I really don't know if I can say this enough; but you guys are awesome. Seriously, I really appreciate all the support. I was not expecting the response I've received so far. I just had an idea brewing for a while and once I saw the Avengers I just got to writing. I just wanted my idea out there, I guess. Anyway, it's mind blowing to me that there are so many of you that are reading this. So, from the very bottom of my heart, thank you so much.

Anyway, onto the second bit of business. I want to have a cover photo for this story, only, I am absolute rubbish when it comes to anything artsy, and I am not Vanessa Brown, sadly. So, if any of you out there are handy with a pen and are interested in making a cover photo, please shoot me a message and we can discuss things better there. Please?

Last bit. I need to do a disclaimer. Vanessa Brown and any other random OC's I throw in are the only things that are mine. Everything else belongs to Marvel. I am no Stan Lee. This chapter gets its name from the Paramore song of the same name. Enjoy it, babes.

Carful

Stark Tower, Loki's bedroom-New York, New York

Almost immediately after Loki switched off his lamp, he was lost in slumber. But it was morning now; sunlight was steaming in patches though Loki's closed blinds. He had been shocked, at first, to find the Vanessa had stayed over. She had done a very good job of keeping to her side of the bed. But then, Loki figured, considering how fast he had fallen asleep, Vanessa hadn't wanted to wake him.

She had completely taken Loki by surprise last night. Of course, Loki had felt that between the two of them, there was something more than just a partnership going on. But never had Loki imagined a scenario where the woman would ever consider him a friend. Loki had never had a friend before.

It had been a long time since Loki had awoken to find a woman in bed with him. But this time, it was completely innocent: Or as innocent as you can get when sharing a bed with someone of the opposite sex. Did friends sleep together? Maybe on Midgard they did, but certainly never on Asgard.

Vanessa looked very calm, but Loki couldn't tell if she was sleeping or not. She was flat on her back, one hand resting on her ribs; some of her shirt had bunched up, exposing a small amount of flesh. The other arm was draped across her eyes, shielding them. Her hair was just as wild and tangled than when Loki first encountered her hours pervious. How did hair get to be that wild just by sleeping on it? There was nothing else for it, it was getting late. Loki would have to wake her.

"Nessa, you awake?" he prodded her side. The woman gave a small nod but made no other attempt to move. "Are you all right?" Loki tried again.

"Massive headache," she mumbled. Her voice was not heavy with sleep, so she must have been awake for a while. "Thank God I have a day off from lab sessions." Vanessa removed her arm from her face and peered at Loki. "Did you just call me, 'Nessa'?"

"Erm, yeah," Loki responded sheepishly, "sorry."

"No, I don't mind. I'm just going to have to come up with a nickname for you."

"Nothing 'Stark-like', please."

"Oh, please," Vanessa slowly swung her legs over the side of the bed. "I'm not that awful. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to wash my lion mane," she gestured to the mess on her head.

"You don't need my permission," Loki motioned to the door, rolling his eyes.

"I know I was being polite. I'd like to see you try and tell me what to do, you wanker."

"I don't even know what that means."

"You'd kill me if you did. I expect I'll be seeing you soon. Tah!"

And with that, Vanessa left the room, rubbing her temples as she went. Loki slumped back onto his pillows for a moment before deciding he should probably bathe. So, reluctantly, he got up and went to turn on the shower in the bathroom. Once out, Loki, in attempt to look more Midgardian, dressed in black jeans and a green shirt. He then used his towel to dry his hair, which was in dire need of a trim. Finally, Loki grabbed the nearest book and trudged up to the kitchen.

The kitchen was loud, and crowded. Although, Loki noted, both the Black Widow and Hawkeye were absent. Thor, Stark, Rogers and Banner were all seated on a sofa. Thor and Stark were both holding some small black thing, while staring with intensity at the TV screen. Ms. Potts was with Jane and Vanessa at the kitchen counter. They all seemed to be preparing food. Ms. Potts was chattering away at something while Vanessa and Jane listened. Vanessa's hair was still wet from her washing. It looked almost black, but it was no longer a ratted mess, instead, it was drying in long, beautiful ringlets.

"Your head feeling better?" Loki asked Vanessa, deciding he would rather join her and the other woman rather than sit near Stark.

"Yeah," she nodded. "I took some medicine a little while ago."

"Good," Loki paused before turning to Jane, a small desire for some mischief bubbling inside him. "Ms. Foster, I trust you slept well?"

Loki could tell Thor was now listing in, curious. Vanessa tried, and failed, to suppress a snigger.

Clueless, Jane responded, "Oh, well, the storm was a bit of a bother. But once I got to sleep, it was nice."

"Yeah, I'll bet it was," said Vanessa, just loud enough for Loki to hear.

"Good, I would hate it if my brother kept you up," Loki gave Jane a knowing look. She blushed and turned around to get something from a cupboard. Vanessa gave Loki a thumbs up, which he figured must be a sign of approval, because then she had to turn away to stifle her laughter.

When she turned back to face everyone, Loki noticed that instead of the playful spark Vanessa had just seconds before, her eyes were now alert and worried. Her brown eyes darted around the room for a second before Vanessa gave her head a tiny shake and started to peel some ugly white vegetable. Feeling awkward around everyone, Loki cracked open his book at random and started to read.

"Hey, Tony, you're going to need to have some repairs done in your gym," Natasha and Clint came wandering in, dressed in their SHIELD uniforms laughing.

"I don't even want to know what you two were doing in there," Tony shook his head.

"Hey, Nat," Vanessa looked up, "Come here, I need to talk to you."

Curious, the Black Widow made her way over to the counter and sat down, oddly enough, next to Loki.

"What's up?" she inquired.

Vanessa sent down her vegetable and gave Natasha her full attention. "When you came to pick me up from London, did you notice anything…odd?"

"You mean besides a bomb going off not far from Downing Street just days after the Prime Minister hung himself?"

"Besides that, I'll get to that in a minute."

"No, why?" Natasha was fully invested in whatever it was Vanessa was asking now, as was everyone else in the room.

"Tash, you and I were the only two people inside MI6 that night. We never met a security agent; nobody from tech was running around, nothing! You and I both know that a major spy organization does not have closing hours. Why were we the only two people inside?"

"I—we can't have been," stuttered Natasha. "There must've been other people on different levels or something."

"I don't think so," Vanessa shook her head. She turned to Loki. "We know that Thanos has control of MI6, and we know he paid me a visit before Tudor killed himself. Is it possible that he made sure my way back to SHIELD was clear by clearing the building?"

"It's possible, I suppose…" Loki said slowly.

"But what good would that do?" Tony asked. "Why would he need you alive?"

"Information. Maybe the reason why he decided to only alter my memory was because when he got inside my mind, he saw that I was an agent of SHIELD." Vanessa's eyes swept the room. "I worked on the Avenger's Initiative. I was part of the team that was trying to find you, Stark, when you were abducted. I've successfully sent agents to infiltrate Stark Industries. I helped Tasha come up with her Natalie cover. I was in New Mexico when Thor decided to grace us with his presence—"

"You were?" Jane asked, furrowing her eyebrows together.

"Yeah, I had blonde hair and green eyes then. I raided your lab, sorry about that. I even helped build a profile on Thor after he left. And guess who suggested that Slevig should be the one to work on the Tesseract? Yup, me."

"Wait," Rogers stood up, he looked furious, "You headed Phase Two?"

"No. When we first found the Tesseract, everyone just wanted to see if we could come up with unlimited clean energy. It was later that Phase Two was brought about. I was working on a mission in France when that happened, then I went to Greece."

"But why would Thanos need you?" Barton spoke up. "I was in New Mexico, too. He used me before."

Vanessa gave Barton a hard, sad look. "Because I was there. Because Tudor gave me a valuable piece of information. Something so crucial to the plan…but…" Vanessa looked as though she was trying to pull her hair out. As if causing her harm could somehow bring the correct memory back. "…If I kept that memory, SHIELD would've known immediately and the Avengers Initiative would have been reactivated at once. That would've been too soon for Thanos, he needed more information."

"But what information could he possibly want from you that he couldn't have gotten before?" Banner removed his glasses and started cleaning them absentmindedly.

"I don't know!"

"Just a thought," piped up Pepper, slightly timid, "But I felt that the mission to get the scepter was too easy for you guys. Maybe that was part of the plan, get it into SHIELD's hands?"

"Ms. Potts, you are brilliant." Loki stood up, he was suddenly on edge.

"Why would giving that up be a benefit to Thanos, though?" asked Natasha.

Finally, they were all playing attention to Loki. He was the only one who really knew what that thing was capable of. He knew what it did and he had met with the one who created it. "The scepter," he started patiently, "does not change your personality, not really. It takes the darkest attributes of a person and enhances them until those features take over. Even being in the same room as it can affect one's behavior. There is a very strong possibility that, had the scepter not been on the helicarrier that day, the Hulk might not have come out. The scepter weakened all you Avengers. Thanos must've seen that. I'm willing to bet that after you beat him last time, his greatest wish was to face off again. But he needs to take advantages. He needs a guaranteed win."

Loki turned and gave Vanessa a long look. "We really need that memory. Too much of this is centered on you. Thanos made contact with MI6, the organization set where you were doing a mission. We've already established he has some kind of alliance with the Carver Society, which also wants you. There is no such thing as a coincidence."

Everyone in the room seemed petrified with fear. As they should be, Loki thought grimly. SHIELD was several steps behind in the game that Thanos was playing. He knew too much about them, while they knew next to nothing about him. Sometime during Loki's speech, Thor's hand had found Jane's and Stark and Ms. Potts were leaning on each other. Natasha and Barton were even standing closer, though they seemed afraid to touch each other.

"…But, how did Thanos even make contact with so many people without raising any red flags?" Rogers asked, perplexed.

"What do you think I was doing in London for almost two years?" Vanessa stood taller, casing an annoyed look at the soldier. "We knew something was up when first contact was made. We just didn't know what we were dealing with."

"Fine," said Rogers sounding just as annoyed, "but how did he get on Earth completely undetected?"

"He is a master of dark magic," answered Loki. "My guess is that he was never really here, he just used his powers to create an illusion. And unless the task is important enough, he is going to send The Other to do his work. I hardly ever had any interaction with Thanos when we made our alliance. But Thanos cannot actually come to Midgard without the Tesseract, or something even more powerful than that."

"You mean like an Infinity Gauntlet?"

"What?" Thor, Stark and Loki all turned to Vanessa.

"I-I don't…know why I said that." Vanessa looked both confused and terrified. She looked down at her feet. "I don't know what that is."

"But you've heard of it somewhere, yes?" Banner was peering at the spy with interest. Maybe the brain treatments were working, finally.

"Maybe? I dunno. I can't remember where I could've heard it…it just sort of popped into my head. Does anyone know what it is?"

"Well I don't," Stark shrugged. He looked at Loki and Thor expectantly.

"We have never heard of such a thing," Thor shook his head, "unless Loki discovered something about it after he left?"

Loki shook his head. "Never heard of it in my life." And he hadn't. But clearly Vanessa had. Reality was finally crawling to the front of her brain. And judging by how terrified Vanessa looked; the Infinity Gauntlet was not something to take lightly…whatever it was.

"Okay," Natasha cut in, "so what about the Downing Street bombings?"

"I think," Vanessa's tone was suddenly more casual, "I think those were meant for me, but they didn't work out."

"I thought we established that Thanos needed you alive?" said Stark.

"Not him. I think that was just Carver. From everything I've been able to uncover, that society is so secret that most working for it don't know the top agents or the true objectives of a mission. So maybe my cover was blown and a Carver agent, knowing that there is a price on my head, decided to try and take me in?"

"I thought it was just a terrorist attack," Jane mumbled.

"I might've just been that. But they happened a week after the Prime Minister kills himself practically in his back yard. We have to consider all alternatives." Natasha explained patiently. "Who's going to relay all of this to Fury?"

"Not me," Vanessa. "I really don't feel like dealing with him, plus, I have no idea where he goes."

"I think he mentioned something about a Parker boy yesterday," Rogers offered up.

"Jesus," Stark rolled his eyes, "I was wondering if SHIELD was watching him still. He's been getting out of hand."

"Whatever, I'm going to take a nap," Vanessa said.

Loki watched her go, wondering if he was meant to follow or stay.

Stark Tower, Vanessa's room-New York, New York

Vanessa shut the door to her room and locked it. Her heart was racing. What the hell was an Infinity Gantlet and why did it scare her so much? Vanessa paced to the other side of the room and wrenched open her balcony doors. A burst of cold air made her gasp and her arms went instantly around her. It was snowing slightly. Vanessa stood outside, looking over the city trying to gather her thoughts and calm down. But being outside did neither of those things, it just added cold to her list of things bothering her.

Finally, she went back inside and shut the doors behind her. Making towards the bathroom instead. Vanessa flicked on the light and stared at her reflection long and hard. Her eyes were wild and dilated with fear, her face was somehow perfectly controlled and neutral, bits of Vanessa's hair had frozen from being outside and her breathing was shallow.

For something to do, Vanessa pulled out a hair dryer and started tending to her hair. But her thoughts kept straying. What if she was being mind-controlled and was supposed to keep SHIELD off of Thanos' scent? If so, she wasn't doing a good job, reality was fighting to the surface. Or, what if everything that kept coming in, like the Infinity Gantlet, were just made up by Thanos to throw SHIELD and the Avengers off?

Vanessa turned off her hair dryer and looked at herself once more. The mind was the most important asset anyone, spy especially, had. And hers was severely compromised. Everyone around her was in danger. She needed to fill in the gaps in her mind, but how could she if Vanessa wanted to keep everyone safe?

Enraged, scared, and frustrated, Vanessa took the hair dryer and smashed it against the mirror. She didn't want to see her reflection any longer. Over and over she rammed the useless tool against the mirror as it shattered. Then, finally, the tears started pouring down her face. Defeated, Vanessa sank to the floor, brought her knees to her chest and let herself cry.

Vanessa hadn't cried in nine years—not since Charlie. She had brought on fake tears for missions, but those in no way counted. Sobs racked her entire body and Vanessa was soon gasping for air. Soon, the headache that always accompanied crying started, but still, Vanessa could not stop. Nine years of grief were fighting to be felt, fighting to come out to the surface.

She didn't know how long she spent crying, but someone managed to force their way into Vanessa's room. They came into the bathroom, Vanessa could practically feel a pair of eyes looking at her and then taking in the state of the room. The person began to move around again, glass clinked together, and drawers were opened and shut. The person had decided on taking on the task of cleaning up.

It seemed like no time had passed before the person began to give their attention to Vanessa. Surprisingly gentle hands took one of Vanessa's and pressed a wet cloth to it. Vanessa felt a new wave of tears rush forward as she flinched. She knew those hands; somehow she knew whose hands they belonged to, even though she had only known him a short while. Humiliated now, Vanessa buried her face deeper into her knees. Meanwhile, Loki continued to clean a cut in Vanessa's hand very patiently and kindly.

Finally, Loki brought Vanessa's face up, so he could have a look. Ashamed, Vanessa refused to meet his calculating gaze. He nodded her head from side to side and tipped it up and down. But if he saw something on Vanessa's face besides red puffy eyes and blotchy skin, he didn't say so. Instead, he started murmuring the words of the bedroom hymn used to put Vanessa to sleep weeks ago.

"No," Vanessa tried pulling away trying to resist the pull of magic. "No, I don't—"

"You need rest, elskan mín."

She had no powers to fight it. In seconds, Vanessa had fallen under and was sleeping soundly, dreamless.

When she came to, Vanessa was lying in her bed, buried under her sheets. It was getting dark outside, so it had to be about half past four, give or take a few minutes. Feeling oddly relaxed, Vanessa rolled over and her eyes fell on Loki, who was flipping through TV stations, bored. The humiliation sank in again. Vanessa hated crying. Tears were for the weak and she most certainly didn't want Loki seeing her as weak.

"I don't usually cry, you know," she said, startling Loki, her voice heavy with sleep.

"No," Loki was looking carefully at Vanessa again, "you don't strike me as particularly weepy. But given the circumstances, I think you have very good reason to be upset."

"That," Vanessa mumbled, "is an understatement."

Loki chuckled, "I was trying to be kind."

"Don't you dare try and sugar coat with me, mister," Vanessa swung her legs out of bed and stood up. "That's the same thing as lying, to a spy at least. You do not want to lie to a spy."

"I'll keep that in mind," said Loki dryly. "You did a number on that mirror."

"Damn, how bad is it?"

"It was pretty bad, but I managed to fix it."

"How on Earth did you manage to do that?" Vanessa gave Loki a bewildered look before she started to rummage around in her dresser.

Loki held up his hands. "Magic."

"Useful," Vanessa found what she was looking for and closed her fingers around the cool metal. "I think I'll keep you."

"Keep me—?" it was Loki's turn to be confused.

"Yes, now, I'm going to do something nice for you," Vanessa crossed the room and showed Loki the scissors. "Your hair is in a right state. I'm giving it a proper cutting. If you try to protest, I just might jam these into your leg."

"Wouldn't put it past you," Loki rolled his eyes.

"Good, you're learning. Now shut up, I need to concentrate."

That was a lie…sort of. Cutting hair was an unbelievably easy task. But Vanessa did need to think. While the lab sessions finally seemed to be working, Vanessa had a feeling that those would only provide more questions than answers. Vanessa needed answers about so many things. Just how deep was the alliance between Carver Society and Thanos? Why were agents of Carver tailing Vanessa? And why was Vanessa such an important piece in all of this. In the game of chess she felt trapped in, Vanessa was losing, badly.

"Well, you'll be glad to know, I'm sure that you are not being controlled by Thanos," Loki brought in casually after a few minutes.

"I thought I told you to keep your mouth shut?" Vanessa shot back, but then her eyes narrowed. "How do you know, anyway?"

"I know what it looks like. Agent Barton agrees."

"Oh, you two getting along now?"

Loki gave a harsh laugh, "That will never happen. No, I just stated that while your memories might be in trouble, your mind is completely your own. Barton just gave a kind of nod in agreement."

"That's Barton for you," Vanessa set the scissors down. "You're done."

Before, Loki's hair had been just past his shoulders. Now it was just a little past his ears and looked much neater. More friendly. Vanessa began sweeping up the hair then went back into the bathroom where, sure enough, the mirror looked untouched. Vanessa threw the hair away and came back out.

Vanessa looked at Loki sadly. She liked having him around. She might just even fancy him. But there was no way she could explore that. If Vanessa wanted answers, she had to go and get them. She would keep doing lab sessions, but, they would just be a cover while Vanessa worked out how and what she needed to do.

As soon as she could, Vanessa would be leaving Stark Tower and go undercover. She needed to find answers and she needed to do it alone.

Author's Note

Okay, so first off, I am very, very sorry for the HUGE wait. I had family over (my family is large) and I cannot write or even edit with a ton of noise. But I am still really sorry for the wait. I am a bad person.

"elskan mín" means "my dear" in Icelandic, so you know. I thought it would be fun to throw that in there. Don't forget about the cover art I mentioned at the beginning! If you're interested, please, please send me a message!

Once again, I am so very, very sorry about the wait. I hope this chapter was worth it! Don't forget to leave a review!

Until next time, guys!