Swallowing was difficult, if not impossible. His whole mouth was dry and the bile still threatened, stinging him from the inside out. Perhaps it wasn’t really the bile at all, perhaps it was the fear. Fear was such a foreign concept to Loki. Not that he hadn’t felt it before, but the last time had been when his kids were taken and it had been such a terrible emotion that he had spent several years trying to burn the memory of it from his brain. Now, in this terrifying moment, the fear was a raw and powerful reminder of just how debilitating it could truly be.
He wanted, more the anything, to curl up into nothingness. He wanted to hold Jesse close to him, tell him it was going to be all right. He wanted to reach his hand right through his phone and wring the woman on the other end’s neck. There were a lot of things he wanted to do, and yet all he could do was stand there, his whole body shaking in terror, listening to Jesse’s screams die out on the other side, the coo in the woman’s voice, struggling to shove aside the terrible images that wormed their way into his head. Images of how Jesse looked right then and there. Images of what they had just done to him, of how beat and bruised and bloodied he was. How fried. They stuck to the walls of his head so even when he closed his eyes they stood, starkly contrasted against the black, only forcing more tears out in their wake.
You can’t beg. She’s trying to find weak points. You have to play her little game if you want to save him.
Keir was already gone, quick as he had arrived. There was determination in his step, then, an indication of him making a move. They’d already summoned the entire council to the house and both Arlo and Siafi had a way with electronics that rivaled many humans’ skills. Perhaps they could track the call. And if they couldn’t, birds were looking everywhere. They would find him. Jesse would be okay.
Steeling himself against the emotion that threatened to choke him up, Loki heaved a shaky inhale and spoke in as tough a voice as he could muster, “Who are you and what do you want?”
Play the game like you would with Talon. Remain steps ahead, always. It’s the only thing that will save him in the end. Emotion is a vulnerability and they’ll hurt him to hurt you. Don’t let them hurt him anymore.
One blood-red nail tapped against the receiver, a cruel grin pressed to the flat surface of the phone. The laboured breathing of the gunslinger was all that broke the quiet that proceeded Loki’s question as Shanta listened to the impatience, the desperation, smirking at the tremor that wavered Loki’s voice before he could correct it. Humour laced her next words with an unkind laughter presenting it, ‘I suspect you already know the answer to that.’ She spoke, circulating around McCree as she did. ‘With your particular…talents, Loki, you have stirred quite a lot of interest - and your darling here is just a welcome boon. We’ve been tracking him for months—and now we have him, all thanks to you.’
Some scuffling transmitted through the phone, and what rasped murmur that could be faintly heard was shortened with a stifled grunt as long nails glided over the scarring of McCree’s skin to coil around into a constrictive hold around his neck. His eyes widened some, watery with fear, as Jesse glared helplessly up at her frightened at whatever horrors she was contemplating.
The gunslinger squirmed weakly against the pressure building around his windpipe, wincing some at the painful throb in his head in response as he struggled to form the cries of help that screamed in his mind against that choking hold.
‘You, however, have proven to be a bit more difficult to target—not with your servants debilitating our efforts. And to us, you are far more valuable than this old soldier, regardless of his upgrades. So, I have a proposition for you, one you can not afford to refuse.’ She paused for added effect, using the silence to convey just how serious she was as she tightened her hold against the whimpers that escaped McCree’s lips.
‘Ngh–Lo-ki–don’t–!!’
‘Come here as you are, without those pests of yours, and I shall negotiate the terms of Jesse’s release. That is, if you think his life his worth more than your freedom. But I am warning you, Loki. Try anything, and you will never see him again.’ The jarring, cheery humour had left her voice, replaced now by a chilling bite to her threats. ‘Our location for the meeting will be transmitted to your cell if you agree to my terms. You have exactly twelve hours to comply and arrive before we disappear. Our fortifications are impenetrable without coded access. Any resistance from you will be paid in kind on Jesse. He can be dead within a few minutes by a simple flick of a switch. Therefore it is up to you, to keep him alive, so do not try to stage the rescue. I’m sure you’ve already got your birds out looking for your sweetheart. Do I make myself clear?’