Wife of Mischief (part 1 of the WoM series)

Chapter 3

About half an hour later we were high up in the air and invisible to anyone on the water thanks to a cloaking device Tony had made. Taking advantage of the free time I had before my interrogation with Loki I wandered around the large aircraft. There was so much to explore! Unfortunately a lot of it was off limits for me, so I was limited to only a few rooms and halls. None of them were very interesting, considering all of the dangerous equipment was blocked off, so I just sat in Dr. Banner's lab tinkering with some of the harmless and/or useless equipment he let me use and finding out more about him. I asked simple, easy, non personal stuff like his favorite food, hobbies, closest friends, just stuff to break the ice. He answered all of them absentmindedly, since he was working on how to find a glowing blue cube called the tesseract.
That is, until I asked about why he felt that putting him on here was such a bad idea. He froze and turned around to face me. I sat up straighter in my chair, accidentally knocking over my little creation. "Dr. Banner, is something wrong?"
"The answer to the question you asked is extremely personal, please don't mention it again."
"Yes sir."
He was still tense when he turned around and continued working, and remained so until a group of heavily armed soldiers walked by the windows of the lab. Dr. Banner and I turned our attention to the group, looking for what they were guarding, or who. Loki. My first subject was making his way down the hall surrounded by about ten heavily armed soldiers and staring intently into the room. We made eye contact and he grinned. It seemed a little less evil this time. Until he saw Dr. Banner. His grin only grew and became pure evil. Dr. Banner took off his glasses and stared after him, pinching the bridge of his nose after he walked away.
"You okay Doc?"
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine."
A few minutes later he was called to a meeting with Captain Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, Tony Stark, and Loki's brother, Thor. I was invited to come as well, seeing as that I could likely benefit from seeing video surveillance of the god of mischief and Director Fury's interaction. It was interesting to say the least! Loki had been locked in a large, cylindrical container held up by large clamps attached to the ceiling.
"In case it's unclear," Director Fury said, adjusting the settings of the container's security on a computer, "if you try to escape, if you so much as scratch that glass," the floor beneath the large cage opened up and Loki looked over into the opening through the glass walls warily. I leaned forward in my seat, eyes wide and mouth agape. There was no way even a god like Loki could survive a fall from this height!
"It's 30,000 feet straight down in a steel trap," Director Fury yelled over the wind. "You get how that works?" He pushed a few buttons on the computer panel again and the hole closed up. Then he gestured to Loki, "Ant," he gestured to the computer panel, "boot."
Loki snickered and backed away from the walls and into the center of the cage. "It's an impressive cage!" he said, "Not built, I think, for me."
"Built for something much stronger than you."
What could be stronger than a god? I would have to ask Director Fury who, or what the cage was originally made for.
"Oh I've heard!" Loki turned and stared directly into the security camera we were watching him through. As I watched him, it almost felt as if we had made eye contact! I knew it wasn't possible, there was no way he could see me or anyone else in the room, but the feeling still sent shivers down my spine. "A mindless beast, makes play he's still a man!"
I noticed Natasha look up at Dr. Banner, who was shifting uncomfortably. Loki continued, looking at Fury now. "How desperate are you, that you call on such lost creatures to defend you?"
"How desperate am I?" Fury interjected. "You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control! You talk about peace and you kill because it's fun. You have made me VERY desperate. You might not be glad that you did!"
"Oh. It burns you to have come so close! To have the tesseract, to have power, unlimited power! And for what?" Loki snickered and looked at the camera again. I could feel shivers go down my spine once again as it felt as if his blue eyes bore into mine and anyone else watching.
"A warm light for all mankind to share. And then to be reminded what real power is." His attention was back on Fury and I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. Director Fury smirked and began walking away. "Well let me know if 'real power' wants a magazine or something," he said as he walked out of the room. The video surveillance turned off and we were left to discuss the best course of action on how to deal with the god and find the tesseract at the same time.
"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Dr. Banner chuckled sarcastically.
"He really does," I returned with the same tone, "I'm gonna head down to see our friend, I have some questions to ask him." I turned and began walking out of the room. As I did, I passed Mr. Stark and Agent Coulson on their way to the meeting. "A bit late aren't you?" I chuckled.
"Yeah well, I had some business to do. Did they already watch Reindeer Games and Fury have a friendly chat?"
"Yep, you really missed out on some fun stuff!"
"Damn, I was really hoping to see that discussion! Hey where are you going anyway?"
"I'm only way to have a friendly chat of my own with our friend!"
"Ah, tell him I said hi for me!"
"I will be sure to do that boss! Have a good day Agent Coulson."
"You too (l/n)," the middle aged man replied with a smile.
I smiled and agreed to do so. As I made my way down the hall I heard Stark begin his shenanigans as he called out one of the employees for playing Galaga. I laughed, knowing that the others wouldn't find him as funny as I did. However I couldn't act so light hearted for too long, there was no way I'd be able to successfully interrogate Loki while acting like a giddy child. He'd find me weak and instead of giving me answers he would likely play brain games with me, and likely use the incident in Stuttgart as a breaking point. As I walked I looked over the file SHIELD had made of him. My eyes scanned it quickly and got to his kill count; eighty people in just two days! What exactly happened before his attack in Stuttgart?! I guess I'd find out.
The hall to his cell was filled to the brim with armed guards, all stoic faced and stiff. I shivered at the unwelcoming feeling. Before I got to the door, two of them stepped in my way and asked- well, demanded- for my ID, which I happily revealed. They waved me on and before I opened the door I heard one say, "Good luck." I shivered again, the normally kind gesture now unsettling. I knew that I would physically be fine, but mentally? That was a whole other problem to worry about.
Loki was where we had last seen him, standing in the middle of the container. His back was facing me however. I sat down on the ground and made myself aware of all the cameras in the room. If something happened to me, surely someone would know and come to my rescue. As I finished counting all the cameras, I heard Loki laugh.
"Even if someone saw something happen to you, do you really think they would be able to get to you in time?" I jumped at the sudden sound of his cold voice. "No, but at least there'd be an attempt, successful or not," I replied. He only sneered at me. "You foolish child."
I ignored him and began asking the questions I had to. He answered all of them in riddles, so after a few questions I gave up trying to decipher them and just wrote his answers down instead. I'd figure them out later.
"You grow aggravated!" he smiled.
"Yeah, you keep answering my questions in riddles!"
"Hm yes I suppose you're right!"
I rolled my eyes and massaged my temples, groaning. He was giving me a headache. "Are you dying? You certainly sound like you are," he asked sarcastically.
"Hopefully," I responded, "You, sir, are giving me the worst headache in history!"
"I do apologize."
A few seconds later it was gone! "Ah finally! It's gone."
"You're welcome."
"What?"
"I helped get rid of your headache."
I blinked. He what now? Why? "Why exactly? You tried to kill me the other day, why are you suddenly being nice to me?"
"I tried to kill you? I'm afraid I don't remember trying to kill a girl like you," he replied, avoiding my question.
"I- how do you not remember?"
"I have killed- or attempted to kill- lots of midguardians! Which one were you?"
I sighed, of course he didn't remember. "I was the woman you nearly shot in Stuttgart. I stood up to you? With the old man?" A smile spread across his face as he recalled our little interaction.
"Ah yes! That's the first time anyone had ever stood up to me. I must say I admire you! I'm glad I didn't kill you, that would be quite a disappointment."
"And he doesn't even apologize. You're insufferable!" I groaned. He snickered in response. I could feel another headache coming on but it was quickly whisked away by something I could only imagine was Loki.
"You're different," I heard him say after a few minutes. His tone of voice had changed. It was no longer arrogant and mischievous, it was more curious now. I looked up at him, one eyebrow raised in confusion. He was sitting cross legged on the floor of his cage, his chin propped up on his hands. "How am I different exactly?" I asked sarcastically, expecting another riddle.
"I can't look into your mind! There's something blocking me. And what I can see are just a few memories, but they aren't that useful for me."
I hummed, knowing that he would likely try to find something to fuck me up with. "I've had to put up blocks before, I haven't had to in a while, but I have done it before."
"Oh? Do tell."
I bristled. "That's none of your business."
"What of a boy named (b/f/n)? He's in quite a few of the memories I could get to."
"He's a good friend of mine. If you ever do get out of here, and I find out that you've harmed him in any way, I will kill you."
Loki nodded and said, "That's fair."

He watched me write down my notes, and I occasionally grumbled in frustration when I couldn't decipher one of his riddles.

"I'm sorry," he said after a few minutes. I looked up at him in confusion.

"For? There are many reasons, please be specific."

"Trying to kill you, giving you a headache, invading your privacy, etc."

"Oh," I said, although now I was even more confused. What made him apologize? "You're forgiven I guess?"

He smiled and continued watching me. "Okay, what do you want?" I said, very frustrated. "You don't seem like the type to apologize, or even be nice. Why the sudden change? Why me?"

"Like I said, you're different."

"You're going to have to give me a better reason than that."

His face became dark and angry, and he said, "I don't need to explain myself any more than that."

"You kind of do, actually."

"You midguardians and your need to know everything. You're so insufferable!"

"Says the guy who killed eighty people in two days!"

"As if your kind doesn't do that to each other daily."

He got me there. I sighed in frustration and went back to my notes and riddles. How could one man cause me so much anger and frustration?! I swore I felt another headache coming on, but once again, it never fully came. We sat in silence for a while, neither of us speaking or looking at each other. Every time a headache started developing though, they disappeared!

"You don't have to keep doing that you know," I said after I had calmed down.

"I know, but I thought I might do something nice since I nearly killed you."

"Thanks. Sorry for exploding on you by the way."

"No worries, it was my fault."

I hummed in response, but Loki clearly wasn't done talking. "Do you want help with my answers? It's the least I can do."

"Promise not to rummage through my brain?"

"Promise."

I smiled, grabbed a chair standing by the door, and dragged it over to the wall of his cell. "Okay, first one," I said, then began reciting his riddle. He gave me the answer and I wrote it down quickly before moving onto the second one. We did this until I had finished all of the questions, and I thanked him for helping me. We talked for a few more minutes, even laughed a bit at a few of his answers once he had helped me decipher them, until a guard came in to tell me that I was needed elsewhere. Loki had stopped smiling as soon as the tall man came in, regaining his composure before the guard could see him with any other expression other than arrogance and evil. However I could see the playfulness still evident in his blue eyes.
"I'll be back tomorrow Loki," I said, still grinning.
"I look forward to it," he replied coolly, with a little hint of a smile.

I turned to go but he stopped me, "Wait, I never did catch your name!"

"My name is (y/n) (l/n)."

He smiled again, and I waved before closing the heavy duty door behind me.