Somewhere on Knowhere: Book Three

24

The three of them continued down the corridor, and since Strange had already disabled all the security systems, it took hardly any time at all before they turned the corner and went into the second door on the left, which they found empty of guards yet again.

"OK, so this is not as bad as I was expecting," Strange said, voicing exactly what Loki had been thinking.

The lab just appeared to be a mix of a hospital from the future and the king's quarters in Asgard. There was nothing particularly lab-like about it, and certainly nothing weird to suggest this was where cybernetically engineered children were made. The ceiling was high and fake gold, the walls were also fake gold and even the floor in this case was fake gold. The only light seemed to be coming from the pods that lined the walls. They were the only scientific thing in the room.

Loki looked around, figuring out which one housed the Guardians-destroying person. Eventually he figured it out and said, "OK, Strange, do your spell."

The wizard nodded, then closed his eyes to focus. He hadn't even told Loki what spell he was doing, just that he knew it would work. Being a telepath, Loki had already found out, and he trusted Strange enough to get the job done. He just hoped they could get out of here as soon as possible and with as little hassle as possible.

Though really he knew better than to expect that, so he didn't believe it would be that simple for a second.

All the lights suddenly started dimming in the pods, then glowed so brightly Loki had to squint to see what was happened. He assumed this was likely Strange's spell taking effect, but it was also probably noticeable to anyone outside, so if any more guards were coming, that wouldn't be fun. There was a very high-pitched squeal coming from all the machines, and then, suddenly, everything stopped.

Hang on, was that part of the spell? Surely not. Loki looked around, wondering if maybe Midgardian magic had ever been used on this planet. Because if so, their plan had all been for nothing.

Strange still had his eyes closed tight and that concentrating look was still on his face. He made a hand motion and suddenly everything in the room sparked and broke simultaneously, in an epic way.

And by epic, it was pretty damn close to his thousand or so exploding space ships. And this time they weren't at a safe distance.

The force of the explosion sent Loki and Strange flying straight back out into the corridor, but as they braced themselves for the impact of the wall, a very welcome red blanket flew behind them and gave them a hug, at least cushioning the impact so it wasn't quite enough to cause much pain.

Loki loved that cloak.

He still hit the wall at quite a speed, but thankfully not enough to knock him out, though it was pretty damn close. It hurt, but at least they were alive.

"Thanks cloak," he said, patting the fabric as though thanking an animal. "You're a lifesaver."

Loki turned to Strange. Then his heart skipped a beat, because he hadn't moved. And he still wasn't.

"Er, Strange?" he said, worriedly, shaking him gently. Strange didn't show any signs of life. "Strange? Strange!"

Loki kept shaking Strange to try wake him up. "Come on, Strange, wake up," he kept murmuring. Loki didn't think he'd be able to live with himself if he didn't wake up. Even the cloak, which had extracted itself from behind them, was helping in its own way.

The wizard groaned slightly, and Loki felt relief wash over him, thinking all hope wasn't lost yet. He was just knocked out, thank God. Great, now he was speaking like a Midgardian.