Memory

(One) Stupid Hammer

I sneak into the lobby of Stark Tower, invisible, with Loki and Livvy next to me. "If we make any sounds--" I start.

"They will hear nothing," Loki assures.

I collect air in my mouth and blow it out. Then I see the date on the welcoming screens. "Fuck!" I scream.

"What?" Livvy follows my gaze.

"It's been a whole fucking week!" I exclaim in shock. "Shit!"

"Damn it," Loki says. It's the first time I've heard him curse.

I give him a surprised look. "Wasn't it you that told me to stop cursing so much because 'iT wAs d1StUrBinG'?"

"Firstly, how the Hel did you manage to say that out loud, and secondly, I've been around so much cursing lately that my brain must have picked it up." Loki says.

"Did you seriously just say that out loud?" Livvy asks.

"Maybe," I say. "Where is Thor?"

"What makes you think Thor keeps his hammer with him all the time?" Loki grins.

"Well, doesn't he?" I frown. As far as I can recall, he does have it on his person a lot of the time.

"Sometimes. But not always."

"So do you know where it is or not?" Livvy interrupts.

"We find out which floor he's staying on first. Each of the Avengers has his or her own floor--Hold up. They're possibly not even here right now because you took the Tesseract." I point at Loki.

He says, "Sorry," in a tone that is not at all sorry.

"Here," I rush to an elevator.

"Where are we going?" Loki asks.

"Somewhere we can access JARVIS and no one will question it." I flash a wicked grin as we step into the elevator and I press my floor number. "Because no one will know we were there."

The elevator dings and we step onto my floor. I spread out my arms. "Welcome to my humble abode."

A small living room with a mountain of crumpled papers spread over the coffee table in the middle, mint-colored sofas with countless pens lost in the cushions, and a microphone with other recording equipment in the corner awaits us.

"Take off the illusion. Only me," I whisper to Loki. When it's not on me anymore I look up. "JARVIS!"

"Miss Stark. You are back." JARVIS says.

Loki jumps a little and I smirk. "Yes, I am. Can you tell me where Thor is right now?"

"Thor seems to be currently searching for his brother, Loki," JARVIS says. "He will be back shortly."

"How soon?"

"In an hour or so. I would recommend waiting in the lobby for him."

"Thank you," I say.

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Loki and I wait in the lobby silently. He's going to distract Thor long enough for me to grab the hammer. Somehow, I'm going to have to lift it. I'll figure it out. I don't know how I'll get to Hela, either.

That's when the six of them walk in, including Thor. Loki runs forward in inhuman speed, gripping his arm and dragging him toward us. I reach out and grab Mjölnir from his hands. Surprisingly, I can lift it.

Thor looks for his hammer, which has now disappeared, and looks up in shock as Loki shows himself to his brother for a flicker of a second.

That's when it all disappears, and I'm in front of Hela again. I throw the hammer at her. "Where is Rowan?" I almost scream.

"Patience, girl," she says, picking up the hammer that landed at her feet and splattered black mud onto her suit-thing. "Naughty, naughty." She clucks her tongue.

I cut her off before she can say anything else. "No! No more games!" I yell. Anger wells up inside me. "Where is he?"

"Wouldn't you like to know? I brought him back; finding him was not something I agreed to help with."

"Then tell me what I need to get next, and can I have my powers back? It's really annoying to have to walk everywhere." I give up.

She throws me a jar made of frosted blue glass, small enough to fit in my pocket. "You will end up in the vaults of Asgard. And you will fill this up with the eternal flame. I know you know where that is. I know you know what it looks like. And it will not burn you, so be thankful I am giving you back two of your powers now. Oh, and if it gets confusing, know that it's been a week there. This time you're going to end up very close to the eternal flame, so this time, you have a half hour."

Then she waves a hand and I am in some dark gray room, with torches burning at the corners a long hallway leading out of the room. I am sent reeling by a sharp pain in my chest, and I choke on air before I realize what is going on. I can feel my pulse thrumming again, and my heart is now beating.

I scramble up again once I am in control of my breathing and the pain in my chest has subsided. Gripping the jar, I run through the hallway until I come into another large room. Pedestals are lined up across the room, each with some object or artifact on it, and the room is so big I almost can't see the other end.

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After what seems like fifteen minutes of searching, I come across something that looks familiar. A replica of the Infinity Gauntlet.

I keep my breathing still and silent, still not used to it and afraid that I will breathe too loud.

Two pedestals after that, I finally find it. The flames jump high in their bowl when I look at it, as if to impress me. How am I supposed to get it into the jar?

That's when a piece of paper appears in the jar out of nowhere. I frown, pry open the lid, and look at the paper. Hold the jar upside-down over the flame, it says in cursive.

So I do. And the flame floats up a bit, straight into the jar, its yellow-orange brightness stark against the blue of the jar.

I close the lid quickly and turn it right-side up, tucking it into my pocket. Then I teleport out.

Or at least, I try to.

But I can't. I'm stuck. I hear an alarm begin to sound in the distance.

My breathing stops. The torches wink out, and so does the flame in my pocket. My fear of the dark returns.

I have ten minutes left. I have no time. And I'm stuck.

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Ok I'm sorry this chapter is extremely crappy

Also, fuck this duology, this may well end up to be a trilogy

In fact, I can think of many painful events that may come to pass, given that I don't have to fit the rest of the story into one book only

haha LET THE PAIN POUR FROM THE SKIES