OMG IT HAS BEEN SO LONG! I am sorry for my absence. The Shenny story's next instalment continues soon. However, this is the 16th chapter. Next chapter will have a LOT of angst, a bit of Loki's crazy and dark side, and we see Bruce become the OTHER GUY...

Song: Chiodos- A letter to Janelle

Haunt Me Chapter 16~ Betrayal

Sigyn POV

"So, just to conclude, if I hear any more pathetic squabbling from you rag-tags, there'll be some serious ramifications." Fury concluded. Tony's eyelids were drooping, Steve was resting rather ungraciously on his hands, Natasha wore sun-protective lenses which she assumed would prevent us from seeing her sleeping (but did not) and Clint was stroking an arrow absent-mindedly. Bruce was the only person paying attention to what Fury had to say, and I admired him for that. I had what Midgardians termed a "soft spot" for Bruce, which always made me want to give him a hug. He told me once he got hugs all the time, and it took all the control he could muster to not transform when people constantly hugged him.

"I just have one of those faces." He shrugged.

"Fury, you never did tell us who was squabbling. Loki and I left early, what happened in our absence?" I asked curiously. When I mentioned Loki and me, Tony and Steve sat up immediately. Clint and Tony started to snigger, so I shot them an angry glance.

"Tony and Steve began fighting for a lady's honour. I must admit that both were drunk, resulting in humorous attempts at punching each other." Fury smirked in their directions.

"I see- so they're not tired, they're 'hangover'." I air quoted, much to Natasha's approval.

"Yeah, it's an off day when Tony isn't hangover." Natasha muttered.

"I think you all need to try and get along. I appreciate you were all chucked in together rather unwillingly due to a certain person," Fury turned to glance at Loki, "But I think you need to co-operate. You guys are a team, and you need to start acting like one. Think of us as some kind of crazy family."

"Who'd be the mother and father?" Fury sighed and shut his eyes at Clint's outburst. Soon after, another debate as to who would be who in a family emerged.

"Wouldn't there be several cases of incest though? If Clint, Natasha, Loki and Sigyn have anything to go by." Tony remarked. Scathing, I turned my back completely on him.

"Tony, go home to Pepper or something." Bruce whined.

"Oh I plan to- we have nothing on today boss, right?"

"Not as far as I'm aware, but be on call just in case. Some physicist friends of mine have noticed peculiar changes in the atmosphere. Though God only knows why astrophysicists were studying the atmosphere… then again one of them is an OCD freak so may be studying signs of apocalyptical natures." I was listening for any cynical tones in his voice, but there were none to find.

"What is OCD?" I cocked my head in question.

"Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. It's fairly self-explanatory when it's not an acronym." Steve answered, much to Tony's surprise. His eyebrows rose.

"Whoa Steve, where did that come from?"

"Well, since I've had no action," Steve paused when Tony and Clint started sniggering again, "I thought I'd catch up on the Modern era. As Fury told me when I first woke up, a lot has changed." He shrugged. I cast a glance at Loki, aware of how out of place he must have been feeling. Under the glass table, I stroked his hand reassuringly. Until I remembered the table was glass and the entire group in the room could see what I was doing.

"You were doing that to another part of his body last night, weren't you Sigyn?" Tony joked, clapping.

"Shut up Tony." I scowled. Then it was Loki's turn to stroke my hand. My heart fluttered to his touch.

Natasha still hadn't moved, and I gestured at Clint to poke her or otherwise steal her attention. The moment he touched her she grabbed his outstretched wrist, twisted it around and stood up. Without thinking, she pulled Clint forward, throwing him on to the glass table, smashing it. He landed on the floor and winced painfully. Gasps echoed the room as everyone stood back and recoiled from the lethal shards that littered the floor. Clint, riled up by her violence threw a leg out and proceeded to kick her at the back of her knee, and she buckled to the ground. Her buckle still seemed elegant, as she landed like a spider would, with one knee bent the other leg sticking out to the side, her hands bracing the ground for support. She flung her head up, hair flicking as she grabbed Clint's leg and pulled it. On instinct, Clint threw his leg upwards to get rid of Natasha's grip, but instead she used this move to flip herself into the air and landed on Clint's chest, straddling him on the floor. Fury growled in anger and pulled Natasha off of him.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" He shouted at Natasha, pointing to Clint who lay injured on the floor. Fury clicked his fingers and three or four agents picked Clint up and dragged him away, presumably to tend to his wounds. Shocked, I looked at Natasha who was breathing normally again, staring at the floor where Clint was.

"I'm sorry." She mumbled. I turned to look at Loki, who looked both surprised and impressed. I was fairly sure his expression reflected my own.

"She's awesome, isn't she?" Tony remarked. I nodded in response, but she glared.

"Hey- did Thor head back to Asgard? I haven't seen him and no one has mentioned him since the accident with the Water Tower." Bruce called, clearly trying to ease Natasha's embarrassment. I knew Thor's location, and opened my mouth to answer, when a smooth, masculine and extremely familiar voice from very close behind my neck answered before me.

"No, Thor is currently with his desire, a female named Jane Foster." Loki answered. His voice was strong but clipped, and his eyes were unsure. My heart stopped beating when I realised he was somewhat willingly talking to a member of the group he despised so much. Everyone else in the room gaped at him in surprise.

Did I do something wrong? I heard that same voice echo in my head. I smiled and said my answer, aloud.

"No you did not." I responded.

"Didn't do what?!" Tony called out, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Tony, you're such a quidnunc." I replied, folding my arms impatiently.

"What the hell does that mean?" I didn't ask, silently hoping Loki would answer for me. He didn't disappoint me.

"A quidnunc is an inquisitive person- someone who has to know everything, if you will." He explained. His voice was more sure and relaxed. His emerald eyes were wide but showed no fear or uncertainty.

Thank you Loki, you're doing really well! He smiled at me as I thought the praise.

"I don't need to know everything, Mr. Asgardian Freak, it's just Sigyn was talking to herself, which raises questions." Tony replied hotly. Loki's lip twitched slightly into a smirk, before disappearing again. Making sure Loki couldn't read my mind, I allowed myself to ponder over his behaviour. What is his proposition? Is he under a self-inflicted charm? Is he jesting with me?

"I assure you I'm doing neither of those." He whispered in my ear. Chills ran down my spine as I evaluated the spell I had cast to prevent him from reading my thoughts. How did you read that? I probed. He smirked and ignored me, much to my irritation.

"Ugh! You two are so infuriatingly… infuriating!" Tony cried, throwing his hands in the air in defeat. Steve snickered and shared a glance with Bruce, his eyes glinted with amusement.

"Your vocabulary stretches far and wide, does it not?" I commented sardonically.

"I think, the problem here is down to boredom." Bruce volunteered. All heads snapped to look at him, and he visibly squirmed beneath their gazes.

"I agree." Fury nodded. He looked thoughtful for a moment, before continuing. "When the Chitauri attacked Earth, you co-operated well under pressure. However, if you all knew the extent of the others' powers and abilities, you could establish some very useful techniques to use when under attack." He finished. Before anyone could respond, a thunderous slam echoed throughout the room. I turned to Loki for an explanation, to see a look of annoyance and sadness in his green eyes.

"Thor's back." I muttered. Thor's heavy boots clonked into the room and his blonde hair flicked behind him. I stifled a chuckle at the bewildered expression that constantly clung to his face.

"Greetings everyone. I'd like you to meet two close friends of mine, Lady Foster and Lady Lewis." His bulky form moved to the side to reveal a small brunette woman. Beside her was another woman with darker brown hair and red lips. Her glasses were black and large. Fury stepped forward to shake hands with the two women and gesture to them to have a seat. He then nodded to Thor before continuing the discussion.

"May I suggest that you all reside in the same building for a time, learning about each other to perfect strategies and performance?" Fury asked in a tone that suggested that no matter what the team said, they'd be forced to anyway. I smirked at the discomfort of the group, until Fury turned his steely gaze to me.

"This entails you two as well." My smirk immediately dropped, and I clawed through my mind for an excuse.

"But what of those restrictions in place with the magic?" I asked.

"As I said before the place we will be staying in will be guarded heavily, and we will use you in case he escapes."

"What if I go with him?" I challenged, crossing my arms.

"You won't." He responded darkly.

"What's stopping me?"

"We chipped you." Tony called out. My jaw dropped as I recalled what the phrase meant.

"Fury- is that true?" My voice wavered slightly. If anything, the most important lesson I had learnt from the moment I landed on Midgard to that one sentence was how untrustworthy SHIELD were. Fury didn't answer my question immediately, instead shooting Tony a look of faint contempt and distain. I had never seen Fury regard anyone so distastefully before, and I found that disconcerting.

"It was a necessary precaution-" I interrupted him, standing up raucously from being seated, tearing myself from Loki's close proximity.

"A necessary precaution?! Chipping me is not necessary! You had my trust- and you fucking abused it!" Steve flinched at my use of the crude word, and Tony whistled. I shot him a deathly glare, to his amusement. Natasha's eyes smiled somehow, but her mouth remained in a firm, tight line.

"We did it because when under Loki's influence, people tend to… misbehave." Fury glanced at Loki, whose expression was dark and angry. I found my stomach tying knots at the look, the danger compelling and… alluring. However, the feeling ebbed away as I realised that the only time I could have been chipped was when I was asleep. I felt so cold.

"You… I don't even want to deal with this. You actually had the disturbing, sick nerve to insert a minute object into me whilst I was asleep, without my consent, and rid me of the little freedom I have?" I could feel tears welling up, threatening to expose my sensitivity, the raw emotions I tried to conceal. Natasha's eyebrows furrowed in concern and pity, and I shot her a tearful glare. She dropped her pity and stared at the ground. Something even more shocking filled my thoughts; Loki must have known.

"You! You would have seen it- you said yourself that you watched over me whilst I slept on my first night here." I pointed at him, and his eyes widened in shock.

"Sigyn, they said it had to be done." He sounded defeated.

"CHIPPING SOMEONE AGAINST THEIR WILL IS NOT MANDATORY!" I shouted before walking out of the room. I heard distinctive footsteps pursue me, and I smiled softly, despite my predicament.

"Bruce, why do you of all people pursue me?" I murmured, knowing he could hear. He looked determined and angry. I shivered for I knew what his anger could result in.

"Because, as hard as it is to say, you need a friend." He offered with a small smile. My heart squeezed with affection towards the doctor. He was so kind at times. He approached me slowly, cautiously, and placed a warm hand on my shoulder for comfort. The sensation was strange to me- I was used to Loki's cool touch.

"I thank you, Bruce. I just need some time to cool off. I can't believe he'd betray me like that." I sighed, squeezing his hand.

"You've no reason to trust me after this clipping incident, but if you like, you can cool off at my place for a while." He shrugged, his eyes kind. I smiled, unable to refuse such a generous and well-appreciated offer.

"As long as it is acceptable to you, I would much appreciate that. Thank you." I made to move when he stopped me. He looked resentful, and I felt confused as to the reason why.

"Loki put up an honourable struggle you know." He admitted. I was confused as to what he meant- I shot him a questioning look.

"He shouted and insulted Fury, his guards and the guy sticking the ugly thing in your arm the whole time. I've never seen a guy so angry- and that's saying a lot coming from me." He elaborated. I felt guilty as I realised I had perhaps overreacted.

"I had not considered that. However, I do need some time to think things through. If the offer still stands…"

"Always." He finished, smiling as he dug out some keys and pressed a button on them. I heard a cheep from somewhere in the distance.

"FYI, I didn't know about the chipping. I knew they'd keep tabs on you, but Fury rarely ever goes to that extremity. He must've been really worried about Loki's influence on you." He reasoned.

"Well, I shall put an end to the clipping shortly, I'll have it cut out." I decided. His hand froze on the door of his car he was opening. His eyes were wide with alarm as he turned to look at me.

"I would advise not to do that- it would be incredibly painful and it delivers electric shocks throughout your body if you try." His tone was serious and foreboding.

"It's worth a try. I will not be victimized here and have my rights to privacy violated by Fury and his meddling behaviour." I said stubbornly, entering the car anxiously. Midgardian technology always made me nervous. As we drove away, I stared back at the house I was leaving behind for a while, and almost felt regret.

Poor Sigyn! The crap I put this girl through ugh!

See you soon.