King Loki

Chapter 40
Cephera was more than curious as to why Loki had been visiting Tony in the last couple of days, but Loki refused to speak of his reasonings.
"He needs to be watched." Loki would say, shrugging her off.
She took to visiting her friend more often, but even the tired looking inventor refused to talk about what had been conversed about between himself and the King.
It was frustrating. Something was amiss and she couldn't quite put her finger on it.
By the fourth day she'd become anxious while Loki seemed to become increasingly busy and his mind clearly in other places. When he wasn't in his throne room he was in his bedroom making notes in a book she didn't have access to.
He rarely made time for her. She hadn't been to his tower with him since the incident with Tony, but of course Loki still shared his bed with her. It made her wonder if all she had become was a bedmate after all. The thought disturbed her.
During the evening of the fourth long day, Cephera has sat outside on Loki's balcony to look over the ruined city of New York and the outline of another city in the distance. Things had been peaceful this last little while and Cephera couldn't help but feel this was the calm before the storm.
She was right.
In the same direction her attention was cast, a blue light shot into the air creating a ripple effect on the land surrounding it, kicking up dust and dirt and obscuring her view.
Cephera stood and squinted at the dust cloud, unable to discern what was happening. All she could see was the blue light as it lit up the newly fallen night sky.
XxX
Krystoff cursed as a he shielded his eyes from a sudden change of light. Confused, he got up from his place lounging on his bed and looked outside. Outside the land was blue, or rather the light was.
In the distance he could tell that it was emitting brightly from there, but he was unable to see anything else. He watched the light for a solid 10 minutes. It still lit the sky as strongly as when it had started. "We've got a problem,"
Krystoff growled at the unannounced arrival of Pietro, but the mans words held answers.
"That light, what is it?" Krystoff asked leaning forward off the balcony as if that might give him a better look.
"The Tesseract. The scientist needed to test it, but they hadn't expected it to be so powerful." Krystoff didn't have to wonder how he knew this. With his super speed he could cross the barren lands between here and the light with ease.
"The King will see it." Krystoff noted.
"It's not just that." Pietro replied. "It's opened a portal." The Russian pointed up toward the sky. "They are panicking to close it. We don't know what's waiting on the other side, if anything. The last time it open on this scale Loki brought an alien army through."
"Shit," Krystoff scowled.
"There's more," rolling his eyes Krystoff turned to look at his temporary ally.
"When isn't there more bad news?" He growled, clenching his fists.
"All but one alien from Loki's army were killed. The other Loki has kept inside these walls and he's now missing."
"You've been doing quite a bit of spying since you got captured haven't you." Krystoff was half impressed.
"You forget we've had someone on the inside since the beginning." Pietro replied.
"Oh, right. The Doctor." Krystoff was no longer impressed.
"You need to get your woman and leave. This doesn't look good." Pietro warned.
Krystoff cursed again. He hadn't managed to establish any sort of trust between himself and Cephera, but perhaps in the chaos that would likely follow, she would see reason.
XxX
Loki threw open Tony's bedroom door, slamming it shut behind him. The second he'd seen the light he had rushed downstairs to the room that once housed the Tesseract and found it gone.
He was beyond enraged and it took everything for him not to strangle someone. "Is it completed?" Loki demanded, pushing Pepper away from the work table to come face to face with Stark.
"Almost. I need more time." Tony insisted. "I warned you about that." Tony replied.
"We haven't got time. You want to know what your resistance has done?" Tony grabbed Stark by the back of the neck, forcing him to the window. The long drapes blocked out the light but when Loki pulled them back he heard Tony groan. "This is what your reckless mortal allies have done."
"Is that...?" Pepper trailed off already knowing the answer.
"We need that device Stark. Not only does this change everything I had planned, but it changes everything for you as well. If you think for one moment that Thanos will listen to reason and spare Earth, I assure you he won't. Not to mention that Portal now stands open for anything or anyone to pass through from the other side."
He felt Stark tense beneath his grip. Tony Stark wasn't a fool. He knew Loki was right. Loki let him go. "The device, we need it completed now."
Tony looked to Pepper. "You heard the man. Let's get this done." Tony's attitude seemed to change. A determined look crossed his face. Loki waited nearby seeing no reason to do anything else.
XxX
Cephera had rushed to the throne room and found Loki gone. Giving an exasperated sigh she knew where she'd find him. What was he doing with Tony at a time like this?
She rushed back up stairs only to be met by Krystoff who seized her by the wrist. "Cephera, we need to get out of here." He insisted pulling her along.
Cephera attempted to wretch her hand free, but Krystoff was holding so hard it was almost painful.
"Let go of me!" She ordered him.
"It's not safe here. That's a portal open in the sky. Didn't you see it? Your King is failing to keep a step ahead of this Resistance group and you do nothing but tag behind him. He's going to get everyone killed, including you." Krystoff began to pull her back down the stairs.
"I said let go," Cephera grabbed her ex-lover and used her power against him. She stole enough of his energy to push him away from her and break his grip. "You can go without me." She turned while she still had a chance and Krystoff was still catching his breath. She ran up the stairs and right for Tony's room where Krystoff would not be able to follow.

Notes

A follower of mine is planning some sort of surprise for me and is enlisting the help of others. If you are interested feel free to ask them what they are doing and if you like, join them!

https://www.fanfiction.net/u/4517024/AkeraWriterOfTheNight

If you are reading this after January 2016 then you've probably missed this opportunity. :(