Emerald Storm [Loki]

Chapter nine: winter soldier

Loki panicked as he saw Katerina go limp on the ground. After the pictures he saw on the computer, he suddenly felt the need to protect and save her.

'What is going on, brother?!' Thor asked for the fifth time.

'We're okay.' Loki replied hastily as he fought harder against the Winter Soldier. He had fought bigger creatures on Asgard and within the other realms this mortal shouldn't be difficult for him.

He stabbed the soldier in the gut which caused him to momentarily let his guard down. Loki took advantage of this and punched him in the face before grabbing the back of his neck and forcing his face to collide with the metal bench.

The soldier fell to the ground unconscious and Loki was able to run to Katerina. He threw knifes at Sergio and the guards, killing them instantly.

He gave a glance at Katerina to see she was still conscious. She mumbled a 'Save them.' To Loki and he nodded.

He unlocked the cells setting all of the children free. They ran outside into the snow where Natasha and Thor waited for them.

Loki went back and picked up Katerina, carrying her out into the snow. Wanda watched from the quinjet, waiting for a signal to move in.

She was becoming impatient. She stood up to run to the factory just as she spotted Loki. He was carrying Kat's limp body in his arms.

'No...' Wanda ran to him and covered her mouth his shock. 'What happened to her?'

'I'll explain on the jet, let's get her to safety.' Loki obstructed, placing a comforting hand on Wanda's back and guiding her back to the quinjet.

'Is she okay?' Steve asked standing up from the pilot seat. 'What happened

'You're friend, the soldier, he shot her in the back.' Loki explained. Wanda flipped her over and lifted the girls coat. Wanda grabbed the medical kit and called for Natasha's help.

Steve ran into the factory to try and find his friend will Thor and Natasha gave all the kids to the Shield agents that had met the team here.

Natasha ran onto the jet in time to help Wanda. Nat instructed the the youngest Maximoff girl to cut open her suit so they could see the wound.

'Can you geek her?' Nastasha asked.

'I can try.' Wanda nodded.

Natasha took the the tweezers and removed the bullet that had gone deep into Katerina's back, just grazing her spine. Blood started gushing and Wanda's fingers contorted, sending her magic into her sister's back.

The wound soon stopped bleeding and the skin began to knit back together. Wanda completely healed her, making sure to not even leave a scar.

'You did it...' Natasha said in shock. She gave the girl an approved nod before cleaning up the mess.

'Now what?' Wanda asked.

'We wait.'

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'Why isn't she waking up?' Tony but at the inside of his cheek nervously as he stood opposite Katerina's bed.

'I don't know.' Bruce shrugged. 'Her blood work should be back this afternoon. We'll know more then.'

'I don't understand.' Wanda shrugged. 'She's been unconscious for three days. It was one bullet and my magic should have completely heeled her.'

Natasha looked over at Tony with a raised brow. 'Did you test the bullet that I gave you?'

'No.' Tony shrugged. 'It was a standard hand gun bullet.'

Natasha rolled her eyes and stood up. 'Tony. I've told you like five times now, Hydra have been known to lace their bullets and weapons with all kinds of poisons.'

Tony rushed down to his lab and began testing the bullet, only to find it contained a toxic level of lead.

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Feeling energised and much better, I opened my eyes to the worried face of Loki. 'Argh!' I let out a startled scream and he jumped backwards.

I quickly sat up and the rest of team stood. Steve, Wanda, Pietro, Natasha, Thor and Loki surrounded me.

'What are you guys doing?' I asked confused. 'It's weird to watch a person sleep you know.'

'Kat...we were all worried about you.' Wanda said with furrowed brows. 'The bullets in the gun that shot you were laced with lead, it should've killed you.'

'Bullets? What are you talking abo-' Then it hit me. Natasha waking me up at stupid o'clock in the morning, going to the factory in Bulgaria with Loki. Loki made us invisible and then he saw the pictures of me in the lab. Then I was shot. 'Oh... How long was I out?'

'This is your fourth day.' Steve said as he took a seat on my bed and handed me cold glass of water. 'If it wasn't for Wanda's magic, you'd be dead now.'

I pulled Wanda in for a hug and whispered a thank you into her ear. Pietro hugged me and said 'I'm glad you're okay. But I have pizza getting cold in my room. See you in a bit, sis.' He placed a soft kiss on my forehead before running back to his room.

'We should let you rest. I'm glad you're okay, Kat.' Thor gave me a hug and so did Natasha and Steve before they left.

'I'll come back later to check on you.' Wanda smiled before patting me on the head and leaving. I chuckled at her actions, that's new.

I forgot about the other person in my room and when they spoke I nearly had a heart attack. 'Kat I-'

'Argh. Jesus, Loki. Stop scaring me dude.' I shook my head and he laughed.

'I'm sorry. May I?' He gestured to the edge of my bed and I nodded. He sat down and began nervously playing with the same lose thread from earlier.

I took my nail scissors from my bedside table and quickly snipped it off. Loki gave me a confused look and I shrugged. 'It's been bugging me.'

He gave me a small smile and began talking. 'I feel that I owe you an apology. If I hadn't have snooped through your file then I wouldn't have let my emotions take over and we would've been hidden, then you wouldn't have been shot.'

'Loki, it wasn't your fault.' I shook my head and he sighed. 'You got curious, I get it. Maybe next time just ask me. I know you like to play the mysterious, I don't care about any of you, one of the group but I can see right through you. If you ever want to talk, you can talk to me. We're a team, you can confide in me about anything.'

Loki entire body tensed and he stood from the bed. 'I see. Again, I am sorry Katerina.' Loki practically ran out of the room, leaving me alone and confused.