You are what you are
It felt odd sitting in the Quinjet without being a prisoner. This was definitely something Loki was going to have to get used to, fighting on the good side. The flight there didn’t take very long. Stark had Friday scanning the area for Katherine. “Any sign of her Fri?” He asked.
“I found her boss, but she’s not alone. There’s 3 other people in an alley with her, right behind this laundromat. It looks like they are fighting.” She said. The jet landed not far from the laundromat and they all piled out, Stark tapping twice on his arc reactor, suiting up, and Loki, morphing into his green and gold suit, daggers in his back pockets, ready for a fight.
They crept up to a fence just beside the commotion, and that’s when they saw Katherine. There were 3 guys standing in front of her, backing her into a corner.
**
Kat backed up until she hit the wall. All she was trying to do was get back to the shelter. “Come on sweetheart, let’s have a little fun. We don’t bite.” One said. “Much.” Said another.
“Please just leave me alone.” She pleaded to them. She didn’t want anyone to get hurt. “Oh, come on sweetheart, we just want to play.” The third one said to her, coming in closer and pushing her up against the wall. She could feel her magic taking over and her eyes turned black, her power radiating from her hands. “What the fuck are you?” The guy asked, backing away.
“I said leave me alone!” She yelled and thrust her hands at his chest, throwing him up in the air.
**
They came around the corner just in time to see one of the men flying through the air, landing on a car in the alley. “Oh fuck.” One of the other men yelled. Katherine threw both of them in the air too, landing on the ground beside the car. Loki wasn’t sure if they were dead or not, but it didn’t look good. They approached her slowly. She was shaking, her magic radiating off her skin. There were black veins going up her arms. She jumped when she saw them, throwing up her hands, ready to blast.
“Whoa hold on its okay! We’re not going to hurt you.” Stark said. He took his suit off to show he wasn’t a threat, Rhodey did the same, and took a step toward her. “I’m-”
“I know who you are Iron Man. What do you want?” Katherine said to him. “We need your help. We need your help, and I think you could use ours.” He said to her.
“What could you possibly need my help for? To join the Avengers? I think I'd do your team more harm than good.” She told him, still vibrating with her magic. “Maybe if you could just put down the magic hands? Then we can talk?” Stark said to her. She shook her head. “I can’t control it, sometimes it has a mind of its own.” She said to him.
“Were not going to hurt you, I swear it.” Loki said to her, she turned and locked eyes with him and he felt a pull towards her magic with his. Her breath hitched in her throat and she suddenly felt her magic slipping away, she was calming down, and it was because of this man. There was something about him that was calming for her. The veins on her arms started to disappear, and her eyes turned back to their normal bright green color. “How?” She said, before blacking out.
When Katherine woke up, it took a second for her to realize she didn’t know where she was. She sat up quickly and instantly regretted it, putting her head in her hands. “Ow.”
“Are you alright?” Someone said from across the room, making her jump. She looked up and it was the man who had spoken to her earlier, the one who had calmed her down. He was dressed differently than before, now just wearing a simple pair of blue jeans and a gray t-shirt, long black hair slicked back.
“Where am I?” She asked him. She looked around, it wasn’t a hospital, but there was medical equipment everywhere. “This is the medical floor of the Avengers compound. We brought you here because you fainted. How are you feeling?” He said as he sat down in the chair to the side of her bed.
“Um...I feel drained...whatever happens to me, it’s never happened like that before.” She said, looking down. “Do you know what’s happening to you?” He asked her. She shook her head. ” It started happening when I was a kid, I kept getting moved from one foster home to the next because strange things kept happening, things I couldn’t explain. I finally found a good home when I was 15. Then something happened and I...” She stopped and tears started forming in her eyes, her hands started shaking and Loki saw the black veins start to form on her arms and on her face.
He reached out and put his hand over hers, and he watched as the veins started to dissipate, and she stopped shaking. “Hey, it’s alright. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.” He told her.
“How are you doing that?” She asked him. He shook his head. “I don’t know. When I looked at you, I felt pulled by your magic. I’ve never felt anything like it.” He told her. “I have magic too.” He lifted the hand he had over hers, and blue energy came out of it, like it did with hers. Her eyes widened.
“So, what am I, a witch? Does that make you a warlock?” She asked. Loki laughed. “I guess that’s what you could call me. Most people call me the God of Mischief.” He said with a smirk. “But I don’t know if you’re a witch. You definitely have magic, but it’s very different from what I’ve seen. Its stronger than mine, more erratic, it seems to have a mind of its own.” He told her. That made her uneasy. What was inside of her that did this? She didn’t want to be like this anymore. Loki could sense that she was starting to panic again and put his hand back on hers. “It’s okay, that’s why you’re here, we want to help you. We can help you.”
She looked up at him with hopeful eyes. “How can you help me?” She said. Loki wasn’t entirely sure how they could help her. Hopefully Stark had a plan, maybe he could create something that could help her control her magic. He didn’t understand why he cared what happened to this girl all of a sudden.
“Tony Stark is a very wealthy man; he is also one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. I’m sure that he’s going to figure out how to help you. In the meantime, I can train you. Help you control it.” He told her. She looked up at him and for the first time in maybe her whole life, she felt completely safe.
Tony came back down to check on her a little later, and a woman, Dr. Helen Cho, came with him. They ran a few more tests on her, and took some more blood, but the doctor cleared her to roam the compound, as long as she didn’t overexert herself. “You hungry kid?” Tony asked her as he stuck out his arm for her to slip hers too. She nodded and let him lead her up to the kitchen area, where the others were that she saw last night. She sat down and looked down at her lap, unsure about her surroundings. These people seemed nice, but what if they just wanted her for whatever she was? What if they would hurt her if she didn’t do what they said?
A plate being set down in front of her brought her back to reality and she looked up Tony, who was smiling down at her. He put a hand on her shoulder and gave it a little squeeze, sitting down on her left. Everyone slowly started eating, and she learned everyone’s names. The man that was wearing a suit similar to Tony’s last night was Rhodey, the woman was Brunnhilde, but she said Kat could call her Valkyrie, then there was Loki. Kat didn’t know why she felt such a pull to him, but she felt calm in his presence, like he would protect her.
Loki kept glancing at Kat while she was getting to know everyone, and he couldn’t get this feeling out of his head about her. The way his magic pulled to her, he had heard of this happening before, with soulmates. It was a rare occurrence anymore. It brings to people together who were destined to be. He wasn’t sure that’s what this was, but he didn’t want to scare the girl if that’s what was happening. She was the most beautiful woman Loki had ever laid eyes on. Her eyes were the brightest green he had ever seen, with flecks of blue, her black hair long and pushed over one shoulder. He noticed freckles on her cheeks, and when she laughed at something Rhodey had said, he noticed metal in her mouth. Some kind of piercing? That made Loki more intrigued.
“So, what do you say Katherine, are you up for some training today? Basic stuff, I’m sure Valkyrie can teach you some hand to hand, and then Loki can start on your magic, if that’s okay with you?” She looked at Loki, then back at Tony, nodding. “One thing. Could you call me Kat?” She said smiling.
“We can do that.”