Chapter Text
Tony snapped his fingers in front of my face without even glancing at me. Was it that obvious that I wasn’t paying attention? I moved an arm to slap his fingers away, and my hand passed right through his arm. I sighed. I guess I’d been fading again. Steve droned on in front of me, completely oblivious to my lack of physical form. Or just used to it. I sighed again and focused my attention on bringing my body back into this dimension. With an audible ‘pop’ that only I heard, I fell slightly back into the physical world and plopped back down in my seat. Tony sent me a knowing smirk. Across the table, Banner sent me a sympathetic one. The three of us had done enough experimenting on my powers for all of us to know just how exhausting it was holding myself in this form.
“. . . and that’s why he’ll be staying with us.” Steve finished.
Tony shot to his feet immediately. “Now hold on a minute Cap’.” He said, testily. “I don’t care whose daddy is being the big mean bad guy. You aren’t putting the God of being a pain in my ass in my tower!”
I jerked to attention. They wanted to bring Loki here?!
Steve was shaking his head. He opened his mouth to argue, but Fury beat him to it. “You’ll do it ‘cuz I say you’ll do it Stark. Don’t think we don’t know what you’ve been up to with all your little upgrades to SHIELD’s tech. We own you.” Fury looked at all of us.
“You’re the Avengers. Your only job is to protect this world from whatever threats exist out there. This is one of them. Loki has got to be put somewhere. Based on what he was able to do last time he was here; it’s been decided that the best place to put him is in Stark Tower. It’s the only building equipped to handle a God.”
“Well that goes without saying.” Tony quipped. Fury continued as if he hadn’t heard the billionaire.
“I don’t care how you do it, but you’re doing it. Figure it out.” With that, Fury swept out of the room. Captain America sat heavily in his chair and looked at all of us.
“How are we doing this?” He asked.
Tony stood and stretched. “Well obviously we’re going to let the Phantom of the Opera here do it. What do you say?”
I rolled my eyes. “The name is Y/N.”
“We know, Casper. Now, will you do it?”
I glanced around the room. Nat looked bored. Clint looked furious at the thought of having to be in close proximity to Loki. Banner, Steve and Tony all looked at me expectantly. I shrugged. “Why not?”
Tony clapped his hands together. “Great! Now that’s been decided, let’s see what kind of security system we can whip up. Just ‘cuz Lil’ Miss Poltergeist is watching him, doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t cover all our bases. I don’t Reindeer Games to have a single second of privacy.”
Tony left the room, practically dragging Banner out behind him. I smiled. I almost felt bad for Loki. Almost.
Steve caught my eye. “You won’t even have to pop into this dimension.” He said. “In fact, don’t. Stay wherever you go when you’re not here. You’ll be safer there. You just need to keep an eye on him.”
I nodded slowly. “Don’t worry Cap’.” I said. “It’s just recon. What could possibly go wrong?”