Chapter 9
The cell was completely bare now. Or, at least, it looked like it. Brunnhilde could look down and not even see her own hands. The chains that were holding Loki looked limp and empty. No one made a noise. They held their breath. And they waited.
Then, noise. The door, creaking open. Two guards storming in, ready to take Loki away again. They froze when they saw the empty cell.
“No,” one of them groaned. “Thanos will have our heads for this!”
“Alert the others,” the one holding the keys grunted. “I’ll check the shadows to make sure nobody’s hiding.”
Brunnhilde took a deep breath and tended as the one guard ran off. This is what she was waiting for. She closed her eyes. Then she leapt, clamping her hands over the guard’s mouth and slamming a fist into his face. He slumped, unconscious, the keys dangling limply in his hands. Brunnhilde snatched them up.
There was a pause, and then the facade flickered and disappeared, revealing a room still full of Asgardians and Loki still pinned to the wall, looking tired but pleased after his illusion.
Brunnhilde worked a key into his handcuffs first, grinning when they fell to the ground and then unlocking his muzzle. The moment it dropped to the ground and reached out and kissed him, quick but deep, then pulled a rather startled Loki to his feet. She turned to the refugees.
“Alright, you know the plan,” she hissed. “I’m going to find the headquarters and grant us access to a ship. Loki will take the rest of you to the ship under the cover of his illusions. I’ll meet you there.”
Her eyes met Loki’s for a second, and he nodded grimly at her. She rested a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it gently. “Be careful.”
“You too.”
Brunnhilde dipped her gaze away to look at the Asgardians. She unexpectedly felt a surge of fondness for the ragtag group that had remained strong throughout this hell. She gave them one last smile before she headed out the cell door and into the darkness.
=•=
The headquarters were remarkably easy to find. At the top of the ship, looking into space sat a vast array of controls and buttons and the like. She figured them out fairly quickly and searched the database for ship control. Her fingers flew over the keys, eyes scanning the displays in front of her.
“I always knew Loki was a rat, but I had higher expectations for you, valkyrie.”
Brunnhilde whirled around, her heart flying to her throat in panic. Standing before her, finally out of the shadows, was a hulking violet man with small eyes and golden armor. The voice was familiar. Brunnhilde recognized it the second she heard it.
“Thanos,” she growled.
“No need to sound so hostile,” he replied calmly. “We barely know each other.”
“You tortured me!” She said in disbelief.
“It was nothing personal.” Thanos waved a large hand. “Just a little payback for all the failures Loki has placed at my feet.”
Anger practically blinded Brunnhilde as she remembered that this was the monster who had tortured Loki all this time, for months on end, who had cuffed him and trapped him and tore him. Only extreme self control held her back as the urge to throttle him nearly overcame her. Subtly, she started typing something into the keyboard behind her. She knew she needed to keep Thanos distracted so that Loki and the other Asgardians could reach the ship she was unlocking.
“Every time Loki failed you was nothing to what you are doing to the universe,” Brunnhilde spat, stalling. Loki has told her all about how Thanos has some crazy idea that killing half the universe would save it.
“I am doing nothing to the universe except for giving it a new chance,” Thanos retorted. “I am its salvation. Its hero. It should and will be grateful.”
“Right,” Brunnhilde said, feeling relief as she finished typing in the unlocking command and started to erase her work. “Because killing billions of people will definitely help them. I see your logic. I’m definitely tracking.”
“It is a small price to pay.” Thanos seemed very passionate about this, and was obviously distracted enough to not notice very Brunnhilde was doing behind her back. “One day, every soul in existence will eat, drink, and be happy, and it will all be thanks to me.”
“Oh no, no, I’m totally on your side.” Brunnhilde nodded solemnly. “Let’s go kill a bunch of people so that they can live.” She shut down the data and felt the smallest hum as it went dead.
Thanos suddenly stiffened. “What… did you do?” His hand flashed out and grabbed her by the neck, forcing her to cry out. “What have you done?”
“They… will live…” Brunnhilde gasps, her hands flying around Thanos’ meaty purple one. “I… saved them… better than you… ever will.”
Thanos let out a roar of anger, keeping his grip on Brunnhilde although loosening enough for her to breathe. He stormed out of the room and Brunnhilde started to panic as she realized he was headed toward the docking bay. Please let them be gone, she thought desperately. Please let them have left without me.
Of course they hadn’t, though.
The refugees were still scrambling onto the ship, Loki at the rear herding them, when Thanos burst into the room. Loki froze at first, then tensed when he saw that Brunnhilde was clenched in the titan’s hand.
“Brunnhilde!” Loki cried frantically.
“Loki!” Brunnhilde screamed back. “Get them out of here! Go! Go with them, get out of here!”
“Oh, he won’t be leaving,” Thanos said with a chuckle. “Not even if he wanted to. He wouldn’t abandon his sweetheart, now would he?”
“Whatever game you’re playing at Thanos, the rules still haven’t changed!” Loki yelled. “I will never give you the Tesseract! The Space Stone will never be yours!”
“Maybe not today,” Thanks replied mildly. “I have learned that you will not give up the Stone, even at the cost of this one’s life,” He jostled Brunnhilde. “But there is another… another who will perhaps convince you… a certain brother.”
Loki paled but his voice was confident when he spat back, “Like I said. The Stone will never. Be. Yours.”
Thanos just cocked his head. “But you will be.” His grip on Brunnhilde tightened until she was once again struggling for air. “Surrender yourself to me or she dies.”
“No!” Loki screamed.
“Yes,” Thanos growled. “I’ll even allow your ship full of pathetic worms to leave with her. All you need to do is come with me.”
“Loki!” Brunnhilde wheezed, flailing in Loki’s grasp. “Don’t— don’t do it! Leave— now!”
“You’ll let her go?” Loki asked shakily. “You’ll let her go if I come with you?”
“Loki, no—“ Brunnhilde managed before the grip tightened further.
“Yes,” Thanos agreed. “Lay down your weapons, Loki.”
And Loki did. He dropped his knives and made his way over to Thanos. The titan dropped Brunnhilde, who lay on the ground, struggling to regain her breath.
“A wise choice,” Thanos said.
“Loki,” Brunnhilde forced out hoarsely.
“Shh,” Loki turned to her. “It will be okay. I always am. You know that. I’ll find you. I’ll come back for you. Just— just keep the rest of them safe, alright? And keep yourself safe.” His gaze softened. “I love you.”
“Loki…” she whispered, her throat tight.
“It’ll be okay.” He was crying but trying to ignore it. “I love you. And so it’ll be okay.”
“I— I love you too,” Brunnhilde murmured. Loki kissed her softly on the forehead before helping her up and pushing her towards the ship.
“Go! Get out of here! And stay safe!” He called.
Brunnhilde ran toward the ship, refusing to think of what she was leaving behind. She paused at the entryway and looked back one last time. Loki was being dragged away by Thanos, but his eyes still met hers.
I’ll find you. I’ll come back for you.
Brunnhilde tore herself away and started up the ship, ignoring the worried and frightened mumbles of the Asgardians. As the ship pulled away, Brunnhilde got the first look at the stars that she’d had in months. A day ago, she would have been overjoyed. Now, she just felt empty.
She set the ship on autopilot and turned to the refugees. She took a deep breath and the people instantly quieted.
“I know… I know this has been rough. Real rough. And super bad. And a lot of other things. But… but Loki just gave himself up to let us escape and we are not going to waste that. I don’t know where Thor is, or if he’s even still alive, but if we can survive all that we’ve been through, then we can find him.” Brunnhilde paused for a moment. “We’ve all been through a lot together. But I know one thing: that there’s hope for us, and for all of Asgard. Thanos will be stopped, and we will be there to see it happen. We are survivors. We are Asgard.”
The refugees let out a strong, passionate cry, and for the first time in a long time, Brunnhilde felt hope.