In The Shadows | Loki

GET THEM OUT OF HERE

"Does it have to do with the fact that I can still find your mutant DNA?" Julie asks. I go completely still, watching her carefully. She glances towards the door before turning back to me, waiting. "Ophelia?" 
        "Who have you-"
        "No one outside this room knows." She replies quickly, cutting me off. "I just don't understand how. They filled you with the cure. The last mutant they had me take samples from that had the cure had no trace of Mutant DNA until months later when it was wearing off. There's no way you should have any trace of mutant DNA left." I hesitate before shaking my head, unsure of what to say.
        "I don't know." I admit softly. "I think it's because of how powerful I was. It's wearing off, but..." I shake my head. 
        "You don't have much of your power, do you?" She asks, and I shake my head. "But it still shouldn't wear off that quickly." 
        "The mutant they took it from, I have his ability. When I was in the bar that they kidnapped me from, I had a feeling they were waiting until I was alone, so when I was alone, I brought his ability to the surface of my skin. I don't know if it helped, but I think it might have tricked the cure a little bit." Julie presses her lips together in a thin line. 
        "I don't know how to break it to you, but that's not how that works." She says softly. 
        "Makes sense. I don't know much about Biology or medicine and its workings." I say with a small nod, causing her to laugh. "Look, all I know is I'm barely strong enough to do anything, just that I can do some." She lets out a small hum, glancing towards the door. 
        "Are you gaining strength though?" She asks, her hopeful look nearly breaking my heart. 
        "I think so." I offer. "I mean, I have to be, don't I? If it's wearing off?" I hadn't tried anything, knowing if I did, the guards, someone might see. She hesitates, and then the door reopens with a bang. 
        "Get her out of here. I need to talk to the doctor." The head man reenters. Rough hands grab my arms, pulling me off the table and back towards the door. Julie looks nervous, but not scared. He wasn't going to kill her. At least, she didn't think so. 
        I'm shoved down the hallway and back towards the cells, and when we get there they simply throw me inside, and I hit the ground with a harsh thump. Gambit quickly helps me up as the door clangs shut, and I try to ignore the stinging in my knees and palms. Loki was going through a lot these past weeks, with how often I was getting beaten around. 
        "You okay?" Gambit asks. I nod, catching my breath.
        "They're just very rude." I reply, earning a small laugh.
        It's then that I hear a thunderclap, and I frown, looking up. There was no way.... could they have really found us? Or was this storm just rising my hopes for no reason?
        Then an alarm begins to blare, and lights begin flashing. There's another loud crack of lightning, and the lights go out for a few seconds before red emergency lights filled the room. I can't stop the smile from crossing my lips, the only smile in a room of confused and scared faces. I quickly turn to Gambit.
        "Come here." He shoots me a confused look.
        "Shouldn't we be worried about-"
        "Just come here." I huff, annoyed. Another boom erupts, this one shaking the building just slightly. Gambit moves forward, and I lightly grab the collar around his neck. He opens his mouth to speak again, but I ignore it, focusing on his collar. I had never had to focus my power this much, pushing it to the surface, trying to force Magneto's power to work. It takes long, too long, for the lock to finally click, for the power to obey me, but it does. The collar clicks and opens, and I let it fall to the ground. Gambit blinks in shock.
        "Um, how long have you been able to do that?" He asks, flexing his fingers and cracking his neck. 
        "I wasn't even sure if I would be able to do that." I reply, turning to the other cells. "C'mon. We need to get as many of these collars off as we can." 
        I quickly get to work, starting with the oldest mutants. They would be the most in-control of their abilities, and would be the most help if we needed to make a quick exit. It still took much too long to get the collars off one by one, and sounds of the fighting began outside. The second Kurt's collar is off, he teleports outside the cells, moving quickly to look out the door. 
        "Ophelia, you might want to hurry. They're getting closer."
        "I can't go faster!" I snap, frustrated. There's a moment of silence, and I turn in time to see Kurt vanish. There's a loud bang, and Gambit moves to the cell door. He uses his ability to blow out the lock, and moves towards the door. I watch him blow out the lock on that door, moving into the hallway as I get another collar off. 
        "Watch out!" Kurt shouts, and I see Gambit duck as a shot nearly hits him. 
        "Where did you two come from?" A familiar voice asks. I straighten, quickly moving towards the door.
        "Sif?" The warrior moves into my line of sight, sword in her hand. I let out a disbelieving laugh, having not expected the warriors of asgard to be helping the team find me. 
        "Ophelia?" She grins when she sees me. "Finally. We've been looking everywhere." She glances around the room, taking in all the younger children. "Are these the other mutants?" I nod. 
        "Can you help me get them out of here?" She nods, glancing at Kurt and Gambit still in the hallway. 
        "Loki is tearing apart this compound looking for you." She informs me. 
        "That sounds like something he would do." I nod in agreement. "Sif, can you and Kurt get these kids out of here? I need get to that lab and destroy the samples they have. We can't let them figure out how to use our abilities." Kurt waves at Sif, and she nods. "Gambit, you're with me. I need your ability to destroy things." 
        "Least I'm good for something." He replies with small smirk. The two of us move towards the door, but Sif stops me by grabbing my elbow.
        "Take this." She hands me a long dagger, and I nod my thanks. "Children, follow me." They look at her with slight fear, several of them eyeing her bloody sword.
        "It's okay, c'mon." Kurt urges. They trust him enough to follow, so Gambit and I wait until they've disappeared back towards the ship to head the other direction down the hallway. Gambit begins to collect small pieces of rubble to charge with explosive power. He didn't have his playing cards with him, so these would have to do. 
        We turn the final corner to reach the lab, only to come to a halt when we see four guards outside the door, armed to the teeth. Guns raise, pointed directly at us.
        "Don't move, mutants!" Gambit and I exchange a look, trying to see what the other was planning. "Put the weapon down!" I slowly kneel, acting as if I was going to put the blade down when Gambit hurled several small pieces of rubble, all charged with his ability, at the guards. There's shouts of surprise seconds before several loud booms as the rubble exploded. I turn away from the explosion, shielding my face from the flying debris. 
        "They're down." I straighten, quickly moving towards the door. Gambit follows as we move around the bodies and I shove open the door. 
        "Don't move." The sight that makes us freeze this time isn't guns pointed at us, but a gun held tightly against Julie's head by the head honcho. The other scientists in the room have already been shot, but with Julie being the head, they would only need her to figure out how to use our abilities. "Move and she dies." 
        "Too late." Before I can blink, there's a small flash of light, and the man gasps, grip tightening on the gun and Julie as he slowly falls forward, eyes going wide. Julie stumbles, yanking herself away from him as he hits the ground. There's a dagger sticking out of his back, the handle still quivering from the impact. When I see the man behind them, I can't help but smile.
        "Loki."