Maybe something went wrong. He should have been back with Barton by now. To get us to help in the fight at the very least. I chew the inside of my cheek, staring at the woman strapped to the chair before me. Since Loki had left me in charge I had ordered not to be disturbed while I tortured this one. My free will was getting stronger; I wasn't torturing this one like I had been ordered to. I cocked my head to the side, glancing at the tools on the tray. I wanted to obey though.
My fingers twitched with the thought. I clenched them, digging my nails into my palms, in attempts to hold onto what little self-control I had clawed back. Loki said his plan was to get captured. I was still concerned, but it gave me my best opportunity to get out. I could wait for him, see if he won the battle and become his Queen. Or I could escape and continue trying to regain who I was.
With a sigh, I walked over and picked up the knife, twisting it in my hands. The woman in the chair whimpered slightly. I headed over to her, she was shaking, and knelt behind her. With a sharp cut, I broke the rope holding her down. Walking to face her again, I pulled the gag from her mouth as she rubbed her wrists, watching me with caution as I stepped back. "What's your name?" I ask.
"Lucy Matthews." She says quietly.
"Why are you here, Lucy?"
She frowns, reaching back to sweep some of her blonde hair back. "I thought you were going to interrogate me." She's lying and we both know it.
"Little hard to do that with a gag in your mouth."
She eyes the knife in my hand. "I thought you were going to torture me."
"There's still time." I admit. "But I'd prefer not to. Why are you here?"
"Like you don't know." She scoffs.
"I don't." I tell her. "I never get told. Just get my orders."
She eyes me for a moment. "Nice dress you had when I was brought in." She's testing me, gauging my reactions. I figure honesty is the best way to deal with it.
"Loki demands I wear dresses of his choosing in the evenings."
"You're different to the others."
I shrug. "To an extent. I still feel the need to obey but I can just delay it, or find loopholes. If I don't hurt you then it'll be the first time I've been able to disobey."
Lucy studied me carefully from her seat for a moment. "I'm a SHIELD agent." She told me. "Logistics."
"That'll be why he wanted you here then." I nod. "Information on SHIELD."
"He won't get much." She scoffed. "I'm not a high ranking operative."
"You will be." I say slowly. "You're about to break out of Loki's base with an informant."
Her eyes widened slightly. "You?"
"He wants me to be his Queen. No one has more access to his plans than I do."
"Why on earth would you want to betray him?" She asked.
I take a deep breath. "You're right." I tell her. "I am different from the others. I seem to be able to control it better. I don't know why, might have been a knock to my head or something. But believe me, I didn't choose to be here. I want out."
"When he was here, he said the fight would begin soon." Lucy said grimly.
"He plans to fight the Avengers. If you can get me to them I can tell them exactly what they're up against."
"Tell me and let me go." She argues.
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"Because if you go and he comes back he'll find out what I did and he will likely brainwash me again and have me torture and kill myself. Take me with you and I stand a fighting chance at surviving too."
She bit her lip. "I don't trust you."
"I'm not asking you to." I tell her. "I'm just asking you to help me get out of here. Believe it or not I'm as much a prisoner as you are. More so than you actually, considering I've released you from your bonds."
She weighed up her options for a moment. "How do I know I can believe you?"
"You don't." I sigh. "Either I'm telling you the truth, and this is your chance to escape with an ally, or this is going to turn out to be some kind of psychological torture where I somehow lead you back here."
"What's your plan?"
"I ordered no one to come to this room today, it's at the end of a long corridor connected to the central chamber. We'll have to fight our way through probably before we can get to the side tunnels to access one of the ladders up to the city."
"So not too dangerous then." She rolls her eyes.
"I've thought it through, there aren't any other options. I can't sneak you out, I can't disguise you, we can't take a different route. We'll have to fight our way out."
"In case you hadn't noticed, I'm in pretty bad shape."
I glance cuts on her hips and ribs the last torturer made. He had avoided the arms and legs and there was no bruising. The cuts weren't even too deep. "You'll be fine." I told her, tossing her the knife, she caught it easily. I wandered back to the tray and selected a few of the scalpels. "Follow me, keep close."
Opening the door I feel the first true pang of fear I've felt in a while. It's a raw and sharp emotion that momentarily consumes me. I'm almost relieved to feel it, to feel anything properly really. Taking a deep breath, I start forward, leading the way. I don't scamper down the corridor, I don't run, I stride. I am a Queen, this is my castle and this is my cage.
I'm coming up behind the first man in my way when someone further along the room shouts, noticing my companion. Before the guy in front of me can turn around I slice his throat watching his body crumble with a gurgle. It doesn't take long for the fight to start. I'm blocking left, right and centre, dealing out blows whenever I can. Loki had taken the best soldiers with him to help him destroy the helicarrier the Avengers would be on. The last Logistics officer we had taken had told him about that.
A clatter alerted me that Lucy had dropped the knife. As I glance over, she's pinned to a wall by one of the larger men, the knife on the floor. I throw the scalpel at him, giving her the distraction she needed to kick him off of her. Realising my companion was starting to flag I ran over to help her. As I reach her a mix of emotions take over, disappointment, rage, heartbreak. She could barely keep fighting. I couldn't let her keep going like this. "You need to go, now." I snap over my shoulder. I manoeuvre the fight so she stays behind me and we edge to the other side of the room to the tunnel that will lead her to the ladder.
"What about you?" She strains to ask. I roundhouse kick the man behind me who was about to reach her.
"Doesn't matter about me, just go!" I shout before I'm kicked in the stomach. Someone grabs my hair and punches me hard in the stomach. The man I had knocked to the floor reaches for me, scratching my back hard.
Lucy knocks him to the floor with a hard punch and forcefully pushes the man who grabbed my hair away from me. She grabs my hand, "Let's go!"
I pull my hand free and shake my head, turning to fight two more of the guys. "Get out of here!" I shout to her, swinging another punch, missing. I get kneed in the ribs, where I had an old injury no less, and I let out a scream.
Looking up, I see her fleeing down the corridor. Now all I had to do was put up enough of a fight that they didn't follow her.
The fight didn't last that much longer. I was being overpowered and I was severely outnumbered. I was about to give up when something curious happened. The men started to fall, one by one like dominoes until I was the last standing. I moved to head towards the corridor when a flash of heat hit my mind and I too fell into unconsciousness.