Worlds Apart

Chapter 29

Max had never felt so royally screwed in her entire life.

She wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but she knew that it wasn't good. Max hadn't been able to get much out of Tony or the others on the ride back to the helicarrier, but obviously there was some sort of misunderstanding. Max wanted to try and clear the air as soon as possible, but they didn't really let her speak. Especially Tony, who seemed too hurt to want to discuss anything with her.

Max didn't know what evidence they had against her, but if Tony believed it, then it must've been pretty damning, and that scared her.

The longer Max sat inside her cell waiting for someone to come talk to her, the more her anxiety grew. Not only was she terrified of why she'd been thrown inside a cell, but she also knew that eventually, the ship was going to be under attack, and she didn't want to be trapped behind bars when that happened. She knew that she had time before the attack, but the longer she went without anyone stopping by to talk to her, the less time she had to try and think of a way out.

Finally, after what had to have been at least two hours of sitting in a torturous silence, Max heard a door open off to the side of the cell. She looked up to see Fury and Tony walk into her field of vision on the other side of the bars.

"Can someone please tell me what's going on?" Max begged them as they reached her cell.

"Funny, I was just about to ask you that same question," Fury replied, crossing his arms. "How long have you been working with Loki?"

"Working with-? What?" Max asked with genuine confusion. "Who said I was working with Loki? In case you forgot, he kidnapped me. Fury, you watched that happen."

"For all I know, what I 'watched' could've been an act. While we don't know a lot about Loki's scepter, we do know that it's immensely powerful and it turned one of our sharpest agents against us. We also know that the eyes of those under Loki's control glow blue, which yours do not. So why wouldn't he put you under his control unless he already knew he could trust you?"

"I'm not mind-controlled because the scepter didn't work on me," Max tried to explain. "I don't know why, and neither does Loki. He took me and chained me to a pipe for two days while he searched my DNA for an explanation as to why."

"Seems unlikely, considering he brought you as his date to that gala," Fury remarked. "You didn't look very chained up then."

"Look, I don't know why he brought me along to Germany, but I assume it's because I managed to convince him that I didn't know why the scepter hadn't worked on me. Once he realized that, his whole demeanor towards me changed, and he seemed more...curious about me than anything. Plus, it wasn't like I could get away. He had me right at his side for every moment that I wasn't in handcuffs. We both know just how powerful Loki can be; did you really expect me to try and make a break for it while injured and with no backup?"

"Injured?" Fury questioned.

Max looked at him like he was crazy, but then she looked down at herself and remembered that maybe it wasn't quite as obvious as she thought it was. The illusion Loki had cast over her for the gala still remained intact, dress and all. All things considered, she probably looked great and not like the steaming pile of shit she felt inside. It didn't help that her medication had started wearing off about an hour into sitting alone inside of her cell.

"Yeah, injured," Max replied. "I got hit with debris in the lab when Loki first arrived. I could barely stand on my own before he had Agent Barton go get me some pain meds. I'd show you the bruise as proof, but even if I didn't have to take off this dress to get to it, I can only assume Loki's covered it up. I'm not actually wearing this by the way; Loki conjured this up for me when we got to Germany after he told me where we were going."