Chapter 3

Rebecca woke up cold and shivering, her head throbbing in pain. She thought she must have been having some horrible nightmare, wishing it would end. Only when she opened her eyes and looked around, she realised she was still living in it. Pushing herself up off the concrete floor, she slumped back against the wall, wincing, looking around her, confused.  There was no one around; none of the scientists working around the cube, not even the two agents that were suppose to be watching her. It was eerily quiet, too quiet, with only the occasional hum and spark noise coming from the cube.  She could see it there, left unattended, and couldn’t help but feel an urge to reach out and touch it. Carefully, she lifted herself up, and looking around, stepped further into the room. Constantly looking over her shoulder, making sure she wasn’t going to get jumped from behind or shouted at, she edged closer towards the cube. She approached the Tesseract, being drawn into it, watching its electric-blue light dance around inside it, as if it were alive, and trapped like her. Without even being aware of what she was doing, completely transfixed, she reached out a hand to touch it.

She stopped, hearing a noise coming from one of the corridors leading off. Quickly spinning round, she rushed into hiding. Breathing heavily, keeping to the shadows along one of the walls, she edged closer to the corridor entrance. Taking a deep breath, she peeked around the corner down into the corridor.  She could see Loki leaning against the wall in the corridor, hunched over, his head buried in his hands. She could hear him muttering quietly under his breath, his body heaving up and down as if he’d run for miles. She was about to sneak back away when she saw it and gasped. A single, solitary tear fell down his pale cheek, his fists clenching, his body heaving in emotion as he tried to contain it. She took a step forward, but too noisily. Hearing it, Loki’s eyes immediately shot up, straight at Rebecca, his face a mixture of conflicting emotions. “I’m sorry”, she said quickly, stepping out into view. “I didn’t mean to startle you”. He didn’t answer, dropping his eyes to the ground. “Are you ok?” she asked him, taking a step closer, seeing his features more clearly in the dim light of the corridor. “I’m fine”, he replied firmly. He stood up and tried to walk off but clutched at his side, and fell back against the wall, breathing heavily, wincing. She rushed to him, “Loki…”. “I’m fine”, he said more sternly. “No your not”, she whispered to him, her eyes filled with both fear and concern. “Please, let me help you”, she asked, stretching out her hand to comfort him. “No, you won’t understand”, he said painfully, pushing her hand away as he walked past her in the direction of the Tesseract. “Try me!”, she said challenging.

Loki stopped in his tracks and turned around, looking at her. “How would you know how it feels, to know that everything you had lived for had been a lie? That the people you call family don’t even care about you, for them to betray you and lie to you, to make you feel worthless and used. To discover that you are more the monster they warn their kids about at night that the worthy son who would be heir to the throne. Now do you understand”. Every word was like a dagger in his heart; his eyes filled with pain, his body filled with rage and anger, until he couldn’t bear to look at her any more and turned away. “I have no choice. I … he found me. Lost and broken in the dark. He gave me purpose; A job to do”. Loki turned to look at her, his face serious, his eyes turning blue. “This world will be mine. The universe will be his. I cannot fail”. Rebecca didn’t know what to say, as she started to tremble, terrified at what might happen if she said the wrong thing now.

Suddenly, from around the corner appeared a scruffily dressed scientist, his blue eyes wild. “Sir, the Tesseract”, he said rushed, quickly motioning for Loki to follow him. “One moment Selvig”, he said hastily, keeping his eyes fixed on Rebecca. She swallowed hard, trying to calm her breathing, fearing that Loki might strike out at her at any second. Seeming satisfied that she wasn’t doing anything, he turned around and walked up the corridor a few paces to talk with Dr Selvig. Rebecca let out a huge sigh of relief, glad that she wasn’t going to be struck down again. She couldn’t help but think about what he had said, and feel slightly sorry for him. She knew about not being liked by anyone because she had had that growing up, but being told he was a monster? She shook her head. It was then that she had a realisation. Looking down the corridor back toward the cube, Loki and the Dr were in deep conversation, apparently oblivious to her existence behind them. Her heart started racing, and she slowly started to back away, keeping her eyes fixed on them all the time. One step after another, she edged away from them until she was a good few feet away. Taking a deep breath, she spun on the spot, turned and ran the other way.

Having no idea where she was running, Rebecca kept turning down corridor after corridor, praying she didn’t meet anyone, occasionally trying doors as she went, finding them locked. Cursing, she kept running trying to find an exit, glancing back over her shoulder checking to see if she was being followed. She ran blindly round a corner, where she collided with a very tall object. Winded, she fell backwards onto the ground. Cursing herself for not being more careful, she looked up, straight onto the figure of a SHEILD agent. She gasped in horror as he turned around, looking down at her, his blue eyes staring blankly at her. She immediately scrambled to her feet and set off running down the corridor, the agent in pursuit, hot on her heels. Faster and faster she tried to run, her breath coming in painful gasps. Rebecca dared herself to quickly look back to see if he was still on her tail. As she did so, a figure stepped out of the shadows in front of her, and stuck their leg out. She ran straight into it, and tripped, crashing down onto the hard concrete floor. 

Dazed and winded, she tried to scramble to her feet to get away, but a strong pair of arms grabbed hold of her from behind, lifting her off the floor to her feet. She screamed and kicked out at the advancing agent as he grabbed hold of her arms and drew them painfully behind her back, tying them together to make her escape more impossible. The person who had grabbed her from behind now came round the front of her, and she could see it was Barton. “Please”, she pleaded at him, struggling against her captors, her eyes filling with tears. “Please let me go”. He looked back at her blankly, then looked at the agent behind holding her, and then nodded to them. Rebecca sighed in relief, thinking she was now going to be freed, as the guard behind her let go of his hold on her. Barton then swiftly bent down and grabbed hold of her, swinging her up onto his shoulder. Taken by surprise, Rebecca kicked and screamed as hard as she could, but with her hands tied behind her, she was helpless. She continued trying to fight against Barton as he continued to walk, carrying her down corridor after corridor.

Eventually he stopped in front of a heavy metal door which had been left ajar. With Rebecca still kicking and screaming on his shoulder, he opened the door to reveal a small, windowless concrete-lined room. He walked inside and dropped her to the ground. She screamed out in pain. “Please, please just let me go”, she pleaded at him, trying to get up on her feet, her face tear-stained. Grabbing her round the throat, he forced her back down onto the floor, until she was kneeling. “No. You must stay here”, he answered plainly, as Rebecca gasped for breath, looking up at him with pleading eyes. Barton released his grip, and she sank to the floor, panting for breath, crying. She watched him leave, and was surrounded by darkness as the door slammed shut, and the lock bolted, leaving her trapped and alone.