The Myriad Misadventures of a Midgardian Queen-In-Training || Loki x Reader

Chapter 23

You take off sprinting before he has a chance to stop you.

The air grows warmer the closer you get. The kitchen is filled with smoke - no, steam - making it almost impossible to see. You follow the sound of Meg's screams, and the hissing-growling noise, and the clanging of pots hitting the floor. Nope, that last bit was me. Oops.

You stop moving altogether when you realize the voices have fallen silent.

Suddenly, you recall what Loki said earlier - "Chitauri have incredible powers of hearing..." Greeeeaaaat. You walk more gingerly, swallowing back a gasp of pain when you step on a piece of shattered plate. Gripping the nearest countertop - from what you remember, the kitchen is massive, with rows and rows of island-style counters, and sinks, stoves, and lining the walls. your hand grips the handle of some utensil - a knife, you assume. You hold it out in front of you as you tiptoe around the island.

I'm coming, Meg.

Another scream rings out. You keep pressing forward, ignoring the pain in your foot, and the next step you take reveals the floor to be covered into a thin layer of water. The sinks must be on . Now each step is accompanied by a slight squishing sound. You slow down to compensate.

The steam grows thicker, but through the fog, you see a dark figure, enclosed in some kind of scaly armor and definitely taller than you. You bend to the floor and begin to crawl, ending up in the same aisle, a few yards behind it.

A short distance away, Meg is on the ground. Down here, the steam is less thick, and from what you can see, there is a smear of blood on her face - please don't let that be a cut - and her foot is bend at a horribly unnatural angle, and you are going to make this bastard regret the day he was born.

"Hey!"

Meg's eyes widen as she sees you, standing and brandishing what you had originally thought was a knife, but can now see is actually a fork. Your heart sinks. The Chitauri snarls. He hisses something that you don't underst - actually, it sounds a lot like English.

"Silly human girl. Have you come to join your friend?"

Apparently the language spell extends to other species, as well. Good to know. But rather than engage in not-so-witty banter, you begin to realize that he has very few, if any, weak spots in his armor/skin/whatever, and his claws are really, really long, and when he smiles and starts to lumber towards you, all you can think is my, what sharp teeth you have.

You are truly, royally screwed.

Your first line of defense: speak? "I - let's talk about this," you blurt out. "Do you really want to be eating all that raw meat? Salmonella, and all that?" His teeth and claws are just as menacing as before, but he at least has the decency to look confused, and you keep at it, taking minuscule steps backwards and trying to pretend that the hand with the fork in it isn't shaking. "And besides, why eat people when you can have pancakes? We're in a kitchen . Hell, the pantry is right around the corner, if you're looking for a quick snack."

You don't want to die like this.

There is so much waiting for you at home. Mom and Dad. Erik and Carlie. Even Annabel Wilkes, and every other person in that goddamned school who ever gave you hell. Chocolate. Clean laundry. The little pizzeria around the corner you and your friends would go to after every final exam. So, so many little things you were banking on getting back when you finally got out of this castle.

And new things, too. You want to finish school. You want to go to college, and live and learn, and - and meet people. New people, old people, travelling all over the world; there is so much you want to stay and see and do. So many more mornings you want to live to see. You didn't even make it to seventeen.

You could run.

But you can't leave Meg.

So you keep babbling. But you're running out of things to say, and space to back up into. The creature smiles again, and you do the only thing you can do.

You charge directly at him.

He seems surprised, but adjusts quickly. You duck under the claws he swings at you, grabbing onto his arm for balance and stabbing the fork into a chink in the armor where his neck meets his shoulder. He roars in pain, and you immediately run past, yanking the fork back out.

You run - well, slide - to Meg. "Come on!" Her foot is twisted something bad, and it's all you can do help her stand. "Can you try to move?"

The Chitauri is coming back towards you - only now, he's angry. In his haste, he slips on the slick floor and falls, buying you a precious few seconds of extra time. You grab a silver rolling cart and jam it into the space between you and Meg, cutting her off from the fight.

"(Y/N)!"

His voice sends a wave of relief crashing over you. "Loki!" You don't look back, eyes fixed on the creature that's now struggling to stand. "Take Meg somewhere safe!"

"Lady (Y/N) - "

"Meg, go with him." You hear her start to protest once again, and you raise your voice, your tone steelier than before. "That's an order ."

The flash of green light highlights your shadow on the floor for just a moment, and you sigh, relieved that they're safe. You, on the other hand, are still very much here, with an angry, people-hungry alien charging at you. His anger jumbles his words as he continues to hiss, but you make out some obscenities, and you get the general jist of what he's saying:

"You will pay for this ."

With Meg gone, you can stop worrying about her survival and focus on yours. You squeeze down through the space between the shelves of the silver cart, coming out on the other side, and look frantically for anything else you can use as a weapon, anything you can use to trap him.

As you do, though, you hear another, lower-pitched hiss from behind you.

The new Chitauri come down the other side of the aisle, mirroring the first, and their ugly faces break out into twin sneers. You scramble for an escape, but the island-counter is too high and the floor is too slippery and the steam is too thick and you fall, hitting your head and scraping your arm - badly - on your way down. When you open your eyes again, you're all two aware of the fact that the splashing sound on either side of you of claw stepping through water is growing closer.

You've been cornered.