Protecting You

Chapter 23

*

"Who's Iowa?" I ask, my voice louder then i expected.

The Avengers gasp at the same time, glancing at Thor. He raises his head to look at me, they swim with sympathy and i narrow my eyes in question.

What is going on? Another name i don't know but Im supposed to recognise?

"She's your mother." Thor announces in a small voice.

"What?" I question.

My mind races, my mother is dead. But then i realise, i never knew my mother, so why is this effecting me?

"So, wait. Does that mean Loki is my father?" I quiz.

My Uncle sighs, then shakes his head but can't look at me.

*

"I can't tell you the past, Harriet. You think you can handle it. But I know you can't." He argues, marching past me and down the stairs.

*

I turn to the left, closing the door behind me as i step into the tense room. The leader is stood next to Steve, holding a second gun to his other temple. He is wearing a gold cape with black lining and is wearing a gold helmet with two horns sticking out. His emerald eyes shine with evil and his face is sunk with the need to sleep. I recognize him from the vision of my mother holding a baby and its the same man that was crying.

"I wasn't going to. Running is never the answer." I quote, smiling at Steve and i see his eyes twinkle slightly. "Do i know you?"

"Your Uncle didn't tell you?" The man asks, his voice full of shock and excitement.

"No. Wait... are you my father?" I whisper, afraid of knowing the answer.

"Yes, I am." He mumbles, his emerald eyes shining.

*

"You pretend to care about me and you pretend that everything you do is to show how much you want me home. But its not. You want to use me to take over Earth!" I scream, pushing my palm forward. Another spark hits the opposite side of the prison cell and Loki slides in the other direction, his eyes never leaving mine.

"Harriet, I do care about you. Im doing everything to make the world feel the pain i felt when i lost you and your mother."

*

"Who loves you? Daddy does. Don't tell mummy but daddy loves you more then mummy does. You're going to grow big and be a daddy's girl, aren't you, sweetheart?" Loki asks, kissing the baby on her cheek.

*

Loki walks in, running his hand over his exhausted face and rubbing his bloodshot eyes. He looks out of place in jogging bottoms and a simple grey t-shirt. Stumbling into the bathroom, he grips the sink so tight his knuckles turn white. Opening the cabinet, he searches for something but stops abruptly. Loki picks up a razor and glares at it with his eyes. Then he glances at the corner by the door, where mother died.

"No. Please dont. Loki dont." I argue.

Slowly standing up, I watch him sit down with the razor still in his hand. He continues to stare at the razor for an agonising minute. Then, he places the razor on the inside of his wrist, the metal brushing the veins that stand proud on his skin.

"Stop!"

*

"When I lost Iowa, I couldn't handle it. Id lost Freya and then her, I had no one. So, I tried to end my own life too. I saw no other option. I thought to myself: why should I live when the one I loved has gone? I didn't deserve to live. But, some guards found me before I succeeded and they saved me. At first I hated them for it, I locked myself in my room for months. But then, I heard word that someone knew where Freyja was. I threatened them until they told me, I lost control and I killed them. Every single person that ever kept the secret of where she was. Most of them were innocent and just following orders. But I wasn't thinking. I killed so many people, Brother." Loki spills, hiding his face in his hands.