Altered - A Marvel AU

Chapter 38 - Loki, God of Asgard

Megan's POV

"I'm sorry Steve." I whispered, he came closer to me, sitting on the edge of my bed, "For what?" He asked softly. I gestured around me, "For everything." He put his hand on my knee and sighed, "It's not your fault sweetheart, you're the one who always gets hurt." I laughed and he smiled, poking my belly, "That's the smile I fell in love with." He whispered and I could feel my heart breaking again.

"Steve, why'd you leave me, why were you forced to leave me?" He sighed, "We've had this conversation, I can't share those details with you." "Why not?" I asked and he looked down, "Because Meg, I'm afraid I'll lose it if I tell you." I kept quiet as he kept his head low, glancing at the floor. "Ok, I'm sorry." He looked up, pushing back the hair that fell onto my face, he leaned in and pressed a sweet kiss to my lips, a kiss that I would forever long for, a kiss that made me feel alright, a kiss that grounded me to the world.

"Get some rest." He mumbled against my lips and I pulled him back in, kissing him again. "Can you stay here, with me?" He shook his head, "I don't think that's a good idea." "I've been having horrible nightmares, please." He looked into my pleading eyes and caved, kicking off his shoes and lying down beside me. His arm pulled me into him as I snuggled against his chest, "I love you." He muttered, "I know." I responded back.

"Do you feel pain?" "I don't really know how to respond to that, Stevie." He chuckled and I could feel his hand playing with my hair, "I mean, what pain do you feel?" I bit the inside of my cheek as I contemplated that, "I feel menial pains and I feel the bigger ones too, which ones do you want to know?" He smiled slightly, "Let's start with the menial ones." I laughed, "Ok, I feel the pain of being raped by my father, I feel the pain of being bullied because of my weight, I feel the pain of being used multiple times."

Steve gasped quietly, "If those are the menial ones, I'm afraid to ask the bigger ones." I bit my lip and shrugged, "Life goes on. I feel the pain of losing my family, my brother, I feel the pain of losing... you." He was quiet for a long time before he spoke up, "You haven't lost me, I'll always be here." I nodded and he continued, "How does the pain feel?"

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself, I had never before been so vulnerable in front of anyone, not even my brother. "It feels like my heart keeps going into cardiac arrest, it feels like I can't breathe and my chest is caving, falling apart. It feels like my organs are trying to come out of my body and my body keeps on convulsing. It feels... it feels like I'm empty, devoid of all meaning, of all feeling, of everything." Steve stared at me for a long time before kissing the side of my head, "I'm sorry, I had no idea. But, that's exactly how I felt when you were gone."

I chewed on my nail as I thought about asking Steve something, something rather important. "Whatever you want to say just spit it out." I looked up at Steve, my eyes wide with surprise, "How'd you know?" I asked and he chuckled, "You only chew on your nails when you're nervous and overthinking something." I smiled, "Well, you do know me well," Steve nodded, smiling, "can we make this work?" I asked and his eyebrows furrowed, "Make what work?" I gestured between the two of us, "This." His smile matched my relief, "I think we can." I nodded, "Good, just wanted to know for the future." Steve frowned, "You are a horrible tease." I laughed, finally feeling happy and giddy in a long time, "I know."

***

The next day Tony had gathered us all around the main hall of the Avengers training station, well all of us except Clint who was back at Fury's facility, "I'm going back to Stark Towers." He announced and surprisingly, not many people looked surprised. Nat muttered curse words and got out a five dollar bill from her pocket, handing it over to Thor who laughed and pumped his fists. I stepped forward, taking both of Tony's hands in mine, "I'll miss you." Tony smiled and kissed my cheek, "I'll miss you too." He whispered in my ear and then winked at me, "Of course you will, capsicle doesn't do a good job of satisfying you so I often had to step in." he boasted and I hit his arm, "Tony." He smiled sheepishly, "There's two hot women in my team, you can't expect me to not flirt with them." I laughed and threw my arms around him, bringing him in for a tight hug.

Everyone joined in and it felt amazing, like when your whole family just crushes you in a tight hug that you both love and hate at the same time, it felt like that. My family was here and they were currently making it very hard for me to breathe. Everyone gently unentangled themselves from the massive group hug and it was only me and Tony again. We stayed like that for a little while, it was only when Tony started to slide his hands down to my butt that Steve stepped in, "Alright, that's enough Stark." Tony smiled mischievously, "Jheez Meg, enjoy your handful."

I laughed at Steve's pouting face and gave Tony one last kiss on the cheek as we all watched him walk outside to his expensive, black sports car and haul his stuff into the trunk. Pretty soon he zoomed down the road and into the distance, the trees covering his car as he got further and further away.

I turned around to face my team, "Now that Tony's gone... what do we do?" Nat shook her head, "Game night won't be the same." Everyone nodded and we all plopped down on the couch in the living room. Nat was browsing through random channels when we all heard the door being slammed open, "GODDAMNIT, I ALREADY MISSED YOU IDIOTS." I smiled and jumped up, "TONY." I yelled and I swung my body into his open arms, "Yeah, yeah, I'm back. Pepper's going to kill me." "Pepper can stay with us." I offered smugly and he rolled his eyes at me, "You're lucky you're hot." I smirked and Tony came into the living room, plopping on the other side of Nat on the couch.

"So we just relax, now?" He asked me and I shrugged, "I'm not the leader." "Your Cap's girl, so technically you are." "We aren't dating... yet." Steve offered and I smiled as he smirked at the teams agape mouths, "YET??" Nat screeched and she dramatically fanned her face. "Still, you are technically our... um... second-in-command." I laughed at Thor's awkwardness, "Indeed I am, but you all know the Avengers won't get much rest." They all nodded.

***

Meanwhile...

(Third Person)

Nick stood facing the agent, "How bad is it?" He asked, Coulson replied in a grim voice, "That's the problem sir. We don't know." They walked into the facility, fleeing agents amidst them as Nick grabbed a few items. "Dr. Selvig read an energy surge from the Tesseract four hours ago." Coulson announced and Nick hissed, "NASA didn't authorise Selvig to test phase." Coulson shrugged, "He wasn't testing it, he wasn't even in the room. Spontaneous advancement." Maria butt in, her eyes wide, "It just turned itself on?" The three of them continued to advance into the facility while discussing the main problem at hand.

While Fury turned to talk to Dr. Selvig, the Tesseract suddenly glowed brighter, thundering and shaking the whole building. A portal emitted from the Tesseract and a strange figure wearing all black clothing, save for the golden ram horns on his head walked out. The portal vanished as the figure walked out and cracked his neck, grinning and pointing his spear at the remaining agents.

Fury slowly advanced towards the strange man, his hands up in the air as he inched towards him, "Sir, please put down the spear." Fury was beyond terrified, however at the moment his voice sounded unnaturally authoritative. The man shot a blue orb of power towards Fury and Clint tackled Fury out of the way just in time. Agents surged forward but the man easily disarmed them all, "The Avengers?" Clint whispered in Fury's ear and he shook his head, "Not yet." Clint nodded and advanced forward himself, wanting to fight the man until he disarmed Clint, grabbing him from his wrist.

The pale man looked into Clint's eyes, "You have heart." He whispered and his spear touched Clint's chest as his eyes glowed and he stopped resisting against the pale man. Fury quietly creeped towards the Tesseract, gently placing it into the briefcase, "Please don't. I still need that." The man's voice startled Fury as he turned around and looked him in his black eyes, "This doesn't have to get any messier." The man smiled, "Of course it does. I've come too far for anything else. I am Loki of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose." Fury's eyes went wide with realization as he realized that he needed the Avengers.