Vow of the Valkyrie

“Actually,” Astrid said slowly, sitting back so that she was resting against the metal wall of the plane, “that’s something we should probably talk about.” Everyone turned toward her, obviously curious as to what she was referring. Even Loki seemed interested, he had one dark eyebrow arched up into his hairline, but his eyes still had the jewel-like coldness to them.

“Thor, Loki isn’t responsible for his actions.” Loki’s other eyebrow joined the first near his hairline and he looked around the room with a shocked expression that was mirrored on the faces of the other men who were staring at Astrid as if she had grown a second head, with horns, and fangs, and all those scary things that second heads really shouldn’t have.

“He’s not.” Astrid said again, “And I’m gonna tell you why under the condition that you back me up when we get to the ship, otherwise, I’ll save my breath and explain it in one go.”

“Deal.” The words had barely left Astrid’s mouth before Steven was nodding in confirmation. “It’s a good plan, they’ll believe us over you.”

Exactly. Astrid wasn’t crazy, and she was far from inexperienced in the ways of mortals.

“If you can convince me you haven’t lost your mind, I’ll help convince the others.” Tony said and Thor’s nod of approval followed right after.

“Good. Loki has a mind block.”

Thor froze in his seat, his hands gripping the arm rests so hard that finger sized dents were starting to appear in the metal. “You’re sure of this?”

“Of course!” Astrid exclaimed, “I don’t make such accusations lightly!”

Thor didn’t so much as flinch at Astrid’s tone, his eyes instead traveled over to Loki who was watching the entire conversation calmly, a smirk more than likely hiding behind the muzzle. “Who put it there?” Thor asked finally and snapped his attention back to Astrid who merely shrugged.

“ I don’t know, I didn’t see it.”

That was the scariest part for Astrid, every day she saw so much, more than anyone would ever dream, most of it she would never use or need, but this one piece of information, the one thing that could save her friend was a mystery to her.

“My gods.” Thor sighed and he too leaned back against the aircraft wall, situating himself into the same position Astrid was in.

“Woah, woah, woah. Hold on a minute, now I’m pretty sure I get the jist of this supposed ‘mind block’ I’m not an invalid, but details would be vastly appreciated.” Tony said from Astrid’s left and Steven nodded in agreement.

Astrid just stared at the two men for several moments, trying to formulate the best explanation for them. Which was hard since mortals knew very little of the ways of the gods and the magic they were capable of.

“A mind block,” Astrid began slowly, “is like a wall in a person’s mind. It keeps the individual from reaching certain memories and can manipulate emotions, thoughts, and even create false remembrances if the castor is powerful enough. It’s a rare form of magic, very few people are capable of placing one correctly.” There was a snort from the opposite side of the airplane, Loki obviously didn’t appreciate what she had said.

“And there’s one of these mind blocks in Loki? That’s why he’s crazy?” Steven asked slowly.

“Yes, he has one, but he’s been slightly deranged for years.” Astrid replied and stared straight into Loki’s outraged eyes.

“How do we know that this is even real? It sounds like a load of bull shit to me.” Tony said, standing up to pace back and forth up the aisle of the plane. “A wizard put a spell on him? Break it and everything is sunshine and daises?”

“No, a wizard never could have managed it, it couldn’t have been anything less than a mage. And when the block is removed, and make no mistake that I will remove it, we will still have the problem of the one that put it there. Whoever it is, is powerful, powerful enough to hide himself from my sight and over power Loki who is one of the more powerful mages on Asgard. So no, there won’t be any sunshine and daisies.”

“Damn it,” Tony cursed, “So not only do we have Godzilla to worry about, but there’s a Mothra out there controlling him.” He raised his hand and ran it through his dark hair several times, upsetting the strands and making them stand on end. “You’ll be able to remove it? That’s what you said. Will you be able to find out who put it there?”

“I should.” Astrid replied with a nod. “Each spell has it’s own magical signature that should be easy to follow at this level.”

“Good, when we get to the ship, I want you to get that block off immediately, do whatever you need, but I want it off, and I want a name. We need to know what we’re up against.” Stark said and Steven nodded once before adding:

“And we need to know how to stop them.”

--

The ride to the ship was fairly uneventful after that, most of it was spent in silence, each passenger evaluating the others. Tony had gone on for a few minutes about how things would go once the plane landed, he didn’t want Astrid to engage with anyone, just escort Loki to the holding cell that was waiting for him and get to work removing the block, he, Thor and Capt would talk with the others and get them up to speed. Astrid was fine with this plan, whenever she could have someone else do the heavy lifting, she was happy to oblige.

When the plane first touched down, Astrid couldn’t have been happier for the silence to end, and the light that flooded into the plane as the door was opened, was just another bonus until she saw the mass of people on the other side, most carrying weapons and dressed in military like uniforms. In the front of the small army was a dark skinned man with an eye path covering one eye, Fury, Astrid’s mind supplied.

“Welcome back, gentlemen, I see you brought guests.” Fury said calmly and motioned for everyone to leave the plane, Astrid would have remained seated on shear principle, if Thor hadn’t gripped her arm and dragged her into a standing position.

A pair of uniformed men immediately grabbed Loki’s arms and moved to lead him away before Tony stopped them. “This is Astrid….a friend-“

Astrid smiled smugly at that, remembering she had told Tony something rather similar a mere few minutes ago.

“Show her how to work the containment sphere. She needs to know how to get in and out.” The guards looked over to Fury who seemed to be at a momentary loss for words, before motioning for Astrid to follow them away from the crowd and toward the door way.

“What’s going on, Stark?” Was the last thing Astrid heard from Fury before the mechanical doors swooshed shut behind her.

-

The two men lead Loki and Astrid down a complicated series of hallways, that Astrid knew for a fact she would get lost in sometime in the near future. They seemed to be heading toward the center of the craft, by Astrid’s lack-luster calculations, the further in the got, the more people they ran into in the hallways. Most immediately turned around, but some of the braver souls walked right passed the god of mischief and the Valkyrie just to get a closer look at the man that started this whole ordeal.

“It’s just up ahead,” The dark haired man on Loki’s left said over his shoulder. “Fury had it built for Dr. Banner, but it should hold him.”

Should.

That was always a confidence inspiring word.

Astrid rolled her blue eyes at the man, but otherwise kept her thoughts to herself as they walked down a last hallway that opened up into a large space with a glass circle in the center, apparently Loki wasn’t getting any privacy.

She watched with an arched eyebrow as the two guards punched in a long code in the control panel a few feet from the enclosure, and metal door buzzed and clicked before popping open. “I’ll write the code down for you.” The same guard from earlier said as he and the other man lead a compliant Loki into the cell.

“No need, I have it.” Astrid said as she peered down at the control panel, it was pretty straightforward honestly. “What does the ‘Drop’ button, do?” She asked as Loki was lead into the cell and the door was locked behind him.

“The entire cell is programed to drop from the ship if for some reason, the cell becomes compromised or can’t hold him. An Extra safety measure if you will.” The second guard said and both men came to a stop a few feet from Astrid’s left.

“Interesting.” Astrid said stiffly, though internally she was on the verge of a freak out, there was no way she was letting anyone drop that cell out of the sky with Loki still in it, not when the god was innocent….as innocent as Loki really can be, he is the God of Mischief after all.

“And, one last question. Is there any way for me to unlock the door from inside or does there need to be someone out here?” In order to remove the block, Astrid needed to actually be in contact with the god, being on separate sides of the glass wasn’t happening.

“Um….sure,” the slightly shorter guard said and slowly walked over to the control pad, which Astrid stepped away from. “The lock can be voice activated, but only on the inside, it was a precaution we put in while building it.” He typed another code into the panel and told Astrid to say “Unlock door.” Which she did while trying extremely hard not to laugh like a madwoman.

“There, it should work for you. Is there anything else you need?”

“No, I’m fine, thank you.” Astrid said truthfully and waited for the guards to leave, which they didn’t. “Was there anything else?” The two men shared an uncomfortable glance before the taller man said just loudly for Astrid to hear:

“There are cameras from every angle, be aware of that.” Before both of the men left.

Oh humans, Astrid laughed mentally, before turning her attention to Loki and with a swipe of her hand, the muzzle over his mouth disappeared, revealing a wide grin.

"Hi Honey."