Weakness | Loki [Book One]

Chapter Twenty-Four

How long had he been working with them? I didn't think about it for too much longer since the people on the computer screen in front of me were still talking. 

"Christianson, if you can't calm yourself, I'll be forced to have you escorted off the premises," the Hydra man said. 

"I'll escort myself out, thank you very much." Zeke left the room and slammed the door behind him as a Hydra officer and a guard opened a different door. 

"We need to eliminate D-84," the officer said. 

"I am aware, sir."

"Soon."

"I already have a crew training for a mission tomorrow. I will report tomorrow afternoon."

"Good. I'll leave you to it." All three of them left the room. 

With nothing left to see, I closed the computer screen and debated between running away from the tower and trying to take on at least a dozen highly trained Hydra operatives. Neither looked to be a good option, so I would have to choose between the lesser of two evils. 

I prepared to leave my small room. I didn't have much; the only thing I really needed was knowledge. I laced up my boots and pulled my hood up over my head. Phone in pocket, computer and books in my backpack, I opened the window and slid down the slick side of the tower. I teleported across the street before I hit the ground. 

I scanned an old subway card I found in my pocket and slipped into a subway car. I was cautious, but I didn't recognize anyone in my vicinity, so I sat down in one of the seats next to a silent, hooded man who didn't move when I took the empty seat. I'd let a few security cameras see me to lead Hydra away from Avengers Tower, and I didn't know how quickly they would send assassins. 

"I doubt you're going sightseeing, so what are you doing, Delta?" the man beside me said. 

"Loki?" I asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Keeping an eye on you so you don't make rash, sleepless decisions."

That stung. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I think you do," he said. "Why are you leaving?"

"Hydra."

"You're not one to run from a fight."

"You're not wrong, but they're out to kill me this time."

"How is that different from any other Tuesday?"

"It is different, Loki," I said. "They've only ever wanted to experiment on me: wipe my memory and use me as a weapon. This time, they want to kill me. For good. And now, Zeke is working with them."

Any lightness left in the conversation disappeared. "That son of a--"

"I'm just going to fly under the radar for a little while and wait for things to die down. It's fine."

"No, it's not fine." We sat in silence for a moment before he said something again. "Let's go blow up the Hydra base."

"What?" I asked incredulously. "Loki, are you sure you're sane?"

"Probably not." He stood up as we slowed to a stop. "Let's go." We jogged up the station's stairs and teleported away just as we would've gone into the daylight. 

"Loki?" I asked, "how exactly are we going to quote 'blow up the Hydra base'?"

"Explosives," he said simply. "The holds are full of them. I looked it up."

I sighed. "If you get us killed, I'm blaming you."

He turned around and looked me straight in the eye. "Neither of us is going to die, Delta." Then he turned around and jumped into a Hydra transport van. 

I followed, but the two soldiers inside were already incapacitated. "Nice," I said. 

"Get in."

I drove the van towards the entrance as Loki created an illusion to make us look like the two we had replaced. We were waved through without trouble and jumped out of the van as soon as we were inside. Two different people took over and we slipped away to the supply center of the base. 

"Here," Loki said, handing me a bag full of remotely-controlled explosives. "Spread them out throughout the base and meet back here when you're done."

"These look like they're from Star Trek," I mumbled as I teleported to a different part of the base. 

The first few rooms I went to were empty, but the fourth was a conference room. 

"Carry on, gentlemen," I said as I subtly dropped the explosive behind my back and teleported to a different part. The alarms sounded, but I finished placing the bombs everywhere before anyone could figure out where I was. I met Loki back at the hold. 

"What happened?" he asked. 

"Nothing," I said quickly. "I need to go take care of something really quick. Give me two minutes." I teleported to another room before he could stop me. 

I appeared silently behind a man in a coffee-break room. He whipped around as I started to make myself a cup of tea. 

"D-84," he said with a German accent, "What are you doing here?"

"Just paying a visit to an old acquaintance."

"You were my most successful experiment. You're just going to throw that all away?"

"By your standards, yes."

He laughed. "I know all your battle strategies. You can't defeat me now. Besides, I'll sound the alarm once I kill you. Then you won't even have the freedom of death."

"I doubt it," I said. The illusion of me shimmered out of existence as the real me drove a knife clear through his chest and out again. 

"You...wouldn't..." he choked out.

"I would." I wiped the blade off on my jeans, poured my tea, and settled down in one of the conference room chairs to watch him die as he had watched me wish I could die over and over again.