Alliance

Chapter 11: Intruder!

Chapter 11: Intruder!

~ß~ Katirya ~ß~

Thor moved across the garden and stood there, towering over his brother and

Katirya. She patted the grassy spot next to her. "Join us. It is rather relaxing sitting

here and I believe we have settled our differences."

Thor sat down and looked at the two. "Excellent."

"I am sorry for my reaction, but..."

Thor cut her off. "Queen Katirya, you do not need to apologize."

"Kiri, please, call me Kiri."

Thor nodded then went on. "Loki and I had a few questions for you. You said you

came here seeking aid. Why? And how did you come to the conclusion that we are

connected to the Infinity Gems?"

She gazed out at the city while she considered his questions for a few moments.

"Yes, I seek aid. The Thirteen, as I just told Loki, would rather kill me than obey me.

Their families feel the same. I fear the same fate as Storvirken, even if I am not the

evil leader that he was. They fear that the power will overcome me and I will be just

like him. I understand their feelings, but at the same time, I am not Storvirken. As to

the Gems," she lightly touched the Cronuth Stone before continuing, "if the others

are found, whoever is after them will come after this as well. I can easily see the

Thirteen turning on me then. I do not know if I can withstand an attack of that level."

"Do you know who is after them?" Loki spoke up finally.

"I do not know for certain, but they clearly have found a way to involve both of you.

The scepter needs to be retrieved. Do you think it is still on Earth?" Katirya asked.

"I think so. We did not bring it back, only the Tesseract," Thor replied. "I did not

think of the scepter."

"The Other gave it to me and taught me many things I would rather not repeat. I was

to keep it and give them the Tesseract in return, but I wonder if they never expected

me to win on Earth." Loki speculated.

"Loki, the Other as you call him was manipulating you. That much is obvious, at least

to me. I do not believe they intended anything but to discover the power of the

humans, and you were convenient to them." Katirya offered her explanation. "I think

they underestimated the humans, given that the Chitauri were pretty much

destroyed. Of course, that was a fortunate turn of events. The humans are a

destructive race. The weapon that destroyed the Chitauri was meant for the city

your Avengers were trying to protect. That they would attempt that..." she paused,

"They have much yet to learn."

"They are not all bad." Thor was quick to defend his mortal friends.

Katirya and Loki both laughed at his quick defense of the mortals.