The Avengers spared no time in rushing out of the facility and heading to their Quinjet. Loki, despite insisting that he doesn't need to ride with them, had no choice but to get inside with the rest of them.

Thor observed his brother grow increasingly restless by the minute. The prince kept clasping his hands together, and would drum his fingers on his lap from time to time. Being the big brother Thor was, he proceeded to sit next to the raven-haired prince. 

"Thor, I am not in the mood for your-" Loki was silenced by a reassuring pat on the back. He was surprised at the kind gesture, causing him to meet gazes with the blond god. It was at that moment that Thor saw Loki being the exposed young man he was, and the God of Thunder couldn't help but feel proud of his little brother. 

Thor gave him a sad smile before opening his mouth to speak. "Loki, Lady Kara is stronger than you think. Let us try and keep an optimistic view.", he advised. The younger god stayed silent, and leaned against the back of his chair, bowing his head down.

"I made the mistake of losing her once.", Loki replied, voice like a whisper. Thor sighed. "You won't, brother. Not this time."

For the first time in what seemed like forever, the God of Mischief smiled genuinely at his older brother. In that moment, no words need to be said. They truly were brothers.

It was as if time passed slowly for Loki while they were aboard that plane. All of his thoughts revolved around his beloved: what she could possibly be doing right now (more like what they could be possibly doing to her right now), what she is feeling at the moment, where she is at this time.

"I pray to the Norns that she's alright.", he muttered under his breath, his palms pressed tightly against each other. The god had his eyes shut, and a tear was threatening to fall from his eye.

"Dang, I haven't seen Loki this antsy before.", Clint remarked as he caught a glimpse of the prince in the back. Natasha nodded, her mind racing with concern about her friend, as well.

"More like ever.", Sam added, his arms crossed and eyes flickering from Loki and his own friend, Steve. "But hey, check out Cap over there."

The archer did as he was told, and noticed Steve looking as perturbed as Loki. He was obviously trying to hide his uneasiness under his seemingly emotionless state, but it was evident in his eyes that he was worried as hell about his teammate.

"They're both looking distressed, huh?", Rhodey chimed in, making sure he wasn't heard by the two men. The rest nodded, not knowing what to say to possibly calm the whirlwind of notions in their heads.

"We're almost there. Hang on tight.", Tony stated from the cockpit. Upon hearing these words, Loki's head snapped up, his heart started beating a thousand times per minute. He couldn't help but stand up, waiting for the jet to land and get the heck out of there.

"We should never have left her alone.", the God of Mischief uttered, catching the attention of a certain soldier. Natasha pinched the bridge of her nose, while Sam and Clint sighed heavily.

Not this again.

"Are you really going to start this, Laufeyson?", the blond asked, stepping closer to the prince. Loki, taking this as a challenge, mimicked his actions. "I already have, Captain."

"If she would've come with us, we would've put her life in danger.", Rogers explained, his voice noticeably stern. Loki squinted his eyes at the man before him. "I see no difference in her situation right now.", the raven-haired prince replied with a snarl.

The soldier reduced the gap between them, his eyes never leaving Loki. "That's what you've always been good at, right? Blaming."

Sam decided to step in, trying to pull Steve away. Natasha did the same with Loki. Wanda wanted to help as well, but Vision's arm prevented her from doing so. "Best to stay out of it, dear.", the android cautioned, a small smile appearing on his lips. The witch reciprocated his gesture.

Loki struggled to stand his ground despite being pulled by the spy. "I would tell you what you're good at, Rogers. Hypocrisy.", he responded. Steve was about to lunge at him when they all felt the plane finally settling down on the ground.

The two men anxiously waited for the doors to open. When they did, both rushed outside whilst taking in their surroundings.

"What in the name of Valhalla...", Loki trailrd off, disbelief conquering his features as he gazed at some of the bodies scattered around thr compound. Some were merely dazed and badly-injured, but unfortunately, they were others who had fatal wounds on them.

"Get some medical personnel in here!", Steve ordered through his earpiece. Sam responded with a "yes, sir" before they continued scanning the area.

"Kara!", Loki yelled, his worry growing worse by the second. He didn't know what to feel: hope that she's still alive, or fear that he might not like what he is about to see.

Loki settled for the first.

"Kara! I'm here!", he continued, stepping over some of the broken shards of what was once their coffee table. He heard footsteps coming his way, and his head turned to see Vision accompanied by Wanda.

"Any sign of her?", she asked, eyes open wide, to which the prince merely shook his head at. Vision floated above, his eyes studying the area for any potential sign of her. A piece of her clothes, a shoe, a chunk of her hair, anything.

"Kara!", Wanda called out as well. She didn't care at the moment if the girl she was looking for hated her guts. She wanted her friend alive and well.

Loki was about to lose hope when his eyes caught sight of a figure by a blasted room. He blinked several times, afraid he was seeing things. But there could be no denying those set of brown locks and that awkward posture.

"Kara...", he breathed out, practically stumbling over to her. The lady was just about to turn around when she was almost knocked over by the god.

"Oof!", she exclaimed, as his body collided with hers and her frame was wrapped in a tight embrace. Loki then pulled away, searching her face for any sign of abuse.

"What did they do to you, love?", he managed to say, seeing a few cuts on her lip and her forehead.

"They stormed in and just... attacked everyone.", Kara recalled, staring off at thr distance. Loki felt his heart pinch at her words. "Oh, darling. If only I had known-"

"It's fine, Loki. I'm... fine", she cut him off, her sentence coming out rather cold. The prince's eyebrows furrowed together ever so slightly, but didn't dwell on her statement.

"I am truly happy you're alright, my love.", he added, cupping her face in his hands. Kara blinked at this, her eyes turning glossy.

"Are you? Really?", she asked herself, not daring to say these words to his face. "You're being ridiculous. Don't you see he cares for you?", another voice snapped in her head.

Kara shut her eyes at the internal debate she was having at the moment. In doing so, her watery eyes released a single tear from them. Loki noticed this, and grew more concerned.

"What is it, love?", he inquired. Something was definitely off with her, he could tell. She was usually open and affectionate with him. Now, it was like they were back at square one, back to when she had first arrived at the facility.

"They didn't brainwash her, did they?", Loki took a mental note. His bluish-green eyes remained on her hazel ones, as if he was searching inside her soul.

Kara opened her mouth to answer his previous question, when Vision yelled from above. "Captain, we found her! Kara's here!"

At the mention of these words, Wanda came rushing over. She had a smile of relief on her face and proceeded to head in Kara's direction. "Kara...", she started, extending her hand. Loki pulled away from his embrace and gave her the opportunity to approach Kara.

Before it could touch her, the brunette took a step back. Wanda was obviously hurt at this, but shrugged the feeling off. "It's good to see you.", the witch continued.

"I wish I could say the same.", Kara retorted, averting her gaze. Wanda swallowed thickly, bowing her head down. Loki shot an apologetic look her way.

In a few seconds, Steve joined them. When his eyes met Kara's, his body led him to her immediately, crashing against hers. Kara was definitely caught off-guard at this, and Loki wanted to stab him right there and then.

"You're alive.", he mused, a firm grasp still on her shoulders as they locked gazes. Kara nodded, smiling awkwardly at him. Her eyes caught a glimpse of Loki, who was watching them with a sort of heartbroken gaze.

-x-

No words were spoken between Kara and Loki that day. Kara mostly secluded herself in the room, insisting that she was alright and just wanted some alone time. During dinner, Kara didn't really talk to anyone, but answered questions regarding what had happened just earlier.

"So we have a guy that crawls up walls, a girl with a fiery attitude, a total wrecking ball and am energy blaster, huh?", Tony summed Kara's descriptions up. The brunette nodded at this while taking a spoonful of food in her mouth. Little did she know that Loki watched her as she did this.

Actually, he's been watching her ever since they arrived. The god was convinced that something was definently wrong, but he feared that if he pushed the topic on her, she would freak out on him and shut her doors again.

"No sh*t, Sherlock.", Clint remarked, earning a scolding look from Steve and weird stares from the others. He shot them an equally confused look. "What? I like that show.", he added, dumbfounded at the looks he was being given.

"Strucker's obviously been busy. I can only hope the director's doing fine.", Vision commented, making Wanda squeeze his hand from the bottom of the table.

"We need to find out where he is, ASAP. We don't wang more people like those... those...", Rhodey trailed off, unable to find a fitting adjective for the assailants.

"... poor kids.", Kara answered, not meeting their gazes. "They were test subjects, victims, if you may."

Everyone else fell silent at this. They never really knew how Kara ended up with Strucker, nor did they dare to ask. Without another word, Kara stood up and excused herself from the team. "I'm gonna lie down, guys. My body still hurts a bit.", she stated. All she received were nods of understanding, and a few glances of concern.

She headed straight to their shared room, shutting the doors more roughly than she had intended. "Sh*t, they'll probably think I'm acting like an indifferent teenager.", she thought to herself.

Rolling her eyes, she began removing items of her clothing and wrapped a towel around herself. Kara then entered the bathroom, eager to take a nice, long and relaxing shower.

As soon as the cold water hit her skin, she let out a sigh of relief. She washed off some of the dried blood on her body, and spread the silky lather over her body. She shut her eyes at the feeling, and proceeded to wash her hair next.

Being alone in the bathroom allowed her to be alone in her thoughts, as well. Her mind began to be filled with thoughts of how she survived the energy blast Max gave her, while the rest of the agents didn't meet the same lucky fate.

She studied her arms and her body, but there had been no trace of the damage from the blast. Kara was left bewildered by this: she could swear she felt the excruciating pain from the energy, but after that, she suddenly went numb.

"What the f**k happened to me?", she thought out loud, squinting her eyes at her own self.

Due to her thoughts being directed at herself, she thereafter questioned her current emotional state. Before the whole attack, she remembered how she was doubting herself again, how her insecure, pathetic, toxic mentality returned after being buried deep in her mind for a long time.

She was uncertain of everything now: her capabilities, her appearance, her friends' motives, and her relationship with Loki. At the back of her head, another voice was calling out to her, telling her she was overthinking again and that she had to stop this act of hers before she or any of her friends get hurt once more.

But the darker voice was more powerful, more persuasive than she could have ever imagined.

She was absolutely lost in her own concepts that as she stepped out of the bathroom, she didn't realize that she had been there for the past thirty minutes. Kara didn't think of it much, she was too tired to think of anything after that.

"Better go to sleep.", she told no one in particular, dressing up as quickly as she can and plopping down on the bed. The young woman pulled the emerald sheets over her, and was soon enveloped in the darkness of the room.

But for some peculiar reason, her eyes kept fluttering open. Despite her efforts to stay asleep, she would wake up, causing her to have a mild headache. "Insomnia, again?", she whined, caressing her head with her hand. She ignored the throbbing pain, determined to have a good night's sleep.

Kara was beginning to grow annoyed.

"Ah, f**k it. I'm gonna grab some painkillers.", she uttered once again. Kara felt stupid for saying her thoughts out loud. Maybe the energy blast affected her sanity, if she even had one to begin with.

She basically groaned all the way to the kitchen, recalling that that's where they kept all the medicine and vitamins. The brunette was a bit woozy due to this, but that didn't prevent her from hearing a couple of whispers in the nearby room.

Kara looked at the wall clock and saw that it was already 11PM. "Who could possibly be still awake at this hour?", she inquired, softly approaching the room. A dim light escaped through the gap in the doorway, and she could make out two silhouettes.

"I want to make things right.", a voice said, but Kara couldn't grasp who it was. "I'm tired of this routine.", they added.

"Give it time. At least, things between you and Vision seem to be improving.", the other replied. Kara could see the shadow of the other person nodding at the sentence.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"This is wrong. I shouldn't be eavesdropping.", Kara scolded herself. She shook her head, which proved to be an unwise decision for it caused her head to throb even more.

She began to walk away and leave these people to their own businesses. She didn't want any part of it, anyway. She simply wanted to take some medicine and go back to bed.

"Thank you, Loki."

The sentence made her stop dead in her tracks. "Loki?", she whispered to herself. "Who's room is this?", she asked mentally, feeling her blood starting to boil. Kara couldn't resist the urge to lean against the doorframe and listen. She couldn't peek inside, for she might get caught.

"You've been here with me from the start. I'm flattered how you take the time to stay up late with me.", the voice continued, chuckling at the end. The sound of it made Kara's fists ball up.

"I simply do not want to start a fight with Kara. You know how she is, and I don't want to give her a reason to shut me out again.", he explained.

"What the f**k is he talking about?", she whispered in annoyance.

"What she doesn't know won't kill her.", the voice answered, earning a nod from Loki. After that, silence filled the room.

Kara had enough. She wanted to know who this person was, and why Loki would talk to them privately in their room. She was suspicious of why they both talked during a time when no one else was around. It was like, they were hiding something.

As the young lady grabbed the door handle, her heart started beating fast again. She was afraid of what she might witness on the other side of this door, but at the same time, the anxiety and curiosity was eating her alive.

"I have the right to know.", she reassured herself. With one big huff, she pushed it open.

From another's point of view, it could be seen as an innocent hug between a god and a witch, which it really was. Wanda had her head nuzzled into Loki's neck, her hand on his back. The latter rested his cheek on her head, rubbing his arm up and down in a manner of comforting her.

From Kara's point of view, it seemed their tongues were entangled with one another.

Kara couldn't form a coherent sentence. She just stared at them, wide-eyed, for goodness knows how long. She watched the man she adored break her heart once again in a million pieces, and he had not realized it yet.

It was Wanda who noticed her presence. As soon as their eyes met, she pulled away from Loki as swiftly as she could, making the prince gaze at the witch in puzzlement. That is, until he followed her gaze to the woman standing behind them, a definite look of devastation on her face.

"Kara...", he started, but was cut off by a hand raised in the air. Kara still hadn't spoken a word, still processing what was unveiling in front of her.

"It's not what it looks like.", Wanda explained, standing up. The brunette glared at her with all hatred. Her eyes began to turn red, and the two of them could see the glossy shine of her hazel orbs.

If looks could kill, they would both be dead by now.

Kara wanted to say something, something vulgar and do something unlike her. But no matter how much she tried, she couldn't bring herself to say or do it. So, she settled on giving them the deadliest glare she could muster.

Her chest was heaving up and down, and her eye twitched. She could actually hear her heart ripping into shreds, it was pathetic. Loki knew best than to touch her at the moment. She wasn't exactly in her most stable state.

"Sh*t.", he cursed in his head. Things were looking bad for them right now.

"My f**king gut was right. I couldn't believe it.", Kara stated, barely above a whisper. But, oh, did Loki and Wanda hear her loud and clear.

She scoffed in disbelief. "Don't you ever f**king talk to me. Ever.", she pointed her index finger at them, teeth gritting with every word. "Go and continue your f**king makeout session." Wanda's eyes began to form tears, as well.

With that, Kara stormed out of the room, water spilling from her eyes like a waterfall. She wanted to cure her headache, but got a heartache in return.