Hey Lunchies! The best thing about having a story that you're intending to last for a long time, in my opinion, is that no one gets mad when it isn't updated in four months! Here I am now, though, so please enjoy.

As hard as Melody tried to figure out where in creation they were, all she could discern was that they were somewhere underground. Due to the architectural structures in the hallways, she guessed it might be a refurbished sewer, but most sewers didn't have bedrooms, and she assumed it would probably smell way worse. Not that she'd ever been in a sewer, of course.

Eventually, she started suspecting it was a bunker, of sorts, perhaps one left over from World War Two. Captain America might have walked these very halls, or maybe Agent Carter, or, alternatively, she was letting her imagination run away with her. There was no indication anywhere of what nation they were below, and if it was someplace that hadn't been allied with the United States, it was very unlikely her favorite characters had been there.

No one would tell her where they were, and she guessed that, like her, they didn't know, either. Only the higher-up, spiffy, important people had any notion of their whereabouts.

People, for instance, like Erik Selvig.

Melody attempted to try to wheedle information out of him, but before she could even set foot beyond the plexiglass panels that separated his research area from the rest of the main laboratory, or whatever it was, one of Loki's agents caught her by the arm.

"I don't think you're authorized to be in there, miss." He said, and Melody promptly drooped. "Actually, I don't think you're authorized to be in the lab at all."

"Rats." She pouted, sticking out her lower lip. "How do I get authorized?"

"You'd need an ID card showing your clearance level?" He suggested, holding out the laminated piece of paper around his neck. "What level did His Highness give you?"

Melody blinked in total shock. They had clearance levels, already, the whole lab looked semi-professional, save the eerie, off-putting lighting, and there were ID cards and paperwork and stuff to go through, and all this had sprung up overnight. Say what you would about "His Highness," the man had mind-blowing organizational and leadership skills.

"I don't have an ID card or anything." She confessed. "Loki... I mean, his Highness just told me to wander around and not break stuff."

"You've spoken with His Highness?" The agent's eyebrows crawled up his forehead in a manner that made Melody begin to think she'd done something very few around here had. Maybe she was a sort of elite, after all.

"Oh, for sure." She played it off as if it was cool. "He came to say good morning to me, today."

"Hmmmmm..." The agent was beginning to look skeptical. "I don't know. Maybe you ought to go play somewhere else."

"Rats." Melody repeated as she was gently ushered out of the laboratory. "I hate being a kid."

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it." The agent gave a wink. "And by that time, you'll be an adult, so it's a win-win."

"Lame." She declared, and slumped against the wall as the agent returned to his post.

It was boring work, waiting for someone she knew to come along so she could fangirl over them. She was pretty sure she only knew three of the people down here by name: Loki, Dr. Selvig, and Hawkeye.

Oh, and she hadn't bothered to ask the agent's name. That was a shame; she could've made a friend.

Loki was probably very busy doing taking-over-the-world stuff, whatever that entailed. Dr. Selvig was apparently off-limits, and she didn't even know where to begin looking for Mr. Barton, and honestly, he was probably busy getting his target, anyway.

It truly stunk, being a kid in the MCU. There was so little she could actually do, or even help with. She thought this was going to be loads of fun, and while it was somewhat awe-inspiring to be in the same universe, and even the same bunker as her favorite fictional character of all time, she wished things could maybe speed up just a little.

Then again, she wasn't sure when she wanted them to skip to. After the invasion (which, knowing this variant of Loki, he wouldn't let her fight in, anyway, which was a big let-down in of itself) she really didn't have any place to go. Her family wasn't in his universe, and realistically, she wasn't sure she could actually get to meet Tony Stark, let alone for him to adopt her. If she was staying back at the bunker for the fight, there was little to be done.

Maybe she'd be alone, afterwards, with no one to help her. She'd have to fend for herself, living on the streets of whatever nation they were under. or maybe they were under barren wilderness, and she'd have to become a woodland hermit, living off roots and bugs and things.

Melody had never eaten a bug, before.

That was when it hit her that she had yet to eat breakfast. She had no idea what time it was, besides snack time, or maybe lunch time, but she knew she was hungry, preferably for something non-insectoid. She'd have to go find a person, and ask them where food was supposed to be found.

But where to find a person? She wasn't supposed to go back into the lab, after all.

Hesitantly, she made her way down the hall, in search of humans. A particular non-human would be optimal, of course, but she was pretty sure she wasn't supposed to bug him.

Just as that thought flitted through her mind, she was startled by a hand tapping her shoulder. With a frightened squeak, she whirled around to see the Trickster, himself. He looked frightened, even more than he had when they'd met, that morning, his eyes wider, his stance a little defensive. Actually, he looked like he was going to be sick.

"Are you okay?" She asked, her eyebrows drawing together in concern. This was the day before the Infamous Incident at the Gala, after all. Maybe he was stressing over it? Or maybe he'd just spoken with the Other?

"I'm not the one shrieking when startled, am I?" Loki returned, raising an amused eyebrow. "Don't worry yourself over me, I just need a good night's sleep. Have you eaten luncheon, yet?"

"Lunch?" Melody echoed in disbelief. "I haven't eaten at all, today! What time is it?"

"Half-past one, about." A hint of his smile ghosted around his face. "I'd forgotten, you don't have the scepter tell you when to eat. Perhaps you'd like to dine with me?"

"Oh, sure!" Melody agreed. "I was just wondering when food time was."

Gallantly, he offered his arm to her with an amused smirk. "Milady."

"No, the name's Melody." She quipped, giving him an impish grin.

"Nicely done." He playfully rolled his eyes as he led her down the hall to wherever the two of them were headed. "I didn't take you for a punster."

Melody lightly shrugged. "Technically, you didn't take me at all, I showed up in your car and now you can't get rid of me."

"Oh, I certainly could, if you don't get yourself a better sense of humor."

Melody widened her eyes tragically, and turned to blink up at him with a woeful expression. "You don't like my puns?"

Loki gave her a flat look, hiding his amusement extremely well, as he held a door open for her. "Not at all."

"Okayyyy..." She sighed, and tipped an imaginary hat. "No more puns. What manner of humor wouldst thou prefer thy humble jester to pursue, then, milord?"

To her great delight, the fear and tension had drained from his posture and expression, and he almost seemed at ease, now. She wasn't sure if anyone in canon had been able to distract him from the constant fear and terror of Thanos looming over him, especially at this stage of the story. She considered it a great honor to be one of the few he was actually comfortable around. Sure, he hadn't let his guard down, completely, but it was certainly progress.

The room they had entered was long, full of tables and chairs, and looked rather like her school cafeteria. Is this really what Loki used to feed his hoards of mind-controlled? It looked almost exactly like it could be filled with happily chattering kids. She'd expected something a little more dark and angsty, to be honest.

"Come along, the food is kept back here." Loki gently guided her back to the kitchens, where he opened a large cabinet of shelf-stable rations.

Again, Melody wondered what the heck this place was, but it mattered little now. There was canned chicken noodle soup, now. "My precioussssssss!" She hissed, and darted forward to immediately snatch three cans from the shelf.

Apparently, this is exactly what Loki considered an appropriate form of humor, despite probably never having read or heard of the reference, and he immediately cracked up. "You are potentially the most dramatic child I've ever met." He wheezed, leaning against the door of the pantry.

"Thank you, thank you!" Melody giggled, doing the best bow she could while holding three cans in only two hands. "We ought to heat them up before we eat them, right?"

"Dramatic children? I certainly hope not!" Loki snorted, giving her a devilish grin.

"You know what I mean." Melody insisted, shoving one of the cans towards him. "May I ask where the microwave is?"

"What's a microwave?" Loki asked.

After a quick scan of the room, Melody's gaze landed on a small black box resting on the counter. "Viola. A microwave. Behold the wonders of modern technology. It heats up food." She deadpanned. "I still don't trust them."

"I see." Loki gravely acknowledged, opened the door of the microwave, and put the whole can of chicken noodle soup inside. "Like that?"

"No, you can't put metal inside, or it'll explode." Melody took out the can, and began searching the drawers for a can opener.

"A formidable weapon." Loki acknowledged. "Doubling as a food preparation device. Are they portable?"

"I wish." Melody sighed. "They have to be plugged in, though. Plus they're pretty heavy. Where are your can openers?"

Loki wasn't sure what a can opener was supposed to be, nor what Melody could be looking for, so he flicked his wrist to summon one of his daggers, and stabbed the top of the can.

"Well, that works, too." Melody giggled. She set out two bowls, and began to pour the liquid in.

"You don't need to do that." Loki assured her, and took the cans to pour food into his own bowl.

"You think I'm going to poison you?" Melody suggested with a cheerful grin.

"Always a possibility." Loki gave her a cheerful grin, as he poured his own bowl of soup.

At first, Melody felt a little betrayed that he didn't trust her. After all, they'd been laughing together just seconds before.

Then again, laughing came easily to Loki, whether he actually was happy, or felt safe, and he'd spent the past six months, approximately, under Thanos. He wasn't going to easily trust anyone for a while yet.

Melody was going to have to be okay with simply being emotional support, for now, not a confidant. When he was ready, though, she was more than willing to help. Until then, they could laugh together, and that would be all. At least he felt safe enough to genuinely laugh, instead of just pretending.

"I have a question for you." She spoke up, smiling a little at the sight of him staring in utter fascination at the microwave as the little black box spun his meal around in seemingly never-ending circles.

Distractedly, he hummed to encourage her. "Maybe I have an answer."

Melody hopped up to sit cross-legged on the countertop. "If I don't go to the Gala..."

"Melody..." He finally tore his eyes away from the microwave to give her a warning look. "I told you you're not going."

"Right! I know!" Melody assured. "And I've come to terms with my grief. I was just wondering..." How to put this? "Well... there's not a time when I can find somewhere safe to be for the rest of the story. Does that make sense?"

Mutely, Loki shook his head. As the microwave beeped, he took the soup bowls from its compartment, and set one on the counter next to her.

"Well, it's sort of..." Melody fumbled. "Like... You... and a few others? You're the main characters. And I know what's going on if I stay near you guys. But since I'm not in the story, leaving you alone would be less safe. Sort of."

"Haven't you parents who can take care of you?" Loki suggested. "It'd be safer to put your trust in them than in a timeline."

Melody stared down at the bowl of soup in her hands. She couldn't really explain what had happened with the wreck. She wasn't entirely sure what had gone on, herself, and Loki was at a point in his friendship with her that he needed to know what was going on concerning her. Why he hadn't insisted upon fining out why she' materialized in his car was beyond her.

"I think they died." She admitted in a small voice. She knew she was dead, and if that was the case, then they probably were, too.

"I see." Loki acknowledged in a far different, quieter voice. There was a moment of thoughtful silence between them, as Loki began pondering. "Who would you trust to care for you until you're old enough to care for yourself?"

An excellent question, really. Who in the MCU was stable enough to actually provide a home for her? After all, as exciting as chasing the Winter Soldier around the world sounded, being adopted by Captain America wasn't the safest place to be.

Thor would only have until Age of Ultron until he went off questing by himself, which was probably something exclusive to grownups. That meant he was ruled out.

It was the same problem with Black Widow, especially seeing as she changed identities every other week. Bruce probably would be terrified of taking care of a twelve-year-old.

Tony would be a lot of fun, but in all practicality, if she was adopted by a billionaire, her life would become the public's business and every mistake she made would become a scandal.

Loki himself would be in prison for a couple months, but eventually, as Odin, he might actually be best choice, besides Clint Barton. Come to think of it, living out on the Barton farm with the Barton kids wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. She'd have kids close to her age to play with, and even when Clint went away on Avenger missions, she'd still have a parent to look after her.

"Melody? You still in there?" Loki joked, and Melody realized she'd been staring off into space for nearly five minutes.

"Yeah, just thinking." She hummed. "Do you think you could convince Agent Barton to take me in? Like even when he gets off scepter power?"

"I'm not sure." Loki chuckled. "How mad is he, afterwards? Cause I could see him disowning you just to spite me."

"I dunno; he's kind of got a soft spot for kids." Melody pointed out, thinking of all the stray children without homes he'd picked up over the years. "He might take me in anyway once he realizes I'm extremely cute."

Loki nearly snorted soup out his nose. "Are all Midgardian children as full of utter hogwash as you?" He wheezed.

"Oh, absolutely." Melody grinned, very pleased with herself.

"I'll speak to him about it, absolutely." Loki agreed, rolling his eyes with a fond shake of his head. "And if he doesn't agree to it, I'll try to put in a good word for you with my brother."

Well, Thor was better than no one, Melody supposed. It was now only a matter of time before the MCU's ball began rolling.

She'd be okay.

TheOnlyHuman.