The Ides of July // Loki - Book 1 ✓

Chapter 31: Who Are You?

WHEN ANNA WAKES she finds herself curled on the cot in Loki's cell in the dark. Someone must have moved her from the floor where she passed out earlier. Shivering, she pushes herself upright to see Loki slouched against the concrete wall to her right. His eyes are closed, but she can tell by the furrow in his forehead that he is awake. Awake and not happy.

"Loki," Anna says softly, shifting to place her feet on the floor.

Ice cold concrete hits her bare skin, and she recoils into herself. They must've taken her shoes while she was out. A glance at Loki tells her they did the same to him. He's barefoot in a dark green button down and black trousers, his hands cuffed with thick shackles that likely limit his magic. Neither of them are dressed for the frigid temperatures of the cell, let alone sitting on the freezing concrete like he is at the moment.

"Aren't you cold?" She asks him.

Still no response. His eyes have yet to open, and Anna can't make out a single change in his facial expression in the dim lighting. Exhaling in frustration, she gingerly places her feet on the floor and stands - wavering slightly - before crossing the small cell to him.

"Loki," her voice is low as she reaches out to touch his hand where it rests on his knee.

"Do not touch me, worthless maggot," He jerks back, emerald eyes flying open to glare at her.

His words are laced with a venom Anna did not expect, and she unconsciously takes a step back from him. Breathing deeply to steel herself against his temper, she clutches her injured arm to herself and frowns.

"I'm trying to be nice," Anna replies, clearly annoyed. "I wanted to--"

Loki interrupts her with a scoff, "Why?"

"What do you mean, why?" She asks. "We were just kidnapped! I watched them drag you into a cell and hurt you. I couldn't--"

"We were kidnapped?" Loki asks incredulously, pushing himself off the floor. "We?!"

Anna steps back as Loki reaches his full height in front of her. She keeps her chin squared at him, trying to keep herself from cowering in his presence. With his disheveled appearance, wild hair, and piercing green eyes, Loki looks more intimidating now than he ever did fully decked in his armor.

"Yes, we," she replies shakily. "I didn't know this was going to happen."

Loki laughs cruelly, his smile stopping far beneath his rage-filled eyes.

"You betrayed us," he seethes, his shoulders shaking with emotion as he takes a step toward her. "You betrayed all of them. Stark. Banner. Thor. If any harm comes to my brother, I will hold you personally accountable. I will see your heart ripped from your throat and fed to the dogs like the insignificant, feeble, slab of flesh you are. Not even the vermin will touch your corpse out of revulsion for what remains of you."

Eyes wide, Anna freezes as she absorbs Loki's threats. She was already racked with guilt over her actions, and his tirade isn't helping. If she had known what Magnus was planning - what he would do - she never would've agreed to get involved. Her emotions following Rifat's death got the best of her, fueling her irrational hatred of Iron Man, and the subsequent discovery that Loki was responsible for her fiance's death only fanned the flames of her rage.

"You have room to talk," Anna spits back at him, pushing down the guilt in her throat with misplaced anger. "How many people have you murdered? How much blood is on your hands? You didn't seem to care much when you betrayed your own brother in the Battle of New York, and - from what Jane tells me - in New Mexico."

Loki closes the distance between them, his cuffed hands clutching her throat, as he slams her into the opposite wall. She cries out in pain as her head connects with the concrete first, scrambling with both hands to pull him off her. Tears spring to her eyes as she gasps for air, her large blue eyes searching Loki's for a hint of mercy.

Her knee connects with his groin, and he drops her as he stumbles backward. Even gods have sensitive areas, she notes, as she falls to the floor sucking in oxygen. Using the wall for support, she stands quickly before launching herself at Loki. He blocks her initial punch with his shackled forearms, and she manages to sneak a left hook to his jaw. Surprised, he grabs at her injured right arm and kicks her solidly in the stomach before striking her across the cheek.

Spitting blood, she pushes a strand of brown hair out of her eyes before running for him, swinging herself behind his back and whipping her legs up to lock around his head. Her momentum allows her to complete the move in a flash before returning upright - arm hooked around his neck - and throwing Loki to the floor.

"You...killed...my fiance," Anna fumes through clenched teeth as she straddles his chest, her hand at his throat prepared to deliver a final blow to render him unconscious.

The two stare at each other for a moment without speaking, chests heaving from effort, before Anna comprehends what just happened. Her hand falls limp by her side, and she jumps up with eyes wide from shock. She has no clue how she managed to fight Loki; her body simply acted on pure instinct. Adrenaline was coursing through her veins, telling her that she could've done more, but she is clueless as to how. Before the last few weeks, she'd never been in a fight in her life, and now she'd managed to stand her own on multiple occasions. 

"I...I'm sorry," she mumbles, taking several steps backward. "I didn't...I wasn't..."

Loki slowly sits upright, staring at her in disbelief. The unassuming brunette across from him just incapacitated him in less than two minutes, and now she stands across from him as if she is as surprised as he to discover herself capable of such a thing.

Her back hits the wall where he had pinned her only moments prior, and she slides to the floor in silence. Head pounding as her thoughts scramble for answers, she blinks at Loki. Unable to look away, his eyes remained locked with hers.

"Who are you?" Loki asks, stunned.

Now playing: "Liar [It Takes One To Know One]" by Taking Back Sunday.