Hypothermia
Loki wakes slowly, unsure of where he is. His head throbs and at first he tries not to move, but then a sharp spike of pain in his temple jerks him further awake. He just barely makes it to his hands and knees in time to vomit up the contents of his stomach. When the heaves slow he sits back and catches his breath. He touches a trembling hand to the side of his head, wincing.
“What in the Nine…” He whispers in the silence. He feels dried blood caked into his hair and streaked along the side of his face. The most disconcerting part is that he doesn’t remember how he got like this. There’s just a blank gap in his memory.
They were going to make a jump, into hyperspace, at a designated jump spot. That had been the plan. He remembers Heimdall programming the coordinates…
And nothing after that. The ship is eerily silent. The only lights on are the stripes of emergency lighting on the floor. They were dead in the water, the hum of the engines gone. They must have stalled out. Violently, it seems, if he hit his head hard enough for a concussion. He manages to get to his feet, though there’s a sharp pain in his leg. He ignores it. He has to find the others.
As he limps forward, he realizes how cold it was, how deathly cold. He doesn’t shiver, but he can feel it seeping into his bones. His breath fogs before his face. The climate control must be down as well. He makes it into the next room-
“Damn.” Thor and the Valkyrie and Heimdall are all unconscious, limp on the floor. He stumbles to Thor’s body and lets himself fall to his knees beside him. “Thor?” He shakes his brother but gets no response. At least he is breathing, his chest rising and falling evenly, if slowly. His skin is so cold, a touch of blue on his lips. Loki checks the Valkyrie and Heimdall, finding them equally cold, equally dead to the world.
A halting, limping journey through a few levels of the ship shows the rest are about the same. Loki is the only one awake. All succumbed either to the cold or the concussive force of their stall in the hyperjump. Probably hypothermia, if his own consciousness is anything to go by. Likely it is his Jotun biology that immunizes him to the cold.
Choking down hysterics, he checks his reflection in the first reflective surface he finds, but his face is still his own, pale, Asgardian reflection staring back at him. He’s not been forced to shift forms against his will. Such a thing has only happened twice since he learned the truth of his birth, and it had been quite unpleasant both times.
He makes it to the control room and runs a report on the life support systems. Not only has the heat been suspended by the stall, their oxygen production has as well. They’re operating on about 60% capacity, though Loki feels no adverse affects. Do Jotuns need less oxygen than the Aesir? A question to contemplate at another time.
The report thankfully shows that there hasn’t been any structural damage, just the stall from the shock of a jump. He can manually reset it, but he’ll have to go down to the engines himself. No matter. The pain in his leg has already faded, and his head feels clearer. Now that he has an approximation of the situation, and a solid plan, the fear has subsided. He smiles, small and relieved, and closes the report.
“Puny God.” He jolts and stumbles back, pressing himself against the control panel.
“Don’t-” Loki gasps as the Hulk’s massive form fills the small room.
“What Puny God do?”
“I didn’t do anything.” He keeps his voice low and calm. “There was an accident. Something went wrong and the ship stalled. I can fix it-”
“Where Thor? Angry Girl?” The Hulk roars.
“I can take you to them,” Loki says very quickly. “They’re unconscious, but they’re not hurt. They’re just sleeping, because of the cold.”
The Hulk grunts. “Okay. Puny God go.” Loki leads the Hulk into the room where Thor, the Valkyrie, and Heimdall lay limp on the ground.
“Thor!” The Hulk roars, poking at him. “Wake up!”
“He won’t wake,” Loki says. “Not until I start the ship back up. He’s too cold and there’s not enough oxygen.”
“Why should Hulk trust Puny God?”
Loki takes a shaky breath as the Hulk rounds on him. “It’s not like you have much of a choice. I’m the only other one awake, I’m the only one who can restart the engines-”
“Puny God is the God of Lies.”
Loki swallows. “Yes, I’ve been called that. But I’m not lying now. I’m not going to hurt him.”
“Hurt him before.”
“Yes, yes I have, very badly. But I swear, I won’t now.”
“Swear mean nothing.”
“Look, you can stay with them. You can stay and watch them, just let me go restart the engines. It will take me,” Loki does a quick calculation. “Twenty minutes. If the ship’s not back on in twenty minutes, you can come find me and beat me again if you want.” The Hulk looks like he’s considering. “You can keep them warm, you give off more heat that anyone. Just stay with them, and I’ll be back in twenty minutes.”
“Fine…” The Hulk finally says. He, somewhat roughly, gathers up the unconscious bodies of the three Asgardians and tucks them around him. Loki doesn’t know if he wants to dissolve into hysterics at the sight of the Hulk warming them like a mother hen with her eggs or throw up again at the thought of the Hulk touching his brother. He settles for a watery, insincere smile and draping his cape over Thor.
“Twenty minutes, and I’ll be back.”
“Go, Puny God.” Loki does not need to be told twice.
He hurries through the eerily silent halls, climbing deeper and deeper into the bowels of the ship. The manual resets are all the way at the bottom. By the time he reaches them, his heart is pounding with anxiety. He is so alone in the bottom of the silent ship.
Fourteen of the electrical switches had tripped. He methodically starts them back up again. One of the fuel cells had fried, so he replaces it with a fresh one.
“Please work, please, please work,” He mutters as he programs the final restart steps. There’s a tense moment of silence before there’s a grinding sound and the engines start back up again. Loki whispers a thank you and starts the climb back to the inhabited parts of the ship.
The people are already starting to wake when he climbs out of the hatch.
“Your highness,” A young man approaches, one of the Valkyrie’s guards, holding his head. He’s shivering uncontrollably, lips blue. “What happened?”
“A stall. We’re back running and things should equalize before long. Gather everyone who can walk in the main hall, have them bring as many blankets as they can carry. We have to keep warm. I’ll deal with the injured. Anyone who can’t be moved, write it down and I’ll go to them.”
“Yes, your highness, right away.” The young man hurries off, shivering, leaving Loki to face the Hulk.
“Puny God did it.” The beast sounds almost surprised when Loki returns.
“Yes,” Loki says. “It should get warmer in here. Once they wake up, we’ll move to the main hall, it will be warmest there.” He sits down across the room, as far away from the Hulk as he can. He tells himself that it’s because he doesn’t want to transfer any cold to his unconscious friends.
Heimdall is the first to stir. “A stall?”
Loki nods. “Seemed a violent one. Lost climate control and oxygen production. Everything’s back online now.”
“There’s blood on your face.”
Loki blinks in surprise. “I’d forgotten.” He touches his fingers to the side of his skull, feeling the caked and dried blood. “I must have given that young man quite a fright. I told him to gather all the people in the main hall. And to do a count of the injured that can’t be moved.”
“Good.” Heimdall slips out from under the Hulk’s arm. “I’ll go help coordinate. Blast, it truly is cold.”
“I set the heat up as high as it can go, but I’m afraid the engines will take a while to warm up.” Heimdall claps him on the shoulder before he leaves for the main hall. The Valkyrie and Thor slowly rouse.
“Oh hey, Big Guy,” The Valkyrie says.
“Angry Girl.”
“Keeping us warm?”
“That’s what Puny God told Hulk do.”
“Puny God?”
“That’s me,” Loki says waving a hand.
“Brother, are you alright?”
“Oh yes, just a little blood, I’m not the one who’s just been unconscious, freezing to death for the past…hour? I’m not sure how long that was, actually.”
Thor struggles out from underneath the Hulk’s arm. As soon as he’s out of the Hulk’s grip, Thor shivers. “Damn, it’s freezing.” He wraps Loki’s cape tighter around himself. “What happened?”
“A stall, in the hyperspace jump. The engines and climate control failed and if it had gone on much longer you all would have frozen to death. So. You’re welcome. It’s still going to take a while for the temperature to reach a comfortable level.”
“I think I’m going to stay here for now, kay Big Guy?” The Hulk grunts his assent.
“It’s funny, I don’t feel cold at all,” Loki laughs, though it’s a bit strained.
“Aren’t we lucky, then? That you did not succumb to the cold?” Thor says. He offers Loki a hand up.
“I’ve assembled the people in the main hall, Heimdall just went to help organize. There are some injured, and it will be warmer there, if you are inclined to escape your heater, Valkyrie.”
Thor pulls him to his feet. “Let’s go then.”
“I’ll be along in a minute,” The Valkyrie says so the brothers leave without her, headed to the hall. Loki’s thinking about ways he could warm the hall with magic or otherwise when Thor speaks.
“I meant what I said,” Thor says quietly. “I know we haven’t discussed this and we probably should, at some point, but we were fortunate that you were there, that you-”
“That I’m Jotun, is that what you were leading up to?”
“Yes, brother. That you were Jotun and you can withstand the cold.”
“Thor, if we’re going to have one of these little…” Loki sighs and waves a hand. “Heart to hearts about my adoption, we should probably do it while you’re not shivering. I think it would ruin the mood, if your teeth were chattering as you were declaring the depth of your fraternal affection for me.” Thor chuckles.
“Fine, brother, but soon.” His teeth do, indeed, chatter.
“Fine. Soon.” Thor looks at him and wrinkles his nose. “What?”
“We need to wash the blood of your face before you frighten any more of our people.”