Maria POV
I stared at Volstagg for a second before I started laughing through my tears.
"Yes Volstagg, would you be so kind and remove my restraints." He sauntered over and started undoing the straps that were holding me down. I reached over and ripped the IV out of my arm. I sat up slowly. "Um, could I also ask you to pop my shoulder back into place? If it isn't any trouble?"
"Of course." He stepped up behind me a gently grabbed my shoulder "Ready?" With the flick of his wrist and a loud pop, my shoulder was reset.
I grit my teeth in pain "Thank you." I pushed my self off of the chair and collapsed to the floor. "Shit."
Volstagg ran to my aid. He tenderly picked me up off of the floor and supported my weight as we walked into the hallway. "May I inquire your name maiden?"
I smiled at him "Stark, Maria Stark."
A voice sounded from another room. "Maria Stark?" I heard a loud thud and a door opened to my left. A familiar large blonde man stepped through the doorway with a look of surprise.
"Thor?" I could hardly believe it "I haven't seen you since…A really long time."
He looked me up and down "My, you've grown a great deal in the years that have past."
"Yeah, twelve years will do that to a person."
Some chick followed by a blonde guy and Jackie Chan approached us.
"The area appears to be clear." She informed Thor "I think we liberated everyone up here."
"Alright Sif, Volstagg and I are just about finished with this part of the building. We just need to check behind a few more doors."
I pointed to the door that Corey and Loki were trapped behind. "There are people imprisoned back there."
Sif glared at me "Who is that?"
"She is an ally." Reported Thor "A Maiden of Iron."
"An Iron Maiden."
I snorted.
Thor shook his head "You aren't supposed to call her that. I have been told it refers to a torture device and some sort of musical group."
The other blonde stepped forward "I am Fandral, fair maiden." He leaned down and kissed my hand. "These associates of mine are Lady Sif and Hogan. If you ever need-"
"Fandral," Thor interrupted "Now is not the time."
We all made our way to the door and Jackie Chan kicked it open. There didn't seem to be any Frost Giants behind it.
Then it hit me "Thor, there is something you might need to know."
"Can it not wait?"
"I don't think it can."
Fandral found the keys and threw the cell door open before I had time to explain. He stared into the cell. "Thor," he called "You may not believe what I'm about to tell you."
"What is it?" Thor darted to the prison. The expression on his face changed from joy to shock to relief to anger very quickly.
I let go of Volstagg and hobbled over to the cell door. Corey was conscious but not entirely aware of what was happening. Loki was sitting against the far wall with his hands in the air like he was under arrest. I clung to the bars and made my way toward him. He stood cautiously and met me halfway. I collapsed in his arms and he held me for a second. To anyone watching it simply looked like I had fallen and he had caught me but I could feel the relief flooding between us. He helped me stand straight again. Fandral and Hogan were helping Corey up from his spot on the floor. Loki helped me toward him and I threw my arms around his neck.
"Thanks for not dying." I whispered
I could feel him shake lightly with silent laughter "Any time."
The next thing I new Loki was shoved into a wall with Thor's hammer inches from his face. I jumped toward the two and supported myself on the wall beside them.
"Wait-wait-wait-wait-wait-wait!" I yelled
"Step away Maria," Thor ordered "You have no idea who this really is."
"Sure I do. Loki Laufeyson, God of Mischief, brother of Thor. He grew up thinking he was the child of Frigga and Odin but, later in life he discovered he was actually stolen from Jotunheim. To make his daddy love him he tried to destroy Jotunheim but this resulted in him flinging himself into an abyss. He arrived in Midgard seeking out the Tesseract and used it to unleash the Chitauri on Manhattan. He often tries to pretend he is evil but everyone knows he just wants daddy's approval. He and Odin have a terrible relationship but he is still his mother's favorite. Until this moment, you all thought he was dead…a second time."
Thor paused for a beat "Alright, so you do know him. But what does that-…Wait, your mother's favorite?"
Loki laughed "Wow, you really didn't know that?"
"Loki," I scolded "Now is really not the time."
He nodded "She's right. We can discuss our differences elsewhere."
Thor loosened his grip and stepped back. "Let's go."
We all began retreating the building at a slow pace. Volstagg courteously offered to help me walk and I graciously declined. I shuffled next to Loki for a while until we met stairs.
I sighed "This is going to be tedious." Loki shook his head and picked me up bridal style. We followed the others up the stairway. "Oh Loki, you sure know how to sweep a girl off of her feet."
He smiled a second but stopped after he took a good look at my face. "You've been crying." He whispered "Are you alright?"
I tried not to scowl "Yeah, I just… Things were brought up that I spent a lot of time trying to forget."
He nodded understandingly and didn't discuss it any further. That was one of the things I liked most about Loki, he understood that I didn't want to talk about stuff and he didn't prod me to discuss my emotions further.
We were apparently pretty far below ground because it took us a while to get up to ground level. The cover store seemed to be a drug store, which kinda made sense. Loki set me up on a counter and began searching through various snack foods. He brought me back a water bottle, some pretzels, and a big bag of chocolate kisses.
"You sure know how to treat a lady." I tore into the chocolate and watched as Thor, his homies, and Corey talked in the opposite corner. "What?" I mumbled to Loki "We don't get to be in the cool kid group?"
"I don't. You just chose mot to be in the 'cool kids group'. They drew a line and you picked my side."
"Well, they suck anyway. Plus, their side doesn't have delicious stolen chocolate." I put a piece in his mouth and he laughed. I guzzled the first three bottles of water and Loki brought me my fourth. He grabbed a pack of baby wipes and I let him clean the dirt, blood, and tears off of my face. The feminist in me was yelling about how I could do this by myself and that I shouldn't let him baby me. The rest of my brain was saying "Fuck you, we deserve to get taken care of sometimes you loud mouthed bitch." What? Your brain isn't like that too? I could see the anger growing in Loki's features.
"What?" I mumbled between pretzel bites.
"I hope they killed the Jotun that did this to you." He tossed the last wipes into a nearby trashcan.
"Actually, the damaging stuff wasn't done by an Jotun. It was this little orange guy with trippy green eyes."
Loki was sucked deep into some train of thought that I didn't want to interrupt. Thor & Co. came over to our spot, except Corey who seemed to have fallen asleep.
Thor addressed us "We need to get to the Tower and assemble as many warriors as we are able. I have a plan to defeat Jotunheim."
