Drowning The Stars #II

[morphineeden]

III.

He's lonely and it makes him dangerous.
It always has and it is a good thing.

He takes a walk through the Green Park and calls Jim again. They have afternoon-tea at The Promenade at The Dorchester while it stars raining again. Heavy and hot raindrops, lightening in the sky. He knows it's not Thor's doing, but it seems to rain here quite a lot.
At Dorchester's everything in brown and light red and beige, polished wooden tables with opulent baroque ornaments. Ferns on the sides of the room, next to arm-chairs, all on the marble floor with expensive carpets. Loki likes it.
They sit down. Jim smiles and he smiles back.
“So,” says Jim, “shall we order the champagne?”

They have a glass of chilled Laurent-Perrier NV Champagne and sandwiches with smoken salmon, egg, chicken, cream cheese and cucumber.
He has always loved delicious things and he starts taking pleasure in those the Midgardians have to offer.
“So have you found someone who can take care of my problem?” Loki asks.
“Oh, yes indeed.”
“Introduce us as soon as possible then.”
“But we already have introduced ourselves, my dear. I'll fix your problem.”

Jim wears a neat dark blue suit and he would look tender and fragile if there weren't his eyes.
Like two black-holes, sucking in light and dark and everything in between. Loki had seen black holes. He had travelled through them. He could not speak of what he saw and felt but looking into Jim's eyes reminds him of it.
“Do you know they make the strawberry jam themselves?” Jim asks with a mouthful of scone.
Loki chews and swallows and instead of an answer asks: “How will you fix my problem?”
“Don't worry, sweetheart. Come with me after the tea and I'll examine the necklace and we'll figure it out.”

That's what they do. Jim takes him to a flat in Mayfair, a small one, full with old books everywhere. On the floor and on every other surface and in bookshelves on the walls. Though he's never heard of Wilde, Blake, Lautréamont, Siken or Baudelaire. He thinks of his room in Asgard, his chamber and his books. And the smell - though worlds in-between - is so very much the same.
This is a little sanctuary, he can tell.
“You don't take a lot of people here,” he says softly.
“No I don't. Now, let's get started.”

He doesn't do much. He just sits there and lets Jim do his tests. The Midgardian way to do magic - or science as they call it - is yet too strange for him to understand completely. Jim reads in at least five of his old books with seemingly magical symbols on the covers. The books have scribblings on a few pages. Jim must've done these before. Then Jim uses his computer, then some metal devices he can't identify.
It must have been three hours when suddenly Jim jumps up. “My god,” Jim exclaims too loud too close to his ear.
“What's the matter?”
“I have absolutely no idea how it actually works, but I think I'm getting a sense of how I will be able to undo it binding your powers. It'll take a while though.”
Loki smirks. “Anyway, that's a beautiful thing to hear.”
Jim doesn't reply but Loki can feel his small but strong fingers working with metal-devices on his neck.

ஓ

The Doctor stands in the kitchen and stares into the cooking pot, his eyebrows knitted together in utter suspiciousness.
“Don't you think that's scary?” he asks John Watson. John exhales slowly.
“Scary? It's vegetable-soup for goodness sakes!”
“Yeah well, scary soup,” the Doctor says. “Just look how obscure the broth is!”
“Please can we stop this discussion? Mrs Hudson has made this soup and I'm sure it's delicious.”
“You want to eat it?” The Doctor's voice is more a shrink than anything else.
“Stop it! It is soup!”
“Why the bloody hell are you shouting like this in the morning?” Sherlock's voice is rough and brittle as he steps into the kitchen in his morning gown, his hair a mess of wild curls.
“Well, your friend here inspected our soup and decided it is scary,” John says.
“Does Mrs Hudson have absolutely no life at all?”
“Sherlock! At least she cares about our eating habits! Wait, what are you-?” And the Doctor empties the pot into the sink.
“No! No! How could you do this?”
Sherlock yawns, takes the teapot from John and turns on his heels, crushing a spider under them and leaving the kitchen.

“I really think you staying here Doctor is not a good idea,” John says.
“Oh dear. I absolutely agree. I hate staying anywhere. But. You need me.”
“Right now we would need something to eat!”
“Well, go ahead and make breakfast.” The Doctor smiles and then joins the still grumpy Sherlock on the couch.
Chuntering John begins to throw some bread in the toaster. They've run out of cookies days ago.
A sudden knock on the door, he flashes a glance at the two men on the couch, no-one moving and sighting goes to open the door.
“Hello dear,” Mrs Hudson says and hands him a plate with cookies. “I know you always run out of cookies, so I thought I'd bring you some.”
“Wait, you already left soup on our doorstep.” John frowns.
“Soup? At this time of the year, god no, I'd never do that.” She chuckles and waves at Sherlock and the Doctor. The Doctor without looking up from his papers just says: “Told you so.”
“Well. Thanks. Good morning Mrs Hudson.” Now she laughs and then nods. “I see. You have work to do. Good morning, John.”

As John turns around Sherlock stares at him. Grinning.
“Did someone just try to poison us?” Sherlock's grin spreads wider. “Now that I call a delightful start of the day!”
“Oh Jesus,” John says.
“Would you hand over the cookies please?” The Doctor asks.
“Who would want to poison us?” John asks and gives the plate with the cookies to the Doctor.
“Well it must be someone who knows us pretty well and Mrs Judson's cooking-morals rather badly.”
“Sherlock, this is not funny!”

Then Sherlock's phone rings.

“Oh!” Sherlock exclaims as he looks at the number.
“Who is it?” John asks.
Sherlock answers the phone. “Hello.”
“Hello honey. How do you feel today? Would you like to have dinner with me?”
“Maybe. Was the soup your idea Jim?”
“Jim?” John sounds close to panic.
“Oh come on, it was a joke. Who would eat soup in the morning anyway?”
“Is he actually talking to Jim Moriarty right now? And why does he call him Jim?” John's voice reaches an octave higher.
“Thought so. A rather bad joke though. I've expected better.”
“Better's on the way, darling. Don't you worry.”
Sherlock laughs, his voice low and deep. “I'm excited,” he says and hangs up.

“Now that sounded interesting!” The Doctor says, jumping on his feet and claps his hands.

They are at Scotland Yard's and Lestrade is briefing them on a case of murders this morning. Poisoned. All with vegetable-soup on the kitchen table. John wants to laugh bitterly.
At the last house they found a note saying: So where were the spiders while the fly tried to break our balls?
“This doesn't make any sense”, Sherlock says.
“That's Bowie,” Lestrade says.
“Who?”
“David Bowie, Sherlock!”
“Who is David Bowie?”
The Doctor stumbles in the room, eyes wide. “Did he just ask who David Bowie is?”
“Yes he did,” John says.

“Who the hell is this?” Lestrade asks, staring and pointing at the Doctor.
“Hello! I'm the Doctor.”
“He's a kind-of-friend of ours,” John says.
“Oi! Kind-of-friend?”
“Boys! Boys. Back to the case.”

“So, you think it was Moriarty.”
“I know it was,” Sherlock says and leans against the door-frame of Lestrade's office.
“But what does he mean with the note?” John asks.
“The line he chose is from Ziggy Stardust, but it has nothing to do with murder whatsoever.”
“Well,” the Doctor says, “maybe it's not really related to the murders.”
“What do you mean? Like the note standing for something different?”
“Yep.”
“Hm, maybe he's right. Moriarty called me this morning and made it obvious the soup was from him. He wanted our attention and he got it. So, what now?”
“If that was the prologue now it'd be time for the first chapter,” the Doctor says.
“What's that supposed to mean? Why are you here now anyway?” John sounds stressed.
The Doctor smiles. “I thought you might need my help.”
“With what exactly?” John snaps. That's the moment the lights go out.

A crash. Then everything is in motion.
The ceiling shakes. The walls come down in a cry of stone and dust. A pandemonium of screams breaks lose. “What the hell is happening?” Lestrade yells.

ஓ

Ah, he thinks, this feels so good.

Loki's sitting in his room, eyes closed. The necklace hangs loosely and dead around his neck.
There is silence around him. Silence and power like a sea engulfing him and flowing out of him at the same time. It is nothing that can be seen, but it feels like reality has shifted into the right place again.
He feels at peace with himself and at war with the world.
He's so light and full of force. The anger he held back since he arrived here is suddenly able to spill out of him. He feels more powerful than ever before. He leans back, laughter low and deep in his throat.

Jim comes back and looks at him with the dirtiest smile he has ever seen. Loki likes it.
“Time to play havoc with them.” He says it casually, but in his eyes he can see the wild joy of a lion catching sight of an antelope.

ஓ

Sherlock's laughing. Everyone else screams.
They run. Through ash and dust, over stones and over bodies and the air is thick with smoke and cries.
First they think it was a bomb, then they see the real causes. They are big as a house, a massive round, hairy body and a thousand eyes blinking and flashing in pitch-black. Their eight legs are as thick as a train and as long as a street. There are three of them.
And despite all, they are in terror.

“Oh my god, oh my god,” John whispers.
“Oh dear. Poor little puppies,” the Doctor says.
“What on earth are you talking about?” John asks.
“Shut up and help me here,” Lestrade yells and points to a piece of wall which lies halfway on top of a bleeding man. He screams in pain and agony.

Two hours later they sit in their flat in Baker Street. The Doctor is in the TARDIS and John and Sherlock sit on the couch. When the Doctor comes out his face is pale.
“You know, they are really from Mars,” the Doctor says, “but not from your Mars. A million light years away there is another planet called Mars and he is populated with these creatures. These three the military tries to kill right now are babies. They've been brought here and they are in pain and they are afraid. That's why they stumble around like this.”
“Great,” John says, “So Loki brought us alien big deadly spider babies from another Mars.”
“This obviously is Moriarty's doing, too. The note.”
“Probably wasn't the best idea to let Loki meet a criminal mastermind,” John says.
“Probably,” the Doctor says.

A few seconds pass, then Sherlock and the Doctor lock their gazes.
“Well,” the Doctor says.
“Let's get started!” Sherlock says, starts to grin and stands up.
“What? What plan do you have?” John asks.
“Don't know yet. We'll make something up,” the Doctor says grinning.

As Sherlock's opening the door he looks into a far too familiar face.
“Mycroft.”
“Hello Sherlock. Hello John. Doctor, we do need your help.”
“These spiders are no enemies.”
“I'm afraid the citizens who've been hurt think otherwise. Whole London is panicking, I'm lucky I even got here. Horrible traffic. Fortunately I knew you were around.”
“My Big Brother is always watching,” Sherlock says with a smile that falls the second it rose.
“Doctor we can handle the three spiders, but we need you to help us assure that no other beings like these can enter our world.”
“Well,” the Doctor says, “I think we should ask Thor for help, too.”
“Alright,”John says, “you go get Thor and we deal with Loki and Moriarty.”
“Loki is the gentleman who checked in the Ritz?”
“I really doubt he's a gentleman,” the Doctor says and walks to the bathroom.
The wheeling sound of the TARDIS taking off is joined by the door falling shut behind Sherlock.

ஓ

“I will tear this world apart,” Loki says and takes a sip of the whiskey.
“Oh honey, I'm sure it'll be fun.” Jim smiles, then takes Loki's glass and licks at the edge of it.

ஓ

Sherlock's phone rings.
“Hello.”
“Hello darling. It's nearly half past eight. Are you still up for dinner?”

IV.

“He has done what?”
“I'm so sorry, Thor.”
“Doctor, if Loki is on free foot we have a problem. He'll plunge this whole city into chaos.”
They sit in Thor's room in Asgard. The light streams in through the high windows, everything's gleaming in soft golden shades.
“I'm aware of that. Thing is, what can we do against it? You wanted my help, now I need yours. Technically this is all my fault. But will you help me?”
“Of course.”
“What ever started to make your brother so bitter lays between him and you.”
“I know,” Thor says and he is pale and exhausted. And he says, “I wish he would've never found out about Laufey.”
Now the Doctor smiles and puts his nice cold hand above Thor's sweaty fingers.
“The past cannot be changed. But the future is all yours. Now, let's get back.”

ஓ

They meet close to King's Cross station. The streets are still crowded, but they might as well not be. No-one talks, it seems. The high and dirty brick-stone buildings, the bus stations, the fast-food restaurants and the hostels. Above all hangs the anthracite night sky. Now and then a flash of lightening illuminates the clouds without making a sound.
And somewhere there they meet.

“I know it's rather the opposite of classy, I'm so sorry,” Jim Moriarty says.
Sherlock laughs and they step into the untenanted building. It might have been a warehouse once. Now it's just a big, empty room except for the pieces of broken glass that are scattered all over the floor. The light is dim, only a few pale rays escape the street-lamps and fall through the broken windows. The shards scrunch underneath their heels.
“I know you find it exciting. You're enjoying this.”
“And if I did? What does it change?” The detective looks at him and steps closer.
“Oh, everything,” Jim says and Sherlock pushes him against the wall.
Their lips meet and it's a hard and messy kiss. Jim's fingers entangled in Sherlock's curls while Sherlock is pulling hard at his £143.00 shirt until a few buttons join the shreds with a pling and he gets his hands on Jim's skin.
“You ruined my shirt,” Jim breathes.
“Don't be obvious.” He smirks.
“Pay me back.”
“I will.” And Sherlock kisses him again.

ஓ

Scotland Yard, 2a.m., the lights are out except for a dimly lit room. It's raining outside and every now and then lightning drowns Lestrade's office in bright white. The Detective Inspector has dark circles underneath his eyes and he watches his guests with exhaustion.
“He must have a plan,” Thor says.
“Wouldn't be any fun if he hadn't,” Sherlock replies, his cheeks blushed and in his eyes a desire burning bright.
“Sherlock!”
“We have to stop them,” the Doctor says and in a fluid motion he licks the tip of his indexfinger and points his finger into the air. “And I might just have an idea how to do it.”
“You better start talking, then,” John mutters.
(NOT SURE WHETHER I NEED THIS PARAGRAPH)

ஓ

Loki smiles a kind smile to the stewardess. She smiles back.
The plane is taking off despite the thunderstorm that is on its way. But of course they don't know about that. Not yet. Inwardly he's laughing when he thinks that it'll be lightening and thunder killing them all. Of course no-one will know. But he will tell one person. See how you like that, Thor.
The plane is on its way from Shanghai Pu Dong airport to London Heathrow. And Loki just decided to play 9/11.

ஓ

Sherlock's phone rings. It's Mycroft. “Turn on the telly,” he says and Sherlock can hear terror in his voice. So he turns on the TV.
“Oh my God,” John says. “Oh my God.”
“What's the matter?” The Doctor and Thor walk in and fall silent as they look at the TV screen.
Ash everywhere, fire licking at steel, stone, flesh. And people jumping. Jumping from crashing, burning buildings. Voices talking and screaming. The next picture, different city, different language and again and again and again.
“It's happening right now,” John breaths. “All over the world!”
“You know what that means, John.”
“Yes,” he says and grows pale. “We're at war.”

“Mycroft you still there?”
“Yes. But I can't stay any longer. I have work to do. The phones are going crazy here and I do intend to stop World War III at least until midnight.”
“Good luck with that,” Sherlock says and hangs up.
Thor is pale and he is trembling. “Oh brother,” he whispers, “what have you done?”
“Better question is what do we do?” John asks.
The Doctor looks around. “We find Loki. And we stop him.”

Finding Loki is harder than they thought it would be. He's checked out of The Ritz last night and there is no trail whatsoever. He's not even on the CCTV cameras.
“Doctor, can you find him?” Sherlock asks when they return to 221B.
“I'm not sure I can. But if Thor helps me we might have a chance to find him before he does something bad again.”
“All right. We will keep looking for Moriarty. Never thought that he'd be the lesser of two evil,” says John.
“Off we go,” says the Doctor and he and Thor walk to the bathroom with the still crashed bathtub to get into the TARDIS again.

The door falls shut behind them and the Doctor starts to pull triggers and push buttons. With a wheeling sound the TARDIS takes off.
Thor sits down and covers his face with his hands for a few seconds.
“We have to find him,” he says, “where do we look first?”
“There are two places where he might be,” says the Doctor.
“Is that so?”
“It's either China or America. I'd go for America. If he wants to cause as much damage as possible he will either try to corrupt the Chinese or the American government. Which means, even more corrupt. Should be easier with the Americans. They always liked to be at war. Does wonders to the economy. Washington D.C., white house here we come!”

They park the TARDIS at Franklin Park in case Loki has any magical alarm systems that could locate the TARDIS if she's close.
“Maybe,” Thor says, “I should go and meet him alone. If he actually is there. I know my brother.”
The Doctor looks at him and Thor can see the sorrow, can see the doubt and yet the Doctor says: “All right. But I'll be around.”
“Thank you.”

He walks down to the Pennsylvania Avenue, then enters the white house. And he can feel him. Loki is here indeed. His presence is like a faint smell, like a forest after rain. Fresh and cold and a bit of decay. He walks down a corridor and that's when he realises that no-one looks at him, eventhough everyone seems running and talking and making calls; carrying papers and folders with more papers. No-one asks questions or tells him he has no permission to enter this or that room. It's like he is invisible and maybe he is. The air is sizzling with Loki's magic.
“Loki!” he calls out.
A quiet laughter from behind him. He turns around.

Loki is leaning on the wall and watches Thor until he finally calls his name.
“You took your time, brother. I thought you'd find me faster.”
“Well here I am. Loki … please. You have to stop.”
Loki smiles at him and steps closer. “Why would I do that? I have the power to tear this world apart. And since you didn't want me to rule it I might as well destroy it. You can think about your choices when I've laid waste to this planet.”
Thor comes closer and his blue blue eyes remind him of Asgard's sky and childhood memories.
“Brother ...”
“When will you stop calling me that?” he hisses.
“Never,” Thor says and puts his hand firmly and warm on his neck. It's only when Thor touches him that he feels how cold he is.

“I will tell you only this once,” Loki breathes, “back off. Go back to your father. Leave me alone. Or I will not hesitate to kill you, too.”
“You won't kill me. You've tried often enough. If you really wanted me dead you would've done it by now.”
“You think so? That after all I'd still feel anything for you?”
“I know you still love me. As much as you still love father and mother.”
Loki snots snidely. “Are you so sure?”
“I am,” Thor says and slowly strokes his cheek. “Please just come home with me.”
“You mean like last time? As a prisoner in chains?” He turns around, takes a few steps.
“Try me. You won't survive this time. Now, I can kill every one in this building with a single word. If you don't want me to speak it, you back off. Go, and see how long you'll live, Odinson. Or get ready to kill me.”
He speaks calmly and coldly and Thor must know that he means it. So he goes.

ஓ

They sit on a bench in Franklin Park and watch the people passing by.
“What do we do now?” Thor asks and he trembles.
The Doctor can't look at him because they both know what they are going to do. The Doctor's voice is quiet when he says: “I'm so sorry, Thor.”

ஓ

“Putting you on speaker,” the Doctor says and Thor looks up. They are sitting in a lonely corner of a diner, the TARDIS parked just next to their table.
“Moriarty's left the country, too,” is the first thing Sherlock says. The second is: “But that's the good news. I'm afraid we are in even greater trouble than we thought.”
“Oh gorgeous, what's the other even-worse-thing?”
“There are strange things going on in London and everywhere else in the world.” That's John's voice. He sounds unbelieving.
“And I thought after World War III it couldn't get any better,” says the Doctor.
“There is a new disease that spreads in every country, it hasn't even a name yet and people get sick and die bloody everywhere! Half of London is under quarantine. You could think it's the bloody apocalypse!”

“Oh,” says the Doctor, “Oh!”

“What? No. No you can't be serious.”
“The apo-what?” Thor asks.
“What did you say?” That's Sherlock again.
“Well, boys, we do have a problem.”

“You cannot seriously believe there is such a thing as the apocalypse in any literal way,” Sherlock says, voice cold.
“I'm afraid there is more truth to it than you wish it is,” says the Doctor.
“And how do you care to explain it?”
“Actually there are a lot myths that have a true background and since the apocalypse is a serious theme in a lot of religions - well what did you think where all that came from? This is a rhetorical question. Point is, first we have war, then disease. What else could it be?”
“I'm sure there is a more logical explanation for this than the apocalypse.”
“Look, boys, the world is going down, let's argue about explanations later, all right?”
“OK, granted that what you say is true - what do we do?” That's John, still unbelieving, but trying to do his best.
“Research. We have to know what we're dealing wi-”
The connection breaks. And everything around them, too.

ஓ

“Doctor? Doctor are you still there?” John looks into Sherlock's eyes and the detective bites down hard on his lip.
“Damned!”
“You think it was … something bad?”
“If the Doctor's phone can transcend time and space and now the connection breaks … Yes, John, I think it was something bad!”
“My goodness, Sherlock. The apocalypse?”
“Shut up about it. We do what we can do.”
“That is?”
“Call Mycroft and see whether his people can spare time to look for the one man that might save us.”

An hour later Mycroft calls them back. His voice is brittle and dry as he speaks: “You won't believe me.”
“Come on Mycroft! We don't have time for this!”
“There was an earthquake. Whole D.C. is gone.”
“What?”

ஓ

Loki is surprised. Or to be more truthful, he is astonished.
“I haven't got a clue either,” says Jim and laughs. They both sit in an office in the white house. They are on the second floor and this room - their room - is the only thing still standing in whole Washington D.C..

V.

Three hours and fourteen minutes earlier.

“Ooooh let the sun beat down upon my face, stars fill my dreams ... I am a traveller of both time and space, to be where I have been,” Dean sings along to Led Zeppelin's Kashmir. The road is empty except for his 1967 Chevrolet the Impala. The highway is shimmering with heat and the air is flickering like it does over a candle or an open fire.
He's been working on a job in Pennsylvania, a small village close to Lewisburg and is now on his way to Baltimore. Sam awaits him there.

A flap of wings beside him. He doesn't need to turn his head to know it's Castiel. He stops the tape. For a few heartbeats there is a silence either of them is afraid to break, then Dean asks: “Your new buddy Crowley boring you already?” His voice is rough and with a bitter undertone.
“Dean, I'm sorry.”
“Yeah sure you are. Now that Raphael kicked you outta the game I'm suddenly good enough again, huh?”
“You know that is not what I meant. What can I do to prove it to you?”
“It's not that easy Cas, things don't go that way.”

Castiel doesn't reply. Instead he says: “There are new horsemen coming.”
“Yeah, Bobby told me about all the lightening signs in the UK. Guess we have to find out where their new power comes from. The rings the old horsemen had are still locking Lucifer and Michael in the Cage, so it can't be them.”
“If they are still locking them in.” Castiel turns his head and looks at him and in his pale eyes he can see fear.
“Come again?” Dean asks.

ஓ

They arrive at the motel two hours later. Sam awaits them there, dark circles under his eyes and his laptop open on a desk.
“Well guys, there have been a lot of lightening signs in DC the last few days. That can't be good news, can it?”
“I'm afraid not,” says Castiel and they both walk into the room.
“What do we do? The whole damn thing all over again?” Dean asks, his voice rough with anger and frustration.
“Dean, calm down.”
“Don't tell me to calm down, Sammy, we've just stopped the fucking apocalypse and it was all for nothing!”
“Don't say that. Cas, tell him, he's wrong.”
“You shut your mouth, Cas. I'm going out for a few minutes.”
With these words he slams the door behind him and breathes in the dirty, hot air.

It smells like gasoline and rotten meat. Flies are buzzing over an overspilled bin.
He can't believe they have to go through all this again. He had hoped it was over.
But then, as a hunter, it is never over. He should've known.
And now Cas is back on the team and he doesn't know what to do and how to act. Sam seems all fine with it. He has forgiven Cas his betrayal. Sam, always the forgiving. Yes it fits.
But how can he trust Cas? After all this. After he had tried so hard to believe in him.
He leans his head against the brick-wall, it's hot outside and a drop of sweat rolls down his temple. The flies are still buzzing over the trash. He can hear the hushed voices of Sam and Cas inside.
He closes his eyes.
The buzzing gets louder. The air is burning in his lungs. It feels like fire-claws reach in and out of his mouth, scorching his tongue.

“The hell?” he groans and opens his eyes.
The ground underneath his feet seems to get hotter. The building creaks. Plaster crumbles down on him in a cloud of dust. He throws open the door and looks into the terrified faces of his brother and Cas. “What's happening?”
Small cracks start crawling over the floor. Then the hot air turns ice-cold. He feels like he's suffocating. There is no air left. And everything is shaking.
“This is death,” he can hear Castiel whisper before it gets all dark.

A second later he feels how Sam grabs his arm and helps him up. He is breathing hard. The ground is still shaking.
“Get out!” he screams and then they are outside, other people come screaming. The buildings shake, but they stand their ground.
“Hallelujah,” Dean exclaims.
“This is just a side effect. We're not in the centre,” says Castiel and looks at them.
“Than what is?” Sam asks.
“Washington.”

ஓ

“Maybe this is not a good idea,” Castiel says.
“We have to know what happened,” Dean says. Sam nods and they drive on. Eventually they get to the District of Columbia Highway 295. The air is still flickering, now over the cracked highway. The ground is torn open and these are just the creaks that lead to the wound. No-one speaks and he re-plays Kashmir.
“Oh let the sun beat down upon my face, stars fill my dreams ... I am a traveller of both time and space, to be where I ha-” the sound is drowned out. Dean and Sam screaming.
A blue box crashes into the road before them.

“THE FUCKING HELL,” Dean screams. The Impala draws creaking aside. Comes steaming to a stop, raising dust from the highway.
Two men tumble out of the blue box. One big and with blond hair, the other tall, but thin and with a scream ripping from his lips. “SEXY!” he cries out.
“Seriously?” Sam knits his eyebrows, breathing hard.
The tall thin man looks at his box and breaks to his knees. He seems to be sobbing. The big blond man stands there unmoved for a second, then spots them. “Hey!” he shouts with a rough and deep voice.
“Careful,” Castiel says, “those are no humans.”
“Demons?”
“No.”
Dean loads his gun as the big blond man comes closer with heavy steps.

ஓ

Thor holds up Mjölnir and is about to throw it at them, as the Doctor shouts “Stop it!” and Thor lets go, too tired anyway. The Doctor walks up to them and he gazes at the three men staring back at him. One is very tall, but with a gentle face, the other is a bit shorter and handsome, the third one wears a trench-coat and is not a human.
“Hello, I'm the Doctor,” says the Doctor and cocks his eyebrow at Handsome's gun. “We come in peace.” In that exact moment the two men jump forward, one splashing water on them, the other cutting him with a silver knife. Thor growls, but falls to the floor as Trench-coat puts his fingers against his head.
“Dear!” the Doctor exclaims, “I said in peace! When will Americans listen first and shoot later?” The three men stare at him. “What? It's a legitimate question!”

Handsome comes closer. “What are you, you son-of-a-bitch?”
“Excuse me, but I don't answer impolite questions. Especially not when you just knocked out my friend and cut me with a knife.” He goes to his knees and looks at Thor, feeling his pulse. He's breathing even. No harm done.
“Now would you like to explain why you are pointing a gun at me?”
“You're not a demon, not an angel, nor a spirit, shape-shifter, so what the hell are you?”
“I'm a Time Lord.”
“A what?”
“I'm from Gallifrey.”
“What-?”
“That was a planet,” Trench-coat replies, growing pale. “I'm Castiel. An Angel of the Lord. And you're an alien.”
“He's what?” the two men ask in unison.

ஓ

Night falls. It's still hot outside and the sky is dirty brown with flecks of red and orange. Already there are stars glimmering in the distance.
They arrive at the motel. It had been a quiet drive.
Despite Dean's protests Sam and Castiel had decided to take the 'Time-Lord' and Thor with them. Thor's snoring on the back-seat had been the only sound. The Doctor had tried to talk, but neither of them was willing just now.
When they arrive, Castiel glances at him, nodding to the door. They go outside.
“What is it, Cas?” Dean says.
“This Doctor,” he says, “he is a powerful being. And dangerous.
“There was a war once. The species of the Time Lords fought against the Daleks. Mean, terrible creatures. And the Time-Lords were losing. The only way to win the war, was to destroy both races.

“And that's exactly what the Doctor did.”

“You say he sacrificed his own kind?” he asks and cocks an eyebrow. Cas nods.
Dean frowns, then shakes his head. “Doesn't seem to be such a nice dude.”
“He saved everyone. I respect that. But he is also very dangerous, that's all I wanted to tell you, Dean.” Cas' voice is deep and rough and silent and he wishes everything would be as it had been.
They look at each other and for a moment that's all there is. Then Dean nods again.
“All right.”

They go back inside where Sam and the Doctor wait.
“Well, I guess it's time to introduce ourselves,” says the Doctor, serious now. From his outer appearance one would say he can't be older than 28. But the way he stands and grits his teeth, the way he gazes and moves his hands - it's a tell-tale of centuries lived. His smile is the smile of an old man, too kind to be innocent.
“I'm the Doctor and this snoring mess over there is Thor, God of Thunder.”
Dean laughs, mouthing 'No way' to Sam. Sam purses his lips. “Nice to meet you. I'm Sam and this is my brother Dean Winchester.”

They sit down, Sam opens a laptop, cursing. “Damn, the internet is down here.”
“What did you think, a whole city just went downstairs, Sammy.”
“You said you know more about all this,” Cas says, ignoring him and Sam.
“Yes. It's the apocalypse. We've met one of the four horsemen so far. His name is Loki and he is Thor's brother.”
“Great,” Dean says, “really great.”
“My thoughts precisely,” says the Doctor and he doesn't smile.
“How is it possible that there are new horsemen? We captured the power of the horsemen only a few months ago. Their rings locked Lucifer and Michael in the cage,” Cas says.
“Locked?” Sam and Dean stutter in unison. “That means they are free?”
“I'm afraid so. How else could there be horsemen? How else could he release Death? And it must've been Death that swallowed Washington whole like a beast of the old days.” Cas is pale, too. For a moment there is only silence and Thor's snoring. Dean coughs. “When will Superman wake up again?”
“Can't be long now,” Cas says.
“You lot have to explain something to me. Why do you know about the horsemen?”
“Well, buddy, let's say it's not the first time we see this shit happening,” Dean growls.
“You're implying the apocalypse started once before already?”
“Yeah. Wasn't that great.”
“Oh, earth, you do go down hill without me …” The Doctors sighs.
Dean rises an eyebrow, but then they hear a heavy footstep and a muffled curse. Another footstep.

“Doctor?” Says a deep, rough voice and they all look up.
“Thor, good to see you awake. Come on, come on, sit down.”
His eyebrows knitted together tightly and his lips only a small line he sits down.
“What in Odin's name happened?”
“You just barely escaped Death. Literally Death,” Sam says with a greeting smile.
“What?” Suddenly Thor is awake, he straightens, his eyes grow wide.
“About that …” the Doctor looks up at him, forgiveness a plea in his gaze, “whole Washington is gone.”
“What? And Loki?” He is on his feet again, his hair a mess of dirty blond strings.
“We do not know …”
“But he's one of the horsemen, buddy. Won't be dead.” That's Dean, trying a reassuring smile.
“So he's alive?”
“Probably. Which, I'm sorry man, is not exactly a good thing.”
“Explain yourself mortal!” Thor's voice is thunder and echoes through the room.
Sam and Dean exchange glances, but it's the Doctor who finally talks.
“Your brother, Thor … Loki, he is one of the four horsemen who bring the end of the world. He is War.”

It takes time for Thor to swallow the news, that as much is obvious. But when he has, he clenches his fists, his gaze hard and thunderous. Dean watches him. He is a soldier, no, he is a warrior. And slowly Dean sees how mercy and pity make place for something else. Something wild and furious that takes hold of Thor. Thor has made a decision.

ஓ

They are out on the rode, back in the Impala again. Sam beside him and Cas, the Doctor and Thor silent in the back-seat.
Robert Plant is singing Dazed And Confused and Dean tips the wheel in the rhythm of the song.
It's the apocalypse all over again and he starts to think it doesn't matter, in the end.

VI.

“And I am falling from the sky.
Suddenly small, suddenly fragile. I am falling from the sky.
Through clouds and clouds and I scorch the ice that falls with me. Like a meteor.
To the desolate and rough surface of the earth. The smell of wet soil. The raindrops cold on my burning skin. On my broken bones. For a second.
Clouds monstrous and pale grey. Fog over the frozen lake.

I take a breath. And fall deeper.

The earth explodes around me. Suffocates me. Worms and bugs everywhere. In my mouth. In my hair. Burning.

And I can't breath and I can't think and I am falling.

After an eternity I collide with the soil.
It's not burning. It's hotter than fire. It's dark red and pure white.
Darkness that is no darkness but blindness.
And still I taste betrayal on my tongue. It takes millennia to find out how to get out. How to be free. I declare myself king meanwhile. I create a place for those who are like me. Damned.
And I call it hell.

The day I wander the earth, not desolate anymore but already leading to destruction, I am defeated. Caged again. All the waiting for nothing. Until one little pebble stone falls of a cliff and takes war with it. This pebble is you, Loki. Without you I'd not be here.”

TBC