The Warling

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

Mira entered the underground bunker, walking coolly and calmly towards the entrance, much as Loki had done the previous evening. She stopped by the blast doors and looked into the camera mounted there.

"I want to speak to Thor," she told the camera.

She knew Thor was here. Mjolnir was a powerful weapon but it had one weakness, magic that powerful could always be detected by a skilled practitioner.

She waited patiently. Like Loki, she could have opened the doors but she didn't want these people to know that she had regained her powers yet. Besides, she had no need for grandstanding, in her experience, it was better to be seen as nonthreatening.

She waited for perhaps three minutes until finally, the doors ground open, with much scraping and squealing. Obviously Loki had damaged the doors when he forced them open.

Slowly the hallway came into view and she was greeted by Coulson, May and Thor.

"I honestly wasn't sure we'd ever see you again," Coulson admitted.

She stood in the doorway, so they couldn't close it.

"You thought Loki might hurt me, but you still gave me to him? You know, when you hired me, you said you were the good guys."

"You can't exactly say you were honest with us either." Coulson and the group stopped around five paces away from her; they were wary but they didn't feel threatened by her. She wouldn't go so far as to say they trusted her.

She shrugged. "I didn't come here to discuss semantics." She looked to Thor. "May I speak with you, Your Highness, in private?"

"Of course," Thor gestured for her to come inside.

"After what they did to me last time, I'd rather talk out here."

Thor took a step but May grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Why are you here?" May asked her.

"I have a message from Loki, I guess I'm playing go-­between."

"Why?" Coulson asked.

"I'm the Goddess of Peace. I thought it might be worth a shot to see if I still have it." She held her hand out towards Thor.

"I don't trust her," May glared at Mira.

"I hardly think she can harm me," Thor assured her, shrugging out of her grip and taking a step towards Mira.

"It could be a trap," Coulson warned.

"As long as I am trapped with Jane, then I shall not mind very much." He stopped just before Mira but he didn't take her hand. "Can I trust you?"

"You can. While I can't claim to have no ill will towards you, I have no desire to hurt you and let me assure you, Jane is safe and unharmed."

With a little reluctance, he took her hand and allowed her to lead him out of the base.

"Where are we going?" Thor asked.

"Just to the street, where there are no cameras and microphones."

"And what then?"

"I'll take you to Jane." They began climbing the stairs.

"How do I know this isn't just another one of Loki's tricks?"

"I give you my word, it isn't." Mira stopped and turned to him. "Look, you're going to hear a lot of weird shit over the next couple of hours, and I apologise for my language, apparently you can take the Vanir out of the mortal, but not the mortal out of the Vanir. I did it again! Shit! Bugger! Oh, bollocks, I'm sorry about how I'm talking, Thor, evidently I have no control over it."