Do You Have Heart (Avengers/Loki fan-fiction)

Chapter Seven - The God In The Glass Box

STEVE'S POV

As soon as she collapses to the floor, the whole table is on its feet. Thor rockets towards her, long cape billowing out behind him, and reaches down towards her on the ground. I hear a shaky voice emanate from below me, and then Alina is pulled to her feet, by the God and his strange attire. "Is she okay?" I ask, concerned as Thor directs her back into her chair.

"Yes, I'll be fine thanks, Steve." Alina turns round as she snaps at me, and then her expression and voice both soften "Sorry, but these weird fainting things are starting to piss me off now." I give her a small smile in return as she takes a deep breath and rests her elbows on the table, directing her next question at Fury.

"So, who's going to talk to him first?"

Fury sits up straight, his one eye focusing straight on her, and then he points at her. "You are, Agent Thornwell."

She looks up, confused for a moment, then considers it; the expression on her face tells me that. "Okay, what do you want me to do?"

"Question him. Ask him things that will get us the information that we need." demands Fury, indicating to Alina to stand up, and for us all to make our way back over to the large screen on the wall, displaying the view of Loki's cage.

"I'll do my best to get something out of him." she says, half-heartedly, walking off towards the corridor. Suddenly, she turns around again. "Oh, and remember," she shouts back "I'm not Natasha Romanoff; I can't get you everything." And then she spins on her heels and takes off running down the corridor.

We wait in silence for a few moments, watching the screen and anticipating Alina's arrival on the other side of it. As soon as she steps through the door and on to the platform surrounding the cage, the God turns around. I hold my breath as the gap between them closes.

ALINA'S POV

Loki turns the minute I enter the room, a smirk that could bring a city to its knees curling his lips. We begin to walk towards each other, but he is the first one to speak. "Agent Thornwell, how nice to see you." he says, stepping up to the glass "Training up our skills in musical instrument weaponry, were we?" He laughs, bringing his hand up to his cheek, where I whacked him with the violin.

"Not exactly, Loki, no." I say, beginning to pace around the outside of the cell. Surprisingly, he follows me, keeping at the same pace, so we are almost walking side by side. "Well, come on then, enlighten me. Why are you here?" he asks "I'm all ears."

I stop, turning to face him, to find that he has too. "I'm here to ask you a few questions." I say, clasping my hands together, and poised to continue, but he interrupts me. "Oh, good, I have a few of those for you too, my dear." he replies, head tilted to the side as he surveys me from the other side of the glass. I try to keep my defiant stare, but I am no match for those emerald eyes, and choose to give up before things get messy: I can't lose focus on my task.

"Well, I'm going first." I say, beginning to pace again, because it's easier to look straight ahead than to try and focus on Loki himself. "Of course," he agrees "We can alternate questions, that way, everybody's happy." I allow myself to look up for just a moment; for my eyes to settle on that perfect face for a mere second, nod assent to him and continue.

Don't lose focus, Alina. Don't lose focus.

"First question, why are you doing this? Is it really necessary?" I ask, trying not to skip over my words a little as I shift my gaze to him.

His expression turns dark, eyes narrowing, cold and hard. "Well, of course it's necessary."  he says simply, as if that weren't obvious to me before "It is my birthright to be a king and that is what I shall be. Asgard didn't want me, so I found somewhere else. Midgard was the perfect place: they used to worship us Asgardians as Gods, all-powerful beings, and rightly so." he stops for a minute, and his eyes lock with mine, freezing me in my place, literally "So what makes that time any different from now?"