Working Title : Loki & Annie

123 Meanwhile on Midgard

Inside Tony's Tower Tony had retreated back to his machine shop to continue playing with the magical BDSM collar while thinking over the day. He needed to go through everything that had happened, examine it, and categorize it so that he could store it in its proper place. He was a little frustrated because he now had a space labeled, "Magic" where he had too many of today's events stored. He eventually planned to remove them to their proper place once he had figured out the science behind the event but for now, he just needed to get his brain decluttered so he had room to think straight. He made a harsh motion and the music turned up even louder despite all of the warnings J.A.R.V.I.S. had given him about hearing damage.

Floors above Tony's workshop Bruce was sitting in his apartment, his butt comfortably relaxing on a one hundred percent sustainably grown and harvested, naturally-dyed organic bamboo cushion that was sold through certified fair trade practices. It was soft and comfortable which were just added bonuses as far as he was concerned. Knowing all of this made his meditation easier to sink into with the scent of steaming green tea making a pleasant background. He was thinking about the mysteries of the universe and how there were still so many lessons to be learned. Not good or bad. Just knowledge to be acquired and looked at from different views while accepting all possibilities. He just needed to be open to learning them. And calm. He needed to be calm too.

Annie lay on her side with Loki tucked up under his chin, his breath puffing against her as she dozed. In the space between asleep and not asleep she had been able to shut her brain up long enough to finally find quiet. She still was thinking, about wanting to just fall into her bed and sleep, of how she should have told Tony he couldn't take her pizza left-overs, and wishing she had thought about how she should keep an extra pair of underwear in a little ziplock baggie in her purse. She also thought about how Loki's skin felt warmer now, and how he still smelled like pine but not the pine in air fresheners you get from the car wash that you hang in your car but the real pine smell from pine trees. A little like Christmas but with rain falling on mint smell too.

While dreaming Loki knew he was dreaming but it did nothing to keep the fear away as his bare feet slapped on the floor of an unknown hallway as he ran. The white was so complete that he couldn't tell where the wall and floor and ceiling met, it just stretched forever until he would run into a wall that sent him bouncing back to land on the floor. Looking over his shoulder he could see a swirling cloud of black that looked like the darkest storm clouds he had ever seen. The sound it made was a rumble yet deep like a growl of some unseen animal and he thought he could see glowing gold eyes. The fear in him made him scramble to his feet and once more begin to flee, running in the blinding white until he once more came to a violent stop from hitting an unseen wall. Wanting to flee this nightmare he tried to wake but could only pull himself up enough to become aware of being surrounded by warmth. Warmth and a familiar scent, one that he thought he remembered from long ago. He breathed and pushed his face deeper into it and his nightmare cleared until he was able to slip into a dreamless sleep.

On the other side of the planet, Strange stood in the library of Kamar-Taj looking over manuscripts. He frowned as the ancient Sanscrit changed to modern English, it was doing so too slow for his reading ability so it felt like he needed to reboot the spell in hopes it would fix itself. It hadn't worked the last three times he'd tried but the fourth time could be the charm. He set the manuscript back while his eyes searched the shelves. A long finger rubbed at his bottom lip while he thought about his other options. Perhaps he needed to be closer to the source. Without needing to think about the movement he created a portal and stepped through to the London Sanctum. Hopefully, he would find what he was looking for here.

Fury sat in his black SUV, sipping coffee from a paper cup while watching people rushing about doing their evening shopping. The shopping mall was busy for this time of night with people carrying bags rushing from one place to another. He wondered what they would all do if they knew that not far away the son of the alien who had destroyed a large part of Manhatten was being hidden. Fury knew that the asset would need to be taken into custody in the near future and when both of the back doors opened and two figures hopped in he was prepared to give his orders.

The elevator in the Tower opened and Steve stepped out, heading to his apartment so he could change into sweats before heading to the training floor. He had been walking since leaving Fury and now he needed to punch something. Repeatedly. His anger with himself had been simmering for most of that time because he hated that he had chosen following orders over protecting a kid. He had never been one to blindly follow orders before, during the war. He had realized that his doing so now had been based on a feeling of gratitude that S.H.I.E.L.D. had given him both direction and a purpose again. But now he had regained his sense of doing what he thought was the right thing, no matter the consequences. In the morning he would make that clear to everyone. 

Inside Annie's home Sherise tucked the last of the clothes she thought would be needed for a short stay into the suitcase and looked around to see if she had missed anything. One of the people who had arrived hours before to transport whatever Sherise packed or pointed at came in and picked up a large bag and box. Just like everything else they carried it down to the small, nondescript box truck waiting in the driveway. Micah had been tucked into bed early which left her to pack while Mike supervised downstairs. They occasionally talked in quiet voices about what was going on but both were still worried despite all the reassurances Tony Stark had given them. Neither one thought this would turn out painless for their friend and they were worried about what that would mean for her. She didn't need any more drama or trauma in her life but it looked like she was headed straight for it.

Standing at attention the unit leader of the small group of soldiers that had been sent to gather all possessions of the two alien assets was aware of the anger of General Ross. The General stood with his back to the man while staring out of the window into the darkness of the undisclosed military base. The silence was loud enough to make his ears ring, and he was grateful when with a slight tilt of his head the General gave him his new orders. He would not fail this time.

Having made their report and received their new orders Clint and Nat watched the SUV drive away. Stuffing his hands into his windbreaker Clint used his shoulder to bump his partner's shoulder and they both turned to walk away side by side. Each was thinking about how they would handle their part of the mission, Clint was unhappy with what he'd been told and was trying to determine how he would handle his part. He hated Loki but he had a hard time hating a kid even if it was the rat bastard's spawn. As for Nat, she was making a plan on how she would handle her orders while remembering that what Fury didn't know wouldn't hurt her. She was good at keeping herself safe and had no intention of changing that now.

In the Tower, J.A.R.V.I.S. continued to monitor Stark Industries stock shares, plan for a Senate Committee regulatory inquiry, adjust the supply inventory of multiple research facilities, monitor the requests for grants, write several hundred thank you letters declining various handwritten and electronic marriage proposals, schedule cleaning crews for the Malibu house, arrange transportation for three charities to separate sporting events, review all performance evaluations for every employee employed by every company under the Stark Enterprise umbrella, did financial audits of each scheduled company while also doing several thousand other minor and major responsibilities that he had either been assigned or had made the decision to assume. Included in these duties were subtly adjusting the volume of Sir's music, monitoring the vital signs of each person still located inside the Tower, and arranging for Ms. Potts's flight to return her to New York from overseas. All told a rather uneventful evening. Until one of those vital signs began to show an unusual level of activity.