Flawed Minds

Chapter Twenty Eight

Nova's P.O.V

As I stared into those familiar black soulless eyes, I realized that I couldn't pinpoint a time where I felt more angry than I was at that moment. It was the type of anger that made your blood run hot through your veins, that makes your heart race and produces the deep urge to wipe the object of your hatred off the face of the earth. And when you actually have the power to do that and more, alongside the voice of a mischievous God whispering in your ear telling you to do it, the temptation is almost unbearable. But instead I took a deep breath and focused on the Winter Soldier as he stood frozen still in my grasp, staring daggers at me the whole time as I began working on untangling his mind from the control of Hydra to get my Bucky back. I discovered that doing this was not unlike carefully untangling a huge knot in multiple pieces of thread- Fiddly, but doable. During all of this I hadn't taken my eyes off of Ekelhaft even once, hovering between him and my friends because I'd be damned if I was going to let him lay a finger on them now.

"How dare you," I spoke again, this time with more control over my voice and emotions. "You have no right to try to destroy my friends- my FAMILY, when it is me you wanted all along!"

"They were a means to an end," He spat, fear evident in his face as his lips curled into a sneer. "The soldier turning up was just an extra surprise, another perfect opportunity for me to use someone you care for to get to you." I shuddered in pure disgust, the only thing stopping me from squashing him flat right then and there was the fact that my whole team was watching me. With the exception of the Hulk, who was angrily searching for more enemies in the forest as he knocked over trees left and right, every one of them had frozen still in that moment, almost as though nobody dared move in case I might turn my wrath upon them, but I wouldn't dream of it. I could feel their shock and their fear, and it hurt to know I was the cause of it.

"You are nasty, I hate that you even exist." I hissed, trying to ignore the hurt and focus on how furious I was that he used my team just to try to torture me further. As though he hadn't tortured me enough.

"You're right," He grinned unsettlingly, suddenly surrounding himself with orange flames that reflected horribly in his round glasses, raising his arms as though he were no longer afraid. "And this is all thanks to you my dear, everyone I have hurt, everyone I have killed- especially in that burnt up little village just East of here- you'll never be able to escape the fact that all of this is entirely your fault!" I felt a pain in my chest as he spoke those words, feeling nauseous because they were undoubtedly true, anything horrible that has happened to the team since I entered their lives is all down to me. The lives lost in that unsuspecting village as it burned, my fault. I had to take a few deep breaths to steady my trembling before I could speak again.

"You are a disgusting excuse for a human being." I tried to force my voice to stay even, but I most definitely betrayed the hurt that I was feeling because he laughed maniacally at my words, almost ripping at the lightning shaped scars on his neck with his fingernails as though he were trying to remove them for a moment.

"I am no human- what I can do makes me a god!" He yelled almost gleefully. It suddenly became very evident that Loki was not happy with that last sentence- At all. In my brief moment of shock he took control of my body, making me aim the largest ball of energy I had ever created at Ekelhaft, firing it at him with no remorse and only regaining control of my body when I saw him crumpled on the floor. I cursed at Loki in my mind, and all I got in return was an angry whisper of 'He is no god, how dare he disrespect us this way.'.

"That actually wasn't me, believe it or not," I called out to Ekelhaft while he lay still for a moment, as though winded; I tried to keep my legs from shaking as I finally touched the ground and took a few steps toward him. "But Loki is not fond of you at all, that's for sure."