I'm sorry this took so long to get out. I've got myself a summer job of teaching and it takes up a lot of brain power to prepare for. I don't know when chapter 27 will be out. But I'm finally hitting a plot point that I've wanted to encounter 20 chapters ago. So that is exciting. Also I realized how I ended the last chapter and felt so guilty because that bit was kind of scary and a terrible place to leave you all hanging for more than a week. So I'm sorry about that. And I hope this chapter will make things better. At least a little bit better.
I hope you enjoy it. And please review! Reviews are what get me really excited.
Also a friend of mine who made me the cover art for this story has started a tumblr called Maniploki and she does some really awesome maniplative art of Loki and gifs and things, you should check it out.
Chapter 26
"Is this room sealed airtight?" Jane asked.
"Um...ah...yes," Dr. Fitz said.
"Can it get in?" Jane asked Loki.
Loki did not turn his gaze away from the shadow. The shadow stretched out along the glass and tried to find space underneath the door, but it could not squeeze through. The shadow spread around the glass room.
"Stand directly behind me," Loki ordered.
Jane immediately obeyed, but Dr. Fitz was slow to respond. Jane grabbed him and pulled him along. Loki turned and his gaze followed to where the shadow moved. Quickly the shadow had completely wrapped itself around the the glass room. It seemed to throb and tighten as if it was trying to crush the glass.
"Ballistic glass," said Dr. Fitz, "It's bulletproof as well, it shouldn't be able to get in at all."
Loki watched it carefully as the shadow seemed to give up. All of its tendrils unlatched itself from around the glass and it quickly slithered and vanished from sight.
Dr. Fitz pulled himself away from Jane and pressed himself up against the glass. He looked to the direction where the shadow had vanished in.
"That's the way to the lab!" Dr. Fitz said nervously, "Jemma, Jemma is down there." Dr. Fitz began to panic. "I've got to get down there," he pounded on the glass.
"If the glass is as powerful as you claim, smashing your hand against it will only harm you," Loki told Dr. Fitz. With a wave of his hand, Loki's clothes changed into his armor, minus his cape and helmet.
Dr. Fitz jumped back and glared at Jane, "You let him out!?"
"There's a sludge shadow monster killing people, of course I did!" Jane shouted back.
"But who's going to protect us from him?" Dr. Fitz nearly cried as he backed away from Loki in horror.
Loki rolled his eyes, "I have no reason to harm you."
The three of them turned their heads in unison as they heard a scream.
"So what do we do?" Jane asked Loki.
"It cannot reach us in here…" Loki started.
"But the other people-" both Jane and Dr. Fitz said together.
"They will surely perish," Loki finished for them.
"We've got to help them!" Jane said, worry and concern written all over her face.
"There may be a way to override the system to unlock the door," Dr. Fitz told them. He pulled out of his cart one of his devices.
"Where did it go?" Jane asked Loki.
Loki shook his head, "I don't know."
"You said you could monitor Thor from here, can't you find out where the liquid shadow thing went...?"
Dr. Fitz glanced at Loki, but quickly went back to work to try and open up the door.
"Well?" Jane asked.
"I can," Loki told her.
"So why aren't you?"
Loki gritted his teeth. "It involves shedding my physical form. I'd rather not do that with a mortal bent on making me suffer locked in here with me."
Jane poked Loki in the shoulder, luckily the injury had healed, or that would have really hurt. He glared at her, surprised at the sudden attack of pointy fingers.
"Do it already, I'll keep you safe. Dr. Fitz won't touch you, right?"
Dr. Fitz said nothing.
"Hey!" Jane shouted at him.
"Uh..what?" Dr. Fitz asked, looking up.
"You won't touch Loki while he goes to figure out where that monster has gone while you unlock things...right?"
"How is he going to do that while the door is still locked?"
"He's going to use his Astral form," Jane explained.
"Yeah, no, I'm going to pretend you didn't say that," Dr. Fitz turned back to his work.
"Just swear you won't touch him," Jane told him.
"Fine whatever, most important thing right now is to open this and stop the monster...yeah?"
Jane looked back to Loki. Loki grimaced but gave in and went back to lay down on the bed.
"I will return shortly," Loki told Jane as he closed his eyes.
He pushed himself away from his body and floated through the walls of the aircraft. The rooms lacked in bodies. Only the occasional splatter of blood. The craft was parked on the ground in an empty lot. Another scream rattled through the craft and Loki focused on finding the monster. He found the liquid monster pressing against the glass door of another room. A woman stood there alone, pressed against the wall, as far away from the glass. Loki floated passed the woman in the room and tried to find what was controlling the liquid shadow. It wasn't just a body of water standing there alone. It was like a disembodied wave with thin string of liquid, controlling it and guiding it. Loki followed the thin line to the holding bay. But then the strand went off out of the craft. Before Loki could follow the strand out of the craft, he watched in amazement as a second strand of liquid formed. It shout out passed him into the direction of where Jane and Dr. Fitz were still trying to unlock the door. More screams echoed from that direction. A sudden pain to his face stopped him and an echo his physical form heard, someone calling his name.
He made a motion to go back, but he was suddenly pulled beyond his control, like a wild current of a flooded river, towards his own physical form..
He snapped open his eyes. Jane was not standing over him like she was moments ago. Instead he woke to a gun in his face. A soldier stood over him.
"Loki!" Jane cried. Loki glanced and saw Jane and Dr. Fitz held at gunpoint by a second soldier, they were pressed up against the wall.
"Don't move," the first soldier who hovered over him ordered.
Loki immediately summoned fire to his hand. He could feel the heat forming under his fingertips, but painfully realized as he lifted his right hand to melt his opponent. He found the cuff back on his wrist.
It was the same as before. The energy was trapped within his flesh and the energy had to go somewhere. Again he quickly converted it to healing energies. He directed the energy to his muscles. He fell back and jerked at the fiery healing pain. Luckily his muscles were yet to return to full strength and the healing energy wasn't just a waste of fire and pain; but converting the energy was tedious. His muscles jerked beyond his control and he gritted his teeth.
"Loki!" Jane cried out in distress.
Loki flinched at her shout and glanced her way and sluggishly realized that the door was open. He slowly looked up at the she S.H.I.E.L.D. soldier hovering over him. There was something wrong with his eyes. They were a dark sea green color without irises or pupils.
The soldier pressed the gun underneath Loki's chin. "At last," he said as he leaned closer to Loki's face. The soldier's mouth opened and black water dripped down his chin as he bent down to kiss Loki.
However Loki's left hand was free and with it his smashed it into the soldier's face, knocking the man to the ground. Loki pushed himself up. The cuff on his hand locked him to the railing of his bed. The railing was only one of Midgard's basic metals. Loki wrenched the railing apart and pulled the second cuff off of it. He might not have had his magic. But he still had his biological strength.
The second soldier quickly made a grab for Jane. He turned around with a gun pressed against her head as he slowly backed out of the open door. Loki heard it before he saw it. It sounded like rushing water. Loki only slowly followed the soldier holding Jane hostage.
A loud bang and Loki fell to his knee. His right shoulder was in agony and just below his clavicle was a whole that was gushing blood. Loki turned to see the first soldier standing up with black blood dripping down his face and his gun pointed at Loki.
"Look out!" screamed the soldier holding Jane. The first soldier turned too late. Only to be smacked again, across the face by a wrench wielding Dr. Fitz. Dr. Fitz quickly picked up the gun and pointed it at the second soldier still holding Jane. The thundering sound of rushing water pounded against the walls and Loki could nearly see it. His arm being jerked backwards startled him and he turned to see Dr. Fitz enter the code into the cuff.
"At Last," the second soldier said, while holding onto Jane. The second soldier pulled Jane towards the wall of black water.
Loki saw a huge wall of black water sweep towards them. Click.
The cuff fell away from his hand and he leaped forward. The soldier had lowered the gun in awe of the wall of water. Loki barreled right into him and shoved the soldier into the wall of water just as the water tried to wrap its black tendrils around Loki and Jane. Loki's skin immediately turned blue as ice poured out of his hands and froze every tendril of water until it was solid.
Blood spilled from his shoulder on the black ice and Loki slumped to the ground.
"Loki!" Jane shouted and rushed over to him. She pressed her hand to his shoulder to try and stop the blood. Loki panted at the pain the pressure brought.
"Dr. Fitz, you've got bandages?" Jane asked desperately, around her hands blood spilled. Loki slowly looked over at Dr. Fitz who had picked up Loki's discarded cuffs and wrapped them around the other soldier's wrists. Dr. Fitz then got up to push his cart to Loki and Jane. There was lots of gauze left over from where Dr. Fitz expected to have to recast Loki's arms. Dr. Fitz hesitated at the very blue skin that covered Loki's body.
"I thought you were Asgardian…?" Dr. Fitz asked.
Loki glared up at him.
"This isn't the time to be prejudiced, help him!" Jane cried frantically.
"But clearly you are not Asgardian," Dr. Fitz continued.
"Does it matter what I am?" Loki asked as he pushed Jane's hand away his wound. With a wince he pressed his index finger into the wound and summoned energy to his finger tips and converted it into healing energies. It hurt, as it always did, but as he pulled his finger out the wound stopped bleeding. Warmth spread out from the wound and quickly chased his blue skin away, returning him to his Asgardian skin. Loki half collapsed into Jane's arms from the injury and the tediousness of using healing magic.
"Of course it does," Dr. Fitz answered, "Do you aliens even have subculverian veins? And does the blue skin mean you are Kree? Because that would make a lot of sense about your personality."
Loki's face wrinkled in disgust, "I am not Kree," Loki spat.
An ominous cracking sound creaked above them and Loki and Jane slowly looked behind them where the wall of ice loomed above. The soldier frozen inside appeared to be staining the already black ice with a strange sea green color. Around him the ice began to form cracks.
"We need to move," Loki told them. He struggled to find his feet. Jane went to help him, but Loki was weaker than he had thought and he nearly pulled Jane back to the ground with his off balanced weight.
"Help me!" Jane shouted at Dr. Fitz.
Dr. Fitz gave in and wrapped Loki's arm around his neck. Loki grunted and felt blood slowly trickle from his wound. Clearly he had not healed it well enough. The cracking of the ice behind them motivated them to move a little bit faster.
"Stop!" Loki shouted just as they made it around the corner to where the laboratory was. There was another liquid shadow standing there. It was humanoid in shape, but it had no human features on its face. It turned and looked at them. At least Loki sensed that it was looking at them. The liquid shadow had no eyes, just a constant movement of black liquid. Like a blob of water caught up in zero gravity.
The liquid shadow only shifted and its humanoid shape warped so that it appeared to be facing them. It reached a hand shaped blob of water toward them and its form thickened and grew and suddenly stretched quickly towards them. Loki shoved Jane and Dr. Fitz backwards and he threw a barrier of fire forward. The liquid shadow crashed into it and sizzled as the liquid turned to steam.
Water seemed to race towards the liquid shadow along the walls, floor and ceiling, paying no heed to gravity. It collected onto the liquid shadow until it formed into another huge wall of water. Behind him Jane and Dr. Fitz suddenly crowded up against Loki's back and Jane squeaked in terror. Loki glanced back and a second wall of water was racing towards them.
"Hold onto me!" Loki shouted and this time there was no delay in Dr. Fitz's movements. Both he and Jane grabbed onto Loki just as loki shifted his position, moved one of his arms to face his palm up towards the second wall of water. The impact of the water against Loki's barrier pushed them towards the laboratory door. But there was no way in. Water completely surrounded Loki, Jane and Dr. Fitz on all sides. Loki's barrier was spherical in shape with a hint of golden runes that shimmered now and then.
"Jemma!" Dr. Fitz shouted. Loki looked as the were suddenly pressed up against the door of the laboratory. 'Jemma' who was introduced by Daisy as Dr. Simmons was pressed up against the door of the laboratory.
"Fitz!" Dr. Simmons shouted at Dr. Fitz.
"Can we get in there?" Dr. Fitz asked as Loki struggled to keep the barrier up. The water tightened around his barrier, even though it caused the water to boil.
"One cell for another," Loki gritted.
"But the bullet proof air tight door will keep us safe...right?" Jane asked.
"Maybe," Loki admitted. With another grunt he forced his arm forward again and the barrier turned the liquid to steam until he could push the barrier out and flex it around the mechanism of the door.
"Open it now, Jemma!" Dr. Fitz shouted.
The door behind them opened up, Jane and Dr. Fitz clambered inside. Loki shoved at the barrier, sending it flying at the water and then he fell backwards into the lab. The barrier sizzled away some more liquid before failing altogether. The water raced up towards Loki, but the door shut closed, cutting off about a cup of the black water. Loki sent up another barrier a smaller one that made the floating black liquid look like it was caught in a bubble.
"Can you secure this?" Loki asked Dr. Fitz.
"Why not just turn it into steam?"
"Because I'm very interested to find out what it is," Loki told him as his hands shook from both pain of his injury and the amount of energy he had already used. Dr. Simmons brought forth a container and Loki maneuvered the floating black liquid in his bubble barrier and moved it into the container in which Dr. Simmons sealed. Loki's arms gave up and fell to the floor. The barrier popped and released the liquid. The liquid dripped down the inside of the container, suddenly obeying the rules of gravity.
The lighting in the laboratory was somewhat normal, or more along the lines of nicer without the horrible red glow. Loki sat in a chair and glared at the mortals inspecting his wound. He doubted they could do much more than what he had done in repairing the damage done to one of the major arteries there. It wasn't exactly the same as what Dr. Fitz had called a Subclavicular vein. But it was close enough and now Dr. Simmons was stitching up the wound.
Another sudden flash of light from the other side of the room made Loki jump and wince as Dr. Simmons accidentally poked him with the needle. Neither one apologized to the other. But Dr. Fitz jumped up to inspect the light at one of their table top consoles.
"What is it?" asked Dr. Simmons.
"A phone call," Dr. Fitz said with a look so shock on his face.
"From who?" Jane asked.
"I don't know, the computer won't say," Dr. Fitz said.
"You should answer it, it might be Daisy trying to contact us," Dr. Simmons advised.
Dr. Fitz reached up to press a button.
Loki's eyes widened as the face on the screen peered back at him. Loki felt all the blood drain from his face.
"What the Hell?" The man on the screen said as his gaze seemed to connect with Loki's.
Loki stood up, though he was wobbly on his feet. "No, you died," Loki told the man on the screen.