"So I have the same power as you, I can control people?" Erin was sitting in Professor Xavier's study, where he invited to have tea with her, a formality she wasn't used to.
Yes, in a sense… but not completely. You see, you have the ability to control people in a molecular level; for example, you could command the white blood cells to attack each other, or the immune system to fail. I have mind control in perception. Theoretically, you can become a much stronger mutant than myself. It's quite peculiar, your case." The old man sat in his wheelchair, looking at Erin with such acute attention.
"My… case…so how do I fix it?" Erin didn't touch her tea; it was still too scalding hot to even sip it.
"It needs no fixing, it's a unique part of you that makes you gifted. I can train you to work with it, however. It's quite a long time that I've looked for you."
"Me? Why me?"
"You're special, Erin."
She snorted at the thought. She felt far from special. All her life she had been running, never knowing if it was to something or from something, but still, she ran. Having a broken family, a dead mother, and no future ahead of her, she would tend to think little of herself.
"I don't know…" Erin spoke hesitantly. The only time she spent a prolonged amount of time somewhere; it was because she was with Jane, her only friend in the world.
"I only ask you to give this place a chance," the kind looking man insisted, leaving Erin to let out a heavy sigh. "Fine."
x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.
There was a secluded, rather modern looking house just a couple miles away from the SHIELD base. Fury thought it was best to keep Loki a little ways away from the rest of the Avengers in order to avoid conflict. Amory thought it was a joke.
If he's the all powerful God of Lies and Mischief, I honestly doubt a couple of miles is going to do any difference.
The silence was uncomfortable as Erin sat in the drivers seat, keeping her eyes on the dusty road as Loki bitterly looked out the window, lost in this own thoughts own thoughts, no doubt. Amory figured he was either plotting an escape or thinking of reasons to hate her.
"If it's any consolation, I hate it here as much as you do." She figured to try to avoid causing bad sentiment between each other, since he hadn't done anything to harm her yet. Although he did try to take over her planet, she didn't care much for it at the time anyways. Still, she did fear him for the stories she heard about him.
His eyes flickered over to her, as if she woke him from a trance, his eyes weren't as evil as she imagined them to be. If anything, he looked like he was in a constant pain.
"And why do you hate this place?" Loki's eye were sharp now, as if he were able to see right through her, making it impossible to properly lie to him without being foolishly caught.
"I don't fit, I suppose." She shrugged.
"Oh? How so?" He wasn't going to let her off that easily. It seemed as if he wanted her to speak with conviction, to give purpose to the things she said, his eyes challenged her. Amory never felt so cornered in her life.
"It's… complicated, you'd think it's stupid." Amory heavily sighed, growing impatient with his determination.
Why do I feel like he's interrogating me?
It was a touchy subject that she didn't enjoy talking about.
"Is it because you're… a mutant?" he chimed with such curiosity.
Amory laughed, bitter at the thought. "I don't even fit in with my kind…"
"Why not?"
Erin looked over at him. His eyes seemed to never have left her for a single moment. He had managed to draw out so much information out of her, revealing her insecurities and her weaknesses. She resented being exposed in such a way.
So this is why they call you the silver tongue. Well played, sir.
"You have to earn the right to hear that story." Amory smirked, looking back at the road, the house they were assigned to appearing in the distance. A chuckle escaped the immortal's lips, "I'm the rightful king; I have every right."
Erin began to laugh, there was a mutual understanding, an odd sense of respect, "You're still going to have to earn the right, king or not."
"Very well."
x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.
"Hey Fury, got a second? Fury."
"Hey Fury."
"Fury!"
"Captain Blackbeard!"
Tony finally managed to get Nick Fury's attention, earning an un-amused glare from him. Stark half jogged, half strutted to catch up to the man who seemed like he always had somewhere to be.
"I think you're going deaf, buddy." He casually patted Fury on the back as he began to walk alongside with him.
"Some voices, although not so shrill, can still have a deafening frequency." His voice showed that he was in an irritable state., still Stark moved on to the point.
"I know SHIELD is big on keeping secrets, but what's the deal on having Loki here?"
"I've gone over this, it's-"
"Yeah, yeah, but you don't really expect us all to believe that you think he'll just learn to behave with a few weeks of playing house with Blaine, do you?"
Fury only glanced at Stark, who, he had grown to learn, never missed a beat.
"So what's the real reason?"
"Don't you have something important to do, Stark? Build a new suit or something, you haven't made a spacesuit yet, make one of those." Fury tried to walk off down the corridor, but as he door he headed towards opened, Bruce, Steve, Natasha, and Clint all stood at the other side.
"Son of a-" Fury stopped in his tracks.
"Yeah, I figured you weren't going to tell me, so I thought I'd have the rest of the crew to help me get the truth. Remember last time you tried to keep a secret from us?"
Fury gave Stark one last glare before looking at the rest of his Avengers, "Everyone in the debriefing room in 5." He sighed heavily.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x
For the first few days in the Academy, Erin had no idea as to why she was receiving odd glances from the rest of the students. At first, she figured it was because she was the new kid. Still, people with more 'unique talents' managed to make her feel like the deformity in the room.
Even among the freaks, I'm the freak.
She didn't bother to try to make friends, so she kept to herself, reading 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' whenever she was on her spare time.
In the back of her notebook, she began to write a list of reasons that she was considering why people didn't seem to have liked her.
The list follows:
I'm getting personal lessons from Professor X. Seeing that he's the boss, people might be jealous of that.
I'm not 'unique' enough? Is that even possible? That'd be ironic.
Maybe they have a personal vendetta against F. Scott Fitzgerald. If that's the case, I'm dropping out immediately. No questions asked.
They know something that I don't and no one is bothering to tell me.
They already know how utterly useless I am.
They're overwhelmed by how amazing I am. Doubtful.
Keep guessing…
She was intrigued to see what different powers the students had, along with the teachers. Wolverine was her favorite. He always had a look that he wanted to punch someone in the face, making enough clever remarks to fill a book. If that weren't power enough, he hand metallic claws that broke through the knuckles of his skin, giving his name purpose.
All of the mutants seemed to have nicknames, so whenever Erin was asked what her name was, she said 'Amory', naming herself after a character from her favorite book.
Because I'm the cynical idealist.
Besides, if she had allowed anyone else to name her, she would have gotten something stupid.
Perhaps Molecula, or Skeletor.
Stupid.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x
Amory had to go through the whole waltz of showing Loki around a house that she herself wasn't familiar with either. Much like him, it was her first time as well to have her own home. Well, with the exception with having to share it with a demigod that potentially wanted to kill her.
Still, she didn't linger on that concern for too long.
"So, I must think of it as subdued quarantine?" Loki sat down in a long leather couch, making himself at home.
"Or a vacation," Amory suggested. She refused to be too terribly scared of him. In her lifetime, she had seen and dealt with worse, much worse. Loki had a look of mischief, but not of evil or hatred. As long as he didn't bother her, she figured there was no point in bothering him.
"Thrilling," Loki looked around as if looking for something to do, the modern looking living room seemed dull in his eyes. A television set, bookcase, and stereo in the living room didn't look to offer him any amusement. Amory doubted he even knew what they did. She lightly chuckled to herself, as he looked rather lost.
Not so all powerful after all, are you?
"Here," Amory shuffled through her lucky backpack and pulled out a worn out hardcover of This Side of Paradise. "It's my favorite, so if you do any harm to it in any way, you'll be sorry."
Loki only chortled at her attempted threat as he looked at the book curiously, taking it in his hand, "Thank… you…" he didn't seem very satisfied at all, but it was something to kill the time nonetheless.
"You look like a Shakespeare kind of man, so I'll try to steal you a copy of Othello, something tells me you'll get a kick from Iago's character." Amory kicked off her shoes as she moved to the bar of the kitchen.
"You're a well educated Midgardian then?" Loki asked as he kept his eyes on the book she gave him, flipping through the pages with curiosity.
"Not well educated, I just like to read. I got kicked out of school."
"What for?"
"Trouble." She shrugged, serving herself a drink. Loki smirked to himself, keeping his eyes on the text.
"What about you? Why were you sent here?" Amory asked, already knowing Fury's version of the answer, but she wanted to hear Loki's version.
Loki finally glanced up for their eyes to meet across the room, his smirk hadn't disappeared, "Trouble."
x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.
Thank you so very much for the patience and lovely reviews!
Please keep them coming, for they're my fuel to write.
I was overcome by writers block and a very bust month that I did not anticipate.
Next chapter ill be up sooner, I promise!
I love you guys!
If you have any questions for the 'In Character Amory' that I suggested, feel free to drop one off with your review!
Thanks!