Entering her cluttered workplace, Loki found it much more personalized than he would have expected. There was a padded rolling chair and a stool strategically placed directly where she could see each and every screen. She'd left holograms rotating in the air from when she'd last been down, and they lazily drifted from her path as she approached a large glass desk, absently stepping over notes and pens and several random pillows along the way.
Loki followed at a slower pace, careful not to step on any of her papers and taking in the whole of the lab in the process. It was extremely spacious, with one wall operating as a giant window/screen, the opposite wall that they'd just stepped through made entirely of thick glass, and the two others solid. The two solid walls were almost entirely covered in multicolored post-it notes. The one on the right seemed devoted to new ideas and algorithms, while the one on the left was a chaotic mosaic of stick-figure cartoons and doodles all interacting with one another. What could be seen of the wall was painted a dark, soothing shade of blue.
"This is…something," he observed, absorbing it in all its entirety.
"Yeah, I know," she admitted sheepishly, scratching at the back of her head, "but there's a method to the madness. Sort of. I mean, I know where everything is…"
She shrugged helplessly, like she had no excuse for the mess that had made its way from her brain to the material world as she settled herself in the cushioned rolling chair that was far too large for her. She crossed her legs, swiping a notebook, a pack of sticky notes, and a pen off her desk.
"Make yourself comfortable," Taylor invited, settling further into her own chair, "there are pillows, chairs, I think there's even a blanket around here somewhere…"
She trailed off as something apparently occurred to her and she dragged a holographic model towards herself, tapping in codes and adjusting its measurements. Apparently left to his own devices for a moment, Loki began exploring more of the lab. He glanced over some of her work and was pleasantly surprised that not only was her handwriting legible, if a little rushed, but that he could understand the formulas, even if not what she was using them for.
"What is it you're trying to do here?" he questioned, walking up behind her and watching the hologram as she rapidly began writing something across the screen with the cap to her pen closed.
"Oh," she jumped as if he'd scared her, "do you remember how you were using Tony's building for a power source to open that big hole between dimensions a while ago? Well, we're modifying that. What you used was just a prototype, but here we're adjusting it. I'm working on the mechanics of actually making the thing work."
Here her tone became slightly aggravated as she glared at the screen for a moment before continuing.
"The idea is to perfect the clean energy generator for Stark Tower to run indefinitely before we move on to compressing that same device for other things, like cars. Tony's working on creating a grid to avoid difficulties and power outages, as well as backup storage, in case the power does cut off, and also a security system to sequester energy in one part of the tower rather than another."
She spoke in one long rush, barely stopping for breath, making it clear she was extremely passionate about what she was doing. Her heart and soul was going into her work and it was almost contagious. Obviously, she was working just for the science, for the pure joy of discovering and creating. It was an endearing, if naïve, quality.
"You're working on this alone?" he inquired with amazed disbelief.
"Well no," she answered, "I mean, Tony is obviously half in charge, and a couple of SHIELD scientists help out too, but I'm mainly in charge of this portion. Tony wants it to be my first major project out of school or something."
He let her get back to work there, interested in watching her tangle of thoughts make their way onto the numerous screens she was flitting between without interruption. She even offered him a sticky-note pad and a couple pens to divert his attention since she couldn't actively keep him entertained. A couple hours were passed this way—she was working madly, scribbling, typing, and fighting with designs and equations while he observed in semi-fascinated silence.
Sometime around eleven, the other Avengers began waking and Taylor paused in her work long enough to ask JARVIS to let them know where she and Loki were. After that, she buried herself in her work again, occasionally doodling absently while her thoughts organized themselves. Somewhere along the way, Tony and Bruce ventured down to check on them, satisfied to find that Loki hadn't killed the youngest Avenger yet.
"How are things coming along?" Tony inquired loudly as he entered, peering around the space with a mildly impressed expression.
"Fine," she answered distractedly, pausing to add reproachfully, "this would be easier if you actually wrote notes rather than left everything in your head."
Bruce chuckled as Tony began scanning over her current labors with a critical eye, ignoring her aggravated tone.
"Tell me about it," the quieter of the two men agreed, "it's even worse when you're working with him directly."
"I can't write as fast as I can think," Tony argued defensively.
"Neither can Taylor or I, but we still manage to get almost everything down," Bruce replied, crossing his arms.
The billionaire waved him off, turning back to Taylor and pointing at a screen.
"It looks good so far. You've made a lot of progress. How long do you think it'll be until you want to try running actual tests?" he questioned.
She looked at the screens dubiously, her features mutinously betraying her apprehension.
"Mm, I don't know. I need it to work properly in the simulation before I can even think about doing it in real life," she said, "if I'm wrong…"
She trailed off there, brain spiraling somewhere dark. If she was wrong, things could quite literally explode. She was good with her powers, but not good enough that she was confident she could control an explosion of that magnitude. It reminded her of back before she could control her powers, when she had accidently set cars and buildings and other things on fire and been unable to control it. It made her skin crawl.
"Hey," Tony called gently, waving a hand in front of her face, "I think if you give me the measurements, I could double-check that it's all sound before we begin building the machine. I could design a backup system, too, in case there was a meltdown of some sort."
She hesitated, glancing at her calculations. Tony was right, she was pretty confident that she had made excellent progress since she'd begun the project six months ago. Math wasn't something that was left up to interpretation. She'd know if she'd gotten something wrong. Besides, if Tony was suggesting she wrap up soon and begin testing, then she'd trust his expertise.
"Another week, I think, and we can start building prototypes," she decided tentatively.
Loki watched her expression carefully, recognizing the shift in her disposition immediately. She'd gone from confident and comfortable to uncertain and fearful with a simple question. She was sweet, he'd give her that, but she didn't seem to have a very strong constitution. It was a pity really, that all that fire was just a front.
"C'mon upstairs," Tony said, "Thor has something to tell everyone."
Taylor had almost forgotten that Thor pretty much never came to Earth for social visits. There was most likely a reason why the Asgardian was here and why he'd brought his brother as well. He'd mentioned it the night before, she remembered, but he'd allowed them to celebrate her graduation first.
"Alright," she agreed, initiating the saving and back up protocols before gesturing for Loki to join them.
The Asgardian stood closest to her in the elevator, and even though the space wasn't small, it felt downright claustrophobic with the tension coming from Tony and Bruce and the proximity Loki was to her. Taylor cleared her throat awkwardly, struggling for something to say.
"Did Thor say anything about it?" she questioned, peaking around Loki's much taller frame to peer at her two team members.
"Nope," Tony answered, "just that it was big and dangerous—like it ever isn't."
She sighed, leaning her head back against the elevator wall, her expression becoming pinched with aggravation.
"Why are there so many people that want to destroy the world?" she wondered aloud, "It's like it's suddenly become fashionable."
She didn't look at Loki as she said it, but he gave her a heated glare nonetheless. When she noticed his gaze on her, she leveled him with her own pointed stare, brazenly daring him to object, hands settled firmly on her hips. Without her realizing it, the temperature in the elevator increased by several noticeable degrees, and Tony tugged at the collar of his Black Sabbath T-shirt uncomfortably.
"Uh, Taylor?" Bruce said, barely attempting to hide his amusement at the two, "Do you mind turning down the heat a little? This elevator doesn't have the best ventilation system."
"It does when Taylor's not overwhelming the A/C," Tony griped under his breath.
Immediately snapping out of it, she consciously withdrew her powers, troubled that they'd gotten away from her so quickly and so easily with Loki. She usually had iron-clad control of her powers, but it was like the god tested her control—and all without even opening his mouth.
Finally, the elevator opened with an inappropriately cheerful tone and she physically forced herself not to rush from the suddenly smothering compartment. No, no she would not lose control of herself. It was subconscious, she was sure, a response to Loki's unspoken challenge, nothing more. More than three years without any incidents—some attractive Asgardian with a piss-poor attitude and an inferiority complex was not going to make her falter now.
"Taylor, I am most grateful for the warm cake disks you made us this morning," Thor told her immediately when he saw her, sweeping her up in yet another bone-crushing hug.
"You're welcome, Thor," she wheezed, trying as best she could to return the affection.
"I see you spent the morning in my brother's company. Did he cause you any trouble?" Thor inquired, giving his brother a pointed look as he set Taylor on the ground again.
"No, not at all," she answered pleasantly, "he was very quiet."
The other Avengers and Pepper all thanked her for making breakfast before matters turned serious as they waited for Thor to explain their newest threat. He looked uncharacteristically solemn as he gazed into the depths of his #1 Superhero coffee mug.
"There have been…disappearances," he began, "throughout the Nine Realms. They are entirely unexplainable. No one has used the Bifrost save to investigate the missing villages."
"Villages?" she repeated, troubled.
"Yes, entire villages in every realm have disappeared except for in this one," Thor explained seriously, "There's no trace of where the people go or who took them. We believe that the culprit is using doors between realms to transport them, but how they manage to do it is a mystery, which is why I have brought Loki."
Taylor frowned, a shiver travelling up her spine with unease. It sounded like something out of an M. Night Shyamalan film. Entire communities disappearing without a trace? Creepy. Her teammates seemed to feel the same way as they shifted with unease.
"…So what you're telling us is that we know nothing about what's going on—except that entire towns are going missing, and that whoever is doing this is likely coming to Earth next?" Natasha summed it up with a bit of disbelief.
"I wish I could tell you more…but these people must be stopped," Thor implored them, looking at each of their faces in turn.
Taylor and several others nodded. They'd do whatever they could, but all this "alien" stuff was still new to all of them. At least this time Thor was just as in the dark as they were. They had no idea what they were up against, or how many, but they were willing to protect the people of Earth again at any cost.
"Well, where are these 'doors' to Earth?" Steve asked, looking at Loki expectantly.
"Too numerous and spread out to monitor. Your SHIELD agency would serve us more efficiently in this case," he replied, shaking his head a little.
"Actually, we can handle it," Tony interjected, gesturing between Bruce, Taylor, and himself, "we could probably whip up an algorithm to monitor all the locations at once. If any readings change, we'll get an alert."
The trickster god glowered, knowing that the superheroes wanted him nowhere near the rebuilding organization. Thor cleared his throat loudly.
"I prefer this course of action," he admitted, "I would prefer SHIELD not be involved this time, considering the events that occurred last time there was an attack…"
"Do we have a time period?" Bucky inquired, cutting through the tension bluntly, arms crossed impressively over his chest.
If Taylor didn't know he was such a teddy-bear, she'd think it was intimidating. When they'd first met she admittedly had, but now she just looked at him and thought of late Saturday nights crying over Nicholas Sparks movies and sticking fridge magnets to his metal arm when he wasn't looking. It pretty much destroyed anything that might have made him scary.
"Five to seven days it how long it usually takes between abductions," Thor offered, "Two have already passed."
"So we have three to five days left," Taylor summed up airily, "we don't know who or what we're going after, how many there are, or where they're planning to show up. Is that about right?"
Everyone shot her bleak looks as Thor nodded his regretful confirmation. She simply shrugged, running a hand through her midnight hair nonchalantly. With a decidedly confident set to her shoulders and stance, she planted her hands on her hips again.
"Sounds like a blast," she remarked cheerfully.
"Alright, let's get a game plan together," Steve picked up, naturally taking the lead as always, "Tony, Bruce, Taylor, we need you to start monitoring those locations with Loki. Thor, we need any more info you can give on these guys. Everyone else is on standby. Get ready to go at any moment."
Tony linked an arm through Taylors, and in the back of his mind, through the calculations and formulas he was already contemplating, he was proud of the young woman for not pulling away when he made contact, even though he knew he'd surprised her. It had taken him and the others years, years to help Taylor. As much as he was an arrogant, self-absorbed, selfish asshole, Taylor had found a special place in his heart, nestled right between Pepper and the rest of the Avengers.
She met people's eyes now, even when she first met them, didn't hide or run when the others argued or yelled. The nightmares had all but ceased it seemed. He didn't wander into the living room/lab in the middle of the night and find her curled up, shaking and crying, anymore. When they slung their arms around her shoulders or dropped beside her abruptly on the couch, she didn't shrink away or shut down. The scars her family had left her with—physical, mental, and emotional—were far from gone, but it seemed they'd finally started to fade.
…And he didn't want Loki and his angry, destructive nature to ruin it.
"Tony, Taylor, wait up," Bruce called after her as they speedily made their way to the elevator.
"It's not me, it's the crazy billionaire!" Taylor replied apologetically over her shoulder, tugging at Tony's sleeve on the good doctor's behalf, "Slow down, you nut job! We're missing two people!"
Loki and Bruce finally caught up with him, the former of the two scowling wickedly as the elevator descended quickly to the lower levels where the labs were. Taylor stared up at the ceiling thoughtfully for a moment before speaking up.
"You should put music in this thing," she commented.
"Taylor," Tony reprimanded half-heartedly, "math now, home improvement later."
She grinned at him, folding her arms behind her back innocently.
"Somehow, I doubt you even need me for this. It seems like you already have something figured out."
He smiled and patted her shoulder distractedly as the elevator came to a stop, and the party of four quickly went to Tony's lab, which Loki personally found to be less inviting and…pleasant than Taylor's. Then again, the raven-haired woman's lab did have an assortment of entertaining objects and comfortable seating options that Stark's did not. The god had to stand around like a jackass as the three superheroes debated and argued for a moment before he was finally able to be of any use.
"That'll about do it. As soon as the readings change, JARVIS will inform us," Tony stated with satisfaction, thrusting his rolling chair away from a desk and straight into Taylor.
She scowled and kicked him in the leg, just hard enough to make rub his shin in indignation. Loki observed the proceedings half-irritated. This was becoming tedious. At this rate, he preferred the solitude of his prison cell to the three restless Midgardians. Perhaps now that he'd served his purpose, he could return to Asgard and pretend this whole ridiculous debacle had never occurred. Unfortunately, fate didn't seem to favor him—not that it ever did—as Taylor shot him a pointed sideways look.
"I'm going to go watch a movie," she said, "and I'm going to recruit Bucky to help me persuade Steve and Thor into joining us. If you'd like to be mildly entertained with some lovely pre-CGI affects and a man with a breathing problem, you're free to join me."
Loki's brow furrowed at her explanation. What in Odin's name was she referencing? He understood the concept of movies, but which movie specifically was beyond him. He'd never seen one in his life, and frankly he wasn't interested. Mind-numbing fictional universes that were more likely than not going to make him dumber for watching it was not on his short list of pleasurable Midgardian pass-times.
"I believe I'll decline," he replied crisply, folding his arm behind his back.
She shrugged, ran a hand through her raven hair and patted Bruce's shoulder as she made her way from Tony's lab.
"Suit yourself, Grumpy. The other six dwarves and I will just party without you."
She waved over her shoulder without turning back, the soft sound of her boots on the floor following her down the hall.
"Did she just insinuate that she's Snow White?" Tony scoffed, staring after their youngest friend with slightly narrowed eyes.
"I believe she did," Bruce replied uncertainly, raising an eyebrow.
That was Taylor, always referencing their band of misfits with one Hollywood reference or another. It was a wonder to them that she hadn't run out already after four years, and an even bigger wonder that she hadn't used the Snow White one sooner. Tony snorted, going back to whatever he was doing and effectively ignoring Loki in the process.
"She's the shortest one in the Tower. If anyone were dwarf, it'd be her."
Bruce chuckled.
"I'm telling her you said that."
