The Soldier and the Spy.

Chapter 21

***Captain America***

Loki has been in the cage for five days now, but he hasn't made any trouble- yet. Variel has been visiting him, much to all of our displeasure. But, she told me, Loki is the only family I know, other than Natasha. Would you really take that away from me? I can't remember anything about my real parents, and he can help.

So I let her, and did my best to understand. We all knew that, though we were her close friends, and she was part of our close-knit "family," it didn't replace the fact that we weren't related to her. So far, Loki hasn't said or done anything to do her harm. In fact, he almost seems to change around her. One of us will go in, and he will be his usual arrogant self. Then she will walk into the room, and it's almost as if he was a different person. He will smile and joke, as if a weight is lifted from his shoulders. That's probably due to Variel's personality. She is calm and collected, and can make anyone relax. We always tease her that she should start her own psychiatrist's office for superheroes- she made Loki laugh, for goodness sake!

Thor is a lot happier now. I can tell that he thinks Variel will help Loki change for the better, even though there is still a lot that Loki isn't telling us. The closer he and Variel grow, the more he worries. His pacing increases with the passing of every day.

Not only that, but Variel and Tony have created the most intense prank war in the history of all mankind. After she filled his suit with the most potent fire ants she could find, he couldn't move for a week. Every inch of his body above the waist was covered with a painful red rash, and his face was swollen to the point of being unrecognizable. The punishment we cooked up for Tony was definitely the worst of all the Avengers', and he was also the only Avenger to get back at us.

When his skin was no longer lobster red, he spent about a day in his lab with the door locked. He wouldn't even let Bruce in, and I'm pretty sure he didn't eat either. Turns out he had built a super-complicated device. It was an exact replica of Variel's bed, complete with sheets, fluffy mattress, and comforter. However, as soon as Variel was asleep, it knocked her out with a mild anesthetic and flew out through the skylight in the roof.

The flying, mechanical bed then proceeded to drop Variel and wait for her to fall as long as a hundred feet before it caught her again. Variel was knocked out, so she couldn't shape shift. According to her, she had horrible dreams that she was falling (which she was) and she couldn't turn into a bird and fly away. Supposedly, this continued all night, until the anesthetic wore off at about three in the morning.

She then decided to retaliate by gluing Tony to his bed when he was sleeping. That was a scene. After that, the pranks came faster and faster- Mjolnir on the toilet seat so Tony couldn't lift it (Thor helped with that one), sinkholes under doors that led to tunnels full of nets, the list went on and on. Then one of the pranks backfired onto Natasha, and she just about killed Tony, and Fury finally ordered them to stop. Variel and Tony, of course, didn't listen, so there is still the occasional stink bomb or remote-controlled helicopter full of peanut butter. But they make sure that Fury is gone when they set them off.

I reach out to open the door- in fact, I have my hand on the handle- when it suddenly flies open and hits me square in the face.

"Oh gosh, Steve I'm sorry!" Natasha says as she came through the door.

"Ow! Geez, you Romanoff girls are so violent."

"My sister kick your butt in training again?"

"Yep, and the fact that she has the ability to turn into a two hundred pound Jotun doesn't help."

"Poor Capsicle," Tony mocks, coming towards us. "Just think of how much harder she'll be to deal with once you're married!" he calls, and saunters around the corner before I can reply.