Merciful

Chapter Six: Fights to Dreams (Taking title suggestions?)

Loki and I stood cautiously in a clearing out in the middle of nowhere, carefully analyzing each other.

"Would you like for us to use any unnatural abilities?" Loki asked, an amused smile twitching his lips upwards.

I weighed the pros and cons. Truthfully, letting Loki use his powers against me would narrow my chances of winning, even if I could use my bird form, but at the same time, as he had said earlier, it would be useful to know how he fought. "Powers are fine, as long as we set boundaries; we had to stay in this clearing and not go above the canopy."

"Deal. I'll mark the boundaries out; you'll know if you hit them."

Alright, note to self; don't fly too high or leave the clearing.

"Ready when you are."

No sooner had I done that than Loki's scepter appeared in his hand. He looked slightly surprised at that, allowing me to whip out my bow and shoot an arrow at the god. It flew right through him and struck the edge of the clearing, sparking.

Yeah, I really didn't want to run into that.

Then something else struck me; Loki's replicas were intangible. Immediately, I leapt high into the air, avoiding what would have been an extremely painful blow to my back.

Loki hissed slightly in disappointment, and I bulleted downwards, a torpedo of destruction. Loki was smart enough to step away as I landed, two knives quickly drawn. The Loki in front of me crouched into an obvious position, but coupled with a slight rustle I heard behind me, his conspicuousness caused me to whirl around, meeting Loki's scepter with crossed knives. He smirked and pushed me backwards, and I slammed into the ground, rolling upwards and resting on my toes, analyzing Loki. By now, I was dangerously close to the edge of the clearing, so close that I could feel my hair beginning to stand on end. One wrong move, and I'd be toast.

Not willing to choose between the advancing go and the electric fence, I adopted the form of my eagle owl, flying up a foot or so above Loki's head. He followed my example, taking the form of a black vulture. I winced; with a wingspan one and a half times larger than mine and a weight two and a half heavier, the vulture could easily overpower me. Then again, in the limited space, I could maneuver with more ease. Maybe I could use this and the electrifying arena to my advantage….

As I pondered the possibilities, Loki built up a ball of what looked like green fire in his talons. I cursed mentally and dodged out of the way, feeling the edges of the feathers on my tail singe, leaving behind an unpleasant scent.

I turned my orange gaze on the god, smirking as well as an owl can when I saw him trying to stay in flight in the small, thermal-free clearing. I took the opportunity and flew over. I was having some trouble as well, but not nearly as much, especially as I took advantage of the disturbances in the air from Loki's wings.

Just before Loki could gain control of his flight or use magic or something, my talons latched onto his back, one pulling feathers from his wing. He screeched in pain and somehow flipped over so that we both were upside down. Choosing not to struggle in the unfamiliar form, Loki took his normal shape and placed his hads around my neck as we plummeted to the ground. I slammed into the hard dirt, all of the air being forced out of my lungs as my human form was forced to the surface. I closed my eyes against the raging headache, and nodded to Loki, admitting defeat. Loki immediately stood, allowing me to slowly sit up.

"Nice match," I said, wincing in pain.

"You lasted longer than I believed you would," Loki complimented. "This was a welcome change from being locked in a cell."

I scrunched up my face. "Yeah, alright, can we just go back to Jane's? I need something for this massive headache."

I think at some point, I may have fallen asleep on the couch. No one disturbed me, and by the time I woke up, it was extremely early in the morning. The guest room door was slightly open, allowing me to see that Loki was also sleeping. Deciding I should check in with Fury, I slipped out of the house and sat on the porch, dialling Fury.

"Yeah?"

I winced slightly; he sounded tired. "Director, it's Agent Liao. I figured you'd like me to check in."

"That would be preferable, Agent. Where are you?"

"Um… London…."

There was a slight pause and a sigh. "You do know that Thor is there?"

"Yes," I replied. "However, I weighed the pros and cons and decided that it was more beneficial to be here; if Loki does try to defect, I wouldn't be able to take him down myself. They've behaved so far."

"Good," Fury said firmly, "because I need you to keep a low profile. Everyone thinks you're dead, including the World Council, and I want it to stay that way. You know Romanoff and Barton the best; make sure they can't find you."

"Why don't you just tell them, sir?"

"The less people who know, the better. I hope Ms. Foster and Lewis know that."

"I'll make sure to remind them," I promised. "Sir."

"Good-bye, Agent Liao."

By now, I could hear moving around within the duplex, and I joined them, eager for some coffee.

"Morning, Jay," Jane said as I entered the building. "Coffee?"

"Please," I said. "Where's Thor?"

She scrunched her face up as she thought. "He said something about blowing off steam last night. Probably a bar."

I raised my eyebrow, but didn't question it. "When did I fall asleep last night?"

Darcy smirked as she exited her room. "At, like, five. Seriously, fighting gods? Where's your sense?"

"I was bored, and he's a freaking silver tongue!" I defended. "He'd probably be able to convince me to, I don't know, kiss him or some other crap if he really wanted to!"

"Would I?" Loki said silkily from his room's door. I refused the blush rising to my cheeks.

"Probably; you are a magical god and trickster, right?"

Loki smirked. "I suppose. Then again, why would I want a filthy mortal like you?"

I fought against the tiny pang that sent through me; it shouldn't hurt. I swiftly changed the subject. "Jane, can I borrow some clothes? I should go out shopping, but I'd like to wear something clean for now."

"Of course," Jane said. "Help yourself."

I left the room quickly; in tension like that, who knows who would get hurt? It just wouldn't be because of me.

Loki

Jaida was obviously more relaxed in this environment than the one I had met her in. It confused me; why would someone give up a life of comfort and friends for a life of eternal tension and fear for your life, let alone those cell-like rooms? She spoke freely here, and was welcomed by everyone instead of being shunned by her colleagues, but yet somehow, I could tell she still yearned to return.

I was thinking so hard and staring at the door that had closed that I nearly jumped when Jaida returned in jeans and a long-sleeve shirt. I had grown accustomed to her wearing a jumpsuit, and this new attire surprised me.

"Thanks again, Jane," she said, perching on the edge of the couch. Her curious grey eyes subconciously flicked around the room. Suddenly realizing I was staring, I recoiled mentally and tried to follow the mortals' conversation.

Giving up - I was not yet familiar with all of the words on this planet - I instead thought back to last night; I had suffered a visit from someone unknown, someone who promised chaos. Now my question was whether I would accept the proposal or not. I did not enjoy chaos - I was the god of mischief - but I also did not oppose the prospect of bringing S.H.I.E.L.D. to its knees.

My other problem was the fact that this being had been able to contact me through my dreams, escaping my defenses. This made them a power to be reckoned with.

"Loki Laufeyson."

I didn't bother to correct the being; after all, what would I say? That I am truly Odinson? Laufeyson held less lies. "Who are you? Why are you in my head?" I instead questioned, attempting to shove the person out of my head. I was surprised to find the defenses around my mind still fully intact.

The being laughed in their irritatingly scratchy voice. "Oh, Laufeyson, you truly are ignorant. Have you any idea as to who I am?"

"Another evil, sinister being wanting to use me to your advantage," I guessed rather acurately, if I do say so myself.

"You have done that yourself many times," the being, person, whatever said coldly. "The only difference is that while you wished to enslave the universe, I want to free it. To do this, S.H.I.E.L.D. must fall."

"I would help, but as you must know, I am rather restricted in my activities," I said nonchalantly. Boring of the conversation, I looked around my endless dreamscape and imagined a chair to sit in, conjuring one for the… voice. "Here, take a seat."

"I would, but that would prove myself vulnerable to you."

"You never explained who you truly were outside of the 'evil, sinister being wanting to use me to your advantage'," I said nonchalantly.

"So I will assume that my daughter chooses not to speak of me. Then again, not much she would say would be entirely accurate."

"And your daughter is…."

"Daughters, actually. You've met them. One is sleeping out on the couch right now. I am sure you can determine the other."

Ah. Jaida. I could only assume Romanoff would be the other he spoke of, as the two female assassins were actually quite similar - in mindset, training, and abilities. Visually, even their nationality was different.

"Yes, you've figured it out. Jaida and Natasha. Oh, Natasha, she showed so much promise… and then she had to go and fall in love. I don't know where we went wrong with Jaida; she was perfect, in every way, loyal to extremes, until one day, she was just… distrustful, sneaky, hacking into private files. We had to fake our destruction. Sad, really. She was my favorite. Now, about bringing down S.H.I.E.L.D. Did you like our work with the explosions?"

"Yes, I did. They seemed to be quite the nuisance. If you were able to do that, you don't need my assistance, I'm sure."

"Ah, but we do need your assistance. You see, firstly, that did not go quite to plan; Jaida should have died, but you saved her. We can work around that - for now. Another point is that after that one little prank, S.H.I.E.L.D. security has increased by nearly one hundred percent. We can't pull that stunt again, and neither did we plan to. That was a warning shot; now we will be going in discreetly." I snorted; if that was a warning shot, what was discreet? "We plan to slowly unravel S.H.I.E.L.D., ruining their agents and resources, starting with the best. We will pull them so far into a state of chaos that they will soon welcome it, perhaps even encourage it."

"Sounds fun."

"Good. I am glad we agree. You must keep Jaida safe; she must survive until the very end, where, when the final pieces are placed together, only she could have been the puppeteer. From there, you will have a choice; kill her or convince her. I will be in touch."

The presence faded, and I smirked; I hadn't agreed to anything. The smirk faded when I realized that my mind, though, was completely and utterly unprotected from this dangerous man.

A/N: Aaaannnndd another chapter done! I'm fairly proud of the fight scene!, I normally suck epically at those. Like I suck at dancing. And talking. For example, in the Christmas Musical I was in. Which I'm watching right now. Ewww my voice sounds horrid…. Thankfully, my sisters insist I don't actually sound like that. CRUD NO ASHLYN THEY RECORDED THE EVENING ONE! Anyways, off track!

Thank you very much for the follow, Lady Of Summer Haze!

And to everyone else, thanks for reading! Review any ideas?