UNKNOWN GUEST

#20 Chaos

As Loki retreated to the back of his cell, his eyes locked onto Mom with a predatory glint. His voice, dripping with anticipation, urged her to reveal her secrets. "Tell me." 

"Before I worked for SHIELD..." Mom started, her tone carrying a weight of reluctant revelation. Her eyes were fixed on Loki, but the truth of her past was laid bare for the first time in a long while. She took a seat in front of the cell, her posture rigid but controlled. "Well, I made a name for myself. I have a very specific skill set."

The gravity of her words hung in the air. Loki's smirk widened slightly, as if he were savoring the drama of the moment. Mom continued, "Then, I got on SHIELD's radar in a bad way. Agent Barton was sent to eliminate me."

My heart skipped a beat. Uncle Clint had told me snippets of this story, but hearing it directly from Mom made it feel real and immediate. Her past, which she had always kept shrouded in secrecy, was now coming to light.

Loki's eyes gleamed with malicious curiosity. "So, you're here to make a deal?"

Mom sighed deeply, a mixture of resignation and determination in her voice. "Well, regimes fall and rise every day. I can switch both ways; I'm Russian after all. Or I was."

Loki's curiosity seemed to only grow. "And what are you now?"

Mom stood up, her expression resolute. "It's not really complicated. I got red in my ledger; I'd like to wipe it out."

What? What does she mean?

Loki challenged, "Can you? Can you wipe that much red? Dreykov's daughter, Sao Paulo, the hospital fire? You think you're different?" Loki's tone was mocking, his smirk widening. "You think you can read between lines? No, you can't."

Mom's confusion was evident. Her brows furrowed as she struggled to make sense of Loki's cryptic statements. 

"You think I'm the only outsider here?" Loki continued, his voice dripping with disdain. "You think I'm the only alien here? There is someone else here who doesn't belong here."

The weight of his words settled heavily in the room. The idea that someone else in their midst might not belong was unsettling. The thought that Loki might be referring to me sent a shiver down my spine.

Mom's expression shifted from confusion to concern as she looked around, trying to piece together the meaning behind Loki's words. "Who's that?" Loki's tone turned more menacing. "Who is that kid?"

I flinched as Loki's gaze seemed to pierce directly through the camera, his smile turning more sinister. The camera footage showing Loki's malevolent grin was unsettling, and the realization hit me like a thunderbolt—Loki was implicating me.

Mom's eyes shot to me as she turned around to look at me in the other room, her expression a mix of surprise and concern. The implication was clear: Loki was suggesting that I, too, was an outsider, someone who didn't truly belong. Loki's words were designed to unsettle, to create doubt and fear.

"You can't even recognize what's yours and you're up to wipe your red?" Loki taunted, his gaze still fixed on Mom. His words seemed to cut deeper with each passing moment, the malevolence in his tone unmistakable.

Mom's shoulders tensed, and her eyes were locked on Loki, trying to understand the full extent of his provocation.

Loki leaned closer to the glass wall of his cell, his face twisted into a cruel smile. "Your flaws, your scars, all are part of yours," he taunted, his voice dripping with malice. He slammed his fist against the glass, a resonant thud echoing through the room. The force of the impact rattled the cell, and his face contorted with rage.