A/N: Thanx for all of the support, I heart you guys very much. And as always I show my gratitude with a chapter.
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Loki, former prince of Asgard, former son of Odin, was completely disgusted with everything Midgard. Which is why he was fighting so strongly for his plan to make them all kneel before him. And he knew there was only one way that could happen successfully. There were a handful of Midgardians that could make this difficult for him and so he would need to find their weak spot and right now it seemed she was lying unconscious on the floor.
"How much did you give her?" Loki asked looking over to the man who had helped him carry out his plan. The man he'd found cowering behind bushes watching the woman, planning some idiotic, sure failure way to kill her.
"The whole thing" Adam replied his glowing eyes turning to his master. "She's going to be out for a while" Loki let out an impatient groan before glancing down to his scepter.
"I needed her awake" Loki replied standing to his feet. He planned on using the woman to help him retrieve the Tesseract and now would have to do it on his own. "Do not lose her or I will kill you, do you understand?"
"Yes sir" Adam replied before Loki suddenly disappeared.
She doesn't know when, but Katie had fallen asleep. She'd somehow fallen asleep while tied to a chair in the middle of some dark room, her entire body numb from the beating. It wasn't until she'd gotten a loud slap to the face, that she'd jolted awake. Katie blinked her eyes a few times before raising them to see the angry eyes of General Glausman.
"It would seem you were right, you mean nothing to them" Glausman spat. He grabbed her face in his hand. "Where have they taken him?"
"Bite me" Katie ground out through clenched teeth.
"You see this—" Glausman said as he pressed a finger in the scar above her eyes causing her to hiss in pain. "This is nothing, I have ways of getting people to talk, people who specialize in loosening tight lips" he brought his face so close to hers that she could feel his breath against her skin. "Do not test me, because you will lose"
"I will die before I tell you anything" Katie said before spitting in his face. Glausman released her as he let out a loud throaty laugh.
"Yes you will" he replied wiping his face. "As a matter of fact you'll be begging for it" the general lifted a hand and snapped a finger. Soon a man carrying a black medical bag appeared beside him. "Meet Dr. Clauberg, you and he are going to become quite familiar with one another" the general gave the doctor a pat on the shoulder before turning and leaving. Clauberg walked over to Katie, his thick brimmed glasses hanging from the tip of his nose as he bent over to bring his face to hers.
"Before we begin, I like all my subjects to give me any special request on where they think we should start" The doctor said.
"How about I headbutt you before I finish pulling my hands out of these ropes" Katie said. "While you're distracted trying to stop the blood from gushing from your nose, I untie my ankles and then I kill you" the doctor laughed as if the idea was preposterous.
"And how exactly—" the man's words were cut off by Katie's head hitting him hard in the nose, it breaking immediately, blood gushing almost instantly.
Katie twists her wrists once more and gives a slight pull, freeing her hands from the ropes. She reaches down and quickly unties the rope from her ankles before standing to her feet, an act she didn't expect to be as painful as it was, but she could hear her father's words, "Pain is weakness leaving the body" Katie bends down and grabs the rope in her hands before walking over to the doctor, and pulling it around his neck. She pulled the rope as tight as she could until she could feel his breathing slowing down, at the last possible moment she let him go, letting him fall unconscious to the floor. "Death is only necessary when there are no other options" Katie stood there trying to recover her breath as she looks down to the doctors body. She then lifted her head in search for an exit.
She found herself in a dim lit hallway, a slight limp in her step as she tries to move quietly. Soon she walked upon the sound of German voices and she tossed herself against the wall to hide herself. Two soldiers walked right past her, not even noticing her presence. Once the coast was clear, Katie continued her search for a way out. Her search lead her to a door, the familiar Hydra symbol marking it. She knew who was behind this door and at this point she couldn't turn away if she wanted to. Katie reached for the knob and slowly pushed it open. Glausman's back was to her as he seemed to be marveling over the bars of gold.
"Has she finally—"Glausman turned only for his words to catch in his throat. "How did you—"
"Escaping from being tied to a chair" Katie said as she stepped toward the general. "One of the first lessons I learned from my father" she shrugged. "And since my cavalry isn't coming I thought it was time I stopped with the whole damsel in distress" Glausman turned to the door. "You'll be dead before they even get here" she said already knowing what he was thinking.
"What do you want?" the general asked.
"Close the case and hand it to me" Katie ordered. The general looked back to the gold that sat on his desk before reaching forward and closing it. He picked up the case and turned to her. Instead of handing it to her, he tossed it into her chest causing her to stumble back. Katie recovered quickly as she saw the man prepare to try to tackle her. She moved to the side, causing him to toss himself to the floor. Katie turned and walked over and gave him a hard kick to the side. She found herself unable to stop kicking him for a while, as her mind traveled to the pain he'd put her through. He was a bloody mess on the floor when she was done with him, his chest barely rising and falling. "You are pure evil and evil does not deserve to live" Katie lifted her eyes to what looked like a closet, a gun visible. She stepped over him to the closet to see that it was indeed a weapons closet. She grabbed a grenade from a crate inside the box and turned back to the general. "Your picture will probably be on every news outlet in all of Germany, your family, your children will know who their father is" Katie bent down to meet his eyes that were barely open, and placed the grenade in his hand. "My gift to you, be the man who died in a fire, rather than the terrorist your entire family is ashamed of" And with that Katie walked back over, grabbing the case before slipping out the window of the generals office. Katie ran as fast as she could, her hand gripping the handle of the brief case when an explosion stopped her right in her tracks. She turned to see the eruption of fire in the distance. "My gift is death" she muttered before turning and running away.
Tony paced back and forth through his penthouse in the Stark Tower the next morning. Katie's phone was dead. And he knew as much as she wished it was dead, she would never let it get dead. It was the only way for him to contact her and without it there was nothing and she was just gone.
"Tony" Pepper said tiredly as she walked from their bedroom. "What are you doing up so early?"
"Her phone is dead" Tony said still pacing.
"Who—" Pepper walked over to him, clearly seeing the look of both fear and agitation in his face. "Who's phone is dead?"
"Katie, who else?" Tony snapped a bit unintentionally. He stopped and turned to her. "Look I'm sorry, but I haven't heard from her since yesterday"
"Tony she's a grown woman, she doesn't have to check in with you" Pepper countered with a shake of her head. "So what is this really about?"
"Something's wrong" Tony said turning away from her. "I know something is wrong with her"
"Should I—" Pepper started not sure if she should finish. She'd had this nagging thought that she wished would just go away, but then it was a situation like this that brought it back up again. "Should I be worried about this?" Tony turned to her slightly confused by the question. "Tony I'm your girlfriend and I've never seen you this upset about any—"she closed her eyes and let out a sigh. "You're becoming attached to her in a way I'm not sure I'm comfortable with" she opened her eyes to see the slight confusion in his eyes. "You can't tell me I'm being crazy"
"I can, you're being crazy" Tony replied before glancing up ceiling. "Jarvis, call Evelyn Miller and tell her I need here up her ASAP" Tony brought his eyes back to Pepper. "She's my friend Pepper, that's it" he turned away from her and headed over to his computer.
The first sound of reality Katie heard was light tapping. She didn't open her eyes, as her father's voice came to her.
"Escaping capture only works if you give yourself the upper hand"
She had to be smart and think which was quite difficult at the moment, seeing as her head felt like a giant cotton ball. Suddenly the tapping stop and Katie made no movements, until a hand wrapped around her wrist. Her eyes snapped open and looked down to see George staring back at her. Before he could react, Katie quickly lifted her legs wrapping them around his neck, squeezing her thighs as tight as she could. He threw punch after punch into her legs, trying to get her grip to loosen, but what little strength she did have, she was putting into strangling this man. She kept at it until his hits began to slow down, until his fist finally fell to the floor. Katie dropped back on the floor, before pushing the unconscious man away from her.
"You gotta move" she whispered every beam in her body telling her otherwise. She turned and pushed herself to her feet and falling back on the wall for support. Glancing around the room, she finally realized she was in some motel room. She needed to get out of there fast. There was a door and she stepped over George to get to it.
Once outside, she moved slower than she would've liked, but she didn't stop. She kept her eyes up, trying her best to figure out where she was, but nothing looked familiar. Katie saw a taxi headed her way and quickly shot up her hand. It pulled up beside her and she stepped in.
"Where are you headed?" the driver asked looking back to Katie. For some reason that seemed like a good question. "Where you headed lady?"
"Stark Tower" she answered. The driver nodded before turning and pulling off. Katie closed her eyes and let her head fall to the window. She felt like everything inside of her was shutting down, she needed to identify exactly what George injected her with. "No" Katie said opening her eyes. "Wait" the driver glanced over to her. "Do you have a phone?"
The director had initiated level seven. Fury had gotten word from Dr. Selvig of the Tesseract was "misbehaving" and before he realized what was happening a portal was opening and out was walking Loki, former prince of Asgard, former son of Odin. The tesseract was stolen along with the doctor and Agent Barton. With the tesseract in the hands some crazy god, there was only one thing to do. Wrangle in the troops.
Coulson was on a plane to New York to debrief Stark of the situation. He could see the high-rise of the city's tallest building, letting him know that he was moments away from landing. He was heading to his car when his phone began vibrating in his pocket. He pulled it out only to see an unfamiliar number appear on the screen.
"Hello?" he spoke.
"Phil" a familiar voice spoke causing Coulson to stop in his tracks. "It would seem I am in need of some rescuing"
"Where are you?" Coulson asked quickly as he moved toward the car. "Tell me where you are"
"I don't—" she looked out the window of the taxi. "I'm-I think I'm in Queens, but I'm not—"
"What's wrong?" Coulson asked. She sounded different, strange. Her voice seemed sluggish. "Hey, Banks, you with me!"
"Yeah, I'm—" She ran a hand over her eyes. "I have been injected with something, I don't—" she let out a long sigh. "Everything just seems a bit fuzzy right now"
"Ok, I'm coming, but I need you to tell the driver to take you to Stark Tower" Coulson said before he knocked on the window of the car and signaled for the driver to get out. Once the driver was out, Coulson slipped into the seat and pulled off immediately. "I will meet you there and we'll figure out whats happening"
"Ok" Katie said letting out another deep breath. "Please hurry, I'm—" noticed everything seemed to be getting darker around her. "I'm—"
"I know" Coulson said his foot pressing the gas as far as it will go. "I'm coming for you" The moment Coulson hung up with Katie, he was already hailing an export team to meet him at the tower.
He pulled up in front of the tower and jumped out. He didn't see her immediately, but then his eyes went to a tree across the street, to see her leaning against it. Coulson ran over to her, to see her eyes barely open.
"Banks" he placed a hand on her shoulder and to his surprise she didn't react to his presence. He lowered himself to meet her eyes. They were dilated, and she was sweating. He brought a hand to the side of her face expecting her to be burning up, but instead she was freezing. He looked over his shoulder as a black van pulled up and he waved them over. "Don't worry, we're going to figure out what this is"
"Sir" one of the agent said walking over to them and Coulson turned to him.
"Take her to the medical unit" Coulson ordered. The agent nodded before grabbing Katie, and half way dragging her back to the van. "I'll meet you there"
Coulson walked back over to his car to grab the tablet. He wanted nothing more than to just go along with her, but there was still a mission, and an angry god set on wreaking havoc. He needed to debrief Stark and soon. He was walking into the tower as he took out his cell phone.
"Jarvis, can you inform Mr. Stark that I need to talk to him immediately" Phil demanded into the phone. The AI rattled off some excuse about his boss being unavailable, but Coulson didn't have time to play Stark's games. Instead he brought the phone from his ear and launched the hacking application designed by Katie that could practically bypass any security system. He stepped on the elevator and found a cable that connected to his phone and soon the elevator was moving. Once it stopped and the doors open, Coulson looked up to see Pepper who didn't look to happy. Coulson stepped off of the elevator to see Tony standing in front of another woman.
"I thought you were told that I was busy Agent" Tony said clearly agitated before turning back to Evelyn. "Recount it for me again"
"Sir, I've already told you—"
"I know but you and the driver who's mysteriously disappeared were the last to see her, and I'm still finding it hard to believe that you don't know where either of them are" Tony growled.
"Mr. Stark!" Coulson interrupted and Tony held up a hand toward him. Tony took a step toward the woman bringing himself dangerously close to her.
"Ms. Miller how long have you worked for my company?"
"Tony stop!" Pepper said stepping forward and pulling him back. "She doesn't know anything" Pepper looked over to Evelyn. "I'm sorry Ms. Miller, you can go" Evelyn nodded before moving quickly to the elevator.
"Do you have any lead on this driver?" Tony asked turning to Pepper.
"I'm still waiting for the company to email me their files" Pepper sighed before turning to Coulson. "Hey Phil"
"Phil?" Tony said looking between his girlfriend and the agent. "Uh, his first name is agent" Tony turned to the agent. "Now's not a good time"
"I can see that" Coulson said taking a step toward the man the tablet in hand. "We need you to look these over, as soon as possible"
"I'm sorry we're a little busy at the moment" Tony said walking over to him. "Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday"
"Tony!" Pepper said giving him a glare. She turned back to Coulson and took the tablet from his hand and handed it to Tony.
"We're busy" Tony said giving Pepper an even colder look.
"We don't even know if anything is wrong" Pepper said shaking her head. "Whereas, Phil is here with this, so this should take precedent"
"The hell it does" Tony said. "If something is wrong—"
"Ms. Banks is safe" Coulson interrupted and both Pepper and Tony turned to him. He wasn't supposed to say anything, because once he said it, it would only lead to more questions.
"How—"
"That is all I'm allowed to say at the moment, Mr. Stark" Coulson interrupted. "Trust me, she is no longer in any danger"
"No longer?" Tony asked taking a step toward the agent.
"Mr. Stark I can't clarify that any more than I have, right now you need to look over that file" Coulson said as Tony looked down to the tablet. "It is of great importance" Tony gave the man a nod before turning and heading back to the elevator.
"Well there" Pepper whispered looking over to Tony who still looked unsure of the agent's words. "Tony if Phil says she's fine, than trust she's fine" Tony only gave a slight nod before turning and walking over to connect the tablet to his holograph computer. "I guess you're going to be busy, and I'm going to take the jet to D.C tonight"
"Pepper—"Tony said turning back to her.
"You've got homework" Pepper says able to catch a glimpse of the files on the holograph. "A lot of homework" she turns back to him before walking over and pressing a kiss to his cheek. "We'll celebrate all of this when you're done" He gave her a nod before watching her turn and leave. Once the doors to the elevator closed Tony turned back to the holograph, the image of the glowing blue cube immediately catching his attention.
German cargo planes were not easy to sneak onto, but they were not impossible to sneak onto. Katie sat in the back of the plane, grasping the case to her chest. When she picture her return to the states, this wasn't what she imagined. All she could think of was the fact that they lied. All of them lied and she fell for them. They promised…he promised that he would protect her and when she needed him he was not there. This did teach her the lesson that she once refused to accept from her father. But it would seem he was right. There was no one you can trust but yourself. Katie knew that now, and would not fall victim again.
Ten hours later, she ended up in an airfield in Washington DC. Katie was very resourceful in her travels. After, "borrowing" a stranger's phone, which she snagged from their pocket, she sat on the steps of the Lincoln memorial and brought the phone to her ear.
"Marian's floral arrangements, how can I help you?" a voice cheerfully greeted.
"Code name Sierra-Papa-Romeo-Romeo-Oscar-Whiskey, checking in" Katie spoke onto the phone her eyes going over to the Washington monument. There was a few clicks before someone finally answered.
"This is Fury" the director answered. "Banks?"
She was silent for a moment, the sudden urge to cry hit her, but her father's voice seemed to take control and any tears that threatened to fall dried themselves away.
"Banks requesting transport" Katie muttered onto the phone. "Location 38°53'22.5"N 77°03'00.8"W" she quickly ended the call and pulled the brief case into her chest as she waited for her ride.
The first thing Katie noticed was the bright lights that seemed to assault her eyes the moment she opened them. She noticed the slight stinging in her arm and glanced down to see an IV hooked into her skin. Not knowing what was happening, she reached forward to pull it out.
"I wouldn't do that" a voice said startling her. Katie turned her head to see Fury standing in the corner of the bright white room. "It's keeping you hydrated"
"What—"Katie looked around the hospital room before bringing her eyes back to the director. "What happened?"
"You were kidnapped Banks" Fury said his voice softer than usual. "By someone you've come to think of as George Clay" Katie's eyes widen as the memory of George appearing outside of the pizzeria and then the fight in the motel room. She turned back to the director. "Real name Adam Lumen Jr." at that name, Katie quickly shot up from the bed, but the director placed a hand on her shoulder and pushed her back.
"Will you let me go I have to find him and-"
"And what exactly?" Fury asked and Katie turned away from him.
"You don't understand"
"I understand more than you think Banks" The director said and Katie looked over to him. "It is my job to know everything there is to know about anyone I employ" Katie shook her head. "Do you know where we can find Lumen?"
"Some motel" Katie said rubbing a hand over her tired eyes. "I don't really remember, everything just seems—" she looked over to the director. "What did he do to me?"
"Injected you with an untested muscle relaxer that shut down your entire body" the director said with a slight shake of his head. "But he gave you too much, the doctors had to flush your system of the compound. You've been out for seventy two hours." he turned to her. "You're lucky, without the procedure your organs would've continued to shut down until you were dead"
"Yeah, lucky me" Katie muttered.
"How did you escape?" The director asked and Katie closed her eyes and let out a long sigh. "You continue to amaze me, you know that?" Katie opened her eyes and gave the man a questioning look. "Who you ought to be is quite different than who you are"
"And the cow jumped over the moon, and didn't want green eggs and ham" Katie said and Fury let out a frustrated sigh. "Let's focus on what's important, how the hell did he find me"
"Probably from your new found media coverage" The director replied. "But from his background, college dropout and all out idiot" he looked back over to Katie. "There was no way he could pull off something like this on his own" Katie turned as something came back to her. It was a memory that was so fuzzy she wasn't even sure it was real. But there was a man. "Do you remember something Banks?"
"Yeah, I think you're right" Katie said when suddenly the sliding doors of her room slid open. Katie's heart jumped when she turned thinking she would see someone who she thought would be there. But it was only Coulson.
"I ordered for her to be taken to the medical bay of HQ" Coulson said looking over to the director before turning back to Katie.
"And I thought she should be here" The director countered.
"You look better" Coulson said walking over to her bedside. "Less pale"
"Were you worried about me, Phil?" she asked with a small smile.
"Me, worried?" Coulson asked. "Not possible, seeing as I'm still not human" Katie let out a light laugh as she placed a hand on his arm, a move that seemed to surprise him. "This is new" he said looking down to her hand.
"Yeah, well sometimes new is good" Katie replied as Coulson looked back over to her. "Thanks for coming back for me"
"Well I'm someone who learns from their mistakes" Coulson says.
"Banks" The director said interrupting them and they both look over to him. "Was there someone else?"
"Yeah, a man tall, black hair, looked pale" Katie said closing her eyes as she tries to make the image in her head a little more clearer. " He had a stick, glowy stick thing" she opened her eyes to see the director and Coulson sharing a look. "Am I missing something?" the door to Katie's room once again slid open and Katie turned in hope that it was finally the person she found herself desperately wanting to see. But once again her hopes were crushed as Natasha walked inside.
"Sir, Banner and Rodgers are here" Natasha informed. The director nodded before looking back over to Katie.
"You're confined to this bed until you're back to full health" Fury ordered before looking over to Coulson. "Which I doubt you will do once you're debriefed" he shook his head before turning and leaving the room.
"Will someone please tell me what's going on?" Katie asked, not liking the looks she was getting from Coulson and Natasha. Suddenly a slight chill went through her. "Where's—"she felt her heart racing in her chest. "Where's Bart?" neither spoke. "Is he—"
"No" Coulson replied quickly. "He's been—Agent Barton has been compromised" Katie looked over to him. "Do you remember New Mexico?"
"New Mexico?" Katie asked sarcastically, "You mean the aliens and the explosions and giant metal people trying to kill me, sure what about it?"
"Well the one behind all of that, name is Loki he's—"
"Thor's brother, God of Mischief" Katie continued. "Is he here?" Coulson nodded. "Does he have Bart?" Coulson once again nodded again, and in the next moment, Katie pulled the IV from her arm and tossed the sheets from her legs.
"Banks, you need to rest, get back—"Katie looked over to him and he saw the determination in her eyes. She stood to her feet and hand pressed against her bleeding arm as she searched the room.
"Clothes, I need clothes" Katie said looking over to Natasha who gave her a nod before leaving to find the woman some clothes. Katie turned back to Coulson who stood there not moving. "Everything, tell me everything" Coulson nodded before going into as great detail he could of the past week in all of its entirety.
A/N: And there we have it. So Loki had some kind of plan for Katie, that she thwarted by escaping... or did she? Thoughts? Feelings? I wuv them all!
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