Unfettered (Loki x Reader)

Chapter 47 - See You Soon

"Come on squirt, we'll only be here for a few days until we figure out our next move," Tony says. "This is the safest place on this Earth. Completely off the grid. Technically, these coordinates don't even exist."

Skeptically, you look up at your...well, at your family. Steve gives you a nod and Natasha smiles. Clint takes his wife's hand and holds his children. As he gazes down at you from the top of the porch, you shake your head, eyes wide in fear. But Clint offers you a crooked smile and nods toward the house. "Come on," he says. "Laura already has dinner on. I can smell it."

His wife smiles and takes the youngest child - Lila - from Clint's arm, stealing a quick kiss and heading back in the house as Clint scoops up the eldest from around his legs, blowing a raspberry on his cheek before following his wife inside. 

Steve and Natasha follow, but you don't. You can't. Your feet won't move.

"Hey," Tony says, offering you his hand. "You'll be safe here." Hesitantly, you take Tony's hand as he pulls you close, tucking you up under his arm and ruffling your hair. "That's better," he smirks. "Now get in the house before my potatoes get cold."

Dinner is quiet, as Laura fills the awkward silence with funny stories about Clint's parenting, or memories of how they met. She asks easy questions of the others - nothing too personal and nothing requiring much thought. And she never asks you anything. Instead, she offers you an understanding smile before dessert. You return it with silent appreciation. 

After Laura puts the kids to bed and retreats to her own bedroom to give your team privacy, The Avengers get to work. The rest of the early evening passes in hushed tones and urgent whispers as everyone huddles around the kitchen table. Together, you go over your experiences with HYDRA, and the memories you saw in Agent May's head, before passing around theories as to what the next move should be. 

"All I'm saying, Tony, is that we don't even know for sure that she's being hunted," says Clint. "Wouldn't they have tried something by now? I mean, she's been an easy target."

"Unless they didn't know where she was, or assumed she died like the others," Natasha posits.

"That's true," you say. "Only Agent Coulson and a small handful of his closest agents knew I even existed in those months after my rescue. The formal story passed around was that no one made it out of those chambers."

"So what are you saying?" Tony frowns.

"I'm saying Natasha might be right," you sigh. "Maybe they didn't know I was still alive until I joined the Avengers and started assisting in the field. And even then they may not have had proof until I showed up at that HYDRA facility to try and rescue Agent May that first time."

"That's when they would have issued the recall," Natasha says. 

"I think Y/n is right," Steve pipes up. "The timing makes sense. Agent May was trying to warn us."

"Fine. Let's assume they're after their lost experiment," Tony huffs, softening his tone when he catches your wince. "How do we get to them before they get to her? And where do we hide her until then? Because we can't stay here too long. It's too risky."

The room falls silent as discussion turns to thoughtfulness for several long, intense minutes.

"SHIELD set up some safe houses back in the forties," Steve finally says, breaking the silence. "They were top secret. Meant to keep our own scientists safe and hidden during the war. I doubt they're in use anymore. Maybe we could take her to one of them?"

Tony laughs - a sharp, angry sound. "Might have worked if dear old dad hadn't turned them all into Cold War bunkers."

"What about Asgard?" Natasha questions.