Special Agent 2: The Dark Soldier

Chapter 58

Hands grasped Loki's shoulders and he started, whipping around, but it was only Bishop. Her eyes were worried as she looked at him, her hand going to his face. "Loki," she murmured, her gaze sweeping every inch of his features. "Loki, are you okay?"

No, I'm not okay.

But he couldn't say that.

Slowly, Loki rose to his feet, Bishop helping him gain his balance. His head felt like it had been split in half, like Thor had just knocked him upside the head with a lightning-imbued Mjolnir. He staggered slightly as he shook his head, trying to clear the pain and haze from it. He needed to think, to think clearly and sharply.

Tekahionwake and Mordo were standing in the middle of the street, staring in disgust at the spot where the portal had been. Loki could only assume it had vanished, cutting off their path to the Dark Elves. And with Tidal gone, there was no way to track them. Thor and Hailstohm stood nearby, conversing in low tones. Loki wished sardonically that Odin had thought to marry them together, for they looked like they got on fabulously. Instantly, he felt a twinge of regret. Could I really wish that on Thor? After all, he does love Jane. I cannot believe he'd ever wish that on me.

The other agent and Romanoff were checking the corpses of the Dark Elves, ensuring they were all dead. Sam Wilson, his wings retracted back into the pack on his back, strode along beside them. DiNozzo was currently crouched beside Agent Sniper, looking concerned but not sure what to do as she brushed aside his helping hand. Loki remembered that she had once been Special Agent Kate Todd, Tony's former partner.

Jane stepped out of the building, hurrying across the pavement. "Thor!" she exclaimed, embracing him. Thor folded her in his arms and held her close.

"Where's Gibbs?" Loki asked Bishop in a low voice. "And McGee and Rogers? Why is Sniper here? And Sam Wilson? And Jane Foster? And who is the other mortal?"

"Gibbs, McGee, and Rogers were following up a lead," Bishop told him. "Sniper and Agent Torres have offered us their help. Torres was working undercover in HYDRA as part of a joint NCIS-SHIELD operation. And Jane and Sam are also lending their help." She knit her brows. "What's been happening with you?"

Loki gave her a quick rundown on their breaking Tidal and, accidently, Drax out of prison, their run in with Gamora and subsequent team up with her, Rocket, and Groot, all of whom were now waiting in the ship on Jotunheim. "Now what?" Bishop asked when he finished. "Will you go after them again?"

"I swore an oath to my mother," Loki said quietly. "So yes."

"Uh, everyone?" Sam called, from where he stood beside the building Loki had blown a hole into. "There are people down here."

Swiftly, Loki strode over to him, just barely beating Tekahionwake there. The jogger was gazing down into the basement, brow furrowed above his goggles. "Looks like someone had a meth lab down here."

"Did we bust Breaking Bad?" DiNozzo asked, running over and peering in. "Look out, Walter White!"

"That's not a meth lab," Torres said quietly as he joined them. He glanced at Sniper. "This is one of SHIELD's. INTEL, more specifically. The lab Jane picked up with her dark matter scanner-thingy."

The others gathered around, Jane calling back excitedly to Darcy and Ian, who were lurking in the doorway of the other building, to grab her equipment. Loki frowned at the two bodies sprawled on the floor of the lab, moaning from the effects of the blast.

Wait a moment...he recognized one of them. No, both of them.

The recognition seemed to hit Thor at the same moment, for he exclaimed. "Selvig? And, uh...the SHIELD agent whose name escapes me?"