The Man in the Iron Mask

I sighed louder than I might usually do so as Loki continued to drag me through the rain across to the clearing in the park adjacent to the hotel. He had a look in his eye that said he knew what he was doing, but I had my doubts. Thor hadn’t been cited since the New York incident and I didn’t understand why he’d come back for Loki. Had he forgiven him? I wasn’t sure. I doubted it.

“Loki, this is madness. It’s cold and now I’m soaked right through,” I complained, running my hands up the sides of my arms as we stopped for a moment. He was about to reply when something caught his eye. There had been a bright spark and in that instant my feelings of being uncomfortable turned to being terrified. I was too young to die. I was not about to get struck by lightning.

“Loki, I’m going back! We’re going to be struck!” I yelled at him over the sound of the wind, but he grabbed for my wrist and twirled me towards him until my back hit his chest.

“If you leave, they’ll find you. This is your only chance. It has to look like I abducted you.” I didn’t know what to say to that. I certainly didn’t want SHIELD finding me and having to face all their questions, but I didn’t even know where Loki was going. He hadn’t told me anything. I screamed as another bolt hit the ground far too close to where we were standing. It was then that I started paying attention to the thunder.

There was a loud crack and another bolt flew down, a man emerging from the bright light. He was walking towards us too fast to be friendly. In his hand he held a device with a blue cube inside, something I thought I recognised from somewhere.

“I’m sorry, darling,” Loki said. I turned to him for an explanation and felt as he cracked his forehead against mine. I felt mud in my hands and the cold, wetness of it against my back, and then there was nothing. Nothing at all.

---

My eyelids were heavy as they flickered open to a stone ceiling, then ventured around to find stone walls. I got up, my hand reaching for my head as I felt a pain there and remembered that Loki had knocked me out.

“That asshole!” I yelled.

“I wasn’t sure how well you’d travel.” I heard a voice behind me, turning to find Loki laying on a straw bed and propped up slightly against the wall.

“Where am I?” I asked, trying to let go of my anger. He had only been trying to help me, I guess. I unclenched my hands as I realised they were clenched and took a few, deep breaths. Loki was watching me all the while, and gave me a moment to myself before he answered.

“You’re in Asgard. My home planet… kind of. Thor’s home planet. We’re in the stocks.” I ignored the little fact that I was on another planet for just one moment as I realised I was still doomed to be a prisoner.

“You said you’d help keep me a free woman, Loki. This isn’t what I’d call free!” He merely shrugged, and picked up a book he’d had resting at his side. I marched on over and grabbed it from his hands, throwing it across the small room.

“I was reading that,” he said, his tone cold and unamused. “I understand that you are annoyed but I doubt we’ll be in here long. Odin said he was going to make a decision today.”

“A decision?”

“He wasn’t sure if he could trust you. He knows he can’t trust me. I think Thor was fighting for my release. He said he’d think about it…”

“He’s not happy with you, Loki. No one is. You did some terrible things.”

“I know.” I knew by the way he’d said it that he now remembered what he’d done, and I wondered just how that worked. “I got my memory back shortly after arriving here. My magic has slowly been regenerating since I escaped. I still can’t do much with it just yet. They had me on some powerful medicine.”

“Medicine?” He rolled up his sleeve and showed me the tiny puncture marks he’d shown me once before.

“They were injecting me with something periodically. I overheard one of them saying it would keep me harmless. Luckily, I still had enough in me at that point to have landed him in hospital.” He paused for a moment, smirking at the memory, then rolled his sleeve back down and sat up a little more. I knew SHIELD had been up to something. Maybe they had to take away his magic capabilities, but the memory loss was uncalled for. I wondered what Loki thought he might have done to deserve his punishment. I wondered how he found out where he was. It suddenly didn’t seem such a stretch that he’d been sent to Sarah for psychological analysis and to the institution for actual depression.

“Loki, miss, the All-Father has decided,” announced a man as he entered the room, proceeding to open our cells. I followed along just behind Loki as we were led up some stairs and down a few halls, coming to a large, open room with a throne at the very end. The whole being in another world had me at that point. This was clearly not Earth.

“Approach.” Loki grabbed me and approached the throne where an older man sat, the man I assumed to be the All-Father.

“Odin,” Loki said, not at all trying to keep his tone friendly. I had to wonder why.

“Loki, I have decided that you and your friend will be allowed to stay. However, this is your absolute last warning. I want no trouble. If there’s anything out of place, you will be blamed. You are to be responsible for this woman and you alone. She will be your burden.”

“I understand,” he said, and I decided not to speak out. I wouldn’t mean to be a burden, but I could see how showing me around for the time I was to spend here would be tiresome. Loki bowed his head a little before turning, taking my hand to lead us back out of the room.

“How long am I here for?” I asked, wondering what the rest of Loki’s plan was now that things had seemingly worked out for him.

“The rest of my plan? Honey, I’ve done all I promised. SHIELD won’t find you here. You can learn to call Asgard home as I’ve had to.” My stomach tensed at his words. He didn’t even look at me as he continued to walk. I stopped, and he pulled, but my feet wouldn’t budge. Through the tears in my eyes I saw something of understanding in Loki’s, but not enough to make the situation any better. My friends. My family. My life. What were they to me now?