*Author's note. This story features a hero type of my own creation, the berserker. Basically a berserker is someone who 'burns' certain nutrients to produce specific superpowers. I want to do a more in depth story featuring this hero type, but for now this tidbit is my first exercise.
Also, the female character has gone undescribed and un-named for the benefit of Loki fans. Feel free to copy/paste your preferred face. Picture done by Materialboyz on DA.*
"Don't run from me."
Straining ears heard the huffing breathes between the words, he was still chasing but thankfully still talking. The sound of his voice caused an adrenaline rush, and her body automatically burned a bit of its dwindling C storage, and she burst forward at an impossible speed, barely rounding the corner with bashing her head in. With so much B used up she could barely control her powers.
It was a bad idea to tease him, even worse to call him out, idiot.
With a concentrated effort she pumped potassium into her leg muscles and leapt fluidly into an air vent above her, sliding in and replacing the grate before he even got close to the corner.
She suppressed her heart rate and breathing, even though her lungs screamed in protest, and closed her eyes. Pounding feet ran towards, and then past her hiding place. As they faded down the corridor she took and long breath, then propelled herself back down to the floor to run the opposite way.
Gotta be something to hide in somewhere.
You can't hide from me.
She skidded to a stop. Her brain raced trying to figure out how close he was. There had been no reverb off the walls he was some distance away yet. She ran again. She could hear his shit eating grin in those words, that stupid smug blade of a smile he'd worn the instant she hit home with her guess. He was enjoying this, getting more revved up with every dodge, every ploy she used to avoid him. That was one advantage he had, she was running out of energy much quicker than him. The second….
Don't think about it, don't think about it.
She squeezed her eyes shut for a second and focused on escape. A flare of her lutein let her hear footsteps racing behind her, and heaving, happy breath.
Asshole, you wanna run? Fine!
Instead of C, she used potassium again and surged forward, it burned slow and steady and she outpaced him, putting yard after yard between them.
Stop running.
"Hell no!" she gnashed her teeth, drawing up from a well of anger and hate that had always festered in her. He wasn't the cause, but he'd be the outlet. Oh if only she could burn this stuff, she'd tear him to shreds.
Yes, keep burning. Even your hate is finite, it'll flare like magnesium on water, then when it goes out, there will only be one thing left to burn.
"Go ahead and catch me!" she taunted, no longer listening to reason, "See who gets a pound of flesh when I get close!"
Almost on cue, he stepped out from the corner she was soon to round, arms beckoning, mouth wide open and smiling, just ready to catch her and devour her. She saw little more than a blur of green, black and gold as she wheeled, and nearly thought she was hallucinating as an identical blur was coming up behind her.
She hissed and wheeling again, hedging her bets and plowed forward. This time she was right, the Loki in front of her was an illusion. She spun in place, seeing him halfway up the corridor, barreling down on her like a golden ram and still smiling. She needed so much energy just to push off, even pushing potassium into her muscles was barely enough to keep her pace, she was running dry.
"Come to me!" he yelled down the long hall, his voice full of primal hunger and no small hint of frustration.
She hit a wall, not a physical one, her body could not run anymore and just stopped. Her legs refused to move even though she had to, they wouldn't run until they had rested. With her senses so heightened by lutein and adrenaline she could feel her muscles just begging to regain strength, but there was no time. She'd run for hours, now she'd have to fight and buy some time.
She crouched down, heaving her chest and trying to look like she was completely spent. He did not decrease speed. She burned some iron to repair and revitalize her legs, arms, and abdomen, and filled her muscles with potassium. Her B stores ran nearly empty.
Just as he caught up with her, she lunged. She hit him square in the chest with her arms crossed over her head, her entire body hitting him with the force of a battering ram. Loki let out a shuddering gasp as she hit, then a gurgle as his back hit the ground. He was completely winded and in shock when she lifted herself and sent a punch into his face.
He went out like a light. She breathed a sigh of relief and climbed to her feet, shambling off on shaky legs to find something to eat, something to replenish her nutrient stores.
The abandoned base he'd been chasing her through was still stocked in some forgotten places. The small emergency rations she found tasted better than a five star meal. For just a few minutes she could sit and feel her stores grow again after she wolfed the rations down.
Well done.
She shuddered. He recovered much quicker than she expected.
Ach, haven't been that badly bruised in some time.
She couldn't help but smile to hear the pain even in his mental voice.
Come out of that little storeroom now.
She didn't breathe. She burned lutein and strained to hear, to gauge how close he really was. There was labored breathing just outside that door.
I'll only wait so long, come out.
Her eyes darted around, looking for any means of escape. No vents, openings, only one door.
He stepped right up to the door and leaned on it, she could hear him trail a finger down the flimsy wood.
Come out and do all the things with me you've been dreaming about. Come ride me, let me claim every last inch of you, let me brand you.
She wasn't sure whether he'd spoken or thought those words, but that purring, hot-as-coals tone brought roaring back everything she'd managed to keep suppressed while running.
Thoughts and fantasies of tangling up with him, kissing that gorgeous mouth, being burned by emerald eyes and making love in every single way she knew, then being taken in ways he surely knew.
But other thoughts came back too, ancient stories about the God of Mischief and Lies, his strange and ill-fated affairs, and his monstrous children. Her own memories sprang up, of dealing with and being manipulated again and again by him, the horrible battles and his obvious insanity.
"You lust after me, and I you. I want your power, I want to claim that body of yours, not for myself…" he trailed off into a dark chuckle, she could hear him run his tongue over his lips.
She'd flattened herself against the back wall, and as he spoke, she felt a tiny bit of give. She stopped, and pressed again. The wall was thin! With a burst of C and potassium, she could break through easily.
Careful to make as little sound as possible, she crawled forward, dug her heels in, then burned the nutrients and threw herself against the wall, it cracked, buckled, then gave way and threw her into an old research room.
Before she hit the floor, a pair of arms in cased in golden armor scooped her up. She failed and turned herself over to face the hole she'd just made. A copy of Loki warped through and grinned at her, the heat in his eyes made her half melt. Next thing she knew that copy had arms around her waist and was planting a binding kiss on her, with the real Loki behind groping a breast and holding her fast.
"Now be mine."
A third Loki approached from the side and slithered a hand between bodies to possessively grab her crotch. She didn't fight, she kissed back, her mind muddled as the three identical men drew her to the floor and wrapped themselves around her. She felt soft velvet and silk, her nose was full of the scent of leather and male musk, the hard golden armor was already leaving imprints on her flesh. One kept her locked in a slow, deep kiss while another pried his way past belt and pants, the one beneath her opening her top to grope her breasts.
The honeyed moans of three Loki's were sending tingles up and down her skin. She opened her eyes to meet his emerald ones, burning into her just as she had imagined.
But then the color of his eyes diluted, like dye in water everything dispersed, colors ran off and forms dripped away, sensations lost all potency.
She was in bed, sweaty, groggy, barely thinking, and angry, angry because the dream had ended, and angry because it had begun.
Was it Loki toying with her? Or her own over-active imagination and the libido that went into overdrive for clever, lanky, dark, damn near sinful men?
"Nothing damn near about him." She half muttered as she crawled to the side of the bed. Her alarm clock was about to go off.
She huffed and put he head on the pillow waiting for the alarm.
How do you cure being attracted to the worst possible person?
Give in, and never look back.