As The Smoke Clears
Chapter 29: As The Smoke Clears
The Avengers convened in the boardroom back in the Stark tower hours after Stella and Loki were intercepted in the Mojave desert. They were sitting around the table, except for Tony, who was pacing the room while munching on dried fruit. Everyone from Hesperia was evading sleep, making the room smell of coffee.
“Why are we here again?” Clint asked them. Among them, he was the only one who didn't have coffee on hand.
“12 hours ago we kicked off the tesseract retrieval operation, with Stella and Loki entering the Mojave desert compound.” The hologram photo of the Mojave compound appeared at the end of the table. “4 hours into the operation, Stella and Loki got intercepted and were brought into a plane.” He tapped the air and the voice clip of their communication with Stella played in the background.
“Good thing we injected tracking devices into Stella and Loki. We have been tracking them ever since and -” Tony tapped again and the map moved, showing them two red blips north of Africa - “they’re now in Libya. They have landed. And that’s where we are headed, folks.”
Clint scratched his chin. “So this is a rescue mission?”
Tony gestured with his index finger. “Right on.”
Clint gave them a confused look. Natasha already expected that he would be the one who had more questions. “So, Stella and Loki’s mission is to retrieve the tesseract, and our mission is to rescue them. Now, knowing that this is a desert, how are we going to arrive safely without getting detected?”
It was Natasha’s time to speak. “We have to land in a SHIELD outpost west of the Libyan desert. From there, disguised trucks will bring us to the compound.” As Natasha was speaking, the hologram footage was showing them where they would land and where they would pass. “This land trip would take us roughly 4 hours.”
“What’s our guarantee that the tesseract's in there?” Bruce finally asked something.
Tony pressed a button from the hologram panels and the audio recording played.
“You wanted this, right?” A man’s voice played over the speakers. “We’ll bring you to it. We just need you to trust us.”
Bruce frowned. “The way they say it, I wouldn’t even trust them.”
“So, you think that they showed them the tesseract?” Clint was still skeptical.
“The point here is, they knew that Stella and Loki were coming. They knew that they were there. They knew what they were looking for,” Natasha stated.
“They would also expect us then,” Bruce contemplated.
“Most likely. But I believe they would be expecting me and the two of them more.” They all turned to Thor. “If Ares is after the tesseract, then he also wanted to eliminate different pantheons. He looks like he is the kind of god who would want to collect every power source available in the realms.”
“Wouldn’t he want to rule over the human race then?” Sam crossed his arms on his chest.
Everyone fell quiet as Sam’s question brought them in deep thought.
Tony sat on one of the vacant swivel chairs around the table. “I think, if he wanted to do that, he would collect every power source available so he can snuff the whole planet into extinction, like Alderaan. Which is a shitty plan, in my opinion.”
“Then us going there could be his next step in conquering our species. We are giving him an easy option,” Sam added. Clint gestured to Sam in agreement.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m gonna go down fighting.” Tony leaned back on the chair. “I’m saving that kid.”
Everyone looked at Tony as the room fell silent.
“I feel like I have lost touch with everyone.” Clint pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.
“Why?” Bruce asked Tony.
Tony looked at him. “I don’t want to be under Athena’s wrath. God knows what will happen if we lose her.”
Thor straightened on his seat and placed his clasped hands on the table. “Stark. Let me tell you this. Stella Lords is not our responsibility.” Tony’s brows met and he was about to react when Thor raised a hand. “As much as she’s not our responsibility.” Everyone turned to Thor, confused as to what he was saying.
“Then I don’t think we need to…” Clint trailed off.
“Lords’ mission was to bring back Ares to Olympus, to Zeus. Helping Asgard retrieve the tesseract comes in second. Protecting Midgard comes third. That’s why she placed her trust on you.”
Sam scratched his chin. “Are you saying we shouldn’t go after them?”
“You should think of protecting Midgard.”
“And leave Stella and Loki there?” Tony retorted. “What if they die there and either Olympus or Asgard declares war and uses Earth as a battlefield?” The room was silent as everyone contemplated their discussion. “Thought so too. The first step in ensuring humanity’s safety is to get those two out of there alive.”
“Lords has a sworn oath to die fighting,” Thor told them.
“I don’t see her as dispensable.”
“If that’s our route then we better get going,” Steve told the others. “Looks like we have a long way to go.”
Since Elyse left the compartment where they were tied up, Stella never looked up. Her head was still hanging low as uncomfortable silence fell between her and Loki. Loki’s eyes were on her the whole time. For the moment, he felt like she was far away from him.
“Stella,” he called out to her. She didn’t move an inch. He tilted his head to check if she was awake. She was, and she was staring blankly at the floor. “Stella,” he called out again.
“I’m not sure what’s happening anymore.” Stella sounded different. She didn’t sound like the Stella they first met back in Asgard. She didn’t sound like the Stella who fought the twins in New York. She didn’t sound like the Stella he fell in love with. Definitely didn’t sound like the Stella who almost blew up a whole floor when she was on the verge of breaking down.
She sounded like a child, whose hopes had left her a long time ago. Loki had seen her vulnerable side, but right now she was showing a different kind of vulnerability.
“I am so confused,” she slowly said, almost dragging every syllable.
“I’m also not sure what’s happening,” Loki quietly admitted. “But I know there’s hope on the horizon. Even if it's just a speck of it.”
“How long have we been flying?”
They sat in silence for a while, both of them listening to the plane’s engines humming through the walls. It was the only thing they could hear. Loki tried to detect voices but failed. “It feels like we’ve been flying for hours.”
“I’m so tired.” Stella’s replies were all over the place. Loki sighed. He was afraid that she would give up right now.
“Stella.”
She was staring blankly at the wall to her right. Not that tone, she thought. Don’t make me think of you, please.
“Please don’t give up right now. We’re almost there. Please hold on.” Loki started blabbering. Everything came out all of a sudden. He didn’t know what else to say, and his mouth felt like it moved on its own. “Don’t let this break your spirit.”
Stella closed her eyes.
The plane shook, waking Stella up. She jolted on her seat. She looked around and they were still in the same compartment, hands and legs tied. “What’s happening?” She asked Loki.
Thank goodness you’re still alive, he thought. “I think we landed.” He opened his mouth to ask her how she was doing but decided against it.
She looked up warily. “When they release us, let’s not fight. Let’s find out what’s going to happen next.”
Loki nodded. The corner of his lips twitched upward. It was good to see Stella’s mind was back in the game. Looks like all she needed was a nap. Though she was still cold over him. He ignored it. It was not the right time to deal with their feelings.
The plane jerked to a stop. They turned to the door and waited. It must have been minutes until the door opened. Two uniformed individuals entered the compartment, masks covering their faces. Stella and Loki couldn’t determine if Elyse was one of them. They both untied Loki and Stella but placed a jute sack over their heads.
“Oh, great,” Loki muttered. He could hear Stella muttering something too. Their legs were released and they were pushed out of the compartment, but they were still shrouded in darkness. Loki tried to listen to his surroundings: he could pick up faint clattering of hard plastics and metal, or so it seemed, and the footfalls of boots.
They descended the ramp. Stella figured they were leaving the plane. She slightly raised her head and focused on the holes of the jute sack. As far as she could tell, their surroundings were not as well-lit as the plane. There were more booted footfalls following them but she has not heard a single whisper from everyone around them. She tried to feel her energy. It was still there. She tried feeling everyone around them but she couldn’t.
It maybe was half an hour after the sack was lifted off their head. Loki and Stella found themselves in a room with Elyse and two other uniformed men. Elyse and another man remove the cuffs and the ropes from their wrists and legs. Stella could feel her energy surge right after her cuffs were removed. A dagger shot from her hand and she pressed it on Elyse’s neck.
Elyse just raised her hands, palms facing Stella. She took a step back, the knife still on her neck.
“Where are we? What’s going on?” Stella’s old guardian self was back.
“We’re in a coastal area of Libya. There’s a desert behind the compound. The tesseract’s here,” Elyse replied calmly.
Stella just noticed that her companions did not react when her dagger appeared. She looked at them and they didn’t look threatening at all. They looked like they were waiting for an order. “So, you’re on my side?” They nodded. Stella slowly removed the dagger from Elyse. “The moment any of you attack us from the back -” she raised her left fist and blue sparks appeared - “you know what will happen.”
“The ones who will attack you are not from our side,” Elyse confidently told her. She dropped her hands to her sides and pulled something from her back pocket. Stella and Loki were closely monitoring their movements. Elyse opened a large paper on the table. With the help of one of her companions, she unfolded the paper, revealing a blueprint.
“This is the first-floor blueprint of the compound. We are here.” She pointed at a room on the southwest side of the blueprint. “The sea is here.” She gestured at the south part. She pulled another sheet and placed it on top. “The tesseract is in the artifacts room. Here.” She pointed at the northeast side. “This is the third floor. The last floor.”
“Is Ares here?” Stella asked. Loki was listening, observing, quietly next to her.
One of the men placed another sheet on the desk. “He’s here.” Elyse’s finger landed on a room on the east side of the paper. “Most of the halls and rooms have security cameras and sensors. The artifact room fills the whole third floor. But, with your energy signatures, Ares already knows you two are here. It wouldn’t be long until he engages.”
“Not a problem.” Loki was shrouded by a glimmer of green and his previous outfit was replaced by his green and gold Asgardian armor. “Might as well change into proper attire.” Stella took it as a cue and a glimmer of blue ran through her body; her weathered armor uniform replaced her previous outfit.
Elyse nodded, amazed at how they could change their outfits in a snap of the fingers. “Are you two going to take down Ares?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Loki and Stella looked at each other when they gave different answers. Elyse raised her brows.
“I said no because Athena wants him alive.”
“Oh, okay.”
“Right.” Elyse sighed. “Once you leave this room, you’re now out into the open. You’re now under Ares’ radar.”
Then, the door behind them exploded. Stella and Loki immediately put up their energy shields to cover them from the explosion. Smoke filled the room. “Smoke grenade!” Stella told everyone and Elyse and her companions pulled up the masks to their faces.
Loki snapped his fingers and it blew back the smoke outside the room. Stella turned to face the door and the wall also exploded along with it. As the smoke cleared, they were faced by several men, probably more than 10, around 20. And they did not waste time. They moved forward with their guns up. But the weird thing is, their guns were glowing blue.
“Get down!” Elyse screamed and the five of them dropped to the ground. The masked army pulled the trigger, blue lights shot from their guns, and disintegrated Stella and Loki’s shields.
Bad news, Stella thought. They were now advancing with their guns up. Stella pulled her sword from her back. On the corner of her eye, she saw Loki’s green light as he conjured his sword.
“There’s no other way but to go forward!” Stella slammed her hand on the floor and her energy threw the men out of the room. Stella, Loki, Elyse, and the two men they’re with run out of the room. Elyse and her companions grabbed the guns from the fallen masked army.
Stella was leading the way this time. They ran through the halls, but in every corner they turned to, more masked armies were running towards them. Loki and Stella sent their energy blasts towards them but Elyse asked them to stop. “Conserve your energy! You’ll need it when you face Ares!”
“Where are your other companions?!” Stella asked Elyse when they cleared the ground floor.
“They’re coming. We’ll meet them on the second floor. That’s where the fight will be concentrated.”
When they arrived on the second floor, they were welcomed by a gruesome sight. There were more masked armies, but this time they were all laid on the floor, dead. The five of them carefully walked between the bodies. Elyse and her two companions pulled the masks. Then Stella and Loki heard them gasp.
“It’s them,” Elyse told Stella. “They have been killed.” Loki removed the mask from one of the fallen soldiers. “Yes, that’s Angelo.” Elyse gestured at the man whose mask was removed.
“We’ve cleaned up the mess here, Elyse of Vanaheim.”
The five of them turned to the source of the voice. It was a man taller than the rest of the masked army behind him. He’s probably as tall as Loki.
“Mayer.” Elyse glared at the man.
“That was brave of you, risking your lives to get to the top floor? The thing is, your battalion isn’t good at hiding.” Mayer pulled his gun from his waist and, without warning, shot the person standing next to him. Elyse and Stella gasped. “That was one of your 215 armies. I have not monitored how many Athenian soldiers we have killed but I could guess you’re now down to 50.”
Loki could see Elyse’s spirit had dampened because of it. She dropped her shoulders for a few inches, her breathing pattern also changed. Loki knew Elyse was about to lose her will to fight.
“It’s unfortunate to hear about the deaths of the 165 Athenian soldiers in your hands,” Stella began to speak. “But we are thankful for their sacrifices, for they have paved the way for us.”
Mayer laughed and shook his head. “And you’re one to talk, Guardian of Olympus.” He strode forward. Loki raised his sword to Mayer. “Every time you fight, there are always deaths. Your hands are dripping wet in blood.”
Stella raised her sword and pointed it to Mayer. Mayer’s masked army pointed their guns at her. “It’s a sacrifice and a reality I have to face,” she told him in a stern voice.
“Weren’t your conscience eating you out last time? C’mon, Lords. You still have time to back down.”
Stella’s sword and arms glowed blue. “You think that will bring me down? Try again.”
Mayer chuckled then he seemed to be interrupted by a buzz in his ear. He pressed two fingers to his ear and his expression went dark. “Send the others in their direction. My squad can handle Stella and Loki,” he said to his earpiece. “Well then, looks like we have company.” He grinned at them.