Hello, all! My sincerest apologies for the lateness of this next entry. My life has gotten suddenly crazier, and I've been so distracted that I haven't had much time to think about fanfiction. Thank you for your continued support, despite my deficiencies. Hopefully you'll enjoy this preparatory entry, and the chaos that is sure to follow. ;)

Entry #27: Manhattan [Or, "The Calm Before the Storm"]

Nat put Clint to bed early that night.

She made sure he had a glass of water, a calming book (she had shoved Sense and Sensibility at him, much to his dismay), plenty of relaxing music to play on his bedside radio (music which included Soothing Jazz, Guitar Solos, and quite a few of her prized Opera CDs), and a nightlight (despite Clint weakly insisting that he was too old for that sort of thing). The last gift Nat bestowed upon a too-tired-to-argue demigod-sitter was a huge teddy bear she had thought to pick up at the mall for just such an occasion.

Once Clint was safely tucked away in his room, Natasha peeked in the door to the office. As she suspected, there sat Tony and Bruce, both engaged in a deep scientific debate about molecular structure.

"Ahem." Nat cleared her throat quietly. When neither of them glanced up, she rapped on the door. As one, they turned to face the Russian spy. Bruce smiled at her. Tony just looked peeved.

"What?"

"I was going to take a quick walk. Will you come out and check on Loki while I'm gone?"

Tony waved a hand carelessly. "I'll have Jarvis keep an eye on him. You'll do that, won't you, Jarv?"

Natasha jumped as the cool British tones of the AI system reverberated around the office: "With pleasure, Sir."

"What the—?"

Tony grinned up at Nat. "Bruce and I took a jaunt to the hardware store and installed a speaker system," he said proudly. "It only took us fifteen minutes. I'm pretty sure we broke some sort of record."

Bruce just shook his head at him, still smiling as he twirled a plastic stirring rod between his fingers. "There's a record for installing a speaker system?"

Natasha groaned and put a hand to her forehead. "Okay… whatever." Then an alarmed expression crossed her face. "Where's Thor?"

"Out in the garage," supplied Bruce. "Probably comparing his hammer to every tool Clint owns."

Nat decided that sounded pretty harmless. "Well, what about Cap?"

Tony snorted. "In the shower. But really, it's pointless. He could scrub for days and still not get all that flour out of his hair."

"Alright then." Natasha was about to turn around when she noticed something in Tony's hand. "Is that… a test tube?"

"Is what a test tube?" Tony asked innocently, whipping his hand behind his back.

Natasha gave the two men an admonishing glare. "Clint needs some chill time, OK? I don't want you blowing things up while I'm gone." she warned.

"What about when you get back?" asked Tony hopefully.

"No." And with that, Natasha left the boys to their debate and entered the kitchen. After swiping a bottled water off the counter, she went into the living room to make sure Loki was staying out of trouble.

The prisoner was sitting on his couch, surrounded by balloons. He had tied each one to the armrests and back, spacing them exactly four inches apart. When Nat walked in, he looked up with a glare. She glared back. "I'm going to leave for a while, but Jarvis will be watching you, so don't try anything rash."

Loki gave the SHIELD agent a skeptical look. "Jarvis?" he repeated, arching one eyebrow and letting the hint of a smirk cross his face.

"Jarvis," Natasha echoed, striding toward the door. "He's an invisible person who can outthink even your Asgardian brain. He can calculate the square root of 3,425.6 in a flash. He can tell you the precise odds of surviving a rhino attack in Tibet. And he can beat you at a game of chess—every single time. Don't make him mad." Giving the demigod a winning smile, Natasha waved and stepped out onto the front porch. "Do svidaniya!" she said cheerfully before shutting the door.

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~Alassiel