I made it around a corner (barely) and had a hard time straightening the alien carriage chariot thing out. A volley of laser fire started at the beginning of the street behind me and came my direction. Appropriately, I responded by shrieking and hunkering down as far as I could.

More streets, and Loki still followed me like a... a... I didn't even know anymore. A man possessed? Yeah, that description fit him pretty well.

Below me, things exploded. Above me, lightning shot from the sky without a second thought and sent aliens screaming and flying. A roar echoed through the city. A roar I had most definitely heard before. The giant rage monster had arrived. I just hoped he was on the side of the good guys. Which, judging by the dead alien centipede I flew over, seemed like a logical bet.

Thousands more of the creatures came flying from the sky, and I groaned and steered around another corner.

Then, suddenly, Loki's ride was beside me and he grabbed me by the waist. Again, fighting didn't help much. How was he stronger than an alien? Oh, wait. He was an alien. Anyway, one way or another, he dragged me back to Stark Tower with him and dropped me off onto the balcony. Right back where I had started, though thankfully he seemed a little distracted. He flew off, and I raced inside.

An explosion rocked the air near the balcony, and I spun in time to see Loki stand from where he had fallen on the pad outside. Then... oh, so that was what a giant green rage monster looked like! He kicked Loki and...

CRAP!

I dove out of the way as Loki sailed through the only window still intact and landed on the floor by the steps. The monster jumped into the room and started for her.

In one movement, Loki had stood and was now staring down the monster. Ooh. That took guts. I didn't think I'd be able to stare the thing right in the eye without quivering. And Loki was definitely NOT quivering.

"ENOUGH!" Even I cringed at the shouted words. Wait, even the beasty guy stopped when Loki said that. Interesting. "You are, all of you are, beneath me! I am a god, you dull creature and I will not be bullied—"

The monster grabbed him by his ankle and whapped him against the floor half a dozen times. Hard enough to make a trench in the stone – no, no, the marble – floor. He tossed Loki to the side, never noticing me, and headed back out the window with a final announcement of, "Puny god."

Loki let out a sound that was somewhere between a death cry and a pitifully animalistic whimper. If I didn't know how cruel and twisted he could be, I might have found myself feeling sorry for him. Even then, I found my feet propelling me from my hiding place. I crept closer to him. As I neared the end of the trench, he opened his eyes to look at me. I took a step back.

"Come," he begged, beckoning me with a single finger.

"I'll come when you give me back my several hundred dollar camera." I folded my arms and glared down at him. Finally, he couldn't do anything to make me bend to his will. It was empowering. Maybe I should have thought of this a long time ago.

He wheezed again and laid his head back on the floor. "Please." He pressed a hand to his abdomen. Either he was a fantastic actor, or he was in serious pain. For my own safety, and the safety of the world outside, I bet on the first. But, something in my gut said he was actually in pain. Darn compassion! Why'd I have to be a compassionate person?

My resolve began to crack. "Camera first." But, my words didn't sound convincing even to my own ears.

"Tessa," he managed to opened his eyes again and trained the gorgeous green things on me.

Wait. No. No, no, no, no, no! I had not just thought that. No matter if I had always been a sucker for eyes, his were not gorgeous. He had kidnapped me. Tortured me... okay, fine. Maybe his eyes were gorgeous, but I still didn't trust him or like him.

"Please," he said again.

Again, compassion. Could I see the evil in no one? My feet propelled me to his side. But I did not kneel. I was proud of myself for that one. Because, for all intents and purposes, his plan had obviously been to make me kneel beside him.

He used one hand to tap the floor next to him. "Can't speak up. Please."

Oh, for pete's sake! Where did I draw the line in this thing? He couldn't hurt me, so why did I keep going on with what he wanted. Probably, I admitted, because I had grown so used to having to do all he said. Ever since that fateful day when Barton dragged me in from a perfectly good picture session. I flopped down cross-legged. No way was I kneeling. Not after the Stuttgart incident.

The aliens outside shrieked as one and then everything turned deadly silent. I turned my head to look.

Loki closed his eyes and sighed.

Hey, maybe that was a good sign. Looked like all the Chitauri had fallen from the sky and lay dead on the ground. So maybe the good guys had won. I didn't know what that meant for Loki, but it sure meant good things for me. Like not having to be this creep's queen. A nice thought. It made me smile.

Loki gingerly lifted an arm to touch a strand of my hair, then moved it to caress my cheek. "Mine," he whispered. "You'll always... be mine." His fingers ghosted across my lips, then his arm fell limp.

Looked like the alien prince had passed out. Wow, that rage monster was good at what he did.

"Lady Tessa!" Suddenly, Thor's arm was around my waist and he pulled me to my feet and away from Loki's side. "Are you well? Did he hurt you?" he rested a hand on the side of my neck, staring at me like he thought I might explode or shatter.

I nodded. Because suddenly, a scary thought had occurred to me. What were they going to do with Loki after this? He wasn't dead. And that meant he'd have to go somewhere. His final words to me echoed in my head. You'll always be mine.

The rest of the Avengers (that was their code name, right?) filtered into the room and stood over Loki, weapons drawn. They each checked on me before taking their stance. That was nice of them. At least someone cared besides the creep on the floor. It was nice to have people that cared.

The instant Loki stirred, they lifted their weapons higher. He crawled to the stairs and turned to face them. His face spoke defeat, and I had to admit that was a nice look to see. Finally.

"If it's all the same to you, I'll have that drink now."

The monster growled.

Weeks later, I stood at a spot in Central Park, near Tony Stark's fire-engine-red sports car and waited for the Asgardians to show up. SHIELD had kept me in their facility while they processed Loki and debriefed me. Of every single piece of information I could ever remember about my ordeal.

Now it was time for the alien princes to go home. For Loki to 'face Asgardian justice' as Thor had told me more than a dozen times. He had promised the dark prince would never harm me again. Which was good, because I still puzzled over his final words. Was it just him being creepy? Or did he have something else major planned? Whatever it was, I didn't like the tone with which he had said it.

Right on time, the guys arrived. Loki had some sort of muzzle strapped around his head, and that made it better for me because then he couldn't talk.

The blue cube came out from somewhere, and Banner put it inside a glass tube. Thor held it out to his brother.

In a flash of blinding light and a slight whoosh of air, the Asgardians disappeared. I was free now, but I would never be the same. I had been kidnapped by a prince. Shot at by aliens. Had met the Avengers and made friends with most of them. Had worn a great dress and been tossed around like a rag doll. Some would call me unlucky, but that was too strong a word. If I had to describe what I was, how this had all played out, I would just say that I had been... misfortunate.