Loki Laufeyson - The Experiment {1}

Chapter Thirty Seven - Murderer

WARNING: The following chapter may upset some readers.

I didn't know why I was so scared to be around Lila. I knew I wouldn't hurt her, but for some reason, it felt like I would, like I had in the past or something. She was just so sweet and innocent that I couldn't bear the thought of hurting her.

Dinner that night was not like what anyone was used to. For a start, there were a lot more people cramped into one small space than the Barton family normally had. The food was also different, for all of the Avengers at least. It was simple food, steaming rice with a mild chicken curry, delicious but very different to the normal three-course meal at the Avenger's compound. Everyone was scattered between the kitchen and the lounge room that was set up with all of the beds. I sat on my bed cross-legged with my bowl of curry grasped in my hands. Nat was sitting across from me on her own bed while Wanda sat on the floor next to her. They were chatting about something, but I didn't hear it, focusing on swirling my curry and rice together. Most of the Avengers were chatting actually, but I stayed out of their conversations and in my own thoughts.

At around 7 o'clock, Laura put Lila and Cooper to bed and she went to bed not long after. Everyone began to feel sleepy at around 9 and were almost asleep in bed at around ten-thirty, Thor snoring loudly almost instantly. I lay silently for quite a long time after everyone eventually fell asleep, just staring up at the white ceiling. It reminded me too much of the white of my HYDRA cell and I shifted onto my side so I was looking at a bookcase that was leaning up against the wall. I closed my eyes and forced all thoughts of the boy and his mother out of my head before my mind finally surrendered to sleep.

I was outside something that didn't happen often. Everything was dark, it was pretty late at night, and the alleyway I was in wasn't lit up by the streetlights on the road beyond either. Rain was pelting down, muffling the sound of most things, and causing my hair to stick to the side of my head. The rest of my body was warm and I looked down to see that I was in a warm black cloak, only my hands exposed, but they didn't feel the cold. Instead, they were covered in my fire, steam twirling through the air gently as the rain came in contact with it.

Cars occasionally drove past, illuminating the road beyond the alleyway for a couple of seconds before they disappeared from my view. A street light on one side of the road flickered on and off. I looked next to me and noticed that I was crouched down next to two people, all of us dressed in black clothes to blend in with the night better. The thought of being next to two people didn't frighten me though, I was actually calm during this whole situation.

Then, two people appeared from around the side of the building across the road, it was a woman and a young child, probably no older than six years old. They were both dressed in raincoats and the woman held an umbrella over both of them.

"That's them." One of the men crouched down next to me said, causing me to instantly recognize him as Strucker. I still didn't panic though, and I didn't even think why. "That woman is the wife of a traitor, B12." He whispered in my air, though there really wasn't any point when the rain covered most sound. My eyes focused on the woman, who looked left and right before crossing the road with the child.

"Get them B12." Strucker said in my ear. "Let's teach that traitor a lesson. Let's teach him that we can hurt him." I rose my hands without even thinking about it, and I didn't question my movements either. My flame grew in my palms and I waited for a couple of seconds until they were directly in front of the alleyway we were in. Then, I threw my hands forward, sending a ball of flame directly to the woman, my movements so fast I barely registered them. The woman was thrown backwards by the fire and immediately the flames took over her body, causing her to crumble into ash. The young boy immediately cried out and knelt down on the pavement, digging through the ash that had been his mother, crying out her name.

"Now the child." The voice next to me whispered and I moved my eyes to the child. The flames grew again in my palm and the child looked over his shoulder, directly at us. I saw the fear in his wide, baby-blue eyes and the tears rolling down his plump cheeks. I didn't feel any emotions as I threw the fire at the child, disintegrating him immediately. The two piles of slid down the gutter, the rain washing away any traces of their existence.

"Good." The voice next to me whispered again. I looked over to the man on my right slightly and saw him pull something out of his pocket. It was a little silver block with a silver button in the middle, which he pressed. There was a sharp pain in the back of my neck and I fell backwards as darkness surrounded me.

I jerked upright, gasping and my head immediately hit something solid, causing pain to flare through my head.

"Ow." I winced, clutching my head at the exact same moment someone else muttered the same thing. I looked up startled and same the faces of Nat, Tony and Steve all hovering around me. It was still dark all around us, though the small amount of light that was coming from Nat's phone torch illuminated the worry on all of their faces, and the slight pain of Steve's as he rubbed his forehead.

"What's happening?" I asked nervously, wiping away sweat trickling slowly down the side of my face. I moved away from them all slightly, a little put off by so many people around me.

"You were having a nightmare." A different voice and I looked past Nat's shoulder to see Wanda sitting cross-legged on her bed, her face still sleepy and hair quite messy. I looked past Steve and Tony and saw that Pepper and Bruce were also watching from their beds, though Thor was still asleep soundly, shoring loudly. Loki's bed was noticeably empty.

"You were thrashing around quite a lot." Steve said quietly. My eyes darted around from everyone's face and I shuffled back a little further, my brain pounding from everything that had just happened.

"What's happening down here?" A new voice asked and everyone turned around to see Clint halfway down the stairs, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"Emily just had a nightmare." Nat explain, looking up at him briefly before looking back down at me. "It's all good." He nodded, giving me a brief smile before walking back upstairs.

"Do you want a drink or anything?" Asked Nat. "I can get you some water if you want." I shook my head and looked down at my hands. Tony nodded and stood up, making his way back to his own bed. Steve gave my shoulder a brief squeeze, which caused me to tense a little, before treading quietly back over to his own bed. Nat searched my face, lowering her phone torch a little and to give me a comforting smile.

"You want to talk about it?" She asked quietly, and I immediately shook my head. She nodded and turned off her phone torch, plunging us into darkness apart from the small amount of light that was filtering in through the drawn curtains from the slither of the moon outside. There was the sound of rustling blankets as everyone settled back into bed and then, the only noise was Thor's snoring.