"You are Caden?" My ears start ringing, and my head starts spinning at his words. "Yup." He answers. "Like the Caden that put the note in my pocket?" I nervously shift on my chair. Carefully, I let a hand wander into my pocket to make sure my knife is still where it belongs. I don't leave the house without it. When my fingers wrap around the smooth handle, relief floods me. "I left the note there because I have no other options." He tells me. "We really need your help."
"Hold on a second!" I interfere. "Who is 'we'?" Glancing around, I make sure no other men are lurking around, but there's no one. Well, at least I don't see anyone. Instead of answering, he hurriedly looks around before taking my unused napkin and taking a pen from his jacket. When I open my mouth to ask why he won't answer, he only places a finger on his lips. Hurriedly, he scribbles on the napkin, his handwriting barely readable from how fast he writes.
'Mind your words, they hear everything' I watch as the words appear on the white material of the napkin. Instead of giving me answers, he only gives me more unsolved mysteries. 'It's the implant.' He writes and points to his back. My eyes widen. Does that mean he... 'Aiden.' He writes, and I scrunch my nose in disgust. "You too?" I mouth, and when he gives me a nod, I sigh.
Caden starts scribbling on the napkin again, and I move a little forward to get a better view. While watching him write whatever he has to say, I start wondering about him. Somehow, he seems familiar, but I can't remember where I could know him from. He's muscular, his face looks fierce, and he has some pretty bad-looing scars on his arms as if he'd been in a fight and got struck by a knife. But deep within his eyes, I can see a spark of emotion. Hope, I think. And desperation.
I find it difficult to estimate him. He looks like he's been through a lot, and he also doesn't seem very innocent at all, but his eyes are kind, and I can't sense bad intentions in his mind. There's still something that makes me stay alert. It's not something that comes from his mind, and it isn't his look or the way he just contacted me. It's a feeling I have that I can not get rid of. I don't know what it is.
A light touch on my arm makes me snap back to reality. Caden is done writing and hands me the napkin, waiting patiently for me to decipher his wobbly writing. 'The implant isn't just a pain trigger. It's a tracker. I can jam the signal for a short time, but it won't be a pleasant feeling. Do you consent?' Giving him my approval with a small nod, I lean back and watch him, taking his laptop out of his backpack.
He furiously types on the keyboards and, after a few seconds, looks at me. "Ready?" He whispers, and I shut my eyes closed before nodding. I hear him breathe in, holding his breath for a few seconds before he exhales and slams the enter button on the keyboard of his laptop.
The feeling is strange. It feels like a heartbeat, pulsing a little too fast right above my spine, where the implant is. I shiver. It does not hurt, but as he told me, it was definitely an unpleasant sensation. "Y/n." I stare at him. How does he know my name? "Who are you?" I demand. "Why do you know my name, and for heaven's sake, how did you get that fricking note into my pocket!" "Hey." He raises his hands as if to surrender. "I'll answer your questions, but it's important that you also listen to what I have to say."
"What do you want then?" He sighs. "As I told you, I need your help. I need you to defuse the bomb." And again, I'm speechless. "How do you -" "How I know about the bomb?" He interrupts me. "I built it."
He did what?! "I used to be Aiden's best friend, or so I thought. He convinced me of his intentions, implanted me with a chip, and got me to work for him. I totally believed in everything we did. That was until he endangered someone I treasure dearly. But he holds a great amount of power over me. At his demand, I built the bomb. I was the one who gave it to you, and at the opportunity, I slipped the note into your pocket."
A heavy silence settles over the room, and I stare at him. "Why would you do that when you know the consequences! Hundreds of people will die! Many more will get badly injured!" I rage and curl my fingers around the edge of the table. I sense his guilt, but I don't have sympathy for him. "I never defused a bomb! Why didn't you deny his request?" I know I'm being irrational, but I cannothelp it. I'm angry. I'm angry at myself for falling for Aiden. I'm angry at him for endangering so many people, I'm angry at Tony, Steve, and the others for not having my problems, and I'm still angry at Loki.
"Have you ever denied Aiden a request?" He asks. "That's not - "Have you?" He slightly raises his voice. "Do you know what he does to those that deny his requests? Have you ever felt the pain? Physically? Mentally?" "I- " "He breaks you into pieces and then makes you do it anyway. You. Have. No. Choice. He would have killed me otherwise."
"I would rather die!" I spit. "And have someone else do it instead?" He laughs, but there's no joy in the rough sound that sounds more like barking than like laughing. "Why would I let someone else build the bomb, hen I can prevent the worst when someone else would have had fun seeing the chaos it will cause? I can tell you how to diffuse the bomb and make it seem like I made an error whilst constructing it. Aiden won't punish you. He'll come for me, but that shouldn't be your concern. I can handle it."
My anger suddenly subsides. "What's the plan?" I ask. He seems relieved that I finally listen to him and starts explaining. I listen carefully when he explains what to do , and my mood keeps on getting better. "Seems like a pretty good plan!" I tell him when he ends and lean back in my chair, but hurry to sit straight again when the thing in my back pulses against the chair, which causes unpleasant vibrations near my spine.
"So, I'll defuse the bomb and wait for Aiden's instruction to place it. I'll loosen the black wire and set the timer and just run off to wait for Aiden to call me." I pause. "And I still don't know how you know my name." He gives me a thumbs up to signal that I got the plan right. He then opens his mouth to talk, when suddenly his phone rings. He takes a look at the display , and his face darkens instantly when he sees the caller's name. "Quick, leave." He whispers and turns away. Confused , get up, take my stuff , and hurry towards the exit of the small café.
On my way to the door, I hear Caden take the call. "Hi, Aiden." I reach the handle. "No, I'm alone. You've successfully unalived my last girlfriend. Do you remember?" I freeze. What the hell?! The door slams shut behind me , and the loud noise startles me. I start running towards the Avengers tower. When I feel the uncomfortable buzzing on my spine stop, I slow down. That was a crazy day.
"Y/n, where's Thor?" Loki asks when I leave the elevator. Instead of answering , march past him and ignore him. My hands get clammy , and my heart rate increases when passing him, but I manage to keep my hands from shaking. I never felt so frightened in Loki's presence. I used to feel safe and welcome. He was a person I loved spending time with, a safe place. Now , here's only fear, anger, and disappointment.
"Y/n, I'm talking to you!" He stresses as I keep on walking toward my room. "I noticed, but I don't wish to talk to you." I hear him huff in annoyance and roll my eyes when I hear his steps following me. My heart rate increases , and so does my pace. Shit. I'm alone with him. No one else is here to save me. "Y/n!" He calls , and I can hear his annoyance turn to anger. Shit. Shit shit shit.
I have almost reached the door to my quarters when Loki's hand grabs my shoulder and roughly turns me around , o I'm facing him. "Where is Thor?" He asks again. The words slip past his clenched teeth and produce a hissing sound that underlines his anger. I slap his hand in order to get him to let go, but he doesn't. Turning to him and staring back into his eyes that seem strangely blue, I yank out the knife from my pocket. "Thor's whereabouts are none of your business!"
He smirks at the knife and doesn't move a finger off me. But his grip relaxes a little , and the anger vanishes from his eyes, making them seem a little greener. "I never wished to hurt you..." He trails off. "I wish to apologi-" "Fuck off, Loki." I calmly tell him before yanking my shoulder out of his grip and slamming my door in his face.
Taking off my shoes and my jacket I notice that I'm thirsty and wander into my kitchen, where I take a random bottle of water and take some large sips, before continuing my journey to my bedroom. I sigh before kneeling in front of my dresser and pulling out the bottom drawer. I freeze. Where is the case? Frantically digging through a pile of neatly folded socks, I start cursing. It's gone.
Maybe I searched in the wrong drawer? I close it and open the next one, dig through it, and repeat it with all my drawers. Within seconds I reach the last one, and I'm almost crying. How can one lose a bomb?! I know that it cannot be in the last drawer, but I open it anyway and search every corner. I'm in shock and it doesn't get better, when I hear a very familiar voice chuckling behind me. "Didn't find what you were looking for, darling?"
"Get out!" I hiss. "Not without you." I turn around and find him lying on my bed with his arms crossed behind his head. A smirk is lingering on his lips and he seems to be laying there for quite some time. Why didn't I notice him? "I didn't want to be noticed." He replies to my thoughts, shocking me even further. "How do I know?" He asks and lets out a dry laugh. "Stark told me when I contacted him. I was pretty sure you'd run away again when you'd noticed me being in your quarters after what's happened. Must have been funny to explore my mind without me noticing."
He seems pissed at the fact that he didn't notice I could sense his emotions and therefore consider his actions and reactions to certain things. "Well, that's over now." Loki tells me, but somehow I have trouble following his words. "Hm?" Loki suddenly sits up and looks at me intrigued. "Interesting. I thought it would take longer."
He strolls over to me and kneels beside me. "What did you do?" I whisper, fear filling my mind once again together with a quickly rising dizziness. "Doctor's orders." He whispers into my ear when he pulls me against him as my muscles start to unwillingly relax and won't hold me up any longer.
"Why?" I manage to whisper back. "I found a bomb in your room and when I contacted Stark, he asked Dr. Banner for something to temporarily knock you out. I put it in your water, but I expected it to take longer to kick in. Well, you're mortal after all. No wonder it works this fast."
I start to fight the black nothingness that is hunting me, threatening to take over my mind. My breathing gets labored as my eyes flutter closed. I feel Loki's finger drawing little circles up and down my spine. "Shhh." He soothes. I try to open my eyes, to move any part of my body, but I can't. A soft whimper escapes my lips and I can feel Loki moving a strand of hair out of my face. "Shh." He whispers again.
Finally, I can't withstand the darkness pulling me down. The last remnants of my consciousness fade and the last words I hear before the darkness takes me away is a soft, gentle whisper from Loki, resonating with a multitude of emotions. "I'm sorry. For everything."