The Unwanted Ones
Chapter 28: The Unwanted Ones
“Shit!” Natasha hissed. On the other line, Tony froze. “Tony...Tony! They’re compromised!” The tension in the room was heavy, Tony could hear it through his comms.
Thor stood up. “Let’s follow them.”
“I hear you, Sparkles. I’m tracking them down. They’re still in the US area of responsibility.” Tony’s voice came through their comms.
“Stark, I can intercept them,” Thor said in a grave voice.
“Yes, I know. But Stella wouldn’t want that.”
“They’re in danger! What if these demigods would take away Loki and Stella’s powers again?”
“Thor.” Steve placed a hand on his shoulder. “Tony’s right. Saving them will put them at risk.”
Thor glared at Steve. “We are saving them.”
Natasha had recovered from her initial shock. “But we’ll lose the lead. This plane might bring them to where the tesseract is.” She turned to her companions. “That was the last thing I heard, we heard, from their comms.”
“We’ll follow them when they land. That’s the best course of action,” Sam added. “Let’s just hope and pray they won’t take out their magic.”
“And once you get out of there, demigods might recognize you and blow our cover. We’ll be outnumbered here.”
Thor sighed in resignation. They were right.
Stella came around with a throbbing headache. She opened her eyes but her sight was blurry. She panicked, blinking furiously and moaning on her gag. She looked around and discovered that her hands were cuffed and suspended from the ceiling. Her legs were also tied together. At least she was seated with a seatbelt on.
Loki came around when he heard a noise. Like Stella, his sight was also blurry but it cleared up in mere seconds. He looked up and immediately saw Stella. Her head and shoulders were now drooped low. Loki moved his mouth but was restricted with a gag as well. He moved his legs up and down just to catch her attention. She looked at him and he felt like his chest was torn open at her state. Tears were streaming down her face. How long has she been up and crying? He couldn’t help but feel the same sorrow that she was feeling. She looked hopeless.
Stella moved her hands, indicating that they were cuffed. She was cuffed again. Loki acknowledged it. He moved his hands, attempting to conjure his magic but nothing happened. She shook her head.
That was why she was crying. She was scared of the cuffs, thinking that they might have robbed her of their powers again. She looked at him, her face apologizing as if telling him I’m sorry for dragging you into this. With their situation, she had lost the ability to make noise with her throat. The shock had taken over her.
Loki shook his head and showed her his palm. “Nngghh…” He tried speaking but all he could muster was a moan. His legs were also tied, and he was also tied to the seat. How in the nine realms…
Loki looked up when the plane rattled. There was no knowing where they were headed. The place where they were didn’t have any windows. He wasn’t even sure if this was a room or a cockpit. There was a door at the end, sure. He looked at Stella. Her head was resting on her hanging arm. It was heartbreaking for him to see her completely defeated.
He looked at his cuffed hands. He wasn’t feeling any pain. He wondered if she was feeling anything. But she looked like she wasn’t in immense pain like she experienced months ago.
Months...it has been months now.
Loki closed his eyes and took a moment to look into himself. His seiðr was there, but it felt like it was sleeping. He reached out to it but he couldn’t make it move, not even a single centimeter.
Loki sighed. He couldn’t do much when he’s tied up with no access to his magic.
Hours had passed when the door of Stella and Loki’s holding room opened and a uniformed person entered. They looked up at the newcomer and the two of them exchanged looks when there was only one person who entered and they locked the door behind them.
Stella violently growled and writhed on her seat. Loki had his eyes set on the person, already thinking of breaking the seatbelt when he needed to.
The person stood between them and pulled their headgear. “Stella, calm down.” It was a woman a little older than Stella. She moved closer to Stella but the latter moved away from her. “I’m going to remove your gag.” Stella glared at her. “I promise I won’t hurt you.” She then looked at Loki. “I won’t hurt both of you.”
Loki could see sincerity on her face. He nodded, but Stella still didn’t relax. The woman reached out to untie Stella’s gag. “Hah!” Stella gasped. “Who the hell are you?!” She hissed.
The woman walked over to Loki and did the same. “I’m one of the demigods. We’re from the same pantheon,” she told Loki, which confused him.
“What do you mean?” He asked.
“Half-æsir, half-mortal,” she replied and returned to her spot between them. “I’m here for you. We’re on the same side,” she told Stella.
Stella was glaring daggers at her. “I don’t believe you.”
She tapped her cuffs. “These cuffs don’t steal your magic. They only restrain you while it’s attached to you. Once they’re removed, your magic returns.”
“Then get these off me so I can blast this plane into pieces!” Stella kicked the air.
“Stella, wait!” Stella looked at him. “We should hear what she has to say.”
“Loki, we can’t trust anyone right now!”
“I know you can’t,” the woman stated. “But I want you to know that we’re working with Athena.” Stella glared back at her. The woman kneeled before her and pulls away from her. She then showed the back of her right ear to Stella. An outline of an owl’s head surrounded by olive leaves glowed on her skin. The mark was small, almost a coin small, and it glows when the host allows it to glow.
Stella was still not buying it. “How am I going to know you’re on our side? Jericho has the same mark but he turned against the pantheon.”
The woman stood up and pulled a box to sit on. “My name is Elyse. From the Æsir pantheon. I joined Athena’s cause since I am not welcomed in my own pantheon. Just like our prince here.” Loki looked at Elyse. She rested one elbow on her knee. “Athena accepted us.”
“If you were part of the cause then why don’t I know you?” The question came out rude, all because Stella was annoyed and furious. Loki was as confused as Stella.
“I understand your confusion. Athena gathered demigods all over the Earthrealm and outside. They’re all trained to protect the realms and to help you in any way possible.”
Stella lowered her eyes. “That’s true. Athena told us that she had welcomed demigods from other pantheons under her wing. She knew that some pantheons don’t accept half-mortal children.” Loki lowered his eyes too. Elyse and he were the same: both not fully accepted by their people. But Athena accepted him, even regarded his royal status, and told him that they’re both equal in her temple.
“Now, this might sound crazy, but it was Jericho who brought us here.”
Stella laughed. “Of course, he did. He dragged half of Athena’s demigods to hell.”
“Not in the way that you think of.”
“That’s bullshit,” Stella spat.
Elyse nodded. “Yes, it does sound bullshit. But Jericho did this when he realized you couldn’t do it. He brought us in to infiltrate Ares’ organization. It took us years to do it.”
“Us?” Loki spoke. “How many are you talking about?”
“Around 300. Maybe there are 150 to 200 left of us now. There are two of us here on this plane. There are a total of 10 people here. In our destination, 215 people are on our side.”
“And Jericho made you do this?”
Elyse nodded. “Under Athena’s approval. He knew Stella couldn’t infiltrate the organization right away. He knew that her priority would be to deal with the Asgardians.”
“You sound like I did the wrong thing,” Stella muttered.
“It’s not the wrong thing,” Elyse assured. “It was meant to happen. This was meant to happen.”
“I still don’t believe this. You’re just using the Greek pantheon and Athe-”
“She’s telling the truth,” Loki stated.
Stella snapped at him. “Loki, were you charmed?”
“I...I don’t know how to do that,” Elyse admitted.
Loki pressed his lips together and slowly shook his head. “No. But I know she’s telling the truth. And my seiðr is still here. I can feel it.”
They were silent for a moment before Stella said, “very well.” She looked at Elyse. “Where are we heading now?”
Tony spent the rest of the day tracking Stella and Loki. It was a good call to inject them with a tracker. And it was also a good thing the trackers were still visible for them.
“They seem to be heading to Libya. They just entered their airspace,” he seems to be speaking to no one, but the message was transmitted to the other Avengers in Hesperia.
“There’s no other way to do this, Tony. We have to follow them there,” Natasha replied.
Tony sat on the stool in front of his monitors. “Yeah. Meet you guys here as soon as possible. I believe the plane’s still ready for you there.”