After that experience with dream-Loki, I decided to always suck up a little energy before going to bed. But it was during one of my experimentations with using my ability that the biggest change happened.
"What are you doing?" Startled I dropped the remote I had been trying to siphon from, figuring that batteries might possibly work the same as electricity.
"Thor!" Quickly standing I faced the giant blond god. "I'm just... playing."
He laughed; the loud noise startled me even more.
"You cannot hide from me, tiny technopath. I have power over lightening, which I am led to believe is much like your electricity." He walked into the rec room; I took an instinctive step back.
He paused; somebody must have told him I hated people close to me and was easily startled.
"I have felt a strange shift in the power on this flying ship. It is you." But I was so careful not to take too much. "Why is it you are testing your limits? Surly you already know them."
"Not... Not so much." His eyebrows raised in surprise.
"Why is it you have not been taught? On Asgard, if somebody is born with your abilities they are immediately taught how to control them... lest they hurt anyone."
There are others like me?
"How often are people born technopaths?"
Thor looked sad for a moment. "There have been none for many centuries. The last one left Asgard, ending the line of them... Until you." I gaped for a moment before he continued. "I believe that the Asgardian took a human mate and became mortal."
"You can do that?" Maybe it has something to do with earth? Or the fact that Asgard holds the key to immortality.
"If an Asgardian chooses to, it is often a choice for those of us who wish to appear aged and wise. My father is one such man," Thor smiled fondly, "and my mother."
I couldn't help but to ask, "Will you do that with Jane? Become mortal?"
"How is it you know of Jane?" Obviously he didn't know that there was a file kept on him.
"Technopath, remember? I asked the computer and it told me the truth." For some mad reason I felt slightly more relaxed around Thor, probably because he wasn't a murder hungry God like his brother.
He nodded then answered my question. "I would rather many centuries with Jane. She shall come with me to Asgard and I will beseech my father to make her immortal."
"You can make people immortal?" Smiling, Thor moved into the room and took a seat on one of the couches. It groaned under his weight and for once I didn't move away when somebody moved closer. Fascinated by the conversation, I actually sat next to him.
"It is ultimately my father's decision, but yes." This floored me; I couldn't imagine living forever and truthfully wouldn't want to. But Jane Foster was an extremely lucky woman to have a God like Thor wanting to make her his forever.
"What are you doing here then? Shouldn't you be off with Jane?" You would have to be a fool to miss the anger that passed the God's face; thankfully it wasn't directed at me.
"I cannot risk Jane's life with Loki on the loose; he would use anything against me... no matter the cost to himself." The last part struck me as strange, but I didn't dwell on it. "But I did not come to talk with you about my own problems; I came to talk about yours."
"What problems?" Smiling Thor tossed the remote at me; I caught it in one hand and accidentally sucked the energy out of the batteries, not something I would try again anytime soon. It felt like dirty power running through me and not nearly enough to even zap somebody with... not that I would zap anyone except and certain sadistic God.
"I am offering you assistance with controlling your powers. You are a conduit for electricity and I am able to create it, albeit a different kind of electricity."
I thought about it for a moment then something clicked. "You mean that you want to teach me to control my power, so I can then be zapped with yours and multiply it back at a selected target?"
Slightly guilty, Thor nodded.
I shrugged. "Ok."
...
"This wasn't what I pictured." For the last hour Thor had me sucking energy out of every available source. Thankfully S.H.I.E.L.D. was more than capable of keeping up with the power shortages. The only problem with his teaching methods was that he expected me to hold all the energy inside my body. It was a slow process that involved me sucking tiny amounts of power out of the system, then letting it settle, holding it inside and repeating. My problem was now finding somewhere to direct it to, when I posed the question to Thor he laughed.
"I am the God of Thunder, direct it at me." I winced at my stupidity and agreed. We had moved to an empty exercise room so the God grabbed two close together metal beams to steady himself. The energy inside of me was literally rioting and was agonizingly close to breaking through.
"Freyja." A whistle sounded. Startled out of concentrating I looked up at Thor, only barely holding onto the power. "You must concentrate; remember that you were born to hold this electricity inside of you. It should be as natural as walking." He watched me as I calmed it down inside of me. "Good, now shoot it at me."
"I... I can't, what if I miss? Or melt you?" Thor looked serious for a moment; clearly he too had read my file.
"You will not, now shoot." Every time he said the S word I could barely hold onto the increasingly painful energy.
"Shoot!" Shouting, Thor frightened me enough that I accidentally let go of my hold. It shot from my body in a great grey pulse, one that was surprisingly accurate. I watched it ping towards Thor and prayed that it would hit and be contained by him, but it wasn't. Before my eyes the Thunder God grunted under the weight of my onslaught. He was able to absorb most of it, but I sensed some slam into the wall behind him. Rather than flow through the wall, the now solid mass made a massive hole in it.
Hearing a scream from the other side of it I ran to the wall, forgetting about Thor entirely. Thankfully the energy hadn't the power to blast through any more solid mass. It had merely frightened the lab technicians examining some Chitauri technology. As I had been forbidden to touch anything Chitauri as they might contain dangerous Alien energy remains, I didn't enter the room. Just waved awkwardly when the lab technicians glared at me and helped their hysterical colleague from the room.
I looked back behind me at Thor; he was actually sitting on the ground panting.
"Are you ok?"
Laughing he answered. "Very much so, though I am afraid your 'attack' has left me quite out of breath. You are extremely powerful." He told me something that I already knew which was why I had never before tried to actually utilize the ability.
I still awkwardly thanked him though.
He nodded and stood, griping his ribs lightly. "We shall try again, this time with less energy, I think."
...
Panting, I willingly grasped Thor's hand as he pulled me to my feet. We had been trying for several hours and I had finally managed to contain the amount of energy I threw at the God. He would then use his hammer to utilize it and return it to me. Kind of like an extremely dangerous game of catch.
"You are doing well for a beginner; 'a quick learner' as the humans say. That time you were nearly able to direct it out again." I knew that I should be exhausted, but for some reason my body was adapting extremely well to the increasing conditions of Thor's training. In only a few hours I had managed far more with Thor than had I been without his help.
"One more time?" I had lost nearly all my shyness around the kind God and was eager to try my abilities out again. Laughing Thor clapped me on the back; I was learning not to fall over instantly.
"Very well." Walking over to the other side of the room Thor braced himself. I barely had to think this time; all it took was a small amount of my ability and I had sucked in enough energy to take down a train. My guess was however this was only possibly because I had been practising for hours. Come tomorrow it might take me just as long to advance this far again... and this wasn't even very far.
The grey arch of electricity shot towards Thor, but he absorbed it all, then handling his hammer he pointed it towards me. I embraced the energy as it hit, having previously learnt not to tense up. The only problem was containing the God's amplified energy; it was, after all, a certain form of lightening.
"Hold it, Freyja." I had learnt that concentrating on something other than the electricity inside of me helped, so Thor's voice became invaluable.
I finally found the weakness in my automatic absorbing defence; screaming I let the energy fly out. I could tell instantly that not even Thor could withstand this without injury, but it was him or the side of the ship. My senses went into overload and I could dimly hear Thor yelling for help, for himself or for me I wasn't sure because the next thing I knew was darkness.
...
"I am getting rather tired of meeting you like this." My exhausted dream state body lifted her head. The headache plaguing me only increased with Loki's return. I was tempted to instantly zap myself awake, but the knowledge that I could escape gave me the strength to stay. I looked around at the scenery he had chosen and realized that it was the partially destroyed training room.
"Can't you leave me alone? Please, I just need to rest." I was too exhausted to even move from my lying down position.
"Oh yes, I have heard you are practising your abilities with Thor." He spat out his brother's name like it was dirt. I had never wanted to get in-between Thor and Loki; now it seemed I had.
"He's a good teacher." You would have thought I should have learnt by now to tell less than the truth around the God of Lies; he seemed to always react badly.
"Oh yes, I know all about the kind of teacher Thor is. Sigrid used to delight in telling me..." I could tell instantly the memory was fresh; because of that I felt a strange sense of jealousy. I was reasonably sure it was because Loki was the only male to ever pay attention to me. That, andI am completely bonkers.
"Legend says she's your wife." Loki flinched and backed off from me slightly, apparently wary of what I knew, so I continued. "According to most myths surrounding you, she will be the one to keep the poison from your eyes." He looked confused then smiled, but it was a sad smile.
"Sigrid was the woman I wanted to marry, but Thor took her from me, like he has taken everything from me. I expected them to be wed and live happily; I could have dealt with that. Instead they remained only friends, and Sigrid refused to even court the idea of my replacing Thor."
I couldn't help but ask. "How long ago was this?"
He seemed to think for a moment before answering. "Several millennium." Wow, can this guy hold a grudge or what?Walking towards my prone form, Loki actually sat down next to me. "Enough about my past, I am curious as to why you seem less fearful."
"Because all I need to do is zap myself, and I'm free." He seemed annoyed for a second, then just nodded.
"So you gain some control and think you are powerful." His gaze was intent and obviously mocking me.
Slightly embarrassed I ducked my head for a moment. "No," my eyes met his again, "but at least now I hold some power."
Loki brushed his fingers down my cheek. "All powers humans hold are illusions, Freyja. Eventually I will take it all."
I smirked at him for the first time ever. "Maybe, but I am half Asgardian..." A small spark later and I was awake.
...
"My name is Freyja Sold, I am the descendant of both Asguardian and human blood. They... Will... Not... Intimidate me." I had been standing outside of the conference room for about ten minutes, simply repeating my little chant. The council had requested a meeting with me, to full assess the capabilities of my powers. For the past few weeks I had been training with Thor every day, and we had both gotten quite good at controlling my abilities. So good in fact that Loki hadn't dared enter my dreams again, it was a relief to know that I had actually scared him off. Or at least Thor had told me that I must have... why else would he not try and torment me.
"Miss Sold, the council will see you now." I jumped at Fury's voice. Grabbing my portable energy source, I followed him quickly into the room. Rather than stay however Fury left and actually locked the doors behind him.
Inside there was a single chair facing five large screens, on each one there was a person half shrouded in shadows.
"Please have a seat Miss Sold; I believe Director Fury has informed you as to why you have been summoned?"
Stumbling slightly I sat down in the only chair, my palms sweating slightly. "Yes sir..." Even though it was a woman speaking, I had learnt enough to always call superiors 'sir'. "He said that you all wanted to see what I had learnt."
The people on screen all nodded at once, after a moment of silence I realized that they were waiting for me to begin.
"Oh." Grabbing the battery pack I focused on it for a second, thankfully because it was rechargeable energy it didn't feel dirty. Almost instantly I felt the small presence of it. Holding my hand out I let small blue sparks dart from it.
"Is this all you are capable of?"
"No, this is just because I don't want to damage anything." At this the council members all straightened in their chairs.
"We were informed that you can also command any kind of machine." The man to the far left spoke this time.
"Well... I kind of ask actually, and they do it."
"Please demonstrate."
Nodding I reached out through the electrical components the council men were using to communicate with; I could almost instantly sense where each of them were situated. Un-shockingly most were American, but that wasn't what I wanted. My mind centred on each of the screens they were using to watch me on, I carefully asked the screens to type 'Hello' on themselves. By the slight talking coming from each person, I knew that my trick had worked.
"You of course realize the security risks this poses?" Thinking for a moment, it suddenly clicked with what they meant.
"Oh, I would never ask for anything dangerous. Besides, if it equipment is protected with AI I wouldn't be able to even if I wanted. Jarvis won't let me near the Ironman suit." I was a little tired of defending myself; it seemed like all I had tried to do is help in a war I shouldn't even be a part of.
"We are well aware of this... However we require you to use this particular ability." I knew that the council considered me a freak; I could hear it especially well in the female's voice. Not answering back, I waited for one of them to continue.
"You have been informed of Earths current lack in technology, compared to alien?"
I nodded, waiting for them to continue.
"We wish you to use the Tesseract to assist in... updating Americas arms..."
I felt instantly sick at the idea of using my abilities to hurt somebody. I was brought in to study alien devices, not become an accessory to murder... which would no doubt be the end result should I help make weapons.
"I am here to study the Tesseract... nothing more." Each member sat up straighter in their chairs and I knew that they were judging me.
"Do you understand that you work for us?"
Shaking my head, I stood up. "I am here to help America, but I cannot do this... Will not" the guards posted at the doors straightened slightly, I got a sudden feeling of dread.
"You realize that you have no true rights Miss Sold. You may be half human, but you are also half Asguardian. And thus under the 'protection' of the council, you will help us."
"Do you try and force Thor to help you?" My eyes were darting from side to side, but at every door there were guards.
"We are unable to gain the assistance of the man known as Thor; he is too... unpredictable and is currently focused on finding the war criminal known as Loki."
I continued the conversation only to distract them; all the while I was slowly consuming energy around me. "Please, don't make me do this." The council all leaned back in their chairs, smug and satisfied looks on their faces. Obviously they misunderstood.
"You will be shipped out tomorrow to a secure location, from there you will be in control of an entire lab of scientists. They will assist in anything you need to create these weapons."
I released the energy around me, to my shock though it only made the guards stagger. They instantly stood up straight again and stalked forward as one. Realizing I was trapped, I stood my ground.
"The Avengers won't let you do this, it's wrong."
"Miss Sold, as far as they are concerned you will be helping your country voluntarily. Besides at this moment they are all too busy with their own plans. Romanoff and Barton have been shipped off, Rogers is at this moment trying to assimilate himself back into society, Stark is too self centred to care about anything beyond his precious Tower, Banner left a week ago as you well know and Thor is currently off ship searching for Loki." Hands wrapped quickly around mine and slammed something around my wrists, handcuffs.
"We advise you to not try your abilities Miss Sold; the restraints you are wearing are designed especially for you. Any surge of electricity and they will tighten." My mind could barely process the injustice of this, I understood that the council was scared with the attack on New York... but this was barbaric.
"I still won't help you."
"We believe that after some time alone you will rethink that verdict, good day Miss Sold." The screens flicked off. I probably would have flashed the bird, if the burly and electrical resistant guards hadn't grabbed my arms. Despite my struggling they soon had me dragged out into the corridor and towards the hanger, their obvious destination a plane or jet of some sort.
I had only one choice. "Sorry." Apologising I slammed my foot down onto one of the men's; he made a pained noise and released me. The other guard tightened his hold but I slammed the side of my head into his. Groaning at the pain, I was relieved to see that it wasn't in vain. The man reeled back with a shout, cradling his head.
I took of around a corner without thinking. The shouts of the men chasing me were deafening, but I continued on. My hands bound together a slight disadvantage, but at least I had a goal in mind now.
Reach control room, pray for Avenger. Sadly it was a rather long run to the control room, and by the time I finally made it I had a fair amount of guards following me. Immediately spotting Director Fury I ran behind him. To my relief he didn't seem to have any idea about the council's plans. The guards all halted as they recognized the room they were in, all at least having the decency to look guilty.
"What is the meaning of this?" Fury's voice went out like a sonic boom, everybody in the room waited for one of the guards to respond. One of the original ones stepped forwards, the obvious bruise on his head made me slightly guilty.
"Director, we have orders from the council to retain Miss Sold and remove her to a secure location."
"Why wasn't I informed of this?" Fury glanced behind him with his good eye, obviously to make sure I was still there.
"The council deemed it unworthy of your attention."
"You expect me to believe that the council didn't tell me about the 'removal' of Miss Sold, because I am too busy." I could practically feel the glare he sent towards the guards. "What's really going on here." Before the guard could answer, "Freyja?"
Ducking my head slightly I sidestepped around Fury, wanting to face him when I explained.
"The council wants me to make weapons... from the Tesseract and I didn't want to." Fury's face lost any emotion at this; he turned an accusatory glance towards the Guards. But they didn't back down.
"Sir, we have our orders. Miss Sold is to come with us; she will be placed in a secure location."
"You are not taking Freyja anywhere." Thors voice boomed through the room. The occupants all turned to watch the new drama unfold; it would certainly be interesting as the God of Thunder looked pissed. The guards literally shrunk away as he walked through them, coming to stand beside me.
"We were lead to believe that you were investigating a possible Loki sighting." I literally nearly giggled at the image of Loki running through the woods like a Big Foot. Thor glared down at the now tiny Guard, man Asguardians are huge.
"There was no such sighting. After seeing what is transpiring here, I believe that I was sent away for a reason." He turned towards me, the sorrow on his face clear. "I apologise Freyja, had I know the Councils plans I would never have left." I went to answer, but he noticed the cuffs. Growling he reached down and literally snapped the chains, I was half terrified that they would cut off my hands. They didn't.
The guard stepped forward, obviously pissed that his dandy new cuffs had just been snapped like plastic.
"I have my orders, hand the girl over. She is now the property of the Council."
Thor turned towards Fury. "I was led to believe that Earth does not have slaves."
Frowning Fury faced Thor head on. "We do not. And for the record, I had no knowledge of the Councils plans. Had I know of them, I would not have allowed access to Freyja at all."
Getting annoyed at people all talking around me and the proximity of them flustering me, I figured now might be a good time to speak.
"The Council... The Council said because I am Asguardian and under the protection of Earth, that I belong to them." Embarrassed I looked at the floor.
Thors furious voice overpowered to room, "is this true?"
I couldn't see who he was yelling at, but the Guard was the one who spoke.
"It is as the Council dictates."
A hand grabbed my wrist and I almost screamed in fright, it seemed my new found bravery was starting to leave. Thankfully the one holding it was Thor.
"Come Freyja, we are leaving." I nodded, eager to follow the God from this now terrifying place... I just had to get my cat first.
"We cannot allow you to take her; she is not your property." The Guard's hated voice was quickly drowned out by Furys.
"Ok that is enough!" he pointed a finger at the group of men, "you will return to your posts." Turning he faced myself and Thor. "Freyja, you have my word that you will not be taken from this ship forcibly. Both yourself and Thor have the same rights as any other human being." Sighing in relief I smiled up at him, this time he smiled back.
"Pardon Director, but you do not have the authority to authorize that." I could tell that the Guard was starting to annoy Fury; he tensed his fists before turning back.
"I think you will find that I do." He didn't need to say a word and every gun in the room was pointed at the group of men, they recognized when to back down. One by one they left the room until only one was left; he glared at me once before also departing. I breathed a sigh of relief. Thor and Fury didn't though.
"It is time for you to leave Freyja." Confused I looked up at the Thunder God, does he mean leave the room or...
"Thor is right; it's no longer safe for you here. Not if the Council knows that you are capable of making weapons from the Tesseract." I knew that they were correct, but it was still difficult for me to allow the knowledge to sink in. After all, out there in the world I was venerable to Loki. At least here I was too high to reach.
Bit of an abrupt ending but it seemed to suit Review if you like; I love to hear what you think needs to happen next.
Shout out to Outlaw-Lanaya for the idea of Thor helping her develop her powers, will make for interesting future fodder.
Xoxo
Future
