Another fast update. Thanks for the suggestions btw! I'll see where Lincoln leans.

TW- Unwanted Physical Contact (Assault if you squint)

IDon'tOwnMarvel

"Two weeks?" Loki asked, raising an eyebrow. "That's bearable."

"That's what I was thinking." I smiled, "We might get out of here before we get dragged into his slimy clutches for real."

He looked away suddenly, pausing in silence before speaking up again. "No warning about the bi-frost?"

"Oh, I'm sorry." I clapped back without missing a beat. "Some things have to happen the way they do. I never said I liked knowing what was going to happen."

"You know nothing else that could help me?" He threw me an accusing look. "Not to mention, you were ready to leave me here just like your mentor did to you. Not a part of this adventure? I'd hardly call it that."

"I didn't know!" I shrilled, "How was I supposed to know that some PG-13 version that I saw actually secretly held undertones of a sex crazed maniac? I never thought about that!"

"Is it not your job to think about that?"

"You're not-" I cut myself off and took a deep breath, stepping back off him.

"I'm not what?" He asked, his voice laced with anger. "Your job? The Eternals are supposed to protect."

"I'm not an Eternal, Loki!" I practically shouted. "I'm a sad excuse of a human who got so unlucky that she got launched across the multiverse. I don't know why you find that so hard to believe."

"Because midgardians are disgustingly submissive and you've done nothing but bicker like we're equals and wave your confidence around." He shook his head with a scoff. "Now I see it."

"I'm not the one causing problems." I jabbed a finger at him. "You're the one who dragged me here by my ankle!"

"The Grandmaster wants you at a large party in two days." He turned to walk away, changing the subject. "Don't expect help this time."

"I thought we were in this…" I watched him shut the door behind himself quickly, leaving me in the room alone. "Together. That son of a bitch."

Things fell apart in record speed between Loki and I. My nerves were nearly shot at this point while I sat down once again with my card deck. Unfortunately, Kevin kept bringing back the same Four of Wands card with Loki and I on it whenever I asked for support. Eventually, I gave up and decided that my best bet was to try and track down TC for support. I didn't want to be alone right then, so I left the room to ask a wandering guard where the champion's room was.

I'd been here only a week and we still had one left. If Loki wasn't going to help me at the party, I might need to figure out an alternative plan for support. TC would be the exact perfect choice. All I needed to do was bring him out for the party and let him sit on my shoulders so everyone would keep their distance and not be making suggestive faces at me. It was the perfect plan and I felt a little bit like a genius while I sauntered into the chamber room of my dear friend, unknowing of who also resided there.

"It won't be forever." Steve reminded Tony probably for the hundredth time. "Stephen said-"

"Oh, it's Stephen now?" Tony mocked, shooting Steve a glare while he stood in Lincoln's bedroom. "What are you screwing him?"

"That's highly inappropriate." Steve muttered, glancing over his shoulder. "Look, Lincoln being gone has been tough on everyone. He told us that she was working with Thor right now and that she'd be back soon."

"Why would I trust him on that?" Tony reached to pull his old iron man helmet off the shelf that Lincoln had kept from so long ago. "How do we know he doesn't' have her somewhere trapped where he can use her?"

"I trust the sanctum."

"I don't."

"Then trust Lincoln." Steve urged, "She does this all the time. Someone knows where she is and I'm sure that if the latter was true, Lincoln would have no problem breaking out of wherever he's had her. She certainly would have done it by now."

"Yeah, two months later." Tony set the helmet back with a huffing sigh and faced Steve. "What adventure has she dragged us on that lasted more than five days? Two months is ridiculous. That's why I don't trust it."

"She's dealing with gods." Steve reminded him. "It's not going to be walk in the park for anyone."

Tony had hated Lincoln's sudden absence from the start, and after a bit of yelling at Strange for giving vague answers, he was even more angry. Peter's text to him today was what really set off his bad mood though. He also wanted to know if Lincoln was doing alright which made him upset and then very quickly after that- angry again.

"Well, the gods need to learn how to deal with their own fucking problems." Tony snapped, walking around Steve to leave the room. "If I see Goldilocks again, he's gonna get torn a new one for employing my kid."

"She probably employed herself." Steve tried to remind him only for Tony to ignore it and stalk back down the hall to go to his lab. "She's not a kid anymore."

"She's my kid." Tony grumbled just to himself.

If there was nothing else to do but worry, he was going to at least have some work to bury himself in.

"Uh oh," I made direct eye contact with the Hulk from his hot tub and sucked in a shaky breath. "Uh, hey, buddy. Long time, huh?"

I saw the upturn of the corner of his mouth to a smirk then before he looked to where I was standing and pointed at the wall enclosure that held my friend.

"Dragon Safe." He smiled then like he was proud of himself and got up, climbing out of the tub and making me look away fast.

"Oh my god." I covered my eyes, "Dude, pants please. Or a towel. That's…burned into my brain."

I didn't dare open my eyes when he moved over closer and just took several steps away with my eyes still covered. I moved my hand to block his bottom half then and watch as he slid the door of the cage open very carefully and held out a hand for TC. The lizard climbed onto his hand and then was held out to me. I looked away again with my hand still blocking his lower half as I held out my opposite hand for my friend.

TC scurried himself right up onto his arm and already I could tell he was giving me an attitude about having to live with this all the time these days.

"Look, I'm, ah, sorry about the whole thing with Ultron." I rocked on my heels, still refusing to look at him directly while he walked back towards his bed. "I knocked you out and honestly, I feel like you might hate me for it."

He merely grunted and pulled a towel off the shelf to wrap around his waist, relieving me a little when I could finally look at him. "Hulk Old."

"Yeah, I mean, we were both younger." I agreed, releasing the nervous breath I was holding with TC practically smirking from my shoulders. "We can leave it in the past, right?"

The hulk grunted again at that and nodded at the window. "Hulk fight now. Tiny God…parties."

"No, I don't." I paced over to sit down beside him. "Really, I wish there was something else I could do, but the Grandmaster is sort of insistent and I'm trying not to die."

"Tiny God sad."

"Yeah, I guess." I reached up to pet TC on the top of his head. "I almost wish I could fight people at this point. Or be a scrapper. I don't think I have what it takes to hurt or kill other people or aliens though."

"Fighting for Hulk." Hulk said, poking me with a finger. "Parties for Tiny God."

"I know." I ran my fingers through my hair, feeling the sense of comfort that TC was trying to provide, "I won't be here for long anyhow. I have to help Thor and Loki get the Asgardian people before Ragnarok happens. That's a big fight that's gonna happen."

"Big fight out there." He pointed at his window.

"No, no, not like this one." I shook my head, looking up at him. "The one that Thor is going to fight is going to be the biggest fight ever. Then, right after that, an even bigger fight is going to happen. You'll probably just miss it though. You don't want to lose."

Yeah, so what? Maybe I was manipulating the Hulk a little into wanting to come along. I wasn't about to leave it up to chance, and seeing how upset he was when I mentioned a loss was good enough for me. It didn't feel nice, but the literal fate of the universe was going to be affected by everything I did pretty soon.

I visited with TC the next day too and really didn't see much of Loki aside from him coming back to the room to sleep. He didn't talk to me either at all until the day of the party I was expected to attend.

"It's a simple party." He spoke up through the silence of the room while I was digging through my bag to try and determine what the least revealing combination of clothes would be.

I stopped to look up at him. "I know."

"You're taking too long."

I clenched my teeth together with a deep breath through my nose before I just settled on sliding on my pajama shirt under the thick fabric chest-piece that cut off at the top of my shoulders to show off my arms.

Loki held a hand out at the door, stopping me from leaving. "Not like that."

"What?" I tossed my hands up in defeat. "I'm being strategic now."

"No, you're not." He waved a hand over me, putting me in a green dress that put an immediate glare back from me. "Better."

It was pretty, knee length with a high collar, and sleeves to my elbows, but it was not appropriate for staying safe on this occasion.

"Not a chance."

"Have it your way." He waved his hand back over me again, putting me back in my original outfit. "See if I care when they melt you for not dressing for the occasion."

I bit my lip, watching him leave out the door before chasing after him. "Okay, fine. I'll take it."

He just flicked a hand back at me and I was back in the dress. "I'll find that you're harder to bribe when you're dead. Perhaps avoid trouble with the Grandmaster so I don't' have to deal with you."

"You're being helpful again." I muttered back, standing beside him in the elevator and peering down at the gold heels he gave me. "Why am I dressed in your colors?"

"Any other complaints?" He pressed the button rather harshly.

I shook my head, just taking the help where I could. "Nope. It's lovely. Thank you."

I got silence from him again even as he stepped out on a new floor for a different party. It was the evening now, so the lights were dimmed and drinks with an odd fruit floating in them were being held by waiters. Waiters and Waitresses also held plates with small food bites that I wasn't really ready to touch.

Instead of entering right away, I pressed the button for a different floor and took myself all the way to the Hulk's room. He was…nowhere in sight though.

"Who are you?"

I turned fast at the female voice and my eyes went wide a little with the sight. "Oh, uh, hello."

Valkyrie didn't move from her seat and just stared back with a drink in hand.

"Um, I was looking for my friend." I winced, eyeing TC's dark cage next. "He's the…lizard. Sparky. He was supposed to come with me to the party upstairs."

"He's busy." She replied evenly, nodding me back towards the door. "Get out. You can see him tomorrow."

"But-"

She nodded to the door again and I listened despite now feeling sick at the idea of having to attend the party on my own. I was not about to argue with a Valkyrie. Regardless of this sick feeling too, I managed to stuff it down in the elevator and put on a confident facade.

I can do this. I worked to convince myself, I'm a super old ancient being who helps people for a living and isn't afraid of shit. Just play a part.

Unfortunately, I felt that cover crack a little the second the Grandmaster spotted me over near one of Loki's many friend groups. I had made it barely half an hour into this and I was getting beckoned over to my worst nightmare.

"Hey, hey," He smiled, waving a lady with pink skin up. "Kai, up. That seat is taken now. Yeah, come sit, Jackie."

I did so carefully and sat down beside him, trying to hold onto my mask of confidence like it was the last thing holding me up. The Grandmaster had never done anything explicitly wrong to me, but Loki's words on the matter had me terrified to even be near the guy.

Still, I wanted to cry.

"Sooo, how are you liking Sakaar?" He prodded casually his hand being placed on the back of my chair. "God, you must've traveled all over by now. You Eternals really get around as soon as you lose your 'divine purposes'. So you like it here?"

"Uh, it's nicer than Titan." I replied, flicking my eyes around the room to try and spot Loki, only to see that he had mysteriously disappeared. "It's been a while since I've been somewhere I've felt comfortable."

Not really a lie.

"Wow, what a compliment." He chuckled, looking at his advisor with a nod and a smile as if confirming something. "How long- Are you sticking around? What's the deal here? Is it a vacation?"

"Well, I heard about the big fights you have here." I lied, acting like I was confiding in him about something secret. "A friend of mine tells me they're the best in the galaxy and I've always been one to watch a little violence."

"Oh, perfect," He clapped his hands together with a laugh. "That's right. You asked Topaz about that a few days ago, didn't you? I'll remind you anyway. What the heck? My champion is fighting just four days from now. He was on a break, but we had all sorts of…little guys running around until then. You. just have to see them. You do. You'll love it."

"I'm sure I will." I smiled back, hating every second of this. "I have been underwhelmed in the past."

"Oh no, no," He waved me off. "This is like nothing else. Trust me- One ancient being to another, yeah? I swear, everyone around here has such short lifespans it's getting embarrassing. Like, I want to be embarrassed for them. I've got you for a while though- and that Loki seems pretty old. We'll be good friends. Trust me, you won't want to leave so soon after you see this guy in the ring."

"I'd be embarrassed for them too." I faked a small laugh before prying at something that was on my mind for a while. "How does time work here anyways? Do you think you could explain it to me?"

"Oh, well, there's nothing to explain." He laugh with Topaz before seeing that I was serious and giving me a better answer. "Okay, it changes. Like all the time. Right now…we're in a sort of hindrance, but in a few days we'll go back up and pass regular. See, Sakaar doesn't move and the…massive worm holes everywhere tend to mess with things. I'm…well…I lost track, but last week I added four years from Knowhere and two days from…Titan? Where- You're from earth?"

I nodded, feeling a bit worried now since I originally thought it was going to be a few minutes for them with the time difference. "The one in this galaxy."

"Right, ah." He looked to Topaz who blinked tiredly,

"Five months last week." She explained. "This week will only pass one and a half months. Week after will be equal to one week."

"Topaz is my little parrot." He put on another smile while I almost lost my cool at that idea.

"Oh wow."

That was all I managed to say while I pushed down the panic.

It's okay. I soothed myself. Panic later. Party now. They might just be lying. How would they know everything?

Yeah, I was convinced, It doesn't work like that in the movies. They just don't know what they're talking about.

I ended up just sitting silently while the Grandmaster went off on another rant about his adventures when he first showed up here. He liked to talk about himself and I was fine just sitting as long as I didn't have to say anything back. The problem arose again when he tried to actively bring me back to his room with him while we were standing around with new group of people.

Loki, again, was nowhere in sight.

"You know, speaking of 'primitive', it's been so long since I've been in decent company." He branched off from his story, "Why don't we take everyone in this little circle back to my roof-top room, eh? Jackie?"

"I'm okay." I declined politely, coming up with a quick excuse. "It's against my culture."

"You look like a rule-breaker, Jack," He cocked his head at me with a challenging smile. "I can't deny, you've thrown me for a loop here."

I froze when his hand and arm slipped around my waist to pull me closer to him. Every part of me was screaming to blast his head open with my powers, but if I was being totally honest, I wasn't sure that would actually do anything. This guy was old and quite possibly very powerful. If I fucked up, I'd be in even bigger trouble.

"Okay, Loki." I pleaded mentally, "You win. I'm sorry I got us into this. Please help. Don't leave me alone."

In my lifetime, I'd fought killer robots, fallen from the sky, taken crap from superheroes, and taught high schoolers. You'd think I'd be equipped enough to be able to handle some creep grabbing my waist. Unfortunately, that was not the case as my levels of anxiety increased to the point of almost breaking my mask.

"What do you say?" He practically purred, eyeing me like I was a piece of meat.

"Darling, there you are." Loki's voice and hand replacing the Grandmaster's on my waist was the flood of relief that I was needing. "I was looking for you."

I would never argue with him again if it meant he was going to rescue me like this.

"Ah haha," The Grandmaster forced a laugh, looking privately annoyed. "I was having a moment, Jotunheim. You ruined it. He ruined it. Did you see that?"

The other guests nodded, possibly out of fear while Loki gave him an apologetic look back.

"Allow me to apologize." Loki kept an arm around me, which, shockingly, didn't make me want to throw myself off a balcony. "My wife tends to lose her senses after too many drinks. She can put up a bit of a fight after that point. I'll take her back to our room so she doesn't cause you any trouble. I'd hate to ruin such a lovely party."

"Wife?" The Grandmaster laughed a little. "I've never seen so much as a hug from you two. I would've guessed strangers."

Loki caught me off guard when he leaned over then to press a kiss to my cheek with a look at the Grandmaster and a hushed voice. "I like to keep her to myself, but I'd make a worthy exception if the show in four days is as good as you promise."

Not being afraid of Loki might've been the only factor that kept me sane right there. His hand sliding around my waist to rest on my stomach with him standing behind me didn't make me want to claw my skin off, so I counted it as a complete win. You know, even as I held onto his wrist with both of my hands. The god of lies and trickery was certainly earning his name tonight.

Once the Grandmaster looked convinced, Loki took one of my hands from where I was holding his wrist and put it with his hand on the small of my back to lead me in front of him, back out of the room. As soon as we were back in the elevator, I released the breath I was holding in and sucked in a shakier one.

Keep cool, I reminded myself. Keep cool. Keep cool. Everything's fine.

I didn't even realize I was still squeezing Loki's hand until the elevator dinged on our floor. His hand was released quickly as soon as I noticed and I paced ahead in front of him to try and go right to the shower. I only stopped by the couch for a moment to look back at him.

"Uh, thank you." I nodded, rocking on my heels and avoiding eye contact. "For rescuing me. I know you said you wouldn't."

Before he could try to respond, I turned on my heel and walked right into the bathroom, shutting the door behind myself. I really needed a shower after that. When I came back out of the shower, having scrubbed myself clean and also cried a little from the stress, Loki was just laying on the bed with the ball he found, tossing it up in the air.

Loki sat on the couch, watching Jackie watch his illusion. She shifted in her place after a moment, watching him throw the ball around before looking away and moving to sit on the opposite side of the couch from where he was invisible.

She sighed a little to herself before glancing over her shoulder again. "You kissed my cheek."

"A common gesture of affection." He made his illusion reply casually. "Occasionally, lies need visual grounds to stand."

"Oh okay," She picked up her legs to put them on the couch, making Loki get up so she could use the space without noticing him. "Thanks again."

He didn't really know how to respond to that, but she always took his silence as it was, so it wasn't a problem. What was he to say anyways?

'It wasn't any trouble?'

Clearly it had been a small amount of trouble for him to put on a possessive facade in front of the being that literally owned everything here. It was risky, but he'd made a promise that he wouldn't have to keep. Loki just had to hope that the Grandmaster would find a small 'chase' for Jackie to be amusing instead of frustrating. He had no trouble getting people into his special rooms all these years. A bit of a wait might seem exciting to that kind of guy.

Did he feel pity for the midgardian's position? Well, he wasn't exactly heartless. She was not the type to be able to handle harsh worlds with ease. It surprised him to see her breaking apart piece by piece like this as the days progressed. Sure, it was uncomfortable, but he wasn't falling apart over random sex with aliens. He'd had his adventures in the past. This was just exhausting to tolerate.

"I'm not stupid, you know." She said, staring at the ceiling while Loki sat down on the spare chair nearby.

Young. Naive. Loki thought to himself. Likely inexperienced in the universe.

"I'm not." She insisted then, "I've fought robots and lived on the run for two years as a teenager. It's just that one thing. I don't ever know how to approach that sort of thing. Everything is weird back on Earth here. Everyone's an alien to me and now…now there's actual aliens everywhere."

Loki would be lying if he said he couldn't relate. The mere connection that he felt there wasn't going to get him falling all over himself to be acquainted with her again.

"I feel like I don't belong anywhere." She dropped her voice to a quiet tone only he might hear, "I want to go home- My real home, but recently I've kinda started to think that would never feel like home anymore anyways. It didn't when I left. It wouldn't now."

Loki's illusion stopped tossing the ball while he thought about that. A sense of belonging was a concept that he still struggled with these days. He hated to say he understood those feelings that she had. The feelings of a midgardian were hardly his problem, but he found himself relating and getting a bit sucked into the subject.

"Doesn't matter anyhow." She rolled over with her blanket around her, "It's not like there's anything to go back to. But, I'm really not helpless. I just get worked up about that every time. I don't think I could even kiss someone without panicking."

She cracked a smile to herself. "Well, I also have a sort of wariness around dogs too, always have. It's really just those two though. Otherwise, I'm really good at what I do. This adventure just caught me a bit off guard. In more ways than one, as you know."

He left his eyes on her, his mind straying back to how she had clutched his wrist and hand like it was the only thing keeping her up. It was a terrible thought for a god, but he couldn't help it.

"You don't seem to hate me." His illusion said, making Jackie look over at him on the bed again.

"Why would I hate you?" She asked back, looking a little confused. "You helped me."

"Before then." Illusion elaborated with a wave of his hand. "You never mentioned Earth or the Chitauri."

"Well," She smiled at that like it was obvious. "That wasn't your fault. I know that. Thanos and the Other mind controlled you, right? I think those were their names."

"It was." His illusion looked down past his feet at her. "A premonition?"

She nodded with a smile. "The Thanos part was guessed. I knew about the Other."

Loki smiled a little at that too, his illusion keeping a straight face and then rolling over. It was comforting to know that someone, even a young human woman, would be well aware of the truth behind his attack on earth. The growing affection wasn't favorable on his half, but having someone who understood in his life was a sort of commodity.

Perhaps he had a good reason to not let her slip away so easily back on Earth. What could he say? He had always been dangerously curious. This time it may have gotten him an actual confidante.

Loki responding to me from the bed was enough of a relief to help me sleep that night all wrapped up in my blanket.

I think his statement to the Grandmaster held strong too, because neither of us felt required to attend any more parties before the actual event. Instead, I spent my time catching up with TC and telling him everything that had happened while getting strange looks from Valkyrie when she walked by me sometimes to take Hulk to train for his big night after his break. It wasn't a bad situation to maintain until we finally got news that the god of thunder had arrived.

Loki had been out and about and ran into him when he first arrived. He came back grumbling about Thor blowing his cover, but I could tell he was secretly a little relieved. He'd been long-since informed that Thor's arrival would mean our escape.

That afternoon brought something else too, right when Loki and I were in the middle of preparing for the match in the arena nearby, Loki's hand shot out to catch something that was falling in front of my face. He pulled the object back and looked up with me and my heart leapt into my throat when I saw the remnants of a golden portal disappearing.

I snapped my head to look back at Loki again while he opened his hand to look at the object. "What is it?"

"A way out, I presume?" He held up the sling ring, making the biggest smile spread across my face.

"Yes!" I snatched it up fast and slid it on my fingers before stopping myself again and losing the smile.

"What?" He asked impatiently. "Is that not a way to make portals? Take us away from here. Earth. Xandar. Anywhere else."

To leave now, I would not only be willingly abandoning Loki, but I'd also be abandoning the Asgardian people. Hela was terrifying, but there had to be a good reason why Stephen would give me this now.

"I can't use it." I lied, running my fingers over the symbols on the back. "It's not set for now. Someone put a spell on it."

"Can't you take the spell off it?" He took it from me. "Let me see."

He inspected it for a moment before looking at me again and stopping. Loki held it out carefully again, letting me take it back and tie it on my sash.

"We have to leave." He dropped the subject of the ring in an instant, looking between my eyes. "The show is starting soon."

"It is." I agreed, looking right back until he turned to leave the room.

Boy did I feel bad about lying?