Learning to Love Again | Loki Fanfic

Chapter 4 - Failure Is Not An Option

"Oh little Akuma, are you getting comfortable?" A bone chilling voice—and one that she knew well said. "Well don't. You are there one reason only. Don't forget it."

"Thanos I-" Astrid was interrupted as he sneered, "You haven't forgotten what I have over you, have you?"

Thanos snapped his fingers, and a small girl appeared, "Mom!!"

Astrid gulped, trying to hold back tears, and nodded, "Esme..." Astrid looked away from her daughter to Thanos, "I know."

Thanos grinned, "Good, because I would hate to have to hurt my precious little leverage."

"No!" She cried. "Please, please. I'll do it. You know I will. I just need some more time."

Thanos scoffed, making Esme disappear to wherever he kept her in those times, "Ah, but you see, time is a valuable thing, and neither you, nor the little girl have much more."

Astrid wiped the tears from her eyes and nodded again, "I won't fail you. And you'll keep up your end of the deal?"

Thanos rolled his eyes, "Yes, yes, you and the girl will be free to go afterwards. Now go, I expect you to deliver the Avengers to me soon."

Astrid cringed, "Yes, Thanos."

Astrid woke up with a gasp. She wrapped her arms around her waist, and started crying softly, as much as she tried, she couldn't stop. She didn't want to do this to the Avengers, they seemed like genuinely nice people, but she would do anything it took to save her daughter.

Astrid sighed and wiped the tears, getting up, before going to the bathroom. She washed her face as well, trying to hide the fact that she cried, before taking some clothes from her interdimensional pocket and conjuring them onto her body.

She wasn't very surprised when she realized she conjured a hoodie and one of her favorite jeans. Comfort clothes. She sighed, before teleporting herself downstairs, startling Tony to almost spill the coffee he was holding.

His eyes widened and he put his other hand on his mug to stop it from falling, "Great. Two teleporters."

Astrid chuckled, "Sorry. Just be glad I didn't teleport on you. I did that many times when I first started practicing my powers."

Tony laughed, "I have a project to work on with Bruce, I'll see you later."

Astrid nodded, "Good luck." He smiled at her before leaving to the lab with his coffee.

Before Astrid could even think about getting food to eat, Natasha walked in and announced, "Get your ass in the training room right now. We're training." She left no room for discussion, and before Astrid could even get a word out, the spy disappeared once more.

She sighed, resigning herself to the fact that she wasn't having breakfast that day, and changed into training clothes—a sports bra and leggings.

She then teleported herself into the training room, and opened her mouth to call for Natasha, never getting to, as she was attacked.

They jumped on her back, so she bent forward, using her arms to push the attacker off her back, to the floor. Astrid jumped backwards, getting into a fighting position as her attacker stood up. Her stance relaxed as she realized it was only Natasha, but that was a mistake, as Natasha lunged at her, and she had to roll to the side to not get caught. Astrid twisted her foot, moving her position so she stood behind Natasha, and jumped on her, pinning her to the ground.

"Ready to admit defeat?"

Astrid could practically hear the smirk in Natasha's voice as she responded. "You wish."

Natasha proceeded to kick her feet up and scoot backwards, pushing Astrid up so she fell on the floor with an 'Oomph'. Astrid quickly rolled to the side so Natasha didn't get her, and stood back up with a grin.

The two continued to spar for the next few hours, before being called to lunch. They were both panting hard, and decided to call it a tie, and went their separate ways to shower and change, before coming back down for lunch.

————————————————————————

I apologize for such a short chapter, I usually write more but I just needed a scene with this.

I'm working on the next chapter so hopefully I can publish that one today too, or maybe tomorrow.

Anyway, next is gonna be a pretty chill chapter with the fam :)