Chapter 84: Powering up

Chapter 84: Powering up

I exited the bridge, mentally going over how to get to the engineering room. As I walked I idly noted that there was a small pool of Loki's blood on the ground where he had landed. I clicked my tongue, shaking my head and wondering how difficult it would be to make a cleaning bot out here in space before I froze.

I whirled around and knelt down, studying the two small pools of red liquid. It wasn't a lot, probably because Loki had already lost so much, but it was enough for two sizable samples. Samples I could replicate as much as I wanted. Now Loki wasn't Asgardian, but he was an ice giant, magically powerful and ancient by human standards. Odds are it would contain some pretty potent concepts.

I stared at the blood for a moment before sitting back up on my knees and looking at the ceiling.

"Heimdall. I know you're watching, especially since I just said your name. Please understand that I am taking this so I can study it to see if there are any useful concepts inside, which I would then refine and separate," I explained, talking to the all-seeing Heimdall. "Since this is a bit more than just looting a defeated enemy, I promise not to use it in any way that affects Loki, including as side effects. I will do my best to refine anything useful so it is not connected to Loki at all."

For a moment I felt a weight settle on me as if I was under the focus of a microscope. I shifted nervously when the feeling persisted. Oddly enough I could somehow tell this wasn't just the gaze of Heimdall, nor was it Odin either. It was impossible to describe it almost felt feminine?

"Freyja?" I said, getting a sense of faint surprise, followed by confirmation. My mind raged as I tried to figure out what I should say. "This universe is a dangerous place, and a world like Earth, which is so early in its development, needs all the champions it can get. Every asset, every advantage I can manage and use to create defenders of Earth is important. I I swear that if I do not follow my promise of separating Loki from any concepts I might get from his blood, then you may revoke my protections under any treaty Asgard has agreed to. I don't want to earn the anger of Asgard."

The feeling of being watched, of being judged stayed on me for a much longer moment before finally fading, the sense of agreement, and a promise of continued observation the last thing I could feel. I waited for a long pause before letting out a breath, feeling a bit sick as I bent down and carded each puddle of blood.

The sample was incredibly potent, much more than any blood sample I had carded so far, including when I had carded Steve's blood. I could feel his Asgardian domain, feel the concepts of cold and ice, feel his strength and durability, his frost giant vigor. I could also feel the slight presence of the same golden concept that Thor's lightning had contained. It was even more powerful, by just the absolute tiniest amount, which I took as a sign that the sample was better, not that Loki was more powerful. Unfortunately, the card was stuffed with concepts I would need to find a way to remove.

I nodded, having expected this to be the case. It was one thing to have the small sample of divine essence from an element summoned during something like Thor's return, it was an entirely different thing to have it from their blood.

This also raised an interesting question about how Asgard's divinity worked, as I could clearly feel Loki's aspects of mischief, despite the fact that he wasn't really Asgardian. Either way, I had a new project, finding out how to conceptually craft this blood sample without actually using it until it was already separated.

With another long sigh, I stood back up and headed down the hall, my mind already racing with possible ideas for how I could conceptually craft Loki's blood outside of the deck. I needed to get my hands on the golden or divine concept again, just a few of them had massively elevated what I was capable of creating. As I got closer to my destination I took a deep breath. I had none of the tools and items that I would need to complete this project, so I needed to focus on the present.

I arrived in the engineering bay and looked around, checking out the room and refreshing my memory about what it looked like. It was a simple room, only slightly bigger than most of the other rooms with a row of UCMs on one side, along with a single large UCM. On the other side was an LPM, along with a set of storage containers. I cracked one open and pulled out twelve repair tablets. I plugged them into the wall of the ship, setting each one to repair one of the shield projectors that had been damaged during our initial battle with the invading ship and the portal projecting ship. Each of the projectors was going to take about two hours to fix, so I set the tablets aside and let them run.

With that set up I got to work setting up a better workshop, starting by pushing out the storage shed in a far corner, followed by a few tables, some chairs, and finally my cabinet of tricks. With everything set up I sat down at one of the tables with a pad of paper, I pulled from the cabinet.

I had three main goals for this crafting session. The first one, developing a way to get home, was the most important, and really the only one that mattered for now. I also wanted to integrate the sorcery-based energy reinforcement I had come up with on the hull of the ship. The Void Skipper was never designed to be a warship, but I needed to play the hand I was dealt so reinforcing the hull to the same ridiculous degree as my own personal armor was a must.

To further turn this ship into something that could stand up to any bullshit we may encounter, I also wanted to finally see about finally arming my ship. I had several scans of large-scale weapons, including naval cannons and energy weapons from Wakanda. Combining them together should be relatively easy all things considered.

With my goals set I started working on the most important one, a portal deployment system that the Void Skipper could use, similar to the one the invaders had set up. This similarity was good, as it meant I could utilize the system they were using on the strange circular ship as a base.

Realizing that I would just have to be patient, I packed up my stuff, leaving the workspace mostly set up before carding the storage shed and my cabinet of tricks. When I was done cleaning up I ordered the battle bot to pick up the Tesseract and store it in one of the leftover ornate boxes. I grabbed it by one of the box's handles, carrying it easily as I gestured for the battle bot to fall in behind me.

I wish I could have kept it safe in the deck, but not only was I almost a hundred percent certain I wouldn't be able to, but I was also pretty sure that doing so would really fuck everything up. In the comics messing with the infinity stones had some really negative side effects and I wasn't about to risk any of them.

I made my way through the ship and back to the bridge, stepping in to find Natasha in the same spot as before, looking out into space through the view screens. She looked over her shoulder at me as the door closed behind me.

"Done already?" She asked.

"Sorry How long was I gone?" I asked, wincing as I realized I hadn't really been keeping track.

"Five hours." She said, standing up from the seat and stretching.

"Sorry I guess I've got a bit of a dependency on Ema stopping me for breaks and reminding me I've been at it for too long," I admitted, rubbing the back of my neck. "The good news is that I've got the portal system finished. The retrofit should be done in a several hours."

"And then we go home?" She asked.

"Umm then it is possible to get home," I responded, her face shifting to an expression that said get to the point. "These kinds of systems are touchy. I might end up having to make adjustments or rebuild the whole system because it did not integrate correctly. It's definitely progress though. Solid progress."

"Progress is good," The redhead said, nodding her head. "I think it's time to switch places though. I've been up for two days now and sleep deprivation training can only do so much."

"Sorry, I should have realized you would have been running on empty by now," I apologized, shaking my head. "The sleeping quarters are just down the hall, they should be easy to find."

"When was the last time you got some sleep?" She asked as I climbed into the pilot's seat.

"When you told me to," I responded with a smile. "Sounds like you didn't take your own advice."

She only shrugged before making her way out of the bridge, stopping in the doorway.

"You should try and get some sleep too, unless you think taking shifts is necessary?"

"... No, probably not," I admitted, checking the sensors before turning back to look at her. "I'll get a few hours in a bit."

The super spy nodded before stepping fully into the hall, the door soon closing behind her, leaving me alone on the bridge.