Chapter Fifteen
Winter's aim had been perfect. They both had landed in the middle of the abandoned warehouse. She had been nervous that it would be crawling with S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, but there were none. Even with Loki's magic to amplify her power, she was exhausted. Her legs almost gave out from under her, but she powered through, walking over to the corner she had slept in the last time she was here. It seemed like only two weeks ago, but in reality, it had been over four years. The thought made her even more determined to remember, and as she laid down slowly, she promised herself yet again that she would do anything to get the past four years back. Loki walked over, sitting respectfully on a crate a few feet away. It was quiet for a moment, before Winter spoke, her voice cutting sharply through the silence, "Well, I guess I'm a criminal now too." She heard him laugh lightly, "Not just on Earth either, you'll also be wanted in Asgard." Winter groaned, but it was lighthearted. In all honesty she didn't really care, and that thought scared her. "I'm really tired" she murmured, eyes closed, head resting on the dirt covered floor. "Then sleep." Loki responded, but Winter snorted lightly, "Am I going to meet with you in my sleep too? Because I don't know…. if I can handle…" Her words trailed off and she fell asleep before she could hear his answer.
When she woke the warehouse was brighter than it had been before. Rolling over, she noticed a green ball floating in the air a few feet away. It gave off a steady green glow, giving her corner of the room dim light. To her left Loki was laying down as well, asleep. She watched him, the harsh contours of his face accentuated by the dim green light. He seemed angry, his default expression staying with him even in his most vulnerable state. Even with his hard expression, he seemed calm. She didn't know how he could be calm, she felt like an absolute mess. She was still staring at him, listening to him breath, when he spoke, "Is it morning?" She would have yelped if not for her training, instead only flinching as heat filled her cheeks. He had totally known she was staring, and the fact that he hadn't mentioned it almost made it worse. "I don't know," she said, before sitting up. She yawned, stretching her arms out before attempting to wipe the dirt off of her clothes. Looking back to Loki, she saw his eyes were now open, staring at her. Ignoring the discomfort of him watching her, she asked "So? What's our next move?" He covered his face with the crook of one elbow, groaning. Winter raised an eyebrow, though the gesture was lost on him. "We need to find my sceptre," he said, and Winter waited a moment, letting his words sink in. "Okay," she started, searching for the right words, "and how are we going to do that?" He moved his arm away from his face, glaring up at her, "Im almost completely sure I know who has it, I just need to ask around. Today we are going to meet up with an agent from Hydra that I contacted last night. I told her I have some information concerning members of the Avengers, and she seemed eager for any insight. Upon meeting her I need you to read her mind. I will ask her where the sceptre is being kept, and you will find anything in her head of use. Understood?" Winter sat there, staring shocked. There were so many things he had said that unsettled her. At the mention of Hydra her blood had run cold, she wanted nothing to do with anyone who associated themselves with Hydra. And mind reading? She couldn't read minds! Noticing her silence, Loki pulled himself up into a sitting position, looking at her quizzically. "Winter?" He asked tentatively, trying to cautiously pull her from whatever thoughts were holding her captive. She finally pulled her eyes to his, "Uh… Sorry… I just… Had some bad experiences with Hydra." His gaze softened slightly, so slightly that Winter was sure she had imagined it. "It will be fine," he reassured, "I will be there, nothing is going to happen to you." Winter forced a small smile, "Okay." She could tell he didn't believe she was okay, but he let it go. He was about to speak again, but she cut him off, deciding it was probably good for him to know, "I can't read minds." His eyebrows furrowed in confusion, before comprehension flashed in his bright eyes. "You discovered that ability only a few months ago, you wouldn't remember it because of your… Injury." He discloses, seeming bitter in general about the whole situation, "We will have to try and teach you before we go, it shouldn't be hard." Winter snorts, throwing as much sarcasm as possible into her words, "Oh yeah, not hard at all, just like learning to ride a bike!" "Watch your tone." He growled. "Am I damaging your masculinity?" Winter asked, laughing. Loki stared at her, annoyance clear on his face. Winter giggled before pulling herself to her feet and walking over to sit on a wooden crate. He watched her, displeasure rolling off of him as she crossed her legs, looking around the warehouse nonchalantly.
She began running her hand through her hair, trying to work out some of the tangles. "So?" Winter asked, drawing Loki's attention from the glowing ball of light beside him, "are you going to teach me?" He sighed, standing up and walking over to stand in front of her. The glowing orb grew brighter, drowning them in green light. She looked up, feeling even smaller than she normally did when in front of him. "Try to be gentle," he says, "the last time you ripped through my mind, and it was not pleasant." Winter smiled nervously, "Well, I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'll try not to hurt you." "Close your eyes," he commanded, and she did. Suddenly feeling vulnerable, she continued playing with her hair. "Alright, so when we first met, you attempted to control my mind, are you aware of that ability?" He asked softly. Winter nodded, though she had no memory of this scenario, only what he had shown her from his memories. "Good," he said, "reading minds is very similar. I want you to reach out for me." She did, and he laughed, swatting her hand away from his leg. "Not with your arm, with your mind." "Oh," Winter said quietly, blood rushing to her cheeks. She pushed her embarrassment away, and tried to do what he said. She could feel his presence in the room, and instead of trying to ignore it, she tried to access it. As focused as she could, she slowly encircled his presence with her own, oblivious to the fact that this was his mind. "Good," he praised softly, "I can feel your presence. I want you to push into my mind, but go slowly." She did, softly slipping through the barrier surrounding his presence. She was instantly flooded with pictures, thoughts, and memories, and she gasped. Her breathing quickened, her body overwhelmed with the effort of keeping up with someone else's thoughts as well as her own. She could vaguely hear Loki telling her to calm down, to pull away. She felt him grab her shoulders, shake her. She tried to open her eyes but she couldn't. Images were flashing past her mind's eye too fast for her to process. She saw something familiar, reaching out to try and grab it. The chaos fell away as she saw herself, cradled in someone's arms. Loki's arms. It must have been after she had been injured, he had stopped the memory before she could see this. She stared for a moment, pained at seeing herself so broken, before the image was ripped for her grasp. It felt like doors were shutting all around her, like Loki was kicking her out of his head. Her eyes opened and she gasped. Loki was hunched over her, his forehead resting on her shoulder, arms on the crate on either side of her. He was breathing heavily, and Winter realized she was too. "I'm… Sorry," she said softly, and he lifted his head, pulling away from her, still not meeting her eyes. He seemed really upset, which confused her, had she really hurt him that bad? He turned away from her, walking over to the glowing green orb. She brought her legs up onto the crate, resting her chin on her knees. He was upset with her, and she didn't even know what she had done. She could hear his shaky breaths as he tried to calm himself down, see his shoulders shaking slightly. "Are you alright?" She asked, biting her lip softly, afraid he was going to yell at her. He sighed loudly, "I'm fine." "You're fine!?" She asked incredulously, "You are obviously not fine. What did I do wrong?" Turning around, he looked over to her, hiding his sadness with heavy indifference. "You did nothing wrong," he said softly, "It was perfect, except for your loss of focus. A human wouldn't have been able to tell anyone was in their head." He took a breath, "We're going to try again, this time don't pull at my memories, look for thoughts, current ones if you can. They won't be printed out like words, they will be made up of impressions, feelings, and pictures." Winter nodded, relaxing slightly as he walked back over to stand next to her.
Closing her eyes, she found his presence again, slipping into his mind as slowly and delicately as she could. This time, when the wave of images came, she was ready. She allowed them to flow by, not trying to take it all in, instead zeroing in on what was happening now. She could faintly see herself, outlined in green light, and she realized that Loki was looking at her, and she could see what he was seeing. She pushed that aside, it wasn't what she was looking for right now. Suddenly a soft wave of pictures and feeling came along. She felt cold, and was surrounded by whites and greens. Winter she thought, before frowning as her thought was met with another, Very good. That had been the voice from before, when she had been struggling to make her way to Asgard. She pulled out of Loki's mind, opening her eyes to meet his. "It is good enough for what we need." He said swiftly, before looking down at himself. She looked down too, at his forwuest green shirt and black sweat pants. She was wearing something almost identical, but somehow she doubted she looked as good as he did. "Can we get some new clothes? A shower maybe? I've been in this nasty outfit for far too long." She said, running a hand through her greasy hair. "I can take care of it," He said, motioning her to stand up. His right hand began to glow green, and she felt cold run up her body slowly, starting at her feet and traveling up to her head. She immediately felt refreshed, her hair no longer greasy, no sweat sticking to her body. Looking down, she snorted. She was wearing a green t-shirt, loose and made of light material, along with dark jeans and black combat boots. There was a gold bracelet wrapped around her right wrist in the shape of a snake, coiling a few times around her arm . She lifted the offending limb up, raising an eyebrow at him, "This needs to go, it's impractical. If I have to fight, it will only get in the way." "If you have to fight," He explained, amused, "It will help you, and alert me that you are in danger. It stays." She frowned, lowering her hand, annoyed. There were no mirrors, so she slipped into Loki's mind, looking at herself from his eyes. He immediately pushed her out, and she laughed. "Please don't just invite yourself into my mind like that," he said, causing Winter's smile to vanish. "I'm sorry," she said, "I didn't even think about it, I'll ask next time." She didn't know why he had been put off by it, but she realized that it was a pretty big violation of his privacy. Eyes caught by the green glow, she watched as his clothes turned into a black t-shirt with black pants. Simple, and perfect for staying undercover. "I left my pack at the S.H.I.E.L.D. base," Winter said suddenly, "It had all of my stuff in it." "We can get it after, we're supposed to meet the woman in an hour, we need to get moving." He said, before waving his hand and taking away the glowing ball of energy. The warehouse filled with darkness, and Winter didn't respond as they walked back towards the door. Opening it, Winter was forced to close her eyes, the midday light blinding her. "What's this girl's name anyways?" She asked, pulling her arm down to squint at Loki, who was the epitome of calm. He grinned at her, "She said her name was Zoe."