My Glorious Purpose

Safehouse

(Loki's POV)

I must admit I was unprepared for the boy to grab my arm like that and take off running. I was unfazed though, he wasn't nearly as fast as the Bifrost.

I easily pried him off me.

"Clever, separating us," I begin casting illusion after illusion of myself, surrounding the boy.

"But perhaps not so clever in choosing me."

I see the confusion on his face, my illusions and I encircling him.

"What are you doing?"

I shake my head, "Oh child, you should know not to mess with the god of trickery."

He panics and begins to run, he ran through my illusions and straight into Rogers.

Rogers goes flying backwards and crashes into a stash of weapons.

I see the sister use her powers on Rogers. He jerks and clenches his teeth, an invisible pain taking hold of him. The boy looks back at me with a smirk.

"Perhaps it was a good idea separating your team."

His sister climbs up the stairs and he bolts off in another direction.

My eyes widen in horror. I turned and ran, looking for Tera.

I tried listening for her thoughts, but to no avail. I prayed the Enhanced girl didn't find her. I wasn't sure what she had done to Rogers, but I knew I did not want Tera suffering the same fate.

I found her on the balcony where we were fighting earlier. She was on the ground, writhing uncontrollably, her eyes wide open in fear.

I dropped to my knees. "Tera? Are you all right?"

She flinched away from my voice, but her eyes were unfocused. She was seeing something, something that was causing this fear. I carefully placed my hand to her head to see what she was seeing.

I was suddenly in a house, standing next to Tera. She was watching a little girl that had a striking resemblance to her. I realized this was Tera, a younger version of her. She must have been no older than ten. The young girl was huddled in a corner, holding herself. She was extremely skinny. I thought Tera was thin now, but in her past, I easily counted her bones, they were so prominent. Her body was covered in bruises, deep gashes ran along her skin. Fresh blood dripping over dried blood. She whimpered and immediately clapped a hand to her mouth. Her chest heaving, holding back her sobs.

"What did I say? WHAT DID I SAY?!"

A man was standing over her. He grabbed her by her hair and yanked her. He was holding a staff and started beating her with it. Her screams pierced the air, straight through my heart, shattering it.

"Please, please," she begs. "I'm sorry, it was an accident."

He roars at her and pulls her hair harder. "I SAID I DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOUR VOICE! I DON'T WANT YOUR FAKE APOLOGIES! YOUR SISTER IS DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU AND THE BEST THING YOU CAN SAY WAS IT WAS AN ACCIDENT?"

"I know, I know," the Tera next to me whispers. "It's my fault." She sobs.

I tried to tell her otherwise, but my voice wasn't working. I watched her beating continue, her father not caring about the pain he inflicted on the small child. From the doorway, I saw an older woman watching, a hateful smile on her face.

My blood boiled, hate coursing through me. I finally, truly, understood why Tera would sometimes be afraid to speak, why she would tense around strange men. Her father did this to her, he inflicted this pain on her when she was so young and it still affected her, the consequences scarred into her mind, like the scars on her back. I couldn't do anything though, this was her past, I couldn't save her from the past, but I would do everything in my power to save her now.