Finding Odin's Brooch

A Brooch and a Staff

Loki and the guard were waiting outside the room.

"Sorry about the wait." I held out my arms with a smile and the guard passed the scanner over me.

"Okay, you're all good. I'll be right out here."

I swiped my tag and we entered the lab. There was no need to even search for the scepter. It lay separated into three sections on a table in the center of the room. Loki smiled with evident satisfaction and held his hand over it. It vanished. He glanced at me and spoke in a barely audible tone.

"I take it the brooch is in the bathroom?"

"Yes."

"When we leave the room, he'll scan us, and then he may let us leave on our own. If not, can you pretend to be ill and retrieve the brooch? I'll handle him from there."

"Sure."

We moved to the door and I again scanned my tag. A black leather case appeared in Loki's hand.

The guard looked surprised. "That was fast."

Loki smiled as he set down the bag and held out his arms cooperatively. "Right where I left it. I'm just glad you knew to which room I was referring. If you don't mind, I'll follow Miss Stevens and let you get back to your patrol."

"Nah, it's no problem. I'll walk you to the elevator."

As we started down the hall, I drew a loud breath. "I, uh, I don't feel too great. I'm just going to step into the restroom again really quick."

The guard shot a glance at me. "Let me get the elevator for you and you can head up to the nicer restrooms that aren't by the labs. You'll feel better up there anyway. These always smell like chemicals-"

"No." I cut him off and pressed my hand to my midsection. "I can't wait. I actually think I'm going to be sick."

I rushed into the restroom and locked the door. I could still hear the guard's muffled voice outside in the hall and Loki's reply. Damn, move away from the door. I reached up gingerly and turned the latch, wincing in anticipation. Come on, open easily this time. Nothing. From the sound, they had to be right outside still. There was no silent way I could open it. I coughed loudly, followed by the most convincing gagging sound I could make.

The hall fell silent for a moment, then I heard their voices recede. I coughed again to cover the metallic sound and yanked open the front of the dispenser at the same time. Relief flooded through me at the sight of the bag. No one should have been in here in the few minutes we were in the lab, but I had still worried the bag would somehow be gone. I worked the drawstring over my head and dropped it down inside my shirt.

I flushed the toilet and left the room. Loki and the guard glanced up from the far end of the hall as I approached.

Before either of them could speak, the guard's radio crackled. "You... in lab... cameras..."

"Repeat. Do not copy." He moved toward the elevators, trying to hear through the heavy static. "Come in."

His back was to us. Loki looked at me "Good?"

As I nodded, the static suddenly dissipated and the radio blasted loudly. "Lower level units, come in, report anything abnormal in museum and west lab areas. All cameras are down. No personnel should be present."

Before the guard could turn, a blast of ice from Loki's hand struck him in the middle of the back, knocking him heavily to the floor. I winced at the solid thump of his head connecting with the carpet. More ice coated the elevator doors.

Loki grabbed my hand. "They won't be able to get here that way. Come on."

Together we raced back into the museum and the curtain where we had entered. The unconscious guard's radio was still blaring behind us. It sounded as the though the guards had discovered the elevator was unresponsive and were taking the stairs.

"Go on." Loki held the heavy fabric for me to wiggle through, then slipped in behind me. The metal rippled and we stepped through. Behind us, the door shifted back to thick steel. The sound from the radio cut off abruptly, leaving us in sudden silence.

We ran down the dim passageway, back to the ventilation shaft. As Loki boosted me up, a loud grinding noise filled the area. The heavy steel door was opening. Loki leapt up next to me.

Footsteps, radio static, and murmured voices moved down the passage toward our hiding spot. I slid backward, trying to move up the shaft without making a noise. I felt Loki doing the same next to me.

"Slow down. The heat signature is in the vents on the right."

I was up and around the corner. Loki reached out and I saw his hand move briefly in the light from the grate. Squeaks and grunting came from around the corner as he moved up and into the shadow beside me. Further up the incline, faint moonlight shone through the metal grate to the surface.

I shifted, ready to move in the direction of the way out when a beam of light flashed down from above, bouncing off the walls and narrowly missing me. I froze. Loki pulled me against him into the deepest part of the shadows. My back pressed against his chest and his long legs were on either side of mine.

"Don't move. As long as you're right by me, I can keep us both invisible."

I heard his voice clearly, but not aloud. How is that possible?

I held perfectly still, hardly daring to breathe. The light moved along the wall, slowly this time, searching. The radio crackled above us. I jumped slightly and felt Loki's arms tighten.

"Shh, it's all right. I have us hidden. Just stay still."

The grass outside rustled as the guards moved around for a better view in. "What have you got down there? I'm looking in, and all I see is some dead grass and leaves that must have washed in with the last rain. Nothing else from up here."

"Well, we found the heat signature." The lower group sounded annoyed. "There's a damn possum nest with a mother and a bunch of babies down here. There's a gap in the faceplate where they must've got in. I'd get them out, but I don't have gloves. Can you get in from up there?"

My heart stopped momentarily while I waited for his answer. "Nope. This side's rusted on. Just leave it. The last thing we need is somebody getting bit and needing a rabies shot." The guard's voice was retreating. "Nobody came that way. Get back inside, we have to find Mardh."

"Copy that." The voices below moved away with loud footsteps. A moment later, the door descended loudly.

The stillness was deafening. I took a deep breath.

Loki's hand rubbed my shoulder. "Don't move yet. I want to make sure they're gone. See, we're all right. Just wait for a while."

I relaxed back against him but strained my ears for other sounds. My eyes adjusted to the dark of the metal shaft and I studied the small shadows moving on the floor. Tree leaves moved in the breeze outside the grating. The swirling shadows were mesmerizing. I let out a long breath, feeling my heart slowing to something close to normal. The warmth of Loki's chest was comforting against my back. If the metal floor of the shaft was a tiny bit softer, I could actually fall asleep like this. I sighed and tipped my head back and closed my eyes. I felt myself drifting.

Wait, what did I just do? Realization that I was resting my head on Loki's shoulder hit me and I sat up. Shit, I hadn't meant to use him as a pillow. I heard a low chuckle.

"It's no matter." This time, the words were spoken aloud, not just in my head.

"I'm, I'm so sorry, I-"

"No, no need to apologize. I'm glad you could relax and rest a little." I could hear the smile in his voice. "Let's get out of here before they decide to come back to remove the possums and find no trace of them."

We crawled up the last distance to the grate and Loki reached up to let us through the metal cover. He pulled himself up first, then reached back down and hauled me up after him.

We hurried into the tree cover and peered back down briefly at the buildings.

Loki's hand closed over mine. "Come on, we did it. We have the brooch and my staff, and now SHIELD has Mardh as a person of interest." He smiled down at me. "You did wonderfully. Thank you."

I followed him deeper into the woods until we reached the place for Loki to reopen the portal back to Asgard. Warm light shone from the opening, and together we stepped through into the library and home.