Loki blinked. Had he heard what he had heard? He frowned, lines creasing across his forehead but there was no time to think when Naz's gaze dropped from his eyes to his lips challengingly and he leaned forward, pushing her into the wall.

His hands cupped her face as their foreheads touched. He caught his own reflection in her eyes and stopped, body tensing. No, he couldn't do this. Not to her. She was making a mistake. His hands dropped as he tried to remember why this was wrong, tried to dam back the quick beats of his heart that wouldn't be controlled in the face of this, this extraordinary woman.

"Loki..."

It maddened him, the way his name rolled off her lips, so casually, so intensely; they were a freaking paradox. He wanted her, every bit of her, her elusive sorrow, her tender cheer, her warmth, her cold, her.

She forgot what she was going to say when she caught the look in his eyes. She swallowed and reached out slowly and touched his cheek. He leaned against it, still so unsure of all the feelings he could pick off her, all that he didn't deserve, didn't understand.

And she, she held her breath; the moment so fragile, even a breath could fracture it into a million pieces. She traced his lower lip lightly with her fingers and just like that, she stepped forward, on her tiptoes, pulling him closer by his jacket collar and caught his lips with her own.

Her lips could do magic, he could have sworn, because suddenly every thought was blank except for the two of them. They were all that existed and he let the calm wash over him for the merest of seconds before he kissed her back. This here was all they had and right then, it did feel like it. Feverish hands roamed over each other's bodies, short breaths, edgy smiles, flushed faces; it was as if they had waited all their lives for this one moment when everything aligned and the world made some kind of sense. He picked her up against the wall and kissed her again and again.

She wrapped her legs around his waist and this time, the kiss was stronger, more enflamed, fuelled by a deeper more intrinsic need, as if anticipating that the stars don't align forever, that if they stopped now, there would be no coming back to this moment and neither of them wanted to leave before feeling the imprint of this against their souls forever.

He kissed her jaw, her neck and he was fumbling with her t-shirt while she pulled off his jacket when he felt the familiar cold race through his veins. NO! He put her down as quick as if her touch had electrocuted him, hardly registering the look of hurt across her features, both still breathless, deep breaths echoing to the stairs.

He fell back as he fought to control it, holding his head, teeth gnashing against his Jotun form which hungrily fought for dominance over body and mind. He flexed his hands watching the blue rise, taking over his form. Not in front of her, not now, please.

He fought back the image of her face as it crossed his mind. He pushed back all thoughts of her, the kiss, of her reaction to this, of his own feelings, of everything, everything but himself. He was the God of Lies and Trickery. He was Loki and he would not be defeated by his own mind.

When he next opened his eyes, his Jotun form had subsided.

He felt a hand at his shoulder and slapped it away almost reflexively, "Leave me alone."

"You know I would never do that," Naz whispered. "Are you okay?"

But he wouldn't listen to her. No, this was too much. He couldn't do this, this blind faith tightrope walking. Didn't she see the monster he was? He was afraid of himself. Why wasn't she? Why? Always an enigma, always a doubt, always these unanswered questions. Not anymore. He would find out what was really on her mind, what she really thought of him. No more doubts, no more questions. He called up every drop, every measly drop of magic he could and threw it towards her, his mind approaching hers.

Her eyes widened as she realized what he was doing and she stumbled against his power but that shouldn't have been a hindrance to him. And yet her defiant little head would not grant him access to her thoughts. That door was closed, nailed up. Even with all the power of magic he could call up, he couldn't read her mind.

She slapped him, the sting radiating across his cheek, and his magic disappeared against the shock. "I can't believe you would fall so low."

"Na-" He hadn't thought. In that moment when he had made the choice to read her mind, access her deepest thoughts and well-kept secrets, he hadn't thought what would come after it. That, of course, she would be enraged at his attempt at thievery because that was what it had been.

Naz's eyes flashed with the most horrible combination of anger and disappointment, "No, I was wrong. Just—fuck you, okay? Fuck you, Loki. Just go up."

"Please, listen to m-"

"I don't want to."

"Listen to me!"

She frowned, enraged as she now recognised his persuasion voice, "How dare you use persuasion? I thought I told you that is one line you don't cross, not after you nearly killed me."

For a second, the image of Naz walking uncertainly off her window sill, hypnotized under his voice, flashed before his voice.

And he was ashamed as he heard the rage and hatred apparent in her voice. He hadn't meant to use that tone. It was such a habit with him, one he had promised never to use against her. His shoulders slumped, acknowledging defeat. He climbed upstairs, her footsteps sounding behind him.

This was who he was. He destroyed anything that could hold love and hope for him. He had thought Naz was fire but in truth, he was the flame that destroyed everything around itself, withering everything to smithereens. He was destruction itself and he hated himself.

So hungry to know what others thought of him and so doubtful of any love or care the universe granted him, he was Loki, a monster, the outsider, the misfit, the mistake. And nothing could change that because he was his own poison and he would never allow change, not if he could first burn every bond in his life.

Maybe Thanos was the answer. Maybe death was the last bond. Maybe he would never see the day through. Maybe Thanos was the answer.

---

The Falcon was the first to show up and he was immediately dispatched to bring in the Antman. The Scarlet Witch and Vision were still in hiding and even Tony had trouble finding them. In fact, Ironman could be found on Naz's laptop in the living room which he had transformed into some sort of workstation with the help of Bruce. He had thrown quite a fit when Naz and Loki had returned while the mild mannered Bruce had watched warily from the kitchen. Naz had offered a sour answer while Loki had responded with a mirthless laugh.

Right now Naz was contacting T'Challa or at least trying to, on behalf of the Avengers but the King of Wakanda was proving to be a difficult man to approach through a mere unlisted phone call.

Right now, his security chief, Ayo, was talking. Tony had tried his hand at convincing her to redirect them to her superior.

"So, you're telling me you're Tony Stark?"

"Yes, now can you please give the phone to Sharp-Claws? We're running on a budget here."

"Please recite your authorisation code, Mr. Stark, if you are indeed Mr. Stark."

"My authorisation--!? The world is ending and you want my authorisation code? Are you nuts? Naz, you take this one. I swear, I'll bust a vein if I do any more grovelling over phones."

It took another twenty minutes for Naz to finally say goodbye. "He says he'll be here in three point five hours."

"Thanks, Pepper," Tony said absent-mindedly, adding finishing touches to his suit leg.

Bruce looked over from the blueprints he had by now memorized and smiled apologetically at Naz who smiled back helplessly.

The front door clicked open and guns swept cursorily across the room before Natasha and Clint walked in with tight smiles and several bruises.

"You're back," Naz shouted and rushed forward to hug her friend.

Nat rolled her eyes but hugged her back, "Told you so."

Clint holstered his gun, "Steve and Thor should be coming up too. Spotted them two blocks away. They walk slow and don't disguise well. Spread out the mattresses, we got work to do."

Five minutes later they were all assembled around the blueprints with Nat and Clint offering information tersely. "That there is the control room. The Commander, presumably Thanos as that is how he is referred to, is present there. The artificial spacevault is there. It's a one-entry-door room which makes entry extremely vulnerable to a remotely controlled outside attack. Now the room as you can see is right in the center. Leaving out the actual problems of crossing this door, the room itself can be reached from either left or right. Unless we plan on drilling into the roof which would prove a failure for obvious reasons we would have to enter from left or right. Left would mean traversing the back entrance, heavily guarded with motion-sensors and soldiers. Right would mean entering the windows here. Now, Clint and I got in through here. It was guarded by a dozen Chitauris but we can do it again. The outer rooms contain mostly monitor rooms and the inner ones are filled with S.H.I.E.L.D. files, weapons and plans. The place is crawling with agents, some human, some Chitauris. The spacevault goes live in three hours."

"Three hours," Tony repeated. "Well, let's do this then."

"What's that folder about?" Steve asked Natasha, glancing at the folder she had kept beside her on the mattress.

The redhead chewed her lip before handing it out to Naz, "It's for you."

"Me? Why, what does it—?" She stopped as she turned the flap and found herself staring at her own photo.

AGENT/ASSET PROFILE

NAME: NAZNEEN A. NAQVI

SEX: FEMALE

AGE: 23 YEARS (as off Check 17)

HANDLER: AGENT ABIDA NAQVI, grandmother of NAZNEEN ABIDA NAQVI.

STATUS: MUTANT; Untrained, untriggered.

ABILITIES: EXTRA-MENTAL CONTROL, TELEKINESIS and CONSCIENCE TRANSFER.

MISSION POTENTIAL: 108% Recon and Undercover, Information Retrieval and Fact-Safespot.

STRENGTHS: Impervious to mind-control and immune to illusions.

WEAKNESSES: Apart from those of Agent ABIDA NAQVI, unknown.

IDENTITY COMPROMISED TO: 

i. TONY STARK via an online hack engineered by the same, 2015.

ii. AGENT NEHA V. via ASSET COLLECTION 2013.

Sheets, several sheets about herself. There she was, all of her, details and facts she didn't even know herself, neatly organized as paras on papers. Her vision blurred, the words not making sense anymore. She was aware that Natasha was looking at her, concerned, aware that the room had gone silent, aware that everyone was looking at her, aware that her breathing had hitched, that her hands were trembling.

The visions, the telekinesis...she closed her eyes, remembering the way strange memories could play in her head at mere touch, remembering how she deflected an arrow by extending her willpower...it had all been real.

She looked at Tony, "You knew."

And so had her grandmother. In fact, Nani had had the same powers. She flipped through the sheets. Everything about herself, everything she had been seeking answers to, everything was here, in these pages.

Tony gave a fake laugh, "What? What did I know?" He looked at Natasha for any signs of what was in the folder.

Naz bit her lip and held up the file before him. His eyes scanned the page quickly and gazed at her, his guilt written across his face. "Naz..."

"Did you? Did you know all this time?" she asked, quietly.

But she knew the answer already. She had always wondered what Tony had been doing in this part of the town to run into her shop. Now she had the answers. He had been looking for her, for the name on the file he had stolen from S.H.I.E.L.D.. Everything they'd ever had, had been built on lies, lies that Tony had spun across her eyes.

She looked at Steve, "Did you know too?"

He looked ashamed, "Look, Naz, I-I-was going to tell you. I just--"

Impervious to mind-control and immune to illusions. Suddenly it made sense that a man like Steve had agreed to keep Loki with her for a few days.

Well, their plan had failed. She wasn't in control of her mutant powers. If Loki wanted he could have told her to jump off the top floor and she wouldn't have been able to shout in defence. She couldn't even have visions on choice. Even in her mutancy, she had been a failure.

She looked at Natasha but she needn't have because the redhead pursed her lips before the question could be asked, "I brought the file. If I had known sooner that today, you would have known even then."

Thor spoke up, "I do not understand. What is in this file, you speak of?"

"I think I need some air," Naz said, turning away.

"Naz, please—" Tony began.

She glared at him, "You made me think I was going crazy, Tony. So, no, don't." She walked out of the apartment, door banging shut behind her.

"What is it?" Thor asked again.

"She just found out why we brought Loki here," Steve sounded tired.

"And why was that, Rogers?" the easy, silky voice betrayed not one drop of emotion. Loki's green eyes were calm as they bore into the Captain's.

"She is a mutant. Your tricks don't work on her," Tony finally managed to speak. "I wish I had never brought you here."

"Don't blame the outcome of your lies and secrets on me," Loki smiled, as if talking to a child. Inwardly, his mind was whirring. So that was why his magic couldn't reach to her, why her thoughts were unreadable despite his attempts, why she had been able to ignore the effects of his voice downstairs. He frowned, muting out the voices of the Avengers, but then, he knew something the others didn't. He had once, nearly successfully, persuaded her to her death. His fingers itched to get a hold on that file. And then it hit him. She couldn't control her powers, she was a stranger onto herself, blind in her own darkness.

Immediately, something like guilt pierce his heart. He wondered where she was right now, did she feel consuming anger? Did she hate her friends, those who had hidden from her the very truth of her being, who had used her for their own reasons? In a strange way, he could sympathize with her.

"This folder...it is not life-threatening, yes?" Thor asked.

And everyone understood. There were bigger things out there, things that threatened thousands and millions of lives. They were the Avengers. They didn't have time to solve personal spats when the world needed them.

At such times, they could only do what they did best. Stand up and do what was right.

Within minutes, Tony and Nat had fought, squabbled over and finally agreed on a plan to get in and disable if not destroy the spacevault.

"No," Loki commented in his off-hand voice. "You will fail."

"Brother, not now," Thor sighed, looking warily at his brother and his friends, sure another argument was about to take place.

"It's too easy. The way the agents got all this information. The whole recon, it seems too easy--"

"Or we are really good at what we do?" Clint snapped. "Because we might be mortals but we're pretty damn good."

Loki snorted, "It might be a trap. That's all I'm trying to say."

"Well, shut it, Rudolph," Tony said without humour. "We barely have the time."

"And if we're wrong, you can say I told you so later," Steve sighed. "But right now, we got to do what we got to do."

Loki rolled his eyes, "Fine, you're all a bunch of morons anyway."

***

I WAS SUPPOSED TO WAIT AND POLISH THIS CHAPTER BUT THE RESPONSES TO THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER were just too strong to resist. 

So, thoughts on (let me know!):

i. THAT HOT HOT #NAZLOK KISS

ii. Naz is a mutant!!

iii. The Avengers v/s Loki: who thinks better? I guess, we'll find out soon enough.

Also, this is probably a good time for some shameless self-promo...so, if you like my stories, don't forget to follow me, spam me with votes and comments and give some love. I'll love you forever (as I already do!). If you have an Avengers fic, tell me and I'll do my best to check it out?

See ya later, Loki-lovers!