"I don't trust Loki. I don't believe this isn't some scheme of his. It's possible it's not, but he's a crafty, manipulative bastard. Moreso than me." Tony shrugged, absently pulling out a piece of paper and starting to doodle the design for Kae's leg. "It makes Thor happy, but he's not exactly an impartial judge."

"No, he's not," Steve mused. "But you know, I'm inclined to believe him. There's no magic scepter this time, no army... and Thor's right there to put him in his place if he gets uppity. I don't think even Thor would let Loki wander around on his own."

"We'll see," was all Tony said. He didn't really want to be part of the watch Loki babysitting program, but it didn't look like he had much of a choice.

Steve shrugged.

"I don't think anyone would say anything if Loki did something to deserve getting knocked around and you obliged him," he said. Hell, he wouldn't say anything about it. Loki already deserved it, in his opinion.

Tony just grinned. That was a thought that cheered him up quite a bit.

But then Thor bounded back in, Loki still trudging sullenly around the library, and Tony went back to his design sketch.

By this point, Elaine was thoroughly tired of listening to Thor bouncing around like a squirrel on crack. The third time he skipped past her desk babbling to himself in Norse, she'd had enough. Getting up, she went to the meeting room.

"Mr. Stark?" she asked, to get a feel for where he was in the room. "Come here, please."

Tony blinked but got up and walked over so he was standing in front of her. "Need something?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Don't you ever suggest he get coffee again," Elaine said firmly, leaning in a bit. "Not here. Or I will make you responsible for keeping him under control." At the word 'you,' she tapped him on the chest with a finger, and promptly jerked back when she felt something distinctly unflesh-like. "Christ, what is that?!" she yelped in surprise.

"Hmm?" Tony blinked, not at all put off by her scolding him. He got scolded all the time, so he was kind of immune. "Oh, you touched the arc reactor. No big deal, it's just keeping me alive."

"Your what?" Elaine asked, still just the slightest bit put off by it. "Wait, is that what's making that humming?"

"I don't know, I can't hear it. It might be." Tony shrugged. "This is it." He took her hand and put it on the arc reactor. Really, he didn't care, and it was the only way to get her to 'see'.

Cautiously, Elaine traced her fingertips around the edges of the device.

"I could never figure out what was humming whenever you got close," she commented as she pulled her hand away again. "It was that."

Tony nodded. "Yeah. Makes sense." He shrugged. "Was there anything else you wanted besides scolding me for getting Thor coffee?"

"No," Elaine replied. "But don't do it again. I think the only one more sick of listening to him ramble on and on in Norse, besides Kae and I, is his brother."

"That's because Loki can understand the Norse, so he can't tune it out as well." Tony smirked, though, looking far too satisfied with himself. If he had to put up with Loki, he was going to make Loki regret coming here.

"When Thor finally keels over from the caffeine crash, you're dealing with him," Elaine said firmly. With that, she turned and made her way back to her desk.

Tony just snickered and shook his head, heading back to the meeting room, although he doubted they'd get much else done today anyway.

Elaine just sighed when she sat back down at her desk. Yeah, today seemed to be that kind of day. She doubted she would get much else done, either.

Kae didn't get much work done at all. First one of her crutches went missing, then Loki started poking around the emergency exit and she had to turn off the fire alarm, and then Thor crashed in the middle of the library. Fortunately, she didn't have to yell at Tony and Steve to get them to move the Asgardian.

"Why did we think this was a good idea?" Elaine said softly to Kae as the day started to come to a close. "Were they this much trouble before?"

"No, they weren't." Kae sighed. "It's like by taking us into the group, Fury has given them permission to be off their best behavior, or something." She made a face. "At least my crutch showed up again."

"Where did it go?" Elaine asked. "Or rather, where did you find it?"

"Back in Ben's area," Kae said with a shrug. "But Ben had left half an hour before I found it back there."

"Which means we both know how it really got there," Elaine said. She sighed. "I say we call Director Fury and demand a raise for putting up with this."

"I agree. Wholeheartedly. Especially since now we're helping to babysit Loki, too." Kae sighed. "Alright, you call him, I'll drive. If he doesn't give us what we want, we can go pay him a visit."