"Stark, have you had any luck finding out where that box came from? Or how it got under the Christmas tree?" Cap asked over breakfast Monday morning. Loki and Thor must've told Cap and Tony about the collar Jareth had sent you.

"It came in with the mail. No one thought anything about yet another Christmas present coming in. We all get so many," Tony answered finally, sounding frustrated. "Jarvis is screening any future mail that comes for the puppy so we don't get any more nasty surprises,"

"I'm not a puppy!" you growled down the table at him, though you were relieved that the team had looked into it and were finding a way to keep something like that from happening again.

*

You held tightly to Loki's hand as you boarded the SHIELD jet that came to collect the team after breakfast. "What's wrong?" Loki asked when your grip tightened on his hand.

You loosened it sheepishly. "Sorry. Nervous. I've never flown before," you explained.

Loki gave you the barest hint of a smile. "Nothing to fear, little wolf," his tone had changed, getting a harder edge around the SHIELD agents. He was more hostile and defensive around them, though in the absolute most polite way possible. It was a defense against how badly they disliked him. All it made you do was to comfort your Loki and get him to smile again. You also saw what he wouldn't say: even holding your hand was showing more sentiment and feelings than he wanted to display in front of these strangers.

You dropped his hand and smiled at him when he looked at you to see what you were up to. He was so used to your presence nearly always including physical contact that the absence got his attention. He huffed in exasperation when he realized that you'd read him too well and had taken his comfort into account above yours. He draped a possessive, protective arm over your shoulders, glaring at the agents who dared look at you. "Finally found a Midgardian whose company you can stand?" one of the older agents teased. You grinned, he had seen through Loki's act too.

"Yes, this little mortal amuses me. And she's mine," Loki glowered at the man who was looking you over, interested in the person who Loki could stand.

"I'm no more mortal than you are, your highness," you teased, sticking your tongue out at him. He turned to you with a disapproving look, he'd been avoiding announcing you were a werewolf. You bounced up on your toes to kiss him. "Drop the act, Lo. They've seen through it. Besides, we've been plastered kissing all over the tabloids and news. I think they know you like me." Loki sighed heavily in exasperation, but his cold mask faded away.

"Annoying puppy," he grumbled in loving exasperation.

"Stubborn god," you teased back. With that settled, you finally took seats in the jet. Tony handed over the briefcase that held his Ironman suit. The rest of the uniforms and weapons were also given over to the agents, except Mjolnir, since no one else could lift it.

The jet took off and you watched out the window like an excited child, fascinated. The novelty wore off quickly, though and you settled back in your seat. Loki was reading, as per usual. You peered over his shoulder to see what he had chosen. It was some text on magic you couldn't read, so you lost interest in that quickly. You looked around for something to do. Loki wrapped his arm firmly around you and pulled you against his side without looking up from his book. "If I'm telling you not to go looking for mischief, that is a bad sign indeed, little wolf," he teased, still holding you firmly. You stuck your tongue out at him in reply. He handed you a book. "Read quietly," he told you firmly, but warmly. "I dislike flying and I feel better knowing you're safely here with me as opposed to bouncing around annoying everyone," he explained.

"Fine," you huffed, but it was in teasing. You curled more comfortably against him and opened your book. He kept an arm around you, but relaxed his grip. Everyone else seemed to relax once you were occupied as well.

"Um...Mr. Loki, sir?" a terrified looking, obviously new, agent was standing in front of Loki a couple minutes later.

"Mr. Loki?" you giggled at the odd term of address. The kid flushed.

Loki rolled his eyes. "They refuse to address me by my proper title," he told you mournfully. "Though they manage to address the cat-man by hisproper title,"

"Loki," Thor's voice was a warning, but not a severe one, just a simple reminder to his brother to behave and stop tormenting the agents.

The kid found his courage again. "Sir, it's regulation. You know the rules," the kid was clearly terrified as he held up the item in his hands. It looked like some sort of manacle a metal/technology/magic hybrid of some creation.

Loki sighed heavily and and pushed up his sleeve, holding his arm out. "Very well," he finally consented, though was obviously upset about it.

You perked up, feeling his uneasy and displeasure, snarling softly and shifting your position to one better to defend him. "What is that?" you demanded of the kid, who finally seemed to realize you might be dangerous too.

"SHIELD believes that I am a danger and insists that my powers be bound while I am on their airship," Loki explained while the terrified agent did his job and secured the manacle around Loki's wrist. You growled, glaring at the kid who was upsetting your Loki. Loki petted your hair, calming. "Hush, love. It's alright, just inconvenient," he soothed. "And if there is an emergency, they will remember I am useful and deactivate it. It's not hurting me, so there is no need to scare the poor kid,"

"You don't deserve it and it's upsetting you," you replied, fighting back more growls. Instead, you pouted over the manacle on his wrist and fiddling with it to make sure it was laying as comfortably as possible against his skin.

"Ma'am. You get one too," the kid agent said, coming back with a second manacle.

Loki was standing defensively in front of you before you'd gotten a good look at the silver manacle. "No," he protested. "She's allergic to silver and there's enough in that thing to kill her," Loki snarled at the kid.

"It's regulation, sir. All werewolves on the Helicarrier need to be controlled so they can't shift to wolf and endanger the crew," the kid recited.

"Son, don't," Cap said, coming over to stand with Loki in front of you. When he had backup, you reached out and took Loki's hand, scared of this confrontation. Loki reached his hand back, letting you wrap both of your arms around it. This was a situation where you couldn't fight effectively. You had to be extra nonthreatening to the humans so they didn't see you as a monster. "We'll take responsibility for her."

"I'm sorry, sir. The orders come directly from Fury. He said to remind you about the meeting and the mission," the kid added cryptically.

Cap sighed, seeming defeated by the kid's message. "Stand down, Loki," he ordered. Loki didn't move. "Loki. We're not going to hurt her. Stand down." Loki took a step back, but stayed ready to defend you, still mostly in front of you. Cap turned to you. "Y/N, I wouldn't ask or allow this, but Fury made the order. I don't care about that, but we need to show Fury how much silver affects you so he won't try to pull this stunt again, especially when the team isn't around to watch out for you. He only listens to hard evidence. Please, try?"

"No!" Loki protested.

"Brother, it is important that we show Fury that she is different from the werewolves that he usually deals with. Do this now while we are here to protect her," Thor bid his brother to see reason.

Loki looked at you. "Which one of them would you like for me to kill first?" he asked you pleasantly.

"Lo, let them play out their dominance game with Fury," you told him, holding one of your wrists out to Cap. You glared between them both, then gave a look to the rest of the team. "I'm putting a lot of faith in you all," you told them firmly, still scared and refusing to let go of Loki with your other hand.

"And we won't let you down," Cap replied with such honesty that you knew it to be true, no matter what happened, they would defend you to the last. The agent rushed in quickly while Loki sat beside you again and quickly fastened the silver bangle around your wrist.

The effect was almost instant. The silver was stronger in the bangle than it had been in Tony's necklace, though not nearly as pure as whatever was in that collar. It didn't burn your skin, but you were nearly immediately lethargic, the wolf curling up to sleep, defending herself against the silver. You slowly, lethargically, curled yourself against Loki, laying your head on him and closing your eyes.

"Love?" Loki asked, concerned at how fast the silver was taking you down. You cracked an eye open and tried to look up at him.

"I have never seen silver have that effect on a wolf," one of the agents commented.

"It affects her worse," Cap explained as your eyes closed again. "She's a natural born wolf, not a made wolf like the mercenaries and lone wolves you deal with. She's also female and weighs at least a hundred pounds less than every wolf you've ever met,"

Loki fought to keep you awake, but it was a losing battle. He reached for your wrist. "She can't handle this. It's cruel to ask her to try," Loki snarled at them.

"No," Cap ordered him firmly. "Y/N, are you alright?" You managed to nod and murmur something that might have been a 'yes'. "Let her sleep, Loki. Let Fury see what silver does to her so he doesn't try this again,"

"Love? Y/N, look at me," Loki ordered when you just moaned instead of doing anything. It took effort, to open your eyes enough to look up at him. "Did you hear the Captain? Are you sure you're alright with this plan?"

"Yes," you managed to get the word out before your eyes closed again. You were getting dizzy and nauseous from the effort to stay awake and fight the silver. Loki sighed, though you could hear the concern even in that small noise. He lifted you and settled you in his lap, his arms wrapped protectively around you.

You must've made a noise we he moved you. "Hush, love. I've got you. You're safe." With that reassurance, you passed out, succumbing to the silver.

*

"What the hell is wrong with her?" a man's voice demanded, fighting through your haze of lethargy. The silver was gone, but it was so hard to fight your way up from its effects.

"We tried to tell you that silver affects her more strongly than the other wolves," Nat replied firmly, defensively.

"We've been living with the wolf for months now. Trust us to knew more about her than you do," Tony added, actually defending you.

You were safe in Loki's arms and he was holding you effortlessly. You felt the tension in him, though. He hated you being in this state. "Come on, love, fight through it," he bid you softly when he realized you were starting to wake. It still took a few minutes and urging from him and the team to fight your way awake.

"I hate silver," you groaned when you finally fought awake, though you were groggy still and your brain felt fuzzy and ached, like you were hung over.

Loki chuckled softly and kissed your forehead. "Are you awake enough for me to put you down?" he asked softly. He would know that you wouldn't want to be carried in front of strangers.

You nodded. "I'm awake," you told him. He carefully set you on your feet. You were on the bridge of the Helicarrier in front of a man in an eyepatch. He was a very intimating man, an alpha if you ever felt one, though he wasn't a wolf.

Introductions were made, this was Director Fury. He apologized sincerely for the treatment and promised you'd be immune to the silver rule from now on. There was a tour of the helicarrier while Fury explained operations on board and some of the missions they were working on. He stopped in front of a conference room on one of the lower levels and gestured to Nat.

"I am sorry about this, Y/N. We couldn't tell you who we brought you here to meet until we got here. Fury was just a red herring. Thanks boss," Nat nodded at him. He returned the gesture. Loki stiffened beside you. "Loki, knock it off. If we had told you, you would have told her," she added at his glare.

"Would not," he protested.

"Don't lie, love. It hurts my nose," you reminded him patiently, which was impressive with how your head ached. He chuckled and kissed the top of your head.

"Sorry, darling,"

"Jareth and the Alpha would both have beaten the shit of her if they had found out about this meeting before it happened," Nat continued, ignoring your adorableness. She was kind about it.

"So who am I meeting?" you asked, that was important. You knew that was important no matter how fuzzy your brain was.

Instead of answering, Nat opened the door to the conference room you'd been standing in front of. You and Loki stepped through first, together, steeling yourselves for whatever you'd find on the other side. Thor was right behind you, followed by the others.

There was a lone occupant of the room, a man sitting at the head of the large table. He looked to be about 25, but he was ancient. You dropped Loki's hand and went to the stranger. Loki didn't stop you out of sheer shock. You fell to your knees in front of the stranger, your head bowed. You were completely enthralled by the man and overwhelmed by the sheer power of this alpha wolf. It took a lot of power to enthrall an Omega. A lot of power. It was stronger than anything that you'd ever felt before.

"Fenrir?" Loki and Thor demanded incredulously at the same time, staring at the man in shock and confusion.