Happy New Year

For all the travelling Max had done she had never eaten shawarma, but here she was with the rest of the Avengers and her partner, slowly eating as they came down off that adrenaline high and their minds worked to process what happened. She made a mental note to suggest Stark get some counselling, out of all of them he had no real life combat training. Banner didn't either but he had coping mechanisms anyway due to his hulk issue.

Loki was in a 'secure' location of Max's choosing, much to SHIELD's displeasure. Max's brother had been confused as to why she wanted him to look after the guy who led the invasion on New York. It had been an interesting explanation but by now Tony was getting used to his sister's weird habits. It had been a bit awkward when Abby had turned up after a date gone bad, luckily after another run through the explanation Loki had turned up the charm, he seemed quite taken with the forensic scientist.

SHIELD had naturally tried to take Loki into custody but found being in Max's custody, even only technically, overwrote theirs. At some point Max figured she ought to figure out the chain of command between the various organisations. Or someone would tell her, that would be nice.

It was a while until SHIELD actually sent in a team to check on them and made them go to a debrief, she wasn't the only one who looked a bit skittish, Banner looked ready to bolt even Itachi looked a bit weary of going anywhere SHIELD controlled.

"It's nice to see you left New York mostly standing." After being dragged kicking and screaming to the medical bay after the debrief Max had drawn the line at having her phone taken, no matter how much Itachi tried to take it off her. He knew people only phone her to ask for help. Hopefully he was actually asleep in the chair and not just pretending.

"Go die in a hole Mycroft." Max had to squirm around Itachi's latest attempt to take her phone while she was distracted. Of course he hadn't been asleep.

"Charming. I heard you had been injured and thought it pertinent to inquire as to your health."

"You wanted to see if I'm up for a job," Max translated finally getting the upper hand and sitting on Itachi's back, holding his wrists and viciously kneeing him when he struggled. She knew he wouldn't do anything to risk her putting her more professionally done stitches or cause her too much pain, she was perfectly fine with using that to her advantage "Don't you have your own agency for this kind of thing?"

"I do, but none with your skills, I recently acquired your file. It was a very interesting read, almost fantastical but explained a great deal about the happenings in Monaco."

"Cut to the chase or I hang up."

"An individual had become interested in my brother in an unhealthy way-"

"I'm not here to scare away potential girlfriends." Max interrupted knowing full well that wasn't what was being asked. Itachi snorted into the bed before renewing his attempts to free himself without hurting Max.

"Hardly. I fear this individual's intentions will endanger my brother."

"Lovely. So, what? Straight assassination or I can wait until your brother's in danger and about to die then assassinate?" Itachi reacted on the first mention of assassination and struggled harder, managing to send Max rolling off, curling up to protect her injuries. They both dived for the dropped phone wrestling over it, somehow it got changed to speaker phone and Mycroft spoke up, pausing their brawl to listen.

"I do hope I'm not interrupting anything." Max could only imagine what that scuffle could have been mistaken for. "I think the rest of this conversation should be done in person, less people listening. I can arrange transport if you require but you will have to be on the ground for it. You may bring your partner if you wish."

"Just text me a place and a time, we'll be there." Itachi growled and disconnecting the call. He turned back to Max who was eying up her phone, probably wondering if she could grab it and disappear. "You aren't seriously considering this."

"Why not?"

"I didn't exactly go easy on you. You need time to recover. Throwing yourself into another mission isn't going to help you. As it is Haku will likely punch you again if he finds out you're mistreating your own body again."

"I'm fine." Itachi chuckled darkly, those words were almost reflex for ANBU. He leapt at her and jabbed her shoulder, precisely where the tanto had been a few weeks ago. Max visible winced, her shoulder tensing in pain halting her moves to get him off. Itachi didn't stop though, prodding other half healed wounds and bruises he knew of, each touch firm enough to stop her from acting to stop him as her body reacted to the pain. He could tell Max was getting angry, he would be too in her position.

"That's a strange definition of fine," he growled, finally stopping, pinning her arms to keep her from retaliating just yet. He could feel her straining against his weight, feeling her shift in position to throw him off.

"Get off me," Max snarled, punctuating her words with a roll of her hips pitching him over the side of the bed. Itachi kept his grip on her arms and so Max unwillingly fell with him. There was a muted thump at Itachi's back hit the floor. It hurt more than he'd expected and Max managed to pull free, standing over him. "I am fine. Leave me alone," she snarled, snatched her phone from the bed and walked out. Itachi could have easily gotten up and stopped her but he knew the whole thing would just be repeated. Instead he sighed and fished out his own phone, only two people could really help him now and luckily one of them was supposed to be on this planet.

"Laura? I need your help."

"I thought your friend would be here with you." Max stood in a room waiting for Mycroft to stop mincing words and just give her a job. The rage from earlier was still simmering under her skin, once she was briefed she would blow it off and start work.

"He was called away," Max lied easily. "I can manage anything required for this mission on my own." Mycroft gave a smile that made it look like he didn't believe her and Max couldn't bring herself to care. She was still on edge, practically waiting for Itachi to turn up and attempt to make her better.

"While an assassination would be appreciated I fear this individual has an organisation which will act upon his death and threaten the lives of many more people. What I would require of you is more along the lines of protection for my brother, infiltration and information on his work. Knowledge is power after all."

"I thought you had your own spies for this, why do you need me? What could this guy be capable of that you can't send your own men in to deal with?"

"That is rather difficult to explain actually. This individual has legally done nothing wrong, even with my minor position in the government I cannot authorise and official mission. You however are off the radar so to speak."

"When do I start?"

Itachi was holding his phone at arm's length as Laura ranted off a list of things he apparently was stupid enough to do. While it was enlightening it wasn't helping him fix it. He knew he'd been a bit callous sometimes when dealing with Max but it was like how he'd always been with her when they were on a team. He guess that was several fake betrayals and mind controls ago, apparently he just hadn't seen the changes.

When the ranting stopped, Itachi moved the phone back to his ear, ready to move it is she started yelling again.

"So what do I do?"

"Start treating her like an equal, not a child, not a subordinate and definitely not a startled animal. Instead of telling her not to do things and pointing out flaws in her, accept them and work with them. You say she isn't eating or sleeping properly, have you tried finding out why? Have you thought about doing something other than chastising her for it and threatening to take away what makes her feel alive."

"What would you suggest I do, if I can find her again?"

"I know ninja training taught you to use seduction and romance as a means to an end. Now try to use them to make her happy. Do nice things for her. You might want to beg for forgiveness first or she'll treat everything with suspicion and you won't get anywhere. I know you have a lot of pride, but if you still want her, you're going to have to lose some of it." Strands of a plan started to form in Itachi's head.

Before he got to into them Laura interrupted. "Itachi, I want you to listen very carefully to what I am about to say. Having Max is not a right, it is a privilege that I can and I will take away. If you ever have to call me for advice like this, you will break if off with her, and make it as clean as possible. I don't want her hurt, she can only take so much with all that's happened. You make it clean then I'll be merciful. You break her and you'll wish I'd broken you." Itachi felt fear, true fear, squeeze his heart at Laura's cold threatening words. He had no doubt she would carry through.

"I understand." The dial tone answered him, Laura had hung up on him.

Under Cheyenne Mountain Laura sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to stave off a headache she could feel coming on. She scrolled through her contacts and selected Max's latest number. She knew she was guilty of some of the things she'd yelled at Itachi for but she owed it to her friend to keep her alive and mentally as stable as possible. For that reason she pressed on the green phone symbol and waited to see if Max would answer.

"Hello?" Laura was surprised when Max actually answered.

"It's Laura-"

"Did Itachi call and ask where I was. Or tell you that I'm not looking after myself?" Max accused.

"No, well not exactly, he told me what happened then I yelled at him for being an idiot." Max actually laughed a bit. A sound Laura hadn't heard for a while.

"So why the call? It's never just social anymore."

"I know. I gave Itachi some advice but I figured I should give you a heads up. If you want me to tell him to leave you alone I can call him off. If you never want to see him again I can make that happen. I can make this a clean break for you if you want it." Laura heard a sigh.

"I don't know, I need some time alone to think. I'm going off the grid for a mission, keep him away from London for the moment. I'll let you know once I'm done. Tell him to try not to be mind-controlled next time I see him."

"Of course. Try to not be half dead?"

"Only because you are my bestest friend and threatened and ANBU captain for me."

"I would do it every day to keep you alive. I know you would do it for me."

"That's a good point, how is Sasuke? I can take a side trip after my mission and do some threatening if you want?" Laura giggled, if Max threatened Sasuke on behalf of Laura then he would probably need therapy and a change of underwear.

"That won't be necessary. Good luck on your mission."

Max ended the call and tossed the phone onto the table of the café. She had her customary squad of clones, disguised as civilians, searching London for her target.

One James Moriarty.

Taking a sip of her coffee Max flipped to the next page of the mission brief. She'd had the foresight to layer a genjutsu over it so anyone looking over her shoulder would just see a magazine. It was reassuring to know that she wouldn't be constantly looking over her shoulder, especially with a mission this delicate. It was unfortunate, Itachi would have been a good help with planning and executing this mission.

It wasn't too difficult to figure out what Moriarty wanted, Max had seen his type all the time. Having ninja powers often brought out the psychopath in people, they needed something to keep them amuse and became very possessive of their chosen 'toy' to the point they would rather both of them die then let someone else have their toy. That was only sometimes, on other occasions the toy became a partner, and on occasion they would seek out another toy together.

Max supposed she could just observe Sherlock for a while then subtly replace him before Moriarty got bored and tried to end them both. She would then have to take down the rest of his crime web. Mycroft had offered the assistance of both MI5 and MI6, depending on the location of the targets. She would prefer to do it neater, and on her own.

This would no doubt be an interesting mission. Not two seconds later her phone blipped. An update. Three secure places had been broken into and Moriarty hadn't even bothered to hide. It seemed she was right in time for the climax of Moriarty's drama.

As this was written before season 3 it will not be compliant so you don't have to worry about spoilers.

I have an AO3 account now, same pen name, one new story and how ever far I have got with posting this.

For some reason I think a Loki/Abby pairing/friendship would be hilarious.

Reviews are loved and adored.