Hey, guys! I'm sorry that I haven't posted in a while! Studying for my final exams have been stealing all my free time. But here is the next chapter to Blackheart! Thank you to everyone who is following or has favorited! It makes me really happy that people are actually reading my writing :D I hope you enjoy this chapter, and please leave a review!
Ch. 8
—Fadrielindë—
We enter the stark white lab, strange and complex machines lined up all along the room. My eyes are drawn to the front table of the room where Loki's scepter sits upon a stand. The swirling stone in the center of the scepter is shining brightly despite being seperated from its bearer. I look around the room; Bruce is standing in front of the scepter, leaning against the table with his arms folded and his glasses perched on his nose. Tony is standing by a glowing screen, his hands wave about it and the images on the screen move around. Natasha is leaning against the wall watching Tony work, and Steve is nowhere to be found. They all glance up at me when they hear me enter.
"Everyone, I am truly sorry about what happened. I do not know what went wrong," I apologize before anyone can say anything. Natasha approaches me.
"It's okay, Fadriel," she says, placing her hand on my arm. "We actually found out what Loki is planning." My forehead wrinkles.
"You did?" I ask. Bruce speaks up.
"The monster Loki mentioned? He was talking about me," he says.
"You?"
"Banner transforms into a giant green monster when he gets angry," Tony says. I look at Bruce incredulously. He nods.
"It's true," he confesses. Suddenly, Fury storms into the lab. Seeing Tony messing with the computer, he scowls.
"What are you doing, Stark?" he asks, angrily. I look closer and see that Tony is reading something that is marked 'Confidential'.
"Uh, kind of been wondering the same thing about you," he replies. Fury strides up to Tony.
"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract," he says loudly. Bruce straightens up against the table and walks over to another screen.
"We are. The model's locked and we're sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile," Bruce explains, pointing at a map on the screen.
"And you'll get you cube back, no muss, no fuss," Tony tunes in. "What is Phase 2?" he asks, referring to the screen he is reading. Steve suddenly enters, carrying a large weapon.
"Phase 2 is SHIELD used the cube to make weapons," he says, dropping the weapon onto the same table on which Loki's scepter sits. "Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow for me."
"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean we're—" Fury is interrupted by Tony.
"I'm sorry, Nick," he gestures to the screen which is showing blueprints of the same weapon Steve brought in. "What were you lying?"
"I was wrong, Director. The world hasn't changed a bit," Steve accuses Fury. I have no clue what is going on and look to Thor for an explanation, but he is busy watching everything unfold. Bruce points accusingly at Natasha.
"Did you know about this?" he asks her.
"You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?" she responds.
"I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed," he says back.
"Loki's manipulating you," Natasha states.
"And you've been doing what exactly?" Bruce banters.
"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you," she says.
"Yes, and I'm not leaving because you suddenly get a little twitchy." He directs his attention to Fury. "I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction." Fury points at Thor.
"Because of him." Thor looks extremely confused.
"Me?" he asks, furrowing his eyebrows. Fury elaborates.
"Last year earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge mass that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, out gunned."
"My people want nothing but peace with your planet," Thor defends himself. Fury holds out his hands.
"But you're not the only people out there, are you?" he asks, gesturing to me as an example. "And, you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched; they can't be controlled."
"Like you controlled the cube?" Steve asks.
"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies. It is the signal to all the realms that the earth is ready for a higher form of war," Thor argues.
"A higher form?" Steve is looking frustrated. I feel like I am the only one who is completely clueless to what is going on.
"You forced our hand. We had to come up with something," Fury says, trying to defend himself.
"A nuclear deterrent, 'cause that always calms everything right down," Tony drawls sarcastically.
"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?" Fury accuses.
"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep—" Steve is interrupted by Tony.
"Wait, wait! Hold on! How is this now about me?"
"I'm sorry, isn't everything?"
"I thought humans were more evolved than this," Thor muses.
"Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?" Fury argues with Thor. Suddenly, the whole room erupts into chaos. Everyone is talking over each other and arguing. I tune them out. This is so pointless. We will never stop Loki if everyone is acting like immature little children! Shaking my head, I listen back in to the arguments.
"Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr. Banner back to his…" Fury stops, realizing that Loki is in the cell.
"Where? You're renting my room," Bruce counters.
"The cell was just—" Bruce interrupts him.
"In case you needed to kill me, but you can't! I know, I tried." Everyone is silent. Bruce shrugs. "I got low, I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out. So I moved on, I focused on helping other people. I was good until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk. You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?" Bruce begins to tremble. Fury unhooks his weapon.
"Dr. Banner, put down the scepter," Steve says. Bruce looks down at his hand, puzzled at how the scepter got there. Suddenly, the computer beeps. It must have found the Tesseract! I stride over to Bruce, who is staring at the screen, dumbfounded.
"Where is it?" I ask. At the same time, an explosion erupts throughout the ship. Everyone is thrown back with the force of the explosion.
My instincts kick in, and I use the summoning spell to draw the Mace to my hand. Flames shoot from my other hand, licking my wrist. I take a moment to observe my surroundings. The sleek metal floor where Bruce and Natasha were standing is marred by a giant hole. I am laying on my stomach with Thor not too far from me. His hammer flies to his hand, as he jumps up. Steve and Stark run out of the room shouting orders. My eyes find Thor's.
"We need to—" he starts to say, as an inhuman growl rips through the air. My eyes widen as I spring up off the floor, the flames in my hand growing more intense.
"Bruce!" I yell. Thor and I sprint to the hole and find Natasha, her leg trapped under the rubble, and a huge green monster where Bruce landed. Natasha's eyes widen in fear as she tries to pull her leg out from under the rubble. The Hulk growls once more, and chills run up and down my spine. Natasha pulls her leg free and sprints away as the Hulk tears after her. Thor jumps into the hole and runs after them.
"What do you need me to do?" I shout after him. He turns quickly and gazes at me intensely.
"Go check on Loki!" he yells. He sprints after Natasha and the Hulk out of sight. I turn and run out of the destroyed lab. Darting around falling debris, I reach the steel door leading to Loki's cell. More explosions shake the ship, and the door nearly falls off. With the Mace and flames at the ready, I kick the door off its hinges and dart into the room. I am surprised to see Loki's cell door sliding open, Loki casually walking out of his cell.
"No!" I shout, springing at Loki. I brace myself to push him back into the cell, but am even more surprised to hit nothing but air. Loki dissolves, and I find myself now trapped in the cell, the door sliding closed. I spin around and find Loki standing at the control panel. His dark green eyes are filled with shock.
"Fadrielindë? I did not think you would be the one coming," he says slowly. I hit the glass with my fist, the flames disappearing from my hand.
"Loki! Open the door!" I shout, angrily. Slowly, he shakes his head.
"I cannot, Fadrielindë," he replies, regret in his voice. "It is clear that you are no longer on my side. This is how it has to be." His voice is empty as his hand nears the switch that will cause the cell to drop thirty thousand feet. No. He wouldn't…would he? My hand pressed against the glass, I try to reason with him.
"Loki, please. Don't do this. This isn't you," I plead. Suddenly, a new voice cuts through the air.
"Move away, please." I turn my head to the right and see Agent Coulson approaching Loki with a menacing weapon in his hands. Loki slowly moves away from the switch raising his hands in surrender. "You like this? We started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer. Even I don't know what it does." Coulson shifts the weapon in his hands, aiming it at Loki. He presses a button and the weapon whirs, the end turning red-hot. "Do you wanna find out?" All of a sudden, Loki appears behind him and stabs him in the chest with his scepter. The Loki by the switch dissolves—another illusion.
"NO!" The scream rips from my throat as Coulson slumps against the wall, blood gushing from his chest. My Voice causes the glass cell to reverberate with my outcry. I drop the Mace and pound on the glass with both of my hands. Pure anger and hatred course through my veins, threatening to explode. "What in Oblivion is wrong with you?" Loki says nothing as he strides back over to the switch. "This is not you, Loki. I don't know what happened, but this is not really you," I say, trying to keep my voice even—trying to smother the anger and hate inside of me.
"How would you know what I am really like, Fadrielindë?" Loki asks harshly. "You have only known me for a few days." Shaking my head, I reply.
"I…I guess I don't…" I trail off. Loki nods, his hand nearing the switch once more. "But I do know this," I continue. He turns to look towards me, avoiding direct eye contact. I am afraid of what he will do when I tell him…but it is my only chance to talk some sense into him. Taking a deep breath, I place my hands on the glass, mimicking his when I came to visit him. Gods, it feels so long ago. I look down, focusing on the swirling pattern on my Nightingale boots. "I looked into your mind." Loki jerks, like he was slapped. He takes a moment to recompose himself.
"When?" he asks with no emotion in his voice.
"When we were on the way to Germany. I wanted to see what you were hiding from me," I pause. "I saw everything." I bring my gaze up to meet his. He is standing by the switch, unmoving. When he says nothing, I continue. "I know that what you're doing—what you're doing here on Earth—you don't want to do it. But you feel like you have to."
"I feel like I have to?" Loki spits. "I feel like I have to launch this war because I do not wish to be tortured for the rest of my existence by the most feared being in the universe! Fadrielindë, you have no idea. I have no choice." He turns away, his back to me.
"No. That is where you are wrong, Loki," I say, my hands still pressed against the glass. "You always have a choice." Loki says nothing. He turns to the control panel. He brings his gaze up to meet mine, and I gasp at what I see. His eyes are blood-red, no longer the dark green that I had so foolishly fallen in love with. His expression is dead, unfeeling. My stomach sinks as his hand nears the switch, but this time with more purpose—no hesitation. He looks back up at me with those dead crimson eyes.
"You're wrong." Before I can reply, Loki flips the switch and the cell plunges down out of the plane. As I fall, I swear I see Loki's eyes shine with tears.
.
Thor bursts into the room just as Loki hits the switch. The cell plummets out of the ship, with Fadriel inside.
"No!" he shouts. Sprinting to the hole, he wastes no time and jumps after her. The cell flips and tumbles in the air as it nears the ground, flinging Fadriel around like a rag doll. Thor tries to make himself fall faster to catch up with the cell. He can use Mjonir to break her out if he gets close enough. But time is running out. The cell plummets faster and faster towards the ground. Fadriel tries to break the cell's glass. Her Mace smashes against the cell wall, but not hard enough to break it.
"Come on!" Thor tries to propel himself downward as the cell nears a cluster of menacingly sharp rocks. His fingertips are inches from the cell… As if in slow motion, the cell crashes onto the rocks and skids across the sand before coming to a stop. But somehow, the walls are still intact! Thor lands next to the battered cell and peers inside. Fadriel's limp body is covered in gashes and bruises. Horrified to see her lying on the floor of the cell, Thor panics. He raises his arm and strikes the cell with Mjonir as hard as he can.
"Please, Fadriel! Please don't be dead!" he shouts, hitting the cell over and over. Finally the glass shatters, forming a small hole in the wall. Thor wiggles inside and runs to Fadriel. Her pulse slows as her breathing becomes more and more ragged. Her body is twisted in an unnatural position, bones protruding from her chest—her ribs. "Fadriel, it is going to be alright." Thor places her head in his lap. Speaking into his earpiece, he informs the others. "Loki trapped Fadriel in the cell and activated it. She is still alive but I do not know how much longer she will survive," he reports urgently. "Send medical help immediately!" Turning his gaze back to Fadriel he tries to reassure her. "It is going to be alright." In his earpiece, he can hear Fury shouting orders. Explosions erupt through the ship in the background. Fadriel's eyes flutter as she groans.
"Fadriel!" Thor says in surprise. Her eyes open with difficulty as she tries to focus. "Fadriel, it is alright. Help is coming." She does not acknowledge him, slipping in and out of consciousness.
After what feels like an hour, a helicopter finally lands at the crash site. Fury sprints out of the helicopter to Thor, who is gently holding Fadriel in his lap. Fury takes in the image of her battered and broken body and is astounded that she is still alive. The medics rush to Fadriel with a stretcher and medical equipment.
"Be careful!" Thor tells them as they carefully lift her onto the stretcher. Fury joins Thor at the wreckage.
Pointing to the hole in the cell, Fury asks, "Did you break her out?" Thor nods, looking on worriedly as Fadriel is transported onto the helicopter.
"What happened up there?" Thor asks, referring to the attack on the ship.
"Loki happened," Fury replies bitterly. Thor simply nods slightly and wanders to the helicopter. Fury follows. "We are regrouping at the ship." It never ends, does it?