Chapter 10

I sat in my room like I was a child waiting outside the principle's office, waiting to hear just what kind of punishment I was going to get or something like that. Tony was just telling Steve and the others about my relationship with Hydra, which I could only imagine was going as bad as either of us could expect. Thor was also in there, probably telling them about the runes. Elemental. That was me. Did that mean I could create these things out of nothing, or just influence what was already there? After a moment I stood up and looked at my hand a moment before holding it out in front of me and closing my eyes, not entirely certain what I was doing. I have no idea how long I stood like that, but eventually I gave up, lowering my hand and opening my eyes, which made me stumble backwards, falling onto my bed in shock.

The room looked somehow different, not that I could really put my finger on why. I closed my eyes again and it seemed like there was something alive in the room. For the fun of it, I stood up again and tried to find my way around, seeing if I could get to the bathroom. Surprisingly, it was somehow very easy, like there was something different where there was an object or a wall or something. Then it dawned on me. The air in the room. I was connecting to it on some level or another. After a moment I raised my hand, palm facing up. The wind in the room picked up and I opened my eyes, watching in astonishment as objects in the room were knocked over in the wind that I had conjured up. Slowly I lowered my arms and looked around, feeling a tiny bit more tired. Evidently my powers took energy. Well, good to know there were some limits to my power.

I grinned, holding my hand out to the side and summoning up the wind again to see what I could do. Instead of hearing the door open, I felt a slight change in the air flow and looked around in time to see Sam opening the door. When he saw what I was doing he looked shocked and slightly amazed. Alright, more than slightly amazed.

"How are you...?"

"I honestly have no idea." I laughed, once again lowering my hands. Sam shook his head and closed the door behind him as I headed back into the main room. He sat down at the chair in front of my computer and I sat down on my bed, legs crossed in front of me. I looked completely relaxed, but I was slightly on edge.

"I presume that everyone knows about... you know..." I didn't want to say it out loud. Thinking it was one thing, but saying it out loud seemed to make it more real. Sam nodded.

"To say the least Steve isn't very happy with this."

"He's not the only one." I muttered, looking at my hands.

"We're going to fix this."

"Mmhm. So everyone keeps saying. But what are you gonna do? Wipe out every Hydra agent and base on the planet? Look how that turned out when you tried that before, Sam."

"Alright, so you might have a point."

"Might? I reckon the best plan is to take me off world. They control me with radio waves or something like that, yeah? Doubt they could reach me if I was on Asgard."

"Leave behind everything and live with Norse Gods?" Sam looked rather incredulous, but I just shrugged.

"About time I met my dear daddy, isn't it? I mean, I have a whole other heritage that I should learn about and experience, don't I? And I'd actually be free from all this mind control and so forth, quite possibly the Entity, too. So far, I'm not seeing a down side. Besides," I grinned, "Where else am I gonna learn how to control my awesome powers?"

"You don't have to keep a brave face on."

"Yes, Sam. I do. Because if I don't then I'm not going to be alright. And I need to be alright. If only to rub it in Hydra's face that they can't control me all the time. Anyway, let's talk about something else, shall we?"

"Like what?"

"I dunno... fluffy rabbits and kittens? You think they have those on Asgard?"

"I did not picture you as the fluffy rabbits and kittens type." Sam laughed and I grinned, shrugging.

"I prefer cats to dogs. It was always an issue back at home when I was younger, I wanted a cat because I'm a bit scared of dogs. However, Dale was scared of cats for some reason. Both of us wanted a pet, but we could never agree on what."

"Why are you scared of dogs?"

"Got bit by a wolf hound when I was a young girl. Right wrist has never been the same again. Kinda funny in a completely not funny way. The god I was sort of named after, Týr, one of his hands was bitten off by the supposed son of Loki, Fenrir, a giant wolf. Good story, that one. Was my absolute favourite when I was around... eight years old? I think?" I wished I had a camera when I actually focused on Sam's face, "Not what you expected to hear?"

"An eight year old kid liking the story of someone's hand getting bitten off by a giant wolf? No, not something you expect to hear."

"Well, surprisingly, quite a few of my favourite stories were to do with Loki. In Norse mythology he's an interesting character. It's also interesting how people in myth are different to them in reality. As far as I know, in reality, Loki doesn't have any children. I never asked, and I doubt any of the Avengers did either."

"I'd hate to know what his kids would be like." Sam said, wincing slightly at the thought. I thought for a moment, smirking ever so slightly.

"Well, there's the giant wolf, Fenrir. According to some sources he was actually raised by the Gods, he was so big, they hoped that if they raised him they could keep him under control. Didn't quite work out and they ended up trying several times to chain him up so he wouldn't wreak havoc upon the nine realms. Leads into how Týr lost his hand. Then there is Hel, goddess of the underworld. Not a nice woman. Usually portrayed as indifferent or greedy to what the living and to what the dead need. Not often getting proper stories told about her, only mentioned in passing. And Jormungand, otherwise known as the Midgard serpent, so large that supposedly his body wraps around the entirety of Midgard." Sam raised his eyebrows and I shrugged, feeling quite pleased with myself. What I'd said wasn't necessarily true, I was only quoting information from one source, and there were so many versions of different tales out there that it's hard to tell which are right and which aren't, but that didn't change how impressed Sam looked. Or at least, I thought he looked impressed. That or utterly bewildered. Or feeling a bit sorry for me.

"You ever been told you're a nerd?" He asked and I laughed.

"More times than I can count, I'm afraid. But I'm surprised you're only just working this out." Sam shook his head as though I was hopeless, a small smile on his face.

"Realised it ages ago. Only just got round to commenting."

"Ah, yes, everyone's excuse to save face."

"So what happened to the dog that bit you?" Sam asked, turning the conversation away from my nerdiness.

"No clue. Sure, I don't like dogs, but I didn't want it to be put down, so I don't really think anything happened. Might have and I just don't know about it, I never asked, no one ever told me." I frowned when something appeared behind Sam, slowly shifting my weight so I could leap up if necessary. In truth, I hadn't seen the Entity since it attacked me, so why was it showing up now? A couple of seconds later and something in the main building exploded, making the building shake. I fell off my bed, Sam fell off his chair, and then got knocked out by the Entity. I forced myself to my feet and summoned a wind, part of me doubting that it would do any good, but I wanted to try. The Entity didn't move, just watched me. Why wasn't it doing anything? Then there was the sound of gunshots and I looked at the door, taking a couple of steps back, edging towards the window. Who knew, maybe there would be a way to climb out and find my way down from there? Huh, dangerous manoeuvre and I'd probably die because of it. But I had no clue what was going on, and it was probably the safer of the two options I had.

The Entity must have realised what I was planning because it made its way towards me, then placed itself between me and the window... just as my bedroom door opened and a small group of people in tactical gear burst in. I wasn't entirely certain about what to do, so just commanded the wind to pick up and engulf them, though in retrospect I should have simply removed the air around them and let them suffocate. Unfortunately, I didn't think of that, and instead the intruders managed to force their way forwards, a couple of them firing at me. I could have sworn I was going to get killed, but that is far from what happened. Something stopped them, they seemed to hit an invisible wall. As soon as the intruders noticed this they lowered their weapons, surprise visible on the parts of the faces I could actually see. I lowered my hands slowly, watching to see what their next move would be.

"Let me talk to her." Someone said, someone I hadn't seen yet. But somehow the voice seemed vaguely familiar. Russian accent, that much I could tell. It was like I could almost remember them, but something was blocking it. A pesky bit of technology that I was starting to get all too familiar with. I scowled as the new person entered the room, a man, a bit shorter than Steve. He had brown hair and grey eyes, a rather roman nose, and he seemed to be the leader. He smiled.

"Thank you, Schatten," He said, looking past me at the Entity, "You may go, but not too far." Russian who could speak German. At least, I was fairly certain it was German. No clue what it meant though. I looked around at the Entity as it slowly faded out of existence, then looked back around at the intruders.

"Who the hell are you?" I snapped, fingers twitching by my side. I wanted to be ready in case anything went wrong. In the background I could still hear the sound of people fighting, and I assumed that some of my friends weren't as unconscious as Sam who was still on the floor. The leader smirked.

"I didn't expect you to remember me." He said.

"Oh, I recognise you. Just don't know who the hell you are. Only thing I can think of is that you had something to do with the piece of tech that's in my brain. Good job, by the way. Very clever. Wanna tell me how it works?"

"Oh, Schönheit, I'm not as green as I am cabbage looking. If I told you how the technology works, then you would find a way to stop it from working in a mere matter of seconds. There was more than one reason we chose you."

"Perfect. I feel so loved." I scowled. What the hell did 'Schönheit' mean? Why were so many of the bad guys Russians or Germans? That had always confused me. But, I was getting distracted. Distraction wasn't very good right now.

"You can stop thinking of ways to stop me. Do you know why?" The stranger asked.

"Do enlighten me."

"Because you cannot. All I have to do is press a button and you will be under my control. You would willingly walk out the front door with me." He smirked and I couldn't help it. I smirked right back.

"Well, that probably isn't true. If you could do that, then you wouldn't be having this conversation with me. You wouldn't have commanded a full scale attack on this tower, and you wouldn't be standing in front of me right now, having this conversation. You would have simply high jacked my brain and commanded me to walk out the front door, probably taking out a couple of the Avengers on the way. Therefore, control over me is limited, which tends to imply that you wouldn't be able to simply 'press a button' and make me walk out the front door with you," I crossed my arms, "You still haven't answered my question about who you are."

"I'd almost forgotten that you had an attitude. Been so long since I saw it."

"Still not answering my question, idiot." I snapped, trying my best to stall so that the others could get in here. I doubted that I could take these people on my own.

"Kuznetsov. Nikolai Kuznetsov."

"Not as cool as Bond, which is who it sounded like you were trying to impersonate." Kuznetsov chuckled, walking forward, stopping too close for my comfort, almost getting right in my face. I unfolded my arms and held my hands ready in case I needed to summon the wind. He shook his head.

"You do not know your potential."

"Oh, I think I have a reasonable idea."

"No, you don't. You have no clue the power you have within you. But I do. And I can help you unlock it." It was obvious what he was doing. And he was pretty good at it too. Sounded like he had experience with manipulating people. I snorted.

"I think you don't realise who my brother is. I suspect that you wouldn't be able to help me as much as someone who is essentially a god could."

"They would hinder you, they are afraid of what you could become. Ever wondered why your father has stayed out of your life for so long?" I had to admit it, that was something that had been bothering me a bit of late. The only thing I could come up with was that he didn't know about me, but even that I could find flaws in, such as Heimdall. You know, the so-called 'Shining God' who could see pretty much everything in the nine realms? Yeah, he was sure to have known about me, so Odin would have known too. The other reason for Odin not letting me know about my heritage was probably to try and protect me, let me lead a normal life. That worked out so well, didn't it?

"If you're referring to Odin, then I'm glad he stuck out of my life. He's not my dad. He never was, and he never will be. My dad is dead."

"You're referring to Raymond Jones, of course. The man who raised you as one of his own. But they always seemed to treat you a little different, didn't they?" Again, he had a point. They always treated me like I was fragile, needed to be looked after more, there were things Dale could get away with that I couldn't. I scowled.

"If you're trying to persuade me to walk out with you of my own free will, you're going to have to try harder than that." Kuznetsov smirked.

"I wasn't trying to persuade you. I was trying to distract you." I frowned and turned around just in time to see the man who was shoving a needle into me neck. A couple of seconds later I felt my legs go from underneath me, then the world return once again to blackness. That seemed to be happening to me a lot lately.


No clue if I got the German words right, Google translate isn't always to be trusted. Can't even remember if I used Google translate, but anyway! Not sure of I got them right, hope I did. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!