The Misadventures of Loki and Strange

Chapter 19

Paul stepped away from the door with a loud sigh, the side of his fist throbbing with pain where he had been hitting it against the door and his throat was sore from yelling pleads and protests that fell upon deaf ears.

Frowning, he dropped against the wall beside the doorframe and slid down, the only sound in the room being a strange thrumming that came from the other side of the door.

Alice had tried to charge through but had failed miserably, recoiling back as if burned by an unseen fire before going still on the spot, her head bowed.

How long had she been stood like that?

It felt like an ago since she'd stepped back and lingered there, wordless and motionless.

He watched her from the corner of his eye while catching his breath from the exertion, his fingers beginning to drum on his knee as his leg started to bounce nervously.

"Alice?" He eventually asked, though it came out as a whisper.

She didn't respond, didn't even flinch.

"Hey," he tried again, shifting onto his knees to get up, "Alice, you okay?"

He'd barely pushed a single knee off the ground when the dresser, which had returned back to its dilapidated state, started to rattle on its place and a coldness filled the room.

Despite the growing shakiness in his legs, Paul still forced himself to stand up and surveyed the room, watching as things shifted in place, some scooting along the floor before rising to crash down violently again.

A wave of tears pricked at his eyes as fear mixed with adrenaline and he swallowed thickly, turning to his sister.

"Alice?"

---

Loki was hunched over the device that he'd set on the banister, his fingers tracing over the wording as Strange kept watch of the rune-surrounded door.

"How long do you think this will take?" He asked, looking to Loki.

"With any luck, not much longer," he mumbled.

"If you're struggling to read it then how did a group of barely adults manage to?"

Loki stood up straight, flipped the artifact over and inspected the six rune-like markings on the other side before finally looking to Strange.

"I think they had some help."

Strange slowly rose an eyebrow.

"From who?"

"Whoever decided to hide this thing on Midgard."

"Any idea on who that could be?"

Loki shrugged and shook his head.

"Perhaps Njord, maybe Freyr, it could have been any of the Vanir who kept their wits about them around this thing." He looked to Strange with a wry smile, "For a realm of wisdom, people sure lost their smarts over this."

"I think you might need to clue me in a little."

A loud crash came from the front door, both mean leaned over the balcony and could hear Davis cursing a storm from outside, it seemed as though the two Loki had chased out were trying to force their way back inside.

Loki rolled his eyes as Strange sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I forgot about them," he mumbled.

"If only we could all live in such bliss," Loki shook his head and then glanced down at the device before letting out a long sigh. "Okay, here's what we do, you keep them distracted down there while I go and put the girl's soul into this thing, then we have to find her physical body."

"Will her soul be safe in there for that long? Her body could be anywhere and I doubt you'll get anything out of her brother, I need to know there won't be repercussions."

Loki looked to Strange and then shrugged, tucking the thing under his arm.

"I don't know but we're kind of between a rock and a hard place, what do you expect me to do? Tear the entire room away from the rest of the building with my bare hands and carry it around until we find it?"

"If needed I could do that too, though it's a bit drastic."

"Yes, you could use your sorcery for that, couldn't you?"

Strange gave Loki an irritated stare then looked back to the front door, ignoring the jibe as another bang came from the entrance.

"Fine, we'll go with the first plan but only because we're running out of time."

"It must hurt you so much to agree with me."

Not rising to his provocations, Strange held out his hand and offered Loki the final piece that he needed to put the thing together and get to work, the item appearing in his palm with a dramatic flash as the chrome caught the light at a perfect angle.

Loki raised an eyebrow as he took it and looked it over more closely.

"Peculiar," he said quietly, "comparing the two you never would have guessed they were from the same artifact."

Strange looked between the two then let out a hum as he nodded.

"You're right, it's like the smaller part went missing so someone replaced it."

"Exactly and I doubt Paul was smart enough to do this," Loki's eyes narrowed a little, then he let out a huff and turned away, taking strides down the hallway. "Enough dawdling, we should get back to work."

Strange watched after him and then made his way downstairs, silently impressed with the sudden gusto that the God had obtained.

Something about the thing had kicked Loki into gear and he wanted to know what but first thing's first.

---

Carmen stepped back and rubbed the top of her arm, already feeling a bruise starting to build.

Davis, meanwhile, was glowering at the door as if he could intimidate it open despite looking like a puppy.

"One more try," he said, looking to her.

"Really? You don't think we've tried enough?"

"It's just a little stuck, come on."

Letting out a groan, Carmen adjusted her position and gave a couple of stretches to steel herself, opting to use her non-dominant side this time around.

"Last time," she said resolutely.

Davis merely nodded and stepped up to her side, bouncing on his feet before charging forward, Carmen only a step behind him.

That step was enough to stop her from completely falling over when the doors seemed to fling open and they were engulfed into an orange swirl, unlike Davis who had already thrown his weight towards the door.

Not that she could stop herself from stumbling through all the same.

She came to an awkward stop as Davis rolled onto his side with a long groan, his hand coming up to the opposite arm to cradle it as he sat up.

Carmen looked at him then over her shoulder to where they had come through, which was now a solid wall with no sign of a door ever being there.

Her mouth dropped open and she turned back around to catch Davis' attention, but he was too busy looking towards the staircase, watching as Strange took the last couple of steps down and stepped towards them.

The sorcerer's eyes flitted from one to the other, his face hard set.

"I have a question for you both and none of us are leaving until I get it."