"Laura, get the kids upstairs and stay there," Cap ordered after he had assessed the situation. "Hawkeye, go with them." Clint nodded and herded his wife and kids up the stairs. He would stay here and protect his family. "Sigyn, stay in the house." Cap ordered you firmly. "The rest of you, we're taking the fight outside to them." You promptly ignored your orders the second Cap and the others started outside. You weren't leaving your family to fight for your safety without helping them. It was a stupid order anyway. "Can you ever do what you're told?" Cap demanded when he caught you coming with them.

"If I'm away from the house, they'll leave Laura and the kids alone. I'm the one they're after," you protested logically. You weren't going to let the civilians suffer for your choice to help Loki. "And I'm not going to let my family fight for my safety without helping," you added. He grumbled, but knew you had a point. If you weren't in the house, the men with guns had no reason to go in the house and risk hurting the civilians. So you ran across the yard very visibly with your family, drawing the attention of the men with guns from the house.

The battle began when the soldiers surrounded your group in the field where the boys had been chopping wood earlier. "If this goes sourly, get the hell out of here," Cap told you when he realized you were surrounded.. "Don't argue and do what you're told for once. Contact Fury and he'll keep you safe on the helicarrier." You nodded, accepting the orders and praying you didn't have to follow them.

"Those are tranq guns," Nat announced as she surveyed the attackers. "They're looking to subdue, not kill. Ironman, stay in their way. The guns can't affect you,"

"Got it!" Tony replied. Soon the guns started going off, including gas canisters and rubber pellets. Some of the men were brave and risked coming in for hand-to-hand. You stuck close to the middle of the group, using magic and daggers to aid the others.

It was a grueling battle. There were so many soldiers and even robots that looked like they were ripoffs of the ironman suits. The council had prepared to fight all of the Avengers at once. They kept trying to separate you from the group, too, and you had to work to keep that from happening without actually hurting anyone too badly. These people weren't evil, they were following orders. It was still troublesome to take them out without hurting them too badly.

The battle turned in your favor with a flash of green light.

"Hello, witchling. Sorry I'm late," Loki said with a smile from right next to you, his cape fluttered around you, deflecting a volley from the tranq guns. Your heart skipped a beat with hope and excitement at the sound of his voice. You couldn't quite believe he was real for a moment, but only a moment. It was him. He was here. He was back.

"Hello, darling," you replied with a grin. It was just as if nothing had happened, as if the last two weeks were just a bad dream. The fun, flirty, loving relationship had snapped right back into place. There would be a conversation about everything later, of course, but for now... "About time you showed up," you teased.

He leaned down to kiss you and you stood up on your toes to meet him halfway. He kissed you very thoroughly, very deeply, and very satisfactorily.

"You seemed to have found some excitement while I was away," he commented dryly, surveying the battle around you.

You shrugged. "Some government agency thinks they need to arrest me. It's all quite bothersome,"

"Well that is just unacceptable," Loki replied sounding put-upon. "They should know better than to try to arrest my beloved."

"They should," you agreed pleasantly.

"Would you two stop flirting and get back to the fight?" Stark demanded grumpily as he swept past, deflecting more tranq darts.

You both sighed heavily and rolled your eyes. "I guess we ought to help our friends," Loki finally said.

"They're so needy," you whined. He nodded his agreement. You offered him your hand, which already had the glowing blue aura of your magic surrounding it. "Together?" you asked with a grin.

He took your hand with his green glowing one. "Together," he replied.

"GET DOWN!" you both shouted at the same time, power gathering in your joined hands. Your teammates glanced at the pair of you and all dropped to the ground in an instant. They knew how much danger each of you could be apart. Combining your magic was doom for everyone who got caught up in it.

You unleashed the power you'd gathered and a pulse of magic spread across the battlefield, knocking everyone it touched unconscious, and knocking out power to all of the robots. The pulse was at about waist height, so all of your friends were safe. They slowly made their way back to their feet when it was gone.

You wrapped your arms around Loki's neck now that the battle was over. "I've missed you," you whispered in his ear as you held him too tightly.

"And I you, my darling," was his soft reply.