Chapter 2 is here! This is the timeline the story will be operating in. I'm toying with the idea of flashbacks later on so I can flesh out the backstories behind certain characters and their history together, etc.. but that won't be until later on (I don't think so at least).
For now, thanks so much for being here, and enjoy!
3 Years Post-Infinity War
The bar was packed for a Thursday night, a trend both Natasha and Rez had begun to notice once a nearby shipping depot went bankrupt. Many other businesses had also done their best to remain running immediately after and onwards from the snap, but the lack of both workers and customers had sent shockwaves through the economic system. The specific bar they were at was a new one near the Avengers facility. It was a part of a plaza of medical service buildings before Thanos.
"Steve emailed me today," Natasha said, while Rez sipped on a neat gin and leaned back in her chair. "He'll be in town for a visit later this week."
Rez placed her drink down and rested her elbows on the table. "Are you planning on telling him about the attacks?"
Natasha smirked and glanced over her shoulder. "Steve only pretends not to listen to the news." She said.
"Right," Rez nodded. "I can't blame him. It's hard to look away."
"Even for a second," Natasha said, then shook her head. "I need more information before I think about dragging him into this. I have nothing right now." She laughed, but Rez knew better than to believe Natasha found the subject funny. If anything it was the lack of information, coupled with the lack of actual ability to do anything, that was making the agent uneasy.
Much of what went on at the Avengers facility was Natasha locking herself in the office, or wandering aimlessly, or nowhere to be seen. Rez spent most of her time walking the streets of the nearby city, and then at night, she would patrol the building. It was a habit that formed three years prior, immediately after the incident and when she had non-officially moved to the facility full-time. Security had been deemed essential at that time. It was just a precautionary measure against any kind of possible civilian retaliation against the team, given that they had failed to stop Thanos. None ever happened.
But the recent attacks seemed like more than just some commoner militia seeking out revenge for their lost loved ones. Or some ex-hydra mercenary mess. The recent attacks in the city were more calculated, devastating, and they were been impossible to trace.
Rez often thought about the other Asgardian sleeper cells. She knew that two had each been placed in separate branches of the American military, but had zero clues about the two others. Surely they had figured out that their missions had been terminated for certain, given that the Allfather was dead and Asgard was no longer a place. So there was no explanation as to why they had not made contact in any way or at least surfaced at any point over the past several years. With all of these questions in mind, Rez couldn't help but wonder if there was some connection between the remaining four Asgardian sleeper cells and the attacks that were occurring.
There were no dots to connect to explain why they would be setting off explosives in New York City, with over thirty fatalities reported. Malls, intersections, government buildings, they did not discriminate and there was no pattern to their targets. Natasha was smart to keep an eye on things but allow the remaining police force to do their duty, but they had come out that night to discuss what further actions would take place. It felt like the right time for them to consider intervening.
"Well, the last attack was the eighteenth right?" Rez said, and she pulled a pen out of her pocket and began scribbling a makeshift monthly calendar on the back of a cocktail napkin. "And before that, it was the eleventh. And before that the third."
"And today is the twenty-fifth," Natasha said.
"But we can't know if that means there will be an attack today or tomorrow because last month the fucking average was twelve days between attacks," Rez said, placing the pen down and biting down on her lip.
"Forensics hasn't been able to recover anything meaningful," Natasha said, "The attacks have no pattern as far as time, place, fatality rate, specific demographic targets, nothing."
"Sounds like they're doing this just for fun," Rez said, and the two of them were silent.
Natasha had just lifted her glass when the hairs on the back of Rez's neck stood on end, and the wall behind her friend shot towards them. The sound of the blast followed a split second later and an alarm started screaming through the restaurant. Rez lifted herself from the floor and scanned for Natasha, who had also been knocked off her chair.
"Hey, you good?" A voice said, and Rez felt Natasha grab her arm. Rez nodded and they quickly moved, placing the wall of booths between themselves and the wall the blast had taken out.
"I'll take right," Rez said, taking her gun out of its holster on her hip and checking the magazine.
"I've got left," Natasha replied, and they separated.
Most of the bar's inhabitants had cleared out or taken cover, so Rez was able to get a clear view of the blown-out wall. No figures ran out. No gunfire followed the explosion. The only people left in the bar were those that could not leave - whether by fear, injury, or obligation.
"Clear!" Rez shouted, and listened for Nat's returning signal.
"Clear!" Natasha said. The two agents looked at each other from across the room and then surveyed the rest of the wreckage. The back wall was blown to dust and rubble, a gaping hole leading into the alleyway between buildings and a burst pipe letting water onto the hardwood of the bar.
"Call 911, I've got this," Rez said as they met up in the middle.
Natasha nodded and stepped aside to make the call while Rez hurried over to assess the state of the injured. First responder response times were another thing that had taken a hit since the snap, and she had been taught a thing or two both on Asgard and in SHIELD on field first aid.
"Hi I'm Bella, I'm gonna help you out okay? You're going to be fine." She said, kneeling next to a man approximately in his late sixties, a gash running across half of his forehead. Blood gushed out, impairing his vision and mixing with a couple of tears below.
Belladona was the nickname given to her during her years in SHIELD special ops. It had progressed to a common replacement for her first name and then been abbreviated to serve as a codename in the field.
"Police and medical are on their way," Natasha said, as she crossed behind Rez and went to attend to another group of injured; a young couple, the gentleman holding the lady as she watched him through hazy eyes. Natasha's expression remained calm and composed the whole exchange through.
"Can you sit up for me?" Rez said, pressing her hand against the midback of the man to assist him. The makeshift bandage on his forehead compressed the wound, and she had been able to clear most of the blood from his eyes with a water-glass-soaked napkin. Vitals were sound but a head injury was never anything to take lightly.
"M-my wife, my wife have you seen her?" The man looked at her, and the residual blood in his eyes caused the tears that welled up to turn pink as they spilled over.
"What does she look like? I can go find her for you." She said.
"No, no. I want to come with you. I want to see my wife."
"The paramedics will be here soon. You have a head injury, and you and I need to make sure your wife gets to see you as soon as possible too, right?"
"Okay, okay. Her name is Lily. Please she's my age and a little bit shorter than you. Brown hair. Please go find her."
"I'm on it. I'm going to find her okay? Just stay here - I'll be right back."
They didn't arrive back at the facility until past midnight. Natasha took the wheel while Rez sat in silence in the passenger, watching the city as they passed, counting the buildings and scraping the dust from beneath her fingernails with the tip of a combat knife.
Once the cops arrived at the bar, they took over and sent Natasha and Rez back to whatever hole they climbed out of. It just so happened that hole was a super-building, fully equipped for a large amount of personnel and whatever threats may come its way. But as of then, it's only inhabitants were Natasha and Rez, and occasionally another Avenger or two.
Rez felt out of place there, but she had only left intermittently for the past three years. Something about a flat in the city just didn't feel right. It felt alien, and not at all secure.
So she ran security for the Avengers facility. Not that it was necessary, but it never hurt to be cautious always and especially when a train of attacks were taking place in and around New York. It also helped that she got along with Natasha and Steve, and had even considered on the odd occasion to tell them of her true heritage. The conversation never made it that far, but it was less so our of fear, and more so out of the idea of how deep of a betrayal it might be viewed as.
"I'm gonna hop on a call and update everyone," Natasha said as they walked through the front doors.
"I'll be up top if you need me," Rez said with a curt nod, and headed towards the elevator that would take her to the roof. As the doors shut before her, she watched Natasha's still dust-ridden figure head towards the wing of the building that housed her office.
The roof was the first place she went whenever something happened that could in some way be linked or was directly a result of the attacks. Rez always held the belief that it was better to be safe than sorry, and she couldn't shake the idea of the other sleeper cells somehow having gone rogue, or just absolutely insane, being trapped on a foreign planet while their loved ones and home realm were reduced to ash.
It was a hard thing for her to process initially too. Rez had not been directly involved in the battle against Thanos and it didn't take a genius to figure out why; to everyone else, she was still just an ex-SHIELD special ops agent. She wasn't an Avenger. She was not the orphaned, homeless Asgardian spy with capabilities beyond what she allowed SHIELD and her friends to see. This was especially tough for her because the simple idea that she could have made a difference if only the others knew the truth and called on her to fight, was one that never failed to show up in her nightmares. Could her presence have singlehandedly stopped Thanos? No. Absolutely the hell not. But as a trained Asgardian fighter, could she have been of some assistance where another fighter was needed? 100%.
And then there was the trouble of grief, but that was a box that Rez very seldom opened.
The elevator doors split in front of her and she stepped out onto the pavement of the rooftop. The new lack of light pollution meant the sky was littered with stars night after night almost everywhere in the world. Living in the city no longer meant your skies were only blue or black. It was also relatively quiet and peaceful at the Avengers facility, so as long as she was welcomed to stay, she would remain.
Rez perched herself on the edge of the roof, right next to where the rifle kept up there was leaned against the facility top's external barrier. Her dark clothing was also dust-ridden; a long black coat over black tights and a cropped white long sleeve. A cut drew across her exposed midriff in a jagged line, the red of the dried blood crusting where it mixed with dust. She kicked off the heeled boots and sat cross-legged on the roof barrier.
What the fuck?
A line of smoke ran up into the sky in the distance, coming up from the woods that surrounded the base. They were not the kind of trees that any person could visit to set up camp. Rez pulled out her phone and sent a text to Natasha before hopping down from the roof, breaking her fall on the ground with a tuck and roll. Asgardian bone structure was truly something she had come to appreciate since living with humans.
Her path to the woods was straight across the field. Given that she was alone, any weapons she could conjure would be suitable should the smoke turn out to be a threat. The rifle had a better home on the roof, and guns weren't her preferred weapon anyways.
She broke the treeline after a couple of minutes and immediately summoned daggers into existence in either hand. The purple glow subsided when she had her hands around the hilts, and she chose each step carefully. The forest floor made it difficult to remain silent. She felt her jaw clench each time a twig snapped, and the smell of smoke grew stronger as she neared.
The fire came into sight quickly. As Rez approached she scanned the area, circling around the rear of the clearing the flame was in before entering the clearing itself.
"Hello?" She said, willing the daggers out of existence for the time being.
It only took a split second after hearing the leaves rustle, and she reared back with her elbow. The assailant caught her arm mid-flight, and then her hand, twisting and then using her own clenched fist to bring it down on her temple.
Her vision went black.
Rez woke to the feeling of ropes around her wrists and midsection, and the rough of tree bark digging into her back as the tautness of the restraints pulled her into the trunk. She didn't open her eyes, but the heat of the flame on her face led her to believe she was either still in the clearing, or the assailant had nothing better to do but build fires.
"You took longer than expected." A man's voice spoke out from the dark, and Rez opened her eyes.
How did you know I was awake?
The eyes that met her gaze were deep-set and calm, but focused. It was not so much them that caused her to freeze where she sat. It was who he was that made her breath catch in her throat and her stomach lurch. Rez fought to steel her expression.
"You're supposed to be dead." She said.
He chuckled, raising his hands as if to say 'I don't know' as he leaned against his own tree. The gold of his outfit reflected the light of the flame.
"You are not supposed to exist." He replied.
"Yet here we are," Rez said, then continued "Long time no see."
"I believed that to be you in New York," He grinned and stood up slowly. "You are a difficult woman to find, Resvetoria."
"Thank you." She said.
He crouched down in front of her so they were nearly at eye level and for the first time in years, Rez was able to see the details of the dark prince's face. He looked older, more mature, a man who had seen battle but upgraded his image throughout all of it.
"You look tired, Loki," Rez said, and allowed herself a small smile.
Loki grinned slyly, "Death is exhausting," he said, then cocked his head. "No love for an old friend?"
"I seem to remember our history differently, my prince." She said. "Is there a reason for the ropes?"
"Only if you use your imagination," Loki said, and he winked before she felt the resistance completely disappear. The ropes were no more, and she rubbed her wrists, pushing herself to her feet as they stood up in unison.
"Why did you knock me out? Completely unnecessary." Rez said, taking a steady step towards him so that there was no more than a foot between them.
"I would not have had you stopped me," Loki said and smirked. "Not becoming accustomed to fighting humans, are you?"
"What are you doing here, Loki? I know you didn't come to see me."
"Are you certain of that?"
Rez tipped her head, "Yes."
Loki took a small step forward, extending his hand and using it to brush her hair behind her ear. "If I were, what would you do?"
"Are you behind the attacks?"
He dropped his hand and narrowed his eyes. "No."
"Then you think I am."
"I did not say that," Loki said.
"But you do think that."
"Perhaps."
"Let's say I am - hypothetically," Rez said. "Why come after me?"
Loki paused, "Why not?"
"We were a very, very long time ago. Are you being a good samaritan, Loki? Trying to catch the bad guys?" She replied.
"A very, very long time is a slight exaggeration, don't you think?" He said, dismissing her questions.
"What are you getting at, Loki?"
Loki smiled slightly, "Don't flatter yourself Resvetoria, I don't remain here by choice."
"So you're just bored and curious."
"Perhaps."
Rez looked up at him with scrutinizing eyes to try to decipher what kind of mischievous thoughts were swirling around inside. She couldn't even begin to guess what the reason for his sudden appearance was, or how he was even alive. Information had swirled down the Avengers trail to her regarding his demise, and it had most certainly impacted her.
Rez's father had been the Allfather's war general for the majority of her lifetime, and so she had grown up with relatively easy access to the princes. She and Thor did not make much contact, given that he spent much of his time training. After observing him training, Rez could never find it in herself to take a liking to the showy portion of battle - which Thor was well-versed in. So when Loki was not with Thor, she saw him from time to time. Never on a usual basis, but they recognized and respected one another.
Their level of contact only peaked once Rez received the news that she would be sent to Midgard on the sleeper cell mission, and that no one outside of the Allfather and her father would know. She could not tell Loki, but she also could not find it in herself to simply disappear. So she visited the prince once, for a night, and then was off.
That happened ten years ago. And both she and Loki had then since grown a great deal.
"I have no place for that right now." She replied. "These attacks are getting more frequent, and they are getting worse."
Loki frowned, "You don't owe allegiance to your current or any other terminated authority anymore, Resvetoria."
"I do this because I care about these people."
"Your people are gone and the attacks will continue." Loki snapped, and she could see his jaw clench.
"Not as long as I'm here," Rez said, and then stepped around him. Loki's hand shot out and grabbed her by her upper arm, so she turned to face him. "Problem?"
"Resvetoria."
"If you're behind the attacks, all bets are off." She said, tugging from his grasp and stalking back towards the facility.
That was tough to write! I always worry about characterization and I have a specific idea of what I want Loki and Rez's past and present relationship to be like. Let me know your thoughts in the reviews!
Thanks for reading. (: