(ALSO! WARNINGS; Blood)
Pic comments (the pic = JEWNSJWNAMNWNS + the video has great transitions!)
(A/N! BTW don't get mad at Yelena in this chapter PLEASE, she's not 'Black Widow' Yelena. By this point, she's honestly closer to Hawkeye Yelena since Natasha's also there, and being an assassin, she can assume that Cassidy (Most likely) did something to her sibling seeing as Natasha is also part of the Red Room and also should trust people as easily as she does.)
(Smiles in WAY too many little notes here)
(ARCANE REFERENCE WITH THE TITLE? MAYHAPS)
(Also, this chapter MAY have been a bit overkill, but hey- what can I see except THANK YOU GUYS FOR 4+5+6+7K READS?!)
(Also, just putting this here, if you see any chapters that say 'loading' or that end abruptly, pls tell me since I have all the chapters saved on google docs, so I'm asking you guys to tell me if Wattpad deletes and bits of my story just in case.)
(Also, minor, super tiny Where Mischief Lies spoilers)
(EDIT: My friend told me that for every new piece of dialogue, it should be in a new paragraph, so I will be doing this in this and the next following chapters will be written as such.)
(ᴏᴋ ᴡᴏᴡ, ᴡᴇ ɢᴇᴛ ɪᴛ, ʏᴏᴜ ᴄᴀɴ sʜᴜᴛ ᴜᴘ ɴᴏᴡ, ᴛɪssᴜᴇ)
It was a crash that alerted them to the situation upstairs, nothing unusual for the day, but still interesting.
"Did you guys hear that?" Tony asked, turning his head upwards from the couch he was laying on to face the general direction of the room in which they had left the kids, plus Thor.
"I did," Natasha said, not letting Yelena leave her gaze for a moment. Yelena herself, on the other hand, was admiring a small trinket on a nearby table.
"I did too. Should we go check on Thor and the kiddoes though, is the question?" Tony asked, scanning everyone's face for a response.
"I guess we could... " Steve mumbled.
"Well I, on the other hand, think we should," Natasha said.
"That girl, she is very... unpredictable," Yelena added, her Russian accent so thick almost no one understood what she was saying except Natasha.
"What do you mean? She seems like a pretty nice kid." Bruce mumbled.
"Yeah, I don't think there's anything unpredictable per se about her... " Natasha added, glancing at Yelena.
"Why would you say that? You've been quiet up until now." Yelena looked up from the table.
"I get kidnapped by a child and sent to this place. And you, my sister, tell me that I am acting strange. What would you do in my situation?" Yelena asked.
No one answered. Well, to be precise no one could answer, because another crash, louder this time, interrupted the silence.
"Well, that's concerning," Steve said, making his way to the elevator. Tony groaned but got up from the couch.
"Let's go see what's up with point break and the mage children."
-=-
"How are we going to explain this?" Reggie mumbled, leaning on a broken chair.
The room was a mess, to say the least. The bed was virtually non-functional, AKA a mess of splinters and fluff from the mattress. The walls were even worse, daggers were buried to the hilt. Most of the concrete was worse for wear, spider-web cracks coming out from the metal hitting the wall.
"I... uh, I dunno. We could just keep the daggers with us until Loki wakes up, and fix it up with a cleaning spell?" Samantha suggested as she shifted her position on one of the shreds of the mattress she was sitting on.
"No. If you think no we should keep Loki's daggers, then you have a death sentence." Reggie mumbled.
"Speaking of Loki's stuff, what are we going to do with Loki the person?" Cassidy asked, pulling a hand up from her long-sit position (I genuinely just googled that since I didn't know what it was called, and that was the first search result XD) and pointing vaguely in the direction of the unconscious body on the floor.
"I'm honestly surprised it knocked him out that quickly," Samantha murmured. Cassidy sighed.
"The black powder stuff worked, but I said to not give him a dosage higher than a pinch." Samantha shrugged.
"Your version of 'a pinch' is different than mine."
"More like a handful if I'm being honest," Reggie added. Samantha gave him a rather withering glare. Reggie ignored her with remarkable ease and stood up.
"He seems otherwise healthy, just sleeping," Reggie muttered after a moment of observation as he turned to the duo.
"Well then, all that's left is the room," Samantha said, looking around, before turning to Cassidy.
"Magic?" She asked. Cassidy sighed.
"Magic." She repeated.
In a flash of light, the room returned to normal. The furniture was back in place, the walls not fissured, the bed not in shambles, and the knives placed in a neat pile in the middle of the room.
And not a second too late.
The door was wide open in a second, Thor being the first one into the room, followed by the rest of the Avengers. Yelena was the last one to enter, staying beside Natasha as they both took in the scene.
The room was... clean. Cleaner than before, to be exact.
"What did you do, sci-fi kids?" Tony asked as he looked around the room, searching for anything out of place.
"Where is Loki?" Thor asked, completely missing him in his visual scan of the room.
"There," Cassidy mumbled while pointing unclearly in the direction of the middle of the room.
Thor frowned and strolled over to the bed. When he pulled back the now-intact covers, Loki was sound asleep.
"Is he senseless?" He asked as he tucked the covers back on his brother.
"If you mean asleep, then yes," Cassidy replied.
"Good," Thor started.
"I would not want for him to be roused for this." He turned to Cassidy, who was still sitting on the floor.
"Why did you leave him." Cassidy sighed.
"Thor, I already told you." Cassidy sighed.
"No, you did not. You simply left that day, and have never returned since. Until this day specifically. On this specific day, I and my allies unite against Loki. On the same day, you decide to appear. Please, enlighten me on why you left." Thor's words were polite, but his tone was oddly harsh. Natasha was the one who stepped forward.
"Thor, I think you should probably-" Thor cut her off.
"Silence, lady Natasha. You know not what has transpired between miss. Bell, I and my brother. I simply wish to seek information that was hidden from me. This will don't come to blows, I swear this by the kings of Asgard it shall not. Even if I did attempt such, my brother would throttle me if I did so, and more so, Miss. Bell would obliterate me in battle."
Cassidy smiled. "So you've been humbled, I see."
"I have, yes. But now, I suggest you justify your past actions before I send word to my father of your return."
The end of his sentence was clipped. Sharp. Unlike him. Cassidy turned a shade paler and stood up.
"You wouldn't do that, he wouldn't do that, right?" She asked frantically, turning her gaze from Reggie and Samantha to Thor.
"And If you attempt to use the excuse in which my father banned you, I will be angered." Cassidy fidgeted for a moment, before sighing.
"I suppose you do deserve an explanation." She mumbled before sitting down.
"But, can we talk in private?" Cassidy added.
"If you wish it, it shall be so."
'|...
A few minutes later, Cassidy and Thor left the room.
Thor seemed satisfied with what Cassidy had said, and was back to his usual self. His 'usual self' being him barging out of the room and greeting the group sitting and standing outside the door with the consecutive;
"Greetings, my comrades! I and Cassidy have settled things between us, and are now on good terms."
"Well, that's good Thor," Natasha stated.
Thor, as if to further prove his point, raised two thumbs. Cassidy awkwardly copied it and patted his (Thor's, btw) hands down after a few moments of painfully cringe-raised hands.
Yelena chuckled, before stepping forward. Natasha started after her sister, but Yelena turned back and gave her one of the most withering looks in the history of glares.
"I can handle this, sister."
Natasha gave her a look in reply that clearly said; 'There is no way in Hell you can.'
Yelena smiled, and turned back, leaving an annoyed Natasha to frown and lean against the wall behind her, watching the scene unfold.
"You," Yelena all but sneered. "are an interesting child." She pointed at Cassidy, who smiled.
"Legally, yes. I am a child. Chronology on the other hand... no." She smiled at the last bit.
"Mentally?" Yelena questioned.
"Oh, absolutely not." Cassidy was full-on grinning now. She was enjoying this. It's been millennia since she's met a Yelena variant in a hostile situation.
Yelena unsheathed a knife from her pocket. It was only just now that she realized she was still wearing her red room suit.
"Well, then this will be an interesting fight then."
Cassidy blinked.
"We're going to fight?" She asked, Yelena laughed.
"What else would we do? You did something to the mind of my sister, and now I have to fix it." Cassidy blinked again, a confused expression appeared on her face.
"You think I mind-controlled Nat?" Yelena took a step closer.
"Do not call her that. Do not dare assume you two are remotely like allies or even acquaintances." Thor made a move forward, but Cassidy raised her hand in the universal gesture of 'stay the Hel back thunder boy, I got this.' since he froze and stared at the back of her head intently, gaze shifting from Yelena to her. Natasha moved from her spot leaning on the wall, taking a step closer to her sister. "Yelena, I'm not-" She started, but before anyone had time to process, Yelena brought up her dagger, the hilt going right into Cassidy's neck with a painful-sounding noise. Cassidy, in opposition, didn't look one bit scared or even worried at the knife that was now embedded in her jugular
She only glanced at the knife once and looked up at Yelena, who was staring at her in shock. Yelena yanked out her dagger, blood stained the hilt.
"How?"
Cassidy smiled, wiping a stray drop of blood off her neck.
"That, is a little secret, that I believe you don't need to know yet."
Yelena hissed. Hissed. "Fine, child."
She summoned a rapier from the side of her hip, how she had hidden and no one had noticed was anyone's guess. "You are aware of how many people I have killed, correct?"
Cassidy laughed. "Six hundred and fourteen as of now, correct?" Natasha blanched, and Yelena smiled.
"Exactly." Yelena's smile disappeared as suddenly as it appeared. "I suppose we'll do this the hard way, then." And then she lunged.
Cassidy stayed as frozen as a statue, a small smile on her lips as she calculated how much time she has before she had to dodge. Or I could just not move. That would be fun. She thought. She sighed as another idea came to mind. It was a rather good plan after all.
She summoned the time stone again, freezing everything around her as she walked around. She observed Thor first, noting the fact that his arm was raised more than usual, Mjolnir in hand. Cassidy smiled at the sentiment. He was willing to hurt Yelena if she was going to hurt her. If Cassidy was being honest, she didn't want Yelena to hurt her. It would hurt their alliance in the future. She didn't want that. She was one again, glad that Loki was still asleep.
"Cassidy?" Reggie voiced. His voice was soft, quiet.
"What's happening?" He pointed at all the frozen Avengers. "Do we need to talk?"
"Yeah, I guess we do., Cassidy mumbled, leaning against the nearest wall, which happened to e beside Thor.
Samantha broke in.
"What?"
Cassidy looked up at the ceiling.
"It's Thor."
"What about him?" Samantha raised an eyebrow.
"Did I make a mistake, guys? Coming back?" Cassidy gripped the edge of her hoodie tighter.
"What do you mean?" Reggie asked.
"Was it selfish, cruel or just plain stupid of me to lie to Thor about the real reason I came back?" Cassidy questioned.
"Well, what did you do you tell him? If you don't tell us, we can't judge."
"I told him the reason was... it was..." Cassidy groaned, taking a deep breath. "I told him that the reason was that Odin locked me out using his magic."
Samantha chuckled. "We both know the bastard can't do that."
"Also, when we were in the room, didn't Thor say especially to not use that excuse?" Reggie added.
"I made up a pretty convincing lie, to be honest. I told him that beings with immense power, such as the All-father and All-mother, didn't mention Thanos, but he's on that list, can banish people to other realms and worlds." Cassidy snickered.
"I knew he never listened in class. He was always drawing weapons he would use for his next battle, or war strategies on his paper, but for him to now know that that just isn't possible it's just-" Cassidy laughed.
"It's ridiculous, honestly. Hilarious."
Soon, Reggie and Samantha were snickering too, all three of them laughing their heads off at their frozen friend's school shenanigans. After Cassidy calmed down, finally regaining the ability to breathe again, she spoke up.
"There is one other issue we have to address about the Royal family of Asgard," Cassidy said, her tone going immediately from lighthearted to sombre.
"Why did you say it so seriously?" Reggie wheezed through a laugh.
"Well, that's because it is." There wasn't even a hint of joy in her voice anymore.
Reggie and Samantha sobered up and sighed.
"Ok, fine. What's the issue?" Reggie asked
"The 'issue', is Loki," Cassidy hissed, summoning one of Loki's daggers.
"Yeah, we all know he's messed up," Reggie mumbled.
"Mentally and physically," Samantha added, glancing at Cassidy as she strode across the room while flipping the knife over and over, the knife landing each time hilt-side into her palm. It was a dangerous nervous habit she'd had since before they first met, and it still worried her friends every time she got into it. She didn't always do it with Loki's knives, though, unless the situation was crappy. They knew she couldn't die from a stab on the hand, after all, her healing factor was better than Deadpool's, (Plus ᴍᴀɢɪᴄ) but it would still like hurt like Hel either way. Plus, there was the issue that the wound would close up around the knife, and that would be even worse.
"I can't calm down. Not when you guys, who are supposed to be his friends can't see what's wrong with him!" Cassidy yelled, shaking the point of the dagger at both of them. (I had the funniest mental image while writing this bit XD)
Reggie crossed his arms.
"Well, we can't know what's bothering you if you won't tell us, for crying out loud." He stated.
"The problem is Loki and the timeline."
"What's wrong with Loki and the timeline?" Samantha spoke up.
"It's wrong, it's all wrong." Cassidy started pacing while flipping the knife.
"What's wrong? Loki or the timeline?" Reggie asked.
"Both of them. Loki's messed because of the timeline, and the timeline is messed up because of Loki." Samantha and Reggie blinked. Then blinked again.
"What, sorry? How are they messed up?" Samantha questioned.
"Yeah, is it like... uhm, symbiotic messed-up-ness?" Reggie added.
"That's a way to sum it up, yes." Cassidy said, stopped pacing and turned to them.
"Do you want the explanation?" Cassidy asked, pointing finger guns at them.
Reggie sighed. "I don't see why not."
Did I end this on a cliffhanger? Yes. And I apologize. As an apology for that cliffhanger, here's a Loki pic!
Uh yeah. Pls don't kill me for that cliffhanger XD
As always; have a good day/night/twilight/weekend/etc.
See you next time, my cherished Tizlits, and ADIOS
- Just-a-random-tissue