Loki Laufeyson - The Experiment {1}

Chapter Thirty Five - Taken

"Captain!" Tony's slurred voice called out from where he was slowly sitting up off the floor. "Where are you going?"

"To his house." Steve replied, running up the stairs, skipping several at a time before returning back down after a couple of moments, pulling on a jacket.

"Can I come?" I asked timidly, taking a couple of steps towards him.

"Absolutely not." Steve shook his head before quite literally running out of the compound towards the garage. I stood there, my heart pounding in my chest with an unwelcome feeling.

"It's probably not best for him to go alone." Bruce pointed out.

"Too late now." Nat sighed as the sound of a car speeding down the driveway reached our ears.

"I've had way too much to drink." Tony muttered, heaving himself up onto the armchair. I ignored them all and stared down at my hands as they clenched the edge of kitchen bench tightly. I had a feeling that whatever the 'disturbance' was, it wasn't good.

THIRD PERSON POV (STEVE):

The silver sports car sped up the hill to Bucky's house, or at least, what was left of it. It wasn't much of a house anymore. The grass around it had been burnt, shriveled and black. The ones colourful flowers that had filled the pots around the edge of the veranda were nothing more than piles of ashes in soil, the ceramic pots in shattered pieces. The tall trees were burnt leafless, their bark blackened and twisted.

The house wasn't even standing anymore, it was just charred wooden planks and ashes, the fire must have been blazing hot to not leave any trace of furniture. Steve slowly stepped forward, his heart pounding too fast to be comfortable as he lifted up pieces of wood. He didn't really know what he was looking for, but he hoped that it wasn't a dead body, although he already had a feeling that he wasn't going to find one. And that wasn't a good thing.

As he threw a charred wooden beam to the side, something on the ground caught his attention. He crouched down and immediately recognised the HYDRA symbol drawn in ash, half of it already blown away. His heart sunk a little more and he stood up abruptly, walking back to his car and speeding away from the ruins.

EMILY POV

As soon as we heard the sound of the car speeding back down the driveway, we all jumped up from either the couch or the stools around the kitchen bench. My heart pounded hard against my chest, the horrible twisting feeling still lurking in my stomach. As Steve walked through the front door, all of our eyes darted to him and I could see ash covering his hands and speckling his shirt.

"They have him." Was all he said and the mood in the whole compound immediately dropped.

"We have to leave then." Tony said, his voice slightly less slurred but it was clear he still had a headache from the way he kept rubbing his forehead. "They would have brainwashed him already and he knows where we are. HYDRA will no doubt use him to come after Emily."

"Leave?" Clint repeated. "We only just got here."

"Do you have another building for us to go to?" Nat asked. Tony paused for a moment, rubbing his forehead before swearing under his breath, which we all took as a no. Steve gave Tony a look before moving into the kitchen and collapsing into a stood at the bench. The whole room was silent and I could feel the mood continue to plummet.

"I think I may have somewhere we can go." Clint said eventually, causing us all to look over at him. "I'll just have to double-check." He pulled his phone out of his back pocket and walked down the hallway a little bit, out of our view and hearing range. We all remained silent, the longer we waited, the more my heart began to pound nervously. When Clint came back, all of our eyes darted to him, and he nodded, pocketing his phone.

"I have somewhere to go." He told us. "Though it can't be for too long. A week at max."

"I can sort something else before than." Tony nodded. "Alright everyone, pack your stuff, be back here as soon as possible." Everyone jumped up and made their way to the stairs, moving up to their room in silence. I opened up my cupboard and found the overnight bag from when we had moved from the Tower to the Compound. I pulled it out and began to pack random things that were hanging up and a couple of pairs of shoes. I grabbed some things from the bathroom and threw them on top of my clothes before I zipped up the bag and walked back downstairs. Loki was already sitting there and he gave me a comforting smile, and I gave him a small smile in return. Wanda came down next, several bags floating behind her, surrounded in the red of her power. Steve was down next, carrying two bags and his shield over his shoulder.

AS everyone continued to come down, the amount of bags covering the floor continued to grow and it slowly began to hit me that this was real. I bit my lip nervously and fiddled with my bracelets, repeatedly spinning them around. Tony was the last one down, too many bags in his hands for it to all be clothes.

"So where are we going Barton?" Tony asked, setting down a bag that sounded like it was completely full of paper.

"It is best not to say yet." Clint replied, eyeing the bag. "But it is going to involve us flying there."

"We can use the Quinjet." Tony replied. "All of the bags should fit in there." I looked at all of the bags, at least twenty five of them, with the majority of them being Tony's.

"You know we are not moving in to this place." Clint crossed his arms.

"I'm not leaving anything here in case they decide to raid it." Tony replied, picking up his bags. "Come on everyone." Everyone stood up again and picked up their bags before we walked out of the compound and towards the airstrip where the Quinjet was sitting. The ramp opened up as we approached and we all filed in, setting our bags down at our feet as we sat down. I began to bounce my let nervously as Clint and Nat climbed into the front, starting up the engine. Everything was happening so quickly, it was hard for me to try and process everything.

I fiddled with the zipper of my over-night bag as it sat on my lap and tried to control my breathing. Loki moved over to next to me and gave me a comforting smile, which I returned weakly before I felt the Quinjet lift off. I clutched the seat so tightly my knuckles turned white. I swallowed the lump in my throat and bit my lip. As the Quinjet took off, several people loss their grips on their bags and they went sliding down the now closed ramp, piling up against the exit. My eyes darted to them before I looked back down at the ground.

"You'll be fine." Loki said as I began to try and take deep breaths. I didn't say anything and remained focused on the ground, trying to force all thoughts about being up in the air from my head.

There was silence in the Quinjet, apart from the small murmuring conversation going on between Tony and Steve, probably about what Steve saw at Bucky's house. I remained staring down at the ground or my bracelets. As the Quinjet finally came into land, it jolted slightly, causing me to look up in alarm and I clenched the seat tightly again.

"We're here." Clint announced before the exit ramp slowly lowered.