Rachael rolled her eyes and turned toward the door, knowing she wouldn't get any more information out of her traitorous cousin than anyone else who'd tried.
"They tell me you've been asking for me." Rachael commented when she got close enough for her words to travel past both the thick walls and the extensive spell work they'd had to put up to keep the group contained.
Michelle looked at Rachael as if she would rather lick dog poo off the bottom of her shoe than share the same air. "I didn't ask for you. Traitor."
Rachael pressed her hand to her chest as if she were offended. "Me? I'm the traitor?" She dropped the act and turned cold eyes on the girl. "Who's the one who released unknown and uncontrollable magic on the world to try to get revenge centuries after the fact?"
Michelle laughed. "It was never about revenge, you idiot. It was about reclaiming my birth right." She all but spat.
Rachael took a step back and narrowed her eyes. "This magic wasn't meant for you." She turned and walked back toward the door, sending a final barb over her shoulder. "Turns out your mother was a great judge of character. She never wanted you to be able to wield this magic. Soon enough, you won't be able to wield any magic at all."
She ignored the screamed insults that followed her down the hallway, taking the elevator back to the lounge and crossing to the kitchen for a bottle of water before she would answer any questions.
"You were right," She motioned toward Strange. "She wanted the magic for herself. It wasn't about destroying it."
"And the new magic?"
"From what I could tell," and by that she meant by the hours of research she'd conducted since they'd locked Michelle in downstairs and a notebook she found in her cousin's apartment. "She'd been dabbling in the strange magics long before her mother died." She opened a file with a stack of copied journal pages and turned it toward Strange. "She kept a journal, just like everyone before her. She'd been manipulating her mother for months, trying to get her to transfer her magic early. Unfortunately, the transfer was a little more volatile than she expected. Aunt Nicola knew she was dying. She suspected Michelle was plotting something and preempted it by blocking the transfer."
"And with you being the closest relative, the magic latched onto you instead." Strange finished.
Rachael nodded.
"What do we do now?" Stark asked.
"Well, thankfully, Michelle took meticulous notes. We now know how the magic works and can work on a way to counter them, possibly even deflect them." Rachael answered.
"And then I can find a way to rid you of this magic." Loki added.
"Like Hell you are." Rachael countered.
"They're a curse. You've seen how your family has reacted to these abilities over the last four hundred years."
"I could learn from their mistakes and use them to help people."
"They could destroy you."
"About as much as trying to take them destroyed my Aunt."
The rest of the group started, one by one, exiting the lounge to leave the two magic wielders to their argument.
"Are they always like this?" Strange asked when he caught up to Stark moments later.
"Pretty much. When they're not going at each other like hormonal bunny rabbits."
"I did not need that image in my head, Stark."
FIN
YOU ARE READING
Doesn't Play Well With Tricksters
FanfictionIn this alternate universe, Loki has been exiled to Midgard when Odin sees through his disguise (Think the end of Thor, The Dark World). He is haunted by his part in the death of his adoptive mother. He has visions of her that may be her talking to...
