(sorta longer chapter, also wrote the second half of this in the middle of the night so i'm so sorry if there's mistakes or stuff doesn't make sense)
Loki's pov:
After observing her jump back and forth from the bed to her spot under my desk I grabbed my own food and the book I had been reading earlier from my bedside table to settle in for the night.
-time skip, brought to you by lack of ideas for filler-
Cora's pov:
It had been about an hour since I first awoke in this room, going off of the digital clock mounted to the wall. I had finished the food given to me, and was simply waiting for Loki to go to bed before making my escape. I wondered who these people were, but I was most curious as to the man in front of me, he possessed some form of magic, I knew that much.
But how? Would he be able to sense me trying to leave his room? Would he be mad at me for trying to escape? Is he going to hurt me? My mind began to race faster, anxious thoughts and questions filling my head. I could tell I was beginning to hyperventilate, but then the room around me disappeared, and re-appeared as a plain, grey bricked room. A room that filled my mind with anguished memories, a room in which I was subjected to so much pain in the name of alleged science.
I looked around for the door, or a place to hide, but there weren't any, then a person I swore to never look at again came into view. The head doctor assigned to the project I belonged too, Dr. Bringer. A man I had once believed was just a name to scare me into submission with, until a day shortly after I turned 12, that day I learned just how real the horrors of Dr. Bringer were. Just as I went to run from the man I heard my name being called.
Loki's pov:
I was just about to put my book down as it was nearly midnight when I heard Cora begin breathing erratically. Quickly getting up I walked over to where she sat under the desk, frozen, eyes wide but looking straight through me as if I wasn't there.
"Cora? Cora, can you hear me? Cora!" I eventually yelled.
Then, as soon as it had started, it was over. Cora seemed to have snapped back into reality, but was visibly shaken up, even in her feline form. She took in the room around her and then her eyes landed on me. Immediately a frightened sound came from her throat as she made a break for the darkness under my bed.
"Cora? What's going on? Are you alright?" I asked, bending down to look under at her. After receiving nothing but an empty stare in return I decided to see if Tony's AI had any idea what had just happened.
"F.R.I.D.A.Y.?" I asked my wall.
"Yes Loki?" The AI responded.
"What just happened to Cora?"
After a second she responded, "It appears Miss Cora may have been experiencing a dissociative episode, in which she may have had some form of traumatic flashback."
"Can you ask Bruce and Tony to come up here?" I decided to ask, they seemed to always work late into the night as we crossed paths sometimes when one came to grab coffee while I was reading in the common area. I also remember being told of a device that would hinder Cora's abilities, although I didn't mind her shifting, I found it difficult to enter her mindscape. If I could just find a way past the walls keeping me out of her mind I might be able to relieve some of her pain, or at least see what it was that caused her to suffer, so that I could best offer help.
Cora's pov:
I was crouched under Loki's bed after being brought back to reality, my brain was still foggy, but my breathing had begun to even out. Loki began talking to no one when a feminine voice came out of nowhere causing me to jump and hit my head on the bed frame.
Loki's pov:
"Cora? Are you ok?" I asked after hearing a light thump from the bed.
A small meow replied to me, although I couldn't tell what it meant I was happy that she was finally interacting verbally with me, even if in the form of a cat.
"Cora, the voice you heard was F.R.I.D.A.Y, Tony's AI helper, she's everywhere apparently." I attempted to lighten the mood, although admittedly not that well.
"Tony and Bruce are coming here to try and help, ok?" I received a decidedly displeased meow in return.
Kneeling back down to peer under at her I lowered my voice, trying to be as gentle as possible, "We only wish to help you kitten. Come on out little one, please, I dislike forcing you out as much as you dislike being forced out."
Cora's pov:
I stared out at the man in front of me, he sounded so genuine, yet I couldn't let myself be fooled again, as I once was by a person I thought of as safe. His eyes looked so hopeful, I could see the hesitance in them as well. I was taught to read the emotions in one's eyes as it was useful to manipulate them. Loki's eyes were sincere though, I wondered if I could use this as an opportunity to escape.
As I contemplated my next move a light knock caused me to flinch, which Loki saw, but stood to answer the door without saying anything. I watched the bottom of the door as it opened and a pair of slippered feet entered, which I recognized to be Dr. Banner from the scent, although Tony was not with him, to my relief. I tensed up as Loki closed the door and told Bruce where I was, preparing for what might come next.
Loki's pov:
"Where's Stark?" I asked, closing my door behind the doctor.
"Didn't want to come, I think he felt bad for shooting her." He replied as I froze.
"Stark did that to her leg!?" I started to yell but stopped myself for Cora's sake.
"You didn't know? Cap talked to him about it already, Cora's healing mutations have already done a lot with the wound, I need to check that while I'm here too.
My blood was boiling even with it being a frost giant's, I am going to kill him, how dare he hurt her, there couldn't have possibly been a reason for such violence, she'd obviously much rather avoid a conflict if there's another option.
"How could he? Why would he? Never mind, I'll talk with him later." Stark and I will have to have a little chat tomorrow.
"Soooo, how's Cora?" Banner asked, changing the subject.
"She's, well.. afraid, she had some kind of flashback earlier, where did she come from again?" (loki)
"She escaped HYDRA a few months ago, from what we know there is no record of her before HYDRA, they raised her, they.. did things to her. They programmed her like Bucky, you know how that went." (bruce)
I tensed at his response, I had to assume by 'things' he meant she went through literal hell there. I remember talking with Steve and hearing about Bucky's time there, and the aftermath. He still suffered with insomnia and post traumatic stress symptoms sometimes, but he has Steve to help him, Cora has no one.
"Loki? You asked me down here to fit the dampener on her right? How do we get her out from under your bed?" Bruce broke me from my thoughts of what Cora might have gone through.
"Oh, right. Let me ask her again before I get her by force." I said while crouching once more to peer into the darkness surrounding Cora, "The doctor is here to check on your leg Cora, and to help me help you. Cora?"
Cora's pov:
I stared at Loki as I listened to him, I had decided on a plan, I was going to run straight across the room to the bathroom and shift back to human while closing and locking the door, I could tell there was an open window in there from the smell coming through.
It wasn't the best plan, but at the time it was one of the better ones I had, so, slowly I began shifting out towards Loki. He made a comment to Bruce about me actually listening, which I ignored since I needed to focus here.
As I crawled closer to Loki he backed up, while still watching, when I reached the edge of the bed frame I made my sprint. This obviously took both Loki and Bruce by surprise since they didn't move until a second later. But they were too late as I had already kicked the door closed behind me, then shifted to reveal the girl in the mirror whose reflection I hadn't seen in years. I locked the door as someone went to come in after me and let out a breath, collapsing to the floor from the energy it took to use a form that had been dormant for so long.
It wasn't over yet, I looked to the window where some moonlight managed to sneak in, managing to stand, and taking a last look at myself covered in dirt and grime in the mirror I took out the window screen and shifted to a bat. I heard the door unlock from the inside and then open as I went out the window and into the night sky.
Unfortunately for me I had managed to forget the ear tag still attached to me, I once again began panicking as it started to buzz and then a voice that I recognized as the one I had heard from the walls earlier started speaking.
"Miss Cora, you are not permitted to leave the tower, you need to return immediately or be taken back by force." The AI stated.
'Well shit. Even if I do come back now I'll never be allowed out of a cell again for pulling this,' I thought as I landed on a park bench not far from the tower, I needed to figure out what to do next. But then the ear tag buzzed again.
"This is you final warning, you need to return immediately or you will be apprehended." It said.
'I guess they'll just have to catch me then.' I thought while stretching my wings, but then an all too familiar green mist apparently in front of me as Loki materialized.
"I'm afraid you'll have to come back with me now, though I hope you enjoyed your midnight flight darling." He said while smirking.
So I shifted to a rabbit and took off, it only took a second for him to teleport to me again, but this time he grabbed me as I changed to a fox and tried to bite his hand, only to find my jaws unable to open, the green mist surrounding them. I kicked and wriggled trying to escape his hold on me, but it was hopeless, and I was too tired to shift into something big enough or small enough to get away.
"I'm so sorry little one." he said as I felt a prick in my neck and the burning begin in my veins. He let me go and I stood looking up at him in defeat, my vision began to get wobbly, or maybe that was just my legs. I tumbled over onto my side but didn't lose consciousness as I watched him scoop me up and teleport back to his room. With my vision blurred and being barely able to lift my head he set me down on the bed that I had hidden under just a few minutes ago.
"What did you give me to give her? She's still awake." Loki asked, I wanted to know the same thing.
"Just a mild sedative, it was a slightly larger dose then she needed which is why she can't move, it works better to fit the power dampener while she is conscious." Dr. Banner responded.
I tried my best to move away as he approached me, but I was fairly drugged up and out of it. He began by looking at my hurt leg, then gently extended it out and bent it back in, it was sore, not painful, but I wanted him to stop touching me so I did my best to whine. Loki was leaning on the wall next to us with his arms crossed watching intently, I tried to plead with him with my eyes to make the doctor stop and go away, but he shook his head slightly to signal he couldn't.
After Dr. Banner had thoroughly checked my leg over he reached into his pocket and retrieved a thin silver ring which he set on the bed near my head, he also took out some strange electrical device and waved it over the tag on my ear, which then beeped and fell off.
"We don't have any need for this anymore since the ring has the same controls along with its main purpose." The doctor said to Loki, I'm not sure what it's main purpose is, all Loki said was that it would help him help me, but I did hear them refer to it as a dampener which has me on edge.
Dr. Banner then took the metal ring and pushed a button on it that loosened/widened it, he then slipped it over my head and pressed it again to tighten it to my neck, it wasn't uncomfortably tight but it still reminded me of my shock collar back at HYDRA.
"Alright then, that should make shifting more difficult, if she does shift she can only do it once or twice before running out of energy. It should also help with your trouble entering her mind." (bruce)
I may have been pretty loopy but I understand all of that, and as hard as it is to panic with these drugs running through my system I'm still panicking. He can get into my mind easier now? I don't want anyone in there, all I want is to be left alone.
"Thankyou Bruce, you should get some sleep, it's nearly 3am. I think we all need sleep actually." Loki said while turning to look at me.
Bruce said goodnight and Loki shut the door and came back to sit next to me on the bed. He sat for a minute but got up and grabbed me to set me up on one side of the bed, he then went to use the restroom. Upon returning he turned the lights off, letting the moonlight shine in through the large windows, a breathtaking sight had I not been running 50 different escape plans through my head. Loki then lied down on the other side of the bed and said goodnight while holding his hand above my head. As soon as he bid me goodnight the green mist came from his hand and put me to sleep.