Hello everybody.

I have been,,, unwell. It's not been good, y'all. I've had some tough times, and I just wanna cry tbh. Writing this fanfic is the only thing that helps distract me from my anxiety, and I honestly cannot tell you all how much I appreciate you.

Now, I wrote this chapter a little out of order, just so you know. I wrote the beginning, then the end, then the middle, and I also have not fully read over this chapter to edit any grammar/spelling mistakes (though I usually sorta proof-read AS I write, so hopefully it's up to par) but I just,,, I'm a sucker for validation and I just really want to read all your comments because your comments make me happy and I really need that right now.

Uhmm, ah man. I always have a bunch of things I need to say at the beginning of these but I can never remember them? I think I just wanted to say... PLEASE bare with me when it comes to the names I use for OCs that are supposed to be non-human. I hope they all seem like super sci-fi alien names and not mega cringey. Also all the techno-babble that may or may not occur is like... 100 percent MADE THE HECK UP because I am not a science person. I do try to research that kind of thing but research can only go so far when we're talking about fictional stuff.

Well... I really hope you guys like this chapter.


Daffodils Say We Are Eternal

It all happened so fast.

The windows shattered, unidentified creatures leapt into the room, and Loki barely had time to place Amelia in a corner out of harm's way before springing into action, the entire team gearing up to face the clearly malicious force opposing them.

But then he couldn't move.

He tried to force his muscles into action but was met with unbearable pain, like something was zapping him into compliance; it reminded him somewhat of the obedience disks used by the Grandmaster on Sakaar, but this was different. This involved magic. Magic that he couldn't contest in his immobile state. If only he could flick his wrist, just a little, he could create an illusion to throw the rival spellcaster off.

But agony flooded through him, and his body couldn't even react. He was stuck, unable to move or use his magic, and unable to speak.

So he did what he could do. He watched and listened.

There were four creatures clad in armoured space suits, their faces concealed behind sleek helmets; one of them stood poised and equable ahead of the rest, arms outstretched toward the Avengers with flat palms - the sorcerer, Loki assumed - while the other three gazed around the room, evidently searching for something.

If he could force the muscles in his throat to cooperate with him, he would have asked them what they were after, but as that was not an option, he remained vigilant and attentive to their actions.

"Find the host." One of them spoke. A feminine voice. The one whose armour had an alternate colour pattern; she sounded sharp and commanding, spouting the order with authority and the expectation that the directive would be obeyed without question.

Loki probed his mind for any clue as to what the order meant exactly. What host were they referring to? The Asgardian prince yearned to turn his head and check that Amelia was still safely hidden away - there was no knowing what these beings would do to her if she inadvertently got in the way of their mysterious mission.

"No matches with these eight, General Ularis." Another feminine voice, higher pitched. Her tone was softer, it seemed, and there was less of a bite behind her words. But apart from that, Loki couldn't analyse anything about her - not without seeing her face, her expressions. If he knew what species she was or what planet she was from, perhaps he could formulate some sort of idea of how to take them down. Loki had extensive knowledge of many species, after all, as he had read through the entirety of the Asgardian library over the last thousand or so years.

"Scanners indicated nine lifeforms on this floor. Find the missing lifeform, it has to be the one we're after." General Ularis spoke again, and Loki's heart sank to the floor.

No. There had to be some mistake. 'The missing lifeform' - they couldn't be talking about Amelia, could they? No. Why would they be looking for her? Loki wracked his brain for an explanation, for a hope that they could be referring to any other person in the room, but there were eight of them visible, Amelia was the ninth, hidden out of sight for the moment. The realisation made his heart beat faster in his chest, flooding him with nerves.

Loki wanted to speak, wanted to contend against these apparent foes. If he had the ability to do so, he would warn them not to step any closer. Because if they advanced any nearer to Amelia's hiding place, he would promise them an excruciating and slow demise.

For a few moments, there was silence. One of the beings had stepped out of Loki's line of sight, and it did nothing to ease his fears. He needed the fourth being to step back into his peripheral, just so Loki could be sure of their location.

But then, straining his ears throughout the silence of the room, Loki heard fretful breathing; he knew immediately who it was, and that Amelia's hiding place was compromised. The being that was missing from Loki's vision could be heard from their focused footsteps, followed by the smug words that filled the Asgardian prince with terror.

"Found it."

There was a crash, and the sound of bodies scrambling across the room behind him, before finally Loki heard Amelia scream for the foe to get away from her and leave her be; the noise was muffled, and accompanied with frantic gasps and grunts of protest. His body was suffused with pain in an instant as he tried to fight the spell that was laid upon him and everybody else. He didn't care that it felt as though he was being stabbed from the inside out, that he was expelling innumerable amounts of frenetic energy in his attempt to merely break free, he had to help her.

He had to help Amelia.

They succeeded in capturing her, Loki could tell from the way her screams grew louder as the being passed through the room back towards the broken windows; goosebumps broke out over his skin at the sound of Amelia's cries came closer. He just needed to break free. His head was splitting with a terrible ache from the toil he was undergoing, but he did not give up, he only fought harder.

He felt his finger twitch on the grip of his conjured blade, but even that slightest movement was like an impossible struggle. It wouldn't do. Fighting the spell brought unbearing pain - if only he knew how to break from it completely, to leave the sorcerer's magic useless. If he could summon his own magical energy, even just for a second, he could overcome the foe and wipe them all out. Without mercy.

They wouldn't have time to rue their mistakes, unless they would be doing so from the fiery clutches of Hel.

Amelia was there at the edge of his vision suddenly, clinging desperately to his arm as she shouted for his help. She was so close, so close, if he could only reach out and pull her back, but the foe whose shoulder she was slung over was nothing if not persistent, and expressed clear irritation over Amelia's refusal to come quietly.

Loki's gaze bore into his lover's eyes, the ineffable agony grasping his body in an unrelenting hold, and his right foot twitched as determination prickled up his spine; Amelia was begging him to do something, both with her words and her eyes, and he tried, more than anything, he tried to move, but his body felt as though it was buckling under the pain and pressure.

Tears stained Amelia's face, and it tore Loki apart to see her so terrified. He needed her to know that he was trying everything he could to shatter through the cruel spell he was trapped under. A moment passed, and then the foe wrenched Amelia back, her desperate fingers reaching out hopelessly as they slipped from Loki's arm, and the pain in Loki's body was replaced with utter dread.

"No, no! Loki! Loki, help me! Loki!"

The muscles in Loki's leg gave a shudder, and despite the severe cramping pain, he managed to shift his weight, a convulsive shiver breaking through him, and he took one step forward.

"Hurry up! I can't hold them forever!" The sorcerer, the one holding them still, shouted wildly; their voice was young but an octave deeper, which suggested they were male, and it was drowned with panic, something that gave Loki an ounce of hope that he could overpower the fool and take back what was his.

Another step, and Loki lowered as if in prelude to a pounce, his spasmodic movements difficult but resolute. He was so close to forcing through the cracking barrier of magic holding him tightly in place, just one last shove was all he needed.

"Loki!" Amelia cried, wriggling in a way that was implacable, "Don't let them take me! Don't let them-"

It all came crashing down like an intransigent wave of wrath when the fourth and final foe stepped forward and struck the side of Amelia's head, knocking her out cleanly with ease; watching his lover slump silently as the fourth being took it upon themselves to swipe her up out of the other's grip, impatience obvious in their actions, was the final thrust into unwavering fury for Loki.

The spell was broken, and instantaneously he was staggering to rush them, a battle cry of pure outrage tearing from his lips.

"Run!" He heard one of them shout as they doubled back and charged towards the broken windows where their ship remained. They were fast, and Loki's speed was sabotaged by the stabbing pains still flooding him in waves; he wasn't able to reach the one that had Amelia in their arms, not before they leapt back onto their ship.

But he did tackle the one that had found her in the first place, slamming them to the ground and pinning them below his body, but his eyes weren't on the enemy he'd crushed against the ground. His eyes were on the skies - watching as the rest of the beings escaped with Amelia, their ship soaring higher and higher until it was out of sight.

Gone.

Amelia was gone.

He'd failed to protect her, and now she was in the hands of strange beings whose intentions were clearly not pure.

Loki let out a raging shout, his wrath growing stronger still, and he turned his gaze to the being pinned beneath him, bringing his balled fist down promptly to shatter the visor of their helmet. They flinched, struggling in his grip, but he held them firmly down with his other hand around their neck; the presence of fear in their wide, yellow eyes was a pleasure to witness and Loki's lips stretched into a manic grin as he conjured a blade to his hand and held it high, poised to strike.

"Loki!"

A strong hand encompassed his wrist, holding his blade at bay. It was Thor, denying him a kill he rightfully deserved, and Loki tried to tear his arm away so that he might drive his dagger deep into the foe's heart, but the God of Thunder was adamant that Loki refrain.

"Let me kill them!" Loki roared.

"But Loki-"

"Let me kill them! They took her from me!"

"Loki! If we want to get Amelia back, we'll need to know where they've taken her!" His brother exclaimed, the implications of his words hanging in the air, and the hand Loki was clasping the dagger in trembled.

He sucked in a shuddering breath. Right. They needed to torture information out of the creature. He couldn't kill them - yet.

That didn't stop Loki from squeezing their windpipe till they grappled and gurgled, pleading for breath, which he only allowed them after their struggles began to weaken.

"I will get information out of them", Loki decided, excited at the thought of making this fool heavily regret their actions.

"I don't think so", Clint interjected from behind.

"Leave it to me", Natasha added, voice unwavering and purposeful, "I'll get the information we need, and once we have a decisive plan, then you can kill them." Her expression was controlled, but Loki could sense her anger - and it was only from that mutual understanding of rage that he trusted her to carry out the task. At least she knew the right to kill their new captive when the time came belonged to him.

They took the armoured being away, but Loki remained where he was, at the edge of the shattered panels, kneeling in glass as he stared up at the night sky, wondering why this had to happen. Why did it have to be Amelia? Why couldn't it have been anybody else?

Loki clenched his fists.

He should have tried harder, he had broken out of the spell in the end, which meant he'd had the power to do so before - his attempts had been foiled by the pain that had coursed through him, but if only he'd tried harder and endured the agony from the beginning.

He shouldn't have just listened. He should have acted. Why did he let himself rest from the pain? If only he had fought from the moment he found himself unable to move, perhaps Amelia would have been by his side right now, instead of lost somewhere in the reaches of space.

Loki sucked in a breath.

And when she woke to find herself surrounded by strange beings, without Loki or any familiar face in sight, what was she going to think? Would she assume she'd been abandoned? That Loki gave up trying to save her and allowed her to be taken?

Loki thought about what he should have done. Instead of tackling the foe to the ground, he should have dived for the ship - perhaps he would have made it, or perhaps he would have missed his mark and fallen all the way to the ground as the ship swerved away from the Tower.

At least if that had happened, he could say that he really tried to pursue Amelia's kidnappers, the downside would be that he likely would've broken quite a few bones in his body. Though, after his failure, perhaps he deserved that kind of pain. Amelia was going to end up suffering because of his lack of success, because he could hardly handle a little pain.

What if they hurt her? Experimented on her? What if the Avengers failed to find her and Loki never saw her again?

It was difficult to control the tears of frustration that pricked the corners of his eyes, but Loki just about managed to keep his composure. He wasn't sure how long he'd knelt before the broken window, but eventually he became aware of Stark and Rogers, who were standing nearby, also peering out at the stars above.

"Your ship is good to go, right? It's ready for flight?" Rogers asked, and those words alone had Loki's full attention.

"I don't know", Stark returned grimly, "I haven't run any test flights. There's no knowing what could go wrong without first checking how it fares unmanned."

Loki rose quickly to his feet, regretting it immediately as a wave of dizziness overcame him - fighting that magical trap had left him mostly exhausted - but he remained upright, regaining balance after just a few moments.

"Stark", Loki spoke, tone fixed with intent, "You better get to work on checking your vessel at once. We'll need to leave as soon as we have a destination."

He expected the billionaire to comeback with a snappy comment and perhaps a lacklustre nickname, but Tony simply became downcast, head moving in a very subtle nod, "I'll get to it…"

Loki nodded tightly in acknowledgement, finally turning away from the windows to face the rest of the room. His gaze zeroed in on Thor and Banner who were conversing with suspiciously low tones; Loki could make out the muffle of their voices but not their words, and when Thor's eyes flitted up to him before quickly diverting away, he knew it was something to do with Amelia. Something they didn't want him to know.

That would not do. If there was something wrong with Amelia, he needed to know now. Any information could help them find her; plus, Loki did not take well to his supposed friends keeping secrets from him.

Loki approached Thor, watching as Banner quickly left the room with a purposeful stride, and pinned his brother with a heavy, weary-eyed stare. "Tell me what you are hiding from me, brother."

Thor frowned, a dire look in his mismatched gaze, "I'm not hiding anything from you", his words were stiff and clear but he could not fool Loki, the god was born to sniff out lies, and even when Thor was trying his hardest to sound inconspicuous, there was no exception.

"Bullshit", Loki snapped, using a word he had picked up from Amelia's extensive, colourful vocabulary - it certainly worked well to display his feelings at the current time - "You and Banner know something I don't, I saw you talking to each other. Your face was full of guilt when you realised I was watching you", he drew a deep breath to try and calm his growing resentment.

"Loki…"

"Is there something… something wrong with her? Is she sick?" Loki's jaw was clenched as he spoke, another wave of dizziness causing his vision to wobble, and he blinked his eyes until the whited out spots began to dissipate.

"She's not sick", Thor stated firmly, and this time he spoke genuinely, "You should get some rest while you can, we'll need to replenish our strength and wits if we want to find Amelia and bring her home. You look… like Hel, brother." Loki was not surprised by Thor's remark - he didn't exactly feel like a ray of sunshine - and it was all because of that unyielding spell.

He'd fought as hard as he could, and it still wasn't enough. He had clearly suffered the effects of the spell more so than any of the others, which meant they had not struggled half as hard as he had to break out of the spell. The mortals, he could understand, but Thor? He supposed Thor looked a little ragged, but Loki couldn't help but think that Amelia hadn't been his first priority.

"You didn't… you didn't even try", Loki hissed, his head bowing slightly with fatigue, "you didn't even try to save her…"

"Loki, I wanted to break free more than anything, but I couldn't. Whoever cast that spell was powerful. I promise you, brother, I tried", he seemed offended that Loki would accuse him of anything less, "This isn't the time to turn against me, Loki. Romanoff is going to interrogate our prisoner, Stark will hopefully get his ship up and running, and Banner is going to search the lab - he believes these unexpected guests may have something to do with what happened earlier, when Amelia fainted, remember?"

Loki's brow furrowed, "When she fainted?" He had assumed that her passing out had to do with the apparent secret Thor was keeping from him.

"She said she touched something in the lab, and", his mouth twisted into something that resembled guilt, "I fear it may have something to do with the heap of scrap and alien tech that I recovered during my last mission."

Loki blinked, his tongue burning with the need to accuse Thor of being at fault, but his brother was right about one thing - turning on each other now was not a good idea. They all needed to put their minds and skills together collectively in order to think of a plan to recover Amelia.

"Get some rest", Thor murmured, his hand coming to squeeze Loki's shoulder in an attempt at comfort, "You will need it."

Loki's shoulders fell, "I don't think I can." He couldn't lay down and sleep with the knowledge that Amelia was out there somewhere in the vast reaches of space with no allies around to help her - she was lost and alone, and Loki knew Amelia well enough to know that she would be terrified.


Sleep was, as expected, impossible. Loki could not lie still, not while his mind refused to think about anything other than Amelia.

Instead, he tried meditation. It was a good way to slowly replenish his energy while allowing his mind to trail through his consciousness and simply think, and there was one thing in particular he needed to set his focus on.

Loki had to dissect the magic that was used against him if he wanted to find any chance of countering it. He had extensive knowledge of many different types of spellcraft and sorcery, as he had spent most of his life reading about it - and somewhere in his memory, he knew he could find a significant piece of information that could help him formulate a plan against it.

He laid still in the centre of his bed, eyes closed and limbs straight, and fell easily into a state of trance-like contemplation; once he felt like he was floating, he conjured up imagery of the library that once flourished on Asgard - his favourite place to be - and wandered throughout the many shelves of books, searching pointedly for the section on time-freezing magic.

His initial perusal did not gift him with any solutions, and it frustrated him. His patience could not become thinner, and every minute he spent without an answer was a minute wasted; he ruminated for some time, until he entertained the possibility that perhaps he had misidentified the type of sorcery.

They hadn't exactly frozen time - time had still moved freely around them. It was only their bodies that were stuck in place.

Loki turned on his heel and began browsing the other possibly categories of spellcraft, and simultaneously thought back to what exactly he had witnessed - anything that could give a clue. He had gathered little intel from the experience, but what he had noticed was that the sorcerer performing the spell had hardly made a movement, and just when Loki had been moments from breaking free, they had stated that they could not hold everybody for long.

So the spell must have required intense focus, perhaps even direct eye contact to perform, which gave Loki pause; he peered over his shoulder, finding the book of telekinetic abilities hovering right before his eyes.

Of course. It had to be some sort of telekinetic paralysis magic that held him and the rest of the Avengers in place. It was certainly a more powerful strain of magic, which explains why it took a lot to shatter through it, but Loki did not allow this to excuse his failure; he had let Amelia down by allowing her to be taken, and he knew he had to do better.

He would do better. He would bring her home. Unscathed.

"Loki…"

Loki clutched the tome to his chest, a shudder wracking through him at the sound of Amelia's voice trickling through his consciousness.

"I'm sorry", Loki spoke, his voice low and quiet, before he remembered what he was supposed to be doing. Even deep in meditation, his thoughts could not escape his lover.

He looked down, flipping open the book in his arms - it was a publication on telekinesis that Loki had read several times over in his younger years. The ability to move objects at a distance with mental power alone was something that had piqued his interest long ago, and so he had trained himself to push and repel objects away with concentrated waves of invisible energy, but pulling objects towards himself was a tad more difficult. He knew that if he put his mind to it, he could probably succeed in drawing an object closer, but he hadn't been half as eager to train himself in the same regard he gave forcing objects away.

Holding objects - or people, in this case - in one solid position required forcing magical energy in the direction of the opposing force. For example, levitating an object in mid-air was a battle against gravity - one of the easier feats to pull off, given that gravity was consistent in its pressure.

A living being, however, was much more difficult to hold at bay. People were unpredictable in their struggling movements, so keeping them still required a constant alteration in the direction one's magical energy was moving, to force back against the target's floundering.

Loki flickered through the pages quickly as he read, and stopped when he found the illustration he was searching for - paralysis through telekinesis - which depicted one sorcerer trapping another by the use of such magic.

He knew he had read about it somewhere.

Loki poured over the chapter, discovering that he had been correct in his assumption - the spell required consistent eye contact and deep focus. Noise and movement were the plight of the spellcaster, a distraction could foil it with ease.

The more Loki read, the more clear it was that the sorcerer had simply been lucky - the fact that the Avengers had pooled together instead of spreading out was what had ultimately thwarted them. If they faced the foe again, at least this time they would know to fight from all angles instead of just one.

Loki knew the weakness of one of their enemies, but that left at least two more - two more whose abilities and skills remained a mystery to him. He would have to formulate a strategy as they went along, unless Natasha was lucky enough to get some information out of their captive regarding their teammate's prowess.

He quietly shut the ancient book, slotting it back into place on the shelf, before turning around and coming face to face with the woman he loved.

Loki breathed deeply, gazing at Amelia remorsefully, but with a returned sense of determination. No matter what, the woman was always on his mind; he cupped her face with one hand, wishing she was not there just as a figment of his memory, and she tilted her head against his palm, her face marred with a frown.

"I will find you", Loki spoke quietly, though he knew deep down it was only reassurance for himself. Amelia could not hear him, for she was far away.

The images around Loki dissolved suddenly as he pulled out of his meditative trance, and the sight of his lonely room greeted him. He blinked slowly, pushing away the melancholic feeling that threatened to overcome him and instead sat up, rubbing his eyes - there obviously hadn't been any news yet, because Thor had promised he would be the first to know, but there was no way he could continue to sit still and wait for progress to just happen.

Loki left the room, heading straight for the lab to check and see if Stark had made any headway with the ship. He trusted Tony was doing his best to ensure his ship was up and running for their imminent mission; the CEO was a workaholic at the best of times, which meant the added resolution of a dear friend being in danger would motivate him further.

It was approaching 2:00am, and Amelia had been gone for almost five hours; the sooner Loki knew the motive behind the abduction, the better. Not knowing was a very agonising thing.

When Loki entered the lab, Stark looked briefly up from his monitor, and then continued his work without so much as a blink; he looked tired and harrowed, most likely tormented by the burden of knowing he had to figure out his equations if he wanted Amelia back safely, but it didn't put a dent in his tenacity to succeed.

Loki chose not to ask questions. It was clear Stark was still working - if he was any closer to ensuring his ship's unquestionable safety in a space mission, he would have stated so when the god walked in.

Across the lab, Banner seemed preoccupied with something, bustling around his workstation, looking between a microscope and something on his computer monitor; this wouldn't have seemed noteworthy to Loki, but the mystified expression on the scientist's face was what fed his curiosity.

"What are you doing?" Loki asked as he came to a halt in front of the man's desk, a slight spike of acidity to the god's tone - he was still bitter that Thor and Banner were withholding important information from him. He was without a doubt that it was the case, but there was a time and place to coerce said information from either of the two, and it was after Amelia was back home and safe in his arms.

Either Banner did not catch the sharpness in Loki's voice, or he did not care. The scientist looked up, placing one palm firmly on the table as he leant over, his shoulders tense with keen purpose, and he spoke as though he had discovered the secret of the universe, "Amelia found something in here earlier, remember? She picked up a glowing ball, that's what she said- well, I didn't find a glowing ball, but I found this-" He indicated a small spherical object placed in a container on the surface of his desk. It was smooth and transparent, and looked to be made of glass, "-I had dismissed Amelia's words as disoriented mumblings, but after she was taken, I felt that perhaps there could possibly be a connection here that we were missing-"

"Enough rambling", Loki shook his head, gaze hardened, "Get to the point."

Banner sighed, motioning with a hand to his microscope, "I found this ball, swabbed it and discovered traces of an unknown element. I observed it under the microscope and found this-" He pointed to the monitor, and Loki moved around the table to view what the man was pointing out. It was a peculiar recording of what looked like green electricity, to put it simply - it acted jaggedly, moving unpredictably, in very thin streaks. The god did not know what he was looking at.

"It's like this element has a mind of its own", Banner spoke, and it further frustrated Loki.

"Yes, and? How does this connect with Amelia?" He had exercised enough patience in the past five or so hours, but he refused to endure a game of Twenty Questions when there were much more important matters at hand.

Banner sent Loki a grim look, before tapping a button on the monitor, and the image on screen changed, revealing another recording with an abundance of pinkish-red shapes interweaved with the same green electrical veins.

"I took Amelia's blood earlier when she passed out. This is what it looks like below the microscope", Banner stated, "Whatever was stored in this sphere… is now in Amelia."

Loki felt his teeth grind together as he tried to discern what exactly this meant. He stared hard at the unremarkable, transparent ball within the clear container, and let out an exasperated sigh.

"And what exactly is this? Where did it come from? How did it get in here?"

Banner's mouth went crooked, a troublesome look upon his countenance, "I believe it came from there", he pointed to the pile of odd looking scrap metal and other unusual materials sitting on an adjacent table, "I think it's some sort of alien tech. Thor investigated the site of a presumed meteor crash last week, but it wasn't a meteor that fell. It was-" he motioned to the table, "all of this. We weren't sure what it was, but if it was some sort of container, it may have been carrying this inside", he looked once again to the strange clear sphere.

Loki swallowed tightly, pushing down his immediate impulse to reprimand Banner and Stark for keeping unclassified alien technology lying around on a table for anybody to touch, and exhaled calmly, "And what do you know of this? Have you discovered anything about it? Is it- dangerous- some sort of weapon?" There were many more questions on the tip of his tongue, and the more he thought this new mystery, the more worried he became. "What is this stuff doing to Amelia?"

This strange element Banner spoke of could have been hurting her, poisoning her, killing her - whatever it was, it wasn't native to Earth. Amelia was never meant to come into contact with it, and that was terrifying.

Banner shook his head apologetically, "I don't know. All I know is that it behaves erratically, however…"

"However?"

"This is just an observation, but when Amelia woke up in the infirmary, she appeared to be in prime health concerning all areas. She'd been feeling unwell, right? And she was complaining about sore muscles earlier, but after she came in contact with this stuff, it all disappeared. What if it… healed her?" The words seemed uncomfortable on Banner's tongue, and there was a flutter of uncertainty in his tone, but his hypothesis appeared to make some sense.

Loki frowned, cynical as always, and shook his head. "We need to find her. As quick as possible."

Banner nodded in agreement, "You should see if Natasha is making any progress?"

Loki's expression darkened significantly the moment his mind settled on their captive; he wanted to cause them unimaginable pain for what their team had done, but he had to be patient and wait until they revealed destination coordinates at the very least.

As the god turned to exit the room, Stark stood quickly, staring hard at his screen.

"I think I've done what I can", Stark spoke aloud, "Still, we'll be rolling the dice either way. We can only go for so long in this thing, so we better hope they're not halfway across the universe already."

Loki felt a pulse of adrenaline rush through him, and nodded, turning to flee the lab at once; there was no more need for waiting now, they were ready to leave the planet, the only thing that stood in their way was obtaining the knowledge of where Amelia was being taken - and Loki intended to acquire that information as quickly as possibly.

The captive was being kept in an isolation cell, a room that was sturdy enough to imprison the strongest of stubborn individuals. When Loki arrived in the connected observation room, he was pleased with what he saw.

The captive's armour had been removed, leaving her vulnerable in the thin material of her grey space suit, she was bound to a chair and slumped in pained exhaustion. Her light blue skin was covered with lacerations, thanks to the skillful hand of the Black Widow and her knife, and there were purple smears - presumably the captive's blood - all over her.

Natasha had been tastefully torturing the prisoners steadily over the past few hours in an effort to retrieve information, and was still in there currently, sitting on the edge of a table and watching the foe with deep consideration.

"What do we know?" Loki asked Clint and Steve, who were quietly watching the proceedings from beyond the one-way viewing window.

"Her name is Lexir, she's part of an alien species called the Yica…" Clint began.

"And she says they had orders to retrieve Amelia because she was the 'host', and that they tracked her through several jump points in space", Steve's lips twisted in frustration, "She has yet to explain exactly what that means."

"By jump points, she likely refers to wormholes - doorways in space that allow you to travel vast distances in mere moments", Loki explained, "Stark is hoping to utilize these jump points with the technology in his new ship… but I wish to know what she means when she calls Amelia 'the host'."

"Natasha is trying to get that out of her." Clint supplied, sending Loki a jaded look, it was the expression of somebody who was infuriated at the lack of information they were obtaining, "She's not telling us anything, only one-word answers, and inflicting pain isn't getting us far."

"She will break eventually. She has already given us small pieces of insight, which means it's just a matter of forcing the rest out of her." Loki spoke tightly, "Perhaps you should allow me to try."

"With all due respect, Loki, we don't want her dead before she can speak." Steve interjected with a sigh.

"You think I am a fool?" Loki seethed, his temper rising suddenly, "We have wasted enough time! The longer we wait, the further away Amelia will be, and you think I would kill the only chance we have of finding her?" He may have been enraged and desperate for revenge, but he was no moron.

"You almost killed her earlier, before Thor intervened", Clint pointed out, annoyingly complacent in his statement, and Loki's jaw tightened.

His judgement had been clouded with hysteria, fear brought on by Amelia's abduction, and the only thing he'd been able to think about was making the person responsible pay for their actions with blood. His head was much clearer now, and he knew what was important.

"That was then, this is now. Romanoff is skilled in torturing information out of people, but her methods only work on a physical level. With my magic, I may be able to coerce what we need out of her mind." Loki remained insistent, and if either of the two men continued to protest, it did not matter. He would barge into the room either way.

Steve and Clint looked at each other, the latter clearly having a few more misgivings than the former, if the dismayed downturn of his lips had anything to do with it, but ultimately Steve nodded his head and pressed the button down on the intercom.

"Nat, I think we should let Loki try", Steve suggested, and Natasha gazed back through the viewing window in his vague direction, her eyebrows furrowed with doubt. She did retreat, however, after a moment, which indicated to Loki that she too was frustrated with how difficult the captive was to crack.

He would not encounter the same problems.

Loki passed Romanoff as he entered the isolation room, coming to a stop several feet before the captive as the door slid closed and locked with a hiss.

The captive, Lexir, returned his stony stare. She truly seemed to have impressive self-control if she had so far refrained from giving Natasha significant information, but she would soon crumble and succumb to Loki's magic.

"You are going to tell me where Amelia is being taken."

Lexir's yellow gaze did not falter in the slightest, there was no involuntary movement in the muscles of her face, nor was there any quiver to her pursed lips. She had a good poker face, for the moment.

It had been some time since he had last used his magic to probe another's mind. The last time he had done so forcefully was upon meeting Valkyrie on Sakaar, and he had forced his way into her mind to bring forth painful memories. He had dabbled with the ability a tad more recently in a much more ethical way - it was the kind of magic he used on to soothe Amelia's occasional nightmare. Whenever her distressed tossing and turning woke him up, his immediate actions were to reach gently into Amelia's mind and turn the darkness into light.

He would not be reaching so gently into Lexir's mind.

Ordinarily, he would perhaps give the captive a chance to offer the important information willingly as the experience would certainly not be fun for her, but fuck it. Loki's patience had long since run dry.

He stepped forward and pressed the palm of his hand to the captive's forehead, clenching his fingers in her short, black hair for extra measure, and forced his way viciously into her mind; her screams rang out at once as Loki attacked her mental barriers without any irresolution - the method was savage, but necessary. It wasn't as simple as reading the thoughts of the victim's mind, but more of a torture method to push the victim into offering those thoughts willingly in the hope that the affliction would end.

"Show me where Amelia is being taken", Loki ordered calmly, and Lexir howled, attempting to fight the onslaught and trying to wrestle her body away from him, but he had the upper hand, there was no escape for her, and Loki would remain persistent for as long as he needed to.

Lexir hid her thoughts and memories behind the fractured blockades in her mind that refused to buckle. Loki was impressed by how well she was holding herself together, but he knew it would not last forever. He would break through.

He tried to throw her off by asking for other pieces of information, "Show me your teammates", the god commanded, after all, it would make the forthcoming journey a lot easier if Loki knew what to prepare for when it came to fighting his way through whatever stood between him and his lover.

Loki was greeted with shapes and colours that formed slowly into images of the foes that had caught him off guard earlier that evening. He saw a female with reddish-pink skin and short white hair with stoic eyes of orange - Alzill was her name, and she must have been the one to knock Amelia out before taking off with her. The next form that became clear belonged to that of the sorcerer - male, light greyish skin, short stature and pointy ears - his name was Dhox. And then Loki saw another female, reddish skin, long white hair and the same orange eyes as the first - this was General Ularis, the leader of their little crew.

With the images of Ularis, there came fresh knowledge of emotions, and Loki learnt of the relationship Lexir and Ularis shared. They were more than teammates, far more than friends, they were lovers - Loki could tell from the whirls of compassion and tenderness seeping through the mental connection - and Loki knew at once that he could use this to his advantage.

Perhaps he could bargain with Ularis. He could trade Lexir for Amelia. It would mean that he would be unable to experience the pleasure of killing her, but if it meant having Amelia back safely, then he could accept it.

Loki doubled his efforts, waves of invasive, potent magic flowed out of him and into Lexir, coaxing none-too-gently. "Show me where they are taking her", he repeated. He would not play games any longer.

Lexir screams had grown hoarse - she was clearly not equipped to stand up to psychogenic abilities. Her will was strong, but not strong enough. Loki saw through her barriers, a world of outstanding information becoming available at his fingertips.

The image sharpened in his mind and he saw Lexir's memories clearly, drinking in the sight that would become Amelia's new home if he were to fail in recovering her, and his whole body grew icy and tense.

He retracted his hand, the captive's head falling forward in exhaustion, and turned to the mirror that acted as a viewing window from the observation room. All he saw was the tangible consternation on his pale face.

"We need to go, now."

He had to save her.


There was no slow meander into consciousness. It was an instantaneous wall of alarm that slammed into Amelia like a raging tsunami the moment her awareness tickled the edges of her mind. She sucked in a sharp breath, eyes flying open - she'd been taken by space aliens, she didn't know where she was, and she didn't know what had happened to Loki or the others.

The table Amelia awoke upon was cold. She was strapped down with sturdy bindings that made it impossible for her to wriggle or even move her head to take in her surroundings, but from what she could see, she realised very quickly that it was an environment she did not like.

There were bright lights above, shining off every unblemished and dustless surface, and a wide variety of machines and equipment that was utterly foreign in its appearance. The sight sent her into a blind panic, and immediately she began breathing hard and fast, trying everything she could to escape the trap she had found herself in.

A loud, frightening noise began emitting from a machine adjacent to her, a high-pitched, shrieking beep that only provoked Amelia's panic; it was no use, she couldn't make the bindings budge even an inch, and in her fit of trepidation, she realised that she was wearing something entirely different to the purple party dress she remembered.

Which meant somebody had stripped her.

Somebody had taken off her clothes and redressed her in what felt like spandex - a grey material that covered her completely from her ankles to her neck, and hugged her body firmly in a way that made her feel self-conscious and exposed. She hated it. She hated the clothing she had been forced to wear and she hated that somebody had seen her nude body.

Amelia began to sob, the clamour of the beeping machinery making it impossible for her to calm down and think straight.

Quite quickly, a person appeared in her peripheral vision, approaching too hastily to the dismay of Amelia's wildly beating heart; she let out a fearful screech, flinching away from what Amelia immediately identified as a ridiculously beautiful woman.

The strange woman held up her palms, the universal symbol of 'I am not a threat to you', but in Amelia's state, it did nothing to calm her - she was far too worked up, and that goddamn machine was still beeping.

As if reading her mind, the woman regarded the machine and pressed a few buttons, muting it suddenly; the absence of noise brought a small semblance of relief, but Amelia continued to cry, just shy of hyperventilating, and watched the woman with nothing but trembling distrust.

"Sorry, this machine was monitoring your heart rate, that's all. I'm not going to hurt you", she said, her voice so soft and melodic that Amelia likened it to the tune of a gentle harp; it was shocking enough to bewilder her and bring her out of her state of intense panic. Amelia stared at the woman, her mouth hanging open as she continued to take unstable breaths, and absorbed her appearance carefully.

Long blonde hair that looked softer than silk, her eyes wonderfully viridescent, skin fair and pale, and cheeks warm and rosy - she looked like an elf who had walked straight out of a Tolkien novel, minus the pointy ears. Although, the woman was dressed similarly to Amelia in that moment, with a little more patterns and interesting designs to her outfit, so she was more like an ethereal space-explorer of sorts.

"I'm here to help you. I'm a healer, you see", the woman revealed, her voice crystal clear and endlessly lovely. She appeared sympathetic to Amelia's situation, but at the same time she was just standing there while Amelia was strapped tightly to a cold table.

"W-who are you?" Amelia whimpered, speaking the first question that came to her mind.

"I am Inga, daughter of Ingirid. I am the appointed healer of this ship, and I've been asked to give you a physical check to ensure that you are healthy and everything is working properly."

There was an odd familiarity in her voice, but Amelia was too frazzled to pin-point exactly what it was.

"But- why? Why? I need to go home, I can't be here, please- I need to go home", Amelia stammered, her diaphragm quivering with each breath, "Mm- my friends, my partner- they'll be so worried, please, I need to go…"

Inga frowned apologetically, genuine sadness evident in her green gaze, and she released a sigh, "I know. I am sorry, but I cannot help you there."

Amelia slumped against the table, shutting her eyes tightly. She was trapped on a ship, presumably flying through space, terrified and alone, and with no knowledge of what had happened to her friends, or what had happened to Loki. Were they alright? Were they on their way to rescue her? Or were they…?

She didn't want to think about it, but it was all that whirled through her mind.

"Do you… know anything about my friends? What happened to them?" Amelia asked, tentative and hopeful.

Inga looked contemplative for a moment, "Eruk's squad returned with you and nobody else, but one of the squad members were left behind. This is all I know."

Amelia blinked rapidly, "Eruk?"

"Lord Eruk Vaskaar", Inga clarified, her voice somewhat terse, "He is a collector, of sorts. Very wealthy and influential. He is the owner of the ship we currently reside on."

It was difficult for Amelia to swallow, her throat had tightened considerably, but she tried to nonetheless. There were so many questions zipping through her mind and she did not know what to ask first, or whether her voice would be strong enough to even form the words.

She picked a question and asked aloud, "W-why me? Why did he take me?"

Inga patiently explained, "You were the first female human to come into contact with the Alcamax compound. It is a chemical composite designed to meld with the host and produces many health benefits, including cell regeneration, increased strength and stamina, and longevity. It is also easy to track over vast distances, thus it is used as a sort of homing beacon. That is why you were taken."

Amelia struggled to assimilate the information that was being offered. Her mind was abuzz with white noise, and within a few moments her stomach was burning from the inside out, her skin clammy with sweat, and her head aching unbearably.

"Oh, mm… please… I'm gonna be sick…" She tried to take steady breaths, attempting to steel herself back to calmness, but it was pointless.

Inga quickly released the straps that were holding Amelia down, and less than a moment later, she was vomiting off the edge of the table, the acidic contents of her stomach searing her throat as it went. It was mostly the pepper poppers. She should've fucking listened to Loki, but she just had to go and eat half a fucking plateful.

Amelia continued to wretch for a few moments, dry heaves that left her gagging as her mouth was filled with a disgustingly bitter taste, and she groaned, the next few words leaving her before she could actually think about it, "I can't be here, I'm pregnant."

Inga, who had not been terribly concerned at the sight of Amelia vomiting, seemed to perk up, and Amelia froze immediately, wondering why she had revealed such a precarious truth. To think she could so easily blab to a stranger, but was so full of uncertainty when it came to telling Loki.

"Pregnant?" Inga gasped, "That is not something I checked for. Lay back." Gentle hands pressed Amelia back down, and the woman quickly pressed a bunch of buttons in succession, which prompted an odd golden light to encompass the table, sort of like a visible forcefield, and Amelia's eyes widened with worry.

"Wait, what are you do-"

"Hush, it is all well and good. I am merely scanning your body for the presence of another lifeform", she licked her lips, and seemed to enliven when an image formed within the golden light above Amelia's stomach, "Oh. Look at that… you are pregnant."

Amelia blinked, staring dumbly at what appeared to be the result of some sort of high-tech ultrasound - it was just as grainy and unclear as the type that existed on Earth, but Inga seemed quite excited, so Amelia could only infer that the healer knew which ill-defined shape was her unborn child.

"Mmm", Amelia hummed, a blanket of sorrow befalling her. She needed to get home. Loki had to know - she had to tell him, before anybody else did - Amelia did not want him to find out any other way. He deserved to hear the truth from her, and her alone.

"This complicates things", Inga murmured after a moment, "perhaps I could appeal to Lord Eruk, and maybe he would let you go…" Despite her words, she did not seem convinced, "Where we are going is no place for an infant to be raised…"


Notes: So uh, here's the thing. This fic is already going way off-pace to what I originally planned, which means a lot of points in this story are going to be improvised and unplanned, probably based on the feedback I receive, and THAT means that we're ALL kinda writing this fic, if ya know what I mean xD

As I mentioned before, I've had a bad time recently. My anxiety has come back, it's so bad that my doctor has signed me off work, and naturally I am swathed in doubt over my writing skill. I'm scared that this chapter is not good, like I am really really worried that y'all are gonna hate it. That's anxiety for ya. Maybe I'm worrying over nothing, but I would just be so grateful if you could leave a comment, and if possible to give feedback, because it REALLY helps me churn out new chapters if I know where my weak/strong points are.

I love you all, thank you!