Chapter 11: Meanwhile

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(Ayda's POV)

Slowly I became more aware of the room around me. I was tied to a chair in the middle of an empty room. In front of me was a wall-sized window that showed off the early morning sun, rising over the New York skyline. Based off my vague knowledge of New York topography, I was on one of the upper floors of Stark Tower.

Fuck.

Circe. Can you hear me? The Chitori are going to open the portal over at Stark Tower.

Nothing.

Circe? Please tell me you're just giving me the silent treatment cause of the plan and not actually unable to hear me.

Still nothing.

Double fuck.

I was stranded in a city I'd never visited, with absolutely no way to contact anyone I knew.

A door was opened somewhere behind me suddenly. I couldn't turn to see what was happening but I heard a thump and the door close again. After a minute, I could hear groaning coming from behind me.

"Hello?" I called out. The groaning became louder and I can hear clothes shuffling. Still stuck fast in place I wait silently as something stands behind me and walks to where I can see. "Loki?" I can see his dark hair hanging limply and a bruise slowly forming on his temple. His eyes are filled with both relief and sadness. There was a glowing collar around his neck.

"Oh, Darling. I'm sorry. I was trying to find out where they had taken you in hopes of getting you free. It seems they grew suspicious of my many questions. They dug into my head with the scepter and uncovered our plot. They're probably preparing to launch a counterattack as soon as the rest arrive." His hands began working at the ties around my arms.

"What's that thing around your neck?" It glowed with a soft blue light. There were symbols on it that I couldn't understand.

"It's to block my magic. They had it just in case I wasn't compliant. You have one as well." He nodded at my neck. With my hands free, I reached and felt the object around my throat. It was cool but not metal. It almost felt like some sort of stone. It had small ridges and wasn't completely round.

"Dammit. What are we supposed to do now? We can't contact the team, neither of us has our magic, and we are stuck in the middle of what is about to be a blood bath." My voice rose in volume as I spoke. My body began to shake and it was getting harder to breathe. I hadn't had an anxiety attack in years. Every time it had happened in the past, Circe had been with me. Now I had no one.

"Breathe, Little Witch." Loki's hands rested on my shoulders. He grabbed one of mine and placed it over his heart. "Match your breathing to mine. In, out." I inhaled and exhaled shakily. "That's good. Again" A full minute passed while Loki helped soothe me.

"Sorry." I hugged my arms to myself, looking at the floor. "That hasn't happened in a long time."

"It's alright. Norns know that is a valid reaction to the current situation. Now that you're calm, how about we try to come up with something? I know that you're smart enough to figure a way out or to at least get these things off our necks."

I reached my hands up to the collar around his neck to get a better look. I could sense magic in it. Along with something else; it almost felt alive. I pulled back with horror once I realized what it was.

"When I get my hands on that general, I'm going to slaughter him." My hands trembled while tears brimed in my eyes.

"What is it, Darling?" Loki's eyes filled with worry upon seeing my reaction.

"The collar itself is little more than some spelled bits of meteorite. However, what's causing it to block our magic is a human soul. They murdered someone to make these." Innocents had been killed simply to keep us in line. It was devastating.

"Can you communicate with it?" As a being from a different realm, Loki wasn't entirely sure what I could and couldn't do.

"I should be able to. As an Empath, one of my abilites is to sense and share emotions. I don't need magic for that. Hopefully, I can share with the spirit that we aren't at fault." I pressed my hands to his collar again. I felt anger, sadness, and helplessness. Whoever this had been was in pain and lashing out at who they thought was responsible. When I gave greeting, all that agony was directed at me. I gasped softly but held on. I channeled peace and sorrow. I apologized with every emotion and promised to right the wrong done to them. As the collars on us crumbled, two voices whispered names in my ears, the names of those killed to contain us; those I had to avenge.

"Now that's taken care of, let's find a way to contact the rest of the team." I made to go out the door. Loki grabbed onto my arm pulling back into his arms and against his chest. He smelled like a new winter's day. Like fresh snowfall and crisp mint plants.

"I know I can't ask you to stay out of this battle, so I won't. However, I can see how much that affected you. I can see the tears you are trying to hide. Let it out." The few tears I had been holding on to fell and were soon follow by more until I was sobbing in Loki's arms.

"They killed innocent people to stop us. They tore them to pieces just to use them against us. It's not right. Those people had family, soulmates that will never see them again because someone wanted to gain more power!" Loki held me silently, rubbing my back to help comfort me.

"I'm sorry that such an atrocity was preformed, however you have helped them gain peace. And when all this is done, we will find those who will miss them and tell them what happened. Until then we must fight for the rest of the innocent people in this city who are in danger." His battle armor shimmered into place around him, covering his body in gold and green. "I realize you don't have anything to protect you. Would you like me to conjure something for you, Witchling?"

"No. I have something." In a glimmer of purple magic, armor formed around me. Blades emerged from my arms as protective weapons.  A helmet protected my face.

Imagine a helmet, I can't find one I like

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Imagine a helmet, I can't find one I like.

"Very well. However," Loki leaned down and placed a light kiss on my forehead. "One always need a good luck kiss."

I grinned at him even if he couldn't see it.

"Let's do this."

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Woohoo!! Another chapter done! Up next will be The Battle of New York. I will do my best to show what happens since we have branched off from the original movie. Plus I will be adding something that a few people have recommended. The Battle will probably take a few chapters. After that I will have a few filler chapters before I start the next sequence of movie events. Now that I have Disney+ I can do the entire MCU.

Question: Do you guys want some sort of nickname as my fans? Like Deathies or something? I'm open to suggestions.

Have a good day/night!!

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