The Avengers continued to talk as Bruce took Ellie back to the infirmary. What had started out as a moment of light had slowly faded into a dark, empty space. Immortality was… something Ellie never wanted.
Many humans dream of defeating the fear of death, of knowing that they would see time beyond their own… Once Ellie had considered it. She'd been young at first and like all children, when they first knew what death was, she'd been afraid… wishing that she didn't have to die. But, the older she got, the more she realized eternal life was a curse. Maybe she could blame that on watching "Doctor Who", but….
Bruce led her back into the infirmary. She sat on the bed, looking at her hand as though it were some horrible monster that had grafted itself onto her. Bruce walked over to a near-by table. He took his glasses off for a minute, wishing he had the right words to counter this.
"Ellie," he said softly. "No matter what happens, from here on out… you're safe."
Ellie didn't respond. Bruce swallowed. In her current state, he didn't know if she could be trusted alone. She looked so distressed, so broken. Bruce didn't like it, he knew that look all too well. He needed to protect her.
"Ellie," he said. "For the time being, I'm gonna have to stay with you. If I have to leave, I'll send one of the nurses in."
"Okay," she whispered.
"Can I get anything for you?"
Ellie shook her head. She turned over and lay on the bed, cradling her hand. Bruce came beside her, covering her with a blanket. He sat down on the bed, rubbing her back once. Ellie closed her eyes. Bruce could hear the soft breaths, indicating tears. She reached over and clutched his hand.
"Everything'll be gone," She whispered. "And I'll still be here."
Bruce turned his hand over, holding her fingers. His hands felt warm and safe. Ellie closed her eyes, drifting into the darkness.
"So," Natasha said quietly, once Ellie was gone. "What happens now?"
Nick Fury remained still in thought for a moment before speaking. "Our main priority has been and remains finding the Tesseract. Dr. Banner and Mr. Stark will continue the search for the time being. Once it's found we can move further.
"And Ellie, sir?" Clint spoke up. "What happens to her?"
"Nothing," Tony interrupted. "She gets a clean bill of health and goes home, that's it."
"I don't believe it's that simple any more, Mr. Stark," Agent Coulson spoke up.
"Why, because suddenly she's suddenly able to piece herself back together?" Tony raised an eyebrow. "Don't know how far you've traveled in New York, Agent, but that's not exactly a rare trait anymore."
"We're not talking about the mutant X-gene, Mr. Stark," Agent Coulson responded. "We're talking about a girl who might, if not does, have the capacity to live far beyond her years."
"Umm," Tony looked back to the others. "Again, last time I checked that's not exactly hard to find anymore."
"On Asgard, yes," Thor spoke up. "But on earth, I know there are men who clamor and would kill for such power." He turned to Phil. "Do you really believe her life to be in danger?"
"It would be a possibility," Coulson said solely. "I'd need more information on this "Adligamentum Animus" first and how exactly it works."
"Is there a possibility it could be reversed?" Natasha spoke again. "That it could just wear off?"
Thor shook his head. "The power Loki has used has literally bound her…" Thor searched for the word. Jane had used it once. "Chemi…"
"Chemical make-up? DNA?" Tony offered.
Thor nodded in thanks towards Tony for his help. "Her body now holds an element of Loki's form within her. It's keeping her alive, protecting her. And if it has altered this "physical make-up" of her form, I know not what would happen if it were to be removed."
Tony huffed a little. "Her compound would collapse. She barely made it through the first time, I don't know if she'd be able to endure a second."
"Then our options are limited." Thor turned back to Phil. "What do you propose we do?"
"Yeah, Coulson," Stark spoke up. "What's the choice here? Science project cage? Nice bedroom for the "interest of Medical science?""
"Mr. Stark, I'd like to believe that you do not think it's easy for me to suggest this," Phil Coulson responded, his tone still as calm as ever, but Tony could swear to seeing a flash in his eyes. "This is far bigger than we originally anticipated."
"So she goes through hell at Loki's hand and then gets to come back here only to be put in a cage again, that's great." Tony snapped.
"You wanna calm down?" Steve stood up, all eyes drawing to him. "I think I can openly speak for everyone when I say that girl doesn't belong in a cage, nor does anyone WANT to put her in one."
"Have you ever been trapped, Rogers?" Tony asked. "Been alone, lost in a place for months where you don't know if it's going to be your last day on earth? Been subject to the beck and call of your captors?"
Steve stared at him. "I have." He looked around to every single person at the table. "I think we all have."
Tony didn't respond.
Nick Fury sighed. "I think we all realize that super-human abilities are no longer elements of science fiction. And it appears that longevity is not as rare as we would believe. But I think you forget, Stark, that those who do posses such powers have even stronger abilities. Abilities that more often than not keep them alive even more so than this… "immortality" does. If I believe she could be safe on earth, if I believe there was a place where she could go where no one would ever be able to touch her and she could live a normal life I would… and I will. But you know what men will do for power Stark, men that even the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. would have issues facing."
"That's why you have us," Tony said.
"I can't have the Avengers on twenty-four hour surveillance of one person, Stark. And after what we just saw, I doubt she's the type to want that. Now, for the time being, we are keeping our options open. I'll get in touch with a few friends, see if there is any other doors open up. Again, our main priority is locating the Tesseract. After that, we can discuss this further."
"Are you really gonna keep your options open, Nick, or are you just saying that?" Tony crossed his arms.
The other members of the team stared. It was the first time in… well, perhaps since he'd came on board that he sounded genuinely pissed off.
"Tony," Nick looked back to him. "If everything I've heard today is true, then that girl is going to outlive every single one of us. We'll all be long gone and she'll still look exactly the same. People are going to know, Stark. Going to wonder what would happen if they got a hold of that and they'll start hunting. They might target her, her family, anyone. If there is any other option to keeping her here, I'll take it, Stark… but there are people at risk, including herself. It's not gonna be hard not to notice that a seventy-year-old still looks to be in her twenties."
Tony stared at Fury, wishing for some come back, some bitter retort. He knew Fury to have lies and secrets beyond anyone else he knew… expect perhaps Loki and he didn't even really know Loki… but when Fury was truthful, genuine, it showed… and not even he could argue with that.
Fury looked at Agent Coulson. "For the time being, Coulson, I'm transferring her case to you. Banner will stay on as her doctor. Just make sure she stays out of trouble."
"Yes, sir," Coulson nodded.
"Great, Phil's on babysitting duty again."
"Babysitting implies I'm looking after a child, Mr. Stark. I prefer to use that term the appropriate situations." Phil Coulson said. "More often than not, I find myself using that term when I have to visit a certain home in Malibu"
Tony gave Phil an incredulous look.
"Any restrictions, sir?" He asked. Fury shook his head.
"For the time being, nothing out of the ordinary." He looked to everyone at the table. "You all have visiting rights," he looked directly at Stark. "But they can be revoked. She's been through enough for right now and we have larger priorities."
The meeting soon broke afterwards, eating heading in their own directions, but Clint stayed behind.
"It's not worth being yourself up over," a voice said. "You were compromised."
"I shouldn't have been," Clint said, watching as Natasha sat beside him.
"You're fooling yourself if you believe you were expected to fend off magic," Natasha noted. "No one blames you. She doesn't blame you. And I don't believe she'd want you to beat yourself up over that. If I were her, I wouldn't want that."
Clint smiled back at his partner. "What if it had been you?" He whispered. "Before the battle, Loki ordered-"
"I'd have knocked some sense into you sooner," She smiled.
It was completely dark when Ellie awoke. She rolled over slightly, rubbing her eyes as she looked at a near-by clock. One in the morning. She lay still in the bed, watching a few lone figures walk through the halls, probably about to turn in for the night, or take on the graveyard shift.
Ellie looked down at her hand once again, the events from that afternoon still crystal clear in her mind. A broken bone healing instantaneously tends to leave an impact on people.
A gentle noise caught her attention and Ellie looked to nurse was sitting in a chair across from the bed, having drifted off to sleep. Bruce must have stepped out. Ellie smiled. His concern for her well-being was more than accepted, but she didn't wanna hurt herself. Scared and frightened, yes. Giving up completely, no.
What she wanted was answers…. and to give someone a pretty big piece of her mind.
For a while, she just lay in bed, considering her options but since most of them seemed illogical and she knew there was no way in hell a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent was going to deliver a piece of mail to a sociopathic prisoner, Ellie would just have to send the message herself.
She moved quietly out of bed, keeping an eye on the nurse at all times less she disturb her and run the risk of being administered a sedative. She picked up a pair of slippers on the floor and tip toed over to the door. Thankfully she found it to be unlocked and rather than run the risk of a loud noise waking her "guard" she slid the door open a little and crept out of the room, watching the halls for anyone approaching. Every now and then she'd have to duck into a corridor to avoid being spotted, but she kept her eyes on the goal, not stopping to take a break till she reached a stairwell. Using the elevator would present a higher risk of getting caught.
And where she was going, she didn't want anyone to follow.
She looked out at the number painted on the wall. Section forty-five. The Infirmary.
Good, she thought. She didn't have far to go.
It amazed Ellie how few guards were actually around the detention center. How many locks had they placed him under that they truly believed he was safe. She looked a head, somewhat grateful at least to see two guards standing by the main entrance. Well, at least it was something.
But again, why only two? Surely they didn't think that would be enough?
She watched in silence for a while as the guards stood stock still outside the door. Maybe this wasn't going to work after all.
Soon enough, however, two other guards came, presumably to relieve their companions of duty. She watched them speak for a moment, sharing a comment or a laugh or two, before one of the guards motioned that the other two had to come with him for a minute. At first the guards seemed uncertain of the act, but once she heard the words "Director Fury" dropped, she knew it wouldn't be long before they left. Paperwork, maybe, she thought.
She watched as they left the station, leaving the coast clear. Ellie swallowed and hoped it would be a while before they came back.
This would not be a short conversation.
She approached the door, biting her tongue angrily once she saw the security code panel on the door.
"Damn!" She thought to herself. Well, great job thinking this one through-"
She was interrupted in mid thought as the door slowly opened of its own will. She stepped back in shock, looking to see if anyone else had… She paused. A new thought came to mind. She clenched her fists and entered the room, the door closing slowly behind her.
At the center of the room was a large glass… Well, Ellie could have liked it to a fish tank for the shark that was kept inside, but it was a containment cell. A large circular chamber surrounded by thick, thick glass. Though certainly not like any cell Ellie had ever heard of or read about.
The interior was strangely well decorated, though there was evidence that it had been pretty sparse before. While there wasn't anything present that could be used as a weapon, there was more than enough to make a person… any person let alone one with a Machiavellian mind-set to feel more than comfortable.
She moved slowly up the metal staircase, leading to the front of the cage. She watched a lone figure sitting in a regal green armchair, his attention fully absorbed in a book he was holding. He crossed one leg over the other, flipping to the next page of his book before continuing to read. Ellie stared at him, bitting back the swelling wave of fear as she started to speak.
"You can stop pretending now," she said.
"Is it so obvious to you?" He did not turn around, but there was a smile in his voice.
"Don't insult me… or yourself," she said. "I don't think anyone guarding an enemy of earth would leave their post that easily."
This prompted him to place his book down. He uncrossed his legs and rose from his seat, smiling at her as his eyes met with her once again.
"My flower," he greeted her. Ellie didn't move. She had to hold herself back from flinching at the name. "Dressed in the rags of a mortal but still as lovely as ever. How fascinating it is that we should meet again like this. I am currently the one, as you said, "in a golden cage," he smiled. "And you walk around freely. Is this not the case? Or…" he moved a little closer to the glass, "is there something missing from this moment? A truth of some kind?"
"Whatever you did to me," Ellie said sharply. "Whatever you gave me, get rid of it. Now."
"Oooo," Loki smiled. He clicked his tongue disapprovingly. "If I did not know better, I'd say you were making demands of me. A mere captive who can not leave this prison. What has brought you to such a state, flower?"
"Shut up!" Ellie snapped, her voice a mere whisper, but an angry, vicious whisper at that. "This ends now! You never kept our deal. Change. Me. Back." She hissed out each and every word violently.
"I did?" Loki asked, sickeningly innocently. "As I recall," he moved carefully, each step calculated perfectly, like a cat waiting for the right moment to strike an injured mouse. "I kept our bargain. Your friend was not harmed by myself or my men."
"Bastard," Ellie seethed, trembling. "He was killed and I think I know who ordered it!"
"Still," Loki said, watching her every move. "It was not my hand that took his final breath. It was not my blade that slit his throat. Even if it was by my own hand, flower…. sweet, beautiful flower," Each word oozed from his mouth with syrupy sweetness. "I can not undo what your form has become. It is not within mine nor any power known to the nine realms. Your soul now lives through me and so it shall be forever."
"You're sick," Ellie said, fighting everything within her to not let Loki's words get to her. "You bind some girl you don't even know to you just because you want some kind of pet? You're pathetic, plain and simple."
Loki's eyes flashed. "What makes you think I don't know you, flower?" He snarled a little. "What makes you think I don't know you, PET?" He snapped, causing her to step back. At the sight, he calmed himself, smiling at her as though such a act had never occurred. "Do you not think that I did not consider my actions? Did I not say before I could have had any mortal I desired? Yet in the end, I chose you."
"You chose pretty poorly," Ellie said. "And you did NOT think this through because you did not consider this. You get your ass handed to you. You get caught. You a one-way ticket back to Asgard. You pay for everything you've done and I head home."
"Is that so?" Loki asked his teeth glimmering like sharp pearls in the dim light. "How lovely. "Good triumphs over evil", is that right? The villain is taken away in chains and the beautiful maiden returns to the loving arms she was so crudely snatched away from. Were you ever told who brought you to me?"
"You were controlling him," Ellie said sharply. "I don't care."
"Curious. How quick you are to forgive, flower," Loki chuckled. "At any rate, so the story ends. You return home as though our meeting were nothing more than a bad dream. I am sent away and you gain all you lost. Am I correct?" He smiled. "If that is so… what brings you here tonight?"
Ellie paused, her heart beat starting to quicken at his question. "I want whatever you gave me out!"
"Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no," Loki shook his head. "There's more, isn't there? Something that startled you? Something that brought you to me even sooner than I would have thought? Perhaps… a new concern has come to light. When will Director Fury allow you to return home?"
Ellie swallowed. Director Fury hadn't exactly told her that yet. "Soon," She said.
"Why so uncertain?" Loki chuckled, putting his finger to his lips. "Have you been thinking about what will they think of you when you return home? Do they not have certain words for humans like you? I've heard quite a few myself. "Freak?" "Monster?" "Abnormal?" "Creature?" "Thing from another realm?" Surely you must have heard some already… perhaps even before you came to my side. I do know so little of your childhood, flower. Tell me, what did your schoolmates think of you when you were younger."
Ellie could feel her rage boiling. "I never came to your side!" She snapped.
"Not willingly," Loki shrugged. "But these last two months have proven otherwise. And let us not forget, I offered you your freedom. Yet you choose to stay of your own free will."
"You said you'd kill my family!" Ellie snarled.
"I said no such thing." Loki grinned. "I said there might not be a place for them in my new kingdom. But such words can mean a lot of things. Imprisonment. Banishment. Servitude. Death is not the only option, flower-"
"SHUT UP!" Ellie roared. "STOP CALLING ME THAT! I AM NOT YOUR "FLOWER!"
"But you are," Loki's grin widened. "You were since the moment I saw you. You were mine since the moment of your birth, if it has all lead up to this. By the hands of fate, I was bound to find you and you were bound to be mine." He stared at her. "And your choice to accept my life-"
"Through a gun pointed at Henry Remington's head!" Ellie counter, her control over her emotions slowly slipping away.
"Remington," Loki's smile faded a tad. "Of course. The bleeding heart of a mortal always blinded by affection rather than fact. Why weep for a man lead by false affections. He was the one who knew nothing of you, flower."
"He knew I was human. He knew I didn't belong in a cage."
"You barely knew him." Loki countered. "You did not even know his name. You could have let him die. What would it have mattered to you? You could have watched that worthless human fall dead at your feet and you'd be mortal. Instead you allowed him to live-"
"LIAR!" Ellie screamed. "You bastard! You twisted my words around, you-."
"'Monster?'" Loki offered. "'Creature of darkness?' 'Lie-smith?' I've heard them all, flower." He grinned. "You chose to accept my life force into your body. I am, in every sense, the reason you live at this very moment. Your heart, your brain, oh yes, they are treasures, but your life is now mine. I am reason you walk, the reason you breathe. How is your hand, by the by?"
Ellie's face blanched, her once injured hand curling into a fist. How did he-
"When you return home, flower," Loki said, "If those who "saved you" from me even allow for such a thing, It won't take long for the truth to come to light. You are not the child you used to be. You are not even mortal. Your life is beyond those of the humans who walk the earth. And it will not take long for them to see your new existence. To never age, never grow weak from sickness, to never again feel the affects of mortality. Tell me, when the truth is revealed, what mortal man would have the heart to take you for his wife?"
Ellie's mouth went dry.
"To have an eternally beautiful bride, What a prize. But then they have grown old, when they pass into the next life and you remain as lovely as the day they married you, what shall they wonder? Who will be next? Will they become just a name on your long list of partners? And what of your children?"
"Shut up." Ellie whispered.
"It is only your life force that is mine, flower. Born from the seed of a mortal father, they will grow, they will age and they shall die. Imagine, flower, watching your children and their children and even their children grow, blossom into life and then die. Your lifetime is many, their's is one." Loki smiled. "You have no place among the mortals any longer, sweetest flower, if you are even allowed to return. Your place, the only place you belong is by my side and even if I must remain in this prison for eons at end, I will always know of you. Think of you. Dream of you and I shall never stop doing so. If you run, I will find you, I will hunt you down and bring you back to me even if it takes till the stars turn cold. You are mine, Midgardian flower- No." Loki chuckled. "No. No longer. My sweet Asgardian flower. And come time enough… you will obey me. You will adore me, thank me even for my gift. Why," Loki's eyes never left the terrified girl's. "You might even come to love-"
A loud sound caused Ellie to step back and even Loki jolted a little. The floor under the cell had parted, revealing a rather large and rather long hole. Whatever was dropped down it was not coming back. Ellie turned around, her heart stopping as she saw someone near the cell's control panel.
"It's very late. I think that's enough conversation for one evening," the finely dressed man said, shutting down the panel before walking over to Ellie. He took off his suit coat, putting it gently over her shoulders. "I think its best we get you back to the infirmary, Miss Conner."
"Ever the gentleman, Agent Coulson?" Loki asked, eyeing the mortal touching his flower dangerously.
"I see no reason not to be," Coulson smiled at the prisoner. "Have a good evening, Mr. Loki." He turned to go, leading Ellie along with him.
"Likewise," Loki said, loudly enough for him to hear. "Sleep well, my flower."
"Don't answer him," Coulson said, keeping Ellie close, refusing to let her address that man anymore as he gently lead her back to the infirmary.
