His True Kingdom

Chapter Eighteen - Hawkeye (Loki's POV):

They arrived at the S.H.I.E.L.D base—which was a typical military base only with way more strict protections, supposedly. Loki got out of the truck; the dust of the desert irritated him while he cleaned his pants that were getting covered with it. The soldier from earlier approached him again, handing Loki a pair of sunglasses perhaps to protect his eyes from the constant winds of sand.

"Get your men ready" Loki muttered and he put on the sunglasses, it was a new feeling for him as he never had a device of this sort in his entire life time. He was almost fascinated by it and his eyes scanned over the base through them.

"I know where the scepter is, have your men enter from the regular entrance" Loki said, pointing at the enormous double doors which reminded him of the doors of Odin's throne room. He could already feel the mighty scepter's power from such a long distance; Loki was entranced by its aura—like a vampire in a blood frenzy.

"All I need is a distraction, keep them occupied, kill all on sight" Loki said and gradually made his way in the opposite direction of his army that saluted him. He headed towards the metal door on the backside of the base. His expression was of reluctance and overconfidence, Loki held the door knob and twisted it to see that it was, of course, locked. He twisted it one more time while actually exerting force on it and it was broken and separated from the door instantly. He let out a sigh and gently pushed the door—it gave into the power of the God like all the men that would kneel before him in just a few moments, if they were unfortunate enough to cross his way.

The arched corridor was unexpectedly lit, Loki's surroundings were completely painted in a grey metallic color and his sharp senses could hear the silent executions taking place. He made his way into the heart of the S.H.I.E.L.D's so called fortress. Loki calmly went through the empty corridors, a new one added at each turn yet he was not lost. The essence of the scepter was calling him like the popcorn that called him into the mortal's room today. A sudden happiness and a smile took over Loki's intense face as he thought about her, he spotted a group of soldiers walking down his direction, he was sure they were not going to be very friendly.

"Freeze!" one man with the shield emblem on his arm shouted.

Loki kept walking towards him with no regard for his life. The men fired over twenty shots consecutively at Loki's chest. The bullets only tickled under his strong skin but he did get very annoyed because his outfit was being ruined. The soldiers, in shock with Loki's supernatural ability, stumbled back with fear. Loki growled like a wolf and jumped towards the soldiers in a flash. He appeared on one's back, quickly getting a hold of his machine gun and twisting it from the poor soldier's arms to shoot him on his neck. He did not even look back as the man hit the floor with a loud thud; he dropped the weapon and crouched just in time before another one was to hit his head with his gun. Multiple laughs were heard from across the corridor, an army of men in cobalt blue suits approached the soldiers, serving as a perfect distraction for the master of illusions and magic. Loki swiftly and very calmly twisted the neck of another soldier. He grabbed the knife on his chest and stabbed another one on the back. He smiled and watched the last soldier running in fear but Loki had no mercy. He threw the knife to him with speed of light. The man fell on the ground and chocked with pain. Loki approached him with a sly expression, his arms crossed. He looked at the camera and turned around himself to show whoever was watching his handy-work.

He shot the man with one of the many machine guns on the floor and kept continuing in the scepter's direction. He knew there were cameras in the maze of corridors that followed him on every single corner. As he passed by each, he widely smirked. His route was empty now, Loki believed that it was perhaps intentional and of Hawkeye's doing. He expected him to be aware of his arrival at this level—he was simply saving lives that would be lost. There was no stopping Loki. The distant gunshots grew louder and more frequent when Loki knew he finally found the scepter.

He opened the door to the room where he could feel the scepter's power in his blood. Loki's eyes searched over the area to spot it inside a glass cube in the middle, there were many cables attached to the bottom that connected to many electronics and what the mortal told him once a computer. But apparently the room wasn't just one level, Loki looked up to see a second floor with rails and a man stood there in a corner, his full attention was on Loki's eyes that were searching around. He was dressed in a completely black leather sleeveless suit. His arms were strapped with different pieces of leather that held different types of arsenal Loki did not even care to identify. On his back was his bow, which he pulled out to aim at Loki and its red laser irritated Loki's eyes.

"That's not necessary, Agent Barton" Loki called softly. In that moment he heard his voice, he slightly lowered his bow in shock and stopped.

"Loki?" he said, his mouth parted and his eyebrows curled with anger.

"Up in your nest, Hawkeye" Loki teased, Hawkeye's head turned to his left now to see another Loki on the same level as him. He kept looking back and forth between the two Lokis that looked at him with the same utter joy in their eyes.

"Well it seems you had a makeover" his blue eyes were narrowing as he held the bow more tightly in his hands.

"Don't worry, Barton, my business is not with you or your pathetic world" Loki downstairs took a couple steps closer to the scepter's location as the other did towards Hawkeye.

"But I have unfinished business with you, whether you like it or not" he asserted, Loki could feel that he was about to make a move but couldn't make sure which Loki he'd pick.

"Without your dear friends' help, I'm afraid your chances are rather low" Loki blinked his left eye at Hawkeye and both Lokis started moving with inhuman speed.

Loki next to Barton jumped towards him with the intent of delivering a swift elbow to Hawkeye's stomach but he skillfully dodged him, trying to aim at Loki which was about to break the cube. At the last second, Loki managed to push Barton so that his explosive arrow shot hit the mountain of cables across the room, fire quickly escalated. Loki downstairs hit the glass with a godly blow and shattered it in pieces. Hawkeye stumbled on the metal rails; he pushed himself to go down a level. He was too late since Loki already took a hold of the scepter. It was making noises that reminded Loki of the mortal's fridge.

"Take one more step Agent Barton and my face will be the last thing you will see" Loki smirked while the fake Loki disappeared behind him.

Hawkeye didn't take the risk of sacrificing himself since he wanted to stay alive to let Nick Fury know what happened tonight. The fire across the room was glowing brighter each second, Loki slowly started taking steps back towards the door he'd come from, facing Hawkeye and not breaking eye contact. He stepped out of the room and closed the door on Hawkeye's face, leaving him inside with total disappointment. Loki let out a laugh and walked down back in the metal corridors he'd come from. He threw multiple glances to the scepter with joy.

"Well, I think I held my promise" he whispered to himself and he exited the building.