"Buzz—"

The sudden vibration in her pocket snapped Yang Luoluo out of her daze. Face already red, she fumbled her phone out and checked the message. It was from Natasha.

"Trust me on this. The easier something is to get, the less a man values it. Men are all like that, and Loki is no exception. Leave him hanging a few days before you say yes. No rush."

"...Don't tell me you're all watching right now. Besides, I wasn't planning on agreeing right away anyway."

"Good, that's a relief. And for the record, we are respectable people — of course we wouldn't monitor you. This is simply a reasonable deduction from someone with experience. Hang in there. I'll leave you to it."

"..."

Yang Luoluo turned off her phone. She looked up and met Loki's wounded stare, and she knew immediately that he had read every word.

So what? She hadn't been making excuses to Natasha. As the saying goes, you don't need to watch a pig run to know what pork tastes like.

It wasn't as if she didn't understand the logic behind what Natasha had said. And on top of that, Loki was the type who kept everything locked up inside and never said a word. If Thor hadn't stirred up this whole mess, who knew how long she'd have had to wait to figure out how he actually felt?

And he had actually dared to use mind-reading on her. She definitely had to teach him a lesson.

Even though she felt a little guilty about it, Yang Luoluo crossed her arms and did her best to look completely justified. "I'll forgive you this time. As for everything else — it depends on your performance."

Loki's lips twitched. No one knew what he was thinking, but on the surface, at least, he appeared to grudgingly accept the verdict.

The road had been a bit rocky. But the ending wasn't bad, was it?

His gaze swept over her face. He reached out and tucked a loose strand of hair from beside Yang Luoluo's cheek back behind her ear. His hand paused there, and then Loki's eyes drifted, almost against his will, to her lips.

She had bitten her lower lip at some point during all those tangled emotions earlier. A faint mark still lingered there.

"Why are you touching my hair?" Yang Luoluo glared at him and pulled the strand right back out. "Let me tell you something, every single strand of a girl's hair is exactly where it's supposed to be. Don't just casually, "

Her voice died.

Yang Luoluo's eyes went wide. From her angle, the distance between them collapsed in an instant. Those green eyes were looking straight at her, warm with amusement, and she could see her own stunned expression reflected in them.

A cool kiss pressed against her cheek.

Her brain went completely offline. Yang Luoluo could feel the heat blazing up into her face with startling clarity, as if every drop of blood in her body had rushed to that one spot.

"Y-You..." She was too shocked to finish a single sentence.

Loki drew back slightly. His gaze lingered on her parted lips with something that looked almost like regret, then he raised an eyebrow at her, an excuse already on his tongue. "A cheek kiss. If I recall correctly, this is an etiquette of your Midgard."

"..." Yang Luoluo had a mountain of complaints and absolutely no idea where to start.

You're an alien god and I'm Chinese, what western cheek-kissing etiquette are you even pulling on me?!

Deep down, Loki felt a flicker of genuine regret. He had wanted to follow his heart and actually kiss her. But even knowing how Yang Luoluo felt, they still had no official relationship, and doing that would have reeked of taking advantage.

How could the dignified second prince of Asgard go around taking advantage of people!

So he had changed course at the last second, and a Midgardian social custom had provided the perfect cover for the whole thing.

He, Loki, was truly a genius.

Yang Luoluo watched him standing there looking quietly pleased with himself and buried her face in her hands.

Who on earth would fall for such a flimsy excuse?

What was happening. She was increasingly convinced that Loki had somehow caught his brother's stupidity.

...

"Unbelievable."

Tony sat on the sofa with one leg crossed over the other, watching with open displeasure as Loki strolled past like he owned the place, a bottle of Coke fresh from the fridge in hand.

Noticing Tony's stare, Loki turned back just to flash a deliberate, provocative smile.

"Huh? What happened?" Bucky sat nearby, completely at a loss.

Bucky had been away on missions for most of this stretch, barely setting foot back in the compound, and had no idea what had gone on during the absence.

"Short version," Natasha replied, working on painting a nail, "Loki's operation to abduct the prize cabbage is four-fifths complete."

"!" The statement hit Bucky like a physical blow. A hand flinched hard, the cup nearly went with it.

Weren't those two still just friends when Bucky left?!

"Why did it have to be Loki who showed up there back then? If it had been Peter or Pietro, things would've been so different. I'd even have taken one of those two old capsicles..."

Tony grumbled, clearly aggrieved. Tony had always chalked the whole thing up to Loki simply being the first person to appear in front of Yang Luoluo, that was what had made her attach to him, and that was why everything afterward had snowballed so completely out of control.

One of the innocently named capsicles, Bucky immediately started waving a hand.

Pass. There was zero desire to get on the bad side of that petty, long-memoried god.

"My friends, what are you all talking about?"

Thor emerged with a mop of thoroughly disheveled golden hair, sleep schedule in complete ruins ever since arriving on Earth. Eyes still hazy, clearly not long out of bed.

Thor made straight for the snack cabinet with easy familiarity, grabbed several bags, and dropped down beside Tony. Only then did the eyes start to sharpen. "I thought I heard Loki's name?"

"..." Tony pressed a hand to his forehead. "Don't mention your brother in front of me."

Thor was bewildered.

"Do you have any idea," Tony said, expression entirely past description, "that your brother has lately looked exactly like a cat that just finished marking its territory?"

Wherever Yang Luoluo went, Loki followed. Before, at least, Loki had simply stayed obediently at her side. Now there were constant little gestures, quiet and easy to miss on their own, that were clearly about staking a claim. Slipping a hand into hers. Dropping an arm around her shoulder.

The worst part was that Yang Luoluo just went along with it.

Under Tony's pointed stare, Thor had no choice but to give it genuine thought.

"...Why a cat? I expected you to say a snake."

"..." Tony rolled his eyes, losing count of how many times the intelligence of Asgard's king had come into quiet question.

Reining in the exasperation, Tony spelled it out patiently. "Normally too lazy to acknowledge anyone. Looks down his nose at the whole world. Push him too far and the claws come out. Compulsive about cleanliness. How is that not a cat?"

Thor considered this and nodded. "That makes sense. But isn't that also you?"

Tony choked. From nearby, a laugh broke free before it could be stopped. Tony spun around and nailed Bucky with a glare.

"I think Thor has a point," Natasha said, sliding the knife in without breaking stride. "Aren't you, Loki, and Barnes all the cat type?"

Bucky looked over in confusion at being included.

"What about me? What type am I?" Thor's eyes lit up, landing on Natasha with obvious interest in this line of conversation.

Natasha gave a bright smile. When the answer came, the tone was perfectly pleasant.

"You and Steve are both dogs. The honest, simple, grinning Golden Retriever kind."

"..."

Thor, having no frame of reference for Midgard's cat-and-dog personality typology but sensing somehow that this was not a compliment, swiftly changed the subject. "Speaking of which... Loki's attitude toward me has improved a great deal lately."

No name-calling. No little knife in the ribs. The recent version of Loki could genuinely be described as easy to be around.

That kind of easy coexistence hadn't happened in several centuries.

What Thor didn't know was that Loki had simply remembered, at some point, that it was Thor's drunken slip of the tongue that had set all of this in motion. That was the whole reason Loki had, uncharacteristically, started being kinder when the two of them were together.

"It's wonderful. I just know Mother would be so happy to see how Loki has changed!" Thor said, moved, and pushed a potato chip into his mouth.

Everyone else: "..."

"Promise me something," Natasha said, expression caught somewhere between fondness and pain. "Next time we're talking, leave the devoted little-brother energy out of it."

Tony silently put his face in his hands.

"Hey, why is everyone in here?"

Clint's voice drifted in from behind, puzzled.

Several heads turned. Clint and Peter were standing there, and right behind them was Yelena, whom Tony had met before, with an unfamiliar dark-haired girl standing at Yelena's side.

Tony glanced at Natasha with a questioning look. Natasha read it immediately and gave a helpless little wave, indicating that Yelena's sudden appearance at the compound was just as much a mystery.

Yelena had obviously caught the whole silent exchange. A lip-curl, and then Yelena cut straight across the room and dropped down beside Natasha. Natasha smiled, reached over and pulled a bag of snacks from Thor's stash, and handed it over.

Tony's attention moved to the unfamiliar dark-haired girl. The excited flush on the face, the slightly stiff way of holding herself, Tony raised an eyebrow at Clint.

"Don't tell me, Birdbrain — you've branched out into human trafficking?"

"What trafficking? Stop making things up."

Clint led the two younger ones over and sat down, locating a throw pillow printed with a chibi version of Clint's own face and tucking it behind the lower back with practiced efficiency before getting to the explanation.

"This is Kate Bishop. My number-one fan."

Clint lifted a chin, thoroughly smug about it.

➤ Next: Assassination Mission — The Conversation

Chapter 100 - Assassination Mission — The Conversation

Just as Clint thought he could bring his little fan along and bask in the envious looks of his teammates, Kate whipped a notebook bearing the Avengers logo out of her bag at lightning speed,

"Oh my god, I never imagined you were Yelena's sister! I-I-I love you so much, could you give me an autograph?"

"I actually get to see a living Iron Man! Could you sign an autograph for me? Right here is fine."

"Mr. Thor! Let me find the page... yes, this one. Just sign here — there's even a chibi Mjolnir on it."

"Sergeant Barnes! Please sign this page. God, I can't believe I'm actually seeing this many Avengers..."

Clint:...

Tony, who was always patient with kids, finished signing and looked up to find Clint's face written over with pure disbelief. Tony laughed without an ounce of mercy.

Ah. This scene felt awfully familiar.

Wait, back during the Civil War, hadn't Peter told Tony to his face that Peter was a fan of the Capsicle?

Peter, sitting obediently on the sofa, immediately caught Tony's glare raking up old scores.

Peter:...Huh?

Still floating in the pleasant shock of meeting so many Avengers all at once, Kate was jolted back to earth by Tony's laughter. Kate looked toward Clint, guilt plastered across her face.

The resentment radiating off Clint's back had already solidified into a dark cloud.

Kate twitched a mouth corner awkwardly, scrambled back to the seat, and thrust the notebook toward Clint like presenting a national treasure, pen already stuffed into Clint's hand.

"Heheh, the first page was specially saved for you, and so is this one with the little bow and arrow. Only the peerlessly heroic and impossibly dashing Hawkeye gets to sign twice!"

Iron Man, Black Widow, those were just passing fancies. Nothing compared to the number one.

Kate watched Clint with shining eyes, and Clint, won over embarrassingly fast by all that flattery, cleared a throat, arranged a face into a thoroughly convincing "I wouldn't bother if you weren't begging me" expression, and signed the name in the notebook.

Kate placed the notebook back into the bag with the gravity of someone handling a sacred relic, movements so careful it was as though cradling something made of spun glass. Kate even ruthlessly swatted away Yelena's hand when Yelena reached over to flip through it.

Then, the very next second, Kate went to coax Yelena.

"Peter said Kate's archery was solid. I had a look — it's not bad," Clint said with a nod. "Good timing to bring Kate here for some training at the compound."

Kate's eyes lit up. Kate snatched up the quiver sitting nearby, practically vibrating. "I'm ready! I even brought my bow!"

In the time it took Clint to sign Kate's notebook, Tony had already heard from Natasha that "Kate would be Hawkeye's successor."

The corner of Tony's mouth twitched. "So we currently have two Black Widows and two Hawkeyes at the compound. Is that right?"

"I have a question — is every Black Widow being best friends with a Hawkeye some kind of unwritten rule with you people?"

Before Natasha or Clint could respond, Kate jumped in like Kate had known them for years.

"Honestly, I don't think 'Hawkeye' suits me. What do you think of 'Hawkwoman'? Or 'Eagle Shot'? Give me a second — how about 'Lady Hawk'...?"

Tony's mouth twitched harder. Tony cut in decisively before Kate could keep going. "Peter. Now. Take Kate to the training ground. You're going too, don't think I don't know you've been spending your night patrols taking Harry and the others web-swinging."

Caught red-handed, Peter hunched shoulders and hustled Kate out of the room. The people left behind could still hear Kate's stunned voice drifting back down the hall.

"Oh my god, Peter! You're Spider-Man?! You have to give me an autograph, I'm pretty sure there's a page in my notebook with a web-head printed on it..."

The voices faded. The lounge went considerably quieter. Several veteran Avengers sat in silence.

"...Are kids these days all this chatty?" Bucky asked slowly.

Clint covered a face.

...

If anyone was asked who was happiest about Kate showing up at the compound every day for training, the answer was Yang Luoluo and Peter, no contest.

Before, it had just been the two of them absorbing Steve and Natasha's combined punishment in the training ground. Now there was Kate taking a beating not far away as well, and for all her years of martial arts training, Kate was basically a newly hatched chick in front of a battle-hardened veteran spy and a master archer.

It wasn't exactly moral. But watching Kate get worked over never failed to lift both veterans' spirits considerably.

That day, Yang Luoluo and Peter finished their session and shuffled into the living room like the walking dead, dropping onto the sofa in a boneless heap. Tony's teasing hadn't even made it out of Tony's mouth when F.R.I.D.A.Y., silent for quite a while, spoke up.

"Boss, Miss Yelena Belova is here to see you. Shall I let Yelena in?" There was a note of distinct satisfaction in the AI's voice.

"Yelena? Let Yelena in." Tony waved a hand, then smiled. "What, did you and J.A.R.V.I.S. finally settle your score? How come you're the one on today?"

Ever since Bucky brought J.A.R.V.I.S. back, the two AI stewards had been competing for Tony's attention at every possible opportunity,

Tony wants to order takeout? Two identical orders would appear in front of Tony, leaving Tony to decide which one to eat.

Tony needs a suit? Two perfectly pressed suits would materialize before Tony, Tony's to choose from.

For quite a stretch, the innocent Tony became the ongoing casualty of two AIs fighting over who got to serve.

Both orders, both suits, prepared with genuine care by both of them. Using either one would wound the other AI. Tony had no choice but to tearfully accept everything.

It was only after J.A.R.V.I.S. and F.R.I.D.A.Y. realized the behavior was genuinely wearing Tony down that they stopped competing openly in front of Tony and moved their rivalry underground instead.

F.R.I.D.A.Y. paused at Tony's question before answering. "A victor has not been determined. We reached an agreement."

One had accompanied Tony for years. The other had stayed by Tony's side through the darkest stretch of Tony's life. Both AIs understood perfectly well that telling the other to get lost wasn't going to happen, so they struck a reluctant accord.

Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays belonged to J.A.R.V.I.S., with F.R.I.D.A.Y. in sleep mode. Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, the reverse. Sundays went to whichever of them won the week's duel.

Tony quietly wiped imaginary sweat from Tony's brow after hearing the terms.

Thank god Vision was entirely wrapped up in Wanda right now. If Vision, half Ultron, half J.A.R.V.I.S., decided to enter the competition for attention...

Tony genuinely could not handle that.

Stomp, stomp, stomp.

Yelena walked in like Yelena owned the place, drawing every eye in the room.

The phone hit the table. Yelena dropped onto the sofa. "I need to see Barton."

Tony had absolutely no idea what was going on, but waved for F.R.I.D.A.Y. to notify Clint and pull Natasha in as well, better to see what Natasha's sister was actually here for.

Yang Luoluo and Peter peeled themselves off the sofa, quietly produced two bags of snacks in preparation for the show, and slid a bag over to Tony.

A few minutes later, Clint and Natasha came in at a quick pace and immediately clocked Yelena sitting on the sofa looking thoroughly irritated.

"What happened, Yelena? F.R.I.D.A.Y. said you needed to see Clint about something." Natasha spoke first.

Yelena tipped a chin at the phone on the table, signaling them to look.

"Someone hired a Black Widow. Target is Hawkeye." The words landed like a dropped grenade. The atmosphere in the room went flat and heavy.

Natasha's heart climbed into Natasha's throat. Natasha picked up the phone and looked, and there it was, exactly as described. Whoever was on the other end wanted Hawkeye dead at any cost. The bounty posted was staggering.

"I don't know who's behind it. But you'd better start thinking about whether you've crossed anyone lately."

Truthfully, Yelena had never had much warmth for Clint. Nothing complicated about it, Clint had been at Natasha's side longer than Yelena herself had, and Natasha actually counted Clint as family. That rankled.

But if Clint actually died, Natasha would be devastated. To keep that from happening, Yelena had come to give them the heads-up.

Clint was already running through a mental list of potential enemies, while Natasha watched with open worry.

"I'd suggest you take the job," Tony said to Yelena.

"If you turn it down and they just hire someone else to go after Clint, we lose any control over the situation. If you take it, we hold the initiative, and we might be able to figure out who's pulling the strings."

Yelena nodded, took back the phone, exchanged a few words with the contact on the other end, and accepted the contract.

Yang Luoluo sat to one side, brow furrowed, turning something over in her mind.

Hiring a Black Widow to kill Hawkeye... why did that feel so familiar?

Like she'd heard this somewhere before.

➤ Next: Magic Parchment (1)