Imitations Carved Deep: Chapter 21
What is this?! It's...a new chapter! A day early! Someone must be looking at for you guys. ;)
Please enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own them...so sad.
Warnings: Severe angst. Torture (in the past). Implied rape (in past). Don't read if any of these trigger.
Where Does It Go?
As soon as Loki and Caldor started screaming, the Avengers ran to the door.
"Jarvis, open-" Tony was cut off by Thor who stationed himself in front of the cell's entrance.
"Thor, what are you doing?!" The golden prince winced as Loki's screams cut off for a moment before picking right back up again.
"If you interrupt Loki or break his concentration, he could die. I will not allow this to happen." Tony growled at the God of Thunder.
"You knew that and you just let him go in there?!" Somehow, the screaming got worse. "What is happening in there?!"
"Is Caldor fighting the spell or something," Steve asked. Thor turned his head to look at his brother and sighed.
"Loki has explained to me before that attacking magic directly when your very core is filled with magic causes pain. It is like all the magic users are interconnected and attacking that connection is like attacking yourself." Bruce's brows bunched together as he watched the scene inside the cell.
"So did it hurt Caldor to do this to Loki?" Thor frowned as he thought about it.
"I cannot say, but I do not think so. What Caldor did was lock Loki's magic away and then slowly siphon it off. What Loki is attempting is to completely rid Caldor of his magic in one fowl swoop." Tony raised a brow at the Asgardian in front of the door.
"You sure know a lot more about magic than you let on, Big Guy." Thor shrugged.
"Loki would talk for hours on the subject when we were growing up. He merely assumed I wasn't listening." Tony snorted, trying not to listen to the screams that were still going strong. He truly had to fight the urge to start pacing when Loki and Caldor were still screaming after another five minutes.
Suddenly, it stopped. Everyone held there breath.
Loki and Caldor were both rigid; sweat ran down their faces. Loki's knuckles were bleach bone white with how tightly he gripped Caldor's forearms. The other man was sure to have bruises ringing his arms whenever Loki pulled away.
After what felt like a hour of no movement and absolute silence, Caldor slumped forward and Loki bowed his head, breathing harshly. Loki had to force his fingers to release Caldor one by one. Once it was done, he lifted his head and met Caldor's defeated gaze.
"I cannot and will not apologize for what I have done, Caldor. Because you were once the only friend I possessed, I do not wish you ill. However, I cannot wish you well, either." Loki sighed deeply. "Goodbye." The Trickster, with great effort, pushed himself to his feet and stumbled towards the cell door.
"J-Jarvis…open…" The AI took it as a complete order and the cell door slid open. Thor was in the perfect position to catch Loki as his brother suddenly pitched forward.
"What's wrong?!" Despite being on the brink of unconsciousness, Loki rolled his eyes at Tony's outburst.
"I am…exhausted, St-stark. Too much…energy. Thor…bed." The golden prince chuckled. This wasn't the first time he had been tasked to take Loki to bed for rest. His younger brother had experienced magical exhaustion more than once in their childhood. However, Loki was considerably bigger now, and despite the weight he had lost, heavier. Thor let his brother know just that.
Loki huffed out a breath.
"I thought…you were the mighty, strong Thor." For all Loki's teasing, he shifted into Kira. Thor easily scooped her into his arms, her face tucked into his neck. He promised his friends he would return and walked off with Kira towards the elevator. She was out before the doors had even slid open.
Luckily, for Thor's sake, Kira did not wake up when he got her to her room. Once there, he laid her out on her bed and looked down at her. He weighed his options and decided yes with a firm nod that no one saw.
Thor searched through her drawers until he found suitable sleeping clothes. Then, with practiced fingers, he unhooked, unlatched and unlaced every part of Kira's armor, until it all was removed. The golden prince only hesitated a moment before removing her undershirt and trousers. Within seconds he had her redressed, and Thor released the breath he was holding. More than once in their youth he had had to dress an unconscious Loki, but it was slightly different when doing it to his adult…sister.
However, the deed was done, and Thor lifted Kira back into his arms, pulled the covers back and laid her down. Once she was nicely tucked in, he bent to press a soft kiss to her temple. He beamed when she unconsciously leaned into it. Loki had done the same when he was very young.
Thor won even more brownie points for the day when he neatly folded all parts of Kira's armor and set them on top of her dresser. Feeling pleased with himself, though also quite exhausted, he left to go back down and speak with his teammates. However, he didn't get very far as he ran into them in the common room before he made it to the elevator.
"My friends, did you decide not to question the prisoner?" Clint shrugged.
"We were gonna, but as soon as we removed the gag he started yelling and cursing us out. Just generally making a nuisance of himself. Nat put it back on him when he called her a quim and started cursing our mothers in Russian. We can try again later."
Thor nodded and sighed deeply.
"If that is the case then I think I will retire to my rooms early this evening." As he turned, Tony called out to him,
"What?! You're not going to stay for Shawarma?" Thor paused.
"You have obtained Shawarma?" Tony smirked at Thor's back.
"Yep. It should be here in t minus five minutes." Thor was again caught in a dilemma for a few moments, before he made up his mind. He turned around and fell onto the couch next to Tony.
"Very well. I will partake of the Shawarma and then depart for rest." Stark patted his large shoulder and nodded.
"Good man." As promised, the food soon arrived. It wasn't long before each of the Avenger's was stuffing their faces, sans Bruce. He hadn't Hulked out, so he wasn't starving, but still it was Shawarma. He just partook at a more civilized pace.
When the others all had their claws filled with the delicious meal, he pulled aside one of the many extras and stood. Walking into the kitchen, he pulled out a tupperware container and sealed the food inside.
"Bruce, you better not be squirreling away my Shawarma!" Dr. Banner rolled his eyes and set the container in the fridge.
"I'm saving some for Kira, if you are so desperate to know. She'll probably be really hungry when she gets up and I distinctly remember her almost forking you over the last of it when it got it after that battle with Doom." Clint snorted as he remembered Tony's face, when Kira's fork lodged into the table two millimeters from his hand. Thor chuckled at the image and laughed even harder when Steve recounted the story for him.
"Ah, yes. Loki would never eat as much as the other warriors of Asgard. He was also very…picky of what he did consume. My brother would go days without eating when he was learning a new spell but when he succeeded, he would eat more than any of us combined. And when he did he was extremely protective of his meal. Volstagg learned that lesson very quickly. He tried to steal off of Loki's plate when he wasn't looking. Volstagg was lucky to still have his fingers." The meal soon dissolved into more relaxed eating and exchanging funny stories. Now that Loki was on their side and he and Thor were on good terms again, Thor took that as his cue to tell all of their childhood adventures.
After another hour, Thor's second wind had died down and he finally took his leave. One look at his teammates said they would be up for a while yet.
Thor dropped Mjolnir on the floor and quickly removed his armor. He washed his wounds in the small en-suite bathroom and was out as soon as his head touched the pillow.
When Kira opened her eyes, the sun was still up. She was surprised that she felt so rested after only a few hours sleep. Normally when she drained her magic levels as viciously and quickly as she had, she slept for much longer. Kira smiled. Maybe her body was just getting stronger and was able to handle her magic use better. That thought was shattered when she looked at the clock on her nightstand she realized that the sun was actually coming back up. She had slept the day and night away.
Kira sighed and sat up, her muscles protesting and her very bones aching. She felt, and how she hated to even think it, fragile. The spell she had cast on Caldor the other day was dangerous. Had she made one wrong move, they both would have died. Well, good thing I'm so proficient at magic.
Kira sat on the edge of her bed, bracing herself to stand, when she finally noticed what she was wearing. Pajamas. Not. Her. Armor. She looked around and found her missing clothing folded neatly and placed on her dresser. Kira rolled her eyes but she couldn't even muster up anger at Thor, only a mild, fond irritation. She should just be glad he didn't leave her armor in a pile on the floor for her to trip on.
Her growling stomach reminded her that she had been planning to get up. With considerable effort, she made her legs hold her up. The first step or two towards the door were a challenge, but eventually she smoothed out her walk. As she walked towards the kitchen, Kira ran her fingers through her hair, wincing whenever she pulled out a knot.
Bruce and Steve were eating when she finally arrived, fingers caught on a particularly tight knot. The two men smiled at her. As Bruce set his tea down he pointed to the fridge.
"I saved you some Shawarma from last night. It should be in a container. If not, blame Tony." Kira's eyes lit up at the mention of Shawarma, and she was digging in the refrigerator before Bruce was even done speaking. She found the aforementioned container (Stark was safe for one day) and went to grab a plate.
As Kira heated the Shawarma in the microwave, she got another plate and piled it high with the waffles and cheesy eggs Steve had made for everyone. The timer went off, and she soon had her hands full of food. Despite her protesting muscles she made it to the table with all of her food and the plates in tact.
Steve's eyebrows went up as she began shoveling the food into her mouth.
"Thor wasn't kidding. Where does it all go?" Kira looked up at Steve in confusion without stopping her massacre. Realizing Kira didn't understand Steve's turn of phrase, Bruce clarified.
"Steve means, you're eating so much, but you're so skinny. In essence, where does all the food go, because your size suggests you aren't eating that much?" Kira nodded in understanding and took a moment to breathe.
"You are a warrior yourself, so you understand the amount of energy your body burns during battle. Well, magic is part of my core. When I use it up, I am essentially using all of my energy. Imagine if the Battle of New York lasted three days and you never got a rest. You would be hungry too." With that, Kira turned back to her food.
The elevator down the hall *dinged* and Tony came in to get more coffee, just as Kira was shoving the last half of a waffle in her mouth. Stark full on stopped and stared. He blinked down at his coffee mug, then looked back at Kira. With a shake of his head, he moved on to the coffee machine and didn't comment.
"Jarvis, how are Tweedy Bird and Widow doing with Caldor?" Kira looked up in interest and chugged half of the glass of orange juice Bruce slid in front of her.
"He is no longer shouting and has lessoned the number of times he insults Agent Barton's relationship with Agent Romanoff. Based on Agent Romanoff's body language, I can assume he has given up more than he has intended." Stark smirked.
Just then Thor came into the kitchen to have his second breakfast. He had gone down to the gym earlier that morning to burn off extra energy while he waited for the others to wake. He had not had to sleep nearly as long as Kira had.
He smiled broadly when he saw Kira and greeted her with a smack on the back.
"Bro-Er-Sister! It is good to see you awake and hungry!" Kira meanwhile was coughing and choking on the food she had just inhaled. She finally got herself back under control and glared at her brother.
"Wish I could say the same," she rasped. Thor grinned sheepishly and went to get himself some food as well. When he sat, Kira was nearly done and was slowing down. Those in the kitchen had a pleasant conversation going, and when Natasha and Clint came back and joined them it turned to how they were going to deal with Caldor.
Kira opened her mouth to suggest something, when a loud explosion sounded outside. Everyone flinched back from the blinding light but were surprised at not being thrown backwards. Before Kira could turn around and see what had happened, Thor shouted a greeting.
"Mother! Father! What are you doing here?!"
I just picture Loki flip flopping between Loki and Kira whenever he feels like it now that it's okay with Thor and the Avengers.
Please review:)