Disclaimer: I do not own "The Avengers" or any of the characters affiliated with them. If I did, there would totally be a Hawkeye/Black Widow movie in the works. I do not claim any of the directly quoted lines from "The Avengers" as my own, they belong to Marvel and the writers. The cover art came from a google search with the original source being pinterest where it was credited to Anthony Genuardi.
Author's Note: While I embrace constructive criticism, remember this old saying if you choose to leave a review "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all"
Special thanks to all who reviewed Chapter Three: Well done you, GremlinX, R1dDL3M37h15, Kirstiej104, ladybug114, RAGAnne, thababes, CyanB, BatmanOtaku, JRBarton, Sandy-wmd, Nowgiveusakiss-A, truefiarytales, Cello06, Steff7, LostHawk, manusoccer, foxeeflame, wickie4, animexluva13, yevguine, BooksAreMedicine, faithfreedom, Carolinagirl117, TheRagingHawk, Awesomesauceamy, Qweb, Kels, Sara burry, jaguarspot, Wolfsdrache, moi1992, weemcg33, burningupastar, Viviannafox, weathergirl17248, ELOSHAZZY, discordchick, darkdestiney2000, Rivan Warrioress, Kylen, hawkeye-mockingwidow, penguincrazy, GreenLoki, Lollypops101, bookworm1517, Alice of Scots, ILuvClintasha, pengineer, Neyite, Ale Nightshade, Arlothia, BrieCheese16, Batghost, Sarah, Anon, Guest
Shout out to those that have guessed the song inspiration for the chapter titles: LostHawk and GreenLoki
You can guess the song up until I tell you what it is in the final chapter!
Continued thanks to my wonderful betas Kylen and JRBarton for their wonderful support and beta-powers throughout this story.
to wickie4: I'm glad that the VPU was there to make your bedrest time more bearable! You're very welcome, but I should thank YOU for reading and staying with me all this time! :D
to Awesomesauceamy: I have TOTALLY BINGED Daredevil a couple of times already. While that wasn't necessarily a direct call out to it, I can't say it wasn't inspired by Fisk's rampage with the SUV door in season 1.
to jaguarspot: You know it's funny you should mention Vantage Point. As I'm sure you know, I didn't have a beta back then and VP was my first ever published fic lol. I'm actually in the process NOW of revising it for the very reasons you mentioned. I'm going to be working on THAT even as I write the next multi-fic that I'll announce at the end of this one. VP and several others will be revised/rewritten to better fit the VPU as it is. But yeah...and I bought BOTH Broken Arrows songs cuz I loved them so much, so thanks for turning me onto them!
to moi1992: I'll miss you until the weekend! Good luck with whatever you've got going on in school! You're almost to the weekend! Stay strong!
to Anon: yes you will see Nat interrogate Loki!
to Viviannafox: yeah, that merc from the last chapter, he and Clint are gonna tangle in the story "Palermo" ;)
to Rivan Warrioress: one thing to remember about the VPU, is that it was constructed well before post-Avengers MCU movies came out. So it's pretty much AU from those. Meaning the Selvig and Clint we got in later movies isn't necessarily the ones we'll get here, you know?
to Hawkeye-mockingwidow: well then, I'm pretty sure you just made your way to the top of my cool list. I mean, I've always been fascinated by martial arts but never had an opportunity to study it as a child. So I read your review with big old starry eyes. Not to mention the huge compliment it is to have an actual fighter appreciate my written fight scenes! And I agree with your rant 110%.
to GreenLoki: haha I know you and many others are Loki fans. I take it as a compliment that I can write this story in such a way that you forget that if only briefly.
To Alice of Scots: welcome to the VPUfam then! So glad you found us and even happier that you're enjoying your time with us :D
to pengineer: the car door thing wasn't a direct Daredevil reference, but I do love the Daredevil series so that scene is familiar to me lol and I can't say that some inspiration came from it
to ILuvClintasha: it may be intentional *smirks* I love me some parallelism.
Trigger warning! This chapter contains references to intended rape. The reference is not graphic, nor is it specific, but I wanted to issue the warning anyway. So please be aware going forward.
Our journey continues...
Last time in The Untold Stories:
But despite the obedience, he felt something stirring in his consciousness once again. It was weak, but gaining strength. Loki had beat it down, but it was still there.
And he knew exactly what it was.
Defiance.
And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender or submission.
John F. Kennedy
April 12, 2012
5:25 p.m. Local Time (7:55 a.m. NYC)
Helicarrier, Hangar Deck
Natasha watched the ramp lower on the jet and moved forward, watching Phil walk off with a man she recognized as Captain Steve Rogers.
She barely held back a grin as she imagined her handler's reaction to meeting his long-time hero.
"Agent Romanoff – Captain Rogers," Phil introduced.
"Ma'am," the tall blonde nodded in greeting.
She couldn't remember the last time someone had called her 'ma'am' – if anyone ever had.
"Hi," she replied simply, already looking to Phil, and directing the conversation towards their larger priorities. "They need you on the bridge. They're starting the face trace."
When she'd arrived just before 8 a.m. and found out they hadn't even started that yet, she'd let her frustration be known in Fury's office. Clint had been missing for 29 hours. 29 hours and they hadn't even started looking. Fury had calmly explained that they were doing the best they could with the time that had been afforded them. But chaos was the current rule and they were going to start the trace as soon as they possibly could. There'd been no reprimand for speaking her mind, but there'd been no real explanation for the delay either.
Then he'd firmly told her to go get some sleep.
She hadn't.
She'd hit the gym instead, taking out her fears and frustrations on a body dummy.
At least with Phil here now, nobody would get away with slacking on the search for Clint.
Her handler nodded in response to her directive.
"See you there." He gave her a meaningful look then looked at Rogers. Apparently it was her job to play welcoming committee. She shifted to let Phil know she understood and then he walked away. Natasha put on her friendliest smile and walked with Rogers as he moved to explore the deck.
"It was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. Thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?" She couldn't help but smirk. Phil was like a big kid when it came to any Captain America merchandise.
"Trading cards?" Rogers asked distractedly as he looked around at all the jets.
"They're vintage." Natasha smirked wider. "He's very proud."
For a moment, it felt so normal, talking about Phil's trading cards. She and Clint joked with Phil about them on a semi-regular basis, teasing the older man for his obsession. Though she knew for a fact, Clint had gone to extreme and dangerous lengths to ensure Phil had the full set.
Movement ahead of them caught her eye and she watched Banner move around, bouncing off various agents like a pin ball as he bumped into them. Rogers saw him too and started forward.
"Doctor Banner."
Banner looked at Steve, a hint of a smile turning up the corners of his mouth.
"Oh, yeah, hi. They told me you'd be coming."
Natasha mostly tuned them out, turning her head and pressing her earpiece farther into her ear when a call came over it. It was always harder to hear out on the deck like this.
"All personnel prepare for take-off. Take-off pending in 90 seconds."
She dropped her hand from her ear, relieved for an excuse to go inside and check the status of the face trace herself. She stepped up to get Banner and Rogers' attention.
"Gentlemen, you might wanna step inside in a minute. It's gonna get a little hard to breathe."
A call came over the loud speaker to secure the deck. Natasha watched Banner and Rogers move to the edge, peering out at the water, both looking wary.
"Is this a submarine?" Rogers asked. Natasha didn't bother answering, it would be obvious soon enough.
"Really? They want me in a submerged, pressurized metal container?"
Natasha quirked her lips. Banner was really proving to have an odd and dry sense of humor.
She braced herself as take-off began and they started to rise out of the water.
"Oh, no." Banner backed up a step. "This is much worse."
They continued to rise and Natasha shifted, catching both of their attention.
"If you'll follow me inside, I'll take you to the bridge."
Both still looking a little awe-struck, they followed without complaint. She led the way off the deck and into the heart of the carrier, making her way to the bridge. Once there, she peeled off immediately, leaving both men to their own devices as she zeroed in on the computer screen running the trace on Clint. She moved over to it and crouched, quietly questioning the tech running the program about its progress.
"There's nothing yet," he replied just as quietly. "But we've only just started. I don't even have us keyed into half the cameras in Europe and none of the ones in Asia."
"How long until you have access to all of them?" she asked, even as she remained vaguely aware of the conversation going on nearby.
"Minutes. Then, if he's out there, I'll find him." The young tech looked so earnest and determined, Natasha couldn't help but feel a small spring of hope. Just as quickly, though, her thoughts turned darker. Maybe they did find Clint, but they had no guarantee that he'd be Clint when they did. She could get him back only to really have already lost him forever. Whatever Loki had done to him, it could be permanent, or even it if it wasn't, it could be causing permanent damage.
They had to find him. They had to find him soon.
She shook herself, acknowledging that entertaining worst-case scenarios wasn't the most effective use of her time at the moment. She was in the middle of the bridge, for one, and couldn't afford to let her emotions overwhelm her. And she had a job to do. Clint would want her to do it.
She looked up as she heard Phil explaining the face trace.
"It's still not gonna find them in time," she pointed out. Not in time to stop Clint from carrying out the destruction she knew he was capable of. She'd often considered how lucky they were that he was on their side, but she'd never thought the day would come that he wasn't.
Banner looked suddenly thoughtful.
"You have to narrow your field. How many spectrometers do you have access to?"
Fury lifted his chin a little arrogantly, nearly drawing a grin from Natasha.
"How many are there?"
Banner looked unaffected by the bravado and just started issuing instructions instead.
"Call every lab you know. Tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm, basic cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?"
Natasha blinked, suddenly really glad Banner was on their team too…and not just because of his greener side.
"Agent Romanoff, would you show Doctor Banner to his laboratory, please?"
Natasha pushed herself up to standing and headed towards Banner, leading him to the door.
"You're gonna love it, Doc. We got all the toys."
"Really? Do you have the Commodore 64?"
Natasha hesitated, not recognizing the piece of equipment he was asking for.
"I'm not sure…"
"Oh," he interrupted her with a chuckle, "you're very young."
Natasha didn't argue. She supposed she was considered young to most.
"So," Banner hedged as he followed her through the crowded halls, "the missing agent…you know him?"
"Why would you ask that?" she shot him a suspicious look over her shoulder. While most everybody within SHIELD knew she and Clint were partnered once upon a time, and were therefore considered friends, very few had any idea how much they actually meant to each other. And as far as she knew, Banner hadn't even heard of Clint until today.
"Well, the first thing you did when we got to the bridge was go check the trace on him."
Natasha felt her hackles lower. Banner wasn't turning out to be so bad. She heard nothing but genuine curiosity in his tone.
"I've worked with him," she admitted. But she left it at that.
Banner shot her a look that was full of doubt, like he knew that wasn't the whole story. But he didn't pry further. They spent the rest of the walk in silence and when the lab was in sight, she gestured him ahead of her.
"There you go, Doc."
He nodded, moving to the door.
"Thank you, Natasha."
"Romanoff," she corrected out of habit.
He turned and gave her a curious look. She couldn't really blame him, she'd let him use her first name in the shack in India. Though, in her defense, he'd just scared the shit out of her and correcting him had been the last thing on her mind.
"First names, they hold power. It's a familiarity that has to be earned."
Something akin to respect lit his eyes and he nodded.
"I suppose I'll just have to earn it then."
Natasha couldn't quite help the small smile that turned up the corners of her mouth as Banner headed into the lab and left her standing in the hall.
No, Hulk or not, Banner wasn't so bad.
April 12, 2012
2:40 p.m. Local Time (8:40 a.m. NYC)
Loki's Lair, somewhere in Europe
"Put it over there."
Clint ignored Selvig and focused on the tablet in his hand, sifting through the information the scientist had given him to figure out what he needed to find and where to find it. He rolled his neck, trying to alleviate some of the pressure of his headache. It was no use. His head just goddamned hurt. Hurt worse than it'd ever hurt before. And for someone who'd had as many concussions as he had, that was saying something. Whatever physical effect Loki's mind-fuck had caused, didn't seem to be lessening. He'd done his best to ignore the pain, to go on about his job here and act as if he weren't one wrong move away from landing face first on the cement.
Then there was the complete lack of control over his own actions.
This feeling – one of complete compulsion to do the bidding of another – stood at such odds with his own instincts. The battle waging for dominance – one Loki himself had made him aware of – now continued at a nauseating pace. Back and forth – obedience and defiance.
Jesus, he was making himself feel sick just thinking about it.
A wave of unease flowed through him and for a moment, his defiance was the victor. But just as quickly, an overpowering need to continue his mission washed back in. He drew in a slow, deep breath and let it out just as carefully, refocusing on the tablet in his hands.
"Where did you find all these people?" Selvig asked as he glanced around.
Clint thought back to his meeting with Luca Bertolini in Palermo and the team of men he'd…commandeered…from that exchange.
"SHIELD has no shortage of enemies, Doctor." And it was easy to recruit when you had a magic spear to convince the mob lord he'd already been paid – sure as hell beat actually paying a bastard like that anything.
He found what he was looking for on the tablet.
"This the stuff you need?" He flipped the tablet around for Selvig to see.
The scientist nodded.
"Yeah. Iridium. It's found in meteorites, it forms anti-protons. It's very hard to get ahold of."
From what Clint had found, that was an understatement. And that wasn't even the worst part.
"Especially if SHIELD knows you need it."
Considering this whole situation would have activated the Avengers Initiative, Stark and Banner were probably on the case already. Alone, the two men were individual geniuses. Together, they could easily be considered a brain trust of sorts. They'd know what Selvig needed soon and where to find it, if they hadn't figured it out already.
"Well, I didn't know," Selvig muttered sourly.
Clint felt his muscles tense of their own accord as Loki approached behind him, as slowly and slyly as a snake in the grass. Selvig was more excited about their self-appointed leader's arrival than Clint, apparently feeling no such trepidation from Loki's presence. But then Loki hadn't just taken the equivalent of a sledge hammer to Selvig's brain…
"Hey!" the doctor greeted the Asgardian. "This is wonderful. The tesseract has shown me so much. It's – it's more than knowledge, it's truth."
Loki smiled the dark, mischievous grin of his and replied.
"I know. It touches everyone differently."
A chill raced through him when he felt Loki's gaze settle on him. He did his level best to appear unaffected. He knew now that he wasn't imagining the weight of that gaze. Loki could see into his head, could hear – or at least sense – his thoughts. Nothing was protected anymore. Nothing was safe.
"What did it show you, Agent Barton?"
The compulsion to reply honestly came out of nowhere, as if it were an inherent instinct.
"My next target."
The cube hadn't so much shown him anything. Rather, it had shown Selvig what he needed and the doctor had passed that information along. Either way, he wasn't going to wax poetic about a block of energy that so far, had done nothing but make his headache worse.
"Stick in the mud." Selvig cackled at him. "He's got no soul. No wonder you chose this…this tomb to work in."
Clint glared at the doctor. He likely had no idea how close to the mark he really was. But Clint knew, and thanks to his mind-raping frolic in Clint's head, Loki knew too. He wondered if he was imagining the wave of sadistic glee that rolled off Loki in the next moment. He shook off his growing feeling of unease – and his growing desire to tell Loki to stop goddamn looking at him – and did the only thing he could. Defend his tactical decision in choosing the bunker.
"Well, the Radisson doesn't have three levels of lead-lined flooring between SHIELD and that cube."
Selvig just ignored him, walking back to where he'd been working before he started yapping at Loki like a puppy begging for attention.
"I see why Fury chose you to guard it."
Loki's voice drew Clint's attention back to him and he met the Asgardian's gaze evenly. Back to the mind games it seemed. Before he could reply with what he instinctively wanted to say – something colorful about Loki, the spear and a place the sun didn't shine – a voice echoed painfully through his head.
Consider your words wisely, Agent Barton.
The extra zing of pain that cracked through his head a moment later really knocked the point home. He swallowed down a wave of nausea and felt the compulsion of obedience gain dominance.
"You're going to have to contend with him, sir. As long as he's in the air, I can't pin him down. And he'll be putting together a team."
Not just a team, the team. The team that would end all teams – the goddamned Avengers. Withholding that particular fact, no matter how small it was, felt like a victory. So he took it as one.
"Are they a threat?" Loki asked.
Yes, undeniably. But as he started to gain control again, seesawing back into the driver's seat of his consciousness, he found himself able to hedge around that fact.
"To each other more than likely. But if Fury can get them on track, and he might, they could throw some noise our way."
Loki's gaze narrowed. Clint cursed inwardly. He shouldn't have mentioned Fury. Shouldn't have drawn the attention back to the man he'd failed to kill.
"You admire Fury?" Loki asked carefully. A leading question, one that could spell trouble if he didn't answer in the right way.
Clint's head throbbed and he resisted the urge to rub his forehead. This word-dance was mentally exhausting and he'd already been through the wringer. The harder he fought, the stronger the exhaustion became…and the easier it was for the compulsion of obedience to stay in control.
"He's got a clear line of sight." It was something he admired about Fury. That had essentially been what Loki had asked.
Loki's gaze burned him as the son of a bitch studied him – no doubt reading the fledgling resistance in the vague explanation.
"Is that why you failed to kill him?"
Clint narrowed his gaze, wondering what Loki's play was here. He already knew Clint was fighting, was rebelling against the god's control. He'd been the one to clue Clint in about it in the first place.
So why the hell was he asking?
Movement in his periphery alerted him to Selvig's attention refocusing on them.
Then Clint understood.
Selvig had seen Clint – master of all marksmen – fail to kill Fury. This whole dance was for the doctor's benefit. It was Loki showing Selvig that – no, Clint was not beyond his control. No, there was no resisting. No, there was no use trying.
If Clint hadn't been so goddamned exhausted, he might have been able to resist playing along. But as it was, he had little choice. He'd lost ground in his mental battle for dominance. And no matter how hard he tried, he was having trouble getting back into the fight.
"It might be." He hedged in an attempt to sell the act to Selvig. "I was disoriented, and I'm not at my best with a gun."
That wasn't exactly a lie, should be sufficient to convince Selvig of its truth. Sure, he wasn't at his best with a gun, but he sure as hell was better than most everyone else in the world. Selvig likely didn't know that though, they hadn't exactly taken the time to get acquainted.
Loki, seemingly pleased that Clint was offering little to no resistance at the moment, went on, pressing his advantage.
"I want to know everything you can tell me about this team of his. I would…test their mettle."
Clint nodded, but Loki was already continuing.
"I am weary of this scuttling in shadow. I mean to rule this world, not burrow in it."
Aiming for grandeur had led to the downfall of more than one world leader.
"That's a risk," he felt compelled to warn.
"Oh, yes." Loki agreed with a maniacal grin.
Clint figured he'd done his part in trying to dissuade him from the reckless course of action. Maybe he could use Loki's yearning for attention to make Clint's next objective easier.
"If you're set on making yourself known, I could be useful."
Loki smiled at him.
"Tell me what you need."
Clint moved over to the case that currently held his bow. He wrapped his hand around it and snapped it open, focusing for a moment on the familiarity of the weapon in his hand.
"I need a distraction." Even as he spoke, something sparked back to life inside him. Holding his treasured weapon – something that was so completely a part of him – sent a shot of adrenaline through him. "And an eyeball." He finished only to blink and stumble a step as sudden warmth raced up his arm and spread across his chest and to the rest of his body. Something ignited in his mind, fiery and strong.
A tidal wave of strength and defiance swept through him, knocking the compulsion that had been dogging him since Loki first touched him with the spear right on its ass then sweeping it away.
Son of a bitch…
He gasped, his free hand going to his temple as the unfounded loyalty to Loki faded away and left nothing but a swirling storm of confusion and raging emotions in its wake.
Not sure what to do with the overwhelmingly powerful surge of strength, his mind channeled it into one thing that had always served him well.
His instincts.
Every sense suddenly felt overwhelmed, but none so much as his innate ability to sense a threat.
That particular instinct was practically going off like a siren.
More defensive adrenaline flooded his system as he raised his gaze, already knowing exactly where that threat was coming from.
His gaze locked with Loki's.
The god's eyes were wide with surprise – Clint got it, he was surprised too – but they quickly narrowed in anger. He advanced, bringing up the spear.
Even while wading through the overwhelming wealth of sensory information, even while trying to sort out how he'd managed to break free, even while concentrating on the feeling of his bow in his hand, he knew one thing with absolute certainty.
If that spear touched him again, it was over.
He retreated a step instinctively, buying some room as he swung his bow in a wide sweep. He knocked the spear away even as he drew his side arm, taking aim at Loki's forehead. The Asgardian swung his arm, knocking the gun out of Clint's hand even as it fired, the bullet shifting the hair on Loki's temple but then embedding itself harmlessly in a piece of equipment.
The force of the hit left Clint's fingers numb. But with Loki still advancing, there was no time to acknowledge it. He let his instincts rule him – guide him – and swung his bow back, catching Loki hard across the chin.
So focused was he on Loki – on the biggest and most dangerous threat in the room – that he failed to acknowledge the presence creeping up behind him until it was too late. He tried to duck away, but wasn't quite fast enough.
Selvig's wrench caught him with a glancing blow across the back of his head, hitting his shoulder more than it did anything else. It was the only distraction Loki needed. The back of Loki's hand caught him hard in the jaw, putting him on the ground as effectively as a baseball bat would have. His bow went skittering across the cement.
Jesus, any harder and he'd have dislocated his jaw – or broken it. As it was, that goddamned fake molar had torn free.
Strangely, the blow centered him, helped him gain a handle on the emotions and instincts that had been running rampant and overwhelming him.
Clint felt blood filling his mouth from a cut on the inside of his cheek, but didn't have time to do anything about it before Loki's boot caught him in the shoulder, knocking him onto his back.
Then the Asgardian's hand was around his throat, pulling him up and backing him roughly into the crates stacked behind him. Selvig danced out of the way, wrench still firmly in his grip and eyes looking an odd mixture between intrigued by Clint's situation, angry at his own lack of attention from Loki, and confused by the warring emotions.
"How?!" Loki demanded as he held Clint against the crates and tightened his grip on his throat just to the point of pain, but not so much that he couldn't draw in breath to respond. Clint gripped Loki's wrist with his left hand – though with his fingers still tingling, the strength of his grip was tenuous at best – and pushed uselessly against Loki's chest with the other.
He glared at him, refusing to reply. Loki had been having his way with him since this mess started. He'd been forcing confessions and compelling loyalty. No more. Clint was in the driver's seat now.
Go to hell, you fucking bastard.
Clint pulled his right hand away from Loki's chest, knowing he wouldn't be able to push the god away. He slid it slowly to his back, to either of the two knives he kept hidden there. To distract from the action, Clint drew in a breath through his nose, and then spit – spraying Loki with the blood from his mouth and sending the tooth bouncing off his forehead.
It was a stupid thing to do – Natasha and Phil both would have had his hide for it – but it felt so damn good. And it gave Clint the moment he needed to get his fingers around one of his knives – the one Phil gave him by the feel of the hilt.
All it did was piss Loki off further.
The hand on his throat tightened, cutting off air intake. Clint used Loki's momentary distraction with rage to slide the knife free of its sheath. In a move lighting quick, too fast for the untrained eye to follow, he was arching the knife towards Loki's jugular.
In a move equally fast, Loki had dropped the scepter and used his now free hand to catch Clint's wrist. The tip of the blade scratched the exposed skin of Loki's neck, drawing a small drop of blood. But then Loki was forcing the knife away, the bones in Clint's wrist were grinding together under the strength of his grip. A moment more of the excruciating pressure and his hand lost feeling, the knife slipping away and clattering to the floor.
"I should kill you," Loki hissed as he leaned close and pressed Clint harder against the crates. Clint could feel the hard corners digging into his back with bruising force. "But I won't, not yet. What I will do to you will be far worse than death."
Loki yanked him forward then, and shifted them both. He released Clint's numb right wrist and held out his hand. A moment later Selvig was reverently placing the spear back in his grip.
Then he started forcing Clint backwards again – hand still tight around his throat – Clint could do nothing but hold on to Loki's wrist with his own hands and scramble to keep his feet under him.
He kept expecting to get slammed into a wall, kept waiting for the jarring pain.
But Loki just kept forcing him back until they were far away from everyone else, in an isolated corner of the bunker.
Then the wall finally came.
Clint's breath left him in a rush of air from to the force of the impact. Unexpectedly, though, Loki let him draw in a breath to replace it. His hand on Clint's throat more for control now than pain.
He wanted him conscious and listening apparently, not suffocating. Clint wasn't sure that was all that heartening.
He tried to buck against the hold, hoping to use the momentary small mercy to gain some sort of advantage. All he managed to do was get Loki to tighten his grip, once again to the point right before his air intake would have been compromised.
The god leaned in closer, his voice a nothing but a whisper in his ear.
"You have shown me your heart, Agent Barton."
Clint kept fighting, struggling uselessly against the Asgardian's strength.
Goddamnit, he was so fucking helpless.
"Now I will show you how I will destroy it," Loki's whisper shifted to an angry hiss.
The spear hit his chest without warning and with brutal, bruising force, barely a shade above breaking skin.
The ice hit Clint like a sledge hammer. There was no slow, cresting wave this time – just absolute cold and pain.
He knew he screamed, but didn't hear it. He couldn't hear anything but his heart pounding mercilessly in his chest. He could see anything but bright, blinding ice blue. He couldn't feel anything but horrible, all-encompassing pain.
It was worse this time, compounded by the brutality that had already been delivered to his mind. His defenses were in shambles, he had no way to protect himself. Loki's hostile takeover was fast and dirty, no finesse, no care taken – just brutal and vicious.
Whatever emotions he'd managed to regain were pounded to dust. Whatever freedom he'd won was shackled and thrown into the abyss. Whatever strength he had was beaten until there was nothing left.
Then, when Clint thought Loki had decided to just kill him, the pain stopped.
He opened his eyes – though he didn't remember closing them – to see Loki staring coldly at him.
Then without a word, Loki propped the spear against the wall and reached with both hands for Clint's head.
"No…" was all he managed before Loki's palms locked around his temples.
Then the pain was back.
He hit his knees and Loki let him fall, kept his hands pressed to Clint's head without mercy.
"See, now, the plans I have for you," Loki hissed in a low, vicious whisper.
And then it started. It played out like a poorly spliced movie before his eyes, fractured scenes and abrupt shifts.
It was him, fighting Natasha.
"You will yearn to make her bleed." Loki's voice narrated darkly.
Clint watched himself hit her, watched her fall. He watched himself pursue her to the ground, kicking away the hand she tried to use to push herself up.
"Clint…please…"
He watched himself ignore the plea and hit her again, hard enough to put her on the ground, stunned.
"You will hunger for her fear."
Clint watched himself straddle her, locking her wrists together in one of his larger, stronger hands and pinning them above her head.
"Clint, this isn't you! Please! You have to hear me!"
She writhed beneath him, bucking and flailing, doing whatever she could to try and knock him off balance. But he was fixated and determined. He wasn't going to be dissuaded from his goal.
"Clint!"
"Shut up!" he heard himself snarl at her, landing a brutal backhand to her mouth that sent blood spraying. He caught her jaw in his hand and squeezed it tightly. "Don't say another fucking word."
He saw fear start to take form in her eyes. Fear of him.
"You will ache to destroy her in every way you know she fears. You, who she holds most dear, will be her undoing and her end."
Clint watched his free hand go for the zipper on her uniform, watched her eyes widen and her efforts to free herself gain strength.
"She will beg for mercy, but you will give her none."
"Clint…if you're in there, you've got to hear me! You've got to snap out of it! Please!"
He watched himself go on as if she hadn't spoken, brutally yanking the zipper down and then reaching for her belt.
"Please, don't…"
"You will do this. You will want this. You will enjoy every vile moment of it."
The scene faded away and Clint found himself looking up into Loki's crystal blue gaze.
"You will hunt her as the hawk you are named for hunts its prey. Then, when you have finished your brutal work, you will be released from my hold and you will look upon what you've done."
Even as Loki said the words, a yearning filled him – a dark, violent hunger for the blood of the woman he'd once been willing to die to protect.
"Then, and only then, will I release you from this burden of a life."
Loki felt the dark desires he'd planted take root in Barton's mind. He narrowed his gaze, studying the kneeling man before him, searching for any sign of the defiance that had been so strong before.
It was there, a small, weak flicker buried deep in the darkness of his mind. Even as Loki focused on it, the flicker grew weaker.
Satisfied, Loki withdrew his hands from Barton's head and stepped back.
The archer collapsed forward, barely catching himself on his hands, head hung low and breathing ragged.
Stand. He commanded through the mental link the scepter afforded him.
Immediately Barton pushed off the ground, staggering to his feet and ending up having to reach for the wall behind him to stay upright.
Calmly, Loki reached past him for the scepter, never taking his eyes of Barton's face.
"I would know how you broke the hold I had on you."
The archer's reply came immediately.
"The bow." Though his breaths were still a little gasping, his voice was gaining strength.
He was a warrior, this one.
"The bow?" He recalled the archer handling his bow just before he'd broken free.
"There was an…attachment…something emotional. It's…" Barton's brow furrowed slightly in vague confusion. "I don't feel it anymore."
Intriguing that a physical object could hold such power in a mortal's life.
"You're certain?" Loki pressed, willing the man to speak honestly.
A slight wince crossed the agent's features and Loki knew his compulsion had been received.
Barton nodded sharply.
"Prove yourself to me," Loki demanded.
Barton's eyebrow arched in question. He didn't know how the man could speak so much through just a look, but Loki understood his meaning clearly.
"Tell me how you would defeat Fury and this band of men he is gathering," he explained.
Barton's gaze grew a little thoughtful but after a moment he answered easily.
"Draw their eye, something big and showy – give me a chance to get what the doctor needs without them catching on."
"But they were will surely respond, confront me."
Barton nodded, face blank.
"Exactly. You want to defeat Fury? You want to defeat his team?" Loki nodded slowly, curiously. "Then let them take you. Surrender."
Loki scoffed.
"You would suggest I go into the lion's den willingly?"
"I would suggest," he heard a slightly mocking edge to Barton's voice, but ignored it momentarily, "You pull one over on their asses."
"Pull one over?"
Barton expression shifted, seemingly annoyed at Loki's lack of understanding.
"Trick them," he explained bluntly. "That is what you do, isn't it?"
"What would you suggest?" Loki asked, intrigued now. Barton was correct, tricks were his trade after all.
"There's a man named Bruce Banner, he's probably on board the carrier already. He's the key. Maybe you've heard of him, they call him The Hulk."
Loki shook his head slightly. What was a 'Hulk'?
"He's a giant green monster," Barton explained blandly. "Gets let loose when Banner gets really angry."
Loki tilted his head in acceptance. That could definitely be played in their favor. But Barton wasn't done.
"You've got multiple personalities to contend with there, and not all of them will blindly accept your surrender. Stark, he's an arrogant son of a bitch. He won't question it. Rogers, he's smart. He'll wonder. But he follows orders like a good little soldier. Word is he's not quite comfortable in this timeline yet."
"This timeline?"
"Long story short – super soldier, frozen in the ice for 70 years, just thawed out."
Loki nodded slowly, absorbing the new information, even as Barton went on.
"Banner, he probably won't even come into contact with you. He's a science guy. He'll be more interested in that." Barton nodded at the scepter. Loki looked at it too and then arched a questioning eyebrow at Barton. "So you use it to fuck him up and turn the Hulk loose."
"What of your lady love, Agent Romanoff?"
He watched with pleasure as Barton's gaze darkened and the vicious, violent desires of his soul suddenly seemed to permeate the air around them.
"She's a manipulator. She'll be sent to talk to you, maybe after Fury's had his way with you." Barton's jaw clenched as if he were fighting against his dark urges even now.
"How do I best her?"
"Use me."
Loki was surprised by the blunt revelation, but accepted it with a nod.
"And then?"
"Then?" Agent Barton's mouth curved into a dark, feral smile. "She's mine."
Loki nodded agreeably.
"As you wish, Agent Barton."
Barton rolled his neck and looked back at him.
Loki smiled. He liked this plan. There was no one here, in this realm, that could stop him. None that could match his strength and power.
And the one that could, that perhaps would stand a chance, he was still trapped on Asgard. Though Heimdall would no doubt relay Loki's actions to his father…
No.
Odin was not his father.
Just as Thor was not his brother.
The revelation was still hard to accept, even after all this time. But it mattered not. Thor, even when he learned of Loki's work here, would be powerless to stop him.
He returned his gaze to the man before him.
"You've done well, Agent Barton." Loki regarded him closely. "I'm almost sorry I intend to kill you."
Barton's eyes flashed, not with defiance…but arrogance.
"You might find, when the time comes, that's not such an easy thing to do."
Loki smiled at the bravado, though it hardly seemed contrived.
"I think you'll find, when the time comes, you'll welcome the release."
Barton didn't argue, just stared at him, compliant.
Loki smiled wider.
"Tell me more."
End of Chapter 4
Wowza! Things are heating up! Can you believe it? Clint busted free of the mind control! If only briefly. But now you see how he went from a guy that resisted the order to kill Fury to the guy that tried to kill Natasha. There was a gap there that didn't make sense to me. I mean he can resist killing Fury, but he tries to gut Nat? I needed an explanation, so here we are ;) Loki's hold on him now is stronger, whatever fight Clint had left in him is gone. Heartbreaking isn't it?
You all know how I crave reviews, so drop me a line and make my day ;)
We'll be back tomorrow, until then, let this preview entice you
He needed to know that his promise to Clint would hold true, even if he wasn't here to keep it. He needed to know, and for Clint to know, that he would never abandon him. That he would always come.
He took a breath and looked into the laptop webcam.
He hit record.
"Hey kid...at the risk of sounding cliché, if you're watching this, then I'm dead."