Chapter Sixteen

"Start talking. Now."

Clint had shoved Loki hard in the shoulder to face him. "What did you just do? What is Malngang?"

"It's an ancient Muspelian battle ritual." Loki said. "A traditional way to settle disputes."

"Battle ritual?" Clint growled. He was glaring fiercely at Loki. Alessia had never seen him so angry before. "Are you telling me you just signed Ally up for a fight with that guy?"

"Listen, she stands a greater chance facing him alone than his entire arm-"

Clint reeled back and threw a fist at Loki, landing a hit on his jaw. Loki staggered slightly before recovering.

"I suppose I deserve that," He muttered, wiping a trickle of blood away from the corner of his mouth "But I didn't really have another choice, your little princess here was planning on letting them have her today."

Clint opened his mouth, looking like he was about to say something else to Loki, but Reemanaskel spoke first.

"My lady!" He looked devastated and turned to Alessia. "Is this true? But why?"

Alessia was still standing in the back of the group, covering her mouth and nose with both her hands. She blinked a few times and started shaking her head again.

"They- they-they-" She started, her voice breaking as she tried to speak through the gripping and overwhelming tightness that was pushing her throat and twisting her heart. "They were setting f-fires." She said, managing to swallow the stammer momentarily. "People were dying. So they could find me." She met Clint's eyes for half a second. "I just didn't want to-couldn't not- had to- had to-" She didn't finish. Her hands were shaking and she felt like she could throw up. She was scared to face Surmayath in a fight. All Loki had done by stepping in was give her another month to dread facing Surmayath instead of just getting it over with quickly. She could look forward to being slaughtered by her only living relative for the last few weeks of her pointless goddamn life.

"What are you doing on earth?" Steve was tasking, somewhere outside of the bubble of mounting terror that seemed to be trapping Alessia. "Your brother said you were dead."

"My brother believes many things that are not true," Loki replied evasively.

"Hey, um, hate to be that guy," Scott interrupted awkwardly. "But isn't that Tony Stark?"

It was. Jogging behind Natasha across the misty gravel yard. The rain had finally let up and patches of sunlight were starting to appear here and there across the grey landscape.

Alessia tried to regulate her breathing but she was feeling dizzy. She had been low on energy since she lit the building on fire and now her emotions were starting to get the best of her again. Pull yourself together Haddock. She thought, sucking in a deep breath and trying to hold it. This is Iron man, stop acting like a pussy. She willed herself to stop shaking. Just don't think about how you're definitely going to get murdered by that guy in a month. Maybe you'll just kill yourself first. It'll be more painless, anyway. Besides, at least this way Bucky and Clint and everyone else are safe. She let that thought calm her. If Loki hadn't shown up, they'd all have died. This way only I have to die.

Alessia wiped her eyes on the heel of her palm and finally looked up. For an instant, she met Bucky's eyes, and was surprised to see him glaring at her. She didn't have time to think about it, though, because she was suddenly wrapped in Natasha's firm embrace.

She could hear Steve and Tony speaking, and even though they were only a few feet away from her, their words seemed to melt into garbled nothingness. It didn't seem to matter. How could anything that they said matter to her now? Natasha pulled away from her and looked her in the eyes, arms still around her shoulders, gaze piercing, and whispered: "Are you alright?"

Alessia shrugged and then gave a shaky laugh. "I- I'm… I'm..." She almost said she was fine, but when she blinked two fat tears ran down her cheeks, and she shook her head.

And then Natasha hugged her again, and somehow, it was exactly what Alessia needed. She just held onto Natasha and closed her ears off to the argument that was erupting around her. Just feeling someone else's body heat, heart beat, lungs filling and emptying with air, it made her feel calm. She pulled away only because she heard Tony saying "...not to mention that dog isn't house trained, and I'm not even sure she's had her shots-"

"Buttercup?" Alessia asked, suddenly jumping in. Everyone stopped talking to look at her. "Are you talking about Buttercup?" Her voice was thick from her stuffy nose, and she wiped at her cheeks again with the back of her hand.

"The dog we found with Sam and Barnes," Tony said, glancing into Alessia's eyes momentarily. "Pepper was calling her Sandy, but-"

"Man, you guys suck at dog names." Alessia said. She tried to laugh, but it came out shaky and awkward again. "Is she okay?"

"Pepper, or the dog?" Tony asked.

"Either. Both." Alessia said.

"They're fine." Tony answered.

"And Jane?" She asked.

"She's fine. They were both worried about you, actually."

An awkward silence fell over the small crowd of people. The exchange had been polite, had broken the heated arguing and left an uncertain tone in the air.

"So, if there are aliens attacking earth, does that mean we're all on the same side now?" Scott said, breaking into the silence. "Cuz, I'm confused, didn't you" -he gestured to Tony- "kidnap them?" He asked, pointing to Sam and Bucky. "And also, are you still evil? Because I know you were evil before…" He said this to Loki, who had been grabbed on either side by Clint and Sam at some point during the arguing. "And also, if you guys are the same type of alien, why doesn't she have horns?" this time to Reemanaskel.

"He's right, we have to stop fighting" Tony said. "I'm sorry," He said to Bucky, and to Sam. "I thought I was doing the right thing but- I should have listened to Thor from the beginning. And yes, he's still evil, he's always been evil," He continued, answering Scott's other question "And I'm guessing it's sexual dimorphism. Most female mammals don't have horns."

"I'm not evil-" Loki said, exasperated. "Alessia will tell you, won't you? And even if you don't believe I'm doing it out of the goodness of my heart, believe this: I'm trying to protect the rightful heir of an unfairly governed planet, I have have reason to be interested in the outcome!"

"If you think there's a chance in hell that we actually believe any goddamn thing you say," Clint began, tightening his hold on Loki's arm, but Alessia broke in,

"He did save you though," She said. Clint suddenly turned the cold glare he had been giving Loki to Alessia.

"Excuse me?" He said.

"Well, I just mean- look there were hundreds of them, they were going to kill us, there's no way we could have gotten out of that." Alessia said, trying to be diplomatic. However, she was starting to feel like she said the wrong thing, because Loki was smiling gratefully, and Clint looked livid, and everyone else seemed to be looking at her like she had lost her mind. No, not everyone, because Bucky was also glaring at her, and Natasha was still standing closest to her with an understanding sympathy in her eyes.

"When we got Sam and Barnes, Loki found her," Natasha said. "She's been with him for the past two days."

Clint turned his hardened stare at Loki once more. "If you fucking hurt her," He started, but Alessia couldn't hear the rest because Clint finished in a whisper. Whatever he said, however, it made Loki go pale and drop his mouth open.

"Look, why don't we sort through this back at the tower?" Tony asked, then added quickly "As guests, of course, you have my word."

As if to further ensure them of his change of heart, Tony offered to take Loki back with him, while the rest of them could pile into the van Steve had driven.

"I wanna ride with Natasha." Alessia said at once. "Which car are you going in?"

"I think somebody needs to help Stark keep an eye on your new boyfriend." Natasha said.

"I'll do it." Clint volunteered immediately. So Tony and Clint agreed to drive back in Tony's sports car with Loki while the rest of them took the van.

Before entering the van, Sam had grabbed Alessia's shoulder to stop her.

"I'm really sorry we left you by yourself," He muttered softly. Alessia shook her head and whispered. "It wasn't your fault. I'm not actually mad, I was just really worked up earlier-"

"No, it was messed up. I should have known something bad was going to happen." Sam said firmly.

"So, are you going to explain about the whole, alien-Queen-thing, because I for one am still not up to speed." Scott asked, joining them at the door of the van. "Also, is he going to come with us?" he lowered his voice and gestured back to Reemanaskel who hadn't approached the van.

"I… will go ask." Alessia broke away and dashed to Reemanaskel. He was standing where he had arrived, watching everyone work out the driving arrangement.

"I don't know if you can fit in the car with everyone," Alessia said, glancing at his horns.

"That will not be a problem," He told her. "But I will need to know the coordinates of the location you are traveling to."

"Uh… I guess ask him?" She gestured to Tony, who was handcuffing Loki to the inside handle of his car door. Reemanaskel bowed to her and strode off.

Alessia turned her head back to the group she was supposed to be riding with. Scott and Sam were already in the back, and Natasha was following them in. Steve was breaking from Tony and Clint's conversation to head back to the van. Alessia glanced around for Bucky. He hadn't spoken to her, other than to call her an idiot when everyone had first shown up. Not that he was wrong about that. He was standing a few feet away from Steve, with his hands in the pockets of the jacket he wore. He looked like he was cold, with his arms pinned to his sides and the collar of the jacket popped up to cover his neck. Alessia tried to catch his eye as she walked back to the van, but when he finally glanced up at her, he glared like he had before. Was he mad at her?

Seated on the back bench between Scott and Natasha, facing Sam, she recounted everything that had happened- well, almost everything. Details she left out: Loki's far too personal way of touching her, finding the picture of Bucky on Wikipedia, and falling onto razor wire.

"Oh, and this morning I started getting text messages on the phone I bought," She added, once she had arrived at the present. "I wasn't sure if it was one of you guys or-"

"It was me," Natasha told her. "By the way, terrible clue, I thought you were with Steve."

"Steve?" Alessia asked.

"Because of time travel."

"But Steve is more like Jack Harkness." Alessia argued.

"Who's Jack Harkness?" Steve asked from the front seat.

"I thought you were watching Doctor Who?" Natasha asked him, before Alessia could answer.

"So, 'Tash, why don't you tell us what's been going on in the tower?" Sam interrupted, sensing that the conversation was quickly losing focus.

Natasha's side of things explained why Sam and Bucky had gotten captured without Alessia- the manager of the hotel they had stayed in the night before had recognized their car as the one recently stolen. The authorities caught up with them the next day after Alessia had been dropped off. It also confirmed Loki's story that the mall she was in had been searched- and thoroughly. Natasha explained that Thor was adamant about Apex Gold being an alien operation, which Jane and someone named Erik had confirmed. "Not that there's any doubt about it now," Natasha added.

Steve pulled the van into a parking deck underneath Stark tower and parked the car. Alessia nudged Natasha's arm as subtly as possible and mouthed "can we talk?" as Sam and Scott left the car. Natasha raised her eyebrows curiously, and nodded, leading the way out of the van.

Steve had walked to the wall where several elevator doors stood waiting and pressed the button for upstairs. As if ignoring this, Natasha walked to another of the elevator doors and called an elevator to them. Steve gave her a questioning look, and Natasha shrugged and said "You really want to stuff us all in the same elevator?"

The elevator Steve had called opened with a ding. Steve entered and Sam followed him inside.

"So, who do you want to ride with Bucky?" Scott asked, unsurely waiting to enter the elevator.

"Oh, why don't you boys all go in this one?" Natasha asked.

"You know, there's probably enough room for all of us to go in here," Scott said, stepping into the elevator. Natasha gave Steve a pointed look, and he took the hint.

"No, 'Tash is right, why don't you ride with us, Bucky?" Steve said.

Bucky kicked an eyebrow up and glanced skeptically at Natasha and Alessia, but walked into the elevator with the others. The doors closed on them and Natasha turned to Alessia.

"So?"

Their elevator arrived and Alessia and Natasha walked into it.

"I didn't mention it in the car," Alessia began, as the doors slid shut and Natasha pressed the button for the twenty-seventh floor. "But Loki was acting kind of weird to me." The elevator jumped into motion, adding to the tickling in Alessia's stomach.

"Weird?" Natasha asked. "What do you mean? What's your definition of normal in a situation like that?"

"No. I mean…" Alessia fisted her hands up, struggling with what she needed to say.

"He would try to hug me, or like, touch me sorta like- not like…" words were getting caught up in her mouth. She didn't want to overstate what had been going on. How could she explain it? "I mean he was always calling me pet names like 'darling' or 'love' and… not flirting exactly, but he…"

Natasha was listening with a furrowed brow and pursed lips. "Hmmm interesting." She said, crossing her arms, and looking off into the distance. "Like he's trying to trick you into thinking your relationship with him is more intimate. What did you do when he tried to hug you?"

"Well, I was stuck with him. I just… I didn't make him stop. I was kinda afraid of him." Alessia admitted, ashamed. Now that she said it out loud she realized how pathetic it sounded.

"Did you pretend to like it?" Natasha asked. A sick feeling twisted in Alessia's gut at the question. She looked down at the grey carpet on the elevator floor.

"No, I just tried to… seem indifferent to it." Alessia answered.

"You did the right thing," Natasha said. She placed a hand on Alessia's shoulder and Alessia brought her eyes up to meet Natasha's. "This is good. It means he thinks you trust him. We'll get Wanda to do a read on him and see what his endgame is. But whatever it is, if he thinks you're on his side we can use that."

Alessia nodded. She was relieved. Part of her had felt guilty about acting so relaxed towards Loki's behavior. She didn't have a boyfriend, so it wasn't like cheating, but it wasn't honest either. She couldn't understand why it felt so bad. Who was she betraying? The god of lies? Herself maybe. But Natasha's words made her actions seem correct. She only had one more question.

"Who's Wanda?"

Clint sat through the car ride with Tony and Loki in silence. He had chosen the back seat because it meant he could glare at both Tony in the driver's seat, and Loki, handcuffed to the door on the passenger's side.

He was pissed. And worried to the point where he actually felt a little sick. He thought of Alessia as part of his family, and he knew there was no way in hell that she was ready for a one-on-one fight with the man they had seen earlier. But that was what Loki had signed her up for.

Loki. Clint knew him better than most of the other Avengers did. Of course, Thor grew up with him, and most of the team had fought him. But Clint, along with Erik and a handful of Shield's other employee's knew a different side of Loki. The one that had entranced and commanded them with the scepter. And, god damn. He was a bastard.

The thought of Loki somehow convincing Alessia he was on her side made Clint's gut turn. Alessia was a smart girl. She knew Loki was the one who caused the battle in New York. Clint felt like it was his fault. He should have coached her on spotting emotional infiltration tactics. Stupid. Now look at the mess she's in.

Tony's car was faster and smaller than the van Steve drove, and made it through the traffic to Stark tower first. He ignored the first parking lot, and drove through it to a ramp in the back that lead down, to a lower level. Then again, to another lower level, and then drove straight at a wall, which lifted to reveal a small chamber which Tony parked in. The wall slid back down and the floor jolted into motion and started rising. When it stopped, the wall on the other side opened up and Tony drove them out.

It was the room Bucky had been held in. The doctors that had been there before were replaced with more guards. And Thor.

The god of thunder was standing with crossed arms and leaning against one of the desks that remained in the room from when the doctors had furnished it for research. Loki's handcuffs from the car were removed and one of the guards stepped up to force a thicker stronger pair onto him. Loki grimaced at the tight and uncomfortable bonds and glared at Stark.

"Is all this really necessary?" He asked dryly as the same guard manhandled him to lead him to the chair in the middle.

"No," Clint answered for him. "It's just for fun."

Loki scoffed at the remark, but the harsh nature of his imprisonment must have given him some reason to be afraid, because he immediately started trying to bargain.

"Seems an unusual strategy, mistreating the only person you have with any familiarity with Muspelian legal procedure."

"I don't think we need anymore help with that from you." Clint growled.

"Suit yourself," Loki said offhandedly. He gave a purposefully casual and dismissive nod towards Thor, and leaned back into the chair that the guard had deposited him in before going on. "But in a week when Surmayath's men come to negotiate the terms of the battle, you may find yourself rethinking that."

Clint ground his teeth and glared at Loki's smug grin. Checkmate, the grin said. Fuck you, Clint thought.

Alessia sighed and flopped face first onto the bed. It was soft. So much more comfortable than anywhere she'd slept for the last several days. She was exhausted. Setting the building on fire had drained her significantly, and the confrontation that followed it was was weighing heavily on her mind. Not to mention she'd just been introduced to about a dozen new people, and she was sure she didn't remember half of their names.

Of course, they'd all been nice, and understood when she had swayed on her feet and asked if there was somewhere she might be able to lay down for a while. She tried to remind herself that they were Clint and Natasha's co-workers, which meant they would probably be easier to talk to once she knew them, but so far she felt nervous and unsure of how to act around them.

She kicked her shoes off and stripped the blanket from the bed, snuggling herself in the covers. Let's see, there had been Vision and Thor, they would be easy enough to remember. Thor because, well, he was Thor, and Vision because, how often do you meet an android?

Who else? The dark haired woman with striking blue eyes who had quietly exuded the presence of someone who seriously had their shit together. Mary? No, Maria. Erik, the older man whose kind manners and warm bearing reminded Alessia of her dead grandfather. A man who introduced himself as James, but whom everyone else called Rhodes or Rhodey. And Wanda. Closer in age to Alessia, with a hard to pin down accent and silver rings on every finger.

Reemanaskel had teleported himself to the roof of Stark Tower and, after some confusion, had been lead down into the main building. He was currently explaining the situation to everyone. Alessia was too worn out to go through it all over again.

She undid the button and fly of her corduroy pants to make herself more comfortable as she curled into fetal position in the bed. She'd left the group soon after Iron Man and Thor had joined them, with the news that Clint would be coming down momentarily.

Alessia wasn't ready to talk to Clint. He was going to ask her what the hell she'd been thinking when she ran off to give herself up, and she would have to look him in the face without a good answer. She didn't have any romantic notion about giving herself up for the greater good. Instead of standing up and fighting, she had given in. So many parents had lost children because of her. Her own parents could join the list with the others. That wasn't something to be proud of.

Alessia would have spent longer laying in bed feeling bad about herself, about everything that had happened, but she was simply too tired. She wondered briefly just before she fell asleep what happened to Loki since she last saw him, but dismissed it as unimportant. He was an asshole anyway.

Alessia woke up to a knock on the door. She couldn't have been asleep for more than an hour or two, judging by the orange tinged evening light straining through the curtains. She rubbed her eyes and called "Who is it?" towards the door.

"It's me." It was Clint's voice. "Can I come in?"

Alessia sighed. She was going to have to face him sooner or later.

"Yeah, come in."

Clint entered the room and sat down on the bed as Alessia sat upright under the comforter. He sat and didn't say anything. Just leaned his elbows on his knees and didn't look at her for a long time.

"Loki thinks that he can negotiate your choice of weapon," Clint said abruptly. Alessia was surprised. It hadn't been the first thing she thought Clint would say to her. He turned to face her and went on. "According to him and Reemanaskel, traditionally whoever initiates the challenge picks the battle ground, while the opponent chooses the weapons, but Loki thinks he might be able to get them to reverse it because you're so young. There are no limitations on the type of weapon, but you can only choose one, so we think you should try to get a projectile of some kind, because Reemanaskel was adamant that Surmayath is a swordsman, not an archer."

He looked at Alessia meaningfully. She didn't have anything to say. What could she add to this news?

"You have a month to get ready," He went on. His voice was hard. Alessia could see the pain in his eyes as he said it. They both knew it was useless. That was not long enough. And Alessia wasn't an archer either. She wasn't skilled enough in any weapon to give her an edge in a fight. Not against Surmayath, anyway.

"Call your mom," Clint said suddenly. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it to her. He stood up to go, then stopped at the door.

"You're going to have to train harder than you've ever trained before. It's going to be tougher than the training I've given you, more intensive than your old skating coaches, and harder than learning to control your pyrokinesis. you're going to feel worked to death." There was no humor in his voice. He locked eyes with her. "But you will win this. You will." Alessia could see how serious he was, and felt suddenly ashamed of herself. This pain he was feeling. It was her fault. She nodded solemnly then dropped her eyes to the bed.

Clint left and Alessia still held the phone. Her parent's home phone number was under H, "Haddock's." She hit the little green phone icon next to the number and brought the cell phone to her ear. She sat nervously, playing with a loose thread in the hem of the comforter while the phone rang. and rang. and rang. and -

"Hey Clint! How's Alessia doing?"

Her dad's cheerful voice knocked the wind out of her. Her hands were trembling.

"Dad, it's me."

"Hey sweetie! You feeling better?"

"Yeah, I-" laryngitis. That was the story Laura told them. "I finally have my voice back."

"Yeah I can hear that." Her dad chuckled. "Hey by the way, have you heard from Randy? He was asking about you, I think he said something about you using up the last of your sick days soon. you might wanna give him a call, I think they're having Conner substitute for your classes."

Sick days. Alessia thought bitterly. She hadn't even thought about work in days. It was amazing she hadn't been fired, actually. Randy had always been such a hard ass about sick days. She'd gone in and taught classes with a twisted ankle, and when Randy had been her couch, he wouldn't even give her time off when she'd come in with a broken rib.

"Yeah I'll call him. But, Dad." Alessia swallowed. She wasn't sure exactly what she needed to say to him. "I don't think I want to teach skating anymore."

"Oh," He sounded surprised, maybe unsure what he should say. "Well, what do you want to do then? Are you thinking of going to school?"

"I… I don't know. I think… I'm going to spend some time figuring it out. I'm going to… do some traveling."

She stood up and walked to the curtained windows. She'd been so tired that she hadn't even bothered looking out them when she came in.

"Traveling? Where to?" Her dad asked.

Alessia flung the curtains back to take in the view.

The sunset stained sky was pink and burnt orange, with the occasional deep grey cloud left over from the rain. The light from the sun drenched the hundreds of mirrored skyscrapers in a gleaming golden light. Towering buildings pierced the horizon line, and the rain slicked cars glittered as they moved along the streets, tiny as ants from this height. She could see the bay, the waves mirroring the fiery sky, and the triumphant figure of Lady Liberty towering from the water.

"I'm going to go to New York." She said.

It was later that evening when Natasha came and found Alessia, toying absently with her necklace and staring into the twilight. The intense and gorgeous sunset, vibrant from the air pollution of the city, had become night. Shimmering from the horizon down, the many lights of the buildings and cars of Manhattan glittered beneath the dull, starless sky.

"Hey,"

"Hey."

"How's it going?"

"It's…"

"Did you call your parents?"

"I talked to my dad. I think I might be fired. Not that it matters at all. Whatever."

Natasha came to stand by Alessia and stare out the window with her.

"Clint told you we're going to start training you tomorrow?"

"He said something about that."

"I know you probably should be going to bed soon, but I think you should tell Wanda what you told me."

"That Loki's was acting like a creep? Is that even unusual for him?"

"It could be. We won't know for sure unless she gets a read on him."

Alessia sighed. She turned her back to the window and nodded to Natasha. The older woman lead the way out of the room and down the hallway.

Alessia had been given a suite on the fifty-first floor, where guest rooms and a communal kitchen and rec space could accommodate six people very comfortably.

"Do you know who else will be on this floor with me?" Alessia asked as she and Natasha stepped into an elevator for the second time that day.

"Just you, Bucky, Sam and Scott. Everyone else already has rooms on different floors. This one was just finished being remodeled."

"You have a room here?"

"Yeah, floor sixty-three. Third door on the left. If you ever need me."

The elevator dinged on the fifty-eighth floor. They stepped off and Natasha lead Alessia through the hall of doors to stop in front of one. She knocked sharply, and moments later a voice called, not from within the room, but from down the hall, in the common room of the floor.

"Natasha? Izdaat you?"

Natasha and Alessia followed Wanda's voice to find her sitting cross legged on the floor in front of a coffee table. Vision was on her opposite, also cross legged. Between them on the coffee table sat a game of connect four.

"Evening, ladies." Vision said in his elegant english accent.

"Evening, Vision," Natasha smiled. "Do you mind if we borrow Wanda for a moment?"

"Not at all," Vision said, rising to his feet. He made a gesture with his hands when Wanda made to get up, shaking his head saying, "Oh no, I fancy a walk anyway. Besides, there are more places to sit in here."

And with that, he strode out of the room, walking straight through the wall as though it were a sheet of water. Alessia stared after him incredulously.

"He doezdat sometimes." Wanda said resignedly. "I've tried to explain dat it's rude, but…"

"He's made of metal!" Alessia hissed. "That shouldn't… He shouldn't… that doesn't…."

"Oh, Vision's powers are a whole 'nother can of worms. It's better to just accept that he can basically do anything." Natasha said, taking Alessia's shoulders and guiding her to one of the chairs in the common room.

"So he's like… Superman? Or Doctor Manhattan?"

"More like Doctor Manhattan." Natasha answered, sitting in another chair while Wanda pulled herself into a third.

"So, Ally, you want to tell Wanda what you said to me?"

"Right. Um. well, see the thing is.."

Wanda was staring intently at Alessia, ready to absorb whatever she said. Natasha had primed her shortly before getting Alessia, and Wanda was under the impression that she was getting briefed for a special and very secret mission. Something delicate and personal to the newly discovered queen of Muspelheim. Wanda was excited, because so far she hadn't been on many missions, and to be handpicked for something so important had her eager to do her best from the start.

Wanda's intent look threw Alessia off. She had to explain that a demi-god had been border-line sexually harassing her, and ask a teenager to read his mind to see if he had a good reason for it. Wanda's unwavering eye-contact and serious let's-get-down-to-business attitude did not make the subject any easier to broach. Alessia sighed. Best get it all out at once.

"So when I was on the run and Loki found me, he acted sort of weird towards me and I didn't know what to do about it at the time because he was the only person I was with and I thought that if I messed things up with him I'd end up on my own and get captured or something so I just sort of went along with it but I don't know why he did it or if he was trying to trick me and Natasha thinks you should read his mind and find out."

Alessia had rapidly summed herself up as quickly as she could, in a single breath. Wanda looked a little surprised, and glanced from the pink-cheeked Alessia to cool even tempered Natasha, looking for answers.

"'Acted weird'? Vat do you mean?"

"He…" Alessia looked at Natasha helplessly, hoping she would take over and repeat what had been so painfully hard for Alessia to say in the first place. But Natasha raised her eyebrows expectantly, so Alessia pressed on.

"He would.. Call me things like 'darling' and he was always looking for excuses to touch me-in a completely like, PG way, of course, but like… he'd put an arm over my shoulders or something like that and…"

Alessia trailed off, hoping that she didn't need to say more. Wanda seemed to have grasped the situation, but looked at Natasha curiously.

"I want you to read his mind. I'm going to take you with me first thing in the morning and I want you to tell me what he thinks about while I ask him questions. Also, it will give you the opportunity to watch an interrogation, which will be good for you."

"I see," Wanda answered, giving Natasha a nod and looking hesitantly back to Alessia.

"But you are okay? He didn't hurt you?"

"I'm fine. He couldn't have hurt me like that if he wanted to."

Alessia's stomach writhed at the truth of her words. The last time a man tried to touch her like that was the night before she met Clint. The night Dylan died.