Loki looks up at Clint's inquiry, and we lock eyes. His brow furrows, and I can see the spark of anger in his eyes, followed by a glint of mischief. I quickly turn to Clint before he can say anything. "Hello again, Barton. Glad to see your eyes aren't bright blue anymore."

Clint smirks. "I see I should put more security outside your door if I don't want you to escape."

I grin. "Never underestimate the will of a woman with a butterknife and a toilet seat."

Clint's eyebrows shoot skyward. "You used a butterknife and toilet seat to escape?"

Tony looks between us. "You two know each other?"

Clint and I exchange a glance. "Well..."

"He locked me in my room."

"Hey, that's his fault," Clint defends, pointing at Loki, who rolls his eyes. Steve frowns at me.

"Your room? You were working with Loki?"

"Well-"

"He forced her to," Clint comes to my rescue. I smile gratefully at him.

"Mind control?" Natasha asks. I shake my head.

"No, he basically threatened to torture me," I answer. "I made it clear I wouldn't kill anyone if I agreed to work with him, but that turned out to be unnecessary, since all I did was serve dinner and put on a fancy dress."

Natasha frowns. "We didn't see you at the gala."

I look at her, confused. "You didn't? I was with him the whole time!"

"Well, if you can turn invisible, the explanation's fairly obvious," Tony says, raising an eyebrow at me.

"But I wasn't! I was talking to-"

"Aha! So you can!" Tony exclaims, pointing his finger at me. I huff, very aware of the stares of the other Avengers.

"Yes, sort of." I can see Tony wants to question that, so I cut him off before he can say anything. "It's complicated, ok? We can discuss that later, the focus should be on getting the glowstick, magic cube, and magic psycho out of here." Loki rolls his eyes at me, and I glare back at him.

"She's right. We will discuss this later," Steve agrees, giving me a pointed look. I sigh inwardly. Great. Now Captain America doesn't trust me. I knew working with Loki was a bad idea. He raises his hand to his right ear, apparently listening to something through his earpiece. Then he swiftly walks past us, just as Rumlow closes up the case containing the scepter. "I'm on my way down. Coordinate search and rescue," Cap says.

"I'm on my way down. Coordinate search and rescue!"

I look at Loki, who has transformed himself into Steve, mocking him. He instantly switches back, looking at his brother, who is standing next to him. "I mean, honestly, how do you people—"

Thor pulls a rectangular object out of his pocket and slaps it onto Loki's mouth, effectively cutting off his speech. The object's sides extend and clasp behind the trickster's head, securing itself in place. "Shut. Up." Thor shoves his brother towards the elevator, obviously not happy with him. I can't help but smirk in amusement, following them and Stark into the elevator.

After narrowly avoiding another angry Hulk incident because he wouldn't fit in the elevator, we arrive safely on the first floor, only to be met with more SHIELD agents. In fact, there are people practically swarming the building now that the alien and nuclear threats have been eliminated. I move towards the back of the little procession as we walk across the large first floor, heading for the doors, I assume. But I can already see yet another man whose very sight makes my blood boil: the infamous Alexander Pierce. I'm already on edge because of Loki and the Avengers' knowledge of me, so I decide that staying away from a man I would very much like to kill is the best option at the moment. I'll just...find the bathroom or something. I step away from the group as they are stopped by Pierce and several other suited and important-looking people, and make my way back the way we came. I suppose now is as good a time as any to explore.

I walk casually, looking around at everything I see. The area is bright because of the excess of floor-to-ceiling windows, giving an almost cheery, yet expensive feel to the place. I approach another elevator, slipping between groups of people that are headed in multiple directions. As far as I can tell, many are SHIELD agents, some are probably Stark employees, and others I'm not sure. I think I've spotted a few random civilians as well. I walk up to the elevator, and decide to head up again to explore the top levels. But just then, the doors open and several more armed SHIELD agents pour out, one of them just about knocking me over. I stumble backwards, barely righting myself in time to avoid slamming into the wall. "Hey! Watch it!" I say sharply. Then my eyes widen as I realize who it is.

Rumlow.

He turns around and looks at me, a smirk on his face. "You got a problem, sweetheart?"

Sitwell turns to see why his partner stopped, and a smirk forms on his face as well. I glare at the pair, sauntering forward until I'm standing less than two feet away from Rumlow. He towers over me, but I'm not afraid. I just give him a smirk of my own. "I hope not, because it wouldn't go well for you if I did."

Rumlow's smirk widens into a grin. "Fiesty, are we?"

"More than you know," I return. "Just watch your back, Rumlow. Not everyone can be trusted."

His eyes narrow. "How do you know my name?"

I smirk again. "I have my ways." I step back, glancing down at the case he's holding. "Don't lose that. It can be very dangerous, if you get my meaning." I turn and begin to walk away. "See you around," I throw over my shoulder. I quickly turn a corner, making myself invisible, and then look back at the men. Rumlow stares after me for a minute, a frown on his face, and then turns and leaves the building with Sitwell. I sigh. That probably wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done...but at least I didn't slit his throat. I had almost considered it, which is slightly concerning, considering the cost of such an action.

Slightly.

I look back at the group I had left behind a few minutes ago. Thor and Stark are still arguing with Pierce and his men, and Loki is standing behind them, surrounded by several bored-looking SHIELD agents. He appears alert, but relaxed, and is obviously not at all bothered by his guards. I have no doubt that he's keeping his eyes peeled for an escape route.

I look around once more, and decide I'd rather stick closer to the only people on this planet I trust right now, since my attempt to slip away didn't go very well. Still invisible, I make my way back to the little group. Tony and Thor seem to be irritated, and Pierce and his people appear stubbornly defiant. I hope they can come to an agreement soon. In the end, I know that Loki and the Tesseract will return to Asgard with Thor, but no indication was given in the movie about how long it took to come to an agreement.

Walking up to the group invisibly, I get a rather mischievous idea. I almost burst into laughter just thinking about it. I go up to the nearest guard, who is watching the people around him instead of the prisoner, and blow on his ear. He jerks away, rubbing his ear and glaring at the guard standing next to him. I grin with amusement, barely containing the laughter bubbling up in my chest. He's looking right through me, completely unaware of my presence. I slip in between the two guards, walking up to Loki. I am about to poke him in the side, but he suddenly straightens, eyes glancing around as though looking for something. I frown, stepping back slightly. He's wearing the same look on his face that he had when I would use my invisibility during our sparring matches. Does he sense my presence? Is that possible? I don't know the limits of his magic, so I assume it must be.

Even though my surprise "attack" is now ruined, I can still make him jump. I stand directly in front of him, getting right up in his face—or, as close as I can anyway, since he's so much taller than me—and make myself visible. His eyes widen to the size of dinner plates, and he jumps backward, instantly falling into a defensive stance. I laugh. "Whoa, paranoid much?"

He relaxes and rolls his eyes, unable to respond because of the gag, and a couple of the guards turn around to see what the fuss is about. I snicker. "You know, you're a much more likable person when you're wearing that gag. You should wear it more often."

Loki just glares at me.

"Ma'am, please step away from the prisoner," one of the guards says. I look at him.

"Oh, it's all right, I'm with Stark. And Greeny won't hurt me anyway, not with his brother standing right there," I reply, gesturing at Thor. Speaking of him, I now see that he, Stark, and Pierce seem to have finally come to an uneasy agreement. They're breaking up their little meeting—Pierce and his people heading off down the corridor, and Thor and Stark turning back to us. Tony motions for the guards to bring Loki, and the little procession is off once again. I hurry forward, matching Tony's stride. "What was decided?"

"Psycho and the Tesseract are staying at the Tower for the time being, until we can come to an agreement." Tony doesn't sound very happy about that. I furrow my brows.

"At the Tower? Not some high-security prison?"

"Your mortal prisons are not secure enough to hold my brother," Thor answers. "I need to keep an eye on him to ensure he does not escape."

"He won't," I say confidently. "He may try to, but I doubt it. He won't escape."

Tony looks at me, stepping back into an elevator. I step in next to him. Good grief, how many of these does he have? "How do you know?"

The rest of the group piles into the elevator, and we begin to move upward after the doors close. I give Tony an incredulous look. "You are Iron Man—" I glance at Thor, who is standing at my other side. "—and you are the god of thunder. You two alone are enough to convince me of that. And then of course, there are the two master assassins, the Super Soldier, and the Hulk here to keep him in line. I'm pretty sure he won't even have a slight chance to escape."

Thor and Tony both look rather proud at my words, but slightly embarrassed. I smirk inwardly. "You're probably right, but it doesn't hurt to be cautious," Tony says as the elevator doors open again. We all step out into a spacious living area, complete with a large kitchen, a living room with a huge flatscreen TV, and a hallway leading to what I assume are bedrooms. "This is one of the guest floors, and it also happens to be one of the most secure floors in the Tower. JARVIS?"

Instantly, the floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room are covered by a wall that comes up out of the floor, and a similar wall closes off the elevator and stairwell entrance. I look around, impressed."This is pretty impressive, I gotta admit," I say. Tony smirks at me.

"You and Thor choose a room down the hall, and tell JARVIS if you need anything." He looks at Thor. "Reindeer Games is not allowed to leave this floor until he leaves Earth, and someone has to be with him on this floor at all times."

My eyes widen. "You...you're letting me stay too?"

Tony turns to me. "I told you you're not leaving this tower until you've showed me what you can do."

A slow smile grows on my face, and I feel a sudden rush of emotion. For the first time since I stepped into this world, I am not only free, but I have a place to stay and a guarantee of safety. I blink, trying to hold back the tears threatening to fall.

"Thank you, Tony."

Author's Note: HEEEYYYYY MY PEOPLES! What thinkest thou of this chapter? Lol I sure enjoyed writing it. I actually scrapped it at least twice, trying to decide how to write it. I hope you liked it!

Anyway, thank you for reading! God Bless you all!

AuthorsDream, signing off.