Wilder: An Alternate Avengers Timeline(Loki x OC)

Chapter 22- I come cleaner than Kleenex

Author's Note: I can't stop myself from toying around with this title game. Sorry.
Oh, Kleenexes aren't cleaning products? Hmm. My bad.

Also, this chapter is short because I thought I might give you guys a final "Loki's POV" chapter.

~

In less than a second, Tony, Steve, Clint, and Bruce had all burst into the room, looking around frantically for a threat.

"What happened? Why is Nat screaming?!" Clint demanded.

"No reason! She was just-" I quickly exclaimed.

"I'M GOING TO KILL HIM!" Natasha shouted, storming off. Horrified, I ran after her. The other Avengers followed after me. 

"Hold on, Ava, what's going on-" Steve started to ask, but I locked the door to the hallway.

"Nat, please, listen to me!" I cried. "Don't do anything to him!"

Nat stopped, then spun around to face me. She examined me, silently, rage burning in her eyes. 

"We are you standing up for him?" she demanded.

"Because he had my consent," I said softly.

"Pfft. Yeah, right. I didn't think you so as much liked him, after what happened in Malus,"

"Bruce told you?"

"Bruce told us everything,"

"...I guess I have some explaining to do. To the whole team,"

"Yeah," Natasha sighed and walked over to the door I'd locked. "And I think now would be a great time to start,"

~

I told them everything. 

We'd settled down in the living room and I'd unhinged my jaw at them.

They didn't seem too fazed until I told them about us kissing.

Tony's eyebrows shot up and he stared at me incredulously.

Steve did the same, sitting forward and looking slightly perplexed.

Bruce leaned back into the couch, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose.

Clint's jaw dropped, and he looked a mixture of enraged and annoyed. 

I glanced down, sure that if I said anything, they'd all yell at me simultaneously. 

Nobody said anything for a long time. I soaked in the grace of silence, knowing that once it was broken, I would get a pounding.

Finally, Tony spoke. 

"That man tried to kill us all," he said quietly. 

"I know, Tony, and-" I began.

"This is where you clam it, Ava," Clint snapped.

I promptly shut my mouth and sank into the couch.

There was a small pause before Tony continued. 

"That man killed hundreds of people that day. That man nearly destroyed a city," With every sentence, Tony's voice grew more irritated and louder. "That man could've wiped out the entire city, had we not been there to stop him. He would've wiped out the entire world. He nearly killed you, and you're saying that you've fallen in love with him? Ava, he's tricking you,"

"Tony's right," Steve interjected. He was usually good at hiding his anger, but he wasn't doing a very good job with it. "He's tricking you into getting him out of here, out to freedom. He wants your trust. He wants you to think that he loves you. He wants you to think that you love him. He's going to break you, Ava,"

I wanted so badly to speak out against them, but I bit my tongue and tried not to show the fear on my face. There was one thing I hadn't told them about- the oath, the promise, the swear on my life that I would keep him out of Asgard. Frankly, "now" was not always a good time to tell.

"He'll steal information about us and use it against us," Natasha said softly. "He'll use you to break out, to get away, then he'll betray you and leave you. We don't want that happening to you, Ava,"

"I agree, he's just using you, Ava," Bruce piped up. "You're beginning to trust him. What's next? Maybe we do agree to keep him here. Then he starts to test your trust. He'll tell you to let him out for a couple of minutes without the gloves, see if he comes back. When he does, you'll trust him more. He'll tell you to walk on the roof with him just to prove that he won't push you off. Then, when the time comes, he'll tell you to let him go for a little bit. Once he's gone, he'll never come back."

I was on the verge of tears. I didn't know what to think. They sounded like they had a point, but Loki also sounded so genuine... but that just adds to their point... UGH!

I was about ready to start screaming my head off.

A small part of me was telling me to trust him. 

A much larger part was enraged at him for tricking me.

If he even had been.

"We don't say this to hurt you, Ava," Clint said. "There's just no other way to say it,"

"Yeah," Steve added.

"We're really sorry, kid," Tony commented, his tone lowered quite a bit.

I shook my head. Who's word did I trust more? The Avengers's or Loki's? I knew the right answer- the Avengers's, obviously, but I couldn't shake the part of me that still was giving Loki the benefit of the doubt. 

I guess there was only one thing left to do, in this scenario.

I needed to talk to Thor.