It's Time

2016-Part 3

I watched his face fall and all the color drain. "And you're you. You are the girl who lost her parents and Rogers had to take in." I nodded.

"How do you know that?" He grabbed my wrist and led me to the couch. I took a seat on the opposite side of him.

"Thor told me. Tormented me with it." I gasped quietly. "You see, you and I are basically the same age." I tilted my head in confusion. "It doesn't matter how old I actually am, but on Asgard, I am essentially about 18. What you consider 18, at least." He pauses to rub his eyes. "Thor told me that you had been taken in, and he kept telling me how I did to you what was done to me. How I was left parentless and to be taken in by a family that wasn't really mine. I always felt out of place, always in the wrong spot. And to think that I had done that to you, to others, all over a petty act of revenge, it made me feel terrible." He looked up at me, and I saw that his eyes had misted over. He shifted closer to me and grabbed my hands. "I really, truly, am very sorry for your loss and everything negative that followed."

"Thank you, Loki. If it makes you feel any better, I was able to reconnect with my long-lost grandfather. I also gained many more people that cared about me. Sure, I miss my parents, but I gained so much more in their absence."

"Yes, it does." We sat in comfortable silence before my stomach grumbled. "You never answered my question." I was confused again. "You come here last night, on death's door, and now how do you feel?"

"Honestly, oddly better. It feels like I was never sick." I said and walked over to the pantry. Tony managed to keep the compound always stocked for whoever might show up.

"That is odd." Loki agreed and slid into a stool at the island. I began to pull out things for a sandwich and turned to him.

"You never answered my question either. Why are you here?" Loki looked up at me and laughed.

"It's quite the story." I finished making my sandwich and sat next to him. "So after my imprisonment, I managed to escape." My eyes widened and I choked on a bite.

"You what?" Suddenly, Loki's hands were on my back as I cleared my throat. "You're here as an escapee?" Loki laughed.

"Stark was alerted of my presence long ago, and he has been allowing me to stay." I became hyperaware of his hands that were still on my back.

"Ah. Good on him." I said. Loki just looked at me. "I'm gonna go take a shower."

"I'll be around if you want someone to talk to." I nodded and walked off to my bedroom. I let my hand trail along the wall and it accidentally snagged a painting. I kept walking, thinking nothing of it, then I noticed that something was dragging behind me. It was the painting, stuck to my fingertips. I shook my hand, but it still stuck. I could feel my heart rate increase, scratch that, I could hear it clear as day. I could also hear Loki's.

I shook my hand, but the painting stuck on. "Loki?" I called and walked back into the living room. "I'm a little stuck." He looked up and laughed.

"Like actually?" He said as he walked over. I nodded and sat on a nearby stool. He lifted up my wrist and got a better look at my hand. "You aren't a demigod, right?"

I looked at him with wide eyes. "Not that I'm aware of. Why?"

"Well, there is something about you that is making your fingers sticky enough to hold this." He glanced back at the painting. He squatted down to the level of my hand and placed one of his hands on my lower back to steady himself. I tried to focus on anything but that, but it was all I could think about. I closed my eyes, and I felt my heart rate lower back to a normal speed.

Smash. I opened my eyes again and saw that the painting had shattered on the ground.

"Well, how did that happen?" He asked, just staring at the ground.

"I just shut my eyes and calmed down." He stood back up and I looked up at him.

"Are you sure that you aren't at all godly? Like maybe... dear Odin, my thing is spiders." He immediately looked scared.

"I am almost sure that my parents are were my parents, but we can never be sure." I playfully smirked at him.

"I cannot be your father. Absolutely not." He said and buried his head in the crook of my neck and shoulder. His hand slipped from my back to my waist, and I was held in place.

"So what other things are associated with spiders? Do tell, father." His grip tightened and I could feel him growl. I could feel it, hear it, everything.

He pulled away and glowered at me. "They typically have unporpotional strength and speed. There are some other things, but they are rarer and I don't know if they will present here."

"Strength? We can check for that." I quickly stood up and pulled him along with me.

"Where are we going?" He asked.

"To one of the training rooms. I was thinking Steve's."

"Why his?" I glanced at him.

"Because he has super strength. We probably won't need it, but he has special weights." Loki hummed in approval.

I found his room quickly and went straight to the side that held the weights.

"So, just start picking them up, right?" Loki said and stood next to me. I went to the heavier side and picked up the rightmost one. It was like lifting nothing. I turned to show Loki and he nodded.

"Onto the special ones." I turned to the closet and Loki opened the door. Once again, I went to the heavier side and pulled out the rightmost one. "It feels like 20 pounds."

"Yeah ok. You are as strong as or stronger than Rogers. Noted." I grinned. "We can't really test for speed right now." I closed the closet and walked back over to Loki.

"I am going to go take a shower, for real this time, and then go see what Tony has in the lab here."

"Then I will meet you in the lab in 20 minutes." I smiled and walked to my bedroom. It wasn't really my bedroom, the one that I had been sleeping in when I came up here with the rest of the team a couple of years back. That one was more in the back, it was more near Tony and Steve's room. I wondered where Loki was staying.

After a quick shower- where I made the decision that I was going to go look for my old room. All of my stuff was in the car still, so it wasn't like I had to move a lot. After I emptied the car, I went up to the second floor of the back half, and many memories came flooding back. Coming here for the first time with Steve, being in the lab with Tony, training with everyone. I shook my head and kept walking. I found my bedroom at the end of the hallway. It was a corner room, overlooking the "backyard", which was a field with a couple of warehouses, a pool way at the end, and a forest that bordered everything. I loved the view. When I was younger, I would go explore the forest area like it was straight out of Narnia. Natasha and Clint would always play hide and seek with me in there.

I unpacked all my things and went to find Loki. He was sitting in the main living room, on his phone.

"How did you get a phone?" I asked as I flopped down next to him. He jumped and pushed a hand through his hair.

"We have to get you a bell." I smiled and he grinned back. "I found this when I first got here. The wall lady said that Stark said I could use it."

"Wall lady?" Loki nodded.

"Wall lady?" He asked, looking at the ceiling.

"Hello, Loki. I see you made it here safe, Emily." Friday said. I laughed.

"Her name is Friday." Loki blushed. "Have you explored the outside yet?"

"Only the close parts."

"Tomorrow I am going to show you the forest."

"What's in the forest?"

"You'll see." Loki just looked at me and shook his head with a small smile.