Timeless

◈ 9 ◈

"I will give you as much time as I can," Volstagg told us as we covered the distance between our rendezvous point with Sif and our awaiting ship.

Thor gave him a pat on the shoulder.

"Thank you, my friend."

Jane gave him a small nod and smile as she passed by.

I, of course, was last to meet him. I'd never had many disagreements with Volstagg. He could be a bit grumpy when without a good meal for an elongated period of time, but other than that, he was quite pleasant to be around. So, I showed little to no resistance when he stopped me with his hand.

I hid my sneer at being touched, but my patience was wearing thin by this point.

"If you even think about betraying him,"

"You'll what? Kill me? I'd advise against that, my friend. I'm not exactly feeling merciful today, nor am I in a very chipper mood."

He pushed me back a bit with a low growl.

"Was that a threat?"

"Damn right it was. Just returning the favor."

Thor walked back over to us and sighed.

"I apologize, Volstagg, but we really have to get going now."

I patted Volstagg on the shoulder, half expecting my hand to get bitten off, before following Thor to the ship.

I stepped inside and immediately pushed him out of the way.

"Hey, I was going to fly it!" He complained.

"Not after what you pulled last time. I'm the better pilot. You keep watch over the mortal so that she doesn't end up passed out on the floor again."

I pressed a few buttons and let out a low whistle as the ship hummed to life with a fluorescent glow.

"I must admire the work put into this ship. It's quite an impressive vessel. In fact, it almost reminds me of the Commodore, minus the strange layout of the controls."

Thor nodded impatiently.

"Less talking, more flying."

Loathe as I was to oblige his blunt request, I eased the ship off of the rubble and sent it on a smooth flight out of the palace.

We took to the skies, and once we were in the open air, I spared a glance back at Thor.

"And look at that. I didn't hit one column. Please indulge me by reconsidering your previous remark on who the better pilot was."

He glared at me from his place on the floor with Jane, who was drifting in and out of consciousness.

"Indulge me by shutting up."

I chuckled and kept flying, keeping us high enough in the sky and far enough ahead to avoid any conflict with the ships that would be, without a doubt in my mind, chasing after us.

Once I was certain that we'd lost them, I pulled the ship down a bit closer to the sea.

"Oh look, there's Fandral. Care to pay him a visit, brother?"

Thor stood up with Jane in his arms and jumped out. I made sure that he'd landed safely before holding my helmet with one hand and hitting self-destruct with the other.

I leaped off of the ship just as it went up in flames and landed gracefully on the much smaller ship below me, putting my helmet back on and smoothing out my hair in one fluid motion.

Fandral looked more than a little surprised.

"I'm sorry, did you want to say something, Fandral?" I asked innocently.

He shook his head in silent but unmissable defeat. Good.

"No, nothing at all."

"I'll take over from here now if you don't mind."

He stepped out of the way and allowed me to take my place at the wheel.

"Doing alright, brother?" I called down to him as I flew us upward toward the mountains.

"As alright as I'll ever be."

I nodded in satisfaction at his remark and motioned at Fandral as a ship identical to ours appeared below us.

He uncoiled the rope on the deck and wrapped it tightly around his hand before mock saluting.

"For Asgard."

He jumped off the ship and swung onto the one below us. I didn't bother checking to make sure that he had everything under control, knowing that he could handle a few palace guards.

Good riddance. I thought to myself as we left him behind. The mountains were coming up close, and I pushed the steering wheel farther down to speed us up.

"Please keep all hands, feet, and moving objects inside of the ship, and enjoy the ride," I shouted over the crashing waves.

I frowned as I noticed that Thor didn't seem to appreciate my joke.

I didn't let it bother me, however, because I had more important things to worry about.

I steered the ship into the small passageway, watching Thor cringe at the flashing lights and squeal of metal against rock.

We flew out of the passage within seconds and ended up in a place I had hoped to never see again.