FIVE
These tears we cry
Are falling rain
For all the lies
You told us
The hurt, the blame!
And we will weep
To be so alone
We are lost!
We can never go home
So in the end
I will be - what I will be
No loyal friend
Was ever there for me
- "Gollum's Song," Emiliana Torrini
Loki had been healed completely, thanks to his magic. Humans were so slow at healing. He was wearing an olive green shirt and black pants. The shirt had originally been red. Magic was very useful sometimes.
He hated red.
His hands bound in handcuffs, (quite primitive, but it apparently made the humans feel safer,) and escorted by eight S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, he approached the private plane that was being provided to get him to New York.
Loki really didn't like planes, mostly because they reminded him of Thor. Noisy, and flying.
As he drew closer, he saw Alana poke her head out of the plane and then do a double-take, walking out of the plane and yelling at the head agent escorting him. She then returned inside the plane.
The head agent motioned disgruntledly to the agent closest to Loki, who grudgingly removed his handcuffs. Loki rubbed his wrists and smirked at the agents. Obviously, Alana was overconfident in her ability to control him.
That would soon change.
Alana spoke briefly to the pilot of the jet and then returned to her seat, checking the situation out the window of the jet. Loki had been released from the handcuffs, thank goodness. What Coulson was thinking, she had no idea. Loki may have been mischievous, but they only had Thor's word that the person who destroyed the town was his brother Loki.
And why had Loki not called Thor his brother? That would have certainly made more sense… but she had seen his reaction when she had talked about Thor, and it had been angry. And… vulnerable?
Her thoughts were interrupted by Loki's arrival into the jet. He looked around suspiciously, rubbing his wrists, then sat in a window seat farthest from the front and from Alana.
"Wrists doing okay?" Alana asked tentatively. "I asked Coulson not to do that, but he doesn't really listen to me. Well, he is my superior, but…"
She trailed off, as Loki showed no sign of interest.
They sat in silence until the pilot announced to fasten their seat belts. Alana took out a worn paperback while Loki stared out the window.
Since Loki had said nothing, Alana dove into her book. It was one of her favorites. She had read it many times, but always found new things every time she reread it.
Loki looked out the window.
After about two and a half hours, Loki grew bored with watching out the window.
Instead, he decided to plan methods of escape.
Obviously, he could not escape at the moment; he was in a plane. But perhaps when they reached the airport he could become invisible and lose Alana in the crowd.
He stared at her, wondering again why S.H.I.E.L.D. had entrusted him to one young woman.
She was absorbed in her book, her mouth a little open, a strand of hair falling over her eyes. Her head rested on her hand.
He supposed she was pretty, in the Midgardian style, slender but strong, with a face that needed no makeup.
But then again, she was Midgardian, and therefore (obviously) beneath him.
So he regarded her not with desire or with longing, but with a look more suitable to a fly or a snake… something that had crawled in.
Alana's lips quirked at something amusing in her book.
Then she looked up and saw Loki staring at her, giving him a quizzical glance and tucking the strand of hair behind her ear a little self-consciously.
Loki turned back to the window again.