Special Agent 2: The Dark Soldier

Chapter 48

"This place sucks."

The Ravager's voice was resentful as he crossed his arms, glaring at Loki through the transparent force field keeping him in his pristine white cell. Loki could pick out the flecks of gold in the energy field, slight lines glimmering as they formed hexagonal patterns that were barely noticeable unless you had previously spent two years studying their complexity, getting lost in how they faded in and out of comprehension.

"It could be worse," Loki told him flatly, mentally shaking the recollection off. "You could have had to share a cell."

The Ravager glanced over at the cell to his right, where several Marauders, captured after the battle on Jotunheim, now resided. He made a face. "Still."

"You do know you are currently in our dungeons?" Loki checked. "Not the guest rooms. Some discomfort is to be expected."

"You could have at least provided a chair," the Ravager grumbled.

"I could have provided an axe," Loki told him.

"Yeah," the Ravager said, glancing around. "No, thanks."

"You mentioned Ronan in connection with that Orb," Loki said, cutting to the point. "Tell me what you know."

"Let me out of here first," the Ravager returned.

"That's not how this works," Loki said. He thought back to several previous interrogations, one which reminded him of this moment and one which had been very different. In the first one, Romanoff had tricked him into revealing his next move, speaking with him through the thick glass of his cage. In the second, it had been Gibbs and DiNozzo, seated on the other side of a table in an interrogation room, questioning him after he beat up DiNozzo and McGee and escaped NCIS.

Lesson one: use the glare.

Loki narrowed his gaze, leveling his best impersonation of the Gibbs glare at the Ravager. "We can do this the easy way, or the painful way, Ravager. Personally, I prefer the painful way. But I don't have the time to while away inflicting it on you, so if you would just tell me what you know, I would be grateful."

The Ravager lifted an eyebrow at him. "Isn't the bad cop supposed to have a good cop counterpart?"

Loki just looked at him, tilting his head slightly, his voice a quiet growl. "I buried my mother today, Ravager. I'd like to take my anger out on the right people, but you might have to do instead."

Instantly, the Ravager drew back, his expression shifting from a mix of annoyance and amusement to hardened sympathy. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. "Was...was it the beings who stole my Orb?"

Loki gave a brief nod, forcing his expression not to change. He wondered what had made the Ravager suddenly go from nuisance to sympathetic. "The Dark Elves, yes."

"Why didn't you just lead with that?" the Ravager asked, lifting his hands. "We're on the same side, then! You want revenge, and I want...well, let's just stick to what you want. Revenge. I can help you."

Loki lifted an eyebrow. "Really, Ravager?"

"I can track the Orb," the Ravager told him. "I tracked it here, didn't I?"

"You can't track the Orb," Loki said flatly. "Not with Ravager equipment."

"Then how did I manage to follow it here?" he challenged.

"You tell me," Loki returned. Casually, he lifted his hand, a dagger appearing in his palm that he slowly lifted, the blade elegantly carving through the air. "How did you follow the Dark Elves here?"