Infinity | Loki [Book Three]

Chapter Four

I sat on the rooftop flipping through page after page, searching for anything to do with the Tesseract and how its power could be harnessed.

So far I had found nothing.

It didn't help that Thanos' ship was hovering above like a vulture waiting to pick apart its prey. It hadn't moved or shown any signs of life in the four hours I had been there, but the Chitari from earlier proved that the ship was all but empty.

"What're you doing up here?" Loki, who had appeared seemingly from nowhere, asked, sitting down next to me.

"Can't sleep," I said. "I wanted to get some fresh air and research the Cube and its potential for weaponization."

"I've been looking for you for the last hour," he chuckled.

"I haven't been to that many places!"

"You would be surprised once you start looking. The library, the stables, various balconies, the Great Hall, Niflheim, the coffee shop on Midgard--"

"I get it," I said defensively. "I spend time in a lot of places."

"I didn't say that was a bad thing," he said, wrapping his arm around my shoulders as we stared up at the sky, which was partly obscured by Thanos' ship. "How long have you been up here?"

"Four hours, give or take."

"And how long has that ship been there?"

"Longer," I replied. "I don't know what it's doing. I don't like it."

"Neither do I."

As if it was waiting for us to mention it, the enormous ship was suddenly lit up in the night sky by a shining blue light shot from it to the palace steps.

"I think that's our cue," I said, snapping my book shut.

"Our cue to spy on this from the rafters of the throne room?"

"Exactly."

Loki took my hand and we teleported to where we could hear and not be seen.

"Who are you?" we could hear Thor asking what I assumed was an alien humanoid.

"I am a messenger," he said simply.

"What message do you bring and from who?"

"I come with glad tidings," he said, "of a world made free."

"Free from what?" Thor was showing more self-control than I thought he would.

"Freedom." The alien smiled, acting as if all of this was a game to him. "Freedom is life's great lie. I have come to offer you true freedom from this false life. Thanos will cleanse this world of you and all your people so that you may create a better world with your sacrifice. Others will survive because of your gift."

"And if we refuse?"

"This is not a choice or a bargain you can deny. It is a gift that you will receive as the sun rises tomorrow."

The same blue light from before cut through one of the openings in the walls and snatched up the messenger. In less than a second, he was gone. I jumped down from the ceiling, landing directly in front of the throne.

"If you had complete control over this situation, your majesty," I said, "what would you do?"

"I would wait him out and make a stand here," Thor said.

"Well, with all due respect, you don't have control over this situation, so don't expect me to do that."

"What do you plan to do?"