Hey guys. Thanks for, you know, still being here and all. This one is shorter than usual, but I'm hoping to make up for that next time with both a longer chapter and a sooner update. During the past month I somehow got the idea that trying to write five major stories simultaneously was a good idea, and as any reasonable person would've guessed, it's not.
On a different note, I'm trying out for a creative writing program in Brandeis University in Boston over the summer, so wish me luck! Only 15 people out of about 1,000 who apply get in, so I'm nervous as hell, but my hopes are quite high. If I do get in, I just wanna say in advance what a major part of it you guys have been. And because I love you so much I'm gonna stop boring you all and get on with the story.
The process was startlingly familiar.
Jess was easy prey, numb from shock and cold, as she was dragged into the dark, wet alley. She didn't even have the time to protest, let alone attempt to run, as her handler secured a firm hand over her arm – not too roughly, she noted – and she felt as though she was being sucked through a tube, the world swirling in the colors of darkness around her, until it finally stopped and she saw with growing horror they they've changed locations. Loki released her arm the second their surroundings cleared, and she stumbled backwards with a painful lack of grace, blood dripping gently from the wound in her calf and her heart pounding so hard she thought it might crack her ribs.
A quick, scared glance around the room revealed very little on their new location. One of the walls is covered in small TV screens of seemingly empty or almost empty rooms – footage of security cameras, Jess realized, that were probably placed around the building. Other than that the room held very little. A few chairs in front of the screens, a few lamps, and no windows.
"Where are we?" Jess blurted, chess constricting with panic. "How did you do that?"
Loki smirked. "I didn't spend all that time in Asgardian dungeons without learning a few new tricks," he said smugly. "As to where we are… well, I'd tell you, but that would somewhat lessen your value as a hostage."
"So what's your play, then?" asked Jess, her eyes turning into hazel sparks of anger. "You're gonna keep me here for leverage with the Avengers? I get that. That's a solid plan, especially thinking about how unpleasant me getting kidnapped by a lunatic might be for them. But you've met Fury, haven't you? What about the Council? The real high power of SHIELD? How much do you think they value one human life? If it comes down to wiping this place off the face of the Earth, do you really think one casualty would stop them?"
Loki's smile only grew. "Clever," he commented.
"Just familiar with the proceedings and bodies involved," replied Jess dryly.
"Aren't you a bit too young for that?" asked Loki with amusement. "How do you know so much of the inner workings in SHIELD?"
"Tell you what; I'll tell you if you let me go and get the hell off my planet."
Loki laughed. "You're witty," he pointed out. "I like that."
"Yay me," said Jess sarcastically. "But never mind that; let's focus on the important stuff, shall we? Thor was summoned to Asgard a few hours ago; I'm assuming you're the reason. Gathering the information I got from Thor about how Asgard works plus the first impression you're currently giving me, it shouldn't have taken them long to work out you've escaped, so you've been free for only a very short time period. Which brings me to wonder about your plan: you've had plenty of time in prison to come up with what you're going to do once you got out, so it's not unreasonable to assume you did, but the first thing you did was to take me. You couldn't have possibly known about me even existing before reaching Earth, so I couldn't have been a part of your original plan. Of course, it's entirely possible you came here very much prepared with a concrete idea, and that you just saw a chance and you took it, but that's not the case, is it? You don't have a plan, do you? You only took me to make it harder for the Avengers to demolish the place and to toy with them a little. Well, I can guarantee you that if SHIELD finds your location they will blow it sky high, with me inside." She exhaled furiously. "That was clever, you alien crap."
The laughter was gone from Loki's eyes, replaced by something darker and much more dangerous. When Jess looked into the abyss of Loki's green eyes, she saw the man who nearly destroyed her city, who killed hundreds in just a few days. She believed the wildest tales she'd heard of Loki in that moment.
Still, she couldn't bring herself to find him scarier than the first time she was kidnapped, or even scarier than her first kidnapper.
And so when Loki pierced her with his dark stare, attempting to weigh down on her, she didn't even flinch. She stared back, eyes unwavering, hazel mixing with green.
Loki's voice was dangerously low when he spoke again. "As my hostage," he began, the sound of his boots against the cold floor echoing as he slowly stepped closer to Jess, getting nearer with every word, "I can't kill you. That would cost me my leverage, and part of my advantage." He was mere inches from Jess now, the height difference between them made distinct, and he lowered his head to be at eye level with her, arching his spine like a cat. "But do not assume," he whispered, "that I can't hurt you. It would be my genuine pleasure. So don't – tempt me." His smile returned, but it was different now, somehow fainter. It made him look delirious. "You're in dangerous waters now, Miss Cory. I recommend that you play safe."
"Why?" Jess whispered back. "If I spit in your face, what would you do?"
"How badly do you wish to find out?" asked Loki.
Jess smiled and shook her head. "You've got nothing," she said calmly. "Except for keeping me here, there's nothing you can do to me. You can hurt me alright, but you can't cause real damage, and I've got one hell of a pain threshold. Do your worst."
They stared into each other's eyes for a long time. Jess felt vain satisfaction when Loki pulled away first, straightening his back, a small nonchalant smile back on his face. It might've been more impressive if Jess hadn't known it was fake. She was just about to turn around and walk away from her abductor when Loki's hand leaped like a serpent and slapped against her cheek so hard she was sent stumbling down to the floor. Jess's cheek burned with shocking pain, her still injured calf hurting again at the sudden encounter with the floor. Neither of these were the worst.
The worst were the agonizing anxiety that filled Jess's chest and threatened to spill over, memories of her father slamming into her like a punch in the gut, and the sudden heat in her hands. Jess bit her lips hard enough to draw blood, just barely holding the fire back. She didn't know what would happen to her if Loki knew about her powers, and she didn't want to find out. She didn't get much of a chance to dwell on that, however. Even though Loki's physical attack had ended, he had only just begun.
"You might want to learn some humility," he began, his voice like dark lace, "and you might want to show me some respect. I will avoid killing you for as long as I see fit, but I have no reason to hesitate before causing you harm, quite the contrary – it would be my genuine pleasure to watch as you bleed, fading, slowly, so pained you would beg me for the mercy in the sweet relief of death. You would yearn for your tragically short life to be wiped away, pray for the infinite loss of potential. I must advise you to remember who stands in front of you before you speak, you stupid, arrogant child."
"I've been called that before," murmured Jess, tentatively pressing a palm to her still stinging cheek. "Though I gotta say the circumstances were slightly different." She paused to think before adding, "Of course, I was eight years old at the time, so that might be part of the reason."
"You just don't learn, do you?" asked Loki, narrowing his eyes at her.
Jess shrugged, determined to keep the brave mask on. "Call it a character flaw," she provided. "Or pride or vanity or whatever, since I'm sure you know all about those." She met his gaze with unwavering eyes. "I told you, I've got a high pain threshold. That hurt, I'll give you that, but it's not really gonna get you much besides the pleasure in delivering the blow. And yes, I'm beyond any doubt currently scared, but that's not much use to you either. I learned to push through my pain and my fear the hard way."
"Been hanging around the wrong sort of people, have you?" asked Loki with a hint of annoyance in his tone.
"Try child abuse," suggested Jess. "If slapping me is really your play at display of dominance it looks like you're out of my league." Ignoring the throb in her calf she got to her feet, brushing a few stray strands of hair back into place. "Anyway," she said. "Am I supposed to just awkwardly hang around this room the whole time I'm here or is there another sort of arrangement? In case you're going to say it's up to me and make a vague threat I should probably warn you: been there, done that."
"It's not common for the victim to give their abductors advice on how to make better threats," Loki pointed out.
"I'd like to think I'm not common," replied Jess calmly.
"I should think you're up to many disappointments, then," said Loki, almost sincerely.
Jess shrugged. "I'm sure it's nothing I'm not used to."
Loki frowned. "You are a child," he reminded her. "You cannot possibly know as much as you think you do of the darkness of the world."
"Yeah, I am a child," agreed Jess, nodding thoughtfully. "And look at how I react to getting kidnapped by an alien mass-murderer." There was an odd glint in her eyes, one Loki couldn't name. Not exactly sadness, not exactly anger, not exactly anything. "Now," she said. "Are you gonna get this kidnapping finished with or what?"
Jess followed Loki silently through an old staircase down to the floor below. All the walls seemed to be in need of a repaint, but other than that and the dust that floated in the air wherever you looked it wasn't all that bad. Compared to the ruin Lawrence had her and Emmett held in, this was a five-star hotel. Jess made sure to study the structure of the building by heart to the smallest details, not knowing what could be discovered as useful later on but remembering that everything might.
Not so bad, she thought to herself. Shitty but not so bad. Most of my life has been shitty but not so bad. I've got this one covered.
She kept thinking that until Loki came to a halt in front of where he said she would be staying for as long as fate would have it.
It was a cell.
Jess's feet turned to lead as she stared numbly at the bars and the white walls and how small it was. It wasn't anything like the cell she was at with Lawrence. It was better, actually, with a small bed in it, so she wouldn't have to sleep on the cold, hard floor, but it still made her struggle for breath.
Loki turned to face her, noticing the pale color her face had taken. "Problem?" he asked with a small smirk.
Jess swallowed hard past the lump of fear in her throat. She shook her head stubbornly. There was no escaping the cell, she knew. There was nothing she could do against it. She could either enter it willingly or let Loki thrust her in.
Speechless, Jess Cory walked into the cell. She didn't move as the door closed behind her, not even when Loki locked it, not even when his footsteps died away in the distance.
Jess knew very little at that point.
She just knew nothing was fair.