Shadows of the Past

Part 11

Loki steps out of his room and closes the door, he doesn’t greet you or make eye contact.  You assume it is because of your conversation a few hours ago so you don’t press it.  As you turn to walk down the hall your phone begins to vibrate in your pocket and you answer it without looking, assuming its Nat.

“Hey, we’re on our way-” you are cut off.

“Y/N!” Sarah practically yells into the phone.

“What do you want?” you ask her, taking a step away from Loki.

“I need to talk to Loki, please.  Can you put him on?” she begs.

You look at Loki, holding the phone out towards him, “It’s Sarah.”

He shrugs and makes no attempt to take the phone. “Sorry, he’s not-” you start to give her an excuse.

“Y/N please,” Sarah asks again.

You sigh loudly and try to offer the phone to Loki.  He still doesn’t take it, ignoring your attempt completely. “He doesn’t want to talk to you,” you tell her plainly.

“I need to explain-” she beings but is interrupted, “Just forget about him and come back to bed, it’s cold sweetheart,” you hear a familiar voice in the background.  She shushes him loudly but you hang up quickly before she says anything else.

You stop walking, standing in stunned silence.  “You heard him too then?” Loki asks when he notices your expression has changed from mild annoyance to confusion. 

“What?” you ask.

“The man she is sleeping with, you heard him when she was talking,” he said, this time as a fact.

You nod, not really sure what to say other than you are sorry.  Loki doesn’t respond, he simply keeps walking and you have to walk quickly to catch up.

You feel your phone going off again and when you see Sarah’s name you decline the call.  She calls three more times before the two of you reach the elevator.  Nat was supposed to be getting the jet ready so you were on your way down to meet her at the hanger.

Again, your phone starts to buzz and this time you pick it up, “Sarah, seriously what do you want?  We don’t have time for your shit right now, ok? Loki and I need to get to the jet so we can leave.”

The elevator comes and you both step inside, the phone still to your ear. “I just need to talk to Loki, just for a minute,” she tries one more time.

“Why don’t you talk it over with Marc?” you snap at her and hang up.  You aren’t sure why you are feeling so defensive of Loki.  Honestly, if this was two weeks ago you wouldn’t have given a fly fuck if he was being cheated on.  You would have wished worse things on him.  Now here you were, furious with Sarah for hurting him like that.

“Marc?” Loki says in a low voice, pulling you from your thoughts.  “You know him?” he asks you.

“Uh... yea, not super well but... I’ve met him a few times,” you answer. 

He doesn’t respond, nodding just a little.  The elevator opens and Nat greets you both. 

(A few hours later)
Sitting up at the front of the jet with Nat, you stare at the file in your lap and go over the plan in your head one more time.  Loki was sitting in the rear of the plane, he hadn’t said a word since the three of you took off. 

Normally the flight to Bulgaria would be close to 11 hours, but you could make it in under 6 with the jet.  Since it is 7 hours ahead of New York, you would be landing around 9PM.  That was good, Nat & Loki wanted to start the first phase of the mission as soon as they landed and it would be easier at night.

You finally close the file and ask Nat how much longer until you land.  “Another hour if the weather stays like this,” she answers.  The two of you spend the rest of the flight talking about nothing in particular. 

When you get close enough, Nat activates the cloaking device on the jet and lands it where it wouldn’t be found.  Loki and Nat gather everything they will need for the first part of the mission while you set up your computer and make sure the coms work.  You give an ear piece to each of them and tell them good luck as they leave the jet.  You watch their location update through a tracker Nat has and you wait.  They steal a car and head to the next town over where the target lives and works.  Through your study of him, you discover he goes to the same bar every weekend for dinner.  It was easy enough to figure out once you got access to his credit card statements, at least he tipped well you had thought to yourself when you saw the same charges over and over. 

Loki and Nat parked two blocks from the bar and waited for him to leave.  It was easy enough for a God and the Black Widow to kidnap one low level Hydra agent who was halfway drunk.  He practically got in the car himself when he realized what was going on, he wasn’t going to put up a fight.  Loki lets you know they have him and they are on their way back to the jet. 

When they get back it’s time for the second part, Nat spends the next few hours getting as much information out of him as she can.  You take notes and record everything, comparing what you are learning to what you had already discovered.  He confirms the identity of three other Hydra agents you had suspicions about and he even tells you there is a meeting at the hospital tomorrow afternoon.  The meeting is to discuss the continued failure of their new version of the super soldier serum.  When Nat is finished and he is secured in a holding area, you contact Hill and let her know the mission status. 

There isn’t much that can be done until morning now so the three of you agree to take turns sleeping while one of you watches the subject.  Loki volunteered to take first watch and you would take second, Nat would be last.  You and Nat sit in the pilot and copilot chairs, reclining them all the way back, you fall asleep much quicker than you expected.

Loki wakes you gently when it is your turn and you switch places with him.  You sit outside the door of the holding area and play with your phone.  Occasionally you look up and check the monitor but the subject inside looks like he is asleep on the floor.  After about half an hour, you get bored of only game you and you put it away.  You cross your arms and lean back in the chair.  Staring up at the ceiling, you blink slowly.

An alarm blares and jolts you from your sleep.  You sit up quickly, looking around, trying to remember where you are and what is going on.  Red lights flash overhead and the alarm is so loud you cover your ears.  You get up from your seat and suddenly realize the door to the holding cell is open! Your heart races and your breath becomes quick and shallow.  Omg! I fell asleep and he escaped! You think to yourself in a panic.

Loki and Nat run towards you from the front of the jet, “What the hell happened!?” they both ask.  Nat rushes past you and into the holding cell but it is empty.  You haven’t moved, not sure what you are supposed to do. 

“Y/N! Where is he?” Loki asks as he grabs your arm and turns you towards him.

“I-I don’t know, I must have fallen asleep.  He couldn’t have gotten far could he?” you ask.  How could this have happened?  If he makes it back to town, or even to a phone, he could alert all the Hydra agents at the hospital that you are here.  They could destroy all the evidence and kill anyone in their experiments by the time you are able to get there.

“You had one job, how could you have been this stupid?” Loki asks angrily.

You just shake your head, his grip on your arm is getting tighter.  You try to pull yourself free but its no use.  “Loki, let her go.  We don’t have time to fight about this, we need to find him now,” Nat yells as she opens the rear door.  You look down at your feet and rub your arm where you can feel a bruise forming.  “You’re coming too, Y/N.  You made this mess, now you have to help us fix it.”