Chapter 3
If Loki thought the events leading up to this most recent capture were strange, then what she finds on the other side of the portal has to be... disappointing. A bit odd? Yes, most certainly. But disappointing, nonetheless.
As she glances around, taking stock of the... well, reception area she now finds herself in, there's a quick moment of weakness from her captors. A slight loosening at the grips, of the two warriors holding her arms. Perhaps due to a false sense of security from entering what must be their home territory? Well, no matter what causes it, Loki takes it for what it is.
A chance to run.
And run she does! Wrenching herself out of their holds, Loki makes a mad dash for it- and runs straight into another person. Papers fly, glasses fall, and it's Loki's attempts to right herself that result in her stumbling even more- leading to her quite literal downfall. She braces for impact, elbows ready for the floor.
Loki is standing up. She is held at the arm. It's as if nothing happened at all- or at least would be, if it weren't for the face the one holding her is now the most heavily armored of her captors, the other woman. If it weren't for the fact Loki can literally still see the man she knocked over on the floor, fumbling for his glasses.
What the fuck?
She tries again, pulls herself frantically free and runs- the opposite direction of last time, mind you.
And again. She's back where she started, not even a step closer to freedom.
"What the fuck?!" she repeats aloud, a note of desperation entering her voice. Behind the center desk, the receptionist gasps- no doubt shocked at her rudeness, but Loki can barely find it in herself to register the noise, much less care.
"It's the collar," someone else says, obviously not caring either. A look over proves that someone to be the same man she knocked to the ground. He's up to his knees, now, slipping his glasses on and filing his papers into order.
At least someone's kneeling, says the part of Loki's brain that can still find anything about this funny. Then his words register, and her free hand flies to her throat, hovering over the band fastened there. "The collar?" she repeats. It seems that desperation is now tinging every word out of her mouth.
She proceeds to be ignored by pretty much everyone in the room. At least... verbally. She's still being held, and tightly, at that.
"You alright there, agent?" asks her main captor.
"Ah, yeah." The man (the agent, Loki's killed agents before) finally stands, shifting his papers to one arm and brushing himself off with the other. And then... then, he steps closer, just a tad, and peers curiously at Loki. His gold eyes shine, even through the rose-tinted lenses. "A Loki variant, huh?"
Loki bares her teeth in response, questions about the collar forgotten. She is not an animal in a cage- no matter how much she acts it right now.
He laughs at the gesture, but steps back nonetheless. "My bad." Then, nodding at the woman holding Loki, "Don't let her give you too much trouble, Buzz."
The warrior... Buzz, apparently? She pulls the Tesseract from her belt, and Loki's gaze is immediately fixed. "Yeah, like we need any more, right?" Buzz sets the cube, the stone, Loki's only chance, on the receptionist's desk. "Put it in for processing, then file it with the others," she tells the person sitting there.
Others?
"I know Asgardians and all that are your specialty," Loki hears distantly. What did she mean by others? "But really, she's just another Loki."
Said Loki has just found another word to focus on.
Her head snaps up, focusing on the agent still there. Buzz is already dragging her away, but she has to know. Has to know how he knew.
"I didn't change," she barks out. She's being pulled closer to another doorframe with every step. "I didn't change, how did you-"
She's pushed through, without an answer. But before the depressingly grey door slides shut behind her- she swears she can see those gold eyes squint into a smile.
Then it closes.
Then Loki is trapped.
Then Loki is once again alone... right?