That weekend was to be slightly more eventful than I'd anticipated. I'd imagined it would be nice, relaxing and quiet. But, as I found out when I woke up, Coulson had scheduled two of my meetings today. One with both Agent Barton and Agent Romanov at a nearby coffee place. The other was with Doctor Banner and Thor over dinner. I groaned, I can never have the least bit of peace can I. Stark, Coulson, now I have to meet with all of the Avengers. And dinner with two of the most high strung of them? Sure to be a change of pace. I say high strung.. Doctor Banner is fine, as long as he doesn't hulk out. Thor however is very unaccustomed to 'midgardian life' as he calls it and he isn't really educated in good manners so much as a warriors feast in Valhalla. I sighed. As I got out of bed after checking my phone, I went to my closet and pulled out a nice coffee goers outfit. It was a bit more lax than what we wore in the office but still nice enough. A light green jacket with a white shirt and black jeans. The jacket was more of an olive tone, so it matched very well. A couple of minutes later I was in my kitchen eating a small breakfast before I left.

It seemed odd that I had to meet with the Avengers, I mean, not even Coulson knew why they wanted to talk to me. I definitely had no idea. It's not like I'm a supervillain. I hate getting all of this attention. Maybe Romanov and Barton could shed some light on it at our meeting. I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do in the next hour between now and my meeting with them. I crunched away at my bagel and watched the next episode of 'Psych.' After I finished that I read a couple of chapters of my favorite book: Of Mice and Men.

It's nearly time to leave. I thought. I went to my front door and pulled on my black lace-up boots which were given to all Shield agents for field missions. Feeling that I was not prepared I wandered back through my apartment. Spotting my wallet, I grabbed it and shoved it into my back pocket. Then I sighed and shook my head, I was denying the inevitable. I got back on track and left. After I left the building left the building I noticed how nice it was outside. The air was crisp, but warm enough, breathing it left a nice tingling feeling in my lungs. The sun shown brightly with only a couple of wispy clouds accenting the blue sky. I glanced across the road at the people who were walking the opposite way. Everything was normal, they looked like the common everyday workers on their way to their normal jobs. I got to the coffee shop and ordered a latte with a shot of espresso, nothing too fancy. Sitting down at a corner table, I sipped at my drink. This way I was able to see the rest of the restarant.

"Watching for someone?" A woman's voice said from behind me.

I jumped so high that my knee banged on the bottom of the table.

"Jesus!" I swore.

Natasha Romanov slipped around me and slid into the chair across from me. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Clint Barton walk in.

"Agent Romanov." I greeted.

"Evans." She said, disposing with my agent title, "Will you excuse me while I go grab my coffee?"

She said it with a slight incline of her head.

"Um, sure, go right ahead."

She stood up just as Clint came and slid into her chair. After blanking out for a few seconds I grasped at the only topic I could think of.

"What did you get?" I said, looking at his drink.

"Double chocolate latte with coconut milk, cinnamon, and coconut whipped cream."

"Okay well, um, why do you two want to talk to me?"

"We're concerned about you Evans." Natasha said, she perched in the chair next to me.

"Why?"

"We're concerned about your relationship with Loki. We think that it may be interfering with your mission."

"Would you please state the exact parameters of my mission. Because, I thought it was my descion how I conduct the sessions as long as I'm getting results."

"Yes, that is true, however we are worried that Loki may have found a way to get to your head." Barton replied. "Kind of" he cleared his throat. "Kind of like what happened to me when Loki brainwashed me."

"What gives you suspicion?"

"The camera footage from your meetings."

"Okay, let me rephrase that; What, specifically on those tapes gives you suspicion?"

"How about when you could've fought back against him when he almost killed you, but you surrendered. He could've killed you."

"No, he wouldn't hurt me…"

"And right there is your weakness, you trust him, even though he tried to kill you."

"No!" I stated forcefully. "No, if I didn't trust him I wouldn't trust anyone. He knows that I know how to kill him, he knows that I know his weaknesses. Emotional weaknesses, if you please, I could tear him down in five minutes and he knows that, at least he does now."

Agent Romanov studied me with indifferent curiosity as if she were looking at a murder suspect. Barton looked back and forth between us like he was afraid to rejoin the conversation.

"Sorry, that was a bit overdramatic." I stated.

"I think it was more revealing than you intended it to be." she leaned back in her chair with a half smile. "You don't trust anyone except for the man who killed your parents. That scares me."

"I don't trust him, I mean, I do, but I don't. I trust him because I know he's afraid of me."

"But how can you know he's afraid of you? You forgot that he's the god of trickery. You could be thinking exactly what he wants you to think."

"That's true. But I really don't think that's what's going on. He was trying to pull his trickery at the beginning but since then he's decreased dramatically."

"But, he tried to kill you yesterday."

Natasha's face was extremely exasperated, like she was trying to explain something obvious to a young child who was refusing to believe her. Then I understood.

"Oh my God, I'm getting killer empathy. I'm sorry, you're completely right."

"Yes, I believe you are. I don't quite know what to do about it."

"I don't know. Maybe you should take me off the mission. I can't figure out what I should do now, I'm so sorry."

"You're fine, as long as you don't let it get too far." Barton said slowly.

"I won't, I won't…. I understand it now. I can keep it in check."

"You'd better." Natasha stated.

With that she stood up. Agent BArton gave me a look of pity and stood up as well. I raised my chin.

"I'll see you on Monday, Agent Romanov."

She looked at me, then left with Barton trailing behind her. I took a moment to go over our conversation in my head. Romanov is definitely going to be keeping a close eye on me Monday. I finished off my coffee and stood up. As I walked out of the store I dropped the cup in a trash can.

The day was just as nice as it had been forty-five minutes ago when I had gone into the coffee shop, but it seemed to have a darker edge, as if the black of the shadows had gotten deeper. It felt colder too, like someone had left a refrigerator door open. I quickly glanced behind me, just to make sure nobody was there. When I looked into empty space I shook my head. I took the shortest route back to my apartment this time, instead of the scenic route I had taken earlier. The cold feeling followed me all the way back and it was still there when I closed my apartment door. As I heaved a sigh of relief my phone buzzed. I grabbed it out of my pocket. The number wasn't familiar but I answered anyways.

"Hello?"

"Hullo darling. It took me a while to get ahold of you."

It was Loki's voice.

"Loki? How did you get a phone? How did you get my number? Why are you calling me ?"

"It's a curious thing. I wonder how long it will be until this agent bleeds out? It's a very big cut on his head."

"Loki what are you doing? Call someone right now, call someone who can help him."

"I'm afraid I have."

It took me a moment to understand what he meant.

"Wait, you're trying to get me to come in?"

"Well I'm afraid if you don't this man will die."

There was a pause for just a moment.

"I'm on my way, don't let him die."