Loki stood along the balcony with his hands resting firmly against the rails as he gazed down at his kingdom. It was only a small portion of his empire that was laid out before him. This entire realm was his. He was the ruler of Midgard. Its sole King. He finally had everything that he wanted. He had accomplished everything that he had set out to do.

He could have chosen anywhere on this planet to build his palace but there was never a question that he would select this city. After all, this was where the Mighty Avenger's had tried so hard to stop him and failed so miserably. Yes, there was never any doubt that New York would be chosen for this grand Fortress where he stood.

Loki ruled his new dominion with a firm hand. His Chitauri armies made certain that the rabble stayed in line but they weren't his only supporters. It wasn't long before the mindless little human's stepped in line. Most of them just wanted to go on about their lives as simply as they could so they gladly accepted his authority. And those few that still had the taste for rebellion, well; he had his ways of taking care of them.

His world was perfect or at least he should have felt like it was but Loki found himself still unsatisfied. He was still plagued by his inability to sleep. A condition that had come upon him after his discovery of Odin's little secret. That was when the thoughts of his true heritage began haunting his mind. In the darkness of night was when it was at its worse and sometimes it drove him near madness. This was one of those such nights.

His dark green eyes observed the city lights below him and the twinkling stars that lingered above. The god had everything and yet he felt there was something missing. He felt hollow and quite frankly, he felt bored. He needed something to stimulate him, to intrigue him, something that could get his mind off these melancholy thoughts that always haunted him in the midnight hours.

His gaze flickered to the traffic lights in the distance as they turned from yellow to red. Red, that color always made him think of her. Loki's eyes narrowed at the reflection. The red-headed woman had been a thorn in his side. So unflappable and defiant even to the last moment when they were defeated. She had tricked him once and he found himself thinking of that moment often. She was clever. He had to give her that and manipulative much like himself.

An unexpected idea sparked in his mind and a devilish smile descended over the young god's features. He suddenly decided that he had a much better way to pass the time during these sleepless hours. He turned swiftly to the guard who was standing a few feet away awaiting his next orders.

"Go ahead and tell the warden that I am coming down into the dungeons. Prepare a seat outside the Black Widow's cell," He grinned maliciously. "I wish to speak with her."

Natasha sat in the middle of the cold cell, her legs firmly tucked beneath her. They'd fought long and hard, but they had failed. The Chitauri invaders rounded up the Avengers and imprisoned them. Loki had been sinister enough to provide cells that were almost exact replicas of the holding cell he'd been kept in on the Helicarrier…

Oh, the bitter irony.

They'd taken special care to split the team up, but as far as she knew, she was the only one in isolation. It appeared that Steve and Clint were paired up elsewhere, and Tony and Bruce were in another cell.

Loki had wisely fitted Banner with a suppression collar that would help keep the "other guy" at bay. Natasha didn't understand why, out of all of her teammates, she was the one Loki chose to isolate, but she was stripped of her weapons…and her cat suit.

She remembered preparing herself for the worse as they snatched her out of the restrictive clothing, but all they did after getting her in her underwear was shove her into the cell.

Now, she sat alone in a pair of dark green satin underwear in the middle of the cold, glass cell when he walked in. She met his dark green gaze head-on.

"I knew you'd come", she said stoically.

"Did you, Agent Romanoff," Loki smirked as he strutted forward so that he was only a foot from the glass. "Or should I even call you that now that your precious SHIELD has been snuffed out of existence." His emerald eyes couldn't help but take in the sight of her body.

He had not been down here since he had commanded his soldiers to take the battered Avengers into the dungeons. He had told them to strip the prisoners of anything belonging to SHIELD. He had meant weapons and other paraphernalia. But obviously, the Chitauri had taken his words to include uniforms as well. Not that the young god was complaining.

She was even more gorgeous than he had imagined she would be under all that black leather. He raised his eyebrow as he took in the color of her lacy bra and panties. It was almost as if she had picked the garment for him.

He licked his lips subconsciously as his dark green eyes perused the creamy alabaster skin that was laid out before him. The pert breasts moving up and down beneath the delicate fabric with each intake of her breath seemed to demand his attention. Although her slender waist and luscious thighs were also begging to be noticed.

Loki shook his head slightly as he realized that he had stopped speaking. He was annoyed that he allowed this mere mortals assets to captivate him so completely. He focused his gaze into her dark blue eyes. "The infamous Black Widow. It turns out that you are no more than a tiny little spider that I can crush under my boot whenever I choose."

He tilted his head as he watched the soldier enter the hall with the chair that he had requested. He waited for him to set it down and leave before he continued speaking. The young god moved the chair closer as he sat down in front of the glass. "So tell me, little spider, how does it feel to be on that side of this cage?"

Natasha noticed the way he stared at her, and was honestly surprised by his reaction to her. Regular men were easy targets, but she never imagined the God of Mischief, who was born and raised in a realm where every woman was literally a goddess, would look at her the way he just had.

She remained still as his gaze greedily raked over her curves, forcing herself to remain calm and still under his intense stare.

"You know exactly how it feels…why ask me pointless questions?" She smirked bitterly and rolled her eyes, "Come on, Loki. Surely, you can do better than that for your opening act."

She stood up and sauntered closer to the glass, "You're either here for one of two reasons…you either want to torture me, or you just want to have the satisfaction of seeing me on the other side of the glass. Which is it?"

"Perhaps a little of both," Loki mused with a devilish grin. His eyes followed the movement of her legs as she closed the distance between them. He paused for a moment at the apex of her thighs covered so temptingly by the thin satin fabric before he raised his emerald gaze languidly back up to her eyes.

"Or perhaps I will have one of your former friends torture you for me," the young god taunted in his silky accent. "Have you missed the cold blue gaze of your lover? Maybe I should arrange a meeting for you."

Natasha's stomach dropped. The fact that he could turn any of her teammates against her was probably the most frightening aspect of Loki's powers. Barton especially.

She crossed her arms across her chest and forced herself to lock away her fears as her face remained steady and unwavering in the face of his threats.

"If you wanted Barton in here, he would have been in here by now. If you were really interested in my torture or killing me, I know I would be long dead. This is like a game of cat and mouse for you…no…you won't kill me until you've had your fun…"

She saw the way his eyes once again raked over her body and surmised exactly what type of "fun" he might have in mind.

Loki knew that the thought of one of her comrades being turned once more into his pawn had to frighten her at least a little yet she showed no sign of it at all. She was defiant as ever. Never failing in her unwavering retorts at his words. There must be some way to get under this woman's skin. To truly ruffle that calm exterior that she held onto so tightly. The exterior that he couldn't seem to keep his eyes from appreciating.

'Fun,' he mused to himself. He couldn't recall the last time that he experienced anything that he would consider even remotely fun. His life had become a series of monotonous drudgery. Perhaps, that was why he had trouble sleeping. He moved through the day in a near sleep form the tedium of his existence.

"Interesting choice of words, little spider," the young god smirked. "Tell me what do you suggest I do with you for fun?"

"Take up bowling. Cross stitch…oh, I know…join a book club…but I think if they picked a book you didn't like, you'd kill them", she said mockingly.

Natasha turned around and walked toward the cot on the opposite edge of the room, letting him have his eyeful of her back side.

Loki watched the sway of her hips as she moved away from him. His thoughts becoming decidedly more erotic with each step that she took. She turned slowly before easing herself down on the small cot. A purposeful movement on her part, he knew. She was the Black Widow, after all. Trained to use her wiles on men. The fact of that didn't bother him. It was the fact that her motions had an effect on him that ignited his ire.

"Now, now, little spider," Loki rasped with the slightest edge to his voice. "I know you understood my question better than that. What should YOU and I do for fun?"

Natasha glared at him as she sat down, crossing her legs. She laughed, but there was little humor behind it.

"I doubt any activity I could dream up involving you, me and fun would be safe", she remarked as she leaned back on the bed. "You deem yourself above me. Certainly my idea of fun would be thought of as primitive and unworthy of a god."

"And yet I'm curious," Loki mused as he watched her cross those deliciously slender legs. A mere mortal shouldn't possess such beauty or such sensuality. She made the goddesses of Asgard seem like hags. "Let us see if you are right, little spider, tell me one idea of yours for how the two of us could pass the time and have… fun."

"I could kick your ass at Scrabble…or Poker. Once you learned the rules and vowed not to cheat, that is. But I doubt I'd get an honest game out of the god of lies", she said, grinning mischievously as she lay on her side, idly running a finger over the curve of her hip and watching as his eyes followed it.

Natasha was playing with him now. For whatever reason, she got some satisfaction over knowing that she had an effect on him…but the fact remained, he was the enemy. He was evil and he was holding her friends and teammates hostage.

"You know, I would like some clothes…and a hot bath. This cold shower isn't cutting it."

"You are hardly in a position to make demands, little spider," He stated wryly, the corner of his mouth upturned in the slightest of smiles. "Kick my ass? Is that what you think? Tell me which one of these games is the quickest to learn?" His dark green eyes lingered along the swell of her breasts as she lied there provocatively. Her sapphire gaze never wavering from his. He was far too easily distracted by her voluptuous form. Perhaps, he should supply her with a less revealing attire.

Natasha shrugged, "Scrabble, I suppose. It's a word game. Fairly self-explanatory. I'm sure you'd enjoy it…but you'd have to be in here…or allow me to come out there to play it…but I don't think that you'd be able to concentrate with me in my current state of dress."

"A word game… very well," Loki contemplated as his eyes continued to peruse the gorgeous woman before him. With a quick motion of his hand she was arrayed in a mint green dress, the skirt was loose and stopped a few inches below her knees. It had short sleeves and an oval neckline with white lace trimmings. She looked quite pretty, he thought absently. "You will teach me it." And in the next instant he was inside the glass walls, a small table laid out in the middle of the small space with a box on top containing the game that she had described.

Perhaps she could get him to trust her. Maybe she could find some way to escape this prison and let her friends free.

Natasha looked down at the dress she was adorned in, "I take it green is your favorite color…"

She moved to sit in front of the table and began laying the game out. She shook the velvet bag filled with the game tiles and held it out to him, "Pick seven."

Natasha waited until he had his letters picked, then picked her own before setting it aside. She pointed to the board before them, "We have to start at this star in the center of the board. After that, you have to make sure that whatever word you create connects to one of the letters of the words already on the board. For example, if your first word was…orgasm", a little smirk played across her lips as she continued, "…you could use the M from orgasm to create the word 'mark' and so on and so on. You cannot place words in a diagonal pattern and there are spaces on the board that gives you extra points…like double letter, triple letter, double word, triple word…it's easy enough."

Natasha leaned forward a bit, "I'll be gentle since it's your first time."

She wanted him to be as flustered as possible. She wanted to confuse him…make him want her and hate himself for it…she needed to get the unflappable god of lies off of his A game.

"Interesting choice of words, little spider," Loki drawled as he gazed at the small tiles that he held in his hand. The game seemed simple enough. When his dark green eyes looked back upward she was leaning forward and the scoop of her neckline from this particular vantage point gave him a perfect view of the beautifully formed breasts beneath her newly gifted dress.

He forced his gaze back up to her sapphire orbs and inclined his body closer to hers along the table. Their faces mere inches apart. "Don't hold back on my account, little spider, I like it rough." He couldn't help but note the delicate pout of her mouth. He imagined that she must taste very sweet by the look of her soft, pink lips. But he quickly pushed the thought from his mind. That was not why he was here. "You go first, little spider."

Natasha stared at her tiles until she heard him impatiently clear his throat from the other side of the table. She smirked up at him from beneath her eyelashes and began laying out her first word.

"Singer…not impressive, but it'll do" she said as she went to get more tiles out of the bag. "You have to keep seven tiles on your stand at all times. When the game winds down, the person with the highest score after either player runs out of tiles wins."

Natasha stared at him as he contemplated his move. Being this close to him made her appreciate how handsome he was. Pale, perfect skin in direct contrast with his dark hair and rich, green eyes.

Loki pursed his lips together as he gazed down at his tiles in deep thought. He needed to spell something but what? His dark green eyes narrowed as he concentrated than a large smile spread across his lips as his long slender fingers began to pick up the tiles from his stand. " T… with the help of your R," the young god grinned broadly. "Perfect… Eh heh heh heh… how is that, little spider?"

Natasha raised a brow and nodded, "Very nice."

The two began going back and forth, matching points and challenging each other on the validity of certain words. Loki claimed that if he couldn't use Valhalla, she couldn't use the word "Heaven".

Toward the end of the game, Natasha almost forgot that she was a prisoner facing certain death. She was actually having a decent time with him.

Natasha leaned back in her chair, "This is kind of surreal, don't you think?"

"I suppose," He remarked as he gazed along the board before turning his attention back to the woman at his side. He had nearly forgotten the reality of the situation. She, the prisoner, and he, the Victor. He glanced around at the glass walls that enclosed them. "You were right, this mortal game was fun but you failed to kick my ass as you so eloquently put it." He supposed it wouldn't do for him to stay much longer. He began to wonder if coming at all had been such a good idea. "It seems we are evenly matched, little spider, what do you do in this game when your scores are the same?"

Natasha looked down at her tiles, "You add up all the points on the tiles and whoever has the most wins…"

She stared at him for a moment, "What are your plans for us?"

"Us?" Loki narrowed his gaze as he observed the calm blue eyes of the black widow, the wispy flutter of her long, red lashes. She certainly was a master at her craft, he mused. What man wouldn't get lost in that coquettish stare? But he was not like other men. Though at the moment he found it difficult to remove his eyes from hers. "I have no plans for an us. If you think to garner my sympathies with your usual methods you will not have much luck, I assure you." He stood up from the table. Suddenly annoyed with himself for enjoying her company.

"What are my plans for you?" Loki snipped as his irritation for how he had let her affect him grew. "I haven't decided. Do you have any preferences, little spider?"

"None that I can think of at the moment", she said, staring into his eyes. Natasha knew that they were on borrowed time. All of them were. Loki may have liked the way she looked, but that might just mean he'll refrain from carving her to pieces when he finally does kill her.

There was no way all of the Avengers would make it out of there in one piece…unless she figured out a way to get to Loki.

"That's too bad," Loki taunted as he tried to regain a feeling of detachment for the assassin. This evening had not gone at all like he planned. "Left to my own designs who knows what I will come up with. You should try to be more forth coming with your responses if you want to keep my interest, little spider." He tapped his long slender fingers along the table. Why had he not left yet? What was he waiting for? He wasn't sure but for some reason he was reluctant to leave her company.

"Perhaps, I should move on to one of my other prisoners," the young god pondered with a slight smirk. "Would you like to know what I have planned for your so called comrades? Tomorrow is a big day for your little birdman." His dark green eyes bore into hers as he awaited her response. He refused to be the only one affected by this meeting. He would break through her wall one way or the other.

"Sure. You can enlighten me if you like", she remarked casually as she once again lay on the cot. Natasha purposely allowed the skirt of the dress to ride up as he watched her. She needed him to keep his guard down, and she'd done a better job of distracting him when she was in just her underwear.

Loki watched as the Black Widow arranged herself once more on the cot along the wall. The way the skirt had fallen as she lied down gave a clear view of her thigh. For a moment, he had a clear picture in his mind of how it might feel to run his hand along her skin; he swallowed deeply before he returned his gaze to her eyes.

"Tomorrow is his last day in the realm of the living," he promised. "Would you like to watch?" His gaze was cold as he once again waited for even the slightest sign of emotion. "I have a delightfully painful end planned for him, little spider. I'm sure you'll enjoy it."

"I thought your original bargain included you watching him kill me…in the most intimate way possible. THEN you kill him…This seems a bit out of order, Loki" she said as she slowly lifted the skirt further up her legs once she saw his eyes drift there.

Natasha then brought a hand up, popping open one of the top buttons of the dress.

Loki licked his lips subconsciously as he watched her hand move up her thigh, gliding the skirt a little farther up her legs before she undid the first button of her dress. He could feel his body twitch at the action. He was beginning to lose his focus. He glanced away from her for a moment.

"Plans change," the young god divulged as he continued to look toward the outside of the cell. "He is the weakest of you and so I've deemed him the first one to go. The first thing I'm going to do is pluck out his eyes." His emerald gaze returning to hers and an evil smile playing along his lips. Perhaps, she didn't care as much about this one as he thought. He took a step closer to her. His eyes roaming her body unabashedly until he caught himself and his blank mask was firmly set back in place.

"It is the only thing that he has left that he values since he already believes you are dead. I informed him of your demise two days ago. I'm surprised you didn't hear his wails. It seems you suffered much. He didn't believe me at first until I showed him your bloody uniform."

He was beginning to wonder if perhaps she truly was as calculating and cold as she appeared. "It seems he cares much more for you than you do for him. How long do you think I should let him suffer in blindness before I put him out of his misery? I can be merciful when it pleases me."

"Oh…I see…" she murmured thoughtfully. Natasha stood up, "So, you're going to torture us by taking away our strengths or our most valuable assets. Naturally, Clint's is his eyesight. Well, Tony…his is his money and power…congrats there. You've got that. I'm guessing you've already stripped your brother of Mjolnir…Bruce, you've suppressed the other guy…Steve…well, there's plenty to be done to him."

She smirked and ran a hand down her chest, undoing another button, "That leaves me. I'm sure you don't want to scramble my brain…not yet at least. My intellect is my greatest asset. But then again…" She suddenly ripped open the dress and shrugged it off of her shoulders, "…this is one of my greatest strengths. This body…this unassuming figure…I've used it to bring men to their knees. Are you going to scar me? Perhaps you should add to the myriad of scars I have on my back?"

Natasha turned around and ran a hand over the back of her waist, "Or perhaps you should reopen old ones…"

The young god's breath hitched as she undid yet another button. She was still as cold as ever but her body inspired an uncomfortable heat through his limbs as she disrobed from the dress he had given her, turning away from him as her hand glided seductively along the silky flesh of her back. He could see the scars but they took nothing away from her beauty.

Loki stepped behind her, barely a hairsbreadth from her body. His desire for her growing by the second but so was his anger. Not only at himself for letting her affect him but for her as well. That she thought she could treat him like one of her marks enraged him.

"Your summation of me is wrong, little spider," the trickster bit off irritably. "As was mine of you, apparently. It seems I already know everything about you that there is to know." He leaned forward slightly as he whispered against her ear. "I like my women with a bit more fire." He could feel her soft red curls against his face as he closed his eyes at the sensation. "And you, little spider, are made of nothing but ice." His fingers twitched slightly at his sides as he fought the urge to touch her. It was long past time for him to go, he decided. He took a step backward as he replaced the distance between them. Staying here any longer was madness.

Natasha's eyes rolled closed when he spoke against her ear. His breath tickled her skin, but she forced herself to remain quiet and still as he whispered to her. She could hear the anger rising in his voice and immediately began formulating a backup plan.

As he turned to leave, she turned around to face his back, crossing her arms, "And what would a Frost Giant know of fire?"

Risky move…but it might keep him around a bit longer…

Loki rushed forward and grabbed her by the back of her neck as he crushed his lips against hers. Invading her mouth with the sheer force of his will as his tongue found hers. Releasing all of his pent up emotions in those few minutes before he broke away from her abruptly. His breathing slightly labored as he steeled his features. His face turning back to stone.

"I know enough," the trickster remarked coolly. "It's obvious that I know more than you. If your intellect and your body are truly your only assets than you are not much use to me. I could have both with nothing more than a touch." Loki glided one slender finger along her breastbone as he gave her a wicked grin. "You do remember that, don't you?"

Natasha's mind went completely blank as his lips connected to hers. The kiss was feverish…passionate…almost violent. Before she could stop herself, a moan escaped her lips as she placed her hands against his chest.

When he broke the kiss, she glared up at him, panting heavily. She forced her breathing to calm as she stared up into his dark green eyes that glinted mischievously. Natasha gave him a hard shove, but knew it would do little against a god of his size.

"Could you!?" she spat angrily. "You may be able to take my body…but I can see it in your eyes, Loki…you want me to be willing. You want me to want you back…you want me to say your name with real passion…not some rehearsed bullshit you've cooked up because you've managed to manipulate me or turned me into a shell of my former self. You claim I have no fire. Oh…I have fire and you know it, don't you? You're just afraid to get close because you know you'll get burned!"

Loki couldn't deny the truth in her words at least not to himself. He may not have realized it when he first made his way down to this cell but it had become undeniably real to him the longer he had stood within these walls. He wanted her but more than that he wanted her to want him. He wanted to break through the ice and cold that prevailed along her exterior and feel that fire that scorched from within.

"You have a very high opinion of yourself, little spider," the trickster slithered as his eyes moved over her body once more. "You are so used to having those piddling mortal men throw themselves at your feet that you think that you can bring a god to his knees with one feeble outburst of emotion? I'm afraid I can waste no more time on you today. I would hate to keep Barton waiting."

"If you don't really want me…if I'm so disposable to you…why not go ahead and kill me? You've already made my teammate suffer thinking I'm dead. Why pretend? Why not do it for real?" Natasha paused and smirked, "You could snap my neck with the flick of your wrist…but I stand here, defiant. Challenging you…and you like it. Am I wrong? Prove it. Kill me."

"Perhaps I want to make you suffer," Loki smirked as he loomed over her. The memory of the taste of her lips so fresh in his mind that he couldn't help but let his gaze fall if only for a moment to her soft, lush mouth. "Maybe I'm curious to see if the Black Widow can even feel at all. Your little birdman has such a different image of you in his mind than what I see before me now. A woman he would gladly die for." With a wave of his hand, the table he conjured disappeared from the cell. Her dark blue gaze stared up at him defiantly. He bent his head to bow mockingly like a gentlemen would do when leaving the presence of a lady. "Alas, he will have to settle for dying for no other reason than to satisfy a King's whims."

Natasha watched as he started to leave, "Wait!" She watched Loki stop in his tracks before turning around and sneering at her. She placed a hand against her chest and stared into his eyes, "Kill me. Not Barton. He could be more use to you. He's got more expertise in various areas than me…I should die. Not him. You're right. I'm disposable, but he's not. Kill me…not him."

"I recall you manipulating me once before using Barton as a catalyst," Loki revealed as he closed the distance between them once more. "You owed him a debt. Was that not what you said? I thought you cared for him. And I tried to use that to break your calm demeanor but you tricked me. I am not so easily fooled twice." The young god narrowed his gaze as he scrutinized her closely. "Why do you make such an offer, little spider? Because you think he is better than you? Because of your ledger? Or is it something else?"

Natasha stared up at him, "I'm sure you're well aware of my motivations, Loki. Barton told you everything else you needed to know…I'm sure he told you about…our complicated history."

She looked away, "Look, more than anything, he's my friend. And this is what friends do. You want to see me in a moment of weakness? Take a long look. Here it is. There's no manipulation here. I offer you my life freely in return for you letting Barton live."

Loki watched as she looked away from him. He grabbed her chin between his thumb and forefinger and tilted her head to face him once more. "Barton is of no use to me. Such a trade would hold no value." He leaned in closer, so they were mere inches apart as he searched her eyes. "But perhaps I could be willing to stay my hand and let him live a little longer. On one condition, little spider, I will come to visit you tomorrow. We will spend the time however you would like. But you will not treat me like you are on a mission and I'm your prey. There were moments this evening that were… pleasant. And you've peaked my curiosity." He released her chin but he didn't move away from her. "Do we have a bargain, little spider?"

Natasha nodded, "Yes."

She stared up into his eyes before he turned and took his leave. Natasha spent the remainder of the night wondering why Loki was so willing to spare Barton's life just to spend time with her. She'd have to be careful not to revert back into her "Black Widow" persona and continue to be Natalia.