"You have not come for your soulbond yet," Balder's voice was accusing when the dream materialized around you. You wondered briefly if this was really a dream since you were currently unconscious and not asleep, but that was a moot point at the moment. Still, your brain decided to focus on stupid things like that when you were in a dream realm you didn't want to be in.

You, Balder, Loki, were in the throne room that Balder had used in previous terrible dreams. At least you were wearing real clothes this time, the same outfit you had worn to school that day. You really hated appearing in front of Balder in your pajamas, which is what usually happened.

Loki was in chains, of course.

You wanted to kill Balder for that, but that thought wouldn't help anything at the moment, since this was a dream.

You pointed to your still very much bleeding head wound. It shouldn't still be bleeding in a dream, but your subconscious was apparently working overtime today. "You threw me into a wall," you reminded him grumpily, "and I'm human. I can't just walk that off,"

"You had best learn how if you wish to save your soulbond from pain," Balder replied too pleasantly. His tone made you want to punch him. "Ditch your Avengers and come find me. She should come rescue you soon, right little brother?" Balder laughed at your Loki, who was obviously injured and in pain. You bit back a reaction, fearing that this was another trick. He had managed to trick you once to make you think that Loki was in danger in a dream.

Loki caught your eye, giving you a pleading broken expression. "Hurry, kitten, do what he says, come quickly."

You bristled at the word 'kitten', thinking this was a trick; Loki knew how much you hated when anyone but your dad tried to call you that. It reminded you too much of your dad, who was no longer with you. But you saw the glint in his eyes and knew it wasn't a trick. It wasn't a trick for you anyway. It was a message. You just had to translate it. He wasn't in immediate danger. He wanted you to stay where you were, heal, coming up with a plan and backup. He wanted you to not be stupid. You nodded and gave him a reassuring look. You understood, you'd translated his message. "I'm coming, Elsa, the second I wake up," you replied. Loki hated that the supers teased him by calling him 'Elsa'. You could feel the soulbond marks pulse on your arm. He had caught your meaning too.

"Hmm... kitten. I like that term. I may have to steal it for you," Balder laughed, taunting you. He really needed to die. "Come quickly, little pet. Your soulbond is depending on you. He does make the best damsel in distress,"

The dream faded away with Balder's laughter

"I hate working on healers," you heard Julia's grumbles as you started to wake. "Stop breaking through the healing sleep," she snarled at you. "If you don't, I will make sure you are unconscious until next week,"

"I'll stab you if you try," you snarled back, finally getting your eyes to open when you had broken all the way through her healing sleep spells.

"So you've told you the last three times you broke the spells," she grumbled at you. You didn't remember any of that, but it sounded like you, so you didn't question it. You tried to move your hands and found them held to the bed with medical restraints. You glared at them and used telekinesis to untie them. "At least you're awake enough to do that this time," she said dryly.

"I'm awake," you told her firmly. You were awake and pissed as hell. You reached up to feel the wound on your head. It was bandaged, so it wasn't healed all the way. Fuck.

"You're still hurt. The wound is closed, but you are by no means healed," Julia told you, trying to be firm and reasonable.

You were in no mood to be reasonable.

You swung your legs out of the bed. "Too bad. Balder has Loki. I'm going to get him back," you told her, raising shields around yourself before she decided she needed to stop me. You felt your senses out for Tony. He and Pepper were nearby. You stormed out of the infirmary and went to find them.

"Kat? What are you doing out of bed?" Tony demanded when you found him.

"Going to go save my fiance," you replied grumpily. What did he think you were doing? Going to go frolic in a meadow somewhere? "Do we know anything new?" you demanded. Manners had gone out the window when your Loki was taken from you.

Tony shook his head. "There's been no word from Balder. Seriously, you're not even fully healed. Get your ass back to bed," Tony told you firmly.

You ignored him and used magic to change into your armor. "Tony. Balder is going to keep torturing Loki if you don't go after them soon," you replied just as firmly. You knew that Loki wasn't too bad off yet, but you'd only bought him so much time.

"Do you even know where he is?" Tony asked, trying that route.

You focused on the soulbond and pointed. "That way," you pointed directly at a wall. You could follow him slowly by the soulbond if that's what it took, following the pull toward your Loki.

"Kat... maybe you should find a better method of locating them," Tony suggested. He was trying to be reasonable. "That way we don't have to walk the entire way across town to find him."

"Who said anything about walking? We're driving." See? You could be reasonable.

"No. We're coming up with a plan,"

"I have a plan. Go to Loki. Kick Balder's ass. Return home with Loki." you snarled at him, temper making sparks of flames around you. That wasn't good.

"You're not going anywhere, soldier," Fury growled. He had snuck up on you. That wasn't difficult when you were yelling at each other in the middle of the hallway.

You whirled on him. "I have to go save Loki!" you snarled at him. Why was no one understanding that point?

"You would both die if you went like this," he gestured at you. You growled softly. "Is he in immediate danger? You can feel that from the marks on your arm, can't you?" he asked, reasonably.

You glared. Why were they all being so fucking reasonable when you had to go to Loki.

"No, not immediate," you finally admitted through gritted teeth. "He and Balder visited me while I was unconscious. I bought us a little time,"

"Good, then let's come up with a proper plan. Kat, you get your ass back to the infirmary. You'll do loverboy no good if you pass out in the middle of the battle," Fury told you firmly.

"I'm fine!" you protested. You needed to hurry before the time you had bought was over. You felt a prick in your neck. You reached a hand up and pulled a dart out of your neck. You just looked at it confused. Tony and Fury hadn't moved. Where had a dart come fr-?

The next thing you knew, you were back in the infirmary, but completely healed this time. You shot up in bed, fighting the hazy foggy brain of a drugged sleep. Whoever had drugged you was dead when you found out who they were.

Pepper was next to your bed. "How long has it been?" you asked her, trying to be nice. She was too formidable and none of this was her fault. Fury had chosen your babysitter well.

"You've been drugged for a day," she replied cautiously.

"Shit," you grumbled. Who knew how much pain Loki was in when you were gone for that long. You felt the power draining through the soulbond at an alarming rate. You needed to get to him. Now. You tried to search for him, tried to reach for his location, but you couldn't feel it. You looked at your wrist, expecting to see one of Tonh's bangles, but there wasn't any.

You dove deeper into your power, looking for your lost soulbond.

You couldn't get a read on his location.

/You lied to me, little pet. You lied to Loki, telling him you were coming. You didn't come when you were bid. I can't risk both you and my little brother being back to full strength. You might to something stupid like fight against me. I have hidden your soulbond under so many shields you will never find us. I will call you to give yourself up to save him when I am sure he cannot help you. Wait for my word, kitten/ Balder's words came unbidden to your mind.

"NO!" you screamed, not caring that you were scaring all of the nice people in the infirmary. You didn't give a single shit about anyone at that moment, but your captured Loki.

/Loki! Loki where are you!/ you called through your telepathy, called down the soulbond, called in every possible way you could think of reaching him. He was out of your reach.

You had lost your chance to find him, to get to him.

You wouldn't, couldn't give up.

Not on Loki.

Never on Loki.

/Hold on, love. I will come and save you/ you sent the thought out, praying that he would hear it and know you hadn't abandoned him.

You would never abandon him, no matter what happened.