I have a new fanfic, Lords & Towers, read it if you're interested.
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~ Somewhere remote in Russia. ~
Inside a rundown bar, hidden among the perpetual snow and polar darkness, Natasha Romanoff was gathering intel.
Over the past week, reports of unidentified flying objects had multiplied. Some even came with photographs. Most dismissed them as drunkards' tales or hoaxes. But Natasha was not "most people."
According to the latest intel, after her defection and entrance into S.H.I.E.L.D., the Red Room had ceased operating as a regular facility. To avoid detection, it had become a floating fortress, drifting through the coldest and most unexplored regions of Russia. A technological specter cloaked in white silence.
After days of quiet investigation, she had finally managed to trace its approximate location.
But as she stepped out of the bar, she realized she wasn't alone.
Several men followed her. Outside, beneath the dim glow of rusty streetlamps, they surrounded her.
"Hey lady, how about some fun?" one said, flashing a crooked smile.
"Yeah, we've got something special to show you," added another, while the others chuckled.
Natasha prepared to take them down. It would only take seconds. But she never got the chance.
The men started screaming.
"AHHH! MONSTER! It's a monster!"
"Get away! I don't want to die!"
"Mommy! I want my mommy!"
They fled, terrified, as if they had seen the devil himself.
Natasha frowned and turned around.
"What are you doing here?"
"Come on" Loki answered, appearing with his usual air of smugness. "I'm in your house for a reason. You think I'd ignore it when something interesting finally happens?"
"This is personal. It has nothing to do with you."
Loki smirked arrogantly.
"Oh really? Then tell that to someone who can see the future."
Natasha ignored him and kept walking. The area was remote, and the night thickened like a heavy shadow. Along the way, they were intercepted by criminals three times. Each time, Loki used illusions to scare them off.
"You know" Natasha murmured, "just knocking them out would be quieter."
"Perhaps" Loki admitted, "but this leaves fewer traces. If you knock them out, there will be questions. If they think they saw monsters, no one will believe them. They discredit themselves."
"You talk like you've done this before."
"Oh, I have. Though I doubt anyone will believe that four different groups saw monsters on the same night."
"Isn't that your father's fault?" Natasha quipped, smirking.
Loki scowled.
"Why would he have anything to do with Midgard's affairs?"
That was exactly the answer Natasha was looking for.
"Why wouldn't he? Doesn't he rule the Nine Realms? Shouldn't he promote peace within his own domain?"
Loki scoffed.
"Odin is busy facing cosmic threats. He doesn't meddle in trivial matters."
"A king who doesn't involve himself in his people's affairs isn't a good king" Natasha said coldly.
"I don't need a lecture from you. You work for S.H.I.E.L.D." Loki retorted, then let out a dry laugh. "S.H.I.E.L.D. must be the most useless organization in existence. Its purpose is to protect Midgard from cosmic threats. That's already Asgard's job. And if something gets past us, there's nothing you people can do about it."
"S.H.I.E.L.D. keeps peace on Earth. Thanks to them, there aren't superhumans causing chaos everywhere."
Loki paused, thoughtful.
"Then it seems we're both doing the wrong jobs."
"Seems like it" Natasha replied, eyes fixed on the path.
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Fifty kilometers ahead.
Before them stood a colossal structure: a floating fortress, a black cube suspended in the air, lifeless yet menacing.
Loki eyed it skeptically.
"And how exactly did you plan to take that on by yourself?"
"I didn't plan to fight" Natasha replied. "It's a tech facility. The plan was to infiltrate, reach the control center, and use a virus provided by S.H.I.E.L.D. to take over."
"A solid plan... or it was" Loki commented, just as a beam of light bathed them.
In seconds, automated turrets began firing. Both moved like shadows, dodging with deadly precision.
"And now how do we get in?" Loki asked.
As if fate itself responded, a hatch slowly opened before them, extending a walkway to the ground. From within, a black tide began to pour out: Black Widows. Dozens. Hundreds.
Natasha went pale at the sight.
"Can't you control their minds?"
"Of course not. With the scepter, yes—but without it... I need to touch them, or at least be very close. And that's at most twenty at once, not hundreds."
With no other choice, they fought.
Natasha struck with surgical precision, a shadow among shadows. Loki, though not a hand-to-hand combat expert, was still a god—and far stronger than any human.
But something shifted. As he used his magic on one of them, Loki frowned.
Natasha, just then facing two adversaries, noticed them suddenly stop. The rest did too, as if an invisible thread had snapped.
"You said you couldn't control them?"
"I'm not" Loki replied, surprised. "I'm freeing them. Their minds aren't completely suppressed—just... asleep. As if someone anesthetized them. They just need a little push."
The Widows, trained to read situations, understood quickly.
They didn't know who Loki was, but they realized he was setting them free. In an instant, they chose. They joined him and Natasha, with one clear goal: take down Dreykov. They would not waste this chance.
Together, they advanced toward the fortress. More enemies awaited, but a few seconds of contact were enough for Loki to awaken them too.
In the control room, Dreykov watched the monitors with growing unease. He ordered every hatch sealed. Massive metal doors closed, locking down entire sections.
But the Widows knew the structure like the back of their hand. Trained spies, they understood how to sabotage the very systems that had kept them trapped for years.
Though progress slowed, it was enough for Dreykov to activate a desperate protocol. Two female figures appeared in the control room. Reinforcements.
Meanwhile, the Widows guided Loki through deep corridors. At first, he didn't understand why. But soon, he did.
They passed through dormitories. The outer ones belonged to veterans. But as they neared the center, the rooms grew smaller, dimmer... and the beds, tinier.
Children.
Girls no older than seven, programmed to kill.
Loki's frown deepened. He kept freeing them, even as many attacked him on sight. It didn't matter. He continued.
A memory rose within him.
He remembered the scepter—the power to control minds with a mere touch. Something he had once considered trivial. Now he understood how devastating it could be for others. And at the same time... how salvific.
A spark of magic. A whisper. And those minds awakened.
He thought of his father.
"If Odin had his spear, he could free all of them across a continent. Why doesn't he?"
Loki understood.
What is trivial for some, is life or death for others. The difference between slavery... and freedom.
"A king who doesn't involve himself in his people's affairs, huh?" he muttered to himself.
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+20 chapters in advance on Patreon.
p-atreon.com/IAMME26
(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)