Cheshire

Chapter 20

"Deal."

And little did I know that this deal would forever change my life as I knew it.

Loki's POV

Ah yes. Trouble indeed.

Somehow that little furball has captured the attention of two of midgards most supposedly dangerous organizations known to mortal men in the span of six months. Granted I did it in less than a week. But she is still young I suppose. And to be holding that much power... poor thing. She seems to be managing quite well. In fact, the only reason she got caught was because of my oaf of a brother. She truly shows great potential in her power and I'm obviously not the only one who sees it. Especially if the iron man has volunteered her a position on their team. That obviously didn't go well with the director, however I was surprised when he agreed to let her stay in the compound. I've only been here 5 days and it surely is no Asgard. Odin's sake I still haven't figured out where the talking man in the sky comes from. I only hope she hasn't drawn the attention of those outside of this realm.

"Ok everybody. Hope you all had your beauty sleep. Everyone knows first impressions are last impressions so let's make this morning count!" Stark announces giddier than usual.

We are all currently on the middle floor between SHEILDs prison quarters below, and the main quarters above standing around while we wait for the girl to show up. Tony stands at the front of the group with a large grin plastered across his face while the others look either bored or anxious.

"Good morning brother! Excited to greet our new guest?" Thor asks, smiling as he approaches my left.

"More so... intrigued."

"Oh don't be so coy brother. Don't think I haven't noticed your sustained interest in conversation concerning her."

"Oh don't be daft brother. I'm simply curious of her powers, that's all."

"I'm sure it's nothing to be worried about. Just don't go scaring her off with that tongue of yours and perhaps she'll let you keep it."

I roll my eyes at his joking threat when all of our heads turn towards the dinging of the elevator. The door opens to reveal the Director and four armed security guards behind him. A small figure stands in between them and they approach the group steadily.

"Good morning everyone. We've discussed most of Ms. Cat's living conditions yesterday in the debriefing. So, Avengers meet Cheshire, Cheshire, meet the Avengers." Fury states as he and his guards move to the side and the small figure from before moves forward.

We had met for a moment before, but looking at her now in such a calm state, I take in her features properly. She wears the same outfit as before with the black long sleeved turtle neck which is well fitted and tucked into her black pleated skirt that matches her black combat boots perfectly and is slightly lifted in the back by a long, fluffy white tail that compliment her chin length white hair and ears t are slightly dropped along with her once cocky smile. Her mismatched green and blue eyes share the same dullness and I immediately sympathize with her shame as I take in her defeated stance and hung head. Her hands are shackled together and drawn tightly behind her. A thick metal collar to go with it lines her neck.

She somehow looks even younger than she did previously. her size still remains almost unhealthily small and skinny. But nonetheless, I am enraptured by those odd colored eyes that she so desperately tries to hide with the straight length of her hair. She looks so... broken. She reminds me of myself.

"Steve Rogers. You already knew that, but it's nice to meet you properly and good to have you on the team." The spangled man comes forward, introducing himself first like the noble captain he is.

"She's not a part of this team yet captain."

"Yea yea, what are those cuffs still doing on her?" Tony asks carefully as he walks past the director.

"Just a precaution until we get her properly secured upstairs." Fury assures him.

"Although I know you don't mean that it is very entertaining to watch you try. How's the leg by the way?" She asks snarkily.

"Fine now. However, I'm not the one who got you the worst." Her eyes glance across the deadly looks at her false guilt.

"Yea. I would typically apologize for that but considering I'm the one whose freedom is being taken away again, you can shove it up your ass instead."

The smaller twin jerks forward only to be quickly stopper by her brother calming her red eyes back to their natural green.

"Oooh testy testy." The girl snickers teasingly at the witch.

I remain silently at the girls far left as I try to smother my laughter. I can tell she notices when her gaze stops at my form and her eyes narrow.

"And who the hell are you?"

I straighten my posture as everyone looks towards me even more angry and confused than I.

"Loki Odinson. God of Mischief."

"Ha! It looks like someone's in the running of taking your title Mr. Mischief."

I'd like to see anyone try.

"Wait, how do you know all of us, but you don't know him?"

"I researched the avengers, not their relatives."

"So you don't know anything about the battle of New York?"

"Wait, that was you?" She looks shocked at the news and everyone stands awkwardly in silence before Tony clears his throat, breaking our eye contact.

"So! Let's get you upstairs and settle." He claps as we all begin entering the elevator one by one.

Everyone stands in awkward silence as the girl is pushed to the back. The small grin on the girl's face goes unnoticed by the others. And I dare not mention it. The elevator dings once again and Fury starts his spiel as we unload into the living room. The widow removes the girl's cuffs, and she rubs her wrists at the relief.

"This floor is where you will be staying for the duration of your visit. You are prohibited from leaving the premises and are only permitted to the lower levels with the consent of Stark. The same goes for the limiters. Only he, Bruce and I can remove them or lessen them. You will be on the same schedule as the rest of the team and will also participate in training. Unlike the others however you will have monthly checkups and testing with Bruce and Stark as well psychoanalyzing and therapy sessions. The more you resist any of these terms and agreements the less freedoms you will be granted. Understood?"

"Actually, I have some concerns. I certainly didn't agree to any testing or therapy. And what about resuming my Hydra extermination mission?"

"I'm afraid these terms are nonnegotiable. And the agreement was that you could assist the team in terminating Hydra. Though we would value your personal intel, that's not worth revealing any of SHIELD's secrets to a criminal."

She smiles almost sadly at this but quickly hides it with that classic smirk as she scoffs.

"Of course not." The silence that follows lingers uncomfortably when Fury speaks up.

"Well now that that's settled. I'll be on my way. Captain, Stark, call me if you need. I'll be seeing you Ms. Cat."

His leave raises a new tension and this time no words are said to interrupt it. Instead the girl bolts to the elevator with a wink and salute before any of us can blink.

Well, I always have been a fan of trouble.