The Stronghold 2: Immortals

Pizza Is One Love, Yours Truly Is The Other

Sleep came fast for the two lovers and it felt like seconds before they were being woken again by a grinning Sophie and Rebecca. The immature women burst out laughing and then scuttled out of the room, howling at Loki's disgruntled expression at being woken up. The demigod shook his head and yawned, settling back down and hugging his human close. Georgina was half-asleep but slowly coming to her senses, blinking open tired gold eyes and stretching.

"I don't want to move," she said, yawning halfway through her sentence as she sat up. Loki grumbled and shifted so that his legs were across Georgina's lap, his head still relatively close to the pillow.

"Do you humans really have to wake up so early?" he asked, too warm to move much and certainly not bothered to sit up. 

"We have a world to save," Georgina reminded him. 

"Eurgh, the human race can burn," Loki groaned. 

"Friendly reminder that I'm generally considered human."

"Hm, you won't die then."

"And the other Super Glitches?"

"They can burn."

Georgina stood up and Loki's legs fell off the end of the bed, taking him with them. He tumbled onto the rug wrapped in the duvet and looked up, blinking in surprise at an angry, golden-eyed young woman.

"Listen here," she said viciously, "they are my friends. Don't mess with them, okay? Don't offend them either. Only I can do that because I'm their friend. And some of those are children!" She began yelling. "How would you feel if they did die? We're all going to die anyway if you just sit there, you lazy bastard!" She kicked him violently and Loki fell sideways, scrambling backwards until his back hit the wall. Georgina swayed for a second and then collapsed, eyes going blue for a split second before they rolled back in her head. Moving swiftly Loki caught her and laid her back down on the bed. All knowledge of human language deserting him the demigod began to curse loudly in Asgardian until a small group of people came crashing through the door.

"Loki, shut up," Amalia ordered.

"You're waking everyone up," Emmi moaned, rubbing her eyes.

"Just because we woke you early," Sophie muttered while Rebecca sipped a cup of coffee. 

"What's going on?" Brian and Harry questioned in sync. Loki shrugged helplessly and Cleo pushed forwards, hands glowing gently. Her eyes scanned the unconscious body and she bit her lip, thinking hard.

"Something's messing with her mind," she said eventually. "I'm not sure what, but it's making her emotions go up and down and spikes of hormone release are happening often."

Loki frowned in confusion and Harry cleared his throat. "What I know is that Omega has got one of his little minions to mess with her mind. Until we give someone to Omega, to work for him, Georgina keeps on going mad."

"Omega?" Loki echoed, retracing the route to the drug den in his head. Harry nodded and in a second the demigod was gone, reappearing in the darkened corner of a bedroom.

"Mr Laufeyson," Omega's voice said smoothly from the darkness. "So glad you could join us." 

"Us?" Loki repeated, advancing towards the voice with his skin going steadily more and more blue as anger took hold. 

"Lights please, gentlemen," Omega said with the hint of a smile in his tone. Blaring white lights illuminated the room and Loki shielded his arms, blinking hard to try and get used to the glare. Once his eyes were adjusted he saw that Omega was bundled up in hundreds of blankets, his legs in thick casts. An IV drip was attached to his hand and his heart rate was monitored. His bedroom had become a hospital room and he wasn't alone.

As well as cameras being in the corners of the room there was also a familiar person lounging against the wall. He was familiar but incredibly different with great black wings spreading from his back with his eyes the same colour. His outfit was classy and old, a waistcoat over a shirt and loose trousers with braces holding them up. His shirt sleeves were rolled up and his veins were also black. A small smirk graced the corner of his mouth and he winked at the demigod.

"Why?" Loki asked, unable to form coherent thought.

"It's boring being dead," the person shrugged. "And when Omega here gave me a chance to get life back I snatched at it. I'm a proper demon now, see?" He twirled on one foot and Loki noted a long black tail floating in the air. 

"My emotions have been turned off too, of course," the demon continued, folding his arms over his chest. "Emotions are funny little things, aren't they? So petty and annoying. It's nice to take a neutral view on life instead of getting heated up about the little things." He sighed. "Of course, it's impossible to completely turn off one's emotions. I feel things but I'm much less likely to get angry any more. I'm more patronising and annoying, sadistic almost." He grinned wickedly. "I'm going to have so much fun irritating you, Loki. That's the thing with being immortal." He spread his arms wide. "You can take on the world."

Loki's eyes were a rich red and without realising it he'd pinned the demon against the wall, one blue hand throttling the black-eyed young man. "You get your emotions back and leave lady Georgina alone," the demigod snarled. 

The demon simply laughed, albeit with a little gurgle. "Me? Hurt George? Never, Loki, my dear boy. I'm doing it to hurt you." He flipped the demigod around so that the Frost Giant's face was against the wall and his arms were twisted behind his back.

"Now, Loki," the demon said softly, amusement playing in his voice while his tone was commanding. "You go and save the world I've just come back to. Live your happy little life with your happy little friends. Play happy families, if you will, but you've got to forget me. Understood?"

"What do I tell them?" Loki asked. The demon considered the question for a second, relaxing his grip. 

"Tell them that it was always going to happen," he said eventually. "Erase their memories, maybe. I know your plan already, Loki dear. It wouldn't have worked on me, or you either for that matter, but the others would be normal." He smiled and stepped away from the demigod. "Just don't hunt me down and kill me, hm?"

"What about Brian?" Loki questioned, turning around so that he was facing the demon. The demon in question rolled his eyes.

"Tell him he's a nice guy, good in bed and should move on. Erase his memory too. Oh wait, it doesn't work on werewolves." He frowned. "Kill him then. After you've saved the world, of course."

"Your emotions aren't turned off," Loki said in disgust, "you're just indifferent to other people."

"It is important to put yourself in front of others and when you don't care about other people anyway it's even more fun to look after yourself," the demon said with a charming smile. "Especially with wings and all... I need to get out and cause trouble, not sit around moping about other people. Their business is their business; I'm only concerned about yours truly." He bowed and Loki resisted the temptation to punch him. 

"You're filth," the demigod spat. The demon laughed and patted him on the head. 

"I may be," the demon chuckled, "but I'm filth with style." He grinned and wrapped his wings around him as if they were a cape, drawing them back to reveal a changed outfit. He did that several times with each outfit being more obscure than the previous until Omega gave his order.

"Shaade, stop."