Warning: A tad bit of violence

Chapter Eleven

Arianna woke up in the backseat of a car. She was no longer in pain, but her body was sore. She felt as if she'd run a marathon and now her body didn't want to cooperate.

She was in between her captors. She wondered what their plan was for her. They obviously weren't professionals. They didn't have guns trained on her. They hadn't taken her phone; she could still feel it in the back pocket of her jeans. They hadn't hidden their faces from her or from anyone else, really. She wondered if that meant they planned to kill her.

At least she still had her phone, which meant someone could locate her that way through the GPS. Tony could do it, or Bruce, or even Natasha and Clint.

Speaking of Natasha, Arianna hoped she was okay. She and Happy and Loki. She couldn't remember much aside from the pain she'd been in.

"We should search her," said the man on her left. He had blond hair, icy blue eyes. She would henceforth call him Blondie.

"Now?" the other guy said. "In the car?"

This guy also had blond hair, but his eyes were brown. Maybe he could be Brown Eyes.

"Yes, in the car. She lives with Tony Stark. She could have some kind of toy on her that'll lead to us."

Arianna stiffened as Blondie turned to her. His eyes dared her to try something. She jerked away as he began feeling over her chest and stomach and then her sides. Blondie got joy out of her fear – and she was afraid.

"She's clean," Brown Eyes said. "Leave her alone. She doesn't like it."

Blondie reluctantly stopped touching her. "She better be clean, or it's on you."

Blondie jerked her head back, gripping her hair roughly.

"You be good. Or I'll shoot you again."

Tony's head had just hit the desk he was falling asleep over when he saw Happy, Loki, and Natasha heading toward the door to the lab. He opened it for them so they wouldn't have to use their prints to open it. None of them looked as if they were having a good day, and Natasha looked downright worn out. She was also limping.

Why had he stayed up so long? He felt as if his eyelids were made of sandpaper and whatever had happened, he wasn't sure he was mentally capable of dealing with it.

Happy was there with Loki, who had been on a date with Arianna, and Natasha had been an added security detail. Three of the four people that had gone to the café were in his lab looking unwell.

"Where's our littlest Avenger?" He slipped a metal band on either wrist. "Please tell me you didn't lose her."

Nobody said anything and Tony felt his chest tighten because this was bad. No one was answering, so this had to be bad.

"She was taken," Natasha said. "Whoever it was shot Loki and Happy with tranqs and took her. They shot her too, and me, but it was with something else."

Loki stepped forward then. He held a dart carefully in his right hand.

"I don't know what it is," Loki said, "But it made her whole body flare up with pain."

Some chemical that messed with pain receptors in the brain, Tony assumed. He'd get Bruce to check it for him.

"By the way, thanks for not answering your phone," Happy said.

Tony rolled his eyes and gestured for the dart. Loki tried to hand it to him, but since Tony didn't like being handed things, he told Loki to put it on the table.

"You were dosed with this too?" he asked Natasha. "Side effects?"

"Other than the pain? I'm exhausted. My muscles are sore and twitchy."

"Hm. Trackers. I am making trackers for you guys so I'll always know where you are." He sighed. "Do you have her phone?"

"No, it –" Natasha's eyes widened. "It wasn't there. It wasn't removed at the scene and, even if it was removed later, we'll have a direction to start in."

"Definitely making trackers."

"I don't understand," Loki said. "Why is her phone important?"

"Cell phones have Global Positioning Systems built in. If her phone is on, we can use it to locate her."

"When the situation isn't quite so dire, I'd like to be taught how to do that."

Arianna and her captors had arrived at a warehouse moments ago. She and the two men had been dropped off by the driver, a woman whom Arianna hadn't spoken to or heard speak at all. The woman had left soon after assuring they had gotten into the building. She was now tied to a chair. They hadn't hurt her anymore, but she wasn't letting her guard down, not now that she knew what their darts could do. Whatever had been in those darts had attacked her nervous system. She'd never felt that much pain before. What kind of monster would invent something like that?

"You have a lot of people scared," Blondie said. "You have so much power, and you're supposed to be on the good side, yet you side with a terrorist."

Loki. He had warned her about this, about what people would think about her now.

"There are extenuating circumstances there. He's not . . . He was pushed into that."

"Is that what he said? And you, being a naïve little girl, believed him."

She wasn't going to go into how she'd seen why he'd been pushed into it. Besides, Loki wasn't the problem here. If they'd wanted him, they would've taken him too. And yet . . .

Blondie's fist connected with her cheek and her head snapped to the side from the force of it. If she hadn't been tied to the chair, she would've grabbed her face. It would bruise and there was a trickle of blood flowing down. The man must have been wearing a ring.

He hit her twice more, seeming to get angrier every time he looked at her. Maybe he really believed she'd betrayed humanity by befriending Loki. She had pretty much been on Loki's side since she'd seen the torture he'd been through, since she'd felt some of it.

It wasn't until Blondie pointed the gun at her again that Arianna became afraid enough to do something about her situation. She couldn't feel that pain again, not if it was going to affect her whole body like it had before.

The air in the place thickened and Blondie grabbed his throat. She realized then that he couldn't breathe. She was suffocating him. She didn't know how, but she was.

Something in Blondie snapped – a bone, that was what it sounded like – and he doubled over, dropping the dart gun. She was crushing his ribs, and if she wasn't careful, she would do to him what she had done to David.

She was smacked across the face again and everything stopped. Brown Eyes was staring at her now, fear in his eyes. She was scaring him.

"I'm sorry," she cried. "I can't always control it. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt him."

"I believe you," Brown Eyes said. "I'm sorry too, but you can't be allowed to concentrate.

He grabbed the dart gun that Blondie had dropped. The dart he fired hit her in the chest, making pain flare from there and outwards.

She wanted to curl up in the fetal position and die. As it was, she could feel her heart racing erratically, and if the pain kept up, it might actually give out on her.

She might even welcome death if it meant never feeling this pain again.

Tony crashed through the door of the warehouse he'd tracked Arianna to. He was surprised to find only two men, one of whom was pretty beat up.

Arianna was tied to a metal chair in the center of the room. She looked pretty beat up herself. She had a dart sticking out of her chest and was screaming, so the dart was obviously one of the pain-causing ones.

Panic seized Tony's own chest and his heart felt as if it were being squeezed. Not a good feeling.

"Aries," he shouted, and landed by her. She wasn't coherent enough to even realize he was there.

The two men had begun to run, but Tony took care of them with an energy blast to each of their backs. Neither was dead, but they would be locked up for a long time once Tony made a call to Fury.

Arianna stopped screaming and began whimpering, which might have been worse to hear, to be honest.

"Tony?"

"Yeah."

He was relieved she was aware enough to notice him now.

"Next time you want coffee, you can just go to the kitchen. Or I can order it from anywhere you want it. Being Tony Stark has its perks, you know."

Tony untied her from the chair and quickly pulled the dart from her chest.

"I – I knew you'd come," she said breathlessly, voice hoarse.

Arianna had faith in him and Tony really didn't know what to do with that. Panic was high up on his list.

"Ready to get out of here?" he asked. All Arianna did was grunt. "How do you feel about flying?"

"Mm . . . Do you mind if I pass out?"

"Go ahead as long as you promise to wake back up."

Tony took in the bruises on her face and wondered if she might have a concussion. He hoped her brain hadn't been rattled too badly.

Instead of passing out, Arianna began to quiver and cry, and this was so not Tony's area of expertise. What was he supposed to do? Why hadn't he brought someone with him? Clint or Steve, Natasha even? She couldn't have fought in her condition, but she would have been able to help with this.

Not knowing what else to do, Tony drew her into his arms before taking off out of the building. This was as close to a hug as he could give her.

He hoped it was enough.

Loki was waiting outside on the balcony when Tony landed with Arianna in his arms. She seemed to be sleeping. He hoped she was only sleeping.

Steve was there, as were Bruce and Clint. Natasha had tried staying awake, but the trauma had finally caught up with her and she'd gone to bed.

Tony placed Arianna on the couch in the living room before stepping out of his suit.

"She's wiped out," he said.

Loki noticed the bruises on her face, the slice on her right cheek. Her wrists were damaged from having been bound, from struggling against whatever had been binding her.

Rage filled him, and it was more than the simple anger he felt whenever a woman was brutalized. This was his woman, so of course it wasn't simple.

"Her wounds need to be cleaned," he said. "Warm water should do for now."

"She's probably gonna be down for the night," Tony said. "They dosed her again."

Loki had no clue what to say or do. He knew what he would have done before, when he'd had his powers. He would've found those men and he would have killed them for hurting her. He didn't have powers now. The only thing he could do was clean her wounds and sit with her until she woke up. She didn't need to wake up alone.

"Thank you for finding her. For bringing her back."

Tony shrugged. "She's a friend, and the Littlest Avenger. Can't lose the baby in the family."

Tony cared for her, Loki realized, and she was more than a friend. Tony had called her part of his family. The Avengers were a team and a type of family.

Loki wondered if that title would ever extend to him.

While Arianna slept, Tony received a call from Fury. Tony had already gotten in touch with him on the flight back to the tower. Fury had already known that Aries had been taken. Tony had arrived before the SHIELD agents had gotten there.

"How did you know?" Tony asked. "You claim you're not after her, so how did you know she was taken?"

"A few of my scientists hired people outside of SHIELD to get her. They obviously weren't professionals. It was very sloppy, the whole thing."

"No kidding."

"I'm cleaning house, and these guys will never work in the field of science again. The ones who took her will be dealt with, but I can't promise no one else will come after her."

"What did they use on her? Bruce is running tests, but is this gonna cause any lasting damage?"

"She'll be sore for a few days. Nothing else."

"Okay. What was it?"

"Our weapons department was working on a serum that could make someone feel as if they've been shot without having been shot. It's meant to incapacitate without causing actual damage."

"You were working on a torture device. It affected her whole nervous system. Did you know Agent Romanoff was hit as well?"

"I did. I assume she's fine."

"Yeah, sleeping it off." Tony sighed. "Let me know if you need help cleaning house."

In the living room, Loki was cleaning Arianna's face of the little blood that had dried there. Her muscles were twitching even though she was sleeping. He knew that was because of the exhaustion the pain must have caused her.

Tony had just gotten off his phone and was now watching them with an odd expression.

"What?"

Tony shook his head. "She did that for you once, when you first became mortal. You were unconscious too."

"Hm."

That had been before she'd even begun to care for him. Though to be completely honest, she'd always cared about him – not as an individual, not as Loki, but as someone she had to heal and protect. She'd cared for him like she cared for everyone.

"Where are the others?" Loki asked, suddenly realizing he'd been left alone with Tony and Arianna.

"Rogers and Barton are watching over Romanoff. Banner is in his room. We've got Aries. It looks like the swelling in her cheek is going down. It'll be quite a shiner, though"

Tony sat on an arm of the sofa and Loki noticed he allowed himself to touch her hair.

"The ones who did this are probably going to be arrested. The ones who hired them are probably not. I don't know if she'd want any of them killed even if the thought has crossed my mind. It's just not her."

"Oh, I know," Loki said. "I'm here and alive. Relatively free."

He paused from washing her face and pulled the rag away.

"She was there because I wanted to go outside."

"She was getting stir crazy herself. No one expected an attack in public, or one during the day. And I provided the transportation."

Before either could say anything else, Arianna began to stir. She groaned once and seemed to try to lift her arms. They didn't get very far and a frown found a place on her mouth. She was waking up even though she should've been asleep for at least a few more hours.

She opened her eyelids, her irises green but glazed over from exhaustion. She looked around frantically, as if she didn't know where she was, until her gaze fell first on Loki and then on Tony.

She groaned again and tried to sit up, to which Tony stood up and pressed her back down.

"Hey, whoa. Easy. You're not at a hundred percent."

"Mm. Really? I hadn't noticed."

Her voice was scratchy, Loki noticed. Her throat had been made raw from screaming.

"She needs water."

"Got it," Tony said and went out of the room. He seemed happy to have an excuse, actually.

Arianna grabbed his hand and Loki was grateful for the warmth of it. It provided proof that she was okay – or would be.

"Did they hurt you?" she asked.

"No. They used the tranquilizer on me."

"Oh. Good."

Warmth spread through him at that one word. She cared whether he'd been hurt or not. He knew he didn't deserve her affection towards him, didn't deserve any of the things the Avengers had given him – a home, almost friends, perhaps a found family, or what could be one day.

Whether he deserved it or not, he did want it.

"Where are Natasha and Happy?"

"Both sleeping. Once they found out where you were and that Stark was going to get you . . ."

"I know Happy got hit with a tranq, but what happened to Tash?"

"She was dosed with the same thing you were. She's fine, a little sore. She had a limp because she was shot in the leg. She recovered rather quickly, was inside when Happy and I woke up. They got her when she got out of the car to try to come inside the café."

"Oh. I knew she would've been in there to help if she could."

Tony came back with a glass of water, but Arianna's hand was too shaky for her to hold it on her own so he handed it to Loki.

"I'll be in the lab if anyone needs me."

Tony needed a break, that was why he was slipping away to his workshop. Working was the best solution to help him get his mind off of things. Besides, no one would have been able to find him had he actually gone to bed like he knew he should have.

"Jarvis, keep an eye on Agents Romanoff and Grace. If anything changes for the worse, let me know immediately."

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Other than that, no distractions."

He had in immediate problem in that dart thing that had hit two of his team members, two of his friends. No one else could be allowed to be taken down by this new weapon.

Tony had been working on this new liquid body armor, planned on making a suit of it for each of his team members. It was flame resistant, bulletproof, and would have kept Natasha and Arianna from getting hit with those darts – Happy and Loki too, but they hadn't been hurt.

He wouldn't have his friends tortured, not when he could stop it. Everyone was safe and they had found Aries relatively easily, but what if it happened again?

They had to be ready.

After Arianna got her motor functioning skills back, she decided to go to bed. At least she'd be more comfortable there. She'd be able to sleep. She was so exhausted and she didn't think she could stay awake much longer.

"Loki, will you help me to my room?"

"Of course."

She still couldn't move much on her own, and she still felt as if she had pushed her body to the max. Loki helped her off the couch and helped her walk the distance to their hallway.

"You might have to come in. The bed covers need to be folded back. You might have to do things you probably never had to do as a prince."

"I believe I'll be able to manage. How shall I serve you tonight, Miss Grace?"

Her heart stopped – or stuttered – at the innuendo in Loki's voice. This was the first time he'd ever used that voice on her. If she hadn't been hurt, she probably would've been more affected. As it was, she knew Loki was only messing with her and he really meant he was willing to do whatever she needed him to.

"I do need you to pull down the covers. And I may need help changing. Okay?"

"I am centuries old. I promise not to lose control at what is probably a perfect body."

"Doesn't feel too perfect at the moment."

Loki opened the door to her room and helped her inside and onto the bed. He glanced at the dresser and then at her.

She realized then that this was the first time Loki had actually been in her room. She was glad she kept things relatively neat. The worst thing she had out was a shirt that was draped over the edge of the bed.

"This will work," she said, gesturing at the shirt. "I just need –"

She lifted her arms, winced, and Loki stepped forward. He grasped the edge of her shirt, brought it up over her head.

She let her arms fall back to her sides, even the small amount of energy expended by lifting them having reminded her that she'd been shot in the back and the front. Both ached when she moved.

One of Loki's hands found its way to her chest, the part that showed over her bra. She jerked away, ending up on her back, her weight on her elbows.

"Don't touch me!"

Loki's eyes widened as he stepped back, hands fisted at his sides. She had hurt his feelings. She felt guilty almost immediately because she hadn't meant to react that way. Loki hadn't done anything wrong, not really. She just hadn't expected him to touch her that way.

"I'm sorry. I don't – I just –"

"I should have warned you. There's something on your skin."

"What?"

She glanced down only to realize that there were dark lines branching out from where the dart had struck her. It looked like blood poisoning.

"There's one on my back too. Is it the same?"

"Uh . . ."

"It's okay to help me sit up. I won't freak out. I shouldn't have before. You just surprised me."

"Sorry." He sat beside her and began helping her up. "Do you not like being touched in general?"

"I do like some warning. Sorry."

Loki stroked the bare skin of her back and she flinched. She could tell the injection site was fevered because his skin was cold.

"It is the same – maybe worse."

"Makes sense. They shot me there first." Arianna groaned. "Jarvis? Will you alert the others that Natasha needs to be checked over? We all need to meet in the lab. Get Bruce down there, and tell Tony we're coming."

"Yes, Miss Grace." A pause and then, "Is this about your condition? Mr. Stark doesn't wish to be disturbed. New project."

"We need to run some tests. And yes, it's about my condition."

Tony had finally lost himself in his work when everyone showed up outside his lab. Natasha was sandwiched between Steve and Clint, and Loki was helping Arianna along. Both women appeared to have been through a war.

Arianna was holding a shirt to her chest, but her back had no cover aside from the thin line at her bra. Tony didn't even want to know why that was or how it had come about. He didn't want to deal with it.

Bruce came in behind the group and stopped right as he reached Arianna. He placed a hand on her back and appeared to be examining something there. He spoke and Arianna nodded.

Bruce let them all in and led the two women to a work station. Despite Bruce being able to turn into a green giant, he was best for this. He was kind and gentle, not abrasive, and he probably wouldn't frighten Arianna. He would be careful with her.

"What's wrong?"

"You should see this," Bruce said. "We might have a problem."

Tony stood from where he was working and walked over to Bruce and the two women. He saw what Bruce had been talking about and cringed. There was a small dot with red lines around it on Arianna's back. It reminded Tony of when his own body had been at war with him, when his blood toxicity levels had been off the charts, only his lines had been black.

"Is the other area the same way?" he asked, and she nodded. "Tash?"

The red-head shrugged. "I was shot in the leg. I haven't noticed."

"Maybe you should check," Steve said. "Then we'll know whether or not Arianna's the only one it's affecting this way."

Without hesitating Natasha began taking her pants off. Tony rolled his eyes; Clint smirked; Bruce and Steve looked away; Loki appeared as shocked as Loki could be. Tony figured most Asgardians didn't ever strip in front of a group of people.

"Tash, I don't think he meant for you to check in front of everyone," Arianna said.

"Nope, definitely not!" Steve said.

"It's just skin," Natasha said, shrugging. "And mine isn't like Aries."

"Oh, great. I must have an infection or something."

"Or you could be having an allergic reaction," Bruce said. "I'll run some blood tests. I'll check for infections or viruses. I'll need you to keep a list of symptoms you start to experience and keep an eye on your temperature. I'm gonna give you a round of antibiotics, just in case, but I won't really know how to treat you until I get results from the tests I'm gonna run."

"Can I – can I put my shirt back on?"

"Please put your shirt back on," Tony said. Then to Natasha, "Please put your pants back on."

"I never thought I'd see the day that you'd be telling a woman to put her clothes back on," Natasha said.

"Well, I'm no longer a single man, ya know."

"As much as I'm sure we all care about your personal life, Stark," Loki said, stepping forward, slight impatience in his voice, "can we focus on finding out what is happening to Arianna? She is the one who needs help now."

With that, Bruce began running his tests.

Arianna didn't appreciate being poked and prodded with needles after what she'd already been through that day, but she knew Bruce needed blood samples. He also had to shoot the round of antibiotics into her in case she did have an infection.

It was while Bruce was working on her that Arianna's phone vibrated in the back pocket of her jeans.

Who was trying to contact her? Almost everyone she knew was there with her. Whoever it was, they were sending her an ongoing list of messages.

She pulled her phone out to see who was trying to get in touch with her and found most of the messages were images of the two men who had taken her. They were now dead, both having been shot in the center of their foreheads. There were other pictures of the man she had hurt, the man she would have killed had the other not stopped her.

Who was sending this to her? And why? The only other person who had had anything to do with her abduction was the driver who had taken her and her captors to the warehouse, and the driver hadn't stuck around for long.

"What is that?" Steve asked.

"Nothing." She shook her head. "It's nothing."

"Aries," Natasha said quietly. "Give me the phone. Whatever is on there doesn't matter."

Arianna tossed her phone to Natasha a touch too hard, and her eyes began to burn.

"Those men were scared of me! They were scared of me. That's why they shot me with that – that thing. They knew I had to focus to use my powers, and they didn't want me to be able to do it. And now they're dead."

"Fury said he was taking care of it," Tony said. "I thought he meant he was having them arrested."

"But why would he send me pictures? He – he knows I wouldn't want to see that."

"You're right. He wouldn't send pictures," Natasha said. "Can we track where these came from?"

"We can try," Tony said.

"I lost control on one of them," Arianna said. "I would have killed him if –"

"Aries!" Natasha stepped in front of her and grabbed her shoulders. "Stop! The pictures don't matter. What you did doesn't matter. They were hurting you. They were either going to kill you, or they were waiting for someone to come get you. You had every right to defend yourself in any way you could."

"I understand self-defense, Tash, but these men are dead now."

"But you didn't kill them."

"I could have. If they hadn't shot me the second time, I would have. I would have, and there are others after me from SHIELD who are probably responsible for these two guys. What if more people die because of me?"

Loki stepped closer to her but didn't take Natasha's place in front of her.

"To be clear, if the others are out to harm you, I'll be glad to see them meet the same fate as these two."

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Tony said. "Anyway, there's nothing we can do until we get the results from the blood test. You should really get some sleep."

"You should really get some sleep," Arianna said back to him as she hopped off the table. "I'll let you know if anything gets worse."