About twenty minutes after both Tony Stark and Steve Rogers jumped out the back of the quinjet to reclaim their prisoner, Iron Man contacted them over the comms system. He informed them they'd gotten Loki back, only after managing to get through to Thor, who was now willing to work alongside them.

Immediately after hearing the news, Agent Romanoff flew in the direction of the coordinates Tony provided. They eventually found the four of them in a clearing large enough for Natasha to land the quinjet in, Thor holding Loki by the back of his collar as Tony and Steve stood idly by.

Everett remained apprehensive as the blond Asgardian boarded the quinjet. Although he knew Thor was on their side now and it had all been somewhat of a misunderstanding, Everett still didn't fully trust the Asgardian enough to know that he wouldn't attack them again. Until he knew for certain Thor wasn't a threat and that Estelle would be safe in his company, he'd continue keeping his guard up around him.

Once Loki had been secured on board for the second time that night, Agent Romanoff set course for the helicarrier, hopefully this time with no interruptions.

At some point during the flight, Estelle had fallen asleep with her head resting on her brother's shoulder. Her soft snores echoed throughout the quinjet, causing Everett to smile down at her. He was glad she'd been able to get some sleep. He figured with all his unease she was undoubtedly feeling through him that she wouldn't be able to get any rest. But she'd been out like a light within forty minutes of Loki being secured.

Everett noticed Steve smiling softly at his sister's sleeping figure a while later, and he couldn't help but smirk knowingly to himself. It was obvious that Captain America harbored some kind of feelings for his sister, with the way he easily became flustered around her and was impressed by what she was capable of.

Normally, Everett loathed the people his sister attracted. Every single one of them only ever appreciated Estelle for her beauty, which typically ended with him threatening them or breaking their jaw, but it was obvious Steve saw beyond that. He seemed to admire her personality above all else, and that's the only reason Everett didn't tell him to get lost already.

They arrived back at the helicarrier at dawn, and as Agent Romanoff began lowering the aircraft onto the landing deck, Everett gently shook his sister awake to let her know they were back. Estelle woke up almost immediately, yawned and stretched out her limbs, then instantly began complaining about how desperately she needed a coffee right now.

When Agent Romanoff had landed and began shutting the engines down, the rear hatch was lowered and they noticed several SHIELD agents waiting at the bottom of the ramp with weapons. The agents quickly boarded the quinjet when the ramp was completely lowered and they grabbed Loki before escorting the god back down the ramp, most likely to his cell.

Another set of agents grabbed the scepter and brought it inside, presumably to the lab so Bruce could begin working on it. Or at least that's what Everett assumed. Seemed most likely to him. Otherwise why had Fury brought the scientist here?

The rest of them followed Natasha inside to the bridge, where she told them they'd wait for Fury, who she knew would want to speak with Loki personally before meeting up with them to discuss their next course of action.

Everyone took a seat at the table, Everett and Estelle sitting beside each other on one side with Steve across from Estelle and Natasha at the head of the table. Bruce, who had joined them a little late, probably because he immediately began working on the scepter once it was brought to him, stood idly by with Thor. But Tony was nowhere to be seen. They weren't sure where he'd disappeared to. None of them had even noticed he left the group on the way in.

Natasha pulled up multiple live feeds to Loki's cell on the table's surface, which apparently doubled as some sort of computer screen. It was quite remarkable, really, all the technology and weapons SHIELD seemed to have at their disposal. It made Everett curious about what else they had up their sleeves.

They all watched from their respective live feeds as Director Nick Fury walked up to a control panel for the cell as he spoke to Loki directly.

"In case it's unclear, if you try to escape, if you so much as scratch that glass," Fury paused, pressing a button which opened up a hatch underneath Loki's cell. Gusting winds immediately filtered through the room, and as the god peered down the best he could from his glass cell, Loki realized what his prison was capable of.

Everett knew something was off about this. Loki didn't even look scared. He didn't even look bothered at all by what was going on. The god seemed perfectly content where he was, like he had planned for this to happen so he could end up here. Everett didn't like it one bit. It made him feel uneasy. What the hell kind of game was Loki playing at?

"It's thirty-thousand feet straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works?" Fury's rhetorical question was left unanswered as he reached out, pressing another button on the control panel, closing the hatch. They watched as he pointed first at Loki, then the control panel while saying each word. "Ant, boot."

Loki chuckled, a smirk spreading across his pale face. "It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me."

"Built for something a lot stronger than you," Fury confirmed the god's suspicions.

Everyone in the room turned to look at Bruce, who shifted uncomfortably and ignored them, continuing to gaze intently at one of the monitors.

"Oh, I've heard," Loki mused, turning to look at the camera. "The mindless beast makes play he's still a man. How desperate are you, that you call on such lost creatures to defend you?"

"How desperate am I?" Fury's voice was low, dangerous, as he approached the cell with a slow, intimidating walk. "You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control. You talk about peace, and you kill because it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did."

"Ooh," Loki taunted. "It burns you to have come so close. To have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power. And for what? A warm light for all mankind to share. And then to be reminded what real power is."

Fury smiled as he turned and walked away. "Well, let me know if 'real power' wants a magazine or something."

They watched as Loki turned to smirk at the camera one last time before the footage cut out now that the interrogation was over. Everett leaned back in his chair, sharing a worried look with Estelle, who he knew could sense just how bothered he was by the god's behaviour.

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Bruce said, breaking the silence.

"Loki's gonna drag this out," Steve stated the obvious as he turned to look at the other Asgardian they had encountered on their mission. "So, Thor, what's his play?"

"He has an army called the Chitauri," Thor explained, slowly turning around to face them. "They're not of Asgard, nor any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth, in return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."

"An army?" Steve said.

"Like, from outer space?" Estelle said, although her voice wasn't anywhere near as serious as Captain America's had been. Her tone was a mixture of excitement, curiosity and a little bit of fear.

"So, he's building another portal," Bruce concluded. "That's what he needs Erik Selvig for."

"Selvig?" Thor repeated.

"He's an astrophysicist," Bruce explained.

"He's a friend," Thor corrected.

"Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with one of ours," Natasha said, a twinge of sadness in her voice.

The twins had learned that one of the SHIELD agents that had been taken along with the Tesseract days earlier had been a close friend of Agent Romanoff. Clint Barton, better known as Hawkeye, according to Agent Coulson, who had briefly informed them on the matter before they left to apprehend Loki.

"I wanna know why Loki let us take him," Steve said. "He's not leading an army from here."

"I couldn't agree more," Everett spoke up, earning an appreciative look from Captain America. "I've always had a strong intuition, ever since I was a kid."

"It's true," Estelle confirmed.

"And after we got Loki," Everett continued, "I don't know, something just feels off about this whole thing. It's like he wanted us to bring him here."

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki," Bruce said. "That guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You could smell crazy on him."

"Have care how you speak," Thor warned. "Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard. And he is my brother."

"Some brother you have there," Estelle scoffed, folding her arms across her chest as she shook her head.

Everett could hear his sister's thoughts after she spoke, and he couldn't help but smile a little bit. She was comparing him to Loki, and thinking about how grateful she was to have a brother like him and not one like the Asgardian they had captured.

But Everett didn't feel the same way about Loki as his sister did. Obviously, he despised the god with a passion. Loki did kill a lot of people in the past two days, he was a danger to Estelle's life, and who knows what else the Asgardian has done. However, Everett knew what it was like to have a sibling and could at the very least empathize with Thor on that matter. Not that she ever would, but if Estelle ever behaved like Loki was now, he'd still love his sister no matter what and he'd want to protect her even after all the unforgivable things she'd done. Everett hoped, for Thor's sake, they could perhaps find a way to stop Loki without having to kill him.

"He killed eighty people in two days," Natasha deadpanned.

Thor hesitated, "He's adopted."

"I think it's about the mechanics," Bruce said, getting back on track. "Iridium... what did they need the iridium for?"

"It's a stabilizing agent."

All heads turned at the sound of Tony Stark's voice. They watched as he walked into the room, speaking briefly with Coulson before walking towards them to elaborate on what he'd said about the iridium.

"It means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at SHIELD," Tony continued. He stopped near Thor, slapping the god's arm. "No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing."

As Tony walked away from Thor, he referred back to the iridium. "Also, it means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long as Loki wants." He came to a stop at the command center on the bridge, where Director Fury would give orders to those below at the monitors, and he began to jokingly give orders to the crew, who all looked up at him in confusion. "Uh, raise the mizzenmast. Jib the topsails. That man is playing Galaga. He thought we wouldn't notice, but we did."

Everyone turned to look at the man Tony had accused of playing a video game over working, and they found a middle-aged agent looking up at them with an innocent expression. His monitor, however, didn't show any indication that he'd been playing a video game, which didn't necessarily mean the man was innocent, but who knows.

"He was so playing Galaga," Estelle whispered to her brother.

"Would you focus?" Everett scolded her.

"I am focused."

"Yeah, right," Everett scoffed, earning himself not only a glare but a swift kick under the table to his shin. He grimaced and glared at his sister, who flashed him an innocent smile.

"Are you okay, brother?" Estelle asked with fake concern.

Everett elected to say nothing, knowing he had more important matters than his sister's immature behaviour. He turned away from her innocent smile and mischievous eyes, only to find Steve Rogers glancing between them with raised brows, obviously having witnessed what happened between the twins just now.

Tony lifted a hand, covering his one eye as he looked around, trying to get a sense of how Fury worked up there. "How does Fury even see these?" he asked, referring to the computer monitors that would be in said man's blindspot.

"He turns," said Agent Maria Hill.

"Sounds exhausting," Tony said before he turning and began messing around on the monitors. "The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. The only major component he still needs is a power source of high-energy density. Something to kick-start the Cube."

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Agent Hill asked, seemingly impressed.

"Last night," Tony replied. "The packet, Selvig's notes, the extraction theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?"

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve asked, the question obviously directed at Tony since he was looking at the man. But it wasn't Tony who gave him an answer, it was Bruce.

"He would have to heat the Cube a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier," Bruce explained in words that left everyone else dumbfounded except for himself and Iron Man.

"Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect," Tony said.

"Any idea at all what they're saying?" Estelle whispered, leaning over to her brother.

"No fucking idea," he whispered back.

"Well, if he could do that," Bruce went on, "he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet."

"Finally, someone who speaks English," Tony smiled, motioning towards Banner, who sheepishly looked away at the compliment.

"Is that what just happened?" Steve asked with raised brows.

"It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner," Tony said as he shook the scientist's hand, a glimmer of mutual respect for each other in both their eyes. "Your work on antielectron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage-monster."

Bruce looked away. "Thanks."

"Dr. Banner is only here to track the Cube," Director Fury made clear to the billionaire as he walked into the room, drawing everyone's attention as he did. "I was hoping you might join him."

"Let's start with that stick of his," Steve suggested. "It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon."

"Like the HYDRA weapons you went up against during the war?" Estelle asked, excitedly leaning forward against the table as she stared across at Steve. "I don't recall seeing anything or reading about anything like Loki's scepter in any of the newspaper articles. And trust me, I've read every single one of them. My mother, Grace, would take me to the library all the time so I could read everything the library had on you in their archives and━"

"Miss Hargreeves," Fury interrupted her rant, his tone laced with annoyance. "Now isn't the time for your childhood obsessions." His words caused the blond woman to frown and lean back in her chair with a pout, mumbling the word asshole under her breath.

Fury then looked at Steve, responding to what he'd said before. "I don't know about a HYDRA weapon, but the scepter is powered by the Cube. And I would like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."

"Monkeys?" Thor repeated, utterly confused. "I do not understand."

"I do!" Steve exclaimed, causing the room to grow quiet as everyone looked at him. Tony rolled his eyes in annoyance, but Steve remained proud of himself. "I understood that reference."

"You really are too cute," Estelle smiled across at him, causing Captain America to become flustered again.

Everett nudged her. "Focus, Stell."

"Shall we play, doctor?" Tony asked, turning to face Banner again.

"This way, sir," Bruce replied, leading the way out of the room.

　
❊ ❊ ❊
　

Hours had passed since Fury's interrogation with Loki. While Tony and Bruce remained holed up in the lab together working on the scepter, everyone else had found something to keep themselves busy for the time being.

Natasha was sitting at one of the monitors at the bridge, using her skills to try and locate Agent Barton on her own. It was obvious she was desperate to find him and return him to the man he'd been before Loki brainwashed him. Meanwhile, Thor hadn't left the bridge at all and found himself in the company of one Agent Coulson, the two discussing Erik Selvig and Jane Foster, a name Everett distinctively remembered hearing on the news in New Mexico. She'd been involved in what happened with Thor back then.

Everett wasn't really sure where Steve had wandered off to by now. Maybe he was checking in on Tony and Bruce in the lab. But his sister had left with Agent Hill to the cafeteria to get some coffee and food a few minutes ago. Estelle hadn't been too happy to hear that the helicarrier had a cafeteria all this time and that she could have gotten coffee and food during the hours they were sitting around doing nothing yesterday. She practically ran out of the room when Agent Hill had brought it up.

As he was sitting there waiting for his sister to return, Everett decided to approach Fury about something. So he got up and walked over to where the man was standing at the command center at the bridge.

"Director Fury," he greeted.

The man turned away from the monitor he was staring at to look at Everett. "Mr. Hargreeves," he greeted back. "What can I do for you?"

"Well, I was just wondering, what was your next move with Loki?"

"Further interrogation," Fury answered. "Not just by me, but Agent Romanoff as well. She has a history of getting people to talk so I believe she might be able to get us some answers. Why do you ask?"

"You didn't just recruit me, you recruited my sister as well," Everett began. "I don't think you meant for her to just tag along because you needed my powers to help you get Loki. You needed her here just as much as you needed me."

"You're not wrong," Fury said, eyeing him suspiciously as he wondered where this conversation was going.

"If that's true, you should give her a chance to interrogate Loki on her own," Everett suggested. "I'm not really fond of the idea myself, I'd prefer my sister didn't mess around in the head of a crazy, murderous god, but this is what she does. And who knows, maybe she can get some answers that Agent Romanoff won't be able to get because of her powers."

Fury thought about it for a moment before nodding. "Perhaps you're right. I'll speak with Miss Hargreeves and see if she is up to the task."

"Thank you," Everett said, stepping away so the man could resume his work.

He walked back over to the table and sat down, waiting patiently for his sister to return from the cafeteria. And when she finally did, Everett realized what had taken her so long.

She was with Steve, and they were talking about something that had his sister practically grinning from ear-to-ear. Not only that, Steve was carrying a drink carrier for her that held three white cups of coffees as Estelle carried what appeared to be three neatly wrapped sandwiches.

The two of them walked over to the table and Steve didn't hesitate to pull out a chair for her to sit down.

"Such a gentleman," Estelle complimented him with a wink and a smile before she sat down in the chair that was opposite of her brother.

When her eyes finally met his from across the table, Everett raised his brows at her in a teasing manner. So this is what took you so long, huh?

Shut up and eat your food.

Estelle passed out the sandwiches to the three of them as Steve sat down next to her and did the same thing with the coffees, making sure that everyone got the correct cups Estelle had marked in the cafeteria.

"Thanks," Everett said.

He immediately got to work unwrapping his sandwich and taking a bite. He didn't even realize how hungry he was until now. And how tired he was. Everett felt like he could sleep for an entire day at this point, and apparently, his sister could tell.

"You look tired," Estelle frowned.

"I'm fine."

"You don't think I can feel how tired you are?"

"Estelle, really, I'm fine," he insisted.

"You should get some rest," Estelle persisted. "I can come get you if anything important happens."

"Not gonna happen," Everett said, chewing a bite of his sandwich.

"Why are you always so stubborn?"

"Estelle, I'm not going to take a nap," Everett said firmly. "I appreciate the concern, but it's not going to happen. So please just stop talking about it and eat your food. You need your strength."

"Need my strength for what?" Estelle asked in confusion.

Everett didn't respond and instead took another bite of his food. He could practically feel his sister picking through his brain, trying to figure out what he meant, but he was pretty good at keeping things out of her reach by now so he wasn't at all worried and continued to eat his food.

When everyone finished up their sandwiches, they started drinking their coffees. Estelle even stopped trying to figure out what Everett said and struck up a conversation with Steve. She was leaning sideways in her seat to face him, elbow on the back of her chair, hand in her hair as smiled at him. She really was completely infatuated, and by the looks of it, so was Steve.

Everett couldn't help but smirk at the pair sitting across from him.

It wasn't much longer when Nick Fury finally approached their table and directed his attention solely on Estelle.

"Miss Hargreeves," Fury said, capturing her attention immediately as she abruptly turned around in her seat to face him.

"Fury," she greeted with a twinge of curiosity in her voice, wondering why it was he was singling her out.

"How would you feel about interrogating Loki on your own?" Fury asked.

Estelle's eyes widened. "Oh, um..."

"Are you up for the task or not, Miss Hargreeves?" Fury said, impatiently.

"Yes!" she exclaimed. "I can do it."

"Good. Be ready in ten," Fury said as he turned to walk away. "I'll have some men escort you there."

When Fury walked away, Estelle turned to face her brother with even wider eyes. She truthfully looked terrified that she would be facing a god all on her own, but he gave her a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry," Everett told her. "I'll be there the whole time and won't let anything bad happen to you."

"Okay, yeah, no, I've totally got this," Estelle said, trying to encourage herself but obviously failing miserably as she still looked terrified.

A few minutes later, two men approached their table and they followed them out of the room. Everett stayed close to his sister because of her raging anxiety. She wasn't okay, he knew she wasn't. He could feel how terrified she was to be using her powers against a god. He understood how she felt, though, for he'd been in her shoes last night, and he tried his best to reassure her everything would be okay and that he wouldn't let anything happen to her. But it didn't seem like anything helped ease her nerves.

As they ventured down various hallways towards Loki's cell, Everett at one point looked over his shoulder and noticed that Steve had joined them. The man seemed to be both interested in witnessing Estelle's powers for himself and worried about her being face-to-face with a god all on her own. Everett didn't really mind that he was tagging along for the interrogation. If Loki tried anything at all, at least he'd have someone else to back him up.

When they arrived at the room where Loki was being kept, they paused outside the room and peered inside.

"You can go in whenever you're ready, ma'am," one of the men told Estelle before him and the other agent positioned themselves on either side of the entrance in case of emergency, and to obviously escort them back to the bridge when Estelle was finished with her interrogation.

"Thank you," Everett told them on his sister's behalf because she was far too terrified to even speak at the moment.

Several moments passed, each one filled with silence or Estelle's mumbling as she lamely attempted to encourage herself to go inside. Eventually, when it became apparent to him that his sister was too terrified to even move, Everett turned her around and placed his hands on her shoulders, looking her straight in the eyes.

"Listen to me, Estelle," he said sternly, yet with soft eyes. "I know you're scared, but I swear on my life, I'm not going to let anything happen to you in there. You don't have to be afraid, I promise."

Almost immediately, Estelle stopped trembling and she relied on her brother's calm demeanor to soothe her own nerves. "Thank you, Ev," she whispered before stepping away, a look of determination replacing the fear that had once been written all over her face seconds ago.

"You got this," Steve said encouragingly.

Estelle turned to look at him and smiled, overwhelmed with a newfound confidence unlike anything before as she had the complete and utter faith of Captain America on her side.

She took a deep breath and then entered the room which housed the god's cell, Everett and Steve protectively following behind her. Loki turned to look at them at the sound of the door opening and then closing, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. He studied them just as Estelle studied him, trying to get a read on him before she'd enter his mind and begin the interrogation.

"If you're here to interrogate me, I'm afraid you'll be leaving disappointed," Loki taunted.

Everett didn't react to what the god said. He kept his face void of all emotion, not wanting to give Loki such satisfaction. Not that his taunting had any affect on him, anyway. Everett had complete faith in Estelle and was confident she wouldn't fail when she went into the god's mind.

Still, though, the fact Loki was staring at his sister the way he was, taunting her the way he was, was enough to make Everett's skin itch. He met Estelle's gaze when she turned to look at him, most likely sensing his distaste with the god.

Don't engage with him, he told her, before nodding his head, silently telling her to begin the interrogation now.

Estelle turned back to Loki, who didn't look at all pleased that they hadn't taken the bait with his comment.

"Nothing to say?"

Sensing she was ready, Everett led his sister over to a bench along the wall a few paces away, yet in an area where they were still in view of Loki through the glass window. The god watched them, clearly interested in what was happening if not concerned, as she laid down across the bench and Everett took her hand.

"What's happening?" Steve asked, watching in confusion as Estelle closed her eyes and relaxed her entire body. "How is she supposed to interrogate Loki like this?"

"She was never going to go in there, at least not in her physical form," Everett told him.

"Her astral form," Steve quickly realized.

A few seconds later, she rose up from the bench in astral form, for only Everett to see. Estelle peered down at her unconscious body before meeting her brother's gaze and slipping off the bench.

"Be careful," he pleaded with her.

"I will," she promised.

Everett hesitantly released his sister's hand and stood, turning to watch as Estelle's astral form walked through the wall and began approaching Loki's cell.

"I assume it worked?" Steve asked.

"Yeah."

"Where is she now?"

"About five feet away from Loki's cell."

"So how does this work?" Steve asked, curious to how exactly she was supposed to interrogate the Asgardian when Everett was the only one capable of seeing her in her astral form.

"Remember when she told you she can read people?" Everett said, receiving a nod in response. "She'll be doing that, only in her astral form."

Steve's brow was furrowed in confusion. "But I thought she wasn't able to touch anyone in that form other than you? Because of the bond you two share with each other?"

"She doesn't need to touch Loki to be able to read him," Everett explained. "The only way she can read people while in her astral form is to connect directly with their mind, which doesn't involve any touching at all, really, she just has to be close enough to the person to establish the connection between them."

"Will Loki know it's happening?" Steve asked.

Everett swallowed the lump in his throat as he watched his sister exhale shakily before phasing through the cell as she stepped inside the prison, now even closer to the Asgardian than before. "He will. Which is why I'm glad you're here to back us up."

"How will we know when it happens?" Steve asked.

"Loki is strong, he'll most likely put up a fight, which won't be hard to miss," Everett explained. "But then it'll be like falling asleep and he'll join Estelle in his own mind as she interrogates him for information."

"Will she have complete control over him once that happens?" Steve asked, slightly worried.

"It depends," Everett said.

"On what?"

"On how strong Loki is," Everett elaborated. "You have to understand, she's never used her powers on a god before. She's swimming into completely uncharted waters right now. We just have to hope Estelle's powers keep him contained long enough that she can get what we need."

"Is he able to hurt her in there?"

Everett looked down, memories of the last time she was hurt within someone's mind flashing before his eyes.

It happened when they were kids. Their father made Estelle practice with Diego one afternoon. It was only supposed to be a routine "head dive," as their father had called it back then. But Estelle was instead put to the test when Diego was secretly instructed by Reginald to fight back, to use his powers on Estelle to see just how strong her mental defenses were. She hadn't been prepared for the attack and so Diego had accidentally hit her with one of his knives in his mind, leaving Estelle with a scar she'd have for the rest of her life.

"He can," Everett said grimly, shaking away the memory.

Silence fell over them after that, and Everett watched with a worried expression as Estelle finally gathered up the courage to step even closer to Loki, raise her hand towards his head and close her eyes as she focused her mind on the god's. Everett knew she was probably using that technique of hers, where she imagined a string and herself tying a knot between her mind and Loki's to establish the connection.

Within seconds, Loki began to wobble on his feet. It was obvious he was beginning to feel the effects of Estelle's powers. He stumbled over to the wall of his cell, holding himself up with a hand against the glass.

"It's happening, isn't it?" Steve asked, turning to look at Everett, who only nodded in response to his question.

Loki continued to put up a struggle, fighting against the pull of her powers. But within two minutes, he was out like a light and collapsed against the floor of his cell, as if he was asleep.

"Keep an eye on him," Everett instructed as he quickly turned around and walked over to where his sister's unconscious body was still laying across the bench. He knelt down beside her, taking her hand in his and brushing his other hand through her blond hair in a soothing manner to let her know that he was here with her.

"How is she holding up?" Steve asked from where he was still standing by the glass window watching Loki.

"She's okay," Everett said, closing his eyes and reading through her mind to ensure everything was going smoothly. As far as he could tell, she didn't seem to be struggling at the moment. "She's got him under control. For now, at least."

One of the two agents that had escorted them all the way here suddenly walked over. "Mr. Hargreeves, Director Fury would like to confirm with you what just happened to the prisoner."

Everett nodded and took the radio that was extended towards him. "Sir?"

"Mr. Hargreeves, why is it that I just watched as our prisoner collapsed? What the hell is happening over there? And why hasn't Miss Hargreeves begun her interrogation yet?"

"She has," Everett replied. "Estelle is in her astral form, which is why you can't see her right now. Loki collapsed because she penetrated his mind to obtain information from him. This is her form of interrogation, sir, I thought you were aware of this..."

"I see. Just keep me updated if anything changes."

"We will," Everett said, passing the radio back off to the agent before focusing on his sister once more.

As time went on, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary and the agent nearby continued to update Nick Fury for them, informing the Director of SHIELD that Estelle was still interrogating Loki and they weren't sure when she would be done. Steve didn't see anything wrong with Loki either, the god continued to lay there unmoving. But then, about five minutes later, Estelle's nose began to bleed and at the same time Steve informed Everett that the god began to twitch.

That's about when Everett completely lost his mind, consumed with worry.

He dropped his sister's hand and rose up, cupping her face in his hands in an attempt to wake her. "Estelle, can you hear me? Estelle?"

When there was no response, Everett began to panic. He jumped to his feet and looked through the window, where he saw her astral form on her knees, holding her head in pain. It was obvious Loki was fighting back, putting an incredible strain on her powers, which explained the nose bleed.

"Fuck," Everett cursed.

"What's happening? Is she okay?" Steve asked worriedly.

"No, she isn't okay," Everett replied, a little too harshly, but Steve didn't seem bothered by it considering he knew the man was just concerned about his sister. "I need to wake her up."

"How are you going to do that?"

"I need to go inside her head," Everett said. "And if that doesn't work, I need you to forcefully wake Loki up for me."

Steve nodded, watching in a mixture of curiosity and concern as Everett touched the sides of his sister's head and closed his eyes, brow furrowed in concentration.

Everett used his sister's technique and imagined a string, which he then tied first around his sister's mind and then his own, establishing a connection between them that he used to delve deeper into her mind than he normally would.

When Everett opened his eyes, he saw a figure in the distance and knew right away it was his sister. She was on her knees, holding her head in a pitch black room that seemingly had no end in sight. He quickly ran over, dropping to his knees in front of her and carefully taking her face in his hands.

"Estelle!" he shouted worriedly, and she gasped, immediately opening her eyes to look at him.

"Everett?" Estelle whispered in a mixture of shock and confusion. "How are you...?"

"I entered your mind, obviously," Everett said, standing up. "Now take my hand and concentrate on me, not Loki. We have to wake you up right now."

Estelle nodded and stood to her feet. She took his hands and they both closed their eyes, concentrating on each other. And when they opened their eyes next, they were back just outside of Loki's cell on the helicarrier and Estelle was waking back up in her physical body.

Everett breathed out a sigh of relief as he watched his sister sit up on the bench. He sat down beside her and enveloped her in his arms. He pulled away a moment later and began cleaning the blood from her nose with his sleeve. "Are you okay? What the fuck happened? Did Loki hurt you? What did you find out from him?"

"I'm fine, just a little light-headed," Estelle said, reaching up to massage her temples. "And I didn't get much before Loki found out what I was doing in there. But the things I saw..." She began to tremble and there was a faraway look in her eyes, like she was being haunted by what she'd seen. "None of it was anything like Thor mentioned before."

Everett could sense the dread and horror practically radiating off his sister, and he became even more worried about her as the seconds passed, for he'd never seen her this shaken up before. He swallowed the lump that had quickly formed in his throat as he shared a concerned look with Steve, who seemed just as worried by what she found within the god's mind.

What the fuck did she see?

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a/n: We finally got to see Estelle use her powers on the mission! Not to mention you got to see more of the connection the twins have when Everett went into her mind to save her. I really enjoyed writing that whole scene through Everett's POV.

If you would like to know what Estelle saw within Loki's mind, make sure to read Afterglow by pseudonym-lux if you aren't already! Trust me, it's some good stuff you 😉

Also, can we talk about Estelle and Steve in this chapter? He was smiling as she slept on Everett's shoulder in the quinjet. They talked so naturally with each other. Steve being worried about her 🥺 They're just too cute!