"What do you mean they escaped? Nova literally tied them up. Right. There."
Rogers spread his hands wide. "We have no idea what happened."
Loki gave him a scathing glare. "I called you 5 minutes after the bounty hunters were subdued, and it took you about as long to lose them."
"We had them contained for hours, Loki. They only just escaped recently, and S.H.I.E.L.D. is monitoring all security cameras around New York City. They can't go anywhere without being seen and recaptured."
All available Avengers were seated in the meeting room. They had been gathered here mere hours before, where Loki and Nova had explained everything they knew about the bounty hunters and given a quick summary of what happened. Now, they were all gathered again, and this time it was Rogers' turn to give the bad news. When he had said 'the bounty hunters have escaped', Loki had been pretty sure he was joking. After all, there was no way that some of the most capable people on this planet had let two people slip away when those two people had been subdued by a 25 year old wearing too-long pants and wielding a practically archaic weapon. But it had been the truth.
"Okay, okay, back up. Can you just run through everything you said again, and this time Loki will you stop making sarcastic comments every other sentence that Steve says?"
Loki frowned, but nodded. He certainly didn't want to get on Romanoff's bad side right now. She looked angry enough as it was.
Rogers took a deep breath. "The two bounty hunters have escaped from their temporary cells in the tower, and we don't know where they are. That's . . . basically everything we need to know. Our job is to track them down again and put them back behind bars, but we can't do that until S.H.I.E.L.D. finds them."
"Why aren't we out there? We can hunt these guys ten times faster than S.H.I.E.L.D. can," Maximoff exclaimed, voicing the general opinion.
Rogers winced. "I agree with you. . . but you know as well as I do that we can't," he said, in a voice that explained that he was very sorry they couldn't be out on the field and that he didn't understand why S.H.I.E.L.D. had to control them or restrict them, but that's how life was sometimes. The kind of voice leaders used when they couldn't do something but still wanted to remain popular with the general public. As much as he hated to admit it, Loki was impressed. Rogers certainly knew how to be a good leader.
Nova had been quiet the whole time, but now she spoke up. "Look, I've had time to think this over. . . hours in fact. . . and I think I need to get off this planet." All heads looked at her in absolute disbelief. "I'm going to ask the Guardians if they can give me a ride to some other planet, preferably one where I can just disappear."
"That's insane. We're not going to let you just leave, not when we know how much danger you could be in. You're one of us now."
"Wanda, that's really nice of you, but I won't be in danger somewhere else. They have no way to track me. All they know is that the original energy wave came from Earth. I'd be safe."
"No, Nova. You're part of our team now."
She sighed frustratedly. "I don't ever remember agreeing to be part of the Avengers."
Barnes spoke up. "You don't have to be an official Avenger to be one of us. We're a team."
She tilted her head upwards, studying in the ceiling, and then dropped her gaze to look at each of them in turn, biting her lip. "I've thought it over, and I'm leaving. Please don't try to convince me otherwise."
Loki, unfortunately, was very good at doing things that other people told him not to do. "Nova, don't leave. You're not putting anyone in danger by being here."
Nova stood up and slammed her hands down on the table. Hard. Everyone jumped back. "You don't understand! My very existence is putting you in danger!" Her voice rose higher and higher. "I'm not going to get anyone else killed because of my stupid, iressponsible actions. Do. You. Understand?"
For a moment, everything was deafeningly silent. No one had ever seen Nova actually angry before. Frustrated? Yes. Jokingly annoyed? Yes. But truly angry? Slam - your - hands down - on - the table - and - lash - out angry? Never.
'I'm not going to get anyone else killed'. Loki suddenly understood what she was talking about. "This isn't about right now, is it," he said softly. Maximoff gave him a warning look, but he ignored her. Nova's anger seemed to waver. "You aren't talking about what's going on right now. You're talking about something else, aren't you?"
"Loki-" Rogers warned, but Loki didn't listen to him.
"What happened?"
Nova seemed to deflate, all the fight leaving her. She sat down again and rubbed her temples, looking like a scared, lost little girl. "I - I got my family killed." She hesitated for a second, and then said it all in a rush.
Loki wanted to reach out, to comfort her somehow, but he didn't know how to. He wasn't . . . exactly the best with emotions.
"I was sixteen and I thought I was invincible. I was so powerful, and I wanted the whole universe to know." She shrugged dejectedly. "I didn't know that people wanted that kind of power. Specifically, someone who was collecting powerful relics to create the most powerful weapons of all."
"The Infinity Stones," Romanoff breathed.
Nova just nodded. "He wanted a sixth stone, but he couldn't find another relic, so he settled for a person." She took an unsteady breath.
"He brought his elite group of fighters to my planet. No one could face him. I was just one person, and I was so scared," she broke off with a sob.
Barnes and Rogers exchanged looks.
"He promised me my family in exchange for my slavery. I agreed. What else was I supposed to do? At least I could save my parents, whose only fault was having me." Nova wiped her eyes.
"I thought I was being smart. I convinced myself that once I was imprisoned, I would find a way out. I still thought I was the most powerful person in the world." She broke off, a stray tear making its way down her cheek. "It took me exactly 5 minutes to realize that he had been lying," she said bitterly.
Maximoff covered her mouth in horror.
"I was watching through the walls of my cage. I watched him kill every single person. I watched him slaughter my family." She took another unsteady breath. "It took me longer to realize that I couldn't escape. After a while, I stopped trying. And then, miraculously, I was free." Something clanged on Nova's face. Her eyes hardened, and she brushed away the tear with her thumb. "And I'm not going to get you killed. I think I've done enough harm as it is."
She stood up, looking very determined. "If anything, that story should tell you that I'm not going to fight. I'm going to run. I've learned my lesson. " She studied her hands carefully. "I may have had a chance of holding him off before, but I'm more pathetic now than I've ever been. I'm worse than useless, I'm just a burden."
Loki stepped forward and grabbed her arm, once again demonstrating his ability to disregard the general atmosphere. "You can't just leave. That's not going to change anything."
Her eyes hardened. "I'm. Not. Losing. Anyone. Else." She wrenched free of his grasp. "Forget the Guardians. I'm going to take one of your ships. If you want, you can come to say good-bye, but I'm not staying. And that is final." She slammed the door behind her.
Loki stared at the door for a long time, and he was pretty sure that the rest of the Avengers were doing the same thing behind him. Truth be told, he was more than slightly afraid that they would blame him for pushing Nova too far, and he really didn't want to be on the receiving end of their anger (again).
"Go talk to her."
Loki whirled around. "Are you talking to me?" He asked, incredulously.
Barnes nodded. "You have to convince her to stay."
He frowned. "Why me, though?"
"Yeah, why him?" echoed Maximoff.
"Well, I think that you and Nova have . . . a close bond? Does that sound weird? I just think that you understand her more than the rest of us do."
"Yeah, because he handled this situation so well." Thanks for the support, Romanoff.
"I agree with Bucky. Loki, just go talk to her and see if you can convince her that she's not. . .a burden, okay?"
Loki shrugged. "I can try, but she seems to have to mind made up." Then he slipped out the door.
He didn't even know where she might have gone, but the most likely place would be her room, so that's where he went. He knocked softly on the door. No answer. He knocked slightly harder. Still no answer. He knocked again, and then again.
"Who is it?" Came the annoyed response, after about a minute of non-stop knocking.
"Me?"
"Who is 'me'?" She asked, and then immediately added, "And what do you want, Loki?"
He opened the door softly and stepped into her room. "How did you know who I was?"
"I can recognize your voice, obviously. Also, you're the only one determined enough and annoying enough to knock that many times."
She was lying on her bed in a way that reminded him forcefully of the time she had asked him to watch his back. She hadn't trusted the Avengers, and she had needed an ally, and somehow, she had chosen him. If he had known then what he knew now. . .
"So, what do you want?"
He looked away. "You know why I'm here."
"You know my answer is no, Loki." She sat up, hair falling over her face. She swept it aside distractedly, and Loki couldn't help but admit that she looked kind of pretty.
Did you just call Nova pretty?
What? No! He couldn't get side-tracked, he had come here to convince her to stay and that was what he was going to do.
You sound pretty side-tracked to me. Want to kiss her?
Loki was sure he had turned red. No, of course he didn't want to kiss her, that was absurd. She was a good friend and a good person, but that didn't mean-
"Um, hello?" Nova interrupted his thoughts.
Loki shook his head slightly to focus. He had to make her understand that she needed to stay, and he wasn't going to be very convincing if he just rattled off how much everyone would miss her and how much she meant to them. "Nova, please just think this through logically."
She looked at him carefully, and Loki could tell he had gotten her attention.
Okay, time to be convincing. "The original energy wave came from Earth. More specifically, it came from this tower. Just nod if you understand."
Nova nodded.
"Now, what do you think every alien and every bounty hunter that wants to capture you knows?"
Nova thought for a moment. "That I'm here?"
"Exactly. And what happens if you leave to go to another planet?"
She thought for another moment, and then looked up in alarm. "They'd have no idea that I wasn't here anymore. . . they'd come here anyway. . ."
"Precisely," Loki said. He could tell she was rethinking her plans. "Whether you're here or not won't make a difference. Look, I understand that you want to protect your friends. I understand that you don't want to fail again, but you need to understand that it wasn't your fault. You did nothing wrong. Nothing."
She looked away, and then bit her lip to keep from crying.
Loki shifted from one foot to the other, feeling distinctly awkward, so he was very very surprised when Nova, in one fluid motion, stood up and hugged him. "Thank you, for that."
Loki had no idea what to do. Sure, he'd been hugged before, but this was . . . different. He carefully put his arms around her, noticing how small she was. Nova barely came up to his shoulder. He could feel her uneven breathing as she struggled not to show emotion.
Nova murmured something very quietly into his shirt.
"What?"
She removed her head from his chest. "I'll stay," she said in a small voice. "If -"
Loki cut her off by pulling her closer, and she laughed quietly.
"For what it's worth, I think you made the right decision."
"Thank you. For everything."
Loki broke free and gestured towards the door. "The Avengers will be glad to hear you're staying."
Nova smiled slightly, and Loki's heart skipped a beat. Then she narrowed her eyes at him. "This doesn't mean I'm okay with this. I'm just acknowledging that I am putting you in no more danger by staying than I would be by leaving." She turned and headed for the door.
He stared after her. Why did he feel this way about Nova?
I can name a couple reasons. One, she's insanely good looking.
That was a complete exaggeration. There was nothing special about her looks, nothing that would specifically make people fall in love with her.
Stop interrupting, do you want answers or not? Two, she's quite smart. . . not genius level intelligence, but inquisitive and witty.
Loki didn't have an answer for that.
She's bouncy, excitable, and friendly.
What does that have to do with anything?
And most importantly of all, she makes you happy in a way no one else does.
"Are you coming?" Nova asked, tilting her head at him.
Loki smiled slightly. "Yeah, I'm coming."