Natasha noticed him in the same second she drew her weapon. The first shot should have hit him in the chest, but instead it just went right through him. The illusion descended into the air and she instinctively swirled around expecting him to appear behind her back, but there was nothing. Instead she heard him laugh not far from the point he originally stood. Natasha turned back, pointing her gun at his appearance, though she was sure as hell it was just another trick of his. Her heart was racing in her chest and she nervously eyed her surroundings, ready to shoot at even the slightest movement. What the hell was Loki doing on Vormir? And why was he bleeding? Were there other enemies she should be wary of?
„Well, well, it appears we meet again", he greeted her with a great gesture and a smile only he could produce. She didn't let herself be tricked by the friendliness in his voice, though she was certain he already knew that.

Loki looked just like she remembered. Mostly dressed in different layers of black and green leather, some golden metal armor pieces on his coat and shimmering black hair just long enough to lie on his shoulders. His eyes had dark bags underneath and he looked like he hadn't slept in days. Now that she came to think about it, he really looked exactly the way she had seen him last time, which had been just after the battle of New York.
„I suppose you didn't bring any of your friends this time?", she said. It was mostly to stall some time. She had to figure out a plan. It had to look like there was back up. Loki gave a silent laugh at her, then smiled.
„Oh no, much like you I am alone", he answered.

It was a test. He wanted to see her reaction. She gave him a little grin and laid one hand on her electric rod, fixed on her leg.
„What makes you think I am alone?"
It was just a tiny hint. A change in the way he looked at her, a little uncertainty, not enough for untrained eyes to see, but Natasha wasn't untrained. The red room had made sure of that.

The second shot went through the head and his illusion vanished once again. This was her chance. She sprinted towards the rocks, the only place he could hide. And then, there was something. It was just a flung, out of the corner of her eye, but she saw it. Changing directions, she ran towards the movement and shot again. The actual Loki rolled out of his hiding place, a grim expression on his face, but still, he managed a smirk. She was still running when magic lighted and two daggers appeared out of nowhere. Natasha changed the gun for her second rod, then sprung towards him, covering the lower side of her body with her left, whilst striking with the right. Her electric pole clung against his dagger leaving both weapons vibrating, then stuck together in a pointless wager of strength. He tried to stab her with his other hand, but she saw it coming and defended her side and kicked him with her knee. In his second of unawareness she clicked one rod back into its halter, meanwhile giving up the pressure on her right rod, which left Lokis dagger razing towards her neck. She stumbled a few steps backwards leaving the steel passing just inches from her throat, then changed her weapon to the left hand and caught Lokis wrist, wielding his second knife, with her right. He was a trained fighter and therefor knew what she was after, which is why Natasha - whilst moving - changed plans, let herself fall to the ground, sliding underneath him, all the while having a grip on his wrist. It left him tumbling to the ground with her and the dagger in his left flew towards her head. She defended it with her rod and then let go of Lokis hand to roll off, landing on her feet again. He was still trying to get up one moment later as she aimed her gun for his head. Their gaze met just a second and suddenly -

Clint starred at her, despair in his eyes.
„Natasha?", she couldn't do it. Couldn't bring herself to pull the trigger. Not looking at him like this. Loki appeared behind her, too fast for her to notice. The shaft of his dagger hit her right in the back of her head.

—-

Loki had waited the better part of the day for her friends to come and pick her up. She was laying unconscious at the foot of the mountain, seemingly unguarded, though he was convinced they would have tried to get her even if he had shown himself. The star had by now wandered halfway across the sky and it was starting to get colder, but still there was no sign of rescue in sight. With the hours passing by he began to wonder wether anyone even knew where she was or if he was the one being fooled. Maybe all of this was just part of an enormous spell trying to lure Loki into some sort of trap. Maybe his father had finally forced Freya do something about their adopted ice giant spawn and use her powers. But whichever way he looked at it, one thing was certain. This women did not belong in his timeline.

It had taken some effort of his to figure it out. After the Black Widow had passed out he had begun by analyzing her suit. Never before had he seen any of the supposed superheroes wear anything similar. It had all sorts of midgardian technology built into it and seemed to serve as some kind of protection, against what he could not say. Her aura had been mostly chaotic, at least the parts he was able to explore. She subconsciously hid nearly all of it behind a wall that was impossible to bypass.

But neither her suit nor her aura had betrayed her. It was a memory Loki had seen. He hadn't been able to dig deep into her mind, or otherwise he would have risked waking her up. He hadn't been able to see much at all actually, for but one picture. Loki assumed it had been present because of his being here, otherwise he couldn't explain why this specific memory would have shown up.

It was him. Chained up, the metal gag, he so brutally had just destroyed, still around his mouth and Thor calling upon Heimdall to send the Bifröst.
It had taken him until now to figure out what he had seen. The explanation being so rudely simple that his mind just couldn't wrap around it. Other than her being in the wrong timeline, there was no logical explanation for it, provided one would consider this a logical explanation. But there was no other possibility. It was fairly simple to detect an altered memory and impossible for him to be at the same place twice with different outcomes. Except for if it hadn't been him, but a different version of him.

Finally he decided to pick her up himself. Her friends for some reason weren't coming, and he couldn't let her freeze to death since he wanted an explanation for the timeline paradox. He came out of his hiding place, and walked over to the assassin. Carefully he touched her forehead, always waiting for her to jump at him. Her mind was still at ease and he would make sure it stayed like that until he had found a safe place for him to interrogate her. With some effort he got her off the ground and into his arms, one under her legs and the other one behind her shoulders. She was not as heavy as he had thought she would be, but still it took a lot of strength from him to use his magic, so she wouldn't wake up whilst he was baring her in his arms and walking through the stone desert. He had to find a place to bring her, fast.

It was completely dark and freezing when Loki arrived in the cave. Two times he had tried to open a portal with the tesseract along the way, and two times he had failed. The stone seemed to have developed a mind of its own, at least that is what it looked like.
By now it took all his power to keep the assassin from waking up. She had started shivering along the way and her mind constantly seemed to fight back against his persuasion. He lay her down on the ground and wrapped her in his coat. The cold never bothered him anyway, so he might as well just let it go. He used Thors chains for her hands and made her weapons invisible to her. It wasn't enough to stop her from doing anything stupid but it was all he could manage at the moment. The extensive use of his powers had weakened him more than he liked to admit and he was strained of carrying the assassin. He sat down on the opposed wall of the cave and rested his head on the granite for a while. By Odin, he was tired.

As Loki finally released his magic from the black widows mind she instantly started to wake up. Her whole body was shivering and her eyes looked glassy. She used his coat as a blanket, seemingly without orientation and confused about her hands being chained up. Then she saw him and brought as much distance as possible between them, sliding backwards and slamming her back into the other wall. He tried to ignore the stinging sensation of rejection. Even though she was an enemy and even though it was entirely logic of her to react like this, he couldn't help but feel her abhorrence in his bones. And it wasn't just hers. She was just one in a long list of people who hated him for what he was. He shoved the thought away.

„Seems to me your friends have abandoned you", he said, mockingly smiling at her. She did not answer. He could see her eyes scanning the cave. Analyzing her escape routes. Her skin was paler than usual in the dim light that shone through the entrance. Had he looked at her differently, he might have thought of her as beautiful. But Loki hadn't thought about anyone that way for a long time.
„I suppose you know how to get off this planet?", he asked, merely to keep up conversation. She didn't answer but tried to cover as much of her body as possible with his coat. It was probably some sort of tactic of hers, to make her look vulnerable. He was sure that she had already started to open the lock on the chains, but too tired to do anything about it right now. The way she trembled though would make it hard for her. He had to admit that it was freezing cold even inside this cave and as a frost giant he probably had no idea what it was like for her to bear against it with nothing but a slim suit and a coat.

Eventually Loki sighed and stood up. He would go and look for some firewood, deeper inside the cave. Not that he expected to find anything, but at least it would keep him from falling asleep. He eyed the assassin up and down, then disappeared in the dark. She wouldn't last two minutes outside the cave. It was even colder out there and Loki would be able to find her - dead or alive - as soon as the star lighted the sky once again.

Without the ability to see, he used only the rocks to guide him through the dark. Feeling with his feet for anything lying on the ground. It was mostly stones and rats which ran away squeaking as soon as they got his foot slammed into their bodies. One shouldn't underestimate those beasts. They might look harmless but in groups and with enough of a hunger they could kill a grown horse. He was close to heading back, when he felt something lying on the floor. He bend over and tried to feel what it was. At first he thought it might actually be some wood, but then it felt too light, too fragile. Without any light it took him some time to figure out what it was, but as he finally understood, it was already too late.

A pair of yellow glowing eyes appeared in the dark, followed by a deep growl and the smell of rotten flesh. The cave was inhabited.


Chapter 3! Thank you for all the reviews I got so far! I loved all of them and I get so motivated when I see people read my story!
Already working on Chapter 4 so hang in there ;-)