A/N: Thank you so much to Earial13 for the review (I'm glad you like her name!) and to everyone who has so graciously favorited and followed. You make me feel so special! ;) Another thank you to anyone who is reading this story, I hope you like it! One more thing before I just get to the chapter already: It has come to my attention that there is a story out there called Child of Loki about Loki's daughter. No, I'm not accusing people of copying my ideas, Child of Loki was actually published before this story. I didn't know it even existed, so any similarities are completely coincidental. I just thought I should say that. Anyway, thank you all! Enjoy the chapter!
Susan had quite enough of Loki for one day. Heck, she'd had enough of him to last a lifetime and she'd only just met him a few hours ago. Had it really only been a few hours since that terrifying time in Germany? It seemed like so much longer.
"Knock, knock," Natasha called, opening the door to Susan's room, "How's it going?"
"Not great, but thanks for asking." Susan grumbled from where she lay on her cot.
"I watched the footage of you and Loki together. It seemed pretty heated."
"That's because it was," Susan sighed, rolling over and looking at the super spy. For a moment she considered telling her about how Loki was able to escape from his cell and that he had some kind of commotion planned, but she remembered that he had threatened to hurt her mother for simply not coming with him. If he heard that she had blabbed his plans to his enemy who knew what he'd do? So she decided against revealing that information, "I guess I shouldn't have expected anything better, but all my life I fantasized about having this great dad who really loved me, you know?"
Black Widow blinked. "Sort of. Anyway, I'm here because Fury is concerned about where your loyalties lie. I told him that after seeing the yelling match between you two there is no way you could be on Loki's side, but he wants to be sure."
"I'm not on Loki's side, that's for sure," Grunted Susan, "But I have no idea what SHIELD is so I'm not sure if I'm on your side either."
"SHIELD is dedicated to protecting the world." Natasha answered shortly.
"Oh, well I guess that puts me on your side then. The earth is a pretty important thing to protect."
"Saying that does help your image a bit, but I'm afraid Fury won't be convinced, your father is pretty much the king of lies after all."
"That doesn't make me like him!" Susan barked.
"Of course not, but Fury wants to hook you up to the lie detector anyway."
"Those exist?"
"It's not one hundred percent accurate, but I think ninety-nine is pretty good."
"Wow, I'll say. Okay, where is it?"
"I'm going to take you there now and then I'm off to have a chat with Loki," Natasha turned to go and Susan followed closely behind. They walked down the corridor and to a room where Tony Stark was fiddling with some holographic screens, "Hey Stark, she's ready for her tests, are you sure you can work the machine?"
"Please, Agent Romanoff, don't insult me. I can work any machine."
"Then I'll leave it to you." Natasha walked off in the direction of Loki's holding cell.
"Hey there Jinx, how's it been?"
"Lousy. How's your search for that thingy going?"
"Same. We're hoping Agent Redhead can get some info out of your dear old dad that might help, but no guarantees. Let's get you set up in the all powerful lie detector, okay?"
Susan climbed into a strange looking chair and slipped her wrists into the holders. Then Stark attached some devices to her fingertips and a few wires were stuck to her head with tape. Finally, she had to lean her head back into the headrest. Stark flipped a few switches on the board in front of him and operated the touch screen with the skills of a technological genius - which he was.
"Okay, are you ready to lose all of your secrets?"
"Um, all of my relevant secrets, yes."
"Well, while I've got you hooked up to this thing I might just make you tell all of your secrets. I'm pretty good at finding loopholes so I won't get in trouble."
"Oh great, I'm being interrogated by creep." Susan groaned.
"Ha! The screen did something, that means you're lying and you don't think I'm a creep."
"Does that thing understand sarcasm? Cause if it doesn't I'm done for."
"I dunno, I guess we'll find out, huh?" The man sat down at the board of controls and then looked up at her, "First question, what is your nickname?"
"Susie, but you call me Jinx."
"Good, now who is the coolest superhero in the world?"
"I'm not going to say Iron Man, if that's what you're hoping."
"Huh," Stark grunted, looking at the screens, "You really don't think I'm the coolest superhero?"
"Sorry dude, Batman is awesome."
"We're practically the same - except I'm real!"
"For real super heroes it's you, definitely." Susan grinned.
"Ah! Perfect answer. Okay, now some relevant stuff. Boring! Who is your biological father?"
"Loki." Susan grunted.
"I'm seeing spikes in agitation, but I get that because everyone saw that lovely conversation between you two," Stark commented, "Who is your biological mother?"
"Amy Mort."
"Are you part of Loki's scheme to take over the earth?"
"No."
"Have you partaken in anyway in helping him take over the earth?"
"Not that I know of."
"That's not a definite answer, the machine can't read it properly."
"Oh, sorry. No."
"Good. Have you ever assisted Loki with anything?"
"I have not."
"What is your opinion on Loki?"
"He's a lunatic, a monster, a jerk, and I'm sorry to be related to him."
"Ouch. Okay, if asked to pick a side, would you go for team Loki or the Avengers?"
"The who?"
"Me, Cap, Banner, Thor, Romanoff - Earth's Mightiest Heroes. The Avengers."
"Oh. I'd pick you guys because you're protecting the earth."
"Cool, we've got a cheerleader. Do you know where the Tesseract is?"
"No."
"Do you have any information on what Loki's plans are?"
"He plans on causing some kind of commotion," Susan said cautiously, "I'm not sure what, but he told me to be careful."
"Is that all he told you? Because according to these readings, you're holding something back." Stark raised an eyebrow.
"Uh, he said that he planned on seeing me again? I don't know I can't really remember."
"Oh yes you can, the machine says you're lying."
Susan sighed and drummed her fingers impatiently on the arm rest. "Okay, he told me that before now he didn't know I existed and that he was sorry for that. He told me that it was my fault that Max died. Uh… what else? He told me that if I crossed him then he'd kill my mother."
"Is that all?"
"Well you should know, you watched the tape, right?"
"Yeah, but I don't remember him ever threatening your mother, which makes me think there is something else you two were talking about."
"Like what? You honestly think he'd tell me what all of his plans are? I could barely get him to admit that he was a frost giant! I don't think he trusts me."
"Fine, moving on. When is the next time you plan on seeing Loki?"
"Never."
"There's something wrong with that answer. I'll ask again. When do you next plan to see Loki?" Stark shifted in his seat and turned a dial slightly.
"I never want to see him again."
"No lies there. Okay, well I think that's about all we need, but while I have you hooked up… who is the most handsome of the Avengers?"
Susan laughed. "Thor, of course."
"Well, you're not wrong. You're free to go."
Susan unhooked the wires and got down from the chair. She took a deep breath of relief. She'd gotten around the question about when she next planned on seeing Loki by switching out the word "plan" for "want", because then her statement was true. She never wanted to see him again, but she was planning on seeing him as soon as the ruckus broke out. Apparently Tony Stark wasn't the only one good at finding loopholes.
Loki paced his cell contemplating the events of the past twenty-four hours. The whole ordeal with Sigrid had seemed to spiral out of control, but he'd found a way to bring it back together. Now she would be coming with him to safety and he could hash it all out then. For the meantime he hoped she wouldn't get into too much trouble.
The Jotun turned with a smile to find Agent Romanoff. "There's not many people who can sneak up on me."
"But you figured I'd come." She stated.
"After," He noted, "After whatever tortures Fury can concoct, you would appear as a friend…" They continued to bait one another with quips and tricks.
She had come so that she could find out what happened to Agent Barton, the archer. Loki told her that he expanded his mind through use of the scepter. A thought occurred to him while he was speaking. Why did he not simply use the power of the scepter to "expand" Sigrid's mind? It would make things much easier in the long run, but could he really do that to her? It could easily be undone, of course, but she would loathe him even more for doing such a thing.
"...what happens to his mind?" She finished.
"Is this love, Agent Romanoff?" Loki asked.
"Love is for children, I owe him a debt."
Loki took a few steps back, toward the bench in the cell. "Tell me,"
The agent took a breath and looked away a little. She uncrossed her arms and looked back. She proceeded to tell him about how she had a dark past of killing. Describing how Barton had been sent to kill her, but opted to let her live instead.
"And what will you do if I vow to spare him?" Loki asked, mocking really as he would do no such thing.
"Not let you out." She commented.
"I know, but I like this. You're world in the balance and you bargain for one man?"
"Regimes fall every day, I tend not to weep over that, I'm Russian," She paused, "Or, I was." It made no difference to Loki as he only knew Russia as the name of one of Midgard's countries, but he felt he'd better comment all the same.
"And what are you now?"
"What are you?" She asked, "You are from Asgard, you claim to be a king, and then we find out you're also a father. What does that make you?"
Loki hated how she'd turned the tables on him, but he had expected it. "Why, I'd say I'm a king who just happens to have an heir. Is that so uncommon?"
"No, but this is different. Your daughter hates you to your very core. She'll never go with you, but you love her. That makes her a liability."
"I believe we've detoured from our original topic, agent." Loki said through grit teeth.
"What are you plans for getting Susan out of here? I mean, anyone could manage getting himself out of a place, but when there is an unexpected burden like her things tend to get messy. People tend to get hurt. Innocent people." She raised an eyebrow, "Like Susan."
"How do know that I intend to escape at all? Perhaps I shall just wait here for you to locate the Tesseract," He smiled, "Perhaps I am tired of the excitement."
"You wouldn't give up so easily."
"Back to our topic, what are you now?" Loki sneered.
"It's really not that complicated. I got red in my ledger and I'd like to wipe it out." She rose from her own chair and crossed her arms again, staring him down.
"Can you?" Loki asked, silently glad to have changed topics, "Can you wipe out that much red? Drakoff's daughter?" She froze and he continued, "The hospital fire? Barton told me everything. Your ledger is dripping. It's gushing red and you think saving a man no more virtuous than yourself will change anything? This is the basest sentimentality. This is a child at prayer. Pathetic! You lie and kill, in the service of liars and killers. You pretend to be separate, to have your own code, something that makes up for the horrors, but they are part of you and they will never go away," For good measure he slammed his fist on the glass, partly to scare her and partly because he needed to vent his anger some how as he realized that he was doing a decent job of describing himself and now saw why Sigrid hated him so, "I won't touch Barton, not until I make him kill you! Slowly, intimately, and in every way he knows you fear. And then he'll wake up just long enough to see his good work," Loki watched in amusement as she cowered, eyes filling with dread, "And when he screams I'll split his skull," She turned away, too horrified to look at him anymore, "This is my bargain you mewling quim."
The assassin gasped for breath with her back turned to him, sobbing slightly. "You're a monster." She accused.
Loki couldn't help but laugh at the irony. "Oh no, you brought the monster."
Immediately Agent Romanoff straightened up and turned around to face him, a curious expression on her face. "So, Banner? That's your play?
"What?" Loki asked, confused. Had this woman not just been a weeping mess? Had she not been terrified of him only a moment before?
Romanoff turned on a radio in her ear. "Loki means to unleash the Hulk, keep Banner in the lab, I'm on my way. Send Thor as well," She walked to the door, but turned briefly before leaving, "Thank you, for your cooperation."
Loki was left, slightly baffled by her visit. She had just moved things ahead of schedule, apparently. They would all begin bickering amongst themselves, allowing the staff to give off the location of Banner to Barton. Things were about to get messy and Sigrid was no where to be found.