Hello! Sorry for the wait, everyone! Like I mentioned before, I've been busy with work. And I also rewrote this entire chapter for you to try and push the plot along. Still not perfect, but, hey. This story is a learning experience. It turned out longer than I thought, so good news for you, I guess!

And, also, just so none of you get the wrong idea. I do not know science. If there is one thing I have in common with Sutton, it's that most of my electronics run off of magic and sheer power of belief. Any science you read in this story will either be from intense google searches or whatever sounds reasonable in my head. You have been warned.

Thank you, again, to everyone who has reviewed and added, etc! It really does push me to keep going! So, enjoy and let me know what you think!

/

The phone call had been highly amusing, especially when Clint had actually relented and spoke a few lines to send her friend over the edge. Oh, yes. It had definitely been worth what little risk there was. Vicki wouldn't ever truly believe she had some celebrity in their house. But it was deviously pleasurable to make her wonder.

And then Tony had demanded that he and Bruce accompany her on her errand run, because she obviously couldn't have read a list had he given her one. He was oddly persuasive even without flirting. That, or Sutton was just a big fat pushover. It was really, really hard to say no to superheroes. Especially when he did make the point that she could hardly tell the difference between an Ethernet and HDMI cable.

Sutton shot Tony an irritated look as he directed her where to go using her phone that quite suddenly had GPS that was actually accurate. Suspicious, but she wasn't going to complain. She realized now how people could possibly find him irksome.

Did he always have to win everything?

"Turn left here," he directed as they pulled into a shopping center.
Following his directions, she hit her blinker and pulled into the turn lane. Apparently, her town actually had an electronics hobby shop.

Huh, you learn something new every day.

It looked locally owned. Sutton let out a little whimper for her poor debit card. After she parked, Sutton hesitated before exiting the vehicle.
"Ok, here we go," she said. "You guys do not take off those hats or shades, ok? Tony, no quips or sass. Channel your inner Bruce. And if anyone mentions the goatee, tell them you're saving it for May third."

"That's oddly specific. Something me-centric is happening, I'm guessing."

"Third movie," Bruce guessed.

"Bingo. All right. Let's be quick about this."

They all jumped out of her car at the same time and entered the store, setting off a jingle as a bell tied to the door bounced back and forth. And though it pained her to think it, Tony was right again. Because she did not know what half of the stuff in here was called. Or what it did.

Oh, wait, no! Look, a screwdriver!
Nailed it.

Tony and Bruce immediately immersed themselves in the job of gathering anything that could possibly be of use.

"I never thought I'd be so happy to see a soldering gun," Tony mumbled. "Do you know how hard it was to use your-"

Sutton snapped her gaze to him, eyes alight.

"You know what, never mind."

Yes. Today she was definitely doing a household inventory. But right now her attention was focused on the other people in the shop; which wasn't many to be honest. The man behind the counter was eyeing them a bit suspiciously. Sutton was going to ask him what his problem was, but then remembered Bruce and Tony were wearing shades and ball caps inside. With hoodies. So she remained quiet.

The longer they stayed, the more anxious she grew. She watched as one guy did a double take, stare, shake his head, and then walk off.

Too close, too close!

Not to mention that it looked like Tony and Bruce were buying out half the store. Tony Stark was going to owe her so much money. Was it possible to do inter-universe money wires?

Eventually, both men dropped their purchases on the counter and Tony sighed.

"Well, that'll have to do for now, I guess."

And Sutton was glad that it would, because as they left to fill up her car with their stuff, she was left to foot the bill. She almost passed out. Seriously, she almost didn't let the guy take her card. She hadn't spent that much money at once since, since the last time she'd bought college textbooks! And she wasn't even able to go back to college right now, so what did that tell you?

Bruce and Tony re-entered the shop as if they were all gentlemanly and wanted to escort her out just as the guy had finished handing her the receipt. The man eyeballed Tony as Sutton made her way over to them.

"Hey," he called out.

Sutton's heart froze as they all turned around. The cashier seemed to be studying them closer. She could feel the sweat start to trickle down.

They were going to have to make a break for it in 3...2...

"Nice goatee."

Tony grinned widely and spared a glance at Sutton.

"Waiting for May third," he responded obediently.

The cashier considered his words, as if trying to remember the significance and then smiled.

"Oh yeah! Ironman is going to have the crap beat out of him!"

Tony's reply skipped a beat.

"Wait, excuse me?"

"We should get home!"

Sutton had to literally shove both men out the door and to her car. Tony seemed a bit robotic. Drat it! She really didn't want to have to deal with a moody Ironman. As she drove away and back towards home, she tried to make conversation despite the tension in the car.

"So, did you get everything you needed?"

"Well-"

"What the heck was he talking about," Tony cut in sharply. "You hadn't even mentioned another movie coming out."

His voice was so accusatory that it made Sutton tense up and prickle.

"You have internet access eight hours a day without me being able to do anything about it. And it's not like I've been able to stop any of you when you wanted to do anything as it is. It's not my fault you haven't done any research."

"Yeah, well, been kinda busy if you haven't noticed. Were you never going to say anything? You were just going to let us all go back to whatever is waiting for us?"

"I don't know anything else," Sutton snapped. She sighed and gazed out over the road, as if what she was going to admit next would only worsen the situation.

"All I know is what the trailer has shown."

"Apparently that's enough to know I'm going to get the, what was it, crap beat out of me?"

"What did you think another movie would entail," she shot back. "You and Pepper on vacation, walking the boardwalk for two hours? You won't die or anything," she consoled, fairly confident in her claim. "You're Ironman."

Tony threw up his hands as if he was one thousand percent done with her.

"Oh, well isn't that just a big relief. That's what you were talking about with my house, wasn't it? My house gets blown up next!"

The continued argument was put to an abrupt halt by Natasha the second they all stepped through the front door.

"Are you an idiot?"

Sutton paused at the politely toned insult.

"Excuse me?"

Natasha's gaze was ice as she eyed Sutton and the accompanying bags of supplies the trio had carted in.

"You purchased all of this with your bank card."

Sutton's gaze remained perplexed.

"Yeah. There was no way I had the amount in cash that this came to."

The only sign that Sutton could see that indicated Natasha might be fed up with her was a quick quirk of the eyebrow.

"And it didn't occur to you that maybe now your accounts and purchases might be being monitored by the very people you lied to?"

Sutton's face grew cold.

"So 's your house," Clint added. "And you just walked through the front door with a butt load of electronics and two hooded men."

Sutton tried to remind herself to breathe.

Holy crap. She, she was being watched? She'd always kind of known that the government had their fingers in everything and eyes everywhere. She joked about it with people. But it never occurred to her that she might be the focus of that attention. It never occurred to her that it was something to actually worry about.
The bags dropped from her grip as she swayed slightly where she stood.

"I, I, I-"

Thor had been standing guard near the front door when they entered, and he reached out to support her with his forearm. Sutton clutched at it like it were a steel beam and everything else was made of cotton candy.

"I need to sit down," she finally managed.

Thor, always a gentleman, helped her over to the sofa upon which she collapsed.
Holy cow. How many times had she watched spy movies or thrillers? How often did she scoff at the stupid negligence of one scrambling character? It was always so obvious.

The news was quietly playing and Sutton stared slightly past the TV and tried to process what her life might be like now.

"Don't worry," said Steve. "We won't let anything happen to you. Not on our account."

"No." Sutton tensed at the honeyed voice drifting from the corner. "Never."

"Loki," Thor warned. "Now is not the time for your games."

There was ice in Loki's eyes for a moment as he shot a menacing glare at his adopted brother, but then he turned back to Sutton and grinned slyly.

"You're right. It's not the time."

Her day was just not getting any better.

The TV continued to murmur and Natasha took back over the reins of the conversation. Tony and Bruce were both a bit hunched, looking like they should have thought of the debit card issue beforehand.

"You have to be careful now," Natasha explained a touch more gently. "There are things you aren't going to be able to do."

"I can hack into their database again," offered Tony. "We can delete the evidence."

Clint looked up from his spot on the couch in front of the computer.

"And let them know she does have help. People with connections? No, that won't condemn her at all."

Sutton was still wearily staring at the television. They were droning on and on about someone just being released from the hospital.

How ordinary.

The Avengers were murmuring around her. Loki was staring at her. The government was at her back. No one even knew about it. All these people were going about there days as if their world hadn't been visited by imaginary characters bent on destroying her carefully constructed life.

The anchorwoman was still yammering about the poor guy from the hospital. A picture flashed on the screen and Sutton was suddenly alert. Leaping from her cushion, she scrambled for the remote and rewound the segment a few minutes back.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!"

The room instantly quieted at her explosion and she cranked up the volume just to be sure what she was seeing and hearing was right.

"In other news, Stan Lee was just released late this afternoon from the hospital after being admitted earlier this morning..."

"Who is Stan Lee?"

"Shut up!"

"A doctor on the inside speculated that it was merely a case of dehydration, but a few staff and family members seem to have concerns."

The screen flashed to a previously recorded interview. It was some woman, a secretary or something. It didn't matter. All that mattered was what she was saying next.

"He's just been off this week," the woman explained. "He seems a bit distracted, unable to focus, and can't seem to work on anything and make progress. He told me once yesterday that he was just out of ideas! Characters won't cooperate or something weird like that. I don't know. I hope it was just dehydration. He seems to be in slightly better spirits now, and I'm just glad he's ok."

The anchorwoman was back and as professionally concerned as ever.

"Stan Lee is, of course, the man behind most of Marvel's most iconic superheroes and has made several cameos in movie adaptaions over the past few years. Most notably, in all the movies leading up to and including last summer's blockbuster hit, The Avengers. The doctor contacted has expressed that Mr. Lee is expected to make a full recovery and be back to work without any concerns. Next, fires in Californ-"

Sutton turned off the TV and sat in silence as her mind buzzed over the information from the news woman. It was just a coincidence. A total coincidence. The man was old! Things happened. Just because it had happened this week, of all weeks, didn't mean a thing.

Sutton rubbed wearily at her face. She could see Steve clenching his jaw and then looking at her through the cracks in her fingers.

"You think this is because we're here," he said.

Sutton sighed, squeezed her temples one more time, and then pulled her head from her hands.

"I'm trying not to," she admitted. "But it seems odd that it just so happened to be this last week. The week when you all show up from nonexistence." She paused a moment as the words sank in. " Maybe not," she corrected. "Maybe he's just getting older. I don't see why he'd have any physical connection to any of this."

Her eyes drifted over the group. They didn't look convinced. Well, at least she wasn't alone in this crazy conspiracy theory. Her lungs froze and then silently heaved at the look Loki was giving this issue. One corner of his lip was twitched up and his eyes, they were too...too relaxed. He was slouched back in the corner chair carelessly like it was his throne, and it made Sutton's nerves spike.

Was he responsible?

No, no. He hadn't left the house. Had he? But even if he did. Why go after Stan Lee? It didn't make sense. Sutton shook her head to try to dispel the headache forming. There was too much speculation and not enough facts. It wouldn't do any good to worry herself to death about it. After all, she had her own wellbeing to worry about.

"Still," commented Bruce, "it is strange that he's having a medical issue when we're here. It said he was the...creator...of, um, Marvel?"

Sutton nodded.

"Yeah. Most of it, I think. You guys have been around for a while. I'm not sure of the specifics on all of you, but you'd all be kind of considered his brain children. Stan created Ironman, for example, during the Cold War. Back when everyone was against military and all that? He wanted to challenge himself to create a character that everyone would hate: arrogant, rich, military funded; and then force everyone to like him. It worked."

Tony's lip quirked up slightly.

"Not completely," Steve commented under his breath and Sutton laughed for a moment.

"Good one, Cap," she complimented. "Though I don't think you were the intended audience."

"Well," sighed Tony, "we don't want to give Papa-venger an aneurism or anything. Doctor?"

And he and Bruce lugged their loot back into her kitchen. Sutton guessed it was now considered the lab. It wasn't much of a kitchen without the toaster anyway.

How was she going to make lazy grilled cheese now?

Still feeling wobbly from the realization that she just might be enemy number one, Sutton excused herself and locked herself away in her bathroom for some alone time. Someone had taken the mattress out of the tub for a shower, and she shoved it back in before settling on top of it and shutting the shower curtain. There. She was alone. Isolated. She could think without pressure.

Breathe in through her nose, out through her mouth. Everything would be ok.

Everything was not ok!

Sutton choked back a sob, wary of the noise she'd alert everyone with. She didn't want this! It had been ok before. It was too much responsibility now. Now her life was at stake too! And Stan Lee? If something happened to him, was it partly her fault? Sutton pulled in a shuddering breath and wiped at her eyes. Her legs were tucked underneath her and she pressed herself in the corner of the tub facing the door. There wasn't any place that was safe now.
Her fist clutched at her shirt as another thought struck her. What about her mother? Would they use her mother to get to her? If anything happened to her mother, or her mother's husband and her half-brother, she'd never forgive herself. She couldn't even warn them! Every time her heart beat, it felt like a stab in her chest.

Sutton blinked and there was suddenly a lean shadow angled against the sink. She let out a quiet yelp and knocked her head on the tile of the tub. Not even her mass of unruly hair cushioned the blow the tile gave her skull. A low chuckle filtered through the shower curtain.

"So easily startled."

Sutton did not want to pull back the curtain. It was some form of a barrier, however false it was, and it gave her some comfort. But she also didn't like the idea of not being able to see the Mischief Maker's movements. And she didn't want him to think she was some weakling to be taken advantage of. With one steadying breath, she ripped back the curtain and moved to stand up in front of him.

No more being intimidated. No more cowing down.

His gaze drifted lazily to her and ran up and down her body. Sutton kept her distance. The bathroom was much smaller than her room, and that was really saying something. It left her little room to back into, and even less to weasel around him. The only way she was going to be able to leave was if he allowed her to.

"Get out, please," she said as calm as she could. She was very conscious of the fact that her eyes probably were a bit bloodshot.

"I don't believe I will," he said dryly.

True terror shot down her spine and she felt her heart skip two beats.

"Have, have you come to, to-"

"Collect? No." Loki shook his head, but he looked positively giddy. "But it is wonderful to know that you will be so compliant when I do."

A promise. There was too much water above her head now. Loki was like a cement anchor pulling her down when she already couldn't swim.

"I will not," she argued. "You won't win. Not when you're the bad guy."

His head snapped to look at her, and Sutton realized that he looked tired. There was some form of renewed confidence behind his eyes, it seemed like, and it made her nervous. But right beneath that was an exhaustion, and she gripped that knowledge.

His face morphed into a false pout, but man, did that lie look believable.

"Not bad," he insisted. "Misunderstood. Isn't that what you thought? That all I need is love and then all my animosity will be washed away?"

His body turned and it was dwarfing hers. He was in her space on purpose. She had no room to breathe or think.

"Stay back," she commanded. "Why are you here? What do you want now?"

Loki waved his arms out, palms upward, in a welcoming gesture that had Sutton leaning back so he wouldn't accidentally come into contact with her.

"Only to reassure you, I'm sure," he purred.

Sutton highly doubted that was so. She told him as much.

"Forgive me," she said, "if I'm a bit reluctant to believe anything you tell me. And unless you've come to tell me you'll knock it off with the dreams, I don't care to hear any lies at the moment"

He hummed in satisfaction at her mention of the dreams, and Sutton regretted bringing it up.

"Ah, yes. Just a bit of an experiment," he confirmed.

"More like petty payback," Sutton retaliated. "And I'm still not feeling reassured."

Loki cocked his head and looked down his nose at her. As if she didn't already feel small enough. He was so close that she had to crane her head back to look him in the face, and she knew it was another one of his tactics. But, dang it, if it wasn't still working.

"I have come to assure you," he continued undeterred, "that I was not involved in the ailment of your beloved, Stan Lee."

Sutton froze a bit under the weight of the statement.

"I never said you were."

Loki smirked.

"You would do well to learn to control the expression of your emotions. You are quite the, what is the phrase, an open book?"

Sutton's face flashed red. Loki tsked.

"My point proven," he remarked.

"And why am I supposed to believe you," Sutton questioned aggressively. "Why even care if I think you're up to something?"

"I am telling you the truth now so that you will believe me when I promise you this. If you attempt to warn any of the others about your fate, then I will personally see to the destruction of everyone you hold most dear. I will make you watch as the life slowly drains from their eyes, as they plead for mercy, pitifully call your name to help them. And then, then I will force you to face your fate as intended in the first place. Am I clear?"

Sutton felt her throat seize up even as she swallowed thickly; her eyes darted from Loki to the bathroom door.

"You don't know who or where they are," she tried.

Loki's sharp gaze spoke that he wouldn't tolerate her rebellion.

"Shall I start with Victoria Sung first then? Perhaps work my way up to your co-worker, Jennifer Oswald, and move on to your family. Harold Stringer, his son, Tyrese? Your mother."

Her hands instantly turned to fists and she took a bold half of a step forward.

"How-how do you know about them? I have never spoken about them to any of you!"

Loki's smile was victorious and particularly vicious as he clasped his hands behind his back.

"It is not important," he said. "But I suggest that you behave, and do as I command."

Sutton wanted to argue. The word 'command' irked her more than anything else. She was no one's puppet! But she fought it down for the sake of her family.

"Why now," she asked instead. And it stung her to ask it, because it was her relenting to him. It was obedience without the 'yes, sir'. "Why wait till now to threaten me into silence?"

For a moment, she was sure that he wasn't going to answer her. But then he tilted his head back, his eyes sparkling, and he did.

"I did not want the news you received from that prattling box to give you any false hope of rescue."

"With Stan," she asked incredulously. "What does Stan Lee have to do with what you want me for?"

Loki just grinned and began to fade.

"Remember my promise," was all he said. And then he was gone.

The bathroom was again cold and empty. Sutton looked down and realized that she was shaking. Her hands vibrated like an addict going through withdrawals and the tips of her fingers were enflamed in icy tingles. Slowly, she sank down on the bathroom floor and dropped her head in between her knees. And then, she let herself cry.

/

And there we go! Another, long, chapter down! And, if anyone is interested, I posted a couple doodles of Sutton on my tumblr. Because I get bored super easily. And they ARE doodles. I'm no amazing computer art-graphic-designer person. I just wish I was.

the-average-procrastinator . tumblr . c o m

(Just take out the spaces).

I digress! R&R! You all are beautiful!