A/N: Whoo, another story up! Just an Avengers oneshot that I thought up. I wasn't originally going to have Hawkeye be possessed, but I think it makes it less mundane.


"Romanoff, come in!"

I roll my eyes. The voice issuing from my earpiece is not one that I like. "Keep your pants on, Stark," I grumble, peering around a corner. The building is empty, or at least that's what it looks like. The only people I've encountered are dead. "And that's Agent Romanoff to you."

"Yeah, yeah. You seen Loki?"

"Not yet. How about you? Have you gotten a visual?"

I can practically hear Stark rolling his eyes at me. "No. That's why I asked you!"

"Obligated to ask, Stark. Where's Barton? Last I heard he was scouting the upper floors and the roof."

I hear the ding! of Stark pressing invisible buttons inside his suit and tap my foot impatiently. Stark scoffed. "I'm checking! Ah, here we go. Yeah, he's about...two levels up from you. Are you just asking so that you can find him and have a huge makeout session, because I have something to say about that."

I almost tug out my earpiece and stomp it into dust, but I take deep breaths. "No, Stark. Keep looking out for Loki, all right?"

I switch it off amid Stark's objections and stow the thing hastily in one of the many concealed pockets of my bodysuit. "Okay, Loki. Time to kiss my ass-metaphorically speaking, of course."

I make my way cautiously around the deserted building, skirting the dead bodies and broken furniture that litter the floor in droves. Luckily most of it is furniture. There were very few people inside at the time of the attack, as it's a Saturday morning.

Unfortunately, only a handful survived the siege. I led them away when I first entered the building, scanning desperately for life signs. The battle is not going as well as I had first hoped, but a few of survivors are better than none.

I run up the empty stairwell, my shoes echoing loudly in the space. The second I slammed open the door a bow was aimed at me, the arrow directed at my heart. "Calm down, Barton. It's only me," I say, my hands in the air. Clint sighs and lowers his weapon.

"Never know these days. Place is deserted, as far as I can see. Did you find anything on the lower levels?"

I shake my head. "No sign of him, and there were only a handful of survivors. This isn't looking good, Clint. He should have attacked us by now. Loki's not one to avoid conflict, is he?"

Clint frowns, glancing behind me as if anticipating someone to come bounding up the stairs. For a millisecond, I think I see a flare of bright blue in his eyes, but when I blink it is gone. You're just seeing things, Romanoff, I think.

"What's the plan?" I ask.

"Well, let's wait for the others to radio in before we decide on anything," Clint says. I furrow my brow-this isn't normal behaviour-but I follow him inside anyway. That's when I realise just how bad things are.

There are numerous people lying dead on the floor, but there aren't gashes. There are arrows jutting out at odd angles in the lifeless bodies. I would recognise the make anywhere.

My gun is cocked and trained at Clint's heart a second before his bow flies up. "Let me guess," I snarl, teeth gritted. "Loki played his pipes on you."

The fake nods. "And look who I've caught," he sneers, deftly drawing an arrow. I hear a muffled voice issuing from his earpiece.

"That the Pied Piper himself?" I ask, speaking loud enough for the person to hear me.

"Oh, how clever," Clint drawls, eyes flashing bright blue-the exact shade as the Tesseract. "Boss, you wanna have words with the...slut?"

I wince visibly at the insult, but keep my gun pointing at the possessed man. I hear a low affirmation and Clint presses a button on the side of his earpiece. Loki's voice blares through, sounding malicious even through the annoying static.

"You disappoint, Agent Romanoff," he whispers. "I was expecting...a challenge. Or at the very least, competence. But you, like so many of your Earth kin, have failed me."

"Oh, really?" I mutter, letting go of the gun with my right hand and searching desperately for my earpiece. I find it and jab the thing into my ear. "Stark, how would you like to have a discussion with Loki?" I ask.

Clint lunges forward, attempting to seize the gun, but I sidestep him easily. "You're not so light on your feet now that you're possessed," I say tauntingly. I ignore the garbled voice issuing from my earpiece. My mind is filled with a dense fog. I don't want to kill Clint, but if Stark doesn't get here soon it will have to come to that.

"I wouldn't go calling your allies if I were you. They might get you and your little friend here killed. We don't want that, do we?"

I bite my lip to stop it shaking. "If you're so tough, why don't you just come here and fight me?" I ask, knowing how weak the jab is.

A low laugh. "Because, my dear, the battle would be over much too quickly for my tastes. I prefer to...savour these things."

Bile rises in my throat. "You disgust me," I choke out, my hands shaking. Both Clint and Loki laugh at the sentence.

I look into the bright blue eyes, the dead eyes, and tears come to my own. My finger begins to tug slowly at the trigger and I am a millisecond away from killing Clint when-

Stark flies in, his suit undamaged despite the fact that he just flew in through a huge bay window. "Hi, everybody!" he says, sounding cheerful. "Miss me?"