Who are you? (A Loki Love Story)

Chapter Forty Four - Presentation

Nat's POV~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

        I fidgeted in my seat slightly, uncomftorable in the long evening gown I was wearing. It was the night of their big presentation, and before Clint and I had left, we had checked in on the tower. Sophie was fine, but that meant we didn't know what they would be showing. I knew that Tony, Bruce, and Steve were all watching through the hidden camera in my fake glasses. I had a super small listening device in my ear, so I could still communicate with them. Clint sits next to me, and I can tell that he is as ready as I am to get this mission overwith.
        I scan the room again, bored waiting for the main show to begin, when I see something peculiar. I barely nudge Clint with my elbow, knowing that I'd get his attention. "Clint." I whisper. "Is- Is that Agent Ward and Skye?"
        "From Phil's team?" He asks, following my gaze." It.... I think it is." He mutters. "What are they doing here?" He asks with a frown. I go to answer, but the stage lights brighten, and the overhead lights dim. "Here we go." He  mummbles. We both turn twards the stage.
        "Welcome all, to our big reaviling at our final week in this beautiful place!" Samantha says cherrily, bounding across the stage. "It has been such a nice time meeting you all."
        "We want to thank all of you that have donated so far, and any of you that may donate in the future." John says, coming out the other side of the stage. "Everyone here has been working hard all week, and we are all very excited, To bring you Subject 1!"
        "You will be the first people outside of the organization to witness it." Samantha says. "Because Subject 1 is an extremly delicate operation. Its been in the process for years, and we can do nothing but hope that tonight is a sucess!"
        "And now," John says, obviously excited. "We bring you....... Subject 1!" The thick velvet curtian behind them began to rise, as they moved to their sides of the stage. Several other men and women were surrounding the backside of something small in the front and center. The screen above them flicked on, and you got a closer look at it. Shock went through me like a bullet, and I felt Clint grab my arm.
        The close-up on the screen showed a woman in what you could barely call rags. She was pale and bony, her short blond hair in oily clumps all over her head. She was in some sort of midevial holding device, the one that locked your wrists and head together at the same height. She had a large metal gag on her face, one like Loki's when he was being shipped off to asguard after the battle, except larger, covering her nose as well. She slowly looked up at the crowd, her empty, haunted eyes scanning it. Her face was void of emotion, and she had deep black rings under her eyes from exaustion. Her gaze landed on us, and I couldn't stifile a gasp.
        Sophie.

Tony's POV~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

        Bruce, Spangles, and I all just sat there, staring wide eyed at the live feed from Nat's camera. How? How could she be there, in that state, while everytime we've checked the tower she's been there? I quickly grabbed my tablet, and when I brought up the feed from the tower, it showed that she was there. I quickly showed it to Bruce and Spangles, who looked as confused as I did. Then it hit me.
        "Jarvis, reboot your system." I said. I didn't take my eyes off the feed, but I turned the mic on so Nat and Clint could hear this too. "I think the tower was hacked into, and someone put the cameras on a loop setting of anything that they've already done that we wouldn't find suspicious." The tablet buzzed to life again, and I looked and saw what I had hoped I wouldn't see. The tower was compleatly empty. It looked like it had been for a few days. Next to me, Spangles swore under his breath, making me do a double take. "Did you just....?" I trail off.
        "Focus on the problem, Stark." He said, keeping his eyes on the screen. He was right to. Shock was going through the crowd at what they saw.

Nat's POV~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

        Suprised and angery murrmers started to go through the crowd. One man even goes as far as standing up and yelling, "What are you playing at? Thats just a poor, defenceless woman!" There are shouts of agreement. Samantha just calmly waits for silence to fall again, tapping her foot anxiously.
        "This reaction happens every time, and we would like to explain." She says when the room goes silent. "This is no ordinary person." She says.
        "In fact, it isn't human at all." John says. It takes all of my concentration not to run up there and kill him when he calls Sophie 'it'. I feel Clint tense up a little more when he hears it as well. "We are not going to be able to demonstrate what it can do in person tonight for saftey risks, but we are going to show you videos of what it can do."
        The screen switched from the live feed to a video of a much younger Sophie. She was curled into a ball in the corner of a startlingly bright white room, and obviously in a lot of pain. That fact was quickly dissmissed however, when she burst into flames a second into the video. There are shocked gasps throughout the room, and the video quickly changes, still in the same white room. It is still her younger self, though a little older. She has fear written all over her face, but everyone is distracted by the water moving around her trying to protect her. It switches to the final video, which is paused momentaraly.
        "This video will be muted for your saftey." John says. "Subject 1 has the ability to scream at pitches so loud, they can kill. If death makes you uneasy, I would suggest looking away for this one." No one moves a muscle, all of them wanting to see this for themselves. The video starts, and I see Sophie, who can't be older than six in the video, sitting in a corner, knees to her chest, eyes clamped shut, mouth open in an obvious scream. There is a middle aged man in a white coat also in the room. We watch as his eyes widen, and he drops the clipboard in his hands, covering his ears. He slowly sinks to his knees, and then is lying on the ground, writhing in agony. He suddenly stops, his hands falling from his ears, and you can see blood flowing out of them. His eyes are open, in his now dead state. the video cuts out a second after Sophie opened her eyes, and look at the body with utter horror at what she had just done.
        The video cuts out, and Samantha begins to speak again. "Now, no matter how dangerous this is, we are working with it to see if any good can come from it. We are currently reserching it's blood for anything that may help modern science and medicene"
        "We are also working with it to try and help it realize that it can do good in todays society." John says, picking up the conversation with practiced ease. "We want it to be the best it can be in the world today."
        "But right now, we need to bring Subject 1 back to the labs so that we can further our experiments." Samanthat says. "For the better of all of us."
        "Thank you so much for coming out here!" John yells. The curtians are closing.
        "And have an amazing night!" Samantha yells. Before the curtians snap shut, Sophie makes eye contact with me, and gives me just one little shake of her head.
        My nails are digging into the table in my anger. "Natasha." Clint says in a low voice. I look over, and see Ward and Skye making their way over to our table. Clint looks down at my hand and starts to try to pull my hand off the table.
        "Agent Romanoff." Ward says. I'm taking slow deep breaths, trying to calm down. I may not be the Hulk, But I was about to go off, hunt down, and kill every single one of them.
        "Are... Are you ok?" Skye asks, looking worried. I slowly release the table, and stand up. "Phil said he needs for you to go get the rest of the team." I slowly nod once.
        "Clint." I say in a low, cold voice. He looks up at me. "We are getting her out of there. And then I am going to hunt down every single one of them and make them scream for mercy."

Loki's POV~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

        We all sit in 'the bus' waiting for Natasha to bring back the Avengers. We had been watching the entire presentation, and the conversation afterwards. I have never agreed with Natasha more than I had in that moment. Coulson and May wait in his office in the front part of the plane, waiting for Barton and Natasha to talk to him. Thor, the scientists, and I all snap out of our thoughts as we hear voices entering the plane.
        "But why call it 'the bus' If it's a plane?" We all hear the tone of Starks voice, and look up to see them walking through the doorway. Clint and Natasha go straight for Coulson, not even looking at us as they walk past. "Reindeer games and Point break?" they seem to have finally noticed us.
        "Man of Iron!" Thor says loudly, making everyone jump a little. Except for me of course. I was used to his loudness.
        "Quiet, Thor. I'm trying to think." I snap. I had been trying to think of any way to get Sophie out of there safely. Seeing her like that so.... broken, it made me want to kill all of them and to simply hold her close.
        "About what? World domination?" apparently Stark gets sarcastic when he's worried.
        "Actually, I'm trying to think of some way to get Sophie back, if thats alright with you." I say in a hard voice. They all look a little taken aback, and after a moment, I see a flash of understanding flit across Starks face.
        "It was always more than just a kiss with her, wasn't it?" he asks, question cutting through the room. My silence was answer enough. "Did not see that coming." He mutters quietly. the others just sort of stood there, realization sinking in.
        "Well that clears some things up." Simmons says. She looks as if shes about to add something else, but quickly stops as May, Barton, Natasha, and.... Coulson enter the room. The tension in the room becomes thick.
        "Y-Your supposed to be dead." Stark says, breaking the silence.
        "You were stabbed through the back." Banner says in disbelief. The Captain doesn't say anything, just slowly reaches into his pocket and pulls something out. He quietly hands it to Coulson, and I see it is a deck of cards.
        "Was finally able to sign them." He says, simply returning back to his silent position in the room.
        "Thank you." Coulson says quietly, looking at the cards for a second longer before slipping them in an nside jaket pocket. "I'll explain why I'm not dead later. Right now our main priority is-"
        "Getting Sophie back."