Hey guys! I just wanted to do a quick note at the beginning to clear a few things up in this chapter.
I mention the organization SWORD once in here, and, for those of you that don't know, they are pretty much exactly like SHIELD. The difference is that, while SHIELD deals with superhuman activity and military things, SWORD deals primarily with the protection of Earth against extraterrestrial activity.
Onward my glorious readers!
8-8-8-8
Atella walked out of Loki's holding cell and into the hallway. There, she found the guards she had dismissed mere hours ago waiting as if they had never left. Standing with those guards was the God of Thunder himself. Thor had a thoughtful look on his face and was absentmindedly swinging his hammer back and forth.
"Thor," Atella said to get his attention.
The god glanced up at her and said, "Atella Vorst, how is my brother?"
"He's," Atella hesitated for a moment, " very distant. He is planning something, but I don't think it is an escape. I don't think he will cause any problems tonight. When you go in, he will be the only one that won't be able to see you. And all of you," she pointed at the guards, "don't look at him. It will ruin this entire plan. Get in there before he suspects anything."
The guards nodded to her, and she nodded back in return before they turn and walked into the room. Thor gave a quick bow of his head before following after them.
Atella sighed and all at once all of the tension and fatigue from the fight the other night came crashing down on her. She was very tempted to just go to sleep in the hallway, but she wanted to wait a bit before she left. Just to make sure everything went somewhat according to plan.
She sat down in the corridor and closed her eyes to concentrate. She didn't want Loki to know how far she was in his mind. When she opened her eyes again, she didn't see the other side of the hallway sitting in front of her, but the guards that had just left the hallway. She was looking through Loki's eyes and listening what he was listening to. She took a quick glance through his thoughts, and knew that he didn't suspect anything was amiss in his head.
However, she nearly gave herself away when she realize he knew Thor was in there. How had he figured it out already? The door had only closed mere seconds ago, yet he was already seething with rage at the thought of his brother watching him.
She heard him say, "Come on out, brother. I know you're here." But Atella still did not reveal Thor, and Thor did not reveal himself either.
Perhaps Loki would convince himself that he was, in fact, insane and leave it alone. Atella seriously doubted that would happen, but it was a nice thought. She waited a few more seconds, holding her breath, but Loki said nothing else. She started to walk away from the cell until...
"I know what you're doing, Agent. You can't hide my own brother from me."
"Did you really think that we were going to leave you unattended, especially at night while people are sleeping. Sorry we had to hide this from you, but we really didn't want you throwing a temper tantrum while people are sleeping."
"I don't want to see him. I don't want to be anywhere near him. I won't do anything tonight, just get him out of here," Loki thought back to her. He had already tore his eyes off of where he knew Thor was standing and had started to pace back and forth in his cell.
Atella laughed even thought she knew he couldn't hear her. "What? You're promising to be a good little boy now so that you don't have to face your brother? Just to let you know, he isn't exactly thrilled to see you either. I'm going to go ahead and let you see him. You two can work out this family drama. I'm going to bed."
Atella let go of the part of the mind that controlled Loki's vision, and Thor appeared in the room. She was still looking through Loki's eyes, and they instantly snapped up to meet Thor's when he appeared. Atella could feel all of the anger and hate, but above either of those things, jealousy build up inside of Loki. She was sorely tempted to break their connection then and there, but if something did happen Fury would be pissed.
Still, she stayed seated in the corridor to see what the brothers would do. She didn't have to wait long.
"Make him leave. You have my word, Agent, I won't cause any trouble. If he stays here, there will be nothing left of your fortress," she heard Loki say in her head.
"Lesson one. Deal with your problems, don't just push them aside. There is nothing that you can do inside of that cell. For whatever reason, Thor still loves you and wants you to go back to your home with him."
"Go back to be punished? I don't think so. The only way I will return to Asgard is if I am going there to destroy it."
Atella sighed. "Goodnight, Loki. Have an awesome time with your brother."
Atella heard him about to protest but silenced him before he could get a word out. She didn't have to deal with him. Her shift was over.
8-8-8-8
Thor stood looking at Loki uncertainly. Loki wasn't looking back at him. Instead he was staring at a spot on the floor with his brow furrowed.
All of a sudden, he heard Atella inside his head. "Thor… I just wanted to tell you… maybe it isn't best that you try to talk to him tonight. He isn't taking this very well, and I don't want to risk him attempting to escape so soon after we captured him."
Thor had never communicated in this manner before. He thought the words inside his head, and hoped that Atella would hear him. "I will not do anything to upset him tonight, Agent. You have my word."
It must have worked because Atella responded immediately. "No, Thor. Don't say anything to him. There is nothing that you can say that will make this better for him. Just… wait. Tonight isn't the night to confront him."
He didn't like the idea that someone was telling him not to speak to his own brother, but he knew that it was for the best. "I will do as you say."
"I will stay attached to Loki's mind all night. If anything happens, I will know," she hesitated for a second before saying, "I am sorry for what is happening."
"As am I."
He turned his attention back to Loki, who was pacing back and forth in the cell, looking anywhere but in Thor's direction. Thor knew that if he were to talk to Loki, he would have to wait until it was on his terms. He thought back to what Fury said to him before he met with him and Atella. "What are you prepared to do?" He knew that the day would come when he would have to fight his brother again, but could he kill him? No. It was not up to him to end Loki's life. It would be up to Odin to decide his fate, but Thor would have no part in that. As far as he was concerned, Loki would forever be his brother, no matter what he has done. There would always be hope for him.
8-8-8-8
Atella wandered aimlessly around the boat for a while, thinking about what Loki had said to her. Many other organizations and criminal groups have tried to recruit her over the years, SWORD included. SWORD was the only one that she took seriously, but, in the end, Atella decided that her talents were better suited for SHIELD. Speaking of SWORD, where in the hell were they? This was more of their thing than SHIELD's. Maybe there was another alien attacking a different part of Earth or something.
Atella didn't realize what part of the ship she was in until she heard talking coming from around the corner. It seemed as thought she had wandered back to Bruce Banner's work space. She peeked through the glass doors and saw, not Banner standing there, but a different man. Someone that she had only seen on TV.
In Atella's opinion, Tony Stark was a genius, and that was all that mattered to her. What the man did in his spare time was none of her business, and, as far as she was concerned, it shouldn't be anyone else's business either.
The man in question looked up when he heard someone approaching and motioned for her inside of the room. She walked to the doors, which opened up automatically for her, and stepped inside.
"Mr. Stark, it's nice to finally meet you. I am very impressed with your armor creation," she said.
Tony had moved over to a table with Loki's staff sitting on it, and was poking and prodding at it with some sort of stick.
He touched the stick to Loki's staff one more time, then sat it down and said, "Atella Vorst, agent of SHIELD. Special skills; superior fighting in hand to hand combat, superior in ranged attacks, daggers in this case, and superior in all melee weapons, but, you prefer knives. Special abilities; telepathy, ability to read thoughts of others as well as inflict pain or death upon them, able to project own thoughts upon others, able to control others. Other abilities include rendering skin to a diamond like strength, metal is unknown, but most likely alien. Strength becomes superhuman when in this form, durability: impenetrable. I read your file."
"I can tell," Atella said.
Tony rubbed his face before saying quickly, "You're completely amazing. What you can do with your skin and your mind… incredible. I would love for you to come to Stark Tower after all of this is over so that we can figure out what exactly that metal is."
Atella had a suspicion that this man just had about ten shots of espresso before she walked into this room. She had never met him in person, but as far as she could tell, he was exactly like how it was in interviews; full of energy. He was walking around her now, looking at her as though she were a puzzle that needing solving.
He was directly behind her now, so she turned to face him and said, "I know that you're a genius-"
"Yes."
"-but the best scientists in the world have tried to get a sample of my skin. It's impossible. Why do you want to know anyway?"
He looked at her incredulously. "Um. Isn't it obvious? It's a new metal. I know it's a stretch, but it could change the world. Wouldn't you want to know if you carried a solution to the world's problems?"
"How exactly is a metal going to change the world? You know what it could change? Your Iron Man armor. It would be really awesome to not have to repair it every time you go on a little outing right?"
Tony walked away from her and back to the table with the staff on it. "I have to admit, that would be a perk if I actually needed it. I like my current armor, and, contrary to what everyone on this ship thinks, not everything is about me."
Atella thought for a second. It really would be cool if he could figure out where this metal came from, or why she could control when it appeared over her skin, or whatever it was that it did. "Sure. I'll do it. It will benefit us both in the end I suppose."
"That's great news! So, what brings you over to this area of Fury's fortress? Wanted to meet me?"
Atella rolled her eyes. So this is why people hated him. He wouldn't get any satisfaction from her. "Actually, I was looking for Banner. Is he here?"
Tony seemed to visibly deflate for a second before he said, "Yeah, well, not right now, but he will be back. He just wanted to clear his head for a bit."
Atella walked over to the table that Tony was standing behind. He was now typing some numbers into a computer. She looked away from him and down to Loki's staff. So this was the thing that managed to break her. She reached her hand out and touched it, only to feel it vibrating lightly beneath her fingertips, but that wasn't the only thing she felt. As soon as she came in contact with it, she felt power like no other. She felt as though the staff had a mind of its own, and it was just waiting to carry out an order from her. Out of curiosity, she reached out with her mind to see if she could feel anything, and, to her disappointment, she could not. If it did have a thought process, it wasn't human enough for her to investigate.
"Uh… Agent? What are you doing?"
Atella let go of the staff and looked over at Tony. He was watching her carefully and looked worried.
"Sorry Mr. Stark… I was just curious. I can feel its power," Atella said.
Tony nodded. "Tony. But yeah, it has so much energy coming off of it, but it's unlike anything we have ever seen. We are analyzing it now."
Atella nodded, but really didn't care about anything he had just said. She was never one for science and math, and found it quite boring.
Just at the moment, she heard the door open again, and looked up to see Bruce Banner walking through it.
He smiled when he saw her and said, "How did you like your quality time with Loki? Was it better than guarding me?"
Atella laughed. "Not really. At least you are human and you aren't so full of yourself that it is literally impossible to carry on a conversation with you. Gods are ridiculous. Actually you two might get along," she said and pointed to Tony.
"Yeah, he seems like a handful. We were watching on the monitors for a while. We both think that he is afraid of you," Banner said while motioning to himself and Tony.
Atella huffed. "Please, why would he be afraid of me? If anything he hates me, or is completely neutral and just sees me as another 'foolish mortal'. Either way, it doesn't matter to. If he really is afraid of me then maybe he won't try anything, including not talking to me, and, if he isn't, then I get to beat the hell out of him eventually."
Tony and Bruce glanced at each other. "Can you really not see it?" Bruce asked. "While the two of you were just sitting there, he kept looking at you, and he looked nervous. I mean, it was subtle, and Tony is the one that noticed, but still… I think you are the only one of us that he is actually worried about."
Atella sputtered for a second, not knowing what to say. Finally she got out, "You are both crazy. He has already killed me once. Why would he be afraid of me?"
"Maybe, and this is just a thought," Tony said. "But perhaps it is because he has killed you once, but you didn't die? Freaks me out and we're on the same side."
Atella gave him a look and said, "Still. He has to know that I can be killed-"
"Can you?" Bruce said. "I can't be killed when I am the other guy… maybe you can't be killed when you're the other you. Something to think about."
Atella was at a lost. The mere idea of a god fearing her was too much for how sleepy she was. She mumbled something to them about going to bed, and having a long day tomorrow, and left. She a lot to sleep on.
8-8-8-8
Atella completely crashed when she got back to her room. She just had enough time to take off her boots before falling onto her bed and falling into a dreamless sleep.
She awoke to the sound of her communication device going off on the table beside her bed. When she realized what was making the noise, she quickly flipped herself over and put the tiny earpiece in her ear.
"Yes, hello?"
She was greeted by Nick Fury's cheerful voice saying, "You were supposed to relieve Thor at 0600 hours. It is now six-thirty. Thor has agreed to stay until you get ready and get something to eat. I'm not going to bother lecturing you on punctuality given what happened the other night, but don't let it happen again. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, sir. I will relieve Thor at seven."
As expected, Fury didn't bother responding before turning off his device. Atella took the earpiece out and sat it on the bed next to her. She stretched and yawned before running her hands through her hair and standing up. She walked into the bathroom and turned the light on over the sink and stared at the person in the mirror looking back at her.
She looked like hell. Her ice blue eyes were dull and lifeless, and her hair hung limp in her face. She had dark circles around her eyes, making her overall reflection creepy. She shook her head and looked away, reminding herself why she never bothered checking her appearance when she out on missions. It was probably twenty times worse out there. She walked over to the small shower and turned on more hot water than cold, undressed, and stepped inside. As soon as the hot water touched her skin, she felt awake for the first time in days.
She closed her eyes and let her mind drift to what was ahead of her today. She had to watch Loki again. She couldn't stand to just sit there all day again. She would have to bring something to do, even if that just meant reading a book. She heard her stomach growl, and realized that she couldn't remember the last time that she had eaten either. She would swing by the kitchen on the ship and grab a few snacks for the day, and just eat a really huge dinner when she was relieved.
I wonder if gods need to eat, she thought to herself. She doubted that Thor brought anything for Loki. Even if he did, she seriously doubted that he would take anything given to him by his brother.
"Yes, we do eat. What a stupid question," she heard Loki say in her head.
Good lord. She had almost forgotten that their minds were connected, and, in terms of telepathy, she had basically broadcasted every thought she had that morning to him.
She took a moment to stop being weirded out at the thought of talking to Loki while she was showering and said, "Since I know so much about Asgardian dietary intake, forgive my momentary stupidity. Are you hungry?"
"No."
"Wonderful," she responded and pulled away from him so that he couldn't hear her anymore.
After she was finishing showering, she stepped into her room and dug through her bag for something to wear. She was down to two outfits, and considering that one of those choices was a pair of pajamas, she went with her only other option; a pair of black jeans and a dark blue long sleeved t-shirt. Simple. If it came down to it, she could have wore the uniforms SHIELD provided, but she despised the generic unitard. They were almost too tight to move around in, and she had no idea how Natasha managed to fight in one of them.
She got dressed and walked back into the bathroom to that dreaded mirror again. She looked at her appearance apprehensively only to find that the shower actually helped. Her eyes were now awake and focused, and the piercing blue was once again alive and sharp. Her black hair was still slightly damp, and due to the haircut she got right before she was called in, it was a lot shorter than it usually was. She used to keep her hair so long that she looked like the evil girl from The Ring, but now it was cut to right above her shoulders. She looked at it with disdain. As great as it was not having to worry about combing a mess of hair every morning, she knew that if she didn't do something with it that it would just puff out as though she had teased it. She went back to her bag and dug out a hair tie and pulled it all back. Good enough.
After pulling on her boots, the only part of the SHIELD uniform that she was wearing today, she checked the time. She still had ten minutes before she had to be at Loki's cell. She grabbed her communication device, and rushed out of the room, hoping that she still had enough time to get everything she needed for the day.
8-8-8-8
The tension between Thor and Loki did not ease throughout the night. During the last two hours, however, it had got worse. They had settled themselves into a bit of a staring contest; Loki looking at Thor with nothing but hate, and Thor returning that look as though he were silently challenging Loki to do something. Thor kept his promise and had not spoken a word to Loki the entire night.
It was only when they both heard the sound of someone running in the hallway outside of the room did they break the eye contact and look to the door. Atella stepped inside, nearly out of breath, and had, what seemed to be, a very heavy looking bag on her shoulder.
She was panting as she said, "So sorry… Thor… can we talk in the hallway… real quick."
Thor looked mildly alarmed and said, "Are we under attack?"
Atella, still panting, managed to laugh and said, "No… just… come here." She turned and walked out of the room.
The guards stayed behind as Thor followed her out. Loki stared after them curiously, wondering what in the world that was all about.
8-8-8-8
When the door shut behind Thor, Atella instantly asked, "Are you hungry?"
She nearly laughed at seeing the powerful man caught off guard.
"I'm sorry?"
"Like, do you need to eat right now? Have you ate since you got on the helicarrier? How hungry are you?" Atella asked.
"Uh… I'm hungry, yes. If I could ask, why do you want to know?"
"Well, I was thinking about food, and about bring food with me into the cell room today, and that lead me to wonder if you people, Asgardians need to eat. I mean, we can't starve him, can we?" Atella said, nodding towards the door.
Thor frowned slightly. "You are concerned for my brother?"
Atella shrugged. "Not really, but I just think it would help with his attitude if he wasn't starving or anything. There is no way that he would ever ask us for food, so I'm just going to bring it to him."
Thor nodded. "Indeed. I believe that in Asgard, we do require more food than the people here in Midgard. I wouldn't doubt that my brother is very hungry."
"Okay, well I brought some food for him, nothing big, but maybe he will start trusting me more. Ironman and Banner seem to think that your brother is afraid of me. It couldn't hurt to have the whole, feared and respected combination going for me. Do you think that he is actually nervous about me?"
Thor looked her up and down and said, "My brother has always been fascinated by magic. New, old, everything about magic has intrigued him, but what he finds most appealing are the unknown parts of magic. Perhaps he does fear you, Atella, but do not mistake fear for interest. He may only be curious about the secrets of your transformation and your mind."
He paused for a moment, then said, "Do not fall for any of his tricks."
Atella nodded. "I won't. And, thanks, Thor. You are relieved from duty. I will stay an extra hour tonight to make up for my tardiness this morning."
"Thank you Agent Vorst," Thor said.
"Just Atella," she said smiling.
8-8-8-8
Atella walked back into the cell room and dismissed the guards as she did yesterday. There was already a chair waiting for her, but it was near the control panel to the cell. She walked over to the door of the glass prison and dropped her back, and turned to retrieve the chair.
She glanced back at Loki for the first time since entering the room. He was watching her with a look of boredom on his face.
Atella smirked at him. "How was the family reunion?"
His gaze turned menacing. "Quiet, for once."
"Oh, good. I worried that I would wake up to the sounds of you and your brother tearing this place apart. Speaking of which, I see that everything is still intact, meaning that you did not keep your promise and burn it to the ground," she said and grabbed the chair behind her and carried it over to the cell door.
"I stand by what I say, but there is a delay on when I will be able two carry out that promise," he said, standing up to meet her at the doorway.
Atella didn't say anything, but she sat down in her chair and started digging around in her bag. Loki watched her curiously, trying to figure out what all she brought with her. Was she going to try to make him tell her where the cube was through torture? Doubtful, but still probable. Still, they wouldn't send her in alone to get information.
His was still wondering what was in her back when she pulled a bowl out from it and sat it on the ground next to her. That was quickly follow by another, smaller, bag that she pulled out from the original bag, and sat it on the ground beside the bowl. She unzipped the small bag and began to place fruits into the bowl. To his surprise, Loki recognized most of them. They must share the same fruit barring trees on Asgard and Midgard.
Hunger began gnawing at his stomach the moment he saw the fruit. He had not eaten in nearly two days, which wasn't that long of a time, but if he was going to break out of here, he needed all the strength he could get.
He tried not to act like he cared about the food, and walked away from the door. He didn't want the agent to think that he was weak, and he definitely didn't want her help. After her question this morning, he was sure that she would give him something to eat anyway, so there was no point in being forced to ask for it.
He sat down, wondering how she was planning on getting the fruit inside the cell. Atella made no move to get up after she had placed the last piece into the bowl. Instead, she bent down and slid the bowl closer to the door, and straightened back up to watch his reaction. Loki looked from Atella to the bowl, wondering what she was playing at.
8-8-8-8
Atella sat back up and looked at Loki. She watched him looking at the fruit bowl and saw his face fall when he realized she wasn't giving it to him. This went on for several minutes before Atella couldn't take it anymore.
"Look, I know that you're hungry. If you want something to eat, all you have to do is ask."
Loki laughed. "I would rather starve than ask you for anything."
Atella smirked but didn't say anything out loud. "Except wanting my help taking over the world."
"I do not need your help. I merely offered you a place in the new world that I am creating. Don't think that I need anything from you, mortal," he snarled back at her.
"I can't even bother arguing with you today. Stay where you are and I will bring you something to eat."
"Oh, that's so nice of you trusting me to stay here while you open this door," Loki said with a dangerous look in his eye.
Atella stood up and walked over to the control panel. "Are you joking? I don't trust a single word that you say. By the way, you might want to lay down."
"What? Why?"
Knowing that he wouldn't listen to her and that they would be there all day arguing with each other, Atella latched onto his mind and whispered, "Sleep".
At once, Loki went completely limp, and his head fell back against the cell wall with a loud thud. Atella was pleased with herself. A mind that was caught off guard was so much easier to influence than one prepared for battle.
Atella walked over to the bowl of fruit sitting on the ground and sat it inside the cell, and turned back outside to her bag and pulled out a bottle of water and a box of something and sat it beside the bowl as well. She ran back over to the panel, and as soon as the door was once again closed, she let go of his mind.
Loki immediately sat up and looked around slightly alarmed. His eyes fell onto Atella with disdain written all over his face.
"You can do that?" he asked her.
"Yes. I thought that you might be able to resist me, but I guess not."
Loki didn't say anything back, so Atella continued.
"I hope that you like what I got for you. I wasn't sure what kind of food that you had on Asgard, so I just picked up some of my favorite things," she said to him.
Loki was still silent, but he got up and walked over to the food she had brought him. He recognized the orange, a mango, and several apples sitting in the bowl, but there were still a couple of them he had never seen before. Beside the bowl was water, but then also a blue box with writing all over it.
"What is this?" he said pointing at the box.
Atella looked to where he was pointing and smiled. "Pop tarts. The cook in the kitchen said that your brother requested them, so I thought that if he ate them, you would too."
Loki rolled his eyes. Of course. His brother would take a liking to any mortal food that was thrown his way. Loki bent down and picked the bowl of fruit up, as well as the bottle of water, and walked back to his bench.
He could feel the woman watching him as he examined the contents of the bowl. The fruit he knew of looked as good as the ones back home, and the ones that he didn't know still looked very good. He was so hungry that he would have even accepted the contents of the blue box if he had to.
8-8-8-8
Atella watched Loki pick up every fruit and look at it closely. She deduced that he was satisfied with what she brought him, and began replacing everything, except for a mango, back into the bowl.
Atella was interested to see what he did here. He obviously knew what it was, so how did he think he was going to cut it without anything sharp. She assumed that he would go for an orange or an apple instead, however, she didn't have to wait very long for her answer.
He took the mango in his left hand, and held his right hand above it. Suddenly, the mango popped out, completely peeled, leaving its skin behind in his other hand. He dropped the skin into the bowl beside of him, and held the mango in his hand, palm facing outward. Just the skin, the effect was instant. As soon as he waved his hand over the fruit, it fell apart in several slices, leaving only the seed in the center completely whole.
Atella felt her mouth drop open. People could talk about magic all day, but to actually see it was incredible. Her reaction wasn't lost on Loki. He looked over at her and smirked.
"Are you actually impressed with this?" he asked.
Atella closed her mouth and regained her composure. "Well, it isn't everyday that I see things like that. We don't have magic here."
"Pity," Loki said, conjuring a second bowl out of mid air to put the mango slices in. "I had hoped that there would be some form of magic on this planet. There are several others in Asgard, but none of them are as accomplished as I am."
Atella shrugged. "You guys have magic, we have science."
Loki stood up, carrying the bowl with the mango in it, and walked over to her. "Actually," he drawled, "in your terms, we have both." He took a bite of the mango and watched Atella carefully.
She felt slightly uncomfortable under his gaze, but she pushed the feeling aside. "We just haven't unlocked the science behind magic yet."
"In a way you have," Loki said, still munching on the mango.
Atella nearly launched herself at him. He was so utterly condescending and smug that she wanted to attempt to beat it out of him.
Instead, she fought to keep her voice under control and said, "How so?"
"Look at yourself. Look at what you can do with your body, with your mind. Do you really not think that is magic?"
"No. I was told that it has to do with something in my DNA. It was some kind of mutation or something. They told me when I was very young… I don't really remember the details."
"Ah, see, you've just proved my point. What you can do has nothing at all to do with your science. It's magic, and, as you've just stated, you mortals have pinpointed exactly where the enchantment is and what it effected. You are closer to discovering magic than you think. And I think that your… boss, knows a lot more about you than what he is telling you," Loki said, thoughtfully biting into his last slice of mango.
Atella didn't say anything. Was it really an enchantment that had been casted on her all of those years ago? It didn't seem like it at the time, but, then again, how many times had she ever seen an enchantment. After all of the tests they did on her, they couldn't come up with any scientific reason for her talents. It left everyone completely baffled. She thought about how effortlessly she could change her skin, or latch onto someone's mind. It was like it was apart of her, something that she was born to do, just like breathing or sleeping. Isn't that what magic was? And what about Fury? Was he really hiding something from her? Had the doctors and scientists found something out that they weren't telling her?
Her train of thought was interrupted by a buzzing sound coming from her bag. Atella quickly turned her back to Loki and started digging around in her bag until she straightened up with her communication earpiece.
Atella put it in her ear and said, "Yes?"
There was nobody at the other end, only silence.
"Hello?" she said while tapping on it
Nobody said anything back. She took it out of her ear and examined it.
Loki laughed behind her. When she turned around, he was walking back to his bench.
"Clever," he said. Then he looked at the camera. "That was really subtle of you."
"You should really think about my offer. You would find more trustworthy company with me rather than anyone on this planet," the god of lies and mischief said to her inside her head.
8-8-8-8
I cannot even begin to explain how much trouble I had with this chapter. The first draft was about five pages longer, and ten times darker. I wasn't happy with it, but after about four more rewrites, this is what I came up with. I want their relationship with each other to be based on a mutual respect and fascination, and that just wasn't coming through in the other ones, so I hope that it came through here.
So I'm heading down to the beach at the end of this week, and I hope to get a lot more writing done while I'm down there. The next chapter is going to be a lot more light hearted, and we may see the first glimpse of attraction between the two main characters. I can't wait to see what you guys think!
Also, I will be attaching "Chapter 4" to this one to make one big chapter, so just keep that in mind.