A/N: it appears the writing gods hath blessed me with some long awaited motivation, and  thus i do present to thou: another chapter. yet again based off of the loki to the rescue prompt because we all know what's going to happen next and i didn't give anyone time to send me new prompts woops. pls send ideas for the long anticipated confession and how the heck they're gonna get themselves out of this situation in case the writing gods decide to abandon me again<3

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As it turns out, you definitely do not have a plan. What you do have, however, is a toilet flush, and probable concussion.

James is describing to you what he knows about the layout of the building. Apparently he's been here for a while. While he speaks, you concentrate on trying to stop the room from spinning lazily around you. Your head is throbbing more and more painfully by the minute.

"You okay?" Maya asks you under her breath while James talks, and you turn to look at her. She's frowning at the wound in the side of your head.

"I'm fine." you say quietly. Maya looks unconvinced. You don't blame her.

The building, according to James, is underground. It's a large circular structure, which leads him to believe that the electromagnetic device which they're using to stem your powers will be located right in the centre.

"So, what you're saying is that we need to get to this central... control room, and whatever it is that's preventing us from using our powers, and destroy it...?" Margo asks slowly.

"I'm not saying anything. I think that we should stay in our cells, and I think that it's very suspicious that there aren't any alarms going o-"

James is cut off by a sudden, loud alarm, which amplifies the pain in your head tenfold.

"That less suspicious for you?" Margo shouts, clapping her hands over her ears. She barely finishes speaking before three guards run into the room.

There is a brief moment where they stop in their tracks, staring at the five of you. Then they move. In the time it takes you to take three steps forward, Maya, Margo and Frankie have run forward, disarmed and knocked out the three guards.

"You should keep it." you shake your head as Maya offers you one of the guards' batons with charged tips to you. You're in no state to fight, but you have a feeling that that's not going to matter very soon.

"Let's go, quick!" Frankie says, and you follow her quickly from the room, staggering as you do so.

Concentrate.

"We should take our chances and head for the exit. It's too dangerous to go further in without the element of surprise!" Maya shouts.

"No! We'll never make it out. Which way to the control room James?" Margo shouts back. James points, and Margo and Frankie take off in that direction. Maya looks at you in concern. You can only shrug and gesture after them.

You don't get two corridors away from the cells, James shouting directions from behind you, before five more guards appear. You flex your hands and roll your shoulders as they run towards you. Ignore the pain.

The minute you enter combat with the first guard it's easier to ignore the pain, adrenaline from your short run and now physical combat flooding your senses instead. You take her down fairly easily, snatching her baton from her as she drops to the ground.

When you turn around, three other guards are on the floor, and Maya is dealing with the fifth. She really is an excellent fighter, and despite the dire situation you can't help but feel grateful that she's here.

Frankie and Margo are also helpful additions; they don't look like overly experienced fighters, but their frustration at being locked in cells for so long seems to be well making up for that. James is useless apart from his direction giving.

As you continue further into the department it occurs to you that you're only going further into the belly of the beast, where there are bound to be more guards, and you begin to question Margo's plan.

The alarm suddenly, thankfully, stops. Somehow this makes you more concerned.

"Keep going." Frankie urges.

"Take a left." James says, and you do, coming face to face with five more guards running towards you. Adrenaline drives you forwards towards them.

This time it's less easy; your vision begins to blur again and the floor moves unsteadily beneath your feet. The guard you're locked in combat with tries to take a swing at your head and you only just dodge it, slamming your baton into his knees as you lurch towards the floor.

As you do there's a loud cry of pain from behind you, and you spin around to see Margo on the floor. Frankie bellows with rage and throws herself at the guard who knocked her down, while Maya is locked in combat with two guards at once.

You make to step forward to help, but the guard behind you lunges for your feet and sends you crashing face first to the ground.

"Get off!" you shout in annoyance, kicking out. Your foot must connect with something important, because the guard's hand falls away from your foot. You scramble to your feet, lurching forward towards Maya and throwing yourself at one of the guards trying to disarm her.

Between you, Maya and Frankie you manage to take down the remaining three guards. Frankie immediately goes to Margo and hauls her to her feet.

"You okay?" you ask, and she nods groggily, looking worryingly pale all of a sudden. Before you've even had time to take another step forward there are more guards coming around the corner. Frankie sets Margo down again and you re-ready yourself for combat.

Maybe James had been right: you should have just stayed in your cells. You manage to take down the next few guards, but only just. By the time you're through with them you can hardly see again, and Frankie has sustained what looks horribly like a broken rib or two.

James grabs one of the guards walkie talkie and speaks into it.

"The prisoners have been secured. Call off any remaining guards."

You decide that you like James a lot. Margo groans.

"Who is this?"

You scrabble for the guard's uniform, and quickly show James the nametag which reads Johnson.

"Johnson."

"Copy that. Return them to their cells, apart from the new one. Boss wants her here."

A rush of fear travels through you.

"Message received." James says. Maya glares.

"Message received?"

"Excuse me for not knowing prison guard dialect." James scowls.

"We still need to hurry. That will have bought us some time, but not much." Frankie says, wincing as she crouches down to help Margo back up.

Maya links her arm through yours to help steady you as you start forward again, and you breathe out something that may or may not have sounded like a thank you. Your ears are ringing, and the right side of your head feels horribly warm and sticky again.

You get two more corridors down before you hear footsteps again.

"Hide." James hisses, stopping in his tracks.

"Hide where exactly?!" Frankie hisses back.

A singular guard appears, walking quickly and looking most out of place. When he sees the five of you in the middle of the corridor he stops in his tracks, and then his gaze moves to you. The look that crosses his face as he sets eyes on you is almost enough to make you blush, but you've never seen this man before in your life.

He rushes towards you, only you, but he doesn't look like he's about to attack as the other guards did. He doesn't even have a weapon. You take an unsteady step back as he approaches you, and then he has you by the arms.

"What happened?"

It's only now that he's so close to you that you realise who he is. His voice is so full of concern, but that's nothing compared to his eyes. His eyes are full of concern too, but they're also full of something else.

And you're just staring at him.

"What- what did they do to her?" the guard asks Maya, turning away from you to address her.

"Nothing, apart from that." Maya says pointing to your head, "I'm sorry, but who are you?"

"I- oh." the guard says, and drops his illusion.

"Oh thank god." Maya says, and Loki looks at her in surprise. Then he looks back at you, and he's still got that expression on his face. But now it's actually his face, and his eyes.

You want to kiss him so badly.

"That looks painful." Loki says, his eyes moving to the right side of your head. He has a few fresh looking bruises on his face, and one of his cheeks has a cut across it.

"I'm concussed." you say loudly through the ringing in your ears, louder than you'd intended. His mouth twitches like he's holding back a smile.

"Yes, I think you probably are." he tells you, releasing one of your biceps and moving a hand to your head instead.

You swallow, watching him nervously, and then warmth spreads through the injured side of your head. Good warmth, not the sort of warmth which you've associated with fresh bleeding. The pain subsides slowly and your eyelids flutter shut in relief; you find yourself unconsciously leaning into his touch.

"Hey, can you fix her up too?" Frankie's voice interrupts your moment, and you open your eyes. Loki's looking at you in that same way again, and you have to make a conscious effort to stay standing up, not because of your injuries.

"Thanks." you say, but this time it comes out as a whisper. Your head doesn't hurt as much, but the floor is still moving beneath your feet.

"I don't have much magic. They're using something to block your powers, and it's affecting me as well. I can cast easy illusions and heal small injuries, but not much more at the moment. And that doesn't look like a small injury." Loki tells Frankie, pointing at Margo.

"Well let's keep moving then." Frankie scowls, starting forward again. Maya leaves you with Loki and assists Frankie with Margo instead.

"How did you get in here? Is there back-up?" you ask Loki, your voice hoarse.

"Not yet. SHIELD wanted to wait and follow protocol after they'd located you; I did not. Neither did Thor and his lackeys. I imagine they'll be here before SHIELD." Loki tells you. Embarrassingly, your eyes fill with tears as relief courses through you. Loki pretends not to see.

They know where you are. Help is coming.

"Okay." you whisper.

"Do you know you're going the wrong way?" Loki asks suddenly, stopping in his tracks. You almost smile.

"Yes. We're going to try and destroy whatever it is that's preventing us from using our powers. We can't get out otherwise." you tell him, blinking hard to get rid of the tears. Loki nods.

"Perfect timing for me not being able to teleport, is what you're saying." he says, annoyance lacing his voice. You nod, feeling suddenly, horribly sick.

"Are you okay? Did that not help?" Loki asks in concern, gesturing to your head.

"Externally, yes. Internally... I think I'm a bit fried." you tell him quietly, trying not to open your mouth too wide.

"We'll destroy this... whatever it is, and then I'll be able to heal you properly, okay?" he says, taking your arm. You grab hold of him, feeling too horrible to even feel embarrassed.

"Okay." you whisper again.