Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Avengers, I only own Hannah and the story

Moments later, another person enters the room. This time, it's the Lord of Darkness himself - Loki. he walks in swiftly, not bothering to sit on the bed. "I see you've discovered your powers."

"Skipping the pleasantries, I see."

"Answer me," he barks gruffly.

"Yes, yes I have. I assume your little slave told you."

"Never mind that, come with me."

"You must have forgotten that you tied me to the bed."

He pauses for a moment. "Oh, yes." He snaps his fingers and the ropes disappear.

I rub my hands over my wrist, not seeing anything but still feeling like they were still rubbing against my wrist. He eyes me, watching to see if I'll retaliate. After a moment of silence and no movement, he shrugs indifferently and motions for me to follow him out of the room. I step cautiously through the door, nervous that this might be some trap. When nothing happens, I continue following him through the stone hallway, having to jog a bit to catch up.

He leads me through a series of hallways and narrow passageways and past lots of doorways - some open, some not - before we arrive at our destination; a large room made entirely out of metal. He snaps his fingers and the door slams shut, making a clicking noise to let me know it's locked. Damn, I think to myself, no chance of escape now. He snaps his fingers again and armor appears on the both of us. His is more fancy, made of gold and silver with green silk hanging around it. His helmet has two giant, gold horns sticking out of it. He glares at me and holds his arms out to his side as two giant daggers appear in either hand.

I shudder and grab the two daggers that hang at my waist. I've never actually fought before, but Barton's given me enough lessons to be able to defend myself. I hold out my daggers, daring him to come at me. He growls - catching me off guard - before running at me. He leaps forward, slicing his daggers in the air. I duck, trying to avoid the sharp objects, but as he flies over me the daggers scratch over my back. I fall on the floor on my knees, trying to alleviate the pain. I hear him land on the ground, and turn around. I pick myself up and turn around, just in time to see Loki jumping at me again, daggers in hand.

I scream and throw my hands in front of my face protectively. He doesn't use the daggers this time, and instead aims for kicking me in the stomach. His foot collides with my stomach and I double over in pain. He lands in front of me with a smirk on his face. I use one of my hands to scoot myself away from him, backing myself into a corner, while holding the other hand out in front of me in surrender. "Please… please",I say in between heavy breaths, "please stop. I give up, you win."
"Wrong choice," he growls.

He takes one more slow step forward before leaping towards me. I flinch, pulling my body closer into the corner and bracing for the impact. There's a loud noise, like an explosion, and I hear Loki groaning from somewhere on the floor. I look up to see him lying on the floor a few feet away. He holds his hand to his head, groaning in pain. I slowly stand up and walk over to him.

"Are… are you okay?"

He stands up slowly. "That… was your power."

"What the heck was that?"

"An energy blast, from what I've gathered. Now you have to focus on using it before you get beat up."

"Wasn't my fault…"

He scoffs, "Did Barton teach you nothing about fighting and self-defense?"

"He did… I just, I've never actually used it in combat like that. Especially not with weapons."

"He's too soft on you. But don't worry, I'll harden you up a bit within the next few days."

I grimace at the thought of what kind of training I'm going to be going through with him. After all, after what he did at the S.H.I.E.L.D. base, the man seemed to have no mercy. And how he just… attacked me without any remorse or regret. It was scary, in all honesty. It was the first time in my life where I'd actually been scared for my life. He could kill me at any moment - any wrong move could cause my demise - and that is what would keep me on guard for the next week….

After that day of training, Loki wasn't any less brutal in the training. Day after day he would train me on a new aspect of fighting: strategy, weapons, hand to hand combat, my powers, and healing myself. It was a drill, and we always stuck to a strict schedule: wake up, train, breakfast, train, break - where Loki disappeared off to who knows where and I was locked in my room with the occasional visit from Barton - train, dinner, train, and sleep.

For six days we had stuck to the same schedule, and I was actually getting used to it, when Loki entered my room. Usually, it was Barton who woke me up, because he was my sparring partner in the mornings, so this was new.

I watch him walk in and sit on the bed, our eyes never meeting. He sits there for a moment, never speaking, his eyes staring at the floor. I wait for him to make a move or talk, but he just sits there. Finally, after what seems like an eternity, he speaks, "Tonight is your first test. Succeed, and you will earn yourself a higher ranking. Fail, and you will feel my full wrath like you've never felt it before. Understand?" I give him a stiff nod. "Good. Barton is busy so you're sparring with me this morning. Prepare yourself."

With that, he exits the room, leaving only the familiar scent of clove, cinnamon, and freshly picked clover. I sit there for a moment, contemplating what could happen tonight. In the long run, I could end up getting on his good side and maybe getting some information to escape with. On the other hand, it's Loki, he's the most unpredictable person I've ever met. One wrong move could get me seriously hurt, or even dead. I'll have to be on guard at all times…

I sit on my bed a little longer, thinking about my imminent demise, before I realize that I should probably grab my armor and head down to the training room. Loki may be decent right now, but he gets a temper if I'm late, and I don't feel like doing extra drills today. Quickly, I grab the modified battle armor - I'd added some purple to it and made it more functional for fights - and start walking to the training room, preparing myself for another day of fighting.