Hi, now I am finally back, and yeah I am not to happy with this chapter. But I couldn't get it any better, so I am so, so, so sorry. I hope you can at least get threw it.
Anyway, I know that Peggy is like super old and dead in the original, I just don't give a shit about it, so I skipped that part and made her as old as Steve, because I ship them, and not Steve and Sharon. So pretend that Peggy went under ice or something, or that they used the time stone.
I also wanted the other girls meet Cara. And in the story Cara don't know there names at first, but to make it easier for you, I just wrote there names. Thought it would be easier to read like it.
And I promise that in next chapter we will know more about the kids. Hope you guys will like that.
So enjoy the chapter or something :)
Pepper stood in the elevator, she hadn't been in the tower for a few weeks. She had just come back from a trip overseas, it had been a boring business trip, but it had at least been successful. And now she was finally back in New York and she smiled.
She had been looking forward to this day. Every month she and Tony had a date night with Steve and Peggy, and Bruce and Betty, and sometimes Thor and Jane would join them, or even Clint and Natasha. And with all of them working so much, it was nice to have at least one day a month that they saw each other. She just didn't hope that Tony had forgotten this time too. Not that she would have been surprised since that happened more often than not.
When she stepped out of the elevator and into the common room, after dropping of her belongings in her and Tony's room, she saw that Jane and Peggy was already there. They sat at the table talking about something she couldn't hear. When she approached them the two women smiled at her.
"Pepper," Peggy said when she stood in front of them. "We wasn't sure if you would make it this time."
"Oh I wouldn't miss this day," Pepper said when she sat down. "Was surprised to see you here tho Jane. I thought you couldn't get away?"
"I managed to get some time off, or rather Eric and Darcy forced me to go," Jane said with a smile.
"So have you seen Betty? Or any of our dates?" Pepper asked.
"Betty said she couldn't come. I don't know why, but I have a feeling that things aren't too good between her and Bruce, but I didn't want to ask. Not yet at least," Peggy added when the other two gave her a look. "And the guys said they should be here, but I haven't seen them yet."
"I can almost bet that Tony have forgot again," Pepper said and shook her head.
"Nothing unusual, it wouldn't be a date night if he didn't," Jane said and laughed.
"Thor isn't much better," Pepper said and gave her a look.
"That is true. You are lucky Peggy, Steve knows how to treat a lady," Jane said. "But Thor also said that he had something to tell me, I don't know what."
"Steve said the same," Peggy added and Pepper nodded.
"Tony too. What is that important that they have to tell all three of us?" Pepper asked.
"Maybe it has something to do with the Avengers," Jane said.
"I haven't heard anything. But they keep the information about the Avengers as much of a secret they can," Peggy said and the others nodded.
"So can it be something else?" Jane asked.
"I just don't hope it some of Tony's reckless ideas, like a trip to the moon or anything," Pepper said and thought that it was something her boyfriend could do.
"I would rather preferred if Thor had decided to take us all to a trip to Asgard," Jane said and the other two nodded before they started talking about what the guys wanted to tell them.
After two hours waiting for the others they had long dropped the question on what they wanted to tell them and instead talked about what had happened since the last time they saw each other. And then they had made something to eat.
"They aren't normally this late. Did they say that they would do something?" Jane asked and the other two.
"Not what I am aware of. But the tower is really quite. Maybe they are off on a mission," Peggy said.
"Jarvis, can you tell me the whereabouts on the Avengers?" Pepper asked.
"Of course Miss. Potts. Doctor Banner left the tower four hours ago, he is right now walking around the city. Miss Romanoff and Mr. Barton left to talk with Nick Fury. Mr. Rogers got call from Sam Wilson, it was urgent, but he estimated that he would be back by now, seeing he isn't it must have taken more time than he thought. Thor left for Asgard, I assume at least. And where Mr. Stark is I don't know, since he shut me down and made it impossible for me to track him." Jarvis said.
"None of them are here. That is surprising," Peggy said.
"For Tony to leave or even Thor isn't that surprising, but Steve doing it is…" Pepper started when she suddenly stopped and just stared.
"Pepper?" Jane asked, wondering what she looked at since she sat opposite of her at the table.
"You!" Pepper said and stood up, staring at Loki who had been on his way to the kitchen. Jane had turned and stood up next to Peggy who drew her gun.
"What are you doing here?" Jane asked in an angry voice.
"Are you the reason that they all have left the tower? Have you sent them all into traps?" Peggy said, pointing her gun at him.
"Answer us!" Pepper said in an angry voice and Loki took a step back, trying to get away from them, as they had taken a few steps towards him.
"He must be the reason! He is an enemy; he has tried to kill them before!" Jane said and looked for something to defend herself with.
"You almost got Tony killed!" Pepper said and threw an apple at Loki, the only thing she had in her hand at the moment. Loki tried to avoid it, but when she threw another fruit at him he couldn't. If Pepper had been less angry she would have thought of what she did, and how bad a of a weapon a fruit was, but she could still see Tony falling from the sky, almost dying. She couldn't bear the thought of losing him.
"Tell us where they are! What have you done to them?" Jane once again demanded to know where the others were. They all walked closer to Loki who just stood there, not sure how to handle the situation.
"You monster, what do you plan on doing with them?" Pepper asked as she walked close enough to slap him. Loki backed away, almost tripping over his own feet doing so. The women saw how he tried to run away from them.
"Stop or I shoot you!" Peggy said and raised her gun, not even sure if it would work on him, but she had to try. Loki being back on earth couldn't be a good sign, especially not if the Avengers was missing.
Loki didn't stop moving and Peggy fired her gun, hoping it would work, at least wound him, so she could call for backup, because they would need it.
The bullet flew towards Loki when suddenly a blue barrier stopped it. Peggy saw a woman standing on the other side. Not knowing who she was, only knowing that she had defended Loki, Peggy fired her gun again hoping that it would break the barrier. But nothing happened, nothing else then that the bullet stopped and ended up on the floor.
"Who are you?" Peggy asked and the woman looked at them.
"Cara," she just said in a very cold voice before she turned to Loki. Loki was sitting on the floor, covering his face with his arms, trying to protect himself.
"Loki it's me, Cara," she said and sat down in front of him. "It's over."
Loki just shook his head, not daring to look at her.
"I would never lie to you, you know that," she said, trying to make him calm down, but Loki didn't look at her and she saw tears falling and she tried not to be angry at the women. Instead she started to sing the same song she had sung to him before.
"What's going on?" Jane asked, confused about the scene in front of her.
"Tony said that Loki has the power to control people, think that's what he is doing with her? Making her protect him?" Pepper asked.
"I don't know. She seems to care about him, but I am not familiar with how the mind controlling works," Peggy answered, the files of it was limited and Clint had tried his best to inform them, but his memories from the time was very fussy. "But if she is protecting Loki, she is on his side, and therefore she is an enemy too, unwillingly or not. Maybe she has a part in the others being missing."
"What shall we do?" Pepper asked.
"Have you called for backup?" Jane asked Peggy.
"Not yet. I don't want to send in more men for Loki to either kill or take control of," she admitted.
"But we three aren't a threat to him. He can easily take us on. Even if I am not sure what kind of game he is playing now", Pepper said and looked at Loki who seemed to be scared, something she didn't bought for a second.
"I say that we try to take her out, we need to get rid of the barrier," Peggy told them.
"And how do you think we should do that? Bullets can't break it," Jane stated.
"I don't know. I am not sure what the material is made off," Peggy admitted.
"Jarvis what are the barrier made of?" Pepper asked in a low voice, hoping that the woman wouldn't hear them.
"Magic, miss Potts," Jarvis only said and at his words the woman turned around and looked at them.
"Don't try to do anything stupid, I do not wish to harm you, since you are friends of the Avengers. But I will do so if you try to do anything," Cara said without taking her eyes of Loki, who seemed to have calmed down enough to at least look at her and she smiled.
"Sorry that I wasn't here earlier," she said and Loki looked at her and then looked down in shame. "Nothing to be a shamed off. I know how it feels. Remember when my father come for me, I couldn't do anything, you were the one that saved me."
Loki didn't answer her and she hadn't expected it. He had talked a few times, but she also know that it would take a long time before he talked freely to her, and especially after how scared he had just been.
Cara saw moments in the corner of her eye and ducked and Peggy who had tried to kick her from behind, taking a guess that the barrier wouldn't stop her, missed her.
Cara stood up and sighed. Loki looked terrified at the woman who walked closer to him and Cara.
"Why do people never listen?" Cara said in a tired voice as the woman got closer. Cara didn't wish to hurt them, knowing that it wouldn't help the situation when the others got back. But she wouldn't let them hurt Loki, not for anything in the world. She would kill them if that was what it took to keep him safe.
Peggy walked towards her, when Cara saw Jane coming from the side, trying to kick Loki, hoping that Peggy would distract her. Cara let the magic flow in her hands as she sent Jane flying through the air just as someone tackled her from the side. Due to that, she lost concentration for a second making Jane hit the wall with more force than she had planned, before Cara herself hit the wall, feeling the pain in her head, and she saw how her view got blurry. She saw someone sitting over her, trying to keep her down.
"Peggy give me the handcuffs," Cara heard Pepper say. Cara tried to fight, but Pepper just grabbed her head and she felt how she hit the wall once more, and she had a hard time to try to focus. She tried to summon magic to break free, but she couldn't concentrate enough to get the magic to work with her.
Suddenly she felt the cold steel of the handcuffs on her and she felt the panic raise, afraid of what they may do to Loki, and what they would do to her. She tried to break free once more, but she was stuck. She tried to see where Loki was, but she couldn't see him, her sight was to blurry, starting to feel the tiredness coming over her. Then she heard him sob in fear.
"Loki," she said as calm as she could. "It's going to be okay. Don't be afraid."
She wasn't even sure how it would be okay, but she had to make sure it would be okay, for Loki's sake.
"Where are they?" Pepper asked her.
"They are out. I don't know exact where," she answered.
"Don't lie to us! Loki is here, and they aren't, where has he taken them?" Pepper said.
"He hasn't taken them," Cara answered as she tried to stay awake.
"Don't lie to us," Peggy said and she suddenly felt a gun towards her head.
"I am not lying," Cara answered. She was calm now, if they wanted to shoot her, it wasn't much she could do about it. When she was near death she was always calm, knowing that the day she dies would come.
"Let her go," Loki suddenly spoke up and Cara felt the magic in the air. She felt how Pepper and Peggy let go of her, she heard them landing on the floor somewhere in the room, somewhere were she couldn't see them. Suddenly she felt someone take her in her arms and at first she became stiff at first, not seeing who it was but she soon understood that it was Loki. He had let go of her when she noticed her reaction.
"Sorry Loki, you did nothing wrong. I can't see right now. Think I have a concussion, so you just scared me for a second," she explained and she soon felt the arms around her again.
"Are you alright?" she felt how Loki nodded and she guessed that was the only answer she would get. She felt his tears as the landed on her skin but she didn't say anything, she just hold him back.
"It's alright, you are safe now," she said in a soft voice "I will just close my eyes for a second…"
She woke up to the sound of voices, she still felt Loki's arms around her and she smiled, glad that he had stayed with her.
"How could you not tell us?" She heard Pepper ask.
"We was about to tell you when we got back. We didn't know that you would run into him," Tony answered, as he had placed the flowers he bought for her on the table.
"Didn't know? Tony this must be the most irresponsible thing you have ever done," Pepper said.
"I don't know that, remember when I…" Tony started.
"It's not a competition!"
"All you had to do was send us a text," Peggy said.
"We thought it was better to take this face to face," Steve rubbed his neck.
Cara stopped listening when she felt how Loki tensed up, then she heard steps walking towards her. She tried not to think about it, and just be calm, so Loki wouldn't get even more scared.
"Here," she heard Bruce say. "It's a tea that will help with the pain."
"Thank you," she answered him and took a sip of it. She wasn't in pain, but the gesture was nice so she didn't say anything about it. Her magic removed the pain for now, but she didn't have enough energy to heal properly. She could still not see as she perfectly, but it was at least better.
"It was nothing. Sorry for not being here," Bruce sounded regretful.
"Nothing to be sorry for. You aren't to blame for this," Cara said and Bruce didn't answer as he just walked away again.
"Loki I am going to try to stand up," she informed him before moving, a bit unsteady, but she still stood up. Loki stood next to her and she smiled.
"Do any of you have the keys to these?" Cara asked the others and they stopped talking.
"I have them," Peggy said and Cara could hear her walking towards her, and she felt how Loki once again tensed up.
"It's alright Loki. And if you feel like it, you can go to your room and I will be there soon," she said and smiled at him. She could tell that he was thinking about it, torn over how he should act. "Don't worry Loki, I will not think less of you. I understand how you feel, I just want you to be where you feel the safest."
Loki then nodded before he squeezed her hand and walked away, and that made Cara feel better, knowing that she didn't need to worry about him.
"Here are the keys. I am Peggy, that is Jane and Pepper," Peggy said when Cara turned away from the direction Loki had walked off and looked at Peggy and the other women.
"Pleasure to meet you," Cara smiled and held out her hands so Peggy could remove the cuffs. "And thank you."
"We do apologise about this," Pepper said and Cara shook her head.
"No need to. You just protected yourself and the ones you loved, just like I did," she told them. "I do hope I, or rather we, didn't hurt you?"
"Nothing we can't handle," Jane assured her, which pleased Cara.
"But I am afraid we hurt you very badly," Pepper said.
"Nothing to worry about, when the magic kicks in it will heal in no time," Cara answered.
"How come that you magic hasn't already?" Bruce asked.
"Oh, I was down with Fandral and tried to get some answers out of him, not in a pleasant way, and it made me end up using a lot of magic, I wasn't prepared for a fight. Stupid of me, not to be, but sometimes you forget, no matter your previous experiences. Anyway the talk with Fandral, and the fight made me us up almost all of my magic," she explained. Her healing magic was extraordinary and it was normally not this slowly unless her injuries was very server, but with everything going on, she felt that she never got enough rest to let her magic fully recover.
"So you just used a little bit of magic?" Pepper asked and she nodded.
"Yes."
"Guess we was lucky then," Jane said. "And I would love to know more about your magic sometime."
"Sometime," Cara just answered.
"Will Loki be alright?" Steve asked.
"I hope so. I will go and talk to him soon," she said.
"He was really upset when we got back. I think he was afraid that you wouldn't wake up. He didn't let any of us near you," Tony said and Cara smiled.
"After his children I just think he is afraid of losing someone else," she said.
"I am not sure it's only that. He really cares about you," Bruce told her and she nodded.
"As I care about him," she informed them.
"We could tell," Peggy said with a laughed when they all heard a loud bang on the roof.
"Looks like the big guy is back," Tony said.
"Finally," Jane smiled.
"I will leave you then, so you can do what you all planned on doing," Cara said to them. "But I will start the dinner in a hour or so."
"No you will not!" Steve said and she gave him a confusing look. "You will rest, we will manage the dinner."
"Clint will not be happy to hear that when he is back," Tony said and laughed.
"He has to survive," Steve said.
"Thank you," Cara only said before she started walking towards Loki's room, very slowly.
When she arrived she knocked on the door and Loki soon opened with a worried look.
"I am alright, just a bit tired that is all. Are you alright?" She asked and he nodded and she smiled, glad that he was alright. "Thank you for helping me, and staying with me when I passed out."
Those words made Loki give her a small smile and she just smiled back.
"Anyway, I need to go to my room and sleep. Call on me if you need something," she told him when he took her hand.
"Stay," was all he said and she smiled.
"If you want me to stay I will stay," she said "I can sleep on the couch."
But Loki didn't let go of her hand when he walked over to the bed and she smiled.
"Are you sure?" She asked and he nodded. "You can ask me to leave whenever you want!"
Loki didn't say anything as he laid down and she did the same.
"Good night Loki," she said and he didn't answer but he putted his arm around her and Cara smiled before she once again fell asleep.
"So he hasn't done anything since he started to stay here?" Pepper asked.
"No," Tony said. "Not anything like this at least. Clint said he gave me a look that said he wanted to kill me after I made Cara drop the plate, and she cut herself on one of the shards."
"Wow, he is over protective," Pepper said.
"Cara has always been special for my brother," Thor said.
"I could tell. It was actually hard to tell that it was the same guy that tried to take over the planet," Jane said as she put the food on the table.
"Especially when he was trying to run away from us. We thought it was a trick," Peggy informed them.
"Can't blame you there. We had a hard time believing it wasn't a trick at first too." Tony admitted. "But after seeing him react like you did a lot of times, and Cara trying to calm him down kind of convinced us."
"That and Thor's story," Bruce said.
"Oh yeah that too, and the rapist, that are locked up," Tony said and started to eat.
"I have a hard time to see how your father can treat your brother like that," Jane said to Thor.
"I am having a hard time to understand it myself. It doesn't feel like father. But after finding Loki and knowing what happened, I can't tell who my father is anymore," Thor said with food in his mouth.
"But what will happen when Loki becomes himself?" Peggy asked and they all looked at each other. They had all wondered that, not sure they wanted to know.
"We don't know. I guess we just hope that Cara can keep him in control, or that we can take him down again," Tony admitted.
"I have faith in Cara," Thor said.
"I understand why, but let's hope that she don't turn on us for Loki's sake," Bruce said in a low voice.
"Let's hope that," Steve admitted and they all went silent.
"Let's watch a movie," Tony finally said and the others nodded.
"That sounds great," Pepper smiled at him and they all went over to the TV to watch a movie and try to forget about what could happen if Loki become himself again.
Half way into the movie they all felt better, maybe it was because it was a bad movie they all could laugh too, or the wine. Or maybe it was because Clint and Natasha got back, asking if anything had happened while they were gone, and then looking at them with a confused glance when they all started to laugh. Neither Clint or Natasha understood what was so funny but they joined in on the movie and they all just had a fun and calm night.