***I do not own any of the Marvel characters included in this story or rights to any of the movies, yaddayaddayadda. Please don't sue me.********
I know some of you were asking why I deleted my story at first, well I wanted to develop the beginning a bit more before moving on to starting the sub plot, but now I am officially starting the story, and new chapters should be rolling in quite quickly, since it's summer and all. Suggestions for future chapters and comments are HIGHLY encouraged. (:
Chapter 1
Loki sat within the confines of his prison, shut out from the world around him, shielded by unbreakable glass and shunned by almost every living being that knew of his misdoings.
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His plan on Earth had failed, and as he made his way to return to Asgard with his brother, Loki hung his head, burdened with the disgust and hatred pointed towards him by the people of Midgard and their mighty defenders, the Avengers. How close he had come to destroying the pitiful human race that inhabited the small planet. How close he had come to proving himself to his father, his brother, the people of Asgard, and all who looked down upon him. But he had been defeated, his pride and power snatched away from him once again by all that is good. Loki clenched his fists in anger as he was led away from the group of heroes who now stood behind him like a glorious monument.
The weight of their gazes pierced through the God of Mischief, making him clench his jaw and grind his teeth back and forth like stone on stone. As they approached Stark Tower, Loki envisioned exactly what his return home would bring. He could almost feel the daggers of the people of Asgards' eyes slicing through him with each step he took towards his father. He could hear the sneers and hisses that would come from the crowd that would gather to watch Loki be sentenced. That is- if he was even given a fair trial. Who's to say he wouldn't be executed on the spot once he returned to Asgard through the Bifrost?
Thor placed his hand on Loki's shoulder as the two brothers headed up the elevator and up to the launch pad resting on the top balcony of Stark Tower. The gag that was forcefully strapped over Loki's mouth was still held in place, preventing any powers of speech to be uttered from his mouth. Loki felt like a dog, muzzled by those wretched humans who placed themselves above everyone in the universe. Their kind disgusted Loki, he recoiled at their beliefs and how they thought they were the superior race. Trying to cage a god was an insolent action on their part, and Loki vowed that he would make them pay once he got the opportunity. A devious plan was already enfolding inside his mind, a wicked smirk crossing his lips under the gag.
"Heimdall," Thor spoke towards the sky, "Open the Bifrost, and lead us home."
The sky thundered and turned a sickly grey color as the clouds above swirled into darkness. Thor held the Tesseract in one hand, and motioned for Loki to grab the other end of it. The pulsating neon-blue color that illuminated off of the rectangular object glowed brighter, signaling the build-up of energy coming from inside the galactic object.
Loki prepared for the trip back to his home planet, where he was undoubtedly going to be hated and most likely banished to another world, to another time. The clouds continued to swirl, but no beam of light appeared to carry them home, no bridge, no nothing.
"Heimdall," Thor repeated, panic noticeably rising in his voice, "Bring us home."
Back in Asgard, Heimdall sat facing the void of space, his face plastered into an expressionless stone, but his eyes spoke of a different emotion. Sadness danced behind his dark eyes as he heard Thor calling to open up the bridge. He could do nothing if Loki intended to travel home with Thor. Odin had given him specific orders to only allow Thor to return home from his victory, but to leave Loki behind, as punishment for his second attempt at destroying an entire race.
"He will understand soon enough," Odin said as he approached the strong Gate Keeper, "But I cannot allow Loki to return home until he has changed his ways. His arrival poses a threat to Asgard, and I will not allow our people to be put in danger."
"I understand." Heimdall said in a monotone voice, keeping his statuesque posture.
"But I so do miss my son," Odin replied quietly, "Hopefully Loki will learn a lesson as Thor did during his banishment. He has a heart, but he has yet to keep it beating." Heimdall nodded his head in agreement.
Odin put his hand on Heimdall's shoulder before turning to walk back to Asgard.
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Loki slammed his fist against the floor of his cell, roaring in anguish as he remembered the fateful trip that led him back to this cage.
Thor had eventually figured it out, and had returned home where the people of Asgard most likely bowed at his feet and worshiped him and his victory. It was more of punishment, Loki concluded, to not even be allowed to return home than to stand a trial in the presence of his father. It was like his father loathed him to the point where he didn't even want to give Loki the time to be able to have a fair trial. The ex-prince felt a hot rush of anger boil up, his insides on fire from the sudden change of emotion.
"That should be me." Loki mumbled, "That should be me!"
Loki hated his father for leaving him here in Midgard, to remain in the presence of the humans who ruined his plans, who stripped him of his honor, and then threw him in the same type of cell he had already been caged in before his plans went amiss.
His anger drove him to wanting to smell that hot and metallic scent of blood once again, convincing him that bloodshed would be the only way to cease his fiery temper.
"No," Loki's more sane side of his mind thought, "No more lives taken by my hand."
"But how good it feels to have your hands coiled around someone's throat, feeling their pulse race beneath your fingertips." Hissed the devil on his shoulder. As the god of mischief it was a curse to have these two sides gnawing at your conscience, constantly; the devil always being the louder of the two. Loki knew humans encountered this internal battle, but to Loki, it was much more severe and like a poisonous disease eating at his mind.
"One of the benefits of being the God of Mischief." Loki thought sarcastically.
It had been a week since Loki was forced to return to the confines of a cell, and rejected from his homeland. The anger that fueled his daily life had risen to a darkness of unspeakable measure creating the beginnings of a black hole which lay where his heart once stood. Any good that remained inside of him was now extinguished by the ice that grew colder and colder within him with each passing minute.
Loki's despair was temporarily broken by a loud pounding on the glass. The ex-prince turned his head to see a bulky security guard grinning deviously at him. It was Boar, Phil Coulson's temporary replacement. Boar was little more than a meat-headed agent who was by chance, pretty intelligent. Of course, Fury despised him, but the council insisted that since Loki was so dangerous, a man of Boar's size was a necessity until a more suitable agent could be found to replace Agent Coulson.
"Dinner, maggot." Grunted Boar, shoving Loki's dinner into a capsule which delivered food and other necessary objects to Loki via one-way tunnel. Agents and staff members could bring Loki food, water, and other things, but Loki could not access the small tunnel from the inside.
The electronic hatch opened, presenting Loki with a plate that was comprised up mysterious goop substance, along with a container of water.
Loki simply turned his head away from the abhorrent food, and looked up at the ceiling, remembering how he used to dine like a king. Well-at one point he did dine as a king. None of the meals given to him were substantial, and had a repulsive texture that made Loki want to regurgitate, defeating the purpose of eating the meal at all. Before Loki was placed inside the cell, he put a satiation spell on himself that would ensure he could go without food for a few days, in case he was to escape from the cell and assume the role of a fugitive. Along with the internal workings of being a god, Loki could go without food for a maximum of a week. Maximum.
His spell had come in handy for another use though the hex was almost completely gone. Loki would have to either force down the food given to him, or die of starvation. Neither seemed very appetizing.
Boar left the room in a fit of laughter, mocking Loki's expression of disgust before slamming the lead door shut.
Loki stayed awake most of the night, toying with a new trick he had learned. It wasn't a world ending trick by any means, but it entertained him none the less. A small green flame danced in the palm of his hand, barely smoldering in the darkness. A little grin quirked at the corner of his lips as he played with the flame, trying to make it grow larger and more powerful.
A small pitter patter sounded a few feet away from Loki's cell, and the small flame immediately extinguished, hiding his face from any unwanted guests.
"So, you're Loki?" A little voice said, outside of glass wall. Loki remained silent, waiting for the voice to speak again, "Not going to talk? That's fine; I'm used to people ignoring me." The voice laughed a bit before falling silent again. A small bang emitted from outside the cell, followed by a dim light that illuminated the inside of Loki's cell.
Loki squinted his eyes, adjusting to light; even though it was not particularly bright, the darkness had rendered him almost blind for the past few hours.
Once the Asgardian's eyes adjusted, the light revealed a girl, no older than seventeen standing outside the glass with one hand on the control panel beside his cell. The two looked at each other, not uttering a sound.
"Why is a young girl in here?" Thought Loki.
"Hi." Said the girl, a she made her way over to the glass. Loki still remained silent, trying to analyze the girl and see what she was up to.
"Stop that." She said, sitting down, cross legged in front of the glass, "You don't need to try to see what my motives are, no one sent me here."
The girl now eyed Loki, trying to see what he was thinking, watching the way his eyes moved over her, clearly defying her orders.
"Well you can't just tell me to stop analyzing you, and then you do it to me." Loki said, narrowing his eyes at her.
"Finally, I thought you'd never start talking." The girl perked, a smile spreading across her face.
"Who exactly are you, and why are you bothering me with your immature presence?' Loki spat at her, clenching his teeth.
"Ugh please" The girl replied, "Intimidation does not work on me. I'm Spira."
"Well Spira," Loki began, walking towards her, "How about I break out of this cage, rip your pretty little brain out of your head, and replace it with mine, so you're reduced to nothing more than a mindless zombie?"
"I can see you're not going to be very nice to be for a while, are you?" Spira said, completely unfazed by Loki's threat, "Very well, I guess I'll just talk until you decide to play nicely."
Loki kept his eyes on Spira as she went to grab a chair, a pulled it up towards the glass, "Me and you aren't so different Loki. We have a talent, we read people. That's what we do. We manipulate them because we're so good at predicting their actions. Now I technically don't have any real superpowers, or have been revealed to too much gamma radiation like Green Bean over there," she pointed to where Dr. Banner smashed through a wall the previous night, "But I can predict anyone's moves, kind of like mind reading. I'm not weak like most humans that tremble at a ferocious threat, or a rude remark-"
"You and I are nothing alike." Loki said sternly, his voice echoing within the cell. He didn't like this human, or whatever she was. She was infuriatingly confident, and treated him like a commoner. Who was she to treat a God, who could easily snap her neck like a twig, as such?
Spira held Loki's gaze for awhile, digging around in his brain for a weak spot. She came across flashbacks of two children, a dark blonde and a black haired one, standing before an elder being with an eye patch, which radiated of feelings of nostalgia. But she also came across a particular scene in his mind where he was much older and standing before the eye-patched being, yelling something which she could not quite make out. She felt so many strong emotions like hurt, sorrow, pain, anger, betrayal, loneliness and so many others, that she had to retreat from prying open his mind.
She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms, deciding how she should go about this conversation.
"You have sad eyes, Loki." Spira said finally.
"Excuse me?" Loki replied, narrowing his eyes once more.
"What made your eyes so sad? Oh wait-hold on-" Spira stood up and walked to the glass, and looked Loki over for a few seconds before speaking again, "Judging on your stance you are someone who strives for dominance, but the way your head is slightly bowed means you are used to being overtaken by an authority figure. Your tone of voice also indicates you have been stabbed in the back way too many times, and that you are broken down somewhere in there, "She pointed to the middle of Loki's chest, "And that a great darkness is growing inside of you out of hatred and because of a grudge you hold towards a few people. So all in all, it sounds like you have some family issues." She left out the part about what she saw in her mind, but pieced all of her evidence together and came to the conclusion that something definitely went wrong within his family.
"I do not have-"
"Ohhh yes you do." Spira corrected, before he could choke out the last bit of his sentence.
"Now, I can stop invading your personal matters, and you can be nice to me, or I can dig even deeper and have an…"emotional" therapy session with you." A smirk played across Spira's lips as she made her offer.
Loki stayed silent again, waiting for her to complete the rest of her offer, since she was leaving something out, "And I'll start bringing you some decent food if you agree to be good." She said, after she saw that Loki wasn't pleased with her offer.
"Much better." He replied.
Spira let out a small laugh as she made her way over to the control panel to shut off the lights, "See you tomorrow night, Loki."