【Hammer Base】Until the Abyss

Previous story summary: Due to suspicion of Ebony Maw's death, Thanos came to Thor and Loki's house.Under the crisis of interrogation, Loki accidentally recovered the memory lost after being brainwashed.And as Thanos' suspicions deepened, the family's situation became more and more difficult.Once after school, Vali suddenly fell down the stairs, and the nervous fathers rushed him to the hospital...

Chapter 33. Isolation and helplessness

"Loki? Loki?!" Thor clung to his partner and called anxiously.

Loki's only response was continuous retching, and his fingers gradually tightened, pulling Alpha's shirt out of its creases.

The anxious situation didn't stop until a few minutes later, because Loki couldn't eat anything, most of what he vomited was gastric juice, and as soon as he stood up straight, the dizziness hit him.

Thor hugged him firmly.

It wasn't until he drank warm water and sat on the soft stool by the windowsill for a while that Omega felt better.But from his wrinkled brows and pale face, it can still be seen how tired he is.

"Are you okay?" Thor asked softly.

Loki shook his head, aware of what had happened, but didn't know how to speak.This is a great thing, but it happens at this juncture, in this damn city.

He took a deep breath: "I may be...pregnant."

Alpha froze on the spot, his sea-blue eyes were full of surprise, he opened his mouth slightly, like a fool in his early twenties, not an arms leader who had experienced bloody storms.

"Oh my..."

He murmured, and in the next second, he hugged his partner tightly and tightly.He wrapped Loki's whole body in his arms, and kept stroking Omega's thin shoulders and back of his neck with his palms, his surprise was beyond words.

"We'll have to celebrate this until the kids are out of the hospital..."

He was incoherent, like all the most ordinary fathers in the world, until he met Omega's eyes again.

Everything came to an abrupt end.

Loki doesn't say anything, but Thor can understand him without saying much.They're still in the cramped bathroom of a hospital ward, discussing Thanos' threat and precarious situation 15 minutes ago.This little baby really didn't come at the right time.

"You are not easy to get pregnant." Alpha's palm pressed against Omega's lower abdomen, and the pain was suppressed in his voice, "JNSA has given you too many medicines, which have affected your body. Originally, I prepared the worst Plan, and besides, I don't want our children to be Thanos' bargaining chip. But he thought so too, and in the first year here, Thanos interfered with your estrus after a brainwashing."

Loki looked up sharply.

"But after that, you never..."

Alpha closed his eyes, he pulled his hair in pain, maybe even he didn't know what he wanted to express.

He might want to say that this is a hard-won gift, their child, and he wants to keep her; maybe he wants to convince himself that this is definitely not a good time, given Thanos' actions and Loki's body; or, he It's just that I just want to deceive myself, something that hasn't happened in six years, and this time I won't be lucky.

"I'll go to the obstetrics department to prescribe you a pregnancy test stick."

"it is good."

Loki stood in the corridor waiting for him, and Thor kissed him on the lips before leaving, it was an extremely complicated kiss, with deep affection and infinite tolerance for pain.

This attracted the sideways glances of several Omegas, they all took their children to see a doctor alone, their faces were full of haggardness that had never been treated kindly.

They couldn't help talking in low voices.

After all, in pediatrics, Alpha is considered a rare animal, not to mention the Alpha who hurried to the obstetrics department, and from the movement of Loki covering his lower abdomen, it is not difficult to judge that this Omega is probably pregnant.

This is a big event in Neschet. Governor Thanos encourages having children, and it is Omega's nature to have children. That black-haired Omega should feel supremely honored and joyful about it. Why is he still bored and even makes himself Alpha anxiety?

The strange sight annoyed Loki, and when Thor came back with the pregnancy test stick, he saw the look on his face.

The two red lines on the pregnancy test stick also confirmed the speculation of the two fathers.In ten months, if all goes well, they will indeed have another little one.

"It's too dangerous, if you don't want to..." Thor said with difficulty.

"Don't talk nonsense." Loki pressed his partner's trembling lips and repeated, "Don't talk nonsense."

"I won't abandon my child just because I'm concerned about safety. If there's only one person who deserves to die, then that person is also Thanos!"

After greeting the brothers in the ward, Loki dragged Thor all the way to the parking lot.There is no monitoring and monitoring in the car, more complicated words can be explained here.

The door was closed, and the small space gave people a temporary sense of security.

"Perhaps... we can do the opposite and get rid of the child before it affects your actions," Thor said.

"Too impulsive, give up this idea."

"No, Loki. I've been thinking about it when I just came here. Escape, all that awaits us is a frenzied pursuit. The situation may be worse than seven years ago. And now we have Narve, Vali, and her." Alpha Look at your partner's belly.

"That can't be an unplanned surprise attack."

"We can plan and just grab the intel or retreat, and passive fire will always put us at a disadvantage. I know it's crazy, but we didn't think about attacking, and neither did Thanos."

"Just because 'you think' he didn't think of?" Loki couldn't help raising his voice.

"His arrogance makes him ignorant of many things. In the past seven years, I have restored your memory under his nose many times, formed the Strombbreaker, and basically controlled Area A recently. The reason why there is no way to destroy the two databases, It's just that I don't have access to that part of the information..." Thor suddenly paused, "Indeed, he is guarding against the source, and we have no clue about the remaining two databases."

"It's not completely clueless."

"what?"

Loki closed his eyes: "I want to keep the child because of our feelings, not for you to attack Thanos without sufficient preparation. But indeed, if we can hold him, the success of the retreat The data rate will increase a lot, which will be beneficial to the future layout. And you just reminded me that the reason why you can’t access the database is because you don’t manage that part.”

He paused again.

"And according to my observation, in order to improve efficiency and keep confidentiality, all the working areas of Thanos are divided into blocks, right?"

"Yes, even if EbonyMaw and I are in charge of Area A at the same time, our division of labor basically has no overlap."

Loki rubbed his lips lightly with his fingers: "He wants to have a clear division of labor, maximize efficiency, and reduce information collusion and betrayal. The disadvantage is that they do not overlap with each other. All subordinate departments will directly contact the terminal through a single line. That is to say , as long as we can find the information downstream of the database, we will have a way to follow the vines and attack the core directly."

"Information downstream?"

Loki glanced at him: "Sometimes I really doubt that our family can survive until now, and it depends on quite good luck."

"Cough." Thor raised his hand begging for mercy.

"You don't really think that the contents of those databases are static, do you?"

Thor's bewildered expression shows that he really thinks so.

"Fool, the reason why Thanos' database is the secret to life-saving, in the final analysis, is because he can obtain the latest and least willing to disclose information from high-level countries in the shortest possible time. For example, the re-election of the president of a certain country can The scandal that brought him down was that he had an extramarital affair. But if the database is not updated, half a year later the man wins the election, the mistress breaks up, and the original blockbuster news is useless.”

Thor suddenly realized: "That is to say, he is destined to have a way to intercept the latest and most accurate information from various forces in a short period of time."

"Correct, so now there is good news or bad news, which one to listen to first?"

"... Good news."

"The good news is that I have seen something similar to an information grabber in JNSA." Omega took a deep breath, "I have hacked into JNSA's system and found that there is a sophisticated information search set subroutine in its network , hidden in the depths of the internal system, but it was just a glimpse, and I didn't care."

"Seven years ago?"

"Yes, I was hunted down by the JNSA at that time. From time to time, I would check to see if we had been exposed. Seven years ago, its internal senior management became Thanos' lackeys. Didn't you say before that Dr. Walker got it from the JNSA information, confirmed my parentage to Thanos."

"The bad news?"

"The bad news is that the program of the information grabber and the database are definitely not connected at ordinary times. Once connected, it must only be during the short docking of uploading information. In other words, if you want to hack into the Thanos database, you must not only find the information The timing of the docking of the grabber and the database must also be controlled during the short period of docking."

"The top priority is to find the information grabber. Where is it?"

"Just said it, JNSA."

Thor suddenly had a bad premonition: "You don't want...damn, can't you let Fandral break through from the outside?"

"No, in order to infiltrate the interior of Jotunheim, I am sure that there is an information grabber on the JNSA's intranet, but that is destined to be a high-secret core. If you want to enter that database, you must go to JNSA in person."

"Too dangerous."

"We're running out of time."

"Then I can go!"

"Thor, I'm the one who knows the JNSA better."

**

"Feeling alright?" Fandral looked at the man sitting in the ball apparatus.

Omega nodded.

Sif finally adjusted the connecting piece on Loki's arm, and the fixtures on his limbs, and gestured to Fandral.

"Pulse starts, ready for connection." Such a voice came from the machine.

"Good luck." Sif looked into those green eyes.

With a no-question gesture, Loki pulled down the remote vision mirror.

He's carrying out a joint plan with Thor, or rather, a part of a plan of action he's forced Thor to make.

There's something wrong with Thor, he can feel it.

Loki had never been a very confident guy, in fact for a long time in his life he didn't think he was going to be happy.Luckily he meets Thor, who takes him out.But because of this, Alpha has accumulated too much pressure.

For seven years, Thor supported the whole family alone, and witnessed Loki losing his memory again and again.

Thor grows rapidly, from an heir under the care of his father to a man who can take charge of his own affairs, but at the same time, he also blames himself for everything Loki suffered.The pressure builds up year by year, and he orders himself to protect his family, protect his partner, and even habitually push Loki and the children behind him when danger comes.

This is not a good sign.

Loki Odinson is not some wretch to be pampered by Thor, he is a man who can stand shoulder to shoulder with him.

The light blue matching agent was pushed into the former agent's right arm vein, and the cold feeling climbed up the vein until it reached the heart.

"Huh-"

When Loki opens his eyes again, Thor is beside him, and they're on the way to the JNSA car.

Of course, "Loki himself" isn't there, replaced by a lightweight intelligent robot. Loki couldn't leave Neschet, but Thor could, and so could the droids, so they made this plan.

Loki, who was far away in Neschet's secret base, raised his hand and moved his five fingers, and the robot thousands of kilometers away moved accordingly, and the matching agent enhanced the nerve contact sensing.

"How?" Loki's voice came from the headset.

"No problem." Thor looked at the robot beside him. "How do you feel?"

"Don't worry too much, Brother."

Alpha's ears burned, and Loki would only call him "brother" in two situations, one was in bed, and the other was teasing.

Loki manipulated the robot, continuing to adapt.The situation is urgent, and he has no time for training. Fortunately, his previous rehabilitation has made him in good physical condition (regardless of pregnancy).

And he himself was in a spherical machine that looked like a pilot training, and the light machinery was attached to his body, as if he was "wearing" a metal skeleton.These metal skeletons are connected to his nerves, torso, and allow him to remotely control the robot and make any large movements without leaving the range of the spherical instrument.

The matching agent enhanced the neural induction between him and the robot, allowing the robot to simulate more than 98% of his movements and go to JNSA instead of him.

With the extension of the link time, the scene in the remote visual mirror becomes clearer and more real.

Loki looks out the window, only to find it's very different from what he remembers.

Jotunheim in his memory was always covered by ice, snow and thin-leaved forests. There were few people outside the city, but the scenery was not bad, especially near the JNSA base.He still remembers the winter snow and ice rustling from the treetops and covering his shoulders.

But it is completely different now. In just seven years, Jotunheim is full of shadows of heavy industry and militarization.

The snow is no longer white and blue, and replaced by the bare scorched land. The tall fir trees have been pushed down in rows and stacked obliquely, like a forest cemetery. Many of the land that has been forcibly developed has been built or is under construction. facilities, the sky is gloomy, revealing an ominous dark brown.

He blinked involuntarily, as if to confirm the facts before him.

"here……"

"I haven't been here for a few years, but I guess it has something to do with the joint efforts of JNSA and Thanos. In recent years, the leader of JNSA has gradually ascended to the top military and political positions in Jotunheim, and Jotunheim has also begun to promote a series of Thanos. New Deal."

Loki took a deep breath: "What about the thirteen small countries that have been conquered by Thanos?"

Thor knows what he wants to ask: "It's worse than here."

Alpha simply described to him the situation of those small countries, not so much implementing Thanos' New Deal, as being colonized and ruled by Thanos.

The people are mechanically scored and graded according to six indicators. Those with high grades are engaged in high-tech jobs, and those with low grades are engaged in heavy labor. Once they are classified as "useless" or even directly "humanely destroyed", people no longer look like humans. It's some kind of animal that obeys commands.

The shadow of military and power management can be seen everywhere.

The upper class and the common people are completely separated, the superstructure is as beautiful as a garden, but the dwellings of the common people are narrower and dirtier, and every bit of resources they get consumes a huge price.

From the loss of human rights, people become dehumanized.Mechanized busyness, if you want to get rid of the class you are in, you have to pay twice as much effort.Technology and economy are advancing rapidly amidst distortions, but everything is built on the basis of sacrificing human life.

"Hmm..." Loki subconsciously covered his mouth, he felt a little nauseous.

Thor raised his hand, but could only photograph the robot's cold back.

"I'm fine." Omega calmed down, raised his head, and looked at Alpha seriously, "You should have told me earlier."

This task is very difficult, they have no time and no chance of failure, they must succeed, otherwise let alone trying to save the world, he and Thor may not be able to live until next month.

They abandoned the vehicle near the JNSA.

With the help of Loki's guidance, they safely crossed a field full of landmines and surface sensors, and they came to an abandoned town.

The town has the style of the 80s and [-]s, with half-connected and half-dangling wooden signboards, broken glass and broken wine bottles at street corners, shabby dusty and rusty facilities, and shop fronts painted with various graffiti, which fully illustrate this place. It has long been an empty city.

"This way." Under Loki's control, the robot gestured to Thor.

"JNSA here?"

"Otherwise, do you want to put up a sign with the big words 'Jortunheim Secret Base Headquarters'?" Loki's magnetic voice came into the headset.

Thor sneered twice.

This feeling is a bit novel. Although he and Loki have cooperated more than once when fleeing, it is the first time to take the initiative to carry out a mission together. Loki's familiarity with the terrain and mastery of the situation virtually relieved the pressure, making Thor no longer feel alone.

Loki dodges him behind a cover.

Thor notices the bullet marks on the wall and feels it. It's new, never older than three months.

"This is actually our training ground." Omega explained.

"Ok?"

"In the 70s, a chemical plant explosion occurred in this small town, and the entire southeastern part of the town was burned down. In addition, chemical raw materials were leaked, the land was polluted, and it soon became an empty town. A few years later, the government simply turned the town into an empty town. Transformed into a military base, the abandoned ground buildings became bunkers, and the JNSA headquarters was built below."

Thor suddenly realized, he thought for a while and asked, "Where is the entrance?"

Loki set up the electromagnetic gun, aimed at the gate of what looked like a scientific research institute behind the bunker, and fired bullets.The electromagnetic bomb hit a hidden square box above the gate, making a soft "Zi La".

"Walk."

Thor nodded and followed him.

Loki leans against the shutter door, gun on guard, and makes a military gesture for Thor to lift the door. Alpha did as he did, lifting the door high enough for people to pass through, and the robot dexterously ducked in, with Thor following close behind.

They entered the building that looked like a research institute.

"JNSA has several entrances and exits. This is only used by trainees during exercises. The entrances are accessed with passwords, not irises or fingerprints."

Thor understood.

JNSA is far more complicated than he imagined. If there is no guidance from Loki, let alone touch the entrance, he will be blown to pieces in the wilderness where the mines were first buried.

It's just that with Loki's introduction, he became more aware of the darkness of JNSA.

It is indeed an organization that will cooperate with Thanos, and it is really congenial.

JNSA recruits "talents" from all over the country all the year round, and most of them are teenagers who have lost their parents and have criminal records.Such teenagers often have no guardians, or are regarded as a burden by relatives, and no one cares about them. JNSA brought these teenagers into the base, created accidents or falsified judgment records, legally eliminated their identities, and reforged them.

Learn hacking and assassination techniques, and turn them into hidden blades of the country, and pawns that will not be a pity to sacrifice at will.Since their identities were wiped out, most of them died without names.

After entering the underground facility, everything was quiet.

It was afternoon, and it was the time for the students in the base to sleep—in order to prevent them from escaping, their sense of time was also greatly confused.The base was very quiet, and the night lights were shining brightly, illuminating the gray corridors with a strange light.

Loki steered the droid to lead the way, and they passed closed doors.

"here is?"

"Dormitory area." Loki raised his finger and pointed to a fork in the road just passed, "My former room is at the end of that corridor."

"You mean these little agents who are being trained live here?" Thor lowered his voice unconsciously.

"Don't worry. All the doors are locked. Without the instructor to open it, it's like a prison cell. They can't get out."

Thor's heart choked.

"You never mentioned it to me."

Don't say no, in fact, Loki never elaborated on his entire experience as an agent.

"Thor," Omega sighed, "The reason why I didn't say it was not because I wanted to hide it, but because I'm fine and content with you, so there's no need to recall what happened in the past. You should trust me more. "

Alpha's throat rolled.

There's still some distance to their destination, and since his words are coming straight into Thor's headset, Loki doesn't have much to worry about.

"If you want to know, I actually knew about your existence earlier."

"what?"

"JNSA can see the news."

As they said this, they had just crossed the dormitory area and walked down a corridor.The corridor is like a suspended sky bridge, connecting the two ends of the passage, with large and open glass on both sides, and a hall like a cafeteria below.

The robot pointed to the large screen hanging in the hall: "When I was eating every day, the news would be broadcast there. Once, I saw Odin Burison there."

"My father?"

"He was interviewed as a Baidao businessman, and he mentioned a few words about his son during the interview."

But Loki didn't say any more.

Thor looks at his partner beside him, wondering why Loki stopped, and even Thor can guess how Odin would describe himself.He is the pride of his father. Even though his father has never disclosed useful information in front of the media for safety reasons, his pride and admiration cannot be hidden.

Alpha couldn't help thinking: Yes, at that time he was standing in the sun, but Loki was imprisoned here as a chess piece that could be sacrificed at any time.

"Thor." Omega called him suddenly, and the robot turned his face sideways, "Don't think about it. People shouldn't get stuck in the past, you told me that."

"I……"

"What your father did has nothing to do with you, it's my own choice to be with you, I'm very happy..."

"Who is there?!"

A voice suddenly came from the end of the corridor, and at the same time there was a sharp flashlight.

Thor reacted very quickly. He held the robot by the waist and flashed it behind the pillar in an instant. He protected the robot under his body, and the flashlight almost swept past their ankles.

The JNSA instructors saw only empty corridors.

But his professional vigilance prevented him from leaving immediately, he stood for a few seconds, and still walked towards the direction where Thor and Loki were.

"It's Patton," Loki said into Thor's headset. "Be careful, he's a tough guy."

Thor's muscles tense visibly.

He subconsciously hugged the robot, blocking it with his body, as if Loki was really here.And as Patton moved forward, Thor moved slowly with the robot, stuck in the blind spot of the opponent's line of sight, trying to bypass the side of the pillar.

Everything seemed quiet in the darkness, the only movement was Thor's violent heartbeat.

Fortunately they succeeded.

Thor barely turns to the side of the pillar when Patton stops in his tracks. Patton frowned, it seemed that he did not find anything and planned to retreat.

Alpha held his breath, and even Loki, who was thousands of kilometers away, could feel his fast heartbeat through the transmitter.

The flashlight suddenly hit the glass at this moment!

It's Patton's ruse!

The moment Thor was almost relaxed, Thor and the robot were reflected on the transparent glass.

In the blink of an eye, Thor pulls out his gun, Patton reaches for the alarm bell, and the robot slips out of Alpha's protective circle.

The blond-haired man didn't even have time to see his partner's movements clearly, and the agent jumped on him. The robot hugged Patton's waist, disarmed him, and then dragged Patton behind the pillar.

Patton's reaction was also very quick, and several elbows hit the robot's side ribs hard.

Judging from the pain in the headset, the pain transmission clearly acts on Loki.

"Don't come here!" the agent yells at Thor through the headset.

Thor's heart trembled, and he raised his gun without hesitation.

When Patton pressed the robot against the wall and stretched his hands towards the nerve center in the neck, the bullets in the silencer were fired at the same time, precisely penetrating his brain.

Blood spattered on the robot's shell.

Loki catches Patton as he slumps.

Before the blood stained the ground, Thor and Omega joined forces and quickly stuffed Victor's body into a tool closet at the end of the hallway.

Alpha panted heavily.

He knew that he had done something wrong, and shooting Patton was definitely the worst policy. Even if he had calmed down a little earlier, instead of raising his gun when he heard Loki's cry of pain, they could have handled this matter more silently.

But Loki didn't say anything, and the robot's red eyes flickered, like an Omega thousands of miles away was worried about him.

Fortunately, the journey to JNSA's internal computer room was smooth.

It's just that, as Loki speculated two days ago, the next task is extremely difficult.Even if they can successfully find the information grabber, they don't know the time and duration of its connection to the database, and if there is no clue of the database connection port in the grabber during the non-connection period, they may even run in vain.

Kind of like a big gamble, Thor thought.

In fact, he was in turmoil.He thought about his actions just now, Loki's words, the two children who were still sick at home, and Omega's large movements and grunts when he was fighting Victor.

When the cable was connected, Thor tapped on the headset, motioning for Fandral to go to work.

Then it's not his and Loki's job, maybe he can talk to him a little bit, be wary and say things that are hard to say face to face.

He knew what Loki saw, those futures, those pressures, even Loki's worries about himself, his Omega was always the smartest.

Such thoughts filled his mind so much that it took him a few seconds to realize that Fandral hadn't responded.

Thor frowned and tapped on the headset again.

"Fandral," he called.

Still no sound.

Thor felt his heart skip a beat, and he fell into the ice.

"Fandral? Fandral?!"

Intangible fear spread in his heart, because his eyes moved to the robot that had been handling the connection line before, and he found that, at some point, the robot's dexterous fingers also stopped.

It just hovered there, awkwardly stiff, like a dead object, still holding unfinished wires in its hands.

Alpha's voice trembled unknowingly.

"Loki?"

It was quiet in the computer room, and no one responded to him.

TBC