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Chapter Fifty-Three: Moving Day

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I was stupid. Stupid. Stupid. I resisted the urge to bang my head on the wall as I pulled on a sweater, groaning as I again recalled how absolutely stupid I'd been last night.

What had I said? He wouldn't have me. What had I done? Let him have me.

"Ugh," I slammed my closet door shut.

"Hey, what did your poor closet ever do to you?"

I whirled at the sound of Tony's voice, jumping.

"Ever heard of knocking, Stark?"

"Yeah, tried that, not really a fan," he shrugged his shoulders.

I rolled my eyes. "Did you need something?"

He nodded, clasping his hands. "Hope you didn't get too used to the place," he started, looking around. "Been talking with Hill, Fury, Selvig, you know, bunch of important people."

I nodded impatiently, folding my arms. By God did it ever take him a shit ton of time to reach the point.

"We're going to allocate more resources to the Avengers initiative. Decided it'd be best to move us out of the city. We'll be relocating to a more remote compound."

"Okay," I nodded, agreeing with the idea. Training and weapons development would certainly be safer outside the city.

"We're flying out today, so pack light. Everything will move out slow. And, Alivia," he paused for a minute, "You'll have our full support investigating into Strucker. Just, be careful about it, short bus. HYDRA isn't something you wanna be taking lightly."

I blinked a little. Steve hadn't told me about Strucker's involvement with HYDRA. The knowledge scared me a little, made my throat swell until it was hard to swallow. Hard to force words out.

"I know," I said thickly, "I know I can't take them down. But I can at least get to the root of Strucker's involvement with them. The experiments, the subjects, Tony I might be able to find out how I got my powers."

"Just be careful," he looked down at me, his hand hovering on the door knob, "Okay? We leave at ten to."

I nodded, and his mouth pressed into a thin line. Then he twisted the knob, pulling the door open and leaving. And I was again left alone to think about how absolutely stupid I was.

Maybe if I avoided Loki long enough he would forget. Yes. That was the plan.

I looked around. Tony had said pack light but... What was there to pack? All my stuff was back home. My eye froze on the desk in the corner of the room. There was a familiar case of art supplies sitting atop it. I went over to the desk and poked around, opening drawers. Then I moved to my dresser. Everything was here.

A smile touched my lips. In the few days I'd been occupied with saving the world, my dad had packed up all my things and had them sent over.

The gratitude was chased by a feeling of guilt. For not having reached out all those years. For having no relationship with him.

I pushed the thoughts out of mind, popping in some earbuds and getting busy packing a small bag of essentials. Art supplies, clothes.

I made up a small bag and checked the time. Ten to, nearly on the dot. I slung my bag over my shoulder and headed out. Maybe if I'd had the sense to take out my headphones, I could've avoided the head-on collision with Steve when I rounded the corner to enter out onto the roof.

Steve stopped me from sprawling backwards with a hand on the small of my back, and he pulled me into him. I froze, pulling out my earbuds and looking up at him.

"Shit, sorry," I laughed, "My bad."

"I'm not complaining," he said, kind of innocently. My face still heated up at his words, and the fact that our lower halves were pressed together.

We both laughed in a sort of nervous way, and I moved to separate us. But he held fast.

"Alivia, about what happened before Sokovia—"

He was cut off when Loki cut right in between us, hooking an arm around my waist and jarring me away. "Suspect we're ready to take off," he said over his shoulder to Steve, not breaking his stride as he led me to the jet that awaited us on the roof.

I tried to shrug off his grip, but he only held me tighter. I may have had the upper hand with my powers, but when it came to physical strength, Loki was in control, and I hated knowing that. Almost as much as I hated that Loki knew I knew that.

"I'm sorry, pet, did I interrupt Rogers in the midst of a confession of love?" He leaned down so that his lips brushed my ear, and I shuddered at his low words. "Were you planning to tell him what you and I did last night? That I had you screaming at my touch, begging for me? That I was inside—"

"That's enough," I cut him off as we neared the others, praying to whatever god there was that they hadn't overheard.

My posture went stiff when Steve brushed past us. He'd been right behind, trailing after us. There was no way he hadn't heard.

Loki saw him go, cool and fast, and his lips peeled into a grin. "Oh dear, I do hope I haven't upset him."

"I somehow doubt that," I muttered.

"What was that?" Loki asked, scooping up my bag from off my shoulder, "You may have to be a little louder. Like last night."

With a teasing wink, he made for the jet with both of our bags, setting them in the luggage department before disappearing inside.

Before I could conjure a flame to swallow Loki whole, Nat looped an arm over my shoulders. "Feeling okay?" she asked.

"Rage and regret aside," I said, tossing one final glare in Loki's direction, "Yeah. You?"

"Physically, sure," she nodded, a distant look in her eyes.

"Men aren't shit," I muttered, "Let's just be together instead. Run off and live in the Bahamas."

"I am not opposed to that," she said, "We can open a restaurant. I can't cook for the life of me but I'm sure I could figure it out."

"Oh, I can cook," I said, as the two of us entered the jet and plopped into our seats, "We'll be five star in no time."

"However will we lay low with such a revered chef in our restaurant?"

I laughed, and so did she. Warmth bloomed in my chest. It was good to see her laugh.

There were a few final calls and last checks, and the jet took off. I made a point of not looking at Steve or Loki, but I felt at least one, maybe two sets of eyes on me as we went.

I kept my attention on Nat. Or at least tried to. It was hard with Loki's words burning at the back of my mind.

"—or maybe take a break?"

"What?" I blinked, catching only the end of her question.

She smiled, and again, it was a real one. It made me smile too. "I asked if you plan to go after Strucker right away, or if you're going to take a break. Train and get rested."

"I gotta do it now, Nat," I shook my head, fiddling with the ring on my finger, "I can't get it out of my mind. Strucker must have been experimenting before having gotten Loki's scepter. He could have gotten to my mother. To me. I've got to find out. I can't sit with this any longer."

She nodded in understanding. "HYRDA is big, Alivia," she said after a moment, her tone hesitant, "Bigger, older, stronger than the Avengers, than S.H.I.E.L.D." Nat shook her head, sighing deeply. "I just want you to know what your getting into."

"I don't expect to take down HYDRA," I said, "I don't expect to take down anything. All I want is answers." I looked up at her then, a question on my lips I'd been hesitant to ask. "Do you think... Maybe you'd help me?"

She met my gaze. A smile quirked her lips. "You have to ask?"

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