I walk inside Stark Tower, still invisible and gripping the rifle I took tightly. I look around, impressed by the generally expensive look to literally everything inside. An elevator is directly in front of me, next to an empty receptionist's desk. A staircase to the right of the desk leads to the next level, and I can see a lounge area through a wide door to the left of the elevator. I decide on the elevator, hoping it still works after the extensive damage to the tower's upper levels. I press the button on the wall just outside, and am quite pleased when it opens without delay. I step inside, and then look at the numbers on the wall inside. My eyes widen. 105 floors?! What in the nine realms does he keep in this tower? I shake my head. He has three more floors than the Empire State Building. Why doesn't that surprise me?

I realize with a sigh that I have no idea which level Loki is on. I guess I'll have to ask JARVIS. After a moment's debate if this is the smartest decision I've ever made, I walk back outside, drop the gun next to the still-unconscious men, and then step back into the elevator. I make myself visible again, and address the AI. "JARVIS, can you take me to whichever floor Loki is on please?"

"Hello, ma'am. I apologize, I didn't see you there," a pleasant British male voice responds, making me jump slightly even though I knew he would answer. I smile.

"That's alright. Don't worry about it."

"May I ask your purpose in visiting the Stark Tower today, miss? Usually visitors are required to have an appointment before they are allowed on the upper levels."

I sigh. "I don't have an appointment, JARVIS. I wasn't actually ever planning on visiting this tower, but here I am. I'm just going to watch Loki and make sure he doesn't go anywhere until Mr. Stark returns."

The AI is silent for a moment. "Very well, ma'am. May I ask your name?"

The elevator doors close with a click, and I can feel it begin to move upwards. "You can call me Brooklynn for now, if you want."

"Very well, Miss Brooklynn. Mr. Stark should arrive any moment."

I smile, my heart speeding up a bit at the thought of meeting my teen years' heroes. When the elevator finally stops and the doors open, I step out, looking around with a slight smirk at the destruction caused by Hulk. I don't see Loki, though, so I walk further into the room.

Suddenly, I hear someone moan, and I jump with surprise. Turning towards the sound, I see my former captor half-buried in the floor of what probably used to be a lounge area. I can't really tell, since it's been wrecked. I cross my arms with a smirk on my face, watching him. He looks absolutely terrible. He appears to be coming back to his senses, wincing and gingerly moving around. I shake my head and walk over to the bar in the corner of the room, which is remarkably untouched, wondering if there is a water bottle I could steal-borrow...permanently. After a quick search, I come up empty, so instead I grab a random, odd-looking glass, and use the small sink to rinse it and fill it with water. I can hear the elevator being operated again, which means the Avengers are on their way up, so I guzzle the entire glass quickly and set it down. Then I sit down on one of the barstools, and settle in to watch.

As the Avengers silently file out of the elevator, Loki slowly sits up. The Avengers form a semicircle around him, and he turns around and sits heavily on one of the steps leading to a small platform. He looks at them for a moment, and then says, "If it's all the same to you...I'll have that drink now." I shake my head with a smile, watching as several SHIELD agents pour out of the elevator to join the Avengers. Then I freeze. I recognize two of these agents.

Agents Rumlow and Sitwell.

Rumlow is carrying a long case, and I sit in silence while Natasha willingly hands over the scepter so he can conceal it in the case. Thor handcuffs Loki, Tony takes off his busted suit, and in all the bustling about, no one notices the young woman in the corner. I watch as Hydra pulls the wool over the Avengers' eyes, and just sitting there, unable to do anything, makes my blood boil in indignation. I glare holes into the pair of Hydra agents, wishing I could end them right here and now to avoid all the pain they will cause six or seven months from now.

The sound of glass shattering startles me, and I look down to see that I just broke the glass I had been holding. I drop the broken glass into the sink, and am about to make myself invisible and make my escape, but I'm too late.

"Hey! How did you get up here?"

Tony Stark had been walking past the bar, and had heard the glass shatter. And now he was looking right at me with an annoyed and confused look on his face. "I...uh...JARVIS let me in," I stutter, trying to get past the fact that there is a legend standing before me. His frown deepens, and he's silent for a moment. I assume JARVIS is speaking to him through his earpiece.

"You were watching Loki?" he asks me a moment later. I nod, realizing I need to at least act professional. Get it together, Vikki!

"Yes, I wanted to make sure he didn't run off before you got here. Didn't think you'd be very happy about that, and I wanted to see inside Stark Tower anyway," I reply with an innocent smile. Tony scoffs.

"Who wouldn't?"

My smile widens. "Well, Hulk didn't seem to appreciate the interior too much."

Stark frowns, glancing over his shoulder at the huge green man not too far away. "Banner did this?"

I grin, nodding. "You should have seen it. He got Greenhorn good."

Tony looks back at me, amusement in his eyes and one eyebrow raised. "Greenhorn?"

"Yeah! He's got this thing with the color green, and he's a greenhorn when it comes to just about everything in this world. I thought it suited him."

Tony points a finger at me. "I like you."

I grin even wider, about to answer, when someone shouts, "Stark! The Tesseract!"

Tony hollers back, "Geez, old man. I got it!" He turns back to me. "Want to see the Cube that caused all this mess?"

My eyes darken, remembering the people that were killed today because of it. "Yes. It needs to be taken off of this planet."

Tony nods his agreement, flinching slightly as though he had a flashback. "Yeah...you're right. It shouldn't be here."

We take the elevator up to the roof, both of us silent. When we step out, Dr. Selvig meets us, having already shut the entire machine down. He looks at me oddly. "Do I know you?"

I open my mouth, about to answer, but his eyes widen in recognition before I can deny it. "Wait, you're that girl who can make herself invisible!"

Tony turns and looks at me, the obvious question on his face. Thanks, Selvig. Thanks a lot. "Invisible? You can make yourself invisible?" He sounds incredulous, but I don't miss the underlying curiosity. Heavens, he's worse than I am!

"Depends on what you mean," I answer vaguely. "Shouldn't you be..." I gesture at the Tesseract. But of course, he waves it off and focuses on me.

"Yeah, yeah, that can wait. Show me what you can do."

I huff. "Stark, the Tesseract is much more important than 'what I can do'. I'll show you later."

Tony rolls his eyes and turns towards the glowing blue Cube. "Geez, you're just as bad as Capsicle. You're not leaving this tower until I see what you can do, got it?"

I roll my eyes in return, trying not to smile. "Fine, shorty."

Tony whips back around, pointing a finger in my face. "Don't call me that."

I give a mischievous grin, not answering. Tony narrows his eyes at me, then returns to his work. He and Selvig carefully remove the Tesseract from its containment chamber, and place it inside a specially designed case, chatting all the while in scientific jargon I couldn't repeat to save my life. When they close the case, blocking the Tesseract from my view, I somehow find it easier to breathe.

We take the elevator back down and step back into the destroyed lounge, looking around at all the SHIELD agents bustling about doing who-knows-what. Several of them are guarding Loki, who is still standing where I last saw him. Suddenly I stop, knowing just how unpredictable Loki can be. What will he do when he sees me? He thinks I'm still locked up at his secret compound.

Stark turns around when he realizes I'm no longer walking beside him. "Hey, what are you doing?"

My eyes widen slightly when his words draw the attention of several SHIELD agents. Thankfully, none of the other Avengers have noticed me yet. I jerk my thumb over my shoulder. "I'm just gonna get a drink of water-"

"Come on, I want you to meet Capsicle," he says rather loudly. That draws even more attention- now Steve, Natasha, and Clint are all looking at me. My eyes widen even more, and I freeze, hoping against hope they'll just ignore me.

No such luck.

Clint squints at me.

"Victoria?"

Aaaaaaaaand I'm busted. Great.

Author's Note: Another update for all my lovelies! What do you think? And no, I'm not sorry for the cliffhanger...you'd better get used to this. :)

Thank you for reading!

Signing off, AuthorsDream.