"Good morning.", Kara greeted her friends as she entered the common room. Currently in the room were Clint, Nat, Rhodey and Sam. The team members exchanged glances, causing Kara to look at them in confusion.

"Something wrong?", she asked. Sam shook his head, while the others grinned at her. "Seems like someone's in a good mood.", he stated, earning an eye roll from Kara.

"Ugh, I do one good thing and get mocked for it.", she continued, plopping down on the couch next to Nat. Her friends laughed at her remark. "Must've been quite a night, eh?", Clint teased. Nat's eyebrows furrowed, and she punched him in the shoulder. "Ow! What was that for?"

Kara chuckled. "That's what you get, doofus." Her mind suddenly went to Loki. "By the way, has anyone of you seen Loki?" Sam hummed in response, wiggling his eyebrows. "Why do you wanna know?"

"Shut up, Sam.", Kara retorted, shaking her head. "Actually, no. Isn't he in his room?", Clint asked, pointing to the hallway.

"If he was, would she be asking?", Rhodey replied, taking a sip of his coffee. Clint opened his mouth to speak, but closed it shut after a few seconds.

"Whatever. I'm gonna find him. See ya.", Kara said. The rest of them resumed whatever it was they were doing. The brunette walked in the kitchen, seeing Thor and Tony there. 

"Guys, have you seen-"

"Loki? Yeah, he's in the library.", Thor cut her off, winking at her. Kara smiled and nodded. "Thanks. Hey, Tony!" Tony was about to greet her in return when he realized that his mouth was full. He settled on giving her a mock salute.

"The library? Why's he in there at this time of the day?", she muttered to herself, eyes straight ahead. She caught sight of Blaire being escorted out of the interrogation room by Steve accompanied by a couple of agents.

The captain noticed her immediately, and shot her a grin. Kara smiled softly in return, but when her eyes landed on Blaire, she pressed her lips in a thin line. The woman in chains glanced at her, but looked away instantly. 

"Huh, that's odd. I was expecting some sort of taunting expression.", she thought, squinting her eyes at the woman in front of her. "Where are you taking her, Cap?", Kara inquired. The agents stopped in their tracks, but Steve gave them a signal to go on. "Somewhere safe. Don't worry."

He was about to turn his back on her when a hand gripped his arm. "Please don't hurt her. She's my friend." Steve took this moment to stare at her with all intent. "After all she's done to you, you still care for her?"

Kara bowed her head shamefully. "It's my fault she turned into this... this person. If there's anyone to blame, it's me." Steve sighed, approaching her. Kara felt herself unconsciously leaning back, but the soldier's hands had already landed on her shoulder. "Stop saying that about yourself, Kara."

Steve's eyes never left hers, as his hand brushed down her arm and to her hand. Kara felt her heartbeat quicken, and her palms growing sweaty. "I... uh...", she trailed off, frozen in her spot. She could feel Steve's hand squeezing hers.

She managed to swallow all the courage she could and gently pull away from his grasp. The look on the captain's face was nothing short of disappointment, as he shoved his hands in his pocket. "I better go look for Loki now. Bye.", Kara said awkwardly, not bothering to look at the blond man.  She hastily headed towards the library, unaware of the longing stare Steve was shooting at her. 

When she finally reached her destination, she began searching for the god. "Loki?", she called out, walking through the library shelves. Ever since the prince removed the bangles from her wrists, she began using her powers more freely, and started to become more confident around them.

"Over here, darling.", a voice replied from the far corner of the room. She let her feet guide her towards the voice, until she spotted the familiar shine from his Asgardian armor. 

"Tell me, Loki. Are you ever going to stop wearing that?", she teased, pulling a seat in front of him. Loki dropped the book down to meet her gaze, a bit puzzled about what she was referring to.

Kara giggled at the look of oblivion on his features. "You always look like you're going to war.", she added, gesturing to his outfit. The god finally understood, his mouth forming an 'o' shape. He let out a chuckle at her comment. "Mind you, love, that this type of clothing is normal in Asgard."

"But you're not on Asgard, are you?", she interjected, crossing her arms. Loki let out a heavy sigh. "I suppose not." Kara smiled at this. "Come on, use your powers. Change into something normal."

With a snap of his fingers, a green flash of light enveloped the God of Mischief. In a few seconds, he was completely, utterly...

Naked.

"HOLY SH... WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?", Kara exclaimed, grabbing the book Loki had set down to cover her eyes. "What? I thought nudity was normal for Midgardians?"

Kara shook her head rapidly. "Who told you that?" Loki shrugged. "I've seen others do it."

"Shirtless, maybe. But dang, not being whole... butt-naked.", she continued, waving her hand in front of her. Loki chuckled. "Stop covering your eyes. There's nothing you haven't seen, anyways."

Kara's face grew beet red. "Excuse me, sir. I didn't see ANYTHING back when we were dating.", she replied. "If you say so.", Loki replied, deliberately making his voice huskier. "Ugh, can you please put some clothes on?"

Loki rolled his eyes. "As you wish." He snapped his fingers once more, and Kara lowered the book. She still had her eyes closed, afraid she might see something she wasn't prepared for.

"Are you decent?", she inquired. "Morally decent? If so, then no.", Loki responded, his fingers on his chin as if in thought. Kara sighed and opened her eyes. She was met with a very formal looking prince, wearing an all-black suit. His curly, raven hair dropped perfectly on his shoulders. 

Kara couldn't help but stare. 

"Is this normal enough for you?", Loki asked, pointing to his outfit. At first, the brunette was at a loss for words. "I... I guess that'll do.", she answered, checking him out shamelessly.

Loki smirked at this, grinning and leaning forward. "Oh?", he breathed out, eyes on her lips. It that wasn't teasing enough, the prince even licked his own lips while staring her down. Kara felt her thighs tightening together at his actions. 

"We're in a library, Loki.", Kara stated, her voice almost quivering. "Public places never stopped us before." He leaned in to kiss her, and Kara did the same, but they were interrupted by someone entering the room.

"Loki, I- oh.", Wanda commented, the small smile on her face faltering as her eyes landed on the woman next to him. Kara leaned back in her seat, huffing in exaggeration. "What are YOU doing here?", the brunette asked, well, more like spat.

The god noticed Wanda blink several times at her coldness, biting the inside of her cheeks as if to prevent herself from showing any emotion. Loki shot her a knowing look, and the witch sucked in a deep breath. "Something's up with our communications systems. Also, the TV has been glitching. The captain wants us all in the common room.", the redhead replied. 

"We'll follow. Thank you, Wanda.", Loki said, nodding in her direction. Kara convinced herself that she was imagining it, but she could have sworn she saw his lips twitch up at the witch before them. The familiar pang in her chest returned, and a voice began to whisper in her ear, "you're not good enough for him." Kara fought the voice, shutting her eyes and mentally slapping herself.

Wanda didn't say a word, and exited the room in a hurry.

"It seems serious. Come on, we gotta go.", Kara merely stated, obviously annoyed at the events that transpired. She stood up from her chair quickly, causing it to fall back on the floor with a loud thud. She cringed at the noise, proceeding to pick it up. Loki beat her to it, though.

As his hands grabbed the chair, he made sure they made contact with her own. Kara looked up at him, and was met with a genuine smile. "You are absolutely adorable when you get jealous.", he remarked, earning a playful scoff from the lady. "Shut up."

"So you do admit it?", he pressed, noticeably amused. The woman's eyebrows met in confusion. "What?"

"That you're jealous?", Loki inquired once more. Kara rolled her eyes. "I am not."

"You are."

"Am not."

"Are."

"Not."

"Are."

"Not."

"Oh, you so are-", he was cut off by a shriek. "Oh, for heaven's sake. Do shut up." Loki merely let out a hearty laugh at this. 

Once they reached the common room, they caught sight of a mixture of expressions: worry, fear, horror, anxiety. Their friends all had their eyes on the TV screen, still glitching and creating odd sounds. Vision had entered the room last, and Kara took note of how he positioned himself far away from Wanda. The witch, who had an enthusiastic smile on her face the moment the android came into view, frowned and bowed her head at his actions. The others didn't seem to notice this, since all of their focus was on the wide screen in front of them.

"How long has this been going on?", Kara asked to break the tense atmosphere, sitting on the armrest of the couch. Loki stood next to her, a hand wrapped around her waist. As Steve observed this, he couldn't control the clenching of his jaw. 

"About 10 minutes, I think.", Nat responded, a serious look on her face. As Kara looked at the spy, her heart sunk once more. "Look at her. She's far superior than you in many, many ways." , her subconscious spoke once more. What was going on with her? Why is she beginning to think this way, again?

"We contacted the tech department. They told us that they don't know what's causing the glitch.", Rhodey added. "Is this not normal here on Earth? I remember back at Jane's, her television would always do this.", Thor commented. The rest shook their heads.

"Even our communications system is down.", Sam remarked. "You don't think that woman, whatever her name is, is behind this, do you?", Tony inquired, eyes flickering from one teammate to the next.

"Impossible. She's got the bangles on her. There's no way she can use her powers-" Clint was interrupted by the static sound from the TV screen. It began turning pitch black, and a logo of HYDRA came into view. In a few seconds, a familiar blond man with electric blue eyes stared right back at them, an evil grin on his lips.

"Ah. It's been a while since I've been on television.", Werner commented, standing with his hands politely behind his back.

"Good day, my good friends. I've heard that you've taken in one of my most valuable subordinate. By now, you must be fully aware of the absence of your precious director.", Strucker continued, his smile never faltering.

"Somebody, start tracking this guy.", Steve ordered, and one of the agents nodded, catching the attention of his colleagues while putting on their headsets. Tony left the common room to join the SHIELD agents and help them in locating Strucker's whereabouts.

"So, I'm going to get right to it." After that, the camera panned to the right, where the Avengers now had a clear view of Nick, strapped down a wooden chair with a piece of cloth on his mouth. He was stripped off his SHIELD uniform, wearing only a white tank top and some pants. He didn't even have any shoes on. Blood was dripping from his lip, possibly due to a recent beating.

The women couldn't stop the gasp of horror that escaped their lips as they watched their director looking absolutely helpless. Clint stood up at the sight, Steve ran his hands through his hair, Thor looked away and sighed, Rhodey pinched the bridge of his nose while Sam just stared at the screen.

Strucker came into view once again. "Aww, I know. Nick's not doing well right now. Sorry we had to gag him. This man has got a mouth on him, doesn't he?", Werner added, laughing.

"Anything?", Steve called out. Tony raised his hand up, muttering a 'wait' in response.

The sound of someone being slapped caused almost everyone to wince and shut their eyes. Fury now had his head turned due to the harsh action, a barely audible groan escaping his lips. Nat's eyes started to water, so Kara held her hand for comfort.

"I'm willing to return him, though.", Strucker stated, wiping his hand which had some of the director's blood on it. "On one condition."

After hearing those words, Kara returned her focus to the screen. She had a feeling about what Strucker wanted, and she knew she wouldn't like to hear it out loud. Her breathing began to speed up and she started feeling woozy. Loki noticed this immediately, analyzing her features while holding her other hand. "It's you he wants, Kara. Just admit it to yourself."

"Kara?", he asked gently, concern evident in his tone. Natasha, who was sitting next to her, averted her eyes from the television and stared at her friend. The brunette began to go limp in Loki's arms, and she started to slide down the couch. "You deserve to be in Nick's place after what you've done.", the voice persisted. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head, and then closed shut.

"Kara!", the redhead cried out, attracting the attention of the rest of the group. The team gathered around her in shock. Loki was shaking her with caution to wake her up, while Steve hovered over her and checked her pulse. 

"Bring my girls back.", he finally said, his tone dangerously low. Thor threw Mjolnir at the television screen, it shattering into pieces. The other members shielded their eyes from the glass. "Really, brother?", Loki asked in disbelief. Before Thor could answer that statement, his brother's eyes were on Kara, who had seemed to pass out.