No Warnings

Chapter 5

Eli expected many things from Loki's mind. Plans of world domination, a childhood without attention, perhaps even a beautiful woman. Several scenarios of the next few hours would have been the most likely of all the things Eli expected. What wasn't expected, was a wall. A giant wall made of some kind of stone that had runes carved all over it.

Eli pulled out of Loki's mind and just stared at him dolefully. The man was familiar with people who could read minds. If she wasn't careful, Loki could detect her trying to infiltrate his mind and push back.

Well, the two of them were still staring at each other, and Eli would be damned if she was going to be the first one to look away. Eli sniggered mentally at how much Tony must be freaking out at that moment. As if to mock Eli, Tony chose that exact moment to comment on the situation.

"Would you please stop staring! It's making me nauseous!" Tony complained. Eli propped her leg up and rested her elbow on her knee as if to say "make me".

"Why is she staring at him?" Steve asked in whispers. Eli was quicker to the draw and answered:

"Because he is at least good to look at." All the while, Eli placed her index and middle fingers to her temple and dived back into Loki's mind.

Eli was still blocked by the wall. Eli pushed a little harder with more focus. Still only more wall. Eli looked up to see if the wall could be jumped over. She knew that there was a ninety-nine percent chance that it wouldn't work, but it made her feel better. The wall seemed to reach the sky endlessly. Eli frowned and walked closer to the wall to inspect it.

She didn't get the chance. As the little brunette approached the wall something snagged her leg and she fell into the wall. Eli pulled away from Loki's mind is as though it burned her. Eli fought to keep the surprise off of her face, but she knew that Loki would know someone was trying to pry into his thoughts.

Sure enough, Loki's eyes suddenly became guarded and angry. It was subtle, so much so that Eli thought that she had imagined it. Loki's eyes darted about the cabin of the Quinjet. His eyes scorched over everyone in the aircraft. Molten Green zeroed in on Eli's face. Eli was impressed by how quickly Loki realized she was prying into his mind.

Loki focused on Eli more intently than before. How did he find out it was me, Eli thought. Eli forced her face to relax; forced herself not to react to Loki's intense stare. Eli cursed mentally when he squinted slightly; the small action distracted Eli enough for her to loose concentration, and Eli felt a formidabe force try to enter her mind.

Eli rigidly stood up and sat next to Loki and pushed back and tried to force her way into Loki's head. Eli ignored Tony's angry voice and focused only on clawing her way into Loki's mind.

The veils of water of Eli's mind met the great wall of Loki's. He stood a ways away from Eli at the base of his wall. He certainly did look magnificent and powerful in his mindscape. Not to be distracted again, Eli approached Loki.

"I'm not sure if I should be surprised that you noticed me," Eli began. "You see I am actually a very powerful copy-cat mutant; One of the most powerful on Earth. Normally I can slip in and out of minds without anyone ever noticing me. You are among the handful that did catch me…"

Eli scowled for a second, "So, now that you've found me, what will you do?"

"Did you really think that you could hide your presence from me, a God?" Loki said with angry amusement.

"Of course, there isn't anything I can't do. Well, perhaps not at the moment, but, soon enough, I will be much more powerful than I am now." Eli sounded confident. More so than what she actually felt. An amused smirk wound its way onto Loki's face.

"And have you found what you were looking for?" Eli narrowed her eyes at the lack of resentment in the Asgardian's voice. "Or are you just as pathetic as the rest of your race?"

Eli scowled as she forced herself out of the clashing mindscapes. "I'm impressed that you were able to resist my telepathic ablities. Next time it won't be so easy."

Tony made a sound of relief. The blue eyed girl could hear a "Thank God" coming from one half of her guardians. Eli eyed Loki. Like everyone else she knew, he was much taller than she was. That wasn't much of a surprise, but for someone who was a god, he looked as though he had been starved and broken on a long journey. Sympathy threatened to make itself known. So Eli did the first thing that came to mind.

"For a god, you're not all that powerful," Eli looked Loki straight in the eyes as she said it. Loki did a small chuckle.

"For a human that can't even do anything by herself, you're quite feeble. I assume that even the lowest of creatures in this forsaken world could cause your downfall. I suppose that make you lower than even humans." Loki said the words that would ruffle Eli's feathers the most. Eli understood what it meant to be weak, to be fragile, to be vulnerable. It was a feeling she hated with a passion. Eli leaned closer to Loki.

"At least I wasn't defeated by three humans and a creature lower than them," Eli said coldly. "I wonder what that makes you. Certainly you must be more pathetic than I am."

Loki's eyes became colder as well. He leaned toward Eli. He was about to say something when lightening struck.

"Where's this coming from?" Eli heard Natasha ask from the front of the jet. Loki's left eye twitched slightly. Lightening struck again. Loki took in a deep breath. Eli could tell that something was bothering him. Lightening struck a third time and Loki's green eyes left Eli's gaze completely. The motion did not go unnoticed by the other occupants of the Quinjet.

"What's the matter? Scared of a little lightening?" Steve said, there was some annoyance in his voice.

"I'm not overly fond of what follows," Loki said. Tony and Steve looked at each other. Eli could tell that Loki was looking for something. Eli couldn't figure it out. Then, suddenly, the Quinjet lurched, as though something had landed on it. The smallest occupant of the Quinjet wanted to smack herself in the forehead. Today was Thor's Day, the god of thunder.

Tony and Steve donned their head gear. Tony moved to the back of the Quinjet and opened the back hatch.

"What're you doing?" Steve asked, trying to catch up to Tony. Eli was thinking the same thing. Eli was sure that Tony didn't know who he was letting into the Quinjet. Sure enough, a large blonde man came landed in the Quinjet. He was much larger than Loki was. Eli could tell immediately that Thor was more of a head on person, rather than someone who likes to stick to the shadows to wait and strike. What happened next occurred faster than Eli's eyes could follow.

Tony charged his repulsors to attack Thor, but the new Asgardian threw Mjlonir at Tony. Eli's breath caught at the sound of metal hitting metal, she silently thanked the universe for the fact that Tony was protected by his suit. Thor was suddenly in front of Eli and Loki. Loki was forcibly being pulled from his seat and being dragged out of the Quinjet. Eli would have been lying if she said she wasn't a little amused by Loki's manhandling.

"Now there's that guy," Tony half sighed half groaned.

"Another Asgardian?" Natasha said from the cockpit.

"Think he's a friendly?" Steve asked, he sounded a little winded.

"It doesn't matter. If frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract is lost." Tony said determinedly. "You stay here." Tony looked at Eli who was starting to cross the Quinjet.

"Stark! We need a plan of attack!" Steve yelled across the jet.

"I have a plan: Attack!" Tony said, before he propelled out of the Quinjet. Eli had already pulled one of the parachutes out. Steve quickly followed.

"You guys might want to sit this one out," Natasha said. Eli was at the back hatch already. "Eli, take an intercom."

"I don't see how I can," Steve said, buckling himself into the parachutes harness.

"These guys come from legend. They're basically gods." Natasha called back.

"There's only one god, ma'am." Steve retorted. "And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that." Eli was glad she got to hear the end of that conversation. She was laughing on her way down. Despite the fact that Eli jumped head first into the stormy waters, she could feel fear crawl its way up her spine. She wasn't sure what it was from, but she didn't allow herself to dwell on it.