Author's Note: Look at me, updating unusually fast. Yeah, you should know my update times are going to be all over the place, at least until the end of this year. So apparently my word count was incorrect and the second meeting of two important people that I was talking about will happen in the next chapter :/ Sowwy.

Okay, so I think this chapter is a leetle short, but I tried very hard to fix all the grammar. Did I succeed? Well that is the question isn't it? *laughs heartily and stops suddenly*

Before we get on with it, the disclaimer. Nothing you recognize is mine.

Now, for the replies to reviews :D

TheIronBat: Haha I knoww, Louie is having such a crap day and I feel awful for putting her through such hardship. Hopefully things will get better for her soon ;) Thank you for the revieww, it's so very nice to get reviews, isn't it? I totally understand why Authors crave for them so. Enjoy!

Guest: Guest! Oh, Guest! If only I knew your penname :( Here, O Fabulous One, more has been given to you! Enjoy! :D and let me know what you think :3

literaturelife7: Hello :D I'm glad you like the story :3 Yeah, switching points of view gives me greater freedom. It's also very effective because I want to try and give more insight into everyone's thoughts and feelings and not just a single person's. I hope you like this chapter! :D

Many thanks to the ones who are following and have favourited this story! It gives me the happy feels :')

Chapter 4

Tony POV

Tony Stark was bemused and that was not a feeling he was accustomed to feeling. He was bemused, a little confused, and a whole lot amused at the entire damned situation. Therefore he and his bad rhyming decided to have a drink.

They were back from their fun little trip to Central Park. He leaned back in his chair idly. Steve was seated on his immediate left, back stiff and eyes narrowed. Bruce was seated on the sofa, eyes flitting nervously to Clint who, Tony could tell, was practically pissing himself in restrained fury. Natasha had a hand placed placatingly on his shoulder but unlike the rest of them, was standing.
Tony sighed and rubbed his eyes. Thor was a whole lot more fun than this bunch.

Speaking of the god of thunder, now, Tony may have been a little inebriated when Thor had come down to Manhattan for a debriefing on that little episode in Greenwich, but he was pretty sure he had informed them of the death of his mother and brother. If that was so then why, why was said brother now coolly seated in front of him, sipping a glass of wine? Tony looked around, wondering who would break the silence first. Would it be Steve? It would probably be Steve. Natasha was too good at the whole poker-face-silent-spy thing. Or maybe it would be Clint. Although the way it was going, it was more likely that Clint would just tackle Loki then and there. Tony suddenly had a vivid mental image of the archer letting out a Tarzan-like yell and tackling the god across the coffee table.

"So, let me get this straight," said Steve and Tony practically giggled. "You say you almost died and then found a - a portal back to Earth."

Loki inclined his head slightly in affirmation, although he was starting to look slightly impatient at Steve's disbelief. Tony didn't blame him. The god had, after all, just explained what had happened to him from the moment Thor had broken him out of jail, even changing his form into something that closely resembled Jake Sully from Avatar to prove his point. Tony knew Bruce was itching to find out more about that little display of talent. As a matter of fact, so was he.

"That was almost three weeks ago," said Natasha, "what were you doing for so long?"

"Healing," replied Loki setting down his wineglass. "It was a near fatal wound. It took a while."

"How did you get to Central Park?" asked Tony.

"I teleported." It was as if he was making an effort not to add obviously. Right.

"Why here?" asked Bruce. "You don't exactly have happy memories of this area."

"I was..." Loki winced, "I needed to find someone to assist me in getting to another realm. There is a high concentration of magic in this area. I thought, perhaps, a very strong force, or a being with special abilities resided in this city. Aside from you, of course."

Clint snorted, folding his arms and glaring. "I don't trust you, or anything you say."

"I don't expect you to, Agent Barton," said Loki quietly, looking away. Tony blinked and exchanged a surprised glance with Steve. Were his ears deceiving him or had the god of mischief sounded... remorseful? What had happened to Loki this past year for him to turn into this sad, fallen man?

"Well," Tony sipped his own drink, "we'll just keep you here until tomorrow and let Thor deal with you." Loki blanched. Tony was surprised the man could actually get any paler.

"I do not -," the god suddenly paused, cocking his head. Eyes widening, he rose, hands forming fists. The Avengers immediately went into protective stances, standing and readying themselves for any sudden attacks.

Loki didn't even seem to notice. He narrowed his eyes at the elevator. "Something is coming."

"Jarvis," said Tony quietly, "who is it?"

"Miss Potts," replied the AI, "accompanied by Mr. Hogan and a third unknown individual-"
The elevator dinged and a panicked Pepper stepped out.

"Tony!" she cried, "Oh, thank god, Bruce-," she hurried out, Happy following.

"What is that?" Loki asked sharply. Pepper didn't seem to hear.

"Happy, lay her down on the sofa - Bruce - I think you should take a look at her -"

Curious, Tony moved forward with Bruce, to see exactly what it was that was gracing his sofa. It was a young woman, in her early twenties or so, Tony guessed. She had thick, wavy black hair and looked very pale under her fading tan. She was muttering and shaking, beads of sweat gathering at her forehead.

"Who is she?" asked Tony.

"What happened?" asked Bruce at the same time.

"Louie," Pepper sat on the edge of the sofa and stroked her forehead. "She's a waitress. Happy and I saw a bunch of guys chase her down and corner her in an alleyway. One of them had her pinned to the wall and everything…" Steve clenched his fists in anger. Even Tony frowned.

"-And then, Tony, I don't know how she did it, the guy was waving a cigarette in her face and then her eyes flashed white and Tony, the cigarette went up in flames."

A silence greeted her words.

"Up in flames?" said Natasha disbelievingly. Pepper nodded.

"Yes, I-" she stopped talking as the bottles in the bar started to shake, the liquid inside sloshing around. On the table, the same thing was happening to the glasses, the wine lapping against the edges and coming dangerously close to spilling. A strong breeze was in the air. The hairs on the back of Tony's neck prickled.

"You feel that wind?" he asked in a low voice. The others nodded.

"There can't be any wind in here," he said looking around, "all the windows are closed, and Jarvis controls the heating and air conditioning inside the building-"

"It's her," said Loki. He came forward cautiously, hands raised in an 'I come in peace' gesture. Pepper's eyes widened as she finally noticed the God and Bruce stood protectively in between them.

"I can help," snapped Loki.

"We don't need your help-," started Clint but the rest was cut off by a gasp from Louie. Her eyes opened, her back arched and she shook violently. Her eyes, her entire eyes were a pure, bright, glowing white. Loki stepped forward, ducking around Bruce and touched her cheek. The wind howled around them; several bottles crashed to the ground.

"My bottles!" moaned Tony.

"Hush," said Loki softly. He closed his eyes and cradled Louie's head. Quickly, he murmured a few words under his breath and almost immediately the wind died down, the water stilled. Louie stopped jerking around and fell back. Loki caught her and laid her down, her head now resting on Pepper's lap.

Kneeling beside her on the floor, Loki's palms glowed green as they hovered over Louie's unconscious form. Clint shifted beside Tony, ready to move forward and pull the Asgardian away. Tony flung an arm out to stop him.

"Wait," he murmured to the angry agent. Clint glared at him.

"If he's hurting her-"

"It is her," interrupted Loki sounding shocked.

"What?" more than one person asked.

"The high concentration of magic I was speaking of earlier. I believe it comes from her."
There was a beat of silence and then everyone started talking at once.

"We should tell Fury," piped up Natasha, "SHIELD should know about this-"

"Not yet," said Tony. He paced back and forth, thinking hard. His eyes met Bruce's and he knew the doctor knew what he was thinking. He glanced at Pepper. Her eyes seemed to be saying the same thing. "Not yet."

"Tony, we can't wait," said Natasha impatiently, "you saw what the girl did, and she was unconscious when she did it. She might be a threat-"

"Please, Dominatrix, she's harmless," said Tony flippantly. "I say we let her rest for the night and wait until we hand Loki over to Thor. We can deal with this tomorrow" Loki glared, but said nothing.

"But-"

"Let's take a vote," interrupted Pepper, "those in favour of waiting, say I."

Tony's hand shot into the air, followed by Pepper, Bruce and Happy. Tony smirked.

"Outvoted then, you guys. We wait. Bruce," he added quietly as Steve picked up Louie and carried her to one of the guest rooms, "meet me down in the labs. There are some things we need to get ready for."

Bruce eyed him. "Louie and Loki aren't test subjects for your mad plans, Doctor Frankenstein."

"Oh, come on," hissed Tony gleefully, "like you're not dying to find out how Reindeer Games turns blue."

Bruce shook his head. "You really are crazy."

Tony shrugged and danced into the elevator. He had a feeling things were about to get very, very interesting.

Loki POV

The next morning Loki paced his bedroom in a state of nervous agitation. He hadn't slept at all the previous night, partly thinking of the girl and partly in anticipation of Thor's arrival.

Thor.

Sighing, he sat on his bed and ran his hands through his hair. Thor was going to kill him for not contacting him immediately. Not that he had had a choice; he had been exhausted when he had arrived in Midgard, taking almost three days to simply sit and heal. Dark magic was a nasty sort of business. Absentmindedly, he let his fingers trail over his stomach. Underneath his armor a faint scar was still present, surrounded by a purple-black bruise that might not ever fade.

Nevertheless, Thor would still be very, very angry. Loki remembered the last time they had met after the entirety of Asgard had thought him dead. The God of Thunder had been furious. People would have said that it was due to his attempts to steal the Tesseract but Loki knew what had hurt Thor the most was how he had survived and stayed away.

"Did you mourn?"

"We all did"

Loki shivered. What in the world was wrong with him?

There was a knock at the door. Rising, he opened it to Agent Romanoff. Arms folded, she stared at him blankly. He mimicked the pose.

"Yes?"

"I was told to bring you down for breakfast. Come on." Loki sneered.

"And what if I do not wish to have breakfast?"

"Then I'll cuff you and drag you down the hallway. It's either that or you walk. You pick."

"Afraid I might run, Agent?" He was not a fool. He knew Stark's computer had been monitoring him all night and that his windows were sealed shut. Romanoff cocked her head.

"Yes, actually. Now are you coming or what? Louie is awake too." That piqued Loki's interest. So the girl was better was she? Interesting. Romanoff had already turned and was walking away. He hurried to catch up. They entered the elevator and arrived at the floor with the kitchens. Already, everyone else was there, except for Banner.

"Reindeer Games!" said Tony Stark cheerfully, "Come join us!" Loki didn't miss the way Romanoff frowned at Stark's overly friendly gesture. Behind the counter, Pepper Potts was preparing breakfast with the assistance of Rogers. Stark was sitting at the counter, sipping from a large mug. He looked quite tired. Barton was at one of the sofas located at one end of the room, shoveling food into his mouth and alternating between glaring daggers at Loki and watching a large television screen.

However, what caught Loki's attention was the young woman seated at the counter - Louie. He had felt her presence even before he walked into the room. She was sitting two seats away from Stark, her head bowed, a long, messy mane of raven hair covering her face. Pepper kept shooting worried glances at her.

Ignoring Barton and his death glare, Loki walked to the counter. Stark patted the stool next to him.

"Sit," he said. Loki sat. Out of the corner of his eye he observed Louie. Her eyes were red; she had been crying. Her hair was unkempt and tangled and her attempts at combing through it with her fingers of no use at all. She hadn't noticed Loki just yet.

"Louie." Pepper pushed a plate of steaming food towards her. Louie looked up at her and smiled.

"Thanks," she said softly. Loki could still feel the magic emanating from her in gentle waves. With every move she made, the air practically rippled with soft power. It was like a tangible aura and felt oddly pleasant. Involuntarily he relaxed. Until of course, Louie turned and noticed him. Her eyes widened.

"You." Loki swallowed, suddenly nervous.

"I am Loki, of Asgard..."

"I know who you are," she interrupted, frowning, "everyone in this city does." Loki inclined his head in agreement. It slightly annoyed him that this human had simply interrupted when he was speaking; really it was quite a common occurrence in this godforsaken land.

Louie stared at him, her eyes narrowed, cool and calculating. Loki's back stiffened in discomfort. A human was making him uncomfortable. Lovely. Her gaze moved from the top of his head to his feet, before they flicked to his eyes, brown meeting green. They were quite an interesting pair of eyes, Loki realised with surprise. A simple chocolate brown in colour, but as they moved in the light, chocolate changed to russet, and the strands of a wonderful burgundy tone shone through. More than that however, was the intelligence within those eyes. Loki felt like he had been laid bare under a spotlight as she fixed her gaze on him. He found himself unable to look away.

Brown orbs flashed and for a moment, Loki thought she was going to hit him. She wanted to, he could tell; he could feel the energy radiating off her. However, her expression softened.

"I'm sorry about your mother," she said softly. Loki opened his mouth to retaliate.

"She's not my-," breaking off, Loki blinked. Oh, what was the use in pretending? "Thank you," he said quietly.

She nodded and directed her attention to her food, not looking at him once again.
Steve coughed.

"Maybe we should fill Loki in on what we were talking about earlier."

"Can we really trust him though?" asked Romanoff. "I still don't think it's the best course of action…"

"No, it isn't," said Tony rising and stretching, "But he's her best chance, if what happened yesterday is anything to go by."

"When is Thor arriving?" asked Barton.

"Sometime today." Stark shot a glance at Loki before clapping his hands together.

"Okay, here's the deal Loki. Louie has a bit of a problem and you fixed it. Louie needs to figure out what the hell is happening to her, and you might be able to help. This kind of magic thing is your forte after all."

"And in return for this, what do I receive?" asked Loki. Stark stared at him for a moment.

"Are you kidding me? We can just tell all your Asgardian pals to lock you up again and disregard any leniency that they might give you for helping Thor." Stark folded his arms.

"Come on Reindeer Games, we know you need all the help you can get to get out of all this shit in one piece. Help us, and we'll put in a good word for you." Loki scowled. It was true. A good word from the Earth's Mightiest Heroes would go a long way… Perhaps even buy him time to escape. Hmm… He nodded shortly.

"Perhaps I could be of assistance."

"Good," said Steve, who was watching him closely.

"Goodie," said Tony happily, "We've never had a pet project like this before."

"Wonderful," mumbled Louie, "I'm an experiment." She didn't seem too unhappy about it though. If anything, Loki thought she looked relieved at the idea that they were not going to turn her out into the streets.

"I still think we should tell Fury," said Romanoff.

"Oh come on, Natasha," pouted Tony, "He'll find out soon enough. We can train her on our own. It'll be fun." Louie looked at Pepper in astonishment.

"What am I, a puppy?" The tension in the room was lessening; even Barton chuckled at that one. Pepper rolled her eyes.

"Apparently, you are."

"She shall be my Louie, and she shall be mine, and I will love her and feed her…."

Humans, thought Loki, his nose wrinkled in distaste.

A/N: Ehehehhehe. Well, I hope you liked that one, lol. Writing like a smartass is something I enjoy, but I have no idea if I'm actually funny enough to pull off that snarky kind of humor. :P Oh well.

By the way, I updated early due to one rather specific reason: exams. *wails* There might be a delay closer to the end of November. :/

I will try my very best to update on time though, as long as it doesn't distract me from my studies. Well, doesn't distract me too much. xD

Leave a review and let me know what you think, please! Please? Pleeeassee. Yes, I'm shamelessly begging. Indulge me why don't you :3

25/07/2015: BIG GRAMMAR EDIT

Until next time my friends!

Much love,

xo