Above All Shadows [Loki Timetravel fic - Completed]

27. Summons

It was a near thing, but Loki and Brunnhilde did manage to backtrack out of the Palisade without being caught. The next day, as Nebula had predicted, she wasn't in the training hall when Loki arrived. He worked on his own, using the opportunity to add magic into the mix as he did so. 

This morning too, Nebula failed to show up. In an effort to turn his mind away from his worry, Loki ventured out to the more popular halls in the rehabilitation complex. He found plenty of sparring partners, but no one well-enough connected to be worth cultivating a deeper relationship with.

When he returned to the hostel, sweaty, sore and eager for conversation that didn't focus on the three most efficient ways to kill a Plodex, he was once again disappointed. Two empty bottles stood on the table, another lay on the floor by the lounge. Clothes seemed to be placed strategically to cover as much surface area as possible. Brunnhilde was nowhere to be seen.

Loki moved deeper into the suite. She had spent the night on a new attempt to get into the Palisade and break into the Sanctuary's computer systems. This attempt hadn't been any more successful than their first; the increased security was problematic. It was a time-consuming and tiring activity nevertheless. He hadn't expected Brunnhilde would be in the mood to do much work today. Sure enough, he found her sprawled across his bed.

Rolling his eyes, Loki threw his blanket over her and retreated to the lounge room. He cleared up the worst of the mess, then took out the notes Brunnhilde had pulled together over the past weeks. There was so much detail Loki was sure something significant could be extrapolated from the sheer mass of data. They could use the information. Thanos, Ebony Maw and Loki had spent long days planning the invasion of Midgard, but Thanos hadn't discussed his broader strategic approach in those meetings. Loki knew little more than Brunnhilde did.

'It might be I'll have to sit through those meetings again,' Loki muttered. 'What joy.'

Thinking back to those long days, he remembered the errors as much as the exhaustion. They had approached Midgard like it was a clump of dirt barely worth an invasion. At the time Thanos had been unaware of the time stone's location, Midgard didn't have any resources of interest and Midgard's technological capabilities were in their nascent stages. If Odin hadn't hidden the Tesseract there, Thanos wouldn't have had any cause back then to turn his eye towards Midgard at all. As it was, Thanos had been reluctant to commit his more formidable units to the endeavour.

Would that day have ended differently if I'd had more competent ground troops?

If the matter had been less serious, Loki would have laughed at his youthful folly. He had sold every piece of knowledge his mind held in exchange for the promise he would be king of the Nine Realms when all was done. But Loki had ruled these same realms and without Thanos' help to secure the throne. He had ruled when the realms were still full of vitality, not the withered husks that remained in Thanos' wake. And, well, the sum of those years solidified the thought he had always carried in the back of his mind, but had been too immature to articulate adequately — he didn't want to be king. He sought something less tangible than a throne.

Loki flipped through what had initially been his notebook and had now become Brunnhilde's. Neat diagrams and meticulous notes in an Asgardian code as old as Odin himself filled the pages. He slammed the book shut, suddenly tired of obsessing about the past and fretting about the future.

What Thanos knew of Midgard, he learned from me. It's my fault I underestimated the defence Midgardians would put up.

There was a knock on the door.

Loki slipped the notebook into a pile of Brunnhilde's belongings and cautiously moved towards the door. There were no translucent panels or a peephole, nor was the hostel expensive enough to have any kind of intercom system. This hadn't bothered Loki back when he'd chosen their accommodation; he had assumed that any adversary would show themselves in. It bothered him now. A lot.