Present
His footfalls were rapid and without falter, as he made his way through the rows of what could only be described as chambers, each one eight foot tall, three foot wide and occupied. His breath would have been puffs of smoke in the air if he too was not as cool as the room he was in. To any other, the Cryogenic room would have been too cold to bear without adequate insulated clothing, but to Loki, it was as though it a spring day, he knew it was cold, he was no fool, there was ice everywhere, but he did not feel it. He paid little heed to the numbers and letters that donned the top of each chamber until finally, he came to the one he had read about, Subject 142RC-87F He looked at the ice-filled chamber and his brows raised. "You are younger than I expected, but that has its advantages." He stated as he waved a hand and the icy air filtering into the machine ceased. "I doubt you will be too keen to defrost here," he looked around for another moment. "I hope you do not get teleportation sick." He grinned before touching the icy machine and teleporting it away.
*
When Loki came to Earth via the Tesseract
"What are these?" Loki demanded, looking at the odd files that had been in the jeep when he had gotten into it just as the base was exploding.
"Files, sir," Barton answered obediently.
"Pertaining to?"
"Top secret information."
"So you do not know?"
"No, sir."
"Well then, I think I shall have a look." Loki flicked through the files as he waited for the next phase of his plan to come to fruition, very soon, he realised they pertained to subjects, all of unique in character, but to Loki's delight, in negative manner. It was a list of the most deadly and terrifying of S.H.I.E.L.D. prisoners, the ones not permitted to remain capable of doing harm, frozen in ice, most to never be allowed see the light of day again. He read the files, some were ruthless killing machines, killing for pleasure, others were just too dangerous because there was no manner to control them, but amongst them all, Loki found one inmate that peaked his interest, Subject 142RC-87F. A female, who, if the file was to be believed, was somewhat of a thorn in the side of S.H.I.E.L.D. for a considerable time, her ability to sneak in and out of facilities and hack their systems causing her to be one step ahead, what really was the issue however, was her superhuman abilities, and how she chose to utilise them. "Oh, I like her." He grinned to himself. "Where are these held?"
"Unknown location, sir," Barton replied, not taking his eyes off the road ahead.
"I think it is high time this 'unknown location' becomes a known one."
"Sir?"
I must meet this marvellous creature." He looked at the photo that accompanied the file, it was grainy, clearly taken from a distance.
*
Loki scoured every last bit of information he could get on Subject 142DH-87F, but very little seemed to exist other than her actions that caused her to come to the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D. There was no sign of where on the pathetic realm she derived from, her date of birth, or even if there were any of her family alive, nothing, only her actions, which Loki read over and over, and her abilities, both causing him to become more and more curious as to her. He found where she and others like her were being stored, but was brought back to Asgard once more before he could go in search of her, but he swore he would return and find her, it is all he focused on as he read book after book in the bowels of the Aesir palace, biding his time, knowing sooner or later, he would escape and be able to go in search of her.
*
Present
Loki used a portal to return to Midgard easily, what was more difficult was getting around the realm in a manner that was not going to get him noticed. He altered his appearance, magically forged some documents and Midgardian money and then preceded, in what, to him was a snail's pace, to the required location.
Midgardian vehicles were awkward contraptions with too many levers and too flimsy, so he used teleportation when he could, until finally, he came to where he needed to by, a compound, in the middle of nowhere, fashioned to look like nothing more than a few airplane hanger sheds, but he knew better, under the ground's surface, Midgard's most deadly beings lay in frozen prison cells. He studied the layout, the codes required, the check in radio calls and even the attire and facial features of everyone that worked there. Somewhat unsurprised, he noticed the women that worked at the facility were not as scrutinised as the men, grinning, he decided to use their inability to view the 'fairer sex' as a true threat against them, and altered himself to look like one of that form. As soon as the heels he chose to add, seeing as the male's interest piqued on noticing them, touched the floor of a hanger, he had the attention of every male present. With precision borne of practice, he used his knives to kill every one of them before using his magic to clean the evidence, obtaining the hand of a man that had adequate access to the area he required, he made his way through the underground compound with ease. It startled Loki how foolish mortals were. They actually kept electronic blueprints of all their structures, meaning Loki could study it long before ever setting foot inside. Mortal technology too was somewhat simplistic and anything that required codes was of a basic level by Aesir standard, in truth, he felt somewhat sorry for them, it was any wonder they were advancing so pathetically. With the aid of his seidr, no camera worked as he passed them, which also allowed him to change back to his correct for, his battle armour on, should it be required.
As he walked through the icy room, he cared little for many of those in their chambers, but her, she was all he could think of, he wanted to know was she as good as the S.H.I.E.L.D. paperwork said she was, he wanted to know if she would aid his cause, he needed to know if she yearned for revenge.
*
He tended to the machine as slowly, the fluid began to turn to liquid again, he replicated the machine necessary to ensure her vitals remain the same so that she did not die in her defrosting. When finally, the liquid was able to be drained, he allowed it to do so and stood watching her. Indeed, she was far younger than he thought she would be, he estimated her to be approximately two and a half decades by human standards. Laying her on a special bed, he used his magic to keep a check on her, and after a short time, her heart rate began to increase; soon after, he chest slowly rose and fell as he body began to take in oxygen again. All the time, Loki sat back and watched.
Less than ten minutes later, as Loki waited patiently, he was startled when she sat up suddenly, gasping for air; her eyes wide and her face filled with fear and anger. "Relax, you are safe." Jumping to her feet, she fell backwards, her muscles stiff after the length of time she had been in stasis. She eyed Loki warily. "I am Loki, of Asgard. I believe we can assist one another."
"What do you want?"
"Now, now; if what I read of you is true, you know the answer to that already."
"How do I know this is not a test?"
Loki rose to his feet, his tall body towering over hers. "I am not a mere mortal Midgardian, I am a God from a different realm. I have no reason to test you, I merely came across your file and decided that perhaps we could be of use to one another. I, being a help to you by freeing you from that horrid cell, and you, by assisting me in taking down some mutual adversaries of ours."
"Who?"
"S.H.I.E.L.D."
"I'm in." She declared immediately. "Stay out of my way and I will level it all."
"Now, patience, I see now the downside to your youth, it is not enough to simply let it be levelled, the fun is watching it being torn apart, limb from limb."
She watched him carefully. "Loki, that is your name, right?"
"That is correct, and who might you be, all they have you down as Subject 142RC-87F?"
"Rebecca, Rebecca Cahill, inmate 142."
"Well, that explains the first part of the title."
"What year is it?"
"2017 by the calendar you realm uses." she swallowed and her eyes went wide. "How long have they had you like that?"
"Five years."
"How old are you?"
"I was born in 1987."
"87F stands for your year of birth and gender then I assume."
"I...They left me there for five years."
"I think they planned on leaving you there longer."
Rebecca looked at Loki, "When we destroy S.H.I.E.L.D. Nick Fury is mine."
"The man with the eye patch?" She nodded. "He is yours."
"When do we start?"
Loki sneered. "I do believe we are going to get along very well indeed."