Affliction (P.P.)

Part 8

(Peter POV)

"Well this didn't go as planned." Loki said sarcastically, sitting in the quinjet, handcuffed. He's sitting across from where I'm sitting next to Charlotte's still form. She hasn't woken up. The longest it's ever taken her was two whole minutes but that's it. Something is WRONG. I'm holding her hand, and bouncing my leg up and down nervously. We get to the Tower, Loki goes straight to a cell, and Lottie goes to Medbay. I change out of my suit, and head straight to Charlotte's room. She's still out cold. I'm not leaving her side. Bruce and Tony walk in. "We need to do a scan on her again." Bruce says. They take her to the scanner, and do it just like they did the first time. "She's fine, but her body is REALLY not waking up. It's like all the fighting against it she did took its toll and now she's completely shut down." Bruce says.

He taps and zooms in on his screen. "Wait, hold up. What is happening with her cells?" Tony asks, looking over Bruce's shoulder. Bruce taps some more things, and swipes around. "They're almost- preparing to expel the curse?" He says with confusion. Tony goes to his own screen hurriedly and starts looking for himself. "What's going on? Is she gonna be okay?" I ask in a slight plead. "Actually, we're not sure. What we do know, is that if we don't find some sort of cure, she could die. Her body is rejecting what the curse is trying to do, giving her a bad fever. If it gets too high and we find a cure too late, it could kill her." Bruce says "wHAT?!" My voice cracks, making that sound higher pitched than normal. "Calm down, we always find someway to cure things like this. We'll figure it out." Tony puts his hands on my shoulders.

"But when? How long will she be like this? Do we have a certain time frame?" I start frantically asking questions. "No, I'm sure we have plenty of time." Tony says.
"Yeah, actually we don't." Bruce pipes up. "Bruce come on." Tony says throwing his hands up in annoyance. "How much time do we have then?" I ask. "A week maybe?" Bruce shrugs. "How are you calm about this??? She could be dead in a week!!" I say angrily. "We'll figure it out Peter! But you have to stay calm." Tony says. "I need to talk to Loki." I cross my arms. "What?! Why?" Tony says incredulously. "Because I have a hunch that he knows something. I mean, he is Loki though. He probably looks like he knows something all the time. Maybe Thor could talk to him." I say thoughtfully. "Let's try that first." Tony says.

Bruce and Tony make sure they've gone through all the data from Lottie, then put her back in her room in Medbay. Me, Tony, Bruce, Steve, and Thor all meet up outside Loki's holding cell. There computers, controls, and monitors all around, the screens showing different camera angles of Loki in his cell. "So, you know you need to ask Loki all the general questions about the aliens right?" Bruce asks Thor. "Yes. Unfortunately, I've never seen such nasty creatures before, so the only thing we can do is ask him." He replies. "Okay then we'll get you in there. But if he tries anything we'll either have to leave you in there, or bring you out quickly. It depends on the situation." Tony says. "Oh do not worry, I've dealt with my brother many times." Thor looks at the monitor thoughtfully. "Um- Thor, sir, if you could, would you ask about Lottie's curse? Somehow?" I ask quietly.

He gives me a thin smile and a firm nod. "Of course, Man of Spiders." He says, then they let him into the cell. We will be watching from the monitors. Loki smirks from where he's sitting on a bland bench, handcuffed to the floor. "Well, hello brother." He says, humor in his tone. "Loki." Thor nods and sits on another bench in front of Loki. "Tell me, why did they send you? After all the times you've fallen for my schemes." Loki asks. "Well, I am your brother after all. I've known you the longest." Thor shrugs. Loki rolls his eyes. "So, what were those creatures that you tried to release on Earth? Again." Thor starts. "Those were Vrenkrels, they're from a planet called Vomia." Loki says with a bored expression. "Hm. A fitting name." Thor chuckles slightly. "Is that all?" Asks Loki.

"No, what were you really trying to do? Take over earth again? You'd really go for it after we already defeat you the first time?" Thor questions. "I'm not one to give up, am I brother?" Loki leans his forearms on his knees. "I suppose not." Thor shrugs again. "Plus, I owed their leader a debt, so when he gave me the choice of being beheaded on the spot, or leading a troupe down to earth to see what we could accomplish, I chose the latter." Loki explains. Thor raises an eyebrow. "Not that they would've been able to behead me in the first place, but I decided to have some fun." Loki adds with a smirk.
"Well now that's explained. I have one more question." Thor says. Loki sits up straight. "Do you know anything about a curse of some sort? One that can make someone faint under pressure? Quite like the animals the humans call 'goats'?" Thor asks.

Loki gets a bit of surprised look on his face. "Actually, that's a popular spell that the elder women Vrenkrels, more like witches, use way too often for my liking. They tried to use it on me. It took me a while to get rid of it. An awful thing. Did you know you can die from that?" Loki says. I face palm. "Really?" Thor asks. "Absolutely. The disease starts out remotely normal, you just have to live with the fainting. Which happens what feels like all the time. Then there's that one time when the person goes too far, and their body just tries rejecting the curse. Causing the person to go into a coma like state, and a fever to start. Then the person just gets hotter and hotter, until the body expels the curse, killing the person, and infecting everyone else in the entire vicinity. They've taken out entire planets with that spell. It's quite unpleasant looking. I heard many stories from them about it." Loki cringes.

I look up at Tony with wide eyes. "Expels it? Infects the whole world?" I say incredulously. Bruce shush's me. "Is there a cure?" Thor asks. Loki raises an eyebrow. "Why do you want to know?" He asks. I groan. "He was giving us so much and then he remembered what a little sh*t he is." I say, annoyed. "We have someone with us who's been infected." Thor says, not giving away too much. "What's in it for me?" Loki asks. "And there's the catch." I say in frustration. "Brother, just give the information." Thor says. Loki smirks. "Then no deal." He sits back on his seat. "Let me talk to him." I say. "What? Peter no." Tony says. "I'm not gonna do anything wrong, I'm gonna talk." I say. Thor comes out of the cell. "Anyone else wanna try?" He jokes. I brush past him towards the door. "Peter I don't think you should." Bruce says. "Let the boy go, he's pretty convincing when he wants to be." Thor says.

Tony and Bruce let me in after a little more convincing, and I go in and sit in front of him. "Hm. They sent in a child?" Loki huffs a laugh. "I'm here to make you a deal." I say, with more confidence than I feel. He raises an eyebrow, so I continue. "I'm going to let you stark free out of this cell and you can go back off into space again." I say. He smirks. "But there's a catch?" He says. "Yes. You will tell us about this cure, and take us to find it." I cross my arms, hoping to seem more enforcing. "I don't know where it is." He says blandly. "Ohhh yes you do. You know exactly where it is. You've stollen it before. Haven't you?" I accuse. He smirks again. "Well, aren't you clever. Would you like a candy for your efforts?" He mocks. "Would you like to be stuck on earth in a cell forever?" I throw back at him. He scowls, but it looks like he might be thinking it over....