The Avengers Weakness

Chapter Forty-One

Loki eyed the young teen in front of him. Her curly brown locks were sticking to her face and neck as sweat gathered on her brow. She was breathing heavily, squeezing her eyes shut as she backed into the wall. He found her doing that frequently as of late; she put her hands over her ears and tried to bury her head into her knees. Her sweater was dirty, a mixture of dark red and brown covered it, her plaid skirt was ripped like her tights, both of them had dark red stains on them. He found her looking worse and worse as time progressed.

"Are you alright, pet?" he asked.

She shook her head and winced.

He soundlessly walked over to the girl, "What's wrong?"

"They're s-so loud..." she whispered.

He noticed the pale orange mist that was forming around her hands, the stones seemed to have worked, "What's so loud, pet?" he asked; he had a feeling that he knew what she talking about.

"The v-voices..." she whispered again, "M-make them stop."

He knelt down in front of her, "Darling....there are no voices...no one but you and I are speaking..." he assured.

She shook her head, "N-no the ones outside...pl-please make it...make it stop..."

He frowned, the girl's new-found powers were stronger than he anticipated, "Pet, let me help you..." he offered, holding his hands out to her.

The orange mists around her hands were growing brighter, "Pl-please M-Mister Loki..." she whispered, she sounded like she was in pain.

He gently grabbed her thin wrists, pulling her hands away from her ears, his hands started to glow green as he tapped into her powers and thoughts, "Steady your breathing..." he softly instructed, he'd learned quickly that she responded to softer tones better, not loud and abrasive, those were the ones that scared her.

She nodded her head and slowly steadied her breathing.

He could hear what she was hearing as he happened into her thoughts. To him they were slightly muffled but loud nonetheless, he could imagine they were unbearable to her, "Good...now focus on the silence."

"But th-there isn't any M-Mister Loki..." she whispered.

"There is, you need to focus; you aren't hearing people's voices, you are hearing their thoughts. They are loud, I know, you won't ever not hear them...however you can ignore them...focus on the silence pet."

She shook her head,," I-I can't hear the silences...it's s-so loud..."

He frowned, he wasn't the best at teaching people how to control their powers; times like this, he wished for his mother. He knew if the majestic woman was here, she would know exactly what to do and say to help the girl in front of him. "Alright then...focus on my voice. Darling, focus on only my voice, let it drown out the others..."

She nodded.

He watched her brow start to crease in concentration, "Good...keep listening to my voice."

For a few more moments, he instructed her to follow the sounds of his voice. She was a good listener, she wasn't stubborn or disobedient; in fact, she was a little too complacent for his taste. She did everything she was instructed, it was probably an ingrained response to the abuse he'd seen in her memories days ago. Slowly, the orange-yellow mist around her delicate hands started to fade. Her breathing evened out to shallow, raspy breaths-something he knew wasn't a good thing, she let out a small cough and leaned back against the wall.