"Why me?" you asked Balder, trying to keep your voice calm. You'd trained for situations like this. You'd worked with and grew up around the Avengers. You knew what you were doing. You had to get him talking, but you couldn't let him get angry while he was doing it. You had to convince him that telling you was what he wanted to do. It was tricky work and Nat taught workshops on it, which you'd diligently attended well before you got your powers.

Balder was a much more physically strong than you were, especially when you were without your magic, and you really didn't want to get hit again. It wouldn't do well for you ability to think your way out of this mess.

The tea wasn't helping with the swelling and bruise from the hit to your face, or your split lip. It was only marginally dulling the pain.

"I did just think you were a little human pet your brother had gotten fond of, at first," Balder started, as if he didn't still think you was just a little human. Hell, right now you were just a little human. "But he had bound his soul to yours, so I thought there must be something special about his pet. You are the strongest... super you call them?... that I have ever seen, and trust me, I have met plenty on my journeys. You have gotten even stronger since my darling baby brother shared his powers with you. Once I bind my soul to you as well, then I will not only have all of my powers, and your powers, but also my brother's," he explained. You just stared at him in shocked horror. This was bad. And impossible? You'd never heard of such a thing as a double soul bond. "Of course, things will go so much better for you if you join me willingly. You would be a queen, little pet," he ran a hand over your cheek. The same cheek he had already hit once. You fought not to flinch at his touch, as much as it made your skin crawl.

You made another stupid-ass decision that you weren't quite in control of as you acted on instinct and spat in his face. It was extremely satisfying in that moment, especially when he was disgusted by the blood in the spit that hit him in the face. "I'll never be your 'little pet'," you hissed at him with venom in your voice.

Balder sighed over-dramatically, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket to clean his face. "You will change your mind," he told you, sounding really sure on that particular point. That had you concerned. "And I am benevolent and will forgive you when you do. In the meantime, I do have a couple things to show you,"

He reached for you to haul you to your feet. You let him do so, let him take your weight and reached up as he did, grabbing him by the tunic, as if to steady yourself. A moment later, you drove your knee into his manhood as hard as you possibly could. He threw you away from him as he howled in pain. He thought you'd been to weak to consider such an action. You reached automatically for your dagger sheath, but it was gone.

Shit.

You rolled to your feet anyway, looking for anything you could use as a weapon. Balder recovered too quickly and rushed you. You tried to get out of the way, but he was too fast and despite all your training, you were outmatched. He grabbed the chain between your wrists and held it above your head against one of the walls, holding you off of your feet. He held up your dagger sheath in his other hand, holding it tauntingly as you squirmed to get free to no avail. "You do not need claws, little kitten, you are too much trouble without them. But I found that my brother enchanted this little token well. If it strays too far from you, it will teleport itself back to your possession." That was good to know and could come in handy later. "Come, I have a gift for you, pet," he bid. He set you back on your feet, his hand still firmly around the chain between your wrists. He took off quickly and you had to stumble to keep up so you didn't get dragged behind him.

He dragged you through the mansion you were in and you struggled to keep up with his long stride. So much so that you couldn't focus on anything else. You ended up in a vault that he had to unlock to enter. "I have been collecting powers for a long time now. Some have been given up willingly, others...not so much, but I have the perfect one to gift you with." That sounded ominous. You struggled against him, but his grip was too tight and wasn't loosening. The vault you were in had an entire wall that was filled with shelves and shelves of different colored glowing spheres. There was a hook in the wall across from the glowing spheres that was perfectly positioned so that when he flipped the chain between your wrists over it, you were forced to stand on your toes to keep contact with the ground. "I will gift you with other powers, when you decide to join me, but for now..." he wandered the wall of spheres and pulled one that was a glowing sickly lime green color. You realized that all of the spheres were powers he had 'collected'. There must have been at least a hundred in that room. "This one will be perfect, and my darling brother will not want you any longer once you have it," he added as he came back over to you.

You tried to get away, tried to get the chain off of the hook on the wall. You knew whatever he was doing, it would be bad. Really bad.

But it was no use, there was no escaping without your powers.

He placed the sphere against your chest and whispered a couple of words so softly that there was no chance that you could hear them. The sphere flashed, then disappeared into your chest. You opened your mouth to protest, but he clapped a hand over your mouth. "I would not do that," he warned. He gestured to one of the servants in the room. "You would not want to kill the poor staff here. That power lets you knock people out with the slightest whisper, or kill of course. It can also break glass, I have heard. The poor girl who had it before you did not want it, because it cannot be controlled or stopped. It is, however, also completely ineffective on me, since all of these powers have attuned to me since I have taken control of them. Don't believe me? Whisper hello to that nice man," he gestured to the servant.

You couldn't help it. You had to know. So you did as you were told as another servant also walked into the room. You whispered a hello and both servants collapsed to the ground, blood leaking form their ears.

You felt the tears running down your cheeks before you even realized that you were crying.

"You will never be able to tell my brother again that you love him. He is such a hopeless romantic that he will not be able to stand never hearing your voice again. He will not want you, pet. Give up on him now. He will give you up, but I never will, little pet," he whispered, as if that was romantic or something. It was abhorrently disgusting and you wanted to puke.

You were still in shock and horror when he dragged you from the room and down to the basement where he had a small dungeon-like room set up. "I will be back for you, pet, and see how long it takes you to come to your senses," He tossed you in the room and slammed the door behind you. The room was bare save for a cot-like bed and a toilet. The walls were made of solid cinder blocks, except for the heavy metal door that had slammed behind you. There was a tiny window up too high and too small to be of any use and a small window in the heavy metal door. Balder left immediately.

You sank on the bed and couldn't help sobbing hopeless tears.