Loki found an opportunity to sit next to the Black Widow as the rest were preoccupied with talking amongst themselves.
"Psst." Loki whispered.
As Natasha turned around she got a mild look of surprise at seeing him next to her. "You better not be trying anything, Loki." She warned. The current meeting was close to concluding, most of the others chatting away about various plans for the evening.
Odin was inviting the visiting Avengers to a feast planned for that night, meanwhile Captain America politely declined this invitation on behalf of all of them, before Sif started insisting they stay. She seemed to make him much more hesitant to stick to his original refusal.
"Calm down, widow." Loki spoke in an excited whisper. "I only wish to ask something."
Natasha let out an annoyed sigh. "Whatever it is, I'm sure it can wait until these muscle-heads decide what our plans are for tonight."
Loki nudged her lightly. "It is about that other redheaded Avenger woman."
Natasha crossed her legs and leaned back in her chair without redirecting her gaze from the friendly dispute going on in the room. "What about her?" She asked flatly.
She seemed relaxed, but even with all her KGB training Loki could tell that she showed some interest. "Yes... You were the one that found her?"
He could see a hint of discomfort in Natasha's face. "Yes... Why do you care?"
"Well... What was she like when you found her?" He asked, attempting to look more genuine. "She said she had improved immensely now that she had recovered, so what was she like before then?"
Natasha's brows furrowed, but she spoke after a long pause. "I found her during a mission. They told me they found some sort of cosmic anomaly... I thought maybe you had found your way back here, so we wanted to be cautious."
Natasha remembered the horrid burned shape fairly clearly, but what was worse than the ungodly sight of it was the smell. A rotten egg kind of scent of sulfur combined with fried flesh.
Despite the other agent's protests she ran toward the screaming creature as it began slowly grasping the sand in front of it, trying to pull itself toward the water. She tried to grab onto it, but even through her leather gloves she could feel that the body was as hot as coals to the touch.
In a quick attempt to adapt to the situation, she took off her jacket and threw it down onto it, before using that as a layer to protect herself against the heat as she pinned it to the ground by straddling it. The creature stopped screaming, but thrashed violently underneath her wile letting out sobs, as flesh came off in chunks from the violent movements. Natasha managed to hold it down and get her water flask out of her side pouch, pouring the contents over its burned face.
The water sizzled softly, evaporatimg as it made contact, and the being seemed to have calmed slightly, quickly going quiet and still underneath her. Just to be safe Natasha stayed close to the creature until Fury finally arrived with backup.
Loki's eyes were wide with interest as he listened to her describe what she had seen. "How did she survive after that, let alone was able to recover?"
Natasha sighed again, taking a few seconds to think before answering. "I'm surprised she managed to. Fury finally showed and followed our standard operating procedure for containing a source of such an anomaly. She was locked down in a glass observation area, which I'm sure you're well familiar with." She added, finally letting out some emotion and showing an amused smirk.
Loki glared as he remembered his time held captive in the glass prison on Midgard, but bit down any witty remark to let her continue.
"Everyone was very cautious of her, but once we got her in there and cooled down carefully, she did begin to recover. Some of the doctors said that if she got into that salted water the result would be disastrous due to her fragile state. Who really knows though." She said pointedly as she lightly shook her head. "We aren't exactly experts in otherworldly beings."
Loki shook his head in disbelief. "Sounds as if she was lucky you got there when you did."
Natasha shrugged. "I guess so. Hard to tell when she was basically mute for so long. The doctors couldn't really do much for her either, although to be honest I think they preferred to stay out of the way. Not everyone wants to risk their neck by trying to help a weird thing from another realm. Especially since not so long ago one tried to have us all kneel..." She said as she shot him a cold glance.
Loki chuckled, showing a proud grin as Natasha scoffed. "You have my apologies, please go on."
Natasha leaned back as she crossed her arms, looking over him suspiciously. "Why are you so interested about one of ours all of a sudden?"
Loki thought for a moment, deciding to go with a safer yet still true answer. "As you know I am to remain here in awful boredom due to my actions. The man of iron must have told you that she is not from our realm, nor yours. A curiosity of sorts, and any small entertainment nowadays is a welcome sight."
Natasha scowled. "For what you did, a bit of boredom is an extremely low punishment. Fine though. Since she's spending time here, you probably ought to know what you're dealing with..."
She described how Kitri woke. "She didn't seem interested in her surroundings, which was not surprising given her condition. She would mostly sit in a fetal position, non-responsive and not eating, but would gladly accept water. Her body healed within those first few days. Hair grew out, and she eventually started accepting food. At the time S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn't give her anything more comfortable, since no one knew who she was or why she was there."
Natasha took a deep breath and let it out slowly before she continued."The people keeping an eye on her had to get special permission from Fury to stop listening in during those nights, because of how loud and unsettling her screams were. Once she started speaking to us, asking about where she came from was a sure as hell way to get her to clam up and lose control. It was like she wanted to cooperate, but that was too traumatic for her to talk about."
Loki shook his head in disbelief. He could not imagine that to be the same woman he has been spending time with. "What of her powers?"
Natasha smiled as she thought back to the peaking thermal readings the other agents were raving about from inside Kitri's chamber. "Right... She would sometimes combust into flames, either in one area of her body or usually entirely, but she never seemed to mind. It's like some of whatever she escaped from stuck with her."
Loki thought back to what Kitri had told him and nodded thoughtfully. "Perhaps she was so focused on controlling the flames away from her for so long in that place, her magic must have had a hard time letting go of that defense and found a way to adapt."
"As you can guess, she was a large fire hazard, so we kept her in containment for months, but she was always very polite when she was in control. Wherever she was before haunted her badly, though. It wasn't until she started eating and would sort of mess around with the food or request certain items that she started to actually get better."
"She was making elixirs based on what you gave her. Weak potions of sorts." Loki stated, figuring sharing some information of little value may prompt Black Widow to continue.
Natasha nodded in agreement. "Once she was free to roam around, and we made sure she would not accidentally set Stark's Tower ablaze again, she did a lot more of that."
Loki let out a delighted chuckle. "Again?! Perhaps I should have just waited for her to show up and take that damned tower down herself before attacking New York."
Natasha glared daggers at him, trying to resist the urge to punch him in the face. "Oh shut up, you insolent moron. She probably would have burned you alive by accident, or more likely on purpose knowing your awful attitude."
Loki chuckled as Natasha shook her head in disapproval. "Well now she's one of us. To be honest I'm not sure how much to trust her, but I'm glad she's on our side, and you definitely don't want to get on her bad side."
Loki grew a devious smile. "And what exactly makes you believe she is not to be trusted?"
Natasha rolled her eyes. "Don't get any ideas about going against us again, Loki, or using her. I'll just say this. It might be hard to tell now, but she's literally been to hell and back. Someone that broken has a hard time focusing on following the good unlike Mr.Perfect over here." She said, gesturing toward Captain America. "She's doing it out of gratitude. I can tell and somewhat relate. I've also seen what she can be like when she loses herself on missions. It's not pretty."
Their conversation was interrupted by the servant woman tapping Loki's shoulder. "What is it?! Can you not see that we are busy?!" Loki snapped at her.
The girl looked terrified of him, but stuttered out what she wanted to say as quickly as she could. "My lord, one of the seiðr women is here and wishes to inform you of a situation that Lady Kitri has caused with the other magic using women. It needs attention immediately."
Natasha started to get up, but Loki motioned for her to stay seated. "Loki, you don't know what she's capable of, I should go."
Loki grinned, shaking his head. "I have a decent idea, no need to worry yourself. Her powers are all the more reason I should go instead, since I am not a very flammable mortal such as yourself. Also I can get there quicker since I know my ways around these halls."
He swiftly strode toward the brunette woman in the doorway who passed the message to the servant, not wanting to interrupt the meeting herself. Natasha watched with a concerned look as the woman whispered something into Loki's ear with a fearful look on her face.
His expression remained serious until the woman said something that made him grin wildly and stifle a laugh. It was obviously not the reaction the woman was expecting, and she looked at him wide-eyed, but he patted her once on the shoulder and left the room, leaving her standing there looking dazed and confused.
Once close to the room that he directed Kitri towards that morning, he was surprised to see a very flushed Aalyah leaning against the wall of the hallway next to the closed door. "What are you-" Loki stopped mid-question as he heard the sounds coming from inside the room. "Oh... What had she given her? I figured Sigrdrifa would not be too happy to help unless she knew I had sent her."
Aalyahs eyes went wide in horror "My lord, we had no idea! She never mentioned you had sent her. I think Sigrdrifa would have treated her with much more care... You know how her temper is."
Loki smirked. "I do indeed... Too late for that now, I suppose. There is no need for you to remain here. It seems that you have seen enough as it is. You are dismissed."
Aalyah looked hesitant. "What about-"
He cut her off. "I assure you, I will see for myself that this gets handled appropriately." Aalyah nodded with some hesitation, before quickly walking away.
Loki decided knocking would be pointless as he slowly opened the door and stepped in. What he saw in front of him made his chest tighten.
Kitri sitting on the floor, with Sigrdrifa practically melting between her legs.
Kitri was drinking in the way Loki was looking at them with such hunger, yet hesitant, not wanting to disturb the scene in front of him.
"Sigrdrifa, you should know it is courteous to look in the eyes of our prince and greet him, if he is generous enough to grace us with his presence." She directed.
Loki's grin widened, excitement growing in his chest from seeing this woman completely under Kitri's control.
Kitri did not hesitate. She let go of Sigrdrifa to wrap her fingers through her hair, and pulled her head up by her hair to look at Loki. Her lips were almost touching Sigrdrifa's neck while she was still keeping eye contact with Loki. "Greet him..." She ordered.
Sigrdrifa moaned before she could do her best to obey. "Good... Good afternoon m'lord." She managed to breathe out while doing her best to look at the handsome god.
"Good afternoon..." Loki purred. Kitri could feel that Sigrdrifa was close to the brink from this interaction.
"Does this please you, my prince?" Kitri asked in a seductive tone while looking over him, feeling Sigrdrifa come closer and closer to losing herself.
"Indeed it does... I am very impressed." Loki himself was close to losing his mind from this view, and was itching to take some sort of action, but he remained still, observing the scene before him and not wanting to disrupt it.
"You hear that Sigrdrifa?" She moved her mouth close to her ear while increasing the force of her touch.
"You are pleasing to a god..." She hissed, finally making her lose control fully to the pleasure.
"Well, I shall leave you to enjoy the rest of the effect of this potion. I do hope you will reconsider tutoring me." She said.
Loki chuckled as he moved to wrap his arms around the flushed Kitri and kissing her neck. "What is this? I do not get to play around with her at all?" He asked playfully, and Kitri grinned before turning around and looking up at him.
"Unfortunately for you, I am fairly certain she would prefer the company of your brother. We should go."
To avoid drawing any attention, Loki cast an illusion to make them invisible, and they walked out of the room, leaving the satisfied woman collapsed on the floor.