Blood and Knifes

2:7

Stark left their apartment on good terms, and Megan had a sneaking suspicion that they had just made a valuable ally. The next few weeks flew by in a blur. Loki discovered the television, which he enjoyed, read nearly half of the books Megan owned, and taught himself how to use his new phone. Still, they could tell he was getting agitated being confined to such a small place for so long. One particular evening, that changed.

Megan and Loki had fallen asleep on the couch after a movie earlier that night. Still half asleep, Megan's ears pricked up at the sound of a window opening, but being so stubbornly tired, they reasoned, however irrationally, that it was Pebbles. She could open doors, why not windows. With that, they told their brain to shut the fuck up and go back to sleep. It was at the click of a safety that snapped them awake. They grabbed Loki and shoved him off of the couch, adjusting the shot to hit his shoulder, not his skull.

They vaulted over the couch, slapping the gun out of the intruder's hands and dodging the knife that he whipped out seconds later. Moments later, Loki was up, aiming for a clean strike with his daggers. Megan swiped the intruder's feet off the ground, and straddled him.

"Who do you work for?" They demanded.

The man smiled. "I ain't work for no one but the Lord. And He ain't gonna stand no alien terrorist livin' among His people. Leviticus 24:17 you bitch."

Two shots fired, rocking their body. Loki's dagger impaled the man's throat, and he rushed to them.

"Ah, shit," they groaned. "Loki. Loki!" They caught his attention as he began to panic. "Did the bullet go through me?"

"No."

They rolled onto their back, eyes drifting shut. "Teleport to Avengers tower," they instructed, before they succumbed to the darkness.

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"No, no, no, no, no," Loki muttered. He scooped Megan up, ignoring the sharp pain in his shoulder. The green light of his magic had never seemed so slow. "Help!" He yelled as he materialized in the empty common room. "Somebody help!" Doors slammed as the Avengers rushed into the room, stopping at the sight of Megan, blood soaked in Loki's arms. "Doctor Banner." The two men made eye contact. "Please."

The doctor nodded, springing into action. "Can you make a spinal board? A wood plank Megan's height with wrist, leg, and head restraints and places to pick the board up." Loki summoned one, and set Megan upon it as smoothly as he could. Then he stepped back, letting Banner take charge. Banner strapped Megan to the board, and directed the Captain and a strange metal-armed man to carry them to the elevator. Banner pressed a button, assumedly to bring Megan to the infirmary, but nothing happened. He pressed it again. "Jarvis?"

"I am afraid that I cannot let you leave Prince Loki without treatment," a mechanical voice answered from the sky. "He is currently suffering from a point blank gunshot wound to the shoulder."

"What the hell happened to you two?" Tony asked, exacerbated. Loki teleported into the elevator and it began to move.

"We'll get an agent to take your statement," Banner said, as he ripped a piece of fabric from his shirt to tie around Loki's shoulder as a makeshift bandage.

"Thank you, Doctor Banner," Loki said quietly.

"Please, call me Bruce." He outstretched a hand. "Contrary to what you might think, Loki, I hold no stake in this fight." Loki smiled, and shook Bruce's hand.

As soon as the elevator doors opened, Banner directed the Captain, the metal-armed man, and Loki down a hallway, sending Megan into one room, and Loki into an adjacent one, slapping a button on the wall. Loki sat in that room for approximately half an hour, until a man entered, carrying a notepad.

"Hello, sir," the man said. "I'm here to take your statement."

"Are you a SHIELD agent?" Loki asked, suspicious.

"Yes sir."

Loki raised an eyebrow. "And what else are you an agent of?"

The man tensed. "Hail Hydra," he said, then began convulsing and foaming at the mouth.

Loki leapt to his feet. "Guards, help!" A team of men rushed into the room, one shooting him in the neck with a small dart while the others forced him to his knees, muzzling and handcuffing him. Captain America burst into the room, stopping in his tracks when he saw Loki bound on the floor. "Mmph!" Loki tried to speak, straining towards the Captain, letting a tear slip from his eye. The last thing Loki saw was Banner enter, yelling for the agents to stop, before a blow to the side of the head by the butt of a shotgun knocked him out, and he slumped to the cold tile floor.