AN: Hey, guys! If you've made it this far I just want to thank you for reading! This is my first fanfiction in a long while, and I'm so grateful. I think the only reason this chapter was ever completed was because of all the positive feedback I got for the first chapter. Always remember to give me feedback in any way you can so I know to keep on typing! Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter! Much love, Twisted
I was like a deer caught in the headlights. All eyes were on me and they were all waiting for my answer. I swallowed hard and turned to Tony. "I need some magazines and a T-shirt. I can splint his arm here, but he'll need proper treatment as soon as possible." He gave me a funny look but nodded and did as he was told. Steve rolled his eyes and shoved Loki down on the nearest surface. Apparently he had somewhere to be. As for Loki, he was surprisingly calm for someone who just had his arm snapped in half.
As soon as Tony came back with my requested materials I snatched them up and strode over to the god. This time I was offered a chair and I was grateful to be able to rest my poor knees. I began ripping the shirt into strips while Loki stared at me with an unreadable expression. It made me jittery and nervous to have him constantly staring at me. I glanced up and shot him a small glare, but all he did was smirk back at me with amusement. For some reason he wouldn't take any jabs at me with the others present. The only time he would talk to me was when I was leaned in close and he would whisper threats down my neck. I shivered slightly at the thought and I swore his grin became wider. I shoved it to the back of my mind and began rolling the first magazine into a tight tube. I went to grab his injured arm but Steve beat me to it.
"Just making sure he doesn't try anything else and so you won't break his other arm." He said with a small smile. I nodded and chuckled at that. Carefully, I slid the magazine under the bottom of his arm and began wrapping it with the strips of cloth to secure it. Then, I slid another rolled magazine on top of his arm and secured it also. I took the rest of the T-shirt and formed a sling for his arm. For this part I had no choice but to get close again. I slide the sling over his head and carefully placed his splinted arm in the cradle. I felt his breath on my bare shoulder and couldn't help but shiver. He, of course, noticed this and chuckled. I refused to look at his eyes because I knew they would make me feel weird. He certainly was a creature from a different planet.
"I'm sorry this happened, guys. He needs to be taken for a proper cast when you take him back to S.H.I.E.L.D. I'll let you get back to it and get out of your way." I went to stand up and made the mistake of making eye contact with Loki. My heart leaped as I saw the pain in his eyes. I shook it off and went to grab my bag. He was tricking me again, I just knew it.
"Honestly, he deserved that. Thank you for your assistance, doctor." Tony grinned. I waved him off as I made my way to the elevators. I was exhausted and needed a month's worth of sleep. As the doors closed I watched as Thor grabbed his brother and jumped out the broken windows as the rest followed suit.
I trudged down the long hallway that housed rooms for the most important agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Not every agent lived on base since there were so many, and the only reason I did was because I was constantly on call to go patch up someone. I barely had the strength to swipe my ID card through the scanner to unlock my door. I shoved through it and threw my bag somewhere in the dark room before collapsing onto my bed, still fully clothed. I was out like a light in mere seconds. I immediately fell into a vivid dream. I was sprinting down the hallways of the building; my heart and stomach were in a panic. I was almost to my room when a figure appeared before the door in a flash of green light. I skid to a stop and drew the pistol I kept on my hip. As my brain finally began to catch up and process in this dream world I realized that the figure in front of me was indeed Loki himself. My eyes grew wide and I was speechless. How the hell did he get away from the Avengers; the world's top league of super heroes? I saw his hand dart out, but in this dream world I was too slow. The gun clattered to the floor as my hands flew up to the one wrapped around my throat. He picked me up off the floor and swung me around like a rag doll. My back hit the wall and I struggled to breathe.
"Where are your Avengers now, you mewling quim?" he laughed and slung me to the side. I skid down the hall and ended up hitting another wall. I groaned and tried to move but everything in my body was screaming in pain. I looked up, exhausted, to see a gold scepter with a blue, glowing stone in the end of it pointed straight at my chest. Just past the stone was two sharp and deadly looking blades. "Beg for your life, Midguardian, and I might spare you your life." He said. I raised my chin in defiance and hissed at him, "Go fuck yourself." I felt the blades rip through my chest and screamed.
I sat straight up in bed with tears streaming down my face and my heart almost beating out of my chest. The dream was so real; I still felt the blades tearing through skin and bone. I stood up shakily and went into the adjoining bathroom. I stripped off my soiled clothes and stepped into the shower. I turned the water onto the hottest setting that I could stand and hissed as it hit unknown cuts and bruises. However, the hot water felt amazing on my sore and overused muscles. The steam that rose in the shower seemed to clear my head and I took a deep breathe. I didn't want to leave the warm comfort, but I knew that they would be demanding me at my office soon. Reluctantly, I stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around myself. The bathroom was still full of steam as I rubbed my hair dry with another towel. The mirror was fogged up with it too so I took my hand and swiped an area clear in front of my face. A hand flew to my mouth and I dropped my towel as I saw blue eyes and a wicked grin over my right shoulder. I swung around to see nothing. I saw nothing.
I slid down into the floor with my hands covering my face. My heart was pounding and I couldn't breathe. What the actual hell? I risked a quick glance up to the same spot where I had seen, or thought I had seen him. The only thing there was the shower curtain and slowly fading wisps of steam. I had to stop this 'seeing things that aren't there' shit. I slowly dragged myself out of the floor and back into my room. I tried to keep my concentration on picking out clothes for the day. I shoved thoughts, and illusions, of Loki to the very back of my head. I had to stay focused on the task at hand.
Finally, I had settled for a different pair of cargo pants, same combat boots, and an old AC/DC T-shirt. I was seriously thankful that on this particular day that I didn't have to follow a dress code. I double checked that all my concealed weapons were in place on me and grabbed my bag. I clipped my ID tag onto my belt and hoped I could make it through this day as I walked out the door. Of course, fate laughed at my back for even thinking of that.
I shuffled into my office and precariously tossed my bag onto the metal table in the middle of the room. I fell into my overstuffed office chair and sighed. It was so comfy and I was still so tired. I glanced over at the clock to see that it was six thirty in the morning. I groaned and spun around in my chair, away from the evil time. It was too damn early for this shit.
"Ah, Daneel! I haven't seen you in the office in so long that I thought you had left me to fend for myself!" I rolled my eyes but smiled. I spun around to see my lanky assistant, Peter. He set my cup of coffee down beside me on my desk before pulling up a stool to sit beside me with his own coffee. "I wouldn't abandon my only assistant while the world was going to hell, now would I?" I took a sip from my mug and immediately felt better as the warmth spread through me.
"It's been crazy around here without you. I think we're the only two at headquarters that has any basic medical training. Where have you been?" he said. I groaned at the thought of where and what I'd been doing the past few weeks. I shook my head and got up. "I'm sorry, Peter, I don't really want to reflect on that right now. We have work to do and work to catch up on." I heard a small sound of disappointment behind me, but he too stood up and started to make himself busy. I started resupplying my bag just in case I needed to make any other 'house calls' and Peter began shuffling paperwork to file away. I felt bad for not indulging him, but I just couldn't drag those memories back out right now.
"Have you put those files into the computer yet?" I asked zipping up the bag and throwing it into a vacant chair. I turned to see Peter shaking his head sheepishly. "You better hop to it then. I see someone coming our way, and he's definitely bleeding."
Both Peter and I helped the man the rest of the way into the office before propping him up on the examination table. I immediately went to work on undoing the poorly wrapped bandages on his profusely bleeding wound. As the soiled cloth fell away I made a face at the nasty looking gash on this man's ribcage. Thankfully, I had taught Peter well enough for him to fetch the right supplies I needed. He was back in moments with my tray and I started applying pressure to the wound.
"So, agent, how did all this happen?" I began in a friendly tone. He grit his teeth as I pressed onto the tender area, but managed to answer. "One of those alien creatures slashed me with its weapon. I tried to fix it myself, but then it just started bleeding through after the first day. I figured after that I should come see you, doc." I nodded and smiled as I finally got the blood to clot. "You should have come to me in the first place, agent. I could have gotten you patched up no problem and you wouldn't have to be in this situation." I scolded lightly. "Now, for your punishment I'm going to clean and dress this gash. Don't skip out on my next time, okay?" I said blotting an antiseptic onto the wound. He nodded and squeezed his eyes shut as I wrapped the bandage around his ribcage. He sighed in relief and stood up as I patted his shoulder. "Next time I see you it better be a fresh injury. You hear?" I said playfully. "Yes, ma'am." He smiled and waved before walking out the door.
"I swear, you're like the whole base's mother or something." Peter said. I rolled my eyes and flopped back down into my comfy spinning chair. "Don't you have paperwork to do? And this place is a total mess!" I snapped half-heartedly. "It's always been a total mess!" he griped. Before I could retort back there were three quick knocks at the door. We both looked up to see a short, chubby man with thick rimmed glasses and a balding head. He was sweating and out of breath, clutching his clipboard tightly to his chest.
"Agent Daneel, we need you in the security unit, now." He stressed the last word. I perked up at this and promptly went over to my bag and slung it over my shoulder. I wondered why they would want me all the way in the security wing. I had never been called to that side of the base before. I didn't even know that much about it that's how secretive and locked down it was. "Get that paperwork into the computer and filed, Peter. I'll be back as soon as I can." I said rushing out the door after the stocky man.
For such a small man, he could really move when he wanted to. It only took us about five minutes to get to the security wing. As soon as we arrived to the cast iron doors we were greeted by two military men on each side, fully armed and menacing. I looked straight ahead as the agent swiped his ID card and the doors began to creak open slowly. After those set of doors there was a small entry way with another heavy metal door. He used the same method as before, but when the door opened this time it was very different. It was a large, circular room with empty seated control panels all around the perimeter. In the very center was a huge, glass prison, and in it was Loki. He instantly caught my gaze and smiled. I was too shocked to look away and held his stare as he sauntered towards the glass, towards me.
"Agent, we need you over here." The short man grabbed my arm and I was pulled out of my trance. He dragged me over to a man in a white coat in one of the control panel chairs that was closest to the prison cell. I assumed the man in the white coat was the medic that was taking care of Loki. There were blood stains on his clothes and as I bent to examine him further, I saw purple bruises circling his throat.
"I think he broke my fucking arm." He hissed. I looked down at the indicated arm and winced. That shit was definitely broken. There was no way I had the stuff I needed in my bag. I called for some men in black suits to get me proper equipment as I helped ease the medic out of his lab coat. "Don't worry, I'll get you fixed up in no time." I said. I often found myself soothing my patients in a motherly way. I don't know why, maybe because most people found comfort in a mother's words. It seemed to help most of the time, anyways.
Finally, the men brought me the supplies I needed and I went to work on trying to put this man's arm back together. I tried to do what I could, but soon I realized that I couldn't fix this one. "He's going to need to go to surgery. His whole arm is just crushed, and I can't put a cast on it like this. I'm so sorry." I confessed. I genuinely felt bad for not being able to help, but this was an injury that was far beyond what I could fix. As the medic was being wheeled off in a wheelchair I turned to the agent who brought me here. "What happened?" I asked with an undertone of anger.
"Agent Green was removing the splint on that mongrel when he grabbed him by the throat and threw him. He landed on his arm and started calling for the guards, but that thing came over to him and grabbed his injured arm and just crushed it. I ran in on the tail end of it, but it was still sickening." He dabbed his damp face with a handkerchief. I turned just in time to see Nick Fury himself enter the room with a plethora of guards behind him. I immediately straightened and nodded in respect. He stopped in front of the glass with his hands behind his back. After a moment or two I took the hint and approached him. Loki watched us with wary but curious eyes as I came to a stop beside Fury.
"First of all, I'd like to thank you for tending to my orders so promptly, but I think we have a whole new issue on our hands." He said, his gaze still on Loki. Confused, I replied, "What do you mean, sir?" This time, he turned to look at me. "What I mean is, I was just informed that Loki gave me orders, and if I don't follow them I'm going to keep losing my medics and possibly even agents and guards." I was taken aback at this. "He ordered me to assign you to be his guardian or he'll wipe off each and every one that isn't you. Injuring Agent Green was just a warning to get my attention." He continued. I was torn in half by his words. I couldn't imagine losing innocent lives because of me, but then again I was secretly terrified of Loki. I snuck a glance over at the god to see him staring at me. His expression was completely blank except for his eyes, oh God his eyes. They were filled with so much pain that I couldn't take it. I closed my eyes and turned away. I knew what the consequences of my choice would be, but my job was to serve and protect innocent lives. It would always be theirs over mine, and so I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.
"I'll do it."