Loki: The Burden of the Throne

Chapter 22

Once confident they had reached safety, Barton pulled the truck off the side of the road, the various vehicles trailing him doing the same. Loki, Pym, Banner and Rogers climbed from the bed of the truck, Barton and Romanoff from the cab. Loki continued to clutch the necklace in his hand as vehicle doors opened, occupants exiting and looking off into the distance in the direction from which they had come. The imposing facility, which should have been discernible in the distance even in the dark of night was no more. A stunned silence fell over the scene as Stark descended next to Rogers.

"Still think they want that thing just to keep the milk cold for your Wheaties?" Stark asked.

Hill approached Fury as he climbed out of the passenger side of the vehicle, Coulson from the driver's side.

"Sir...we lost Shaw. He was behind me...then he wasn't. Not sure how many were with him." Hill said.

"Call in search and rescue. Get a head count, find out how many and who we're missing." Fury ordered Hill. Hill nodded, turning and moving off back towards her vehicle and the agents gathered around it.

Loki walked away from the truck and the refugees from the facility into the cool desert night, continuing on in silence before seating himself on the parched earth, overcome by the aggregation of events. Those gathered at the truck watched him for a moment before Natasha Romanoff stepped forward, Barton gripping her arm.

"Give him some time." Barton said quietly before releasing his hold on her. Ignoring his advice, Romanoff continued on, approaching Loki. As she reached him she stood to the side and slightly behind him, taking note of the necklace in his hand, the chain with the broken clasp wound around his fingers, the pendant against his palm, his eyes fixed upon it as if in a trance.

"Hey...." Romanoff said softly, Loki startling slightly.

"There's not many people who can sneak up on me." Loki said, turning his attention back to the necklace. Romanoff lowered herself to the ground to sit next to him.

"I won't say I know how you feel, because I don't. She's still alive or they wouldn't have bothered to take her. We'll find her."

"Do you know what it is to live your entire life in darkness?" Loki asked.

"I have some idea." Romanoff replied, recalling her upbringing, raised since childhood to be a cold hearted assassin.

"Then one day within that darkness suddenly there appears a light...but you've been in the darkness so long, it's part of you...you don't wish to grow accustomed to that light for fear it will go out...for fear of what you will become if it does."

"I was always told love made you weak, that it was for children. Then I met Clint and his family. I realized I'd been lied to. It doesn't make you weak, it makes you stronger...to have something to live for, to fight for other than yourself."

"Loki...?" Loki heard Verda's voice say. Loki quickly raised his head, looking away from the necklace, rising to his feet, scanning the darkness.

"Verda?" Loki replied in disbelief.

"What is it?" Romanoff asked, confused as she also rose from the ground.

"Loki...can you hear me? Are you alright?" Verda's voice asked. Loki realized the voice was within his own mind. He couldn't help but wonder if he was already descending into madness.

"Yes, I'm unharmed. We were able to escape. How are you speaking to me?" Loki answered with his thoughts.

"The necklace...I worried you wouldn't find it. I learned the spell from one of your books. I wasn't sure it would work. I'd never actually tried it."