Althea
The rabbit did not lie after all. There it was. I knew that the chance of Loki being inside the shop was slim but I still hoped. The sunlight was almost gone making the moment unnecessarily chilling.
When we stepped inside a little bell that was attached to the door warned the owner that he had visitors. No one in sight, only broken machines, and tools spread out on every surface. I spotted a switch and assumed it was for the lights but it did nothing.
"Anyone here?"
My flight or fight feeling kicked in. I was confident that Thor had never seen a horror movie before to understand and recognize all the red flags. I stood behind him wishing whatever monster was going to emerge from the shadows it would choose him first.
The silence was deafening. The lights opened on their own making us jump. A small wrinkled man was seated behind an unorganized desk. He pulled a cigarette and a lighter out of his suit. He lit it and drew a couple of puffs to calm his nerves. His clothes reeked smoke regardless of his try to cover it with an expensive fragrance.
"You have a couple of seconds to explain who you are before my boys in the back barge in."
His hand flicked the spent ashes into a tray.
"I am Thor of Asgard, Loki's brother."
No reaction whatsoever. He pointed at me.
"How about you? His sister?"
"Only a friend."
"Alright, then Thor and a friend...why are you lingering in my shop after hours?"
Thor was rather entertained with the old man's confidence. He was four times his size but showed no fear towards him.
"If you do not like guests you should not have left your front door unlocked."
Two men in all black clothing entered the room and stood beside their employer. I could detect their weapons inside their blazers.
"Well as you can see kid...no one had tried to do that before. People around here know better than that."
I spoke before Thor did. He could have easily offended them and got us kicked out.
"I would like to apologize for the late hour but we just arrived in Lastos and we are only looking for information."
"Well, I'm guessing it is about his brother and your friend. If you pay me more than he did I'm sure we can arrange something."
Unexpectedly Thor came prepared for this situation.
"How much did he offer you?"
"No, this is not how the game is played. You will show me an amount and I'll see if I accept it or not."
Thor was clearly desperate to find Loki. He only clenched his jaw. He placed in front of him a small sack of coins. The man held the bag and tossed it a couple of times in the air to estimate the value of it from its weight.
"Well, we have a deal."
He snapped his fingers and his enormous guards took the money and left us alone.
He gestured for us to sit on the two chairs in front of his desk and we obeyed.
"My name is Theodore. If you want me to give you information I will need your name as well, miss."
"Althea."
He opened a drawer and picked a red leather notebook. Inside there was a list with thousands of names. He dipped his pen in some ink and wrote ours. Quite concerning not going to lie.
"So, what exactly do you want to know?"
"What his plan is and what is this place."
"I own a weapon factory and Loki came to ask when one of Thano's freaks will come to place an order."
The color drained out of my face. We had entered a wasps nest. We immediately glanced sideways at each other. Both of us had heard rumors about a powerful creature creating an army and making its way through the universe but we had guessed that it was just a myth. If he was behind Loki's attempt to take over Earth we were in great danger. Thor the bravest out of both of us asked.
"You are working for Thanos?"
"No, no don't see it like that. I am a businessman. I work for whoever gives me the most money. Nothing personal."
"How do you operate a weapon factory in the heart of the city?"
"Isn't it the perfect place to hide? No one suspects anything. The government thinks we repair cars."
He chuckled revealing his yellow teeth. His laughter was so dry it made him cough. He must have been a smoker for years.
We drifted from our conversation. We still did not know anything about Loki. I tried to bring him up again.
"How did Loki know about this place?"
"He works for Thanos. They placed a large order about a month ago to invade a planet as far as I understood. He paid me to extract information on Thano's plans and the stones from whoever comes on his behalf for the order. He said he will come by in a few hours to see if I found out anything."
An evil scheme crossed my mind. I glanced at Thor with a wicked grin. I leaned closer to him and whispered.
How many coins do you have left?"
"Two small bags, why?"
I did not know if my plan would work but it was worth a shot.
"If we pay you twice as much, will you lie to him for us?"
"With great pleasure."
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I was starting to reconsider. Maybe I should not have involved Thor in this. He was not the kind of man that follows orders.
"Do you want me to explain the plan one more time?"
He took another sip from his beer almost finishing it. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and looked at me.
"I just do not think it will work."
"Thor in any second he could walk in. You need to focus. I will make myself invisible and you to look like one of Thano's followers. I will alter your voice too so he will not recognize it but you need to change the way you speak! He is most likely after the stones so we need to convince him to go to earth where the time stone is. When he leaves with the tesseract we will go after him and we could capture him with the help of your friends there."
"Wait, what is wrong with the way I speak?"
I had started to become very frustrated. He was going to ruin everything. I slightly slapped my forehead with my palm not knowing how I would make him understand.
"He is your brother, he knows the way you speak...Please do your best."
I changed our appearances the moment I saw his frame behind the bar's glass door.
"Good luck."
I sat a few seats away. Even invisible it would have been a risk if I had been any closer. I took my beer and sipped it in agony. You could always trust Thor on matters about war but never on deceitfulness.
Loki was the type of person that all he had to do for the whole room to notice him was to simply walk in. At first, he captured the women's eyes with his shining gold and green armor showing his rank and wealth. When their partners noticed that their companion's attention was not on them, they were next to follow. He barely even noticed what he caused. His eyes searched through the crowded room and landed on my illusion. As Theodore described to me Thano's followers had a distinguished look. I just had to think of a very evil creature with grey and blue tones. As it turned out he was right. Thor sensed his brother approaching behind him and finished his drink.
"Are you the man Theodore told me to find?"
Thor awkwardly shifted around in his chair in an attempt to make himself comfortable.
"Yes, it is I."
Loki settled into a seat and gestured to one of the waitresses to approach so he could place an order.
"I'd like a glass of red wine..."
Thor narrowed his eyes trying to understand what was different about him. Something had changed since their last encounter in New York. Loki still clueless about the true nature of the man before him, he did not waste any time and got straight to the point.
"I am here because I'd like to get on Thano's good side again. After what happened on Midgard I can presume he is not very fond of me anymore. If I grant him another stone maybe he will offer me a kingdom to rule after he completes his own plans."
I could notice Thor slowly boiling inside. His brother did not learn his lesson.
"At the moment he knows the locations for almost all of the stones and he will leave the ones on Midgard for last. I would recommend starting from there so you will not have to fear stumbling onto him before you get a stone."
He glanced at the floor trying to adjust his new strategy to the news. It was indeed fascinating how rapidly he could come up with schemes and new techniques, never tired of double-crossing everyone around him including his own brother.
"There is probably more than one stone on Midgard but we only know that the time stone is in New York."
"New York...why from all the places it has to be New York?"
Loki was mostly posing a rhetorical question to himself and did not expect an answer.
Thor in a try to reason with him and make him comprehend the situation he was in, he almost ruined our plan.
"You know that if your brother finds out you are searching for the stones he will come after you."
I had never seen Loki frustrated before. He was always controlling his emotions around me and the royals. Probably it was part of the facade he created so we would not notice his real intentions. It was disturbing viewing the Prince himself distressed.
"Watch my face as I pretend to care."
The waitress appeared out of nowhere with his drink and he swallowed it leaving almost nothing behind. He tossed his money on the table and dramatically exited the bar.
I followed him as quickly as I could. I tried to catch the door behind him so it wouldn't slam in my face but I failed. I opened it myself forgetting that because of my invisibility it might have seemed strange that a door unlocked itself.
He was pacing so fast. The moment I exited he had already reached an alley to hide in. If I had evacuated the bar a second later, I would have missed him. I followed him to make sure he used the tesseract to travel to earth and then find Thor.
By taking a swift turn into the alley I almost ran into him. I gasped making him turn to view if someone was there. I was standing so close, if he had lifted his hand to reach out for me he would have touched me. Since he was taller than me he glanced over my head to make sure he was not being watched. I placed my hand over my mouth, afraid he would feel my chilly breath.
With magic, he made the stone appear in his hands. I did not know what came over me. He was right there standing with the cube in his hands. It did not seem reasonable to simply let him leave and hope that Thor's friends would catch him. A few seconds before the tesseract got activated I grabbed his arm and revealed my true self. Loki was more stunned than ever. His eyebrows snapped together and a look of puzzlement crossed his face.
He tried to express his surprisement but we had run out of time. We both disappeared into the cosmos and brutality landed in a forest in the middle of the night. My body ached from the fall. He and I landed equally away from the tesseract but in opposite directions. I glanced up at him and he did the same.
We both knew at that moment that we had to fight for the stone.