(1) Alis Propriis Volat (Loki)

Chapter Ten

Loki is chuckling as he and Astoria step out of a portal back into his cell. He's actually enjoying himself here, within her in Purgatory. He wasn't expecting to. Yes, he has an interest in her, she has magic, that was always going to garner his interest, but it was more than that. He gives her a look and she shrugs before teleporting to the other side of the glass. He walks closer to talk with her.

"I'm feeling rather...tipsy" Loki admits. He only had a couple of drinks. "That's..."

"Oh, I use triple the recommended measures" She teases with a smirk.

"That will be it" He counters, the two of them sharing a look. Loki won't admit it to her, to anyone, ever, but that short amount of time in Purgatory, away from the stresses of an invasion, was actually really nice. Something so normal. Something so mundane. No wonder the Midgardians enjoy it so much. Plus Astoria's not terrible company. "How come you don't seem at all put out by that?" He asks, she shrugs back at him and winks a little.

"My blood is mostly vodka at this point" She answers with a smirk. Behind her, Fury walks into the detention room with two Shield agents flanking him. He is not happy that she took off with Loki and he does not have faith in her the same way Steve Rogers does. He's heard the stories from other Shield agents that have worked with Astoria, that she's difficult to work with. She glances over her shoulder at Fury and raises an eyebrow. Fury motions with his fingers. "What the hell?" She scolds as two agents grab her arms and pull her back from the glass. "Let go of me"

"What do you think you're playing at, Miss Hargreeves?" Fury asks her, she gives him a look back.

"Urm exactly what you asked me to do" She argues and tries to tug herself free. "You told me to find out where Barton is..."

"And did you?" Fury asks her, she lets out a breath and then wrinkles her nose.

"Well, not yet" She argues. "But he's going to tell me" Fury just shakes his head. She shouldn't be surprised that he doesn't believe her.

"Take her away" He orders.

"You son of a bitch" Astoria scolds Fury as the agents pull her away.

"Wait" Loki stops them and Fury looks at him. "I'll keep my word...I'll tell you where Barton is" He adds. Fury moves closer to the glass cell to listen to him. "When you release her" He nods at Astoria who frowns, confused as to why Loki would care if she was restrained or not. Whether she gets in trouble or not. Fury glances back at the agents and nods. They both release her, she yanks herself away, straightens her clothing and glares at the back of Fury's head. Fury gives Loki a look. The god of mischief looks at Astoria and winks, she frowns at him. "Barton should be about..." Loki draws off and then turns, pointing across the way, implying outside of the helicarrier. "There" Just as he says this, an explosion rocks the entire helicarrier. Loki smirks at Fury who glares back at him.

"Take her" Fury orders and the agents grab Astoria again, this time dragging her out of the detention unit. Loki's smirk is long gone now, Fury having gone back on the deal. Loki kept his end up. He told them exactly where Barton is.

.........

In the labs, where the rest of the recruits had been gathered, it looks like a bomb went off, which isn't that far from the truth. Lab equipment is thrown all over. Steve pushes himself up out of the rubble and then helps Tony to his feet as Thor brushes himself off. The only two missing are Natasha and Bruce who seemed to go tumbling down instead of away.

"Put on the suit!" Steve tells Tony who nods in agreement.

"Yep" The two of them hurry out of the lab to help in whatever way they can.

........

Fury walks through the halls, avoiding rushing agents as he heads towards the bridge.

"Hill?" He asks into his earpiece for a status report here. He needs to know what's going on with his ship.

....

On the bridge, emergency alarms are going off, fire extinguishers activate near surrounding fires and every agent is in a spinning scramble for their positions and armaments. Agent Hill keeps the bridge as calm as possible.

"Turn up that engine! Number 3 engine is down! Can we get a run in?" She then moves over to an agent at his computer. "Talk to me" He points at his computer monitor.

"Turbine's loose. Mostly intact, but it's impossible to get out there and make repairs while we're in the air"

"We lose one more engine, we won't be. Somebody's got to get inside and patch that engine" Hill orders.

...........

Fury passes by the wrecked lab and peers inside, but there is no one left in there. None of his recruits have stood still, they have all run straight into battle mode. Just as he wanted. All but one. One he cannot trust.

"Stark! You copy that?!" He asks as he moves on.

"I'm on it" Tony answers back.

"Coulson! Initiate official lockdown in the detention section then get to the armoury! Move out!"

............

Agent Coulson runs out of the bridge, a number of Shield agents following after him as they make their way towards the armoury.

..........

Astoria is shoved into a room, followed by five armed Shield agents, the door is shut behind her and then locked. She huffs a little and folds her arms over her chest. Fury has done this for two reasons. One, he doesn't like how she works. Two, she has the sceptre. That doesn't mean she likes it at all. She glares at the armed agents before shifting on her feet. She could probably take them.

"Don't even think about it" One of the agents warns, his fingers inching towards his gun.

"Why? What are you going to do?" She mocks back at him.

"We've been authorised to use force if need be" He counters, she smirks at him and then bites her lip.

"Hmmm promises promises" She coos, her eyes then lighting up as she holds her hands at her side. She knows she can take them. There are only five of them. She's been in worse odds and won.