My apologies for the delay. This took a longer while than I expected, and I hope the next one doesn't take as long to set up. For all you who are still reading, thanks.

Chapter 9

Developments

They had been in the cage for about twelve hours. Amber hadn't woken yet. Loki was a little bit worried, but he dismissed it. She was fine. He could see her breathing, and she occasionally moved a bit.

At long last, at very long last, she awoke, yawning and groaning. Loki saw her stretch her back, cat like and open her mouth wide. Her teeth bared and she relaxed. She opened her eyes, blinking a couple times. Her eyes focused on Loki, and she closed her yellow turning blue eyes sighing again. He watched her ignore him, apparently bored.

Finally, he decided to break the silence, "Can I talk now?"

"Do I have a choice?" she responded.

He pretended to consider her question for a second, "No, I don't believe you do."

She opened her eyes and focused on him, "Then why ask?"

It was a good question. There really was no point in asking her a question if he really wasn't going to give her a choice. He changed the subject. "You fainted."

"Yeah, I kind of noticed."

He smirked. She was very bold. He could tell she was scared, but faced with this situation where she had no way out of speaking with him, she wasn't going to go down without a fight.

"There's a big cut on your head," he told her, and she rolled her eyes.

"Yes, thank you for stating the obvious. I had no idea that my flesh was ripped open."

He noticed that her eyes were a dark purple, and made note of this. So, dark purple meant boredom or defiance, light blue meant fear, red meant anger, and dark green meant curiosity. Hmm.

She turned back to the window, and leaned her forehead against the glass like a tired kid on a long car ride. She really seemed exhausted, even though she'd slept for twelve hours. There were dark shadows under her eyes, and her veins were easily seen. He was feeling a little worried, but he dismissed the feeling.

Eventually, she got up, stretched, and looked around. Loki could see her examining the entire cage, this time out of interest. She was confusing. Very confusing. First she spoke to him as if he was an annoying child, then she completely ignored him. Her fear was wearing off, he could tell. She hadn't trusted him when he had promised that he wasn't going to hurt her. She was a very smart person.

She walked to the door and studied the outside, hands clenched behind her back. Loki watched her, thinking. There was something he was missing. She wasn't dirty. Her skin, it was pale. The normal sheet of dirt that used to cover her was gone. The water. She must have gone swimming. Unintentionally, of course, but when walking on water, you would no doubt get wet. He had never tried it, but she obviously had.

She turned back around and walked to the other side to examine the outside. She was basically scanning the entire room, looking for what, he did not know.

"What are you doing?" he asked her, confused.

"I'm looking for weaknesses."

He smiled, glad to be able to tell her something she didn't know. He didn't know where this childish competitive feeling came from, but he felt like he did when he was young, with his brother, "Fury says that if we break this, we die."

She turned toward him, eyebrows raised. He realized how childish that had sounded and tried to revise it, "I mean, if anything happens to the case, the entire cage falls into the ground below."

"I'm glad they've changed something, though they could've been a little more original."

"You've been here before?"

"Yeah, I have. It was much more boring last time, though. At least now I have something to fight back with."

He was intrigued. It was strange, but there it is. He shook himself.

"You're from Asgard."

"Uh huh."

"And…"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you're a god, right?"

"Yes."

"And you can do magic, right?"

"Yes."

She was looking at him, excitedly. Her normally sad eyes alight with expectancy, dark green eyes glowing. Suddenly it dawned on him what she was asking.

He smiled, mischievously. She wanted him to do magic. Very well then. If she wanted magic, she would get magic. She gasped as he disappeared easily, and shrieked when he whispered in her ear, "Be careful what you wish for."

She jumped up, grabbing the ceiling, and kicked him twice in the chest. Or tried to, at least. She missed and he grabbed her foot. She closed her eyes and scrunched up her face in concentration. An electric current shot down her limb and Loki let go, wincing.

Loki reappeared, looking at her strangely. Amber was surprised and a little scared about what he might do to her for zapping him, but after a moment, he laughed. It was the strangest thing. One moment he was all threatening and deadly, the next he was laughing at her. She found that she was laughing too.

Then it hit her. Zapping. Electricity. Lightning. The night. The storm… OHMYGOD! It was like the water, it took an experience to bring the power out of her. She decided to try more. To stop Loki's laughing. She stomped her foot and sent a shock wave. Loki jumped uncharacteristically, looking surprised.

It was Amber's turn to laugh. He just looked so hilarious with all his hair on end, that she couldn't help herself. He looked at her, unreadable, then burst out laughing himself. Amber knew that her hair must be static as well, and felt her ponytail. Sure enough, it was all puffed up. Many moments later, she finally stopped laughing. Loki did as well. For a moment, Amber smiled at him, forgetting her fear, and he smiled back. Then he turned away, sitting down and looking through the window. Hmm, she thought, I think I'll play a little game with him.

Now that the barrier come down, and they were speaking freely, though fleetingly, she thought she'd take it to the next level. Annoy them for fun. She knew he'd hate it, but she'd love it, and besides, she really wanted to see his reaction. She would start at once.

"Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey Loki."

He looked up at her, inclining his head. She grinned wickedly, saying nothing, and he just kept looking at her. Finally, she decided to continue, as he wasn't showing any immediate threat, like wanting to kill her. She chose her next words carefully, as to not offend, "You have a scary face."

He rolled his eyes at her and looked back out the window. Amber just had to try harder, so she concocted a scheme that was sure to annoy him. For a while, nothing happened, she sat and played with the glass, breathing on it and playing with the water that condensed on its surface. She couldn't do anything with it, besides breathe in it and stand on it, apparently. It was a bit of a letdown, but it was sure to be useful in the future, when they got out. Until then, she would just have to wait. To be perfectly honest, she was still forming a plan, something to say.

When the time finally came, she got up from her seat and walked to sit across from him. Her plan began, "So, you're an Assguardian, right?"

He looked at her again, smirking a little, "Asgardian."

"So, you're the guardian of the ass? Whose ass are you guarding?"

"The king's ass, I suppose," said, smile growing wider.

"Your father?"

"He's not my father!"

"Ok, ok, I get it. Daddy issues," she said, calmingly.

"No, I mean we're not at all related. We're different races, and he lied to me at birth!"

"Honestly, I can't understand what you're so worked up about. It's better than being dumped on the curb left as food for seagulls and cannibals."

"It's not like that!"

"Well, tell me then!"

He seemed to consider this, but then Amber remembered that there were no private conversations here. She hastily stopped him, though he didn't seem as though he would share his backstory anyway. She pointed at the camera and nodded at him. He stopped and looked at it as well, smirking maliciously. And back in the prep room, he was seen.

"They are hitting it off quite well, apparently," Steve commented.

"Yes, they are. I have never seen my brother like this. It's unusual to see anyone, a child especially, speak so freely with him," Thor said, "It is very disconcerting, but it has been a while since I saw him play a harmless prank on someone, and to no one's expense. This child is changing him, and I have hopes that it will turn out with my old brother back again."

"You really miss him, don't you?" asked Steve.

"More than anything."

"I know how you feel. I used to have a friend, Bucky. He was a brother to me, but then there was a train and I couldn't save him. Seventy years and things haven't changed much," Steve gulped, and dismissed himself to the lab.

Thor stayed, thinking about his brother and the Amber girl. Many things were undetermined when it came to her, but she was definitely powerful. And was definitely changing his brother. He just hoped that it was for the best. His brother was especially childlike around her, and there was no doubt that she brought out the best in Loki, like they were when they had been kids, always together and competing foolishly. Loki was still somewhere in there, still his friend, still his brother. No mortal, not even Steve, could possibly understand the despair, the misery that it induced. It was terrible, ever present, tearing at his heart like a disease, like an infection. He wished, more than anything, that he could just have his old brother back.

Loki had disappeared, had frightened her, all for fun. And they had laughed for five minutes together. Like two siblings, school friends, father and daughter. And the worst part was that she was a child, homeless and alone. But maybe that was the best part. They were uncannily similar, almost identical in their lives. Loki and Amber were both orphans, both magical, and both had an aptitude for madness and chaos. It was what they did best. They complimented each other, like twins, they went together.

The magic was quite strange, he thought. She had used electricity, it was obvious. It had shot through her leg and shocked his brother, and in more ways than one. She had also been reported to have been walking on water. And she had been unseen by a few people when they had brought her in. She definitely had magic in her, but not a good grip on them as far as anyone could see. She seemed like a harmless prankster, but Fury thought that she was more capable. Thor thought that she was just a child who had been dragged into something much bigger than her, and deserved to be set free, but maybe it was better that she stayed. She was changing his brother, he saw it. His brother was kinder to her than to anyone else.

He was thinking about this when he walked into the room full of computers and people sitting at them. He instantly composed himself into a vision of a god, strong and powerful. He walked over to a monitor with the face and recording of Jane Foster as Agent Coulson walks up to stand by him, "As soon as Loki took the doctor we moved Jane Foster. We've got an excellent observatory in Traunsee. She was asked to consult there very suddenly yesterday. Handsome fee, private plane, very remote. She'll be safe."

"Thank you," Thor said, genuinely, "It's no accident, Loki taking Erik Selvig. I dread what he plans for him once he's done. Erik is a good man."

"He talks about you a lot. You changed his life. You changed everything around here."

"They were better as they were. We pretend on Asgard that we're more advanced, but we-we come here battling like Bilchsteim."

"Like what?" Coulson asked, clueless.

"Bilchsteim. You know; huge, scaly, big antlers," he said, gesturing with his hands, "You don't have those?"

"Don't think so."

"They are repulsive, and they trample everything in their path," Thor explained, walking over to the side of the ship and looked out through the window, "When I first came to earth, Loki's rage followed me here and your people paid the price. And now again. In my youth I courted war."

Fury appeared at the top of a staircase, "War hasn't started yet." He walked in, intimidating in the same trench coat and eye patch, "You think you can make Loki tell us where the Tesseract is?"

"I do not know. Loki's mind is far afield, it's not just power he craves, it's vengeance upon me. There's no pain that would prize his need from him."

"A lot of guys think that, until the pain starts."

"What are you asking me to do?" Thor questioned.

"I'm asking what are you prepared to do?"

"Loki is a prisoner!"

"Then why do I feel like he's the only person on this boat who wants to be here?"

Thor did not answer. He was too worried.

Hope you liked it! XD