Sinbound (Loki fanfiction)

Part 4

Loki sits politely on the couch in Tony's living room. The others join him, waiting patiently for him to explain what just happened.

"That thing in there is a monster. Fortunately for you, I can control her. Seems as though you truly need me here after all." He says with a sly smile.

"Loki, if you could tell us what you mean by 'monster', we can work together to help her." Thor suggests.

Loki sits upright and wiggles his finger in his brother's face. "Ah, ah, ah. She needs my specific guidance. She... it, is dangerous. She cannot be trusted."

"Yeah... you're sending mixed signals, pal. Do you wanna protect her or do you wanna kill her? I just can't tell with you." Tony asks, poking fun at Loki's seriousness.

"I think we can all help her. She's human, Loki, she's not a monster. Let me talk to her, girl to girl." Natasha pushes. She gets up and walks towards the door.

"Your funeral." Loki spits out.

"Oh please." She dismisses him while slightly looking over her shoulder as she nods to the guard at the door to let her in. He communicates to the guard on the inside and she disappears into the room.

"You know, you could be nicer to her." Steve narrows his eyes at Loki, who sits back in his seat and relaxes his knees to the sides.

He squints at Steve, then says, "What does that mean?"

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Natasha takes a small chair to sit on as she ascends up the stairs to the platform outside the glass wall of my cage. She sits with her elbows on her knees and wears a gentle smile.

"What's your favorite color?" She asks invitingly.

"I've always been fond of green. Or purple, if it's that really dark, gem shade."

"What brought you to New York? And... I apologize for the inhumanity. We've had some mistakes with Banner before we understood him and wanted to make sure we could protect you..." She motions with her hands, expecting me to answer with my name. Boy, is my childhood crush surfacing again. Such delicate hands.

"Ayça. Ayça Beckland. And I came to New York to live with my sister Beth after leaving by abusive boyfriend. Somehow, Loki was able to fish through my mind enough to come across him. I doubt any of you mentioned him to Loki before he got here."

"Who is Benny, anyway? How long have you two known each other?" She asks.

"Benny was my boyfriend of 3 years. It started out so well, we were in such a honeymoon phase. But then he changed. He cut me off from everyone I loved, and made me think he was all I needed. I was isolated from the world. He used that against me to manipulate me, telling me I couldn't survive without him. It was awful. There's so much more to unpack about him, but it hurts too much and I don't want to... to-" I break my sentence, afraid of saying what I could become if I went on about Benny.

"It's ok, I understand. You didn't deserve that, Ayça."

I wait a moment before I change the subject slightly. "Natasha," I begin, "How did Loki know to show an illusion of Benny to me? How did he do that?"

"That's a kind of magic I can't really explain. But you have a kind of magic we can't explain either, which is why he's here. Believe it or not, he wants to help you."

I laugh to myself, raising my eyebrows at the thought of Loki, of all people, helping the Avengers. "You must have been truly desperate to go to him for help."

"Desperation, maybe. Ayça, I know you're a good person. I'm not sure what happened to you, but we will take care of you. Loki can't hurt you, I'll make sure of that myself." She assures me. Why would Loki want to hurt me? I thought you said he wanted to help me? I think to myself, pinching my face in confusion.

"Loki wants to hurt me?" I ask quietly, obviously wearing my concern on my face.

Natasha shifts back in her seat, realizing she shouldn't have said what she did. "He doesn't... he won't. You're going to be ok."

"Natasha... I don't feel ok. I'm in a glass cage with guards, I'm cut off from my life, my sister is probably freaking out that I'm missing. I don't feel 'ok'." I say, my words cracking from the knot in my throat forming. Benny tried so hard to isolate me so that I would only have him and no one else. I thought that was behind me. I thought I was free.

"Let me talk to Tony. I'll get you into your own room and I can see if I can get in contact with your sister. I don't want you to feel like a prisoner here, Ayça."

"Take care of me, Nat." I say, my eyes shining with tears. She looks at me, her broken heart showing through her expression. She gets up and rushes out the door, finding Tony to reason with him. I go to lean against the back wall of my cage, sliding my back down and sitting hard onto the floor. I scream, my eyes clenched and my hands shaking in front of me. I gasp for air, hitting my head on my wall. I look up and watch my vision blur as I start sobbing.

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"Verdict?" Tony asks as Natasha comes back to the group.

"Her name is Ayça Beckland. She's hurt." She points out. There is a moment of silence before she continues. "Think about it. Her last relationship was abusive and misleading. She couldn't possibly come out of that in one piece."

They all look at their feet, contemplating the new outlook. Thor is the first one to speak.

"How do we help her?"

"Leave it to me." Loki offers.

"No offence, pal, but you're not the big, cuddly teddy bear we all know you to be when it comes to strangers. Why don't we give Nat a go at it for a while?" Tony speaks up.

"While I assume Natasha could handle herself, Ayça cannot. I can control her. I am the one she needs." Loki presses.

"Why are you pushing this?" Natasha asks, getting defensive. "What do you want with her?"

They all look to Loki for his response. He smiles to himself, looking down at his expensive black shoes. "Oh, I could not possibly say. It's confidential, between me and Ayça. Fret not, you can trust me."

"Right, because that always works out." Tony remarks, rolling his eyes.