Natasha Romanoff brushed through her ginger curls and took a long hard look at herself in the mirror. Get a hold of yourself, Nat. She thought to herself, strapping her gun to her leg and preparing herself mentally for the confrontation she knew she was about to have with a certain Norse God.
"Agent Romanoff, Loki's cell in ten, are we clear?" The SHIELD Assassin rolled her sea-green eyes in irritancy at the annoying sound of Nick Fury's voice grating through the receiver of her ear-piece. Yeah, I heard you the first ten times. Natasha had dealt with more men like Loki than she could count on her fingers, she knew she had this in the bag. In fact, it wasn't the impending interrogation of the Frost Giant that had her caught off-guard at all, it was something Clint had said to her when she'd gone to check on him in the ships hold. She couldn't help running the conversation through her mind on a loop.
"But Natasha, I―"
"Clint I said no."
"Would you just let me―"
"No!"
"…You're good at your job, and I am good at mine. But nowhere in the rules does it say we aren't allowed to be happy. I'll fight for you, Natasha. You can't keep me out forever."
He didn't understand. Natasha was not afraid to open her heart to him because of the nature of their line of work. If he had been your normal run of the mill guy then sure, maybe that would have been the reason. She didn't want to be with Clint because he was her friend, her very best friend, and the fact that he wanted to cross that line deeply disturbed her. She was concentrating deeply on this when Fury rang in on the line again.
"Director, I'd appreciate it if you'd shut up and let me do my job." She quipped, kicking open the door in aggravation and heading down a long corridor. Natasha closed her eyes and took many deep breaths, regaining her composure and throwing all her strongest walls up. It was time to fry this bastard. She strode into the room where Loki was being held captive with an ersatz innocence in her eyes and a sexy sway in her gait. Loki's back was to her when she entered the room, though she could practically hear his smirk.
"There aren't too many people who can sneak up on me." He purred, turning to face her and allowing his bright emerald eyes meeting her own.
"But you figured I'd come." She replied dryly, unamused by the playful expression on the God's face.
"After. After whatever tortures Fury could concoct, you would appear as a friend…as a bomb, and I would cooperate." Loki's lips curled into an evilly attractive smile, though Natasha's demeanor remained steely.
"I want to know what you did to Agent Barton." Of course, Loki's answer was less than forthcoming.
"I'd like to say I expanded his mind." Natasha flashed a smile that didn't quite meet her eyes, stalking toward him slowly.
"And once you've won…once you're king of the mountain, what is going to happen to his mind?" She asked carefully, not wanting to reveal that they had already reversed the effects. Loki scoffed, his eyes becoming all the more playful.
"Is this love, Agent Romanoff?" Oh of course, doesn't everyone think that?
"Love is for children, I owe him a debt." This seemed to interest Loki more than anything, and so she decided to play into his game.
"Tell me." He drawled, his thick accent making the command drip with sensuality, a sensuality Natasha was trained to ignore.
"Before I first started working for SHIELD I uh…well, I made a name for myself. I have a very specific skill set. I didn't care what I used it for or on and I got on SHIELD's radar in a bad way. Agent Barton was sent to kill me…he made a different call." All of this was absolutely true, and Loki seemed to be able to tell, which Natasha had anticipated. You never lie to professional liars, not only can they tell, but it's the quickest way to earn their trust and turn it around on them psychologically.
"What will you offer if I decide to spare him?"
"I wouldn't let you out…" The bright leer that suddenly shone on Loki's face as he leaned forward nearly caught her off guard, it was a dazzling, heavily interested smile.
"Oh I know but I like this! Your world in the balance and you bargain for one man." Natasha nodded.
"Regimes fall every day. I tend not to weep over that, I'm Russian…or I was." Loki seemed to ponder the indifference in her voice, as if he couldn't decide just where they were both going to take this little game.
"And what are you now?"
"It's really not all that complicated. I've got red in my ledger, I'd like to wipe it out." Loki's eyebrows rose.
"Can you? Can you wipe out that much red? Dreykov's daughter, Sao Paolo, the hospital fire…Barton told me everything." Natasha mentally rolled her eyes at the God, curious to know if he truly thought this old guilt trip was going to work. She contorted her face into a crumbling expression, and in turn a ghost of a grin graced his pale features.
"Your ledger is dripping…it's gushing red and you think saving a man no more virtuous than yourself will change anything? This is the basic sentiment mentality, this is a child, a prayer, pathetic!" He hissed, his eyes dropping their impishness immediately and beginning to simmer with malice.
"You lie and kill in the service of liars and killers. You pretend to be separate, to have your own code, something that makes up for the horrors. But they are part of you and they will never go away." He beat his fist hard against the glass of his cell and she jumped backward in mock fear, forcing her eyes to become those of a frightened little girl.
"No one touches Barton, not until I make him kill you, slowly, intimately, in every way he knows you fear and then he'll wake just long enough to see his good work and when he screams I'll split his skull!" Natasha instinctively turned away from Loki, although this was not initially part of her plan. There was a certain heat spreading throughout her body at his words, and it honestly made her ashamed of herself. You're fucked up enough as it is, that did not turn you on! She scolded herself mentally, attempting to turn her focus back to the task at hand. Loki's last few words had knocked the breath out of her unexpectedly, his velvety promises of twisted intimacy igniting something inside of her that she constantly tried to suppress. Sexuality.
"This is my bargain, you mewling quim." He added, furthering the tingle running up her thighs. She shoved her mind back into the depths of the mission, shaking the feeling off and pretending to cry.
"You're a monster." A dark, seductive chuckle floated from Loki's direction.
"Oh no, you brought the monster." Natasha straightened up and turned to face him once more, a victorious smile upon her lips.
"So, Banner, that's your play."
"What?" Romanoff quickly pressed her earpiece and began heading back toward the door.
"Loki means to unleash the Hulk, keep Banner in the lab I'm on my way. Send Thor as well." She threw one last look over her shoulder at Loki, who now looked both confused and distraught.
"Thank you for your cooperation."
Natasha would be lying if she claimed to not be shaken up while practically flying through the corridors to make it back to the room she had been staying in. She knew she needed to get to the lab ASAP, but there were some things she needed to take care of first…namely, the burning between her legs.
Meanwhile, Loki was having a similar issue. Not only was he pissed at himself for allowing her to manipulate him, he was devastated that he found himself fantasizing about having that sassy little thing underneath him…squirming…begging…gah! It was not often that Loki fancied a girl, and he was less than thrilled that this one was some worthless Midgardian. Although, he couldn't say he didn't admire her skill and her wit...and all that spandex. Loki kicked the cell wall in anger and screamed out in frustration. Why her? Why now? He had a realm to conquer, he couldn't afford to begin thinking with his other head. Sod her, we've got Banner in the bag no matter what they say or do. I've just got to wait it out…yes. I'll bring the red head to her knees after I make myself her King. Loki thought to himself, imagining the look on her face when he stood above her as her God and ruler.
There was a dark deeply buried masochism laying under layers of Natasha's independent non-emotional disposition, and finger-fucking herself was just not working. There was too much of her that craved the animal she knew she would find in Loki, the caged beast dying to be released from the oppressive restraints of princely leisure. He was a boy who had squandered too much of his life, his passion, being second best to an adoptive royal family. The prim…the proper…his actions mirrored the inner turmoil, the burning desire to be wild that ached deep within the very depths of Loki's being. Those depths reached out to Natasha, caressed her in places she dare not name. There was nothing she could do about her attraction to him, the damage had been done. She wanted to feel the restraints burn her wrists, wanted to hear that torturously rapturous voice whisper vile, venomous things to her as he had her forced into submission. And just when she had him right where she wanted him she would reverse their roles, maneuver out of her constraints and slam that Asgardian asshole into the nearest wall and assert her own dominance upon him. After all, sex was really no fun without a power struggle.
"Agent Romanoff where the hell are you?" Natasha was seriously about to break that earpiece into halves. She forced herself back into her clothes, still horny and angry and headed back up to the laboratory to check on Dr. Banner and get Fury to put a corncob in it. All of the other Avenger's stared at her as she entered the room, flustered as they'd ever seen her as she took her seat between Thor and Banner.
"How you holding up?" She asked Bruce gently, who shrugged his shoulders.
"I wish people would stop asking me that." Thor looked the agent up and down before whispering quietly if she was alright, which sparked in her an idea. Thor was Loki's brother….right?
"Fine, I got what I needed from Loki. Is there anything I should know about him? I mean, professionally of course, I'd like to know what I'm up against." Thor seemed to think for a moment, coming up with only one thing.
"Well, Loki's particularly hurt, I believe. He has not recovered from the news that he is not of Asgardian blood. That and his true parents abandoned him to die as an infant before we adopted him…it's sad, but it is what makes him dangerous, so I urge you to not pity him." Natasha shook her head.
"I don't pity him. I just want to know what makes him tick, that's all." Thor seemed to pick up on a hint of something in her voice, though he wasn't sure what is was yet, and he cocked his head to the side in curiosity.
"Why all the sudden questions about my brother?" Natasha shrugged the question off and stood suddenly, walking with Banner over to Loki's staff to have a look.
"Maiden, I meant no ill will…" Thor mumbled in disbelief, having never seen Agent Romanoff act quite like that before. He was slightly worried about anything Loki may have put in her head, but he let it go, knowing she was a smart woman, more than capable of handling herself. It was then that Tony and Steve got into a verbal confrontation on the other end of the room, a domino effect smacking the rest of the Avengers soon after. Unfortunately, that included Banner, and when he got a hold of the staff, Natasha knew something bad was about to happen.
"Bruce…" As if on cue, a hole was blown into that side of the hellicarrier, and Natasha and Banner both were forcefully knocked through one of the many windows leading to a lower level of the ship. She didn't know about Bruce, but from where Natasha was laying…this didn't look too good.
