Hi again!!! So I'm suffering from writer's block on my other stories, so I'm taking it out on this one! :) Tell me what ya'll think!
~Sierra

Chapter Four

~Older Girl's POV~

Tony gets me cleared to be able to walk around the craft by myself, with no supervision. Although I'm not entirely sure that's true, because I know for a fact that there are cameras probably every five feet on this thing.

I try to get Leah to be free too, but Tony and Thor refuse. Tony, because he doesn't want to bother Fury any more than he already has, and Thor because he doesn't think Leah is strong enough.

My mind is still going a million miles per hour since the meeting. I can't help peeling back part of my shirt and looking at the mark on my skin that the Imeldi apparently left. It still burns, and there is a redness about it that would suggest infection had it been an ordinary wound.

Loki had said the only way to get rid of the venom was a way that would, to say the least, be extremely painful and I couldn't even be knocked out. I'm not really worried about me, but I am extremely worried about Leah. How long does it last? How do I even know if Loki is telling the truth? Natasha didn't seem to, and I'm not sure I do either. But a tiny part of me does believe it, and it leaves me terrified.

I reach a part of the ship I am very unfamiliar with. It was a long hallway, with glass doorways and windows every so often, revealing what I assume to be laboratories. Most of them are empty, but I see a few scientists walking around, looking at odd-looking instruments. I walk quicker, curious.

At the end of the hallway, I reach one particularly large lab. I peek inside the glass window and am surprised to see Tony and the man I recall to be Dr. Banner inside. Tony is pressing some sort of screen that seems to be suspended in mid-air, and Dr. Banner is hovering over something. When he shifts, I see that it is a sort of gun.

Memories slam through me, and I realize with distaste that I have seen that gun before. Along with yellow eyes and razor sharp-

I jump, because Dr. Banner has looked up and spotted me. Shoot. He walks to the doorway, opens the door and says with a smile, "You can come in if you want to."

Surprised that I wasn't going to be yelled at, I walk inside.

"Hey, who invited the kid?" asks Tony, not looking up from his work.

"I did," replies Dr. Banner calmly, going back to his table.

"My name's not kid," I say fiercely. Dr. Banner smiles again.

Tony still doesn't look at me as he fiddles around with some more of the screens. "Well you haven't exactly given me anything else to call you. What about Spider?"

"Spider?" I sneer. "Where did that come from?"

"You know, Spy-der. Because you, young lady," he looks up long enough to point some kind of screwdriver at me, "Have successfully managed to spy on an extremely secret meeting. Mind telling me how you pulled that off again?"

"I'd rather not," I say stiffly.

Tony shrugs nonchalantly, going back to his work. "Figured you would say that."

I watch both of them work for a couple minutes. Then, bored, I begin to walk out of the door until I hear Dr. Banner's voice. "Hey, come here real quick, would you?"

Frowning, I walk towards his desk, automatically shying away from the gun. Half of it is covered in plastic, but the other one is practically dissected like a lab frog, The metal has been torn apart, and wires dart in and out of the material. "What?"

Dr. Banner takes off his glasses and leans on his elbows across from me. "You've seen this before, haven't you?" When I don't reply, he presses, "Or something like that?"

I hesitate, then nod.

"Can you tell me something about it?"

From the corner of my eye, I see Tony look up from his table.

"I know what you're trying to do," I say sharply.

"I know you know what I'm trying to do," says Dr. Banner gently. "Like Loki said, you're far too clever for your own good."

My cheeks flame. "You heard that?"

"It's not a bad thing necessarily."

Crossing my arms, I stare determinedly at the gun, sorely wishing that I had not chosen to come inside this laboratory.

"Will you tell me what's bothering you?" Dr. Banner asks, seemingly benignly as he picks up a metal prod and then slides on some gloves.

I am silent once again. "No."

"I didn't think so. Can you at least tell me why you won't tell me?"

I almost say no, but instead, refine my answer, "I don't trust you."

Dr. Banner doesn't look at me as he reaches under the desk and opens a drawer. "If I were in your place, I would be inclined to say that as well."

"Then why are you asking?"

"Because I was wondering if you would go against what your instincts tell you," he says.

"I don't think so," I say coolly.

There is silence. Then, there is a crash from the other side of the room, and both Dr. Banner and I look up. Tony has dropped a canister of some sort of liquid. "Melted iridium," he says, probably for my sake.

"Why didn't the glass break?" I ask as Tony plops it back down on the desk.

Shrugging, he replies, "Plexi-glass. Not gonna break anytime soon."

"Oh." I walk over to Tony's work area. "What are you doing?"

"Timing things."

"What?"

"Timing things. Putting things on timers so I won't forget to replace a metal or something and the whole plane catches on fire."

I watch Tony tap the screen a bit more. "Is that a plant?"

"Yep. A really hardy substance from Indonesia, I think."

"Brunei," corrects Dr. Banner, from where he is still hovering over the gun.

Tony rolls his eyes. "Whatever. But I'm timing its exposure to certain elements. Pure hydrogen, iridium, methane, and so forth."

"What are you testing for?" I ask.

"How long it takes for it to die." He replies, grabbing the canister of iridium.              

"Why would you care about that?"

"You know," comments Tony as he walks over to a white-washed shelf full of labeled canisters and stares fixedly at it, seemingly looking for something. "For a girl who is refusing to answer anything we ask her, including her own name, you sure are asking a lot of questions."

"You don't have to answer them." I reply.

Tony whistles. "Good point. But to answer your question, we're testing the long-time effects on simple life forms, which we'll eventually use to conclude results on humans. Everything has to die at some point."

My face pales.

Tony seems to realize he has said something wrong, probably from a combination of my blank face and Dr. Banner looking up from his work long enough to glare at him.

"Can I leave?" I mutter. "I'm sorry, I just need to go."

Tony is speechless for once and looks down.

Dr. Banner looks at me for a few moments, then nods, putting on his glasses once again. "You can go."

*

I find Loki in the observatory, looking out over the control room. His back is to me, with his hands behind his back. However, I have literally taken two steps into the room when he says, "Well this is a surprise."

"I'm not here to make friends," I say. "I'm here for answers."

Loki smiles as if he knows a secret while he turns to face me. "I rather figured that. What would you like to know?"

I take a deep breath. "How much longer until I die?"

His smile vanishes as he sits down on one of the several chairs positioned around the room. "Of all the questions you could ask me, you chose to ask me the one I wish to answer the least."

I cross my arms. "The question still stands."

"Come here."

"Excuse me?"

"If you want to know the answer, I need to see your scar." Loki says simply.

I bite my lip, not sure I really want to do this. "If you see my scar will you be able to tell me about my sister too?"

"No. I will need to see hers too."

"How do you know so much about the Imeldi anyway?" I ask, really for no reason.

"You're stalling."

"I am not," I lie.

"Don't lie."

"I can lie if I want to," I snap.

"Well you can." Says Loki, still sitting in his chair, although now he is leaning forward. "But I will always know if you are or not, so there are really no benefits for you."

I scowl.

"And for another," says Loki. "If you are allowed to ask me a question, I believe that I have that same right."

"What do you want to know?" I demand.

"Your name. Nothing else."

My brain works rapidly. "Fine. Tell me first."

"No, you tell me first." Loki's eyes are amused. "I have no real desire to know your name, but you have a real desire to know how much longer you have to live, so I highly recommend that you go ahead and tell me."

"Gianna," I spit out.

"Ah," says Loki, his eyes twinkling. "Very well. Now come over here."

Seeing as there is no other way out of this, I walk up to him. He raises his eyebrows at me.

"Tell me," I say simply.

 He reaches up and pushes down a few inches of fabric from the top of my shirt so that my scar is visible. Softly, so I can barely feel his finger, he touches the center of it, where the circles meet. I wince, and he says, "One week."

"What?" I say.

Loki removes his hand and looks up at me. Surprisingly, I don't see taunting or malice in his eyes; just barely concealed concern. "The ridges of your scar are beginning to harden. My best estimation is that you have one week left to live."

He says it so calmly, I feel my temper beginning to rise. "And what about my sister?"

"Did I not tell you that I will not be-"

"I know you know." I say fiercely. "Not only because I saw you and Clint walking out of her room this morning, but because if I had said you did, you would have told me to ask Leah."

He chuckles. "You really are quite smart. Very well. What I am about to say is the truth: Leah has around a week left to live."

I frown. "The truth... you're saying that what you told me earlier.... About me only having one week to li-live..." I stammer. "You're saying that my lifespan isn't one week?"

                "Ah," Loki smiles dangerously. "But your real name isn't Gianna is it?"

                My mouth drops open.

                "I told you, dearest, that you cannot lie to me without me knowing," says Loki with a relative amount of victory, getting up and walking past me.

                He is right about to reach the door when I scream something at him that I would never have dared to say if I had not been pushed to an extreme.

                Turning around, Loki says calmly, "Vulgarity will do nothing to me."

I don't realize I am crying until I am screaming again. "How dare you! How-how freaking could you! You're playing a game with me when I just want to know how much longer I have to live!" I stalk up to him, not even trying to control myself. "I'm a human timer, Loki! According to you, my sister has seven days! Seven! I guess you don't care, but I do! You're a sick, sick, monster, and I hate you!"

                I am panting and I feel the hot tears on my cheeks. I begin to push past Loki when he grabs both of my arms and holds me out in front of him. I refuse to look at him and don't bother trying to get away. "Listen to me," he says in such a frightening tone, I try to step back but do not succeed. He shakes my shoulders. "Listen!"

                I glare at him. "I'm listening!"

                "Now I am only going to say this once so you had best listen. You are not going to die, so therefore knowing the date of when you think you might die is extremely irrelevant."

                "But you told me when Leah wi-"

                "I only did that to calm you down. It's true that she only has approximately a week left, but she will be fine. Thor, as I have recently discovered, knows how to remove the venom, so he will save her as soon as he gets it cleared with the Director."

                "But it hurts!" I exclaim. "You yourself even said it is more painful than a dying a thousand times!"

                "So you would prefer for her to die, would you?" he asks snarkily.

                "No! I'm just saying-"

                "You're saying that because you have nothing else to say, and have, for once in your life, run out of come-backs to an argument."

                I do not have an argument for this.

                Loki takes this as an opportunity to keep on going. "And as for you, either Thor or I will extract the poison from your veins after your sister. I do know how long you have left to live," he holds up a finger when I open my mouth. "Provided that nobody does anything to help it, and I am not telling you, because it does not matter."

                "But you told me when-"

                "Stop talking." He snaps. "And we've discussed this already. The only reason I told you about Leah is so that you would keep your mewling mouth quiet."

                My breath is not slowing down. "What if I told you my name? Would you tell me how long I have to live?"

                He considers me for a moment. "Why do you wish to know so badly?"

                I would have put my hands on my hips had Loki not been holding onto my arms tighter than a boa constrictor, so I satisfy myself with just glaring up at him. "Well, maybe it's just me, but I would prefer to know the approximate date of when I am going to die."

                Loki's green eyes darken. "I am only going to say this once more. You are not going to die and it does not matter that date.  Now unless you have something else perfectly useless to ask me, you may go."

                I begin to cry harder, because I am getting no answers except for the fact that my little sister will be dying in a week unless she goes through a horrifically painful procedure and also because I am feeling worse and worse by the minute. My skin is tingling and it feels like a torch has been strapped to it, yet I am trembling with cold. "You're...horrible..." I choke out.

                Loki leans down so that my face is level with his. "Yes, I am aware of that. Now listen, you are going to walk back to the infirmary and lie down-"

                "It's only eleven o'clock!" I stammer, although I know those are child's words.

                Loki places the palm of his hand on my forehead and I wince; his hand seems freezing, although I'm not sure if my sense of temperature is working properly. "You are burning with fever yet you quake from the cold. Your eyes are red, and your lids are heavy."

                "I don't care!" I snap.

Loki frowns at me. "Upstairs. Now. And do not anger me again."

                He lets me go and walks away through the doorway, leaving me by myself.

                I wipe my tears and decide I might as well go and lie down, not because Loki told me to, but because I really am exhausted. 

Remember to comment/vote if you want to! Thanks for reading! ~<3~