Artificial Sweetness

Loki gave it sufficient time before deciding it would be safe to go back to Emmie's cell/room. He had sensed someone outside her door and knew they had been there for Emmie. He had reappeared back in his cell and then waited, knowing the time would come when he could sneak back into Emmie's room and… and what?

He wished he had given this a little more thought. It was easy to decide what to do when it came to Bruce Banner. That was simple enough. But when it came to Emmie, it was different. She may be mad, malicious, and murderous. But she was still an intelligent young girl. And if his aim was to turn her to his side, the best option was to trick her into coming willingly. And how to do that? What was the best way to make a young woman want to come with a man willingly?

Perhaps… He smirked. he glanced up at the camera mounted in the corner of his cell. Once again, this would only take a moment. Someone watching the camera would miss it if they looked away for more than two seconds. He conjured an illusion of himself and transported himself outside of the cell. He checked that the illusion was in place, then strode away to where he now knew Emmie's room was. Loki carefully leaned against the door and listened for any movement. Emmie should probably be back by now, but there was no way to tell for sure. There was no noise coming from within the room.

He hesitated for a moment. If she wasn't back yet, he could simply wait. He pushed open the door but didn't step in right away. He didn't see her immediately within his line of vision. He hesitated again, then took a step into the room.

Something slammed into him from the left side, knocking him sprawling on the ground. He lost all orientation of where he was as something hit him hard in the ribs, making him roll. He felt something sharp dig into his collarbone, felt something leaning over him. Maliciously mischievous green eyes met his startled blue.

"Oh," Emmie said lightly. "It's you." She straightened and stepped back, the dagger he had given her idly twirling between her fingers.

Loki was still half-stunned from the speed and ferocity of her stealthy attack. He slowly sat up. "What was that for?" he asked as he stood.

Emmie thought about how to answer. Lying, she decided. "I thought it might be Coulson again, coming to get me for another therapy session. Thought I might be, uh, attacking one of my captors, as it were," she said airily.

Loki narrowed his eyes. "Liar. You knew it was me. You're not so stupid that you don't look before you attack."

Emmie's hateful eyes sparkled as she smirked. "Maybe I just wanted to get back at you." She flipped her mouse brown hair over her narrow shoulders. "Well, I also kind of figured you wouldn't necessarily need to use the door. What with you… disappearing and all, earlier." She gave him a calculating look, raising her eyebrows in question.

"Straight to the point, aren't you?" Loki asked.

Emmie shrugged. "Well, you did kind of…" She flexed her left hand meaningfully. "And…" She held up the dagger in her hand. "Plus the whole…" she couldn't think of a gesture. "Disappearing out of the room before Coulson came in."

Loki shrugged in return.

Emmie stepped a little closer, trying to figure this guy out. "What was that all about?" she asked quietly, wanting to get as much information out of him as possible.

Loki considered. He might as well start his own act now, since this girl so obviously liked putting on her own acts. "You interest me, Emmie," he said softly, a slightly self-conscious smile gracing his lips.

Emmie frowned at his reply. That was… weird. But if she interested him, she could roll with that. She could play along. Of course, the whole 'slowly becoming drawn to him in return' would be a hard angle to play. But she was sure she could pull it off if that was what was required. She was nothing if not an actress. Well, a Mastermind Murderess, too.

Loki saw her stiffen slightly at his words as they sank in. He saw something in her eyes like confusion. Then she frowned slightly and turned away. "Yeah, right," she muttered, sounding slightly depressed.

Loki waited. Perhaps being 'interested in her' wouldn't work as well as he had hoped. But perhaps he could still make it work. If he could get her to believe he was truly interested in her, it would make a lovely excuse for her to come with him when he escaped this Helicarrier. "You don't believe me?" he asked.

Emmie wondered exactly how to answer. She didn't want to be too obviously acting this all out. But she didn't want to push him away too soon that he would stop… whatever he was doing. Being interested in her. She scoffed quietly. "No one's 'interested in me,'" she muttered, not meeting Loki's eyes.

Loki wanted to smirk and agree with her statement. He wanted to quit feigning interest in the girl, but she seemed to be insecure and hurt inside. Those were the kind of people easiest to manipulate. She hadn't struck him as the insecure, moody, self-deprecating girl he saw now, but looks could be deceiving, as he was well aware. If she was truly as much of an angsty mortal teen as she now appeared to be, then she would be easy to manipulate. He would continue with the charade for now.

Emmie crossed the room and sat on her bed, not looking up to meet Loki's eyes. "Why'd you come back?" she sighed, pretending that Loki's words had somehow depressed her. This was simply just a new challenge. Another pretending game. Pretending to be vulnerable and insecure for him. She wasn't entirely sure what she would get out of it, but she was sure that having him on her side would be useful.

Loki wondered what he should do. Go and comfort her? Or would that be too… obvious? No, he should probably go with something subtler. He should probably still retain the arrogance and teasing countenance he had shown her earlier. That way, she would believe it more. That way, he wasn't too much out of character. "I came back because I wanted to. Do I need another reason?" he asked haughtily, inserting a slightly defensive tone into his voice.

Emmie glanced up, giving him a slightly accusing look through the feigned hurt she was showing. "What do you even want from me?"

Loki decided not to be too straightforward with his act. He wouldn't say anything too stupidly romantic. Emmie wouldn't believe him, anyway, he was sure. It was too soon for that. It would take time to fabricate affection for her. But he had time. "Nothing," he muttered, knowing that the defensive tone and lack of thought put into the answer would pique her curiosity.

Emmie frowned slightly. What was Loki trying to pull here, anyway? Was there seriously any way he was interested in her? And why? Naturally, she didn't return such feelings, nor did she plan on ever returning such feelings. But she was deeply curious as to what Loki wanted from her. If he was seriously some version of the Joker looking for his own Harley Quinn, then Emmie didn't think she would be the fit. But she could pretend that she could be. She could play hard-to-get, then play some shy schoolgirl, then maybe head-over-heels in love, and then she could stab him in the back when the time was right for her to do so. Probably after she got him to kill half of SHIELD or something. But she would see. Emmie put on a face of dubiety and looked at Loki. She pretended to look conflicted for a moment, then shrugged and brought her knees up to her chest.

Loki smiled slightly, pleased by Emmie's reactions to his words. She seemed to be believing him. Now… how was he supposed to get her to truly trust him and want to follow him to the (quite literal) ends of the Earth? How were you supposed to talk to a murderous, insecure teenage girl and get her to like you? How was he supposed to start a conversation with her?

Emmie wondered if she should be the one talking now. Should she feign some kind of returned interest now? Probably not yet. Maybe she should start with something simple. Just get him talking and find out more about him. "So you're the one who stole the Tesseract," she said simply. This seemed like it might be a good topic of conversation. He could do most of the talking, and she could pretend to be hanging onto his every word.

Loki blinked in surprise when Emmie was the one who spoke first. Perhaps this would be even easier than he thought. The girl seemed to be eager enough to get closer to him. He slowly nodded. "That's right. I stole the Tesseract."

"What do you want with it?" Emmie asked. This was an honest question, a question she seriously wanted the answer to. Still, she said it with a more innocent curiosity than she truly felt. She was still acting.

Loki wanted to snap that it was none of her business. But pushing her away would only make her dislike him, probably. He didn't want that. Then he would have no chance of gaining her trust and her favor. Yet he still didn't particularly feel like sharing his plan with this manipulative, cunning girl. He threw her a sly smile, hoping a bit of cockiness was alright. "I have my plans."

Emmie felt like rolling her eyes. He thought he was funny, apparently. But she supposed finding him funny was a good way to make him more 'interested in her.' She cracked a slight smile. "Uh huh. You have your plans." She slowly let her smile slip away as she pretended to give him a careful look, as if reevaluating her opinion of him. He looked pleased with her reaction, like he was happy he had made her smile. Oh, if only he knew that her smile was fake. If only he knew that she had no interest in being his Harley Quinn.

Loki felt proud satisfaction course through him as Emmie looked at him appraisingly, as if seeing him in a new light for the first time. It appeared he was winning her over with only a few soft words and smiles. This would be child's play, winning her over to his side. If only she knew that his soft words and smiles were feigned. He was sure she would be terribly furious and hurt when she found out. But by that time, she would have served her purpose. And by that time, she would be dispensable. But she didn't need to know that. Not yet. He would play with her for a while. Toying with her would be fun, surely.

"So your hand is better now?" he asked, pretending to come back to himself after being lost in thought.

Emmie flexed her left hand and glanced at the unblemished palm. "Yeah… how'd you do that, anyway? Same way you managed to disappear into thin air and pull a dagger out of nowhere, I suppose?" she asked.

Loki grimaced inwardly. She kept asking questions he didn't feel like answering. He wasn't willing to part with his secrets. "Yes, I suppose you could say that," he murmured. "It takes a lot of training and skill to be able to do it."

Emmie glanced up. "Can anyone do it?" She wondered if she would be able to do this stuff. It would be beyond helpful. The uses she could think of for the ability of pulling daggers out of thin air, and disappearing into nothingness, and healing wounds.

Loki felt like scoffing at her bright, inquisitive expression. He wanted to snidely tell her that she was being a fool if she thought she could do magic. He wanted to tell her that she was a mere mortal, and therefore wouldn't be able to wield such skill. But if he did that, he might lose any chance of gaining her trust and favor. And he couldn't have that. "Not everyone can do it," he explained. "I don't think there are any Midgardians who can do it." He had to stop himself from saying "humans" or "mortals" rather than "Midgardians." Such terms were slightly demeaning, and he didn't want her to take it the wrong way. In his opinion, even words like "Humans" or mortals" were euphemisms. People of Earth should really be called scum or something similar. But Emmie, he was sure, wouldn't appreciate his true opinion on the subject.

Emmie's eyes flicked to his. "What does Midgardian mean?" She had never heard someone say that before.

Loki tried not to roll his eyes or sigh in exasperation. He had forgotten. Few of the human scum knew that theirs was one of nine realms. What ignorant idiots. But he couldn't tell Emmie that. Even if it was true. He had to pretend that he found her ignorance endearing. He forced his lips into a soft smile. "I am… from a different world. Where I come from, your planet is called Midgard. Hence, you are Midgardian, as is the rest of your race."

Emmie stared at him, unsure if she could take him seriously. She hadn't known that. The guy was a freaking alien? Well, that explained the whole magic thing, and how he could disappear and heal her hand and all that crap. She started to second-guess her charade of slowly starting to return interest. For all she knew, he was "interested" in eating her face off or something. Who knew? She had never met an alien. "You're… from another planet?" she asked in a hushed voice. That was a little far-fetched, she thought. But who was she to tell him he was wrong? Maybe he was insane. Maybe he was making it up. But she didn't know. And she couldn't openly share her doubt.

Loki just nodded slowly, sensing her wavering confidence. Maybe that wasn't the right thing to tell her. Perhaps the fact that he wasn't human was off-putting. Perhaps feigning interest wouldn't work now.

Emmie wondered if a little bit of her true feelings showing through would be too much. But if she kept being too accepting, he might suspect her ruse. So perhaps a little bit of skepticism would be allowed. "Where are you from, Uranus?" she asked, slight disdain and sarcasm coloring her tone.

Loki felt frustration spark through him. He should have known Emmie was a lost cause. He should have known this plan wouldn't work. Pretending to have feelings for her would never work. She never felt anything but disdain and anger and hatred.

Emmie saw irritation in Loki's eyes, and she glanced away, pretending to feel remorse. Pretending she didn't want to make him mad.

Hope flickered in Loki as he saw her glance away, looking sorry. Maybe it was just her malicious nature preventing her from feeling. She looked like she hadn't meant it… or at least that she was regretting irritating him now. He let out a sigh and crossed the room to sit next to her. He would try to make this work. He seated himself next to her and looked at her. "I grew up in a place called Asgard," he began slowly. This might be a good way for him to simply get her used to his company. He could talk for a while, and she would learn a little bit. Enough to start trusting him, perhaps.

Emmie wanted to roll her eyes and groan as Loki sat on the bed next to her. Good God, he was smitten with her, wasn't he? She wanted to shove him off the bed and plunge her—his?—dagger into his chest. But she couldn't do that. Killing him would nullify any chance of having him as an ally, which she knew would be useful. She could play along and pretend to be enjoying this, she supposed.

"There are nine realms altogether," Loki continued. "All connected by the world tree, Yggdrasil." This was idiotic. He had to explain this to a girl who was nearly an adult. Every Asgardian child knew this. Humans were so ignorant and stupid. Why did he have to sink to this level of teaching a human teenager about the universe she lived in? Well, he knew why… but why? He wasn't enjoying this one bit. But Emmie's attention seemed to have been captured.

Emmie frowned, pretending to be interested. "Connected?" she repeated, hoping feigning interest would trick him into thinking she cared. So she looked at him brightly rather than driving her fist into his stomach until it touched his spine.

Loki wanted to throttle her neck. Just how stupid was she? He resisted the urge to slap her and shout that she should just do what he said or else suffer the consequences. But he couldn't do that. Having her join him willingly was the only way he would be able to control her. If he tried to force her to join him, she would resist. And he had more problems to deal with than trying to control the murderous teen. He would play with her. He would pretend to have tender feelings towards her. He was the god of trickery. He could do this. So he just nodded. "Connected," he said. He got an idea. "Here…" he reached out and took her hand in his.

Emmie felt indignation erupt inside her. How dare he touch her. She got itchy fingers, an overwhelming urge to yank her hands out of his, slap him across the face, and then proceed to strangle the living daylights out of him crossed her. But she was an actress. If anything, she could pretend. She forced herself to not resist. Her hands only twitched slightly before they remained relaxed as Loki held them.

Loki held back a sigh of irritation. He would pretend to be enjoying this. He had to. She seemed to be as her fingers flexed the tiniest bit before relaxing again.

Their eyes met briefly, and they both forced smiles, hoping they were believable enough. Both Emmie and Loki assumed the actions of the other were true, never realizing that the other was acting, though well-aware that their own were utter lies.

Loki felt nothing but contempt for the idiot girl who apparently thought he was actually interested in her. She appeared to be beginning to return the feigned interest. Good. Emmie felt nothing but indignation for the stupid man who apparently thought she was returning his interest in her. He appeared to be buying it that she was eager to become closer to him. Good.

Loki tore his blue eyes away from the girl's bright green, and he continued explaining the universe, lacing his fingers with hers as he told her how the World Tree, Yggdrasil, was set up, and of each of the nine realms.

Emmie's eyes remained fixed on Loki, pretending to hang onto his every word. She was only half-listening to his lecture on the nine realms history. She was thinking of what else she could do to make him fall for her act. She was thinking of what she might be able to do to use him. He could let her out of this room, she had no doubt. Loki began tracing shapes across her palms as he described things, hoping his light touch would be sweet or romantic or something. Emmie smiled to herself, deciding now would be a good time to make a little bit of a move. Not a big one, but enough to convince him that she was falling for him in return. She scooted a little closer to him, her eyes still fixed on him.

Loki paused as Emmie shifted and slid a little closer to him. He glanced up at her, distracted. She looked as if every word he said was made of gold. For the love of Odin, this was too easy. She was obviously fascinated with him. Silvertongue, indeed. Now why had no women on Asgard ever been like this. No matter. Humans were apparently just eager to fall in love. As long as Emmie believed in his feigned feelings, things would be alright.

Emmie smiled as he got distracted from saying something about Valhalla when she drew nearer. He looked at her, slight confusion on his face. She just pretended to be a little self-conscious, smiling and looking away briefly before glancing back up at him. In a near-whisper, she said. "Tell me more."

Loki wanted to roll his eyes. This was getting pathetic. Some vicious murderous girl. All you had to do was smile and hold her hand and she would be head over heels in love. Disappointing, almost. But as long as she retained her hatred and murderous nature towards others, he supposed he could deal with her being smitten with him. It wasn't like it was a bad thing to have a young woman mooning all over you. He gave her a small smile and continued with his tale of how Valhalla came to be, gently brushing his thumb over the back of her hand as she smiled.

Both were somehow irritated and pleased at the same time. Irritated that they had to sink to the level of imitating puppy love. But pleased because the other seemed to be buying it.

Note from LoquaciousQuibbler: Wow… Almost ridiculing cliché Loki/OC fanfics… Weird… this is the strangest thing I have written… ever… probably… Hmm. anyways. So Emmie and Loki are now both faking their adoration for each other, both thinking that the other isn't acting. But at the same time, they just want to slaughter each other because they think their lovey-dovey actions are as irritating as hell… Gah, you guys read the chapter, I guess I really don't need to be explaining it… Anywho, there will be another chapter of their pretending to be all head-over-heels for each other, following this.

Okay, I lied about not continuing to talk about the content of this chapter…. I would also like to tell you something… If you take out all Emmie and Loki's inner thoughts and feelings, and just take all the dialogue and outer actions, this chapter is like a really cheesy, crappy cliché love scene. While I wrote this story, I had another version of this chapter to compare side-by-side with this, where it was literally the exact same scene where it excluded their inner thoughts. I know… But that's the way this chapter was designed. Cheesy on the outside, complete irritation, exasperation, and manipulation on the inside. Odd. :P

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