Its been too long guys and for that I am so sorry. I wanted to get this out way sooner, but it was an uphill climb. Like Everest climb. (Ya. I know I say it every time, but it is true. RL kicks me in the but daily, keeping me from writing. It hard and I apologize.) ANyways. Here is your next chapter and I hope it was worth the wait. Leave me reviews to tell me what you liked, disliked, or something you would like to see. Also if you see any problems AKA grammar, spelling etc. Pleas please tell me. I want to fix my mistakes. Anyways. Hope you enjoy.
Also, just in case you don't read Side of Angels, I left a note explaining that to hopefully speed up updates, my chapters will be shorter. I know I know. Such shock. Now the chapters will only be 2,000 to 3,000 chapters long. Shucks. :)
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the plot. All characters belong to BBC and MARVEL respectivly.
It had been about five months since Loki had been taken and still there were no leads. Frigga and Odin had left three weeks after her kidnapping to try and find her with there Asguardian magic. The wanna-be gods had yet to get back to the Avengers, and Tony was sick and tired of doing nothing. He wanted to be out flying about or in his lab searching for any magic signatures, but no. He was stuck working on upgrading the towers security because Fury wanted the Avengers safe. One little Ultron break out and you never hear the end of it. That was another thing that had taken away from the search for Loki.
Tony had to laugh a little when he thought about when Fury had told him to work on it and nothing else. He was prepared to tell Fury where he could put this new security system but Steve though it was a good idea to upgrade it also so here he was. Sitting on his butt looking at lines of code that would soon translate into rapid fire guns. He didn't know why he still listened to Steve. It wasn't like he was in charge. Well sort of. Sort of not in charge. When was that last time spangled butt had given his life for the team? That should definitely get him some points.
As Tony was sitting there he was thinking of ways that he could pester Fury without him knowing it was him. He then thought about ways he could seed up the search. He thought about how he could track the two signatures. Maybe hypnotize Barton into remembering the location of Thanos. Or he could get Doctor Strange to look for her telepathically. The last idea seemed to be the best except that the last time he had seen Doctor Strange, he had been seriously thinking about exploding the billionaires organs because of a technical snafu.
That's when it hit Tony. Sherlock was a telepath. And he would of course want to help Loki. But he would have to break Sherlock out of a SHIELD prison and that would take some doing and it might, scratch that, would get him in a lot of trouble if caught. But he needed Sherlock. Loki needed Sherlock. And if John just happened to tag along, where was the harm in that? Tony thought some more and new that he would probably need all of the Avengers if he was going to pull this off.
"Jarvis. Pull up a schematic of SHIELD. I need to see where they are holding Sherlock and John. Oh and Jarvis? Lets keep this to ourselves for now."
"Of course sir. Your secrets are safe with me."
"I knew I could count on you Jarv."
Loki sat across from Sherlock. They were both meditating and Loki could tell that Sherlock was having a hard time with clearing his mind of distractions. She breathed in and out reaching her mind out to his and sending calm and quiet thru his mind.
"You know. I was getting there. You don't always have to help." Loki just smiled.
"Yes well I could tell that you were thinking to much. Your breathing wasn't shallow enough to meditate. And your posture looks so uncomfortable that all you could be doing was thinking." Sherlock just laughed in his deep and monotone way.
"You know me to well. Yes. I was thinking."
"About what?" Loki was surprised when a blush rose to the pail mans cheeks. He rubbed at his hands and with every nervous micro expression, Loki became more and more curious.
"Well I, uh, I was just, uh." It was now Loki's turn to laugh. Sherlock realized that he loved her laugh. It was something he rarely heard, but loved to be the cause of.
"I have never seen you speechless. Must be something spectacular your thinking about to cause that high functioning machine of yours to just stop." Sherlock looked down at his knees and sighed.
'Maybe I should just show you.' Sherlock leaned forward. He looked into Loki's eyes, marveling at how deep of a green they were. With hesitation and anxiety he leaned forward and pressed his lips to Loki's. She let out a startled noise and Sherlock almost pulled away, thinking he was being rejected. That is until he felt a content hum vibrate against his lips and felt Loki lean forward into his touch. They stayed like that for a moment, until Loki pulled back an inch to let them breath.
"I was wondering when you would do that." Sherlock's eyebrow shot up. She had been waiting. And hadn't rejected him. That was definitely a first. "I guess though, that you sort of waited to long." Sherlock leaned back and looked at her. He blinked not understanding especially when her appearance changed. Instead of her healthy appearance that was there a moment ago, she now looked bloodied and bruised. Sherlock let out a cry as he launched himself back, startled by her sudden change in appearance.
"What the... What happened to you?" Loki stood slowly, moving forward like a lion towards pray, and with every step she took, Sherlock would move back. She didn't seem to be all to happy with him, and he didn't know why. They had just been kissing, and now she wanted to kill him. Also a first for him. Well, there was Irene, but no time to think about that now.
"Well you left me alone. You left me back at the tower and now? Now I am in danger. I am being tortured and abused." Sherlock felt his back hit the wall, but Loki kept on moving forward, right up until she was standing right over him. She tipped her head to the side as she got down to his level. "And what are you doing about it? Nothing. Your just laying here dreaming." Suddenly her hand shot forward and grabbed his throughout cutting off his air. " Now you will feel my pain. All shall feel my pain."
Sherlock's eyes snapped open as he was startled awake. He sat up quickly, hitting his head on the ceiling. It startled him, being that his bed wasn't far off the floor. He fell, hitting the bed below him, jumping up and then falling to the floor. He groaned as his body ached. This wasn't the first time he had levitated in his sleep, and also not the first time he had dreamed about Loki being in danger. But this was the first time that he had actually kissed her. He reached up and touched his lips. It felt like something had actually touched his lips. He must be really losing his mind. He got up and sat back down on his bed, a headache had been raging for the past, well, forever it seemed and it wasn't letting up, and he couldn't get into contact with anyone to get help. But that wasn't the worst thing.
He hadn't been able to talk with John. They had put them both into two different rooms that confined his powers to only that room. He suspected it was meant for someone else, but that under the circumstances, it had been rented out to him. When they had first arrived, he could hear what he suspected was John, bashing against the doors to his cell. After what he thought was John breaking out, lots of noise and then nothing after that, Sherlock had felt a loss after that. It just wasn't the same. And from what he could tell, no one else was any where near him. His food and water were dispensed thru a chute that went up and the second the tray was removed it would slam shut and disappear back into the wall. After John had left, he lost track of time. Everything blurred together with no noise coming from outside of the room.
So when he heard voices outside of his door, he didn't know whether to be worried or not. Or if he was hallucinating. He leaned his head up against the door, pressing his ear to it and strained to listen. He heard what sounded like foot steps and shouting. He heard a deep, commanding voice. Another voice that also sounded commanding, but was more friendly and sounded older. And then a third that just sounded annoyed.
"Friends. How do we even know where we are going? All of these corridors are constructed the same."
"I was explaining the whole thing and you woulds have heard it if your head hadn't been in the fridge, you would have heard." Sherlock felt something familiar, like he should know the people in the hallway, but the thoughts just wouldn't come to his mind. It was like the thoughts were trying to rise from the depths of a giant lake. It took awhile.
"Your very hostile today. Maybe you should consider eating some of your own food."
"What did you say to me!"
"Gentlemen. Lets keep the decibel levels to a minimum."
"You just don't think I can get us back to home base before Fury finds out that we got Sherlock and John out. I would expect a little more faith from you Cap. Especially after all of the times I saved you." It all suddenly slid into place in Sherlock's mind. How had he missed it. Tony, Thor and Steve were out side his prison. And apparently about to break him out. He started pounding on his door and shouting, trying to get there attention.
"Sherlock? John? Is that you?"
Sherlock smiled to himself. "Yes it's me, Sherlock. John is gone and I don't know where they took him."
"Alright Sherlock. I need you to back up from the door so we can get you out." Sherlock nodded his head, though he knew they couldn't see him. He backed up to the far corner of his cell, even though it wasn't far, it was better then nothing. As he waited to be sprung he thought about how clouded his mind had been lately. He didn't know whether to blame his confinements, or to blame the lack of his friend, or to blame Loki. Not her exactly. Just the impression that she had left with him. He couldn't believe how excited he was to see her again. It startled him really. These feelings. Not as much as the explosion startled him, but his thoughts were a definite runner up.
The second the door came down Sherlock felt a wave of power and he could feel, everything. He had been cut off for so long, that it took him a moment to focus himself. He hadn't realized how sensitive he had become to the feeling of people all around him and how lonely he had been when he didn't have the feeling of thousands of minds pressing in on him. He felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Sherlock. Are you okay?" Sherlock nodded his head. He hadn't noticed the ringing in his ears. It was then he felt something. Something he hadn't felt in so long. And he needed to get closer to it. He pushed himself to his feet, not denying the help he got from Steve. When he got his balance, he ran off, ignoring the questions from his rescuers and ran towards the feeling. A feeling that felt so familiar, so comfortable that it could only be one thing. John.
At first he was unsteady, but as the pull got stronger, the stronger he felt. He ran and used his powers to avoid guards, and any that he did run into, he let his rescuers deal with them. He had to get to John. And he could feel that John felt the same pull. He ran down long corridors and as his mind made the connection with John's, he felt his steps become more sure and he could feel himself start to speed up as he sped around a corner grabbing hold of the door frame to stop himself from falling to the ground. His heart stopped for a moment when he saw a glass cage and the person standing inside, pressed up against the glass.
"Sherlock!" Sherlock moved forward towards the control panel and pressed the door button. It slid open and when it was big enough to let a person thru, John ran toward Sherlock grabbing his friend up in a giant crushing hug that lifted him off the ground. "Sherlock! Your alright." Sherlock returned the hug to his friend, enjoying the feeling of there minds pressed together. It felt like he had just gotten back a part of himself that he hadn't realized was lost. Darn he was cheesy. "I missed you."
"And I you John. I heard them move you, but didn't know what happened after that." The two almost brothers released each other and looked at each other, relishing the closeness and having each other back was like nothing he had ever felt. Sherlock loved John like the brother he had always wanted.
"Not that I don't think you guys are cute, but we gotta go. SHIELD is on its way and we don't have much time." Both men nodded there heads. The strangeness of the two men's action, never even crossed John's mind as it would have in any other situation. Sherlock felt the need to be close to John, which he understood. So as they went to leave John grabbed Sherlocks' hand and pulled him along with he group.
They arrived back at Avengers Tower and Tony immediately put up the tower defenses. He was not letting SHIELD get there hands on these two, not again. Sherlock hadn't let go of John's hand the whole way and they talked to each other without words. John never brought up the hand holding, which Sherlock was glade of. He didn't want to have to let go of his friend again. They arrived at the tower and instead of being greeted by Loki, which he was hoping for, Bruce was there with blankets and tea. Sherlock had been hoping for Loki so that he could calm his mind about the dreams he had been having. When no one brought up where Loki was, Sherlock got nervous. John could feel it thru there bond and he squeezed his hand in reassurance.
"Where is Loki? Did she go home or something?" Sherlock looked towards Thor, wanting to gauge his reaction. He saw sadness in his eyes as he looked down at his feet. Of course her brother knew. "Thor. Where is she? What has happened." Thor rubbed at the back of his neck. He didn't speak for a moment and only John's calming emotions kept him from asking Thor to hurry it up. After the prince got his thoughts together he told the story about how she had been taken by Thanos and how they had been searching for months with no luck and that they needed Sherlock's help to find her.
"My mother thinks that because she was teaching you to control you powers, you two might have a bound that might help you lead us to her." Sherlock nodded his head in understanding. Maybe that was why he had been having the dreams. Suddenly out of nowhere, Loki's face flashed thru his mind, along with other pictures. Horrible, nightmarish pictures that looked like they had been taken out of a horror movie. This vision, was so strong that it caused him to stagger back, letting go of his friends hand to hold his aching head.
"Sherlock. Are you okay? What happened?" Sherlock shook his head, trying to push away the pain.
"Nothing. Just dizzy. I will be alright." By the look on John's face, he wasn't convinced.
"You will be. Especially after you go lie down." Tony stepped up.
"Wait. We need Sherlock to help find Loki. She has been missing for five months and is in the hands of what we are told is a tyrant. If we are going to find her..." Tony stopped. He didn't say what all of the Avengers had been thinking. Sherlock and John quickly caught on to what the billionaire was not saying. "Anyways. We need you to find her. Or at least point us in a direction. Heck, any direction would be awesome."
"Well Sherlock needs rest and that is what he is getting. After that, he will help you in anyways he can." Before Tony could respond, Steve stepped in.
"He is right Tony. They both could use some rest. Tomorrow we will see about finding Loki."
Thousands of Light-years away, in the space between Realms:
The room was dark. It was always dark. Everything hurt and breathing was not easy. After re-aligning some ribs, things had gotten better though. Loki had been in her room for the past two weeks. She was forced to stay in her room for at least three weeks after an attempted break out. Thanos would beat her close to death and then leave her in her room. Loki thought Thanos might think that his abuse was a deterrent, but he was wrong. He always gave her two weeks to recover completely. During this most recent beating, she had gotten an infection that had slowed down her healing immensely. It displeased Thanos, but he refused to heal her or let her heal herself.
When she wasn't sitting in the dark trying to heal, she was chained to Thanos' throne, as a prize. Other times she would be there to keep his bed warm. Well except for when he was spent. Then she would be kicked out to go to her own room. She hated what was happening but because of the bracelets she had on her wrists, she didn't have any magic to free herself. And there was the added bonus of the others that were in the room with her. She couldn't leave without them and they were to small to leave thru one of her portals.
They had tried to help her at first, but they were to small to do much, but keep her warm. Whenever Thanos came in, she would hide them in the darker of the corners in her room. Where the shadows would swallow them whole, keeping them out of sight and therefor mind. She hated how vulnerable she was. But she new help was coming and every morning as they all woke up, she would tell the others that someone was coming and it wouldn't be long now. She couldn't tell them who it was that was coming because Thanos could hear everything. But she new that things would be over soon. Sherlock was coming. And he was bringing vengeance with him.