Toxic

37 | Who's Loki

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•••

The door burst down, bits of the splintered wood flying across the room from the impact. There Summer was, huddled in a ball in the corner. Two big hands grabbed her arms, making her scream and fight back.

"Summer, Summer, it's me! It's Thor!" He shouted over her hysterics.

Breathing heavy, she stopped flailing for a moment to register who was talking, and then launched herself into his arms. "Oh thank God." She sobbed, trembling in his hold.

Thor breathed a sigh of relief and embraced her tightly. "Did you see him?"

"H-He was terrifying!" She cried and pulled out of his hold just enough to meet his gaze. "I thought he was going to bite my head off!"

"Wait, what?" Landon interjected. "Loki?"

She shook her head. "No, it was some... some alien creature! It was massive, pitch black, with fangs longer than my fingers-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down!" Thor cut her off and took her clammy hands in his. "You didn't see Loki?"

Her eyebrows furrowed together. "No, no I didn't!" She told him, again, as if she were frustrated he didn't believe her.

Landon shot Thor a look. "Was it Brock?"

Thor shook his head. "He wouldn't do something like this. And he's out of town." He told him. "That must mean..."

•••

"So when I was talking to you, I was talking to him!?" Landon exasperated, pacing around the room. Everyone was now gathered in the same room to think of a plan to keep Summer safe.

Thor ran a tired hand down his face. "I'm afraid so," he replied, quietly.

"But why would he turn into that... thing and scare me!" Summer exclaimed, referring to Venom.

The room grew quiet, until Freyja piped up. "I don't think he was just trying to scare you," she voiced, softly. "I think he's trying to instill fear in all of us, making us feel as if we're crazy. I mean, how do we all know that one of us isn't Loki right now?"

Everyone either stiffened or shuffled uncomfortably. No one had an answer.

"I think it's best for now to have you surveillanced and guarded until we catch Loki." Thor spoke, his thick arms crossed over his chest, deep in thought.

She sighed and nodded her head, her gaze glued to the floor. "I'm sorry to put this on all of you."

"Don't say that," Siv gently corrected her mother. "We'd do anything to protect you. You've suffered long enough."

Hot tears pricked the backs of Summer's eyes and her daughters noticed immediately. They didn't hesitate to bring their mom into a tight hug.

"We just got you back." Siv sniffled, she eyes tightly closed as she embraced her mom. "We're not going to let you go that easily."

Finally the tears escaped her eyes. "Love you, girls."

The day went on and the spent nearly the entire day preparing for all sorts of scenarios and things Loki may try to do. They'd all risk dying to protect Summer, and that was a chance everyone was willing to take.

Bucky was the one who brought her back to her heavily guarded room at night. They decided at least one of them had to be with her at all times. He'd drop her off at her door and stand outside of it with the rest of the agents who stood guard, until Peter would come hours later and switch out with him.

When they got to her bedroom door, she turned to face him. "Thank you for everything." Summer released a shaky breath, timidly gazing up at him.

Bucky's lips twisted up into a partial grin. "Don't worry about it." He softly responded. "You good from here?"

She was about to nod, but she hesitated. "I'm sorry, it's just..." she caught her lower lip between her teeth. "Will you, umm...."

"You want me to make sure he's not in there?" He guessed, his gaze on her gentle.

She sighed in relief. "Please," She confirmed.

He opened the door and wordlessly searched the room, her eyes following him everywhere he went. It only took about a minute to check the whole bedroom and bathroom until her concluded, "looks safe to me. No one else is here."

Her shoulders visibly relaxed as she padded over to him. When they were toe to toe, she wrapped her arms around his waist and whispered, "Thank you, Bucky."

He was thrown off by the embrace, but welcomed it anyway, his arms securing across her waist. Before he could even get a word out, he choked on a gasp, something wet dripping from his side. The sickening noise of flesh, muscle, and tissue twisting made him cry out as something in him rotated before it was yanked out.

He took a wobbly step back and stared down at Summer, confused. His eyes went from her face, the bloodied knife in her grip, to the hole in his side.

Her face twisted into a snarl and she rose the knife to strike again. Bucky turned just in time to miss the first swipe of the knife. He stumbled back, nearly tripping over his own feet.

She stepped closer with every swipe of the blade, when finally... "drop the weapon!" Thor's voice boomed through the room, stormbreaker in hand, several of the other Avengers behind him, their own weapons ready.

Immediately, Summer threw her hands up in surrender. "Wait, it's him! Bucky is Loki!"

Losing blood at a terribly high rate, Bucky winced as he put pressure on his wound, and pleaded his case. "No. Summer is..." he swallowed thickly. "It's Summer. She's Loki."

She appeared as if he just stuck her across the face. "Don't you dare, you sick bastard!" She shouted and took a threatening step towards him, knife raised again.

Thor was quick to separate them with stormbreaker. "How do we know we can trust you?"

"I can tell, Thor! Please, you have to believe me!" She pleaded with tears streaming down her face.

He turned towards Bucky for his argument.

"... she stabbed me."

She nearly screamed, "for good reason you son of a-"

"Enough!" Thor ordered and signaled for the team to grab them both. They'd both have to be restrained for the time being until they found out which was Loki.

But one thing they knew for sure, they had him.
They finally caught Loki.

If only they heard the muffled screaming through a gag down the hall.

•••

Who do you think is lying? Vote here:

Team - Bucky is Loki

Team - Summer is Loki