You were stuck out in the cold for far too long. It took forever for the fire department to clear the tower after the 'fire'. Fury didn't want to tell the cops, or the press who had arrived about Balder attacking you.

When they finally let you back inside, you and Loki tried to sneak in among the crowd. You didn't want to talk to Fury, Tony, or Bruce. You had a feeling there would be daggers drawn the moment any of them tried to talk to you right now. You weren't particularly pleased with any of them. Unfortunately, Fury caught you trying to sneak in. Tony caught Pepper and flung her over his shoulder while Pepper yelped indignantly. Tony was glad that she was ok and wanted to make sure she stayed that way. "Stop that. You're not hurt," Tony scolded her, worry in his voice. "And if you try to guilt me over your poor cat ears from the fire alarm, and my niece..." Pepper had cat ears, quite a lot of the time as she was learning to control her powers.

"Geez, Tony. Like I'd do that," Pepper grumbled. "Now put me down," she whined.

"Nope. You're safe where you are," Tony replied. She stood no chance overpowering Tony, though she could usually keep him in line, except when he was that worried. Tony was worried now.

"All of you, Veronica, you too," Fury signed his words as he spoke. "My office. Now." He pointed a finger at you. You hadn't even done anything this time. "Don't you even think about disappearing. My office." you glared at him and pointed to the tape on your mouth. "We will discuss it in my office. Move your asses," Fury ordered. You clutched your blanket more firmly around yourself and Loki wrapped a protective arm around your shoulders. Tony led the way to Fury's office with Pepper still draped over his shoulder.

"Your uncle picked up bad habits from Thor," Pepper complained. You shrugged miserably. You knew what happened wasn't your fault, but you still felt bad about it.

"Darling, it is not your fault," Loki reminded you, sensing your emotions. Fury growled. Loki turned and glared at him. "It is not," he told Fury firmly. "You cannot blame a victim for being attacked,"

"It's still her power that caused all of this," Fury insisted. You heard the hesitation in his voice, though. He just wanted something to be angry with. You filed in to Fury's office. There were only two chairs besides Fury's in the room. Veronica got one of them without question. The rest of you had an extremely polite argument of 'no you take the other chair'. "Kat, just take the damn chair," Fury growled at you when he got tired of the argument. You sank into it, but shrank back from his anger. Fury was about the only one here you wouldn't and couldn't stand up to. He had basically been your dad for the last five years you'd lived in the tower. He was also always so loud and drill-sargenty. Loki stood behind your chair, his hands on your shoulders, a reassuring presence.

"Tony! Put me down!" Pepper whined. Tony shifted Pepper so she was cradled in Tony's arms instead of thrown over his shoulder. "This isn't better," Pepper grumbled, but hse was purring, so her argument was invalid. You tried really hard not to laugh. You couldn't laugh properly right now anyway, so it really was best not to try.

"Soldiers," Fury snapped. You all looked at him again with equal looks of embarrassment and shame. "Report," he ordered, staring straight at you. You huffed, grabbed his keyboard off his desk, and turned his computer monitor. You typed a lot faster than you signed. So you typed up your report while Fury and the others watched the screen. Loki occasionally added a detail or two. Veronica signed her part of the evening's events. Fury took in everything that was said. "Kat, I know this isn't your fault, but this curse is a danger to all of us, especially if Balder can attack you even with Loki's magic. There's a solution. No one in this room is going to like it, but I don't care. You're all going to agree to it anyway, or Kat will have to spend her time in a detainment room downstairs until R&D or Loki's people come up with a permanent solution," Tony, Loki, and Pepper all growled at that suggestion. The detainment cells were awful. You were not getting locked up for something you couldn't control.

"What is your solution?" Tony asked, trying to keep his voice calm. You knew it was only intense training that kept his temper in check.

"There is a safehouse outside of the city. It's miles from anyone..." Fury started.

"No!" Tony yelled. "You can't send her out to the middle of the nowhere alone,"

"You will not send her anywhere alone," Loki added, though his voice was calm. It was the dangerous sort of calm that only he could pull off.

"It's a precaution. I'm not going to stop you from going to class, or even from coming here to work in the infirmary, as long as Loki's with you, but you cannot sleep where you'll be a danger to others. It's too dangerous. That rules out both here, and your apartment. So here are the options. Either you agree to stay in the safehouse, or I'm locking you in detainment right now until R&D comes up with a solution,"

[Safehouse it is] you signed.

"Then I am going too. I am not leaving you alone, especially while Balder is after you," Loki insisted.

"That is a stupid-ass decision," Fury replied. "Balder has already proven he can get through your magic," he reminded Loki in a growl.

"I can protect myself," Loki grumbled.

"Fine, but I take no responsibility for your decision," Fury grumbled. He gave you more stupid rules that you only half paid attention to. Something about only leaving the safehouse for class and healing people in the infirmary. The adrenaline of tonight's adventures was wearing off. "Go pack a bag, both of you. I want you at that safehouse before she crashes again." You glared at him, but he was right. He was also unaffected by glares.

[Take this stupid tape off] you signed at him angrily. He shook his head.

"Can't. It dissolves in 24 hours. Bruce hasn't figured out how to make it dissolve any faster. That is why it is a last resort." You glared at him and somehow managed to summon a fireball and sign angrily at him.

[This was put on your face after I woke up]

"You knocked out half of the compound before Veronica hit the alarm and no one knew why or how, especially since Loki was one of the ones you incapacitated. Of course I'm sorry now that I know the whole story, but I had to act in the entire tower's best interest. Now both of you get out of here. All of you are dismissed." You all rushed out of Fury's office. No one liked being there and you were pissed.

"Kat, are you going to be ok?" Tony asked.

You nodded. [I'm fine, Uncle Tony. Stop being overprotective. I'm not even going to be alone] you signed at him quickly, grumpy with lack of sleep and this stupid punishment. You still gave him a grudging hug. And would have kissed his cheek, but circumstances...

"Do you need you to kiss his cheek since you cannot?" Loki asked with a glint of mischief in his eyes. You tried to laugh, it wasn't a great laugh, but they got the point.

"That would be a firm no," Tony grumbled with sarcasm in his voice.

"I'll do it for you," Pepper volunteered, and proceeded to kiss Tony's cheek.

"An elegant solution. Come, darling, we need to pack so we can get going. Fury wants us to drive there," Loki reminded you of part of the conversation you had zoned out on. You nodded and headed upstairs. You didn't care much about packing clothes. You and Loki could both summon new clothes whenever you felt like it. You were more interested in making sure you had your laptop, phone, a few books, and various chargers. You also packed a few clothes, just in case. Loki's bag looked pretty similar, but also included the handheld game system you had bought him a couple years ago. You handed him your car keys. You didn't feel confident driving right now and he didn't argue.

Tony and Pepper were waiting for you at the front door. You said your goodbyes to them and Loki summoned some real clothes for himself, just in case you were pulled over. You highly doubted that would happen, and the cops would probably be more concerned as to why you had unremoveable tape over your mouth than what Loki was wearing. You still kept your head down, hiding behind your hair as you walked out to your car. Luckily, all of the cops and firefighters had left.

You zoned out for the drive to the safehouse, but managed to stay awake. You also didn't get pulled over. The safehouse was a little two bedroom house in the middle of nowhere. You trudged into the house and looked over both bedrooms and picked the one with the larger bed.

"Darling, before you even try the self-sacrificing, not sleeping thing, remember that we are safe for the night because of that tape, which I will be killing Doctor Banner for," Loki told you as you set your bags down. You nodded. He was right. You couldn't hurt him and you could handle nightmares. "Are you sure you're ok?" Loki asked before you could crash in the bed.

/I'm fine/ you replied simply. /Just tired, and still pissed at Fury, Tony, and Bruce. It's been a long night and I need some real sleep. Balder gutting my friends constantly and then harassing me in my dreams is really draining/ you whined.

He chuckled. "Very well"

The next day was awful for both of you. You still had classes, and had to keep an illusion up all day so no one would see the stupid tape. At least they were all expecting you to sign everything all day anyway. You and Loki both didn't eat all day. He refused as it would be rude. You told him repeatedly that he was being stupid, but he wouldn't listen. The end result was you both being hangry on your individual ends of the couch until about 4am when the tape finally dissolved and you gorged yourselves on pancakes. Somehow the little hole in the wall pancake place was open at 4am and they fed you as many pancakes as you wanted. Neither of you questioned why they were open at 4am, or why a bunch of supers in costume were eating there at 4am, looking like they just got off patrol.

The next two weeks were also hell. You tried to sleep as little as possible. You didn't want Loki in danger. After a week of your refusing, and his having to soothe you through more than one depressive episode over the whole situation, the isolation and helplessness of the whole situation was getting to you, he promised to leave the house for the night as long as you promised to get some sleep and let him shield the house. You agreed out of desperation and passed out the second he was gone.

You were both grateful a week later when Frigga called you to return to Asgard. She had found the cure at last.