Cherry's smile stayed plastered onto her face, no matter how much she wanted to strangle the man sitting in front of her. He was studying her, scrutinizing her every flaw.

She noticed his bruising had faded considerably, but there were still cuts around his mouth where the muzzle had been. And she saw no sign of fear in his gaze. No shaking or backing into a corner or flinching at her presence. She tried to find anything that would expose his cover. She had seen it with her own eyes. And she was guessing he knew this. But where had that trauma gone?

"So, you are Agent Sparks. I was informed that you are the one-eyed man's niece. Though I know not why that information would be crucial for our time in the future. I suppose it was a threat."

Cherry folded her arms in front of her chest. "Not likely."

Loki's eyebrows raised a fraction, a mocking smirk growing. "I do not see how you could possibly be related to the dear old Director Fury. You clearly do not have the same skin color."

"Adopted. And as you said earlier, I don't see how this is important to our work." Cherry's jaw locked.

Loki laid back on the bed, seemingly uninterested with her. "Mortals. All so simple-minded."

Cherry pulled the gun off her back and clicked the bullet into the chamber, training it on Loki's head. "If you even start with that 'mortals' stuff, I'll shoot you."

Loki laughed, his shoulders shaking with a silent chuckle. "I suppose I should assume that you could hurt me with that piece of metal. Would you prefer I call you an Earthling? Midgardian? Perishable? Shortly Corporeal? Momentarily Somatic?"

Cherry had to force her finger off the trigger, remembering she couldn't "accidentally" shoot him. She hesitantly slung the gun back over her shoulder and resumed her uptight stance. "What do you know of the Chitauri?"

Loki stopped laughing, amusement ebbing away. "Many things."

Cherry waited for him to continue, but he didn't. "Why are they still on Earth?"

Loki's face pulled into a sneer. "You think you are the first person to ask me that very question? I refuse to say. I may know, I may not know. Either way, I coul-wouldn't tell you."

Couldn't and Wouldn't are two very different words. Loki was grinning, seeing her confusion. Cherry felt frustrated. He had either purposefully messed up those words to throw her off, or sincerely slipped on his word choices. She scratched her elbow, trying not to look so confused and agitated. But she knew she was doing a poor job of it.

Loki stood up. "As far as I am concerned, you truly are a dull-witted mortal. And as long as Asgard refuses to respond to Midgard's call, you can't touch me." Loki was standing a mere arm's length away from her, staring her down, smiling.

It was Cherry's turn to smile at this. "No. We can't kill you, but we can 'touch' you."

"And who's 'we'? Your little posse?" Loki grinned.

Cherry felt her heart beat fast. He didn't care what happened, as long as he caused damage while doing it. He wouldn't go by the rules. He wouldn't play fair. She saw this in his eyes, the way he laughed and grinned and strutted about as though he was still in charge… even though it was she who held the weapon. And that made him all the more dangerous. He wasn't reckless… he wanted to play with danger. He knew how to.

"We will begin working on finding the Chitauri. We will get it done so that I don't have to see your smug face longer than I have to. We will be tracking down Chitauri starting tomorrow. And you will cooperate."

She turned away sharply before she could see his amusement. She heard him bark out a manic laugh, low and crazed. And then she could feel his breath on her ear, his voice beside her though nothing was there, a whisper so faint the recorder in her jacket wouldn't be able to pick it up. "An ant has no quarrel with a boot, but it may still be stepped on and killed. Do not mess with me, little red ant, or you may be stepped on."

A shiver shot through Cherry's spine, and she couldn't stop herself from looking back at him. He was crazy. His eyes held deranged excitement, wild and dangerous. She didn't know why he had to compare ants to mortals, but it scared her. She knew this is what he was trying to do, scare her. And it was working.

She hurried out of the room before he could say anything else, but she could still hear him laughing. She cursed herself, knowing she should have been tougher, stood her ground. But she couldn't. She could only see a monster, a monster that was waiting to devour her whole if she even blinked.

And she remembered her dead friends and family. Her adoptive parents. Her three younger brothers, all under the age of ten. Her older brother who had just finished college and would have been a teacher. Her best friend. The dog she'd had since she was five years old.

The flames that had roared through the building as a Chitauri aircraft slammed into their living room where they had been watching the commotion outside, having nowhere else to go. Her mother looking at her, telling her to take Abby into the back bedroom as she grabbed the three youngest, her older brother and father hurrying everyone else away from the wall.

And then, the wall disappeared. And blood was everywhere. And there was screaming. And Abby, who was unconscious, her head split open by a flying brick. And Cherry's clothes were on fire, consuming her skin and burning her alive. And the rest of her family was buried under the rubble, a terrifying alien thrown across the room by the impact lying right next to her, its open mouth filled with rotted teeth. And the only reason she and Abby had survived was because they were a foot in front of the rest.

"Hey." Cherry's brownish-green eyes snapped to Natasha's. The Black Widow had been watching her. And Cherry had been leaning against the wall, shaking.

Cherry quickly pushed away from the wall, forcing a grin onto her face. She was the happy one. The carefree one. The one that others looked to for enjoyment and ease. But Natasha saw through everything, being an actor herself. "I don't think Loki's going to cooperate very much. He is convinced we can't touch him."

Natasha nodded. "Reminds me of Stark."

Cherry laughed. "Stark listens to me just fine."

"That's because you don't listen to anyone, just like himself." Natasha almost smiled. "I came down here to check on you, but looks like you're doing fine." And even as the words left the spy's lips, Cherry knew she was playing along. "Get yourself a coffee or something."

Cherry grimaced. "Coffee and I don't get along. The last time I drank coffee, I had to be sedated because I started arguing with Fury… and I might have been a bit trigger happy."

"Get yourself something, then. You need it."

Cherry sighed, taking her hair out of its ponytail and playing with the hair band. "I still have to work today. Fury wants me to start on the Chitauri coordinates with Loki."

"I'll tell him you're sick." Natasha began walking down the hall.

"Thanks." Cherry said, turning on her phone and looking at the time. It was a little past noon. She had a few hours to waste before picking up Abby.

"Agent Sparks." Natasha said, halfway down the hall.

Cherry raised her eyebrows.

"Don't let him get to you. Most of the time, he's only words."

Cherry nodded. Natasha disappeared into the elevator, leaving Cherry alone in the white-washed halls.

picking you up after school. don't take the bus

Cherry sent the text to Abby, hoping Abby's phone was on silent. She pocketed her phone and took the long trip to get out into the Shield parking garage, unlocking her car and driving home to the sound of Imagine Dragons.

Loki's facade dropped as soon as the mortal left the room. He slumped back onto the medical bed, knowing full well that he had scared her off. In the past, he would have laughed. But the look in her eyes. She thought he the very devil itself, risen from Helheim to destroy everything. He supposed he should have been satisfied.

But he was tired.

Tired of being insane. Tired of the fear he had to hide every time a pebble dropped.

"And one… and one… and one… and none…" A cracked whisper came from the dark corner. The shadow in the far corner of the small, claustrophobic cage rocked back and forth on its heels. Its bloodshot eyes were wide with fear and panic, its ears ever alert for the footsteps it knew would come for it eventually. A puddle of blood slowly grew under it, and even more blood coated its body. Its black hair was a tangled, matted mess. Its skin was stretched alarmingly tight, with too many scars and wounds and welts. It cowered in the corner of the room like an animal, but this animal used to be a god.

Loki cast the memories to the pit of his mind, yet his tongue began to utter the line anyways. "And one… and one… and one… and none…" Loki grit his teeth, trying to stop himself from speaking.

But in his mind, he heard the real meaning. And Odin and Frigga and Thor and… none. Loki wasn't part of that family. And then came the biting, lashing venom of realization that Frigga was dead. She was dead, still. As much as he fantasized her living and breathing, there to welcome him home but reprimand him… she was dead.

"And one…"

Loki cradled his head in his hands.

"And one…"

His pupils dilated, his irises thin rings of color.

"And one…"

His heart hammered, beating in his chest, sweat running down his face.

"And none…"

And then, he let it go. He laughed and laughed and laughed, choking on his own breath, trying to breathe through strangled gasps of intense laughter. He laughed until pain grew in his chest and those laughs turned into something related to sobs.

If only the mortal could see him now. Then, then she would be truly terrified.

Cherry's arms were locked across her chest, sitting in her car, waiting for Abby. Afternoon sunlight filtered through her windows, golden and hot. Too hot. She turned on the air conditioning. She wore her dark, reflecting sunglasses so that people couldn't see her hollow, staring eyes.

His words rang through her mind. "Do not mess with me, little red ant, or you may be stepped on."

She shivered, feeling as though the air conditioning was only enhancing Loki's words, somehow. She turned it off and let the car heat up again, preferring the heat to the cold. Bloody screams and rotting teeth of aliens and flames filled her thoughts, which is why she jumped when the car door opened and Abby hopped it.

Abby refused to look at Cherry, still angry.

Cherry didn't care to try and appease her sister at the moment. Let her throw her teenage tantrum, Cherry thought. But Cherry also couldn't even get her mouth to open and form words. None wanted to come out.

They drove in silence. Abby finally looked over at her sister. Cherry's jaw was locked, she was scratching her arm, her shades over her eyes. And she wasn't smiling or talking… the radio stayed silent, the car boiling hot. This could only mean that something happened at Work. She set aside her grudge-match, trying to remind herself what her sister did on a daily basis.

"You okay?" Abby asked.

Cherry only nodded, velvet red hair slowly coming out of her ponytail.

Abby was quiet for a moment before she asked. "What happened?"

Cherry sighed, flipping on her turn signal and turning into a drive thru. "Classified."

Abby rolled her eyes. "You say that whenever you're like this. Can't you just tell me? I mean, it's not like I'd tell anyone. And nobody can hear us in here."

"Not now, Abby. What do you want?"

Abby glared at Cherry. "Ice cream."

Cherry's lips perked into a smile. "I didn't know someone could say 'ice cream' so… angry." The smile turned into a grin.

Abby tried to hide her smile. "Chocolate, please." She tried to sound angry.

Cherry laughed. "To chocolate ice creams, please." She repeated to the speaker outside the car.

It was quiet again as they pulled up to the window. They waited. And while they waited, Cherry's phone rang. Cherry picked it up, using her shoulder to hold it to her ear as she was handed their ice cream cones. She handed one of the cones to Abby, having forgotten to check the caller I.D.

"Hello?"

"Hey, babe."

Cherry groaned in annoyance. "Damian, I told you to stop calling me. We're through. Over. Never to be together again."

"Babe, I know. But I miss you so much."

Cherry rolled her eyes. "What do you want?"

"Can I borrow some money? I'll pay you back, I promise."

Cherry hung up, tossing her phone to Abby. Abby caught the phone and turned it off, hiding it before Cherry could think about throwing it out the window. "Why can't you just block his number?" Abby asked.

"He'll just find another phone. Or start following me again. I'm thinking of sniping him the next time I see him."

"Is shooting your solution to everything?" Abby asked.

Cherry grinned. "It's the easiest solution."

There we are! Chapter 5! Favorite, follow, and comment please! :) Loki and Cherry have a long way to go, but I think I can pull it off. Suggestions welcome!