Zemo's butler was cooking breakfast early the next morning, and was the only person besides myself who was up. It was a full layout of crepes, bacon, eggs, toast, fresh fruit, and tea. I took a little bit of everything, gathered it on a tray, and went back to my room without a word. I would let Zemo and the others think I was still angry and had no desire to sit at a table with anyone this morning.

Loki woke up after I shut the door and cleared the vanity to place the tray down. "Eat up," I told him. "And don't you dare try to claim you're not hungry. Your stomach woke me up."

"Good morning to you, too," he smirked. He leaned down to kiss me. "Thank you. Only enough for one, though?"

"I couldn't very well take breakfast for two without arousing suspicion. Sam and Bucky will be suspicious as is that I grabbed breakfast in the first place." They both knew I didn't normally eat except out of politeness in social situations or to keep up appearances, or when Loki was home.

"If you need to tell them, go ahead. I know how you feel about keeping secrets from your friends."

I raised an eyebrow. "Don't you mean our friends?"

Loki scoffed. "They only put up with me because of you." He went to the vanity to sit and I sighed. It was a tired argument at this point, and I wished Loki would start believing me when I told him that the others genuinely wanted him around. As he began to eat, I opened the closet in search of something to wear that wasn't a skimpy stripper dress. Staring back at me was a pair of shiny, brand new, leather pants. "This man is trying to kill me."

"I believe you mean that he's trying to kill me," Loki replied, sipping tea and munching bacon as he watched.

I found a dark green top to go with it, and a pair of brand new leather boots in my size. "At least these don't have heels." I went to the dresser to get a pair of "underwear".

"Now, I would scarce complain if you chose to keep those."

"Only if you wear them, too." I shucked my robe off and began to dress.

It was his turn to raise a brow. "You think I won't?"

I knew he would. I'd seen his female form, numerous times. He/she could definitely pull these off, BUT. "Tell you what. If you can look me in the eye after a day of wearing a pair and tell me, in all honesty, that you find these at all comfortable, I won't just wear them for you, I'll crawl around the apartment and bring you your slippers in them." I saw his eyes glitter, and I inwardly smirked. He had no idea what he was in for with these sadistic little instruments of torment.

I was pulling the shirt on when I sensed it. The emotions coming from someone outside. Anger bordering on rage. Determination. Extreme focus. Expectation. Someone was watching this hotel, and I had a strong suspicion I knew why.

"What is it?" Loki asked when he saw me pause.

"Someone is outside watching us. Not us," I corrected when I felt a flash of guilt from him. "The group in general." I went over to the window and opened it.

"What are you doing?" He asked when I began to climb out.

"Just going to investigate."

"I'm coming with you."

I shook my head. "Stay, finish eating. This doesn't feel dangerous, at least not for me." Loki started to get that stubborn look on his face. "Loki. Remember what Sam said about how we needed to learn to compromise?" He opened his mouth anyway. "We're trying to keep your presence a secret, remember?"

He shut his mouth at the reminder, but he still didn't look happy.

"I'll signal if I need help, I promise." That made him feel a little better, and he dug into his eggs while I climbed down a building for what seemed like the hundredth time in less than 24 hours.

I jumped off the fire escape ladder, turned, and there she was.

She was a gorgeous African woman with a shaved head, dressed in a red and gold uniform that I recognized from pictures as well as the couple of times I walked in on Nat talking to Okoye. The spear she carried was deceptively primitive looking, but I knew better. I'd seen the videos of those things in action.

She didn't look at all surprised to see me out here. Well, the Avengers and the Wakandans were allies. There weren't many secrets between the groups, and they wouldn't have even thought about keeping me a secret from them. Based on what I was picking up from her, she knew all about me and knew what I could do. In fact, she was surprised I hadn't come out to confront her sooner.

"Um...hi?" Good Lord, but she was intimidating. She wasn't even blinking as she stared at me, then her eyes moved up and down, taking me all in.

"I need you to deliver a message to the White Wolf," she spoke in a very thick Wakandan accent, her voice rich and melodious.

I knew the White Wolf was Bucky. "I'm all ears." I kept my usual cheek and snark to myself. I'd heard the lectures. You did not give the Dora Milaje attitude.

She was mildly surprised. She had expected me to respond with sarcasm. "We are not happy that he chose to break Zemo out of prison. He murdered our King."

I blew out a breath. "Ah, yeah. Just so you know...I had nothing to do with that, and if you want, I'll gladly turn him over to you. He's been nothing but a pain in the ass."

She shook her head. "No. After what he did to James, he would never have freed that man without a very good reason. We are content to watch, for now. But not for long."

"Bucky thinks Zemo can help us find Steve Rogers."

She nodded. "That is why we are giving him time."

"How much time?"

"I will let you know." Then her eyes raked me up and down again. "You could benefit from training with us."

That remark surprised me.

"Tell him what I said. We are watching, and if we do not like what we see, we will come for Zemo." She was hiding it well on the outside, but I knew inside she was seething with rage...and guilt.

"You were there when he died, weren't you?" I asked quietly.

She just smiled. "You are good." Then she walked away.

"What was it?" Loki asked when I climbed back through the window.

"Some very pissed off Wakandans. They want Zemo. Bad."

He cut off a bite of crepe. "They can have him as far as I'm concerned." He patted his lap, and when I sat, he offered the bit of crepe to me on his fork. I leaned in to accept the offer.

"I offered to drag him out of the hotel for her."

He chuckled. "I would have loved to have seen that." Loki fed me another bite of crepe, then frowned when we both heard movement in the other rooms. Another reminder that this was not a romantic getaway. I helped him finish his breakfast, then he framed my face in his hands and kissed me deeply. "Love you," he whispered and then there was the flash of green light, and I held the amulet in my palm.

"I love you, too," I kissed the amulet then strung it around my neck.

Neither Bucky nor Sam said anything about the empty breakfast tray I carried into the kitchen. I handed it off to the butler, then heard Zemo's voice from behind the magazine he was reading. "So. Why were you climbing down the side of the hotel earlier?"

"I needed to talk to the Dora Milaje who was watching this place like a hawk."

Bucky froze in the act of drinking his coffee. "The Wakandans are here?"

"What do they want?" Sam asked.

"Oh, she just wanted my makeup tips. What do you think they want? They want him!" I gestured towards Zemo. "They are not happy about him being out of prison, and they know you," I pointed at Bucky, "broke him out. They aren't very thrilled with you at the moment."

"Shit. Are they coming for him?" Bucky asked.

"Not yet. But they want us to know that they're tailing us, and will be ready to swoop in and scoop Zemo up the second they spot something amiss. But I received the very strong impression that they aren't going to allow that much time, so if he's going to be useful at all, he had better get to it and stop stalling us with visits to his old buddies."

Bucky shook his head. "Why didn't they come to me?"

"Probably cause they're mad at you," I pointed out. "They didn't really come to me either. I sensed her out there, that's why I went to the alley."

"No. She wanted you to sense her. The Wakandans know all about you and your abilities. They have the technology to deal with them. If you picked up on her presence, it's because she let you."

I figured as much, and I had no doubt that there had been other Dora Milaje out there whose presence I was unaware of. It also further solidified my fears that whoever had Steve would have the ability to fool my empathic senses. If the Wakandans could hide themselves from me, then...

Sam interrupted my thoughts. "In other words, no more wasting our time, Zemo."

"The trip to the club to see Selby was not a waste of time," Zemo insisted, using a tiny pair of tongs to drop a single sugar cube into his tea. He picked up a spoon and stirred it, the tinks echoing off the porcelain making me wince. Bastard was doing that on purpose, and he didn't stop after a couple of stirs. He kept right on going. "Selby was targeted specifically because we went to see her, which means someone is covering their tracks. I believe I know who that someone is."

Tink, tink, tink...I rolled my shoulders and cracked my neck, but I did not give in to the urge to grab the hand with the spoon. I felt the amulet on my chest warm up, and I reached over to it and flicked it, making it spin. I would pay for that later, but Loki needed to be reminded that at the moment he was a necklace. Necklaces did not engage in testosterone fueled displays of machismo because some petty European douchebag was being a petty European douchebag.

The childish Baron continued to talk. "Selby worked for the Power Broker, but she had a rather adversarial relationship with them as well."

"That's the second time you've said that name," Bucky pointed out. "Who or what is a Power Broker?"

I was curious about that myself. I had noticed the name in some of the graffiti plastered around Madripoor. It had reminded me of the graffiti I'd seen around some of the seedier sections of New York featuring the name Kingpin, the crime boss who had created a lot of problems for the city years back. There were rumors that he was still pulling shit from prison, but I didn't investigate seeing as how there were individuals far more qualified than I handling it. I only read up on the whole mess as yet another part of my education about this Earth. That's how I wound up reading even more rumors about the people who were handling the Kingpin stuff.

I hadn't said anything to the Avengers about "the Devil of Hell's Kitchen" or the detective with the superpowers. I figured if they wanted anything to do with us, they would have contacted the Avengers themselves long before now seeing as how those individuals had been active for years. I had a feeling Steve and company already knew about them anyway. I couldn't say I blamed the people for avoiding the Avengers...hell, I wanted to strangle them all in their sleep at times, and I liked them for the most part.

Back on track...among the criminals of New York, the Kingpin was, well, king. He was the top dog, the one that other criminals feared. He was tagged in the graffiti as a warning to not get on his bad side. That's the impression I had been getting from the Power Broker graffiti, and Zemo's words now were confirming that.

"...no one is really sure who they are. They came to power during the five years of the Blip, and remained even after people came back. In that time, they have managed to gain quite the hold, developed connections with any number of high-profile individuals in the world of crime. If there is something going on, it is a good bet that the Power Broker has some hand in it."

He opened up the laptop that was sitting next to his breakfast plate. "There have been rumors going around in the Madripoor underworld. Volunteers being sought after to test a new drug that is said to enhance performance. Said to give greater strength and make a person superhuman. They started very recently, within the last week. Tell me again how long it typically takes to synthesize the super soldier serum from a human blood sample?"

Steve had been missing for six months, going on seven. Fuck.

"It would explain the syringes. And the blood," Sam looked at me. I must have looked as sick as I felt at that moment. He pulled out a chair while gazing at me with a concerned expression, but I waved him off. There was no way I could sit. I started pacing.

"So, what are you doing now?" Sam asked Zemo as the man pecked at the laptop keyboard.

"Using the internet to check up on the rumors and attempt to trace them to the source." Zemo's fingers went peck peck peck and I finally couldn't take it anymore.

I walked over, grabbed the back of his chair, dragged it with Zemo still sitting in it away from the table, snatched another chair, and pulled it up to the laptop where I settled. "Seriously, I know Asgardians who never touched an Earth computer in their lives and type like eighty-year-old grandmas who could do better! Leave the hacking to the professionals..." I shook my head in irritation as my fingers danced across the keys and my eyes scanned the screen. At least this I could do.

"I would appreciate it if you did not break my computer," Zemo remarked as he watched my hands' rapid-fire movements, my eyes riveted to the screen.

"You're rich. You can buy a new one," I retorted as I hacked through another firewall, bypassed more security, and hit a password wall. It took all of five minutes to get around it, and I had an address. Sam had been watching over my shoulder and was now keying the address into his gauntlet. "Looks like they're asking all volunteers to come here."

I watched Sam as he looked up the address. He glanced at my face, which I gathered was wearing a pleading expression, because he shook his head and informed me, "It's not another club."

Good. I wasn't planning on slutting it up again even if it were anyway, but at least I'd be spared the empathic onslaught and the odor of unwashed bodies.

"Well, if we're doing this," Bucky stated. "Then, this time, we're doing it our way."

Bucky's way turned out to be him, Sam, and Zemo going in undercover while I patrolled around the outside of the warehouse this time in case our little friend decided to show up again. I was more than okay with that, especially when the address turned out to be an abandoned warehouse in a slightly less seedier part of Madripoor. Very slight. As the men went in, I circled the block taking in the scents of rotting food, waste products of various types, assorted chemicals, rats, cats, mildew, and old lead. Plenty of people, but no familiar scents and blessedly few vibes. There were a couple of homeless but they were harmless.

There was a Mosque in the area on the route I laid out for myself, which was no surprise. Madripoor was in the Indonesian archipelago afterall. The vast majority of Indonesians were Muslim. I crossed the property line onto the Mosque grounds, and that's when it happened.

For the first time in my life, ever, I heard...silence. In my head. Complete, utter, blessed, peaceful silence.

There were no emotions from other people bombarding me. There was no pain from the constant strain of having to filter out the feelings from other individuals. I felt like a tight band that had been constricting me had been completely knocked loose. I could breathe. Tears sprang to my eyes at the complete quiet I was experiencing. It was wonderful.

The mere memory of other people's emotions had been swept away. I had been constantly carrying the burden of the deaths of an entire universe, trillions of people, on my heart. Every day had been as though I had just felt all those trillions of deaths that very same day, but in an instant, it was gone. It was just gone. That burden had been lifted from me

I leaned against one of the posts surrounding the Mosque's entrance and closed my eyes. There were other people around...there were people inside the Mosque praying. I could hear them chanting and praying in Aramaic, the men and the women in their segregated spaces with the Iman leading, I knew they were there but I couldn't feel them. Tears fell down my cheeks as I realized I couldn't tell what any of them were feeling or what their intentions were.

I was at peace. I trembled as a sense of home poured over me. Then I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Tracy," Loki's voice whispered in my ear. "You're...I don't know how to put this. You're glowing."

Huh?

I opened my eyes, looking back into his. "You're supposed to be a necklace. I've only been here for a few seconds."

Loki was looking at me oddly. "Pet, you have been leaning against this column in front of this place for twenty minutes. The prayer services here ended, but somehow the people leaving managed to miss you. I'm not sure how, since...well, you're glowing."

I frowned then lifted my hand to look at it.

And sure enough, it was surrounded by a brilliant white light, much like the form that my magic took when I manifested it. A dazzling white-silver glow that I realized, as I looked down at myself, covered me from head to toe. "Well...that's new."

Loki grabbed my arm and lead me away from the column, off the Mosque's grounds, and the glowing stopped. So did the silence. I cried out, and Loki had to catch me from falling to the ground as my mind was flooded with the return of all the noise I'd been saddled with all of my life. The emotions of other people, including his, invading every nuance of my psyche, to the point where I couldn't tell where my own feelings began. I grit my teeth, breathing hard.

He hugged me to his chest, cradling my head against his heart. "I had assumed you had stopped there to see what you could pick up with your empathy, so I didn't bother you. But when twenty minutes had passed and you hadn't moved..."

I shook my head. "I wasn't picking up anything, Loki, that's just it. I stopped feeling anything. It was like my empathy was shut off, and my thoughts, my feelings, were my own. For the first time ever, they were my own. Even all that shit from the wave I was smacked with when my universe died was gone. It was so quiet..." I was still crying. I wanted it back, I wanted that sense of peace, I wanted to be alone in my own head again.

Loki's hand stilled and I could feel him thinking. "Is this the first time you had stepped foot on hallowed ground since you came here?"

"What? Of cou—wait." I stepped back. I had to think, and I thought hard as I picked at my memory. Come to think of it...since I came here, I hadn't been to any place that could be considered sacred. No church, no mosque, no other place of worship, no cemeteries. "I guess it is."

Out of curiosity, I stepped away from Loki and back over the border of the Mosque's grounds. The glow suffused me again. I stepped back and the glow faded away. I stepped onto the grounds and it returned. I stepped back, then started to step over again when Loki grabbed my arm in exasperation. "Alright, you. I see I'll have to keep an eye on you when I take you anywhere from now on."

"You gotta admit, it's a neat party trick." Then again, if I ever found myself on a mission where I had to sneak around in a church or a graveyard for some odd reason, the glowing would not be helpful. Assuming it did work in places other than mosques. "I wonder if there are any churches around? Actually, I think I saw a Buddhist shrine..."

Loki rolled his eyes. "You're supposed to be patrolling!"

"Party pooper." He was right though. "Thanks for snapping me out of it. It was just so...nice...not to be..."

He reached over to stroke my face. "I understand." In a green flash he was hanging around my neck again as an amulet. I blew out a breath and rubbed a hand over my face. Right. Patrol.

Nothing had really changed in the twenty minutes I had been out, and I couldn't believe it had been that long. I could sense the men were still in the warehouse, and I didn't catch any new scents when I circled the block again. I didn't sense anything bad going on, nothing that would require my intervening, so I continued to wander around and made sure I avoided the mosque. I didn't want to give into the temptation to linger there again.

On my third round I caught a scent that made me growl. I slowed my stride, and followed it. Keeping to the shadows, I crept down an alley, making sure I only came close enough to the source to hear what he was saying.

"...think three Avengers can just waltz around here without being noticed. I told them not to keep us in the dark, and she's not supposed to be involved in the investigation into Rogers! I'll arrest her for sure now..." John Walker was saying to Lamar, whose scent I caught too.

I was pretty sure that Walker had absolutely no jurisdiction here and couldn't arrest anyone, but I was still pretty annoyed.

"They were seen around here. They had Zemo with them...we'll nail them to the wall for this..."

Idiots. They were going to fuck this up, all to appease his fragile ego. God, I hated this man. And he was way too close to the warehouse where the men were for my comfort.

I had to get him away from here before he caused problems, but I didn't want to be arrested either. Madripoor had no extradition treaty with the States, and I was sure Walker didn't have the power to toss me into prison just for me being here, but I didn't want to take any chances. Though he had no proof that I was involved with anything to do with Steve, and he lacked proof that any of us were here for Steve in the first place. For all anyone knew the "three" (and it felt very weird to consider that I was being counted in that—I was staff, for fuck's sake) Avengers were here on vacation. Zemo's presence might be harder to explain. Maybe after all the trouble he caused we decided he owed us an all-expenses paid trip?

Yeah, right.

I decided to climb up a fire escape to get a better vantage point and think about how I was going to get them away from here. As I landed on the roof, with the air clearer up here, I was able to pick up more scents from the surrounding area. Walker and Lamar I continued to keep track of. There were some more homeless people out and about dumpster diving. I smelled flour, yeast, and sugar, and looked over to see a donut shop. There was a large truck parked outside of it, and it looked like the workers were loading donuts into the back of the vehicle. Sounds carried by the wind revealed a nice crowd of people a few blocks away with some music playing and cameras flashing.

I suddenly got a very, very bad idea. It wasn't just bad. It was horrible, a completely out-of-my-ass plan to put all other bad plans to shame.

I touched the "amulet" sitting between my breasts. "Just a reminder...you're a necklace, and necklaces forfeit all rights to lecture and complain when their wearers do something outrageously stupid."

It was hard to read Loki when he was an inanimate object, which is why it had taken me so long to realize what the "amulet" actually was. But I got the sense that he just became wary. He wasn't shapeshifting in order to question me though. "And since you're not standing before me to yell at me about being an idiot for even thinking this up, you also forfeit all right to say a single damn word to me anytime in the future about this."

Definite wariness now, but he stayed quiet. Well, he couldn't say that I didn't warn him.

I ran over to the side of the roof that was facing the donut shop, braced myself, then leapt to the other building across the alley. Another running leap carried me across the street to the top of the building that hosted the donut bakery.

The area around the delivery truck was clear, no one was inside, so I jumped down and landed on the truck's hood. I slid off and, not giving myself time to have second or third thoughts, jumped into the driver's seat. The keys were in the ignition, so I started the engine and then gunned it.

The tires screeched as I made a sharp turn, doing donuts (no pun intended) on the asphalt. I drove onto the sidewalk to avoid the donut shop employees who were running at me, took a corner at 50 miles an hour, and generally drove in a way that would have had even Thor screaming for his mama. Once I was clear of the sidewalk my foot slammed the accelerator and I made a beeline for the next street over, where I could still scent Walker though the open window on the driver's side.

As I turned down that street, I blared the horn as I sped past the patriotic duo making their way down an alley. I heard Lamar's "What the hell..." and then John's loud swearing as he recognized me. Well, I wasn't exactly hiding my identity from him since I was waving and grinning like a damn fool at him.

They started running. They were only human and couldn't keep up with me, but that was okay because the trail of donuts I left as I drove the truck with the backdoors still opened showed them where to go. I slowed down nevertheless, and then turned towards the music and the smell of barbeque. I tried not to look in the mirrors. I made the mistake of glancing at one very briefly, and the sight of Walker running down the street flailing his arms with that shield while shouting was almost enough to make me crash into a phone pole.

I turned a corner and saw the party going on. I slowed down, and then honked the horn. Within minutes the truck was surrounded by hungry people who were still waiting on the barbeque that was wasn't quite ready for consumption if my nose was anything to go by (and it was), especially after I stuck my head out the window and shouted "FREE DONUTS!"

I parked the truck, then shut up the irate donut shop owner, who had arrived in another car, by giving him Tony's platinum card. I had it because, in addition to being the computer person, I was also the Avengers' gofer. I did the shopping, kept the kitchen stocked, occasionally went out to get meals when a meeting ran long. As the owner ran it on his phone, I resigned myself to the fact that I was going to be spending a morning with a very irate Tony yelling at me soon. Well, it wouldn't be the first time.

"Hey, isn't she the new Avenger? I seen her around with them anyway..."

"She was with Falcon and Winter Soldier, wasn't she?"

I tried not to wince at the words as the gossip spread through the crowd like wildfire, and smiled and waved. The happy donut shop owner gave me back the card and donuts were being passed around when an out of breath Walker ran up. "You! You are under arrest!" he shouted at me, and the crowd went nuts.

"For what? I'm just here giving out free donuts because I decided this party needed some," I responded, watching as John's back was pelted with flying pastries.

"You shouldn't even be in Madripoor!" John shouted as he used the shield as cover from the donuts the booing crowd continued to throw at him.

"Why not? I'm allowed to travel, and vacation where I like. Madripoor is pretty at night, has nice beaches, all sorts of neat cultural and historical hotspots, and besides...these donuts are good." I grabbed one a person held out to me and bit into it. Well, that was not a lie...they were good. "You really want to mess with the vibe of the atmosphere when all I'm doing is spreading some Avengers goodwill by giving away free food?"

John looked around at the crowd, who were holding up cellphones and taking video. Lamar placed a restraining hand on his shoulder and whispered something in his ear. I couldn't make it out with the noise of the other people around us, but John sighed, shot daggers at me, and let Lamar lead him away. His whole face under the Captain America cowl was red as he turned.

People were taking pictures of me and asking me questions, but I kept an eye on the men as a limo drove up. They climbed into it and the vehicle drove off. I didn't know where they were going, and didn't care as long as it was away from here.

It took me a few minutes to remove myself from the mass of people who were still shouting questions and handing me donuts and other food. I wasn't sure what the concoction was that someone handed me in order to wash it all down, but whatever it was made my teeth buzz and my vision black out for a moment. I finally gave the people one last smile and wave, the grinning sugar-buzzed mass waved back, and I took my small bag of assorted food stuffs and made myself disappear down an alley, up a fire escape, and to a corner ledge that was hidden in the shadows of a neighboring building.

It was then that the flash of green light that I was expecting appeared, and I grabbed a donut from my bag of goodies and crammed it into Loki's mouth right as he opened it. "Nope. I gave you a chance to say something, and you passed it up. You don't get to say shit now."

He stared at me as he slowly took the donut from his mouth, and those piercing eyes stayed fixed on me while he chewed.

I grinned back at him. "They really are good, aren't they?"

The only answer I got was a sigh.