**Hey everyone! Welcome back. A shout out to my first reviewer: SuperNaturalxxFreak! Please enjoy this latest installment, and as always – Marvel does not belong to me.**
Chapter 4
The morning was over before I finally emerged from behind closed doors. I was officially barred from doing any more research and the permanence of my not being able to go back into the field had yet to be determined. Whatever. This was nothing new. All of my codes and perks were revoked. Essentially, I was banished to my room like a spoiled child, grounded until further notice. At least Fury hadn't sent me back to the cells. The years of experimentation had left some very deep scars and I avoided some of those levels of hell at all costs.
My door was unlocked and my apartment was in shambles. The director had authorized it, that I knew. He did it occasionally to remind me that he was all-powerful. What a dick.
"Wow."
I didn't want to flip out on Darcy. It wasn't really her fault that I was back to square one. I knew that it would end this way. I had just hoped for a few more days.
"Help me put all this crap back where it belongs, would you?"
We worked without speaking, even when I realized that my television had a huge scratch in the screen. I would have to request permission to get a new one. There was no way I was going to be allowed to leave S.H.I.E.L.D. Tower anytime soon. Someone was going to have to get it for me.
"Jane's mad at Thor."
I didn't react. I figured I would hear it all anyway.
"She said he didn't need to go all postal on Loki. I mean, Odin's fine and all so what was the point? It screwed you up. Pissed off Loki. Jane told Thor where he could shove his hammer and left."
"Why does she care?"
"Because I told her you and Loki had a thing going and that it wasn't fair."
I rolled my eyes. "We didn't have a thing."
"Oh you two so had a thing! The whole tower knows it. Your elevator kiss is all anyone is talking about."
Her cell phone rang. I tuned her out and went back to putting my dishes away. What did it matter if we had a thing or not? He was gone so it was time to dust off my hands and figure out what other trouble I could make.
"Sylvia, are you listening to me?"
I shook my head. "No."
"Well you should be! That was Jane. She said she just got a new assistant and that I need to get to the lab immediately to fill him in."
"So Ian's fired?"
She shook my shoulders, hard. "No, dumb ass! Thor left… without his brother!"
She took off on me, leaving me to stare blankly ahead. What game was Fury playing? I knew eventually I was going to find out so it wasn't worth stressing out over.
Later on that afternoon, after my stuff was finally back where it belonged and I had reset the settings on my alarms, I pulled out my computer. I had backed up the files from the past week on an USB drive that I carried with me. I pulled up the video files and found the one I was looking for. I replayed the first kiss and watched how he and I reacted to each other. I had to admit it. There was something between us. I hadn't imagined the electricity. I hadn't made up the passion. The anger we both carried seemed to recognize a like-soul.
"I knew there was another file."
I pulled the drive out of the computer and held it out. "Take it. "
The director took the drive out of my hand and crushed it under the heel of his boot. He then sat across from me. "You know why we had to contact Thor."
I shrugged. "Doesn't matter. You got what you wanted. I'm isolated except for Darcy. Don't really even know why you let her stay in my life.
"Because she's harmless. Loki is not. The two of you together could spell…"
My eyes flashed red. He flinched. "What? Disaster? For who, Director? Just you because it would mean you couldn't control me anymore. Your hold on me is miniscule at best. You know if I had even a smallest chance I would be gone. You have used me and abused me for years. If people only knew half the things you have done to me and through me, they wouldn't follow you for anything. That's why I am a prisoner here, just as much as Loki was. So save your breath. I'm not interested in hearing anything else you have to say. Lock me up, throw away the key. Whatever."
I waited, expecting him to yell and curse like usual, but he was quiet. "Loki did not return to Asgard. He is still here on Earth under Jane Foster's supervision, but you are not to see him. I will kill both of you if you disobey me on this."
Great. Threats were a wonderful way to end my day. The only problem was that I knew he would have no issue of conscience following through on them. He left me to debate my options, of which there were none. There was no place I could run to, no place I could hide. The rage that was building inside of me was unlike anything I had ever felt before.
I grabbed a butcher knife from the drawer and found the wires to the cameras watching me. I sliced through them without a second thought. What I chose to do now was my decision. The knife was heavy in my hand and I considered briefly plunging it into my heart. It would solve all of my problems, except that I would be dead. I really didn't want to be dead. I wanted revenge. Instead, I stabbed the blade into the middle of my dining room table.
I grabbed my duffle bag from the closet and started throwing clothes into it. I couldn't stay here. I was going to do something violent if I didn't find a way to get out.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
I had to be hallucinating. I turned slowly and blinked rapidly, but the image in front of me didn't change. He was really in front of me. "And why not?"
"It would make life… more difficult for you."
"Yeah, well the director already threatened to kill me if I saw you again. Actually, he threatened both of us but I figured as a god, you could handle yourself." The image of him shimmered. "Am I crazy or are you seriously not here?"
"I am in the lab, reading over increasingly boring statistics." He sounded amused.
"I don't understand. You shouldn't be able to do that. Magic doesn't work around me."
He turned very serious. "Or is that what they want you to think?"
He vanished from sight. Great. Just what I needed. Another cryptic thought to add as fuel to the fire consuming me. I laid down and covered myself with a blanket. My body just seemed to give up and the world went dark.
My dreams were random bits of images and feelings from a childhood, but not mine. Two brothers playing, fighting perhaps, in a great hall. A mother, watching from the shadows, ever protective. Great feasts and festivals. Anger. Hostility. Falling backwards into nothing.
I awoke, gasping and seriously freaked out. It was still dark outside, but I didn't turn on a light. I knew my apartment. I could move around without knocking anything over. I opened a window to let in some fresh air, taking a moment to gaze up at the full moon before making my way over to the couch. I dropped onto it, tucking my feet up under me.
What a predicament I was in with no real options. I wouldn't give Fury the satisfaction of killing myself. I couldn't break Loki out of whatever cell they had put him into without risking his life. I mean, I could call Tony but he was already on my shit list. Darcy wouldn't go against Jane and I'm sure Fury had something on Jane as well. Or it could be that Loki back from the dead would shock her into doing whatever the director wanted. She did see Loki die for his brother, after all.
A breeze came through the apartment, chilling me right to the bone. I looked around, more than a little freaked out. I locked the window and drew the shades. I couldn't shake the feeling that I wasn't alone, but even with the lights on I didn't see anyone. Then it dawned on me. I returned the apartment to complete darkness and went back into the bedroom, closing the door behind me.
"Are you here?" I whispered, wondering if I was wrong, but his laugh confirmed my conclusion.
He was sitting slumped in my arm chair, legs crossed in front of him, illuminated by the moonlight that drifted through the sheer curtains. He was flipping that damn coin again with a small dark smile on his face.
"You don't seem surprised to see me," he said, catching the coin and pocketing it.
"I'm not," I replied, sitting on the edge of the bed. "I don't know how you're doing this illusion shit, but that's what surprises me."
He stood and moved to stand in front of me. "What makes you think this is an illusion?" he asked.
His hand was cold as it brushed a piece of hair away from my eyes. I gasped. "Ok, what the fuck is going on?"
He grabbed my hand and yanked, pulling me upright and against his chest. His hands moved to my waist, his grip was painful but not unwelcome. "I don't like being told what I can't do… or what I can't have."
He crushed his mouth to mine.
