"Steve, why is your face red?" Pepper set down the coffee pot, looking beyond the unknown woman at Steve, his face indeed a bright red where her hand had struck it (he was holding his cheek, less in pain and more in shock).

The woman continued to stare at Pepper, frozen in the doorway, hazel eyes wide and lightly tanned skin faded beyond a paper-white, looking as if she had seen a ghost, "It can't be... I didn't even realize... Mother...? Is it really you?"

Everyone looked between the woman and Pepper, the latter of who dropped the mug she was holding, spilling hot coffee all over her leg. Dashing to the sink (no body doing more than watching the stranger), the woman ripped a rag from the second drawer next to the cutlery, running it under a cold tap before pressing it to the older female's leg. The girl fussed over Pepper, acting as if she were the holiest of figures, made entirely of glass. If it wasn't so disturbing, it might have been sweet. Possibly. Hell, how could any of them not see this as odd? And these were all people that fought aliens, were friends with a god, and lead purely unusual lives as it was!

"Mother, are you alright? You have to be more careful! I would hate to lose you in such an embarrassing way this time..." She sounded like she was talking to a three-year old, still fretting about Pepper's leg.

Thor muttered to himself in confusion, "This time?"

"Um, Steve, why did you let this cr-" Tony began, whispering loudly to his friend, making no attempt at hiding his rudeness from the stranger (who was more than a potential threat, judging only from her knowledge of the house and the way she catered to Pepper).

Cutting him off, her attention falling on the billionaire, she was instantly the personification of wrath (the team swearing that the ends of her hair were flickering as if on fire), "YOU! You bastard, I'm going to kill you!"

Throwing herself forward with nothing more than her bare hands, Steve and Thor were on either side of the young woman, catching her in midair as she leaped across the room, holding her back from ripping out Tony's eyes, or worse. Aside from the odd "mother" thing with Pepper, they took her side, feeling that he probably deserved it, though being the good guys, they couldn't act on it. Well, not in good conscious anyways.

Glancing over at Pepper, Tony looked to her for help, "Hey, 'mother', why don't you get little miss confused out of here before she tries to kill us all, hm?"

Further infuriated by Tony, she snarled out, almost going full-out animal, "Don't you dare call her that! If it weren't for you she would still be alive, and I wouldn't have been forced to grow up with you!"

Even more lost (if that were even possible), Natasha stepped up to the plate, stalking like a cat up behind the girl, tapping her lightly in the spine with a Taser that had been hidden up her light pink sleeve. Subdued by the electricity, the woman slumped forward in her captors' arms, mind racing, body unable to move. Taking the girl's limp body off their hands, Natasha shoved her forcefully into the counter, restraining her with a pair of silver handcuffs (magically pulled from no visible source).

BAM!

At the exact same time that Natasha had stepped in, there was the sound of a miniature explosion, and a blinding white light had lit the room, completely filling it up so that for a moment, everyone was blind. There was not a doubt in anyone's mind that Loki had arrived. Great, just what they needed right now...

"Problems on the home-front already? I would have at least given you another forty-eight hours before you turned on each other," Loki smirked, surveying the disarrayed kitchen, "Unless this is a preview of what I can expect if I misbehave?"

Glaring at the newest arrival (and reason for all of this), Clint cracked his knuckles threateningly, "If you try anything, you'll wish that this was a preview."

"Ohhh, still sore about our last encounter, agent Barton?" He aimed low, and he did it was if it were natural, "Can I still even call you an agent?"

"Clint, don't." Natasha's voice was cool, level as she spoke to the archer, "You're better than that."

Loki didn't even bother with her, even though he knew that he could easily cause severe damage to both the team and her mental state. They both knew that he could do it. But why spoil the fun of watching her squirm, waiting for the right moment to get under skin?

Jaded eyes passing over the female agent, he caught something that surprised him, or rather, someone. Narrowing his eyes at the woman being crushed into the granite, he took two measured steps closer, mind's eye filling in the silhouette of the being that had spoken to him in place of the Other. Very interesting.

Naturally, Thor was right by Loki's side, booming voice ringing in the trickster's ears, "Brother, you are fine now?"

"Who is that mortal?" He ignored his brother, gesturing at the stranger.

"No matching records can be found." JARVIS informed them all, coincidentally when asked the woman's identity, previously doing a background check on the woman.

Hearing the AI for the first time, Loki looked around, amused by this mortal trick, but not shocked by it.

Frightened for their safety, Pepper looked around the room at six equally troubled faces (Loki could care less about what the mortals could find on this woman, aware that there was something otherworldly about her), "What does that mean? Doesn't S.H.I.E.L.D. have some kind of - "

Coughing underneath the former Russian, her mouth numb, she spoke up, "Beca I'm mot from aroun here. I won't be borm for anetmber eight months (Because I'm not from around here. I won't be born for another eight months)."

Looking to Tony and Pepper for confirmation, Widow backed away, allowing the woman to stand up, though her eyes didn't leave her target for a second, "Make any sudden movements, and Loki won't be the only prisoner."

Nodding, staring only at Pepper, the woman rolled her tongue as the feeling came back (the Taser that Natasha used wasn't very strong), "Fine. My name," Her gaze flickered to Loki so quickly, only he had noticed the gesture (her stare resting on Steve for a visible and semi-awkward moment), "is Magdalyn Cambira Grace Stark. My best friend is Nadia Banner, and my last... boyfriend...," She wasn't sure what to say, so it was obvious that it wasn't that kind of relationship, "was Steve Rogers."

They looked at Steve, the doubt of doubt in eyes. Was it true? Looking at her age, the timeline of events, and his age, then or now, and it didn't exactly add up. But then again, he had been frozen once, so was to say that it didn't happen, or that his aging had even continued. It would also explain why she had struck him out of nowhere, but if she was Tony's daughter, why would he betray his friend that way? Unless they were no longer friends by that time... Head whirling with ideas, some more absurd than others, Steve looked at Magdalyn.

"How do we know you're telling the truth?" He asked, blue eyes boring into hers.

She sighed, shaking her head. Of course he would ask that, and of course, she had the answer ready. Going over to him (one wary eye on Widow as she moved), she whispered something in his ear. Listening to her words, his face turned whiter than the ice that had cradled him for seventy plus years, "She's telling the truth."

Still not convinced that this girl was a time-traveler (even though he knew aliens and she had told Steve something that presumably only he would know), Bruce took a more scientific (surprising for a scientist) approach, "If you're really from the future, how did you get here?"

"...I'm the daughter of a super genius, you do the math."

Tony was a genius, and it wasn't impossible for her to have ordinary intelligence (hence her not knowing how she had actually arrived in another time), but something about the girl made him uneasy, "Possible, but if you're here now, and before you were born, how is that not creating a time paradox?"

That one was easy, "The future isn't set in stone, so my being here only changes the future, but it won't create a universe destroying black hole. For instance, in my future, you have a daughter a year younger than I am, but in this future, you might never have Nadia because you might never ask out her mother. Or maybe because Tony has tea instead of coffee, a piano might fall on his head and kill him. Or his daughter might just use some piano wire to - "

"We get it." Pepper fixed Magdalyn with a stony glare, the edges of which were wrought with uncertainty.

Bruce resumed his interrogation, "Why are you here?"

Ah, that was the fundamental question, wasn't it? Being Tony's child, Magdalyn couldn't help but to be a smartass about it, "Here as in the kitchen, or here as in the great philosophical question of life itself?"

Tony snorted, half convinced by that remark alone that she was his daughter. Pepper could believe it too.

Loki had found her rebellious nature more amusing than her actual comment, "Not a great way to prove your case."

"Nadia would have laughed. No, I'm actually here for two reasons: I want to kill my father, and I wanted to find a way to prevent myself from making the worst decision of my life, which could actually benefit humanity. I know that my story sounds far-fetched, even after meeting Thor and fighting Loki and his Chitauri army" Magdalyn looked around the room at the skeptical faces, "but you have to believe me..."

Knowing firsthand what it felt like to be pitted against those that you loved (no thanks to Loki), Clint took her side, "I think we should keep her. It's not like we have to decide her fate right now, and besides, Stark has more than enough room for one more."

"Who here votes for her to stay?" Bruce asked, question in his voice. He knew that this wouldn't end well.

Even though she had said that she had intended to kill Tony, none of them took that threat seriously. Loki wasn't so quick to trust her, however, even he had raised his hand for her to stay.

Trying to object, Tony was quickly over-ruled by a majority vote (he had been the only not to raise his hand), "Fine, why not add another attempted murderer to the mix? If you wake up with your throat slit, don't come crying to me."

Relaxing, Natasha turned back to Tony, "I think the only one who has to worry about his throat is you."

Clint chuckled at that, setting off a chain of reactions that left only Loki ad Magdalyn out.

Being unnaturally quiet the entire time, observing this "Magdalyn" and the skill with which she twisted the truth, Loki finally spoke, keeping his voice down so that only she could hear, "Why are you here? Really?"

Alright, if you missed it, I updated/reloaded the last chapter, because it was kinda crap. Nothing in the story changed, but it is markedly better, if I do say so myself. I have no idea why I posted it when I did, barely glanced over, but I did. Sorry! And to address those last few reviews, wow. I respect your dislike/hatred for OCs, and I do appreciate you telling me, I really do, and though it kills me to know that I lost a reader, I think that you should at least give OCs a chance. I can only speak for myself, but how do readers expect OCs to be less unbearable if the readers don't help the author by pointing out things that can be improved so that the OCs don't suck? I guess that's my problem, and I hope that I don't lose many more of you over this... (Hint hint, review on my OC, grill me for even the tiniest flaw that you don't like, but just help me to make a better character, please)

And I'm sorry that this chapter took for freaking ever to finish! One day this week I couldn't work at all, and yeah...

Please, please, review!