AN: Fixed and updated chapter 3. Hope you enjoy, and feel free to review! :)
The wind whirled through the hole in the helicopter wall in gasping puffs. With every lurch of turbulence, I clenched my bag closer and closer to my chest. A single thought pulsed in my head, over and over again.
'I have to get revenge. I have to get revenge. I have to...'
The plan felt pathetically poorly thought out, but it was the closest thing I had to a lead on how to bring Heidi and Heinrich to peace, and myself back to the In-Between. However, Loki had just been dragged out of the helicopter by a burly blonde blur in mid-flight. A new thought swirled by on repeat, like a merry-go-round at a carnival.
'How am I going to exact revenge against a missing person?'
"Tony's been down there for a while," Cap's uncertain voice drifted from the cockpit. "Can you handle flying this on your own? The storm's died down now, Natasha."
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Go check on him, and get that prisoner back," the mysterious female voice, Natasha, reassured. Not needing any further encouragement, Cap' ran out of the cockpit, his parachute already strapped on, and dived out the gaping hole of a door.
He didn't spare me a single glance, but the sudden realization that I probably shouldn't have had possession of my bag struck me as he disappeared out of sight. Before anyone else came wandering out of the cockpit, I refastened the cloth bag with fingers numb from the cold and dropped it in front of my feet. I curled my knees up to my tender stomach as far as they could go before pushing out in a mighty kick. The bag slid across the metal floor smoothly until the helicopter lurched in the wind. The floor tilted left at first, and the bag obediently rolled beneath the bench it originally came from, but then the floor tilted right. The bag tumbled back out and lolled in the middle of the floor. I waited with baited breath for the next surge of turbulence to propel the bag back, but there wasn't any. I stared at the horrible bag laying smack-dab in the middle of the floor. It was too far away to kick any further to the opposite bench, but too close to be left unnoticed.
'Great,' I grumbled internally.
I leaned forward to check if Natasha was occupied with flying. All I could see was the back of her bobbed red hair swivel from side to side as she checked the flashing lights and gauges before her. Deeming her thoroughly occupied and the situation as safe, I slowly unclicked the seat belt from around my chest. I leaned forward again, further this time. She flicked a switch and spoke rapidly into a headpiece peeking out from the side of her head. I sat back and gently slid the fabric strips down to either side of me before standing up. The action made my head sway and immediately regret my decision. I braced both hands against the wall behind me to regain my balance and pushed away toward the bag. I ignored the twinge in my wrist and ankle when I placed pressure on them.
Thud.
My first step was quiet, nearly silent. The fat raindrops beating against the helicopter muffled it quite well.
Thuuuud.
My second step wasn't as quiet. My heavy boot dragged behind me against the metal, creating a shuffle that the roaring wind drowned out.
"Sit. Down." Natasha's firm voice jolted me, "You're not going to jump out and save your little boyfriend. You're going to sit down, shut up, and look pretty." She turned her head and stared me down with piercing green eyes until I took a step back out of her view. I sat back down, stunned by her scolding.
"Loki's not my boyfriend," I glumly corrected her after a moment of silence. "He's not even an ally. I haven't seen him before today, and he's already ruined my life." Natasha hummed in response, clearly not believing me, or perhaps simply not caring.
Time seemed to drag on as the gears of my mind turned. I had to find a way to track down Loki, get rid of these shackles, and prevent Loki from running away while exacting my revenge. It was going to be hard.
The first part of my checklist was completed when Tony's metal head popped up into view through the gaping hole. The rest of his metal body followed, with Loki crushed against his chest. A puff of sparks trailed behind Tony's bionic boots. A particularly large puff projected Tony and Loki back onto the relatively solid floor of the helicopter. Even though Loki didn't have a jetpack strapped to his bony shoulders as I had hoped, it appeared Tony certainly had jetpack boots and had transported the both of them back to the helicopter with them.
As soon as Loki's feet met the metal flooring, he jerked his angular shoulders out of Tony's grip and stepped away. Tony retained a single hand clenched around his arm as he half dragged him to stand to my left. He released his grip on Loki, giving a shove to his back as an urge to sit back down on the bench beside me.
Loki complied with Tony's unspoken command to sit, while the burly blonde blur that had originally dragged him out leaped into the helicopter. The aircraft dipped under his new weight, which pitched me forward. Unlike Tony, there was no obvious way for the burly man to have found his way back into the helicopter. Instead of giving the situation much more thought, I frantically re-clasped my seat belt. I didn't know what the weight limits for a helicopter were, but we were certainly nearing it.
"Thanks for the ride back up here," a voice drifted up from behind the massive man. The previously unnoticed Cap' hopped off the blond brute's back and shuffled to the entrance of the cockpit.
"You are welcome, patriotic one," he half turned his head and replied in a hearty, rumbling voice. A dark scowl swept away his cordial smile when his vision fell onto Loki. He shook his head sadly and stepped over to the bench across from us. Along his way, the massive man kicked my bag with his heavy boot, obviously oblivious to its existence. If only Tony could have been that oblivious, I would have been saved from a great deal of awkward scrutiny.
"Why's that out from under the bench?" Tony shot an accusatory look my way and pointed to the offending object.
I pressed my lips together and cast my eyes down to my feet.
"Hey," Tony waved a hand rudely close to my face. "I'm talking to you. Why is your bag out from there?"
"It slid out during the bumpy ride," I glanced up and told him the simple truth. There was no need to explain further. Tony already suspected that I was in cahoots with Loki, and refused to believe that I was a Grim Reaper. While I didn't blame him for it, I knew saying that I was checking the Grim Reaper's Extraordinary Guidebook to Reaping and Grimming would only encourage his suspicions.
"Right," he scoffed before reaching down and yanking the bag open. "What's in here, anyway?" The burly blond man peered up from his seat to see what Tony had found. Loki glared ahead, unwilling to acknowledge anyone. Cap' had disappeared into the cockpit again, but I was sure he would have shown interest in the strange book if he were nearby. I stared blankly ahead in blind panic. When Tony shook the bag impatiently, I tore my vision away from the wall above Thor's head and locked eyes with Tony.
"It's um," I wracked my brain, and finally settled on an innocent and semi-believable word. "... a diary."
Tony quirked an eyebrow and flipped through the guidebook. "Yeah? Then why is it written in code?"
"That's not a code. It's just my drunk handwriting. I'm a terrible writer sober, and drinking doesn't help it in the least."
"Aren't you a little young to be drinking?" Tony studied my face while slowly turning the pages. I shook my head.
"No. I look younger than I am." It was refreshing to finally tell a bit of truth. Developmentally, I was a young adult. Technically, I was over a century old. Grimm's aged a bit slower than living beings.
Tony shrugged and slammed the book closed, seemingly satisfied that there weren't any obvious secret plans hidden in it. "Yeah, I tried to keep one before, too. The trick is to write throughout the entire day, not just when you're wasted. That way, you can be sure at least some of it's readable instead of having complete garble like this," he leaned forward, as if sharing the most important secret in the world. "You wanna hear another trick?"
I nodded carefully.
"Don't lie about stupid shit like this," he firmly tapped the cover of the book. My eyes widened at his vulgar language. "It discredits anything else you might say later on. That'll work against you when you try to get a plea bargain, and I assure you, you'll want one. Now, I get it- you're a scared little girl who got caught up in the moment with Loki. What did he do to convince you to follow him? Did he threaten you? Or did his pretty face lure you in? No, don't bother answering. I don't care. My point is that you should go out of your way to cooperate with us," he paused and cocked his head to the side. "Because when the consequences of joining a madman in his dastardly plot catch up with you, you'll need all the help you can get. You will be held on trial, and I've heard that they're bringing back the death sentence for special cases. Do you want to be a special case?"
I swallowed hard and blinked.
"That wasn't a rhetorical question."
"N-no," I shook my head. "But you're not listening to me! I told you that it's just a diary, and I told you that I'm not working with him. I was just trying to do my job, but then he got in the way. Please, just listen to-"
"Diaries don't have chapters, or a table of contents. Honestly, how stupid do you think I am? Think over what I said. You'll be questioned properly once we land and you should consider giving truthful answers." He stuffed the book back into the bag and kicked it under the burly man's bench. "Move your feet Thor, I can't fit it back under here." Thor, the blonde blur from earlier, obediently shifted his massive feet to the side.
Tony wandered over to a part of the wall that wasn't occupied by benches or a giant hole and leaned against it. Without Tony blocking my view, I was finally able to get a good look at Thor. It was easier to study the man than deal with the current situation, so I chose the easy route. His golden hair was slightly plastered to his head from the rain, and his silver armour shone brightly in the flickering lights. His red cloak draped majestically over his broad shoulders. There were clear similarities in Loki's and Thor's armours, and I felt safe in assuming they originated from the same region. Their shared cultural origins didn't explain why Thor had attacked Loki, and my head throbbed too much to care or think much more on the subject.
With a start, I realized I had been staring at him for a creepy amount of time. I looked down at my shackled wrists and tried my hardest not to think about my problems. It didn't work. I had to dodge being questioned when we landed. I didn't know where I would be taken for that, but I knew it would be away from Loki and I couldn't let that happen. A single, terrifyingly stupid idea to avoid it blazed into my brain.
I had to get rid of the shackles. If only Cap' were back here he probably would've uncuffed me without too much fuss. But he wasn't back here, and I couldn't risk waiting for him to wander back. It would take too long, and we could land any minute. I twisted and chafed my wrists against the metal cuffs as I scanned the room and tried to find someone else. I didn't know anything about Thor, so I couldn't rely on him for my plan. Tony did not like me. He was more likely to throw me out of the helicopter than help me. I was out of options, so I took a shot in the dark and hoped it hit someone.
"Oww," I groaned and clutched my right wrist. "What a sharp pain! Uhg, it's swelling really bad."
Tony peered down at me and Thor furrowed his bushy brow in concern. "What's wrong with you?" Tony asked.
"M-my wrist, it really hurts. It's getting red and swollen. I must have fallen on it funny."
"No, it's not. It looks fine to me," Tony contradicted and leaned closer.
"These cuffs keep digging in. They're too tight against my swollen wrist and it's making my hand go numb. You can't see from where you're standing, but it's all red and gross looking."
"Give it here," Tony instructed as he stepped closer and held out a metal palm. I complied, and mentally crossed my fingers that the flickering lights would make it look worse than it was. "Ew. It is red. But what do you expect me to do? Undo the cuffs so you can escape? Yeah, I don't think so. We're almost there, so just deal with it for now."
"The young maiden need not suffer. If she attempts anything, I will stop her. She is but a mortal and it would be no task to contain her," Thor spoke up.
Tony shot a look over his shoulder at Thor.
"Fine. But she's your responsibility, okay?" Thor nodded his assent. "Hey Cap', you still have those keys?" Tony called out and released his grip.
Cap's head appeared into view. "Here," he called back and threw a small ring of keys toward Tony. "I want them back." He propped a fist against his hip and spread out his legs in yet another unnecessary pose.
"Yeah, yeah," Tony muttered with a roll of his eyes as he fumbled with the ring. After three heart beats, he had managed to remove a specific and rather tiny key from the ring. He carelessly tossed the remaining ring of keys back to Cap' before turning to me. A shrill beeping drew Cap' back into the cockpit just as Tony grabbed hold of my right hand. "I'm just going to loosen the cuffs until you can get checked out by a doctor," he informed me and inserted the key. As soon as the lock was undone, I snatched my hands back.
Tony was very right to not have trusted me.
One cuff was hanging open, while the other was still firmly attached. Before anyone could react, I lunged at Loki and cuffed the loose shackle to his right wrist. My mind registered a flaw in my plan, which I quickly amended. I smacked Tony's slack hand, sending the single key flying through the air.
Clunk.
It landed an arms-length away onto the metal floor.
Skreee.
The key slid across the tilted surface as everyone but me watched on in horror.
Ka-thump.
Instead of stopping at the lip of the gaping door, it managed to hop over it and fall into the empty sky.
There. That fixed that problem. Now I couldn't be separated from Loki and he wouldn't be able to escape from me. A small voice inside me worried about how I would use the bathroom while chained to Loki, but I reasoned that I would enact my revenge against him before that problem could present itself.
I smiled, a bit more smugly than I'd want to admit, and surveyed the reactions of Tony, Thor, and Loki. Tony looked confused, Thor looked amused and slightly scandalized, and Loki looked absolutely furious.
"You're not going to believe what Leena just did," Tony called out to Cap' and Natasha.
"You can tell us when we land, we're nearly at the base," Natasha shouted back.
"You should really see this," Tony insisted. "I think Loki's head's gunna explode!"
I glanced over to Loki and found that his pale complexion had turned red and a vein, not unlike Darius', throbbed in his temple.
"Bwa!" Thor snorted. He snickered and gulped, as if to hold back his laughter. That didn't work though, and he let out an Earth-shaking gaffaw. "The look on your face, Brother, it is truly priceless." He continued to laugh and brushed a tear from his streaming eyes.
"I'm not your brother," Loki snarled, but Thor continued on as if he hadn't said anything at all.
"Fret not, for I am certain there is another key," Thor giggled shamelessly. "Until then," another snicker, "Perhaps this will teach you that you are equal to humans, if you are still intent on ruling them."
"I am not equal to those ants!" "I'm not human, I'm a Grim Reaper!" Loki and I exclaimed at the same time. Thor chortled.
"Uhh, no," Tony shook his head slowly. "There isn't another key, actually. Those shackles are the prototype designed to contain the Hulk. There was only one key for each pair and," everyone turned to look at the open door, and back to Tony again. "Leena just destroyed her key. The cuff's are made from Vibranium which, in case you didn't know, is virtually indestructible. Good going kid, you just sewed yourself to Loki's side. Enjoy eternal Shakespeare in the park." Tony rolled his eyes.
A small niggle of regret floated in my stomach. I pushed it away. I had already decided that this was a necessary part of my plan, and there was no time to worry about consequences.
It was time to form a new plan. What was considered revenge? Would I have to interrupt a speech of his? Would I have to gouge out his eye? My stomach sunk at the next possibility; what if I had to murder him? As despicable as Loki was, murder was murder. I'd seen how terrified the souls of murdered victims were, and I didn't want to create one.
I wouldn't kill Loki. I would do everything else possible, starting with interrupting everything he said. And then if that didn't work, Loki would have to part with an eye.
'And if that isn't enough?' A cruel voice whispered in my mind. 'What then? Is returning home really worth killing someone?' A ball of dread filled my chest when I realized I couldn't answer that question.
"Then I will simply have to tear off your-" Loki began a threat in a deep, dark tone.
"Sure is a nice night out. A bit cold, but you can always see the stars better on cold nights," I interrupted.
"Do not talk over me, you pathetic-"
"Yup. Such a nice night."
"What are you-"
"You know, for being 'but a mortal,' I managed to be faster than you all. I thought one of you would have at least made an effort to stop me. But nope."
"Stop it this-" Loki stood and glared down at me.
"I really wasn't expecting that to work. Certainly, my wrist was hurting and my relief is immense, but I can't believe you agreed to that."
"Stop it!" Loki shouted and lunged at me, as if to strike out.
"Watch it!" Tony jumped in the small space between us to block Loki. "Touch her, and I'll rearrange your face." He raised a glowing metal palm to Loki's face. Loki's pale face was distorted with rage, but he slowly sat back down beside me.
"Useless-"
"Thank you," I continued to interrupt Loki. "I thought you would have been angry with me."
"I am. But you're going to suffer enough being attached by the hip to that. You're getting what you deserve."
"I suppose," I murmured. I fiddled with the cuff on my left hand, and tried to remember if I saw Loki return the tool he had used to gouge out Heinrich's eye to his pocket. If he still had it with him, I'd have bet using it on him would count as double revenge, if there were such a thing.
"We're coming down for a landing, guys, prepare yourselves," Natasha warned. Thor's giggle broke the silence that followed.
"I still cannot fathom your reasoning for this, young maiden, but it is certainly amusing!" Thor shook his blond head, a wry smile painted across his features. I gave a small smile in return and glanced over to Loki.
Both of his hands were curled into fists, the knuckles white from rage. He glared straight ahead and if I could read minds, I'm certain I would've discovered many interesting (and horrifying) ways to kill me floating around his brain. Loki was a ticking time bomb, and I certainly didn't want to be around when he blew up.
I concentrated on teleporting back home again. I imagined the familiar swooping feeling in my stomach, the flash of light at the end. I imagined the smell of dead leaves that would be falling near the teleport station this time of year. I imagined with all of my might, and concentrated until my concussion made my head spin dangerously.
"Step out of the aircraft." I opened my eyes to find myself still chained to Loki, still in the helicopter, still without any powers. The only thing different was that there was now a group of heavily armoured humans pointing guns at Loki and me. I supposed that we had landed. I also supposed that interrupting everything Loki said hadn't worked.
'Damn,' I silently groaned. I really didn't want to pry out his eye. It sounded disgusting, not to mention messy. I had to pay for any damages done to my work uniform, and I was pretty sure blood stains counted as damage. I looked down and grimaced. As it was, the left knee of my jumpsuit was torn from where I fell.
The gunmen shifted impatiently, urging us to stand faster. I stood, stepped forward, and remembered the shackles around my ankles too late. I misjudged the distance of my step with the chain between my feet, and tipped forward. Unable to catch myself with an injured wrist, I fell onto the metal floor with only my face, knees, and elbows to break my fall.
Riiip.
I didn't have to look down to know that there were more damages to the uniform, and I didn't need to stand up to know that I had split my knee open. A small trickle of blood sopped into my pant's leg, and as I carefully raised myself to a vaguely squatting position, I nearly gagged at the bright scarlet pool left behind on the floor. Gouging out his eye would involve even more blood, and I did not trust myself not to vomit in that situation with my concussion. I had to postpone it.
"Be careful where you walk, darling. We wouldn't want you to ruin your-"
"Well, at least I didn't hit my face," I interrupted and gently patted my cheek. "I'm much too pretty for that." I'd just have to stick to part one of my plan until I healed.