Unexpected

The Mission Begins

I hadn't any nightmares over the night. I was never in a deep enough sleep to get one. The nighttime hours were spent slipping in and out of dozes and taking an hour at least to fall back to sleep after I was woken from one of these intervals of rest. However, when my alarm I had set for myself went off when it was officially morning I didn't feel very tired at all. Not even spending a minute to stretch in bed or anything I shot up, grabbed some clothes, and sped straight across the hall for a shower. I scoured my skin and got myself as clean as could be, almost trying to scrub away my thoughts and everything that had happened. I tried to force myself to believe that everything was going to be normal today. Well, as 'normal' as anything could be in an underground, illegal operation.

Wearing the gray t-shirt, jean capris, and black convers, and leaving my hair down, I strode the few steps down the hall to the cafeteria. There I found Ed and Ben readying the kitchen for cooking breakfast. Pulling out the containers we had kept all the breakfast breads we had baked the day before, I started cutting the loaves into thick slices as Ed started frying up eggs in pans on the stoves and Ben cooked up round sausage patties on the griddle top. So far everything seemed pretty 'normal', I thought to myself, and I went through the motions of making breakfast and preparing for the people to come for their meal as my mind raced. Last night's conversation hadn't left my mind yet, and I found myself analyzing everything we had said and done, everything it did and could mean, and trying so very hard not to think of what was coming.

People came for their breakfast as usual and made their way down the line, then over to the rows and rows of rectangular tables to eat while Ed, Ben, and I kept the food coming. Stepping into the fridge I grabbed several bunches of bananas and set them out to keep myself busy as keeping the food coming only really required two people. After a half hour or so of putsing around the kitchen, I made up my mind to take Loki his breakfast. As I put together the tray I felt that old feeling of fear and dread that I had known upon first bringing meals to Loki, except this time I wasn't worried about facing him exactly or saying or doing something wrong or that would attract any unnecessary attention. I was afraid of what we would talk about, what was going to happen.

Almost dragging my feet as I walked through the familiar hallways, I tried to calm myself down and almost laughed at myself. I was a mess, not being scared of the incredibly powerful Norse god of Mischief, but freaking out about what was to happen. I feared for the world and what was to come, but I wasn't really going to have a hand in any of it. Whatever the plan was, I was just a cook and would probably stay down here in the subterranean hideaway while the battle raged above ground. Soothing myself somewhat with these thoughts I knocked on the door to Loki's room.

"Enter." Came his voice that was muffled by the door.

After a deep, quick breath I pushed the door open and smiled to see Loki standing in the middle of the room with his hands held behind his back and a small smile on his face. "Good morning." I said nodding to him as I stepped into the room.

"How did you sleep?" He asked turning and taking his seat on his chair as usual, his eyes giving me a quick scan, "Not too well, I suppose?"

"Do I look that bad?" I asked with a huffed laugh, wondering if I looked more tired and worn than I had thought.

"No. You just look like you need something to wake you up a bit more, like maybe a" Suddenly I felt two hands on my sides giving me a quick pinch making me shriek and drop the tray on the coffee table with a loud clatter, "Shock!" Loki's voice came from behind me and I whirled to see him grinning mischievously at me, my startled, surprised look making him burst into a laugh.