"Oh shit, somebody stop him! I knew we should have put him on a leash!" Stark exclaimed as Loki dashed from the Quinjet the moment they landed and ran to the slumped form laying on the river bank.

"We should have brought Thor," Rogers dove after Loki and tackled him to the ground just as Loki conjured a pair of daggers. "We can't kill him! We need to question him!"

"Who said anything about killing him?" Loki laughed as he rolled and kicked the captain off, "I've got something much worse in mind for this broken bird."

"Loki, no!" Rogers could order all he wanted, but Loki was in no mood to obey.

Instead, he stalked closer to Uriah Fenice and grabbed his hair. He hauled him to his feet, but the man was still unconscious and wouldn't stand. Loki considered what terrible thing to do first and finally decided on cutting off the sorcerer's hands when Stark in his armor flew from the Quinjet and snatched the unconscious man away.

"Hey, let's not break him before we all have a chance to sit down and talk with him," Stark slapped a power dampening cuff on Uriah's wrist and then flew him back to the jet. Loki scowled, but followed after. Romanoff rolled her eyes from the pilot seat and took off, heading back for the Compound.

"If you aren't going to cooperate with the rest of the team, what are you even doing here?" Rogers asked him as Loki took a seat and meticulously fastened his seatbelt.

"I don't see how cutting off our enemy's hands affects the rest of the team."

"That's not how we do things."

"That's not how you do things, Captain," Loki finally looked him in the eye, "I am not an Avenger. Jak is not an Avenger. You and your precious team are only involved because you feel guilty for losing her when she was meant to be under your protection."

"We did lose her, and that's on us," Rogers pointed at him, "But she ran away this time and she did it after she saw you and your little spectacle back at the gala."

Loki was glad he'd taken a moment to lock his seatbelt into place or he would have launched himself at the Captain and thrown him out of the jet just then. He settled for a spiteful smile instead and decided to poke at a sore spot.

"And dearest Sergeant Barnes went with her after you came so close to finally getting him back. It must sting to have your oldest friend run from you every time you show your face."

"Hey!" Romanoff called from the cockpit, "I have an idea. Let's play the quiet game so I don't lose my mind and dump you all at the nearest gas station."

Loki and Rogers both fell silent out of mutual fear and respect for the Widow, but they glared at each other the entire flight. When they landed, Stark made sure to take Uriah straight to a holding cell in the Compound and call Thor and Sam Wilson back from their investigations. Once they arrived, Wilson took Rogers aside to calm him down and Thor punched Loki in the shoulder… which didn't have the same effect, but did make Loki irritated at his brother rather than the super soldier.

"Tell me what happened," Thor wrapped his arm around Loki's shoulders and took him aside to the kitchen. There, he began making a huge sandwich, which he passed to Loki and then made another for himself. Loki hadn't realized until that moment that he was starving and hadn't eaten anything for hours. The last thing he'd had was a tiny hors devour at the gala. He relayed the evening's events as he scarfed down the sandwich his brother made him.

"She ran away with the Winter Soldier?" Thor asked incredulously, "You're sure he didn't kidnap her?"

"She had her magic again. I don't see how he could have," Loki muttered around a bite of food, "Stark said she used her magic to throw him across the room and change her clothes. I'd be proud if I weren't so frustrated."

"Could Uriah Fenice be controlling her mind?"

"Perhaps, but… nevermind."

"What?"

"Perhaps," Loki sighed, "she ran away to escape her parole. If she has her magic again and is free to use it as she likes, then why would she come back to life cleaning your hair out of drains?"

"It's not just my hair," Thor took a bite of his own sandwich, "If she were to run away from her parole, wouldn't she do it with you? I'm sure it would be easy for her to bat her eyes at you and convince you to become fugitives together."

"I've offered to break her cuff for her before and leave," Loki admitted, "She turned me down."

"I suppose we won't know what she's up to until we find her," Thor reached across the counter and put a hand on Loki's shoulder, "There's no use concocting plots for her. We'll find out the truth eventually."

"I just hope the truth is not what I suspect it may be."

.

.

Steve made sure that Loki was on the other side of the building with Thor when he finally went to talk to Uriah Fenice. It took a day for the sorcerer to wake up and when he did all of his wounds were healed. He sat in his cell, fiddling with the cuff on his wrist and glaring at the camera. Steve entered the room and Uriah switched his angry gaze to him instead.

"Ah. My murderer. So nice to see you again, Captain Rogers," Uriah said, "Though I suppose you don't recall that, do you?"

"So you really are Jaklyn's father? Leroy?"

"She goes by Jessica now, actually," Uriah stretched his arms, "And I haven't been Leroy in a long time. Leroy burned in a fire, as I'm sure Jessica or her mother told you."

"You know, you look a lot like someone else I thought was dead. Does the name Heinz Kruger ring any bells?"

Uriah laughed. "Oh yes it does. That was me too. The cyanide took about as well as the fire did. And that car last night."

"So you're… immortal?" Steve offered.

"Death and I have a complicated relationship."

"Jaklyn was convinced you were dead. She said she saw you burn and your bones burn. I don't know why I can't remember that, it seems like it would have been quite the sight."

"I'm sure it was spectacular." Uriah stood up and Steve adjusted his stance slightly to be ready for a fight. "You don't remember because I didn't want you to. A few years ago you would have, but when I heard they'd found you, I didn't want you to interfere in my business. I made myself a SHIELD agent and at one of your doctor's appointments I took away a few memories."

"So now that we're all on the same page, would you care to give those back?"

"I'd have to use my magic," Uriah gestured to his cuff.

"Rain check then," Steve crossed his arms, "Do you know where your daughter is?"

"Your rogue 'war buddy' swiped her right from under my nose."

"So you don't have control of the Winter Soldier any more?"

"Evidently not," Uriah shrugged, "He was breaking anyway. That mind is close to shattering. It would be dangerous for most people to be around him when it does. Luckily, Jessica has enough magic to kill him with little difficulty should the need arise."

Steve tried not to think about that. He could think about it later. Right now Uriah was just trying to get a rise out of him. Just trying to push his buttons and steer the conversation where he wanted it to go. So, Steve had to take it back.

"What happened to your cook?" He asked, "Lyubov Buzinsky? My team tells me her mother is worried about her."

"It's true what they say," Uriah chuckled, "Steve Rogers is an irritatingly righteous man! My daughter is on the loose with your best friend, neither of them particularly stable, and you ask about the well being of an insignificant Russian immigrant. You ought to take up a tablet and torch and go stand on an island in the harbor. Then you'll be in one convenient location for the tired, poor, and huddled masses to find you."

"What happened to Lyubov Buzinsky?"

"Not to be deterred with a bit of wordplay? Very well," Uriah looked him in the eye, his eyes a blazing orange color, "She's six feet under. That's where Barnes will be if I get a hold of him again. That's where all you Avengers will end up for trying to take my daughter away from me."

"You think you can put Loki in the ground?" Steve asked, trying his hand at riling up the other man, "He doesn't think so. You think you can kill Thor? Are you prepared to deal with Odin if you somehow manage it?"

Uriah's jaw ticked in annoyance and he was silent for a moment. After a long pause he sat down again on his cot.

"Loki will regret crashing my party. He'll regret even more his clumsy attempt at winning my daughter's hand. I am the only one who decides who is fit to touch her and I find him lacking."

"I think Jaklyn is the only one who gets to decide that, actually."

"Jessica is my only surviving offspring. She is the only child I've had with magic in over a thousand years," Uriah slammed his fist on the cot, but Steve didn't flinch. "She is my pawn to control as I like!"

"I hope you aren't surprised that she ran away from you," Steve commented, turning to go, "You'd think in a thousand years you could have learned to be a decent father."

"That's it? That is all the interrogation you have for me?" Uriah barked out a laugh, "I've told you nothing. What can you do with what little information I've shared? You won't find her without me, you know. If you want to bring her back to her parole, you'll need my help."

"Are you offering to work with us?"

"I'm warning you that you can search until you look your age, Captain, but you'll never find her. Meanwhile, I can wait until this building crumbles around me. I can bide my time and rebuild my empire when you are all dead. I don't think you have the patience to-"

Steve left the room. He wasn't surprised to find Tony standing outside, watching the monitor with a bag full of freeze dried fruit. He offered the bag to Steve and he took a blueberry.

"And we thought Loki was crazy when we met him," Tony shook his head, "This guy… his mind is like a bag full of… crazier cats? I don't know. I miss Banner."

"If Banner were here I'd be tempted to leave him in a room alone with Uriah and see what the Hulk would do to him," Steve sighed.

"We could just let Loki do his thing," Tony said, "Let the cat-bag-brains fight each other?"

"Maybe," Steve said, distracted for a moment. "I don't think Uriah has any idea where Jaklyn and Bucky are. I doubt he even knows how to find her."

"No? He seems pretty convinced that he does."

"Tony, do you think we should just… let them go?"

"The brainwashed, highly unstable super soldier with a metal arm that can crush skulls and the freaked out immortal girl with unpredictable magic and daddy issues?" Tony scoffed and tossed the rest of the dried fruit into his mouth, "We're supposed to be protecting the world, Steve, remember?"

"Yes, but if we find them, we'd be putting them in danger. Look how easily Jaklyn was captured right under our noses because the government took away her power! They can't take away Bucky's strength. What would they do to him?"

"Whoa, hey now, I'm going to need more coffee before we talk about treason."

"Tony."

"Steve."

"I'm serious. If we bring them back here-"

"Lalalala, I'm not listening to this right now!" Tony plugged his ears and when Steve shut his mouth and glared silently, he unplugged them and rolled his eyes, "It's complicated, Rogers. We all know it's a nuanced situation, okay? I promise I'm not going to let the government put your BFF on ice or take him out behind the barn. And it seems like we've got Jak's only enemy right here in our custody. She was doing great on probation before. She'll do great again. Maybe Bucky can join her and they'll have matching coveralls."

"You can't make all of your problems into janitors."

"Not if I can't find them, I sure can't. So you'll have to excuse me as I try to get back to locating our rogues. If you want to make yourself useful, tell Loki he can beat the shit out of Jak's dad. I think we all want him to after his 'she's my pawn to control as I like' speech."

Steve left him to search and seriously considered telling Loki what Uriah had said. It seemed like Uriah was not easily killed. It probably wouldn't do any lasting damage to him to let Loki go a few rounds.

"I'll ask Thor what he thinks," he finally decided. After all, if things got out of hand, Thor would have to be the one to separate the two sorcerers. It was only fair to ask the referee if he was willing to allow the match.

A small part of Steve genuinely hoped Thor would agree. He wouldn't mind watching Uriah Fenice or Heinz Kruger, or whatever his real name was, get his ass handed to him.

Maybe he'd throw a few punches himself.

A note from the author: 50 chapters in! Woo! I really like how this chapter turned out, honestly. Not to brag, but I'm pretty proud of the dialogue. I had so much fun writing it.

Thanks to the guest reviewer for reviewing. Yeah... I don't have high hopes for the email issue being fixed, which is too bad. FF has been my favorite online posting site, but it does feel a little like a sinking ship. I do post some stuff on AO3 under the same username, but I'm intimidated by that platform lol.

Thank you everyone who is reading this so much for sticking with me for 50 chapters, I hope you'll stick around for however many more there are waiting to be published! I'll get them to you soon!