by T. G. Ayer
As I watched them make their selections, pour their drinks, and enjoy the meal, I paused beside Erik. "Thank you for thinking about food for us. We all missed lunch in the rush to leave."
He inclined his head with a small smile. "I've done field work before. I am well aware how often team members forget about eating. Sustenance is important, and I think it would be good that you and your team get some before you head out. You can never tell how long it will be before you get the chance to eat properly again." He pointed at the food like a bossy father, and I grinned then gave him a small salute before stepping into the fray.
After we'd sated our hunger, I went to Erik's office next door to let him know we were leaving.
"Very well, Bryn. But before you leave, I am sending one operative with you."
"Oh? I'm not so sure about that, Erik. I think I already have a pretty full house," I said. It was obvious to me that my team was about the largest we had, but I couldn't see any of them happily moving elsewhere.
"Oh, don't get me wrong." Erik lifted a hand. "You probably have enough manpower, but I'm giving you brainpower. This particular warrior is a total geek and a world-class hacker. Combine your observation skills, your Asgardian powers, and Derek's supreme PC skills and you should be undefeatable."
"So he won't be with the team on the actual mission?"
Erik shook his head, then looked up to peer through the glass wall of his office. The dark head popped up again, then hurried forward, only to hesitate and turn back around, pause, then spin on a heel and head for Erik's office. I wanted to roll my eyes.
He was what the cool kids called a dork, borderline inept, hesitant, and bumbling. It helped Derek's case that he had good looks on his side. His wire-rimmed glasses only made him appear sexier.
But I hesitated a moment. Cute was nice, but what was Erik really giving us? Didn't we have enough of our geek on with Aidan? I glanced at Erik to decline, but the look on his face, the intense pride in the einherjar, told me this particular geek's skills might put Aidan to shame. Would be interesting to see how Aidan handles the infringement on his domain.
When Derek entered the room, Erik introduced us briefly, and as I shook the young man's hand, I noticed the nervous flutter of his dark eyelashes and the rapid pumping of the vein in his neck. He couldn't have been any older than I was. So here was another one I never would have guessed would have a destiny as an einherjar. Seemed it took all kinds of warriors to fight for Odin.
"So when do we leave?" Derek asked Erik, his unusual hazel eyes flitting back and forth between my face and his superior's.
Erik deferred to me, waving a hand for me to answer the question. "We're leaving now," I answered, amused at the stricken look on his face.
"Oh, I have to--I mean, I need a few minutes." He spoke fast and seemed a little scatterbrained. "Er--if you don't mind. I--There's a few things I need to bring with me." He hesitated in the doorway, then moved a step forward and a step back. He looked like a nervous chipmunk, eyes wide, watching to see if it's okay. I nodded at him, my expression pleasant. The moment I agreed, he turned and fled the room, his dark head bobbing up and down between cubicles and filing cabinets. I said my good-byes to Erik and headed next door to the meeting room where the team was already looking impatient, tucking their files into their bags, eyes searching for me through the glass window.
As soon as I entered, Aimee looked up. "Are we leaving yet?" she asked, her brows knitted.
"Yeah, we can leave in a few minutes. Just have to wait for one of Erik's agents to join us," I said, grabbing my own file and slipping it into my bag. There was hardly any space left for anything more, but I managed to slide it along the back of the satchel.
"Why do we need one of their agents to tag along?" asked Edrik, coming alongside me. He was already taking the expected protective stance of most Ulfr partners, and although I dearly wanted to tell him to take a chill pill, I had to word it a little better.
"Don't worry, Ed. Erik is a friend and I trust him. He wouldn't burden us with someone we didn't need. Besides, I suspect we might find we will be needing the services of this type of agent soon enough."
I'd barely finished my sentence when the door slammed open and Derek came stumbling through. He was carrying four computer bags, all full and bulky with laptops and other gadgets. In addition, he carried two large bags in his hands that looked overstuffed too.
"Do you really need all that shit?" asked Joshua with a laugh.
Derek bobbed his head nervously, looking Joshua up and down. Then his eyes scanned the room as he saw for the first time all the members of the team he would be joining. His eyes widened as he glanced at the Ulfr. Being a warrior, he should be used to Ulfrs and Valkyries by now, but I guess this particular geek had been plucked from Valhalla as soon as he'd transformed.
"Have you even had any einherjar training?" Aimee asked, a slightly critical edge to her voice.
He nodded vigorously. "Erik makes sure I go back home regularly for training. It's his one rule. I have to remember I'm einherjar first, then hacking geek. That's--er... those are his words." He grinned in response to the round of coughs and choked laughter.
Aidan was the first to step forward to relieve the slim warrior of two of his bags. Edrik took another, after which Derek looked like he could handle the remaining luggage. It seemed his mention of "home" had gotten to everyone else as much as it had struck a sensitive note with me. The moment he'd said the word, I felt tears prick at my eyes. I blinked them away, aware and accepting that I was here in Midgard to try to save my home.
Then, before I knew it, Derek had turned around and was leading the troupe out of the room. He went first to Betty and spoke a few words to her, grabbing a small bunch of keys from the top drawer of the reception desk. Then he waved a hand for everyone to follow him. When the elevator arrived, he entered and remained near the panel of buttons. It was a bit of a squeeze, what with all the luggage and weapons bags everyone carried, but we managed to make it to our floor without anyone being stabbed in the gut.
But when the doors opened into a well-lit parking garage, we were all a little taken aback.
"This is our stop," said Derek, raising his eyebrows, then tipping his head to the doors to encourage us to leave the elevator. We did as he asked, although I could almost taste the tension simmering within the group. This was the unexpected we needed to watch for.
But Derek just held the doors open for us, then left the elevator, hurrying forward, passing dozens of cars until he came upon a black Jeep. He pointed his key at the vehicle and pressed the button on the alarm pad. Locks clicked and Derek went around to the back of the vehicle to open the rear door. He slid his stuff inside, then called out, "Hey, come and put your stuff here."
Everyone followed him, a little hesitant, a few raised eyebrows here and there. I certainly hadn't been aware that HQ provided vehicles to and from the Bifrost. Had I known that, we would have requested their use on many occasions.
Aimee beat me to the punch. "Hey, Derek, since when do you guys have cars to take teams to the Bifrost? We usually walk."
"Oh yeah," he said, jumping into the driver's seat. He put the car into drive, then made his way out of the parking spot and up the three levels of the parking garage. "We do have cars for teams that come and go, but not for the ones arriving from another realm. A little hard to send a text from Asgard saying, 'Arriving one a.m. at blue dumpster. Please pick us up.'"
Everyone laughed at that. Then Derek continued. "But Erik just told me before we left that the blue dumpster alley entrance has been compromised. Burst water pipe or something. Got the fire department right in front of the alley. Any activity on our part will not go unnoticed."
Before anyone could answer, he pulled up to the exit where a red and white-striped bar stopped us from leaving. Derek jumped out of the car and waved the key at the guards. One leaned out of the window. "Where you guys going?"
"Brooklyn. It's a one-way trip."
The
guard nodded, then left the small hut to come around to the driver's side. He took the key from Derek and said, "Key back to Betty?"
Derek said, "Yeah." He slid the back door open, jumping inside to head to the back where he found a tiny space to sit. The guard gave his partner the thumbs-up sign and the bar lifted, allowing the vehicle to pass through. The ride through New York was silent and slow, traffic seeming to be backed up for miles, a million yellow cabs clogging the streets. Nobody was particularly talkative, especially with a human driving the vehicle. Although he asked no questions, paid little attention to the occupants of the car, and didn't even take a peek into the rearview mirror at all the girls, nobody was in the mood to take any chances.
Stuck in the car, I was beginning to wish I could just stamp my way out of here with Gungnir.
No such luck, Bryn.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Almost an hour later, we reached the outskirts of Brooklyn where we all alighted, stretched, and grabbed luggage before jumping off the Jeep as quickly as we could manage it. The moment we were all out, the driver gunned the engine and was off, giving Derek a wave out the window and honk of the horn.
Then Derek turned and led us around a decrepit old building with broken windows boarded up by wet, stained cardboard. From the odd clothing line hanging from a random window, it looked like the building was occupied by squatters or the homeless.
"Where are we?" I asked, a little concerned with the area.
"We're in Brooklyn. This tenement is meant to be abandoned, but there are a few occupants so we should be probably be careful and keep away from the building itself. Come, it's down here." He pointed at a path at the side of the building.
We followed him around to the back and across an abandoned parking lot, its cracked concrete filled with weeds and the odd daisy bobbing on the wind. Down a ragged flight of broken steps he went, then a sharp left. We hurried after him and came to a sudden stop beside a gigantic sewer pipe that also looked pretty abandoned. Rusty red water dribbled along on the bottom of the concrete pipe. The entrance was blocked by a row of metal rods that were concreted into the outer edges of the pipe.
I couldn't see a way in, but when I looked at Derek, he'd already headed off to one side of the pipe. He went around the outer edge, pushing past a bunch of overgrown plants that he held back to reveal a small metal door. An entrance to the pipe.
He pulled the door open, saying, "It's not locked. Can't be when we get the odd arrival here."
I frowned, a little unimpressed with the location. "Who would use this entrance if they knew there were others available?" I asked, knowing there were two other entrances to the Bifrost in the city. Both of which, although they would be hard to use in broad daylight, would have served as better options than this one.
Derek walked over the threshold and allowed us to enter before closing the door. Then he said, "The Central Park Bifrost has been fully compromised. The site's been restructured, more police, more cameras. Too many robberies and rapes in that area recently, so the city decided enough was enough. So that entrance is closed off to us now."
"Would people know not to use it?" I asked, thinking the management of the Bifrost and all its parts would be more than a full-time job.
Derek nodded. "Heimdall knows. He's already closed that entrance off."
I didn't respond, just examined the gritty, abandoned inside of the concrete pipe. The ceiling had been penetrated by stubborn plants, which now hung almost halfway down the height of the pipe. I imagined the shock that new arrivals from other realms would have to arrive here in the midst of abandoned civilization.
Then Derek called the Bifrost and we stepped through quickly. By now, I was used to the unsteady and strange feelings that using the bridge of the gods did to me. To be frank, having just experienced a different method of inter-realm transport, I preferred to use Gungnir. I planned to come up with a way to better picture a place I'd never been to before.
For now, I decided to make do.
***
When I landed, my feet hit the ground hard and I immediately knew something was wrong. Wind gusted against me, taking the strands of my hair and tugging them hard. I stared around me, shocked and glad I didn't step forward. Maybe it wouldn't have mattered since I had wings, but seeing as I stood on a thin ledge, staring down into a deep canyon, it would not have been a pleasant shock.
I sucked in a stunned breath, my eyes darting around me. There was only one reason for this hijacking of my Bifrost travel. He'd done it once before, and I wouldn't put it past him to do it again.
"Loki." I screamed the name into the wind, and sure enough, he appeared beside me, standing a foot from me on the same ledge. His blue eyes shone, his hair flew around his face courtesy of the wind, and a cheerful smile curved at his lips.
"Hello, Bryn." He spoke as if we'd just met for a coffee and a donut at a diner around the corner.
"What the hell are you doing?" I shouted at him. I'd long ago dispensed with the need to be respectful to this particular god.
"My dear sister, is that the way one greets a brother you haven't seen in a while?"
I scoffed. "You are no brother of mine." I glared at him, then decided to cut to the chase. "Stop wasting my time and tell me what it is you want."
He laughed. "I always liked that about you. You are straightforward. No messing about." He pursed his lips and rubbed his chin, leaning against the reddish stone cliff behind him as if unaware we were close to the open jaws of a canyon. At last he said, "I want Gungnir, and I want you to go home to Craven and forget about all this Valkyrie and Ragnarok nonsense. Yes, that is what I want."
"I don't have time for your games."
"Come now, Bryn. I've been honest. I told you what I want. Gungnir, of course. You can ignore that little comment about forgetting. That would mean you would forget me and we certainly can't have that, can we?"
I glared at him. "I'm not giving you Gungnir and that is final."
He sighed. "Well, I guess I will just have to take it, then, won't I?" he said, shaking his head as if it were all my fault. He jumped from the ledge, and though my eyes told me he should fall like a stone, he didn't. He'd given himself wings. Nothing Valkyrie-like though. These wings were black with large feathers, as if he'd borrowed a pair of raven's wings. He even tilted his head like a bird, watching me as he hovered not a few feet away.
He opened his right hand and a sword materialized in it, glinting dangerous in the sunlight. He opened the other palm and a dagger appeared. He held both weapons forward and in front of his face, then said, "Ready when you are, sister."
"I didn't come here to fight," I said, although I really would have liked to cut him to pieces.
"Too late," he snapped, his eyes flaming for a moment.
I shook out my wings and stepped off the ledge, pulling my sword from its sheath and a dagger from the holster at my thigh in a single smooth move. I drew them forward, mimicking Loki's stance, only I held the dagger hilt forward instead. Loki wasn't wasting any time. He threw himself at me, lunging and thrusting his sword at my midsection. I spun away and flew around him, avoiding the blade by not more than an inch.
Loki growled, frustrated that I wasn't making it easy for him. He flew at me again, his wings sending a gust of air at me, so strong I had to struggle to keep my balance. Fury rippled through my veins, heating my limbs and firing my strength. He swiped his dagger at me, and I drew my head back just in time or he would have sliced my cheek open. He certainly had a thing about damaging my face.
Losing patience, eyes flaming with fire, he made a wide swipe at me. Borne by the wave of rage, I parried hard, catching his sword with my dagger, the blow sending sparks flying. I used my sword to attack his unprotected abdomen and plunged it into his ribs. He howled and tumbled in the air away from me. Finally, he straightened and held a hand to his side. "You are getting good."
He didn't know the half of it.
I was breathing hard, my nose wrinkly at the odo
r in the air, a scent of copper and warmth, a smell that lit up my senses and brought fury to my breath. I lunged again, not waiting for him to attack. He darted out of the way, then swiped at me, his own rage responding.
When he struck again, I spun out of the way and flew over him, turning upright smoothly at his back. I placed the tip of my dagger at his back, just behind his heart. I had him and he knew it.
"Did you have to go and spoil my fun?" He sounded like a little boy having a playground spat.
"I didn't come here to fight, Loki," I repeated. "Don't make me end this right here." I poked the tip of the knife into his flesh, but I knew it was just a bluff. Even if I stabbed him, wounded him in any way that threatened his life, he'd just disappear off somewhere to repair and recuperate, only to return another day to persecute me.
I left him hovering there and flew around until I was facing him again.
Loki pouted at me. "What do I need to do to make you hand it over?"
"Nothing. There is no reason in this world I would give the spear to you." I spoke the words, but my mind was already turning over an idea.
"How about a life for the spear, then?" he asked pleasantly. When I turned to stare at him, he smirked. "See, I knew you could be swayed. The lives of your loved ones are far too important to you, my dear."
"Maybe they are, but what do you understand about it when you have no feelings, no care for the people around you?"
"Oh dear, you sound so morbid now." He tut-tutted me, waving a finger in warning. "We'd best get on with it, then. You can have Thor and then you give me Gungnir."
I waited for a while, trying to guess if he was playing me. "Where is he?"
"Oh, he is quite safe. Give me the spear and then you get Thor."
"Do I have 'stupid' written on my forehead?" I asked, narrowing my eyes. "As soon as I give you the spear, you'll be gone. Bring Thor to me and then we can trade."
He sighed dramatically. "Fine. Follow me and you can get your brother."
He pushed himself off the edge of the ledge and dived straight down. In seconds, he surged back out of the canyon in the familiar form of the dreaded falcon. I shook out my feathers and jumped, flapping my wings and gliding after the gigantic black bird.