Prologue

“Your hair is beautiful, Mercedes,” Natasha chuckled, lightly fingering through the dense waves. “Never try to change yourself. Be comfortable in your body.” She smiled as she styled her hair. “People can tell if a woman is insecure about her body. Know your faults and embrace them. The surest way to throw someone off is honesty. Or, in Brittany’s case, disarming innocence.”

The girls laughed.

Natasha clipped the last section into place. “There. Unlike your sisters, you’ve chosen shorter hair like me. It’ll come in handy because they have to braid their’s down.”

“Do we always have to?” Santana sighed. “I like having my hair out.” She ran her fingers through her own raven locks, tossing them behind her shoulder.

“No,” Natasha said sternly. “It’s too easy to grab or get caught in a nook. Now finish braiding your sister’s hair.”

“And can you make it really pretty again, Tana?” Brittany looked up at her excitedly. “Like last time?”

Santana’s crankiness vanished and she smiled. “Of course, Britt.” 

There was a loud crack that echoed through the night.

Immediately, the four women sprang into action, grabbing guns and knives from under their pillows. They formed a circle, back to back, as they took in their surroundings, waiting...

The door blew off it’s hinges. A tall thin man with long flowing black hair chuckled as he kicked it to the side and walked in. Three teenagers followed in his wake--a solid boy with flowing brown hair, a tall lanky boy with a smirky face, and a short wispy girl with pretty blonde hair.

“Loki,” Natasha whispered in disbelief as she shoved her girls behind her and aimed her guns at the ex-Asgardian. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“I can’t stop by for a little reunion?” He smiled, but there was nothing pleasant about it. “I must say, the years have been kind to you, Natasha. You don’t look a day over thirty-five. Then again, on Asgard, you’d still be an adolescent. Speaking of which...” He glanced at Santana, Mercedes, and Brittany. “Looks like you’ve acquired some daughters, though none of them appear to be yours. These are mine.” He inclined his head to his children behind him. 

“Cut the bullshit, Loki. What do you want?” Natasha snapped.

Loki’s grin turned feral. “Oh, you know what I want.”

“Over my dead body,” Natasha said coldly, cocking her guns.

Loki merely inclined his head. “If that’s necessary. I do hate waste. Jesse. Sebastian. Quinn. Go play with your new friends.”

It was a blur after that.

Santana was forced back, holding her own against the tall lanky boy--Sebastian, she reminded herself--who was doing his best to hack her in half with his spear. Shooting at him was useless as he seemed to have some sort of force field around him that was deflecting her shots.

“Behind you,” he whispered in her ear.

She wheeled around, slashing through the air, but he vanished. She blinked in surprise and felt a solid kick to her back.

Santana crashed through the floor, landing painfully on the solid ground below. She was in the orchestra room, which looked eerily empty with just chairs in circles all around.

“Santana, is it?”

Behind her. There was Sebastian. But then he vanished.

“Can I call you Tana? We heard that other girl, Brittany call you that...”

Angrily, she threw her knife, but he vanished again. She grabbed the dagger that was strapped to her thigh under her night gown.

“Tana, are you okay?”

There were two of him now.

“Tana, are you okay?”

Now seven. She couldn’t tell which one was the original.

“Are you okay, Tana?”

She was hit from one side.

Then struck from another.

Then she heard a scream from upstairs.

It was Natasha.

“Children!” came a deep roar. It had to be Loki.

Suddenly, Sebastian snapped into one being and he grabbed Santana’s hair. 

She now knew why Natasha kept hers short.

Sebastian started to glow blue and Santana raised her dagger.

Sebastian smirked, raising his arm.

But she wasn’t aiming for him.

She cut her hair.

His eyes widened in surprise before he disappeared.

Breathing heavily, Santana ran to the hole she fell through, easily jumping up the chairs to pull herself through it again.

“Mercedes!” she heard Natasha scream. “Brittany! Santana!”

“Here!” Santana yelled.

Natasha’s leg was trapped underneath a large beam. Santana hastily picked it up, helping her get out. “They...” Natasha breathed heavily. “They took them. Jesse grabbed Mercedes and Quinn grabbed Brittany and...and...”

Santana had never seen her mother cry. And Natasha didn’t. But her eyes did become wet, so it was the closest that Santana had ever seen her.

Natasha blinked back her tears. “Alright, we need a strategy.” 

“Why did he come? What did he want?” Santana was reeling. Her sisters were taken. Mercedes, always so steadfast and dependable to get her out of a tight spot. And Brittany...sweet Britt... She attempted to blink back tears as well, but she wasn’t as practiced as her mother.

“An...an amulet,” Natasha said quietly. “You’re not supposed to know about it. It has to do...”

“With the Avengers?” Santana guessed.

Natasha nodded. “You’re still in contact with Mike, correct?”

Santana nodded. 

“Good. Go find him. Talk to Clint. Tell him what happened and that the amulet is gone. He’ll know the protocol.” Natasha stood briskly, going over to her dresser. “Suit up and pack light.”

“What are you going to do?”

Natasha sighed. “I have to go see Banner and his boy. Don’t, Santana,” she snapped off of Santana’s scoff. “I know you’ve never liked Artie, but now’s not the time. Do you want your sisters back?”

“Of course!”

“Then do as I say. And follow Clint.”

Santana nodded solemnly as she zipped up her jumpsuit. “We’re going to get them back, right?”

Natasha’s expression softened. “Of course.” She clapped Santana firmly on her shoulder. “I’ll see you in Manhattan.”