› CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE ‹
Loki marched through the apartment door, pausing as he saw Raleigh already sitting on the couch. His hands were linked together in his lap and his searing stare pierced into the older man. A similar fire raged in Loki's pair, though their reasonings for being angry couldn't be any more different.
Raleigh Ridley was disgusted with the Grandmaster and everyone that supported his precious tournament. The eccentric male had intentionally made it so Thor couldn't defeat Hulk. Had he of not activated the electric disk on Thor, the God would have won without any problem. It was obvious to everyone that that was the direction the competition was going in. At the same time, he was also mad at himself for wanting Thor to defeat Hulk. He cared a lot for Thor, but he also looked up to Robert Bruce Banner after the many lectures he sat through and his books about the work he's done in biochemistry and of course nuclear physics.
Maybe it was best that it ended in a draw.
Loki Laufeyson was mad at Raleigh after his outburst since he was terrified of what the Grandmaster could do to them. After Raleigh helped wake Thor up, which resulted in Thor protecting himself and creating a draw, the Grandmaster gave Loki an uplifting and grinning warning about making sure his son refrains from destroying anything else of his. He was scared of the Grandmaster, it was as plain and simple as that.
"I told you to stay quiet." Loki scolded Raleigh, who couldn't be any less interested in what he was saying. "It was a simple request. That was all I asked."
Loki ran a hand through his greasy locks and Raleigh turned his nose up to that. He was suddenly relieved he had trimmed his hair not too long ago, but he couldn't help but feel the filth coating his body and hair since it had been a couple of days since he left Earth. he wasn't even sure how many days that was on Earth since time worked differently in Sakaar. For all he knew, it had been a few hours or a few weeks on his home planet. He knew there was no point in thinking about the time, because no matter where the second was counting, Trystan would be alone worrying about his safety.
"And I didn't care." Raleigh shrugged carelessly. "I wasn't going to sit there and watch someone die, especially when that someone is Thor." He watched as Loki sat in a lone chair. He could sense something was bothering the God, but he didn't care to ask since Loki wasn't putting his feelings into consideration. Instead, he decided to change the conversation around and question Loki on something that should be more urgent. "So, you're just going to sit here... you're not even going to try and help your people? Aren't you the little bit bothered that—that crazy woman is ruling your home right now?"
Loki didn't reply, but Raleigh noticed the slight alteration in his demeanor as he shifted his eyes to his feet and they remained in that position until Loki turned onto Raleigh.
"You're aware there isn't a way off Sakaar, right?" Loki frowned. "We're trapped here."
This time Raleigh adverted his attention off of Loki while his hands clenched into tight fists. The difference between Loki and Thor were outstandingly obviously. While Thor promised to get him back home, Loki had no issue with shattering Raleigh's hope. He was holding the Lightning God to his word because that was all he had left. He couldn't stay here... he didn't belong here. He couldn't leave his friends, his guardian, his mentor, and everyone else wondering were he went and what happened to him. He wanted—he needed—to go home.
His breathing picked up but Loki either didn't see the tenseness or he didn't care as he continued pushing.
"And unless Thor can stop Hela, there isn't going to be a way to return you to Earth."
Without warning, the table between the two sailed across the room and crashed into the wall. Loki shot to his feet and looked between the shattered table and Raleigh. The teenage boy's veins glowed in a bright hue of gold, which traveled down his fingertips. The familiar gold smoke trailed across the ground, where it hovered over the splintered coffee table, before moving back to its producer.
Gawking at his trembling hands, Raleigh pushed himself into the couch and drew them to his body. His eyes were wide and his entire body shook as his heart thumps aggressively against his chest. Even though it had been years since the last accident, Raleigh still recognized the warning signs of an explosion since Trystan had been there for the last one to explain it to him. Though it was easy to tell something terrible was happening when things were sailing around the room.
As a vase falls off a shelf behind Loki, the boy grabbed the sides of his face and shut his eyes. He concentrated on his breathing and the exercises Trystan had taught him.
"Breathe in for four seconds..." It was almost as if he could hear the man explaining it to him. "Hold it for seven... you got it? Okay. Then blow out for eight. Follow that pattern until you're absolutely certain nothing will happen."
Raleigh followed through with his guardian's advice and only once the trembling ceased, he stopped. When he looked back at his arms, he noticed the glowing had faded away and his powers had completely disappeared for the moment and his heart rate had slowed to a normal beat.
Between his fingers, he saw Loki—who had opted to sit down again—watching him. He couldn't pinpoint the expression since he didn't look entirely scared, but more shocked and confused. Despite it, he felt bad for the fright, even though he doesn't like Loki much.
"Sorry..." He muttered the apology with a lowered head.
"Did Odin even speak about your mother to you?" Loki furrowed his brows and Raleigh sat back up and gawked at his biological father.
"No." He shook his head. "Why? Do you know who she is?"
Loki was quiet for a few excruciating seconds and Raleigh nearly snapped at him, wanting a simple yes or no from him. The man's eyes move from the destroyed table to Raleigh's still hands. After a few more seconds, he spoke, but his voice was quiet and a small sense of coldness was in his tone.
"There was only one woman I knew who could do what you just did..." His voice fades off and his face scrunches. "Snotra... a vile woman, she was."
Raleigh didn't know much about the Norse Gods, so he didn't know anything about the 'Goddess' Snotra, or if she was even a Goddess. He doesn't recall ever running across her name in the books he had read, but that didn't mean much. He hadn't read that much since he was scheduled to be in a class that taught about the Norse Gods history alongside normal history since everyone knows they exist now.
He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling how clammy his skin had become. He finally met eyes with the man across from him.
"If she is my mother—" The words feels sour on his tongue and he shifts on the couch uncomfortably. "—do you know why she would ask Odin to get rid of me?"
Loki stared at his son before clearing his throat. "I wouldn't. I don't even know where she is now."
› › › ›
If it wasn't to return home so he could reunite with his loved ones, then Raleigh wanted to go home so he could have a proper shower with proper soap. While Loki was downstairs enjoying a party, he was currently locked away in the studio bathroom, using the hand soap Sakaar uses—he didn't want to think much about what ingredients were in it—to wash his body and hair in the tiny sink. Apparently, they didn't believe anyone below the Grandmaster should have showers or bathtubs, so he was stuck with the sink and handsoap. It wasn't convenient by any means, but he felt better once he was somewhat cleaner.
Another problem had been his stomach. It had been days since he last ate, considering everything he ate yesterday morning was gone from his stomach since he had vomited it all out when he arrived on Sakaar. Fortunately, or maybe not, Loki had found him something upon his request that looked similar to squash. The fruit had a rancid smell to it, so after forcing half of it down, he left it on the side table by the door.
He tugged back on his graphic t-shirt and as he was pulling on his jeans, something fell from his back pocket and onto the stone flooring. His cell phone mocked up at him, it's screen black with a long crack crossing the glass. He had almost forgotten he had brought his phone with him—actually, more than anything, he was surprised that it hadn't gotten lost amongst the Bifrost or when he fell onto Sakaar.
He picked up the phone and ran his finger over the cracks. After breaking his old phone during the fight with Adrian Toomes, Trystan had bought him a cheap replacement. He didn't think the man would be happy to know he had already managed to break this new phone in nine months.
He wasn't sure if the phone still worked, so without much confidence, he held the power button and waited to see if it would turn on. A few moments passed and just when Raleigh about to put the broken contraption away, the screen lit up. After passing through the logo, his lock screen popped on. The picture of him, Ned, and Peter grinning stared at him, the time and date were glitched out over their features and he wasn't sure if that was due to the broken phone or because he was on an alien planet.
Either way, he unlocked his phone and the home screen shinned on his pale face.
Nausea hit him as he stared at the home screen picture. It was an older picture, back from when Tony first started to trust both him and Peter as heroes, a few weeks after the whole Vulture incident. Tony was holding the Stark Internship plaque at his side while smiling at someone off-camera. Raleigh was laughing at something and Peter had just managed to get in frame for the picture. It was a messy photograph, but he liked it since it showed all their eased selves.
Moving his eyes from the picture, he glanced to the signal bars, not surprised to see he didn't have any. He wanted to try and call Trystan, to call Peter, to call Happy, but he knew it would be useless and the call wouldn't go through. Even if it did, what would he say to them? He would only put himself in the false belief that maybe one of them would go through and everything would be solved. It would only upset him more than he already was.
So instead of doing that, he shut his phone off and shoved it back into his pocket.
Authors Note:
So you kind of get an idea of how bad Raleigh's explosions can be. If he doesn't control it, the entire building or at the least the room would have exploded, depending on if anything in the room is explosive, of course. This had been the cause of his two separate adopted parents' deaths.
Snotra is an actual Norse Goddess, she represents wisdom. There isn't actually much on her but she was considered courteous. According to Loki, though, she is a vile woman. I have this whole idea of who she is and why she did what she did to Raleigh. However, a little more will be explained about her at the end of this book in a "fun (after reading) facts" chapter!
Also, I rewatched The Incredible Hulk last night and learned that Raleigh and Peter would have been around 8 to 9 years old when Hulk came to the public eye. They were also the same age when Thor got banished to Earth and fought the Destroyer in Puente Antiguo. They also would have been 7 to 8 years old when Tony was abducted and Iron Man came to be a thing. Neither of them really got a normal young childhood (not including their own problems).