Special Agent Loki Laufeyson

Chapter 58

The finished spaceship sat angled up towards the sky, the doors above it shut tight against the secret project. But soon, they would be opened. Tonight, they would release their threat upon the world.

Clare Leopard stared up at the spaceship, a marvel of engineering and science. It held some similarities to the famous rockets of NASA, but the Space Walker had instructed her to design and build a spaceship with stealth capabilities and more maneuverability, among other additions. He had also decided to add some features in himself that she didn't exactly understand. The Walker liked to keep his secrets to himself.

A dolly was rolled across the concrete towards her, the Walker floating behind it. The Phenomenon sat securely on the dolly as he directed it towards the spaceship.

"The ciyako has primed my masterpiece," the Walker commented as he came to a stop beside Leopard. She tightened her fingers around the scepter as he held up his hands, lifting the Phenomenon up into the air and steering it towards the steep ramp leading up into the spaceship.

Leopard didn't say anything. She didn't understand the whole process behind the piece of machinery, but she did know a little. The key piece that powered it was an object, what looked like a rock, which the Walker had somehow retrieved from the moon. She had only seen it once, when he had explained what it was.

"A piece from our ancient past," he said now, marvel in his voice, as the Phenomenon disappeared from view. "It contains gravitational power, proof of the long disputed gravitons, which will allow the Phenomenon to concentrate and redirect the photons into a strong beam of light pointed directly at Terra."

"At D.C.," Leopard said approvingly. "We'll have control over the capital and from there...."

"The Infinity Stones," the Walker stated. "For seven years have I been preparing for this day. My father sent the foolish Asgardian here, a year ago, to steal the Tesseract, and he failed. Not only did he fail, he lost my father yet another of the precious Stones."

Leopard looked down at the scepter, the Stone in question glimmering blue in the head of the weapon.

"With the Mind Stone returned to his hands and Terra in our control, we can capture the Time Stone and be one step closer to the final goal."

Leopard was curious. The Walker had never told her what, exactly, the final goal was in this game of chasing Infinity Stones. He'd barely even explained what the Infinity Stones were. "What is the end of all this?" she asked.

The Walker looked at her condescendingly. "That's not for you to know, Leopard. But if you do not fail, you will be rewarded for your hard work and your loyalty."

He turned. "Are you ready?"

Leopard thought he was talking to her, but when she glanced over her shoulder, her lips forming her answer of "Yes," she noticed Agent Sniper standing behind her, hands positioned on the muzzle of her sniper rifle, the butt planted firmly on the ground. She hadn't even heard her approach.

"I was ready two hours ago," Sniper answered, her concealing mask distorting her voice.

"That wasn't the question. Are you ready now?"

"Of course," Sniper answered, lifting an eyebrow.

"You cannot fail this time," the Walker warned her.

"I won't," Sniper said. "There's no security at the place, no taken precautions. This will be easy."

"It better be," the Walker said. "For we are running out of reasons to keep you around, what with your subsequent failures to kill the NCIS agent."

"You asked for a tracker," Sniper told him. "You got one. Be fortunate I don't get offended easily."

The Walker snorted in disgust but dropped the subject. "Then go. Carry out your mission. Then wait for the result."

Agent Sniper lifted up her rifle, slung it across her back, and turned, striding across the concrete floor towards the exit.

"Are you ready?" This time, the Walker's question was directed at Leopard.

"Yes."

"Then let us finish what the Asgardian started," the Walker said, looking up towards the spaceship. "He may have found a way to defeat the chip inside his head, but we already had what we needed. He will pay for his failure."

Leopard couldn't help the small knot in the pit of her stomach. The Asgardian had been sure of success, but he had failed, all the same, and his punishment for it would be brutal. She could not make the same mistakes.

She could not.