Between the Lines

All in the mind

Loki wished he could use a sleeping spell on himself.  He arrived back in his room unhindered but unable to rest.  What he'd seen in her head?  What he'd felt?  Made him about as far from settled as it was possible to be.  Especially not now he knew she loved him every bit as much as he'd fallen for her. 

How could he protect her from what was to come when he couldn't even stop one man and a set of size 13 boots?  The worst bit? Tomorrow, he would have to act as if he didn't know.  Have to act as if he didn't care, didn't want to rip their throats out and spit down their necks.  These pathetic mortals. Thought they were gods.  Did they not realise that harnessing the power of the tesseract did not make you a god? Did it raise you above other men? It only made you a man with a bigger stick than the next man.  

He lay in the dawn, stretched out on his bed, trying to think of better things.  His mother, his life on Asgard before that fateful day in the vaults.  Hunting and fighting and feasting with Thor and the warriors.  Then it had all gone so wrong.  The truth, sending him over the edge of more than just the Bifrost.  The Chitauri and the Tesseract.  New York.  His rehabilitation.  Now, he was useful to them.  Now they wanted his powers, his knowledge. And look where it had got them.

He rolled over and closed his eyes, summoning all the images of Kathy he could muster.  Where once this would have been her laugh, her smile and her feisty comebacks, now it was tarnished with the lingering pain and torment of the last week. If only their kiss could have erased all that for her.  If only their kiss could guarantee the future they both desperately wanted it seemed.

His final thoughts as he drifted off at long last were of Kathy, walking hand in hand with him through his mother's garden in Asgard, the golden light giving her an almost ethereal glow. He smiled.  One day Pet he prayed, one day.

The next morning, Kathy was woken by the sound of a guard unlocking her door.  Aching all over, she struggled to sit up and drew the covers to her neck.

"Put this on" he barked at her without looking at her.  She was intrigued.  This was new.  Previously, her lying in bed would have been an open invitation to degrade her, to abuse her.  This "hands-off" approach had to be to do with Loki's presence.  The guard turned on his heel and marched out, locking the door again with a heavy clang of the door.

Kathy slipped out of bed and walked over to where he'd thrown the clothes on the floor.  It was a black suit, similar in style to the one Sitwell had worn, but obviously cut for a more shapely form.  A white shirt had been provided together with shoes.  How had they known her size?  It was as if this had all been planned.  Oh, yes.  With a sickening lurch back to reality, she remembered.  It had.  Loki had planned it.

As she showered and dressed, she carefully braided her hair. If she was going to end up in a fight, she didn't want her hair getting in her eyes.  A pleasant side effect was that the act of braiding it was relaxing.  Ever since she was a child, she loved to have her hair played with and brushed.  Now, as an adult, her mind briefly wandered to the idea of a certain Jotun doing exactly that.  Even in the midst of all this terror, it brought a welcome smile to her eyes and a warmth to her body.  One day, maybe one day.

She was handcuffed and a black hood placed over her head.  The squad of guards manhandled her as roughly as they dared and pulled her along to another room in the complex.  She was aware of being in a large room now, filled with bright lights.  Even through the hood she could feel the glare and the heat from whatever was illuminating her.

She was forced into a seat and the hood torn from her head.  She squinted and screwed up her eyes against the now unfiltered lights.  In front of her was a desk with a sheet of A4 paper on it.  Beyond that, a camera and beyond that?  Loki stood with Pierce and Rumlow.  Only Loki was looking in her direction and when he saw her, his faced darkened - and not in the good way she had now come to see.  He broke off their conversation and strode over.

"What in the name of Helheim are these?" he commanded, lifting her bound wrists. "WHO decided to use these?"

"I did Laufeyson.  Any problem?  You seem to forget, she's one of THEM not us.  Just because you want to use her for your own pleasure, don't think for one minute you're calling all the shots." Pierce walked over and unlocked the bindings grudgingly.

"Is SAID no restraints.  She won't run.  Will you PET" he hissed as he gripped her jaw, staring into her eyes.  He was in full acting mode and his eyes were dead, just pools of dark evil.  It briefly crossed her mind that was how he controlled the Aesir that kept him human - well, Asgardian.  The next thing he did though, challenged her resilience to the max.  He let her face go and pulled her hair back sharply, bringing his face close to hers. 

"You try and run and I will kill you myself.  Slowly, painfully, in every way you fear.  There will be nowhere you can hide, no crevice you can shelter in where I will not find you.  By the time I am done, you will beg for something as sweet as pain." he hissed and even Pierce began to wonder if he was really as sane as they had all hoped he was. He let her go sharply and she recoiled against the desk, hitting her previously bruised ribs eliciting a yelp of pain.

She turned and looked at him with all the spite she could muster.  "You'll never get me to betray SHIELD, I will never read THIS" she picked up the paper and tore it into pieces.  As she let them fall like confetti to the floor, a green mist surrounded them and they disappeared, only to reappear on the desk, whole again.

If she hadn't been so scared, she would have been impressed.

"Oh Pet, it's amusing to see your little tantrums - but only for so long."  He nodded to Rumlow, "Teach her to sit still then get her to read the statement please." he turned and walked from the room, without looking back.

Rumlow smiled evilly and walked over, raising his boot, he kicked her hard in the shins where she sat. She managed to contain the scream the first time, but the second?  No, it let rip like a wounded animal.  The third?  That almost made her pass out.   Now Pierce walked up and Rumlow stepped back. 

"Now READ." he thumped his hand on the table. He extracted a pistol from his pocket and aimed it at her. "Now, I won't kill you, even that pleasure is not worth incurring his wrath for.  But I will hurt you.  GET ON WITH IT!"

"You can do this, you can beat them, stay strong." the words echoed in her head from nowhere and she realised it was Loki. 

"It hurts Loki, it hurts so much" she said inwardly trying not to show any emotions. 

"I know, but I shall be there later to soothe you my love.  Please, do what they ask. You'll see why soon enough.  I will be waiting little one.  You can do this."

She picked up the paper and looking at the camera which now was topped with a red light she began to read.

"My name is Kathy and I work - worked - as a reporter and an agent for SHIELD.  I want to say here and now that I renounce SHIELD and all it stands for.  I embrace Hydra and I want to tell you.........."

Loki stood in the corridor outside and leaning against the wall, wept.  It had almost killed him to hurt her but they were so close.  Now all they had to do was set the trap.  And for a good trap, you needed good bait.  Kathy was the best bait he had ever seen.