CHAPTER TWELVE

Choose a gun

Although it'd only been a day since Loki had crashed in on her life, Jane was beginning to lose track of time. Minutes dragged into hours, and the days were beginning to feel like months. It seemed to her as if it was a lifetime and a half ago when she was happy and naïvely in love with a god that she probably shouldn't have been involved with. After all, her love for Thor had been what'd brought her here –or that's what Loki had told her. While she wasn't going to put much stock into the words of a half-mad god of mischief and evil, there was something about the underlying truth in his lies that was beginning to dig its way under her skin. She could try to justify her 'relationship' with Thor all she wanted, but she knew for a fact that it had been wrong. It was silly for her to look to the skies every night in hopes of him visiting her, it made her look a fool when she tried to explain to her co-workers that she was in a relationship with someone, but it was just long distance. She could tell people that she was in love with a god, but they'd probably just as soon as laugh at her and write her off as insane as they would believe her.

Her whole body hurt and she wondered if Loki would care if his bartering tool died before he had a chance to play her in his game. Of course, she wasn't actually dying, but her head was still hurting, and the bruise on her face had developed into an ugly greenish-yellow that she'd caught sight of in the reflection of the windows on the plane. It'd made her sick to her stomach how just one day had passed and she already looked like she'd been in this situation for months. Though she could deal with the aches and pains of being hit in the face and falling to the ground, she could not handle the stabbing pain of hunger that was slowly turning her stomach into an intricate work of knots. It had been bad enough that she hadn't even eaten before she went to work the day before, she was actually kind of bad about remembering to eat –but now she wanted nothing more than a little bit of food to stick into her desolate and empty stomach. Even if it was a piece of bread or slice of cheese she wouldn't care. Still, all things considered, she counted herself lucky that Loki had made someone at least give her a couple bottles of water. She couldn't understand how he himself had not eaten or anything since she'd seen him, but perhaps the metabolisms of evil Asgardian gods was different than that of a simple astrophysicist. From where she lay curled up in a tight ball in the corner she'd been put, she could see Loki pacing up and down the length of the plane.

Once again, Loki found himself irritated with how slow these human contraptions moved. No longer was he impatient to get to his destination and get the ball rolling, but now he had bigger things to worry about. Loki had willingly opened himself up to be trailed by the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D; he'd flat out told them that he wanted to play this game. The only problem with that was that he wanted to be ten steps ahead of them at all times and it's hard to do that when you're flying at the exact same speed as them. If he wanted less of a challenge, he could dispatch Operi soldiers to tackle the Avenger issue at every turn they took to shake them off his trail only to let them catch on again. As tempting as this was, at the stage in his plan they were already in, Loki could not afford to pull any fighters away from the army to have them do what they were not brought here for. He needed them focusing on completing the domination of the world's major cities, not decoys in his game of cat and mouse.

However, if there was one thing different about this flight than the last one it was the significant lack of fighter jets on their tail throughout the entirety of the trip. They'd slid easily past commercial planes –probably carrying citizens that had no idea what was going on, or hoards of people riled up in a mass panic and searching for a way out of the hell that had become their home. Either way, while he'd entertained the idea of blowing them out of the sky, he decided to leave those people to their own fate. They'd meet their end sooner or later. For the most part, the plane ride was quiet save for the occasional questioning of what their next orders were from the hypnotized men, there was not a lot of talking going on. As they finally made it into New York City airspace, Loki decided that the Avengers would expect him to pick out a large building to station himself in, or he might even pick Stark towers –but once again he was ahead of the game.

Rather than picking one of the larger buildings that cluttered the New York skyline, he had the plane land just outside a smaller apartment building that had survived the initial attacks on the city. Letting the men off first to secure the building and ensure that there were no traps in the event that S.H.I.E.L.D somehow knew what building he was going to pick, he stood close to where Jane had herself curled up and waited in a patient silence to be told that the coast was clear. When someone finally came back and told him that all was clear, he picked Jane up by her arm and dragged her behind him. He hardly noticed as her feet dragged the ground and her movements were sluggish. Marching up the stairs to one of the larger suites in the building he had the hiding family of humans within the room kicked out and executed. In an enclosed space with guards at the doors and windows, Loki did not feel the need to put Jane up in her portable cage. Instead, he let go of her arm and strode past her as she leaned heavily onto one of the walls in the entry way.

Not having made the connection as to why Loki wasn't putting her in her cage of energy she asked in the weakest defensive voice he'd heard from her yet, "so, are you going to kill me now?" Loki laughed at the absurdity of this. He turned around and studied her bruised face and reminded her, "what good are you to me dead? Would you rather me kill you?"

Licking her lips thoughtfully, Jane simply shook her head and instead asked, "can I have food?" Loki looked at her with a confused look and dismissively asked, "why are you asking me?"

Jane found herself a little taken aback at this; she had figured that if she had gone to scavenge the kitchen for food without asking she would have gotten herself into trouble or something. Shrugging at his question she didn't even answer him as she tried to hide the desperation in her movements as she shuffled to the kitchen to look for something, anything, to eat.

While Jane busied feeding herself, Loki removed his helmet and spread out on one of the pristine white couches with Vildir resting comfortably across his lap. From where he sat, he found that he had a fairly good view of New York City and even Stark towers. It was strange to be sitting still and waiting, especially after all of the plans he'd made that led up to this point. While he would much rather be doing than waiting, he found that for now he could handle waiting. However, just as he was about to settle in, one of the men in his guard announced that one of the Operi was outside the door to the apartment demanding to see him. Rolling his eyes at how god damn needy the Operi were, he waved his hand as a go ahead for the male to see him. Not putting his helmet back on yet he at least sat up and waited for the Operi soldier to come and see him.

The warrior that apparently had a problem was a taller, thinner Operi than the rest, his features were slightly more refined than the rest and if Loki didn't know better he'd say he was either Asgardian or human, but by the way the Operi male was dressed –in dented and bloodied armor- Loki was not fooled. Hardly relaxing as the Operi eyed him with a rather harsh look Loki sighed and snapped,

"Who are you and what do you want?"

The Operi straightened a little at his King's short temper and announced, "I am Iranen, general of the first Operi Army and current overseer of this city. Why are you here, King Loki?"

Loki narrowed his eyes at Iranen. Was this a challenge on his authority? Lifting his chin he snarled quietly, "I don't have to tell you why I am here, soldier."

"General."

"I will also call you as I will." Loki did not take too kindly to being corrected, but Iranen did not seem very put off by his King's words. Instead, he shifted his stance to one that was far more menacing than how he'd been standing before and informed Loki,

"When in times of war, it is common and traditional for the King to remain at the head of the armies, but to not set foot in his General's territory."

Loki stood up quickly at this, almost being able to look the soldier in the eye without having to look down. He dropped his chin to angle his face into a more intimidating perspective and stepped close to the general, his knuckles were beginning to turn white with how tightly he gripped Vildir as he snarled,

"Is this a challenge of my authority, Iranen?"

Iranen was not daunted by the approaching Asgardian and stood his ground, defiantly growling, "maybe it is. You are no King; you are an imposter and a murderer."

Loki clenched his teeth at this and raised Vildir to gently touch the tip of the blade to the center of Iranen's chest and reminded him, "and yet, this murderous imposter is your King. I could kill you in an instant –but it'd be a shame to see such a warrior with heart and determination as you go. Back down now and I will only strip you of your title."

Jane had not noticed the exchange going on in the open living room until she walked through the doorway leading to the living room. She stared wide-eyed at the two. Iranen's molten golden eyes finally left Loki's face to look at Jane. For a moment, he stood there as if considering his choices, but as the pressure Loki was putting on the spear in his hand to his chest increased, the general finally huffed angrily and swatted the tip of the scepter away and took a step back and spoke with venom in his voice,

"Fine. I would much rather live to see you fall than die at your hands anyway."

Loki lifted his chin and still ignored Jane's presence and hissed, "get out of here right now and I will not strip you of your title today." Iranen twisted his features into a disgusted snarl and brushed past Loki. Making sure the unruly general was doing as he was told, Loki watched him leave and when the door finally closed he cursed angrily and sat back down on the couch. Looking blankly out at the New York skyline he didn't notice Jane cautiously approaching but snapped his head up and looked at her as she flatly said,

"It seems like you have a whole bunch of obedience on your hands."

Loki scoffed at her and said, "they are simply bored. The Operi are a people far better at war than they are at peace." Jane slowly moved around one of the chairs perpendicular to the couch that Loki was sprawled out on and cautiously sat down and asked,

"Where did you find so many…Opirus?"

"Operi. They are an ancient race, almost as old as those of Asgard –perhaps older than the Chitauri."

Jane scrunched her face up as she tried to remember what the Chitauri were. Thor had explained what his foes had been three years ago once or twice, but the war stories he had were not something she particularly liked to hear and usually did not listen to them all the way through. However, she still managed to question Loki, "why didn't you just use the Chitauri again?"

Loki laughed bitterly at this, "well, considering they were mostly wiped out of existence in the last war, it's not like I'm their most favorite possible leader in the universe right now. Besides, the Operi are far stronger when united under the right leader."

Jane, for the first time since her whole predicament started, laughed at him, "and you're the 'right leader' for the job, I'm guessing?"

Not taking kindly to her laughter, Loki sat up and glared at her, "do not underestimate my power, human. In case you've forgotten, I have your world conquered and you as my prisoner. I do not think you are in any position to call me weak."

Jane narrowed her eyes at this and gingerly touched her face in reminder of his power and what he was not afraid to do, "I wasn't calling you weak nor was I underestimating you; please don't read into my words like that. And believe me; it's hard to forget who's in charge here now and all your glorious misdeeds when you keep mentioning it every other second like a proud mother mentioning her child."

Loki snorted at her use of 'please' (it was not a regular word in his vocabulary), "did you just say 'please'?"

"Not in a way to be polite or respectful to you."

"Is that not what please means in this realm?"

"Would you have rather me simply told you to stop being overly sensitive and to quit thinking that everything someone says to you is meant to undermine you?"

The problem with Jane's statement was that it was true, and Loki could not have her hitting the nail on the head so accurately. The unfortunate thing about this was that Loki could kid himself all he wanted that he was almighty and powerful. He could tell himself that he'd finally found true power and he was just exercising it to prove to everyone how well he could control his power and that there was nothing they could do about this. He could even pretend that there was no one more powerful than him in the world. He could tell himself that what he was doing was all just one big act to prove himself worthy of the adopted name of Odinson. The problem with all of this, while maybe having been true at one point was that the second he'd let go of Gungnir and dropped off into the black hole that'd consumed him and sent him to his exile had been the exact moment that he stopped believing that he had a chance at redemption in his father's eyes and the eyes of Asgard and instead started trying to prove himself the monster that he was. Instead, he searched for power and the fear of having that power stripped away from him was rocking him to the core. There was not a single soul in the universe that he wasn't wary of having plans to take away what he had finally found on his long search for ultimate supremacy.

Judging by the silent reprieve Loki had fallen into, Jane figured she'd either said something completely right and was about to get scolded, or she'd said something so wrong that Loki was internalizing his laughter. However, by the look that he finally gave her, she knew that she'd found a weak spot in Loki's delusional armor. She was a little surprised that he was even showing her the little bit of emotion that he was giving her. Could it be that while his actions screamed out how much of an angry little boy he was that he really was just a misunderstood soul searching for someone to finally understand him. However, her silent sentiment for the god was shot when the emotion she thought she'd been seeing in Loki's eyes disappeared completely and he shut like a door slammed in an argument. His laugh was cold and his sneer threatening as he snapped at Jane, "do not pretend to know me, human. You think that Thor has told you all there is to know about me, but he does not know me. He thinks he does, but he has proven time and time again that he only says he does to suit his own selfish internal need to convince himself that he his greater and therefore better than me and everyone around him. You might be smarter than the rest of the human race, but you are not smart enough to figure me out like you think you have."

Jane grew defensive of this and said, "I don't think I've figured you out."

Loki shook his head, "you are the easiest person to read that I have ever met –aside from Thor. You thought that for a moment you found what made me tick, that you figured out why I'm here and what I'm doing. Let me tell you this: you. Know. Nothing. About. Me."

Jane, sensing that she was losing the argument simply sighed and leaned back into the chair, closing her eyes. The throbbing in her head was beginning to die down and strength from the food she'd practically swallowed whole was beginning to flood her heavy limbs. Gently rubbing her bruised face she deflated completely and mumbled, "fine, if you say so."

Sensing that he had won the argument between the two he stood and said, "I have to go attend to things that you do not need to bother asking about, since you don't need to know. Don't think of going anywhere while I am gone." Jane barely opened a tired eye at him as he left and dully replied,

"Whatever."

The day, already starting out to feel like a month, suddenly began to feel like a thousand years. She never thought it was possible to age so much in one day, but it had happened. Whatever fight she'd had to leave her present situation was leaving her and she was beginning to subjugate to her fate. The only reason she found herself gathering strength to continue breathing and not launch herself out of one of the windows –even though they were guarded by his human soldiers- was the residual yet fading hope that Thor would come to her aid. Yet, as she thought of that Loki's cold words came to the forefront of her mind and remained there as she drifted off into sleep.

Author's Notes: I am stupid fond of this chapter, and I'm not 100% sure why. Maybe it's because I finally got to explore Loki beyond the ~blood lust rage~ he's been ever since he came to earth. I think that for the last few chapter's he's been in, he's been on a bit of a power trip and it was kind of going to his head and making him even more bat shit than he already is (if that is at all possible!). Jane, to me, is starting to prove to be an unfortunate humbling anchor to Loki. But we'll see as the chapters progress with these two interacting! Anyway, thank you all for reading and adding this to your alerts/favorites! I can't even begin to explain how much I love you guys :3 Please review~

I do not own any Marvel characters, only the ideas and story are mine.

Story title/chapter titles (c) Five Finger Death Punch (Bad Company)