Elizabeth watched Pierce through the glass. It was a two-way mirror so that she could see inside but he could not see her. He was older than she remembered, an aging, wrinkled face. His once golden yellow hair was now turning blond white. He was less intimidating as well, a little more heavyset than she remembered. 

But his eyes. Those blue eyes that had always frightened her as a kid were still the same. He was looking at the door, as though amused. Like he was daring someone to come through it. 

He was chained down to the refined steel chair that was the only piece of furniture in the room besides a cabinet. Elizabeth would only guess what was in the cabinet. She didn't need any of it. The chains wrapped thickly around his arms and legs, but everything else was left free. 

Bucky was standing by her side, bristling. She could feel the waves of anger and hatred and the desire to kill rolling off of him. She reached out and took his hand, which he held tightly. 

"Steve," Elizabeth said quietly, letting go of Bucky's hand, walking over to the door. "I think Bucky and I need to go alone first." 

She could tell that neither Steve nor Loki were happy with this suggestion but Sam touched their shoulders and they both nodded, jaws locked tightly. 

She opened the door, hearing Bucky move to her side again, the two of them stepping through the door. 

Pierce leaned back in his chair. "Well, I must say I'm surprised. Didn't think I'd ever see the two of you together again. It's almost like old times." 

"The only difference is the person in the cage." Elizabeth murmured quietly. 

Pierce scoffed, nodding his head a little. "So, where are the others? Don't tell me Rogers let both of you off your leashes so easily. Not when I'm so dangerous." 

Bucky was rigid as a live wire next to Elizabeth and she felt a shot of anger rush through her veins. This man had abused her and humiliated her. Put her on display like an object for other important people in HYDRA. 

But she didn't want him to see her react based off his words. Instead, she crossed her arms over her chest and started to walk slowly around him. 

"I've learned some things since you last saw me." She said, concentrating on the water in his body. She focused on it, imagining it boiling under his skin. Pierce started to shift uncomfortably in his chair. Hotter, hotter. Pierce writhed in his chair, screaming. Bucky watched with indifferent eyes. 

She could see his skin rippling, where the water was popping up under it, the skin turning red. 

And then she stopped and he went slack in his chair, gasping for breath. 

"It's a handy little trick." Elizabeth said calmly as though nothing had happened. In reality her mind was a confused jumble of memories. Trying to pull up everything that had happened to her in her life. 

"Loki!" She called out commandingly and the God appeared immediately. She glanced at him, touching his hand and he read what she needed from him. Loki turned, approaching Pierce, putting his hands on his shoulders. Pierce screamed again, before Loki let him go. 

It was a spell for slow regeneration and healing. It would amplify the pain as well, since there was a drawback to the healing spell. 

Now, Elizabeth was in front of him again, concentrating solely on him. She could sense that there were more people outside the doors and she didn't want to lose control and hurt them as well. 

She concentrated on Pierce, his body, the water in his body, and slowly started to draw it from him. Pierce gasped as water flowed by his mouth, his nose, his ears, even his eyes, swirling and collecting into a ball of water in mid-air. 

Pierce's body jerked in the chair and Elizabeth couldn't find an ounce of sympathy in her soul for him. His veins were drained and shriveled against his skin. His entire body would stop functioning without the water, his organs, his brain. . . 

Pierce couldn't make a sound, nor could he move an inch, his body deprived of the one thing it needed to keep working. 

Then a voice whispered in her head, 'Bucky'. 

She heeded Viden's advice, letting all of the water rush back into Pierce. The man coughed and hacked and then vomited up on himself as he tried to get use to the feeling of being alive again. Elizabeth tilted her head, looking at Bucky out of the corner of her eye. 

There was the slightest of glazed looks in his eye and she sighed. She didn't feel satisfied and knew she probably never would be. Nothing would ever let her be okay with the way this man had treated Bucky. But the answer to everything was not to let Bucky watch her be a monster, no matter how terrible the man she was being a monster towards was. 

She was tempted to shove an icicle into his stomach and let it stay there until it melted, but she touched Bucky's arm softly instead. "I'm done here." 

Bucky's eyes cleared up and he looked down at her before looking at Pierce. Then he nodded without a word, putting a protective arm around her shoulder, steering her from the room. The minute they left, Loki and Thor stalked in, followed very closely by Natasha. By some unspoken word, there were no screams from Pierce until Elizabeth, Bucky, and Steve had gone into the elevator and had gone up. 

Elizabeth went with the super soldiers to the living room, watching as Bucky sank down on the couch, putting his face in his hands. 

"You okay Buck?" Elizabeth asked hesitantly and softly. 

"It's just a lot doll." Bucky murmured softly, resting into Steve. "I want him dead but I also don't. It. . . seeing you in there with him. . ." 

"Did I scare you?" Elizabeth asked softly. 

"No. Not in the way you're thinking anyways." Bucky sighed, looking over at her now. Steve's fingers trailed slowly down his hip, back and forth in a comforting motion. "I was more scared for you. Like you said, you don't know yourself yet. I guess I was just worried how you'd feel about yourself. . . if you would feel like a monster for lashing out. I don't care if you hurt him and torture him later, after you discover yourself. . . I just want you to be safe." 

Elizabeth smiled and nodded. "I know." She hesitated and said. "Just. . . Steve watch over him until I come back." 

They both looked at her. 

"Oh, you're leaving now?" Steve asked softly. 

"The sooner I leave, the sooner I come back." She murmured, leaning over and kissing both of their cheeks. "I love you both." 

"We love you too doll." Bucky said sincerely. "Just. . . if you need any help please call us." 

"Of course." Elizabeth smiled, turned, and left the room. Only then, did Bucky turned his face into Steve's chest and sob like a baby. 

🎃🌊 卩ｏ𝐯 ℃н𝒶Ň𝕘Ⓔ 🐶👨‍🎨 

"Loki can we talk?" Tony asked anxiously as Loki stripped his shirt off in the bathroom. Stephen was hovering outside of the door. 

"Sure." Loki said, still seeming to be in a bad mood. It didn't matter to him that he had spent nearly thirty minutes torturing Pierce with every means necessary. Nothing about it made him feel better afterwards. Images of what Elizabeth and Bucky and even Penny went through were raging in his head. Not that Penny had been hurt, but Rumlow had used her and that pissed him off too. 

"Do you- I mean you engineer?" Tony asked hesitantly, which made Loki pause. He'd thought Tony and Stephen were going to berate him for going after Pierce, considering neither of them had even touched him. 

Loki sighed, before chuckling. "Really?" 

"What?" Tony asked defensively and a little agitated. 

Loki shook his head. "No, Tony, I don't engineer. I could never make the things you make." He said softly, walking over to Tony , pulling him into his arms. Tony rested his head against his shoulder, sighing. "What I made. . . was wrong and depraved, but it was magic, not science." 

Tony looked like he wanted to ask something else as Loki bent down, picking up his blood-stained shirt and shook it out, using magic to get rid of the red stains. He folded it neatly before Tony blurted out, "Can you make me see ghosts?" 

Loki flinched, dropping the shirt, spinning to look at Tony who looked so hopeful and begging. Loki squared his shoulders and Stephen stepped forward, putting a hand on Tony's shoulder. "Tones. . ." 

"You did it to Elizabeth, surely. . ." Tony drifted off. 

Loki hated this. "No. Tony, I can't." Loki said bitterly. "You have no Asgardian blood and even if you did, you're an adult. There's a reason I did it to Elizabeth instead of myself, even though it was my gain I wanted, not hers." 

Tony sighed, obviously disappointed. 

Loki picked up the shirt once more, but this time clenched it in his hands. He was not one for secrets, and definitely not from his soulmates. "Tony. Stephen. What I did to Elizabeth. . . it was completely wrong." 

They both looked at him with non-judgmental looks, but Loki looked down at the shirt instead. "I messed with death and. . . I hurt her. You asked me, Steph, if I abused her or killed her. . . well no. But I experimented on her. I thought. . . I thought she was lesser than me because she wasn't full Asgardian. And-" His voice cracked and he cut off quickly, shaking his head and turned away from them. 

"Loki." Stephen's body wrapped around him, pulling him down to the floor to hold him. Loki breathed in evenly, knowing that if this kept up, he might actually lose it, and he was not one to lose it. Tony sank to his knees in front of Loki, reaching out and taking his hand. 

"Loki, we love you. And you made some mistakes, but we weren't even born." Tony said softly. "And quite frankly Loki, Elizabeth doesn't hate you and if she doesn't, then why should we?" 

"I don't deserve you two." Loki said simply, shrugging. "Or Penny. Or any of them." 

"That's the stupidest thing you've ever said." Tony snorted. 

Loki huffed and Stephen squeezed him. "We've all made mistakes Lokes. When I was a doctor. . . I picked and choosed my patients, not based on the idea of saving them. . . but which operations were the most difficult. Like notches in my belt. They weren't people to me, they were money operations and ways of boosting my career." 

Loki felt himself relaxing as Stephen, but still said, "You didn't kill or try to kill anyone on purpose." 

"I also was never brainwashed." Stephen argued, turning Loki's chin towards him. "Look what I did to Trang. I was the one who did the brainwashing. I did that operation on her Loki." 

"And then there's me." Tony said with the slightest showings of a smirk. 

"Who also never killed anyone." Loki muttered. 

"Maybe not with my own hands." Tony admitted. "But there was still my weapons. And then there was Sokovia-" 

"-which wasn't your fault." Loki argued. 

"I created Ultron." 

"Which in turn helped create Vision, gave Wanda a soulmate and a reason to stop hating you so that her and Pietro didn't kill you." Loki replied heatedly. 

"Exactly." Tony said simply. 

"Huh?" Loki asked. 

"Everything happens for a reason." Tony said softly. "If I hadn't created Ultron, Sokovia would still exist, yes. But at the same time, Wanda and Pietro would probably still be in HYDRA, or even working alongside their father. And Vision wouldn't exist which means those beautiful children of ours? Anastasia, Billy, Tommy, Andres. . . they wouldn't exist." 

The room was silent for a moment and then Loki muttered. "You are smart." 

Tony full out grinned now. "Exactly. Swell of you to catch on." 

Loki laughed a little. "Narcissist." 

They sat in silence until they heard a knock at the door, which Tony got, and then yelled, jumping back in shock. 

"Well hello boys." Howard said, leaning against the door. He looked solid enough, but it still shocked Tony. 

"Dad!" 

"Tony." Howard said warmly, "Let's have a short talk." 

🚣‍♀️🐱 ρ𝔬V ｃĦαℕg𝐞 🚦🥛

"Feel any better?" Penny asked Natasha and Wanda hesitantly as they settled into the living room with their kids. Penny was curled up with Fandral and T'Challa while Rhodey sat at her feet. Chamber was in Okoye's lap, asleep. 

"A bit." Natasha muttered, flopping on the couch, Anastasia in her arms. 

Wanda placed Billy and Tommy down gently on the carpet with the small wooden blocks and started to levitate them in front of them. 

"So they're all gone?" T'Challa asked casually. 

"Yeah, Vi and Katya stopped in to say bye." Nat nodded. "Ahni and Mai aren't going with them, so they're still here." 

"They're not?" Penny asked in surprise. 

"Apparently they're going to fly out to Cambodia first, see Mais' family, then regroup with the rest of them in Ohio afterwards." Wanda said softly. "Trang is going to go with them to Ohio and then head to Vietnam for a week to visit Jays' family. I think Elijah might go to Hong Kong and see his family too, he won't be staying with Elizabeth after all." 

"Speaking of, Sam, Steve, and Bucky are leaving for a couple of weeks." Rhodey spoke up then, rubbing his hand against Penny's leg in a soothing way. "They haven't left yet but Sam wants to visit his sister." 

"Clint was saying he wanted to go and visit his brother and sister-in-law." Natasha said thoughtfully. "He wanted me and Anastasia to come with him, but I can't even think of bringing her outside anywhere. Especially so far from the tower." 

"Anyone else?" Penny asked. 

"Well I doubt Tony, Loki, or Stephen would leave." Nat shrugged. "Loki probably doesn't want to go back to Asgard and neither Tony or Stephen have family left. I'm not going anywhere, neither is Bruce. I'm sure you'll be going back to Wakanda soon, and you back to Asgard?" 

T'Challa nodded, but Fandral shook his head. "Not fancying going back to Asgard anytime soon. Besides, we've all really missed you guys. And Heimdall wants to be here for our son. I suppose the Guardians will take off soon though, they never stay for long." 

Wanda nodded, "They are leaving tomorrow I heard." 

"Shaun will probably take off too." Nat added thoughtfully. "Visit his sister and all of that." 

"Well, Pietro and I are thinking about going to Professor X's school, but we think we'll be back most of the nights, so it shouldn't be a problem." Wanda shrugged. "But Visions' not going anywhere." 

"Oh, did Riri go with the Ohioans?" Penny asked. 

"Good question." Nat said, looking a little surprised. "I suppose Josh would want to introduce her to his parents though." 

Penny nodded. 

"Do you think your dad is serious?" Wanda asked suddenly. 

"About what?" Penny asked, frowning a little. 

"Keeping Pierce here for. . . well until he drops dead. That we can torture him whenever we want. It's not. . . It's not really like Fury to do something like this." 

"I think Elizabeth has a special place in his heart." Rhodey murmured softly. "And that his love for her has caused all rational thought to fly out of his head. He wants revenge and I think putting Pierce here is just as much for him as it is his idea for the rest of us." 

"Thor and Loki did a number on him." Natasha said thoughtfully. "I don't think I've ever seen Thor so angry." 

"I don't know if I can." Penny sighed, looking away. "When I was watching everything that happened in her memories, I felt a rage. I wanted to hurt him. I still do. But the idea of actually going down there and actually hurting him. . . it doesn't feel like me." 

Her thoughts drifted slightly to when they had been going to free Ghaida's parents. She'd shot the janitor with no thought or action. Careless, and her heart filled with pain again. She stood up slowly. "I'll be back soon." 

"Okay." They murmured and she walked out the door. 

😺🚥 卩Ｏν ｃнａ𝐍Ⓖ𝐄 🐭 🐹

"You be good for daddy." Elizabeth murmured softly into Rue's ear as the little baby girl fussed in the car seat. Elijah slipped the dragon plushie into her hands and she calmed down and Elizabeth slowly shut the car door. 

"I'll take good care of her." Elijah murmured, cupping Elizabeth's face. She was tired from having put her power into Howard so he could talk to Tony. At least she hadn't been driving the car home. 

"I know." Elizabeth whispered, touching her lips to his. "Tell your parents I said hi, okay?" 

"I will. You. . . you take care of yourself while I'm gone." Elijah said sternly, his lips curling at the edges. "No touching yourself." 

Elizabeth gasped playfully. "How will I ever live!" 

"Desperately." Elijah teased back, opening the drivers' door. "I'll be back in a week." 

"Take your time, it's been a while." Elizabeth said softly. "I'll see you when you get back." 

She stood on the porch and watched the car drive up the street, turn the corner, and was gone. She looked around the neighborhood and smiled. Nothing had changed at all. Everything was exactly the same as she had left, with few differences.