Guardian

Chapter 39

(Liv's POV):
I felt Loki tense up immediately as the man spoke my full name, grabbing my hand in a protective nature. The sounds of shuffling around my informed me that this agent was not alone, I would guess that there were about eight surrounding us from all sides. Too many to fight on my own, but perhaps with Loki by my side we could win.

We had made it to a less congested area of the city, but that did not mean that we were alone. No, if I were to use my powers here, I would out myself to more people than I felt comfortable with. Then again, it did not seem like I would have much of a choice. Best case scenario, rumors of a winged woman traveled throughout social media for a few days then finally died out when interest faded.

"You don't need to be so defensive, Liv. You knew this day was coming, Dr. Whitehall isn't done with you yet."

My eyes widened at the name, remembering the tests he had done on me to try to figure out my powers. But I covered my fear as I replied, "so you're HYDRA, then? I have to admit, I was wondering how long it would take before you finally found me again."

"You're decent at hiding, we almost caught you in Argentina, but you slipped out of the country before we found you. But now you're back with us, where you belong."

"She is not going anywhere with you," Loki growled, glaring at the man speaking.

"And what is this? You've got yourself a guard dog? Does your boyfriend know what you are? Because if he did, I doubt he would want to protect you."

"I know who she is, you insolent mortal, and if you lay a hand on her you will regret it for the rest of your life," Loki cut in before I had a chance to say anything. His body shimmered green as his disguise faded away and his Asgardian armor took its place. A dagger sat at the ready in his hand and I watched as surprise flickered over the HYDRA agent's face.

But that surprise merged into a smirk as the man spoke, "well, I don't know how you managed to find Loki, Liv. But I'm sure Dr. Whitehall will be glad that you did, he's never been able to work on a god before."

Everything happened so fast. I think Loki acted first, throwing his dagger into the neck of the man who was speaking, but it seemed that everyone began to fire their weapons in one explosive moment. I didn't want to use my powers when there were citizens around, but I couldn't rely on Loki to kill every agent and not get hurt, especially since he wielded knives while everyone else had fire arms.

So I conjured my magic in a ball of white energy and began to attack those around me. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a suit of red and gold land nearby and I groaned in realization that the Avengers must of found us.

The tug on my mind that warned me that the one I protected was in danger arose again and I acted off of instincts, forcing Loki into a crouched position while I wrapped my wings around him. I bit my lip as I tried to suppress cries of pain as bullets made contact. All that mattered to me was the Loki was safe in the cocoon I had made, staring up at me with wide eyes.

I gave him a reassuring smile, despite the pain, then ordered, "grab hold of me tightly."

He did as I told him, wrapping his arms around me as I did the same to him, taking off as soon as the bullets stopped. My wings screamed in pain, but they lifted us off of the ground and shot us towards the sky, leaving behind the collected of HYDRA agents and Avengers that had cornered the two of us. Loki grasped me tighter as soon as we were in the air and I knew he realized that if his grip slackened he could fall to his death.

The sounds of the Iron Man suit alerted me to fact that we were being followed, eliciting some choice words from my lips. I glanced behind me and found Stark with one of his repulsers pointed towards us. Before he had a chance to fire at me or even threaten it, I hurled a ball of magic into his suit, hitting him in the stomach. I knew it would only disable the suit temporarily, but it allowed me to get away and lose him. Just to be safe, I also dropped my phone, making it impossible to track me.

Loki aided my affords by making three clones of us and put sent them in different directions to throw Stark off. Luckily, Stark fell for one of the clones and Loki and I were left in peace. Well, if you called flying over the Atlantic Ocean peaceful, knowing that there was just miles after miles of water so you have to stay in the air no matter what happened and also having the added risk of keep a lookout for airplanes so that you did not get hit or spotted by the passengers.

We were flying for hours and I was freezing, not to mention my wings were now sore in addition to the stabbing pain of the bullet wounds. But I kept going, knowing that it wasn't just my life at risk. I had to get Loki to safety, no matter how exhausted and numb I was.

We drew closer to the Alps and I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that the mountains would provide us a safe place to lay low until we figured out our new identities and where to settle down. I flew Loki to a spot I had lived in before: a small cavern situated between two peaks which effectively concealed the cavern from prying eyes.

I knew that people enjoyed hiking mountains more now than they did in the 1200s, but I hoped that it would provide us shelter for at least a few days. To my relief, the cavern was still there and I saw no indication of human life, which meant that it was likely a safe place considering humans liked to litter while hiking.

The landing was rough, I stumbled onto the ground, releasing Loki, who walked out of the embrace gracefully. I, on the other hand, fell to my knees, using my hands to brace my fall. My body was shaking, although I was unsure if it was from exhaustion or the cold, and dark spots clouded my vision, informing me that I had pushed myself too far.

I heard Loki gasp, although the sound was distant, and as I turned to him to inquire what was wrong, my vision went black.

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(A/N): Well they've gotten themselves into a spot of trouble, haven't they? I hope you enjoyed this chapter!