Author's Notes

Song Lyrics from ONE OK ROCK - When I Was King
/watch?v=egS3MP2Q_sU&list=PLb-h0TgZRJZpYbnvq7gW1FBvsBMdCI_mZ&index=5

Additional Song: Laura Marano - When You Wake Up
/watch?v=HVmJR0fvVoc&list=PLb-h0TgZRJZpYbnvq7gW1FBvsBMdCI_mZ&index=8

Whole Playlist:
/playlist?list=PLb-h0TgZRJZooJ-TPIjxWEFoYEnXi2vcl

When Natasha announced through their communicator that Loki's goal was to set free the Hulk, a smug smile appeared on Luciana's lips. Thor looked proud as if it had been his own idea and even the Director gave a slight nod of approval before speaking up. "Count me surprised. Your plan really worked."
"What can I say, he really likes to talk. You just have to push him in the right direction." she shrugged.
"Well, that leaves us with one thing."

Soon after Natasha got back to the bridge the group made its way to the laboratory where Tony and Dr. Banner had conducted their search for the Tesseract. Sadly things went downhill from there, especially after Steve made his entrance, bringing some kind of higher advanced weapon with him. Apparently SHIELD had followed a secret agenda of their own, as they secretly had started the development of weapons using the power of the Tesseract. Naturally that didn't sit well with the ones who had been kept in the dark about it and soon the whole room was filled with angry voices as the group engaged in a heated argument.

Luciana only sighed. Growing up alongside the two Asgardian princes, she was used to arguments of all sorts. She had learned that taking either side mostly only worsened things, so she chose to keep quiet in hope it would dissolve on its own.
This proved to be correct. At least to some extent, as they quieted down at last, even though the tension still wavered above their heads. Luciana let out another sigh. "God, you guys are like children. It's pathetic, really."
No sooner had the words left her mouth, it happened.

The ship was suddenly hit by a huge explosion.
Had they been hit by a missile? Or was it caused by something else?
Luciana had no time to think about these questions as the resulting shock wave sent her flying. The impact had been close to where the lab was located, and it hence got hit by the full blast. Her body slammed against a metal wall, the air getting knocked out of her lungs. She tried to take a breath but her insides seemed to burn and the air was so dry she almost choked on it. She couldn't hear anything apart from a shrill ring in her ears, which told her that the silence was for once not caused by her powers. Nonetheless, she didn't hear the cracking noise around her. Therefore, she didn't expect the ground under her to give out either. Having no time to react, a shrill shriek escaped her mouth as she fell and soon everything around her turned black.

When am I, when am I gonna stop this dreaming?

When she woke up, her whole body was covered by debris. Everything hurt and moving even a little caused her to wince. Regardless, she forced herself to sit up, coughing wildly as she tried to free her lungs from the dirt and dust she must have inhaled. There was a pounding in her head and Luciana felt dizzy and disoriented.
Where was everybody? How long had she been out? And most importantly where was she?

A quick look around told her that she was still on the ship and considering her fall she had to be on a lower floor than the lab they had been in earlier. She had to find the others, she thought as she pushed herself to stand with a groan. That's when it hit her.
Why had they been hit with an explosion in the first place? There could only be one reason…

"The detention center!"

With that Luciana darted off, running at full speed even though every muscle in her body hurt in protest. They had been naive to think that the people Loki had brought under the scepter's spell wouldn't try to get their leader back. As she ran, she could hear the sound of people fighting in the distance. Who was it?
The next instance a loud roar halled throughout the ship and soon a voice through the communicator confirmed her suspicion. The Hulk was on the loose.
"Oh, no. No, no, no."

Luciana sped up her movement, even though she didn't even know whether she went in the right direction. Only the feeling in her stomach told her to keep going that way. While running, she remembered the way Loki's eyes had been clouded. There had been a haze over them, just like he had told her. How the Allfather had known about it was beyond her. And frankly it was none of her concerns right now. Rather she wondered what it meant. She clearly had noticed from the second she had laid eyes on him in that cage that he wasn't being himself, but…
Was he being controlled? Did that weird scepter take hold of his mind just like he had done, using it on those SHIELD agents?

She turned around a corner and was about to jump down a pair of metal stairs, when suddenly another shock went through the ship. Without warning, it tilted to the right causing her to stumble. Luciana tried to grab a hold of the hand rail, but to no avail. Losing her balance, she tumbled down the stairs, finding herself on the cold metal ground. As if her body didn't hurt enough already…
As she slowly got up again, her ears detected voices coming from the end of the long hallway.
"Are… not gonna fall…. that?"
She didn't need a second to realize who they belonged to. It seemed she had been running in the right direction after all. Knowing that, her mind was filled with new determination. Luciana ignored her aching muscles as she darted off again. It didn't take her long to get to the end of the hallway, but the sight that awaited caused her to come to a screeching halt.

Her eyes stared at Thor who, for whatever inexplicable reason, stood inside the glass cage. His eyes located her form and for a second he looked at her in terror. Then he was gone.
As was the whole cage.
Loki, who was standing at the control panel, looked down the gaping whole before shrugging. The next instant Agent Coulson appeared, the gun Steve had brought to the lab earlier in hand. He seemed determined to shoot Loki with it. However, he unfortunately fell prey to one of the God of Mischief's illusions.

"NOOOOO!" Luciana involuntarily cried out as she watched the man get stabbed in the back with the scepter a brainwashed Agent had brought back to his original wielder moments ago. Apparently surprised by the sudden noise, Loki's head darted towards her before a sly smirk appeared on his lips. "My Lucy, I didn't notice you standing there at all. Are you enjoying the show?" Scepter in hand he slowly made his way towards her.
"What have you done!?"
"Just squashed an ant." he shrugged nonchalantly, as if taking the life of a human being meant nothing to him. It sent a shiver down her spine.
"But more importantly-" He used the tip of the scepter to push her chin up, forcing her to look straight at him as he smirked down at her. "Have you thought about my proposal~?"
Luciana trembled, a cold fury burning inside of her. She slowly raised her hand at which the man in front of her only raised an eyebrow, seemingly amused at what she intended to do. But against his expectations, she quickly spun around, swinging her arm and-

SLAP!

The sound of her palm hitting his cheek echoed against the metal walls. His head forcibly turned to the right through the impact. Slowly, Loki reached his hand upwards to touch the skin that was slowly turning redder by the second. As he looked back at her, he couldn't hide his own surprise at getting hit. He was met with Luciana's burning eyes that stared daggers at him. Her voice held a sense of pride as she spoke. "Did you forget that your illusions don't work on me? They've failed ever since we were children."
He scoffed. "Well, things change. I suppose it was worth a try. But good to know they haven't. Because that means-"
Faster than her eyes could follow, Loki reached behind her waist with his free hand, pulling her towards him. With his other he pushed the blade of the scepter against her throat. Confused by what had just happened, Luciana's eyes went wide.
"- you're still weak to surprises~" he smirked.
She grit her teeth and trashed her arms in protest. "Let go of me!"
However, her resistance left him unimpressed. "Hmm, no. I decided to take you with me. Count yourself lucky, you might survive if you behave~"
Luciana twisted her face in disgust. But before she could spit out her retort a voice resounded from behind them.

"If I were you, I would listen to what the lady is saying."

Surprised, Loki loosened his grip on her which she saw as an opportunity to get away. Unfortunately though, he caught wind of her intention too quickly and she only managed to turn herself around before his grip around her tightened again.
"Phil!" Luciana screamed as her eyes fell on the agent. He was slumped on the ground, covered in blood that still kept oozing out from the wound inflicted on him.
"Oh, you're not dead yet." Loki stated matter of factly, showing no interest for the human in front of him.
"Loki, you're going to lose."
The sentence drew a mocking laugh from the God of Mischief. "Oh, really? Look around you. Your heroes are scattered. This ship is about to sink. You have no way of stopping me and my army. So, what makes you think I will lose?"
Agent Coulson's breathing was getting more and more shallow by the second and she could see that every spoken word was taking a huge amount of energy from him. "You… lack conviction."
"Pardon?"
"Sorry, Miss Luciana."

The moment she realized what Agent Coulson was about to do, it was already too late. He had hit the button on the weapon on his lap. And no second later it emitted some kind of blast that hit both Loki and her with full force. She was sent flying once again. And as her body hit the cold metal ground everything around her turned dark.

If I go down, I will go down fighting

When she came to, the first thing she noticed was the pain burning through her body. Well, nothing new, she thought as it had been all she had been experiencing these last few hours. And slowly she was getting used to the feeling. Which didn't mean that it became any less unpleasant. Her vision was still blurry but as her eyes accustomed to the light, she noticed a thick wall of glass not far away from her. Outside she could see the cloudy sky and several high buildings, which meant she herself was most likely in one of the same. Next she realized that her hands had been tied together, albeit her feet were still free and her mouth hadn't been gagged either. And much to her surprise the ground under her wasn't hard, no she lay on top something soft and squishy. Some sort of luxurious couch as she concluded. Luxurious was a good word to describe the entire room she was in. Not room, it was more of a lounge. A very fancy looking lounge.

As the dizziness slowly cleared from her mind, Luciana finally noticed the pair of voices that came from the direction her feet pointed in. One clearly belonged to Loki and the other- She knew she had heard it before, all too recently too but-
Was it Tony Stark?
Yes, it had to be. The slightly arrogant tone and the high and mighty way of speaking could only belong to the man that had annoyed her enough for her to mute him. The two men seemed to lead a rather… special conversation. Taunting and mocking each other in turn. God, men and their big egos she thought and had to suppress a sigh.

"And you've pissed off every single one of them." Tony concluded his speech about the people Loki had made his enemies through his recent deeds. This, however, seemed to be of no concern to the God of Mischief as he countered with his readily waiting army he was about to unleash upon New York City.

Luciana made use of the fact that the two men were occupied with each other.
First, she deactivated her powers just enough to erase all sounds around her, after which she slowly sat herself up on the couch. She was about to get up when Loki turned towards the big window facade. Fearing he would notice her, she quickly did a somersault backwards, effectively rolling herself over the armrest, landing on her feet. Like that she hid behind the couch. She was sure that Tony had noticed her movement, albeit he showed no reaction to it. Thank god, he wasn't as much of an idiot as his character seemed to suggest.

Then again he didn't really have the time to even show any reaction as he was soon grabbed around the neck and heaved into the air by Loki. He kept on calling for something or someone as he struggled, but to no avail. Almost effortlessly the man got tossed through the glass window, where he fell towards the ground like a stone. Luciana gasped in shock, which luckily couldn't be heard or else she would have revealed herself through the sound.

Loki laughed to himself as he moved closer to the gaping hole in the glass, intending to watch his victim hit the ground. However, his attention was caught by the rattling sound of metal from behind him and he turned around.
Just in time to duck out of the way of the big red chunk of metal that darted through the air right towards him, or rather towards the hole through which it disappeared soon after. Only to come back up together with Tony Stark a moment later.

As it turned out, the CEO had been working on a new and more advanced suit which had just saved himself from an unfortunate end. Luciana would have clapped in her joy, but it didn't seem appropriate at this moment.
Now was as good a time as any for her to get out from her hiding spot. Getting kidnapped and tied up like that didn't exactly sit right with her, and she felt like she owed her abductor a little payback. With no hesitation she darted towards Loki, who had his back to her as he stared at Tony in surprise.

"There were two more people you pissed off. One is right behind you-"
"What?"
He darted around, but it was too late. His body made acquaintance with Luciana's foot as she round-house kicked him straight in the stomach.
"GUH!?"
Not having her arms to balance herself, the young woman stumbled to the side as Loki staggered backwards a few steps, crouching in pain. But that wasn't the end of it.
"-and the other one's name was Phil." Tony declared as he shot out a powerful wave through the palms of his suit, which sent the Asgardian flying upon impact.

"Need a hand Lucy?" he asked her just as a huge blast shot towards the sky behind them. Quickly she ran towards the hole to look up, the man in the iron suit doing the same. What their eyes caught sight of sent a shiver down their spines.
A huge blue portal had opened itself in the sky and behind it countless Chitauri had only been waiting for said moment. Finally having gained entrance, they streamed through the gate like a river, starting to destroy everything in their path.
"Right. Army."
"Go! I can take care of myself. I'll be behind you in no time."
Tony didn't need to be told that twice, as he only gave her a nod before darting off.

"Right behind him? I wouldn't be so sure about that."
A voice resounded behind her. A very annoyed voice.

Quickly she spun around, turning for another kick but unfortunately her foot got caught in midair.
"Should have tied your legs too." Loki said with a wry smile before he yanked on her leg, throwing her to the side like it was nothing. He pointed his scepter towards her throat as he graced her with a cruel smirk. "Be a good girl and wait here Lucy. There'll be lots of time for us to sort this out after I'm done winning this war."
"You're going to lose." she spat at him.
"My how little faith you have in your future king. I am hurt. Terribly so." he mocked in return before turning away from her as he headed towards the balcony. Stopping just a moment to give her a tiny wave before stepping outside.

"Future king my ass…" Luciana spit while her eyes darted around. "Ah, now that seems useful~" she hummed before scrabbling towards a shiny object not far from her.
Reaching for the tiny shard of glass with her tied hands, she winced as she came into contact with its sharp edge. She felt a warm liquid running down her finger, evidence that she had just cut herself. "Well, I guess you're sharp enough."

Carefully she turned the shard to the right angle and began to slide it up and down against the rope around her wrists, keeping her eyes set on the balcony. To her surprise she soon caught sight of Thor who soon engaged in a fight with his brother.
For a second images from that fateful day on the rainbow bridge flashed before her eyes and a sharp pain shot through her heart. But the feeling of the rope leaving her wrists as it fell to the floor soon brought her back to reality. Finally free from its restriction, Luciana stretched her arms before observing her hands. The cut on her finger luckily hadn't been too deep, hence the bleeding had almost stopped already, leaving only a slight burning sensation around the area the skin had been hurt. Without waiting a moment longer she pushed herself off the ground and made her way to the balcony where the brothers were still fighting.

The moment she stepped outside she was met with the extent of the Chitauri invasion. Throughout the whole city screams of terror could be heard, echoing through New York's usually bustling streets. Smoke fumed from several of the tall skyscrapers and some of them were missing big enough parts for the naked eye to see from afar. In the distance Luciana could spot Tony. No, right now he truly was Iron Man, as he shot laser beams at the aliens that crossed his path. Although he managed to incapacitate a number of them, his actions had no more impact than a droplet of water that fell on a hot stone. For every Chitauri he shot down at least three new of the aliens came through the portal.

Luciana gritted her teeth. This madness had to be stopped.
"Lucy! Are you alright!?" a worried voice resounded to her right.
"I think I should be the one asking you that. After all, I wasn't the one that fell from the sky in a glass bowl." she teased the blonde man.
"Heh! Touché!"
"Oh brother, how terribly rude you are." Loki spoke, his voice feigning to be hurt. "Did no one ever teach you to not take your eyes off the enemy?"
"Wha- URGH!?"
"THOR!"

Distracted by his brief exchange of words with Luciana, the God of Thunder hadn't paid attention as his brother had pulled out the tiny dagger. For that he got immediately punished as Loki rammed the sharp object into his side, causing the older prince to sink to his knees in pain.
"Didn't I tell you to stay put Lucy?" he turned around to face her. While he still had a mocking grin on his face, she could tell that he was annoyed. A fact she couldn't care less about though, so she only met his words with a shrug. "Well, what can I say? You still didn't tie up my feet, idiot."
"You-"

"What was that about taking your eyes off the enemy?"

No sooner had Loki perceived said words, he already got hit by Thor, sending him to the ground immediately. Groaning in pain, he looked up at the two of them for only a second before he rolled himself down the edge of the balcony. Luciana was about to cry out his name, but her voice got stuck in her throat as she saw him rise up again on top of one of the Chitauri's strange gliders.

Before she knew it her feet had already brought her to the edge of the railing. Her eyes directed downwards, she saw pieces of debris next to trashed and smashed cars. In the midst of the chaos and destruction several humans were still running for their lives in hope of escaping from the monsters that had appeared in their city seemingly out of nowhere. As her vision went upwards again, her eyes caught sight of her target. And it was moving towards her at great speed.
"Lucy- What are you doing? I don't think whatever you're planning is a good idea." she heard Thor's worried voice behind her. She turned her head, a sly smirk appearing on her lips "Well, that's too bad. Cause I gotta get rid of some fog and I've had just about enough of this madness."
"No. Lucy, don't. Do not- LUCY!"

When I was king (I was king)
We had everything