Kerry shrugged. "Hey, it's their business, I am staying out of that one," she said, shivering briefly. "Don't even want to know."

"Good point," Avery said, settling in a bit more on the couch. Her breath hitched a bit when she accidentally leaned her burned ribs on the arm of the couch. "I'm going to be so glad once these are healed up again..."

"I know. Soon enough." Kerry patted her shoulder and then froze. "FitzSimmons, don't touch that!"

They both stopped. They had been poking around at things and had found a panel and were busy figuring things out, and had been about to hit a security alert. By accident, of course. But they still stopped, more out of curiosity than because they knew what she could do.

Everyone turned to look at the scientists, and they both turned a bit red.

"Quit touching," Avery said to them. Clint looked at Kerry.

"What was about to happen?" he asked, curious.

"Loud blaring sounds," Kerry said dryly. "And flashing lights. Suddenly out of the blue. You can guess how well that was going to end."

"...Oh," Leo said, glancing uneasily at Gemma. They both glanced quickly at Bruce and away again.

"You didn't know," Kerry said, waving away their concerns. "Sit."

Tony snickered. "Guess I need to hide that button better," he said cheerfully.

"Just a little," Avery said, sitting back. She paused when she realized that the drinks were all out of reach and sighed. "Can someone throw me a bottle of water? I don't want to get up again, my ribs already hate me enough tonight."

Kerry got up and got them both waters, handing one to Avery.

"You're all patched up for the night, right?" she asked, just to be sure.

"Yeah, I should be fine," Avery said, nodding. She accepted the water and cracked it open. "Just a couple of runes this time, nothing else."

"That's good." Kerry settled herself in again. FitzSimmons both looked curious, but not quite curious enough to start asking questions.

Avery saw the looks and rolled her eyes a bit.

"I overdid it a bit with big magic today," she said. "Overheated two of my runes, burned myself. They need time to heal."

"Overheated?" Fitz asked.

"There's a limit? How often can you use them?" Simmons piped up.

"Not a limit to how many times, but a limit to how much power I conduct through them," Avery replied. "If I try to push too much magic around, they overheat and I get burned." She lifted the hem of her shirt a bit to show them the bandage. The other runes peeking out from the edges of the bandage were all fine. Some were a bit faded, others were crisp and dark and obviously newer. "Literal burns. I just had to lance the blisters and disinfect them so they can heal."

FitzSimmons looked fascinated still, and Kerry snickered.

"No poking and prodding her," she told the two. "She gets crabby when you do that."

"I already said no sciencing me," Avery said, settling back in on the couch.

Kerry chuckled and shook her head, grinning. Oh yes, life was definitely amusing.

A few days later, Avery found herself down in the gym in the tower, working at a punching bag. It actually wasn't a bad workout, really. The tee she had been wearing was draped over the bench, leaving her in a sports bra and yoga pants with her runes clearly visible. She did keep part of her attention on the door, though; she knew that most of the team had a habit of coming down to the gym at odd times, and she also knew that Loki had taken to wandering the tower and had an uncanny habit of finding her no matter where she was.

Loki had indeed found her again, and slipped out to see her while his brother was gone. He made his way down to the gym and leaned against one wall, watching her calmly.

Avery didn't notice him for several minutes. When she did, she jumped.

"Don't scare me like that," she said, putting a hand on her chest to try to calm her heart a bit. "Where the hell did you just come from?"

"The door." Loki smirked. "I did not intend to startle you this time, however. I simply wished to see if you want some company."

"I suppose, if you want to hang around," Avery said, going to grab a bottle of water. "I decided a physical workout was better today than a metaphysical one."

Loki nodded. He knew that feeling. Sometimes he just had too much energy.

Kerry paused when she saw the two from the doorway and then shrugged and walked in the rest of the way. "What, are we having a private party down here? Why didn't I get an invite?"

"Because there wasn't one," Avery said, grinning a bit at Kerry. "He showed up unannounced."

"Ah, I see. One of those." Kerry grinned a bit. "Well, then, are we making it a party now?"

Loki, for his part, just looked rather amused.