I had made my decision and I knew it was the correct one. My hand intertwined with Loki’s as he pulled me close to his body. The ladder was slowly raised as the helicopter took off, leaving the helicarrier in the distance. Loki released me once the doors were closed and he was sure we were safe inside. I took in a deep breath as I glanced back down at the now black speck that was the helicarrier until finally I could no longer see it. I could sense a pair of eyes lingering on the back of my head as I peered out of the window, but I decided to just ignore it. Whoever it was decided to just leave me be and before I knew it we had landed at our base of operations.

I stood slowly and followed Loki off of the plane. The base was covered in darkness until a pair of hands came together turning the lights on in an instant. Light flooded my vision causing me to squint until my eyes adjusted to the lighting. We were underground, that much I could tell. The ground beneath my feet was cold and was coated in a thin layer of dirt from the soldiers entering and exiting the base. Suddenly, everybody stopped what they were doing and turned towards us as we entered. I guessed it was because they were awaiting further instructions.

Loki's eyes scanned over the room full of mindless drones. His gaze lingered on an older gentlemen in the back. A smirk crawled across his lips as he made his way towards this man. Everybody else continued with what they had been doing before we entered. I followed quietly behind Loki, just listening to the conversation he was having with Barton and the man whose name I now knew to be Selvig. They continued talking about some kind of portal, and something called the chitauri. After a few minutes passed I tuned out of what they were saying.

A cold hand clasped around my arm pulling me from my day dreaming. It was Loki, he looked serious, but his eyes still held a small hint of kindness in them as he stared into my eyes. I felt a warmth spread throughout my body but just brushed it off as Loki began speaking, “Catarina...” he took in a quick breath as he studied my face. Suddenly his face lost all signs of caring or kindness “just know that if you cross me at all...I will kill you, slowly and painfully” with that he dropped my arm from his grasp and walked off without another word.

Just then my heart shattered, why would he say that to me. I double crossed my entire team just to be with him. I would just have to prove to him that I was serious about helping him no matter what, and with that I stalked off towards the lab to help Selvig with the last minute calculation for the portal.