Dog Days

Chapter 76

As I strap on my seatbelt across from her in the jet, she asks "You adopted a couple of cats?"

I take a deep breath and declare "I found them on the side of the highway. Decided to keep them."

She gives me a soft smile, before declaring "I've always wanted a cat."

I give her a soft smile "I'm new. I don't have any advice. I just know that Modi, the black one, likes to get feisty and zoom around with all of his fur standing up. He's a bit dramatic." I scoff as I look down "So is Magni. He's practically blind, so he just screams after his brother. He kinda uses his ears to follow him. I think he uses his whiskers for echolocation, because he points them forward when he screams."

She chuckles and I look up at her to find she's all smiles. I give a meek smile, before asking "How bad was he?" She gives me a confused look and I rephrase "How much damage was done to his body?"

She takes a deep breath, before declaring "His knee is pretty bad. We're either looking at a knee replacement, or an amputation." I give a short nod, and she continues looking at me as she explains "There was abdominal bruising. We ran an ultrasound. There was some free fluid, so internal bleeding or perforated intestine."

I feel the pressure, yet she looks down and states "He has bone fragments in his cervical spine that could cause him to lose all mobility if left untreated, so they're operating on three different incisions. They said they're going to do the knee surgery and abdominal surgery, at the same time. Then, roll him over and monitor his incisions as they do the spinal surgery."

I take a deep breath, before asking "How do you stand on the idea of him walking away?"

She gives me a soft smile "I'm all for it. All of us are, except for Loki's original handler." She gives me a depressing look "It has to be a unanimous vote. It's been four against one, for years."

I give her a disappointed smile, before looking down at the floor of the jet. I take a deep breath, before declaring "He's alive. I'll take it as a victory."

After a moment, she declares "The four of us are trying to sway his decision. We're hoping that this makes reconsider the quality of life that Loki has."

I look to her in confusion and she gives me a sad look "There's no point in putting him, through all this, for nothing. He's going to be out of commission until he's back on his feet. We're all pushing for his retirement."

She looks down and remarks "We're getting shit on by the media, everyday. They don't know it's one man keeping this charade alive."

I furrow my brow and ask "What does he keep doing this?"

She gives me a soft smile "I think he wanted to raise the perfect puppet."

She avoids eye contact as she explains "He wanted a primal creature to grow into a pet." She scratches her forehead and remarks "I think he expected Loki to be completely submissive to him." She gives a proud smile "Loki hates him, terribly."

She tells me "One of the first missions I supervised, he got into his face." She chuckles to herself in amusement, before remarking "Loki said: You may force me to destroy my body, over and over again, but I will never be someone for you to use."

She shrugs "That's when I realized that he's someone I would care to know. We spent the rest of the evening, talking. He became a friend."

I sigh "I never wanted to be his friend." She looks at me in confusion and I explain "I saw him for the first time, and I wanted him."

I bite my lip and remember his first night in camp. I insinuated the relationship. I baited him into bed. I held him to me and made him mine.

I smirk "He was so gorgeous, and I felt like I knew him my entire life. I rephrased every question I could, just to get a response longer than classified." I chuckle to myself as I remember his delicate moans "I had him, and I just confirmed my suspicions. I wanted him for the rest of my life."

She gives me a confused look "Wanted? Do you no, anymore?"

I take a deep breath and clarify "I still do." I scoff, before explaining "I'd wait for that man for the rest of my life. I intend to marry him, one day." I smile to myself "I love that man, unconditionally."

She gives me a weak smile, before declaring "We figured you two might become involved."

I scoff, before declaring "I heard he was warned not to."

She snickers, and for a split second, I see the happiest return to her face "Yeah, that wasn't from me. I'm kinda the person that tells him to have fun with it. I'm the only other person that goes on these missions. I know that you just kinda have to fuck around and find out, sometimes."

I furrow my brow and ask "Who warned him?"

She sighs, before declaring "You don't even know what we're about to walk into, do you?" I shake my head and she explains "There's five of us, so called handlers. It started as a council to make the five original babies a mentor apprenticeship. When the children died, handlers were split between infant one and three."

I furrow my brow and declare "Loki and Sylvie. She had a name."

She gives me a tired look "After Sylvie died, all of the handlers were his, and they had discovered his actual capabilities with painful testing. He became The Variant. He was worked, bloody. He would walk away from a genocide, solid dripping red, without a scratch on his body. He could kill an entire army with his bare hands and a few orgies. He was a sexy warrior, but he hated it."

I furrow my brow and ask "What capabilities?"

She furrows her brows and asks "He never told you about his speed?"

I nod, before declaring "He told me. I just thought he was really fast."

She asks "Then you know he's freakishly strong? Like lift a car, bash a skull with a punch, roll a boulder up a hill, strong?"

I scoff, only to imagine him forcing me down and pressing my chest to the hardwood floor back home. I imagine feeling the grit of the floor biting into my skin as he overpowers me, effortlessly. As a heat pang washes over me "I did not, but it unlocked a pleasant idea."

She sighs "He's also incredibly intelligent, but you already knew that. The only original handler is his original handler. You didn't hear this from me. His name is Grandmaster, so you see why we hate him. He's a diplomat."

She sighs "Then there's Fury. He took number five's shares. He is a CIA director. He has been trying to get Loki out for the past fifteen years. The only one pushing, at the time."

She checks her watch as she continues "I got Sylvie's shares, about a decade ago. I was KGB, Interpol, CIA, you name it. I'm honestly trying to retire. I'm just so tired."

She speaks, softly "Number four and two went to Mobius and a woman we call Bee. They got them four years ago, and they're pretty much just researchers. They're pretty nerdy."

I hum, before she declares "Grandmaster was the one that warned him not to, so it was a surprise that he did the exact thing he wasn't supposed to."

I nod, before I ask "Where are we going, anyway?"

She checks her watch and states "We should be landing in about ten minutes, but we're going going to Stark Tower."

I furrow my brow and state "I thought that was a medical advancements research center."

She explains "Stark is the man we trust to patch Loki up."

I hum and she motions towards my bag, only to ask "Are you still on painkillers?"

I shake my head and declare "One is Diazepam. Another is Zoloft. I'm also on a nighttime sedatives."

She furrows her brow and asks "Why?"

I furrow my brow and state "I've had some violent nightmares. It's been rough."

She gives me a soft smile, before she sighs "We better prepare to land."