Above All Shadows [Loki Timetravel fic - Completed]

23. Theta-Three

The wormhole did speed up matters, but it hardly deposited Loki and Brunnhilde in the middle of Chitauri territory. It took fifteen dull, yet frustrating days of travel before they reached their destination. Brunnhilde wasn't timid about critiquing Loki's choice of supplies for their journey or his steering technique whenever he took the pilot's chair. Loki, for his part, knew only so many ways of telling someone to shut up.

Yet, as Brunnhilde banked hard and the hundreds of asteroids that made up this section of the belt came into view, Loki was tempted to tell her to turn the ship around and head for some civilised part of the universe.

'Where are we supposed to be landing?' Brunnhilde asked sourly. 'If you knew what you were doing, Odinson, you'd have procured at least a basic map for us.'

Loki ran his tongue over his lower lip. 'From whom exactly? The smugglers? Their word isn't worth the dirt on my boots. That big one there seven points to the right of us is the one to steer towards. If you are going to live in an asteroid belt, you'd at least pick the biggest hunk of stone you can possibly cling to.'

'Or you are worried about being found and are intelligent enough to hide among the smaller asteroids.'

Brunnhilde wasn't wrong. The bulk of Thanos' followers, both willing and unwilling, were spread across four main asteroids, the largest of which rivalled Asgard in size. However, Thanos and his inner circle often retreated to the seclusion of the smaller asteroids. Loki wasn't about to explain this to Brunnhilde, of course. This was the sort of information he was supposed to be gathering during this trip.

'If someone wants to hide, they are unlikely to welcome the unannounced arrival of a pair of strangers. Take the ship where I told you to,' Loki said.

Brunnhilde rolled her eyes as she turned the ship towards the asteroid Loki had pointed out. They had already slowed significantly since their reached the edge of the asteroid belt, now they had to slow to a crawl. Hundreds of asteroids little bigger than their ship speckled the space around them and there was local ship traffic as well. Loki gestured to Brunnhilde to follow the trail of a decrepit troop carrier. Over the years, Thanos' men had learned to navigate this maze; Loki and Brunnhilde were safe from collision as long as they could leverage off local expertise.

'This is a decent location for a base,' Brunnhilde remarked. 'Out of the way, true. But it'll be a bitch for your enemy to bring their army in.'

'Not just an army.'

They were now close enough to Theta-Three, as the inhabitants of the Sanctuary referred to it, to have a perfect view of the vast open mines that dominated this sector of the asteroid. Thanos' forces procured rare metals and sophisticated technology from Sakaarian smugglers and at times even through legitimate trade. However, the sheer bulk of raw materials needed to equip the military was staggering and the costs no less so. As Brunnhilde had already noted, it was near impossible to pilot any sizable vessel through the belt, so Thanos had turned to a native solution. Even at this stage in the game, his men had already hollowed out several asteroids.

Their ship glided above the broad crest that ran like an ill-healed scar across the asteroid's length and they were suddenly above the outer reaches of Sanctuary City. Loki remembered this view well - lines of quickly thrown-up barrack buildings, rising smoke from the smelters and messy outlines of half-completed warships.

Less a city than a military encampment.

Beside him, Brunnhilde mumbled something under her breath, but it was too soft for him to hear. He gestured towards the horizon where there was some glimmer of grace to be found in the well-built administrative centre of Thanos' madness.