Chapter 17: Better to Ask Forgiveness

Loki awoke in a sour mood. It had been a long time since he thought about his past, especially Frigga. She was his most treasured company yet his darkest memory. He growled to himself quietly as he sat up in the bed he was using for the time being. That vision was not a welcome one. He wondered why all of a sudden he had it when his nights had been dreamless since he was presumed dead.

He scowled and pushed the thought away – it didn't matter. What mattered was whether or not that girl survived.

He donned his usual armor with a snap of his fingers and left the chamber he had been given to use by that Agni fellow. The previous day he had been angry at Loki because he let the girl and the other SHIELD agents go without his permission, as though he actually needed anyone's permission to do anything. Loki refrained from anything drastic and instead assured the mortal that he had struck a deal with the girl to turn against SHIELD and she was now his to command. Agni still wasn't happy, but he let it be and decided to keep their alliance for the time being. Loki would continue to use Cerberus to further his plans. At least for a while.

Now the god trekked through the halls of Cerberus in search of a decent place he could concentrate without interruption. There were surprisingly many small gardens in the base thriving on an underground water supply and sunlight filtered through numerous small openings in the roof. He chose one of the larger, denser one of these.

He walked deep into the shrubbery and found a tree that was a decent size, considering it was living underground. The tree was mostly surrounded by thick brush, so Loki would be hidden to passing eyes if he stayed there. Very little noise filtered through to that particular patch of land, so he could easily concentrate there. He supposed as far as things went, it would be a decent meditation area.

Loki sat down next to the tree and leaned back against it. He listened for a moment, and when he decided that no one was near, he closed his eyes. He took deep, calming breaths in order to slow his heart rate, and slowly he relaxed. He quieted his mind and searched inward for a foreign presence. As with each of the Midgardians he had cast the spell on before, he could feel the girl's subconscious within his own mind. However, this time it seemed different to him. It wasn't necessarily a stronger presence, but it was… more secure. He supposed that was the right way to put it. The others seemed ready to slip away with just the slightest misstep, but not this time.

This heartened Loki, and he surged forward with determination. With his own consciousness he reached out to the girl's, and in no time he had seized it and began to force his way through the small opening his spell had provided. It was not unlike pushing through an incredibly small tunnel that was hundreds of feet in length. Loki had to concentrate very hard to keep his hold on the girl's presence while also trying to get through to her own mind. With the others, the connection often faded before he could make contact, or he was violently thrown out because the subjects turned mad with his gentle but still forceful prodding. He had never fully gotten through before.

Now, Loki was grateful for the practice he had received when trying this process on the others. This girl had a firm lock on her consciousness and it took a lot of pushing for Loki to make any progress. There were a few times that he had almost let go of her, and then he would have had to start from the beginning. Thankfully, he was able to keep his hold, and though it took a lot of time and energy, he finally made it through to the other side.

Once he was there, it took a while for him to discern what was happening. Being inside of another's head was an unsettling experience, and also difficult to get used to. He latched onto the first feeling of emotion he could find and slowly things stopped spinning around randomly. Although ironically, the first emotion he grabbed hold of was one of confusion. He stayed still and let the girl's other emotions impede on his own, and he got the sense that she was irritated by something. Possibly a little more than irritated, and quite possibly it had something to do with him.

When Loki was sure the connection he had made was solid, he opened his mind's eye so that instead of being surrounded by only blackness, he started to see as the girl saw.

The images were blurry at first, and mostly white. He did not hear anything yet, but somehow knew that someone was speaking. It took a while for him to start hearing, and only did so as though he was underwater. The sounds were muffled and rolling together. He waited for the sights and sounds to clear, and as he did he tried to discern the girl's actual thoughts instead of just her emotions.

Everything was muddled, though, and he couldn't quite grab hold of anything. He waited and did his best to remove himself from his own thoughts and feelings. He would access them later once he was sure that he had successfully connected to the girl's entire awareness.

So, he was taken on a ride of many swirls of emotions. Anger, confusion, restlessness, grief, regret, and hardly a single positive emotion joined the mix. There was a very small taste of joy and satisfaction, but those were only slight flashes. Loki got the sense that this girl had been through a great deal, at least recently. He was actually surprised, because when he had met her she had seemed somewhat sheltered. Then suddenly, everything stopped. Loki waited in stiff expectance.

Either the girl had sensed him inside of her head, which was highly unlikely, or something got her attention and caused her to close herself off from even her own thoughts. Then, for the first time, he heard clearly the next thing the girl heard.

"Elizabeth Tyler Stark, do not lie to me!"

When a sudden flood of hatred battered Loki, he decided that the girl – Elizabeth – had stopped feeling for a moment as she tried to process something. Whatever it was, the effect it had was drastic. Thankfully, Loki was no stranger to what the girl was feeling, else he might have had difficulty keeping his grip as he was battered by waves upon waves of anger and hurt and utter animosity.

His vision finally cleared as well, and he found himself looking up at one of the very men he had earlier tried to kill in his attempt to take over Midgard. The man with the iron suit. He was looking down at Elizabeth with controlled rage, but also concern, while Loki clearly heard many colorful insults raging through the girl's mind. Loki waited with anticipation for her to say one of them aloud, but before she could another person walked into the room. Instinctively, Loki knew that it was the green monster, or more correctly its human form, and a small sense of fear darted through him. He was never going to live down the experience of being tossed about like a rag doll by that thing.

"Alright, I've got what I need, I'm ready when-"

The doctor stopped talking, probably when he saw the Man of Iron and his daughter glaring at each other like they were about to rip each other's throats out. Loki found himself rather amused at the whole situation, and was very eagerly wishing that one of the Starks lived up to their name and did something rash. However, Elizabeth didn't glance away and didn't lessen her anger. Loki felt the relief that flowed through her. She did not want to be having this confrontation.

"Uh, sorry," the doctor stammered, "I'll, uh, leave you two alone."

"There's no need," the girl said quickly, "Tony was just leaving."

Loki waited for another argument to ensue, or at least some form of protest, but nothing of the sort happened. Instead, the Man of Iron tilted his chin, and then stalked out of the room without another word. Elizabeth sagged with her relief, and sunk down onto what Loki presumed was a bed.

A sudden fatigue washed over Loki, and he knew that it was not the girl's. He had spent much magical energy to make the connection with the girl, and it also took a toll on his mind to merge with her consciousness for so long a time. He figured that it would get easier as time progressed, but for now he needed rest. So he pulled out from her mind and returned to his own.

Going back to his own consciousness proved much less taxing than trying to get inside another's, for he was back in his mind in an instant. It took mere moments for his senses to return to him, and when they did he realized that he was not alone.

He kept his eyes closed to avoid alerting whoever it was in front of him, and he concentrated on any others that might be nearby. There were a few other presences that he detected, but none of them were close and most of them were moving away. He decided that he was alone with whoever was in front of him.

Finally, he opened his eyes and found that Agni was the one he sensed. Agni was sitting cross-legged a few feet away. He had his hands resting on his knees and he was waiting expectantly for Loki. When he realized that Loki was awake, he smiled.

"I see you are back," Agni said with his thick accent. Loki tilted his head ever so slightly and wondered briefly what the mortal might mean by that.

"I was never gone," he ensured, wondering if perhaps Agni would explain further. He did.

"I have been witness to visions before, friend. I suspect your mind was wandering another place, perhaps in another time."

Loki had to work to keep the disgust from his face over the fact that the mortal dared call him friend. He decided then that as soon as he didn't need Cerberus any more, Agni would be the first he would kill.

"I didn't take you as the superstitious type," Loki replied with fake interest in Agni.

Agni shrugged. "I've seen some things," he admitted.

Loki knew that the belief in magic or anything related to it was not common in Midgard. Either Agni was delusional, or he had been lucky enough to see and believe what Midgardians would call "supernatural." No matter, Loki would not reveal to the mortal what he was doing, and he had become bored of their dull conversation.

"I presume you are here for a reason," he prompted.

Agni's good humor immediately melted off his face, replaced by his perpetual scowl.

"It has become difficult for me to defend you from my superiors," he said. "They do not think you are what you say. We lost more than we gained from the last few days' exertions."

Loki clenched his teeth irritably for a moment. He had known this would happen, but thought that it would at least wait a few days. He didn't want to bother with the pesky mortal's need for "proof" but at the same time if he didn't show them he was worth having around then he would lose a useful pawn. So he knew he needed to give them something, and since the girl was still alive and healthy for the time being, he could definitely use her.

"Give me two days," Loki finally said. Agni narrowed his eyes at the god, but slowly nodded.

"And if you do not bear fruit by that time?"

Loki almost rolled his eyes at the analogy, but refrained. "I will leave and you will never hear from me again."

There was another pause as Agni thought about this. "I will inform my superiors and they will have to voice their opinion on this matter."

"Of course," Loki retorted, not expecting any different. Then, he stood. "If that is all…"

Agni nodded.

Loki bowed slightly in a polite but insincere farewell, then turned on his heel and left.

In all honesty, he was unsure if he would be able to deliver anything in as short as two days. The spell could malfunction, and even if it didn't it would take time to become potent. Something like this couldn't be rushed. But, what he had learned of this Elizabeth gave him some heart.

From what he understood, the Man of Iron and the doctor were both high up in the SHIELD hierarchy. Perhaps if Elizabeth was around them, then she, too, had some form of influence over the others. Perhaps he could use her simply as a reconnaissance tool for now. He wouldn't be able to tell her what to listen to, but if she was close enough to an important conversation then she would be able to overhear it a little more easily than she used to. That was one of the many gifts the girl would receive with the spell. However, the gifts of course did not outweigh the consequences.

Loki smirked as he walked through the steel halls of the Cerberus base, the agents all giving him glares that fitted their mortality. He needed patience for this to work, but already it was going better than any of his past experiments. Perhaps this time, the subject would not be consumed. Then, he would be one step closer to attaining his goal. One step closer to finally being recognized for who he was, not who he was related to. Oh, yes. For this, he could wait. He had all the time in the world. Unfortunately, his pawns were frustratingly impatient. If they continued to push him, he would have to settle the matter a little bit more on his terms. He would not have any interruptions to his plan.

Someone was knocking. On the door. Hadn't there been an agreement that they wouldn't leave for another couple of hours?

…Had it been a couple of hours?

"Clint," Natasha growled quietly next to his ear. "Get the door."

Clint frowned. "We just laid down. Whatever it is, it can wait."

Natasha shifted and pushed him roughly toward the edge of the bed, but he did not fall. "Answer the door," she ordered grumpily.

Clint moved himself back toward the center of the bed and mumbled, "Why me? I was the one being held captive by-"

His account of the past day was interrupted with a sharp jab to his stomach.

"Right," he grunted painfully as he forced himself awake. "Getting the door."

Luckily, neither he nor Natasha had thought to bring a spare change of clothes with them. They were dressed in their usual SHIELD uniforms, which meant that whoever was on the other side of the door likely wouldn't try to draw unnecessary conclusions. After all, there weren't any conclusions to be drawn in the first place. Natasha and he were tired, so they crashed in the only bed they had, since Clint didn't get one.

Another light knock sounded at the door and Clint grumbled gruffly, "Coming, coming."

He stood and stretched for a moment before he went over to the door and opened it. There, Dr. Banner was standing with his bag, and an uncharacteristically flustered appearance.

"Bruce, is something wrong?" Clint asked right away, suddenly wondering if Tyler wasn't actually alright.

"No," Bruce said quickly, but stopped himself. "Er, well… yes, but… I think it would be better if I explained this elsewhere… Have you seen Steve?"

Clint nodded slowly. "He went off with Jackie to get some food for the trip back, I think."

Bruce bobbed his head, "I need him to hear this as well."

Clint frowned and was about to say something when he felt the door being tugged open and Natasha pushed him out of the way so she could scrutinize the doctor.

"What happened?" she asked bluntly. Bruce just smiled sheepishly.

"I'll tell you… when the whole group is together. Probably minus Tony."

Both Natasha and Clint shared a glance and then eyed Bruce suspiciously. Bruce just kept smiling and turned around toward the cafeteria.

"You said Steve is getting food, right?"

Clint and Natasha shared another glance before they left the room, closing the door behind them, and followed Dr. Banner with uncertainty at his actions. Just what did the doctor need to talk about at that precise moment, and more over without Tony? Though the billionaire had a thick head sometimes, he was still a part of the team, and he did contribute necessary information. When he wasn't… being Tony.

"Mind telling us what this is about?" Natasha pushed again.

Bruce was silent for a while and both agents thought he wasn't going to answer, but then he cast a quick glance over his shoulder.

"The murder case," he said.

Both Natasha and Clint glared at Banner. Clint was the first to voice their feelings.

"You interrupted our very short resting time for that?"

Bruce bobbed his head again.

"It's more important than you think."

Clint and Natasha paused one last time to share a look, both thoroughly confused by this point. But they knew that – unlike Tony – if Bruce said something was important, then it probably was.

It took only a few minutes to reach the cafeteria, and when they did Clint's information was confirmed. Steve was standing behind Jackie with a backpack, looking a little concerned by the amount of food she was stuffing into the small bag. He also appeared to be carrying another backpack already full to the brim with what could only be more food.

"Jackie," he said in his usual polite way, "I know the flight is fifteen hours, but-"

"You haven't seen Tyler when she's angry," Jackie interrupted flatly. "She consumes calories like there's no such thing as fat."

Steve appeared to find that hard to believe, probably due to how small Tyler was, but by then the whole group knew about Tyler's particular… peculiarities. Such as standing on her hands to keep herself from beating up Clint after he very nearly took her head off with an arrow. On purpose. Jackie had informed them she was a little bit… unconventional. That incident proved it, and this apparent food rage would only prove it further.

Steve looked up when he saw his three teammates making their way toward him. He knew something was wrong with just a swift glance at Bruce's face. Before he could say anything, the doctor discretely shook his head and looked at Jackie who held a finger to her chin as she decided which type of sandwich to take. She ended up grabbing all of them.

Steve understood what Bruce was trying to get at, so he said to Jackie, "Okay, I am putting my foot down right there."

He started zipping the bag up and Jackie very nearly jumped on top of him to stop him, but she realized that they were no longer alone. She stopped and looked at the rest of the group with a smile as they joined her and Steve.

"Back so soon?" she questioned.

"Yep," Bruce confirmed. "Something came up on a project we're working on and I need to talk to the team."

Jackie's smile faded as the eyes of the others remained on her, and she slowly nodded in understanding. "Right. Classified stuff. I get it. I'll just… go and give Tyler some company. And more food."

She took both of the backpacks she had stuffed with snacks and then left the cafeteria. As soon as she was gone Steve glanced at each of his teammates in turn.

"What's wrong?" he asked. Both Natasha and Clint looked at Bruce, so Steve followed their gazes.

"Have you seen Tony?" Bruce asked instead of explaining himself.

Steve shook his head. "He disappeared after… whatever happened between him and Tyler."

Bruce nodded. "Good, let's hope it stays that way. We need to talk where we can't be overheard."

Steve glanced at Natasha who just shrugged.

"Alright then," he said, "I guess we can take the conference room we used to talk to Director Fury."

Bruce didn't appear to have a problem with that, so the Captain led his team down the halls of the SHIELD HQ in another increasingly popular blanket of silence. That was happening a lot lately, perhaps because Tony was rarely around and he always had something to say.

The Avengers weren't interrupted and so the travel was quick. Once inside the conference room, Steve sat at one of the ends of the table and Clint and Natasha took over one of the edges. Bruce sat across from them. The team remained silent as Bruce fumbled through his bag and pulled out the folder containing information on the recent murders that SHIELD had directed them to investigate.

He set the folder down and opened it to grab the pictures of each of the victim's arms and laid them out in a neat row. The others needed only glance at the images to remember them. Bruce sat quietly, apparently studying the pictures before he finally looked up.

"I don't think Tyler is in as good a shape as she appears," he said finally. There was a sort of confused silence.

"Why is that?" Natasha prompted.

The doctor again looked down at the images for a few moments before he stood and started pacing slowly. He removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes in thought. Clint was getting a little impatient, considering he hadn't had a decent amount of rest for a few days, but he felt Natasha gently prod him with her elbow before he said anything. He frowned but waited as good-naturedly as he could.

Finally, Bruce stopped moving and merely gestured his hand toward the pictures.

"That is why," he answered Natasha's earlier question.

The others scrutinized the images more closely than before but still couldn't make a connection. Clint was the first to say so.

"You are being incredibly vague. Can you just spell it out already?"

Natasha gave him one of her looks, but he ignored her and waited for Banner, who simply shook his head.

"I wish I could, but it just doesn't make sense to me either. I mean, it just shouldn't be possible. It's certainly not probable, and coming from me that's saying something…" He paced for a few moments more before he shook his head. "Then again, nothing about what happened to Tyler should be possible."

Bruce turned around and sat in his chair again, then pointed at the picture closest to him.

"Those markings," he stated, "Tyler has them."

Clint frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Either she got a tattoo sometime in between her arrival here yesterday and my checking up on her today, or the marks showed up on their own accord, and I'm guessing Loki had something to do with it."

Steve raised his hand and interrupted with confusion, "Wait, you mean the marks on these murder victims somehow appeared on Tyler in the past few hours?"

Bruce nodded. "I don't know how, but it must have been during the brief time she was alone, because they definitely weren't there before. I have a feeling that whatever Loki did to Tyler was what brought on the marks. Also, her gun wound and snake bite have completely disappeared."

The room fell into a confused and angry silence.

"I'm going to kill that bastard," Clint growled eventually. "And I don't give a damn what god comes down to exact his mighty revenge, because Loki has just stepped past too many boundaries."

"But we don't even know what exactly he did to her," Natasha pointed out.

Clint motioned to the pictures. "Probably marked her for death or some voodoo shit. Does it matter? He's already committed enough crime to put him away for three hundred years."

"Hold it," Steve interrupted. "We need to think about this before we do anything. We have no idea what he did to Tyler, and what if he's the only one who can undo it?"

There was a pause of silence before Bruce asked quietly, "What if it can't be undone?"

No one needed to answer that. It was likely that Tyler would die, and they couldn't do anything about it.

"Whatever happened before she got here," Bruce continued, "What if it happens again, but it's worse? All of these victims died from unknown causes of physical and mental strain."

The gap of silence was longer this time. None of them wanted to consider the possibility that Tyler was already beyond their aid. Yet, it was true. There was really only one option to consider.

"We have to call Thor," Bruce said. "He might know what's going on."

"Fury forbid us from sharing any information with anyone," Natasha reminded him.

"Yes, but he doesn't know about the marks on her arm."

Natasha raised an eyebrow in question. "So we should tell him about them."

Bruce looked away, doubtful about Natasha's suggestion. "If we do that, he might opt to use Tyler in a way none of us are comfortable…"

"Or he might ask Thor for help like you suggested," Steve said. "Sneaking around behind our leader's back is not the way to solve this."

Clint shrugged and said, "I don't know, I'm with the doctor. The more people who know about this, the more likely Tony is to find out about it. And besides, when was the last time you heard of Fury looking out for someone else's interests?"

Natasha turned to him, her brow furrowed. "Clint…"

Clint held his hand up. "Listen, I'm not saying I don't trust him. He's a good leader and has gotten this country and its people through many things that would have crippled it permanently, but in this matter… we don't have any choice but to ask Thor. Unless for some reason Loki decides to waltz up and hand out the necessary information, we have no idea what we're up against. I'm not about to bet Tyler's life on something like that."

Steve and Natasha looked at one another.

"He's right," Natasha stated.

Steve didn't look overjoyed when he said, "Fine, we contact Thor. But we can't try to keep this a secret, especially if he shows up the way he normally does. Fury will know he's back, and he'll want to know why."

"But when will we tell him?" Clint asked. "Before or after we try to get the Big Guy's attention?"

"It's better to ask forgiveness than permission," Bruce said quietly, then gave a small smile. "I mean, if we asked permission and Fury said no but we went and did it anyway…"

"We'd be put on permanent suspension," Clint finished. "And probably locked away for the rest of our lives. I vote we tell him after Thor comes back."

"If he comes back," Steve said. The others looked at him. "I'm sorry if I have to be the cynic, but we don't really know how to contact him. And even if we did, there is no guarantee that he'll reply. I'd imagine he's fairly caught up in his own business."

"Then we keep yelling at the sky until he listens," Clint said. "Thor said to talk to High Ball, or whatever the guy's name is that controls the portal thing. He said he can see and hear everything, right? Wouldn't Thor's friends from Earth be worthwhile to listen to?"

"I suppose," Steve muttered, then sighed. "I guess it's worth a shot. But we should probably wait until we get back to New York. I don't know what the agents at this base will make of a giant man with a hammer showing up on their doorstep. Frankly I don't want to deal with the repercussions."

"Agreed," Natasha nodded.

"Well then," Bruce said after a brief pause. "I guess we have a plan. For now I suggest we keep a close eye on Tyler; we have no idea what might happen to her or when."

As if on cue, Natasha's phone suddenly started ringing. She apologized quietly before she checked it and frowned.

"Who is it?" Clint asked.

"Jackie," Natasha said before she opened the phone and put it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Natasha?"

"Yes, what is it, Jackie? Everything alright?"

"No. Tyler isn't here."

Natasha paused. "What do you mean? Not in the hospital room?"

"No, she's not here or in any of the other rooms. I checked. I tried calling Tony, but he didn't pick up. I have no idea where either of them are, and Tash… She's got her gun. She left everything here, but her gun."

"Where are you?" Natasha asked quickly, standing up and signaling for the others to do so.

"I went back to the room in case she returns."

"Good, stay there. We'll find her, she's probably just wandering. She doesn't like to sit still."

"Okay… okay. You're probably right, she's fine. Just call me when you find her."

"Of course," Natasha nodded then hung up. The others looked at her with the same question in their eyes. "Tyler's missing, and so is her gun."

"What?" Clint asked. "We left her alone for all of twenty minutes!"

"And you know how much trouble her father can cause in that small amount of time," Steve said as he started toward the door. "Dr. Banner, I assume you can check cameras. Clint and Natasha, we split up to look for her."

No one argued, just followed with a sense of urgency they might not have possessed if not for Bruce's new piece of information. It could not have been a coincidence that right after he noticed the marks she chose to disappear. Then again, if Tony was missing as well then perhaps she was only confronting him. Though, from the way Tony stormed out of the room earlier, she would probably rather strap a monkey to her ankle and walk across the Niagara Falls on a fraying tightrope than have anything to do with him.

Before any of them could split up, however, they noticed that a flood of agents were running down the hallway in a frenzied crowd. Steve reached out and stopped one of them to ask what was happening.

"Shots fired on base," was the only response he got before the agent continued running toward the incident.

Steve, Natasha, Clint, and Bruce, all shared horrified looks. Tyler was missing, so was her gun, and now there were shots fired? That spelled out disaster more clearly than the light of day. They wasted no time in turning and following the commotion, hoping beyond hope it wasn't what they thought it was.

A/N: WELL. I suck at updating. I really do. I give up apologizing because I assume you all expect it by now. *Ahem* Anyway, this was the first chapter that there wasn't a single paragraph of Tyler POV. I was feeling adventurous. :P Lol, hope you enjoyed it. I love feedback, y'all know that. And I hope I still frustrate you with my perpetual cliffhangers because yes, I'm an evil person. I only have twenty days until I graduate high school. That means abundant time for writing. That means hopefully I'll finally finish this story. Crossing my fingers. Much love. Very wow.

-KC