IT'S FRIDAY FRIDAY GOTTA GET DOWN-

SHUT UP REBECCA!

Sorry guys, my inner Rebecca Black just came out there. Anyway, let me apologize in advance if I don't post at all this weekend. There's a 90% chance I will tomorrow, but no chance I will on Sunday as it is my sixteenth birthday (not actually that excited about it) and my parents are taking me to the Avengers for the third time (my dad's first) and then out to dinner and then I open my presents (one of which is in an Avengers gift bag. I love my mom.)

garnet86: Thank you very much! I'm glad you like the development between Gwen and Steve.

LittleMissMia123: Haha, I'm glad you liked the humor. I couldn't get the image of RDJ with a juice box and in the Iron Man suit out of my head when it got there.

MysticRyter: You are welcome, dear reader! I'm glad I can prevent your death with fast updating.

yesiamweird: Yay, it was perfect! That was great to read.

Itsgoose2u: Haha, I always feel bad for Loki. So many feels.

miller330: Eheheh I love teasing with the ends of chapters.

Justasmalltowngirl2713: I love Steve too. Haha, I don't know how I update everyday either. Tis a mystery.

Kittyjs123: I'm glad that made your day! And I have Loki feels too. Basically, everything is Loki and everything hurts for me. Cliffhangers to me are like bows and arrows to Clint.

AngelVamp6688: Tony is like the best to write for haha. Especially because it's basically like writing for RDJ as they are like the same person personality wise.

Chapter Eighteen

The day after Tony resisted arrest, Gwen once again went to the labs to find Bruce for another lesson.

"Where's Tony?" she asked as she entered through the door and found only one genius inside.

Bruce rolled his eyes. "Sleeping."

Gwen sighed and nodded, not expecting anything else from Tony. She followed Bruce to the medical ward again and they both went into the same room as the previous day.

Bruce right away went to hooking up the wires to Gwen again.

"I analyzed the data I collected yesterday," said Bruce. "It seems that your heart actually takes in this energy as well."

"Does it have a shield around it too?" asked Gwen.

"No, but it seems that it turns the energy into blood cells or something similar to that. In all honesty, Gwen, I have no sure idea about any of this."

"I'm sorry I couldn't be any more help."

Bruce laughed. "Gwendolyn, you're the only person who would apologize for being different."

Gwen cracked a smile as well as the doctor turned back to his monitors and made sure they were set up.

"So are you going to have me take the energy out of a battery again?" asked Gwen.

"Nope," answered Bruce. "You're going to try something different."

He backed up and went to the light switch.

"Oh," said Gwen, slowly realizing what he meant.

He wanted her to take energy out of the electricity that powered the lights.

"I don't know," protested Gwen. "That seems like a lot of concentration."

"I just want to see how you handle this," argued Bruce. "I won't let anything bad happen to you."

Reluctantly, Gwen approached the peach colored panel on the wall which held the light switch for the room. Just as she had the phone battery, she reached out and touched it with her hand and concetrated on opening the shield. She closed her eyes as she felt a tingling sensation go through her fingers and enter her body. Goosebumps rose on every inch of her skin and then there was a shock.

The shock was enough to make Gwen pull away and open her eyes. Except she found that the room was pitch black.

"Um, Gwen," said Bruce. "I think you just made the power go out."

Nodding, Gwen hastily placed her hand back on the panel in hopes that she could put the energy back inside. She wasn't sure if it would work, but it was worth a shot. Gwen felt the same tingling sensation again, except in the opposite direction. Around her, the lights flickered and the became lit up once more.

Gwen stepped back, a large smile on her face. "I just did that. I really just did that."

Bruce was smiling as well as he took down several notes, glancing at his monitors occasionally.

Not once in Gwen's life did she think she could actually do something like that. She had actually just caused a power outage by simply placing her hand on a light switch and sucking the energy out of it. No wonder why Loki had wanted her.

"That was great, Gwendolyn," commented Bruce. "I honestly wasn't expecting that."

"I wasn't either," answered Gwen, still smiling and staring at the panel. She suddenly frowned. "Are there going to be any...side effects?"

"What d'you mean?"

"Like, am I going to be exhausted from this?"

Bruce shook his head. "I don't think so. You took in extra energy and then put it back. You should be fine."

Gwen nodded as she allowed Bruce to take off the wires. It had been such a thrilling experience and it made Gwen wonder what else she could do.

Then a though thought occured to her that she wished hadn't.

She could hurt people.

Gwen hated how she always thought of that sort of thing. She didn't mean to, but it just happened. It wasn't like Gwen thought about hurting people on purpose. But she couldn't shake the idea in her head that she could do serious damage if she lost control. She wasn't going to let an accident happen again.

"Let's do it again," said Gwen, turning back to Bruce.

"What?" he asked, looking confused.

"I want to do it again."

"Why?"

Gwen shook her head. "I want more practice. I know I can do it."

And so after a moment of thought, Bruce placed the wires back on Gwen as she reached for the panel and attempted to draw the energy out again.

Like Bruce had predicted, Gwen felt no less energy as she made her way to the gym. She sort bounced with each step, happier than she had been before she arrived in New York. Maybe the change hadn't been such a bad thing after all.

Unfortunately, Steve was not in the gym. It was completely empty. Slightly confused, Gwen left the room and wandered around the helicarrier, unsure of where the soldier was. Her feet seemed to take her to the labs where she found Tony and Steve talking.

"...don't worry about it, old man," said Tony, patting Steve on the shoulder as she walked into the room.

"Don't worry about what?" she asked, leaning against the doorframe, her arms crossed over her chest.

Steve whipped around to look at her, looking slightly worried at the idea of her overhearing anything.

"Uh, we were just-"

"We were discussing arrangements for Rogers to live in Stark Tower once this whole thing is over," finished Tony. He had a smile on his face that Gwen knew all too well.

He was lying.

But Gwen didn't press the issue and looked back at Steve who was approaching her.

"Let's go for a walk," he said, shooting a look at Tony which Gwen couldn't see.

She followed Steve as he led her out of the labs. She was very tempted to ask him more about what they were talking about, but she held her tongue. It wasn't her place to start asking questions about private conversations.

"So how was your lesson with Doctor Banner?" asked Steve as they slowly walked through the nearly empty halls of the helicarrier.

"I made the power go out in the room," she answered excitedly.

"Really?" asked Steve with a smile. "That's impressive."

"Thanks."

She looked up at Steve and noticed he looked rather tired. Actually, he looked like he hadn't gotten much sleep at all.

"Steve?" she asked, stopping in the hall and turning him around.

"What?"

"Are you okay?"

Gwen looked up at him with concern etched into her features. Steve waited for a moment as if contemplating what he should say.

"I just didn't sleep well last night," he answered shortly with a shrug.

"Steve, you look like you didn't sleep at all."

Without realizing it, Gwen took hold of his hands in hers. Steve glanced down and then back up at her, blushing slightly, but not as much as he used to.

"I just - well, I had a nightmare."

It seemed weird to Gwen how childish he looked at that moment. He seemed almost like a young boy who had just seen the monster in his closet.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked softly, not wanting to push it.

Steve shook his head. "It was just about some things during the war. Nothing much."

Gwen nodded, but she wanted to hear more. Steve had told her some events that happened during his time before and during the war, but he had never gone into much detail about some of the people he met and some of the things he did. Gwen assumed that he was still slightly hurting or maybe still in denial about being frozen for so long.

So, Gwen began to walk past him, still holding one of his hands, and pulled him along. She tightened her grip of his hand as they walked to her living quarters in a comfortable silence. Just as Gwen was about to close her door, Steve looked like he wanted to ask her something, but then thought better of it.

"See you tomorrow," he simply said as he gave her smile.

"See you," answered Gwen as she closed the door and he turned to walk away.

Tony stood in disbelief as he watched Gwen and Steve leave the labs. There was no way he just had that conversation. He never thought he would.

Steve had asked Tony if it was okay to ask Gwen on a date.

Of course Tony laughed. Why wouldn't he? Tony wasn't related to Gwen, so why ask him? And, of course, no one asked persmission to ask someone on a date these days. He wasn't sure why Steve had gone to him, but Tony knew that the two had feelings for each other. He wasn't about to prevent it.

So he said go ahead.

Tony was over his little jealously of attention at this point and saw no reason why the two shouldn't be dating. He honestly thought they were perfect for each other. He had actually been wondering if he could trick them into going out with each other. Pepper probably would've been furious if she found that out, but she would've secretly approved.

And so as he watched the two leave, he wondered whether or not Steve would have the courage to ask. And Tony laughed again. Of course he didn't.

So Tony went back to his work while devising a plan that could finally bring the two together.

It had been hard to accept the fact he had lost Gwen, but Loki knew he had to start preparing again. At first he didn't know where to start. Everything he had done while on Midgard was planning on how to seize control of her. But she was gone and now he was back to nothing. The tesseract couldn't help him. Not in the way he wanted it to. But then an idea had struck.

And so now Loki, hiding in the shadows of an empty New York alley, held all of the bombs that Gwen had planted throughout the warehouse. He wasn't exactly hiding of course. Loki was using his magic to make himself invisible. Invisiblity was one of his favorite things to do in Asgard as a child when he wanted to be left alone. He stared up at Stark Tower, which still only had an "A" on it as the rest of the letters were never replaced. Loki was ready this time. He wouldn't fail. He couldn't. He had failed the one he worked for once. Failing again would mean death. Besides, he had no other place to go. Asgard certainly wouldn't want Loki back. It was either take over Midgard or die. And Loki wan't really up for dying.

But this plan was flawless. He knew what he had to do, not just to get the tessaract where it should be, but to do something more. Something really for his own revenge.

He was going to kill Gwendolyn Powers.

If there was one thing that Heimdall never felt, it was confusion. He always knew what was going on. But as he stood at the broken end of the bridge that once led to the Bifrost, the only thing Heimdall felt was confusion.

"Great Heimdall?" came a female voice from behind him. He needn't turn around to know who she was. He knew she had been coming.

"You are alone, Lady Sif," he answered in his deep voice.

"Yes, well, Fandral is off with another maiden, Hogun is training and Volstagg is having yet another feast."

"You wish to know how Thor is fairing."

There was silence for a moment as Sif considered his statement.

"Yes," she answered.

"He still searches for his brother," said Heimdall. "As do I."

"What?" asked Sif with shock. "You are searching for Loki?"

"Yes. I cannot see him."

"Loki's always been one for mischief, but how can you not see him?"

Heimdall remained silent as Sif thought. The gatekeeper wondered if Loki had mastered some form of invisibility. That would not be a surprise. Loki was always good at magic. There had also been that time while Loki was king and had visited Jotunheim and Heimdall could not see nor hear anything that was happening. That had been quite bothersome.

"Do they need our help?" asked Sif. "The Midgardians?"

Heimdall knew that they could actually use help, but he knew that everything would work out in the end. He had been keeping a close eye on the woman named Gwendolyn. Even Heimdall knew that she played an important role in the coming events. But he could not help but have a feeling that things would get far worse than what they already were.

"No," he answered at last. "Not yet."