Bound By Blood (editing)

The balance

Steve's POV

The air around here was quiet.

The once historical and mighty Thor now looked pale and empty.

Anthea. Her name like sweet honey on the tongue.

Her hair like the sunshine I longed for in my clouded mind had now dulled.

Smooth and nourished lips turned dry and pale.

I could no longer gaze upon her bright blue eyes with wonder.

To me, she was the women you red about in fairytales.

But now...

-Earlier-

Natasha would be back soon. Fury had demanded we await her arrival before beginning our own interrogation of Loki.

Truthfully, the whereabouts of the tesseract. The very weapon the had once defined my existence now paled in comparison to, Anthea.

In my few brief encounters with her I had learned a great deal of valuable things.

Like how, even though she grew up on a different world. Which I still have a hard time believing. She possessed similar morals to me.

How her appearance of a gentle lady was severely misguided. She knew pain.

However, something that truly struck a cord with me, was when I saw her defend her 'brother' Loki. She knew why we went to get him, she understood the mission.

Yet she stood infront of him to defend him.

After everything he's done.

She still cared.

"What's taking the lady so long?" Thor spoke overly loud, but part of me made think he was mainly quenching his own questions.

I noticed Stark glance in Banner's direction with a worried look.

You didn't have to be a genius to sense the tension in the room.

Thor began to pace up and down the modern lab, his arms folded tightly across his muscular chest as his blonde hair swung to and fro.

The sounds of his weighted boots as he stopped along the expensive metal added to my anxiety.

Where is Natasha?

As the thought entered my mind yet again, Natasha strolled in.

Her eyes shooting a silent signal to Fury.

"Natasha..." Fury deadpanned, his arms crossed neatly over his leather coated chest.

"He's not saying anything." She announces, a sigh of defeat escaping us all.

"My sister! What of Anthea?" Thor demanded, hastily heading towards Natasha.

"..."

Thor was unsatisfied with the agents lack of closure and headed down the halls to Anthea, inevitably I followed.

----------------------------------------------

"Thor! " I yelled to him, his fast strides dominated the hallway.

"Thor!" I repeated, only to be ignored once again.

This was not how the mission was supposed to go.

"Thor!" I yelled much harsher, slapping my hand upon his shoulder and forcing him to stop and face me.

An aggravated look spread across his now wrinkled face, the lines of worry tan deep into his flesh.

"What?!" He spoke in an angered tone, the frustration evident.

I sighed gently, shaking my head sorrowfully.

"She'll be fine" I declared, but the uncertainty in my tone was easily detected and only added to his rage at the lack of control he had.

He shoved my hand off his shoulder and backed away, "You do not know that! You can not begin to understand how much she means to me, and if anything where to happen to her" Thor leaned in closer to me, "I will rip your world apart..." He muttered coldly, before storming off to Anthea.

I gulped but held my ground. I stood very still, contemplating his words. I couldn't deny the effect of Anthea, she was a light for humanity, only to be dimmed by our greed.

"He's right you know..." A voice spoke.

I turned to see agent Coulson, who had seemingly watched the event unfold.

I turned my body to face him, wanting to hear what he had to say.

"She wouldn't be here if it wasn't for us..." He admitted quietly, ashamed by his own involvement.

I urged him to continue, using a raised brow as a signal.

He sighed and clasped his hands together nervously, it shocked me to see someone who was trained in the art of deception to become so nervous when expressing the truth.

"Yes, we don't know what wrong with her, but I know, this wouldn't o happened if we had just kept her out of it. It's our fault she's in this position." Then he walked away and mysteriously as he had appeared.

'It's our fault she's in this position'

His own words true.

I decided to follow Thor, the only one of my team who seemed to hold any real concern.

Half jogging down the metallic hallways, I quickly reached the location of the cell.

I pushed open the door only to have my eyes widen in shock.

There was Thor, his head pressed against the glass of the cell and tears streamed down his face, his hammer discarded and his palm pressed against the cold glass.

On the other side lay Anthea, a cold corpse.

My burning eyes then flocked to Loki, who stared right back at me, smirking...