So... This is an extremely late update, I'm so sorry! I was taking a trip to Washington, D.C. and the hotel did not have any free WiFi. I mean, who does that?! Grrr.
So basically I had a whole week to decide how this chapter would go and I think I figured it out :) So there.
I tried to see if I could continue with the Avengers release date similar to how I did with the first Thor's but it didn't work out, so I made a new date for Loki's New York take-over. Yay me :)
Now, on with the story! And I am so sorry for the late update :(
Disclaimer: I used a lot of the script for this chapter so I can make it as accurate as possible. I don't own it or the movie would have been VERY different ;). I have also taken many liberties and switched things from the movie around; if you have any questions, that's what reviews are for.
Previously
Once he finds that something, he must be willing to die fighting for it. Only then can he come home, Thor." Odin says tiredly, having woken up from his Odinsleep quite recently.
Thor is silent, hoping that Loki comes to that realization soon, both for the sake of himself and Mother, who misses her son more and more everyday. Maybe that something could be that Miss Bane he was so fascinated with.
Chapter 15
2 years later; April 11, 2013
"He thought what we think, the Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy. That's something the world sorely needs."
"Who took it from you?"
"He's called Loki. He's not from around here."
...
"You question us? You question HIM? He, who put the scepter in your hand, who gave you ancient knowledge and new purpose when you were cast out, defeated and betrayed by those who claimed to love you as family?"
"I was a king! The rightful king of Asgard! Betrayed!"
"Your ambition matters little, born of childish need after HE broke you, turning you into nothing but a desperate child grabbing for attention. We look beyond the Earth to greater worlds the Tesseract will unveil, worlds that have not been opened until 23 Midgardian years ago."
...
"I thought you dead."
"Did you mourn?"
"We all did. Our father..."
"Your father. He did tell you my true parentage when he sent me away, did he not?"
Thor lets go of Loki, who walks away from Thor, causing an even bigger wedge between them.
"We were raised together, we played together, we fought together. Do you remember none of that?"
"I remember a shadow. Living in the shade of your greatness. I remember you allowing the AllFather to send me away, even if that was for the better. I was and should be king!"
"So you take the world I love as recompense for your imagined slights. No, the Earth is under my protection, Loki- Brother."
...
"You think you can make Loki tell us what the Tesseract is?"
"I do not know. Loki's mind is far afield, it's not just power he craves, it's vengeance upon me. There's no pain that would pry his need from him."
"A lot of guys think that, until the pain stops. Or someone comes along to heal that pain."
...
That's the first time you've seen him Mistress. Shadow sends along when her Mistress's vision is over.
Yes, Shadow, it is. Isabella replies, breathing heavily, her heart pounding beneath the custom ring her Loki had given her before he left. It's time.
The S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier
"Now, what is PHASE 2, I wonder?" Suddenly, Steve drops a HYDRA ASSAULT RIFLE on the table causing Fury, Banner and Tony to turn around. The Captain looks pissed.
"PHASE 2 is SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons." Steve grits out, angry beyond measure.
"Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow." Tony shrugs, amused by the whole situation.
"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that we're..." Fury tries in vain to explain, his machinations becoming more and more unraveled by the end of it.
"I'm sorry, Nick." Tony moves the computer screen towards Fury which shows plans of the weapons powered by the Tesseract.
"What were you lying?" Stark says innocently.
"I was wrong, director. The world hasn't changed a bit."
At that moment, Thor and Natasha walk into the lab. Natasha keeps her eyes right on Banner, trying to judge how angry he is at the revelation. Banner looks at her, beyond pissed.
"Did you know about this?" Banner asks her, glaring at her.
"You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?" She asks, obviously wanting to defuse the situation.
"I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed, before you found me to do this."
"Loki's manipulating you. He's trying to tear us apart." She says, trying to break through the anger.
"And you've been doing what exactly?" Banner asks with a raised eyebrow.
"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you." Natasha responds.
"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy. I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction." Banner says, turning his glare to Thor.
"Because of him." Fury growls, pointing at Thor.
Thor is stunned, "Me?"
"Last year, Earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned."
"My people want nothing but peace with your planet." Thor insists in a rumble similar to his thunder.
"But you're not the only people out there, are you? And, you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, they can't be controlled." Fury says, none of the group noticing the slip of a girl sliding in through the shadows with her panther.
"Well, I do hope I haven't interrupted a domestic quarrel." An amused voice breaks in through the tense atmosphere clouding up the room at Fury's revelations.
The group of fighters immediately jumps into defense mode, all ready to attack this woman who none had seen before and managed to get on the ship. She waves their defensive positions aside and walks to the main screen where Banner and Stark's plans are, looking them over.
"Now, now, none of that. I'm not here to hurt you or take your precious toys away. Your best friend over here asked me to come." She says, gesturing to Fury and adjusting their formulas and algorithms so they can find the Tesseract quicker. "Oh, by the by, my name is Isabella. That's all you need to know."
"You did what? Why have you called this... Girl, to deal with my brother while he is in this state?" Thor demands, glaring darkly at the girl.
"You know her?" Steve cuts in, looking between the two confused. Banner, still too angry at yet another secret being kept from them, doesn't engage in pleasantries. Stark looks on and eats his blueberries, watching the scene in front of him with amused interest. Natasha is a bit snuffed at the beautiful woman who manages to attract interest without dressing in tight black leather.
"Yes, she and my brother were romantically involved before he went on to try and get revenge on me with this plan of his." Thor explains, gripping his hammer tighter. "This is all her fault."
"My fault? MY fault? I am not the one who allowed him to be sold off to the highest bidder. You had every opportunity to stand up to your father and insist that what he did wasn't right, but you stayed quiet." Isabella says, turning to him, her entire posture anger-filled and aggressive.
"I had no choice. I had to listen to my Father, he knows what is best." Thor says stubbornly, defending his choices.
"No, you had a choice. You could have chosen to stand by your family. And you chose to betray him and throw him to the dogs. You took him from a life where he was content, happy even, and all because your "all-knowing" Father told you so." Isabella spits out, her eyes blazing in anger as she reprimands the god. The rest of the spectators are confused, but don't jump in to help for fear of bringing this Isabella's temper on them.
"I-"
"No, you didn't, you chose to turn your back on your so called "brother". You did this because you weren't brave enough to stand up for him and you are the cause of this mess. You knew that Odin was doing something so wrong, something that went against the moral codes instilled in you from infancy.
Yet, you allowed it to happen. All for a throne? Was that really so important to you that you turned your back on him? Were you so blinded by what it could give you, or did you truly delude yourself to believe that Odin was right and your gut was wrong?" Isabella started off the interruption angry, her words breaking at the second sentence into to a heartbroken calm, her sorrow clear to everyone in the group, making even Natasha feel a twinge.
Thor is silent in the face of her pain, then chooses his words carefully. "I did what was expected of me. My Father expected loyalty to him and I gave it to him because he is my family, just as Loki is and always will be. I will not easily give up on him."
At his words, Isabella gives him a sad smile that says, You already have. She walks to him and lays a hand on his arm, looking him deep in the eyes.
She says softly, her words calm and true, "Even if he didn't like you, he trusted you to do the right thing. There was hope of your brotherhood healing with a little prodding and pushing from me. Now, after this, I don't think I can fix what relationship you too had. I'm not sure I even want to."
Thor straightens up at her words, they obviously having struck a nerve. He turns and storms away, leaving a stunned silence in the group.
After a moment, Isabella turns to Stark and Banner, asking, "Can you show me the news clips and video footage of Loki?"
...
"You all are absolute idiots."
The group turns and stares at her in shock. Isabella is sitting criss-cross on the table, her head on her hand, elbow on knee.
"What do you mean, 'we are absolute idiots'?" Stark asks, spreading his arms in a 'what the heck' gesture.
"His eyes are blue." She says as if that solves everything and answers his question.
"So what, "his eyes are blue". That doesn't have to anything to do with Loki's terrorism." Steve says, frustrated by her tone.
"His eyes are green, not blue." Isabella rolls her eyes, the 'obviously' left out.
The group of men, with Natasha, look at her with blank faces, not following.
Isa sighs and takes out her phone, scrolling through her pictures, finding one of Loki with his brothers. "Look at his eyes here, before he came into contact with the Tesseract."
The group looks, and sure enough, Loki's eyes are green, not blue. "So what are you saying? Did the Tesseract possess him?"
"Ms. Romanov, what happened to your friend Clint Barton whenever he recovered from the control of the Tesseract?" She asks, ignoring Banner's question.
"We had to strap him down so he would hurt himself as he was sweating, fidgeting around and clawing at himself. There was traces of blue in his eyes, thought hey were small strands starting from the pupil and out to the end of the colored part of the eye. He was unconscious for two hours and when he woke up, he had trouble speaking until all the traces of blue were gone from his eyes." Natasha says clinically, sounding like she had this all in her head already.
Isabella bites her bottom lip at that, her brain quickly multiplying the symptoms so she can prepare herself for helping Loki.
"Why does that matter?" Natasha asks, not following Isa's train of thought.
"It is my belief that Loki was taken by the someone more powerful than who is supplying his army of Chitauri," She says carefully, trying to translate her jumbled thoughts and preparations into a full explanation. "They broke his spirit and had daily applications of the Tesseract mind control that Mr. Barton was under, allowing them to make him into their little puppet. Something that created what he is now is not purely borne of simply breaking him, however. They played with him, tortured him and tore him into little pieces before rebuilding him the way they wanted him to be, all using Tesseract power as if it were a drug he can't live without."
The group is speechless at their words, not being able to wrap their heads around the thought that Loki isn't normally like this. Finally, Stark asks, "What are we going to do? If he continues, he's going to take control of Earth and my Stark Tower, which is unacceptable."
Isabella is chewing her lip thoughtfully, her left hand absently stroking Shadow's head. Stark, Banner, and Steve jump up in shock at the seemingly materialized panther (?!). "Why the hell do you have a giant cat? And where did it come from?"
"Shadow came with me and she has been here the whole time. She is at times my muse, my confidante and protector." Shadow emphasizes this with a flick of her tail and a stare that sees into their soul and knows exactly the most painful way to tear them apart if they so much as dare look at her Mistress the wrong way.
Needless to say, there is a unanimous decision to simultaneously trust Loki's ex-whatever and preserve their lives from the extremely scary panther currently purring under the touch of her Mistress.
"So, what exactly is your plan of action here?" Steve asks, keeping his wary eye on the panther to make sure his question is not inappropriate.
Isabella looks at Steve like he's an idiot, answering, "I'm going to go talk to him, of course."
Loki's cell
In his cell, Loki paces slightly, feeling restless for some reason. He feels the little shred of what his Master had broken rising up in response to... something. It was frustrating because he couldn't figure it out.
He had started seeing, since he came to Earth, snippets of a silver ring that has a row of small diamonds wrapping around it, which split into two smaller paths of diamonds, creating a space where a larger diamond rests. Framing the diamond are two silver flowers which seem to wrap around the ring. With the ring comes the image of a home that inspires happiness and contentment in his buried heart.
This has to be from before. It can't have come from anything else. I have to find out what it is-
No, you will do no such thing. You will complete the mission and be my perfect little puppet. All you are good for is being an errand boy, with no thoughts or ideas of your own and you will be that way forever or you will feel my wrath do you understand?
Yes... Master.
He sits on the bed and slips back into his head, listening to the voice that created a newer, better version of him. He is grateful for the chance to be his best, he tries to convince himself.
Busy trying to submerge himself in the wisdom of his master, he misses the conversation concerning a woman and Fury. He does however, register the click of heels on the pathway leading to his cell.
"Need more descriptions of what I will do to your loved ones Red? I wasn't aware you were masochistic."
"I am, considering I'm here. Of course, this conversation would be much more fruitful if you looked at me."
That voice, I know that voice. I love that voice. His eyes shoot open, looking at the woman speaking to him. She is wearing a cream blouse which sleeves are rolled to her elbows, dark blue jeans and cream heels. The collar of the shirt conceals the end of her necklace, but reveal her slender wrists that has a silver charm bracelet on it. A panther is trailing her, looking at him with familiarity.
I know them, he thinks as he drinks in the sight of her. He meets her eyes and tries to cover up his moment of stunned surprise. He walks up to her, hardly noticing that his cell has been opened. She looks up at him, still shorter than him even in her heels.
"Hello again Loki. It's been too long." She says with a sad smile, reaching up with a shaking hand to touch his cheek, it not even reaching him before it falls again.
He catches it in his hand and says looking at her with eyes that seem to have a competition between blue and green, the strain of this competition showing in his voice, "I know you."
The beautiful woman's smile gets more hopeful and she says as she pulls out her necklace with the hand not still in his grasp, showing the ring he saw in his vision, "Yes, and I know you. See?"
He looks at the ring for a long moment, his other hand to touch it. Her breath hitches, causing his gaze to break away from the ring and back to her green eyes. All Isabella sees is the blue overtaking his entire eyes before disappearing. In love-filled voice, he says, "Mi florecita*."
He falls to the floor, unconscious.
There you go! I'm back from my trip and ready to write! I should be posting more chapters this week, so be on alert.
Also, I have a poll on my profile that asks if you like the image of the ring that is now the cover picture for this story. If you don't, vote 'No' and if I get enough no's by the end of the week, I'll find another ring and change the description in here. If you have any rings you would like me to consider, send me a link in a review.
As always, thank you for reading and I love all your reviews and comments! :)
*Mi florecita- Spanish for "My flower" as a pet name a boyfriend/girlfriend gives their girlfriend. Or boyfriend if they like being called flowers. ;)
