Eagle (A Loki love story)

Chapter 87

It couldn't have been more than twenty minutes before the truck slowed to a stop and the back of the truck open, revealing several fully armed agents.

"Get her out." The cage opened and I instantly had four guns pointed in my face. Not that I could do anything to fight back, I was totally immobilized. We were at what looked like a private airstrip, there was a very expensive looking jet on the runway. I was led over to the plane and taken into the cargo bay, again with a cage and no windows. This cage was a bit nicer, there was a smaller-than-twin bed for me to sleep on. There was also a small metal toilet and a single glass of water. It seemed Strucker actually wanted me alive. Surprising, considering how long I'd managed he evade him. But I wasn't thirsty. I had yet to process Rose's betrayal and Bucky's reappearance. When I first met Rose at SHIELD, I hadn't given her a second thought. I had instantly trusted her to look after Emily, who was now a SHIELD agent. Or was she? Her first friend at SHIELD, aside from me, was Rose, a dedicated HYDRA agent! I thought back to her short relationship with Steve. He hadn't really given a straight-up reason for not being together with her anymore and I hadn't thought anything of it. Of course, the way he talked about certain things, I had my suspicions, but he'd had no proof that Bucky was alive until today!

Bucky Barnes. The only things I knew about him came from stories Steve had told me. No, that wasn't true! He was the Winter Soldier! I shifted my right wing as best I could, the strained ligaments and tendons screaming in protest. He had hurt me so many times! But how much of that had really been him? He didn't seem to know who he was, aside from an assassin, that is. He hadn't recognized Steve, who hadn't changed at all since he last saw him and yet Steve recognized him as soon as he saw his face, even with the longer hair. If only I could have been so lucky. If only Loki had somehow survived, he would've been able to help us with this, he would've been able to transport us all out of there before we were captured. Then I considered something else. Yes, Bucky was alive, but he didn't know who he was and he was only just out of Steve's reach. If that were Loki, it would be pure torture for me. But at least he would be alive. The plane's engines roared to life and I could feel the aircraft start to pick up speed rapidly. We were taking off, but to where? I thought hard about what Rose had said. She'd said Sokovia. Wasn't that somewhere in eastern Europe? I could only hope that Steve or Nat or Sam had caught it too, and that when they escaped, they'd come to Sokovia and rescue me.

I looked down at my hand and twirled my interlocked rings. I couldn't let them be taken from me upon arrival. I just couldn't, they were my last and only reminder of Loki. So, I cast a small spell to make them shrink just a bit, so they wouldn't come off without amputating my finger. I guess, now it was a good thing I wasn't pregnant, God knows what he would've done to the baby!

Strucker would probably have hell and more in store for me when we reached Sokovia, so I laid down on the 'bed' and tried to steal some precious moments of undisturbed sleep, with the lull of the plane luring me quickly into a dreamless darkness.

Steve's POV

I couldn't be more relieved that Agent Hill saved us from death and unmarked burial, but I could not have been more furious when she informed us that nobody had gone after Mira.

"She's being taken to Sokovia, to someone called Strucker, and you don't think she's worth going after!?"

"It was one of her or three of you. Besides," Hill sighed, "Strucker won't kill her. He is her creator. He headed the genetics division and put her together gene by gene. Given how advanced and sophisticated she is now, along with his scientific mind, he won't kill her."

"Then what will he do?"

"I don't know. But we have more pressing matters to worry about."