The Joker

9.

This told Peter two things: one, the guard was obviously at ease. Nervous men who were wary of attack did not smoke cigarettes. Two, there weren't many security cameras in the stairwell. Smoking on the job when that job involved protecting billions of dollars in gold bars was obviously unacceptable. If this had been any other night, security cameras would have caught the smoking man, and he would be fired in a heartbeat. He did not seem worried about being caught. Logically, this meant he thought no cameras could see him.

"Loki," Peter whispered. "There's a man in the stairwell. We need to get rid of him without making any noise."

Loki smiled. "Leave that to me." He used a simple spell to shift silently through the stairwell doorway. Once on the landing, he crept along as quietly as a cat on soft shoes. Sneaking up on people was an art he had perfected at an early age, when he would sneak up behind Thor and stab him. As he got older, the sneaking became useful on the battlefield, or on intelligence-gathering missions. Thor would send him in to listen in on conversations, because he knew Loki could get in and out undetected.

Fortunately, the skill held. In an instant, his arm had wrapped around the man's neck, with his adam's apple in the crook of Loki's elbow. Expertly, Loki began to squeeze both sides of the man's neck, cutting off the blood flow through his carotid artery and jugular vein. In seconds, the guard was unconscious from the lack of blood flow to his brain. If Loki had kept going, the man would have been dead in another thirty seconds. However, Loki knew Peter frowned upon such things, and he reluctantly let the man slide silently to the ground.

With the stairway cleared, Peter and Loki made their way to the ground level. Karen directed them to the elevator shaft, and once again, Peter turned to Loki. "Climb on my back?"

Loki shook his head. "I can use magic to hover, remember?" He snapped his fingers, expecting to float into the air. Nothing happened.

Angrily, Loki snapped again. Still, he did not float up. "I don't understand. This spell worked the other day. It's like my powers are being slowly drained away."

Peter shrugged. "Just come on, man. We only have a few minutes until midnight."

"Thirty seconds to be exact," Karen corrected them.

Peter groaned. "Let's go, Loki!"

Rolling his eyes, Loki climbed onto Peter's back. "This is humiliating."

"I agree, but what choice do we have?"

"None," Piped up Peter's suit.

"Thanks for the commentary, Karen," Peter said sarcastically.

"You're welcome," she chirped. "Twenty seconds."

Peter forced the elevator doors open and leapt over the edge.

They whistled along in the pitch black as they fell. It was very eerie for Loki, who could see nothing. The only thing he knew was the boy giving him a piggy-back ride, and trusting him to break their fall. "I sure hope you know what you're doing, kid," Loki said nervously in his ear.

"Yup!" Peter replied.

Loki felt him raise his arm. There was a soft humming noise as spider silk ejected from his wrist. "Should I hold on?"

"Uh, might be a good idea!" Peter cried. "The bottom's getting closer!"

Loki let out a bloodcurdling scream and seized Peter rabidly around the neck. He didn't like free falling in the daylight. Doing it in a pitch black elevator shaft was terrorizing. He continued screaming until the line went taught. They were left dangling in the dark, swaying back and forth gently.