Freed by Mentality

"Loki." Diane calls out to him before entering into the room that he was still occupying. She gazed at him, his back towards her. His eyes were glued to the pages. He hovers his right hand over the open tome, an eerie green glow surrounding his working hand.

"What is going on?!" He intensely murmurs at the book as if he would get a verbal answer from the black arts crafted pages.

Diane walks up and stands quietly besides Loki. An intense green light pulsates inconsistently in the book. It was as if the tome was struggling to maintain its control on its subject. She knew that this would continue until either the book gained full control of all the power or when Angela would become eternally lost, whether it was to her own corrupted conscious or to Death's everlasting embrace. If she wanted to free Angela and give her over to her friends, the way she originally was, she would have to act swiftly. But, Diane knew that she also had to play her cards carefully and correctly. One wrong slip of the tongue or one dominating gesture could make Loki turn against her. Then it would be impossible to remedy the situation without someone getting hurt or her place of refuge being turned into unrecognizable rubble.

"Have you been able to figure out what is going on with the book?" Diane gently places a hand on Loki's right shoulder. Loki didn't seem to notice.

"No. I have not." With his hand still enveloped in green glow, Loki continues to hover his hand over the book. Every few seconds the book's pages would turn on their own, trying to regain the power that it completely had over Angela. "The tome is struggling to take back its complete control over Angela." Loki takes a quick moment to think on how to rectify the obvious problem "It needs more than just its own power to gain back its lost influence on her. I can put some of my own strength into it, but I don't know how long or how much power it needs in order to get Angela back under its total dominance."

This moment was it. Diane's opportunity had come, and she snatches it up without any hesitation or regrets. "You may not know how long it'll take for the book to be back to its proper capabilities, but if it's a question of the amount of power it needs, I believe we can give it the amount it needs to reclaim control over her."

The god of mischief looks up from the book and turns to face Diane. "Why do you think that?" He raises an eyebrow out of pure perplexity.

"I could lend my magic abilities. Our combined powers should be more than enough for the book. If it's not, at least we would know that tactic would be out of question and we would have to find a different method."

With him slowly losing any influence on the book and its power, Loki comes to the realize that Diane's plan might just work. Also, if it didn't work, the option would definitely be useless and both of them could work to find another answer. "Yes. Let us try you idea." The god of mischief walks over to Diane. "In order for us to combine our strength together, you will have to follow my instructions precisely. If we so much as do one thing wrong, we could very well damage the book, and quite possibly injure ourselves."

"Are you ready for this?" He asks to Diane.

Without any apprehension, she replies. "Yes. I am ready. Let's take back what is ours." She says the last words falsely. However, Diane still needed Loki to believe that she was on his side; and one way she knew how to keep his trust was to plant false seeds of loyalty.

"Here." Loki moves the open book over slightly so that Diane can easily hold the one side of it. "Grab hold of it and start feeding your energy into it. However, do it as slow as you are able to. I don't know how the book or Angela will react if it receives a sudden burst of power."

"Alright." Diane takes hold of the book and does just as Loki says. Her magic that she wielded seeps from her fingers and into the cover of the book, which then soaks into the pages of the tome. This makes her side of the book glow in a deep shade of purple. Loki's side of the tome wielded his magic powers, which had the hue of jade. The two work together as they give the book more power to do its task in controlling Angela. Unbeknownst to one, the other had different plans once the book had the power it needed.

While Loki and Diane toil with the book, the Avengers and Trent gaze upon their task that had found its way to them. All of them look at Angela, each wondering how she was still standing by herself. Her appearance made them assume that she had been fighting against a force that was ten times greater than her, and they all knew she could take on any of them and hold her own.

Her denim jacket was torn in several different places. Some pieces of her jacket were dangling loosely from the tears it had sustained. Her denim jeans were the same condition, several holes and tears had been made into the legs of the pants, along with patches of dirt that speckled on her complete attire. They also noticed her strands of hair, in that some of it was blonde and black, which told them that Angela was both attuned to the Light and Dark sides of the Force equally. Unfortunately for Angela, her being attuned to both Light and Dark equally, while under the power of the book, had taken its toll on her, both physically and mentally.

Not only had her clothes been dirtied and torn in several places, her face had several scratches and cuts, one of which had been made deep . The tiny trickle of blood, from the deep cut above her right brow, had already traveled down her face, stopping just off to the side of her right, blue-shaded eye. She stood loosely in place, slightly wavering left and right as she kept from falling back onto the forest floor. Her breathing was labored and could easily be heard by Trent and the Avengers. They didn't like what they saw and were about to move towards her, but she speaks up before they do.

"What...I thought I lost you all back..." Angela speaks without any hate or malice towards any of them. However, her character switches in an instant.

"Let me guess. All of you somehow managed to trail me back here to this camp. Very persistent, aren't we?" She chuckles slightly at her own assumption. Then, having no control over her mental state, she switches character once more.

"Why...look if you are after the stolen gems, there in the cabin behind you guys. Just, let me pass by and get to Loki."

Angela grins deviously. "Or all of you can just stand where you are while I slaughter my way through each and every one of you."

Her swift changes in speech create uneasiness among the Avengers. Trent, even though fearful that Angela meant every word she said, felt a force in him, urging him to get Angela to think through her current state of being manipulated by the influence and power of the book, that was currently in both Loki's and Diane's hands.

"Angela, just stop for a moment and listen to me. Alright? Listen carefully to my words."

Deciding to indulge Trent in speaking his peace, Angela doesn't make any move towards him. She just continues to breathe heavily while giving Trent a cold, unrelenting stare.

"You aren't well. I...we can tell by just hearing you breathe. Please, just sit down and try to recollect yourself. If you keep going like this, you'll hurt yourself even more than you already are."

"So, you can just kill me without me having a chance to react?! How much of a fool do you take me for?" Suddenly, Angela's character switches back upon hearing her utter those words from herself.

"Wait." She remains silent for only a moment. "You...care. You actually...care about me. There was...no deceit in your words. If there was, I would have noticed it."

Trent feels a sliver of hope growing within him. "I would never lie to you, Angela." Sensing that Angela was not going to threaten him, he slowly starts walking towards her. However, the Avengers stay where they are. They didn't want to make Angela to feel threatened or overpowered any more than she already was.

"Can you help...me get to Loki? He holds the book...that I think is controlling me." She asks Trent in between her labored breaths.

"Don't worry. We are already working on getting our hands on it." He slowly reaches and takes up Angela's right hand. "However, what you need to do now is rest before you collapse. Let's go find a safe place for you to sit down and take it easy."

Trent, still holding onto her hand, slowly starts to lead her towards a place where she could sit and relax. It was going well, until Angela got closer to the Avengers. Her darker self snaps back into reality and jerks her hand out of Trent's grasp. He senses the sudden change in Angela's demeanor in the Force. However, he isn't quick enough to shield himself from an attack.

Angela conjures enough energy and releases it all at once. Trent is pushed forward through the air until he lands at the feet of the Avengers. Bruce and Thor slowly pull Trent up from the ground.

"Trent, are you okay?" Bruce looks him over, seeing no outside signs of injury.

"Yeah." Trent stands up straight, visually showing that he was physically undamaged.

Trent and all of the Avengers look at Angela, seeing her completely switch back to her darker self. Each of the them prepare themselves for the attack they were about to receive from her.

Seeing her "enemies" prepare for her attack, Angela decides to take it to the next level. Angela reminds herself to her past, feeding her Dark Side power by mentally recalling memories of deceit, darkness, and despair. This strength allows her to conjure up arcs of lightning, that jump all over her left hand, waiting for the chance to travel into the object that she so desired. She wastes no time. Using her powers, she calls one of her lightsabers into her right hand and ignites the blade. Then in one swift movement, she sends her Force lightning into the blue blade of light. The electricity crackles as it arcs over numerous spots on the blade. It's strength remains constant, since Angela's lightsaber crystal has the immense ability to conduct the lightning without any resistance.

"I will give each of you one last chance to step aside." She glares at them with her blood-red eyes. "If all of you don't get out of my way, I will destroy each of you without the slightest of hesitation."

"Angela, here me out." Trent tries to reason with her, even though he couldn't the Angela he knew anymore. "We can help you get to Loki. In fact, we have someone on the inside that is working on getting that book from him." He feels some of her anger fade away but remains vigilant, should Angela decide to attack.

"Why should I believe what you say?" Before anyone could answer Angela, her normal self decides to answer.

"Why shouldn't I?" She looks at her right hand to see her blue lightsaber still ignited, ready to be wielded by her. She brings it in front of her and stares at the blade and hilt. Gazing upon the weapon made her feel as though she was forgetting a huge part of herself, making her anger slowly turn into anxiety. "This..."

Trent and the Avengers remain quiet, hoping that Angela would stall for them while Diane was supposedly obtaining the book from Loki. If she didn't retrieve it soon, they would have to go after it themselves.

Angela's inner darkness slowly starts to sink back into her subconscious. The book's hold is slowly losing its control on her. Her blood red eyes change back into the soft blue that they normally were. Angela deactivates the lightsaber but still looks upon the hilt, memoires starting to return to her. "I know this." She starts to turn her wrist to look at the hilt of her lightsaber at all angles, until a mark on the back of her right hand catches her attention. Turning her wrist as far as it could go, she sees a mark of half of the symbol of the Jedi Order and half of the symbol for the Imperials.

"What is this?" Sensing familiar presences, she throws her head up to see Tony, Steve, Thor, Bruce, and Trent looking at her, their eyes unwavering from her. She could sense their confusion in the Force. She could sense that they were unsure what side that she is on. They didn't know who she was.

What...what have I done? They don't know me. What did I do? I don't remember anything expect falling asleep on my bed. Angela puts her lightsaber back on her belt. She slowly makes her way down to the ground, sitting on the cold dirt, while resting her head on the palm of her right hand. What happened to me? What did I do? I have to remember. I have to!

All of the Avengers glance at each other before returning their gazes upon Angela. Seeing her sitting on the ground. They saw her running her fingers slowly through her blonde hair. They knew what that meant. She was clueless. Clueless of what she had did for the past two days.

All of them saw knew this, but Trent knew something else. He is the only one who can sense it. Angela is scared. Scared of not knowing what she did. Scared of not knowing what she recently was. Scared of the possibility of losing everyone that she knew on this world. Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Thor Odinson, Steven Rogers, and him, Trent Revan. Not wanting to waste any more time, Trent walks over to Angela and sits in front of her. He waits in silence, wanting Angela to talk when she felt she was ready to.

While Trent waits on Angela, the Avengers get closer together so that they can talk softly enough to avoid Angela overhearing their discussions.

"It seems as though Angela isn't control by the book anymore," Stark takes a quick glance at Angela.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean the book can't come back into play," Rogers reforms them that the situation was not yet over.

"Steve is right. We must make certain that the tome is obliterated. Not one letter from one page can be left unscathed," Thor knew all too well how magic and black arts could easily come back from the most miniscule of objects.

"I agree. This book has caused too much physical and psychological distress for Angela. It cannot exist another day," Bruce, normally the quite one of bunch, drives the discussion home. All of them nod in agreement.

"I don't know what all of you, but I'm sick off waiting for this "Diane" to get the book from Loki's grasps." Tony closes his helmet, preparing for a fight that he thinks that is inevitable. "I'm ready to end this, right now."

"Agreed," the son of Odin states.

"Alright, then let's get that book." Steve turns towards the cabin, shield in hand. However, he stops in his tracks, as well as the others, when they see Diane walk out of the cabin, the book closed in her right hand.

"No need to rush. I have it right here." She walks towards them, raising the closed book up to everyone's eye level. "It shouldn't hurt Angela anymore."

"Explain yourself," the god of thunder wanted to make sure that whatever Diane did was adequate for this issue to be resolved permanently.

"Loki believed that I was helping him, by putting my own sorcery into the book. I was not doing that. Instead, I was absorbing all the power that the book had and Loki's power that he was putting into it, until the book could no longer do its purpose and let Angela go. Loki felt the book's influence leave entirely, grew livid and just left without another word."

Diane thought that Loki would have said something, believing that he cared somewhat for her, even though she knew that his greed and own self desires would trump her. She hands the book to Rogers. "Here. Do what you must to destroy it completely. No one should have that much power over a person, a very powerful person, at that."

"Really? I'm pretty sure that you were pleased when you had Angela steal very expensive, high quality jewelry." Stark is quick to nail Diane in every way that he can. Even though she had helped them, Stark did not want her to get away so easily.

"You want those too? I assumed that would be payment for my service, which was freeing your "Angela" from the book's power." All of the Avengers stare at her in silence. She admires their tenacity for making sure that she did not get away with anything. "Very well. I shall go and retrieve the merchandise." A few minutes later, Diane returns with two satchels full of stolen jewelry and hands them over to Stark. "This is all of it." Stark raises an eyebrow at her.

"Trust my word on this."

"Alright." He activates his repulsors and starts rising into the air. "I'm going to hand these to the authorities and tell them the details. I meet you all back at the mansion." With a burst of energy sent into his repulsors, Tony takes flight, flying above the trees and heading straight towards Santa Monica.

Banner, who had been silent for most of this event, turns around and sees Trent looking over Angela. Bruce makes his way over to them, leaving Steve and Thor to deal with Diane. Kneeling down near Angela, Bruce begins to visually assess Angela for physical injuries.

"Hey Angela."

"...Hey." Angela softly answers back, keeping her gaze on the forest floor.

"I'm going to check to see with you have any injuries. Okay?"

"Okay."

Bruce systematically starts by check Angela's head for any scrapes, cuts and bruises. Seeing no outer injuries, he works his way down to her arms. He starts with her left arm, putting some pressure on certain sections of her arm. "Do you feel any pain?" Angela shakes her head.

He then takes her right arm and does the same process and asks the same question, which she answers the same. Taking her right hand, Bruce gazes upon the markings, which still was half of the Jedi Order symbol and half of the Imperial symbol mashed into one. It was no longer glowing, which Bruce assumed it meant that the book no longer had any influence on Angela. Being the gentleman that he was and knowing that Angela was slightly closing herself off, Bruce decides not to physically check for any broken ribs for now. Instead, he asks. "Do you have any pain with your ribs or lower torso?" She again shakes her head at his question, and he finishes check her by putting pressure on certain parts of her legs.

"It seems you don't have any major injuries. We won't know for sure until we are back at the mansion."

"Alright." Angela's thoughts were not on how she was, but how she had harmed others, even though she knew that they were all physically unharmed. She did not have any memory on what she had done or even how long she had been unaware of what she had been doing. She hopes that someone will tell her all of her doings. She didn't have the courage or strength to speak up and ask.

Trent puts a hand on her shoulder. "Let's head back to the mansion. Can you stand?"

"Yeah." Angela slowly pushes herself off of the ground. Trent keeps close by, should Angela lose her footing and fall. He would be there to help her, if she needed it. Bruce, Trent and Angela make their way back to the mansion, treading through the woods to get back. This left Steve and Thor to finish up with Diane.

"You claim that Loki left without uttering a word?" The god of thunder quickly asks.

"Yes. That is correct. If you wish, you can check in all the cabins and the surrounding area." Diane, not wanting the Avengers to come back, offers this to Thor, who nods and makes a quick sweep of all the cabins and surrounding area to make sure that his brother, or rather his adopted brother, is not there. While doing this, Steve and Diane have words to exchange.

"Something tells me that you wish to see me locked up behind bars." The sorceress states plainly.

"Well, you did help aid in a robbery and a kidnapping."

"Indeed, I did. However, you can't prove that in a court of law."

Steve's cold gaze does not waver from Diane. "You're right. I can't. Unfortunately, for you, Angela has us beside her, to support and protect her. Be sure to remember my words carefully." Steve takes a couple of steps closer towards Diane. "I speak for every single one of my teammates. If you should use your sorcery do commit more of your evil doings, we will come for you and stop you. Should you lend your sorcery to someone who would wish to do others harm, we will stop them and then come for you." Steve takes more steps forward, standing only an inch from Diane, lightly speaking his final words of warning to the sorceress. "And should you ever inflict any type of your sorcery or other forms of sorcery on Angela, my teammates will not stop you. I will stop you."

As his words die away in the air, Steve turns his back towards Diane and starts leaving the camp. Thor had finished checking everywhere he wanted and ,seeing Steve leave the camp, follows suit. Once the last two Avengers are out of the sight, all members of the magic wielding occult quickly head over to Diane, hoping that she would fill them in on what the outsiders wanted.

"Followers, we shall lay low for a while. We do not want these outsiders returning any time soon. Continue on with your tasks."

Her followers return to their tasks, while Diane ponders upon everything that had transpired. "Angela is a very fortunate woman. Having teammates such as them are nearly impossible to obtain. She is also very fortunate to have someone like him care for her so much. They are nearly nonexistent in these days."

Several days later

Deciding that a change in scenery would do everyone good, the Avengers pack up and head back to Avengers Tower in New York.

Tony, after sifting through most of his obliterated suits of armor at his mansion, starts analyzing, fixing, upgrading, and inventing more suits of armor; only this time, he tends to make them as "lightsaber proof" he can get them.

Thor, remembering to keep his word, leaves Avengers Tower and goes to spend time with Jane, promising his fellow Avengers that he would return., stating that he would need each Avengers' strength to help take down his adopted brother should he appear again.

Bruce, being knowledgeable in the medical field, keeps a close watch over Angela. He, like the rest of the team, knew that Angela would need time to recover, both physically and mentally.

Trent, while making sure that Angela was healing, continues to learn new things about Earth and keeps practice some Force exercises that Angela had taught him.

Angela, eventually being told what she had done under magical influences, makes quick progress in her mental recovery. She has a little ways to go, but she feels she will be fine, as least mentally.

And Steve, being the gentleman that he was, supports Angela in her recovery. He helps gain her sense of mind back and treats her just like he had treated his first love, Peggy.

While winter slowly started leaving the picture, everyone started returning to their "normal" lives, unknown to them, that friends and enemies, both new and old, would soon alter Earth in ways unimaginable.

OMG Finally done. Sorry if this chapter was extremely deus ex machina. I had to get this stupid story done because the third story is going to be huge! Really huge! Like over twenty main characters at once during the story huge! I already have notes for the first seven chapters so writing will start sooner than you think. And since summer is close, I hope that I can write a lot for this story. I hope you liked this one, even though I thought it was stupid.

See you in the third story!

~TheJediAvenger~