Jewel Thief ◇ L. Laufeyson

18 ◇ hypocrite

BANNER, VALKYRIE, AND I made our way back to Valkyrie's garage, where her ship hovered slightly above the ground.

"You think they've gotten to their own ship by now?" Valkyrie questioned me, referring to the Odinson brothers.

I waved my hand. "I'm sure of it.  Thor's pretty good at showing up on time."

"It's not Thor I'm worried about," Bruce mumbled, holding out his hand to help me onto the ramp of the ship.  What a gentleman.

Though his gesture was polite, his words worried me a little bit.  I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried as well - Loki and I had left each other at a crossroads.  I was definitely willing to give him another chance (even though I was trying my best to move on.  The heart wants what it wants, I guess), but I couldn't tell what he wanted.

Thor was right, when he had said that Loki and I could surely figure out our relationship when we got back to Earth.  Or even when we got to Asgard.

Wouldn't that be romantic?  A heated argument within the libraries in their castle on Asgard, candles lighting the room, a soft melody on a record player--

Suddenly, a blaring alarm ripped me out of my daydream.

"Loyal Sakaarians, Lord of Thunder has stolen my ship and my favorite champions! Sakaarians, take to the skies," The Grandmaster's voice boomed around us. "Bring him down. Do not let him leave this planet!"

I made anxious eye contact with Bruce.

"So much for Thor being on time," I muttered, hitting the "close" button on Val's ship.  The doors shuddered shut and I heard Valkyrie's voice from the cockpit.

"Who wants to man the guns?  I'm guessing this won't be a walk in the park," she grimaced, hitting a bunch of buttons and pulling a lever on her console.  The ship shook to life, and Bruce quickly put himself in the shotgun seat.

"You're probably a better shot," he said quietly to me, shying away from the gun controls.  I patted him on the shoulder. "Nah, you take over." I stretched my neck, swinging my arms to the sides. "I don't need guns."

As Valkyrie piloted out into the open air, I created four diamond rhombuses around the ship, the sharp spikes acting as deadly shields to anything that came near.

Bruce was a bit hesitant to use the machine guns mounted on the ship's sides, but after one click of the trigger, the man was hooked.  Addicted to the adrenaline, perhaps.  Especially after he took down an enemy ship.  His boyish grin made me genuinely smile - it was nice to see him relax for a moment.

It wasn't just Bruce - I too was taking out as many enemy ships as possible.  For me, it was slightly easier.  I could destroy the engines of the bad guy ships from the inside; crushing the mechanisms with expanding diamond mass.

Valkyrie piloted, Bruce was shotgun, and I stood behind them.  All three of us kept our eyes peeled for any sign of the ship Loki had mentioned - the Commodore.

"Is that..." Bruce trailed off.  Valkyrie answered the question he didn't bother to finish, popping the 'p' sound, "Yep."

Ahead of us, a large red and yellow ship dodged the dozens of shots fired at it.  Out of all the ships in the sky, this one was the only one all the other ships were focused on.  It was also the most obnoxious looking - definitely belongs to the Grandmaster.

"Huh," I thought aloud, "at least they made it out."

"How are we getting from here to there?" Bruce asked, looking at me for an answer.  I was about to shrug and tell him I hadn't thought that far, but Valkyrie opened her mouth first.