FORGIVE ME! I've been working on two other stories and this one fell off to the back burner. FORGIVE ME! LOVE YOU ALL!

Chapter Twenty Four~

It's near midnight before the Avengers return to the Tower having come up with a tentative plan to draw out Taneleer. As they enter their floor, they are greeted by Pepper in her pajamas and arms crossed over her chest.

"What did you do?" she snaps leaving them to blink in surprise before it's Bruce who figures out she's talking to him saying,

"I watched Mya come in here, sobbing her eyes out and lock herself in her bedroom. She hasn't come out since and I don't know what happened but I don't like it." everyone turns to glance at Bruce who only says,

"Ask her what happened." then he heads for his own bedroom so that the others stare after his retreating figure.

"She hasn't come out at all?" asks a worried Steve so that Pepper explains that she came back around noon, locked her door and she could hear her sobbing from the other side of the door.

"She might be asleep for all I know, but JARVIS told me that she asked him not to let anyone inside her bedroom. And for some reason he's keeping to his word." Pepper tells them before noticing how exhausted they all are so she exhales deeply before saying,

"I'm going back upstairs. Will someone let me know if she comes out?" it's Natasha who agrees to so that Pepper heads for the elevator and the others to their bedrooms. As she passed Mya's bedroom, Natasha knocks on the door calling,

"Goodnight Mya." only to hear silence on the other end. Meanwhile in her bedroom Mya is lying propped up against a mound of pillows playing with the chain of her necklace. She had passed out from exhaustion as soon as she hit the bed but once she woke up couldn't bring herself to leave in case she ran into Bruce.

"JARVIS? Is Bruce here?" she calls so that the AI replies calmly,

"He has just returned Ms. Wallace along with the others. Currently he is in his own bedroom. Shall I tell him you wish to see him?"

"NO! No, I just wanted to know where he was." Mya replies before flopping deeper into the pillows and closes her eyes. It's only when she hears footsteps does she open her eyes to find Loki standing there looking concerned. Sitting up using her elbows, she tries to say something but can't as her throat has closed up. Feeling tears in her eyes, she watches him come over to sit on the very edge of her bed.

"I came to train you, but it seems you are in no condition to do so." he says softly only Mya shakes her head starting to stand as she says,

"No, no I need to be able to help." he gives her a grin that doesn't quiet reaches his eyes before nodding and standing before her. Gently he wraps an arm around her waist and teleports them to the gym where he was able to disable the cameras.

"Now, where did we leave off?" he says before they begin again; creating orbs of light and firing them at targets which Loki creates. Finally as the sun begins to rise Loki ups the ante saying,

"Find the real me, aim and fire." then he creates dozens of clones leaving Mya with only one chance to find the real one. Closing her eyes, she focuses on what she can only call energy coming from one of the dozens before snapping her eyes open. With one shot she fires at a clone in the corner and he goes flying across the floor so that the other clones vaporize. She doesn't enjoy the moment however as she goes rushing over to help him up. Only he starts to laugh as he stands saying with a winning grin,

"Well done Aina, I did not expect you to hit me on the first try."

"I didn't either but I felt—energy—coming from you." Loki raises an eyebrow before they turn to the windows to see the sun is already rising. Wrapping an arm around her waist, Loki teleports them back to her room as she wonders,

"How did you find here and get out?" he only winks at her saying,

"Do you really think they can contain me without some form of magic that would counteract my own?" though Mya doesn't understand fully she can get the gist of it as he steps back to leave.

"Thank you Loki." she says so that he bows before vanishing into nothing leaving her alone in the room. Sighing deeply, Mya goes to take a shower and change into an outfit she'd bought with Pepper and Natasha. Once out of her shower and dry, she changes into a pair of dark jeans and Metallica t-shirt. She leaves her hair to air dry as she unlocks her door to get breakfast—and say nothing to anyone. As she enters the kitchen she finds everyone sitting around the breakfast table all of them talking; Clint and Natasha over some papers with Steve and Bruce over the newspaper and Thor scoffing down his fourth plate of eggs. Ignoring them completely, she heads for the frige to make something to eat listening as the others try and hold their conversations. Only they can't because the tension is growing too strong. She hears someone exhale as she starts to make an omelet before a chair moves and someone stands. To her surprise it's Thor who comes over and leans in towards her saying under his breath,

"We shall start training after you eat." she nods and as she finishes up her omelet goes to eat in the family room with Thor following her. The others stare in confusion at the exchange before turning to Bruce hoping he'd have at least a clue. Only he says nothing as he's face is tight and a hard frown on his face. For the best of everyone; they leave him alone. As Mya eats Thor sits across from her saying,

"I understand my Brother came to you last night to train you." Mya feels her eyes widen to the size of plates as he raises a hand to say,

"I shall say nothing to the others, yet I believe you shall eventually have to tell them."

"I know Thor, but how can I explain that I'm—" at the sound of the elevator doors opening everyone turns to see Tony stepping in calling,

"Dears I'm home!" Mya rolls her eyes before watching him go into the kitchen and lean on the table saying something she can't hear. Turning to Thor he only shrugs his shoulders before they both turn to watch everyone stand to leave.

"Where are you all going?" Thor wonders but Tony only says,

"A bit of a meeting and sorry kiddies but you weren't invited." Mya glares at him with a snarl but he ignores her, though he hates to say it but he's upset for her. The two watch them all get into the elevator and as the doors close Thor stands saying,

"Now we have reason for your training. They are keeping secrets from you and apparently myself, and I for one do not like that." Mya nods in agreement and when she's done putting her plate in the sink of the kitchen goes over saying,

"Let's do this." he gives her a grin before they go to the elevator to head down to the gym. Upon entering Thor grabs a staff and tosses Mya one saying,

"Shall we begin?" nodding, Mya follows his lead to the T with him correcting her at every turn. By lunch time they're sparring with Mya able to hold her own. At one point she twirls the staff around her back, spins it twice over her head and manages to smack Thor in the shoulder so that he goes down. He actually laughs merrily at this saying in congratulations,

"Well done Aina! I knew you would catch on quickly!" she smiles though it doesn't reach her eyes as they continue skipping lunch. Meanwhile downstairs in the control room Tony had set up the others are going over the research Tony had been able to dig through about 'Project Nine'. Apparently the event in Oakdale Park was labeled publicly as a meteor that fell which had gotten the attention of a private group of scientist. In reality it was SHIELD who had taken whatever they'd found into their greedy hands. Almost all of the pictures had been deleted and Tony was working with JARVIS to restore the fragmented information. For those pictures they had they were trying to figure out what had gone on.

"I still don't get it," Steve begins leaning against a wall with arms crossed trying to think as he continues,

"What was so important to SHIELD that they would keep a project years old still open?"

"Whatever it was it must have been damned important." Tony adds before calling JARVIS to ask,

"Hey, where's Little Red?"

"Currently training with Thor in the gym." the AI replies so that everyone exchanges glances sharing the same thought; what?!