Picking Up The Pieces

19. From Ship To Ship

"Again, I repeat my question," I repeated. "What are you?"

"Part Kree," he said casually, sitting down in a criss-crossed position so he could see me better. "And part Frost Giant."

"You're a frost giant?" I said excitedly, my heartbeat calming. "Do you know Loki? He's ruling Asgard, right?" The alien chuckled, and my smile fell. "What's so funny?"

"Sweetheart, you must have been living under a rock," he said, still chuckling. "Loki Laufeyson is dead." It felt like a blow to my chest when he said those words. He... he couldn't be... "How did you know about him, anyway?"

"He... he was my friend," I said slowly before he could read my mind, looking down. Was that the correct term to use? Friend? "We've known each other for a while." There was a long pause before the frost giant responded.

"You have a lot of gaps in your memory," he noted. "But they aren't lost... they're still there."

"I know," I said bitterly, glaring at my shoes. My metal hands was squeezing the bars so hard they were starting to bend under pressure.

"And you have a lot of emotion in you. Pain, sadness, anger-"

"Just shut up," I snapped, and there was a deafening crack. I looked up to see the bar, now broken, clenched in my hand. Carefully, I slipped my body through the new hole and back. "I didn't know the arm was that strong."

"Never underestimate the power of an angry teenager," the frost giant grinned, his happiness ended fast. His eyes darted to the right in terror. "Something's coming. Put the rod back and pretend to be asleep." Not knowing what was coming next, I followed his instructions. I heard loud footsteps come near my cage.

"She's still sleeping, sir," I heard a familiar voice growl. Grovel. "It's been six days."

"Gavorb hit her too hard," the leader told him. "We wake her up before she does naturally, who knows what will happen. There's a reason Chaftain called his tasers 'Crazy Charges'." The footsteps started again, and when they moved away, I opened an eye.

"They're gone," I told the alien. He sighed with relief. "Why are you so afraid of them?"

"I've been here for years," it explained. "But I've been alive for two thousand. My parents sold me to the Kree when I was young for experimentation. The Kree injected their blood in my system and exposed me to this crystal. I got my powers, and I spent hundreds of years as their slave, reading the minds of their enemies. Eventually the Kree got tired of me and sold me to these... space pirates." He seemed to spat the term.

"So why can't you speak vocally?" I asked.

"I wasn't the best toy, so I had to be broken," the frost giant glared. "They removed both my vocal chords and my tongue." Just to prove he was telling the truth, he opened up his mouth so I could see the empty space. I grimaced at the scene. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle."

"I'm sorry for flinching," I apologized. "But why do the 'space pirates' want you?"

"Reading minds, stuff like that," he said annoyed, rolling his eyes. "I went from a prestigious pet to a festival monkey. They go to me when one of their members is withholding something or they need a lead for money. Pathetic."

"I'm sorry," I told him sentimentally. "It must have been horrible to go through all of that."

"And that's why you're gonna change all that." I looked at him, bewildered. "You were able to break that bar out of pure emotion. Raw emotion. The problem is you can't control it. Imagine all of that talent and power, but it's at your fingertips and not hidden behind some mental shield." He motioned at the visible crack on the cage. "You want to try to escape, go ahead. But if you agree to take me with you, because I know you will escape, I can help you control all of your mental powers instead of them controlling you." I looked back at the cracked metal and then to him.