"Tony!" you banged on the door with your shaking fists. "Tony!" you called again. He showed up at the door looking worried, since you had so much urgency in your voice. "I think my data was wrong" you looked at him with a tear streaked face.
"What happened?" he demanded. "Calm down, talk to me"
"I can't calm down" you shook your head. "We need to go to the lab, we need to suit up" you felt your entire body shaking from your very core.
"Okay, talk to me" he led you in to sit on his expensive looking couch. Pepper came out of the bedroom with a worried look on her face.
"Bucky called me and there were gunshots. He told me they were still at the third base, but I know with my data they should be on the fifth base by now. It should have been easy. He hung up and I hacked their base and they look like they are hurt. It should have been an easy base, or else I would have sent more on the mission" you opened the computer and he looked at the screens curiously.
"Oh Sunshine" Pepper came in. "They are going to be fine. Look at the screen, they are winning"
"There shouldn't have been any gunfire" you felt tears falling down your face and Tony gave a small smirk before going to his serious face and he took your hand gently and looked at you.
"Okay, look at me" he said softly. "They are going to be fine, your data always pulls them through. You are a genius with computers, and with putting together their mission dockets for the week. You should be used to this by now. What worries me is that you hacked their servers from here, and you didn't turn on your VPN" he sassed you a bit.
"But they could be hurt" you shook your head.
"Okay, look again" he pointed at the computer and you saw the cross fire was over already. They were doing a sweep of the building now, making sure there were no enemies left. "They know what they are doing, okay Sunshine?" Tony spoke softly. He went and quickly turned on your VPN to scramble where you were. "I think you need a vacation, you are spending too much time on this" he sighed gently.
"No, I'm not spending enough time on it. They could have been hurt" your voice was still trembling.
"Sometimes bases take a little longer to get into. We are always working with week old data. Stop worrying so much" he rubbed your back and could feel you were still trembling. "Pepper" he looked at her expectantly and she gave a small chuckle and came and sat on the other side of you on the couch and wrapped her arms around your shoulders. You immediately turned and wrapped your arms around her and crawled up onto her lap trying to calm yourself down.
"It's okay" Pepper rubbed your back while Tony went through your laptop.
"When did you start getting these blank emails?" Tony asked curiously.
"Saturday" you mumbled against Peppers shoulder.
"I'm running a full diagnostic on your computer. Stay here" he got up and left the room.
"Looks like you are stuck with me" Pepper spoke softly and started carding her hands through your hair. "What on earth would make you hack their base, you know that's dangerous" she reminded you.
"I thought they were in trouble, and I wanted to help" your voice came out muffled.
"They are okay, don't worry. If anyone gets wounded they know to come straight home" she promised. "You sent strong teams out, you don't have to worry so much. I know you were worried about Sam..." she trailed off and bit her lip.
"I was worried about the whole team" you sighed against her shoulder, starting to relax a little bit. "Why is Tony running a diagnostic on my computer?" you grumbled.
"He just worries, you took a pretty big chance hacking them" she whispered. "From what I understand, the VPN is the first thing you should have used. You need to scramble your signal" she gave you some slight sass. "Now talk to me, what are you doing this weekend?"
"Working" you shrugged slightly.
"You are working too much. You need to get out" she shook her head while still playing with your hair at the nape of your neck.
"I went out for my walk, and I did my day" you nuzzled in a bit more.
"I'm going to talk to Tony, you need to stop working on the weekend" she decided for you.
"But I need to keep the team safe" you whined.
"They are plenty safe, you barely miss a thing" she reminded you. "Let's go shopping tomorrow night, huh?" she rubbed your back in slow circles now.
"Can't, I always work late on Friday's" you shook your head.
"You'll have to make an exception. I know for a fact that Bucky finally asked you out on a date, and you need a new dress missy" she smiled.
"How did you know about that?" you pulled back slightly to look at her.
"There's not a lot of secrets around here. He's been wanting to ask for a while" she smiled. You cuddled back into her but didn't say a word. "They are going to be fine" she reassured you.
"Your computer has been getting monitored. It'll be cleaned by Friday. You've been working outside the office again" Tony came back into the suite and you pulled away guiltily from Peppers warm embrace.
"Those sons of bitches caught me?!" you growled deep in your throat.
"You've grabbed their attention. No more working outside the office for a while. I'm hoping they didn't get any of your private information" he sighed heavily. "Hydra is dangerous, and we can't afford to lose you"
"I don't keep much private" you shrugged.
"Not even the Instagram account?" he chuckled.
"How did you know about that?!" you demanded.
"I knew about it a year ago" he shrugged nonchalantly and took a seat beside you. "I love your photos by the way. Your secret is safe. Alpine and Aurora look adorable together by the way" he added with a sneaky smile.
"He always keeps an eye on you on your Saturdays away" Pepper advised you gently.
"I'd feel more comfortable if you do go out to have someone with you for a bit" Tony added, looking at you seriously.
"Tony, no one is interested in me. I'm nobody" you shook your head.
"Someone is monitoring your computer. I would just feel more comfortable if someone's with you for a little bit" he gave a pained expression.
"And I would feel more comfortable if I knew the two teams still out there are safe" you countered quickly.
"Vision just checked in, and I'm sure the other team is working their way back to the jet to hit the other bases. Stop worrying about the Avengers" Tony shook his head.
"Let us worry about you though" Pepper gave a small smile and rubbed your back.
"It's not like I go out that often anyways. I do have to go get a new dress tomorrow" you had a terrible idea.
"Happy and I will be with you" Pepper gave a bright smile.
"I want Loki to come too" you said. You were holding your breath, but you said it.
"No, out of the question" Tony shook his head.
"He would be perfect" Pepper smiled, knowing exactly what you were up to.
"You too?" Tony demanded.
"He's not well known and he can change his form to a lady to go into the stores with us" you pointed out quickly.
"You are responsible for him. If anything goes wrong it's on your head" Tony looked upset. "Go let him know. And wait for me to log in tomorrow morning. You are working in the main lab" he looked a little worried. You didn't see the big deal. You were still upset about the others being under gunfire earlier. You huffed a little and got up giving a nod.
"I'll see you in the morning" you gave a smile and headed out of the room. You walked a ways down the hallway and stopped at what you knew to be Loki's door and gave a soft knock.
"A moment please" you heard Loki respond pleasantly. He came to the door in his Asgardian robes and looked at you with surprise. "Why do you look like you've been crying?" he asked worriedly.
"I was talking to Bucky on the phone and there were gunshots, so I hacked Hydras base but it turns out someone's been monitoring my computer activity and it's just been a stressful night" you were having a hard time to articulate everything.
"It sounds like there's more to the story. Why don't you come in, and we will have some tea and you can tell me everything" he decided and opened the door completely.
You walked into Loki's room, and were surprised by the grandeur of it. You could tell he had used his magic to spruce up the room quite a bit. He led you to a spot to sit, and went to one of his cupboards and took out a tea cup, and you saw it magically fill with hot tea. He brought it back to you and handed it to you in a saucer.
"Now, start from the beginning" Loki sat down across from you and crossed his legs looking quite relaxed.
"I've been getting these blank emails, and I didn't think much of them. Apparently someone found a way to track me or my computer" you sighed. "Tony is looking into it, and scrubbing my computer" you growled a little at yourself. "I kept forgetting to turn on my VPN, which stops Hydra from finding me when I am looking at the data or tracking them. Anyways, I can't articulate this very well" you looked at him feeling frustrated.
"You said something about Bucky" Loki reminded you.
"Bucky called me, and we were talking. There were gunshots in the background and he said he had to go, so I hacked Hydra's base so I could check on the team and I saw they were in a gunfight. I panicked, so I went to Tony and showed it to him, and that's when he showed me the team was fine on my laptop, but he also confiscated it and said I had to have someone watch me when I go out because someone is tracking my computer, and might have gotten information on me" you huffed slightly. "So where you come into this is, I have to go out tomorrow, to get a dress and they want someone to come with me so I asked for you"
"My dear girl, why on Earth would you choose me?" Loki looked shocked.
"You can shapeshift into a girl, you are good with a dagger, and honestly, you never get out. I thought it would be good to see you outside of the compound. Tony said it's on me if something happens" you shifted uncomfortably. "I don't really want to have a babysitter, and Pepper is coming and probably Happy..." you drifted off.
"I'll join you on this endeavor. You'll look smashing for your date with the Sargent" Loki gave a smile. "As for this computer business, why did you not scramble your signal if that's so important?" he raised an eyebrow elegantly.
"I forget when I get worried" you flushed.
"You worry too much, and you failed to explain it eloquently, however I was able to discern everything from your thoughts. They are quite jumbled this evening" he commented softly. "I appreciate the endeavor to get me out of the compound, and won't let the opportunity be wasted"
"Thank you Loki" you gave a smile and sighed before taking a sip of your tea. "What flavor is this?" you asked curiously.
"Rosehip and chamomile" he smirked. "To help with your nerves, and aid in your sleep"
"I don't think I'll be sleeping tonight" you shook your head. "I really thought the bases I sent them to would be more dead than what they turned out to be. I always try to make sure that it's not that busy, because I worry someone's going to get hurt"
"You cannot control everything, no matter how hard you try" Loki gave a soft smile. "We knew what we signed up for, and the battles when they happen are always glorious" he chuckled. You used that as food for thought and sipped at your tea, realizing you were getting tired.
"Did you use magic on me?" you asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Only enough to calm your nerves enough for you to rest" he got up and took your cup. "I'll see you to your room, and then I'll see you at breakfast" he held out a hand for you to take, and you took it standing up slowly. You covered your face as you yawned and he led you out his door and towards your suite at the end of the hallway. "Good night Kitten" he opened your suite door for you and you walked in yawning loudly again and grabbed both cats before stumbling into your bedroom and falling face first on the bed.