a/n: Please enjoy this chapter! We finally be getting some action here ;)

August 2013

"Your incessant muttering is ruining my breakfast. Either read it out loud, or shut up."

Loki was glaring at Gwen with faint annoyance. She was sitting across the bar from him, holding a piece of toast in one hand and a book in the other. She hadn't even realized that she was muttering to herself because she was so absorbed in the book.

She shrugged. "Or I could always lock you back in your cell for another week," she reminded him.

"You always threaten to do so, and yet you never follow through with it," retorted Loki. "Why?"

"I've told you a million times," sighed Gwen in exasperation. "You're more chilled out when I let you out of the cell for a bit. Much more pleasant to deal with."

Ever since they had left the compound together with Paige, there had been a strange shift in their relationship. Gwen wouldn't say that they were friends, exactly. But their conversations were getting less and less hostile. And Gwen was letting him out of his cell more often and for longer periods of time. Loki seemed appreciative of her gestures to try and make him more welcome and comfortable.

She returned to her book, yet again muttering the words under her breath. Loki glared at her again until she caught his eye. Gwen rolled her eyes and began to read out loud:

"'Why do you love him, Miss Cathy?'

'Nonsense, I do--that's sufficient.'

'By no means; you must say why?'

'Well, because he is handsome, and pleasant to be with.'

'Bad!' was my commentary.

'And because he is young and cheerful.'

'Bad, still.'

'And because he loves me.'

'Indifferent, coming there.'

'And he will be rich, and I shall like to be the greatest woman of the neighbourhood, and I shall be proud of having such a husband.'

'Worst of all. And now, say how you love him?'

'As everybody loves--You're silly, Nelly.'

'Not at all--Answer.'

'I love the ground under his feet, and the air over his head, and everything he touches, and every word he says. I love all his looks, and all his actions, and him entirely and altogether. There now!'"

Loki wrinkled his nose. "What in the nine realms are you reading?"

"Wuthering Heights," answered Gwen.

"This Cathy is insufferable," replied Loki.

"Yeah, that's kind of the point," Gwen said with a roll of her eyes. "She's a terribly selfish person. You can't help but hate her. And yet, in some ways, you can't help but root for her."

"And why would you cheer for someone who is such a terrible person?"

"Because you learn more about them and you find out that maybe they're not as bad as they seem on the outside," Gwen explained. "Cathy, for example, is still very immature here. And a product of the childhood she had. Her brother was abusive, she's a spoiled brat, but that's not necessarily her fault, is it?"

Loki snorted in derision. "How is it not her fault? She makes the decisions, doesn't she?"

"Yes, she does," Gwen agreed. "But why do any of us make the decisions we do? Because we've been conditioned to think a certain way about ourselves and about the world around us." She looked him in the eye. "You of all people should understand this better than anyone."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Meaning?"

"You were raised by a royal family, you wanted for almost nothing, but you still felt neglected by Odin, yes?" Loki did not answer. He did not like how she was suddenly able to read him. How she suddenly acted as though she knew the first thing about him. "You thought you were Asgardian, when really you were a Jotun. You've been conditioned to think a certain way about Jotuns and how they act and how the worlds see them. Cathy is the same way. She's been conditioned to think a certain way because of how she was raised and taught. Does it make her stupid? Not necessarily. It just makes her naive."

He thought over her words and nodded slowly. "I suppose that makes sense," he grudgingly admitted after a minute or two. He did not like acknowledging that he had been wrong. "So, then you would compare me to this Cathy?"

Gwen shook her head. "No. I think you are more like Darcy."

"Have we met his character yet?"

"Oh, he's not in this book," she replied. "He's from Pride and Prejudice. But he thinks he's better than everyone, he avoids friendship, he keeps to himself, he talks down to everyone around him. Just like you."

Loki smirked a bit. "That is a fair assessment," he said with a nod. "But then again, I think you're the same way."

She snorted. "If I were anyone, I'd be Mr. Bennett," she retorted. Mr. Bennett was one her favorite characters from Pride and Prejudice. She just liked how he was done with everyone's shit and did whatever he wanted. "Now, can I keep reading?"

Loki gave her a single nod and picked up his toast. He ate it slowly as she read out loud. While he had not heard the beginning part of the novel, he felt he had a basic understanding of what was happening. This Cathy was planning to marry someone named Linton. The narrator, Nelly, disapproved, because she didn't believe that Cathy loved Linton.

"'That will do to explain my secret, as well as the other. I've no more business to marry Edgar Linton than I have to be in heaven; and if the wicked man in there had not brought Heathcliff so low, I shouldn't have thought of it. It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him: and that, not because he's handsome, Nelly, but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same; and Linton's is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire.'"

Gwen stopped again, running her fingers over the page. She mouthed the phrase again. "What is it?" asked the god.

"I need a pen," was all she said. She reached into her pocket and removed her pen that transformed into a staff. She took the pen and began to underline that phrase: Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same. Gwen wouldn't admit it to anyone, but she found beauty in books like this. While she had never daydreamed of having a fairytale romance herself, she quite enjoyed reading about it. It was fascinating, the way authors found new ways to describe the same emotion time and time again. It was a talent Gwen wished she had.

Just as Gwen tucked the pen back in her pocket, the elevator doors opened to reveal Tony Stark.

"Ah, look at Hannibal and Clarice bonding," he teased them and only grinned all the more when they glared at him simultaneously. "I've been sent to collect you, as well as Kill Bill, if she's here."

"She's been having breakfast with Anderson lately," Gwen told him. "I'll be there in a second. I'll just lock Loki back up."

Tony shook his head. "No. We want both of you," he said. Gwen furrowed her brow in confusion. Loki did the same. What did the Avengers want with him? Did it have something to do with his sentence? Maybe Thor had returned and brought news from Odin that concerned all of them. "Everyone's upstairs. Come on."

They followed the billionaire to the penthouse, where everyone was waiting for them. Maria Hill stood around the head of the long table. On one side sat Natasha, Clint, Bruce, Rhodey, and another empty seat that Tony took. On the other side was Clara, Paige, Steve, and Sam. Gwen took the empty seat beside Sam and Loki sat in the seat at the other end of the table, between Gwen and Tony.

"Alright, Hill, do we need to take attendance or are we fine to just get this over with?" Tony began the meeting with a traditional sarcastic comment.

Maria ignored his quip and looked over the table. "Alright, everyone. As everyone here knows, Hydra's files may have been leaked, but lots of Hydra leaders are still at large. Most notably Brock Rumlow and Mike Conner." On a large screen behind her, pictures of both Rumlow and Mike were shown. Gwen saw both Paige and Clara glare harshly at the picture of the one they called Mike. "We've been searching for Barnes, which is good, but I also think we need to start hunting down these two, along with any other Hydra agents we can find."

Gwen understood exactly what Maria meant, but she couldn't see what it had to do with her. Or Loki for that matter. Gwen was still in training. And even she readily admitted that she was nowhere near ready to go on any missions or anything like that. But she didn't cut in. She let Maria give her speech.

"Clara told us that she saw Anderson at the mall two weeks ago," Maria continued. "Since then, we've been tracking his moves as best as we can. If his face appears on satellite, cameras, Jarvis will alert us right away. And then we'll send in a small squad to take him, and anyone with him, down."

Steve looked down to the end of the table. "That's where you guys come in," he said.

Gwen blinked in surprise. "Wait? Are you saying you want me on that squad?"

"Not just you," said Natasha with a shake of her head. "You, Loki, and Paige."

Now it was Paige's and Loki's turn to look shocked. "We have a good feeling about this," Tony explained. "The three of you escaped the detection of Conner in the mall without even meaning to. And you worked together to sneak out of this tower without alerting any of us. While we still think it was stupid of you, we can't deny that it was clever. We think you can work together well on small missions like this."

"Small?" snorted Gwen in disbelief. "This is Hydra we're talking about. If it were some petty criminals, I could understand it. But these aren't just lowlifes. They're highly trained criminals. And I still have next to no training."

"On the job training is the best way to learn," Natasha told her. "Besides, you'll be able to use your powers out there. That combined with the training we've given you and the tech Stark will supply you with should be enough. Especially if the three of you are working together."

This didn't make Gwen feel much better.

"It'll allow you to get more training, it gives you all a chance to leave the tower more frequently, and it gives Loki a chance to do the community service Odin sentenced him to," Steve explained even further. "We think this is the best solution. And you won't be completely alone. At least one of us will always be there with you. But we don't want all of us there. The last thing we need is to draw all that attention to us and the fact that Hydra is still out there."

Gwen didn't answer. She still didn't feel entirely comfortable with this idea. She was not much of a fighter, even with her magic. It just wasn't really her thing. She preferred to stick to her books and things, relying on her intelligence to get her through life. Guarding Loki had seemed like a job that would allow her to stick to her strengths. It was quickly turning into something else.

"I, for one, think this is a good idea," Clara finally supplied. "Let's just get it over with and get rid of the bastards already." Gwen smiled a bit. She still hadn't gotten to know Clara very well (the last time they had had a personal conversation had been the night after Gwen learned who she really was), but she found that the more she listened to her, the more she liked her. She could see why her mother had been friends with this woman.

"We won't force you into it if you really don't want to," Steve said reassuringly. "We just thought it might be a good way to get you out of the tower as well as get you more training. But the choice is still up to you."

All eyes turned to her expectantly. Gwen didn't have much time to think about it. She was nervous (something rare for her), but she also knew that Steve was right.

In her mind, she heard Sajit's words: "You give up at the first sign of difficulty. That's your weakness." He had said that to her when she had wanted to give up after she hadn't immediately mastered the mystic arts. Was she going to do the same thing now?

She shrugged. "What the hell? Let's give it a shot."

"Great," said Maria. "Stark, I'll let you take over from here."

He stood up and clapped his hands, looking excited. "This is where the fun begins," he said. "Clarice, come with me. I've got a few presents for you. Same for you, Kill Bill."

"I thought I told you not to call me that."

The words were spoken both by Gwen and Clara. They looked to each other then back at Tony, confused.

"Oh. I forgot that that's your actual name," Tony said to Clara. "My bad. I'll need a new name for you." He paused to think for a minute, but nothing seemed to be coming to mind. "I'll come up with one soon enough. For now, it's Anderson." He then gestured to the two blondes. "Come on. We're going up to the lab."

Steve escorted Loki back to his cell while Gwen and Paige followed Tony and Bruce up to their lab.

"So, we've been designing these for the past few weeks," Tony explained to them, pointing towards a table in the center of the room. The girls approached it to find two suits laying across it. "We figured since the rest of us all have a get up, you should probably get one, too. This one is yours, Paige." He gestured to the suit on the right.

It was mostly black with a few blood red accents on it. "We based it off your old suit, but made a few modifications of our own. Your mask now has a built in display, like my suits. It'll give you basic information about your surroundings, your opponents, basically anything you want to know. The fabric stretches, so it should fit just fine. Super durable and flexible."

Paige felt the suit between two fingers. It had been a long time since she had put any sort of suit back on. She couldn't help but wonder how it would feel to wear one while playing for the other side.

"Then there's your weapons, of course," continued Tony. He pulled out a silver suitcase from underneath the table. He opened it to reveal the contents inside. "Two simple handguns. Standard automatic pistols, as well as some extra rounds. Three steel bladed throwing knives. We have weapons of a higher caliber, but you'll get those as you need them." As much as they were trying to trust Paige more, they still didn't trust her with sniper rifles, or machine guns, or anything like that. "We figured that we could call you Scarlet on missions, to maintain your identity. Does that work for you?"

Paige continued to examine her suit. Tony and Bruce took that to mean yes and moved on to Gwen's suit.

Both of their suits were catsuits, but Gwen's suit color was black with silver accents. "We didn't choose a fancy color in case you hated it," Tony explained. "If you absolutely hate silver, we can change it to something else. Your suit is made of the same material as Paige's. We also have a comm link for you, so you can keep in touch with the team." He placed a small device on the table that looked like a hearing aid. Then he pulled out another suitcase out from beneath the table. "Romanoff says that you're showing promise with guns more than any other weapon. So we got you the same guns that Paige has. They should slide right into these holsters here." He pointed to the two holsters attached to the belt at the hips. Then, he pointed to another, smaller holster. "Houdini mentioned a staff that turns into a pen?"

Gwen pulled out the Staff of Moriancum from her pocket in answer. "Hopefully, that will fit right there." Gwen slid the pen into the slot. It was a perfect fit. "Great. It all works perfectly then. As for your code name, we figured we'd let you pick."

Gwen didn't have to think long to come up with a name. She knew how pathetic and silly it sounded, but she had actually been thinking about something like this for a long time. About what her code name might be. She tried to play it cool, and she casually shrugged as she suggested, "How about Mercury?"

Bruce nodded. "Like the silver element. That's clever."

That hadn't been Gwen's train of thought at all. She hadn't even known her suit was going to be silver when she thought of the name. Rather than naming herself after an element, or after a Roman god, she had named herself after Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of the band Queen. Gwen thought he was the best singer to have ever lived and she admired him a lot, so she had thought that it would be a cool nickname.

But she nodded, as if that's exactly what she had been thinking the whole time. "Yeah."

Tony closed the suitcase. "We'll keep these in the rooms where we suit up in. Deal?" Both girls nodded. "Right, then I'll let you get back to whatever the hell it is you guys do." They recognized their dismissal and left the lab, walking side by side.

"What do you think?" Gwen asked. Paige had more experience with this sort of stuff than she did. "About the missions?"

Paige shrugged. "I'm not sure yet. Hydra isn't a joke, like you said. But if they're there as back up, we should be fine."

She nodded in understanding. "Whatever happens, I have your back. Ok?"

Paige blinked in momentary surprise before she nodded back. "Ok." They grasped hands briefly, shaking on their promise.

"Let's go get lunch. I'm starving."

"It's your move."

Gwen looked up at Paige, mildly annoyed. As always, she hated when someone was better at her than something. And Paige was far better at chess than her. Gwen used to play chess a lot with her father when she was younger, because she knew of no one else her age that could play. Flora used to play with her until she got sick of it.

Gwen stopped playing so much around the age of sixteen and had only played every once in a while ever since. Then Paige had found an old chess set of Clara's. Without needing to say anything, they sat down to play a round.

It became quickly apparent that Paige was good at this game. Gwen guessed it was because Hydra had taught her a lot about strategy and chess was all about strategy. Either way, Gwen was out of a practice and simply not as good as Paige was.

"I'm thinking," she replied, somewhat snappishly. If Paige was offended by her tone, she gave no sign. In fact, she seemed somewhat amused by Gwen's frustration.

"You've been thinking for the past fifteen minutes," Loki piped in. He was lounging on the couch, reading his book and sipping at his drink while the two girls played chess on the ground. He closed his book and sat up to examine the board. He moved to sit beside Gwen and pointed to one of her bishops. "Move this one."

"Are you sure?" asked Gwen, trying to see if the move could backfire in any way.

"I've been playing this game since its inception," retorted Loki. "Of course I'm sure."

Gwen rolled her eyes at his arrogance but did as he suggested. Her bishop took out Paige's rook, but Paige didn't seem to care. In fact, she was smirking, as if she had hoped this would happen. She moved her knight forward and took her hand back, smirking triumphantly. "Checkmate."

Gwen looked at the board and saw that she was right. She couldn't move her king to somewhere safe. With a sigh of defeat, she picked up her Dr. Pepper and began to drink to avoid facing the fact that she had lost.

Loki was blinking in surprise. He had not seen the possibility of that move when he had told Gwen to move her bishop. "Hold on," he said and he sat down by Gwen again to examine the board more closely.

Paige looked over to Gwen. "Rematch?" she asked.

Gwen shook her head. "Nah, I'm good."

"I'll do it," Loki said right away.

Paige shrugged and began to set up the board again. Gwen took Loki's spot on the couch to watch them play. She wondered who would come out the winner in the end. Both were skilled, no doubt, so it was anybody's game.

Paige and Loki only got part way through their game when Steve returned to their floor. However, he seemed more urgent this time. "Guys, it's time," he said.

They all looked to him and stood up. "Come on," he said, more urgently. "We've got a hit on four Hydra agents, including Conner. But we won't have them for long if we don't hurry."

Paige noticeably stiffened at the mention of Conner, but she followed after Gwen and Loki and Steve, who gave them a few more details in the elevator. "I'll be there as back up, as well as Tony and Clara. We found them at the mall. We think they are there because that's where Paige was when you all left the tower. They're probably hoping to get another hit on her." Gwen felt a bit guilty. Now if people at the mall got hurt, it would be her fault. They were only there because of her. "We're hoping to keep this mission more low-profile, so you won't be wearing the suits that Tony made for you. We'll explain the rest on the way there."

They reached the bottom floor where a large van was waiting for them. The door slid open and they were ushered inside. The door was slammed shut and they were off.

Clara took over the debriefing from there. She handed each of them a file to look at. Inside were pictures of the agents with what little information they had on them. "As Steve probably already told you, this mission will be more low key. You'll be wearing civilian clothing. Loki, we have some for you to change into once we arrive." Loki nodded once curtly. "Gwen, what you're wearing is fine." Gwen nodded as well. She was wearing a pair of maroon skinny jeans and a white t-shirt with a simple pair of black sneakers.

"We're going to split you guys up," continued the ex-agent. "Gwen and Loki will be in the mall, keeping an eye on the agents. Your job is to never let them out of your sight and to keep us notified of their whereabouts. Whatever door they go out of when they leave is where we'll be waiting for them. Paige will be with me. We'll be in the parking garage. I think they'll have a getaway car there, possibly filled with other weapons or illegal items. Because she has the most training with weapons, we want her there. She can take them out with these stunning bullets that Stark invented." Clara looked over the threesome. "Any questions?"

Gwen wanted to ask questions, but she wasn't even sure what she would ask. She didn't know what she didn't know. So, she remained silent instead. Clara nodded in satisfaction.

Steve handed each of them an earpiece. "This is how we'll keep in contact with each other. To the outsider, it'll just look like you're talking to yourself. Still, do your best to keep your conversations to a low volume. Got it?" They all nodded once more. "Good. We should be there in about five minutes."

Gwen thought it was lucky that she had the Staff of Moriancum tucked into her jean pocket. They might need it, just in case something went wrong. However, in the rush, she had not bothered to grab her sling ring. Meaning a quick getaway wouldn't be as easy. She cursed herself internally for not putting that in her pocket, as she normally did.

The closer they got to the mall, the more Gwen's stomach churned. She had no idea how to handle missions. This was not the job she had signed up for. She knew that Steve had mentioned something about Loki doing community service while on earth, but she had assumed that meant cleaning up garbage or working in a soup kitchen. Not taking down world-class criminal nut-jobs.

"We're here." The voice came from the front of the car. It was Tony, who was driving them. He put the van in park and turned around, giving them a bit of a grin. "Knock 'em dead. Not literally, though. I'm looking at you, Kill Bill. And you, Reindeer Games."

Gwen rolled her eyes. Paige ignored his digs, though she felt highly annoyed at his stupid nickname. Loki glared at him. Steve and Clara were shaking their heads.

Steve opened the door and they all stepped out to allow Loki some privacy while he changed into more human clothes. When he opened the door again, Gwen was struck by how… normal he looked. She was used to seeing him in either his usual Asgardians clothing or fancy suits. But in the pair of jeans and t-shirt that Clara had given him, he looked like he could be some normal person, perhaps on his way to get something for lunch. It was an odd sight to see.

"Excellent," Steve said, giving an approving nod. "Do you have your earpieces in?" Gwen hurriedly slipped hers on and nodded. "Good. Then I guess you'd better get inside." He gave the two of them one last encouraging nod. "Good luck. If you need any help, just let us know."

With that, Gwen took a deep breath and turned to look at the mall. How she wished she could be here under normal circumstances. She wanted to be heading to her favorite vinyl shop to pick up another record. Not heading towards a bunch of neo-nazi maniacs.

"Let's get this over with," said Loki, and he took the lead, opening the door for the both of them.

The mall was fairly busy for a Thursday. Which was not a good sign. That meant it would take them even longer to track down the agents and even easier to lose sight of them.

"Where should we start?" asked Gwen, scanning the crowd for any familiar faces. She had studied the pictures that Clara had given them keenly, trying to memorize their faces and features. Hopefully, it would be easy enough to recognize them. The trick would be spotting them in the crowd.

Loki shrugged. "You know this place better than I do," he reminded her.

"Some help you are," Gwen muttered, even though she knew he was right. She decided to go with her gut. "Let's go down this way." She pointed in the direction of her favorite shop. Deep down, she knew she was only going that way because that's where she really wanted to be. But still. It wasn't like they had any better ideas.

Loki followed her lead now. They slipped through the crowd, moving slowly. Their eyes were peeled for any sight of them, but they had no such luck.

"Any sign of them?" It was Steve speaking to them through their earpieces. "Mercury? Do you copy?"

"I copy," Gwen answered in a low voice, forcing back a smile at hearing her codename. "No sign of them yet. We'll keep you updated."

"Copy that," Steve replied. The Captain then returned to radio silence.

By the time they had reached the vinyl and cd shop, they still had seen no sign of them. Gwen was muttering curses under her breath.

"Wait." Loki suddenly grabbed her forearm. Gwen pulled away automatically. He pointed to the second floor, just at the top of the escalator. "Isn't that one of them?"

Gwen had to squint to get a good look at him. Her eyesight wasn't nearly as good as Loki's was. What details she could make out looked familiar to her, so she nodded. "I think so. Let's go."

Just as they reached the bottom of the escalator, they were stopped yet again. "Oh my gosh. Gwen? Is that you?"

Gwen turned at the familiar voice to see Alexandria Martinez. Her friend from high school. She was standing there with another girl, both holding iced coffees in their hands. Alex looked shocked. "It is you! Where have you been, girl? I tried getting a hold of you last year, to see if our winter or spring breaks happened at the same time, but it was like you had disappeared off the face of the planet!" She was glaring at her harshly, demanding an explanation.

Gwen looked desperately between Alex and Loki, who was waiting impatiently for her at the foot of the escalator. "I, uh, I went abroad for the year," she lied. "To France. I got the offer out of the blue and there was no time to tell anyone about it. So I just kinda took off without telling anyone. Sorry about that." She tried to take another step closer to Loki, but Alex stopped her yet again.

"You got to go to France?" she asked. "Oh, you're so lucky. I want to go to Paris, but my parents don't like the idea of me being so far away." She rolled her eyes while her other friend nodded in agreement. "Oh, by the way, this is Angie. She's my roommate at NYU. Angie, this is Gwen. She and I were best friends in high school. But this loser got a scholarship to Cornell, so she couldn't come to the lowly NYU." Angie laughed and Gwen forced a chuckle. "By the way, how is Cornell? Are you just back for the summer?"

"Er, I decided not to go to Cornell," Gwen admitted. "I got a, uh, a job opportunity here in Manhattan. Couldn't pass it up. Listen, I gotta- "

Alex cut her off yet again. "What? You got a full ride to Cornell and you turned it down? Are you insane?"

"Possibly," Gwen admitted, being fully truthful. "Seriously, Alex. I have to- "

This time, she was interrupted by Loki. He grabbed her hand in his, keeping a tight hold on it, so she couldn't pull away. To her surprise, he pressed a short and sudden kiss to her cheek. "Come on, darling. We must be going." He gave the two girls a charming smile, both of whom were smiling at Gwen slyly. "Sorry, girls. We have to go. We're going to be late." With that, he pulled Gwen away before Alex could even finish saying goodbye.

Once they were far enough out of the way, Gwen tanked her hand out of his. "What the hell did you do that for?" she grumbled, feeling herself blush and hating herself for it.

"I had to do something to get you away from them," he replied with a shrug. "And it worked, didn't it?" Gwen refused to admit that he was right. "Thanks to your idiot friends, we've now lost the only lead we had. I kept my eye on them for as long as I could, but they wandered too far for me. However, I'm pretty sure they went this way."

Loki took the lead now, navigating the mall as best as he could while they both kept an eye out.

"Cap, you there?"

"What is it, Gwen?"

"We had them for a minute, but then we lost them again," she admitted. "We're on the second floor of the mall. Loki's pretty sure he saw them go this way. We'll let you know if we haven't found them in thirty minutes."

"Copy that."

For the next ten minutes, their search seemed to be useless. None of the faces they saw were the ones they were looking for. They looked in the smaller shops and around the halls with no luck.

Then, suddenly, Loki stiffened. "What?" asked the blonde, reaching into her pocket in a panic. "What is it?"

"Don't turn around now," said Loki, "but they're right behind us."

Gwen's breath caught. That was exactly where they didn't want them to be.

"They know," breathed Loki. "Or at least, they suspect that we are following them."

"How do you know?" retorted Gwen, hoping desperately that he was wrong.

"I've got a feeling," explained Loki. "Follow me."

Gwen had no time to argue with him. She followed him through the mall, occasionally glancing over her shoulder to see that the agents were still there. She felt a leap of terror when she saw that they had guns on them.

The further they ventured into the mall, the more deserted it became. Gwen didn't like that at all. All that meant to the Hydra agents was less witnesses to see Gwen and Loki die.

"They're coming this way," Loki muttered to her. Gwen looked up and saw that he was right. They were getting closer every second, their hands hovering over their guns. Gwen swore softly under her breath. They knew. They knew that she and Loki were agents that the Avengers had sent after them. There were three Hydra agents there, and only two of them. True, she had her powers and the staff just in case, but they were trying to be discrete about it, since they were in a public place.

Loki suddenly grabbed her wrist. She turned, trying to pull away, but he didn't let her. He was looking her directly in the eyes. "Do you trust me?" he asked her seriously.

What kind of stupid question was that? "No," she responded right away, shaking her head.

"Fair enough," Loki breathed. Then, without warning, he had pushed her into the wall and was kissing her.

At first, Gwen tried to push him off, struggling against his grip. Even without his powers, he was still stronger than her. Her heart was racing in her chest and when she couldn't push him off, she decided to just go along with it. Maybe he had a plan in mind.

She hated that she was even thinking about it, but she was actually enjoying the kiss. He was cold to the touch, but it hardly mattered because Gwen had never felt so warm. Unconsciously, she wrapped her hands around his neck, closing the space between them.

After a minute or two, he broke away, leaving her completely breathless. "They're gone," he said in low undertones. "If we hurry, we can catch them off guard."

She nodded, not trusting her voice. He pushed away from her, letting her off the wall. Then, they continued their pursuit of the Hydra agents.

Paige's hand hovered over her gun. An instinct she had had instilled in her from a young age. She had to be ready to shoot at a moment's notice.

"Are you doing ok?" Clara asked her daughter. She could see the tense look on Paige's face. Still, she looked incredibly calm, considering the situation.

Paige nodded before looking out again. They were on the top floor of the parking garage, hoping that the high ground would give them an advantage.

"Good," Clara nodded. She was slowly getting used to the fact that her daughter was a woman of few words. And she didn't want to pressure her into speaking before she was ready. Clara pulled out her own gun. "I think I'll do a quick sweep of the area. See what I can see. Ok?" Again, Paige just nodded. If one looked closely, they might've seen a flicker of concern in her eyes. "I'll be back in a bit. Give me a shout on the comms, if you need me."

The daughter watched as her mother silently tiptoed away and out of sight. Despite having only known her for a bit, Paige found that she cared about what happened to her. Clara was someone who was the perfect mixture of loving and accepting. Paige was glad to have her back in her life, even if she was still a bit conflicted in her other emotions.

The parking garage was mostly silent, except for the occasional sounds of someone getting in their car and leaving. A soft breeze blew through the place from the outside. Paige kept her eye on the outside, for the most part, making sure that those who left weren't Hydra agents.

She adjusted the scope a bit when she suddenly heard some footsteps behind her. She assumed it was Clara, and turned around, waiting for her report.

Who she saw shocked her, something that rarely ever happened. She had hoped to never see that shade of black hair again, or that stupid, fake smile, or those stupid circular glasses, or those dark, soulless eyes.

"Hello Scarlet," Mike greeted her with a nod. Paige was too stunned to say anything to him. "It's been a long time. I was beginning to think that you weren't coming back."

Paige narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm not," she finally spoke. "I will never go back to you."

Mike just continued to smile. "Yes, you will," he disagreed, perfectly calm. "Do you want to know how I know?"

"Not really, but I doubt I have a choice," said Paige, her voice dripping with sarcasm. An attribute she had picked up from Gwen, no doubt.

"You'll come back with me because you know, just like I do, that you don't belong anywhere else," he continued, ignoring her sarcasm. "You have no place in this world, except for in Hydra."

Paige could only blink. A part of her wanted to argue with him, but another part of her felt that he was right.

Mike laughed dryly. "I mean, did you really fool yourself into thinking you could be an Avenger? That you could be normal? That's a childish dream, Scarlet. You're a killer. And you always will be."

Paige slowly shook her head, trying to block out his words. "No," she said softly.

"No?" echoed Mike. "Who fooled you into thinking otherwise? Was it Clara?" He laughed bitterly. "Oh, I'll bet it was. Well, Scarlet, let me tell you something about your precious mother. She doesn't care about you. The only reason she ever took any interest in you is because she knew it would undermine me. Leverage. That's all she sees you as."

She could not stop shaking her head. "No, that's not true. You're lying."

"Why would I lie to you, Scarlet?" he asked. "What do I stand to gain from lying? I am the only one who has ever cared about you. Not Clara. Not any of the Avengers. Me. I raised you. I loved you. I cared for- "

He was cut off by Paige unexpectedly charging towards him. He barely had time to take a step backwards before her fist connected with his stomach. Mike let out an "Oof!" as he fell on his back from the impact.

Paige kicked his ribs before getting on top and pinning him down. She punched him again. And again. "Scarlet," he coughed out around the blood that was looking in his mouth.

"It's Paige!" she shouted at him. "It's Paige, you asshole! Not Scarlet! Not project! Paige Anderson."

Mike was starting to panic. He had not expected her to react like this. Clearly Clara had done a lot more work on her than he had expected. In his panic, he reached in his pocket and pulled out his secret weapon. A small taser.

He jabbed it into Paige's side while she was distracted. The pain overwhelmed her senses and she halted her attack. She fell off of Mike and curled into a ball, trying to block out the pain. It was like she was back in Hydra all over again. Like she was being tortured into compliance again.

Mike slowly got to his feet, stumbling a bit. He was obviously injured, but he tried to play it off as nothing. He smirked triumphantly as he wiped away the blood dripping from his nose. "Hurts, doesn't it?" he taunted. "Now, are you willing to comply soldier?"

A gunshot echoed all around them. Mike fell down again, howling from the pain in his legs, dropping the taser he had.

Clara holstered her gun and rushed to Paige's side. "Are you ok?" she asked in a panic.

Paige nodded, slowly sitting up. Now that Mike's assault had ended, she was already starting to heal. And now she had another reason to be grateful to Clara. "I'm alright," she whispered. "I just need a minute."

Clara nodded and pressed a finger to her ear. "Guys, we've got Conner. He's injured and down. Paige is injured. I'll need some backup."

"Roger that," Steve responded. "We'll be there in a bit."

Clara made sure that Paige was laying down before turning back to face Mike. Mike was coughing and groaning in pain, but he still managed to give a maniacal grin when he saw her. "Clarie bear. It's so good to see you again."

"Shut the hell up," Clara growled at him. Her fingers twitched near her gun. A part of her was itching to shoot him again. Just one bullet and he would be gone forever. But she also knew that they needed any information he had.

Mike attempted to form more words, but the pain was too much and he ended up passing out.

Soon after, Steve and Tony arrived. Tony nodded at the sight. "Well done, Master Chef," he congratulated Clara.

Despite the situation, Clara snorted derisively at the nickname. "Master Chef?" she echoed.

Tony shrugged. "I'm still thinking of one for you, Anderson."

Steve helped Paige to her feet. "We'll get you in the van first," said Steve. "Then we'll get Conner in there." He glared at the unconscious body. "Gwen and Loki were able to get the other three agents to surrender without a fight. Our mission is accomplished. Let's go pick them up and get back home."

Gwen watched from a short distance say as Natasha and Steve handcuffed the remaining Hydra agents and shoved them into the van. Tony was dealing with some of the press that had arrived (none of them were sure how they had discovered them so quickly). Clara was helping Paige, who had been injured in the fight.

While Gwen was glad that their mission had been a success, her mind was still stuck on one particular moment. Her eyes wandered over to Loki, who was relaxing and watching as Steve and Nat finished up the job.

Why had he done that? True, it had provided an excuse for the Hydra agents to ignore them, giving them the chance they needed to arrest the agents. But still. Surely there must've been another method, another solution.

And why did she just let him do it? Why didn't she stop him? Yes, she had struggled a bit at first, but then she had just let it happen.

Did she enjoy it? Had she wanted it?

Of course not! she snapped at herself right away. Of course she hadn't liked it. She entirely loathed the man. She had absolutely no reason to enjoy it.

Without realizing it, she had been staring at the god while she was working through her emotions. He caught her eye and smirked. Gwen rolled her eyes, and turned away. However, it seemed that Loki was not done with her yet. He walked over to her, his stupid, infuriating smirk still plastered on his face. "Doing alright, darling?"

Gwen felt like punching him. "What the hell did you do that for?" she snapped at him, her voice a low growl.

Loki gave a low chuckle. "I was under the impression that you enjoyed it," he whispered in her ear.

"Don't be ridiculous," she retorted. "I would never kiss you. Never."

Loki backed away, still half smirking. "Good. Because I did it for the mission and the mission alone. Don't think any more of it."

Gwen nodded, crossing her arms and scowling at him. "Glad to hear we're on the same page." Loki turned in his heel and left, heading towards the vehicle.

Behind her, Gwen heard a burst of laughter. She turned to see Tony, laughing heartily and clapping slowly. "Did I hear that right, Copperfield? Reindeer Games actually sucked face with you?"

The young blonde groaned in frustration and annoyance. Just great. If Tony knew, she knew that everyone would know by the end of the night. Tony couldn't keep his mouth shut.

Tony took her silence as confirmation and he laughed even louder. "I… this is just perfect. This is hilarious."

"Yes, so funny, I forgot how to laugh," hissed Gwen, not in the mood to be teased about something like this. "And if you could keep your big, fat mouth shut about this for once in your life, that would be nice."

"Alright. Calm down, Clarice. No need to sic your cannibal on me." He grinned again. "Come on. Even you have to admit it's a little funny."

Gwen refused to answer his question, and she left to avoid any further conversation with him. She made her way to the van and climbed inside, sitting as far away from Loki as possible.