Chapter 26

                                    

                                          
A/N
Ahhhh I'm so sorry this is so late don't hate meeeee 😅

The past couple of weeks with work were absolute hell and the stress was causing me to have zero motivation to write in that time, but the thing causing my issue at work seems to be settled now so I'm hoping things will go back to normal now and I can update my fics in more reasonable intervals. 

Also I know that this chapter is fairly short and I apologize for that, but I wanted to get at least something out to you guys because I felt so bad for making you all wait for so long. The next chapter will definitely be longer, but for now, I'll let you get to the reading you all have been waiting so patiently for <3

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For the first couple of hours, Max was scared of possibly having internal bleeding due to the intense pain in her abdomen, but as the time passed and she didn't seem to be showing any signs of dying, she grew slightly less worried. She didn't know if it was because she hadn't moved for a while, so the pain wasn't as bad, or if enough time had passed that she'd gotten more used to the situation, but she was finding herself feeling less nervous than she had been.
She wasn't anywhere near relaxed (being in the same room as a god who might have it out for her had kind of had that effect on her), but the majority of her adrenaline had been flushed out of her system, so she could think with much clearer head then she had previously been able to. And knowing that Loki probably (hopefully) wasn't going to kill her definitely helped a lot too. Of course, she knew that it probably wasn't a good idea to get too comfortable with him, but she wanted to at least be able to not show fear around him.
Loki respected strength and saw emotions as a weakness, so if she wanted to be able to talk her way out of this, she couldn't let him have all of the control. And if she was going to get any semblance of control over this situation, she couldn't be a stuttering mess the next time he came to talk to her. She had to show him that she was worthy of being heard.
Over the course of the last few hours, groups of people whom Max didn't recognize came trickling in, along with different types of scientific equipment that they set up around the inside of the abandoned warehouse. Max didn't know exactly how much time had passed before anyone came back over to her, but some hours later, she noticed Selvig walk in her direction with a brown paper bag.
"How are you feeling?" Selvig asked her. The question surprised her; she was surprised he cared in his current state. Or maybe he was just asking to make sure she didn't die before Loki could get whatever it was he wanted out of her.
Max shrugged. "As long as I stay still, the pain is pretty dull."
"That's good," he replied. "I brought you some breakfast. You in the mood for a bagel?"
Max's eyebrow arched. "Where did you find a bagel in the middle of the desert?"
"A couple of these guys brought some provisions in when they got here," Selvig answered. "I figured there was no telling how long we'd be held up here, so I made sure we were stocked with some supplies for at least a few days. Worst case scenario, we can send someone out again to get more. So, do you want the bagel or not?"
Max wasn't particularly hungry, but considering she hadn't eaten since lunchtime the previous day, she figured she probably should have something to eat. Plus, if she wanted to regain any of her strength and help herself heal, getting some food in her system was just about the only thing she could do to achieve that for the time being. After a few moments, Max nodded, and Selvig handed her the paper bag.
When Max opened it up, the smell of bagels hit her nose, and suddenly, her mouth watered. Maybe she was hungry. There wasn't any cream cheese to go alongside it, but she didn't care. As soon as the bagel was in her hand, she immediately took a large bite.