Chapter 6
Rhys looked around her room on the Helicarrier. There was a steel cot bolted to the floor, with a comfy looking mattress covered in a white sheet and a plain grey comforter folded at the foot of her bed. Lovely. There was a wooden desk and a rolling chair, a private bathroom (white and grey tiles) and a window looking out over the sea.
Really, quite posh.
She dragged her new suitcase and typewriter case over to the desk, sitting in the plush chair. Deciding to unpack bags, she reluctantly pulled herself from her seat to unzip the suitcase and put away her new clothes.
She and Steve had gone shopping together. He found a little boutique that had things from his time. He picked out several old collared shirts and slacks while she went to try things on. He laughed when she found a perfect bright green pleated skirt that flung itself out when she spun around. They agreed that skirts should be judged by how far they spun out, not by how they looked.
A knock came from the door.
"Rhys?" Came the muffled call. Steve.
She pulled open the massive door to see the man in his too-tight t-shirt.
"Something's going on in the main room. Thought you might want to come along."
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"We got a hit! 67 percent match. Wait, cross match, 79 percent!"
"Location?" It was Coulson who spoke. Always gotta be at the center of things, huh? Rhys thought bitterly, even though she was attempting to hide in the shadows.
"Stuttgart, Germany. 28 Konigstrasse. He's not exactly hiding." Germany? Huh, a spot for dictators. Who knew? Rhys felt she really needed to get a grip on her sarcasm; otherwise Steve wouldn't hang around her anymore.
"Captain, you're up." Fury declared, and Rhys followed Steve out to where ever he was going.
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"Kneel before me." The crowd continued to run about screaming, and Rhys felt vaguely nauseous.
"I said. Kneel!" The crowd obeyed this time and they all kneeled to Loki. He looked rather pleased. "Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state? It's the unspoken truth that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy as you scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel." Rhys felt this man was deluded, no way in hell would she freely accept being ruled so tyrannically again. His words were slick and oily and slid off his tongue like the Inquisitor's. She shuddered at the things people had been forced to confess and the injuries they had even after one session with them.
"Not to men like you."
One older man looked mutinous, and stood up, refusing to kneel. Loki looked faintly amused and Rhys wanted to punch him in the face. She would enjoy seeing his nose broken. She would enjoy seeing him broken like ӓiti. "There are no men like me."
"There are always men like you."
"Look to your elder, people. Let him be an example." Loki still looked amused that this man was willing to say what he thought. Bastard.
Just then, Steve intervened wearing his Captain America uniform. Rhys leaned forward in her seat in the moving helicopter.
"You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing over everybody else, we ended up disagreeing." Steve's voice was deceptively calm.
"Ah, the soldier. A man out of time."
"I'm not the one who's out of time." Mentally, Rhys was cheering Steve on. Where did he get these lines? They were brilliant! Natasha positioned the aircraft they were in overhead of the two men.
"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down!" She shouted over the loudspeakers. Loki attacked Steve and screamed, "Kneel!"
"Not today!" The two begin fighting in earnest and Rhys couldn't help but wince when ever Steve crashed into the ground. Raising her hand inconspicuously, she softened the air near the ground so Steve wouldn't hurt as bad. She saw a look of incredulousness fly across Loki's face for a brief second, but it was so fleeting she half-believed it to be a trick of her mind.
A loud noise blared from the speakers so suddenly Rhys squeaked and fell out of her chair before realizing it was music. A figure flew over wearing red and gold armor and stood before Loki. Rhys realized with a jolt that this must be Tony Stark. Very ostentatious, wasn't he?
"Make your move, Reindeer Games." She watched almost non-believing as Loki raised his hands cautiously. "Good move." Stark commented blithely, his slightly robotic voice carrying far so Rhys could hear him clearly.
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Rhys was staring at Loki as Stark and Steve bickered. Loki for his part was looking quite disturbed at having the ferocious teen scrutinizing him so thoroughly. He squirmed around in his seat and Rhys bared her teeth at him, making him squirm even more. He thought she looked feral, like a wild animal.
She sat opposite him with her legs folded underneath her Indian style and her hands were positioned on the armrests so that she could spring up at a moment's notice. She heard Stark say, "Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you." And she answered automatically.
"No shit, Sherlock." Stark blinked at her in surprise as though he just noticed she was there. He snorted when he saw her staring unblinkingly at Loki.
"He's not about to go anywhere, you know."
"Not about that. I'm cataloguing information on him." Stark scoffed.
"Cataloguing? What kind of information?" Stark looked interested. It might have been that the only information he was able to glean about Loki was that he was a psychopath.
"Just odds and ends." Though she easily could've said that his skin and eyes kept flickering blue and red, she didn't. He was very strange looking. He had similar energy to Rhys, just below his skin, spinning ice blue, and red bursts of color in his green eyes, looking not unlike solar flares.
Steve looked at her sharply, silently conveying the impression of 'I know you're lying'. She shrugged unapologetically, still with her eyes riveted on Loki, fascinated with his strange colors. He just fidgeted, unused to being scrutinized so thoroughly by a female. Or a male, either way. He seemed to gather the nerve to glare at her and his eyes widened just a little bit. He looked questioningly at her but she narrowed her eyes.
Steve looked back and forth at them, wondering what had happened. Were they having a conversation? He was kind of jealous.
Lightning and thunder begin to shake the jet and Loki looked even more uncertain. Tony was almost positive that he heard a whimper coming from the pale man. That little noise brought memories flooding back into Rhys mind.
The woman in her cell was new. Her hair was gleaming gold and silver in the dank light. Her arm hung at an angle with a sharp sliver of bone poking from the side. She was curled up, nursing her bruised and aching ribs. The light darkened. She could barely see anything. She clenched her eyes as they adjusted. When she opened them, she saw shapes moving.
"Hei?"
The shapes shrunk back into the shadows. The woman extended her arm, pleading.
"Auttakaa minua…ole hyvä"
They approached again, quickly this time, swarming over her. She let out a yell of pain. A small clammy hand clamped over her mouth, and she choked on the filthy taste. It tasted of raw sewage and cold mold. Rips and tears filled the air with sound as the small children tore her clothes into shreds. She whimpered and whined as wet feet stomped on her ribs and broken bones.
There was a spoken command in a language she had thought she would never hear again.
"Stop."
All the children backed away, still clutching whatever they had stolen from her. A small girl, maybe 7 if she had to guess, stood in their midst. She was a good foot taller than the other kids. She too was barefoot and clammy, but in her hand was a small flame, illuminating the whole cell, and the woman could see her hair was matted and tangled into clumps, and she was bleeding from several open wounds. A greenish-purple infected cut seeped pus from her tiny hand.
The other children were better kept, but younger. Only one girl had a complete shirt, and the other children had their heads shaved. Most of the children had strips of cloth tied together into makeshift blankets and shirts, but a lot of them were naked. You could see every sharp bone under their skin, like silk taut over glass.
"What are you called?" The leader asked.
"Call me ӓiti." She soon had their attention with the tales from her childhood.
Ӓiti died a few days later from her wounds and punctured organs.
The Enforcers didn't move her corpse until the liquid of rotting flesh ran down the hall.
"What's the matter? Scared of a little lightning?" He mocked.
"I'm not overly fond of what follows."
A long-haired blond more massive than Steve crashed into the jet and grabbed Loki before leaping out of there once again.
"Now there's that guy." Stark groaned. Who the hell was this blondie?
"Another Asgardian?" Romanoff asked rhetorically.
"Think the guy's a friendly?" Rogers asked, also rhetorically. Rhys almost opened her mouth, unsure if their questions were rhetorical or not.
"Doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost." Stark turned to jump out of the aircraft, while Steve yelled at him.
"Stark, we need a plan of attack!"
"I've got a plan. Attack." Stark turned and let himself fall out of the jet.
"I'd sit this one out, Cap." Romanoff advised.
"I don't see how I can."
"These guys come from legends, they're basically Gods."
"There's only one God, ma'am. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that." Steve jumped out to help Stark chase after Loki. Natasha looked at Rhys.
"Please tell me you aren't going to follow them too." She pleaded.
"And miss out on the fun? Uh-uh." With a feral grin she was rapidly coming to be famous for, Rhys stepped out of the jet.
She fell through space, enjoying the feeling of the air rushing through her hair. She hadn't ever fallen from high in the sky before. She loved the feeling of freedom as she tumbled. The buffeting winds made her delirious with joy.
She noticed where several trees were falling and took off there. She landed softly about a dozen feet from Loki and did a roll on the ground to stand on her feet. Stark saw her and yelled out.
"Kid! Get outta here!"
"Not a chance!" Rhys crouched down, picked up a couple of stones off the ground and focused. A moment later, the rocks were a glob of molten steel. She tapped the ground with her other hand and sent the metal out in rivulets, watching as it snaked its way towards the dumbstruck blonde. He attempted to avoid the shiny substance but he could not escape. The molten metal covered his legs, pinning him to the ground. It hardened and the blonde gave a roar of indignation.
"What is this sorcery?!" He demanded, attacking his new metal boots.
"Woah." Stark looked at Rhys hand, down to Blondie's feet, and back. He held his hands up and backed away slowly.
"We just have some questions for you." Rhys began, but with a particularly vicious swing, the blonde released himself. The hardened metal cracked like china. He launched himself at the girl, who cursed.
Rhys waved her hand and the air in front of her solidified just in time for the god to hit it with his hammer. A loud clang rang out as Steve appeared out of nowhere and flung his shield at the demi-god.
"Hey! That's enough!" Steve looked around the clearing and when he saw Rhys, he did a double take. "Rhys?" He shook himself off and addressed the long haired man. "Now, I don't know what you plan on doing here-"
"I've come here to put an end to put an end to Loki's schemes!" He declared loudly.
"Then prove it. Put that hammer down." Rhys cringed at the authoritative voice. She remembered the Enforcers and Guards sounding exactly the same as they ordered her around.
"Uh…yep! No! Bad call! He loves his hammer!" Stark flew backwards as the blonde's hammer hit him. It could've been comical except for the fact that the hammer Blondie had could do serious damage.
"You want me to put the hammer down?" The man spun his hammer and slammed it down on Steve, who, thankfully, put his shield up. Rhys had just enough time to throw up a field to stop any shrapnel. Even with this added precaution, she flew back with the force, and several trees in the vicinity were flattened. They picked themselves off the ground and Steve spoke first.
"Are we done here?"
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