MARVEL & DC IMAGINES

] shackled 2 [

Loki sighed and turned to Y/N, who was now permanently stuck at his right side, but didn't know what to say, so instead looked to his brother.

"Think of it this way," Thor said, grinning mischievously. "There are worse women you could be bound to, brother." Then, to Y/N, "I'm so sorry you're stuck with him." And then he turned and walked away, visibly trying to stifle his laughter.

After a few minutes, the crowds went back to their revelries, and the ladies they had been talking to dispersed, leaving Loki and Y/N alone.

"I need a drink," the god muttered to himself and started for the bar, forgetting that he was attached by the wrist to another being. Their arms jerked painfully and she glared at him.

"We're literally attached to one another, Loki, you're gonna have to communicate with me if you wanna go somewhere," she warned.

"I said I needed a drink," he snapped, masking his discomfort with rudeness. "That would imply that I wish to go to the bar, yes?"

She glared at him, but nodded and they snaked their way through the crowd toward the bar, where Natasha was making drinks. The other bartender had gone.

"Congrats, Y/L/N," Nat smirked. "You got yourself a ball and chain."

Loki and Y/N rested their hands on the counter, both with scowls shadowing their features.

"I assume you want something strong," Nat said, addressing Loki, and the Asgardian nodded, his jaw clenched.

Barton approached from behind and settled to Y/N's right, chuckling. "Man, that's gonna suck when one of you has to go to the bathroom," he joked. Did all of the Avengers always have something snarky to say?

"How did this happen?" the prince snapped, turning to regard Y/N as Natasha set a glass of something thick and red in front of him. She shook her head and he could see that every muscle in her body was tensed up.

"Where's Banner?" she asked and turned around quickly, jerking his arm and pulling him toward Barton, who had to put a hand up to stop the Asgardian from plowing into him.

He glared at Y/N. "Attached. Remember?" he growled and she jerked his arm again, this time as a warning.

"Come on, let's go find Bruce. He may be able to tell us what happened. Try and keep up."

She pulled him through the crowd, searching for Doctor Banner. Loki, who was taller than pretty much everyone at the party by at least two inches, spotted him after a few moments at one of the hors-d'oeuvre tables, munching some deviled eggs.

"He's over there," Loki said, and Y/N adjusted her course through the throngs of people, pushing harshly past them until they came upon Banner. He was dressed sharply, in a finely tailored tux, but he looked anxious.

Loki smirked as they stopped before him. "You seem tense, Banner" he quipped, replacing rudeness with sarcasm. "Not seeing green, are we?"

Bruce chuckled nervously and shook his head. "Just feeling a little claustrophobic is all. I'm fine." He cleared his throat and turned to Y/N with a forced smile.

She jerked her hand up, Loki's coming up harshly with it. She said nothing, but raised an eyebrow. He knew that Banner and Stark were always in the lab together, if anyone would be able to explain Tony's stupid device, it would be Bruce.

"Yeah, sorry about that," he mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's something Tony and I have been working on, but it wasn't supposed to work yet. That's just a prototype."

Loki jerked his hand toward his chest in revenge, and Y/N stumbled into him, landing hard against his chest. Her gaze was dripping poison as she pushed herself away, pulling hard on the shackles. She turned back to Banner. "What's it supposed to do?" she growled.

"Well, I mean... It sort of did what it's supposed to do. They're deployable handcuffs. They lock onto your target and then when you throw them, thrusters propel them forward and they lock around the target's wrists." Banner shuffled uncomfortably and took a step back as Loki and Y/N practically began playing tug-of-war with the cuffs. "We knew the targeting wasn't quite right yet, but the thrusters weren't supposed to work at all. When Tony tossed them up in the air, they should have just come back down, so he could catch them, but they decided to... well..." he gestured at Loki and Y/N, who now had both hands each on their side of the cuff and were yanking each other's arms back and forth, as well as using their hips and legs to push at each other. Loki had to admit that Y/N was ridiculously strong. Too strong.

"Alright, enough!" the prince snapped, dropping his hands. "You're going to tear my arm out of the socket," he hissed, glaring at her. Loki pinched the bridge of his nose. He wasn't overly fond of being physically attached to someone, and it didn't help that his partner was one of the most dangerous people in New York, or that she was angry, tense, and very unpredictable.

"Can they be removed?" the god asked, more calmly now as he looked at Bruce.

Banner shrugged. "They weren't supposed to work... so we don't have a key made yet. Tony had the idea to do a fingerprint unlock, but that idea was reserved for the next model."

"I've got it!" Loki and Y/N looked behind them to see Stark pushing through the crowd, a small metal device in his hand. He pulled up to them, panting, and held up the device. It was sort of... oblong, silver, with wires poking out and lights glowing from the inside.

"What is that?" Loki asked, uncertain.

"It's uh..." Stark turned it over in his hand, examining it. "To be completely honest, I'm not entirely sure, but it does a damn good job of frying the tech in my lab, so I thought it could work. Hands up," he commanded.

They reluctantly raised their cuffed hands and Stark pressed a button on the side of the device. It sparked and whirred, but did nothing to remove the restraints.

"Well done," Banner grinned.

Stark rolled his eyes and tucked the device into his pocket. "Do you have a better idea?" he asked, gesturing to Bruce.

"Well, no..." the scientist began, but Loki cut him off.

"This is your doing, Stark," the prince said. "So figure it out. Quickly."

"My doing?" Tony asked, dramatically putting a hand over his heart. "This was an accident, the stupid thing wasn't supposed to work yet. Look, I'm only human. Don't put the blame on me."

"Oh, I do blame you," Loki hissed. "It's your stupid device that is around my wrist, attaching me to this mortal." He jerked Y/N forward. "So you're the one that needs to figure out how to remove it."

"Watch it, Asgardian," Y/N hissed. "You keep jerking me around and I'll just cut your damn hand off."

"Easy. Jeez, you're all more touchy than I am," Banner said. "Look, you two are stuck together, alright? We don't know for how long, but you're just gonna have to deal with it until we can get those cuffs off. You guys pulling on each other and fighting like that isn't gonna help anything."

Y/N stopped and took a series of deep breaths, some of the tension leaving her shoulders. "They're right," she said quietly. "Sorry."

Loki apologized hesitantly as well before Stark spoke up. "Good. You two enjoy the rest of the party, the fireworks should be starting soon. Bruce and I will head back to the lab and try and figure something out."

The two scientists pulled away from the group and disappeared into the crowd.

"Enjoy the rest of the party," Y/N mocked. "Right."