Chapter 6

The Intruder

"Jenny!" Natasha practically ran into the game room. Jenny had fallen asleep on the couch. She had been staying up, making sure Loki was okay. Thor had insisted she rest, and he would take his turn protecting Loki.

"Natasha, what's wrong?" Jenny asked.

"I heard about everything." Natasha told her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay. I'm just tired. I kept waking up last night…just to make sure he was there."

"I understand." Natasha replied. "What do you know."

"He talked about Thanos, someone named Ebony, and someone called The Other…" Jenny said.

"What did they do to him?"

"They…they tortured him. Starved him…" Jenny clenched her fists. "Thanos did this." She growled.

"Jenny, listen to me." Natasha sat next to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "We fought two of his people a few days ago. These guys are tough, and they mean business."

"I know they do." Jenny sighed. "But this…this is all messed up!"

"Indeed." A voice said from behind the couch. Jenny quickly turned to see a creature she had never seen before. She seemed like a human, but she was covered in light brown fur and golden eyes. She had cat-like ears and a thick tail.

Jenny and Natasha both pulled out their weapons.

"Woah, calm down ladies." The creature held up its' hands. It spoke with a feminine voice.

"Who are you?" Natasha asked.

"Call me Janessa." The creature said. "Thanos sent me."

Jenny lunged forward, swinging one of her batons at Janessa. The creature jumped back, making Jenny miss her.

"I just want to know where the Mind Stone is. And the Tesseract." Janessa said.

"I'm sorry, that would be confidential information." Natasha retorted.

"I just need to speak to Loki." Janessa repeated.

"He's busy recovering. Because of you." Jenny said through clenched teeth. She ran towards Janessa again, swinging her batons. The cat-like creature dodged each attack. Natasha ran behind and hit the back of Janessa's knee. She felt back onto the ground, hissing at Natasha. She rolled away, just as Jenny was about to strike her with a baton. The three were fighting, two against one, and even though Jenny and Natasha seemed to have the upper hand, the creature was still fighting back, as though her energy would never run out.

"What is going on?" Thor bellowed, as he walked into the room. His thunder voice made everyone's heads turn. While Jenny was distracted, Janessa spun and held a large dagger to her throat.

"Jenny!" Jane screamed.

"Don't move! Or she dies!" Janessa hissed. Jane froze in her tracks, eyes wide in fear. "Surrender Loki, the Tesseract, and the Mind Stone, or this woman dies." Janessa continued.

"Are you really sure you want to do this?" Natasha asked, her bargaining skills kicking in. She held out her gun.

Janessa laughed. "I'll do whatever it takes to complete my mission. You of all people should understand that."

"If you hurt her, I'll make it my mission to kill you." Natasha threatened.

Suddenly, a green light shown from Jenny's chest. Jenny's necklace was no longer cold.

Loki walked into the room, still covered in bandages and his arm was bleeding, as though he had ripped out the IV.

"Janessa." He growled.

"Loki." Janessa growled back.

"Release the girl."

"Tell me where the Tesseract is!" Janessa demanded.

"Loki, you can't!" Jenny shouted.

"Shut up!" Janessa snapped, pulling her dagger away and smacking Jenny's face. Her claws left three scratches on her cheek. Before anyone else could react, there was another green light. Loki raised his arm and what appeared to be a light shot out at Janessa, knocking her back. When the light had settled, the lights flickered. Loki knelt down as though his energy had been drained.

Natasha grabbed Jenny's arm and pulled her to her side. More of the Avengers had heard the commotion and ran into the room, so see what had happened.

Janessa got on her knees. She looked at Loki with pure hatred. "You are more powerful than I thought you were." She growled. "I'll be back." She finished before disappearing into a blue portal.