Energy - Loki x Reader

Surprise

It's cold on Thanos' ship, so very cold. The air bites at your exposed skin and claws at your cheeks. It's dark, too, and the darkness seems to sink into you, suffocating and claustrophobic. You try to tolerate it, but it gets unbearable and you're forced to send up a ball of light, which illuminates the room and heats the area around you. Thanos looks around at you, then at the light bubble, then back at you. He huffs. You stop walking behind him, unable to take a moment longer of his silence. 'What do you want with me? I'm not even an Avenger!' He doesn't stop so you run in front of him and stand in his way. He gives you a dubious look, too curious to be annoyed at your standing in his way.

'You have no idea how powerful you are, do you?' He asks.

You're a bit taken aback by him saying this, and it frustrates you; you've known him for less than an hour and he's already managed to leave you speechless twice. He uses your shock to step around you and keep walking. You shake it off. 'And you do?'

'Enough to take precautions.' From nowhere, one of his 'children' appears and hands him a pair of bracelets. Thanos passes them to you. 'Put these on.'

Eyeing him suspiciously, you comply. How bad can they be? As soon as you do, the light is sucked from the room and the heat you generated is stolen from you. You fall to your knees, gasping for air. You can't feel the energy around you. It's like a part of your soul's been ripped away from you. 'What the hell is this?' You demand, still retching.

'Power limiting cuffs,' He says casually. 'Can't have you destroying my ship, even if you think you're not capable of that.'

'You son of a bitch. What do you want from me?!'

Thanos ignores you and keeps walking until he reaches a door at the end of the long hallway. You stand up, using the wall for support and look to where Thanos has his hand on the doorknob. You frown at him. 'In return for your compliance, I have a present for you.' Thanos opens the door, and there, bloodied and bruised, stands Clint.

'DAD!' You ignore your shaky legs and run to him. His face has trails of blood coming down his forehead and nose, and he looks as if he hasn't eaten a proper meal in weeks - months.

'Y/n? What are you doing here? You're not supposed to be here, I tried so hard to keep him away from you,' He says. His voice is gruff and gravelly, he's in desperate need of some water. You stifle a sob and help him up, wrapping him in your arms.

'I thought you were dead. We all thought you were dead' You pull back and assess his face: The cuts aren't that deep, superficial, really. You whip around on Thanos. 'What have you done to him?'

Thanos folds his arms. 'He was very adamant on not giving up any information about you. This was the consequence. Unfortunately I figured out your location before he said anything, which is admirable, but frustrating, to say the least.'

You set your face. 'Let him go.'

'Y/n. Y/n, stop.' You look at your dad in shock. 'You need to listen to me.'

You look between his eyes, confused and desperate. 'What is it?'

'Don't give him anything. It doesn't matter what he threatens to do to me.' He has to force his words out through ragged breaths. 'Don't give him anything.'

'That's quite enough,' Thanos interrupts, grabbing your shoulder. You slap him away, which of course has no effect on him without your powers, but he's so surprised at your rebellion that it holds him off for a few seconds.

'Why? Dad, what does he want with me?' Thanos grabs your wrist and starts to wrench you away from Clint. You turn back to face him, struggling against Thanos' grip. 'What am I?' One of Thanos' slaves shuts the door between you and Clint, but it didn't look like he was going to answer anyway. Thanos continues to yank you by the arm down the ship, with you resisting the whole way. When he reaches a room far away from anything else, far away from his throne room, from your dad, from any other doors, he tugs it open and shoves you in.

If it were possible, this room is colder than the rest of the ship. The walls are made of some granite-looking metal, as well as the floors. In the very corner of the room, there's a lump of metal the size of a bed. 'Your room.' He says, and starts to shut the door. 'No, don't-' You try to run at him, but he shuts the door on you as he did with your dad. You throw yourself against it, trying to open it. When that doesn't work, you pound your fists against it. 'Hey! You can't just leave me in here! What am I?!' Not used to not having an unlimited supply, your banging gets weaker and you sink to the floor, crying quietly.

Loki's pov

It's been days, and nothing's come up. As much as he doesn't want to, Loki's losing hope. His room's trashed, and he's sat in the midst of the wake of his anger and frustration. Books are strewn around him, glass on the floor, chairs broken and his phone next to him.

Nobody's dared to enter, fearing him lashing out at them. He hasn't left either, except for when he snuck into her room at midnight to steal one of her many blankets. He's sat on it now, his alarm clock next to him, smashed, displaying the same time it's been displaying for 3 days. With a sigh, he plays his messages again for the thousandth time, just to hear her voice. A trivial message, really. Something about what takeaway they should get because they were home alone for the evening. The second one's just a simple 'I love you.'

'Brother.'

Loki, of course, knows who it is, and he's not in the mood. 'Go away, Thor.' Thor ignores him and steps into the room, turning the lights on. Loki squints and confronts Thor. 'It's been 3 days and you've not left your room. You can't torture yourself like this,' Thor lectures him. It's an attempt to feel comforting, but it doesn't really work, that's not how they're relationship works.

'The hell I can't,' Loki says and plays the message again. Thor comes in front of him and takes the phone. Loki spins a dagger in his hands and holds the tip to Thor's neck, holding his other hand out for the phone. Thor places a hand over the blade and pushes it away.

'It's not your fault.'

'We both know that's not true. I should have gone after her, I should have-' He stops himself, backhanding the alarm clock across the room. 'Get out, Thor.'

Thor shakes his head and goes to leave, but says, 'Come with me.' Intrigued by wherever Thor's inviting him to, Loki follows begrudgingly. Thor goes to the dining room table and smacks the table to get everyone's attention. 'We need to figure out a way to get y/n back.'

The others look from Thor to Loki, then back to Thor again after Loki death stares them all, particularly Peter. Tony's the first to speak, trying to veer Peter's attention away from the evil eyes Loki's giving him. 'Our radars can't locate the ship. There's nothing we can do.'

'Then how are we supposed to get her back?' Bruce asks.

Loki, seething, can't hold his anger in long enough to let someone answer. He strides up to Peter, pointing a finger in his face. Thor holds an arm out to stop him from getting to close. 'None of this would have happened if he hadn't have been so reckless.' Tony stands in front of Peter, who's looking incredibly guilty and like he's about to cry.

'Stop it, Loki,' Wanda chastises, her eyes flashing a red warning. 'We're all worried about her, we can't go blaming each other. He couldn't have known what Thanos would do.' Peter looks to her with a grateful expression and takes a breath out.

Loki chews on the inside of his cheek for a moment, deliberating on whether it's worth killing the insolent mortal. He decides against it. Y/n likes Peter. She'd be mad. With one last glare, Loki storms out to his room and slams his door shut.

Once everybody has dispersed and no-one would notice, Natasha slips into Loki's room, shutting the door behind her. Loki's got a bag on his bed and is shoving a few items into it. Natasha assesses the situation. 'You're going after her, aren't you?'

He doesn't stop to look at her, just keeps packing. 'Don't try and stop me. I'm not just going to sit here and wait for Thanos to drop her corpse at our doorstep.' His bluntness surprises her, and she pulls her head back, disgusted at the image of y/n, cold and bloody on their doorstep.

After a moment to pull it together, she says, 'On the contrary, I want in.'

Loki stops and looks at her to see if she's joking. She's not. He smiles. 'You are a dark horse, aren't you?' She shrugs and smirks back at him, leaving to pack some stuff.