Loki and Bucky had decided that I would have a massively unfair advantage in a game of Poker, and I could see their point. I wasn't crazy about betting games anyway, and I also knew that a game of Poker between these two ultra-competitive, testosterone fueled egos would escalate into something that wouldn't be conducive to keeping Loki a secret from Zemo, even with a sound bubble around the room. Spades and Hearts were out, as both games required four people and I expressly forbade the men from going to wake Sam up—I had felt how exhausted he was. We decided on Rummy, playing until it was time to go or we got bored with it, whichever came first.

It started out as a calm, slow game, especially since Bucky and I had to teach Loki how to play. But a combination of the aforementioned testosterone and elevated blood sugar levels from all the donuts they had eaten turned the game into something a wee bit more exciting. So much so that I kept having to reinforce the sound bubble so the, erm, revelry wouldn't leak out into the rest of the suite. It reminded me a great deal of my college days. Back then I hung out with a group of guys who played Dungeons and Dragons in one of the common rooms of the men's dorm, and those games got...well, there wasn't really an adequate word. "Intense" would have been an improvement. I once witnessed a chair go flying across the room to smash into pieces on the opposite wall. It had happened because one of the players had rolled a one when attempting to take out a vampire with an arrow. Good times.

I guess men never grew out of it, and it didn't matter if they were mortal or not either.

Just like with those D&D games, I became more of a spectator, nibbling on a donut while watching the two of them. Amazingly, some of the donuts had survived the carnage of a god and a super soldier descending upon them. There was at least one explanation for that: Neither of them liked coconut, which I hadn't known. I loved it, so I happily munched on a chocolate donut coated in toasted coconut while becoming aware that Sam had finally woken up.

Ten minutes later, Sam knocked on the door before letting himself in and closing the door behind him. He took a donut out of the box I held out to him, nodded at Loki, then asked me, "Your amulet?"

I nearly choked as I felt Loki's indignation right before he muttered, "You mortals really are too smart for your own good."

"Come on man, it was glowing green at the club after Tracy was shot. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out. You just need to expand your color palatte. What're you guys playing?"

We switched to Spades, another game that we had to teach to Loki, him and myself verses Sam and Bucky. After several minutes, and several more donuts down Sam's gullet, I was the only one at the game table who didn't have a sugar buzz going. Sugar had no effect on me anymore, just as alcohol and caffeine didn't. I was glad, because I remembered what a crash from a sugar high felt like, and I almost felt bad for the guys knowing what was coming later.

I stopped thinking about it when I felt what was coming towards the suite. Anger and determination, followed by desperation and a desire for calm. I had frozen and turned my head to stare at the door, cards still in hand. "What is it?" Sam asked, and Loki and Bucky fell silent.

Moments after I had felt those emotions, the scents drifted in and then I heard the voices and footsteps. I sighed. "We're about to have company."

"Who?" Bucky asked.

I turned my head back, directed my eyes towards the donuts that were still left, and then looked at the guys.

"Fuck," Sam threw down his cards. "Stay here," he told me, placing a hand on my shoulder to keep me seated when I started to get up. He and Bucky left the room, shutting the door. I scowled as Loki gathered up all the abandoned cards.

"Like I couldn't take Walker with one hand tied behind my back and blindfolded..."

"It's not about that," Loki responded as he shuffled the deck. "They don't want to give that pretender more reason to harass you. And I happen to agree with them." He smiled at my disbelieving stare. "Yes, Pet, there are times when even I can find no reason not to see merit in some decisions made by mortals."

About that time, we heard the door slam open as a booted foot kicked it. I reflexively surged out of my seat.

"Pet."

And sat back down after hearing Loki bark out his nickname for me in that tone of voice. My face burned. Even after being with him for a little over a year, I felt embarrassment that I obeyed him so damn easily. I had a funny feeling it would be that way even a hundred or a thousand years from now.

"Alright, joke's over! I know she's here, hand her over...and while I'm at it, I'll take him, too!" I knew Walker was talking about Zemo, who had been roused by Walker's entrance and had come out of his room to witness the latest drama unfold.

"She? She who?" Bucky asked.

"Don't play dumb. The brunette with the doggy nose and the attitude problem."

"Doggy nose?" I hissed, starting to get up again. I sat back down when I saw Loki's glare. "I'll show him 'attitude problem'..."

"Not today," Loki replied. He finished shuffling. "High Card?"

"Even if she were here, you have no jurisdiction, Walker. You can't arrest her. You have no evidence that she has anything to do with the search for Steve, anyway. You don't even have evidence that's why we're here for that matter."

"So, I'm supposed to believe you're here, with a terrorist you broke out of prison, on vacation? Please."

I took the card Loki dealt me, but didn't flip it yet. I was busy listening.

"He broke himself out of prison. We just decided to take advantage," Bucky retorted.

I snorted.

"Right. Either way, he needs to go back to prison. Hand him over or I'll take him by force."

"Madripoor has no extradition treaty with the US, and you don't have the jurisdiction to take him," Sam said.

Loki cleared his throat and flipped his card. I turned mine over. I had a nine of clubs to his Jack of spades. "Shoe," he told me and I blinked.

I didn't think so. I was going to nip this in the bud. Now. "I know you aren't trying to start a game of strip poker with me while they're out there..."

"Shoe."

"Bite me."

He arched a brow. "Do you really want to tell me to do that, Pet?"

Shit. When he put it that way, in that silky voice of his? I took off one of my shoes and handed it over. It was just footwear. Surely he wouldn't...

He dealt me another card. I stared at him, aghast. He just looked at me.

"I don't need jurisdiction to take a known criminal back into custody! I might be willing to let things slide regarding Dog-Girl..."

"Excuse the fuck out of me?" I started to get up again. But something was holding me down, and I realized Loki was using telekinesis to keep me from barging out of the room so I could feed Walker my fist.

I glared at him. Loki was feigning calm as he worked to keep me under control, but I knew better. He was royally pissed and wanted to tear Walker a new one even more badly than I did.

"Stop that and show your card," he ordered as he flipped his to show the ten of hearts. I quit struggling with an exasperated huff, and flipped. Seven of diamonds. "Other shoe." He correctly interpreted the look on my face. "Throw it, and I will drape you over my knees and won't let you up even if the others come back in here."

He meant it. Every word. Since I really didn't want to be spanked in front of our friends, I exercised a great deal of restraint by handing him the damn shoe with a growl. He set it aside, as cool and collected as ever, and dealt another card.

"...but we have plenty of evidence of his crimes. He's serving a life sentence for them!"

I didn't particularly care about Walker taking Zemo. The man was about as helpful as a bucket with a hole in the bottom. I knew Bucky still thought Zemo could be useful though, so I really hoped Sam and Bucky figured out a way to prevent Walker taking Zemo back to prison before things escalated.

If the scents I was now picking up were any indication, they were about to.

While I was processing the new smells, I lost both of my socks. I thought that would be the end. I had hoped that would be it. Then another card slid over to me. "Are you fucking ser-"

Loki tsked. "I'm always serious, Pet." He looked at me expectantly as he flipped his card. I sighed and flipped mine. I whipped my belt off with a snap before handing it over.

He had to be done now.

He wasn't. He dealt another card right at the time I heard the sound of metal striking wood. Or rather embedding itself into it. I heard the telltale vibrations of a certain extraterrestrial element, then the soft footfalls of two women. I recognized one of them as the one I had spoken to days ago (and I felt bad that I didn't know her name).

"Time is up. We have seen no indication that Zemo has been useful in your search. We will take him now," she stated to the men.

Loki had the high card again. I bit my tongue before I accused him of cheating. I had no shoes, no socks, no belt, so what-

He nodded at my shirt. My jaw fell open. "Are you insane? They're right outside! And they're about to fight! What if someone gets tossed through the wall, or they need help? Or Zemo tries to get away, and none of them can go after him for whatever reason?"

Loki tapped the edge of his card on the table, staring at me with that infuriatingly placid and cool gaze. I knew the tactic. I knew, because it was one I used. Stare at the person until they become uncomfortable and willing to say or do whatever you want just to make you stop.

And damn it, it worked.

It was a nice shirt, so instead of ripping it off like I wanted to, I carefully unbuttoned it while listening to Walker make an ass of himself. What a shocker.

"...now, let's put down the pointy sticks..."

"Patronizing ass. I hope they skewer him," I muttered as my face flamed. Loki was enjoying the show, and it was a long one because this shirt had a lot of buttons. I finally got it open all the way, and tossed it to Loki. He folded it neatly and placed it on the chair next to him where he had also put my belt and socks, and I sat down as another card slid over to me.

I stared at it in resignation while listening to Sam trying to warn Walker before he completely pissed the Wakandans off. Sometimes that man was way too nice. "Take it easy, John. You'll want to fight Bucky before taking on the Dora Milaje."

"The Dora Milaje have no jurisdiction here!"

I stared at the door in disbelief. "Did he really just say that?"

"Yes. Yes, he did. Show your card, Pet," Loki remarked dismissively. He won again. Of course. He smiled. "Pants, love."

"Oh, no. No no no. If you think for a minute I'm sitting on these hotel room chairs with my bare ass..."

"It won't be bare, you have underwear on."

"Calling what I'm wearing 'underwear' is being extremely generous!"

Loki shrugged. "They cover the important stuff."

"Loki, they can walk in at any moment!" And he was back to that damn stare. I was totally getting back at him later. My blush covered my entire body as I stood up, popped the button, unzipped, and shimmied out of the pants. I folded them and handed them over. "Happy?"

"Yes, very much so, thank you." Loki's eyes roamed up and down my form appreciatively before I took my seat.

I had missed what was being said while I was arguing with Loki over the pants. As I had predicted, a fight had erupted and it sounded like John was being made to eat dirt. Over the various sounds, I heard Sam say in a low voice, "We should do something."

"Looking good, John!" Bucky shouted.

"Bucky," Sam responded irately.

The sounds of the fighting escalated. I tensed, primed to spring up and join in if it seemed like additional help was needed. Then I felt the edge of another card slide under my fingers on the table. "Really?" That did it. When we got home, I was taking the wheels off Loki's Rolls Royce.

"Yes, really," Loki answered as he flipped his card over. I glared at him mutinously "Do you really want to give everyone out there a show that badly?"

My body was on fire as I remembered that I was half-naked. I flipped the card. This time I didn't bite my tongue. "You're cheating!"

"My love, it hurts that you believe that." No, it didn't. Loki was enjoying this.

I picked up some alarming emotions. Watchfulness, eagerness, calculation. Uh oh. "Zemo's trying to slip out!"

Loki waved my concern off. "I have it covered. Bra. Now."

"What do you mean, you have it covered?"

"Such skepticism from you really does hurt, Pet." Loki leaned back in his chair, placing his hands behind his head while propping his feet on the table. "You owe me your bra."

I felt a jolt of anger, with a sprinkle of humiliation. Boy, could I relate. I unhooked my bra, and tossed it over. I decided then and there that I was going to procure a pair of those fake testicles that rednecks liked to hang on the backs of their trucks to attach to Loki's car. I would find some way to make sure he wouldn't notice them until he spent an entire day driving around with them hanging on his vehicle. The resulting punishment would likely be as painful as it would be fun, but it would be worth it.

After I tossed it over, Loki set it aside with the rest of my clothes, and then crooked his finger to beckon me over. "You can't be serious. You can't be serious! Do you hear what's going on out there! And what about Zemo? What did you-"

"Stop speaking, and come here."

I was absolutely flabbergasted, and so in shock at his utter disregard, his nonchalance, that I just froze and looked at him in stunned silence. "Don't make me tell you again, Pet," Loki warned. He was still calm but his tone took on a threatening edge that I knew alto well.

If he knew how much I wanted to hit him at that moment, he would not be so eager to have me come closer. "We are not doing this now," I stated firmly. At the rate he was going, he would be lucky if we did it ever again.

"One," he said.

I didn't think it were possible for my jaw to drop any further, but it did. "Are you counting me down?"

"I am keeping track of the number of swats you are earning," he answered. "Two."

My hands were balled into fists at this point, and I reluctantly stepped over to him. Loki watched me, his eyes hungry, but I wasn't feeling the usual emotions from him that I normally picked up in these situations. That confused me enough that I stopped moving, so Loki grabbed my hips and tugged me closer. His fingers played with the ribbons tied in bows at my hips as we stared into each other's eyes. "Still want to shred me, Pet?"

I felt it then. Loki had no intention of going where I thought he was going to go with this. I felt a chaotic mix coming from him. Concern, desperation...and rage. The last was so pronounced that I blanched and only his arms locking around me prevented me from jumping off his lap and crawling away. "I'm not angry at you, Pet," Loki assured me. I knew that, but just like with jumping at the sound of a balloon popping or a car backfiring, it was a reflex action. Negative emotions like anger made me flinch whether they were directed at me or not, especially when they came from someone I was close to.

And Loki was livid.

I realized it was quiet outside. That threw me off, too. Wasn't there just a no-holds barred free-for-all going on?

Resignation. Humiliation...lots of humiliation. Anger. They were verbally arguing in low voices now, but I didn't pay much attention to what was being said. I was way too confused, and now that the adrenaline from my own anger had drained off, I had a severe case of the shakes. I felt dizzy and I would have fallen off Loki's lap for sure if he weren't holding me. "Whoa...fuck."

"Yes, I knew that would happen. It does whenever you get that angry. It is another reason I didn't want you going out there. You might have the angel's protective instincts making you want to join in the battle, but it seems your physiology is not yet equipped to handle that adrenaline surge."

I had leaned my head against his shoulder so he couldn't see me bare my teeth, but I'm sure he heard it in my voice when I gritted out, "For the thousandth time: I. Am. Not. An—FUCK!"

He had given me the two swats he had decided I earned, plus one more because he was fond of doing things in threes. Now my ass was on fire in addition to the room spinning. My grip on his arms tightened. I'm pretty sure if he weren't a Frost Giant, I would have cracked his humeri.

"Is that why you instigated that game of strip poker? To distract me?"

"Yes, but it was to distract me as well. John Walker infuriates me, and when he called you..." Loki inhaled and then exhaled in his own attempt to calm down. "I wanted nothing more than to go out there and crack his neck open so I could rip his spine out like a lawnmower ripcord, but I knew that wouldn't help anyone. I chose instead to focus on you, especially since you were chomping at the bit to join in despite knowing that doing so may well have created more problems for you in the long run."

He was right. I had been ready to rush out there and do something I would have regretted. With my strength? If I had so much as slapped Walker, I would have killed him. As much of a hard time I was getting from him, and probably would get from others once I got home, things would have been much, much worse if I had done that.

I hadn't been thinking, letting my temper override my reason. I really needed to stop doing that.

I was shivering now, so Loki used his magic to dress me in the clothes I had taken off. He continued to hold me since the room was still doing tilt-a-whirls for me. It was for his benefit as well. Walker was gone. I had heard him and Lamar leave, and their scents were fading, but Loki was still pissed. He still wanted to chase Walker down to defend my honor.

As nice as it was to be in his lap with his hand rubbing my back, we couldn't stay in here forever. "Loki..."

"I know you want to check on them." Loki let out a put-upon sigh. "And I suppose I should release Zemo from the trap..."

I leaned back and looked at him.

He cleared his throat. "You'll see." He patted my bottom and I got up.

He had me strip for him for a good reason. Was it necessary though?

I was still going to order those Truck Nutz.

One aspect of being an empath that I didn't complain about nearly enough was that it was really, really hard to keep a straight face when others around you were ready to bust a gut. It was made even harder when my internal organs were going to pulverize from the strain of holding in my own laughter. Loki was the amulet again, for which I was grateful. I really didn't need his feelings on this matter to add to the messy stew that was making not even cracking a smile almost impossible.

The bathroom was large, almost as big as mine and Loki's. It was ugly as fuck, the fixtures bronze, tile a bright orange that was almost neon, the walls in a faded shade of lilac. I don't know who decided that orange and lilac would be great colors for this bathroom, and they really needed to be shot. The floor actually was painful for me to look at. Fortunately, the floor wasn't exactly what had my attention.

The window that the huge garden tub looked out of was huge, and presented a very tempting opportunity for a wanted felon to escape. It was a long climb down. I had managed it because I wasn't human and I had used magic to aid me when I couldn't find hand and foot holds. Zemo was Sokovian Special Forces though, so he might have made it.

Too bad the toilet ate his feet before he had the opportunity to climb out the window.

There was no other way to put it. Oh, the feet were still attached, and Zemo wasn't hurt...not physically at least, although it looked like he was going to have a nice sized goose egg on his temple. Mostly his pride was hurt, and he was shooting daggers at me as he dangled from the ceiling. His arms were bound by what looked like water hoses. There were too many to say they were from the detachable shower heads. I didn't know where Loki got enough hoses to practically mummify a grown man. If God was merciful, I would never find out why he had them.

The toilet was perched on the ceiling. It had sprouted two legs, and now was sticking to the ceiling like that spider-kid had a habit of doing whenever he visited Avengers HQ (and subsequently got on my last nerve...I didn't like people looking over my shoulder when I worked, I sure as hell didn't enjoy them hanging from the damn ceiling doing it). The seat of the toilet had folded in like a pair of lips and was clamped around Zemo's legs while the water of the bowl dripped out of the sides of the "mouth" like drool.

"Well," Sam stated. "Seems like you got yourself into a shitty situation."

Someone had to say it. And now I was wishing I knew a spell to render Sam and Bucky mute for the next five minutes it would take to work with Loki to free Zemo...him doing the actual freeing while I made it look like I was the one doing it. Zemo was pretty well convinced that I was responsible for this, which we wanted. But the two of us needed to concentrate, and Sam and Bucky were not helping.

"So your escape plan went to crap, Zemo?" Bucky added.

They really weren't helping.

"Not that I am not enjoying these juvenile remarks," Zemo stated. "But can she let me down?"

"Not just yet. We managed to convince the Dora Milaje to back off a little before they come back to flush you out again..."

I bit the inside of my cheek.

"...but that's contingent on you being a lot more useful than you have been. No more fucking around, Zemo. You obviously know more about this Power Broker than you're letting on, and it's time to cut the crap..."

I was trying to picture dead puppies, Holocaust victims, clowns (I'd always hated them), something, anything.

"...and come clean."

Damn it, Sam. "He hasn't lied to us so far. But he has been withholding a good deal of the truth," I informed them. "Personally, I think we should have handed him over, but it seems I'm overruled at the moment. So, it's time to take the plunge..." Oh hell, now I was doing it. "...and do something good for a change."

Zemo didn't nod or say anything, but I felt his resignation and reluctant agreement. I made a few gestures, created a pretty show with my own energy signature while Loki released the snare. I used telekinesis to keep Zemo from breaking his neck falling down.

Zemo made a show of straightening his clothes, and then walked stiffly out of the bathroom with wounded dignity. I stared out the window and refused to look at Bucky or Sam. Both of them left the room in a hurry.

"You rotten snake," I hissed at the amulet under my breath. "You could have warned me!"

I just barely managed to suppress the yelp when my backside was pinched by a pair of phantom fingers.