When Anna met Loki

Chapter 6

Looking back at the seven months that have passed she needed to shake her head in disbelief. All the visits that she's had during that time have made the months quite entertaining and for sure full of surprises, not all of them nice though. Her kitchen became the Avengers meeting place, but she was wondering if that's a good thing.
A couple of days had passed since Thor's visit and Anna was becoming more and more desperate. She could not connect with Loki. She sensed he is in some kind of a closed space, a cave maybe, but with the sun shining on his face, even blinding him at times. But she could not see beyond that. Anna felt he is tired or rather exhausted and very much hopeless. She was determined to find Loki before the baby comes, but the feeling that she perhaps overestimated her own capabilities made her angrier every day.
Looking out the kitchen window she noticed Sam walking over to her door, so she tried pushing away the gloomy thoughts and put on a smile.
"Hi, sis," he said and Anna noticed he is holding a package under his arm.
"Hi, Sam. What have you got there?"
"I found one more thing that belonged to mom." Sam unfolded what turned out to be a leather coat. He clearly was proud of himself. Anna did not recognized the coat, so she kept quiet. "It was mom's lucky coat. She used to wear it a lot when she was pregnant with you. It once belonged to Uncle Bobby. When he died dad wanted to throw away the coat, as it was too small for him. Uncle Bobby was quite short, you know. But mom would not let him and insisted on wearing it. Then she swore it brought her luck."
"I did not know about that..." Anna said, but did not reach out for the coat. She dreaded the emotions she would feel the moment she touched it.
Sam noticed her hesitation and just hang the coat next to the door.
"So, where you able to learn anything more about mom from her notebook?" he asked.
Anna was quiet for a moment. She decided earlier that she will not tell Sam what she learnt about their mother. What good would that do?
"No, nothing really. As you said, that notebook was almost totally destroyed."
"Sorry about that, Anna," Sam added, but gave her a watchful look. Luckily he could not read her mind.
Anna smiled back reassuring.
"Anyway, I need to go, sis. Someone needs to still be doing the work around here," he winked at her, had one last look at the leather coat hanging next to the door and left.

Thor walked in to the command center. Only Stark and Clint were there; bent over the monitors. They were so focused, they did not notice him come in.
"There!" Stark called out pointing to the screen. "See how many times he logged in to the same file. Checking out flight logs...?"
"Almost as if tracing our steps on earth..." Clint added already getting up.
"Did you find Loki?" Thor asked hopeful.
They noticed him only then, but passed him rushing out of the room.
"No, we found something worse," Stark answered knowing exactly how that sounded. "We have a mole."

The sun was shining on her face through the monumental pine trees. A gentle breeze touched her hair as she was walking along an endless forest path. Anna noticed that she was wearing her mother's coat and it lied perfectly on her. She looked up and saw a figure in the distance walking in her direction.
"Loki?" she whispered in disbelief. It was him! As much as she could she run over to him and fell into his arms. "Where have you been?" Anna asked still not believing he is here. He seemed very tired. He looked at her face and then down on her belly. Also not believing that she is here. Anna could sense though that he is afraid of something. "Loki?" she asked as he still did not utter even a word. He was no longer looking at her, but somewhere behind her. She followed his gaze and noticed another figure standing in the distance and watching them.
"Anna..." Loki finally spoke with a shaky voice, "run! Run, Anna!" he screamed terrified.
That scream woke her up. She sat on the bed feeling chills all over her body.
To her surprise Loki was standing in the bedroom door. Anna instantly forgot about the dream and feeling relieved got off the bed.
"Loki, finally!" He looked shocked on seeing her, or rather her belly. "Well, what did you expect?" she asked laughing. She fell into his arms just like in her dream. Loki was kind of stiff as if seeing her for the first time. She kissed him passionately hoping this would remind him of what they had. He kissed her back, but it again felt like he is doing it only because she is. It was only when she looked into his eyes when Anna realized this was not Loki. Someone else, looking like Loki, was standing in front of her. Some other creature was now in her house and in her bedroom. She realized that the dream she just had was the real Loki connecting with her, trying to warn her. He was too late. Anna was still smiling to whoever was in her bedroom and still in his arms, trying to think of her next moves.
He finally spoke looking at her belly. "Now that's a surprise, indeed."
Anna pretended not to hear the threat in his voice. "I know, I've gotten really fat." She moved away from him still smiling, "but enough about me. Tell me where have you been all this time?" "Where did I put the transmitter? Is it in the office...?" she was thinking frantically. „It's in the kitchen drawer. I put it there when Clint was here."
He was still standing in the doorway and Anna was not sure how to move past him and go to the kitchen. She took him by the hand, it felt cold, and pulled him into the room. And just as he wanted to say something, she moved to the door and pulled him behind her.
"I know what we will do," she said. "Let me make dinner while you will tell me everything," and without waiting for him to answer, she let go of his hand and walked quickly to the kitchen. She heard his footsteps behind her. Luckily he did not stop her. In the kitchen Anna forced herself not to run to the drawer with the transmitter. Instead, she opened the fridge and put out some food. It was very difficult to focus on making dinner in that moment. He slowly walked over to the kitchen counter still with that sleazy smile on his face.
"Sit down," Anna encouraged him, "and tell me, why it took you so long to be back?" She opened the drawer and pulling out a knife noticed that the transmitter is indeed there. A moment later, as if looking for something else she opened the drawer again and this time taking out another knife she turned the transmitter on.
"You know..." he started talking which startled her and she looked up at him closing the drawer harshly. "I've been here and there trying to finish some unfinished business."
"And did you manage to do it?" Anna tried really hard to focus on what he was saying and not to look at the door, as she was expecting Jeremy to storm in any moment. When after ten minutes Jeremy was still not there, she realized she is on her own. "Maybe the transmitter stopped working?"
"When is the baby coming?" he asked and Anna needed to hold back her tears.
"Oh, it's still some weeks..." she lied. She knew it would be any day now.
"So long?" he did not hide his disappointment.
Anna could see he is planning something in his head."Well, yeah. These things take time, you know."
She tried to be preparing dinner as long as she could, but she could not stall forever. When she served the food, he ate eagerly, which was another proof this was not Loki. Loki would always eat little and as if he was forced to it. Anna just took some bites, rather pretending that she's eating.
"Should I stab him with the knife? Or maybe just try to run? What if he runs after me and stumbles upon Sam or Alice...?" So many thoughts were running through her mind. One of them being "Who the hell is this creature, pretending to be Loki?"
"So what are your plans now?" It was getting very hard to keep the conversation going. "Going back to the base?"
"To the base?" he asked surprised. "Well no, I'd rather stay here and wait for my child to be born."
"Like hell you are!" Anna thought and just smiled widely. The thought of some alien creature taking her child fuelled her with power and determination. She felt the anger, and with that her strength growing inside her. She knew what she needed to do.
"Stay here, you say..." Anna slowly walked over to him and stopped just centimetres from him. She gently touched his face with both hands and then placed them on his temples. She looked into his eyes and suddenly squeezed his head. "I don't want you here!" she screamed and all the rage streamed from her, through her hands onto him. The creature started screaming and tried moving away from her, but Anna's desperation made her strong. She did not let go. She sent all her pain, anger, worry and doubt to him, at the same time feeling his disbelief and hatred. She knew that she is exposing her mind to him, but that meant she could look into his as well.
At some point she thought she heard the door opened with a bang, but was so focused on her visitor she did not bother anymore."You will never come close to my baby..." she whispered and seeing that he is losing consciousness, she let him go and instantly moved a few steps back. He fell on the floor looking dead.
Anna was breathing hard. This was exhausting, but also made her feel triumphant. She looked up to see the Avengers standing in her living room and staring at her in utter disbelief.
"Well, better late than never," she said to them.
"Eeee... Lovers' quarrel?" Stark asked surprised.
"This is not Loki," Thor said looking at the alien. The face that just seconds ago looked like Loki's started changing to something green, hairless and hideous. "That's Garmador."
Anna took a few steps back.
"What happened, Anna?" Natasha asked walking over to her.
"Are you seriously asking me this?" Anna answered still breathing hard. "Last time I checked my farm was not on the 'must visit' list of alien tourists. So I believe I need to ask you, guys, what happened?!"
No one responded. Clint just walked over to the alien and checked his pulse."Still alive," he concluded.
"Last time I switched on the transmitter only Clint came," Anna continued. "This time all the crew is here? Seems to me you know very well what's going on!"
"Clearly," Stark spoke, "we screwed up here..." He pointed at the creature on the floor, "but am I the only one wondering what has just happened here?"
They all looked at Anna in anticipation. She took a deep breath.
"I really thought Loki is back, you know. When I saw him standing in my bedroom... But then I looked into his eyes and I knew that's not him. When Jeremy did not show up after I switched on the transmitter... Wait, where is Jeremy? Is he alright?"
"He will be," Stark said clearly eager to hear the rest of her story.
"He threatened to take my baby." Anna concluded assuming this would explain everything. "Some of you felt what I can do when I lose it!" She looked at Nat and Thor, "and I will lose it if someone threatens my family."
"We'll need to remember never to piss you off then," Stark added clearly closing the topic for now.
"We are still nowhere with locating Loki." Thor turned disappointed to Stark. "When do you think this one will be able to tell us something?"
Everyone now turned to the alien still lying on the floor forgetting about Anna for a moment.
"This will not be needed," she said. "I know where Loki is," she added calm and confident. "My green guest shared that information with me."
"Oh, come on, Anna, what are you now? A GPS?" Stark asked annoyed. He did not like being surprised with whatever else she was uncovering about her abilities. "How can you be sure?"
"Do you want to see for yourself, Stark?" Anna asked ominously.
"No, you do not want to see for yourself," Thor turned to Stark. "Believe me." He said and turning to Anna asked. "Anna, but how can you be sure that whatever you saw or felt is real? What if Loki is hiding, faking his abduction? He's done similar stuff before. How can you believe it's the truth?"
"I know that it's true, the same way I know what you feel about that baby..." She touched her belly, again losing patience. They were doubting not only Loki, but also her. Anna knew, she needs them to save him. "I know for example that you, Thor, are jealous of that baby, because it's not you who will be a father, but that mischievous brother of yours. I know that you, Nat, feel emptiness when thinking of that child. I know that you, Banner, are terrified of being around such an innocent and fragile thing. I know that you, Stark..."
"I believe you," Stark interrupted her looking at the faces of Thor, Nat and Banner.
"Good, now let's stop wasting time and go get Loki." Anna moved quickly towards the door followed by the Avengers.
"He will be dead by the time you find him," they heard a whisper and all looked down at the alien lying on the floor. Clint has tied him up in the meantime, so the creature knew he lost. "You will never be safe, everyone will come looking for that child..."
Anna slowly turned back and moved towards the alien, determined to protect her child and her family. She started to feel what she is capable of and in that brief couple of seconds she determined how far she can go. In that couple of seconds she finally understood her mother who was willing to sacrifice everything to protect her loved ones. Anna was willing to sacrifice that as well.
"Anna..." Stark warned her suspecting what she is about to do, but he did not stop her.
She kneeled next to the creature. Slowly, almost gently, touched his arm with one hand and his forehead with another.
"No one will come looking for the child, because you won't tell anyone..."
This took just a few seconds. Everyone was watching terrified, not even sure what happened. The creature rolled his eyes and just laid on the ground as if numb. He was still breathing though...
"Let's go!" Anna stood up and walked passed the Avengers, not looking at any of them. She stopped by the door where Sam had hanged her mother's coat. Anna felt she now had the strength to wear it.
"Did she just 'wipe him out'?" Clint asked not believing what he saw.
"Get him to the base," Stark just answered and turned to Anna. "Where to?"
"To the dessert."