Bend around the wind - Chapter 34
Title: Bend around the wind (34/?)
Author: scyllaya
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Rating: PG-13 (NC-17 for entire fic)
Pairing(s): Loki/Tony Stark
Warning(s): cursing
Spoiler(s): MCU Phase One
Word Count: ~ 3200 (WIP)
Summary: A few months after the battle of New York the God Loki appears back on Star Tower under chaotic circumstances. This time however he is on the run. Tony Stark gets caught up in the crossfire and is taken along with the Aesir. Can the two of them ever make truce in order to get away? And even if they do, how does one escape from such a dark corner of the universe, when they are so very far away from the Nine Realms, that not even Loki knows the way back home. But first, they need to survive.
New to the story? >>> Chapter One
Hello Fornax Galaxy! We had a time jump of a few weeks like always between star systems and/or galaxies. :)
Chapter Thirty-Four
Drongo
‘They’re only a little late,’ Juyu shrugged.
‘Yeah, a little late can mean a lot of trouble.’
‘Loki’s right, you’re always jinxing things,’ the girl answered. Tony was about to answer when Juyu nodded with her head. ‘There they come… oh.’
‘Oh,’ Tony groaned.
There was Loki and there was Bee walking quickly next to the god. Then there was a very-very tall bald man with dark grey skin and midnight black eyes walking behind them. He had to be way over seven feet tall, he had tattoos all over his face and his wide shoulders and he was at least twice as wide as Loki.
Tony stared at Loki as they arrived, while Juyu was blinking up at the tower of muscle that looked like a guy.
‘This is Drongo,’ Loki said when he stopped. ‘He’s coming with us.’
Tony turned to Juyu. ‘What did I say? Trouble.’
The day before…
‘You’re a tease,’ Stark said the moment Loki’s hands slipped to his hips from behind. ‘The most teasing tease in the history of teases ever,’ the man continued. Loki chuckled and leaned down to bite at the skin just below his ear.
‘I enjoy courting,’ Loki said with a sly grin.
‘This is not… courting, this is torture,’ Stark replied. ‘You do realize that I haven’t got laid like… in a long time.’
Loki had to chuckle at his tone, then he slid one of his hands forward to Stark’s stomach, sliding his fingers behind his undershirt to stroke languidly at the skin there.
‘This is more than just an itch I want to scratch,’ Loki said in a low tone. It was not that he did not want to liberate Stark from his clothes, but everything had its right moment. If he only wanted a good tumble in the sheets, he would have taken a different approach. He could be very persuasive if the need arose. No, he wanted something a lot more gratifying. ‘Call it seduction then.’
‘You just want to make me crazy about you,’ Stark said, but he did lean back into Loki’s chest a little. In a way he was right, but clearly he had no problem with being a little seduced. Loki wondered if he was ever at the receiving end of such attention. When one was surrounded with willing admirers, who were all too happy to lose clothes and jump in a bed, there was no need for finesse, nor any real seduction. Some men bragged about their conquests, but how could the spread legs of a half-drunk bar wench be as satisfying as someone whose eyes burnt with true desire. When kisses were fuelled by true need, not just by the lust of bodies, when hands were desperate to explore, not just kneading flesh mindlessly. It took time to get there, it took softly exploring lips, it took confidently travelling fingers, it took knowing how the body beneath you would react to your every word and every touch. It was sort of like a dance really, first you had to learn the steps. Loki enjoyed learning how Stark’s body fitted to his, getting used to the feel of one another.
‘Yes, that is what I’m doing, you have unveiled my dastardly scheme,’ Loki told him.
‘Are we playing superhero-supervillain here?’ he asked in return.
‘Only if you want to,’ the god replied and bit his neck one last time before he stepped back to lean to the workbench next to the man. To be fair, Stark had not made any significant move to take things that much further just yet either. So he probably liked their little dance. It had only been mere weeks and Loki planned to enjoy this for a long time, so there was not need to rush. Every step gave a special brand of satisfaction. And indeed, he could already notice the changes in the way Stark reacted to his touch, how there was less and less hesitancy and more and more want as the days passed by.
‘What are you working on?’ Loki asked then.
‘Well, the idea came to me after I realized that I found myself on the wrong side of a locked door a lot recently,’ Stark started and just like that his focus was back on his beloved creations. ‘So I’ve been trying to figure out a way for the DNI to connect me to other systems, not just the host.’
‘Host as in your armour?’ Loki inquired.
‘In this case, yes,’ Stark nodded. ‘The idea is actually, well… sort of hacking. Hacking is exploiting weaknesses and breaking into computer networks, or security. I used to do it a lot… with SHIELD mainly, they’re secretive and I did not like not knowing things. Anyway, it’s not just for gathering information, but accessing control systems.’
‘Like opening some doors,’ Loki concluded.
‘Or shutting down security, turning off communications and so on. Only normally I need my own computers and software to do any sort of hacking. One computer talking with the other, but there is no universal network that connects different computers here, because we’re talking about different planets and galaxies, but with the DNI maybe I could do it directly with my brain. The DNI would make the connection, and it wouldn’t even have to be compatible to everything, I would have to be the one to understand and adjust to unknown systems, the DNI is just like… plugging in a cable and connecting me. It would project my commands to other systems, the way it sends it to the ship or my suit. There is no way any sort of system or network has protection against the way a human mind works, especially not against my mind. You get what I’m talking about here?’
‘I understood enough. It sounds intriguing,’ Loki admitted.
‘Yeah, of course you’d like it, you villain,’ Stark answered. Loki just grinned sharply.
‘Wouldn’t it be dangerous?’ he asked. ‘Exposing your mind to unknown systems?’
‘That’s why I’m trying to make it a mainly one-way connection and I also want to figure out some sort of good protection. I don’t know how yet.’
‘You don’t need a machine to be able to protect your mind,’ Loki told him. ‘You could learn to put on some mental walls on your own.’
‘You think that would work?’ Stark asked, he sounded interested.
‘It would give you a more precise control over your mind. The very least you would be able to notice if someone tried to get in your head, you could shut the DNI off in time then.’
‘Isn’t this a magic thing? Because I’m pretty sure I can’t do any of that,’ Stark said.
‘More advanced telepathy, yes. Not the basics.’
‘Sounds just as good as any sort of firewall idea I had so far, the DNI can only do so much.’
‘If you think you need it, Stark. I can help you with it,’ Loki offered.
‘Why won’t you call me Tony?’ Stark asked suddenly.
Loki thought about it for a moment. ‘I like Stark better,’ he said. ‘It sounds… fierce.’
‘Tony can sound fierce too,’ the human argued.
‘No, it really can’t.’
‘Fine.’
‘I can call you Tony, if you insist,’ Loki said.
‘No, it’s fine, it sounds weird coming from you now that I actually heard it,’ Stark chuckled. ‘So, we could start on this mental thingy tomorrow.’
‘We’re going to reach Sakaar tomorrow,’ Loki reminded him. ‘We will orbit the planet for a few days to recharge our generators. We’ve been considering risking a landing for some provisions…’
‘Ah yes, it would be nice to get some extra food,’ Stark said. ‘We’ve been in space for a very long time and we didn’t get anything but the maps on Yirb.’
‘At least those are good, right?’
‘We got here with one of them, but I did not check all yet, cause I grabbed like two dozen. We can definitely get pretty damn close to the Milky Way at least, to satellite galaxy at least. It won’t be hard to get new maps once we’re there if we have to.’
‘We will land on Sakaar then,’ Loki nodded. ‘I’ll let the girls know.’
He leaned in then to put a kiss on Stark’s lips before he left, but the human grabbed his clothes and dragged him closer.
‘Not so fast,’ he smiled and tilted his head up. ‘You can’t just grope me and not even give me a real kiss.’
‘Of course, what was I thinking?’ He did enjoy that Stark was becoming demanding when it came to this, so he slid in as close as he could, pressing their bodies together. Stark put his arms around his waist so he in turn slid his own over his shoulders and pried open the inviting mouth with his tongue.
‘I have bad memories of deserts,’ Stark announced as they stepped out of the Drake.
‘We have bad memories of all kinds of landscapes at this point,’ Loki told him. They were on the edge of town. It was the most suitable landing spot, they knew from experience at this point. Most of the locals were pink-skinned, and not reptilian for a change, but there were quite a lot of other races scattered among them. It made for a colourful view. They already had the argument on their way here about separating in order to get things done quickly. First they needed to sell some things from the cargo to get local currency. Then Loki would go to get ingredients he needed for his potion cabinet - accompanied by Bee - while Stark and Juyu handled getting more provisions. Stark was not completely happy with the arrangement, but it would have been ridiculous for all four of them to go together everywhere.
Everything worked out well this way. The merchants were fair and used to dealing with strangers. Bee kept close to his side, avoiding being touched by anyone even accidentally, but she seemed well in-control, so Loki did not worry about the crowd. It took a lot of time to find any sort of dealer who had even some of the things Loki needed. The ingredients for the healing elixir were the most important, he could do without the rest.
He got into an argument with an old lady over the price, then some kid tried to pickpocket him - unsuccessfully of course - but other than that, things went quite well. The streets were a lot emptier after a few hours and Loki assumed it was because deserts got very cold after the sun set and it was indeed close to dusk. He had his bag thrown over one shoulder and contemplated whether he should keep searching for the things he did not manage to buy yet, when he noticed that Bee’s silent presence was gone from his side. He stopped a turned around to look for her right away. She was only a few feet back, staring at something motionlessly with that tiny head-tilt of hers.
‘What is it Little Bee?’ he asked her. He knew he would not get an actual answer, but he was getting rather good at reading her face, she could say so much with her eyes alone, no matter if they were their original red or green like right now. She started walking in the direction she was looking at and Loki turned to follow while searching for what may have caught her eyes. Not many things made Bee curious.
It took but a few moments for him to see what it was, or rather… who. It would have been hard to miss now that he was looking this way. There was a man, a giant of a man, bigger than anyone they had seen in town. If he would have been standing up, he would’ve towered over Loki, his muscles were impressive as well. He wore nothing but torn trousers. His skin was dark grey and decorated with black markings, but there were also deep red wounds all around his torso and arms, bites and slashes. Some looked like claw marks, but some were probably done by a blade. He was sitting in a secluded place, almost completely out of sight of anyone who walked down on the street.
Bee did not hesitate walking up to where he sat on the ground and when she stopped the giant turned his head. That’s when Loki heard the clanking of chains. The man had markings on his face as well, a small rhombus in the middle of his forehead, thick lines over his eyes instead of eyebrows, two thin ones next to his nose, and some other lines running down on his neck connecting to those on his shoulders. The big man stared at Bee for a moment, then he smiled and tipped his head forward in greeting.
‘Hello there, little lady,’ he said. His voice was just as deep and rumbling as one would expect from someone of his size, but his tone was friendly.
‘She does not speak,’ Loki said and the man looked up at him. His eyeballs were black, but his irises green.
‘That is quite alright,’ the man said. ‘I grow tired of too much chatter easily, silence can be very pleasant.’
His tone, it wasn’t just that he was friendly. He spoke a lot more finely than any of the locals Loki had met today. The way he looked, Loki would’ve expected some mindless brute, but he did not speak like one. It made his appearance all the more confusing.
‘Why are you chained up?’ he asked with a frown. The man glanced up at him again and this time he quickly looked Loki up and down.
‘You are not from this galaxy, so you would not know,’ he said. ‘You also look too much like a noble to me, so maybe you could not even understand.’
Interesting. ‘What makes you so sure of that?’
The man raised his tattooed eyebrows for a moment, like he did not actually expect the question, like the answer should’ve been obvious. ‘Maybe it was the way you lift your chin when you start talking, or how you straighten your back like you were taught to stay in a proper pose, but it could be that condescending commanding tone of yours. Pick one.’
‘And that I’m not from around here?’ he asked. His curiosity was peaked, that was for sure.
‘I might consider changing that alyndor armour if you do not want that to be apparent,’ the big man answered. ‘And that’s a Cassiopeian gun on your belt.’
Loki looked down at the energy gun. It was small and only some of it was visible when it was in the holster. He hummed thoughtfully.
‘Let me guess,’ the man said again. ‘You expected me to growl.’
A smile curled up Loki’s lips a little, he couldn’t help it.
‘What’s your name?’ he asked.
‘Does it matter?’
‘My name’s Loki, and that is Bee,’ the god told him. The man looked at Bee again.
‘Nice to meet you, Bee. My name is Drongo,’ he said. Bee nodded at him, still staring. ‘Is she your sister?’ he asked.
‘Friend,’ Loki replied. ‘Why are you chained up Drongo?’
‘Well, maybe they plan to starve me to death, but there might be an actual execution coming up. I’m not really sure.’
‘Why?’
‘Why do you care?’ Drongo asked in return.
‘I don’t. I’m just curios by nature and Bee seems to like you already. That just makes me even more curious.’ Bee did not look at just anyone like that, they crossed paths with dozens of different beings in the past hours and the girl did not even glanced at anyone. Maybe she was just curious because the man was so huge, but maybe her instincts told her something more.
‘What would it change, if you knew?’ Drongo asked him.
‘Who knows? I’ve been told I tend to be unpredictable.’ He put his bag down and walked a little closer. ‘But the wounds on you cannot be more than a few days old, maybe even less, so whatever happened, it was not that long ago. You look like a brute, but you do not speak like one, you’re no slave or some common labourer. So tell me, do you deserve to be chained up in the dirt like a dog?’
‘We’re nothing more than that to them,’ Drongo said.
‘Them?’
‘The pink-skinned ones, you saw them. They are the Imperials, I am one of the Shadow People. They rule, we serve. They thrive in the cities, we wander the land. They are called cultured, we are called savages. They decide our fate, we are to accept it.’ He moved a little until he completely turned towards Loki and locked his dark eyes on him. ‘I did not accept.’
‘What do you mean he’s coming with us?’ Stark asked right away when he turned back, eyeing Drongo in surprise.
‘I explain later. Right now, we need to go,’ Loki said quickly and started shoving Stark inside the Drake.
‘What happened to making decisions together?’ the human protested.
‘Need I remind you how Juyu and Bee came to our ship?’ Loki asked.
‘But that was before!’
‘Stark!’ Loki stopped and turned him around. They were up at the front already, while the girls and Drongo just walked into the back. ‘Once you hear what is going on, you will agree.’
‘Is he in trouble?’
‘Partially,’ Loki said.
‘And you’re… helping?’ his tone was bewildered and Loki might’ve been insulted if he wouldn’t have been so very baffled by himself too at the moment.
‘Just let us go, Stark!’
‘Just explain it to me,’ the other insisted. ‘You don’t do this! You hate this, unnecessary trouble, useless heroic nonsense, as you call it. What’s going on now? Why is this different?’
‘Because it is!’ Loki yelled angrily. Stark’s eyebrows lifted significantly and he stared at Loki in surprise for a moment or two. The god took a breath before he looked at him again. ‘It’s… different. We have to go.’
‘Okay,’ Stark said, still looking at him a little strangely. ‘Okay, of course. You can tell me later.’ He reached out and touched Loki’s arm, it was maybe meant to be reassuring, or an apology for demanding answers instead of acting right away. Then he slid into his usual seat and started the engines without any further questions. When Loki looked back the door was already closed and Drongo was holding onto something to keep steady. Bee was standing close to him and Juyu obviously took notice of that. The girl had the strangest instincts, but it was worth paying attention to them.
Loki did not need to catch Drongo’s eyes or nod at him or say anything to him, there was no need. So he sat down into his own seat when the Drake took off.
‘You know,’ Stark said. ‘I did not think you could still surprise me this much.’
‘I surprised myself too,’ Loki answered truthfully.
‘He must have one hell of a story.’
‘That he does.’
<<< Previous Chapter || Next Chapter >>>
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Author's Notes: Planet Sakaar is part of Marvel Comics (like most of the previous planets), this one is from the Hulk comics. If you are interested, you can check marvel.com for more info about the planet.
I will of course include some of it in the story :)
Author: scyllaya
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Rating: PG-13 (NC-17 for entire fic)
Pairing(s): Loki/Tony Stark
Warning(s): cursing
Spoiler(s): MCU Phase One
Word Count: ~ 3200 (WIP)
Summary: A few months after the battle of New York the God Loki appears back on Star Tower under chaotic circumstances. This time however he is on the run. Tony Stark gets caught up in the crossfire and is taken along with the Aesir. Can the two of them ever make truce in order to get away? And even if they do, how does one escape from such a dark corner of the universe, when they are so very far away from the Nine Realms, that not even Loki knows the way back home. But first, they need to survive.
New to the story? >>> Chapter One
Hello Fornax Galaxy! We had a time jump of a few weeks like always between star systems and/or galaxies. :)
Chapter Thirty-Four
Drongo
‘They’re only a little late,’ Juyu shrugged.
‘Yeah, a little late can mean a lot of trouble.’
‘Loki’s right, you’re always jinxing things,’ the girl answered. Tony was about to answer when Juyu nodded with her head. ‘There they come… oh.’
‘Oh,’ Tony groaned.
There was Loki and there was Bee walking quickly next to the god. Then there was a very-very tall bald man with dark grey skin and midnight black eyes walking behind them. He had to be way over seven feet tall, he had tattoos all over his face and his wide shoulders and he was at least twice as wide as Loki.
Tony stared at Loki as they arrived, while Juyu was blinking up at the tower of muscle that looked like a guy.
‘This is Drongo,’ Loki said when he stopped. ‘He’s coming with us.’
Tony turned to Juyu. ‘What did I say? Trouble.’
The day before…
‘You’re a tease,’ Stark said the moment Loki’s hands slipped to his hips from behind. ‘The most teasing tease in the history of teases ever,’ the man continued. Loki chuckled and leaned down to bite at the skin just below his ear.
‘I enjoy courting,’ Loki said with a sly grin.
‘This is not… courting, this is torture,’ Stark replied. ‘You do realize that I haven’t got laid like… in a long time.’
Loki had to chuckle at his tone, then he slid one of his hands forward to Stark’s stomach, sliding his fingers behind his undershirt to stroke languidly at the skin there.
‘This is more than just an itch I want to scratch,’ Loki said in a low tone. It was not that he did not want to liberate Stark from his clothes, but everything had its right moment. If he only wanted a good tumble in the sheets, he would have taken a different approach. He could be very persuasive if the need arose. No, he wanted something a lot more gratifying. ‘Call it seduction then.’
‘You just want to make me crazy about you,’ Stark said, but he did lean back into Loki’s chest a little. In a way he was right, but clearly he had no problem with being a little seduced. Loki wondered if he was ever at the receiving end of such attention. When one was surrounded with willing admirers, who were all too happy to lose clothes and jump in a bed, there was no need for finesse, nor any real seduction. Some men bragged about their conquests, but how could the spread legs of a half-drunk bar wench be as satisfying as someone whose eyes burnt with true desire. When kisses were fuelled by true need, not just by the lust of bodies, when hands were desperate to explore, not just kneading flesh mindlessly. It took time to get there, it took softly exploring lips, it took confidently travelling fingers, it took knowing how the body beneath you would react to your every word and every touch. It was sort of like a dance really, first you had to learn the steps. Loki enjoyed learning how Stark’s body fitted to his, getting used to the feel of one another.
‘Yes, that is what I’m doing, you have unveiled my dastardly scheme,’ Loki told him.
‘Are we playing superhero-supervillain here?’ he asked in return.
‘Only if you want to,’ the god replied and bit his neck one last time before he stepped back to lean to the workbench next to the man. To be fair, Stark had not made any significant move to take things that much further just yet either. So he probably liked their little dance. It had only been mere weeks and Loki planned to enjoy this for a long time, so there was not need to rush. Every step gave a special brand of satisfaction. And indeed, he could already notice the changes in the way Stark reacted to his touch, how there was less and less hesitancy and more and more want as the days passed by.
‘What are you working on?’ Loki asked then.
‘Well, the idea came to me after I realized that I found myself on the wrong side of a locked door a lot recently,’ Stark started and just like that his focus was back on his beloved creations. ‘So I’ve been trying to figure out a way for the DNI to connect me to other systems, not just the host.’
‘Host as in your armour?’ Loki inquired.
‘In this case, yes,’ Stark nodded. ‘The idea is actually, well… sort of hacking. Hacking is exploiting weaknesses and breaking into computer networks, or security. I used to do it a lot… with SHIELD mainly, they’re secretive and I did not like not knowing things. Anyway, it’s not just for gathering information, but accessing control systems.’
‘Like opening some doors,’ Loki concluded.
‘Or shutting down security, turning off communications and so on. Only normally I need my own computers and software to do any sort of hacking. One computer talking with the other, but there is no universal network that connects different computers here, because we’re talking about different planets and galaxies, but with the DNI maybe I could do it directly with my brain. The DNI would make the connection, and it wouldn’t even have to be compatible to everything, I would have to be the one to understand and adjust to unknown systems, the DNI is just like… plugging in a cable and connecting me. It would project my commands to other systems, the way it sends it to the ship or my suit. There is no way any sort of system or network has protection against the way a human mind works, especially not against my mind. You get what I’m talking about here?’
‘I understood enough. It sounds intriguing,’ Loki admitted.
‘Yeah, of course you’d like it, you villain,’ Stark answered. Loki just grinned sharply.
‘Wouldn’t it be dangerous?’ he asked. ‘Exposing your mind to unknown systems?’
‘That’s why I’m trying to make it a mainly one-way connection and I also want to figure out some sort of good protection. I don’t know how yet.’
‘You don’t need a machine to be able to protect your mind,’ Loki told him. ‘You could learn to put on some mental walls on your own.’
‘You think that would work?’ Stark asked, he sounded interested.
‘It would give you a more precise control over your mind. The very least you would be able to notice if someone tried to get in your head, you could shut the DNI off in time then.’
‘Isn’t this a magic thing? Because I’m pretty sure I can’t do any of that,’ Stark said.
‘More advanced telepathy, yes. Not the basics.’
‘Sounds just as good as any sort of firewall idea I had so far, the DNI can only do so much.’
‘If you think you need it, Stark. I can help you with it,’ Loki offered.
‘Why won’t you call me Tony?’ Stark asked suddenly.
Loki thought about it for a moment. ‘I like Stark better,’ he said. ‘It sounds… fierce.’
‘Tony can sound fierce too,’ the human argued.
‘No, it really can’t.’
‘Fine.’
‘I can call you Tony, if you insist,’ Loki said.
‘No, it’s fine, it sounds weird coming from you now that I actually heard it,’ Stark chuckled. ‘So, we could start on this mental thingy tomorrow.’
‘We’re going to reach Sakaar tomorrow,’ Loki reminded him. ‘We will orbit the planet for a few days to recharge our generators. We’ve been considering risking a landing for some provisions…’
‘Ah yes, it would be nice to get some extra food,’ Stark said. ‘We’ve been in space for a very long time and we didn’t get anything but the maps on Yirb.’
‘At least those are good, right?’
‘We got here with one of them, but I did not check all yet, cause I grabbed like two dozen. We can definitely get pretty damn close to the Milky Way at least, to satellite galaxy at least. It won’t be hard to get new maps once we’re there if we have to.’
‘We will land on Sakaar then,’ Loki nodded. ‘I’ll let the girls know.’
He leaned in then to put a kiss on Stark’s lips before he left, but the human grabbed his clothes and dragged him closer.
‘Not so fast,’ he smiled and tilted his head up. ‘You can’t just grope me and not even give me a real kiss.’
‘Of course, what was I thinking?’ He did enjoy that Stark was becoming demanding when it came to this, so he slid in as close as he could, pressing their bodies together. Stark put his arms around his waist so he in turn slid his own over his shoulders and pried open the inviting mouth with his tongue.
‘I have bad memories of deserts,’ Stark announced as they stepped out of the Drake.
‘We have bad memories of all kinds of landscapes at this point,’ Loki told him. They were on the edge of town. It was the most suitable landing spot, they knew from experience at this point. Most of the locals were pink-skinned, and not reptilian for a change, but there were quite a lot of other races scattered among them. It made for a colourful view. They already had the argument on their way here about separating in order to get things done quickly. First they needed to sell some things from the cargo to get local currency. Then Loki would go to get ingredients he needed for his potion cabinet - accompanied by Bee - while Stark and Juyu handled getting more provisions. Stark was not completely happy with the arrangement, but it would have been ridiculous for all four of them to go together everywhere.
Everything worked out well this way. The merchants were fair and used to dealing with strangers. Bee kept close to his side, avoiding being touched by anyone even accidentally, but she seemed well in-control, so Loki did not worry about the crowd. It took a lot of time to find any sort of dealer who had even some of the things Loki needed. The ingredients for the healing elixir were the most important, he could do without the rest.
He got into an argument with an old lady over the price, then some kid tried to pickpocket him - unsuccessfully of course - but other than that, things went quite well. The streets were a lot emptier after a few hours and Loki assumed it was because deserts got very cold after the sun set and it was indeed close to dusk. He had his bag thrown over one shoulder and contemplated whether he should keep searching for the things he did not manage to buy yet, when he noticed that Bee’s silent presence was gone from his side. He stopped a turned around to look for her right away. She was only a few feet back, staring at something motionlessly with that tiny head-tilt of hers.
‘What is it Little Bee?’ he asked her. He knew he would not get an actual answer, but he was getting rather good at reading her face, she could say so much with her eyes alone, no matter if they were their original red or green like right now. She started walking in the direction she was looking at and Loki turned to follow while searching for what may have caught her eyes. Not many things made Bee curious.
It took but a few moments for him to see what it was, or rather… who. It would have been hard to miss now that he was looking this way. There was a man, a giant of a man, bigger than anyone they had seen in town. If he would have been standing up, he would’ve towered over Loki, his muscles were impressive as well. He wore nothing but torn trousers. His skin was dark grey and decorated with black markings, but there were also deep red wounds all around his torso and arms, bites and slashes. Some looked like claw marks, but some were probably done by a blade. He was sitting in a secluded place, almost completely out of sight of anyone who walked down on the street.
Bee did not hesitate walking up to where he sat on the ground and when she stopped the giant turned his head. That’s when Loki heard the clanking of chains. The man had markings on his face as well, a small rhombus in the middle of his forehead, thick lines over his eyes instead of eyebrows, two thin ones next to his nose, and some other lines running down on his neck connecting to those on his shoulders. The big man stared at Bee for a moment, then he smiled and tipped his head forward in greeting.
‘Hello there, little lady,’ he said. His voice was just as deep and rumbling as one would expect from someone of his size, but his tone was friendly.
‘She does not speak,’ Loki said and the man looked up at him. His eyeballs were black, but his irises green.
‘That is quite alright,’ the man said. ‘I grow tired of too much chatter easily, silence can be very pleasant.’
His tone, it wasn’t just that he was friendly. He spoke a lot more finely than any of the locals Loki had met today. The way he looked, Loki would’ve expected some mindless brute, but he did not speak like one. It made his appearance all the more confusing.
‘Why are you chained up?’ he asked with a frown. The man glanced up at him again and this time he quickly looked Loki up and down.
‘You are not from this galaxy, so you would not know,’ he said. ‘You also look too much like a noble to me, so maybe you could not even understand.’
Interesting. ‘What makes you so sure of that?’
The man raised his tattooed eyebrows for a moment, like he did not actually expect the question, like the answer should’ve been obvious. ‘Maybe it was the way you lift your chin when you start talking, or how you straighten your back like you were taught to stay in a proper pose, but it could be that condescending commanding tone of yours. Pick one.’
‘And that I’m not from around here?’ he asked. His curiosity was peaked, that was for sure.
‘I might consider changing that alyndor armour if you do not want that to be apparent,’ the big man answered. ‘And that’s a Cassiopeian gun on your belt.’
Loki looked down at the energy gun. It was small and only some of it was visible when it was in the holster. He hummed thoughtfully.
‘Let me guess,’ the man said again. ‘You expected me to growl.’
A smile curled up Loki’s lips a little, he couldn’t help it.
‘What’s your name?’ he asked.
‘Does it matter?’
‘My name’s Loki, and that is Bee,’ the god told him. The man looked at Bee again.
‘Nice to meet you, Bee. My name is Drongo,’ he said. Bee nodded at him, still staring. ‘Is she your sister?’ he asked.
‘Friend,’ Loki replied. ‘Why are you chained up Drongo?’
‘Well, maybe they plan to starve me to death, but there might be an actual execution coming up. I’m not really sure.’
‘Why?’
‘Why do you care?’ Drongo asked in return.
‘I don’t. I’m just curios by nature and Bee seems to like you already. That just makes me even more curious.’ Bee did not look at just anyone like that, they crossed paths with dozens of different beings in the past hours and the girl did not even glanced at anyone. Maybe she was just curious because the man was so huge, but maybe her instincts told her something more.
‘What would it change, if you knew?’ Drongo asked him.
‘Who knows? I’ve been told I tend to be unpredictable.’ He put his bag down and walked a little closer. ‘But the wounds on you cannot be more than a few days old, maybe even less, so whatever happened, it was not that long ago. You look like a brute, but you do not speak like one, you’re no slave or some common labourer. So tell me, do you deserve to be chained up in the dirt like a dog?’
‘We’re nothing more than that to them,’ Drongo said.
‘Them?’
‘The pink-skinned ones, you saw them. They are the Imperials, I am one of the Shadow People. They rule, we serve. They thrive in the cities, we wander the land. They are called cultured, we are called savages. They decide our fate, we are to accept it.’ He moved a little until he completely turned towards Loki and locked his dark eyes on him. ‘I did not accept.’
‘What do you mean he’s coming with us?’ Stark asked right away when he turned back, eyeing Drongo in surprise.
‘I explain later. Right now, we need to go,’ Loki said quickly and started shoving Stark inside the Drake.
‘What happened to making decisions together?’ the human protested.
‘Need I remind you how Juyu and Bee came to our ship?’ Loki asked.
‘But that was before!’
‘Stark!’ Loki stopped and turned him around. They were up at the front already, while the girls and Drongo just walked into the back. ‘Once you hear what is going on, you will agree.’
‘Is he in trouble?’
‘Partially,’ Loki said.
‘And you’re… helping?’ his tone was bewildered and Loki might’ve been insulted if he wouldn’t have been so very baffled by himself too at the moment.
‘Just let us go, Stark!’
‘Just explain it to me,’ the other insisted. ‘You don’t do this! You hate this, unnecessary trouble, useless heroic nonsense, as you call it. What’s going on now? Why is this different?’
‘Because it is!’ Loki yelled angrily. Stark’s eyebrows lifted significantly and he stared at Loki in surprise for a moment or two. The god took a breath before he looked at him again. ‘It’s… different. We have to go.’
‘Okay,’ Stark said, still looking at him a little strangely. ‘Okay, of course. You can tell me later.’ He reached out and touched Loki’s arm, it was maybe meant to be reassuring, or an apology for demanding answers instead of acting right away. Then he slid into his usual seat and started the engines without any further questions. When Loki looked back the door was already closed and Drongo was holding onto something to keep steady. Bee was standing close to him and Juyu obviously took notice of that. The girl had the strangest instincts, but it was worth paying attention to them.
Loki did not need to catch Drongo’s eyes or nod at him or say anything to him, there was no need. So he sat down into his own seat when the Drake took off.
‘You know,’ Stark said. ‘I did not think you could still surprise me this much.’
‘I surprised myself too,’ Loki answered truthfully.
‘He must have one hell of a story.’
‘That he does.’
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Author's Notes: Planet Sakaar is part of Marvel Comics (like most of the previous planets), this one is from the Hulk comics. If you are interested, you can check marvel.com for more info about the planet.
I will of course include some of it in the story :)