We were currently parked on the hidden island while the jet was invisible to anyone who stood outside. Everyone was unbuckling their seatbelts but they stayed in their seats, waiting for Steve to tell us what to do.
"Alright, team," Steve started as he stood in front of us. "What were going to do is send in a small group of two people while the rest of us hang back. Our small group will sneak around to find the Tesseract while we cause a distraction to give them enough time to do so. Loki, Kat, you two are going in as our small group."
People started to protest, well, only Natasha and Logan really, as Loki and I made eye contact. Steve held up his hands to silence them.
"I know that the're new to the group, but that's good. They don't know how we bounce off of each other yet. But they're also very sneaky and cunning. They're our best bet."
No one argued with that. Steve handed us communicators to keep in contact with them. They showed Loki how to use his while I walked over to my duffle, grabbing the two sticks that lit up and stuffing one in my boot while the other was clipped onto my belt.
Then, I pulled out a quiver full of arrows and a gun. Those I gave to Clint and Natasha.
"You can keep those. I can always make new ones, besides, I don't use them. And a word of advice, don't touch the green part." I warned before heading over to Loki, who was waiting by the exit.
"Keep in touch." Cap reminded, tapping his ear.
We nodded before Tony lowered the platform for us. Logan caught my eye, sending me silent message.
Be careful.
Smirking, I tapped the side of my nose once to let him know to do the same. I followed Loki down the platform, it closed when we stepped off. Silently, we moved towards the opposite way our team would be heading soon.
They were going through the forest to make it look real while we crossed a stream that we saw before we landed. The stream was located on the side of the area where we saw campsites set up while the forest was behind it.
Loki and I made it to the stream without any problems. Quickly, we hid behind a cluster of bushes as I pressed the button on my communicator.
"We're in position," I reported, looking through the bushes at the campsite. "But..."
"What's wrong?" Steve questioned.
"It's deserted." I answered.
"They might be hiding or in their tents."
"No, it's not like that. It looks like it's been uninhabited for weeks, maybe even months."
"Come on." Loki stood up and started crossing the stream by walking on the rocks.
"We're getting a closer look." I informed them.
"Be careful."
"Rogers that." I joked, dealing with my confusion that way.
"Really? You're making jokes now?" he asked.
"Sorry, I saw an opportunity and I took it. Your name just has so many puns to it its comical."
"Right?" Tony butted in.
Loki and I were crouching behind more foliage, trying to get a better look at the area. There were no fires, not even smoke. It actually looked like everything was collecting dust from how long its been here.
"Are you positive we're in the right place?" Loki questioned, using his own communicator.
"This is what appeared on the maps when Jarvis located it." Tony answered.
Loki and I found ourselves actually in the camp, walking around to look for any sign of life.
"You guys should just come here so we can look for clues." I insisted.
"We're on our way." Steve said.
"Be safe." Logan grunted to me.
"Careful is my middle name." I assured him.
"Actually, its Avery." Loki smirked at me.
"Shut it." I warned him.
We walked through the camp more until Loki stopped in his tracks and tapped on my shoulder.
"Look." he was pointing to a fire pit that looked like it had been recently used.
"Guys, someone's been here."
"We're almost there." Steve said hurriedly.
"But why would-" I was cut off by a grunt and a shout of protest.
Loki was being attacked by a creature with black eyes and a pointy ears. My reflexes being the only working, I grabbed the stick from my belt and made it light up.
"Hey, ugly!" I called to the Elf, throwing the stick at him before he had the chance to look at me.
It sunk into his chest as he raised his head to me. Shock being its last expression as it released Loki and fell to the ground. Loki looked up to me with a small smile on his face before it changed.
"Behind you!" he warned, his eyes wide as he did.
Without missing a beat, I grabbed the stick from my boot and lit it up as I turned. Shooting my hand out and up, the stick sunk into the other Elves' skull before I pulled it out. Like his friend, he hit the dirt, revealing the others standing there.
"Yuck."
Black goo that was suppose to be their blood dripped off of my weapon. I powered it down before wiping it on the Elves' clothes.
"Check the rest of the tents. There might be more." Steve instructed as I retrieved my other stick, doing the same thing to clean it.
They would have to be cleaned properly when I got back to the Tower. Looking up, I found Loki examining the Elf that had attacked him.
"You good?" I asked him, making him turn his attention to me.
"Yes. Thank you for...that." he finished lamely, making me smile slightly.
"It's no big deal," I gestured to the Elf he was near. "What are you doing?"
"Seeing if they had any of their technology on them. We could track the clan they came with." he resumed doing that.
"I'm going to help search the tents," I turned to leave but stopped halfway. "Be careful. Watch out for other Elves so they don't do that to you again."
He nodded, probably not paying attention to what I was saying. Rolling my eyes, I left to go check tents around us, that way I could still keep an eye on the Trickster.
After all of the tents were check and we didn't find any more of the Elves we met back up where Loki was still looking for space tech. Dr. Banner had a piece of paper in his hands.
"What is that?" Tony asked.
"A note, I think," he turned to Thor. "Can you translate it?"
"Loki was always the one who was good with languages." Thor excused, handing the note to his brother.
"It says 'You have been banished from the clan of the Dark Moon. You will live here by yourselves. You have lost the right to travel with the clan.
Dark Moon proud. Dark Moon strong. Dark Moon for eternity.'" Loki read.
"Dark Moon bad at grammar." Tony joked.
"Have you ever heard of the clan of the Dark Moon?" Dr. Banner asked Loki.
"Not that I can remember. I might have something in my books back at the Tower but we won't be able to know for sure until I can get my hands on them." Loki answered, folding the letter back up.
"What about you, Point Break? Kitty Kat?" Tony turned to us.
"Nothing is ringing any bells." Thor answered.
"Why me?" I asked.
"You're the one who said Norse Mythology was your favorite subject."
"If the two who are actually in the Myths don't know, then I have no chance."
"How many of our stories have you read?" Loki looked at me cautiously.
"Plenty," I smirked at him. "Most of yours actually. Is it true about the horse?"
"Okay, back on the jet." Loki avoided, walking past the group to go back the way we came.
"I'll take that as a yes." I smiled at Thor, knowing he was the only other one who knew what I was talking about.
"Do not tease him too much. It is a sensitive topic." Thor whispered, but was still loud.
"I can hear you!" Loki let us know.
"Good!" I hollered back before whispering to Thor. "We'll talk more later."
We followed Loki back to the jet, all of us ready to get back to the Tower to try to figure out our next step.
*********************
We were halfway home when it happened. My head started to throb a bit but I ignored it, blaming it on exhaustion. But then it grew, like it was annoyed. Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to ease the pain.
The last time I had a headache like this...
No. No way that was happening right here, right now. Not in a small jet filled with people.
The heels of my hands covered my eyes as I rested my elbows on my knees, desperately trying to get the headache to decreased. Logan must have noticed my distress because I could feel his hand on my back and his voice low next to my ear.
"Are you okay?"
I shook my head.
"Are you having an attack?"
"I think so." I whispered back, like a scared child, because inside I really was.
This can't be happening.
"Kat, you're okay. You can control it. You haven't had an attack in years." he encouraged me.
But it was too much. I felt the floor fly up to meet me but I didn't pass out. Curling up in a fetal position, I held onto my head, wanting relief from the monster trying to get out.
'Go away.' I warned the Beast.
No. I think it's my turn to stretch my legs.
Voices surrounded me. Panicked voices and hand touching me. Someone was holding me while someone else.... I couldn't even think of the word.
The savage was trying to take over my body.
'Is that what you really think about me?' she whined.
'Yes.' I snapped at her.
'Good.'
Suddenly, a new hand touched my own. It was cold and strong. But when it made contact the pain stopped altogether.
Was it over? What happened?
Opening one eye, then the other, I noticed that everyone was in front of me. Logan was the one holding me while Dr. Banner must have been the first pair of hands. I looked down at the pale hand that was holding mine, then up to its owner.
Loki.
He made the pain go away.
"How did you do that?" I questioned, feeling the sweat on my forehead for the first time.
"Do what?" he counter my question with another.
"You made the pain stop. You made her go away."
"Who is she?"
********************
I sat on the couch back at the Tower. We got back half an hour ago, enough time for me to change into comfortable clothes before we were all summoned to the living room for a team meeting. Logan and I agreed that we would tell them about the Beast. It was a safety precaution. Not for me, but for them.
"What happened?" Dr. Banner asked softly from where he sat in front of me. Logan sat next to me, being the protective and caring father he was. Taking a deep breath, I met the eyes that held questions.
"We call her the Beast," I started. "She's basically a defense mechanism or an alter ego. She comes out to protect me when I have strong feelings of anger, fear, or depression. Usually, when she tries to break free I get headaches but they're never like the one you saw. She must want out. The last time she was out was when I was 15."
"So, she's like the Other Guy for Banner but for you." Tony tried.
"Yes, except she's more like a wolf and not green." I answer.
"Does she try to break free often?" Dr. Banner questioned, being the scientist he was.
"Not a lot but, like I said, they're never like that."
"Was there anything that could have made her want to come out?"
"Fighting gets her excited but she never tries to break free like she did. Other than that, there was nothing there that should get her acting like that."
I felt like all of my dirty little secrets were going to come out after this. That did not sound like fun to me.
"What I want to know is how he got her to stop." Logan spoke up, talking about Loki.
Everyone turned to the man in question.
"Did you use any of your magic on Lady Katherine?" Thor asked his brother.
"No, all I did was touch her hand."
"Why did you touch her hand?" Clint asked, trying to find a connection.
"The girl was in pain and she just saved me not one hour before. Excuse me if I wanted to provide her some comfort." Loki snapped at the archer.
"No one is pointing fingers," Dr. Banner told Loki before turning back to me. "Is it possible that the Beast will come out again?"
"There's no telling."
"First, she gets headaches, then her eyes start to glow yellow. After that the Beast takes over her body, but it's too powerful for her to control. That's why Kat has to contain her." Logan explained.
"We'll figure out the connection between you and Loki, but for now we should all get some rest. You and I have school tomorrow." Dr. Banner reminded me, causing me to groan.
"Crap," I remembered. "I didn't finish my trig homework."
*************
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