The tile floor was cold on Toni’s cheek. She could barely see and she couldn’t move her body. She just continued to lie there, hoping that everything that just happened was a dream.

Suddenly, a pair of warm hands grabbed her by the arms and lifted her off the ground. She couldn’t quite understand what was happening until she could feel a slight breeze against her face. She panicked, not sure what was going on. She tried to pull herself away, tried to run, only to be held closer. She wasn’t sure what was happening, but soon, her hearing came back.

A girl was screaming and a few males were shouting things over the shrill sound. None of it really made sense, it was like they were all shouting and screaming in a foreign language. Then, one voice, one word cut through the rest.

“Toni!”

It was then that her mind snapped back into place. She was the girl that had been screaming. Clint and Tony were the ones that had been shouting, and Loki was the one that was holding her tight in his arms.

He had been the one to call out her name.

“Are you alright?”

She was weak at the knees, although she wasn’t sure if it was because of the after effects of the gas or because here she was in Loki’s arms.

She shook her head, still not sure if she could actually use her voice for something other than screaming in fear.

Tony walked forward, placing a hand on Loki’s shoulder, who immediately surrendered Toni to her father.

She tried to stand on her own, only to fall into her dad’s arms. “Whoa, there,” Tony said quietly. “It’s okay. I’ve gotcha. It’s just an after effect of the gas. You’re going to be a little weak in every sense of the word.”

She tried to thank him for catching her, for protecting her here and back at the warehouse, but mostly she wanted to thank him for being the best parent he could be. She opened her mouth only to bite her tongue and feel tears well up in her eyes. She felt like she was five again after getting laughing gas and Novocain at the dentist.

****

Schaefer and Brooke were huddled together on the couch. Brooke didn’t really see their relationship as cannon, but he was there for her. He was willing to protect her with all his ability.

Bruce held Pamplemousse in his lap as she cried almost hysterically. The whole thing from the first gassing to the warehouse and the after effects of the final gassing were all enough to send her tumbling down. She was afraid, confused, but most of all, she was worried for her daddy.

Loki lead Toni into the living room and sat her down in one of the big, comfy arm chairs. He went to move away, only to have the teen cling to his shirt. "Please," she managed to mutter. "Don't leave me."

He paused, looked over at Tony who gave a quick gesture of approval, and then squeezed himself next to her.

Clint looked at the two of them, and then let his gaze fall to the carpet. "So Kanen wasn't lying about the two of you?"

Toni visibly shrunk back into Loki, burying some of her face in his shoulder.

"Toni," Steve said soothingly from next to Tony. "What did Kanen mean back at the warehouse? About...about daddy?"

She cringed and wrapped her arms around her body. Loki put a reassuring hand on her back. "They need to know, darling."

She looked over at her dad who returned her gaze, looking almost physically ill with worry. "If it's something I can help with," he started. "I want to know."

She looked up at all the faces around her. She knew that she had kept this from them for far too long, but she didn't think she had the courage to say.

"Daddy..." she started softly. "Daddy was mom's boyfriend. He didn't want to be called by his name. He wanted both of us to call him Daddy, so we did. He wasn't very nice to us, but my mom was either too afraid or too stupid to leave him. He...he started raping me when I was seven," she looked at her father. "That's part of the reason why I came to find you. I didn't want to be around him anymore. After I hit puberty, he started to put contraceptives in my food. One day, I caught him doing it and tried to run away from home. I didn't get very far, and that was the first time he hit me.

"I would've told someone if I thought I had someone to rely on. But I didn't think that anyone would believe me."

"We would’ve listened,” Tony said quietly. “You know we would’ve.”

“But for almost eighteen years, I didn’t even know you existed. I mean, I knew you existed, but I didn’t know you were my father. And when I got here, I didn’t know if I could trust you, let alone if you would believe me or not. The only reason why I’m telling you now is because I feel like I have to.”

“Would you have told us eventually?”

Toni shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t want to tell anyone. I was…embarrassed, I guess.”

Clint, who held his gaze to the carpet since she started talking, spoke up through tears. “So that’s why you acted how you did,” he mumbled. “That’s why you pulled away while we were together.”

Toni wanted to burst into tears. She wanted to crawl into the deepest, darkest hole and just stay there forever. She wanted a smoke. Instead, she only nodded. “All I could think of was Daddy and what he did to me. I wasn’t ready for anything remotely physical.”

Pamplemousse curled closer to Bruce, starting to feel less frightened, but sleepier. “Dad,” she muttered. “Will Kanen come back to get us?”

Bruce looked at Steve, his captain, and then at Schaefer. “No,” he replied. “I wouldn’t let them get you.”

Pamplemousse nodded and slowly drifted to sleep, feeling like she would be safe with them.

“What are you guys actually going to do?” Brooke asked, finally sitting up on her own. “I mean, that seemed like a legitimate threat, right?”

“Yeah, it was legitimate,” Steve said. “But he wouldn’t come back for us here. I’m sure we can get JARVIS to-”

“I’m already back online, Mr. Rogers,” JARVIS chimed in. “And I must say, thank you, Mr. Stark for setting me up with a new processing system.”

“No problem, JARVIS. The last thing I want is for you to get hacked again.”

“Back on topic,” Steve said like the born leader he was. “We still don’t know how we’re going to respond to Kanen’s threat.”

“Well,” Bruce said in sort of a pessimistic way. “I can’t exactly hang up the big guy. I’m kind of stuck here.”

Schaefer sighed and stood up, looking at Brooke and then the rest of his colleagues. “I know I may not be your favorite person, but I sink we should stay in zis togezer. I’m not willing to hang up my coat if you’re not willing to give up your vorld either.”

Bruce smiled lightly, happy to know that he wasn’t the only one with a life-changing decision on his hands. “Well, you have a Hulk,” he said almost sarcastically.

“And Iron Man,” Tony interjected, looking at his daughter with worry and relief at the same time.

“And a God of Mischief.”

“And a God of Thunder.”

“You have Captain America.”

“You have Hawkeye.”

“And your Shadow.”

Brooke stood up. “I know it’s not much, but you have a Brooke.”

Toni stood, too, smiling ever so slightly at the teamwork they were all showing. “And another Toni.”

Schaefer looked at his team, pleased that they weren’t willing to give up the hope for freedom in the world. “My team,” he mumbled. “Everyone’s here. Including our Black Vidow, who is vith us in spirit.”

Hetalia smiled at Schaefer and gave him a solemn nod to show her appreciation.

“Someone should call Fury,” Tony muttered. “We haven’t been this cooperative since our first shawarma dinner.”