Emma Joan Tallis

chapter seventeen: Smithereens

"You can trust us to stick with you through thick and thin — to the bitter end. And you can trust us to keep any secret of yours — closer than you keep it yourself. But you cannot trust us to let you face trouble alone, and go off without a word. We are your friends, Frodo." 
~ Merry, The Fellowship of the Ring

~*~

"Found you!" Volstagg said as he banged on the glass of a diner.

"You are embarrassing," I muttered shaking my head as we walked in.

"My friends!" Thor said as he hugged all of us. "I don't believe it." I coughed as the people Thor had obviously been sitting with looked at us like we were coming from a costume party. "Oh, excuse me. Lady Sif, Lady Emiliana, and the Warriors Three."

"Pleasure to meet you all," I told his friends, "though he told you our names, we don't know yours."

"Jane," one woman said.

"Darcy," the other woman said with glasses, "and that's Selvig." 

"Wonderful," I said beaming. 

"My friends, I've never been happier to see anyone," Thor said to us. "But you should not have come." 

"We're here to take you home," Fandral said. 

"You know I can't go home," Thor said, and I looked at him in surprise. "My father is dead because of me. And I must remain in exile." 

"Thor, your father still lives," Sif said. 

"Damn him to Hel and back," I said as I began to swear as Thor looked at us in surprise. 

"Wow," Jane said simply.

"Um," Darcy mumbled, and then just pointed to something outside. "Was somebody else coming?"

"Not anyone we invited," Fandral muttered as we ran outside to see a firefight in the distance. 

"You have to be kidding me," I said as I swore some more.

"You really swear like a sailor," Volstagg said, sounding impressed. 

"Whatever is coming, it'll level this town," I warned the others. 

"Emiliana is right," Sif said. 

"Leave this town now," Thor told Jane. "Get yourself and your friends to safety."

"What about you?" Jane asked. 

"I must stay and fight," Thor said. "I'm still a warrior, and I will fight by your side."

"You're but a mortal now. You'll get yourself killed!" Volstagg objected. 

"Or one of us, trying to protect you," Fandral added.

"The best thing you can do is get the mortals to safety and leave the battle to us," Sif told him. 

"You're right," Thor said, much to Sif's surprise. 

"I'm going to go hotwire a car," I said excitedly. 

"Hotwire a what?" Fandral asked, but I was already breaking into a car. "What is she doing?" 

"Help me clear the streets," I heard Thor say as I got a car up and running and started shouting at people to get in and get the heck out. "I'll let none of these people die this day." Thor, Jane, Selvig, and Darcy started to herd the crowds as I hotwired a few more cars. 

"As fascinating as that is, you should help us," Fandral said. 

"Let Thor and his new friends take care of the mortals," Sif said, she looked to be glaring at Jane.