Category: Loki Inspired (Page 4 of 18)

Leah tried to push the door open ramming against it a couple of times before giving up. It was useless she hadn´t managed to even move it. She kept looking at it thoughtfully.

“A hole in the wall?” She felt increasingly nervous as time went by. She nodded her head negatively looking at her hands. “Maybe if they were healed; it will never work like this.”

She anxiously looked around the room trying to find something she could use to pry the door. Suddenly she remembered the scissors Natasha had used to cut the adhesive tape from the plastic wrappings they had used to keep her splinters dry. She ran into the bathroom a few seconds later she ran out bringing the scissors with her. She tried to shove them into the wood frame; maybe if she could force them into the latch.

After more than a couple failed attempts Leah gave up “Argh! “She exclaimed frustrated against the door.

“There´s got to be another way.” She started searching her room again all of the sudden she smiled victorious. “The window!”

It had never occurred to her to try to open any of the windows before; she just assumed it wasn´t a good idea but she never thought they were sealed, not a handle or panel she could access. She tried to break one of the window lites with the scissors; to her surprise it didn´t break. Astonished she look closer; she hadn´t break it but she could see a small dent on the glass. She nodded her head negatively as she told herself before chopping the lite again. “Loki is going to be furious at me … but it isn´t like he left me any choice.”

Loki started searching for Tony in all the usual places; finally, he found him on the communications room along with Steve and Thor.

“Brother!” Thor greeted him happily. “Natasha told us you were back.”

Loki ignored his brother´s salute and walked directly to Tony. Without any warning he aggressively poked him on the chest cornering Tony against the wall. “You will tell me exactly what happened!”

Both Thor and Steve turned to help Tony, who quickly signaled them to wait.

“What are we talking about?” Tony asked perplexed.

“Your little argument with Leah.” Loki answered irate.

“Ah!” Tony exclaimed. No wonder Loki looked so angry. “What did she told you?”

“Not much. She keeps saying that it was all her fault and that I shouldn´t be angry at you. All that I really know is that she broke her fingers over something you two argued about. I want to know exactly what happened.” He huffed angrily.

Tony scratched his nape nervously. “Um yes, about the guilty part I would say 50-50.”

Loki took a step forward vexed. Tony lifted his hands in surrender as he told him. “If you calm down I´ll explain…”

Suddenly an alarm went off. They all looked surprised at each other.

“Are we under attack?” Steve asked out loud.

Loki muttered some words and suddenly a view from the mansion exterior was projected on thin air.”

“There!” Steve pointed to a window in the second floor. “Is that Leah? What is he …?”

Loki teleported away before Steve could finish his question.

Leah had finally broken a hole big enough to pass through it; not without getting several cuts from the shards all over her body. Her unprotected hands had suffered the worst part.

She had climbed out onto the cornice and now was trying to climb back in through another window.

“Dammit Loki! Wait until I get back inside! I´ll teach you to lock me in!” She grunted vexed as she positioned herself to start chopping the window tile with her scissors again. The moment she hit the glass she inadvertently triggered the defense system. A laser grid lit up immediately scorching a line on Leah´s right leg. She yelped surprised, stepping back on instinct. She lost her footing and helplessly fell into the void.

She knew the two story fall wouldn´t kill her but undoubtedly it would hurt.

Loki teleported outside immediately realizing Leah´s reckless efforts would activate the house defense systems. But he was too late to help her. He witnessed powerless as Leah hit the ground.

The impact knocked Leah´s air out. She growled painfully and coughed loudly as she tried to get some air back on her lungs.

Loki ran to her side. “By Odin´s ravens Leah! What on Helheim you think you are doing?”

“Proving I can hurt myself without any help!” She retorted with irony. “Fuck! That hurt!” She rolled painfully trying to get up.

“Dammit Leah! Stay still!” Loki motioned her.

“Why should I listen to you? You don´t listen to me!” Leah growled as she managed to sit herself up. She looked at Loki defiantly as she sternly reproached him. “You locked me in!”

Loki noticed a swallow slash on her right cheek and blood stains all over her clothes and hands. Ignoring her complaints, he swiftly carried her up teleporting both of them inside.

“Let me down!” Leah angrily yelled at him while trying to wriggle her way out of his grasp.

“No, and stop behaving like a child! I´m taking you to Banner and that´s that.” Loki scolded her harshly.

Leah grunted annoyed but decided to keep her mouth shut. She did needed Bruce to patch her up this time. It seemed that Loki wasn´t in the mood to heal her and she wasn´t asking either.

When they reached Bruce he spat surprised. “What the hell…?”

Both Loki and Leah started arguing again.

“It´s his fault! He locked me in our room because he´s insanely jealous.” Leah shrieked.

“Why shouldn’t I be jealous?” Loki yelled back.

“Because I love you, you stupid Asgardian!” Leah screamed angrily.

“I know!” Loki growled back.

They both stared at each other vexed for a moment. Suddenly Leah stuck her tongue at him.

“Stop being a brat!” Loki spat irritated.

“Make me!” Leah challenged him.

Loki huffed nodding his head annoyed and simply handed Leah into Bruce´s arms. “Just patch her up!” Next he walked outside leaving a very confused Bruce and angry Leah behind.

“What was that all about?” Bruce asked Leah once he had placed her on the examination table.

Leah explained him briefly what had happened growling and grunting all the time. When Bruce got to the burn on her tight she complained loudly.

“I hadn´t seen you this whining ever before. “He told her surprised by her attitude.

“I´m not in the mood Bruce. Didn´t you realized he could´ve healed my wounds and he just didn´t.” Leah complained loudly; this time her eyes watered against her will.  “He´s not forgiving me.” Was the thought she refrained from saying out loud.

Loki strolled off angrily to the communications room where Tony, Thor and Steve were waiting for any news.

“What happened?” Tony asked alarmed as he noticed some blood smeared on Loki´s clothes.

“She triggered the mansion defenses. Bruce is patching her up right now.” Loki reluctantly volunteered.

“Patching her up? Bruce? What happened? Why didn´t you healed her yourself?” Tony asked confused.

“Because apparently I’m a stupid jealous Asgardian … and I´m not in the mood.” Loki growled angrily.

Three pairs of mouths opened for a second before snapping closed. That sounded like Leah. What could´ve happened that she was so mad at Loki?

“What did you do to her?” Tony finally asked.

“She kept trying to prevent me from talking to you, so I locked her in our room.” Loki volunteered still growling.

“And you didn’t thought that would backfire?” Tony asked him incredulously.

“Obviously not.” Loki acknowledged. “Now will you tell me what happened before she gets another bright idea?”

Tony scowled pensively. “Guys do you mind? Loki and I have a lot to talk.”

“Are you sure?” Steve asked cautiously.

“I´m sure.” Tony asseverated. “Besides I don´t think that our friend here wants to … uhm … anger his sweetheart any further.”

“All right. If you need us …” Steve offered.

“I´ll call you.” Tony volunteered.

“Brother?” Thor asked concerned.

“He´s right Thor. Leah is angry enough with me as it is. We´ll be fine. I just want to talk.” Loki agreed.

“And that´s it; so …? Tony cautiously asked Loki after finishing telling him everything that had happened in his absence.

“You cur, you …” Loki growled angrily.

“Hey!” Tony cut him off. “There’s no need for name calling!” Tony complained offended.

“Really?” Loki asked irked. “You drove her to the edge. Name calling is the least you deserve! What if something else had happened? Did you even thought of that?” A concerned tinge could be detected in Loki´s voice through the anger.

“But it didn´t.” Tony dryly replied; he had asked himself that question before and the answer scared him. “Don´t you think I feel guilty enough? Regardless of what Andrew thinks I´m not comfortable with what happened.”

Loki took a moment to observe Tony´s face. He was truthful about feeling remorse. “I believe you are.” Loki finally told him sternly. “I´m not just angry at you.” Loki sighed frustrated. “I´m angry at her. It doesn’t matter what I do, she keeps trying to keep me on the dark. Why do I even bother? She tries to hide things from me all the time.”

Tony looked at Loki sympathetically. “Don´t take it personally; she does that to all of us. She probably just doesn´t want to upset you. Put yourself in her shoes. It can´t be easy…. But my friend … I think you´ve failed to see the obvious.” Tony told him with a smug.

“The obvious?” Loki asked puzzled to the meaning of his words.

Tony volunteered. “She fought you, quite enthusiastically I must say.”

“Yes, she did. But what do you …?” Suddenly he understood. “She´s not giving up anymore.” Loki smiled wryly at the irony.

Tony didn´t even tried to keep a straight face when he added. “Yes, she´s getting better pal. Seems Andrew was right after all. Good luck handling her now.” He gave Loki a patronizingly look.

Loki sighed amused. “No one said it was going to be easy.”

“Nope, it never is.” Tony agreed.

“How are you feeling today Leah?” Andrew asked calmly.

“All things considered I guess I´m fine.” Leah volunteered. “Did you knew I´m under super-nanny watch?” Leah joked wryly.

Andrew couldn´t help to laugh. “Yes, I heard.”.

“Good Lord I break a couple of bones and everyone goes haywire.” Leah jokingly complained.

“Well, can you blame them? They tried to give you some space …” Andrew started to explain when Leah interrupted him.

“Yes, I know. I did this.” She raised her hands in defeat.

” You know that´s not the main reason they are keeping tabs with you.” Andrew volunteered.

Leah sighed frustrated. “Yes, I know. They are worried I can´t do things” She leaned down on the sofa for a moment before raising up to add. “At least I’m perfectly capable of bathing myself, well … kind of. As long as someone helps me to wrap these things to keep them dry.” Leah looked at her splinters pouting.” And unwrap them … maybe a bit of help with the hair dryer, and … damn! I´m a mess!”

Andrew looked at her amused by her rambling while hiding his grin with his hand. Suddenly Leah looked up and spat annoyed. “All right … I need a lot of help. Are you happy?”

Andrew kept his hand over his mouth to avoid laughing as he nodded negatively closing his eyes for a second trying to keep a staright-face, when he opened his eyes again he asked her with irony. “Was it that hard?”

“To admit I need help? Maybe … either way I guess I´d better get used to it. Somehow I don’t think Loki will let it slide.” Her apparent good humor vanished at that point

Andrew leaned forward concerned. “What do you mean? Are you really suggesting he wouldn´t heal your bones?”

“I wouldn´t.” Leah volunteered dryly while looking down.

“Why not?” Andrew inquired worried by her answer.

“To teach me a lesson.” Leah volunteered uncomfortable.

“What´s wrong Leah? What is it that you are so worried about?” Andrew asked calmly.

“What if this is the proverbial drop that overflows the glass?” Leah asked worryingly. “I´m scared.”

Andrew leaned closer as he reassured her. “I really don´t think it will Leah. Have some faith in Loki.”

“I do.” Leah answered with a whine. “I have faith he´ll scold the living hell out of me.”

Andrew looked at her distressed pouting and volunteered kindly. “I´m sure it won´t be that bad Leah.”

“So, you don´t think he´ll get angry?” Leah asked incredulously.

“On the contrary; I know he will. He´ll probably yell at you for being so careless but the only reason he´ll do it is because he cares about you. He´ll even nag everyone else for not taking proper care for you.” Andrew told her trying to cheer her up.

“That´s what scares me the most.” Leah confessed alarmed.

“Are you scared for Tony?” Andrew asked her unsure.

“Umm … yes. I don´t want Loki to think … I don´t know I just … I don´t want team to fight.” Leah admitted broodingly turning her face away.

“Leah.” Andrew called her attention, she looked absent.

Leah turned back to face him as she wryly volunteered. “I know, don´t worry. Why couldn´t I just kept my mouth shut?” She huffed angry at herself.

“Leah, I sincerely think that lashing out was the best thing for you. Haven´t you been feeling better?” Andrew asked concerned.

“I didn´t had any nightmares last night.” Leah volunteered shyly.

“You see?” Andrew told her with a reassuring smile. “Now, when Loki arrives today just tell him what happened. There´s a good probability he´ll get angry but at the end he´ll understand.”

Leah eyes widened overjoyed. “Today? Loki is coming back today?”

“Yes.” Andrew answered with a big grin.

“Oh my God! He´s coming back! Today!” Leah jumped up to her feet excited. “Andrew why didn´t you told me that before? Look at me! I´m a mess! At what time will he arrive? I got to change and …”

Andrew´s laugh interrupted her thoughts.

“What? Yes, I´m acting as a teenager, so sue me.”

“No, I´m just glad to see you this happy.” Andrew told her gallantly. “It suits you.”

Leah blushed at his compliment. “thank you.”

“Feeling better?” Andrew asked her teasingly.

“No, I´m still scared as hell, but who cares. Loki is coming back! I feel too many butterflies in my stomach to be able to worry. He can yell at me all day long if he wants.” Leah acknowledged happily. “Tell me Andrew; at what time will he arrive?”

“Sometime after two, that´s all I know.” Andrew volunteered.

“Is he ok? He´s unharmed, right? Please, tell me he is!” Leah pleaded anxiously.

“Yes, he is. You have nothing to worry about.” Andrew reassured her.

 

“So, you didn´t told Doom she´s alive?” Fury asked Loki as they arrived to his office.

“No, I´m still not sure if I should trust him.” Loki acknowledged doubtfully.

“I know this will sound strange coming from me, but maybe you can.” Fury volunteered.

“You can´t be serious!” Loki spat surprised.

“I´ve heard some rumors; according to them if Doom pawns his word he will abide by it; specially if it concerns his twisted honor code.” Fury volunteered while in deep thought. “I can make some inquiries, just to be sure.”

Loki considered his offer for a moment. “All right, either way I’m not ready to tell him yet.”

“You´ll probably need to tell him before he finds out.” Fury suggested.

“When I´m ready.” Loki volunteered dryly.

“It´s your call.” Fury acknowledged shrugging his shoulders. “Are you ready to leave?”

“Can´t wait to get rid of me?” Loki answered jokingly.

“Yes, I can´t wait until you´re someone else’s problem.” Fury told him with a smirk.

“You´ll miss me.” Loki smirked back.

“I most certainly will not.” Fury adamantly answered. “But I´ll keep in touch.”

“Please don´t.” Loki answered sternly. “If you need me call the Avengers.”

“As you wish.” Fury answered nonchalant.

A few moments later Loki appeared in his studio. Before walking out he replenished his energies with the gems he had taken with him.

“Home.” He sighed with satisfaction. “Finally! Where could Leah be at this hour. Maybe I should ask Tony to install an A.I. like Jarvis. That way I wouldn´t have to look for her all over every time I need to find her.”

 

He directed to their quarters first trying deliberately not to bump with anyone. He wanted Leah to be the first person to welcome him back.

While on the hallway he stopped pensively for a moment. “Nursery or our room? Maybe I should check our room first.” He smiled mischievously. “Hopefully she´s alone. I feel like spending some quality time with her.”

When he reached their room he sighed disappointed he could overhear both Leah and Natasha´s voices as well as a low humming sound. “Come on Loki, it was a long shot anyway. She didn´t knew exactly at what hour would you arrive. Besides you can always hint her to ask Natasha to leave.” With that last thought on his mind he entered the room.

Both women were sat with their back to the door talking and laughing. Natasha was blowing dry Leah´s long hair. Leah was wearing a bathrobe. There was a hairbrush and some unknown objects scattered around as well as Leah´s change of clothes.

“I´m probably just early.” He thought to himself, pleased that Leah had asked Natasha to help her fix up for him.

He coughed loudly to call their attention. Natasha turned off the dryer as she turned her head to the door almost at the same time Leah did. That´s when he noticed something wrapping two fingers of Leah´s right hand.

“Loki!” Leah jumped out of the bed joyously as she ran straight into his arms. “You´re back!”

Loki smiled as he hugged her tightly. Instantly she snuggled closer to him relishing on his scent, a satisfaction sigh escaped her lips.

Her sigh made him long for her. He broke their embrace to search for her mouth. He kissed her sweetly for a moment until he noticed a second wrapping on her other hand. Swiftly he stopped. “What´s that?” He asked her as he brought one of her hands closer to his face to examine it.

“I …” Leah studded embarrassed. “uhm … they are splinters.” She finally confessed with a guilty look.

Loki´s expression changed to a worried one; sternly he asked her. “What happened?”

Leah looked at Natasha distressed; she would have to explain everything to Loki. Worriedly she called for her. “Natasha… I … could you?”

“I´ll give you some privacy.” Natasha answered her unspoken plea. “You must have tons of things to talk about.” As she passed by Loki on her way out she softly told him. “Don´t be too hard on her. She´s hard enough on herself.”

Leah gave her a thankful smile. She didn´t know if Natasha´s word would have any effect on Loki, but at least she had tried.

Loki didn´t said a word; but he waited until Natasha had left to ask Leah again. “What happened?”

“I … kind of broke … two fingers of each hand.” She blurted her words out quickly, afraid she would lose her nerve.

Loki´s eyes widened in shock. “You did what? How did this happen? Were you training?”

Leah gravely answered his question. “No, I wasn´t training. I think I should explain what happened since the beginning. It will make so much more sense that way. But … could I at least dress myself first?” She pleaded in hope.

Loki looked at her sternly. Was she trying to distract him? Maybe stall? With a flick of his fingers Leah´s clothes magically appeared on her.

“A jersey and some jeans.” She thought worriedly. “This isn´t painting any good.” She acknowledged while eyeing the dress that remained lying on their bed.

“There, you are dressed. Carry on.” Loki stated seriously as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“It will take a while; can we sit?” she asked nervously.

Loki looked severely at her and then at their bed. “If you want.” He finally agreed while shrugging his shoulders.

“Thank you.” Leah told him with a small smile as she walked to the bed and sat. “It all started the night you left. We made a sleepover.” Leah told him feeling uneasy.

“Sleepover? You mean everyone slept here on our bed with you?” Loki asked bewildered. “I thought you were only having a party.”

“You saw us? How?” Leah asked confused.

“I scryed for you just before we left to the mission. I saw all of you fooling around.” Loki volunteered.

“Well, the guys brought another bed and we all slept together.” Loki´s dark expression told her he wasn´t thrilled with the idea. “I … I kind of told team I was afraid of sleeping alone, so …” She confessed shamefaced.

Loki´s eyes softened for an instant before asking apprehensively. “Who suggested this sleepover?”

“Um … Tony.” Leah volunteered nervously.

“I should´ve known.” Loki spat angrily. “He couldn´t wait to have you in his arms again.”

Leah felt shocked by his suggestion and complained offended. “Loki you know Tony and I don’t think of each other that way.”

“So tell me, who slept by your side?” Loki sternly asked her.

“Tony and Thor.” Leah answered distraught. She hadn´t thought Loki would be angrier at her because of some silly jealousy than by the fact she had broken her fingers.

Loki huffed vexed.

Leah spat angrily. “If nothing happened between us the night we slept together in my room just the two of us. What makes you think something did when we were surrounded by five more people. One of them your brother nonetheless. Does it even matter to you that I broke four of my fingers?” She reproached him sullen.

Loki looked at her resentful of her reproach. “Of course I care … just continue with your story. We can talk about this later.” He told her on a sulky matter.

Leah sighed annoyed. “Early next morning I had a nightmare. Not a particularly bad one but enough to wake me up. When I did … everyone was staring at me…” She looked up to meet Loki´s gaze. “They gave me the same look you are giving me right now.”

“What look?” Loki asked taken by surprise.

“The pity look.” Leah acknowledged dryly.

“I’m not …” Loki tried to defend himself.

“Yes, you do. I know you don´t mean to; neither did they. But when you look at me like that … it makes me feel … worthless.” She confessed upset.

Loki understood exactly what she meant. “I´m sorry. I didn´t knew. You never said anything before.”

“No, I didn´t. I just couldn´t muster the courage to tell any of you. And it only got worse every time it happened. I tried to ignore it; I really tried. But that morning … I just couldn´t. I thought I could run away from it and just … I don´t know … let it pass. But I was feeling too angry and useless. They all noticed but then Tony wouldn´t let it go.”

Leah closed her eyes for a moment remembering the scene. “We got into a fight and … I just wanted him to leave me alone. I never meant. I told him horrible things.”

Loki looked sympathetically at Leah´s troubled expression.  “Siblings…” He thought to himself. Even if he was jealous of Tony he had to admit Leah and him behaved more like brother and sister than anything else.

“It couldn´t been that bad.” Loki kindly suggested

“I told him to leave me alone and to stop acting as if he were my brother. That I didn´t needed him because we weren´t family.” Leah blurted shamefully.

“Leah! You actually told him that?” Loki looked surprised remembering Thor´s pained look when he told him the same thing.

“I yelled it to his face …I hurt him.” She confessed while down casting her eyes. “I just didn´t knew what to do. I was hurting so bad. Andrew said it actually helped me at the end.”

“Mmm, yes. Andrew.” Loki acknowledged trying to disguise the jealousy he felt.

“Yes, he said that the session we had after the fight was one of our more productive ones. Bottom line I knew I had to apologize to Tony, but when I found him our quarrel only got worse.” Leah confessed wryly.

“Please tell me you didn´t broke your fingers fighting with him.” Loki snapped irritated.

“Of course not!” Leah answered swiftly. “I did that myself. I tried to fix it but the argument just got worse and then Tony told me he was leaving right after you got back because he never wanted to see me anymore … and then … I just … I had lost my best friend and it was all my fault. I was a coward. You weren´t here. I didn´t knew what to do with myself. I don´t think I did it on purpose but suddenly I found myself in one of the training rooms. When I saw the punching bag I … I just had to vent all my anger on it. Not just about what just happened with Tony, but about everything. At first I could feel the pain building up in my knuckles but after a while I couldn´t care less. I just kept hitting it with all my strength; that´s how I broke my fingers.”

Loki looked at Leah horrified thinking how much strength she must had used to make such damage. Her bones and tissues were three times stronger than normal humans.

“I just kept doing it until he found me. After all we said to each other I had lost all hope. But he came looking for me to apologize.” Leah smiled fondly as she remembered Tony´s warmth. Loki flinched, a pang of jealousy ran through him.

“It was the least he could do.” Loki spat furiously. “After all he caused this mess. Wait till I have a word with him.”

Leah´s eyes widened scared. “No. Loki it wasn´t his fault! It was mine! Please Loki!”

“You are defending him! “Loki growled vexed as he stood up. “He made you upset after all those times he scolded me. I´m going to give him a piece of my mind.”

Leah quickly stood up in front of him. “No, please! Loki, don´t! I´m fine. He didn´t made me upset. I was upset already. Besides Andrew says that lashing out proved more beneficial than detrimental.”

“Andrew” Loki mumbled between his teeth as he gently pushed Leah to the side. “I´ll ask him if that´s the truth!”

Leah shrieked in panic. “I´m not lying! Loki, please! Just listen to me. If you want to be angry with someone it should be me. If you want to punish someone, punish me!” She had cut his way again.

Loki looked at her irritated. “Don´t you even think you’re out of trouble either. But first I will have a talk with your knight in shining armour.” With that he pushed her again out of his path and closed the door behind him.

Leah tried to follow him immediately but she found the door magically locked.

“No! Loki! Please! Just listen to me! Listen to me!” she pleaded in despair for a moment leaning on the door.

“Why can´t he just let somethings alone?” She asked to herself in a low tone. “I don´t want him to talk to Tony; not without me. What if things go wrong?”

“I don´t understand why did you insisted on waiting until we were aboard the hellicarrier.” Loki growled still annoyed.

“Because if things had gotten out of control we might have well advertise what we did in Okanjo´s base. Now stop pouting if you don´t want to do it then don´t.” Fury answered irritated.

Loki huffed exasperated. “Let´s just get this over so I can leave.”

“I´ll get Doom and then you can be on your way.” Fury volunteered showing Loki into the meeting room.

 

Loki walked in and watched Fury walk away before sitting down. He growled irritated. “Curiosity killed the cat. No wonder why I´ve never liked that midgardian saying when the real danger comes from not knowing.” He wryly admitted to himself.

“Leah would freak out if she knew I was doing this …” He sighed. “I wonder how is she? Fury said he would tell Andrew that our mission had been successful. It´s likely he already told her, I wish I had seen her face when he did.”

Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by Fury entering to show Doom in.

 

Loki stood up instinctively, for a moment both Doom and him held each other stare without saying a word.

Fury stepped in and reminded then. “We are here to talk, remember? Nothing more. If any of you forget about it may I remind you I have enough fire power here to contain both of you.” His last words made both Loki and Doom look at him sternly.

“Let´s talk.” Doom was the first to speak as he invited Loki to sit with a movement of his hand.

“Yes, talk.” Loki agreed as he sat down.

“I´ll leave you alone.” Fury informed them before walking out.

 

“What do you want?” Loki asked without preamble.

“As Fury said, to talk.” Doom volunteered.

“I don’t think we have nothing to talk about after what you did.” Loki huffed angrily.

“That´s where you are wrong Loki.” Doom contradicted him. “Unlike you or the rest of our villainous friends I have a code of honor to which I proudly adhere at all times.”

“Please Doom! Don´t give me that crap!” Loki spat irritated.

Doom discarded Loki´s remark. “As I was saying I follow this code to keep myself above … well, the rest of you. Regretfully I must admit that in the heat of the battle I … failed to do so. Now, I …  I fear I have acquired a debt of honor with you; one I intent to pay.

Loki looked at Doom baffled. “Pay? What do you think that you can just throw some money at me and make it better? What you took from me can´t be restored!”

“Don´t be foolish; I would never resort to something as crude as money to settle this.” Doom spat offended. “I can´t undo what I did but I can give you my word I won´t try to harm you or your child again. That seems payment enough.”

“Your word?” Loki questioned bewildered. “And I´m supposed to believe it?”

“Yes, you are.” Doom plainly asseverated. “I will not fail to abide to my code again.”

Loki looked at Doom pensively. “How can I know this isn´t a trap to make me lower my guard?”

“I´m Victor Von Doom, ruler of Latveria. You will not doubt my word Loki Laufeyson.” Doom voiced enraged.

Loki almost busted laughing at Doom´s melodramatic display but refrained himself from doing so. Taking a deep breath, he calmly pointed out. “You know this doesn´t make any sense to me.”

“I agree; it probably doesn´t.” Doom acknowledged, after all Loki wasn´t as civilized as him. “What do you propose?” He inquired in the same calm tone Loki had used.

“What is it that didn’t fit in your so called code of honor? Murdering her? Beating her? Or maybe planning to rape her in the first place?” Loki inquired resentful.

“I wasn´t planning on raping her …” Doom protested. “At least not at first …”

“And that´s supposed to make me feel better? You were planning on abducting both her and my daughter and leave me to rot in a cell.” Loki interrupted him disgruntled.

“I wasn´t going to leave you to rot in a cell… not really. I was feeling more inclined to follow an ancient royal tradition; taking hostages.” Doom informed him nonchalant.

“How´s that any better?” Loki inquired bewildered.

“I would´ve treated them as members of my own family.” Doom look at Loki irked before adding. “You really should study Earth´s history Loki; I´m sure you would find it very illustrative. “

Loki huffed irritated my Doom´s condescendence. “What you had planned doesn´t matter; you changed your mind. You wanted her to bear you a child, or do you deny this?”

Doom huffed annoyed as he rolled his eyes at Loki. “It´s the twenty-one century Loki; there are other ways to father a child than having sex. Either way why would I leave something as important as an heir to chance?”

Loki glared at him infuriated. “Lier, I know what you menaced her with.”

Doom clenched his fists angered for a moment before disregarding Loki´s word as a misunderstanding. “She refused me, so … I overreacted. You might like your women feisty but I don´t. I´m used to getting what I want.”

“You hit her.” Loki growled angered.

“She stab me!” Doom spat back angrily before changing his tone to a calmer one. “We can do this all day Loki; in the end I failed to abide my code. I killed a worthy adversary while unarmed, injured and unprepared. It was dishonorable of me.”

“You really think I´m going to believe that? You´ve killed hundreds, what one more death?” Loki confronted him.

“Only because it was necessary.” Doom justified himself.

“Please spare me of hearing your Doom´s world speech again.” Loki replied exasperated.

“It doesn´t matter whether you believe me or not. I know it´s the only way for humanity to survive.” Doom acknowledged self-righteously.

“I already had this discussion with Fury and I’m not having it with you too. You´re just another Okanjo.” Loki snorted furiously.

“Do not compare me with that beast!” Doom growled infuriated.

“Why not? He also did what he thought he had to do in order to make his vision of the world came true.” Loki volunteered irked.

“You will take that back right now Loki Laufeyson! That´s a lie and you know it! I may very well do unspeakable things to secure Doomworld from happening; but only if necessary. Okanjo knew he had lost. Most probably he also knew we were going to kill him, and that those children wouldn´t survive long after what he had done to them. He chose to kill them out of spite, without any purpose whatsoever … just because he could.” Doom reproached him hastily.

Loki pondered Doom´s words for a moment scowling. “I apologize. You are right; not even you would´ve done what Okanjo did to those children.”

Doom smiled pleased. “I´m glad we understand each other.”

“All right.” Loki huffed exasperated. “For a moment let´s say I believe you. So, your idea of restitution is basically leaving my daughter and me alone? No hidden agendas to make her your apprentice?” Loki inquired doubtfully.

“I won´t force her or you to do anything against your wills.” Doom volunteered. As Loki remained pensively Doom asked. “What´s your problem now?”

“Nothing really.” Loki admitted. “I was just wondering if you would´ve offered me the same deal if Leah had survived.”

Doom looked at Loki quizzically. “But she didn´t.”

Loki asked again. “But what if she had, would you had been so generous as to offer to leave the three of us alone? Or your code only applies because she´s dead? I want to know… are we paying our freedom´s with her death?” An idea was taking shape on Loki´s head. Even if everything went as planned there would always be the danger of Doom finding out Leah was alive.

Doom pondered heavily Loki´s question before answering. “I would´ve offer you the same deal had she survived my attack. Killing her or not is inconsequential; I broke my code just by spilling her blood. You pay nothing with her death.” He paused while observing Loki´s reaction. “Does this pleases you?”

“On your honor?” Loki asked sternly.

“Yes, on my honor. I protest this to be the truth.” Doom acknowledged.

“And you won´t try to spawn a child with any member of my family by any kind of method, ever.” Loki pressed.

Doom let out a small snort. “I promise; your daughter is safe.”

“Not only her, any member of my family.” Loki reaffirmed.

“Already thinking of grandkids Loki?” Doom spat amused.

“Do you promise?” Loki reasserted.

“Yes.” Doom dryly asseverated.

“On your honor.” Loki repeated.

“On my honor I swear this to be the truth.” Doom sternly added.

“And I really can trust you?” Loki asked unsure while anxiously debating with himself whether he should.

“This discussion is getting old Loki. You can either believe me or not; whatever you decide is not my problem.” Doom pointed out annoyed.

Meanwhile Loki debated still on his mind if he should let Doom know Leah was alive. What is he backed down because he didn´t told him?  Finally, he decided against it. He would keep her a secret as long as he could; in the worst case scenario at least that would give him time to prepare.

“I just have one question. Why help us with Okanjo?” Loki changed the subject unexpectedly.

“Do you really think I would´ve let that beast take over the world?” Doom asked bask intrigued.

Loki thought about it for a moment. “I guess not.”

It was still early morning when Loki teleported everyone back to their base.

“We´ll have to stay here until nightfall.” Fury had told them adamantly. “Once we are back in the hellicarrier you´ll all get your rewards. Until then I´d suggest we get some rest.”

They all felt tired not only physically but emotionally. Not wanting to talk about it they all agreed about getting some rest and scattered to their rooms.

 

Once in his room Loki removed his armour noticing the hole that the steel tube had made on it. He slid his hand through his abdomen; there was no scar that marked his wound.

He remained pensive contemplating his blood stained clothes for a moment before he decided to finish undressing.

“It was a close call.” He suddenly acknowledges in a whisper. “At least it´s over now. But then why do I feel so restless? Like you didn´t knew … stop dwelling about it there´s nothing you can do about it now.” But he couldn´t help wondering. “Is this how heroes feel when they fail? We are no heroes but we tried to save them … and we failed. We did everything we could but it didn´t matter. I really can´t understand how you´re supposed to do this; day in and day out full of this crap. Why Fury does it? My brother? Why even try?”

As the water spray from the shower reached him he sighed. It was comforting to be able to get rid of all that dirt, sweat and blood.

“And if it that wasn´t enough there´s something else bothering me. That tank … it really wouldn´t had hurt me … much. Maybe the others … Now I wonder if Fury promised Doom something too.” He yawned as he finished dressing himself. “I guess I´ll just have to ask Fury about that …” He yawned again. “But I´d better do that on a clearer head.” He had spent most of his energies during the battle, although he still had some magical jewels to replenish himself he votes against using them. “Just in case of an emergency.” He sank into his bed heavily; within minutes he had fallen asleep.

 

When he finally woke up it was well past three in the afternoon. He yawned as he sat up in his bed; he didn´t felt any rested. His stomach grumble loudly distracting him of his thoughts. “All right ….” He said to himself in a joking matter. “You first, then Fury.”

“Loki.” Fury acknowledge as he opened his door. “I thought you would drop by. Let me guess; you want to talk about Doom.” He steps aside inviting Loki in.

“Among other stuff.” Loki volunteered.

” Other stuff? Really? Then if you don´t mind I think we might need a drink.” He opened a bottle of gin and poured two glasses. Loki stared at the glass Fury was offering to him for a second before accepting it; he´s rather be having a strong Asgardian mead but this would have to do. He took a sip and savor it; it wouldn´t get him drunk but at least the taste was acceptable.

“So…?” Fury asked as he sat. “What´s on your mind?”

“Why do it? I mean what´s the point?”

“The point of what?” Fury inquired puzzled by his question.

“This sort of missions. Deciding who lives and who dies. How can you reconcile being the good guys and at the same time working with people like Okanjo? People that´s just …” Loki stopped looking for the right word.

“Evil?” Fury suggested.

“Demonic.” Loki finally said.

“Yes … demonic. Sounds appropriate, doesn´t it? Of all people I thought you would appreciate the irony; using fire to put out another fire.”

“We are nothing like him!” Loki raised up angered by the comparison. I … I never was that cruel … not that I remember.” He had killed people, children, but never like that.

“I know.” Fury grimly acknowledged. “People want to think the world is either white or black; but it isn´t. Most of the time you are smacked between gray areas. Good people do wrong things for the right reasons and bad people do good things for the wrong ones. It´s never that simple.” Fury heavily admitted as he finished his drink. He filled it up again immediately as he continued. “You do what you can and hope for the best, and yes; most of the time you end up with nothing but a heartache. But that can´t keep us from trying again and again.”

“Why?” Loki asked in earnest. “Why don´t you just take charge? I´m quite sure SHIELD has enough fire power to do it. Wouldn´t it be better? Safer?”

Fury let out a small laugh. “Safer?” Your father …” Loki scowled at his reference. “I mean Odin has command over the Seven Realms. Are they any safer because of it?”

“At least I never had to deal with someone like Okanjo before.” Loki spat angered.

“Probably not. What we lack in strength we made up with imagination.” Fury offered. “It´s not always our best feature.”

“Is this a joke to you? All those children…? Loki raises his voice crossed.

“No!” Fury yelled back. “Of course not …” He acknowledged dropping his voice down. “I wasn’t expecting that. Either way it´s not the first nor it will be the last time innocents are caught in the crossfire; you should know that.”

“Don´t get her into this.” Loki growled menacingly.

“Why not? After all she’s the reason you are here.” Fury volunteered dryly.

“Don´t” Loki warned him between clenched teeth.

“As you like.” Fury shrugged his shoulders while he brushed Loki´s comment away. “either way you´ll be back with the Avengers by tomorrow. Why dwell on this?”

“Because …” Loki realized he wasn´t entire sure of the reason. “Because … it wasn´t right.”

“No, you are right; it wasn´t. But taking away everyone´s freedom to ensure peace wouldn´t be either. So yes, now and then people like Okanjo will emerge, but that´s why we are here… to send them back to where ever they came from.” Fury took another sip of his drink before adding. “We might not be able to stop everything bad from happening; and frankly I’m not sure we should.”

“What do you mean?” Loki asked baffled.

“Do you want to play God, Loki? Undisputed ruler of Midgard?” Fury asked him deeply interested on his reaction.

“What?” Loki inquired shocked; unsure of how their conversation had come that way. “No!” He answered, somehow he wasn´t surprised by his own answer.

“Why not?” Fury asked calmly.

“Because …” Loki consider it for a moment. “I wouldn´t be any better than Okanjo If I did it. Not by force at least.”

Fury smirked. “We can´t change the world Loki. All we can do is try to keep it in one piece until people change … for the better. “Fury shrugged his shoulders before taking another sip. “At least that´s what I think. It won´t happen in my lifetime; probably not even in yours or maybe it will. Who knows? Now and then people surprise me in the best way.” Fury smiled pleased as he stared directly at Loki.

Loki gave him a quizzical look before realizing what he meant. “I didn´t…”

“Of course you didn´t. That´s what makes it even better.” Fury told him with a big grin. “Who would´ve guess I would be having a philosophical debate about good and evil with the God of Mischief? Not even Odin would´ve seen that coming.”

Loki laughed amused as he raised his glass before ending it. “Probably not.”

“Now that I seem to have put you at ease about this sordid affair; what else is in your mind?” Fury tilted his head inviting Loki to talk.

“Doom … you … promised him something; didn´t you?” Loki asked staring at Fury sternly.

“Yes.” Fury replied dryly and hastily replied before Loki said anything. “but it’s not what you think.”

“It´s not what I think?” Loki spat in outrage. “I´m not even sure I want to know what you could´ve promised him.” He felt betrayed and asked bewildered. “How could you? After what he did …”

Fury leaned forward decisively cutting off Loki´s sentence. “Come down Loki. It´s really not what you think. As a matter of fact, I need to tell you what is it that he wants.” Fury explained dryly.

Loki got up irritated and started pacing around in disbelief nodding his head negatively. Finally, he stopped and looked back at Fury. Frowning still he asked. “All right. What does Doom want?”

“You.” Fury simply stated.

“What?!” Loki yelled shocked. “Are you out of your mind?”

“He just want to talk to you; alone.” Fury added.

“And you went so far as promising him that? You had no right!” Loki reproached angrily.

“Hold down your horses. I didn´t.” Fury volunteered. “I only promised I would try to talk you into it. Nothing more.”

“And he agreed to such terms?” Loki inquired skeptic.

“He did.” Fury asseverated.

“Then you can tell him you tried and failed.” Loki refused adamantly.

“I could.” Fury admitted. “But I think you should talk to him.”

“You can´t possibly be serious about that! I don’t even want to be in the same room with him; less of all talk to him. I don´t know why he shielded us back in Okanjo´s base but that doesn´t excuse what he did.” Loki replied enraged; his fists had clenched so harshly his knuckles had begun to turn white.

“You are right.2 Fury agreed as he step up. “It doesn´t change a thing; but I hate not knowing. And I´m quite sure you hate that too.”

Loki looked at Fury vexed. “Dammit, he´s right! Even if I agreed to, what makes you think he´ll tell me the truth? How can we know this isn´t another one of his traps?”

“Nothing really. I just hope he does.” Fury volunteered soberly. “What do you have to lose?”

“My patience.” Loki growled between his teeth.

Fury laughed as he finished his second glass. “Best case scenario Doom tells you the truth and we know what to expect form him; worst case scenario you beat his ass. Really, what do you have to lose?”

Loki scowled trying to think of an answer but he had none. “All right.” He agreed reluctantly.

Warning! Graphic deaths ahead.

As the elevator door closed Fury asked Chameleon “Which level?”

“Nine” chameleon dryly answered.

 

After a long silence Sandman was the first to speak again. “What was that about?”

“I don´t know. But we can worry about that later.” Fury volunteered eyeing Loki who remained pensive.

“What could be Doom´s plan?” He pondered. “Maybe he´s trying to befriend with me again … Why? What does he want? Does he really think I´ll fall for that?”

“Loki!” Fury called him out loud. “We can sort that out later. For now, focus.”

Loki nodded his head affirmatively; Fury was right. This wasn´t the best moment to sort out Doom´s intentions.

 

When the lift arrived at level nine Fury told Chamaeleon. “We are here. Where to?”

“To your right, second corridor on your left.” Chamaeleon responded.

The moment they joined them Fury asked angrily. “What´s so freaking important you had to call us down here?”

“See it for yourself.” Chamaeleon answered as he pointed to a heavy looking metallic door with a small glass window on it.”

Fury gave both Mysterio and Chamaeleon a stern questioning look before looking into the opening. After a couple of seconds, he steps back looking shocked, instantly he snaps at Chamaeleon. “What the fuck?”

“Okanjo´s crown jewel … it seems that the super soldiers weren´t his only human experiment.” Chamaeleon informed him wryly.

“They are children.” Fury pointed at the door in dismay.

“Not anymore.” Chamaeleon grimly volunteered. “According to the records we found they are Okanjo´s lead experiment on biological weapons.”

 

While Chamaeleon and Mysterio continued debriefing Fury on what they had found both Loki and Sandman step forward to take a peak into the window. They could see rows of bunkbeds most of them were made but the closest to the door were disarranged. On the other side of the door thirty or fourty children from ages six to twelve were cramped around staring back at their uncommon visitors.

 

Loki paled, this wasn´t part of the plan. Sandman muffled a gasp with his right hand, the children looked sickly and thin; some of them had spots that varied from red to dark brown all over their bodies; at one point he thought some of them were blind. He step back uncomfortable as Chamaeleon ended his report.

 

Loki turned back agitated. “We need to get them out. You really don´t expect us to …”

“We can´t.” Mysterio interrupted him.

“And I wouldn´t.” Chamaeleon added.

“Explain.” Fury looked at them sternly as he crossed his arms over his chest.

 

“We tried at first, but the door has an unbreakable security code. That caught our attention so Chamaeleon hacked into their system to find out what was behind the door that called for such measures.” Mysterio explained.

 

“Not only the door is reinforced with vibranium but it has all sort of security measures magnetic fields, laser fields, it even counts with some sort of facial recognition system. If someone who´s not registered in the system goes in there it will activate a self-destruct system. They really wanted to make sure no one would get in or out unintendedly.” Chamaeleon took a look at them, as no one spoke up he continued. “Even if we could somehow get pass all of this measures there´s still the fact that Okanjo shot them with so many viruses those children are virtually poisonous. And I´m not kidding you about this, if any of us walked in there without a Hazmat suit he would be death within seconds.”

 

“How many of them are there?” Fury asked inexpressive.

“According to the records the experiments began with 200 children; only 33 remain.” Chamaeleon informed him.

“It doesn´t matter how many they are, we got to get them out of here.” Loki told Fury distressed. “It´s not their fault they are here.”

 

Fury looked conflicted. Leaving the children there was condemning them to die of starvation or worse. By the looks of it; it was unlikely any of the children would survive long. But at least they could make them more comfortable before the end. On the other side they couldn´t even get to them; and both their resources and time were limited. As he scowled thinking of a solution he opened the comlink.

 

“Dr. Octopus … is the enemy handled?” He asked sober-minded.

“It will be in a few moments.” Octopus answered almost cheerfully.

“Electro, situation update.” He asked in the same severe tone.

“The remaining officers barricaded themselves in one of the rooms but Venom and I will take care of that in a moment.” Electro reported.

 

“All right.” Fury huffed pensively. “Seems we´ll have full control of the base within minutes. One way or the other we can´t leave them here to die alone.”

Both Loki and Sandman sighed relieved, even Chamaeleon looked more relax.

 

Suddenly an alarm went off; the lights turned red inside the room as the children screamed and hid in terror.

“What the hell is happening now?” Fury inquired angrily.

“I don´t know.” Chamaeleon acknowledged angrily as he pulled out a device from his pocket and started typing on it. Within seconds he spat furiously. “It´s a dead man trigger. If the proper code isn´t inputted every twelve hours, the room is programed to incinerate its occupants.”

“We need to get them out now.” Loki yelled enraged.

“We can´t get them out. We can´t blast through the damn door, all the walls are vibranium reinforced too. If you somehow teleport in successfully the whole room will explode the moment the system recognizes you. And if we found a way the moment we breathe the same air they do we would be dead.” Chamaeleon yelled at him equally enraged, he wasn´t dying for them.

 

“That´s not necessary truth.” Mysterio intervened calmly. “If we can get them out all we need are some Hazmat suits.”

Everyone looked back at him anxiously waiting for an explanation.

“Did I forget to mention I found a locker room filled with Hazmat suits?” Mysterio cautiously asked.

All of them frowned at his answer.

 

“Guys, I don´t think we have time for this.” Sandman suddenly told them as he pointed to a countdown that could be seen in one of the walls inside the children´s room. They only had fifteen minutes.

“Are you sure you can´t just bypass the code?” Fury asked Chamaeleon in hope.

“If I could I would´ve already done it.” Chameleon answered irritated.

“There´s got to be another way, who could´ve had access to this password?” Fury asked again.

“Okanjo and Deiter by the looks of it.” Chamaeleon replied dryly.

 

“Mysterio lead the way, we need to get those Hazmat suits on.” Fury ordered as he opened the comlink. “Electro. I need to know if either Okanjo or Dieter are still alive.” Fury hurriedly asked.

“How the hell am I supposed to know that?” Electro answered displeased. “I´m not introducing ourselves to them before we kill them and my guess is that Venom isn´t even counting.” Electro slyly informed them.

“I don´t need your attitude Electro, we have a situation.” Fury scolded him harshly before proceeding to explain their current problem.

“Fucking shit!” Electro swore out loud shocked by the turn of events. “Are you sure we are the bad guys? Cause I wouldn´t …”

“Electro!” Fury admonished him.

“Ok, if any of them are here we´ll get you the code.” Electro asseverated firmly.

 

“Six minutes.” Chamaeleon stated out loud as they helped each other to secure their suits under Mysterio instructions.

“Electro, what you got?” Fury asked anxiously.

“Just a …” Suddenly a scream could be overheard through the comlink. “Ugh! … a moment.” Electro answered. “We found Okanjo, Venom is … discussing the matter with him as we speak.” More screams could be heard in the background. “And he´s quite enthusiastic about it if I may say so. I´m going to need a raise to pay for a shrink after this…”

“Electro!!” Fury snap at him irritated. “We don´t have time for your rambling. Do you have the code or not?”

“Whatever.” Electro answered displeased. “Yes, we have a code.”

 

Fury smirked relieved as he motioned to follow him. He could hear the muffled cheerful expressions of the rest of the team.

“Five nine, two, one, zero.” Electro repeated Okanjo´s information.

When Fury ended inputting the code the alarms went off. Loki tried to open the door but it wouldn´t move. “Maybe we need another code.” He suggested.

“Worst case scenario we have twelve hours to figure this out.” Mysterio prompt.

“We should be able to get the information out of Okanjo by then.” Chamaeleon volunteered.

“And arrange their transportation to a secure facility.” Fury added.

 

Suddenly all the alarms went off again; the clock´s countdown speeded quickly. Loki tried frantically to pull the door open. “I´m teleporting in.” He said out loud.

“No, you´re not.” Fury grabbed his arm as he told him. “Think of your daughter.”

Loki looked at Fury conflicted. “But …”

“It´s too late.” Chamaeleon grimly informed them as scared screams and painful shrieks could be heard inside the room.

“No!” Loki turned back to the door. He could still make out the silhouettes of the children crouched together as the fire consumed everything.

“No.” He muttered again as he grabbed onto the door witnessing the devastating scene. “Why? What kind of man does that to children?” Angry tears rolled down his face.

 

“What happened?” Electro suddenly asked over the comlink, Okanjo couldn´t stop smirking. He instantly knew the code he had gave them wasn´t the right one.

“He killed them.” Loki growled enraged between his teeth.” “That fucking bastard killed them.” Next he turned to Fury defiantly. “Tell me he´s not walking out of here.”

Fury answered evilly “Of course not, it was never the plan.”

“I´m glad to hear that.” Venom´s purred as he grabbed Okanjo´s head between his claws and began to squeeze.

“What the …?!” Electro complained loudly when suddenly a gushing sound and a hollow scream filled everyone’s comlink. “God!” Electro grumble before throwing up. “Stop laughing Venom! That´s disgusting!”

“He had it coming.” Venom replied dryly. “No one lies to us.”

 

No one spoke again for a few minutes trying to sort out their feelings about what had just happened.

Fury was the first to break the silence. “Is anyone left?”

“Not in our levels.” Electro replied swiftly.

“Dr. Octopus, anyone left in your levels?” Fury asked calmly.

“No, not anymore.” Octopus acknowledged nonchalance. They had all heard everything. By the looks in their faces Octavius knew that both his comrades were thinking the same thing he was, would it had ended differently if they had been down there? It was unlikely, but the thought would bother them for a while.

“All right.” Fury volunteered. “Loki get back to the base and bring all the C-4 and Octanitrocubane you can carry. I want to leave this place as soon as we can.”

Loki agreed, he removed the Hazmat suit as fast as he could glad to be out of that dreadful place at least for a few minutes. “I´m on it.”

 

As he reappeared in the base he had to sit for a moment aware of the knot he could feel in his stomach. He felt angry, disgusted, guilty, sad … he hated with every fiber in his being what Okanjo had done to those children. On the other side he felt glad Venom had ended him in such a horrid fashion. “What does that says from me?” He pondered if Thor would feel the same way he did if he had been in his place. It was hard to picture anyone who would feel anything else but contempt for Okanjo. Surely not even Steve, he probably wouldn´t condone it but he really wouldn´t be upset about his demise either, wouldn´t he?

“There will be time for this afterwards.” He thought as he pulled himself together.

Within half an hour they had wired all the base.

“Five minutes before this place becomes nothing but a bad memory.” Fury stated. “Let´s get out of here.”

“Cough, cough … where … what in Helheim? Cough, cough.” Loki voiced mostly to himself as he tried to figure out what had gone wrong.

 

Everything had been according to plan until a few minutes earlier. He had expected to find some resistance from the miners and the scattered guards of that level, but he hadn´t expected anything like this. He tried unsuccessfully to wriggle out of the rubble that pinned him down from the lower half of his torso all the way down his shins, or at least that´s what he thought he couldn´t see his feet but he didn´t felt any weight on them.

 

“Nothing…” He thought concerned as he stretched as far as he could to get a better view of the collapse that had trapped him forming a small cave. He couldn´t hear or see anyone else around. “Maybe that´s a good thing.” He wryly told himself before coughing again.

The three of them had arrived to the mine through the shaft´s elevator. He had disguised themselves as miners with an illusion to walk pass the guards undisturbed. Their plan included turning off the water pumps that prevented the cave from flooding as well as sabotage the area ground support. Wrecking the water stopcock to expedite the flooding should also complicate the reopening of the mine.

Sandman had been more than reticent about that part of the plan and was glad to be in charge of sabotage the support structures that held the mine ceiling in place.

 

Loki growled frustrated and let his head hang back for a couple of seconds before the cough made him lean forward.

“Dammit!” He spat out loud as he saw his hand covered in blood. With the painful weight of the debris crushing him down he hadn’t noticed he was injured; being immobilized prevented him from finding out just how serious his wounds were.

 

Fury had been in charge of messing with the ventilation system; they had to make sure no one could survive down there after they collapse the shaft. Loki wondered now if that had been a good idea.

“I can´t die here.” He protested mentally as he tried once more to push the rubble without success. He grunted in frustration and pain at his failure.

 

Turning on the water stopcock turned out to be the most dangerous part of their mission due to its location. Placed right in the middle of an open field in the mining level it left no place to hide.

Even after nightfall there were miners working everywhere. Okanjo had established too twelve hours shifts to ensure the vibranium extraction never stopped. Because of the properties of the mineral itself the extraction process was done the old way; with pickaxes and chisels. Explosives were banned from the mine; even a small explosion in the wrong place could bring all the cave down instantly. For the same reason their plan didn´t contemplated explosives except for the shaft itself; their plan was to weaken the structure everyway they could and let gravity do the rest.

 

Reaching the water stopcock wasn´t a problem, no one was actually guarding it. But once Loki opened it the sound of running water altered all the miners and guards of the vicinity something was happening. With one swift move from his spear he broke the valve; for a second he smirked satisfied, they wouldn´t be able to close it.

 

“Cough, cough” Once more his memories were interrupted by his current predicament. “Where are they?” He inquired worryingly. They wouldn’t just abandon him there, wouldn’t they?

 

When the first miner arrived and tried to impale him through the back with his pickaxe Loki successfully blocked his attack with his spear turning around unexpectedly. It had been a good thing Steve had convinced him to spar with him a couple of times, he knew just what to expect from the super soldier’s strength and speed. The miner and him exchange a couple of blows more before Loki crossed him with his spear.

Within seconds he was surrounded by twelve more miners. Using both magic blasts and his lance he took care of them; but more miners were arriving to take the place of their fallen comrades.

“Thor would probably stay and fight.” The thought unexpectedly pop in his mind. In a split second he evaluated his options, he had only minor cuts and bruises and he could probably take a couple dozen more miners. “Yes, he would.” Loki thought to himself. “But then I don´t have me to bail myself out when things get out of control.” Next he ran to a scaffold nearby, moving to higher ground seemed like a good idea at the time. If things got too messy he hoped to reach the elevator shaft just as Fury and Sandman did after finishing their own tasks.

 

As pain intensified on his left side he complained loudly as eh shut his eyes closed instinctively. Carefully he tried to slid his hand under the rocks and twisted steel tubes from the scaffold. He couldn´t reach under then, though he wasn’t sure what good could it done if he had been able too. He still had no idea of what his injuries were, healing himself with a chunk of rock or piece of steal embedded in his body was the epitome of a bad idea.

“I need to get out.” He anxiously gazed at his surroundings again. Trying to blast himself out magically would only cave everything down over him and teleporting was as bad an idea as healing himself. “This can´t be happening.” He could feel his breathing becoming agitated as his options slimed down. He closed his eyes fighting hard to withhold the tears he could already feel stinging his eyes as he mentally pleaded. “Please Norns … don´t … don´t let this be the end. Not here, not like this … not now.”

He still didn´t knew what had caused the explosion that provoked the landslide that had brought the mining scaffold down along with a good size of the wall. The guards had begun to shoot at him when he reached the top levels of the scaffold; maybe they had hit a vibranium deposit.

“If the water reaches me …” Suddenly he remembered the open stopcock. Once again he tried to release himself from the rubble over his torso unsuccessfully when a sound made him turn left. For a moment he held his breath terrified of the possibility that the water had finally reached him.

“Sand…” He let out a small laugh. “Thank you Norns.” He thought grateful his time wasn´t over yet.

Within a few minutes Sandman had removed all the debrief that formed the ceiling of Loki´s small cave.

“There you are.” Nick Fury´s voice greeted him. “For a moment we thought we had lost you.” Next he knelt beside Sandman to help him release Loki from the rocks that covered his body. “Shit!” He suddenly spat as he removed a big rock from Loki´s left side.

Loki looked down worryingly; there was a steel tube coming out of his abdomen just below the waist. “Dammit!” He spat in return before leaning up to get a hold of it.

“What the hell do you think you´re doing?” Fury grabbed the tube himself trying to stop him.

“I´m getting it out.” Loki asseverated.

“You don´t know if it got though an artery. Remove it and you could bleed to death.” Fury added somberly.

Loki smirked weakly, his face was covered in dust, bruises and blood. “Don´t tell me you´re worried about me.”

“No, I couldn´t care less about your sorry butt.” Nick lied as he smirked. “But a certain someone would kill me if you didn´t make it.”

Loki looked at him puzzled for a couple of seconds before he realized he was talking about Leah. “Oh! Right.”

Then Fury added to keep Sandman from asking anything. “Yes, your big brother would kill me If I didn’t get you back.”

Loki smirked again. “Don´t worry. I don´t intend on dying here.” He reassured Fury as he got a better hold of the pipe; frowning he took a couple of breaths before forcible pulling it out with a painful growl. Panting he placed his hands over the now open wound as his aura lit. Within a few seconds the only proof of his wound was a small hole in his armour and quite some blood.

As he laboriously sat up he asked. “What happened?”

“One of those stupid mother fucker guards hit an acetylene tank. They nearly did our work for us; you are lucky this part of the mine is in high ground or we wouldn´t had been able to pull you out” fury explained.

“Speaking of that. We should get moving.” Sandman interrupted them. “All that water is making me nervous.”

“You are right. We should get going. Are you ready for more action?” Fury inquired trying not to sound worried. Even if Loki looked all right using all that magic to heal himself should have a cost.

Loki dusted himself before answering. “Yes. Let´s get the hell out of here. I´ve had more than my share of mines already.“ Next he took a look around it looked deserted.

“We took care of those who didn´t die in the explosion.” Nick answered Loki unasked question. “That´s what took us so long.”

Without any further comment they directed themselves to the shaft´s elevator. In their way fury picked up a couple of acetylene tanks, when both Loki and Sandman looked at him questioningly he told them with a grin. “They make a nice explosion.”

When they reached the elevator they wired the lift with explosives before starting their way up. Once in the second level Fury set the timer before sending the elevator back down.

“Let´s get out of here.” He quickly added. The second level was a battlefield by now. Doom, Rhino and Octopus has succeeded in driving all the troops deployed outside into the base.

“Octopus report.” Fury ordered in the comlink.

“All the troops are in and the base is sealed.” Octopus replied sharply.

“Elektro?” He asked next.

“Moving to the officer´s level. Mysterio´s gas worked like a charm. Too bad it didn´t lasted long … and FYI … I´m a bit scared of Venom right now.” Venom´s mad laugh could be overheard.

“Mysterio, what´s your status?” Fury finally asked.

“Umm, we´ve disable all the weapons, but … I think you need to come down here.” Mysterio sounded nervous.

“What´s the problem?” Fury asked irritated.

“You´d better see it for yourself.” Chameleon answered.

“Fuck!” Fury coursed out loud before motioning Loki and Sandman to follow him. “Can you get us to the labs?” He quickly asked Loki.

“Sure.” Loki smiled as he pulled out a card from his clothes.

 

Suddenly a big explosion shockwave could be felt right behind them. When Loki turned back he couldn´t believe his eyes. One of the tanks had fired upon them but Doom had shielded the unsuspecting trio from the explosion. His armour looked a bit scorched.

Loki couldn’t understand what had drove Doom to protect them. Fury and Sandman were thinking probably the same thing because none of them moved looking open mouthed at Doom who suddenly looked back and yelled. “Move it fools!”

That snapped them out of their trance.

“To the elevator.” Fury ordered.

Next Loki went to wake up Fury who wasn´t at all pleased to see him.
​​
“Fury, we need to …” Loki started to say when Fury snapped at him.
​​
“Loki! I thought we already went through this. I don´t care how young are Okanjo’s soldiers or if they had all been brainwash. They might be teens, but they are teens with guns. Goddamit they are guns themselves! Need I remind you that you´re not immortal?”
​​
Loki growled displeased by his last comment, he knew it. “I agree” He dryly answered.
​​
Fury raised his eyebrows surprised as he added. “All right. Then what do you want to talk about?”
​​
“About how to get this mission done right without getting ourselves killed in the process. 10 against two thousand or more … the stakes are too high for my liking.” He answered grimly.
“Ok.” Fury accepted as he walked back to his room “I´m listening.”
​​
Loki walked in and closed the door behind him before getting Fury up to speed. “I´ve just talked to Mysterio, he thinks he can produce enough paralyzing gas to spread through one maybe two levels.”
​​
“We won´t have any certainty about how long will it work on the soldiers.” Fury reasoned.
“No, we won’t. That´s why we have to act quickly and time this to the minute.” Loki agreed.
“Sounds like you have a plan.” Fury acknowledged.
​​
“I do.” Loki confirmed slightly nodding his head affirmative. “I´ll teleport Mysterio, chameleon, Electro and Venom to the third level, as soon as Mysterio has spread the gas he will go to the labs with Chameleon and start working on properly disabling any threats.”
​​
“While Venom and Electro …” Fury pointed out.
​​
“Yes …” Loki agreed with a scowl.
​​
“You´ve spend too much time with the Avengers.” Fury offered.
​​
“Maybe.” Loki accepted. “But I still know when things have to be done. It’s not honourable but it´s the closest to mercy we can offer them.”
​​
Fury pondered his words. “Right.” He agreed heavily; he too wished there was another way but even using the Tahiti program to erase the soldier’s memories in the remote case they were able to imprison them was far-fetched. He wasn´t even sure the deleting memories process would work on them with their healing factor. Leaving them loose in an unsuspecting world would be like setting loose a pack of rabid wolves between a placid heard of sheep; he simply couldn´t do it. “What´s the rest of your plan?”
​​
“After the paralyzing gas has been spread Octopus, Rhino and Doom will attack their outer perimeter. We need them to draw everyone back inside the base so we can seal it. Once inside they can help Venom and Electro finish the job.” Loki volunteered disgruntledly.
​​
“All right.” Fury agreed with his hand on his chin. “What about Sandman, you and me?”
​​
“The three of us will go to the mine to make sure that reopening it ever again proves to be … inconvenient.” Loki ended explaining his plan with those last words.
​​
Fury stayed silent for a moment mentally searching for the plan’s weak point. “I´m not sure this is fool proof but at least is better than what we had. What does Mysterio needs to get this plan going?”
​​
“We´ll find out in the morning.” Loki volunteered displeased.
​​
“Then we should try to get some rest.” Fury offered as he stood up to show Loki to the door.
Loki stood up ready to step out into the hallway when Fury suddenly stopped. “And Loki…”
Loki looked up intrigued, had he forgotten something?
​​
“Good job.” Fury congratulated him looking back he added. “You´ll make a fine addition to the team once this is over.”
​​
Loki looked surprised by fury´s compliment. “Um, thanks … I guess.” It was the first time Fury had told him anything of the kind.
​​
As he walked back to his room Loki dropped into his bed. As he closed his eyes he sighed. “You’re not immortal.” Fury’s words echoed in his ears.
​​
“I know.” He thought to himself. “Regardless of my sentiments on the matter once we are there I won´t hesitate to do whatever it takes to survive. Whatever it takes to come back to them.”
​​
With that las thought he surrender to dreamless sleep.
​​
As the day progressed and all the preparations had been made there was nothing left to do but wait. Loki retired to his room; it had been a while since he had been in a war… a war yes, there was no mistake there. It would be war.
​​
He was familiar with the excitement before a battle but now one thought weighted heavily on his heart; what if …
​​
​​There were so much he hadn’t told her, so much he wished they had shared. Writing a letter was pointless; if they didn´t succeeded there would be no one left to deliver it. A communication was out of the question as well as a visit or a spell. He needed all his strength for tonight.
“I´ll just have to make sure to come back.” He told himself out loud moment before he raised from his bed. “Whatever it takes.” He muttered as he put his helmet on.
​​
His accustomed armour was too flashy for this mission. He had magically made himself a new one, opaque grey that matched the darken green shades of his clothes. However, he had not changed the original design of his helmet that now portrayed the same opaque grey that his armour. Daggers as well as a short sword were hiding between his armour and clothes in case he had to defend himself on a body to body fight. A three-point spear completed his attire.
Shedding his mind of any concerns he walked sternly to the entrance of their base. His bearing betrayed his royal education. The feeling was oddly familiar; going to battle to defend his realm once again. Midgard had become his realm unexpectedly despite the fact he no longer desire to rule it.
​​
Fury watched him as he arrived and smirked, he had never seen any resemblance to Thor until that moment. “Finally! Are you ready?”
​​
Loki smirked back. “I’ve never been more ready.”

It was late at night when Loki finally returned to his room in their improvised headquarters. He dropped in bed overwhelmed by his current situation.

“As long as you remember at the end of the day why are you doing it you´ll be fine” Clint words echoed in his mind. “I hope he´s right.”

He had been thinking for hours trying to come up with a solution that didn´t involve killing all of Okanjo´s army but he had found none. Even taking some of the soldier’s prisoners represented a big risk, not to mention that imprisoning them all was as the Midgardians said pissing into the wind. At one point he had even considered going to Frigga for help, but dismissed the idea quickly. Even if she could somehow forgive him for all that he had done and agreed to help there was always the risk of running accidently into Odin. Not even his mother would be able to shield him from his father´s wrath. Suddenly he realized it was the first time he had thought of them as his family in a good while.

“Why do I keep calling them my parents?” He thought to himself frowning. “Probably the same reason I keep calling Thor my brother.” He sighed as he mentally reprimanded himself. “One problem at a time.”

“It´s useless, we´ll have to do this Fury´s way” He reluctantly accepted his role on their mission. “But now, I´d better come up with some strategies to improve his plan, there´s too many holes on it and I intend to get out of this in one piece … for her.” He wondered what Leah could be doing at the time. Or would she be as sleepless as him? Would her nightmares had left her alone? Was she all right?

Fury had assured him that Andrew would contact them should anything serious happened.

“No news is good news” Fury had told him at a point.

“That’s the most moronic statement I have ever heard” Loki complained to himself as he wondered what would Andrew call something serious.

“If Doom hadn´t tried to kidnap her and Eerika we wouldn´t be in this mess.” He growled angered as he tossed in his bed. He was glad their current headquarters had enough rooms to accommodate them all in separate rooms. If they had been forced to sleep in the same room … he might have accidently given Doom a piece of his mind.

“He crushed her. She even … how could she ever thought Eerika and I would be better off without her?” He sighed displeased. “He ended the job the drunk driver started …. And regretfully I continued.” He sat up crestfallen. “If only I had made a better job protecting her. Sometimes I really don´t know why she loves me, but … I´m glad she does. Maybe I should follow Bruce´s advice and take her on vacations once this is over. Just the two … no the three of us. That would be nice.” He laid back onto his bed smiling.

“I wonder if …” He nodded his head negatively. “Why do I keep doing this to myself?” He admonished himself mentally again “I cannot set foot in Asgard again, not until Odin forgives me, and that’s not going to happen … But I miss her, she might not be my real mother but she´s the only mother I’ve ever known. I wonder if she knows about Eerika… Stop dwelling on it Loki!” He sighed, he could even imagine his mother playing with Eerika in the palace gardens. “Finally a baby girl, she would be thrilled.” He smiled sadly at the thought.

“Will Leah be all right?” He couldn´t stop wondering, but he wouldn´t risk scrying for her. At least all would be over soon; they had decided to strike on their enemies the following night. They would seize the opportunity to cause the biggest damage possible before their troops could react.

“There must be a better way.” He pondered looking at the ceiling. “One that also buys us enough time to dispose of all the chemical and biological weapons permanently. I´d hate to come back to clean up another mess because a spill up mutated due to the vibranium and caused another problem. Maybe …” He suddenly got up and walked over Mysterio´s room. He anxiously knocked as he waited for Mysterio to get up; busting into the room and startling a supervillain wasn´t a good idea. He knew first hand that strike first find out later was an unwritten rule they all abided; and also the best way to survive in their world.

As he heard some noise he kept knocking until a rather angry and dozy Quentin opened up. “Whoever the fuck is knocking at …? Loki! What the hell do you want at this hour?”

“You can complain later.” Loki ignored his outburst. “I need to know. That gas you use to immobilize people … can you make enough of it? To spread it through an entire level, maybe two?”

Quentin scratched his head. “Umm, yes I think so … I might need some chemicals and figure a way to disperse it, but yes, I think I could do it.”

“How long do you think the gas would work on the super soldiers?” Loki asked anxiously as a plan formed in his head.

“Their metabolism is what? Four times faster than a normal human … maybe 7-10 minutes.” Quentin volunteered, that wasn´t much time.

“Can you increase its potency? Make it last longer? Maybe 15-20 minutes?” Loki inquired in hope.

“Maybe … I would have to make some tests.” He volunteered.

“We don´t have time for tests, we are striking tomorrow!” Loki growled frustrated.

Quentin looked at him with a scowl as he tried to come up with a solution, finally he told him. “I´ll ask for the Doctors’ help, and even Doom´s If I have to. It will be ready.”

Loki frowned displeased, he hated to have to rely on Doom’s help but knew they didn´t had a choice. “All right” He reluctantly agreed.

“Fine. Now unless you need to ask me something else I´m going back to sleep.” Quentin told him before yawning, noticing Loki´s bemused look he added. “Handling chemicals is better done in the morning with a clear head.”

Loki couldn´t argue with that. “Are you sure it would be ready by tomorrow?” He asked sternly.

“Not if you keep grilling me.” Quentin spat annoyed.

Loki felt quite irritated himself but getting into a quarrel about it wasn´t the best idea. “Start working on that gas first thing in the morning. I want it ready as soon as possible.” He started walking away but changed his mind and turned back. “And Mysterio … don´t confuse my haste to resolve this matter with weakness. Don´t forget who you are talking to.” He stared directly into his eyes.

Quentin paled, Loki could squash him as a bug if he wanted. “No … I´m just moody when woken up. I didn´t …”

“Forget about it.” Loki interrupted him. “Just make sure the gas is ready on time.”

“Yes, I will.” Quentin quickly replied.

As he got back to his room Loki laid down again trying to calm his mind from the whirlwind of ideas that flooded his mind. Mysterio was right about something he´d better get some sleep too. He sighed upset, he too had become accustomed to sleeping with Leah by his side; he felt as if a part of himself was missing. If everything worked out, he should be back at her side in a couple of days’ top. There was nothing else to do but to concentrate on the mission. Except for a constant nuisance … Doom. Besides of being an incessant reminder of Leah´s downfall he was also a risk. He had to make sure he couldn´t get his hand into any vibranium … what if they divide into more than two teams?

After Andrew left Tony walked right back to be with Leah. “So? What did he say? Are you in trouble?”

“Umm … actually … no.” Leah answered shrugging her shoulders; she hardly could believe it herself.

“You are kidding me! For a moment I thought he would send you to the looney bin.” He confessed with irony.

“I´m not crazy!” Leah adamantly defended herself; then she looked at her injured hands. “Even if …” She didn´t knew how to end her sentence; even if she understood her reasons they didn´t seemed to justify her actions.

“What´s wrong?” Tony asked concerned by her change in demeanor. “I was just messing with you. I didn´t meant anything by it. I really don´t think that …”

Leah interrupted him. “No, it´s not that.” She sighed. “It´s just … can we just stay in my room for the rest of the day?”

“Sure, we could. But why?” Tony asked baffled by her request.

“I just … I´ve had enough for a day.” She answered in a gloomy voice.

“Enough of what?” Tony asked her out loud; suddenly he realized what she had meant. “You don´t want to face everybody else, am I right?”

“They´ll find out soon enough anyway; I just … I can´t do it, not twice in a day …” She didn´t knew how to explain it to him.

Tony looked at her confused. “Ok. You know what? We can´t keep doing this. I need you to tell me what´s going on. Exactly what is it that you can´t do twice?”

Leah looked at him nervously; he was right, she needed to tell him. “It´s just that … every time.” She sighed disquiet.

“Leah you can tell me anything. What´s bothering you?” Tony tried to comfort her as he held her hands gently.

Leah bit her lower lip as she nodded her head in agreement. “Every time I screw up since … since Doom … most of the time … most of you don´t get angry at me any more … you just give me this look. I can´t stand that look, so full of pity. At first it just bothered me but lately …” She stopped for a moment as she sighed again, why was it so hard? “Lately I´ve been feeling that … that maybe you are right to look at me that way. That it doesn´t matter what I do or how hard I try I´ll always be a screw up, that I´ll always be the damaged one, that I do deserve your pity cause I´m never going to get any better.” She kept her gaze to the ground.

“Leah …” Tony was speechless, he had no idea. “I … I don´t know what to say. Why didn´t you told us you felt like that?”

“I didn´t wanted … I´ve caused enough trouble already … I know you didn´t … I didn´t wanted to hurt your feelings.” She looked at him apologetically; it sounded worse than how it had sounded in her mind.
“Instead you just let us hurt yours.” Tony motioned her disaprovingly.

“I know; it sounds really bad said like that.” Leah acknowledged. “I´m sorry; I just didn´t knew how to tell you. And every time it happened I just felt angrier at myself and … Tony I’m so sorry I snapped at you in the morning.” Leah apologized heartily.

“And I´m sorry I overcrowded you.” He scratched his nape, it hadn´t been her fault alone. “It´s just that … you´ve been through so much I just wish … I don’t want … it´s just that … I want you to be safe and happy. Seeing you having a nightmare; it just drove me crazy because I can´t protect you from that, none of us can. I don´t want anything happening to you anymore.”
“I know Tony. But you can´t protect me from everything.  And I need to know you have faith in me; I need to know you trust me, maybe then I will be able to do it myself. I just want to know I´m not completely useless.” Leah admitted.

“You are not completely useless” Tony responded adamantly. “And I´m sorry if we ever made you feel that way.”

“It´s not your fault; I should´ve said something sooner.” Leah told him with sincerity. Maybe if she had she wouldn´t … she looked at her hands worriedly.

Tony looked at her hands too. “I know you don´t want to, but I really think you need to talk to everyone and let them know how you feel.”

“Maybe.” Leah agreed reluctantly. “But I´d much rather get scolded by Bruce again than facing that look.” She dreaded to think about the look in their eyes when they finally saw her injured hands.

Tony hugged her. “Forget about that, just tell them how you feel. And when Loki gets back make sure to tell him too.”

Leah closed her eyes as she let Tony´s warmth comfort her; suddenly she asked gingerly. “Can’t you tell them for me?”

Tony scolded her immediately. “Leah!”

“All right. I´ll tell them myself.” Leah pouted as she reluctantly agreed.

“Tony is right. If it bothered, you so much you should´ve said something sooner.” Bruce suddenly told her; he was about to enter the room when he overheard them talking.
“Bruce … you heard everything?” Leah asked embarrassed.

“Yes. I´m sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I didn´t wanted to interrupt you either so …” He apologized while running his hand over his hair nervously.

“It´s all right Bruce. Tony is right I should talk to all of you about it.” She shrugged her shoulders. She didn´t wanted to do it, but knew she had to.

“Stop worrying, they will understand.” Tony reassured her. “Now let´s grab lunch. I´m quite sure you missed breakfast too.”

Bruce immediately scolded her. “Tell me you didn´t.”

Leah pouted slightly. “I´m sorry?” She didn’t knew what else to tell him.

Bruce nodded his head negatively as he sighed loudly next he rubbed his forehead with his palm. “Stop skipping meals Leah! You aren´t invulnerable you know?”

Leah bowed her head down while he scolded her. “I know Bruce. I´m sorry. It won´t happen again. I know I keep saying it every time this happens but I really am. And there´s something different this time, I don´t feel so scared any more. I …I” She frowned uncertain. “I don´t know how to explain this.” They had always been there at her side, but somehow she had felt alone; not anymore.

“You don’t have to.” Bruce volunteered, he and Andrew had talked for a good while. Even if he hadn´t told him anything specific he had been rather optimistic about Leah´s recovery. “Andrew told me he believes you will get better and I want to believe him.” Bruce acknowledged. “Now, don´t disappoint us.”

“I won´t.” Leah promised.

As the tree of them walked into the dining room Clint spat shocked. “What the hell happened now?” He had noticed Leah´s splinters the second she walked in.

“I … I …” Leah stammered taken by surprise as she instinctively took a step back.
Bruce intervened. “She broke two fingers on each hand; but If you let her explain. We have much to talk about.” Next she gave Leah a small push as he invited her to sit.
Leah sat nervously rubbing her palms. “First of all I want to apologize to all of you about this morning; I know I screw up.” She frowned abashed by the memories. “I … I´m really sorry. I shouldn’t had said any of those things. It´s just that …” Next she explained them what had happened that morning leaving bits and pieces out of her recollection. The last thing she needed was making them worry.
Everyone listened attentively. One by one they became self-aware about how they looked at her.

“Why didn´t you said something before?” Clint asked her bemused.

“I´m not sure … at first I thought it would pass. That if I somehow got better you wouldn’t have a reason to look at me like that anymore but things just got worse. I don´t know, I felt foolish.” She lowered her gaze discomforted.

“There’s no point on dwelling on that.” Steve told them. “What´s important is that now we can do something about it.” They all agreed with him. “Leah …” Once she looked up he continued. “We have to reach an agreement so that this kind of thing does not happen again. I think I can speak for all of us when I tell you we only want to do what´s best for you. But if you don´t tell us how you feel or what you need we can´t help you. “

“I know Steve. I´ve been so wrapped on sorting things out by myself I forgot I didn´t had to. And I just made an even bigger mess.” She sighed as she looked at her splinters.
“What happened?” Natasha asked calmly.

Leah sighed again before telling them. “Tony and I got into a big fight earlier, and I kind of lashed out at the punching bag.”

“Leah!” Natasha scolded her while giving Tony a disapproving look.

“I know.” Leah whined. “I just was so angry I couldn´t help myself. If Tony hadn´t found me when he did …”

“But I did.” Tony interrupted her. “We both said things we shouldn´t have but we worked it out.”

“All right.” Steve acknowledged, seemed neither Tony or Leah felt especially talkative about their fight. “Does Andrew know?”

“Yes, he does.” Bruce asseverated. “Curiously he thinks that lashing out was good for her. He even said it might have been worth some broken bones.” He ended with irony while looking at Leah.

They all looked surprised by his last statement. Leah knew he was still angry at her for being so careless and shyly volunteered. “I´m sorry.”

“All right.” Tony told them chirpily. “Now that we all know what happened can we eat? I´m famished! “ He had skipped breakfast too, but mostly he was eager to change the subject.

When Clint served Leah her plate she looked worryingly at it “How am I supposed to…” was her thoughts when Tony interrupted them.

“Do you need any help?” He animatedly offered.

Leah looked at him and then again at her plate. “I don´t know.” She answered doubtfully; she had broken her middle and ring finger of her right hand and her ring and baby finger of her left.  “Let me give it a try.” She finally answered.

“All right.” Tony agreed.

After a couple of minutes fidgeting with her cutlery Leah gave up. “All right.” She sighed displeased by her defeat. “I might need some help.”

Tony quickly snatched her plate before she could change her mind and started cutting her food into small pieces. She wouldn´t have much trouble just to pinch them. “Leah, I´m afraid you are going to need help with tons of other things, like bathing for example.”

Leah ducked into the table; she knew he was right but she hated it. She mumbled something beneath her breath, she hadn´t expected anyone to hear it except she had forgotten about Steve who suddenly busted laughing.

“What?” Tony asked intrigued.

“Ahh, nothing.” Steve answered trying not to laugh.

“She said something, didn’t she?” Tony asked again.

“I don´t think she would like me to repeat her words. “Steve volunteered.

“What did she said?” Clint asked too.

“Leah?” Steve asked politely.

Leah suddenly answered their question without raising from the table. “I´m not bathing until Loki gets back.”

Everyone busted laughing.

“It´s not funny.” Leah complained without moving.

“I´m sorry. I know it´s not funny to you, but it’s hilarious for us.” Tony admitted still laughing.

Leah raised her head giving Tony a dirty look that clearly spelled I hate you. “At least can you tell me if you can build some nanobots?”

Tony ignored her stare and plainly told her. “I´m afraid no. We simply don´t have the materials necessary.”

“Can´t you just go out and get them?” Leah asked frustrated.

“And risk Loki´s anger?” Tony asked surprised. “No, he left clear instructions about not leaving the mansion unless there was an emergency. And I´m sorry baby but that …” He pointed to her hands. “… that doesn´t qualifies as one.”

Leah sank her head into the table again. “I’m so death.” She exclaimed disheartened.

“Come on it´s not that bad.” Tony tried to reassure her.

“Really? You don´t think Loki is going to freak when he sees this?” Leah raised her hands as he gave Tony an annoyed look.

“Don´t worry Leah” Thor intervened. “He might beb very upset at first but i´m sure he will understand.”

“You really think so?” Leah asked in hope.

“Yes, I do.” Thor volunteered. “And look at the bright side, he´ll certainly heal them for you.”

“Either way.” Tony interrupted them. “I was going to suggest Natasha helped you. You´ll be more comfortable.”

“All right.” Leah sighed, it didn´t seemed like she had much of a choice.

Loki looked attentively at the base entrance; he could see some transports and troops deployed in the field surrounded by the rock formation he was hiding in. The dense jungle vegetation protected him from any unwelcomed eyes. He had been there for a long time; enough to notice that most of the officers were members of Hydra, their arrogant ways betrayed them. Okanjo´s army was composed mostly of young people of not more than 30 years, probably even younger. The discipline with which they followed orders and their almost mechanical movements surprised him; even Asgardian soldiers didn´t showed that level of discipline at such a young age.

Something was wrong; Okanjo should´ve recruited them a very early age to get that kind of result was his first thought; although according to the reports Okanjo hadn´t been in power long enough, he must have cut some corners somehow. Then it occurred him, the only way he could´ve manage to create this kind of army in such a little time was if most if not all of his army was composed of brainwashed super soldiers. It was unlikely that they were all volunteers; he must have forcible recruited them. That could work either in their favor or against them.

Suddenly he remembered the mission directives, no prisoners, no witnesses; he sighed annoyed. If someone had told him over a year ago he would be having second thoughts about killing he would´ve laughed in their faces, but too many things had happened; he wasn´t the same man he once was.

He cursed both Doom and Fury under his breath; if it wasn´t for them he wouldn´t be in such a position. He knew he didn´t had a choice, not if he wanted Fury to fulfill his promises; he would have to do whatever it took to accomplish their mission successfully even if he despised himself for doing it.

“How did this happen?” He questioned himself mentally. “When did I became so soft? I would have had a problem killing them all if I hadn’t met her. Is this really what I want? To be like … Thor? To strive to do the right thing? Is she really worth it?” He immediately answered his own question vehemently. “Yes, she is.”

With that final thought he discarded his reserves about the mission and resumed his surveillance; it was just one mission, the only mission of this sort he would embark on ever again. “What had she said to Doom? Oh, yes, that she would forfeit her soul for our sakes, it seems it´s my turn to make good on her word.” He sighed decided, he couldn´t lose her, he knew the price when he accepted the mission.

He needed to gather more information, walking undetected to the base wasn´t a problem; he could just shapeshift into a soldier and mingle in. What worried him was how to move inside the compound without restrictions and not raise any suspicions. He would have to get a closer look; he needed to understand their enemies better, learn about their ranks, uniforms, rules and procedures if he was going to successfully infiltrate them. Becoming invisible was an attractive option, but although he could hide without a problem of the security cameras; doors opening by themselves would certainly call someone´s attention. No, a simpler solution would be best.

He teleported from his current position to only a few meters from their perimeter where he could observe them closely. After thoroughly learning the uniform differences between ranks and many other useful facts he shifted into a young soldier; he contemplated for a moment his current darker skin and uniform. “This should do just fine.” He thought pleased by the result. “Now let´s find out how far can I go into this rabbit´s hole.” He waited for the perfect opportunity and joined a column of soldiers that were returning to the base after their watch had ended.

Once inside he noticed Fury´s assumptions had been right; the first level was the transports hangar. He could see tanks, trucks, jeeps and even some small airplanes and helicopters lined around. “No sign of the armory yet” He thought as he slyly memorized every detail. “It must be on the next level.”

A couple of hours later he returned to their base.

“Where have you been? And why did you turn your communicator off?” Was Fury´s irritated greeting.

“I went to see if your intel was right.” Loki answered unconcerned.

“I thought we agreed that Chameleon would do that.” Fury scolded him coldly as he crossed his arms.

“I decided I wanted to see the place for myself.” Loki told him with a smirk as he added. “You´ll thanks me when I teleport us safely in.”

“You said you could do that successfully without even knowing the place.” Fury sternly answered while looking him in the eye.

“I could, but why risk it?” Loki just brushed off Fury´s comment as if it wasn’t important.

“What do you mean risk it?” Fury asked a mix of anger and concern in his voice.

Loki frowned annoyed; why was Fury interrogating him? He would make sure they get the mission done; what did it matter if he had gone by himself? No one had noticed him.

“Don´t worry about it, as I just said there´s no risk now. No one suspected anything and either way two pair of eyes are better than one.” Telling him that there was always the risk of teleporting in the middle of a crowded room instead of an isolated hallway didn´t seem like a good idea.

Fury grunted annoyed. “Loki might be right. We need all the information we can get.” He thought to himself. “All right; I´ll let it slide … for now. Tell me what you got.”

It wasn’t long before Chameleon returned to the base too; between his information and Loki´s they had enough information to understand what they were up against.

The compound was 9 levels deep, the first level was the transportation hangar; the armory and the mining equipment was on the next level. The 3^rd and 4^th levels were living quarters of the army as well as the kitchen and mess hall. The following level was shared by Okanjo and Hydra´s officers; they had learned that the Hydra leader was Deiter Eberstark. Levels 6 and 7 were the shooting and training facilities and probably also the seat of their super-soldier program. Levels eight and nine were the labs; strictly off-limits unless you had a special identification badge which unlocked the elevator and allowed you to descend to those levels. The last level was the entrance to the mine shaft; the mine had its own elevator and could only be reached from the second level.

“Wouldn´t it be better if we created a diversion and get everyone out of the way?” Loki suddenly asked Fury once they were alone; Fury looked up at him surprised by his suggestion. “That way it would be easier to break in.” Loki added quickly.

“You know our orders Loki.” Fury responded sternly.

“You gave the orders; you can change them.” Loki volunteered.

Fury stared at him for a moment. “All right. Let´s say we do that. Then, what am I supposed to do with hundreds of enemy super-soldiers running around? He asked him defiantly. “Wait until something goes wrong?”

“Many of them are barely in … their teens.” Loki elaborated; it didn’t hurt to try to change his mind.

“I already know that Loki!” Fury acknowledged displeased. “It doesn´t matter. Okanjo and Hydra have molded them to serve their twisted purposes; there´s no turning back for them. We simply can´t afford such assets to fall into the wrong hands. I might not like it either but it´s necessary.”

“But …” Loki tried to protest.

“I said no; if you have a problem with that you can go back right now.” Fury menaced him angered.

Loki clenched his jaw angry at Fury´s negative and answered between his teeth. “I don’t. I just think it is a waste.”