Chapter 7

"I have nothing to apologize for." He said haughtily. Loki sat, relaxed and at relative ease, listening to Fury rant.

"Because of you, we might have to terminate this project! You could've made her into a demon! How do I know, you didn't brainwash her?" he shouted through the glass.

Loki smirked, crossed his arms, and said, "Well, you might have to trust me."

The look on the man's face was enough to broaden Loki's grin considerably. Fury gave him a look that simply said 'Are you kidding me?'

The director shook his head, and stormed out of the room. As soon as he had gone, however, Loki let out a sigh of exhaustion. He closed his eyes and thought about the last few hours.

As soon as he had exited Kate's mind, SHIELD agents had dragged him away, injecting him with enough tranquilizer to make an elephant unconscious. Of course all it did was make him tired, but it was enough to subdue him.

They had dumped him in a small cell with black honeycomb walls, and a window, were the humans could ogle at him, like he was some sort of exhibit at a zoo. None of the Avengers had come to see him. He had thought he had seen Agent Batler, but he wasn't sure.

For the last three, four hours he had put much thought into the issue at hand: Kate. He relived over and over, the last few minutes he had been in her head; Protector, the wall, and getting stabbed. He visualized every detail, every sound, and every movement, everything that was happening. The one thing that stood out was at the end he had felt another presence.

There had been something- no, someone- in Kate's mind. If frustrated him that he couldn't figure out who it was. It wasn't Asgardian that was certain. Neither was it Jotun, but was most definitely someone from the nine realms. The one thing that discounted his theory was there was a feeling of Midgard about it. He sighed heavily. This was very, very confusing. How could someone be of Midgard, yet not be of Midgard?

Another mystery was her mental landscape. A simple theory was that it was the drugs manipulating her, driving her mad, but nothing was ever that simple. The way everything changed, how she had the majority of her memories blocked, and didn't consciously realize it… There was something going on, something very devious at work. The more he thought about the wall, the more he remembered something from long ago, after the fall. He remembered the purple titan's wrath when he didn't 'perform' well, remembered his glee when he did, and never would he forget those despicable tournaments he held…

Loki sat bolted up. That golden wall that at first he had thought might be Asgardian was not. It was the work of Thanos. But how? Why? When? What purpose did a mere mortal like Kate serve? Why put a block in her head? When did it happen? And how did he manage to put such a powerful enchantment over her without frying her brain? One question answered, and a million more because of it. He needed to get off this Midgardian rock to figure it out! But he was tied to Thor like a dog on a leash. Where ever he went, Loki had to go too.

He leaned his head back, and closed his tired eyes. Until now, he hadn't realized how exhausted he was. In no time at all, he had fallen into a deep sleep.

In every book she had read, it always said that it was peaceful, soft, or calm when you woke from being on anesthetic or some other drug that induced sleep. That was not true at all.

It was abrupt. One minute, Kate was drifting lazily in a gray haze, the next waves of searching pain, shrill beeping, and a dull thrump thrump thrump from somewhere invaded. She squinted at the ceiling, waiting for her eyes to readjust to the light. It was much faster than she thought it should be. With her eyes readjusted, she took inventory of the room. It was square, with smooth black walls, a cold looking white floor, no visible door or windows, and a large cot, that she at the moment occupied. As she took a moment to get her thoughts in order, she realized with a jolt that there weren't any lights on. No bulbs, no anything that could allow her to see. How was this possible? It had to be dark as a cave in there, yet she could see every minute detail in the fabric of the cot.

Something flickered in the corner of her eye. She twisted her neck around to look.

"Oh." She said in awe. She had wings, large elegantly folded wings. They were closed on her back, in shades of grey and purple. With her new vision, she could see everything about them. All the feathers arranged in perfect order. She reached out to stroke one of them, and found they were coarse, not silky, as she had originally thought. No matter, she had wings! A large smile formed on her face. This was just so cool. This was something out of a Sci-Fi film.

The wings transitioned smoothly from feathers to dense fur, almost like a beaver's pelt, where her wing joints met her shoulder blades. The fur was smooth, short and fibrous. Without warning, it fluffed up, making her look double her size! It was so surprising that she gave a yelp of shock and orange blossomed all over her. When her heart rate slowed, the fur settled back to its former smoothness. Mastering her new abilities would take time.

She plucked at the gray cotton shirt she was wearing. The SHIELD insignia was on the left shoulder, like normal, but there was something else written underneath. She tried to straighten the fabric enough to read it, but it was too confusing. She bit her lower lip. No one was around, and there didn't seem to be cameras. She sighed. Her curiosity would be the death of her. She slipped off her shirt, and looked at the words quickly. It said:

Project Freedom

What was Project Freedom? It had to be her, but why was it called 'Freedom'? Another question for Fury. She added that to her list, and went to the next thing on her mind; standing.

She swung her legs over the edge of the cot, and hopped down. She felt strong; very strong, and tall. Now that she looked at herself closely, she was much taller than she had originally thought. That experiment did more than mess with her genes; it changed everything about her! She felt like she was ten feet tall! It was strange. Kate tried to stretch her wings, but there wasn't enough room. A frown crossed her face. Her thoughts were diverted a moment later when a very powerful something whacked her legs. She spun around and nearly fell over. With her new height, and wings, she was heavier than before, and it would take much getting used to. The same powerful something walloped her again, this time it was her arm. She instinctively reached out to grab it. At first, she though it was a furry rope, but as she kept looking at it, it dawned on her that, this was a tail. She had a tail. It was long, and seemed to have a mind of its own. It swung everywhere, hitting everything, especially her.

"Weird, but cool. Help with balance, I guess." She supposed. Her eyes widened. Ever her voice had changed! It was slightly deeper, and smoother. How much had she transformed?

Spots started to form in front of her eyes, making her dizzy. She sat down on the cot, crossing her legs, and pulling her tail from behind her into her lap. It flicked and twisted halfheartedly. If Kate concentrated really hard, she could stop it from moving altogether. A warm feeling of victory settled in her chest. That was a start to controlling her abilities.

She leaned back and rested her head on the wall. Its cold surface didn't bother her. Thick feathers and fur gave her an extra layer of warmth. She smiled. This was amazing.

Although, she liked having her improved vision, she wished for real light. She didn't honestly need it, but it would be comforting. An idea occurred to her. If she had a tail, wings, and who knows what else, maybe she had…

"Only one way to find out." She murmured. Kate smiled again. She really did like the sound of her new voice.

Her eyes scrunched together, and her grip on her tail tightened. She concentrated on bringing light from inside her, out. Seconds ticked away into minutes, until with a sigh, she gave up. Maybe bioluminescence was too much to hope for. It would've been cool though.

She sighed again and her wings curled around her. What would it feel like to fly, to have that freedom, and way of escape? Kate had never been afraid of heights, but she had never been fond of them either. A thrill of excitement filed her with the thought of soaring above cities, and diving through clouds. How would the Earth look way up high? She wondered if it would be cold up there, and how high she could go.

Hours passed by. But Kate wasn't bored in the slightest. She had soon discovered that she could isolate certain areas on her body, and change the color. She was having fun making her foot white, but her toes a deep green. It was difficult to discern color in the dark, but if she didn't think about it too much, she just knew what hue she was. It was strange, almost like she had a template in her mind. She could now think of hundreds of colors she didn't even know existed. It was exhilarating.

Then, her happiness melted away when a thought crossed her mind. What are they going to do with me? She wondered. Unease settled in her stomach. Would they experiment on her again? No, Tony and Bruce wouldn't let them, right? They already did, what's stopping them from just continuing? A little voice whispered. She knew that Bruce wouldn't hurt her, but what if he didn't know? She started to get scared. Scared in that mind altering way; when the imagination goes haywire.

Calm. A voice murmured in her head. Her heart stopped. It was so familiar. So comforting. It wasn't the voice from the pit, but a voice she knew, but she didn't know how. It seemed to reach everywhere the fear was, soothing and trusting.

Calm. It said again. She closed her eyes, and relaxed on the cot, letting her breathing slow. Somehow, she knew that the owner of the voice was going to protect her.

Another few hours ticked away, and her fear, along with her intrigue was no longer enough to stave off the boredom. Not even the mystery of the voice in her head could keep her occupied for long; it wasn't like she could investigate. What really excited her was flying. She wanted to test her wings, see how fast they could go, how far they would take her, and try some tricks. She could see herself diving and swooping through the air, she could see the people far below awing and oohing over Kate and her daring moves.

During one such fantasy, she heard a voice. Not the pit-voice or the protector voice, an automated one.

"You will be receiving a guest momentarily. For your own protection and theirs, it is advised that you remain calm." The same mechanical voice repeated the message three times. Kate was interested. Who could it be? Bruce? Tony? Dare she consider it, Loki?

Ever since she had woken up, he had been at the back of her mind. It felt strange thinking about him, because it felt like he had been with her recently, but surely that wasn't possible.

Kate sat on her cot with her back straight as a board. She was bursting with curiosity. She folded her hands in her lap. Her tail swished in a quick rhythm across the cot. She stared at the wall opposite her, waiting for her guest.

Natasha was anxious, undeniably so. Her anxiety was because of Kate. Would the girl hate her? Would she want her gone? She scoffed at these concerns. She was the Black Widow, she was an assassin, a living weapon, and she needn't worry over some girl's opinion of her. But she did. She couldn't understand were this was coming from. Was it guilt? Guilt for taking her to SHIELD? Of all the lives she had taken and ruined, she was guilty because of this? No, she was worried about how the girl would accept her role in all this. Would she want to work for SHIELD or be free-lance, like Stark? If so, then this girl would indeed be in trouble. Fury wouldn't let her slip through his fingers.

The Widow stood with her head down outside of Kate's, for lack of a better word, cell.

There were many things Natasha prided herself on, and one was being able to isolate, and suppress emotion. Why wasn't it working now? Was something wrong with her? Had her years of being a killer finally taken its toll on her, after all this time?

She took a deep breath and ran her hand through her hair. She just needed to calm down. She would do her evaluation, gather info from Loki, and then talk to the rest of the guys.

"Agent Romanoff, Natasha may enter Smithton, Kate's containment. Proceed with caution." The mechanical voice said.

The Widow straightened her back, took another deep breath, and turned her face into an emotionless mask.

The door clicked open with a hiss, and Natasha entered the dark room.

Sup guys! Also a short chapter, sorry, but the next one will be longer! I will update every Monday unless something goes amiss, and I will also do random updates, like I did on Thursday... or Friday, whatever! Hope you guys liked it, and guess what? Someone from Finland read this! That's so awesome! Shout out to my Reviewers (seriously, you guys are amazing. I smile every time I see one! And it's great motivation for the next chap!) Favoriters (you guys made a good call on adding this to your favorites, *wink*) and Followers (The numbers are growing and it's amazing!) See you guys next week! Dis da Geek out!

P.S. Found awesome book: Black Widow, Forever Red. It's amazing! Totally an epic read! Bye:):):):):):):):):):):)

6.13.16 having trouble uploading files. Trying to fix it. Chapter might come tomorrow or Sunday, because I'll be in the middle of the woods on Wednesday until Saturday, so no internet. Sorry. Hang in there. In the meantime, check out my favorite fanfics and users.

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