pretty blue lights along the way, help you right on by
and the blue lights shining with a heavenly grace, help you right on by.
Sakura gazed intently at her palms, clenching and releasing them quietly.
The power comes and goes at her will, most of the time. Sometimes it grows bigger and brighter than she wants; sometimes it is a mere flicker when she intends to bring forth unbound energy. She is still imbalanced, off in some way. It'll fade soon enough, her body says. And she'll her (blind) trust in that instinctual sense of knowing.
Sakura can also sense that everyone around her has a trickle of this same energy flowing through them - but she has a roaring ocean of it compared to their still ponds.
She feels Loki's eyes flick to her, and she switches to picking at her fingernails, ignoring his prying appraisal of her.
Loki says nothing - only offering another one of those threatening smiles - and guides her silently through the maze of beeping machines and muttering workers. There is a robotic ease of which everyone moves about, and everybody only looks at her for a moment with blank, icey eyes before turning away.
It is unnerving, to say the least.
She also does not recognize any of the appliances scattered throughout the room, and not in a "hey-i-have-memory-loss-and-things-are-a-little-shaky" kinda way - in a "hey-i-don't-think-me-with-memory-would-even-know-what-these-are" kinda way. And so she is left thinking, once more, that she is more far-removed from home than a… "normal" amnesiac would be.
Loki comes to a stop, and they are now directly in front of the electric blue cube that seems to be at the centre of whatever is happening around her. Sakura can understand some of it's appeal, she supposes; it draws your eye in a moment and keeps it there for hours.
But it seems as if she is the only one that gets a distinct throbbing in the very centre of her forehead when her eyes stay trained on it for too long.
And so she looks away, towards Loki and the man he is talking to in hushed tones.
Feeling her gaze on him, Loki turns and catches her eye. The man gazes at her, too, and Loki takes this opportunity to introduce them, "Sakura, this is Agent Barton. One of the few people on this pitiful planet to be enlightened," He says with a flourish towards the others gathered in the room, "He is assisting me on our path to victory. And he will be assisting you."
This man, Hawkeye, has eyes as ice-blue as those around him, but they seem far more focused than others. He nods sharply, asking, "What do you need from me?"
"Clothing, for one," Loki's eyes rove down Sakura's body, and she holds back from clenching her jaw. He has eyes of a similar lightness to the impersonal people roaming about, but his are sharp, and invasive.
It is a piercing, all-knowing look, and its weight doesn't decrease when his gaze returns to her face.
"That is, preferably, less vividly colourful."
Sakura scoffs at this, and she has to stop herself from making a snarky remark about the colour of her hair being "vividly colourful" - a shade that she had to get used to when seeing it out of the corner of her eye for the first time. She simply smiled sardonically at the amusement she saw dancing in Loki's eyes before he turned back to Hawkeye.
"That can be done," the shorter man says, his eyes leaving Loki to land on the glowing cube. Loki seems to relish in this, but Sakura can only frown slightly at the hold this thing seems to have over people.
"What did it show you, Agent Barton?"
Barton turns away, but replies, "My next target." Loki doesn't hesitate, and says, "Tell me what you need."
"I'll need a distraction," Barton flicks open a metallic bow-and-arrow set, "And an eyeball."
Sakura hates this fucking place.
There is little doubt in her mind that this strange, metal thing will probably fall out of the sky and they will probably all die.
Her nerves are bouncing around, crackling right underneath her skin. Sakura also thinks she might vomit, but Loki would probably find that amusing and so, instead, she swallows harshly.
One particularly harsh bump occurs, and she concentrates on staying upright and holding on tightly to the strap dangling near her head. Her hand coats itself in a thin layer of blue, and she can feel that same energy sticking her feet firmly to the metal ground beneath her.
It flows more naturally within her, now. Time to adjust to the rushing of everything around her - of plans and people and power - has helped. This part of her that has found balance is now itching to release some of this buzzing energy.
"While we're… on our way," She starts, hoping the conversation will distract from the constant, annoying rocking of the machine they're in, "I have questions."
"And I, answers," Loki replies, "If you answer the questions I hold, of course."
He never seems to wipe those self-indulgent grins off of his smug face, and it is really starting to get annoying, but Sakura responds anyway, with a tap to the side of her head, "No promises." Loki's only response is to grin a little wider.
Little shit.
"What is that thing? That… cube?" She doesn't bother dancing around the subject, knowing he could twist her words if they were anything less than blatant. Loki's smile dimmed minutely, replaced with the tensing of his jaw.
"That thing is the reason I have been brought to this Realm. The Tesseract, as it is known. Powerful, devastatingly so," He leant in, slightly, from his position on the other side of the machine. "Those humans, the ones that I struck down, had no idea what they were dealing with. They are far too weak, in body and mind, to begin to comprehend the force they were trying to contain."
Sakura stares at him silently, at the glint of mania shining in his pale orbs. She expected such a response from a man that calls himself a king, but one thing he said stood out to her.
"You were brought here?" She asks, but Loki cuts her off quickly, saying, "Ah, ah! You asked a single question, and I shall ask you one, hm?" Sakura opens her mouth to retort back, but Loki reaches out, instead, grasping her wrist quickly and fiercely.
The energy flares to life, and she thinks Loki has to stop himself from inhaling sharply.
"This." His eyes are focused solely on her glowing hand, the mania still there fractionally. "I have been to many Realms and seen many beings. I have never seen this."
"If I knew, I would tell you," Sakura replies tersely, clenching her hand slightly. She can feel his bones shift, but he doesn't seem to take notice of the pain. And so she continues, with a hint of a smirk, "Maybe."
"Oh, please," Loki scoffs, dropping her hand. "It is flowing through you. Embedded in every bone and vein of your body. You must have retained some knowledge of it."
Sakura's smirk grows into a grin.
"I know I could kick your ass with it."
The people below, milling about in luxurious robes and glittering jewels, remind him of the mindless nobles on the realm he once called home. Mild music fills the gaps in their meaningless conversations, and Loki, from his place at the top of pristine marble stairs, sneers at the ants waiting to be crushed underfoot.
The girl - Sakura - stands beside him in a crisp, fitted black suit. He does think it suits her, and their intentions, more than the garish red and tan thing she was wearing beforehand. Her gaze is steady as she looks upon the crowd below, but her heartbeat is elevated and her hands restless. She is either nervous, or excited. He hopes it to be the latter.
"The man in the centre." He says, drawing her attention.
"He has the eye."
Sakura sighs, and asks, "And by "has the eye" you don't happen to mean "has it in his pocket," right?"
He sneers at her pointless banter, deciding it unworthy of a reply and turning back to the humans below. "Restrain the man. I will obtain the eye."
Loki doesn't wait for her response, making his way down the stairs in pointed, precise steps. Sakura exhales in what he supposes is annoyance, but she follows him without making another remark.
The music seems to swell around him in greeting, in anticipation, and Loki relishes in this as he flips his cane around and ruthlessly clubs a guard that stands between them and their target.
The crowd is thrown into a frantic, subdued panic, but they lack the willpower to take action and instead seek comfort in the similarly-weak humans beside them. Pathetic.
Sakura pushes ahead, focused solely on the suited man in front of the microphone. She lifts him, easily, with one hand around his collar and a force that flips him onto the flat-backed statue that stands in the centre of the room. The guests around them take a step back, the noise of their shrieks and exclamations building.
Loki steps forth, with a hum of mild appreciation for her swiftness, and acts with similar speed, pulling out the device and thrusting it into the eye of the man. He thrashes savagely, but Sakura holds him down with ease
This, finally, seems to break the crowd from their frozen chaos. People are yelling and running, pushing through one another to escape the perceived threat. Loki smiles at this, this display of mortal cowardice and fear.
"We are not yet finished," He murmurs to the woman beside him, whose eyes are scanning critically through the room. Sakura hesitates for a moment, but nods.
Loki notices she doesn't once look at the man screaming in pain beneath her.
Steve feels disgust rise in his throat, an old familiarity at the sight of Loki standing above the gathered crowd below. It is an image that hits too close to a home he thought he had left decades ago. Natasha says some instructions to him in a clipped tone, but the rush of adrenaline swirling in him makes the words hard to hear.
But he nods sharply, anyway, and invites the rush of cold air that greets him when the back of the Quinjet opens and allows him to jump out.
Steve lands, in time to block an old man, unwilling to kneel, from being struck by a beam of power from Loki's sceptre. It, instead, hits the man who fired it squarely in the chest, sending him to the ground with a grunt.
"You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else," Steve says, stepping down and towards the fallen man. "We ended up disagreeing."
Loki stares at him venomously, and bites with a mocking laugh, "The soldier. A man out of time."
Steve responds, with a slight grin, "I'm not the one who's out of time."
He feels a wind at his back, and hears the whirring of the Quinjet as it appears behind him. Natasha arms the plane, drawing Loki's obvious ire by demanding the cruel god to stand down and drop his weapon.
Steve can feel the overwhelming cockiness radiating off of the man in front of him, and it only makes him a little more excited to take Loki down.
Loki rears up, sending forth a burst of energy once more, but it is directed at the Quinjet this time. Steve takes this opportunity to throw his shield at the man, hoping to strike him down once more.
But then, someone catches it.
This someone has blue-tinted fists, piercing green eyes, and… pink hair.
It's the woman from the video, the woman Loki took with him. Or, he supposes, by her obvious defence of him - the woman with Loki.
She just caught his shield.
And is now glancing at it, looking near-unimpressed.
Steve would blush in embarrassment if the situation weren't so serious.
Loki laughs, loudly and unabashedly, and then Steve is just angry. He darts forward, grabbing for his shield, but the woman moves imperceptibly-fast and dodges his advance.
He drives forward with a fist, bringing it towards her uncovered head, but she catches it, too. The woman barely winces, despite retaining the full force of one of his punches within her palm. His punches are supposed to break bones.
He'll have to take this more seriously, then.
Steve aims lower next time, straight at his shield. The metal trembles under his fist, sending shockwaves down the woman's arm due to her inexperience with the weapon. It shakes her focus. She grits her teeth, and spins a kick towards his head, only to leap back and into the air when Steve dodges in kind. Rearing back her arm, the woman throws the shield directly towards him, forcing Steve to somersault swiftly to the side.
It hits the ground with a metallic thunk and the crumbling of stone, and Steve turns sharply to see it nearly fully-embedded in the brick courtyard beneath them. Wonderful.
The woman stares him down for a moment, across the courtyard, and Steve takes in her crouched stance and the fact she hasn't seemed to have broken a sweat. When they make eye contact, she surprises him further by allowing a brief, small smile to flash across her face.
It disappears as quickly as it came, and the woman takes a step in his direction that leaves a crack in the ground.
Steve sends his thanks to Natasha when gunfire strikes the brick in front of her, halting her advance. This little victory is short-lived when Loki appears at his side, striking him harshly in the side with his staff and sending Steve flying.
He can hear the rapid succession of shots, unrelenting, and presumes (hopes) the girl is caught up with that. His focus, now, is dodging the kicks and swings of the madman in front of him. It's made significantly harder without his shield, and one particularly harsh swing to the back of his spine sends Steve to the ground once more.
Loki advances, placing the butt of his sceptre on Steve's head. "Kneel," the dark-haired man demands through grit teeth.
Steve takes a moment, just one, brief moment, to catch his breath. The smell of burning metal is around them, and the only noise he can hear is that of the firing of a gun and the screaming of scared people. Innocent people. He is resolute.
"Not today!" With a twist of the sceptre and a spinning kick, he pushes Loki away and blocks a frenzied swipe of his staff. This seems to just piss the other man off, as he grabs Steve with an unrelenting grip and tosses him to the ground.
Natasha's voice comes over his earpiece, "The guy's all over the place. And I don't know how much longer this girl is going to dance with me." Steve lifts his hand to his ear to respond, but a recognizable voice and less-than-recognizable music stops him from doing that.
"Agent Romanoff, you miss me?"
Steve, from his place on the ground, turns briskly to the sky - and judging by the fact Loki isn't swinging at him, he's become distracted too. The gunfire has stopped, and he glances momentarily at the pink-haired woman. She, too, is staring at the dark sky, and the golden-orange streak streaming through it.
There is subdued awe is her gaze, where there is blatant contempt in Loki's. Steve is just confused and a little tired.
Thankfully, though, Stark's suit is as quick as his mouth and he shoots Loki down without hesitation. He raises one energized fist to the fallen god, and one gun-topped fist towards the woman, who has not moved from her crouched, tense position nearby.
Steve expects her to jump to the aide of the dark-haired man, but she simply stares with assessing eyes. They make eye contact once more, but her gaze darts to the ground before returning to him.
Loki is being handcuffed by Tony, and Natasha is departing the jet to apprehend the girl, so Steve indulges her. He follows her gaze, and sees it was solely directed at his shield, deeply embedded in the ground as it is.
He thinks she's amused by this, and finds this to be true when she sends him a half-grin even as Natasha grabs her harshly and restrains her. This smile stays on her face as she and Loki are guided into the Quinjet and Steve thinks he wouldn't mind being back in the ice again. Things would be simpler.
He ignores Tony's snarky remark and Natasha's slight chuckle when it takes him three harsh tugs to pull his shield free.
Yeah, the ice really doesn't sound too bad.
/an/
thank you all for the response so far. i feel energized and motivated and i hope you guys continue to enjoy what you're reading.