lt_safe_house | (no subject)

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Time: March 2, 2003?
Place: Lower Tadfield military base and Tadfield Manor
Status: Public (War, Loki) - Complete
Summary: War's arrival in usual style

The soldiers were, she had decided, like soldiers everywhere. Tell them you outranked them and they salute, say "Sir yes sir!", and wave you on through. In her case, it had been no different, except for the fact that they replaced "Sir" with "Ma'am". That, and there was a distinct tightening in the trouser area. Seems they weren't used to Generals who were also curvy female redheads who just happened to be dressed in tight leather.

As the senior officer on site, General Waugh was, naturally, allowed free access to all the buildings in the military base. Much as the swords and guns, her physical weapons, gave her a tingling thrill, she wasn't afraid to move with the times. The tech they had here was beautiful. Nothing dangerous in itself, unless you counted the several thousand volts coursing through the circuits, but it was so wonderfully efficient. It was like a giant curved sword that, when she swung it, would reach round the world and touch everything on it. It was so elegant, so simple. Sometimes, she had to hand it to humans, just for being so damn inventive.

She wasn’t here to set it off though. No, she was just here to admire and play. Sometimes, the anticipation, the knowledge of the potential, was better than the reality. Besides, if they set this whole lot off, there probably wouldn’t be any humans left, or, if you came down to it, any world to put them on. No particular barrier to her, but she’d grown fond of this place and these people. She’d grown especially fond of their whiskey.

Mouth twitching in a smile, she put down the controller she’d been using to navigate the glowing screens, and stood up from her chair as she spun it round. Walking over to the door, she tapped the young private on guard outside on the soldier.

“Any place to get a decent drink round here?”

He looked momentarily confused, then said “There’s the mess, ma’am.”

She wrinkled her nose. “You mean the place where they serve slops and watery stuff that tastes like rat’s piss?”

Seeing the fleeting panic on his face – what if this was a test of loyalty? – she smiled slowly. “Don’t worry, not a test. I’m just in need of a proper drink. Whiskey – Bunnahabhain, or at least Glenlivet.”

The private relaxed. “Nowhere on base, ma’am, but there’s a hotel up in the hill. There’ll be a bar there, I’m sure. Would you like me to radio through for a car?”

“No need.” She grinned, seeing something in the distance. “I’ve got my own transport.”

War strode across the hard standing to the tank – a brand new, top secret Challenger 2, if she wasn’t mistaken. She wasn’t, of course. When it came to weapons and military tech, she never was. Vaulting lightly up the side, she slid down inside, and set it in motion towards the gates. Seeing her approach, the guards saluted and swung open the gates. Whatever the General did must have authority, after all.

As she made steady process down the roads and lanes, she hummed to herself. It was a bright clear day, and this was one of the more entertaining ways to travel, if not the fastest. The roads withstood the tracks fairly well, but the hedgerows on the narrower lanes were less lucky, and somewhat scalped after she passed.

Through an external camera, she saw a sweeping curve up round the side of the hill, leading up to a big house – more of a manor than a house. This, presumably, was the hotel. Gentle roads, however, were for careful drivers and sissies, and War was neither of these. Going full throttle, she drove the tank straight up the hill, over the grass and the edges of a couple of flower beds which were stupid enough to get in her way, and parked, in the loosest sense, outside the large front door.

She pushed the hatch open, jumped out, walked the short distance and pushed the door open.

“Any chance of a whiskey?” she asked the seemingly empty hall.

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After an hour or two spent dusting in the attic this morning Loki felt bored and wandered downstairs into the bar. He needed to make some money to pay for food. The three pounds he'd arrived with wouldn't get him very far.

Unfortunately he'd chosen a bad time. The bar was empty except for the barkeeper who seemed to lose the power of speech the moment Loki ordered carrot juice. Ah, even if there weren't any medical reasons to forgo alcohol, his face alone would have been worth it.

"Tomato juice?" Loki asked. "No? Well, it is a bit of a fancy request, I guess. How about grape juice? Apple juice will do, if that's all you have."

With a visible effort the man got himself back under control and produced a pack of orange juice from under the counter which he held up with a quizzical look.

"That'll do it," Loki confirmed happily.

Since there was nobody here to lure into a game of cards he decided to stay at the bar and try to strike up a conversation with the barkeeper. Maybe the man could tell him something about the mysterious Adam.

"Slow day, eh?" he asked.

The barkeeper nodded. "It usually is this early in the day. In a ... What's that? Sounds almost like a tank right outside the door."

"Construction vehicle?" Loki suggested, but got up to investigate anyway. Taking his orange juice with him he went out into the lobby where he was surprised by the sight of a familiar redhead.

"War!" he exclaimed smiling widely.

War broke into a grin. "Loki! What brings you here? Last time I saw you... heck, I don't remember. Too long, whenever it was!"

She strode across the lobby and clapped him on the shoulder. "Any chance of a drink round here? On me. The sideline's going well these days," she said with a wink.

"That little prank we played on the gods in America a couple of years ago?" Loki suggested. They hadn't had a chance to talk, because Loki had been too busy getting killed, but he thought she ought to have been there.

He gestured through the door he'd arrived from with the glass of orange juice in his hand. "Bar's right here. I'm afraid orange juice is all they've got for me, though. I ... have my reasons to stay away from the good stuff at the moment." Maybe she'd believe that he wanted to keep his wits about him for some plot he was working on. The truth was rather embarrassing.

"So what brings you to this peaceful little town?"

"Prank in America?" War rubbed her nose as she thought for a moment, then grinned. "Oh, I remember. We didn't get time to talk though, so it doesn't really count. I was just passing though then, anyway."

"I'm sticking in this area for a while though. I've been at the military base up the road - tweaking the tech a little. It's shiny and destructive, that's for sure, but let's just say that it might be a litle more random now if they ever get round to using it. Shake things up a bit, y'know?" she said, flicking her hair back over her shoulder.

"Came up here for a drink, though. The stuff they've got down there tastes like rat's piss. Sure I can't convince you to get anything stronger?"

Odin's best effort in decades and War was just passing through. There had been a time when wherever Odin went had been the place to be for her. Loki suppressed the bitter thoughts, though. Nothing he could do about it at the moment.

"Did you know you can get a free room here?" he asked War instead. "Have to promise not to damage the town and people here, though. Some person called Adam's paying apparently."

He eyed the bottles in the bar regretfully, but remembered the last time he'd given in to temptation too well. "Nah, the consequences would not be good, trust me on that."

War shrugged. "Fair enough. I'll get a Bunnahabhain - decent whiskey, at any rate," she added, turning to the barman.

"No one told me about a free room... I'm guessing you're staying here, then? 'Course, the place down at the base is free for me, but coming up here every time I want a decent drink could get to be a pain..."

She paused, and frowned. "If it's Adam paying, though, I'm not so sure he'd extend the offer to me. Who d'you have to see about it?"

"Well, it's only for our kind of being," Loki explained. "A woman called Sister Mary was at the desk when I arrived. Try the door behind the desk, if there's noone around. That seems to be an office."

"You know Adam then?" The barman probably knew the locals better, but then he was a stranger. Loki knew War and trusted her to be honest with him. "Any idea what he's playing at?"

War picked up the whiskey from the bar and tossed a note down casually. Taking a sip, she said, "If it's the Adam I met... well, no idea what he's playing at. I'm not over worried if he's not turned up yet though. He was trouble for us last time we met him, but that was a while back now."

"I'll have to look up this Sister Mary then. Seems like a nice place to stay. You been here long? What brought you here?"

"Trouble," Loki repeated. "So he really is powerful enough to harm us?"

What was this Adam then? There were gods Loki preferred to avoid when he could, but War was a much more impressive fighter. Maybe he should leave before the trap snapped shut. Then again Loki was curious and he'd probably be able to talk himself out of whatever trouble he was getting himself into. He had a lot of experience in that department.

Besides War was considering staying as well, so she couldn't be that worried about Adam.

"Depends on whether you mean this town or this country," he replied turning the glass of orange juice on the table and watching the juice circle. "I left America ... close to three years ago now, I think, but only arrived here yesterday. There's something interesting about this place and I've got a free room, so I thought I might stay for a while. I ... do need a bit of a rest."

It wasn't wise to admit weakness, but then War knew him well enough that she'd probably noticed how pale and thin he looked and he hadn't had anyone he could talk with openly for three years.

War smiled wryly. "Powerful enough to harm any of us, if he wanted to, or at least he was. Still, I doubt he's going to if we haven't seen him yet. Didn't seem like the sort of person to do things without a good reason, and I think we'd feel it if there was one."

Sipping her whiskey, she continued, "I reckon I'll stick around here for a bit, anyway. If he really wanted to find us, he could find us anywhere."

She paused, and looked at Loki. He did look tired. If she didn't know better, she'd say he was ill, in the way people got ill.

"What have you been doing that's run you down so much? You look washed out," War asked, bluntly. Softening the blow wasn't really her style.

Powerful enough to harm any of us. That didn't sound good. He'd have to be careful, but if War was staying, so was he, Loki decided. He felt like having a companion right now and he didn't want to try and chase down Odin. Not yet. He wasn't ready to face his reaction.

"I'll be fine," he assured her. "Am doing much better already, in fact. Just need time to regain my strength the doctor said."

Doctor? That doesn't sound good, she thought.

Toning down the fire in her eyes a little, War asked, "Uh - doctor? Aren't you meant to not need doctors? And more to the point, what have you been doing that you do?"

Not a fight, she mused. I'd have known if it was.

Oh dear, he'd let slip more than he'd meant to.

"Just a little accident," he said making it sound as harmless as possible. "Played a prank on Czernobog that got out of hand and ... would you believe he accidentally cursed me? He wasn't even sure what he'd done so he couldn't undo it and I had to go to the humans for help."

"It would have been a great prank, if I'd only managed to knock Czernobog out properly, though."

War narrowed her eyes. "You never used to have to get help after pranks before, and definitely not from human doctors."

She was all for conflict, but sometimes people crossed the line to being comrades, and Loki was one of those.

"If Czernobog didn't know what he'd done, did the doctors work it out?"

"Well, I never got Czernobog so confused he didn't know what he was doing before," Loki explained. "I thought I'd knock him out with sleeping pills, you see. Didn't realise why one shouldn't take them with alcohol. And we figured out the result just fine. He'd just messed up the spell so much he couldn't undo it. The humans, they don't mess with spells in the first place. It's all needles and pills with them."

He smiled at War then shrugged. What the heck, he'd told her so much already, might as well admit the rest.

"That and knives and blood. It's the blood that's troubling me more than the not drinking really."

"So what exactly did he do to you?" War's voice was filinty hard now.

"There's no blood on you, not that I can see... so what are they doing with blood, given that's what's troubling you?"

War felt uncomfortable, and knocked back the rest of her whiskey. Battle wounds and blood and gore, she was fine with. Creepy invisible blood related things weren't really her thing.

"Look, he was completely confused and flinging all sorts of curses about," Loki evaded the question. As far as he was concerned he and Czernobog were even after all the help he'd given him in finding the best doctors. "I think he was even more surprised than I when we found out one had actually worked."

"Well, they like to take blood samples to analyse - though that's fine by me - and they give you blood transfusions. Blood from people whose names they don't even know! They make you blood brothers with anonymous strangers!" He shuddered at the thought. "But the worst part," he whispered into his glass. "The worst part is that my blood is no longer my own."

War's eyes softened slightly. Blood brothers wasn't a concept she used - the closest she had to brothers were, she supposed, the other horsepeople - but she knew how important it was to the Norse gods.

"I'm sorry," she said, softly, and the glasses behind the bar quivered.

However, she'd also spent enough time listening in on conversations around the world to pick up a bit about medicine beyond the usual run of battle injuries. "He gave you a blood disease? Have they cured it now?"

She paused, and slammed her glass down on the bar. "More to the point, where is he? I can think of plenty of fun things to do involving his blood..."

"He didn't mean to," Loki repeated. "And I'm fine. Still recovering and I've got to be careful about some things for a while, but other than that I'm perfectly healthy."

He was beginning to regret telling War so much. Not because he didn't want her to know, or because he worried for Czernobog. Czernobog could take care of himself and he probably knew War well. He'd be closer to her fellow horseperson DEATH, Loki assumed, but he had to know all four.

No, there was something else that was bothering him.

"You're not going to tell Odin, are you?" he whispered. "If he finds out that the blood bond between us is broken ..." He didn't dare finish the sentence. It was bad enough that he's said this much out loud. Saying things made then feel more real.

War sighed. "OK. But, y'know. I'll keep an eye out for you."

It was the closest to "I'll help look after you" War ever got. Watching someone's back she could do, though.

She reached out, and put a hand on Loki's shoulder. "If you don't want me to tell him, I won't," she said quietly. "I'm not even sure where he is now, and I won't go seeking him out. If I do see him anywhere, I won't tell him unless you ask me to."

Breaking confisentiality to stir up conflict was one thing, but this would be conflict. Loki and Odin were both old comrades, and especially while she was staying here with Loki, she didn't want anything to happen that might mean losing one of them. She felt in need of some familiar faces right about now.

"I just ... Thank you," Loki whispered.

He wouldn't have been too worried about Odin finding out, if he'd been sure Odin still treasured the blood bond as much as he did. If so, it would be easy enough to restore. If however Odin had come to regret it over the centuries of pranks and mishaps, then he had a once in eternity chance to rid himself of all obligations towards Loki now.

"He should still be somewhere in America," he said. "But then it's been over three years since I've heard from him." That was probably his own fault for not informing him he was going to England. Odin probably had even less a chance to find Loki than Loki had to find Odin.

War nodded silently.

"You never know. Maybe he'll find his way here, just like we did. Stranger things have happened. Either way, you need to focus on getting better."

She paused. "Is there anything - well, anything I can do? I've got a tank if, uh, you need stuff taking somewhere?"

War sounded almost hopeful. Tank driving was fun, after all.

"Ah, I'm fine really," Loki assured her. "Just spent too much time cooped up and not doing anything. I just need to regain my strength."

He didn't really have much stuff - certainly nothing he couldn't easily transport in his backpack - but a tank ride with War sounded like an enjoyable and not too straining activity. He did need to get out more, if he wanted to get used to a more active lifestyle again.

"Nothing to transport except myself," he explained. "But we could just visit some nearby town, if you have nothing better to do, have a look around and maybe find some entertainment."

War grinned.

"Sounds good to me. This area is far too sleepy for my liking - do them good to get a little shaken up," she said with a wink.

"When d'you want to go?"

Loki shrugged. "Whenever suits you best. I haven't got any other appointments, yet."

Except his next check-up, but it was several weeks until then.

"Hey, this is Lower Tadfield, right?" he mused. "Do you think there's a Higher Tadfield somewhere on a hill?" He looked up at the ceiling as if hoping it would magically appear there.

War thought for a moment. She wasn't sure how much fuel the tank had left, and getting stranded would jsut be embarassing.

"In a few days?" she suggested. "It'll give me time to take it back to the base to refuel - and maybe pick my stuff up too, if I'm going to be staying here. I can jsut pick a room, right?"

War had some stuff she liked to keep with her, and she wasn't sure she trusted the soldiers not to get curious about the contents of Hangar 51 if they managed to forget General Waugh.

"I think I heard some of the squaddies mentioning Higher Tadfield sround somewhere... we can go looking, anyway," she said with a grin.

"Yep, just pick a room and tell Sister Mary where you are," Loki said. "At least I think you have to tell her. I didn't really ask." He shrugged. "She has the keys, if you want to lock your door, though."

Oh right, that military base.

"Think they've got any flamethrowers lying around that they don't need?" He'd always wanted his own flamethrower, though it might not be the best idea to use it around here. Then again, you never knew when you might need an unexpected tool.

War shrugged. "Fair enough." She could track her down sometime and requisition them. She wasn't keen on leaving her door unlocked for anyone to wander in and help themselves.

"I don't think they've got flame throwers - they're more about the tech - but I have. About 7, actually, so you're welcome to borrow one if you want." She thought for a moment. "Not the red one, though. That's mine," she reminded him with a grin.

War collected weapons, but she was equally happy to lend them out to people who might put them to good use.

Loki grinned. "That's okay, I don't really mind what colour it is. I've just always wanted to try out a flame thrower. I mean burning arrows were all the rage in the middle ages, but you look rather silly using them these days."

Of course, there were all sorts of neat little tricks one could do with or without matches, but well ... flame thrower in Loki's mind equaled instant inferno.

War rubbed her nose. He had a point, but burning arrows had a certain class too... Come to think of it, the Manor seemed to have woodland round it...

"Then you get your pick of the rest," she said. "Just remind me when I come back with my gear... don't suppose you know if any of the rooms come with, uh, more than average storage space?"

"The rooms on the first floor are bigger than the rest," Loki reported without hesitation. War probably knew him well enough to know he'd already explored most of the place. "There are lots of unused rooms in the far wings, but they've got renovations going on that can be expected to eventually reach them. I haven't been in the basement, yet, but would expect it to be quite large and partially unused."

"The attic's mine," he added after a moment. If War expected him to respect her ownership of the red flame thrower, he'd expect her to respect his claim to the attic actual rights of ownership be damned.

War shrugged. "Fair enough," she said. "I'd rather have the space to store weapons where they're handy."

She thought for a moment. "I'll probably go find a first floor room, and if I need any more space, sounds like no one'll mind if I requisition some of the basement for storage."

"Don't suppose they've got any decorated in red?" she asked with a grin.

Loki tried to recall the colouring of the rooms he'd seen. It hadn't seemed that important at the time.

"Not that I remember, but it's quite likely that some have a violent history considering the symbols I saw in the chapel," he offered. He couldn't sense these things himself, but maybe War could. "Or you could just move in next to me."

War rubbed her nose with one finger. "How'd that work? I thought you were in the attic?"

Not that she had a problem being on her own, but she wasn't against having an old ally to watch her back.

"What? Oh no, my room's on the first floor. The attic's just ..." He couldn't tell her that he liked to read so much he'd made himself a special place for it. War probably remembered the days when he'd made fun of Odin for even knowing how to read. "My storage place. Or something like that. It wouldn't be good to live there. No bathroom."

War shrugged. "Fair enough." If Loki wanted his space, that was fine by her, as long as she got hers.

"Which room's yours then?"

"I'm in 109," Loki said. "Not too close to the still unrenovated rooms, if you want to use one of those, though. Renovations will probably get noisy and I like being close to the stairs."

Which was an excuse he kept telling himself. It had nothing to do with the hospital equipment gathering dust in those rooms, of course not.

War nodded. "I might go have a look around now, then. I'd rather have a room that's set up to go than have people blundering in on me later." To be fair, it wasn't so much her as her collection she was worried about, but t hat could be unspoken for now. Loki had a good enough idea what she was like to know she liked to be able to keep an eye on her pretties.

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