Loki Laufeyson - The Experiment {1}

Chapter Thirty Three - Left at Home

I thought that night I would sleep peacefully, but my brain had other ideas. It had decided to drag up every bad thing that I ever had happen to me while I was at HYDRA and play it on repeat for the whole night. I was waking up almost every hour, sometimes half an hour, drenched in sweat and disoriented, sometimes even the faint feeling of a prickle of my power under my skin, even though I had the bracelets on.

I eventually dragged myself out of bed at six o'clock, feeling more exhausted then when I had actually gotten into bed. I ran myself a cool shower, grabbing a quick glimpse of my exhausted appearance in the mirror. I changed into my training gear, knowing that Steve would want to train, which just caused me to yawn. I kept yawning the whole way to the staircase, missing onto of the steps mid-yawn and tumbling the rest of the way down the steps, which thankfully was only about seven.

"You okay kiddo?" Asked Tony from where he was sitting at the head of the table, tearing his eyes away from the projected screen in front of him where the news way playing out. He was absolutely obsessed with the news, he watched it every morning with his breakfast, and even sometimes at lunch.

"Yeah, I'm okay." I nodded, my voice tight as I heaved myself up off the floor, which was an effort in itself because all I wanted to do was just curl up on the floor and sleep.

"You look horrible Emily." Nat called out from where she was sitting on the couch, watching something on the TV.

"Thanks." I yawned, barely registering her words. I rubbed my eyes and fixed up the pony tail I had done after my shower.

"Did you get any sleep last night?" Bruce's usual concerned-doctor voice reached my ears and I turned to look at him from where he was sitting at the table, turning around in his chair to look at me.

"Not really." I sat down in my chair, rubbing my eyes again.

"Crepes are guaranteed to fix that." Pepper smiled as she walked over to the table, holding a steaming plate of crepes. I smiled tiredly at her and she set down the plate.

"Oi! Reindeer Games!" Tony yelled out, causing me to wince slightly from his loud voice that rang in my sleep-deprived brain. "Breakfast is ready!" I looked over to the couch and saw Loki sitting there on the opposite side of Nat with a book in his hand.

"Let me just finish this page." He raised his eyes slightly to glare at Tony before looking back down at his book. Tony rolled his eyes and waved his hand, the news projection disappeared, everyone digging into the crepe, or at least those who were still there.

Nat got up off the couch, Loki following shortly behind and giving me a small smile as he sat down next to me. Steve came down about ten minutes later, his shirt soaked in sweat and I died at the thought of having to train this morning when I was so tired. Thor came down after about half an hour, Pepper handing him his own plate of crepes since he ate so much. Clint was the last to arrive, looking like he had just rolled out of bed, his hair sticking up everywhere. His expression was not at all pleased, which probably had something to do with Tony getting JARVIS to wake him up because they were running low on crepes.

Conversations began to fill the air and I chewed on my crepes in silence, trying to stay awake. Tony brought the news back up, blocking him off from everyone else. Steve and Wanda were having a conversation about something to do with her power. Bruce, Nat and Thor were talking about something sciency, with Nat mostly making fun out of them both. Clint was eating in silence, clutching his fork so tightly he looked like he was about to snap it in half.

"I take it you had more nightmares last night?" Loki asked softly as I ate and I looked up at him. "Were they bad? JARVIS didn't alert me."

"I don't really remember them well." I said softly. "I kept waking up halfway through them, so they never really became bad I suppose." I looked down at my food. "I suppose it wasn't too bad then."

"But you look exhausted." He replied. "They must have been pretty bad."

"I'm okay." I shook my head again. A flash out of the corner of my eye caught my attention and I turned to look at the TV screen to see an aerial shot of what looked like a whole building on fire. The shot changed to one on the streets, where there was rubble everywhere, some chunks as big as cars. People were scrambling everywhere, the police and ambulance crew trying to help, but it looked like an impossible task. Suddenly, the camera focused on a tall skyscraper which was completely covered in flames before the walls began to crumble down to the ground, stuff scattering all over the street. The sound reached whoever was filming a couple of seconds later, the sound extremely loud.

"This incident occurred in broad daylight at around 6 o'clock this morning," he was saying, "in Washington DC. Over three-hundred people are injured, fifty are dead, but that is expecting to rise as crews continue to clean up the mess. The cause of this explosions is yet unknown, but authorities are treating is as suspicious. Anyone with any information is being urged to come forward." Photos of the explosion and the area around it. The reporter moved onto a different story and everyone looked away from the TV screen, faces grim. Tony stood up and walked out of the building, standing outside as he pulled out his phone.

"Could it be HYDRA?" I asked before I even thought about speaking out loud. A couple of eyes dart to me and I struggled to not sink back into my chair at their gazes.

"Unlikely." Steve sighed. "They wouldn't waste their time blowing up other things If they wanted to get to you." He leant back in his chair and crossing his arms. I took in a deep breath, looking down at my bracelets and fiddling with them as I exhaled.

"Fury didn't know about it." Tony came back in, tapping the blue light under his shirt as his red and gold suit formed over the top, helmet hiding his face. "I mean, seriously? How can he not know about an attack on the capital of the country?"

"Does he want us to go there?" Steve asked, sitting up straighter when Tony nodded.

"Suit up." Tony instructed. "Meet at the pad in five minutes." Everyone stood up and I sat there uncertainly before I slowly began to rise, guessing that it meant me too. Tony spotted me moving and his helmet opened up, revealing a slightly sympathetic smile.

"Sorry kiddo." He said.. "This one isn't for you."

"I can go." I said softly. "Steve has been training me." I didn't want to be stuck here again by myself, despite the number of safety protocols that I am sure Tony had.

"Its too dangerous." Tony shook his head. "You'll be safer here with Pep."

"It is too dangerous." Steve added, looking at me. "We can't risk anything happening to you." I looked between him and Tony, who were both watching me with firm gazes, and I nodded, sighing softly. I sat back in my chair and Pepper rubbed my knee comfortingly. .

Tony gave me a brief nod before he walked back outside, Steve running up the stairs to get to the bedrooms where everyone else had disappeared. Pepper gave me a comforting smile.

"You'll get to join them soon enough." Pepper smiled at me.

"I hope so." I sighed. "It boring being cooped up in here all the time. I actually want to be useful, rather than just sitting around and doing nothing.

"You got out yesterday." Nat called out from the top of the stairs as she came jogging down them, dressed in black clothes similar to my training gear, but more... mission like I suppose. "Be grateful for that. Not all of us wanted you to go out." She flashed me a quick smile before disappearing out of the building, shortly followed by Bruce, who seemed a little nervous.

"Stay safe Emily." Wanda told me as she walked down the stairs, fixing up the tight pale red shirt she had changed into. Steve hurried down the stairs, throwing a big metal shield over his back. Thor and Clint followed soon after, the archer checking his arrows last minute. Loki was the last one down, and he teleported right behind me, grabbing a handful of strawberries off the table.

"Keep out of danger Emily." He told me and I gave him a small smile before he disappeared in a flash of green. I heard the jet lift off a couple of seconds later and I picked at my crepes, only eating a little. I had lost my appetite, I had a bad feeling about the explosions, and I had a feeling it had something to do with HYDRA.