Author's note: Hey guys, I'll apologise now... here's chapter twenty six, enjoy! ;)

...

An hour later, you were feeling a lot better. Granted, you'd probably had a few more drinks than was sensible in your position, but you were doing fine so far. You'd been dancing in the next room across from the lobby which had basically been turned into a nightclub for about an hour, maybe more and despite the fact that you were technically on a serious mission, you were having a great time. You weren't having any trouble keeping up the illusion, your stilettos had been discarded long ago and you were feeling fine. In fact, you were feeling great.

Mid-song, you spotted Nat over at the bar, who discreetly nodded for you to join her, and you reluctantly departed from the dancing crowd to see what she wanted.

"I don't suppose you can hear us with that racket going on?" she asked, tapping her earpiece.

"No, sorry, did you want me?" you replied, deciding not to mention that you'd taken your earpiece out earlier.

"Yeah, how drunk is Ricci? Can you get him out the back without raising suspicion or should we give him a few more shots?"

"Uh, I reckon he's pretty far gone already, but a few more shots wouldn't hurt." you suggested, looking over to Ricci who was currently dancing with another girl.

"Right." Nat said, gesturing to the bartender for a round of shots.

"Take some of these to him, and find me again when you reckon it's time. Do you know how you're gonna get him out back?"

"I'll just say I need to show him something." you shrugged, picking up the shots and going to drink one yourself, but Nat put her hand over the top of the glass.

"You've had too much already, we can't risk it Y/N."

"You're right. Okay, I'll take these to him, stay here so I can find you in a bit." you said to her, before making your way through the dancing crowd back to Ricci with the shots.

"Babe!" you yelled, trying to attract his attention away from the brunette he was currently dancing with.

"Oh hey! Are these for me? Legend!" Ricci yelled, downing all four shots one after the other and handing you back the empty glasses before turning away again.

"He seems like a good boyfriend." Nat observed, as you made your way back over to her and dumped the empty glasses back on the bar.

"I feel bad for Penelope, she seemed really nice."

"Before you knocked her out?"

"That was Loki, not me."

You tried to sit down next to Nat but she shook her head and turned your shoulders back towards the dancefloor.

"It'll look suspicious if you're not out there having a good time. Go find some men to dance with, try and win Ricci's attention back."

You scowled, knowing she was right, and headed back on to the dancefloor. You had no trouble finding some men to dance with, or rather, Penelope had no trouble. You wondered what it was like to have men constantly looking at you like they looked at Penelope – must be nice. After about ten more minutes of dancing and looking pretty, you felt a possessive arm slide around your waist and reluctantly turned to find yourself pressed right up against Ricci, who incidentally smelt strongly of vodka and whose eyes were bloodshot.

"What do you think you're doing dancing with these guys, hm?" he muttered in your ear, and you instinctively felt annoyed for Penelope.

"What were you doing dancing with that brunette just now, hm?" you replied, mimicking his tone and hoping you hadn't pushed it too far. Luckily, it didn't seem like you had.

"She was just a friend."

"Then these guys are just my friends." you smiled, and he chuckled in your ear. You were starting to feel vaguely sick; you needed to get out of here. Turning your head to see if Nat was still around, you were relieved to see that she wasn't, having obviously pre-empted what was about to happen when Ricci had approached you.

"Listen, there's something I want to show you. Will you follow me?" you asked Ricci, and he smirked at you through half glazed eyes.

"Anything for you gorgeous."

Fighting the almost overwhelming urge to run, you led him through the crowds and to the nearest doorway, which was currently being blocked by two burly looking security guards.

"Let us through boys, will you?" Ricci shouted over the music.

Don't go through there, they won't let anyone else through and we won't be able to follow you if something goes wrong.

Oops. You'd almost forgotten about Loki.

"No can do I'm afraid sir." one of the guards replied, and a look of utter indignance crossed Ricci's features.

"Do you know who you're talking to? This is my party and my house and if I want to go through a door I-" he trailed off as he realised the security guards weren't going to budge.

"Why can't we go through then?" Ricci asked.

You had read the guard's mind before he had a chance to reply. Your heart dropped.

Loki, they know.

I know, Stark and the others are on their way now. We need to move quickly.

What are we going to do?

I'm waiting for someone to come up with a plan. Nothing much is happening.

You need to change your illusion, they saw you on the CCTV.

No reply.

"Come on babe, we'll get round another way." Ricci slurred, tugging you away from the guards and back across the dancefloor.

Loki?

You need to get Ricci outside, I'll distract the security guards by that door and then you run with him through those doors outside, understand?

Wait a minute, how will you-

Dance with him, now.

You had to trust him. Grabbing Ricci's arm, you swung him back on to the dancefloor and started dancing again, praying that he was too drunk to notice that his girlfriend was acting extremely suspiciously. Luckily he just went along with it, pulling you close to him while you watched with your heart in your mouth as Loki walked casually over towards the guards.

You heard their thought process as they were told over their earpieces that they should follow him, and they moved away from their posts on the door to advance towards him. Loki looked at you pointedly before pretending to notice the guards for the first time and turned around swiftly, walking back through the crowd of dancing people. One of the guards quickened their pace to follow after him, but the other had stopped and was staring at you.

You heard the message through their earpieces as clearly as if you'd heard it in your own ear.

"We've just found Penelope Whittaker unconscious in her room, whoever that is with Ricci, it's not her."

Run.

"Quick, the security guards are gone!" you yelled at Ricci, yanking him towards the now unguarded door. You thanked god that you weren't still wearing your heels as you reached the door, only to find it was locked. You were going to have to use your magic, despite the fact that Ricci was right next to you and there were people all around, the closest being only about two metres away. Turning your back, you concentrated on the lock, managing to keep your mist mostly under the illusion as you unlocked the door successfully.

"Wow, how did you do that?!" Ricci exclaimed, before stopping short as the sound of a gunshot, unmistakeably loud over the music, echoed through the room. There was a split second of silence as the music stopped before chaos erupted. People were screaming and yelling and started stampeding towards the front doors. Why had the idiots started shooting? Had someone been shot?

Loki?

Get Ricci out of here!

Suddenly Clint was with you, dragging Ricci away from the chaos and down the corridor behind the door you had just unlocked.

"They're outside, quick..."

"They went that way!" you heard a yell from behind you, and then there was another gunshot.

But this time it was different. It felt like an iron fist had clenched around your heart, and suddenly you couldn't draw a breath. You stumbled to a halt, barely registering Clint yelling at you and Ricci starting to put up a fight, realising something was wrong. Then Nat was bolting towards you out of the crowd, taking out a few guards as she did so and grabbing your arm as she passed you to try and drag you along after Clint and Ricci.

"Y/N, what are you doing?!"

"Loki."

"Loki? He's gone the other way..."

"No."

You were shaking, your heartbeat loud in your ears as you stumbled forward, pushing a few stragglers out of your way, looking for Loki, praying...

Loki wasn't Lewis anymore, he was himself again, but he wasn't the Loki you were used to. The Loki you knew didn't make a habit of lying on the floor. Nor was he usually white as a sheet and covered in blood. His hands were pressed tightly over the right-hand side of his stomach and his breathing was shallow, jaw clenched tightly as though in concentration.

You were on your knees beside him in seconds, unaware of the fact that Nat was yelling your name and trying to pull you away, or that there were guards running in from the other side of the room through the masses of scared guests all trying to get out of a locked door. Pressing your shaking hands over his, you tried in vain to remember what it was you were meant to do in this situation, but your mind was blank.

"Loki..."

His eyes flew open, with a horrified look when he realised that you were still here.

"What are you doing? Go, get out." he said through gritted teeth.

"I'm not leaving you. You need to get up." you told him firmly, but his eyes were already half closing again. You tried to talk with him through your mind, but there was nothing, his mind was cloudy with pain and you couldn't hear anything.

"Loki, get up." you said fiercely, getting angry now and borderline panicking as the guards closed in on you, knowing that if he wasn't already trying to move, you couldn't make him.

"Y/N, let's go! He'll be fine."

"He's been shot!" you shouted at Nat, feeling tears well up in your eyes. You were so incredibly useless, why weren't you doing something heroic to save him? You were an Avenger now, you were meant to know what to do in these situations...

"Y/N listen to me. I can get myself out of here, but not both of us. You have to leave while you still can." Loki said, his voice hoarse.

"Promise you'll be okay."

The childish request had fallen from your lips before you could do anything to stop it from happening. You were so scared you even forgot to be embarrassed, especially when he actually smiled at you (or it might have been a grimace of pain) and moved one of his hands to squeeze yours.

"Promise." he breathed, even managing half of an eye roll.

"Y/N!" Nat was struggling to hold back the guards by herself. You had to believe him. Bracing yourself, you detached yourself from Loki and left him lying on the floor covered in his own blood, ignoring every fibre of your being which was screaming at you to go back and help him. You channelled this emotion into a powerful blast of magic which sent at least ten guards flying backwards into the wall, and then you and Nat were sprinting down the corridor and bursting out of the end door into the pouring rain, where the Quinjet was getting ready for take-off. Only then did you realise how warm it had been inside; you were freezing almost instantly.

It looked like they had had to sedate Ricci, and Thor was helping to lift his unconscious form up the back of the ramp as you and Nat arrived, breathing hard and soaked to the skin. Bucky was thankfully already safe in the jet, which gave you no reason to hang around any longer. Nat started up the ramp into the jet, and then seeing that you had turned around and weren't moving, walked back down again, grabbed your arm and pulled you into the dry, warm interior of the jet.

"Are we all here?" Tony asked, scanning your faces to make sure everyone was there before he closed the ramp.

"Where's Loki, Y/N?" Steve asked you in concern.

You tried to speak, but your throat seemed to close up and all that came out was an odd choking noise.

Thor was staring at you, and then he dumped Ricci unceremoniously on one of the seats and came to your side, leading you to sit down.

"We can't leave without him... can we?" you heard Bruce saying quietly to Tony; you looked up at them hopefully.

Suddenly a bunch of guards tumbled out of the door of the mansion and Tony swore from the cockpit, slamming some levers and buttons, and then you were in the air, the ramp was closing, and you were flying away.

"Wait, let's talk about this. Y/N, what happened?"

"I- don't know. He got shot." you replied, looking anywhere but your hands, which were stained with blood.

Tony bought the jet to a stop a while away from the mansion, bringing it to a hover and joining the conversation.

"What do you mean you don't know? Weren't you there?" he asked you.

"No, she was with me." Clint replied.

"It's impossible. Loki wouldn't be stupid enough to get himself shot." Thor was saying in disbelief.

"He was literally a distraction for our plan, it's not unbelievable..."

"Yes but he knew he was bait, he would've been expecting it."

"He wouldn't have been expecting guns, none of us were."

"He can read people's minds, he would have known about it." Thor said firmly.

You had tuned out, guilt rising in your throat as you thought about what had just happened. You should have stayed with him. He could be dying, and you were all sat here having a chat about whether he'd deliberately got himself shot or not. Suddenly, a very loud thought of Bucky's drifted across your mind. You hadn't meant to hear it, you really hadn't, but you did, and your head snapped up to stare at him across the jet. He saw you staring, and looked back at you in shock.

"Did you just read my mind?" he protested.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." you apologised, still staring at him in disbelief.

"What's going on?" Steve asked, looking between the two of you.

Bucky sighed.

"I don't think it was an accident that Loki got shot. The security guard was aiming for Y/N, down the corridor, or it might have been you Clint, I don't know. The guard after Loki wasn't even using his gun."

A very loud silence ensued.

You felt ill. It should have been you. He'd saved you and you'd left him.

If he died, it would be all your fault.