Monsters and Magic

Chapter 16

Right as you made it outside, your heart would have skipped a beat, had it actually done the thing with the beating. The entire team was landing on the ground in front of you, either by parachutes or under their own power. One lone figure appeared in front of the others, materialzing in a shimmer of green magic.

You dropped Bucky's hand and ran straight to Loki.

"Soldier! Stop her!" A voice yelled from behind you. Bucky turned, raised the gun he had acquired on the way out of the building and began shooting at the Hydra agents instead of stopping you. They tried to give him more orders, but he was blatantly ignoring them now.

You saw Bucky and Steve share a mid-battle head nod of a greeting. Their proper reunion would come after the battle was over.

The moment before your arms wrapped around Loki's neck, even as the rest of the team was surging forward to fight the Hydra agents, the obedience disk in your neck went off. You shrieked in pain and dropped to the ground, shaking uncontrollably when the device wouldn't stop. Loki was there, kneeling next to you, holding you and cradling your head in his lap, soothing you while he growled in helpless rage. He couldn't stop the device or get it out of your neck.

"Loki, the guy in the suit!" Bucky called, gesturing with his gun to a man holding up a remote. Loki roared in rage and grief at your pain. A clone of him appeared directly in front of the guy in the suit, killed him viciously and violently, and picked up the remote. A moment later, the obedience disk fell from your neck. Bucky stared, shook his head, mumured something about being crazy, and going back to his job of shooting things.

You finally relaxed and started actually breathing again. "There now, you're safe now, sweetheart. It's almost over," Loki told you softly, warmly. He stood, lifting you in his arms as he did. He turned to look for someone, but Thor, his usual goto, was already in the middle of battle. "Bucky!" He called. Bucky retreated to your position. He dropped his gun as Loki passed you into his arms. "Keep her safe for me. I have a promise to keep to my lady," Bucky nodded once, though the didn't undestand Loki's words. Loki kissed your forehead.

"Loki, no, you can't-" you protested, reaching an arm out for him. He couldn't just kill an entire compound full of people.

"They hurt you, my love. I promise, I very much can and I very much will make them all pay for hurting what is mine. Relax, darling. You're safe now, and they will never hurt you or anyone else again," you squirmed to get out of Bucky's arms, but he was huge and just as strong as you, so he held you firmly in his arms. "Keep her safe, army-man," Loki told Bucky and disappeared into the fray. He didn't have a good nickname for Bucky yet, but even the term army-man instead of Bucky's name was enough of a nickname to tell Bucky just how much Loki trusted him with your safety.

"Your boyfriend is terrifying," Bucky informed you as he watched the carnage of an engraged Loki. You watched in shock as Loki made his way through the mortals, slaughtering the ones who had hurt you. He was viscious and violent brutally slaughtering them with daggers, mostly daggers, but a little magic as well. You had no idea how he knew who had harmed you and who were innocent, but you could see even from where you were that it was only the guilty who were being slaughtered.

"Yeah, well, he's a god," you replied dryly. Sometimes humor was the only coping mechanism anyone had. "You can put me down," you added dryly when Bucky hadn't set you back on your feet.

"No way in hell I'm risking pissing off that boyfriend of yours," he reminded you as he stared in shocked horror at the dying Hyrda agents. "Steve's gonna be pissed. He hates killing as punishment. Though in this case, even he might turn a blind eye. He doesn't like bullies or people harming the innocent,"