Astoria was surprised that Loki wanted to talk to her. But she guesses seen as she has hold of the sceptre right now, he would be interested in her. She is the only one that can give it to him, he has no way of just taking it from her, she needs to open a portal to fetch it. There is no way for him to get into her 'storage' portal. She steps closer to the glass of the cage as he does. Shifting closer to her. He is surprised they are allowing her in here. They trust her about as much as they trust him. That's surprising. That they would call on her for help. She lets out a breath and looks over Loki. His coattails swish with his steps.
"You wanted to see me" She points out, folding her arms over her chest.
"I am surprised they agreed to it"
"Hard to say no to this" Astoria motions to her face. "Face" He smirks a little.
"I'm starting to see that" He agrees, and she raises an eyebrow.
"Out with it" She scolds him. "Just tell me what you want. Why you wanted to see me?"
"Well...You are powerful" He starts.
"Yeah, no shit," She tells him. He snorts a little and stares at her. He's kind of pointing out the obvious there. She knows she is powerful. She is very much aware of that fact. And most that meet her do too.
"You are the wild card, the...power play....he doesn't know you exist" Loki informs her.
"For now I am guessing, you'll tell him the first chance you get...."
"What if I didn't?" He asks her. She raises an eyebrow and then smirks.
"You are trying to bargain with me" She realises and moves closer to the glass. "Surely you should be trying to charm Captain Eyepatch...As he is currently your....jailer" She folds her arms over her chest.
"I'd much rather charm you" Loki counters with a sly smile. She gives him a look.
"Not going work" She argues with a little sing-song tone. His eyes shift to the cameras watching them.
"Are they watching?" He asks her. She hums in affirmation.
"They don't have to be" She answers. "Would you feel better if they weren't?"
"I'd rather I weren't in a cage" He argues, she hums and nods.
"Yeah, I bet you would" She counters, the two of them sharing a look. She chuckles and shakes her head as she pulls out a flask from her inside jacket pocket. "Drink?" She asks, he gives her a look and then taps on the glass to prove his point. She smirks and then disappears with a pop. Loki cocks his head, staring at where she was. "Drink?" He spins and finds her standing behind him, in his cell. She holds out her flask and he slowly takes it from her, trying to figure her out. "Can I ask questions?" She asks him, his eyes flickering to the camera.
"What about our audience?" He counters, she hums and glances at the camera too. She can practically hear Fury's voice telling her not to do it. Which just makes her want to do it more. She finger guns the camera and then she clicks her tongue. It explodes in a puff of blue mist. Loki hums a little and looks at her. "If you wish" He comments watching as she moves around the cell, drawing her hand along the wall. "To ask me questions....then ask me"
"Why Earth?" She asks, he raises an eyebrow at her. "It sucks" He lets out a small laugh and shrugs.
"It would annoy Thor" He answers, she hums and nods.
"What would you do with it if you win?"
"When" He argues. She smirks at him.
"Sure...when you win" She allows. He lets out a breath.
"I would rule with a firm but fair fist" He answers, she moves closer to him and folds her arms over her chest.
"And that means what?" She asks. "What would your policies be? How would you fix the issues that exist here? Do you even know what they are?"
"Tell me and I'll tell you how I'd fix it" He offers. She hums a little.
"Climate change. Racism. Sexism. War. Famine. Child neglect...I could give you a list, and even then, in a million years, you would never be able to fix them...."
"How so?" He asks.
"Humans are stubborn..." She answers. "And creatures of habit. It's hard to change them....and forcing them to change will result in well...more disagreement...."
"Then I shall kill those that disagree...."
"If you kill a killer, the number of killers remains the same" She points out.
"Not if I kill two" He argues, she snorts and shakes her head. "Am I permitted to ask questions?" He asks her, she hums and nods. "Why do you aid them if you know they don't trust you?"
"Urm because I live here" She answers. "And it may suck balls....but Earth is my home and you want to break it"
"You could escape into your....bubble" He comments and waves a little, indicating Purgatory. She could live there for the rest of her life as the world burned and never know pain again.
"This is boring" She offers and then holds up her hand, with a little flourish, a portal opens behind her. "I am going to need a real drink..." She steps through the portal into Purgatory and looks back at him. "Coming?" She asks him. He glances around his cell and then out at the room beyond. Is there a real choice here? Follow the magic girl into a weird pocket dimension or stay in a cage and wait for his plan to roll out? He turns and follows her through the portal, which then disappears from the cell. Fury and a number of Shield agents storm the room, alarmed to find that Loki and Astoria are gone. Behind them, Thor and Steve follow. Fury shakes his head. Annoyed that he trusted her.
"Unbelievable" Fury comments and turns to his agents. "Get the analysts to search the globe, they could be anywhere" He shakes his head. "I should have known she'd do something like this"
"Doubtful" Steve argues, Fury looks at her. "I trust her" He adds. "Let her do it her way...it's worked so far" Thor nods in agreement.
"Loki will not hurt her" He adds. "She has magic, he'll be more interested in how and why"
"She knows what she's doing" Steve offers. "She knows that the best way to get what we need from Loki, is to offer him something he doesn't have..."
"And what's that?" Fury asks.
"Companionship" Thor answers.
"Honesty and trust" Steve argues a little. He shrugs a little. He believes that Astoria is the key to getting Loki to shift stances, to help them. Her magic is a common trait that she can build upon. Loki is scared and alone here. Whoever he is working for, Loki is afraid of him. Loki wants freedom. Astoria knows what she is doing.
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(1) Alis Propriis Volat (Loki)
Fanfiction- I am bringing this back after the replacement kind of fizzled out. (Book One - Ljubičica Čarobnica) Being a Hargreeves is difficult. All that trauma and unresolved childhood issues tear them apart from the inside. But now, Astoria has a second ch...
