Adopted By The Avengers

Chapter Twenty

Nora woke in a strange room, yet again. While this was becoming common for her, it wasn't exactly welcome.

Looking around the room, she tried to get her bearings. She was laying on a small, lumpy sort of bed, with a small nightstand to her right. A lamp was perched on the table, the bulb flickering as it desperately tried to stay alive.

The room was made entirely out of concrete, and water could be seen leaking through small cracks in the wall. The whole place smelled damp, and Nora sighed to herself. While it wasn't pleasant, she wasn't chained up or anything. That much she could say thank you for.

Standing up, she made her way to what she assumed to be the door, her bones creaking in progress. There was no handle, so she knocked. The sound echoed throughout the room, and what seemed to be on the other side.

"Hello?" She called out, hoping for some kind of answer. When none came, she tried again louder. A faint whisper of voices came from the other side of the door, and she pressed her ear against it to hear better.

"He....and then...please..." Nora could barely make out what they were saying, whoever it was.

"Hey! Please, I can hear you!" She pounded her fist against the door once more. "Help me! I don't know where I am!" The hushed voices suddenly grew quiet. "Hello?" She called out again. This time, there was no response.

Nora panicked. She probably scared whoever it was off, and now she had no hope for a rescue. She wasn't even sure that her team knew where she was. Hell, at this rate, Peter probably felt bad about the way she had left him, and now, he had to worry about her being missing.

Groaning, she slid down the door, back pressed against it. No one was coming, at least for a while. Loki and Kaecilius most likely didn't leave a trace, or even a clue to where they were, so her best hope was to sit and wait. After all, that's what they tell you as a kid, right? Stay where you are so it's easier to find you?

While her training with Clint and the rest of the Avengers told her better, she followed her gut. Even if she somehow managed to find a way out, she had no idea where she was. Just waltzing out into an unknown place wasn't the best idea, especially if she didn't even know if they were still on Earth.

Crawling back to her small cot of a bed, she fought back the tears that were threatning to spill from her panicked state. Maybe sleep would help? Rolling on her side, she tried to close her eyes and think of a better time, a better place.

--

A knock on the door startled her. Jolting straight out of bed, she shot towards the door.

"Who's there?" She curled her fists into balls, ready to fight whoever came through.

"Darling, no need to fret," A silky smooth voice purred back. "It's only me." That didn't help resolve any of the tension that rolled through Nora's body, but she still stepped back and allowed the door to be opened. A smug looking Loki strode through the open space, only to have the door close almost automatically behind him. "Are you enjoying your stay?"

"Cut the bull shit, Loki." Nora spat. "Why am I here? And where even am I?" Loki sneered.

"I think you already know the answer, darling." He gestured around the room. "Does this room ring any bells?" When Nora only answered the question with a blank stare, Loki frowned. "None at all? Pity." He shrugged. "That's one thing we'll have to work on, I suppose."

"Why am I here, Loki?" Nora questioned. "I know I didn't follow your orders, but I'm not one of your mindless puppets." She shot.

"Well, beside your blatant disregard of my orders, it seems that Kaecilius has other plans for you." He stepped closer to Nora, her body now trapped between the cold wall, and his colder body. "If it were up to me..." His eyes traveled up and down her body, slowly, calculated. "Well, if it was up to me, I'd have other plans for you." He backed off, leaving Nora to catch her breath that she didn't realize that she'd been holding. "But, as always, Kaecilius seems to know what's best, so I'll let him take the lead." He made his was back to the door, and Nora watched in amazment as it opened by itself.

"So do you plan on just letting me rot in here?" Nora called out as Loki exited. He turned around, hands behind his back.

"No," He said after a moments pause. "I will come to retrive you tomorrow morning. In the meantime, I will have food of some sort sent down to you. After all, we can't have you tired for tomorrow's activities. That would be a shame," he tutted. "I look forward to breaking your very soul, watching it wither and crumble to dust." He chuckled. "Sleep well, then, darling."

The door shut behind him, and Nora was left to process what had just happened. So, they had a plan for her. That was good to know, but now she knew she wasn't just here as bait. They needed her for something, and it had to be something big. Maybe a war, of some sort? That's probably why they wanted her to talk to Doctor Strange. He sounded pretty important, but she could have sworn that she had heard the name around the tower before. She assumed it was just a matter of deciding which side he was on, but whoever's side he was on, it seemed like it would be the winning side.

Plopping herself on her "bed" again, she rested her head in her hands. Hopefully tomorrow didn't bring anything too terrible.

YALL OKAY I'M SORRY. I LITERALLY LOST ALL URGE TO WRITE THIS BOOK. NOW I HAVE URGE SO HERE'S THIS PLEASE FORGIVE ME ILYGSM <3

-AJ