I Can't Save Us ☄

Better Lock It...

4. 《 "Not for us." 》

iiii. Upside Down
Rnla, Julia Alexa

     It was the weirdest sensation ever. Everything about it felt so wrong. Traveling through a space portal, Loki pushing her nimble body through the portal first, the fact that it felt difficult to walk through the thickness to reach the other side, and walking straight into the Avengers compound.

     Avengers compound.

     Well, more like her jumping backwards and almost back into the portal so quickly that she bumped into Loki who pushed her forward so they wouldn't travel back to Vormir on accident.

     Natasha hit the ground like a sack of flour and then turned her fall into a summersault so she landed on her feet.

     She glanced in Loki's direction to see Loki only standing there and straightening his back.

     Natasha was so grateful to be back she could just about cry some happy tears.

     But it felt so empty. She felt empty.

     "Friday?"

     The AI didn't answer. A depressing feeling, building up inside of her, making her feel so impossibly useless.

     "Who is this Friday? Another Avenger."

     "We've expanded?" It came out like a question.

     "So I've seen."

     Natasha whipped her head to stare Loki down.

     "You talk and talk like you've seen everything but you weren't actually there!"

     "You are aware of my abilities? Correct?"

     "You can shape shift into other people."

     "Not just people."

     Natasha rubbed the temple of her head. "Okay? Why are you still here?"

     "Staying on that deserted planet has made you a bit temperamental, if anything I'm the one who should be. TVA–" Natasha interrupted him, "Are you going to ever tell me what this TVA is? It's a space thing, isn't it?"

     "I didn't have to tell you."

     "It was written on your jacket."

     "One more time; I didn't have to continue to talk about it."

     "So why do you?"

     Loki answered with a question, "How did you die?"

     "Why should I tell you?"

     "You know how I died."

     No response, so Loki continued talking, because that's what he does best. "Miss Romanoff, I've heard some things about the stones. The soul stone specifically, you might as well tell me what I already know."

     "I died, at the bottom of the cliff."

     "You fell? Somebody pushed you off? You jumped? I'd know all about the last one."

     "I jumped, for the stone. It was like flying."

     "But there's a more permanet destination."

     "Not for us."

     "We are two abnormal cases of cheating death."

     There was a short silence between the two, who avoided meeting each other's eyes.

     "That's it, I'm going to see if there's anyone here."

☄

     Natasha was fully aware of Loki trailing behind her, but she didn't want to ask him anything yet. She was so used to not talking this much, emphasis on the word 'not.'

     She called out for Wanda, Sam, Rhodes, Tony, Clint, Bruce, even Steve who only came to do this laundry, anyone. But nobody answered.

     Just when Natasha asked Loki to open a portal to the city, Pepper came into her view briefly. The woman stopped in her tracks, heels not clicking anymore. She watched as someone who had just died being taken away God knows where, once more.

     Gone, once again, along with the shimmering power of a space portal.

3/24/21
M/D/Y

Edited: 4/6/21

616 words