To Roam Into the Unknown

Loki landed in the field by the lake behind Aurora's home, much more gracefully than his last plummet to Midgard. He looked around, silently taking in his surroundings. The Sun was just beginning to set, casting a red gold sheen over the snow that blanketed the landscape. He hurried to the house and burst through the door.

"AURORA!" He ran up the stairs and into their bedroom. "Aurora!"

He ran down the hallway into Olivier's room, but she wasn't there. An overwhelming sense of dread threatened to cloud his mind. "AURORA! Please be here.." He turned and headed for the stairs, stopping halfway.

Max stood at the bottom of the stairs, gun aimed at him. "What are you doing here, Loki?" His voice was eerily calm.

Loki held his hands up. "Max where is she?"

"Somewhere you can't hurt her."

"I would never hurt her. I love her and that is why I must find her!" He felt disdain for the man who would keep her from him.

"What are you?" Max asked, his eyes widening.

Loki looked down, his hands were glowing a faint green. He was suddenly filled with anger and desperation. "I am Prince Loki, of Asgard. And I demand to know where Aurora is. Trust me when I tell you there are far worse threats out there than me." He looked down at Max with tears in his eyes. "Things are not as they seem. My past actions were less than honorable and I am willing to give everything to make it up to her."

Max lowered his gun slightly. "She still loves you, though I don't know why."

Loki lowered his glowing hands, his heart jumping with hope. "Max please, tell me where she is. There are people out there who will harm her to get to me."

"She is at Southampton."

"The hospital? Why?" Loki asked.

"Whatever you did to knock me out, had an effect on her too. She developed a blood clot in her uterus."

Loki swallowed past the lump that had formed in his throat. "The baby?"

"Will be fine. They are keeping her for observation."

"I have to go to her." Loki walked down the stairs, but Max grabbed him by the arm.

"Not without me." Max snapped. "And you might want to change you clothes. Don't need you scaring her again. And one more thing, I don't know what you are, but if you do anything to make me nervous, I will put a bullet between your eyes."

OoOoOo

"Rise and shine, miss Moreau!"

Aurora turned her head as the lights were turned on in her cell.

Fury stood at the base of her bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I want to go home! You can't legally keep me here. This is kidnapping."

"We will gladly let you go once Loki has been found and his threat contained." He replied, glancing at her stomach.

"What threat?!" Aurora cried. "I haven't done anything wrong. I didn't know Loki was-"

"We're going to run some testing on you, miss Moreau. You may want to conserve your energy." He said, nodding to the same short haired nurse that had been in her hospital room.

Fury walked out, leaving the two women alone.

"What are you going to do?" Aurora demanded.

"This is just a medicine to calm your nerves."

"I don't want it!" She snapped, struggling against the restraints.

"I'm sorry, but you have no choice."  She uncapped the needle and pulled Aurora's sleeve up.

"NO! STOP!" The nurse injected the needle into her arm. Aurora screamed as she felt a burning sensation in her arm.

OoOoOo

"Aurora Moreau, please." Loki said to the receptionist. He leaned against the desk, arms crossed over his chest as she typed.

"Miss Moreau was discharged two days ago."

"To whom?" Max asked.

 "I can discuss that information unless I know your relation."

"I'm her uncle. Max Moreau."

The woman's brow furrowed and she looked at him over her glasses. "May I see some identification?"

Max fumbled for his wallet, all but throwing it at her.

"Hmm. That's odd. It says here that she was discharged to your care."

Loki bristled. "Well that obviously isn't the case! I want to see the security footage from that floor." Max shot Loki a warning glare.

"I'm sorry, sir, but I don't have access to that. You can check with security on the second floor if you wish."

Loki turned without another word and hurried to the elevator with Max following closely.

"What does this mean?" Max asked.

Loki said nothing as he repeatedly pushed the elevator buttons.

"Loki!" He grabbed him by arm, forcing him to look at him. "What does this mean?"

Loki's jaw was set and he stared at the floor lights above the elevator entrance. "Someone has her. And the only people I know who are capable of this, are dangerous people."

"Who?"

The elevator opened and the two men stepped in. "He name is Amora. You probably know her better as Helen Eve."

Max frowned. "Why would she want Aurora?"

"She is a twisted woman, and she doesn't take rejection well."

The elevator chimed and the doors opened. "Who is the other threat?" Max asked.

"S.H.I.E.L.D." Loki replied.

"Who?"

"They are secret intelligence division put in place by your government." Loki said, checking each room for the security sign.

Max struggled to keep up with Loki's long strides. "What would they need with her?"

"More than likely, they will use her as bait. They know I will come for her." He said.

"They won't hurt her will they?"

"In all honesty, I don't know. So the sooner we find who took her, the better. Time is ever of the essence." They can to a door at the end of the hallway with SECURITY in big, bold letters posted on it. Loki twisted the knob and pushed the door open.

"Can I help you?" Asked a large man from behind a desk.

"I need to see the security videos from two nights ago from the fifth floor." Max said.

"I can't help you, I'm sorry. Those are for hospital use only." The guard replied.

"Sir please. Someone-"

Loki pushed Max side and slammed his hands on the table. "Someone has kidnapped my wife! You will show us those tapes or you will regret not doing so."

The security guard's face paled and he backed away with his hands raised. Loki glanced up and caught his reflection in the screen of a blank tv. There was a pale green aura surrounding him and his eyes seemed to be glowing.

Max gripped Loki's shoulder. "You need to calm yourself. We don't need a repeat of what happened back at the farm." He whispered.

Loki glared at the guard. "The tapes. Please."

OoOoOo

The lights were turned on and Aurora opened her eyes. She had been awake for some time as the 'medicine' they had been pumping through her IV had been making her vomit. Her restraints had been removed days ago as she was now too weak to stand on her own.

"Please...I don't think I can take anymore medicine..." she said.

"This is the last dose. The director will be in shortly to speak with you." The nurse replied.

Aurora lay her head back and let out a weak sob. "Please, I just want to go home...I've told you people everything I know..." she watched as the nurse inserted the needle into the port. She pushed the plunger down, injecting the medicine into the line.

Mustering what strength she had left, Aurora gripped her IV and ripped it from her arm with a scream. Blood poured down her arm as the nurse scrambled to control it. When she was close enough, Aurora grabbed her by the hair and pulled her down. She was knocked unconscious as her face collided with the metal railing of Aurora's bed.

When the woman's body fell to the floor, Aurora collapsed next to her, grabbing her key card. She half crawled, half ran to the door, sliding the key across the reader. The door gave an audible click. She cracked it open and peered out. When she saw no one, she opened the door and hurried down the hallway. She held pressure on her arm, but the bleeding continued. She rounded the corner and saw two men standing guard at the end of the corridor.

She stopped short as their eyes fell on her.

"Help me, please!" She cried.

The two started towards her and she watched as they pulled guns from behind their backs. "Don't move!" One of the men shouted.

Aurora turned to run and collided with a solid chest. Strong hands gripped her arms. The face of Nick Fury was the last thing she saw before she slipped into unconsciousness.

OoOoOo

"What do we do now?" Max asked. He and Loki sat in Aurora's car, parked in an abandoned parking lot not far from where Loki claimed was S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.

Loki sat with one hand on the steering wheel, the other clamped over his mouth as he stared into space. He knew what he had to do, and it was only going to add to the ever growing pile of shit that was associated with his name.

"Loki."

His voice snapped him out of it. "What?" He blinked his eyes back into focus.

"What are we going to do?" Max repeated.

Loki exhaled, licking his bottom lip. "We get her back."

"If they are what you say, it will be damn near impossible to break in."

Loki smirked. "Who said anything about breaking in?"

Max shook his head. "I don't want to know."

Loki started up the car. "Trust me Max, the less you know, the safer you are."

"That is just the thing. I'm not sure I will ever trust you."

He shifted the car into drive. "Yes. I wouldn't trust me either."

OoOoOo

"Let me go! This isn't legal, you can't keep me here!" Aurora screamed as two armed agents strapped her down to a cold metal table.

"Miss Moreau, you assaulted a federal employee, I have more than enough reason to keep you here legally." Fury replied from behind a glass window.

"What are you doing?!" She cried as a woman inserted another IV line into her arm.

"It has been determined, Miss Moreau, that your pregnancy poses a threat to this world." Fury said.

"What are you talking about? How can it possibly-"

"IT has also been decided..." he came walking into the room with a man Aurora could only assume was a doctor. "That the only solution to this problem is to terminate the pregnancy." He nodded to the man.

Aurora began to scream, trying desperately to free herself from the restraints. "Please don't do this! This baby is all I have!"

"This 'baby' is an abomination by every definition of the word." Fury said. Aurora began to scream as they tried to place a mask over her face.

OoOoOo

"You're sure about this?" Max asked.

Loki looked down and closed his eyes. "This is the only thing that I am sure of."

He heard Max gasp and opened his eyes. His midgardian clothing had been replaced with the familiar leather of his Asgardian armor.

"It freaks me out when you do that shit." Max said rubbing the back of his neck.

"Wait until you see my other tricks." Loki replied, flexing his hands.

"Wha-" before Max could utter another word, Loki grabbed his wrist and the two of them vanished.

Seconds later, they reappeared in front of the security check at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. Max doubled over and vomited. "Warn me the next time you plan on doing that." He groaned, wiping his mouth on his sleeve.

"That takes all the fun out of it." Loki smiled. "I wouldn't have done it if I hadn't thought you could handle it." Which was a lie. In all honesty, Loki had taken a complete shot in the dark when he'd teleported Max. He'd never known of human doing it and making it out in one piece. "Are you alright now?"

Max straightened himself out. "I think so."

"HALT!" Loki turned to see two guards pointing their guns at them.

Without a word, Loki pulled a dagger out of thin air and grabbed Max by his hair.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Max cried.

"Shut your pathetic mouth." Loki sneered. Jerking his head back, he laid the blade against the tender flesh of his throat.