LOKI POV

I hated seeing Emily this way. Trembling. Pale. Scared. Her eyes were so wide and full of fear, it made me curse myself for not being strong enough to get through the wall in her mind. The screaming wall. When I entered her mind, all I could hear was screams, screams of pain. I didn't know who they were from, but they gave me such a horrible headache that I couldn't stay in there for longer than five seconds. And judging my Maximoff's winces, she was experiencing the same thing.

I saw how quickly Emily surrendered to sleep when Maximoff laid her down and I watched her carefully, noticing how rapidly her chest was rising and falling. I knew she would have a nightmare at some point, whether it was her mind or HYDRA conjuring it up. Thor had told me this morning that she had two nightmares last night while I was up on the roof. I cursed myself for not being there for her, but I couldn't be around all of the other mortals at night. I was weakest at night, I could be attacked at any moment, and I wouldn't have any warning. I could only sleep back in the compound when my door was triple locked, along with my window. That's why I stayed up on the Barton's roof for the whole night, and partly because I wanted to keep watch in case HYDRA appeared out of nowhere and decided to try and attack.

"Reindeer Games." Stark's voice broke through my thoughts and I tore my gaze away from Emily to look over my shoulder at him. "Keep an eye on her." I nodded tightly and watched as all of the mortals walk out of the front door onto the balcony, including Laura. I knew they were having some sort of meeting, but I couldn't care if I wasn't part of it. They never included me in anything anyway.

I dragged my attention back to Emily and saw her still in the same position as before. I sighed and sat down on one of the mattresses, not caring whose it was. I tried to reach out into her mind again, but I was met with her mental wall, which thankfully wasn't screaming this time, but still remained stubbornly in place. I sighed and pulled back my magic, watching her as she rolled over in her sleep.

"Reindeer?" A young voice spoke from behind me and I spun around to see Barton's daughter standing literally right beside me. I had no idea how the hell she managed to sneak up on me.

"That's not my name." I narrowed my eyes at her before looking back over at Emily, trying to forget that the girl was there.

"That's what Starky calls you." She replied in her way too happy voice.

"Yeah well that's not my name." I grumbled, not in the mood to talk with a Midgard child. "And that's not his name either."

"That's what Daddy calls him." She parroted back and it took all myself control then to not snap at her.

"Yeah well that's not his name either." I grit out through clenched teeth, keeping my eyes on Emily.

"You like her don't you?" She changed topics so quickly that I blinked, trying to process what she said.

"What?" I looked back over my shoulder sharply at her again.

"Emmie" The child replied, grinning. My eyes darted to Emily and then back to the girl.

"No I don't." I shook my head immediately.

"Yes you do." She giggled. "You always watch her."

"I do not!" I retorted, crossing my arms before realizing how stupid I must have looked arguing with a tiny mortal child. "What do you want?"

"Can you come play with me?" She held out some weird kite thing. "Everyone else is too busy."

"No." I turned my back to her and focused on Emily instead.

"Please?" She wined and I grit my teeth.

"No." I forced through my teeth. "Ask someone else."

"Okay." She grinned happily and I looked back over at her, raising an eyebrow at how quickly she gave up. "Have fun staring at her."

"I'm not –" I began, but she had already disappeared back out the front door. I sighed heavily, and rubbed my forehead before looking back over at Emily, only to see that she had disappeared.

I immediately jumped up and spun around, hoping she had just gotten up and walked somewhere, but I couldn't see any sign of her anywhere, there wasn't even any sign of struggle in her bed.

"Emily?" I called out, teleporting into the kitchen, but there was no sign of her. I darted into the hall and saw the back screen door slowly shutting. I teleported to it and opened it back up, eyes darting everywhere for any sign of Emily. I spotted her standing in the middle of the grass, the wind gently blowing her dark blonde hair that was tied back in a ponytail.

"Emily?" I called out softly but she didn't move, staying still in the middle of the grass. I slowly walked towards her, eyes darting around the rest of the grassy hills for any sign of anyone else, but I couldn't see anyone.

"Emily." I called out to her again and I saw one of her hands hanging at her side twitch gently and I paused for e moment. I could sense that something was off and I was on high alert when I began to slowly walk forward again, the grass crunching under my shoes. I slowly reached out and put my hand on her shoulder, but she didn't as much as flinch.

"Reindeer Games!" Stark's voice yelled out from the back door of the house and Emily immediately spun around, her eyes flashing orange as she threw out her hands filled with flame. I barely managed to bring up a shield of my magic to block it and I stumbled back a couple of steps, deflecting the flame to the ground before putting it out with a splash of water. My eyes darted back to Emily's, only to see that they had returned to their normal colour and it was her turn to stumble back a couple of steps. I rushed towards her and quickly grabbed her arm before she could fall onto the grass. I swallowed a hiss of pain as my skin touched her burning hot arm and carefully steadied her on her feet, healing my burnt hand.

"Loki?" She asked timidly, blinking rapidly as her eyes darted around. I heard footsteps running behind me and I spun around to see Tony running towards us.

"What the hell was that?" He demanded. "Emily, where are your bracelets?"

"They're on my wrists." She replied, holding her arms out that were covered with her usual black jumper before she quickly realized that the bracelets weren't actually there. Her eyes widened and she spun around, looking own at the ground before digging her hands into her pockets and pulling them out. She quickly slid them back on and tightened them up.

"Are you okay brother?" Thor asked, not far behind Tony. He grabbed my shoulder and spun me around, looking all over me.

"I'm fine." I spat at him, pulling out of his grip and dusting any disgusting trace of him off me.

"Emily, what are you doing out here?" Stark asked, turning to look at her. Her eyes were still darting around and she opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She slowly spun in a circle and her eyes briefly met mine before she looked back at Stark.

"I... I don't know." She replied, her voice full of confusion and fear.

"How about you come back inside?" Maximoff said gentle, carefully taking Emily's wrist and guiding her back towards the house. She didn't even try to resist, eyes still darting around in confusion. I watched her go, the other mortals following. I moved to follow behind them but Stark stepped in my path. I clenched my jaw and reluctantly dragged my eyes down to him.

"Did you drag her out here?" He demanded, raising his chin in a pathetic attempt to try and be taller than me.

"No." I spat, folding my arms. I moved to step around him, but he darted back in front of me. I sighed and dragged my eyes back down to him.

"How did she end up out here then?" Stark asked.

"I don't know." I grit through my teeth. "That mortal child was bothering me and I took my eyes off Emily for one moment and then she was gone. I found her out here." I gestured with my hands before folding them again. "Happy?"

"Did she say anything?" Stark pressed and I narrowed my eyes at him.

"No." I spat, trying to side step him, but he blocked me again. "Seriously, what else do you want?"

"Something is wrong with her." Stark spoke in a low tone, quickly looking over at the door where everyone had disappeared before looking back up at me. "That disk in her neck is seriously dangerous. I don't know why it is suddenly worse here than at the compound, but it's providing a link between HYDRA and her, they could come for her at time."

"You don't think I know that?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

"And she said that they could control her through the disk." Stark continued. "Which means she could turn into something similar to Barnes and attack us all randomly." I remembered how her eyes had flashed orange when I approached her and I swallowed before glaring at Stark.

"I already know all of this." I replied. "What do you want?"

"I need you to keep an eye on her." He said. "Stay close to her, be in her head, I don't care, but we can't afford for HYDRA to get their hands back on her. It's not that I'm worried about what they could get her to do, its what they will do to her." I clenched my jaw as I remembered her state when Thor and I found her.

"And if you find any change in her, you tell me immediately." Tony said firmly. "Okay?"

"What are you going to do if something does change in her?" I asked.

"I'll make that decision when we come to that." He replied tensely. I clenched my jaw again and slowly nodded. He patted my shoulder and I jerked away from his grip, narrowing my eyes as I watched him go. When he was a safe enough distance away, I sighed heavily and looked down at my now healed hand before teleporting back inside the house.