An: Ok. After much deliberation between an AP English essay and this, I decided to write another chapter. Meh. This is more fun! Plus I'm about to get into the final battle for this story and I absolutely can't wait to work on that.

Another thing. Heliviti, according to Norse mythology is the daughter of Loki. I twerped her character only slightly to accommodate the little argument between Loki and Veronica. Hope that's cool with yall!

I looked in my rearview mirror repeatedly as I drove down the road. No one was following me, but I still let out a sigh of relief as the city came into view. The speedometer inched closer to one hundred miles per hour. I was really pushing the whole speed thing with this vehicle. Not because of any cops or anything (if I got pulled over all it would take would be a flash of my badge and I'd be excused), but because the frame of the car was literally starting to shake.

I slowed down as the trees turned to skyscrapers.

My thoughts dwelled on last night. On Loki and the way he had kissed me. I banged the back of my head against the back of the seat gently, trying to clear him from my thoughts. Why couldn't he have just stayed with Hel. It would have made things so much simpler. Yeah. It woulda hurt like hell, but at least then I would have a reason to hate him. Now he had all but branded me as his own. Well, he had done that too, I thought, thinking of the burn on my wrist.

I really hoped Stark had made it out alive. I pulled up in front of headquarters and jumped out of the car. I all but ran into the building, flashing my badge at the front desk and making my way to the elevator. I needed to find Fury.

Or anyone for that matter. I realized that my sudden arrival would probably look really suspicious, but the Avengers would just have to trust me. I was no spy.

I made it to the common room and found Rogers sitting at the table. He looked up when he heard me come in. his expression turned from surprised to sour in a matter of seconds. I stopped in the doorway, breathing hard from the sprint.

"Where's Fury?" I gasped out. "And Stark?" I added.

Rogers looked at me, raising an eyebrow. "Stark's not with you?"

My stomach dropped. "No. I saw him. I saw him get out. I… told him to get back here…" I trailed off, wondering if I had imagined Iron Man smashing through the wall of Loki's bunker. "Oh God," I exclaimed.

A chuckle from behind me made me turn around. Stark was right there, safe and sound. I turned back to Rogers. "What the hell, Steve?" I nearly yelled.

Steve was laughing too. "It was Tony's idea," he said. "We decided to give you a little scare."

"Not. Funny." I said, but I was fighting back laughter as well. The events of the past twenty four hours were catching up with me and I had to let the tension out somehow. I laughed through my tears, smacking Tony playfully in the arm.

"Hey, now," he said, laughing as he blocked my blow.

After the laughter subsided, I got serious again. "Stark did you get the information back here?"

He nodded. "Yup, sweetheart. Fury and Thor are working on it as we speak. We're getting a team together to invade the bunker and hopefully stop this mess before it ever happens."

I turned to Steve. "So you trust me now?"

He eyed me. " Stark said you put up a pretty good fight back there. I think we can afford to cut you a little slack."

I smiled. "Awww. Really, Tony? You gave me a compliment?"

He pursed his lips and squinted his eyes at me, making an extremely comical expression. "Maybe," was all he said. I smiled at him. Who knew the guy I had singled out as not liking the moment I walked in the door would end up being my favorite?

I walked over to the refrigerator, pulling out a slice of cold pizza. I was famished.

"So what's the plan?" I asked quietly.

"Basically what Stark said. We have a meeting tonight."

I was worried that we might not have that long. "It can't be sooner?" I asked. "Loki was pretty clear that the attack would be soon. Don't you think we should get it ready?"

Steve shook his head. "Thor seems to think Loki will wait a little while longer."

"Thor didn't see what I saw, Steve. Loki has nuclear missiles ready to be launched at the push of a button. When he pushes said button, we are all screwed."

Stark nodded. I could tell he was itching to get this over with as well, though not for the same reasons as me.

"Where are the others?" I wondered out loud.

"Banner's in his room and Hawkeye's in the training area," Steve said. "You might wanna try to make nice with Hawkeye first, though. Banner took your affair with Loki pretty hard."

" He nearly hulked up once in the middle of breakfast when he saw me come back but not you, but we were able to get a sedative in him before that happened." Stark chimed in.

"Yeeah. Hawkeye's definitely going to be first then." i said.

I finished my pizza and turned to head towards the training area.

Hawkeye was shooting arrows into a target with a photograph taped to it. It took me a minute to realize it was the same picture that was on my badge.

Brilliant. We were off to a great start and I hadn't even opened my mouth.

"Hawkeye?" I said.

He turned at the sound of my voice, then glanced back at the target he had constructed. He grinned at me sheepishly. "Like the target?"

"Charming," I said bluntly. I walked over to him. "Look. I know what I did was wrong. I am truly sorry. But I know what we have to do. Stark believes me, Rogers believes me. Can we just forgive and forget?"

He placed his bow on the ground, studying me for a minute. "You know, I can't lie. I had a pretty good feeling about you and Loki," he said after a while.

My mind flashed back to the uncomfortable feelings I had gotten from Hawkeye in the beginning. How he seemed to know a little too much for my liking. "How?"

"I'm pretty good friends with Clark from your old job. He used to complain about a Mr. Johnson and how there was no way he had a chance with you as long as Johnson was around. It didn't take much to figure out who Loki's alias. I mean how unoriginal is Johnson for a god?"

I grimaced. So Clark had liked me. Why couldn't I have picked him? Safe, stable Clark. No. I had to go with Mr. I'm- going-to-take-over-the-world.

Hawkeye laughed at my facial expression. "I forgive you." He patted me on the shoulder. "Care to practice?"

I laughed. "One round," I said as I picked up a pistol from the weapons table.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I was still thinking about Loki.

Thor still wasn't talking to me but, after much groveling, Banner had caved. Well, at least most of the team liked me again.

I sat in the meeting room, listening to Fury drone on about strategy and other plans.

This wasn't going to beat Loki. In fact, I wasn't sure what was going to beat Loki. As for myself, I planned on occupying myself with Hel. I didn't care what it took, but she was going down.

The phrase "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" popped into my mind and I suppressed a laugh. It was so true. Hel was as good as dead after what she had done to me.

The plan was simple. Take out the bombs before they could take us out. Of course, Fury had to have a diagram and notes and a bunch of other stuff, but that was pretty much it.

"Avengers," he said. "Good Lu-"

He was cut off by a blast that shook the entire room.

"What the hell was that?" Stark exclaimed.

I pointed out the window, coughing up asbestos that had rained down from the ceiling. But mesothelioma was the least of my worries.

Outside the window, standing atop a hovercraft, was Loki.

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