A/N: Not as long as the chapter from yesterday and not quite so angst ridden, but here it is and hopefully just as well received as the last one. Thank you to all my lovely reviewers, as well.

When Fury had said within the week, really he should have expected it. Steve, Clint, and Natasha were agents of SHIELD and…well…he couldn't imagine that they really would have trusted him with babysitting an angry, destructive Norse god's mythological wife. Hell, he wouldn't have trusted himself even with Jarvis and Pepper there to back him up-not that he would admit that to the three currently staring/glaring him down. Really, though, having them appear at his tower at barely the end of the first day was saying a little too clearly that Fury didn't trust to take care of any kind of threat.

The silence that stretched between them as he observed them from across the same bar Loki had materialized beside, he contemplated the ironies of the situation. Where they were standing was the same area in which he had originally confronted Loki during the invasion, not to mention the still fractured floor where the Hulk had gone smash-happy with the same would-be conqueror. The window-now covered over by a thin sheet of plastic thanks to Fury's visit and a very irate contractor he called at 3 am-was even the same one he had been tossed out of. Maybe he should just section off this part of the tower and call it contaminated or find some way to frame it to-

Steve cleared his throat and Tony set aside the amusing thoughts to focus on the Captain. "What?" he asked. "Oh. Right! My houseguest. She's been perfectly docile for the last day since Fury swooped in like a bird of prey-no offense, Hawkeye-and-"

"-unconscious," Jarvis interjected before Tony could get off on another tangent. "Sir, I would recommend that you at least try to feed her. Biological scans and body temperatures as well as cross-reference against those of Thor's indicate that she has lacked sustenance for at least a month…perhaps longer."

Only Natasha appeared indifferent to Jarvis' interruption, but both Clint and Steve had looked up at the ceiling and Tony had to smother a laugh before they interpreted it wrong. No matter who they were or thought they were, when people were first introduced to Jarvis their first reaction would be to look up at the ceiling.

Then, Clint recomposed himself and Tony could only be glad that the archer didn't have his bow anywhere near him as the lines of his face settled again into a glare. "Considering that this is Loki we're discussing, I'm not surprised. Which, by the way, what the hell were you thinking, taking her in like a stray? For all you know she could be a ticking time bomb, directed at us by Loki." Tony tried to interject, but the archer wasn't done as he continued, "The same Loki who tried to take over our planet and enslave us with an army of monsters that we are still cleaning up after." It went unspoken in the color of his cheeks, the spark in his eyes, and the tension of his body that he still remembered very well those weeks he had spent under the control of the Trickster.

Natasha was looking at Clint sidelong as color flushed his cheeks and his muscles tensed. "Hawkeye…Clint," she said softly and he looked at her. "We're here to assess whether or not she really is a threat and to determine the best course of action should she prove an asset or a threat. Stark doesn't show any signs of being controlled and we don't actually know what her role in the invasion was."

Let Sigyn's actions speak for her, Loki had told him. It was good advice even from a villain. After all, if he had judged everyone he knew by the actions of Obadiah then he never would have had a chance with Pepper and Rhodey would have become just another military consultant. Betrayal from one source didn't necessarily mean that those close to the source were to blame. Looking over his teammates, he considered them.

Natasha with her ledger had once been a spy for Russia. Clint was a master assassin that heeled to the orders of his masters and if he insisted that Sigyn was evil for being so closely connected to the Trickster then where did that leave him? Steve displaced in time with nothing but the cold reality of orders to cling to and no one to really ground him in the time that he had woken in. Battle was what had drawn them together and it had forged ties that he was unwilling to overlook. His honor wasn't spotless, even compared to theirs, and he wasn't inclined to pretend that he was flawless.

"Right, well, we're going to be here for a while," he said, coming to a decision. "You may as well be comfortable for as long as you are here. One rule, though, no entering the lab without permission. It's got all the shiny kind of high-tech security that would make SHIELD drool and that's not even counting Jarvis so don't even try to break in otherwise you will regret it." Natasha's quirked lips made him think she was looking at it like a challenge. "You can choose from any of the rooms, but knowing you lot you'll want to be on the same floor as our guest so there are plenty of rooms available. Make yourselves at home."

Silence stretched between the four of them as they each tried to sort through their own thoughts. Tony was just beginning to drift back towards the ideas he had had for the suit when Jarvis said, "Sir, I do believe that your guest has woken."

Sigyn was pushing her hair back from her face when she sat up. There were dried tear tracks down her cheeks as she looked around her surroundings and took them in. Some of it she recognized, some of it she didn't. The bed, chair, desk, chest of drawers, and bed-side table were familiar enough that she could name them, but the long sheet of black material that hung on the wall and the metal cylinder with a rounded hood were foreign to her.

Picking up the smaller item that was on the bedside table, she tugged at the leash that attached it to the wall and examined the strange cord of rope. Strange that such a piece of material would be used to tether another object down in such a flimsy fashion as to easily be pulled from the wall. It was enough to keep her occupied and not dwelling upon the memories until she heard a voice say, "Ms. Sigyn, if you would be so kind as to set the lamp you hold back onto the bedside table, it would be greatly appreciated."

She looked up at the ceiling and stared for a long moment as she assimilated the recent events back into her memory as well. Obediently, she set the object-lamp, she categorized-down and asked, "You are…Jar-vis? Disembodied voice to the one named Stark? Are you to be my jailor, then?"

There was a lengthy pause before the voice answered, "In the order that you asked: I am Jarvis. My creator is Anthony Stark, but I do not speak with his voice or even for him. My purpose is not to imprison you. As I have not received instructions to the contrary, you are free to wander the communal areas of the tower so long as you do not prove to be hostile in your intentions towards my creator and his team."

Tilting her head, she glanced around the room and asked, "Your…creator? He is your father, then?"

Another pause told her enough, but Jarvis said, anyways, "It is a close enough comparison, though not strictly true." She nodded and was almost startled when he asked, "Your union with…Loki…was it one freely undertaken or were you tricked into it?"

"What do you know of my history? I know that Mid-Earth has some knowledge, though that knowledge is fraught with the inventive tales of those who recorded the events originally," she said, finally settling her nerves. If she was not to be imprisoned and she was to reside among her husband's enemies, then it would not hurt to put some of the facts to right.

"It is fragmented at best, but some of the myths regarding Norse gods would have us believe that he killed your previous lover and tricked you into marrying him," he said.

To that, she laughed and Jarvis waited patiently for her answer. "Loki is many things, but he has never tricked or forced me into doing anything that I would not have freely done for him. I…would not call him an innocent, but neither is he the worst thing in this universe. May I ask another question of you, Jarvis?"

"So long as it does not pertain to secrets my creator keeps, yes," came the answer and she smiled despite herself. It was good to know that she was not the only one loyal to another in the entire galaxy.

"Did Loki truly attempt to take over Mid-Earth?" she asked, correcting herself on the planet's name again.

There was another pause and she was beginning to think that Jarvis was gathering his thoughts during these brief silences. "If you would direct your attention to the east wall, Ms. Sigyn, and pull the curtain back." He waited until she had complied, wobbling on unsteady legs as did so, and for her eyes to adjust to the sudden spiking of sunlight before he continued, "If you would like, I can detail exactly which buildings were damaged and how in the onslaught of his army before my creator and his team defeated him."

She was silent as she took in the sight of the buildings being repaired around the city. It seemed almost as though no place had escaped damage. "How long ago?" she asked, voice soft.

"Approximately nine months."

Tilting her head back, she looked again at the ceiling and asked, "Are you sure that it was Loki that led the invasion? I have seen my husband raze civilizations to the ground and burn the ashes with less than an army at his back."

"I-" Jarvis began, but the door to her room opened and she turned to look at the figures in the hall.

In the doorway stood one Anthony Stark. Behind him stood two other males and a female, but it was the first human that had defended her that held her gaze. If she was not to be imprisoned, then it was best to start with introductions. The matter of Loki's destructive abilities could be dwelled upon later. "You are Anthony Stark, then?" she asked.

"And you would be Sigyn, wife of Loki," Jarvis' creator drawled back. "Jarvis, lights please. I'd like for everyone to be able to see each other." The light flickered on and then dimmed in intensity a little when Sigyn was forced to squint against the sudden glare. As her sight was clearing, Anthony moved into the room and his three companions followed after him.

That was about the time that the electrical storm streaked across the sky in all its angry glory, darkened the window Sigyn still help open for a moment before the light dissipated into fantastic swirls around the tower, and then vanished as quickly as it had appeared. "Sir," Jarvis intoned. "I do believe you have another guest."