Giftless

Chapter 38

You came to, to find yourself tied to a sturdy wooden chair. You kept your eyes closed, though, taking in your surroundings. You knew much more about self defense now than you had before you'd gotten your powers. "We have to get the ransom out quick," a male voice announced nearby. Great. They were trying to ransom you. Dumbasses thought kidnapping you was a good idea. At all. If only your powers weren't bound by the stupid bangle. You were going to have to tell Tony that there needed to be an emergency override on the thing.

Loki was going to kill them if your uncle didn't get there first.

"You dumbasses do know that kidnapping me was a terrible idea, right?" you asked them, finally betraying that you were awake. You opened your eyes while you tugged on your wrists. tied behind your back. You began working on getting the bangle off from under the ropes.

The turned to you, legitimately surprised that you were awake.

"You didn't drug her enough!" One of them yelled. They looked like cheap robbers with masks over their faces. Three men. Three idiot men.

"It was the right dosage!" another replied in a whine.

You rolled your eyes.

Loki? you thought, trying to see if he could hear you. You had a feeling that he would be listening for signs from you.

/Kat!? The girls told me what happened. Are you ok?/ Loki demanded once he caught your signal.

Yeah, I'm fine. Some dumbasses decided kidnapping me for ransom was a good idea. Any chance Tony or Jarvis can deactivate the bangle from a distance? I can't get it off.

"Shut it, bitch. Your uncle is rich and will pay to get you back in one piece," the first one snapped at you.

You just started laughing. These men were extremely dumb. "My brother and my husband are both extremely powerful supers," you reminded them. Ok, maybe the general population of Earth didn't know you were soulbound to Loki. And they wouldn't know that meant married by Asgardian culture. "And Loki doesn't give a shit if he kills you to get me back," They all looked shocked and stared at each other as you gave them this new information. "Gods, you guys are dumbasses. Just let me go now and we can forget this stupidity even happened,"

/3...2...1...have fun storming the castle/ Loki told you, quoting the Princess Bride. Why had you ever let him watch that movie? /I'll be there soon to help you clean up/ he promised.

You grinned up at them, knowing this would be worth the ache in your mind. You flicked your hand and created a small flame to burn the ropes away from your hands, careful not to burn yourself too.

"Why is she grinning like that?" one of them asked, starting to get scared. They were finally starting to realize something was amiss.

"Because you dumbasses also neglected to find out that I'm a super too," you told them as you got to your feet, throwing out your hands in the same instant. Flames rose around the morons. "Self rescuing princess," you told them, fighting through the pain in your head, while you herded them together in the flames.

/Hurry, Loki. I can't control the flames very long/ you reminded him, your voice stronger to him since you could use telepathy again. You grabbed a nearby spool of rope and used telekinesis to tie it around and around them and lowered the flames once they were all tied together.

Loki, Tony, and the girls all showed up a few minutes later. You had taken a seat on the chair again, watching over your kidnappers and making sure they didn't try anything. The boys ran to you while Nat called in the report of the attack. You stood and let Loki and Tony hug you.

"I'm fine," you told them while they fretted over you.

"Kat, I'm sorry!" Nat told you when she got off of the phone with Fury.

You shook your head. "Don't worry about it. It's not your fault these guys thought they could ransom me for money from Uncle Tony," you told her easily. It was just a typical day as an Avenger. "They were really incompetent too, since they didn't know about Loki." You grumbled, though of course you were grateful for incompetent kidnappers. They were way better than the other king.

"They'll be locked up for a long time, don't worry," Nat reassured you.

You smiled at her and let Tony and Loki take you home. It took the entire trip home to convince them you were ok. You had saved yourself and managed to control your powers enough for the task. It had hurt like hell, but it was over. You had survived and proven myself. The pain would fade.

When you got back to the compound, Loki stopped you and Tony both. "Darling, we are out of time. my family is demanding our return. We have to leave tomorrow morning. Will you be ok enough to travel?" Loki asked. You smiled at him.

"That'll be fine, Loki. you told you, I'm ok,"

"I still don't like this," Tony grumbled, though he had no say in the matter. You were over 18 and you were on summer break from school.

"Tony..." you warned.

He held up his hands in surrender. "It's already been approved. I understand how important it is. Just be careful," he told you.

"I'm always careful," They both laughed at you, clearly disbelieving you. You sighed, kicked off your heels and started storming up to your room. You didn't have to deal with either of them if they were just going to laugh at you.

Loki was beside you in an instant. "Are you sure you're alright, darling?" he asked. He had such honest concern that you couldn't be made at him for asking again.

"I'm fine, Loki. Thanks for your help," he shook his head.

"All I did was talk to Tony to talk to Jarvis. That stupid AI still doesn't like me," he reminded you.

"Which I needed to get out of that situation on my own," You grinned up at him, intending to change the subject. "So, do you like my dress?" you asked with mock innocence. He laughed and swept you into a hug the second you were on your floor.

"I love your dress, my dear, but not as much as you love you," he replied and leaned down to kiss you. You stood in the hallway kissing for awhile, before you both had to accept that you needed to get up early to make the journey to Asgard.

He gave you too big of a grin when the decision had been made. "What?" you asked him suspiciously.

"You told those men that I am your husband," he replied with a wicked smile.

You blushed, and felt yourself getting defensive. You held up your left hand where he could see the swirls of colors, the ones that matched the colors on his own arm. "I had to impress upon them how stupid they were. And... well...what else do you call this?" you asked him, flushing even redder.

"I call it a soulbond, darling," he replied as he took your hand and kissed the back of it.

"Silly Trickster," you laughed at him and finally consented to go back to your room and get some sleep before your big day the next day.