The Prophecy

"Loki!" Thor growled, trying to slam Mjolnir against the cage again, needing to stop him, needing to get to Athena, to help her...

When a voice called, "Move away please."

Loki pulled the scepter back, recognizing a human voice, another potential slave, and stepped away from Athena, the woman collapsing to the ground, shaking, unable to move, hardly able to even lift her own head as she twitched and convulsed in the aftershocks of the crippling pain, Thor sinking to his knees to be as even with her as he could, to keep her in his vision as Loki faced Coulson who was standing there with two weapons. While Loki eyed the two guns in Coulson's hands, Thor had his gaze fixed only on Athena, not daring to say a word to draw Loki's attention back to her and force her to endure that agony again.

"Do you like this?" Coulson spoke up, his gaze flickering to Athena for only the barest hint of a moment before he focused on Loki once more.

He knew Athena was strong, she had to be to take out the people she had in their base and to be able to hold off the Destroyer's blast when it had come to Earth last time. She had burned through the injections they'd given her at the base, and hadn't exhibited any signs of negative effects of it when it came to her movements and reactions and reflexes afterwards. And he knew that she and Thor were considered to be like gods, they had to have incredible strength and endurance to be able to handle the Hulk especially and come out largely unscathed. He knew she was strong and he knew that, looking at her now, he should NOT be considering her to be a damsel in distress in any way, shape, or form, as he knew many women who were ten times stronger than he was and more than capable, just like Athena was.

But...he couldn't help but see a fallen comrade lying there. It didn't matter if she was a woman or god or alien or whatever she was. All he saw in that moment was that someone who had been helping them, an ally, had been harmed. He saw someone that had just been brutally tortured, for lack of a better word, by some alien instrument and nearly been killed. He cast a glance at Thor as well, but saw the man couldn't even bring himself to look at his brother, and why should he? Loki had very nearly killed the woman that Thor so clearly loved, that was seven layers of bad and monstrous to do. He could only imagine the betrayal that Thor was feeling at that moment, that Loki had nearly done that, worse yet, the utter helplessness and weakness the strong man was probably experiencing that he was trapped in a cage like that and unable to help her, protect her.

But it would be ok, because HE was there, and he would die before he let Loki cause Athena any more harm than he already had. His mother had raised him right, had raised him to treat women with respect, to be kind and compassionate, to protect. He had grown up on stories of Captain America, the greatest, most pure of heart hero there was in his opinion. He'd tried to live his life with that man as an example, to be good and helpful and to keep people safe. It didn't matter if Athena was a woman (though it did make him feel twice as protective to see her so beaten down), it mattered that someone he trusted and had worked beside was lying on the floor, struggling to even breathe. And he knew that HE could do something about it. HE could stop it, stop Loki, or, at the very least, he could delay the man long enough for Athena to regain her strength and strangle Loki from behind or for Thor to break out of the cage. He just had to...create a distraction and keep it going, and he could do that, to protect a fallen ally he would do it.

"We started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer," he continued, moving his attention back to Loki, making sure he held the man's gaze so that he wouldn't turn to Thor or Athena, "Even I don't know what it does. Do you wanna find out?" Coulson lifted the weapon, ready to blast the man when he realized that Athena still wasn't getting up...

Only for Loki to disappear and reappear behind him, making him gasp as he looked down to see that Loki had stabbed him through the back with the scepter's sharp blade. The end of it was sticking out through his chest for only a moment before Loki pulled it back out, leaving him to fall to the ground.

"NO!" Thor shouted, a whirlwind of emotions racing through him.

He was devastated to see Loki do that to Coulson, someone he had come to consider not just an ally but a friend in the short time he'd known him. To see his brother so carelessly and easily take the life of another man...it made his stomach churn and his heart clench in his chest. Because the Loki he used to know wouldn't do that, this...this Loki was not one he recognized and all he could think about was what had happened to him? What had happened to his little brother to turn him into this? His gaze locked on Coulson from the moment Loki appeared behind him, watching the man sink to the ground, collapsing against the wall, already able to see the blood seeping through the back of his suit, the red splotches on the white of his shirt.

And he was enraged and fearful and driven and…vulnerable. Because Loki was walking back to Athena and he was trapped in a glass cage. Oh he knew exactly what Athena had the moment they saw Loki put into it. It may have been made to hold the Hulk, but they had both proven that they could go toe-to-toe with the brute and come out largely unharmed. Their strength was at the very least equal to the Hulks but they both knew it was likely stronger. They COULD break out, just as easily as Loki could have had he not affected the systems of the base and shorted out the controls, they could break out with their minds and strength. This glass cage wouldn't hold them for long, but it would hold them for a time. It would take time, strength, and determination to be able to break out. They could do it, get out of there, but not instantly. He had slammed Mjolnir against the glass and it had only cracked, but it HAD cracked. He could beat his hammer against the glass multiple times and only THEN would he be able to shatter it. But it could be shattered.

At the moment though, he was trapped there, utterly helpless to get to Athena and save her. He could read every expression on her face, he knew every movement of her body, and it tore his heart in two to see the sheer and utter agony etched on her face as Loki used his scepter on her. He was quite sure it would be something that would haunt his nightmares for the rest of his life, seeing her suffering and being powerless to stop it. And now, to see her lying there on the ground, panting and shaking and trembling, far too pale, her eyes bloodshot from the tears that she hadn't cried but that had escaped her, looking dazed and still in pain…he wanted it to stop.

"Loki!" he shouted as the man reached Athena's side, "Stop this. Your quarrel is with ME. Leave her be. Take me instead!"

Loki let out a dark chuckle at that, "Oh but my quarrel IS with her," he tsked, "She holds your heart, does she not?" he scoffed at Thor's expression, as though he were shocked Loki would know that, given that he hadn't been in Asgard when the two had made their feelings known, "A blind fool could see it Thor and I am nothing of the sort. She's held your heart for ages now…and THAT is precisely why she's the perfect weapon against you."

"Loki do not do this!" he cried as Loki lowered the scepter, the tip of the blade just an inch above Athena, the woman seeming to come back to herself and try to move more, but it was straining her.

"Hmm…" Loki hummed, before grinning, "Ooh, I know," he stepped back, Thor nearly letting out a breath of relief before Loki moved to the controls, making Thor stiffen again, "What better way to torment you, brother dear, than by the ignorance you lived your life by," he looked at the controls, contemplating them, "To have you fall, to plummet to the ground, growing farther and farther away from your love," he started to grin again, "To not know what I shall do to her, how I shall choose to kill her," he lifted the blade, eyeing it as it gleamed in the light, "Whether through torment or blade…but to know that, either way," he tilted his head at his brother, "You…will NOT be the last thing she sees…"

And with that, he hit the button on the control panel beside him, sending the glass cage falling out of the craft as Thor screamed and tried to swing at the wall of the cage, but it was too late. Loki chuckled at that, watching his brother be the helpless weak one this time, before he stepped back to Athena, who had just barely managed to get herself braced on her elbows and kicked her, sending her sprawling onto her back with a pained cry.

"Oh this shall be fun," Loki grinned down at her, waving the scepter above her, taunting her with the pain he was going to unleash.

"You're going to lose," Coulson's voice called out, needing to stop him, ready to fight to his last breath to help Athena, to give her more time.

Loki looked over, seeing the man slumped against the wall, sitting there, a trickle of blood dripping down from the corner of his mouth, the gun resting in his lap, "Am I?" he scoffed.

"It's in your nature."

"Your heroes are scattered," Loki rolled his eyes, "Your floating fortress falls from the sky. Where is my disadvantage?"

"You lack conviction."

"Is this conviction enough for you?" Loki grinned and turned, driving the scepter down, ready to kill Athena as he'd nearly done from just the torture alone. Ooh he had enjoyed the sound of her screams, enjoyed knowing that he was killing her just with pain, but now…now he wanted to finish it. HE wanted to be the last thing she saw before death took her, HIM standing above her ready to kill her with a simple blade and her knowing Thor wouldn't be there to rescue her.

It was fitting, those who lived by the blade died by the blade.

But just as the scepter's blade came within a hair of her armor…Coulson pulled the trigger on the gun in his lap, sending a brilliant blast of fire at Loki, similar to the Destroyer's, right at the god, sending him back, flying through the walls of the craft, but away from Athena.

"So that's what it does," he wheezed, though he let out a relieved breath that he'd done it, that he'd stopped the man, that he'd saved Athena's life.

The minute she told him about the vision, about how Loki was going to kill her in the room with the glass cage…he'd determined and decided for himself to stop it. She was a brave woman, the bravest, to enter something knowing she was going to die. It was different to not know, you could hope, you could hope that you'd come out alive, you'd have a chance. But this time, this time Athena KNEW she wouldn't, she knew she'd be facing Loki and that he would try to kill her, that he would succeed in killing her. But THAT was what had gotten to him, the vision that her brother had seen was of Loki killing her…as in, in the process of, and that torture had surely looked as though he were killing her.

HE had just stopped Loki before he succeeded.

Prophecies were hardly ever that clear and sensible, there was always a loophole, there was always a way out, a different interpretation. Athena had taken the words to mean Loki WOULD kill her, HE had heard that Loki would try to. He closed his eyes a moment, just…trying to breath, feeling the pain racing through his veins like fire from the wound in his stomach. But his eyes snapped open when he heard a shuffling and looked over to see Athena back on her elbows, struggling to get up, struggling to make her way over to him and all he could think was thank god Athena wasn't a villain here, because she certainly had conviction.

"Coulson…" Athena wheezed as she managed to crawl her way over to the man, slumping by his side, more leaning back on her legs tucked under her than against the wall, not wanting to take his support from him. She was trying to stay awake, conscious, give him some sort of support and comfort and help…but it was hard.

Her body felt like lead, her head was pounding, she could barely move (she still wasn't sure how she'd managed to make it to the man in the first place). She kept seeing small black spots in her vision, her ears were wringing, and her body was tingling like it had fallen asleep and was waking up, little pin pricks all over her skin. She could hardly breathe, gasping and panting as she tried to get air in her lungs, but it wasn't working. She needed sleep and rest, she knew that, she and Thor, the Warriors Three, Sif, all of them could heal faster than mere mortals, but she needed time to recuperate, and right now she was forcing herself to stay awake.

"You ok?" Coulson rolled his head to look at her, he…he just needed that, he needed to know that he hadn't been too late, that his actions hadn't been in vain, that she would be ok. If he could just know that…it was worth it.

"I shall be," she blinked rapidly, trying to make the two of him that appeared in her vision to morph into just one, "You…you shall be as well."

Coulson nearly laughed at that, a small one, but he couldn't muster it, "I don't think so," he murmured.

Athena's head snapped to the side and she immediately reached for her sword, only to recall that it had fallen to the earth, not that it would help her the sudden move had made her see triple instead of double. But she could hazily make out Fury entering and rushing over to them.

"I'm sorry boss," Coulson murmured as Fury crouched on his other side, "They got rabbited."

"Just stay awake," Fury ordered, "Eyes on me!" he glanced at Athena, silently asking her if she was ok, she gave him a short nod, one that told him that she truly wasn't but she was not in the danger that Coulson was.

"Oh I'm clockin' out here," Coulson breathed.

"Don't you dare," Athena swallowed hard, guilt filling her, she knew Coulson had only come there because she had told him of her brother's vision, he had tried (and succeeded) in preventing that future, in saving her. And now he was suffering because of it, because of her.

"Not an option," Fury agreed.

"It's ok, boss," Coulson smiled, "This was never gonna work…if they didn't have something…to…" he let out one final breath, his head tilting to the side as he slumped more, just as other agents entered with medical equipment.

Fury swallowed hard but stood, moving out of the way so that the team could do their job, reaching out to haul Athena to her feet, only for the woman to collapse beside him, leaving him little option but to heft her into his arms. He looked down at her and then to Coulson, realizing what had happened, why Coulson was there, the state Athena was in, the direction the gun had been positioned, Coulson had saved her life…

And he would be damned if he let the man's last act be in vain, so he turned and carried the woman out of the room to make sure she was tended to.

~8~

In the glass cage, Thor desperately tried to break through the walls, swinging Mjolnir with all his might, slamming it against the walls as he continued to fall. The cage was tumbling, spinning and flipping and he felt himself bashing into the walls with his body as much as his hammer. But he tried, he twisted and turned and slammed the walls. He finally managed to make enough of a crack that he knew, one final and powerful smash would get him through the walls. He threw himself back against the wall opposite to it, bracing himself a moment before pushing himself off it, launching himself across the cage, Mjolnir held out before him, and crashed through the wall…managing to escape just before the cell slammed to the earth and shattered, sending him flying across the field it landed in, tumbling and twisting and crashing around till he came to a roll on the ground, panting.

He closed his eyes tightly, just lying there, not even bothering to get up, because it just hurt, not his body, he'd endured worse falls in the past, but his heart. His mind was racing, thinking of all the ways that Loki could have harmed Athena, how he could have killed her. He could have driven her to death using the scepter's power, or stabbed her with it, kicked her out the bottom of the craft and she could be hurtling to the ground right now. He could have strangled her in her weakest state, he could have grabbed Coulson's weapon and blasted her, he could have done so many things and…he didn't know.

He didn't know if Athena was alive or dead and what Loki had done to her.

All he knew was that, whatever had happened…HE hadn't been there. He hadn't been with her in her last moments and Loki had, Loki's face was the last one she would have seen, Loki's actions, the pain the last thing she felt. It made his hands clench in anger to know that Loki had inflicted so much pain on her and to know that he had been so willing to kill her, just to hurt HIM. For one brief moment, he regretted allowing himself to get so close to Athena, to allow her into his heart, because now she would always be a target, she would always be someone that others could attack in order to get to him.

But that thought was quickly pushed away…because Athena was strong, she was a fighter, she would fight and defend herself. She didn't always need him at her back to be safe, she was a skilled warrior and she was clever.

He opened his eyes, feeling hope spring up in him, it was small and he refused to allow it to grow bigger than that, but he had a hope now…that Athena was alive. He didn't know how, she had been so weak and pained before, she had been at Loki's mercy, Loki had had the upper hand. But he could hope, he could hope that she had come up with some way to save herself or that Fury had entered or that other agents had arrived after he'd been sent off. He just…he needed that, he needed to hope she would be alright, because if he didn't have that…

What would be the point in fighting?

He winced at that, no, no, he knew he had to fight, he had to keep fighting. He and Athena had come there to get the Tesseract, to take Loki back, but he knew that they both had silently agreed that, if a battle was to come about, they WOULD fight, they would fight and they would battle Loki and they would help the humans. Because a true king, a good king, defended the people, and it didn't matter which people. How could he have the respect of his people if he allowed others to suffer when he could help? That was something Athena had taught him, protecting Asgard was a priority, but he could help others as well. And he would. He'd fight for her, if something had happened to her, if she was truly gone, he would still fight, he'd fight on in her memory.

He had to hope she was alive though because he didn't want to imagine his life without her. He would never say it out loud, but, in his mind, he truly pictured his future, him on the throne of Asgard but with HER standing beside him as Frigga did Odin. He saw it so clearly, wanted it so badly, that to imagine that ripped away…he knew what it would mean. Eventually he would need an heir, he would be forced to marry someone else, to rule with some stranger, to have a child, but…in his mind and heart all he wanted was that with Athena. He knew it was so far in the future, that they weren't at that point yet, but he just…to now have it potentially ripped away from him? It was almost unbearable.

So yes, he had to hope that Athena was alive, because if she wasn't…Loki would not be returning to Asgard, because Thor would have killed him.

~8~

Athena was sitting at the conference table of the Bridge, a small cup of tea before her, her hands wrapped around it, taking comfort from the heat of the container. Her head was still pounding and she refused the medicine that Fury and his staff had offered her, not knowing how it would react to someone like her, someone not mortal. Her body still felt stiff, but it was nowhere near as pained as it had been before, she'd truly only needed some rest, a reprieve from the pain to be able to recover quickly. She had woken only an hour ago, on a white bed in the medical wing of the craft. At first she'd been wary, had immediately looked to her arms to ensure she hadn't been restrained again before she noticed that Fury was sitting in the room with her, reassuring her that they had learned their lesson from tying her up last time she was there, that she wasn't a prisoner or captive or test subject this time but a wounded ally.

She hadn't wanted to stay there, in that room that reminded her so much of the SHIELD base she'd been held in the last time she'd been on Earth and Fury had merely stood and opened the door, allow her to leave. She had surprised him with how quickly she'd been able to get up and walk out, how steady she was. He had seen the footage of what Loki had done to her, had watched her reactions and had thought she would be down for the count, unable to help them in whatever was coming next now that Loki had escaped. THAT had upset her, that Loki was free again. The only consolation she could see was that Barton had been returned, Natasha with him at that moment to make sure that the control Loki had over him was going to end and be severed. But that was the only consolation. Fury had given her a rundown of what had happened.

The craft had been partially destroyed and needed extreme repairs but they were safe and stable for now. Thor had fallen to Earth in the glass cage, Fury feared he had died, but she refused to believe it, reminding Fury that the man was immortal (though she knew they could both be killed, it was the only way to make Fury believe that Thor had a chance of survival). He was too well trained a warrior and too damn stubborn to die from a simple fall to Earth. The Hulk had fallen as well, crashed with the jet that attacked him, but Fury seemed certain that HE was alive, it seemed that it was almost impossible to kill the Hulk. Coulson, though…THAT was what they were discussing at that moment. After she had passed out, Fury had taken her from the room to allow her time to recover, and in that time…Coulson had passed.

And there she was, sitting on the Bridge, with Tony and Steve sitting before her, the two men having survived the attack as well. Fury was standing before them, Hill to the side with a few cuts and bruises of her own, all of them solemn and quiet.

"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket," Fury began, tossing a small pack of cards…with Steve on them, before the man, "Guess he never did get you to sign them," he added snidely, flipping one over so they could see the blood on it, "We're dead in the air up here. Our communications, location of the cube, Banner, Thor. I got nothing for you. Lost my one good eye. Think I had that coming," he moved his way around the table, ignoring Athena where she sat to focus on Tony and Steve.

She understood why he was ignoring her, she had been one of the few not to start arguing but to try and stop it. She had been one wise enough to see what the scepter was trying to do, how it was trying to influence them, and moved to make them realize the same. She had found respect for all those there after they proved themselves assets instead of sizing the others up as a threat, like Tony and Steve seemed to have done. She had been the one that Coulson had died to protect and for that, Fury had given her his respect. Because Coulson was a good man and anyone he determined was worth dying for had his undying respect. He wasn't blaming her for what happened, she had been at Loki's mercy, and Coulson had stepped in to save her while Thor had been trapped. He knew that, from the start, hers and Thor's offer of being allies would be upheld, that THEY would do anything they could to help them stop Loki, to work with them and work together, a warrior always kept their oath to others. It was Tony and Steve that Fury seemed upset about, that they were the two arguing most.

"Yes," Fury continued, "We were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number, though, because I was playing something even riskier. There was an idea, Stark knows this, called the Avengers Initiative," he moved between the two men, to the empty chair between them and looked at both of them, "The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea, in heroes," he looked over as Tony stood and walked out of the room, and turned his gaze to Steve, "Well, it's an old fashioned notion."

Athena watched as, moments later, Steve got up and followed Tony out, "Well played," she remarked, looking at Fury.

He looked at her, not denying it at all, not asking her what she meant, he knew she had worked out his words and why he said it. He was manipulating them even then, he knew that the guilt Tony felt and the sense of honor and respect Steve had inside him, would drive the two men to make amends and to form a respect and alliance with each other. He needed EVERY member of the team working together to see this through. Natasha and Barton were SHIELD agents, they would do whatever commanded, Athena and Thor were allies, Banner had been more of an expert, someone they had never intended to unleash or have fight for the sake of keeping the Hulk at bay, but Tony and Steve were essentially free agents, and THEY were the ones that would need more nudging to put aside their differences.

Athena reached out and picked up the card with the blood, looking at it closely, examining the shine of it, the scent, and her gaze flickered to Fury who only gave her a meaningful and pointed look, his lips pursing. She gave him a subtle nod in return and placed the card down, understanding the significance of the blood and what Fury did NOT want the men to know.

Now all she could hope for, was that Fury's lie would pay off.

A/N: I'm so sorry there was no chapter yesterday, real life got in the way and I literally had no time to even get on the internet till about 10am today :( I hope this chapter makes up for it though, Athena's alive! Woo! :) We don't really know what her brother saw in the vision, just that he saw Loki 'killing' her and, for all he knew, Loki bringing the scepter down on Athena just before Coulson fired could be where his vision ended, perhaps he jumped awake, not wanting to see that, and assumed it would mean Loki finished the job ;) Prophecies and foresight can be very tricky ;)

Some notes on reviews...

It might be because I've seen abuse in real life and that, when I saw Loki act a certain way, I saw the same reactions and made a connection to possible abuse. I understand your concerns very well, but you'll have to forgive me, because I can't openly comment on/explain/answer them at this point of the story without spoiling what's coming. All I can say for the moment is, 1. the potential Loki-torture won't be an excuse in the story, 2. there IS a reason why I had Athena think this might be torture related (and that point is written in her POV), and 3. knowing where this story is going and how it will end and the twists that are coming, I think you may find quite a few of your points aren't as expected ;) My opinion, as a person, may be that he was tortured, but what I do with it, as a writer in this story, we'll have to wait a short while to see what the endgame of it will be, it may surprise you ;)

Oh Phil was definitely to the rescue :)

Lol, thanks :) I understand their concerns though, but as I've already done a Loki/OC, and this is Thor/OC, they might assume I'm a 100% Loki fangirl, as they said. However, they may find themselves surprised by where I take the theory. Anyone who has read my other stories might guess, where the reader thinks a story is going almost never ever goes that way ;) We'll have to wait and see what happens though :)

I probably won't do a Hannibal story, only because I disliked the films and I just couldn't really get into the show :( I watched a few episodes but it just didn't suck me in. So I probably won't have one for Hannibal. Sorry! :)