"Wake up, Striga, it's almost dark, and I'm tired of your boyfriend kicking my ass at chess. You could've let me win once," Bucky told you as he shook you awake, though he addressed the last part to the raven on the floor, who was preening as the chessboard vanished. Showoff. You groaned, still exhausted. A little sleep didn't combat the hell you'd been through, but you woke quickly enough when you remembered help was on the way, you were getting the hell out of here. You sat up quickly and tossed the blanket aside. You quickly threw on your combat boots and leather jacket.

"We're above the compound, love. I'll see you properly as soon as you're outside. Stay with Bucky when the alarms go off. The team is on the lookout for the pair of you and their priority is to get you on that jet," Loki reminded you both from the raven. It perched back on your shoulder once you had the leather jacket in place.

"What about the obedience disk?" you asked, nervously. That thing hurt like hell when it went off, and was one of the main reasons you hadn't escaped on your own.

"I'll steal a remote on our way out. I know who carries them," Bucky reassured you quickly. "Is the team ready?" he asked the bird, finally used to talking to the bird after playing chess with him for hours. Though you still had the impression he thought he might be going crazy.

"We're ready," Loki replied. Bucky took your hand in his metal one and led you out of the room. He wasn't risking losing you in the upcoming chaos. The hall was nearly empty; the guards on you had lessened. They assumed that Bucky could keep you under control on his own. Bucky was the image of a perfect soldier, so they didn't know you'd repaired his mind and that he was really in there.

"There," Bucky told you and gestured to a room empty of people. It looked like a server room. You nodded and called your power to fill the room with flames. You had to be careful with fire, as vampires were susceptible to it, but you'd been working on your powers with Loki, so you had no reason to be afraid. Loki was also covering you and Bucky with magic, hiding you from the security cameras. They didn't want anyone to know you'd caused the fire and chaos. They couldn't know they were being tricked until the trick was sprung. Loki would have burned down a room full of people, but you weren't him and he and Bucky both knew that, so you were lighting a fire in a room without people. Even with what they did to you, you wouldn't stoop to being a monster.

"C'mon," Bucky told you urgently when the room was engulfed. He went to the nearest fire alarm and calmly pulled it, starting the alarm throughout the whole building. "Tell the calvary we're coming out the south entrance to the compound," Bucky told the raven. His grip tightened on your hand and he started running, dragging you with him. You ran with him, letting him use his size to clear a path through the panicked Hyrda agents and employees.

"Soldier!" A higherup called. Bucky stopped and turned to face the man, shifting his grip to your wrist, to look like he was dragging you outside instead of escaping with you. "Get Scarlet outside. Make sure she doesn't escape,"

"Yes, sir," Bucky replied in his deadpan zombie way. He turned and started leading you toward the exit again. "He doesn't have a remote," Bucky explained to you softly as he strode quickly for the exit. You had to run to keep up with his longer stride, even though he was moving at a slower pace than he had been. He couldn't draw attention, but could follow his orders to get you outside without anyone questioning.

It was chaos trying to get out of the building. There weren't many entrances to the compound and people didn't know how to leave in an orderly fashion, though you were sure they'd all be taught in kindergarten like you had.

Bucky gave you his other arm and lifted the metal one in front of him, almost like a shield. "Hold on and keep up," he told you and surged forward to barrel his way through the panicked crowd blocking the door. He didn't care who he trampled or injured, shoving them out of your way. Bucky was huge and with a metal arm as a battering ram, you quickly made it outside. All you had to do was keep hold of his arm and not fall. The raven flew off of your shoulder when you were outside and flew away with it's pair. Its job here was done.

Right as you made it outside, your heart would have skipped a beat, had it actually done the thing with the beating. The entire team was landing on the ground in front of you, either by parachutes or under their own power. One lone figure appeared in front of the others, materialzing in a shimmer of green magic.

You dropped Bucky's hand and ran straight to Loki.

"Soldier! Stop her!" A voice yelled from behind you. Bucky turned, raised the gun he had acquired on the way out of the building and began shooting at the Hydra agents instead of stopping you. They tried to give him more orders, but he was blatantly ignoring them now.

You saw Bucky and Steve share a mid-battle head nod of a greeting. Their proper reunion would come after the battle was over.

The moment before your arms wrapped around Loki's neck, even as the rest of the team was surging forward to fight the Hydra agents, the obedience disk in your neck went off. You shrieked in pain and dropped to the ground, shaking uncontrollably when the device wouldn't stop. Loki was there, kneeling next to you, holding you and cradling your head in his lap, soothing you while he growled in helpless rage. He couldn't stop the device or get it out of your neck.

"Loki, the guy in the suit!" Bucky called, gesturing with his gun to a man holding up a remote. Loki roared in rage and grief at your pain. A clone of him appeared directly in front of the guy in the suit, killed him viciously and violently, and picked up the remote. A moment later, the obedience disk fell from your neck. Bucky stared, shook his head, mumured something about being crazy, and going back to his job of shooting things.

You finally relaxed and started actually breathing again. "There now, you're safe now, sweetheart. It's almost over," Loki told you softly, warmly. He stood, lifting you in his arms as he did. He turned to look for someone, but Thor, his usual goto, was already in the middle of battle. "Bucky!" He called. Bucky retreated to your position. He dropped his gun as Loki passed you into his arms. "Keep her safe for me. I have a promise to keep to my lady," Bucky nodded once, though the didn't undestand Loki's words. Loki kissed your forehead.

"Loki, no, you can't-" you protested, reaching an arm out for him. He couldn't just kill an entire compound full of people.

"They hurt you, my love. I promise, I very much can and I very much will make them all pay for hurting what is mine. Relax, darling. You're safe now, and they will never hurt you or anyone else again," you squirmed to get out of Bucky's arms, but he was huge and just as strong as you, so he held you firmly in his arms. "Keep her safe, army-man," Loki told Bucky and disappeared into the fray. He didn't have a good nickname for Bucky yet, but even the term army-man instead of Bucky's name was enough of a nickname to tell Bucky just how much Loki trusted him with your safety.

"Your boyfriend is terrifying," Bucky informed you as he watched the carnage of an engraged Loki. You watched in shock as Loki made his way through the mortals, slaughtering the ones who had hurt you. He was viscious and violent brutally slaughtering them with daggers, mostly daggers, but a little magic as well. You had no idea how he knew who had harmed you and who were innocent, but you could see even from where you were that it was only the guilty who were being slaughtered.

"Yeah, well, he's a god," you replied dryly. Sometimes humor was the only coping mechanism anyone had. "You can put me down," you added dryly when Bucky hadn't set you back on your feet.

"No way in hell I'm risking pissing off that boyfriend of yours," he reminded you as he stared in shocked horror at the dying Hyrda agents. "Steve's gonna be pissed. He hates killing as punishment. Though in this case, even he might turn a blind eye. He doesn't like bullies or people harming the innocent,"

"I'm hardly innocent," you reminded him. "I killed an entire village, on top of being a vampire,"

"That wasn't your fault. And you're the least vampiric vampire ever. Did you even own a black aritcle of clothing before they took you?" Bucky teased. You flushed.

"I think I had a black sweater," you grumbled. He laughed, yes, sometimes humor was the only way to survive. "Buck, I'm going to be just as safe on my feet, plus you can actually fight if you have to if you have use of your arms," you reminded Bucky patiently. He finally set you back on your feet, but kept his metal arm around your shoulders so you wouldn't do something stupid like try to run off to stop or help Loki. Bucky didn't much like being touched either, but he could handle it if it was his metal arm.

It was only minutes before Loki reappeared in front of you. You were surprised by the lack of blood on him, and grateful for it. You got out of Bucky's grip and wrapped your arms around Loki's neck. His arms were around you, holding you safely against him while his fingers ran through your hair. "You came! You came!" you told him, not quite beliving that this was finally over.

"I promised you I would. I'm only sorry it took so long, and sorrier still that we allowed you to get taken from us in the first place. It's alright, you're safe now, sweetheart," he told you. You kissed him, still not quite beliving it was real. He was real. You were safe. You broke the kiss, but held onto Loki too tightly, laying your head against his chest to listen to his heart beat, your arms around his slim waist. Loki kept an arm wrapped around you, tucking you safely against his side and extended a hand to Bucky. "Thank you for watching out for her. Words aren't enough, but you have my deepest, most sincere, gratitude, for all of your help,"

"Your girl is a sweetheart, anyone with a heart would have kept her safe, especially in a place like this where she had no right being. I only wish I could have kept her safer," Bucky replied and shook Loki's hand. Amazing how those two had become friends. It seemed a very unlikely friendship indeed.

The rest of the team was on their way back as Jarvis landed the jet nearby. You turned and waved at them and they rushed over faster. Loki let you go to go greet the others, though he kept a close eye. Cap went straight for Bucky with a head-nod to you. You weren't offended in the least, Bucky was his oldest friend and he hadn't seen him since the 40s. They clasped hands, hugged, and did that 'I'm not gay' back smacking things guys did when they hugged.

Clint ruffled your hair with a grin and a "Kid, you're ok!" and gave you a quick hug.

You nodded to him, all brightness and sunshine and saw the relief in his eyes. You went to Nat next and hugged her. "I'm so glad you're safe sestrichka. We were all worried and heartbroken when you were taken," she told you as even she held you in too tight of a hug. Nat wasn't usually a hugger or liked being touched, excepting Clint who could get away with it. Apparently you had made the list too.

"Nat, I did terrible things. I have blood on my hands-" she would understand. Nat of all people would understand. She would understand having blood on your leger, of having to do terrible things to survive.

"No, sestrichka. Those men did terrible things to you," she told you and stroked your hair. "None of it was your fault. It was mind control and doesn't count. You should remember that from boyfriend," she reminded you lightly. "But we can talk all about it when we get you home."

"Sestrichka?" you asked her when she let you go. You'd picked up a few Russian words from Bucky, but mostly just curse words. This one was new.

"Little sister," Bucky translated. He came over and hugged Nat too. "Good to see you again, Natal'ka," he told her warmly.

"You do remember," she teased. "I was just a kid the last time I saw you. Hydra sent him to teach us in the Red Room," she explained to the others quickly.

"I remember everything, thanks to Striga here," Bucky said and gave you a smile.

You looked over at Tony, surprised he hadn't come to see you yet. He actually cared about you, you knew and had since he'd given you the scholarship before you'd been turned. He had stepped out of his Iron Man suit. You saw the heartbreak in his expression, the self hatred, doubt, the guilt. You went to him and despite Tony's thing about being touched, hugged him tightly. You felt tears hit your hair as his arms tightened around you as well. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry, for all of this. I should have kept you safe. I should have done more,"

"It's not your fault, Stark," you told him firmly. "None of what's happened is either of our faults." You said the words to reassure both of you, though you weren't sure they helped either.

"Thank god you're ok, Tinkerbell-"