The Dark Saviour [14]

Chapter 1

Loki stood, frozen and staring down at the lake.

Scarlet blood swirled around, dancing with the death of the person from who it came. It curled, making beautiful shapes that hid the dark truth of its birth.

Someone nearby had heard the splash and ran over to see what had happened. Their footsteps pounding into the ground seemed to snap Loki back to reality. Out of sheer panic, he dove in and searched around, seeing a dark shape sinking deeper and deeper.

Swimming forward, he seized her by the middle and hauled her to the surface. "Here, here, get her out!" the individual grabbed her by the shoulders, pulling her the rest of the way out of the water and a safe distance onto solid land. Loki hauled himself out, crossing over to the person who was searching for a pulse.

"Shit," they pulled out their phone, dialing emergency services.

"Nine-one-one, what's your emergency?" the operator asked.

"There was this girl, s-she fell in a lake and I think she inhaled a lot of water because she isn't breathing," they said frantically.

"Okay, sir, I'm dispatching people to your location. Can you tell me about her?" the operator asked.

"Uh..." they pressed their phone to their chest. "Guy! What's her name and age?"

"Her name's Tanya Boston, and she's..." he paused, doing the math in his head. "Twenty! She's twenty!"

"Her name's Tanya Boston and she's twenty years old," the person supplied.

"Very well, the authorities are on their way, they'll arrive shortly," the operator said, then hung up. As this happened, the wailing of sirens appeared in the distance. The ambulance rolled into the park, spraying snow to either side.

It came to a screeching halt, the back doors flying open and two paramedics came rushing out. They ran over, grabbing Tanya by the shoulders and feet, hoisting her onto a stretcher and wheeling her on.

Loki moved to get on, but one of the paramedics stopped him. "What is your relation to her?" he asked.

"I'm her brother," he lied, using their strange resemblance to his advantage.

"Let him in, Robert," the other paramedic sighed, and Robert relented. Loki climbed on with them, and the sirens sounded again as the ambulance took off.

-

"How is she?" Loki asked as the doctor came out of the room they had put her in after the operation.

"We got all the water out of her lungs and patched the wound on her head, but we'll have to wait to assess her mental state when she wakes up," the doctor said. 

"So she's alive?" he asked, and the doctor nodded.

"You can go in, though I don't know how much benefit you'll get out of it since she's asleep right now," the doctor said, then left to go tend to other patients.

Considering the choice briefly, he decided against it. Finding an empty room, he performed a spell and appeared on the doorstep of someone who probably wouldn't be happy to see him.

"I'm gonna go visit Tanya. Keep out of trouble, I'll be back in bit," the door opened and Steve Rogers turned and froze, gaping at the man on his doorstep. Bucky, who was staying in Steve's apartment while saving up for his own, noticed this.

"What's going on, Steve? I thought you were leaving," he stood up, moving to see what had startled the Super Soldier.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Steve growled, staring Loki down.

"I come bearing news. Your friend, the Half-Breed, is in the hospital," Loki said.

"Yeah, I know. I was gonna go visit her," Steve snapped.

"There's no point. She's asleep and probably won't wake up until the drugs are out of her system in a few hours," he shrugged.

"What drugs?" Steve questioned, concerned.

"The ones from the operation. Are you thick?" he replied.

"Why did she have an operation? What aren't you telling us?" Steve asked.

"She fell in a lake and almost drowned, no thanks to you," he said coolly.

"But she's supposed to be in the hospital," Steve deadpanned.

"Why would she being in the hospital?" Steve sighed.

"You should come in and sit down. It's a long story,"