A/N: Hiya! There's a bit of a time jump for this next portion of Maggie's story- it takes place after the events of Infinity War and Endgame. For the purposes of this fic, I'm going to keep it canon. So MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!
What Felt like Three years Later, but was Actually Eight
I was two years into my job at SHIELD when Thanos snapped.
Things had been going about as well as they could've been. Even years after SHEILD's downfall following the HYDRA infiltration (I'd learned all the acronyms in my training), there was still a lot of cleaning up to do. They were being built from the ground up, and Dr. Henry McCoy saw it as the perfect opportunity to sneak a new department into the mix. There were ten of us when we started, all fresh faced mutants with bare minimum Bachelor's degrees who crammed into a cluster of cubicles on the second floor, out of everyone's way. After a year, I'd been given the title of "Program Director", though it was purely a formal attempt to get the others to focus better. There wasn't a whole lot of butt-kicking, and far more pencil pushing than I'd been prepared for.
I realized about a week in that the diversity initiative SHIELD was taking by opening our wee department was more about saving face and less about necessity. We really didn't have that much to do, aside from standing with Hank at mutant rights negotiations, writing proposals for projects that would never be green-lit, and helping out with little things around headquarters and, (if we were lucky) Avenger's Mansion. We were celebrated for the first few months, then fell into a rhythm of keeping our heads down and our work unflashy. I was okay with that, though. I'd had enough passion and bruising for a lifetime.
My last few days at the X-Mansion had been brief and uneventful. Once I could stand without stumbling, I wanted out. The fact remained that I could never feel comfortable in a place where I had done so much wrong. Every time I saw Xavier, I felt sick to my stomach with guilt. When Hank said that my new job came with the perk of a crappy New York loft near HQ, I felt like the world had opened up for me.
I had a roommate, Sonia, who was also a co-worker. We got along, but we weren't best friends. She hated doing dishes, and I hated vacuuming. It was a simple, sometimes frustrating life, but it was mine.
Somehow, I'd survived the tumultuous transition from convict, to teacher, to villain, landing at last in the position of office jockey at the world's leading special law-enforcement agency.
But I couldn't survive Thanos.
Turned out, I didn't have to.
In what felt like the blink of an eye, I had been dead for years. Me, and half the human population, apparently. I only remember shutting my eyes on the subway, then waking up to a completely changed planet.
Tony Stark was dead. The old Captain America was out, and the new Sam Wilson Cap was in. SHIELD was picking up the pieces, and trying to go back to their old policies and regimes. It was harder after we'd all been saved by the very superhumans they'd been trying to imprison, but bad press didn't stop them.
On the news, people compensated for the trauma of what had happened by sharing stories of families reunited and celebrations for the war heroes. That didn't last long, though. In the year that flew by after we'd all come back to life, optimism turned stale.
When we came back, all of the problems that were there before did too. And then some.
Spouses who had just begun to move on were faced with a choice between their old love or their new flame. Families who adopted abandoned children had to say goodbye to the babies they'd raised for five years when their real parents returned. People came home to dead dogs who hadn't been fed, and people came home to heartache that would never heal.
I was one of the lucky ones. I hadn't left anyone behind.
Normal would never be a thing we returned to. But the world could pretend. We all were getting really good at that. It had been a year since I'd returned to the mortal realm, and I was just glad to be alive.
At 8:30am that day, my alarm went off. Same as always. I schlepped myself out of bed, into a decent outfit, then into the kitchen. Sonia was lying on the couch, still in her T-shirt and underwear.
"Hey. You're not going in today?" I asked, pouring a bowl of cereal.
"I'm calling in sick," Sonia yawned. "That meeting last night went for-ever. The X-Corp execs are probably the most boring people I've ever interacted with."
"That's just the LA branch. They get all hepped up on rules," I smiled. "If we get the okay to open the Jersey office, I bet they'll be a lot more fun."
The X-Corporation was a world-wide social institution, founded by Xavier himself, intended to protect the welfare of mutant populations in various communities. When I was little, I used to worry my parents would drop me off at one of them and leave me to the unforgiving hand of foster care. But, the organization actually did a lot of good. We worked with the directors of all establishments on outreach, funding, and brainstorming ideas for expansion.
"Jersey Shore: Mutant Edition. I'd watch that show," Sonia said.
"I feel like they can't say no. If we have the space—"
"Can we please not talk about work on my day off?" She covered her face with her hands.
"Sorry. I've just been working on this proposal for like a month," I sighed. Sonia gave me an empathetic look.
"It's gonna happen," she said. "Besides, you're Hank's favorite. He can't say no to his precious number two."
"He has said no to me, and he'd do it again. And stop being jealous, it makes me feel icky…"
"I'm not jealous! Girl, while you had to sit on that panel with Dr. McCoy at the Javits Center last week, we got to meet the new Captain America!"
"I heard he only came by the office for two seconds," I wrinkled my nose.
"He asked my name and thanked me for my service."
"Pff," I snorted, pretending to be unimpressed. "Doesn't count unless you got his number."
"Maybe I did," Sonia pouted.
Our jobs did entail crossing paths with the Avengers, but it was always a surprise when one of them remembered we existed. We weren't trained as SHIELD agents or official protectors, but once in a while we were given the chance to show off our abilities. Corralling prisoners, investigating a super-powered creep downtown…The stuff no one really makes movies about.
"Ah, shit, I'm running late," I said, rubbing my watch as if that would turn back time. "See you tonight."
"Pick up some eggs, pleeeeaase!" I gave Sonia a thumbs up before swinging the door shut.
The commute was insanely easy. Two train rides away and a five block walk to where the new headquarters were surreptitiously located. I always felt really cool strutting into the building, ID card swinging from my belt loop. The facility wasn't dramatic from the outside, for obvious reasons, but stepping into the lobby was like being transported to the future. In addition to my ID card, I also had to provide a retina scan and a thumb print at security every morning. It was pretty much my favorite part of the day.
I took the elevator, which had the floor numbers outside instead of in, a design I refused to get used to. It wasn't a far climb to the second floor, but I rarely felt up to it. Our office was at the end of a long hallway that felt like a passageway on the Death Star. It was so small that it felt overcrowded on days when all ten of us were at our desks. I shared a cubicle wall with this guy Nick, an accountant with the power of aquatic adaptability. This morning I found him on my side of the fake wall, using my stapler on a fat pile of documents.
"Yes, Nick, you can use my stapler," I said snottily. He rolled his eyes.
"Don't be a dick," He said, but he put it down. "What are you doing here anyway?"
"What do you mean?"
"You didn't get Hill's email? The schedule's been updated. You're on alien-prisoner duty today."
"Wha-? No," I whined. "C'mon, I can't. I'm so close to finishing this fucking Jersey proposal! The meeting is tomorrow."
"Not my fault you're the only man for the job. When they beckon, you cometh," Nick smirked. "I'll look over the thing with Karen, don't worry about it."
"You're a saint, sometimes," I grinned and turned on my computer. At the top of my inbox, there was an email labeled URGENT. I skimmed it over and sighed. "Looks like I gotta go pick him up from Bleeker Street. Can you order me a turkey sub for lunch?"
My phone buzzed in my pocket and in a stressful flurry I pressed it to my ear after a quick glance at the caller ID.
"Hank, hey," I said, sliding my purse back on and starting to walk back out of the office. "What's up?"
"Rhodes has requested a meeting with you this afternoon."
I stopped dead in my tracks, almost tripping over my own feet. Since Stark's death, the War Machine had taken on most of his former super-duties. That meant he was the new head honcho, second only to Commander Hill.
"Um, why? What did I do?" I asked.
"Nothing! No, it's not bad," Hank chuckled on the other line. "Actually, my understanding is he has an assignment for you and some members of the team."
"Oh. Okay? That's a little out of the blue."
"He knows you, and what you can do. There's no need to be modest," He said it like being modest was a bad thing.
"It's not modesty," I defended. "It's just…weird."
"I know. Meet me at four on the fifth floor commissary?"
"I'm babysitting today." I could practically hear his gloating smile.
"Ahh, good luck," said Hank. "That rarely lasts past three, though, doesn't it?"
"Yeah," I grumbled.
"You're not getting out of this meeting, Maggie. Just try to embrace it. And have fun with the little prince."
Getting a cab to Greenwich Village was not as fun as the ride into work had been. I could feel the day getting worse and worse with each crawling second.
The doors of the weird townhouse flew open before I had reached the second step. No one was in the foyer, but the mysticism didn't startle me as much anymore. I looked around, blowing puffs of air out of my cheeks. I heard a small scratch at the top of the grand staircase and looked up to see a small black head peering down at me. A Scottish terrier, not unlike Toto.
"Hey there, fella," I said in a cutesy voice. "Wanna go for a walk?"
He growled at me, then ran off.
"What's she doing here?" I heard him hiss to someone in the next room.
Stephen Strange appeared, his magician's cape curling around his shoulders as he descended the stairs. The dog followed him, struggling down every step.
"Thank you for coming," Stephen said briskly. "Ms…?"
"Addams. Maggie Addams. And sure, no problem. It's my job."
"I thought I was helping you, Strange," The dog said haughtily. "You had to go and call in a prison keeper?"
"Hey, we have fun, don't we?" I protested.
"Last week you rendered me unconscious for three hours because I looked at you funny."
I shrugged.
"You can't blame me for being cautious."
Strange was already at the door, clearly itching to get out.
"I appreciate your assistance today, but I must be somewhere else and you can't be left unsupervised," He said to the animal. "You two already know each other, yes? She'll just return you back to the mansion," He looked to me. "I presume you've been briefed on security protocol with him?"
"Oh, yeah," I side-smiled to the dog. "He and I go way back."
"Of all my wardens, you're my least favorite," the pooch sniveled.
"Good," Strange smiled and ducked out without another word. Just like that, I was trusted with one of the strongest forces in the universe, all because I had the measly power of sedation. I kept tabs on his neural energy, which was so much different from the brains from Earth I usually encountered. It had taken some getting used to.
"Alrighty, then," I clapped my hands together. "Leash."
"I am not wearing that stupid harness!"
"Woah, someone's in a bad mood."
The dog barked twice, and before my very eyes he shifted into the form of a man with black, slicked back hair and a snarl.
"Loki," I held my hands up, trying to look like I was backing off when really I was preparing to collapse his energy. I would never let on, but the God of Mischief terrified me. My childhood friends had lost family when he attacked New York. I'd seen the aftermath of his destruction, and had been afraid to leave the house for days after. But, he could never know any of that. If I didn't keep my cool around him, he could easily strike me down. "Can we not do this today?"
"Is my foul disposition inconvenient for you? I apologize. Perhaps I'd feel better if I weren't…Oh, I don't know. Stuck on this godforsaken planet?!"
"Well, it's not like we want you here anymore than you do," I snapped. "Just…get into dog-formation and we'll go back to the mansion."
"Or what?" He always liked to hear me threaten.
"Or I'll knock you out and draw gratuitous pictures on your face with a Sharpie until Doctor Weird comes home."
Loki considered this for a moment, but reluctantly shrank back down into the terrier. I found his leash on the staircase.
"You're wearing this," I insisted. "No dog freely walks around the city."
"I feel for them," He growled, but he let me put it on.
There was a collar around his neck, not unlike the inhibitor collar I had once worn. This one was much more powerful, and alerted Loki's facilitators of his every move. It was an augmented electric shock collar that rendered him powerless when he set a toe out of line. I'd only seen it used once, and he never tried anything to upset the collar since. He may have been stubborn and brooding, but he wasn't masochistic. Technically, I was just an extra precaution. Someone to keep him from running.
I didn't know the whole story because I didn't have to. Basically, Thor was surprised to find his brother had ended up on Earth, after believing him to be dead. With their home planet destroyed, the lost god had nowhere else to go. But, since he still hadn't answered for his crimes of 2012, SHEILD had him locked up tight. The Avengers came to an agreement with him, because apparently he'd helped them out, or showed signs of reforming, or whatever. He could live in the Avengers Mansion under strict rules and regulation. He was a prisoner with special privileges, which couldn't be said for most of the villains locked up in the Negative Zone. If Loki lent his powers to a good cause, he was allowed out of the mansion. Otherwise, he stayed in there like the stir-crazy puppy he was. He didn't know how good he had it. Spoiled prince.
"You look tired," noted Loki as we waited on the street corner for the official shuttle to come pick us up.
"And you have slobber on your chin," I said coolly. The long day just kept getting longer. "What were you doing with Strange?"
"He's working on locating the remaining Asgardian population. I think Thor just wanted to keep me occupied, because the wizard clearly has nothing so far."
"I'm sorry," I said, and I meant it. "They've got to be out there somewhere."
"You don't know that," Loki sighed. "But…thank you."
When we reached the grounds of the mansion, dog-Loki ran as fast as his paws could carry him to the side door. A green light clicked on his collar, and a little dog door imbedded in the metal slid open. I, of course, had to go through the whole ID card, eye scan, and thumb-print ordeal again to get the human-sized door to unlock.
The mansion seemed pretty empty, save for a few roaming agents and housekeepers. I hated the place. All that money spent on an elite colony for heroes who only met there once a month and hardly filled their beds. Loki was already back in his humanoid form and stretching his arms with a sour look.
"The all fours routine is really starting to ache," He complained, slumping in a sleek black arm chair in the entryway.
"But you look darn cute," I said. I pulled out my phone and grimaced when I saw that I only had two hours until the meeting.
"Drink?" Loki strolled to the staircase, where the bar, entertainment center, and bedrooms resided just one floor up.
"I'm on the job."
"I thought your job was keeping me occupied."
"Jeez, only sometimes. I actually have to bounce, I've got a super important meeting. C'mere so I can set your collar to roaming," When the villain was inside the house, he was allowed to wander free. If he transformed, poked his nose out the door, or used any of his powers, he'd be zapped.
"Who could possibly be more worthy of your time than I?" Loki smiled slyly, but stepped forward and leaned down so I could punch in the security code on the back of his neck.
"A real dog," I said. That earned me a laugh that sounded more mocking than gleeful.
"I suspect you're a lot more fun than you let on," He raised an eyebrow. I looked at the cloudy eyed killer and grinned.
"I sure hope so. See you around."
He gave me a stiff, nonchalant wave and stalked up the stairs. I exhaled deeply as I turned to the exit. I felt like I'd been holding my breath the entire time. The more I got to know the alien god, though, the more at ease I was with him. All of his atrocities rang in my head every time he was near, but I was beginning to see a whole person instead of the two-dimensional monster that had been painted for me. That came with a lot of guilt, but guilt I was used to.
I made it back to the SHIELD base with minutes to spare. Hank led me up to a penthouse office, where I immediately felt out of place. I didn't belong two feet outside the head honcho's private quarters, let alone in them. What the hell did they want with me? Hank and I took a seat by the assistant's desk and I hoped she couldn't hear my heart beating against my rib cage.
It hadn't been long enough since the night I'd been stabbed. Since the last night I'd seen Jamie. I was still me. Whatever Rhodes had in mind to ask me, I sure as hell wasn't worthy.
