and whoever was in the room. She blinked quickly and saw that the room now has six shadow warriors and four of them were holding her down.
She screamed and squirmed but she couldn’t release her arms. In her current state, the warriors were stronger than her. A shadow warrior jumped on the bed, standing over her, and his spear pointed to her neck. Stella didn’t want to cry but tears were now streaming to the pillow. She fought her tears as she tried to release a lash of energy from her arms.
Like a flickering bulb, blue sparks roughly appeared on her hands, burning the warriors gripping her but they held on. Stella groaned as she channeled her energies to her hands and the sparks grew stronger, enough for them to let go of her. Her hands flew to the spear and with all her remaining might, thrust it back to the warrior. The shadow warrior toppled off the bed and she swung the spear, hitting the warriors holding her legs on the head. She elbowed the warrior who grabbed her from the back. She stood up on her bed in a second, swinging and stabbing the spear on her attackers.
When they ended up dead on the floor, she noticed the pain on her hands and saw that the needles were dislodged and red splotches appeared at the back of her hand. She dropped the spear and pulled the needles, gritting her teeth as she did. Being in her weak state, she almost fell on a shadow warrior as she got off the bed. She looked at herself and noticed blood all over her clothes as if she was in a Quentin Tarantino movie. She checked the IV pole and realized that the blood bag exploded at one point during the battle. She pulled out a pair of sneakers from the cabinet and put it on.
“JARVIS, let me out please.”
“I can’t, Miss Lords. Th-”
“JARVIS.” Her eyes locked on the camera at the corner of the room. “Please. No offense but these warriors can go through your security system just like what they did.” The metal sheet retracted to the wall. “By the way, any hidden guns here?”
“Unfortunately, there are no weapons here.”
When she bolted out of the room, a swarm of shadow warriors appeared out of nowhere. She threw a bloody punch to the first shadow soldier she encountered. She bashed her spear to every soldier that came into her way. She ran towards the elevator and closed it behind her. To her surprise, the shadow soldiers suddenly appeared inside and she screamed, slashing them with the sword she grabbed from a fallen shadow soldier, fearful that it may be her last minutes.
Loki appeared on the 51st floor. When the shadow soldiers felt that he had arrived, every one of them charged at him. He put up his force shield as they stormed him. The floor rumbled and he saw the Hulk throwing each enemy soldier into each other like dolls but they disappeared into the night and reappeared.
He had to tell the Hulk that throwing them out was a useless endeavor but first he had to get out of this shield bubble. Hulk, try smashing their head. Loki sent the thought to Hulk. Hulk snapped his head towards him and bared his teeth. He then picked up two enemy soldiers and smashed their heads together. That’s it, Loki sent another thought and he swore he saw a smirk on Hulk’s face.
He closed his eyes as he brought forth his energy. He could feel the heat reverberating through his arms and when he released it, feeling like a bomb going off. The energy broke the soldiers in half.
Then he heard a woman’s scream. Stella! He noticed the Hulk turn to the sound too. They both looked at each other and the Hulk ran towards the elevator, grabbing the soldiers out of it. Loki could not concentrate fending off the shadow soldiers. He wanted to know if Stella was injured once again.
“Doc Bruce, I’m okay! We need to secure the scepter!” He heard Stella shout. She’s fine, she’s fine, he assured himself and continued to stab the shadow soldiers.
Stella punched the glass of the emergency box, making her fist bloody again. She pulled out the ax and started hacking every soldier that came in her way. She climbed a box to check who’s inside the room where the scepter is and she saw a man dressed in brown leather armor, enchanting his way to open Stark’s glass case that housed the scepter. She was sure that he was a demigod. There were shadow warriors all around him and it seems to be impossible to penetrate when it’s just her, Loki, and the Hulk fending them off. “Jarvis, where is everybody?! We’re outnumbered!” She said.
The AI replied through the earpiece she grabbed from her bedside on the medical floor. “Agent Romanoff and Captain Rogers are on their way back to the tower. They have been notified of the situation. Mr. Stark just arrived.” The window exploded and Tony flew by with his suit.
“Now who the hell broke into the tower?!” Tony said as he blasted the soldiers.
"I want that demigod tranqed!" Stella commanded, pointing her ax at the demigod.
Tony gasped when he saw her. “You look like Carrie after prom!”
“Not my blood!” Well, kind of her blood because all of those came from the blood bag that was hooked to her.
One of the shadow soldiers dragged Iron Man by his foot. “Get off me, you pesky seaweed!” Tony sent a photon blast to the shadow soldier and another one jumped on his back. “I’m going to be busy here, kid!” He told Stella and she nodded, slashing her way out of the shadow soldiers’ grips.
The soldiers don’t shed blood. Instead, they bleed a tar-like substance, which now covered Stella’s clothes. She hacked her way inside the laboratory; when she entered the scepter was gone.
“Looking for this?” A man said then choked Stella from the back using the scepter.
Stella’s eyes widened. That voice sounds familiar. She mustered all her strength and elbowed him. As the man curled, she snatched the scepter from him and swung it at the nearest soldier. She faced the man and touched his chin with the tip of the scepter.
She gasped. “Jericho?!”
Jericho grinned wickedly. "Lords, it has been a long time." He swept at her feet and she stumbled hard, releasing the scepter, her head hitting on a metal bar screwed to the floor. Stella huffed in pain from her head and her stab wound, threatening to open for the third time. At the same time, Jericho unleashed energy throughout the whole room.
Tony looked at the ceiling when the lights on the floor flickered. “What was that?”
“It’s external energy that went off on this floor, sir,” Jarvis replied through his suit’s system.
He looked around but there was no visible explosion. “On this floor? Where exactly?” Tony heard Stella gasp over his earpiece. He flew and saw Stella struggling to stand inside. He blasted the lab's glass wall but it only trembled. “It should have been broken by now”, he said and sent another blast. Nothing happened.
"The walls are enchanted!" Loki yelled at him. He tried throwing his dagger and the shadow soldier's spear at the glass but to no avail. Loki conjured the Aresian dagger and pierced the force shield around the room. The dagger ignited a spark and it ricocheted off Loki’s grip. He extended his hand; the dagger stopped midair and he summoned it back to him, keeping it back into his subspace.
“Do the spears have spells on them?” Tony asked as he pummeled one shadow soldier standing between him and the room.
Loki picked up one to inspect but got thrown off his feet by another shadow soldier barreling in. The Hulk grabbed the shadow soldier off Loki and smashed its head to the concrete post. The Hulk then turned to Loki, who raised his hands in defense. “I didn’t do anything!” Loki yelled.
The Hulk picked him up by the shoulder of his coat and dropped him on his feet. Loki’s hands were shielding his face, ready for impact. The Hulk grunted. “Puny god.”
While that was happening, Tony picked up a spear while blasting energy beams on shadow soldiers attacking him. “Jarvis, any inscriptions on this spear?” A light beam appeared from Tony’s helmet and scanned the spear.
“Nothing similar to the dagger, sir.”
Loki went back to counter-attacking next to Stark. "She's trapped. This isn't good. I should be the one in there. The scepter won't work on me." Stark told Loki and he continued hurling the soldiers with Hulk.
Loki jumped over the soldiers and landed in front of the room’s glass. He held onto the glass and concentrated his energy on his hands. Static pricks his palms and he felt like a grenade went off on the wall as he released it. But to no avail. He banged on the glass. "Stella!" He yelled and she looked at him as she came around. She was still on the floor, scrambling around for her ax. Loki tried using his magic to bring the ax to her. Despite the walls being enchanted, he could move the objects inside the room.
Stella still felt dizzy, making her retch. She tightened her grip on the ax and, through blurry eyes, sought for Jericho. She pushed herself off the floor with all her remaining strength.
Jericho was working on extracting data from Stark’s mainframe when he noticed she was coming back from unconsciousness. He picked up the scepter, raising the tip to pierce Stella’s heart. Stella gripped the ax and swung the scepter away from her. She slid past him and stood up. A desk was hovering above him and she glanced at Loki, who was already using his magic to move objects. Loki dropped the desk but Jericho deflected it with his magic. Stella hooked the ax on the scepter and kicked Jericho. Despite being thrown back, he did not release his grip on the scepter.
Stella stumbled closer to Loki. "I want him tranquilized. Can you do it?" She asked him.
"Not at this distance," he replied. His heart felt crushed when he made a closer look at Stella. She has lost all the color on her face and her eyelids were threatening to shut. She started moving from him, limping because her stab wound was opened once again, a sizable bloodstain evident on her side.
Stella ran towards Jericho and hooked her ax on the scepter once more. Jericho tightened his grip on it. Stella swung him closer to Loki. This time she successfully threw him to the middle of the room and disarmed him. The scepter is now in her hands.
She kicked Jericho in the jaw and he was thrown into the glass wall near Loki's feet, unconscious. A shadow soldier kicked her injured side, filling the room with her blood-curdling scream. Stella bashed the sharp end of the scepter on the soldier's head. She then hitched the scepter on to Jericho's necklace and snapped it. The amulet slid to her feet and she struck it with the tip of the scepter. The shadow soldiers disappeared as well as the enchantment covering the room.
Stella felt a surge of energy from the scepter. It felt like it was trying to pull her down; she feels a thick liquid closing in on her brain. She resisted, forcing her mind to remain open.
"Stella! No! Not the scepter!" She heard Loki scream.
"Stella put down the scepter." She heard Tony say. She turned to them. "Stella. Please calm down." Tony's suit dismantled as he touched the ground. "Calm down and return the scepter."
"Stella, please. Put down the scepter." Loki pleaded. “Please put it down. You’re gonna hurt yourself.” Stella stood up, malice written all over her face. Her eyes turned blue and she was looking at them like she does not recognize them.
“Oh, no,” Tony muttered as he realized what was happening. He remembered Clint having those eyes when he was under it.
Loki raised his eyebrows and his jaw fell. “It cannot be,” he muttered. Stella took a step closer to them. “Leave her alone!” He screamed at her.
“Is that…” Tony trailed off and glanced at Loki. “That’s not Ares, is it?” Loki’s jaw clenched. “Who are you?” Tony asked her. She snapped her head to Tony and raised the now glowing end of the scepter to point it at him. "No, you don't want to do that."
“You want me, right? Then attack me directly!” Loki challenged. Stella’s blue eyes flicked to him.
She grinned the evilest grin her face could give and charged at them. She raised the scepter above her head and Loki blocked it with the sword he conjured, tossing her back. She grunted and regained her footing, going back to attack Loki. “Stella, come back to us!” He commanded.
Tony realized what was happening and he sent a blast to hit the scepter and it flew from her hands. “Stella, I know you’re in there. Please put the scepter down,” he said.
For a few moments, Stella was immobilized for reasons unknown. Loki lowered his sword. “Stella? Are you with us?”
Behind her, Jericho started to come around. He saw Stella's back on him and he slowly reached out for the ax. Loki saw the movement behind her and snapped his fingers, making Jericho pass out.
Stella whipped her head to where the scepter is and she sprinted to it. Loki raised his hand and the scepter levitated. Stella stepped on a couch and jumped to snatch the scepter from Loki. She landed and attacked Loki again, him blocking her again with his sword.
“Okay, what the hell is happening? Why are you attacking Loki and not me?” Tony said as he started to disarm Stella with his gauntlet but every blast he sends to her, she deflects it with the scepter.
By this time, Hulk went back to the room and when he also realized what was happening, he dashed towards her but before he could come nearer, she waved the scepter, immobilizing him. She turned to Tony and immobilized him as well.
Leaving Loki on his own.
“I know it’s not you who’s with us right now, Stella. But I know you’re in there.” Loki said as Stella promenaded to him, dragging the scepter behind her. “Stella, if you hear me, fight that force in your mind. Resist. Because I am not going to fight you.” Stella jerked her head to the side and her eyes flickered from blue to brown and back again. She stopped walking and shook her head. “You can fight it, Stella. I don’t want to hurt you.” Loki’s sword disappeared back to his subspace and he walked closer to her while she was struggling to keep up.
Stella looked up and she was back to her normal self. “Loki…” she almost fainted but she used the scepter to keep her up.
Loki noticed that Tony and the Hulk were still immobilized. He moved to her cautiously. “Stella, I need you to drop the scepter.”
“No, I can’t. I can’t let you have it again,” she whispered.
“Just drop it on the floor,” he commanded and he stepped closer, his hand extended. “Can you do it, darling?” He placed his hand on Stella’s shoulder and-
Stella’s eyes went back to blue and she shoved the tip of the scepter to Loki’s side. Loki’s eyes grew wide as he held onto the buried part of the scepter. “No…” He uttered.
Tony badly wanted to scream and stand between them but he was still immobilized. He tried moving his fingers but the only thing he managed to do was to groan out of frustration.
Stella roughly pulled the scepter off him and a dark liquid spurted out of the wound. "Come back to us, Stella Lords." Loki's voice trembled as he pressed a hand on the wound, trying to stop the blood flow. Some sparse breaths later, he fell on the floor. Tony and the Hulk were also released from the enchantment.
Stella loosened her grip on the scepter and it clattered on the floor. Tony walked to her and grabbed the scepter. Her eyes turned back to brown and her eyes fluttered shut. “Good god.” Tony released the scepter to catch her before she hit the floor as she fainted. He studied her and she was losing color. “Run Stella’s vital stats, please.” He said as he shed off his Iron Man suit, feeling the moisture of her blood seeping through his shirt.
He pressed a hand on Stella’s wound. “Blood loss is at 27% -”
“Okay, that’s all I need to know. Shit. Call for medical help ASAP and pick up the scepter.” Tony’s Iron Man suit reintegrated and walked to pick up the scepter near him.
“Yes, sir. Medical help ETA is 10 minutes.”
Tony reached out his other hand to check Loki’s pulse. He wiggled his fingers through the leather sleeve and tried to pinpoint his pulse. “JARVIS, how about Loki’s heart rate?”
“Heartbeat is at 135 and he’s losing temperature fast.”
Tony gave up on finding his pulse and he pulled him a little bit closer. Sure enough, his eyes were glassy and steady. “Is he dead?”
“In a while, Sir,” the AI solemnly replied.
The Hulk grunted, shaking his head. Tony swallowed as he watched Bruce shake off the big guy. The latter ran towards the dark hallway. It would take time for Bruce to steady himself in his own, normal-sized body.
"Sir, Loki Odinson has passed away. Time of death, 9:54 PM." The AI announced. Tony slumped on the floor, still holding Stella.
Tony was alone.
But only for a while.
“Did you call anyone?”
“I only called Sir Happy because Miss Potts is in strict do not disturb mode as of the moment.”
“Good. Uh. So, I don’t know what to do with these demigods lying around in my tower.” For the first time, Tony was confused and he didn’t know what to do. He was holding Stella who was hanging by a thread, Jericho was just lying unconscious a few feet away from him, and a deceased Loki in front of them. “JARVIS, what’s Nat and Cap’s ETA?”
“25 minutes, sir.”
He stood up, carrying Stella. “How long can Stella hold?”
“45 minutes.”
“Shit.” He placed her on the metal worktable. He laid his palms flat on the surface and dipped his head low, his breathing going heavy.
“Sir, you are having a panic attack.”
Tony’s head was still down. He blinked as he tried to steady his breathing. “Don’t mind me, JARVIS. I just need to keep Stella and Loki safe.”