Agent Clint Barton was settled against a wall of the makeshift laboratory Doctor Selvig had built, his mind clouding with images that seemed so vivid, and assured. Yet as he tried to dwell on them a voice kept telling him to push them aside, that they were no longer important, that his memories would not provide him knowledge or peace like the Tesseract had.
Since Loki had revealed the truth to him that day the Tesseract had opened a rift wide in the heart of SHIELD's center of operations, memories were slowly stripped apart, until all that were left were the images he was currently struggling with. He saw a wrecked car, a target skewered with arrows, a boy who looked like him, but he knew could not be him, a woman with scarlet hair, staring at him with warm, blue eyes.
He couldn't make sense of them, wondering why they hadn't faded away completely, why they wouldn't ebb from his mind and be replaced with the pure bliss the Tesseract provided him?
"What troubles you, Agent Barton?" the man pulled himself to stand up straight against the wall as he recognized the voice of Loki. He held his head straight as he faced the man who had opened him to the truth.
"Trivial things." The SHIELD agent answered. "Matters no longer of importance."
"Tell me about them." Loki demanded.
Barton blinked at the man from Asgard as a small nagging thought from the back of his mind told him that these images were private, that he was to keep them to himself. A much more powerful tug of the Tesseract eclipsed that thought and instead told him that Loki was his master, and he would forever feel conflicted unless he emptied the contents of his mind to him.
So he began to speak. He described the car, the arrows, the boy, and their details began to fade. The car was now nothing but scrap metal and flames, the target was nothing but red and white, blending together. The boy was nothing but a fading smile.
"Is that all that consumes your mind, Barton? Has the Tesseract not revealed anything more to you?" Loki questioned.
The burning flare of crimson hair still blazed behind his eyes, but he couldn't find it in himself to reveal that detail to him. Something was special about this image. Somehow it struggled to escape from his lips, to burn away along with the rest of his memories. He held his mouth closed and simply stared into the God-like man's gaze, knowing that the Tesseract wouldn't allow him to lie to his master.
Loki stepped closer to Barton, his eyes hardening, anger and frustration seeping into his previously calm blue stare. "Is that all Agent Barton?" he repeated, an edge evident in his voice.
The agent did nothing but stare back at him blankly, unable to lie and yet unable to reveal the one memory that fought to stay.
"Are you resisting me?" Loki asked, continuing to step closer until he was toe to toe with the archer. "I've presented you knowledge, peace, comfort, the truth. I've given you the only things you should need. Why struggle with a memory when you can let it go and know calm?"
Barton met his blank gaze, unable to argue. Why would the image not slip from his lips so he could continue to find favour in Loki's eyes? Would holding onto one memory be worth the horrid discomfort that came from angering his master?
"Tell me everything Barton." Loki grabbed the archer's chin, and commanded with a hardened voice, "Everything."
Agent Barton found himself recounting details and stories from his past, ones that he had already told Loki previously, memories that had evaporated from his mind since he'd discovered the truth. Loki released him as he spoke, listening intently to the man's stories, absorbing every detail.
Barton found himself speaking of his assignment to find and stop Natasha Romanoff's latest assassination mission by ending her life. He listed her crimes as he spoke of her, of her elegance as she moved, how she nearly managed to hit him with a bullet, despite how he was so high above her, how he knocked her out and returned with her to SHIELD rather than take advantage of her unconscious state and kill her.
"Describe Agent Romanoff to me." Loki insisted with a steady voice, interrupting Barton's tale.
"Tasha?" Barton murmured as he blinked up at Loki, sure that his master wanted the very last detail, his last memory of his life before he had been shown the peace. But he didn't want to lose Natasha. He didn't want the void where her form burned in his mind. He didn't want to be unable to recount every detail of her anymore. He wanted to hold onto her, to have her alongside the peace of the Tesseract's influence. Why did he have to lose her? Why couldn't he have her too?
And yet the Tesseract was telling him to let go. Loki was telling him to relinquish her. They promised him the emptiness of the calm. They promised him that he would be free, so long as she was gone. They promised him an even greater feeling than the peace the Tesseract provided him now. They insisted she must go first. Once she was gone, he would feel true, unquestionable peace.
Suddenly Loki's hand was cupping the side of his head, applying pressure to his temple. He was clearly fed up with waiting for Barton to release her on his own. The God applied more and more force until her flaming hair, her bright eyes, the curve of her hips and the slope of her nose faded from his mind. He tried to pull her back, but he was grasping at air.
And then he couldn't remember what he was reaching for. The images were gone. There was nothing but Loki and the calm feed of the Tesseract. The God loosened his grip, the pressure traded for a gentle cradle as he watched the man carefully.
"What troubles you Agent Barton?" Loki questioned softly, satisfaction evident in his voice.
The agent looked the other man squarely in the eye and answered confidently, "Nothing."
A smirk crept its way across the Asgardian's face and he insisted, "Good. Now see if Doctor Selvig needs your assistance with his device."
Barton peeled himself from the wall, not quite far enough away to escape Loki's touch. He closed his eyes and a name and a face seeped into his mind. He was sure it was fed to him by the Tesseract, the knowledge he needed to please his master. "He does. I'll see to it right away."
He moved to distance himself from the God, but Loki's hand continued to graze his face and Barton blinked at him, waiting for his master to pardon him. "Sir?" he questioned, the Tesseract pulling him to find the man who's image was now polluting his mind.
"You've made me happy, Agent Barton." Loki noted before waving him away to fulfill his duties.
Barton continued to walk away, nothing but Loki and the Tesseract flooding his mind.