Chapter 3

It took three days for Loki's screams to subside into mutters, at which time Thor removed the gag, although he left the restraints on his brother. While it was obvious that the tesseract was still influencing Loki's mind, his periods of semiconscious ramblings were becoming more frequent. "You know, this is probably the easiest stint of guard duty I've ever done," Steve mentioned from his place on the floor in front of the couch. Clint's idea of watching movies while they waited for the tesseract's influence to finally leave Loki had been met with enthusiasm, and so far they had watched the original the Star Wars films, The Shawshank Redemption, and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

"Anything has to be better than escorting a prisoner on a train in the middle of winter, especially if the stories about the state of that train are true," Natasha said as she leaned into Clint's knee. Clint was once again perched on the back of the couch.

"Oh Lord," Steve groaned, and threw an arm over his eyes. "We trashed that train when we captured it. It leaked wind, ice and snow. We'd just lost Bucky, and half of the Commandos had some sort of injury. It was a wonder we even managed to get it back to the Allied lines."

"Now that sounds kind of familiar," Clint said. He was oiling a long strap of leather. "Only I was dealing with sand and heat instead of snow and ice."

"Desert Storm?" Tony asked.

Clint smirked. "Let's just say Middle East and leave it at that. I'm still under 'if I tell you, I'd have to kill you'."

Everyone laughed at the pout that Tony made, and Bruce brought the conversation back on track. "Well at least Loki's down to muttering about his past, although I could have done without learning about what pranks he pulled on the warriors three. I think we're going to have enough time for a couple more movies before he's coherent again."

"What else is on the must see list?" Natasha asked. She wasn't surprised that Tony had taken a look at the numerous epic movie lists on the internet and decided to make his own, better version.

Tony perked up. "We've got 'Back to the Future', totally laughable science but still a great comedy." He and Pepper were curled up in a leather recliner together.

"No way, you'll go on a science binge and actually try to build a flux capacitor," Pepper pointed out. "Remember the last time you watched a Star Wars marathon with Rhodey? You ended up trying to build lightsabers so the two of you could duel. At least I know Bruce won't go along with that. Pick something else."

"Nothing about WW2 please," was Steve's request. "I lived it. I don't need to see it again." Unspoken was the fact that a lot of people had been showing him that sort of thing as though they thought he needed to be persuaded that the war had ended and that Hitler had lost.

"Forest Gump, that covers a lot of pop culture," Bruce offered.

"And if we're going the comedy route, how about Kill Bill?" Clint asked.

"Monty Python," was all that Natasha said, to the loud agreement of almost everyone else in the room.

"You really can't miss that Steve," Pepper said.

"No," Clint stated flatly. He then glared down at his partner. "You just want to make me laugh again," he accused her. It was the one film that he couldn't help laughing at. He had a great sense of humor, but a full on belly laugh was something he almost never did.

"Come on, Featherhead. Monty Python is epic!" Tony protested.

Tasha's smirk pretty much told Clint that she'd put him on the spot on purpose and she wasn't going to let this go until he went along with her. She always came up with the most unique plans for revenge, and while she would never blame him for what he did under Loki's control, she would feel that he needed some kind of punishment for allowing himself to be possessed in the first place. "I know that it's epic, Stark, that's not the point. The point is I can't stop laughing at it and Natasha thinks it's hysterical that I laugh the way I do. It's not funny."

"Yes it is, especially if any of the new agents catch you at it." She turned to the others. "He usually ends up spending the next week shooting them with Nerf arrows if they haven't pissed him off too badly and real ones if they have."

"If you want to see me shoot newbies, I can do that," Clint offered. He really didn't want to have these guys making fun of him for his laugh too. Wordlessly the memory of Clint shooting at a new SHIELD agent in the mess, catching him against a wall and outlining him in arrows passed between them. The 'Caw, caw,' that Clint had snarled back at the baby agent had been the tipping point for sending Natasha into laughter. It was also the first time that he'd actually heard her laugh at anything.

"Your laugh can't be any worse than the Commandos singing, and I had to listen that plenty of times," Steve offered. "When they got drunk, it was terrible, and the fact that I can't get drunk made it even worse."

Clint sighed. Truthfully, he was glad that Tasha was able to relax enough to get her revenge, even if he was the one taking the hit. She only trusted two people in the entire world, and now one of them was dead. It didn't help that Loki had shanghaied him to the other side either. She'd been under enough stress with this mission. "It's not bad. I just sound like a bird, which is bad enough, but people seem to find it irresistible to tease me about it." Besides, Tasha could have taken out her mood on him much differently, in ways that would actually cost him in terms of blood and mandatory down time. He could take being teased, as long as Stark didn't cross the line.

"The teasing really gets to you?" Bruce asked.

"It's off limits," Clint said flatly. "You can tease me about anything else, but not how I laugh." He hoped that was blunt enough to keep Stark reigned in.

"Really, Robin Hood? 'Cause I can come up with a lot of things," Tony began. He never finished because almost quicker than they could see Clint threw a knife close enough to shave a few hairs off of Tony's beard. He'd deliberately chosen the side away from Pepper, but he wasn't going to let Stark try to weasel his way around this one. "Ok, no teasing the master assassin about his laugh, gotcha. We're still watching Monty Python though."

JARVIS put Monty Python and the Holy Grail up on the screen and Clint switched from taking care of his sling to checking the lead bullets that he'd had made for it. Hawkeye was an expert with any weapon that required aiming, and his favorites were those that took the most amount of skill to master, such as the bow. Guns of any type were simply far too easy and inaccurate in his opinion, (far too many people just used the spray and pray method) although they did have their place.

Clint also enjoyed reviving the ancient tradition of inscribing messages on the bullets for his sling, in his case 'gotcha!' That was as good as a signature because there was only one man who used any type of ancient weapons in combat or in assassination these days. He hadn't used the sling during the battle for the simple reason that he hadn't had the time. Usually he used it when he ran out of arrows, but when that had happened during the battle, the aliens were on him and he was reduced to hand to hand, not that he was bad at it. There was no way Tasha would allow her partner to be bad at one of her specialties. He was just glad that she was still the master and he the student. Finally, he could do no more with the distractions he had on hand and he put them away to watch the movie.

HELICARRIER

Colonel Fury was not a man to use profanity or to yell unless the situation was dire. This was a situation that he felt qualified. "WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN HE'S DOING AS WELL AS YOU CAN EXPECT?! YOU TOLD ME HE WAS DEAD!" The helicarrier's CMO remained calm, despite the fact that she was standing directly in front of him. The ability to remain calm in almost any situation was a requirement for a job among the medical division and Doctor Caruthers was very good at her job.

"When you were told that, it was true. Agent Colson was dead on arrival, but he arrived here in the ER within the first three minutes after his heart stopped. His brain hadn't had a chance to die from lack of oxygen. One of the good things about the fact that you make sure that my requests for equipment aren't ignored is that we had a bypass machine ready and waiting when he was brought in. Don't get me wrong, he's still critical. We managed to fix his lung, but he needs a new heart, and soon. The life support machines can only do so much. If he doesn't get a new one, he will die again and this time I won't be able to bring him back. I was hoping that you could pull a rabbit out of your hat, sir, because according to the national database, he doesn't have a match and probably won't get one," Doctor Caruthers said.

"Why am I only being informed of this now?" Fury demanded to know.

"It's not my fault that you didn't get around to reading the reports on the injured agents until now," Caruthers snapped. If she hadn't barged her way into his office, interrupting his discussion with Agent Hill about the UN, he probably wouldn't have known until it was too late to help Coulson.

"And why is he in the isolation suite instead of the ICU?" Fury asked, pinching the bridge of his nose. The reason that he hadn't read the reports was because there hadn't been anything he could do for the injured agents, and he'd been swamped with the fallout of the Battle of Manhattan. The WSC (World Security Council, or as they were known among the SHIELD agents in the know, those idiots who tried to nuke New York) weren't the only ones who had been jumping all over him looking for someone to blame for the mess that was New York was at the moment or demanding to know more about the Avengers.

Caruthers snorted. "I've still got seven agents waiting for clearance from Professor Xavier for what that alien wacko did to their minds when he touched them with that alien scepter. At least he's been able to clear Hawkeye and Doctor Selvig. Agent Coulson was impaled by it. Who knows what effect that could have, either on his injuries, or on his mind. It's one of the reasons that he doesn't qualify for a transplant even if by some miracle we could find one in the database."

"On the other hand, I have contacts that might be able to get around all of that," Fury finished for her. She nodded. "Stark and the rest are keeping Loki at Stark Tower. He said that there were some complications, but that they were handling it for now. I have to head over there and find out what's happening with the prisoner. You are coming with me and you'll be the one to tell Hawkeye and the Black Widow that their handler is still alive."

"If it buys my patient a chance, I'd do a strip tease for Stark in front of half the WSC," Caruthers said flatly. She knew that it wouldn't come to that. Stark, once a notorious playboy, was staying close to home these days, now that he and Pepper Potts had finally become a couple, not to mention that the older woman was about as far from Stark's former Playboy bunnies as could be imagined.

"Let's go."

STARK TOWER

One thing that Fury never expected to walk in on was Hawkeye laughing hard enough to fall off his perch. The so-called medical suite held all of the Avengers, plus Miss Potts and Loki. Loki was chained to a rather luxurious hospital bed, and was flanked by Thor and Banner. The rest of the Avengers were sprawled around the suite; Stark and Miss Potts in a recliner, (Fury noted one of Hawkeye's throwing knives in the headrest) Captain Rogers on the floor, and Hawkeye and Black Widow on the couch.

The cause of Hawkeye's mishap was obvious, Monty Python and the Holy Grail was playing on an enormous television decorating one wall. He'd heard Hawkeye laugh before. It was a rare occurrence, but it had happened often enough that he'd heard both the sound and the aftermath. As it taught new people not to mess with one of his best assassins, Fury was fine with Hawkeye dealing with those who teased him as he saw fit. He didn't think any of them expected Loki to start throwing a fit.

"NO!" Loki screamed. He tried to lunge off of the bed, but Thor grabbed him, wrapping his arms around his younger brother. The moment Loki screamed, all of the laughter in the room ceased, and everyone turned from the movie to watch Loki and Thor, weapons at the ready. Stark, Fury noted, had put himself between the recliner and Loki, and was wearing both of his gauntlets. "No, they'll burn! You can't let them die!" Loki screamed as he continued to struggle.

At this everyone relaxed, and Bruce answered Fury's unasked question. "He's been having flashbacks. I'm not sure that I want to know what this one is about considering it was triggered by laughter." Thor's face was full of anguish as he tried to soothe Loki and bring him out of the flashback.

"Flashbacks?" Fury asked. He'd expected the restraints, but not the hospital bed or bandages. Something was going on here, and no one had bothered to update him - again.

Tony removed his gauntlets and picked up a tablet from the table next to him. "Bruce and Thor pulled this out of Loki's belly. Apparently he's been under someone else's control for at least the last three centuries. He's been having flashbacks, and well, we think it's like he's detoxing now that it isn't in him anymore."

Fury took the tablet and cursed. He'd seen far too many glowing blue crystals in the last week.

"You'll be able to interrogate him about whoever was giving him orders in a couple of days, once we're sure he can actually answer your questions. You'll also have to go through Thor about which questions you can ask. The last thing we want is for our relations with Asgard to be fubar'd because SHIELD was too harsh in questioning their traumatized prince," Steve said in a no nonsense tone. Fury winced, as much because he could see that happening, as because Rogers had obviously adopted Loki. He was using a tone of voice one of Fury's own commanding officers many years ago had referred to as 'I can't give you orders, but if you don't listen to me you're the world's biggest idiot' that often came from experienced noncoms. He also told Fury and the other young officers that had been listening to what they thought was an upstart sergeant being insubordinate, that no good commander ever disregarded such advice.

Fury was about to answer the captain when Loki changed his pleas. "Please, don't let the fire kill them. Clint, Barney, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." All three SHIELD agents froze at hearing the names, especially when combined with Loki's tears and sobs.

It wasn't just the names that held Clint frozen in place. He heard those same words, in the same voice, in his nightmares at least once a week – and had for the last twenty years. The car accident that had killed his parents had left him and his brother Barney with burn scars. It had also left him with nightmares of a one eyed man ripping his mother out of the car and preventing her from rescuing them. Clint was a very good agent as well as an excellent assassin. One of the traits that made him such was an ability to recognize his targets no matter what they looked like. No disguise could fool him for more than a few moments – and when he compared the memory of his mother with Loki, he realized that they were the same person. His nightmare, rather than the imaginings of a traumatized child as he'd been told over and over again, was actually a memory of the accident, and Loki was in a flashback of that same moment in time.

Clint handed off his bow and quiver to his partner, and quickly got up on the hospital bed right behind Thor. Then he started making a weird crooning noise that he had only ever made to soothe a wounded Tasha as an adult. As a child it had been a noise that his mother had used to soothe him from everything from nightmares to scraped knees.

"Clint?" Loki asked, and Clint thankfully could literally see his gaze clearing and focusing on the sniper.

"We're fine. We made it out of the car. We weren't hurt badly, and everything healed up perfectly. We're fine." He brushed a strand of Loki's hair back behind his ear. "We're fine. He doesn't have you. Barney's at home. I'm right here. Thor's right here too, and he's going to make sure that he doesn't touch me, ok? You just lay down and get some more rest."