So it goes with saying that only things I own with any connection to MARVEL I bought on Ebay or Etsy. MARVEL COMICS & MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE are their own creatures and I have nothing to do with either of them aside from the fact I enjoy reading or watching them, and am grateful for the ability to play in their world. I claim nothing, and I receive nothing for this, expect the pleasure of putting something out into the world.

You can also find this story on ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN under the same title and pen name along with a place to post suggestions.

Don't forget to check out the Photobucket album listed on my profile page too.

DAY TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

WEDNESDAY, MAY 2ND 2012

1814 HOURS

SUBTERRANEAN BUNKER

LOCATION UNKNOWN

LOKI

I do not need any elaboration on that otherwise ambiguous statement, I know what she meant. I can see it in her eyes, and in her frightened demeanor. I can see it in her courage too, I just did not expect.

She wants to see how I conquered her friends minds. It is a very brave request for her to make, because as far as she knows I may well just let the demonstration involve her own.

It is also a risky request for another reason, one she is not aware of. I do not want them to see her, I do not want HIM to see her. The scepter is my means of communication with them, it is how they see me. It is why I have not once brought it in this room.

"Is this request being paid for with a promise?" I finally ask her after a moment's pause. I had considered fashioning an illusion for her eyes, but knowing who she is, if she retained any semblance of her abilities no matter how minute, she would be able to recognize the difference in energies on sense alone. The aura of my magic would not feel at all like that of the Tesseract's and they kept her around it enough I have no doubt she is familiar with it even if she does not realize it.

I can see the conclusion she comes to right when I stop being able to see her face. She lets her head droop back down in disappointment, even as a smile tries to claim its place on her lips. "You're not going to..." and then she shakes her head and lifts it back to me, that smile still there, but her eyes so full of sadness." I can't, I-I only have one promise lef..."

"You have two." I correct her before she can finish, a bit to her surprise it seems, but the blessed vanishing of that sadness. "I am not that cruel Arnora..." I say with a soft smile of my own. "...I will not accept a payment so great for the right to bathe."

"But y-you want it for t-this?" Her tone sounds a bit confused as much as it is dismayed and offended. I am actually a little pleased by the last one.

"Yes..." but I sober back up at the seriousness of this topic. "I would. I would not acquiesce to this request for anything less. What you ask for comes with risks."

"Oh..." The word precedes her recoiling gesture, but a very small one it seems to be. After a bit of internal struggle passing over her eyes as she nervously wrings her hands her gaze shifts and comes back to meet my expectant one. "W-will will it hurt me?"

WEDNESDAY, MAY 2ND 2012

1816 HOURS

SUBTERRANEAN BUNKER

LOCATION UNKNOWN

NORA

When he said it would come with 'risks' I came quickly to an assumption on exactly what that word meant in this situation. It may not be right, but it seemed to be a fairly sound assumption to me. It would do to my mind what it did to my friends, it would make me a puppet.

Did I want to be a puppet? the answer to that was 'no, of course not' but at the same time the answer couldn't possibly be that simple.

I didn't want to give up my free will to this man, but at the same time, isn't that what I just did? A puppet with a will or a puppet without is still a puppet and his ability to pull my strings wasn't a question of if he could so much as it was how and when he would.

Maybe it would be better for me this way. I could say I couldn't do anything, that I was helpless and I had no control. That sounds better than saying I gave into him, that I chose to turn against my friends.

"W-will will it hurt me?" It's a very legitimate question, even if the point is a bit of moot since I've basically made up my mind. I think I was just trying to get the information so I could prepare myself.

"No."

Apparently I don't need to. The expression of confusion is clear to him so before I can ask he elaborates for me. "It would not hurt you, you have nothing to worry about. Your mind would be immune to its influence." He continues, "The scepter has been tuned to affect the physiology of a human's brain."

Oh, so his belief that I'm not human actually has a benefit for me after all. I guess that's good? He hasn't used it on me because he believes it won't work. That answers the question of why he never did it before, but it doesn't answer the other question. I am determined. "Th-Then what is the risk?"

"The risk of letting you see it..." he offers as he sets down the glass in his hand and holds it out in clear invitation for my hand to replace its former position in his palm."...is that they may see you too."

The question I have to ask is obvious, even if I would prefer to avoid those kinds of simple questions. "They?" 'They' implies people, or 'people' in the sense of a 'being of intelligence'. 'They' also implies that there are more than one. 'They' introduces new risks and new concerns. "You're not alone?"

"No." He interrupts his own sentence with a smirk. "...but yes as well. For now they are still far away from here. The scepter allows me to communicate with my allies, but these allies are not the kind to accommodate a change in plans, and you my beautiful dear, are not part of the plan."

"Oh..." I don't know what else to say to that. He's left it unsaid, but I understand the subtext where torture or death might be more than a possibility. "Never mind then, I changed my mind."

I really don't like the smirking expression he gives me when I say that meek sentence, but I don't dispute it. I'm not that determined.