Skadi - A Marvel Fanfic

Chapter 11

                

Walking into the throne room I was greeted by a line of guards, weapons all pointed directly at me. I put my hands up in surrender.

"I'm here to surrender to Thor." I stated. They looked wary of me but lead me to a room further into the castle. A set of great wooden doors opened to reveal Thor, and his friends standing with Clint, Steve and Natasha in deep discussion around a long wooden table. The guards stood beside me, ready to prevent any threat I might become.

I was suddenly very scared.

"Your either very brave or very stupid to show your face back here." Said Steve. I shrugged.

"Maybe both." I replied without a smile.

"How did you get back here? Where's Loki?" asked Natasha. I tried to take a couple of steps towards them, but the guards reached out and clamped their hands on my shoulders. I huffed lightly and instead sat down on the steps to assess my knees.

"He thought I was still on his side so he dragged me back here. I left him in the forest somewhere, but I'm sure he's long gone." I replied, feeling guilty. It wasn't the best answer I could have given, but it was the truth.

"You just left him?" Asked Sif, clearly annoyed at my stupidity. Which was understandable.

"I did. It's not exactly like just I could stop him." I snapped back, throwing her the most intimidating glare I could.

"You could have tried, set an alarm off or something." Steve said.

"I could, but I was a little distracted finding out my parents have been dead for the past twenty or so years." I said, giving Thor a disapproving look. "Thanks for telling me." I added sarcastically. Most of them looked at Thor, except for lady Sif. Her eyes didn't waver from me once.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but we really needed to find Loki." He confessed.

"And that worked out so well. Incase you haven't noticed, Loki is still free and Earth is still in danger." I retorted.

"No thanks to you." Muttered Natasha. I ignored her comment and kept my attention on Thor.

"Why didn't you just tell me?" I whined.

"Would you have helped us if I did?" asked Thor.

"Probably. I would have been mad at Loki and would have gladly helped you. Did you think I pledged my love to him or something?"  I could see lightbulbs flash on behind there eyes, suddenly realising that would have been much easier. "All I wanted to do was get off Earth to find my parents, but now I know their dead, there's really no point in me staying here so I may as well just go back."

"So does that mean you're going to help us save it?" Steve asked. I nodded.

"I don't know how much use I'll be, but yeah sure. I'll give it a go."

No one looked particularly excited about me joining the team but I was finally glad to have something occupy my mind other than Loki and his ignorance.

"Wait, how do we know she still isn't working with Loki?" asked Sif.

"I guess you'll just have to trust me." I replied.

"Trust is earned not given." Steve snapped back.

"Well then don't trust me." I snapped back. Thor nodded to the guards and moments later there were handcuffs clamping them down on my wrists. "Thanks." I mumbled, jangling the chain. I didn't say anything else and the team returned to their discussion. I watched from a couch on the other side of the room, eating the grapes that lay in a carved wooden bowl on the table. The team continued their discussion for what felt like forever. Deciding on a plan, and then finding a flaw, and then starting all over again.

"Have you decided on anything yet?" I asked as I walked over to the table.

"It's not that simple." Replied Thor.

"I thought all we had to do was stop Loki."

"Yes but how do we do that when he will have an army of god knows what." Natasha added. I thought about it for a moment.

"And you don't just want to fight him with your army?" I asked Thor. He shook his head.

"I don't want bloodshed to be our only option, there has to be a way to stop Loki before that happens." I nodded taking in his words. I could see the complication.

"How have people handled this before?" I asked. "Stopped a whole army before they reached a city?"

"You mean like in New York?" asked Clint.

"Sort of. With New York, the Army was coming through a single portal. It was relatively small compared to the size of the army. However, with the casket, Loki could be able to access all the portals around the city if he gets the chance." I explained.

"How does that help us?" asked Thor. I shrugged.

"I have no idea, I was just bored of sitting around." I admitted. They all looked at me in disgust and I rolled my eyes.

"Well okay then, lets think about this from a different perspective. What would stop you from leading your army into a city?" They all looked at me like I was crazy. "Come on, there has to be something that would stop you. What if your only choices were attack and lose something important or surrender and get that thing back?" That's when they finally understood.

"I don't think Loki even has a heart to find something important." Said Clint.

"Well maybe you should find something that makes him have one." I said before turning around and wandering back over to the couch. I grabbed another handful of grapes and threw on in the air to try and catch it in my mouth. Just as I threw it up someone caught it the second before it hit my tongue.

"Hey!" I exclaimed as I glared at Steve.

"What were you suggesting?" he asked as the group moved around the couch.

"I wasn't 'suggesting' anything. I just meant that maybe Loki will stop if he has a reason too." It seemed like the most obvious thing in the world to me.

"Are you offering to be that reason?" asked Natasha.

"Wait what?" I suddenly realized what they were insinuating. "You think I will be the one to stop Loki? In case you didn't see he pulled me over a cliff several hours ago, I don't think that's what you would call love, or even friendship." I exclaimed.

"Jane hit me with her car the first time we met." Thor admitted.

"So did I, and were not in love." I argued.

"She has a point." Muttered Thor.

"I'm not convinced, I think it could work." Said Steve.

"We could also make it look like we tortured her for information. Give her a few cuts and bruises. That'll make him care." Added Clint.

"Or make him so angry that he will kill the lot of you." I butted in.

"So he would care! I knew it." Smirked Natasha.

"Ugh, that is not what I said." I urged but no one was listening.

I could hear everyone agreeing that it could work, and I think I heard Clint mumble about how funny it would be if a little girl could stop the 'Great Loki'. But Natasha punched him before he could finish the sentence.

I ran my hand down my face; this is embarrassing, I thought to myself. Before I could interrupt the group a guard came rushing into the chamber.

"My King." He began breathlessly. "It's Loki, Heimdall can see him. He's got the Frost Giants rallied to attack on Midguard. He also believes that the Chituri have caught word of this and will also try to attack." We were all silent for a moment.

"Well whatever you want to do, you better decide on fast because we are running out of time." I said in a way that I hoped would annoy everyone.

"What are we going to do about her?" Steve asked, gesturing to me.

"Bring her." Ordered Thor. "She could still be useful to us."

And with that, I was dragged from the comfort of the couch and along behind the rest of the team.