Chapter 4: Dance With The Devil

Loki eyed his visitors, pleased at their frustrated, brooding gazes. "What have I done that deserves such an audience?" he asked innocently.

Fury stepped forward, eyes serious. His posture was noticeably stiff as he spoke. "Your attempt to kidnap a civilian was a futile attempt to escape. I cannot begin to wonder what goes on in that head of yours, but did you really think that your plan would work?"

Loki tilted his head back and barked a low, vigorous laugh. "That was not an attempt to kidnap one of your kind. My gesture was a simple greeting and a promise."

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?" asked Fury, truly interested. Loki's lips peeled back from his teeth to reveal a sinful smile for a response.

Tony, still in his Iron Man suit, walked toward the glass that was imprisoning Loki. "And now I have a promise for you; If you so much as think about touching my sister again, I'll kill you. That is a promise that I intend to keep." His face was livid, his lips curling in loathing at the god.

Steve and Natasha gave Stark a look of warning, which he seemed to not have noticed for he was focused on Loki.

"Such a temper, Mr. Stark. I truly have no intention of touching your sister again." He paused for effect and to absorb Tony's look of slight surprise. "I have much larger plans for the rest of you, but for her… She will suffer in ways that you cannot even imagine; not even in your worst nightmares."

Stark punched the glass, causing the entire cage to fall slightly from its grip. Steve and Clint grabbed Tony to drag him from the room as he shouted profanities, which were drowned out by Loki's laughter.

Once Stark was no longer able to be heard, Fury turned towards Loki tiredly. "I do not have the patience to sift through your head of craziness to find out what you are truly planning at the moment, but we have a lot of time. Get comfortable, because you're going to be in here for a long time." He slowly walked out of the room, followed by Natasha and Bruce, leaving Thor alone with his brother.

"Have you no remorse, brother?" Thor asked heatedly.

Loki sneered with annoyance. "I have little remorse for those who are so far beneath me."

"You think yourself above them?"

"Well, yes," he replied in a matter-of-fact tone. "I assumed that much was clear."

Thor took a moment to think before asking, "Do you think yourself above me?"

"I do," Loki simply stated. "You are arrogant, you are reckless, and you do not have what it takes to be a King."

"Tell me, Loki. What are qualities a true King should posses?" Thor asked, his anger becoming more apparent. "Is it greed? Selfishness? Pride? If those are indeed the requirements for a King than you truly are well on your way."

"Do not criticize me," Loki warned. "It takes power, insight, strength, knowing your place, and knowing the place of those beneath you."

"You are so blinded by your jealously that you cannot see the truth!" Thor shouted. "Loki, this is madness!"

"Is it madness?" Loki asked, his upper lip quivering with rage. "You can keep me locked in this mortal-made contraption as long as you see fit, but you know as well as I do that it will not keep me. The Tesseract may have the power to return us to Asgard, but for how long? I will rule this realm and there is nothing that you, nor any other being can do to stop it. It has been written in the stars, and I will do what I must to ensure my rightful place on the throne." His voice had become a snarl and his body shook with fury as he slowly approached the glass in front of Thor.

"You wish to know if I have remorse? You will soon discover how little remorse I have, brother," he spat at the last word. "Now, remove yourself from my presence," he demanded as he turned away from Thor, signifying that the conversation was finished.

Thor sighed, his heart overflowing with sorrow. "I shall not give up hope for you. I believe that one day you will come to your senses and willingly reclaim your place amongst us in Asgard, your home."

"Leave me!" Loki shouted, still turned from his brother.

He waited a moment before he heard Thor's heavy footsteps leaving the room, shutting the heavy door behind him without another word.

It was not long before he heard the door open with multiple footsteps coming towards his cage. "I will not say it again!" he shouted again, angrily. "I am in no mood for your lecture!"

"I didn't come here to lecture you," said a smooth, female voice.

Loki whipped around to see Cassie Stark with a black and brown mongrel at her side, which he assumed was the extra set of footsteps.

He eyed her carefully before speaking. "What has possessed you to speak with me if not to lecture me?"

"I'm a curious human. I have questions," she answered simply.

"And you presumed that I would hand them over to you without any fuss?" He asked in return.

A slight smile was hidden at the corners of her mouth. "No, which is why I thought I would use my charm and whit to obtain them."

"You're as arrogant as your brother," Loki spoke, meaning to sound harsh but instead came across as amused.

"And you're selfish, unlike your brother," she replied.

Loki fought the urge to roll his eyes. Instead he held her gaze patiently, waiting for her to drop her eyes in discomfort. When she didn't, he stepped closer to her, but before he could get too close to the glass, the creature growled lowly. Loki was forced to break his stare and scoff at it. "Control your beast, or I will be forced to silence him myself."

She placed her hand on his head, patting him softly. "Hush, Ozzy," she spoke softly.

"Ozzy?" He asked, puzzled. "What kind of a name is that for such a repulsive beast?"

"Do you really not have dogs where you're from?" She asked, chuckling lowly. "He's named after Ozzy Osbourne, one of the greatest men in rock and roll."

Loki raised his eyes questionably. "Clearly you're not familiar with good music," she accused as she finished patting her dog.

"The alikeness between you Starks is irritating, and in no way entertaining. I refuse to be spoken to as an ignorant being."

When she did not respond, his eyes fell to the bandage wrapped around the hand he had injured. She took notice and lifted it up uncertainly. "You didn't break it," she began. "You just dislocated a few fingers."

"I know," he plainly stated.

"You know?"

He nodded.

"What was the point? It hurt like hell, but Logan put them back into place, which may have hurt even worse," she thought out loud.

At the mention of Logan, Loki's lip curled with aversion. He quickly changed the subject. "You spoke of questions you sought answers to. Do not waste my time any further. Ask them," he demanded.

She raised her eyebrows in surprise of his tone but sat down on a chair near to her and took a moment to look him over before speaking. "Why didn't you kill me? You could have done so easily. Why didn't you?"

"I needed you as leverage to escape."

Still watching him carefully, she took a moment before replying. "Liar."

"Take care how you speak, girl," he warned.

She rose from her chair to walk towards the glass imprisoning him. "If you were so keen on escaping you could have done so much more easily than hiding behind me like a coward."

"I am no coward!" he shouted, coming forward, rage clear in his piercing green eyes. "I am a god, and I fear nothing! Especially fragile, pathetic mortals."

Cassie looked unsteady, but stood her ground. "Why is power so important to you?"

He growled and began pacing with haste around his cell trying desperately to keep his wrath in check. Now was not the time for him to release it.

"You need to leave," he snapped.

"You haven't answered any of my questions," she stated.

He then threw himself against the glass, fuming, causing Cassie's dog to snarl at the god. "You damn fool! I did not kill you because that would be too easy and too quick! Your lack of respect for me is insufferable and you shall pay for your insolence!"

Her face fell the more he spoke, true fear arising within her.

"It will be my dearest pleasure, my sincerest delight to make you suffer. I crave to see the look in your eyes as I am ripping the skin from your bones, you intolerable quim. That is why I did not kill you!"

Cassie took a few steps back from the glass, a look of shock plastered across her face.

"As for power, I do not seek it, I deserve it," he hissed. "I was born to be a King, and with that comes power. I am burdened with glorious purpose, something that you will never understand." When he was finished, he was panting due to his emotional outburst.

Cassie prodded her cheek with her tongue in thought, still shocked at his threatening words. Still, she was persistent, and though she feared for her life, she was not going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that. "Well," she began before turning around to walk out of the room, "I'm sure that in the end you'll get everything you deserve."

He knew the true meaning of her words as she exited, but said nothing. He quickly grew tired of this game and needed to put his plan into action. It was time for him to break free of this absurd cage and begin his new life as King of the Earth.


Cassie felt lightheaded as she walked towards her room with her dog by her side. A good night's sleep was long overdue and she was in desperate need of a shower and her bed.

On her way to her room, she passed by Logan in the debriefing room. "Hey, Cassie. Where have you been?"

She signed tiredly as she wrapped her arms around him in a hug. "I went to see Loki."

He instantly became stiff beneath her, pulling away with concern. "Why would you do that, Cassie? Do you really think that was a smart move?"

She laughed at his protective instincts. "I needed some closure."

"And did you get it?" he asked as he brought her injured hand to his lips, kissing the bandages gently.

Her face fell as she replied, "No, but I suppose it doesn't matter." She didn't want to worry him more with Loki's senseless death threats. He had enough to worry about without having to add Loki's death obsession on top of that.

"Please, Cassie. I know that you find some sort of sick thrill from seeking out danger, but don't go messing with that guy. His mind is a bag of cats. You can smell crazy on that guy."

"I know," she said as she placed a kiss on his cheek. "I'm really tired now so I'm going to bed. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay," he smiled in return for her kiss. "Sleep well."

"Kick ass at work," she called back as she walked down the hallway to her room.

Once finally in her room she didn't waste any time in turning on the hot water in her shower, undressing and stepping in. She exhaled a sigh of relief as the steaming water engulfed her.

As she shampooed her hair, she heard her name being called. Irritated of the interruption, she stuck her head outside of the shower. "I'm in here! What do you need?" she shouted.

No response.

Shrugging her shoulders she continued with her shower. Not even a minute later, she heard her name again. The voice was low and soft, sounding close by. Once again she shouted out, "Yes? I'm in the bathroom, who's there?"

Once again, there was no response.

Apparently her job was never done. She finished showering quickly so she could find out what was going on. She stepped out of the shower carefully into the foggy room, wrapping a towel around herself. She walked over the mirror to wipe away the steamy layer covering it. She stared at her reflection and froze. Red liquid was falling from her eyes. She slowly touched her fingertips to her cheek and pulled them away to see the substance that she could only assume was blood. There was no denying it; she worked around it every day.

She began to hyperventilate as she quickly looked from the blood on her hands to the scarlet liquid falling down her face.

She quickly turned to grab some tissues but slipped and fell on the wet floor. She crawled to the tissues and grabbed a few before dabbing them on her face, but when she pulled them away, there was no blood.

She forced herself up off of the floor and ran to the mirror once again only to see that she was no longer crying blood. Stunned, she blinked her eyes several times to make sure that everything was alright. Amongst her panic, she heard familiar laughter around her. She whipped around to see where it was coming from, but saw no one. That's when it occurred to her what had just happened.

Cassie had never felt so angry. She quickly clothed herself with a tank top and shorts before stomping her way across the ship to the containment facility holding the mischievous god.

She burst through the doors, anger surging throughout her veins. "What the hell kind of game do you think you're playing?" she demanded, furiously.

He smiled a crooked smile at her before replying playfully, "Do I look to be in a gaming mood?"

"How dare you!" she shouted. "How the hell did you even do that? Your powers are supposed to be contained in there! What gives you the right to pull that kind of move? I knew you were sick, but I didn't expect you to be the kind of person who gets their rocks off by taking sick pleasure in other people's terror!"

"I am unfamiliar with your references," he replied, eyes never leaving hers. "But you should not have made the mistake of underestimating me."

"What is it that you want from us, Loki?" she asked, too exhausted to keep her furious front. "Why do you find the need to keep torturing everyone around you?"

"Your torture has only begun," she barely heard him whisper.

"Stay the hell away from me, Loki."

"That's not in my agenda, Miss Stark," he replied with an acidic tone.

She opened her mouth to reply but before the words even left her mouth the room went black. She couldn't see an inch in front of her face. She heard a loud bang and turned to leave, but she was grabbed from behind. She began to scream but her mouth was quickly covered. She heard nothing but the sound of Loki's low voice whispering words into her ear that she could not understand before she unwillingly drifted off into a deep sleep.


This chapter was really dialogue heavy, but I felt as though it needed it. I hope you all enjoyed it! It had a bit more drama than the previous chapters. I am so excited for the next few chapters coming up and I hope you're excited for them as well! Thank you so much to everyone for all of the wonderful reviews. I am deeply touched by the support and they really are fuel for future chapters to be made quickly!

I did not get a chance to proof read this as thoroughly as I would have liked so if you find any mistakes I apologize in advance and will get to them as soon as I can. Please let me know what you think of this chapter! It was a bit difficult to write, but also a lot of fun!

This chapter was inspired by the song "Dance With The Devil" by the band Breaking Benjamin. I dare you to listen to that song and not to think of Loki! It's impossible!

-LostInParadise