First day of school! Meaning I have internet! So I shall update…even though I got little feedback this time…sigh, oh well, it's not the end of the world, we survived it after all.
m9ower: Sorry that I missed your review and didn't reply the first time around! Anyway, thank you! I'm happy to see you think it's good. :)
CHAPTER FOUR
Loki wasn't sure to be grossed out, or try to ignore the fact that his wife was making some of the most disgusting concoctions he had ever seen. Wheat toast with blackberry jam was fine, but add scrambled eggs, and grated sharp cheddar and pepper-jack cheese on top of that…that was just disgusting.
"Could you hand me the pepper?" Dianne asked after taking the first bite of her lunch. Loki made a face. Her and her cravings.
"How does pepper even…go with that?" Loki asked as he handed the spice over.
"It needs a little kick," Dianne replied, shaking some pepper onto her toast…thing.
Loki gagged, "I think I lost my appetite."
"Well your alien baby certainly has one," Dianne said, taking another bite, "They're the reason I'm eating like this."
Opening the door to the fridge, she reached in and got herself a pickle from the jar inside, eating it alongside her lunch. She sat down at the table and Loki brought over her orange juice. She had really gone through the orange juice so far in her pregnancy. It was practically all she drank, aside from the vast amounts of water she needed. Bathroom trips were very frequent to all the drinking she was doing.
She was now four months along, and her baby bump was very noticeable. Loki couldn't help but smile each time he looked at her, seeing the swell of her belly, thinking of their growing child that was within her. Every night when he gave his wife a goodnight kiss, he would place one on her belly as well, and whisper goodnight to his child. He was getting very attached to the little being that still had months left to go before being born.
With it now being August, the weather was hitting the normal highs on the coast, being the upper seventies, but it was very humid, and Dianne couldn't quite handle the humidity. She would spend most of the time inside, but she and Loki would go out walking so she could get her exercise, taking their cameras with them to take photos of random things they saw. They had quite a collection of photos they had taken, framed, and placed on the walls around their home. Loki had become quite the avid photographer. His favorite subject of course, being Dianne.
Loki came back inside the house after working out front in their garden for a few hours, to find Dianne napping on the wicker lounge chair in their sunroom. With the lighting how it was, Loki rushed to the kitchen to first wash off his hands before running to the bedroom to grab his camera. He snapped a few photos before Dianne squirmed around, moving to a less aesthetic pose. At least he got the shot he wanted. She woke up though, from moving around and into a spot where the sunlight was shining directly in her eyes, and she blinked them open before moving her head again to avoid being blinded. It was then she saw Loki, and the camera.
"Taking more photos of your muse?" she asked as she stretched.
"I couldn't resist," Loki said.
Dianne shifted around more, until she found she wasn't comfortable reclining back, so she sat up, "Hmm…you know, I'm feeling hungry."
Loki sighed, "When are you not hungry?"
"When I'm asleep?"
"Exactly," Loki said, heading back into the kitchen, letting his camera hang around his neck, "So what do you want?"
"A fried flour tortilla with peanut butter and jalapeños sounds good," Dianne said, making Loki gag, "Ooh, and some of the taco bell sauce drizzled over it. And…sour cream. I don't even like sour cream, why do I want it?"
"I don't know if I can make that for you," Loki said with a grimace, looking through the fridge, "Not just because thinking about it makes my stomach churn but because…well, we're out of tortillas, I know we're low on peanut butter, and we don't even have sour cream or jalapeños."
"What about the orange juice?"
Loki looked from the fridge over to the trash can that had two empty cartons of orange juice in it, "It's gone too."
Dianne whimpered as she sat down in a chair, draping her arms over her stomach. She needed her orange juice.
"I'll go to the store right now and get you everything," Loki said, setting down his camera on the counter and started walking backwards towards the living room where his car keys were, "Is there anything else you want while I'm out?"
"Ice cream is always good," Dianne said, "Moose Tracks if you could."
Loki nodded and grabbed his keys, double checking he had his wallet before heading out the door. Normally Dianne would come with him, but just waking up from a nap he knew she'd be groggy for at least an hour and it would be better for her to remain sitting instead of trying to walk around a store. Besides, he wouldn't be long, a half hour at most if the lines were particularly slow. As he drove out of the driveway, he didn't notice the person step out from their hiding spot in the pine trees on the north side of their house. After Loki was gone, that one person was joined by five others within minutes.
Dianne grabbed Loki's camera and scrolled through the photos on the memory card to pass the time while he was gone. She had to admit, he had an eye for photography. She smiled at the last pictures, the ones he had taken just minutes before. She liked them, and wouldn't be surprised to find them on the wall next. Switching from viewing the pictures to the recorder, she fiddled around with it, recording Nelly sitting in a patch of sunlight, just for the heck of it. She knew it'd irk Loki slightly too, to have a pointless video of the cat on his camera.
It had been nearly ten minutes since Loki left when she heard a knock on the door. Slinging the camera over her neck, she waddled over to the door and swung it open. Six gruff looking men stood on her front porch, and her eyes immediately locked onto the A.I.M lettering on their uniform just below their left shoulder. Lifting her left hand, she shot a fireball at them while she went to slam the door with her right. They stopped the door from shutting, but they were also trying to avoid her fireballs so they weren't bursting through just yet. With six of them though, and just one of her, she doubted she'd win. So just in case she was taken…or worse killed, she at least had one way to make sure Loki knew who did this. She hit the record button on the camera just before the men burst into her home.
Loki was halfway into the driveway when he noticed the front door hanging ajar, and smoking from where it had been burned. He surged the car forward, and then flew out once he put it in park, racing to the door. Stopping just inside the doorway, his eyes grew wide seeing the chaos his house was in. It looked like a warzone, like Thor had gone through waving his hammer around carelessly, mindlessly destroying everything, except that most everything was smoking from having been burned. It was lucky his house was still standing and not burning down.
"Dianne!" Loki shouted for his wife, "Dianne!"
He went three laps through the house, and found no sign of his wife. He ran his hands through his hair, pulling on it hard as his breathing became heavier and faster. He was panicking, and rightly so. His four months pregnant wife was missing! When he heard the cat yowling, he hurried to the sound, hoping that she had taken refuge with the cat. But that wasn't the case, finding a terrified Nelly curled up into a tight ball on the front porch.
"Oh where is she?" Loki asked, tears springing to his eyes.
Going through the house again, he stopped when his foot kicked something across the hallway floor that led to their bedroom. Looking down, he saw it was his camera, broken and beaten. Reaching down he picked it up. How had it gotten over here? He had set it down in the kitchen. Then it struck him. Perhaps Dianne had used it? Hopefully catching her attacker while she was at it? But there was so much damage done, would any data be salvageable?
He hurried to the bedroom and sat down at the desk, prying apart his camera to find the memory card, and when he did, sighed in relief to see it was undamaged. Grabbing Dianne's camera, which was the same model as his, he switched her memory card for his, and reviewed the data to see what might be on there now. He rolled his eyes seeing one video being of the cat, but the next one made his blood run cold. There was too much jostling around for him to get a real clear look at the men that invaded his home, but he was able to tell what happened. They came in, and kidnapped his wife. Once the screen went black there was still the sound of her screaming for a few seconds before it cut out completely. By the time the video finished, he was in tears. He needed to get the video to Stark to analyze it, needed to get help to find Dianne, and regrettably, he knew he'd need S.H.I.E.L.D and their resources to do it. Firstly though, he needed to call Olyvia, tell her the bad news.
Steve cocked his head to the side upon entering the kitchen and seeing the refrigerator door propped wide open, and his wife kneeling down in front of it, scrubbing away at something inside for a few moments before tossing something into the trashcan she had set beside it. He had no idea what she was doing, or why for that matter.
"Everything okay Livy?" Steve asked, walking around the island to get a better look at what his wife was doing.
"No, the fridge stinks," Olyvia said, "Like a rat died in here stinks. Have you smelled this?"
Steve came up behind his wife and bent down, sticking his head in the fridge, and took a sniff. His nose crinkled in disgust.
"Oh, yeah something definitely died in there," Steve said, "Have you seen Whisper around in the last few days?"
"Ha-ha, very funny," Olyvia said blandly, "Yes, I have. She walked on your face this morning remember."
"Right, how can I forget? I ended up with a fuzzy paw in my mouth."
"I'm thinking the tomatoes and the can of tuna died in here," Olyvia said, grabbing a tuna can that had green and white fuzz sticking out of it and Steve looked at it in horror, "We're going to need to go shopping, by the way."
"Science project for school?" he asked, referring to the tuna can.
Olyvia whimpered at the reminder of school as she tossed the fuzzy tuna away. She would be starting classes in less than a week, and she was not looking forward to the semester. She was taking science, forensic, and math classes this semester, all five unit classes. It was going to be hell, and it was super expensive. She was glad she had the money for it, but more semesters like this one, she'd need to go on another mission for S.H.I.E.L.D to replenish her and Steve's bank account.
"Are you even ready for school?" Steve asked, hearing her pathetic whimper.
"Yes…supplies-wise at least," Olyvia muttered, "Intellectually. No way."
Steve gave her a kiss on her cheek, "You'll do amazing, I'm sure."
"I'll show you my homework when I get back on my first day, then we'll see what you say," Olyvia said, turning her head to look up at her husband.
Only to find him staring down at the dip of the neckline of her shirt. She glanced down before slapping an arm across her chest and glaring back up at him.
"Enjoying the view much?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Will I get in trouble for answering truthfully and saying yes?" Steve asked in reply.
Olyvia twisted her lips to the side, "Maybe not."
"Honestly though, how do you not expect me to stare?" Steve asked, "You're my wife, I'm allowed to. Especially when they're…there."
Olyvia looked back town at her chest, "I guess they're hard not to notice. They've gotten… bigger. I haven't quite toned down on the junk food since your birthday."
"Yeah…you have gotten a bit bigger," Steve admitted.
Olyvia's jaw hung agape as she whirled around at her husband, staring at him in disbelief, "What did you just say?" she asked shrilly.
Steve began backing away, knowing full well he just threw himself into the doghouse and under the bus, "Just them. Not anything else. I-I…"
"You better get to the store buster, while I finish cleaning out this fridge that you eat most of the food from, not me," Olyvia said.
"I'm sorry," Steve apologized, "I'm just being honest. You want me to be honest right?"
"A white lie might not hurt occasionally"
"I love you," Steve said as if to remind her.
"You love my chest, admit it."
"Well that too," Steve muttered, a light blush splayed across his cheeks.
Olyvia let out an indignant squawk before grabbing a rotten tomato and lobbing it at Steve, who dodged and it hit the wall with a splat.
"You're cleaning that up, by the way," Steve said pointing to the tomato as it slid down the wall, and backed up even further.
"Just go to the store already!"
"Going!" Steve shouted, taking off at a run to grab his keys and wallet.
Olyvia grumbled under her breath as she went back to scrubbing out the fridge. Sometimes she couldn't believe Steve said some of the things he did. None of it was ever too insulting, only mildly sometimes, like now for instance. Though…he didn't call her fat, just one part of her anatomy. He could have phrased it better though.
"Eh, Steve still can't talk to girls, even though I'm his wife and we've lived together for ten months," Olyvia muttered, giving an excuse for him in his absence, "Wow…we've almost been married for a year…time certainly flies by."
Olyvia continued to scrub until her left arm started getting sore. Leaning back, she looked at the crook of her elbow, where it was still all black and blue from when Dr. Banner came last week and took her blood. He had to use a bigger needle this time, for some reason. He also told her he required more blood this time for more tests. Olyvia was just thankful the needle poking and blood drawing were done and over with. Or so she hoped. If he found any anomalies, it would be back to needles and blood tests. Oh she hoped he wouldn't find anything.
Deciding that the scrubbing wasn't going to do much in the way of getting rid of the smell, Olyvia threw away the rest of the rotten items in the fridge and shut the door, going over to the rotten tomato that was now sitting on the floor. Tossing it away, she began cleaning up the mess, when there was a knock at her door. Oscar lifted his head up from where he was laying on the floor just outside of the kitchen, turned to look toward the door, and growled.
"Shush Oscar," Olyvia chided.
Oscar didn't let down with the growling this time, but he did lower his head back onto the floor, watching the doorway. With a sigh, Olyvia pulled off the rubber gloves she had been wearing, and headed over to the door. She expected it to be her sour grouse of a neighbor, coming over to complain that Oscar had gotten into his yard again and dug up his yard. She had tried explaining that Oscar was a mostly indoor dog, and that when he went outside, he was usually with someone, and he couldn't get over, or under their fence, it had to be another dog. Opening the door, she was surprised to find it wasn't her neighbor, but James.
"James, hi," Olyvia said in surprise, "What are…what are you doing at my house? How did you even know where I live?"
"Hello Olyvia," James replied.
Oscar was suddenly behind Olyvia, having raced to the door, barking and growling ferociously, making Olyvia jump. She'd never heard him react like that before.
"Oscar! Quiet!" Olyvia scolded.
Oscar settled with not barking, but curled back his upper lip as he continued to snarl and snap at James, who had taken a few steps away.
"Oscar doesn't like it when strangers are in his territory," Olyvia explained, a sickening feeling forming in the pit of her stomach. She knew dogs had the uncanny ability for knowing a person's intentions, and if Oscar was acting like this, she knew James must have had some pretty nasty intentions. He had never made her uneasy before, save for the fact that he seemed to appear around the campus out of nowhere, and then disappeared as soon as Steve would show up.
"It's understandable," James said.
"So uh…if you'll excuse me James," Olyvia began, grabbing Oscar by the collar and pulling him back as she backed into the house as well, "You'll go ahead and leave. I have a house to clean."
"You know, not many people actually call me James," he said, stepping forward and placing a hand against the door so she couldn't close it.
"Oh?" Olyvia muttered, loosening her grip on Oscar's collar.
"Almost everyone calls me Winter Soldier," James said, whipping out a gun and shooting Oscar.
Oscar yelped sharply and Olyvia reacted on instinct, kicking James in the chest, sending him flying across the front yard, across the street and into the next yard. She slammed the door shut and locked both the handle and the deadbolt before checking Oscar. She sighed in relief seeing only a dart in his neck, that James hadn't shot him with a normal gun. Unless the dart was poisoned. Oscar was starting to act lethargic, so she assumed it was a tranquilizer.
"It'll be okay boy," Olyvia said soothingly as Oscar continued to whimper as he laid down onto the hardwood floor.
Her front door burst open a few seconds later, and Olyvia whirled around to see James stomping through, a gun pointed at her. She created an ice shield as he fired, and Oscar, who wasn't down yet, ran at him, clamping his jaw down on his right arm, the one that was holding the gun. James howled in pain as Oscar shook his head as violently as he could, before punching the dog in the head with his other arm. Oscar yelped, and dropped to the floor like a dead weight. While Oscar had been dealing with him, it gave Olyvia time to run, and she headed straight to the gunlock in the kitchen.
James came running around the corner, only to find the barrel of a shotgun pointed at his head.
"Oh shit!" James exclaimed, reeling backwards for the cover of a wall.
Olyvia pulled the trigger, and didn't waste the time to see if she hit before unloading and sliding in another shotgun shell, aiming to where she last saw him, and shot again. She continued this as she walked toward the kitchen entryway, loading another before stepping around and firing at his retreating figure. He leapt into another room, her shot hitting the doorway, and appeared to have hit him, even if just a little. She was so thankful to her grandfather for teaching her how to use a gun, especially the aiming.
"If you think you're going to do anything to me, you've got another thing coming," Olyvia shouted at him.
She silently loaded another shell, and continued to silence her footsteps as she walked down the hallway. The room he went in had no other doorway out, though it did have windows, so she was keeping a sharp ear out for anything happening behind her. She crouched down as she reached the doorway, in case he was aiming and waiting for her to come out into the open, and then whipped around the doorway. He was aiming, and high, so that gave her a split second to aim. Before she could pull the trigger though, she was hit by an electric pulse, and felt her muscles spasm as it coursed through her body. Fighting it, she aimed as best she could, and squeezed the trigger hard, mostly due to the muscle spasms. She still hit him, but not in the head as she was trying to, but in the left shoulder. James spouted out a few colorful words as Olyvia tumbled over onto her side, unable to hold herself up anymore. She wondered if she had been tasered, she had never been tasered before so she had no idea what it felt like, but she was pretty sure this was it.
James kicked her shotgun away before kneeling down beside her, pulling out a needle and syringe. Olyvia stiffened seeing it. Oh how she hated needles.
"You are a pain in the ass," he said as he stuck her in the arm with the needle and injected whatever liquid was in the syringe.
"And you…are so dead," Olyvia said as best she could with her jaw clenched tight.
James smiled smugly, though with a pained expression. She could see the nasty wound in his shoulder and was glad she got a good shot in.
"Because your Captain will come for you?" he asked, "That's the plan. He'll never make it though. Once he and your other friends are taken care of, we'll then deal with you and the others."
Olyvia's brow furrowed. Others? What others? Were they…were they going to kidnap other people in the Avengers? Her first thoughts went to Dianne, since she was pregnant. No, they could potentially kill the baby! She needed to fight, get away and warn Dianne and Loki before it was too late. But her body wouldn't respond, beginning to feel heavy and her vision was starting to darken. The last thing she remembered was James picking her up, and seeing the hardwood flooring before falling unconscious.
Steve had gotten used to hearing sirens around Ashland, but as he got closer to home, and the police vehicles were heading that way, he was beginning to worry. As he pulled onto his street, he let out a little sigh of relief seeing the three police vehicles that had passed him were parked at one of his neighbors' houses. Namely Mr. Goldman, the neighbor who complained a lot. Steve couldn't help but wonder what was going on, and figured he might ask later, once he put the groceries away and gave his wife the bouquet of summer flowers as an apology for sticking his foot in his mouth earlier. Pulling up into the driveway though, he could already tell something was wrong. He didn't see Oscar in the window, like he usually was when he heard Steve's truck arrive in the driveway. It was when he reached the door that he knew for sure something was wrong. The door wasn't even latched, the doorjamb having been broken from someone kicking it in. Steve dropped the bag of groceries and rushed inside, screeching to a halt seeing the Rottweiler on the ground.
"Oscar? Oscar, hey buddy, you doing alright there?" he asked the dog, despite knowing he couldn't answer.
He was still breathing, Steve could see the rise and fall of his chest, but he had blood on his forehead and on his muzzle. Lying on the floor beside the dog, was a dart. Steve picked it up, and examined it for a few moments before looking up and around the room. He could see that the kitchen entryway wall was shot to pieces, and his stomach began to fill with dread. Pushing himself to his feet, he followed the destruction, finding the shotgun lying in the hallway floor. Peeking his head into the little study room Olyvia used for homework, he found blood spattered on a wall.
"Oh God," Steve breathed, "Olyvia! Olyvia, please tell me you're here!"
He was only answered by a frightened yowl from Whisper, who was slowly coming down the stairs. When she saw Steve, she let out another yowl, this one sounding to be happy to see him and came running down the stairs and straight to his feet, where she stood up on her back legs and propped her front paws against his shin. Steve knew Olyvia would never be this mean with a joke, so he knew she was gone, and he started to panic. Was she killed and taken? No, what would be the point of taking a dead body, she must still be alive. At least…he hoped she was still alive.
Steve was certain the police had been called from the gunshots fired from the shotgun in his house, and would most likely be coming to knock on his door next. Looking at the dart, he knew they'd want to take it for evidence, but he wanted Bruce or Stark to look at it, so he quickly placed it in a plastic bag, and hid it where he and Olyvia kept their S.H.I.E.L.D uniforms and accessories. As he headed outside, two police officers were already heading up the stairs to his porch.
"You going somewhere?" one officer questioned, sounding awfully suspicious of Steve already.
"No sir," Steve said, his face crumpled in anguish and worry. He wished he could run off and start looking for Olyvia, but he had no clue where to start.
"We received calls saying gunshots were heard in this area approximately ten minutes ago," the second officer stated, "Did you hear anything?"
Steve wanted to ask if they had seen him just drive up, but refrained from doing so. Perhaps they were too busy questioning Mr. Goldman to notice.
"No sir I…I just got home," Steve replied, "But…I think this is the place you're looking for."
The first officer raised an eyebrow, "You mean the shots originated from your home?"
"My place is a mess, my dog has been hurt," Steve said, "Go…look for yourselves, but I need to make a few phone calls."
The two officers nodded and headed inside, briefly checking the dog before venturing further. The first call Steve had to make was the vet. He wanted to make sure Oscar was okay. Steve was betting he got hurt defending Olyvia.
The veterinarian agreed to come over, and as quickly as possible while the police continued to investigate the house, calling in more officers and crime scene investigators due to finding the blood in the one room. Steve was appalled when one of the investigators implied that perhaps Steve had killed his wife and dumped off her body. Olyvia seriously wanted to go through school to be one of these people!?
"I…would never…kill my wife," Steve seethed, his countenance becoming dark as he glowered down at the man.
The investigator quickly regretted asking that, but seeing his reaction made him think he was capable of murder.
Steve's house was quickly turning into a scene of chaos, and the vet had to fight with the investigators to take the dog to their office to be checked over. Since the dog had blood in his mouth, the investigators needed to take samples of it, and they took their time doing it until the vet practically bit off their hands to get them to finish. Steve was partially regretting letting the police into his house, but they most likely would have found out anyway, and that would have made things look worse.
"Were you and your wife having any marital problems?" yet another investigator was questioning him in the kitchen.
"For the fiftieth time, no," Steve replied.
"Was there anyone she didn't get along with? Any enemies?"
Steve could write a list of S.H.I.E.L.D enemies, but that would violate S.H.I.E.L.D's code and be a long list. However, it made Steve think that perhaps A.I.M was behind this. They set up the Florida site, trying to kill them, perhaps they were trying a different method.
"No," Steve replied instead, "Unless you count Mr. Goldman for hating our dog."
The investigator rolled his eyes, "Where were you between eleven thirty and eleven fifty this morning?"
"The store," Steve said, "my groceries are still out on the front porch. Spoiling. Since you won't allow me to put them away since I could potentially contaminate evidence."
The exasperation was evident in Steve's voice, and the investigator was quickly becoming annoyed with it. He opened his mouth to answer another question when they jumped hearing rock music suddenly start playing. Steve looked around to find it was Olyvia's phone on the island, and seeing the I.D on the screen saw it was Loki.
"It's my wife's phone," Steve said, "And that's her brother-in-law calling. I should probably answer it."
"Put it on speaker," the investigator ordered.
Steve walked over to the phone and paused. Olyvia had one of those smart phones, while he had an 'as-old-as-you-can-get' phone that he partially understood, "I…don't know how to answer one of these."
"Oh my god," the investigator groaned, and quickly swiped his finger across the screen and hit the speaker button.
"Olyvia?" came Loki's panicked voice.
Steve's brow furrowed. What was wrong with him? Did Dianne set something on fire again? Was something wrong with the baby?
"Loki, it's Steve," Steve replied and he saw the look of confusion and distaste on the investigator's face hearing the brother-in-law's name, "Olyvia, she…she isn't here. She's gone."
"Gone? Gone as in…kidnapped?" Loki asked.
"That's what I think, but the police think I killed her," Steve said, shooting a death glare at the investigator, making him shrink back a few inches.
Loki scoffed, "Idiot mortals."
Now the investigator looked really confused.
"You're on speaker, by the way," Steve mentioned.
"Oh…," Loki muttered, "Um…Steve, I have a private matter to talk to you about."
"Do you mind if I take the call privately?" Steve asked.
"He might have information pertinent to our investigation," the investigator replied.
"He talks to her over the phone only when there is an emergency," Steve rebutted, "So I doubt there will be anything pertinent to your investigation here."
With a roll of his eyes and wave of his hand, the investigator stormed off, and Steve took a few moments to figure out how to turn the phone off speaker and held it up to his ear.
"So what's going on?" Steve asked.
Steve could hear Loki was on the verge of tears, his voice shaken as he replied, "Dianne has been kidnapped. I was gone for…maybe twenty minutes and I returned home to find it turned upside down and charred. Dianne had my camera and she changed it over to video and…recorded it."
"So you know who did it?"
"I couldn't get a good enough look with how shaky it was," Loki replied, "Steve…Dianne's four months pregnant. She has a doctor's appointment next week. We were…we were going to…hopefully, find out the baby's gender. She's having these crazy cravings and whoever kidnapped her won't have any care for her or the baby—I…I'm scared for her. I'm scared what they might do to her. I-I-I don't know what to do."
Steve had never heard Loki so rattled, that calm demeanor and silver tongue all but gone now. Steve understood why though. Loki had two people he could potentially lose, not just one.
"I'll try to contact Stark," Steve said, "We'll most likely have to contact the Director as well, but Stark would be the one who could analyze the video, and get a hold of Bruce so we can get his help too."
"Yes, that…that was my plan exactly."
"Do you have Stark's number?"
Loki was silent for a few moments before replying, "No. Why, you don't?"
"I deleted it from my phone because I was…angry with him. At least I know someone who does have it though."
"Rosemary?"
"Yeah."
"Then I'll let you go…do that," Loki said, "Let me know what's happening when you talk to him."
"I will," Steve promised, saying a quick goodbye before hanging up.
Not wanting to try to figure out Olyvia's phone, Steve grabbed his and dialed Rosemary's cell number. It rang four times before Rosemary answered, out of breath and sounding panicked.
"Steve!" she shouted into the phone, obviously having seen the caller I.D, her shout causing him to flinch, "I need help! There are people chasing after me!"
"What?" Steve asked, "Where are you? Do you know who's after you?"
"I have no clue!" Rosemary replied, "As for where I am, I'm teleporting home from Juan's!"
Now that was quite a distance, but if these people were doing the same as they had here and at Dianne's, home would not be safe.
"No, don't go home! Go anywhere but there!" Steve ordered.
"But I'm already—AAAAAAAAHHHH!"
Steve dropped the phone her scream was so loud, his ear starting to ring from the force of it. All of the police officers were looking at the phone in shock, having heard it as well. He quickly picked up the phone, only to find the line had gone dead.
"Shit," Steve cursed.
What was going on?
The police had left hours later, and Steve called Loki back to tell him the unfortunate news about Rosemary. Neither of them had Stark's number, and Steve vaguely recalled some numbers from it, due having had it before in his contacts, but after a few phone calls that didn't end well, he ended up deleting it. Boy was he wishing he had it now.
Sitting in the living room, Steve held his head in his hands, muttering numbers to himself, trying his hardest to remember Stark's cell number. After sitting there for an hour, he finally got it, repeating it out loud, and excitedly as he went to grab his phone and punched in the number. As it rang he began hoping that he did have the right number.
"Yes Capsicle, what is the meaning of this phone call in the middle of the night?"
That was Stark alright, "Oh thank God I got the right number."
"You don't have my number? I thought you had it?"
"I deleted it in a fit of anger after a phone call last year," Steve replied, "Which I will admit now, I regret."
"Okay…what happened for you to say that?"
"Olyvia, Dianne and Rosemary have been kidnapped," Steve replied.
"WHAT!" Stark exclaimed, "When did this happen?"
"Today, one right after the other," Steve replied, "Dianne apparently got a recording of her kidnappers and Loki wants you to look at it, see what you can do."
"Right…yeah, I can do that," Stark said quietly, "Who would want Rosemary?"
"Do you not care about Olyvia? Or Dianne who is with child?"
"Dude, no one says with child anymore."
"You are so…," Steve growled, thinking of a few words he could finish that with, "Do you have to joke about everything? This is serious!"
"I know it's serious!" Stark shouted back, "Ever stop to think that perhaps my coping mechanism is to make jokes Capsicle? That making light of a situation helps me deal with it?"
Steve paused. He had never thought of it that way. The fact that Stark told him though, he must have berated him often enough for it to have finally made Stark snap at him.
"Sorry," Steve apologized.
"Okay so…I'll get in contact with Loki, pick him up tomorrow or something," Stark said, "Do you want me to get you too?"
"I'd appreciate that."
"Then I shall see you tomorrow…sometime," Stark said, "Depends on when Loki is ready to go. Perhaps I can return the favor of waking you up in the middle of the night."
"I know you understand the emergency."
"Still, middle of the night," Stark said, "And for once I went to bed early."
"Goodnight Stark."
"You could say that again," Stark replied before hanging up.
Hanging up as well, Steve let out a heavy sigh, running his hands down his face. He better start packing and make pet sitter plans too.
Olyvia was feeling very groggy as she felt herself starting to float to consciousness. Her body was still very lax and heavy as she could feel herself waking. She wanted to open her eyes, but her eyelids refused to do more than flutter back and forth slightly. It took forever for her to get to the point she could open them, but that was as far as her body was willing to exert energy. Looking around the room she was in from where she laid on the floor, all she saw were white walls, and high, small windows. Taking about thirty seconds to turn her head slightly to her left, she saw a metal door. One that was larger than normal, but not as wide as double doors.
"Livy?"
Olyvia began the slow turning of her head to her right where she heard her sister's voice. She had feared they might have been after her too, and finally turning her head enough to look to her right, saw Dianne sitting on a pillow on the floor, her arms wrapped protectively over her stomach.
"Are you alright?" Dianne asked.
Olyvia tried opening her mouth to speak, but she could only open it partially, and a wheezing squeak was all that came out. So she tried nodding. That was even more difficult. Giving it another fifteen minutes, she was starting to be able to move more, though she regretted doing so as she pushed herself up into a sitting position. Every muscle in her body ached. It reminded her of how her body felt after her car accident.
"I'm fine," Olyvia's voice came out very strained, and an octave above her normal tone. She cleared her throat and continued, "You?"
Dianne nodded, "For kidnappers, they've been surprisingly careful with me due to my pregnancy."
"That is surprising," Olyvia said, her voice starting to go back to normal so she cleared her throat again, "I think I was tasered, then injected with a tranquilizer. They're not being nice to me."
"Why do you think A.I.M took us?" Dianne asked.
"So it is A.I.M? I thought so."
"You didn't see the insignia on their uniform?"
"You make it sound like more than one person. Only one guy came after me, and he didn't have any insignia on his uniform," Olyvia replied, "Kind of sad though, I actually knew the guy."
Dianne gawked at her, "You knew him?"
Olyvia nodded, this time able to do so at a faster pace so that Dianne actually knew it was a nod, "I thought he was just another student at the University. That's where I kept running into him. Guess he was my stalker."
"Guess so."
"I shot him a few times with my shotgun."
"Nice."
They fell into silence, Olyvia closing her eyes again as she tried to relax. How could one relax though when they had been kidnapped? As those thoughts ran through her head, it made her think of Steve, and Loki. Oh Loki must be beside himself, knowing his pregnant wife was missing.
"How do you think Loki is handling you missing?" Olyvia asked.
Dianne let out a heavy exhale, her eyes going wide, giving her sister the 'I-have-no-clue-but-it'll-be-bad' look.
"He just might start destroying the world again to find me," Dianne said.
"Well, in this case that wouldn't be a bad thing," Olyvia said, "He can go all Norse God on everyone here."
Olyvia then picked up some sounds, and turning her head so her ear was facing the doorway, focused on them. They were multiple footsteps coming towards the door, along with the sound of rubber dragging on carpet. So whoever was coming, was dragging something with rubber on the bottom.
The door opened a few seconds later, and two men tossed Rosemary's limp body into the room. Olyvia and Dianne gasped seeing their sister had been caught too, Olyvia leaping to get up and over to her sister. She was only able to get to her knees though, and wasn't able to get a good look at the men before they slammed the door shut, and the lock was heard.
"Like a locked door could stop me," Olyvia muttered as she crawled over to her sister, "Rosemary? Rosemary, wake up. Wake up! WAKE UP, WAKE UP, WAKE UP!"
"Ow, Livy, she might be drugged too. I don't think shouting in her ear will help," Dianne said.
Olyvia's face fell, gently rocking her sister side to side hoping to rouse her, when she finally realized, she wasn't bound. Lifting her hands, she looked at them, then at the door.
"I don't know if that's a good idea," Dianne said, seeing where she was looking.
"Probably not, seeing as they left us unbound, but I have to try," Olyvia said.
Getting up, she walked over to the door and smacked her hand against it briefly to see if it was dangerous to touch, which was the case, getting another jolt through her body. So grabbing the handle and breaking the lock wasn't an option. Clenching her hand into a fist, she punched it as hard as she could, ignoring the shock, but the door merely dented slightly, and now Olyvia's hand hurt like hell.
"Oh son of a bitch!" Olyvia shouted, nursing her throbbing right hand, "What is that made out of?"
"Language!" Rosemary exclaimed, suddenly jolting up into a sitting position.
"Hey look, you woke her up," Dianne said.
"Ow…what, the hell, is that door made out of?" Olyvia asked again.
"Adamantium," a familiar voice said, making the three of them jump.
Olyvia whirled around to find James standing in the corner. Where did he come from? She didn't see him there before. She was pleased to see his left shoulder was bandaged though.
"Ada-what now?" Olyvia asked.
"Adamantium," James repeated, "Strongest metal in the world. There's no way you're breaking through it."
Yeah, her hand could tell that.
"I may not be able to break out of here, but I can certainly break your neck," Olyvia growled.
Before she could move, James pulled out a gun, aiming it at her, "Now, now. I don't think you'll want to do that."
"Oh, I think I do, jackass," Olyvia hissed.
"Lang—."
"Midget! Do you honestly really care what I call the enemy!"
Rosemary snapped her mouth shut.
"Starting now, if any of you try to do anything to escape, or fight against us," James then pointed the gun to Dianne, "We will kill her."
Olyvia's whole body went cold seeing the gun pointed at her sister, and Dianne tensed, wrapping her arms tighter around her belly as if that would protect her child. Olyvia slowly sat back down, to show she posed no threat anymore.
"Good girl," James said mockingly, holstering his gun, and a feral growl rumbled out from Olyvia's chest.
When she got her chance, she would kill James herself.
They sat there in silence for a few minutes before Olyvia picked up more noises, having kept a sharp ear out for anything since she woke and had control over that. Something was coming towards the door, but it wasn't anything familiar, so Olyvia couldn't determine what it was. The lock turned on the door, and James stood up at attention instead of leaning against the wall, and the other two sisters looked over to see what was going on. The three sisters all reeled back seeing their visitor. Rosemary was the only one gutsy enough to speak.
"What…is that?"