The lights in the control room were dimmed to a sterile blue, casting long shadows across the steel floor. Security footage flickered across the monitors like ghosts pacing behind glass. The Avengers were gathered, quiet, tension thick as smoke. The air hummed with electricity from the containment field below, and the faint smell of ozone clung to everything.

On screen: Loki stood in the center of a reinforced cell lined with energy pulse fields, ancient runes carved into the very steel. His jacket had been removed, revealing glowing blue veins across his arms — Jötun magic barely suppressed. The faint sound of energy crackling filled the room through the speakers. His fingers twitched occasionally, not from fear, but from boredom.

And that was the problem. He was too calm. Loki had let himself get caught. He wasn't trapped. He was choosing to stay. Until he wasn't.

Thor watched his brother pace, jaw tight. “He’s waiting.” The Asgardian prince's voice rumbled like distant thunder, his anxiety palpable even through the monitor glass separating them.

Bruce frowned, adjusting his glasses with a nervous gesture. “For what?” The scent of coffee mingled with the sterile environment as he took a sip from his mug.

“For the moment we blink.” Thor spoke lowly, his eyes never leaving the screen. "There is no Asgard to temper him. This mere cage will not keep him long. He is toying with us."

Onscreen, Loki paused mid-step. A slow smirk curled across his face as he raised his hand — and without warning, the lights in his containment unit flickered, then exploded. Sparks danced against the force field, showering the room with brief illumination before dying out. The runes pulsed erratically, casting an eerie glow across his amused face.

"Reinforcements holding," said the tech agent behind them, voice tight with panic. "But... barely. You have about ten minutes before the whole cell gives."

The door to the outer hall hissed open on camera. You stepped in. No armor. No weapons. Just presence. Loki turned, grin widening — feline, delighted. "Ah. Sweet arrives."

You didn't flinch. "Loki."

He tilted his head, something primal sparking in his eyes. "I told you not to play games with the containment field."

He laughed, voice low and cold as winter frost. "Games are how I keep from turning this place into cinders." His voice lowered seductively. "How else am I to get your attention?"

You stepped closer, tone sharp as a blade. “Stop. Now.” You crossed your arms in mild annoyance. "You are frying the circuits again. Not to mention I had to be pulled away once more due to your chaos."

The room fell deathly still. Loki's amusement froze. His smile faded. His hands — still crackling faintly with power — lowered. And then, impossibly... he obeyed. He dropped to one knee in front of the energy field like a knight before his queen, head bowed slightly, eyes locked on yours.

"Better?" His voice was a purr that sent shivers down your spine. A seemingly innocent question that held dangerous undertones.

You raised an eyebrow, refusing to show how affected you were. "Don't push me, Loki."

Loki's grin widened, teeth sharp but eyes surprisingly soft. "Wouldn't dream of it."

From the control room, no one said a word. The screen pulsed softly as the power inside the cell stabilized, lights dimming to a soft, steady glow.

“Is anyone else seeing this,” Bruce whispered, his eyes wide behind his glasses.

Natasha's eyes were narrowed, unreadable as she processed this unprecedented development. “No one else ever has him react like that. He obeys her...”

Tony stared, blinking rapidly as if trying to process what his eyes were seeing. “Holy shit.”

You turned to leave, and the camera caught Loki watching you — quiet, reverent, completely focused. As if the rest of the world didn't exist. As if, without you, he wouldn't exist.

Everyone knew Loki could escape whenever he wished. Yet he didn't. Not while you were there. And maybe that was the most perilous part of it all — the realization that you now held the leash to the most dangerous being on Earth, and he had willingly placed it in your hands.