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Bucky's groans of pain seemed to echo throughout his cell as he applied more pressure to his wound. They supplied him his own first aid kit to fix himself. His hands trembled as he stitched the wound closed, feeling faint. His head fell back as he took a moment to collect himself and finished off the final suture.
He chucked the kit across the cell with the little strength he had left and spat, "Don't worry, guys. I sewed myself shut."
The guardians heard of the news and quickly made their way through the galaxy to help find Loki, putting Quill on guard of 'Bucky.'
Quill winced from the other side of the cell. "I would say sorry, but if you're Loki, I've kind of heard you're a piece of shit... so I'm not sorry."
Bucky laid flat on the cold cell floor, laughing to himself. "Understandable, I guess." He sighed. "I'm going to kill that son of a bitch."
... that certainly sounded like Bucky.
••• In a different cell in a different room •••
"Kill him!" 'Summer' pleaded from within her cell. "Please, you have to believe me before it's too late!"
Peter's heart lurched in his chest, wanting nothing more than to believe her. Summer was either telling the truth, and Loki was bleeding out disguised as Bucky, or Summer was Loki, and it was Bucky who was bleeding out.
He uneasily shuffled his feet and quietly mumbled an apology. "I can't take that chance."
She laughed in disbelief. "Peter, it will take more than a stab wound to kill Loki! He will escape and kill us all!"
He approached the glass separating them, his eyes trailing over her, searching for any clues that could tell him if this was or wasn't Summer. Anything at all.
He found none.
She approached the glass as well and pressed her clammy hands against it. "Peter, you thanked me for saving your life years ago." She whispered, her red and blotchy eyes staring desperately into his. "Now I'm asking you to please save mine and let me go."
He sighed and hung his head. "Summer, I-"
He was cut off by a near by explosion shaking the whole building.
Summer's eyes widened and her stomach dropped. Anxious, she banged on the glass. "Peter, please don't leave me in here." She begged, tears falling freely down her cheeks. "Please, it's me! I swear it!"
He was torn. Her pleas sounded so real. So desperate. Like it was truly Summer. He couldn't let her die. Not when she's come this far.
He let her out. She burst out the door and dropped to her knees in a heap. She sobbed loudly at his feet, thanking him profusely.
He placed a comforting hand on her back and told her, "c'mon. We gotta get out of here."
She sobs progressed until they no longer sounded like cries. No, those weren't cries at all... she was laughing.
Slowly, she lifted her head, her eyes flashing blue. Her lips twisted into a cruel smile until Peter realized the grin didn't belong to her, but Loki. "Summer's not here to save you now."
•••
Loki didn't care to wipe the blood off his hands. It was something Summer should be used to by now. He smiled to himself as he strolled towards the closet, the muffled cries and curses of his victim coming from within. "You ready to come out, love?"
The cries went silent. For the past few hours, it's been nothing but silence for her. However, the last twenty minutes, she's heard nothing but screams and explosions. At one point, she wasn't sure if the building would collapse.
Summer scrambled back as the door creaked open, revealing the monster. In her childhood, she believed monsters hid in closets. Little did she know it would be a monster that would lock her in one.
He shushed her as she screamed through the gag and drew close enough to untie the cloth. When her screaming only increased now that her mouth was free, he sternly snapped, "enough, Summer."
She spit at him, not caring about the consequences anymore. "I hate you!" She screamed and even tried to bite his finger when he reached for her.
His eyes flashed, dangerously. With lightning speed, he gripped her jaw painfully tight. "You'll stop if you know what's good for you."
She harshly shook out of his hold. "Or what? You'll kill me?" She laughed, menacingly. "Do it! I'm begging you at this point!"
He reeled back, eyes narrowed. Life had been so good for them the past twenty years. She couldn't turn on him this quickly, after twenty years of peace. "You don't mean that."
"I do." She spat, her words dripping with venom. "But you won't grant me that freedom."
His heart twisted in his chest. Without a word, not caring that she fought him every step of the way, he guided her by her bounded hands out of the closet and out to the lounge in front of the floor to ceiling windows. It wasn't until she peeked outside that her fighting ceased.
Her chest heaved as she took in the end of the world around her. Surrounding buildings were destroyed, down to nothing but rubble and dust. It had to be thousands of alien creatures foreign to this world slaughtering innocent people left and right. And that was only in this city. He surely was taking down multiple cities around the world.
It's what he's always wanted, after all. To destroy the earth enough to be king of it, her as his queen at his side.
In a low whisper, his hot breath tickled her ear as he threatened, "This is all ours. I did this for us. Run, and I will rip this world apart, and anyone who stands in my way, piece by piece, until I find you."
That single threat made the hair on the back of her neck stand. She knew he meant every word.
"Get down!" A voice yelled from the sky.
Summer hit the dirt and something at an extreme force crashed into Loki moments after, knocking him to the ground.
"Sam!" Summer cried out, once she realized who it was. She ran to help him, but she was quickly swooped into... a tree? She thrashed in it's hold, assuming it was one that served Loki.
"I am Groot!" The said tree yelled, it's branches extending to place her out of danger.
She couldn't even catch her breath before a fierce battle cry came from above her and she was once again swept off the ground. This time, at lightning speed into the sky.
Finally, her feet hit the ground once again, on the rooftop of a building. Her head snapped up to find who saved her this time, to find, "Thor!"
He embraced her tightly, one hand gently cradling the back of her head, the other around her waist. After a moment, he pulled back just enough to unbound her hands. "Are you hurt?" He asked, his large hands cupping her face to scan for injuries.
She shook her head. "No, I'm fine, I..." her voice faded off when she really took in his appearance.
Blood covered the front of him, which now covered her since they hugged. "This is... not yours." She realized, her gaze reluctantly meeting his. "Who's..."
His breath hitched in his throat, his bloodshot eyes dropping to his shoes. "There was nothing we could have done. We were too late."
"Thor, who?" She asked again, more adamantly. When he didn't answer again, she shoved him and shouted, "who!?"
His shoulders dropped and he finally whispered, "Peter."
The emotions hit her like a freight train, but they remained stuck inside her at the same time. She pulled herself out of his arms and he let her walk away. The wind whipped harshly around her, making her hair stick to the tears flowing down her cheeks. Her feet brought her towards the edge of the building so she could observe all of the terror around her.
"Summer, you'll be seen!" Thor shouted over to her. "We have to move."
She didn't look at him, her eyes stayed glued on the several story foot drop below. Heavy footsteps drew closer to her, difficult to hear over the gun fire and explosions. It wasn't until they came too close for comfort, did she look up.
"Get inside, Summer."
More tears flooded out of her eyes at the looks of Thor. Bloodied, beaten, covered in dirt from the destruction around them... all because of her.
This could end because of her.
She shook her head and backed closer to the edge of the building.
His eyes widened at her carelessness. "Careful, you're by the edge..." the words died in his mouth. Fear wrapped painfully tight around his throat like a noose when he realized she was being intentional. "Please..." he begged, not sure what he was even pleading for.
Please, don't leave me and your family again.
Please, step away from the edge.
Please, there's another way.
Please, don't do this.
Please, come here.
Please, don't die.
"I can stop this, Thor." She shakily whispered. "Just because I can't age, doesn't mean I can't die, right?"
He shook his head, hands raised, as he crept towards her. "No, there's another way, Summer. We can stop him."
"Can you really?" She laughed and sobbed at the same time. "This has gone on long enough, Thor. It's gone on for decades. I can't risk it going on for centuries. Not even a second more. We can't risk millions of lives for mine. I can't make them suffer... I've suffered long enough.
"Your kids-"
"Are at risk because of me." She finished for him, taking another step towards the edge. "You've done an amazing job raising them, and for that, I could never thank you enough. I'm doing this for them and my grandkids. Their world will be a safer world without me in it. I can't risk them getting hurt. I've hurt them enough."
"What in Odin's name are you doing!?"
Summer's heart nearly leapt out of her chest at the sound of his voice. As the wind whipped viciously around her face, she glared at him. A look of pure hatred Loki could never forget.
Thor remained frozen, fearing one wrong move from him, she'd jump. Loki tested the waters and took a step closer, but halted when her toes hovered over the edge.
"Don't do this, Summer." Loki begged, slowly falling to his knees.
She sucked in a sharp breath and seethed, "You ruined me... You ruined me and everything I loved!" She shouted, angry tears filling her vision. "And now you'll watch as I ruin everything you ever loved."
Her.
"Please don't do this." He pleaded, getting closer to her.
"Thor, tell my kids I love them."
Those were the last words she said before she jumped.