Instincts (A Loki Fanfic)

Chapter Twenty Four

(Avengers' Pov)

"So, who's going to tell her?"

"Not it." A chorus of voices erupted, just days after the mall incident. The Avengers- sub Kit, the Asgardians, and Natasha- sat around the couches in the common room, contemplating the best way to go about this.

"She probably already knows." Bruce said to the others.

"You better hope she doesn't know." Clint replied in feigned laughter. "We'd be dead by now if she did."

"So... what? We can't just not tell her. Can we?"

"She'd figure it out on her own eventually." Steve answered Bruce, "Then we'd get our asses kicked twice for lying."

"Language." Tony snapped, although any sternness in his voice had been toned with nerves and small fear. "But you have a point."

"What if Jarvis tells her?"

"Please do not bring me into this matter, Mr. Barton." Jarvis's voice sounded, annoyed and yet still so calm. This brought a few laughs out of the Avengers, although not nearly enough to overcome the anxiety grasping every one of them.

"What if we prolonged her mission? Maybe that might buy us more time to-"

"Buy you more time for what?" A voice snapped from the elevator, as the familiar redhead waltzed in. Natasha Romanoff. The only one that truly scared everyone that ever existed. Of course they hadn't heard her come in- it's what she was trained for.

Bruce laughed quietly, glancing between Tony and Steve. "Oh, you guys are so screwed now."

*

"What!" Natasha shouted, shaking the very tower. "How could you let her get hurt? How could you let her hurt someone? Honestly, Steve, Stark- you should know better than this."

"It's not like we wanted it to happen-" Tony said, while avoiding looking her glare in the eye, "but we were ambushed, Natasha! They bypassed my tech, distracting us to get to Kit."

"You didn't think they were the least suspicious?"

"There were fans approaching us all day. We didn't-"

She interrupted Steve with a sigh, an eerie silence settling on them when a small smile crawled across her face. But not a happy smile, a 'I just realised something that's going to punish you worse than I ever could' smile.

It seemed Clint was the first to notice the meaning behind her emotion, spotting her while perched on one of the kitchen stools. "What is it?"

"Loki is coming back in two days." The moment the words left her mouth, their faces dropped. Loki, as in the demi-god who's taken a liking to Kit, and who the last time she was under the weather nearly lost his sh- "So might I suggest you figure out a way to convince Kit to at least turn back by then?"

"You've got to help us." Tony instantly budded in before she could even finish her sentence.

The following silence was terrifying.

"Please, Nat." Steve continued to plead, most likely realising an angry Loki would not only be bad for them and possibly the other Avengers, but also perhaps Shield and even the city.

Natasha looked between them. "Fine. But I own you now."

"That's fine." Tony smirked suggestively, receiving sighs and numerous eye rolls from among them.

"So, does Thor have email?"

*

(Kit's Pov)

Days passed since that day at the mall, and ever since she awoke in her room, Kit's refused to leave. Occasionally one of the others would visit her, perhaps trying to convince her of some reason what she did was alright. Turns out she hadn't actually killed the man, despite the proof otherwise. If Stark hadn't iced up his wounds the moment he could, the agent would've died. She really would've killed.

But the fact still stood that she hurt him. Terribly, and near fatally. Kit was a monster hiding behind mismatched eyes. Within a small animal that should've been adorable- that was innocent until she-

Until the incident.

What was she thinking? Surely just protecting herself- but she should have been more aware of her actions. To not become so caught up in the fight, in attacking her opponent to forget. She should've kept her claws to herself. Kit knew her larger form was capable of more damage- a much higher chance of death.

Which is partially why she stayed in her smallest feline form now, even while the others tried to coerce or convince her to switch into her human form again. But if she was human they could hurt her much more easily- and she really had no defenses. Keeping to her house-cat form ensured she could both keep herself safe, and be able to keep herself in check.

"Kit?" A newer voice called, as Kit perked her ears up to the visitor. And quickly spotting the familiar kind eyes and smile belonging to one of her friends.

Natasha.

A familiar and happy meow escaped her, celebrating Nat's return from her mission before she even thought about the real reason for this visit. Of all the reasons Natasha might be coming to see her, all the reasons pertaining to Hydra, or imprisonment, or just punishment of any sort.

Because she hurt someone. Whether it was in defense or not- he nearly died.

And that was not okay. If that had happened at Hydra- they would accept it morally, but punish her for hurting one of their own. One of her handlers.

But isn't moral supposed to be more important than that?

Natasha sat on the edge of her bed, just within arms reach of her. Kit eyed her wearily, judging her true intentions.

"Are you doing okay?" She asked, looking genuinely concerned. "I know it's been a few days, and you're still in cat form. But please know that we only want to help you, Kit. We've all been through this before." Kit tried to understand the meaning behind her words, more than just the face value. To really accept that they wanted to help- that they'd been through the same thing. But at the same time, it didn't help the self-deprecating thoughts. Despite being able to understand her words, they still felt empty. "We just want to make sure you'll be alright."

Natasha reached to pet the spot between Kit's ears, although the action caught her off-guard. Kit flinched her head back out of her reach, perhaps just out of instincts from the years of conditioning at Hydra. This incident brought so many memories back- it was becoming difficult to ignore the similarities of both places. Both the tower and Hydra were so accustomed with the notion of hurt, pain, and death- it was terrible.

"I'm sorry, Kit. Really." Natasha smiled sadly, bringing Kit back from her rampant thoughts. "I hope you can find a way through this. It's not your fault."

Despite Natasha's kind words, Kit still felt otherwise.

She had hurt him.

So it was her fault.