Chapter 4 Blindsided
It has been a week since the Avengers assembled again and they had yet to find any sign of Loki. It almost seemed as if he had vanished from existence. Natasha thought back to Steve's words when she approached him. He was right. There was no way they were going to find Loki unless he wanted them to. Their hope that the Scepter emitting gamma rays was an empty one. It may be fueled by the cube but the artifact itself was not kicking out strong enough waves for them to track through gamma radiation. Much to everyone's chagrin. Still everyone seemed to be getting along fairly well aside from the bickering that would occur, usually thanks to Tony but nothing serious.
Natasha was exhausted. Her nightmares were getting worse, depriving her of more precious sleep, and she had been running off of six hours worth of sleep for the past three days. She was always the last one on the ship to go to bed and the first one to rise and it was beginning to take a toll. Soon she was going to have to get some proper sleep or she wouldn't make it. Recently she had been dreaming of Barton, coming to her room and at first she would welcome her friend but then she would get a look at his eyes and see that they were clouded with a misty blue. Then she would suddenly be unable to move her body and Hawkeye would proceed to cut her with a knife, tracing patterns across her skin, leaving fresh seeping blood behind. The torture felt like it would go on for hours, all the while Clint whispering sweetly in her ear how it would all be over soon before at last he would plunge the knife into her chest. And everytime the last thing she would see is his eyes clearing up, his mouth contorting into a horrified and anguish filled scream before Loki would appear behind him with a triumphant sneer and crack his skull with the scepter.
This nightmare would always leave her lying in bed, eyes wide open, swimming with tears, as she fought to shake away the memories of her bad dreams. Why was she suddenly being plagued with these nightmares? Natasha has never had such a problem. Of course her sleep has always been haunted by the wrong deeds she has committed but never to this severity where it interfered with her sleep. She feared what sort of horrible images her mind would conjure up next. But even more than that she feared that her more recent nightmare would become reality. Little did Natasha know, she wasn't the only one suffering from horrible dreams. Loki had been toying with Barton's mind as well and he had been doing so long before he had visited Natasha.
Things were quiet again. All of the Avengers, even Steve were asleep. The only people awake on the ship were all people who worked on the bridge keeping watch of the ships engine and computers. Otherwise, everyone was asleep or in their rooms. The Russian had retired to her room as well but she was almost afraid to go to bed. Natasha dreaded what kind of images would await her when she closed her eyes and had been sitting contemplatively for the past hour, putting off sleep. However, no matter how hard you try you can't avoid your body's needs and you can't run away from your mind.
"Can't sleep?" drawled a familiar voice.
The assassin leapt from her seat on the bed and snatched up the closest weapon to her, which was a knife and lunged towards the source of the voice, planning to eliminate the intruder. Natasha didn't make it very far before she found her arm wrenched behind her back painfully, a sharp clatter echoing in her ears, before the knife was pried from her grip and held at her throat. The intruder pressed harder on the delicate skin on her neck, forcing her to turn her head back to keep her flesh from being sliced open.
"Or is it that you don't want to sleep?" continued Loki in her ear.
"What are you doing here, Loki?" Natasha growled, going deathly still in his grasp.
"That hurts Miss Romanoff. You didn't miss me?"
"I miss your absence." She shot back, quickly.
"Your charm is so overwhelming. It's no wonder Barton has been thinking of you so much recently."
The color drained from Natasha's face, fear creeping up to clench her heart in its vicious grasp.
"You've been to see him?"
"Did you think yourself special? That I only came to visit you? That I only gave you nightmares?"
"You're-!"
He cut her off, "The one who's responsible for your sleepless nights? Oh yes. And I have to say, Barton is much more amusing to watch and torment. He always screams. I rather suspect he'll break soon."
"If you touch him I swear I'll-"
"You'll what? What can you do to stop me, you pathetic girl?"
"I will kill you." Natasha promised as he forced her head back farther to look her in the eye, "I will utterly destroy you."
There was a moment of silence, one that seemed to last forever and plant the worry in the spy that she had angered Loki. However, her fears were calmed when he began to laugh lowly, his chest vibrating against her back. Dark green eyes swept over her back and although the spy couldn't see it, she could feel it.
"Well, you are off to a wonderful start." He purred, "What am I to do? How will I ever defend myself against such a mighty mortal as yourself?"
Natasha remained silent, glaring at the wall, wishing that she could do something to kill that sarcasm of his. Those mocking words, teasing smirk and taunting expression made her so frustrated that she had, once again, found herself at his mercy. The cogs in her brain were turning but Black Widow was not getting ideas on how to get free of his grip.
"Perhaps I should get Agent Barton for protection."
It was then that the spy turned vicious, thrashing against his hold and it was only then that she realized, at some point, Loki had paralyzed her left arm. Natasha wasn't sure when he had rendered her sole free arm useless but now she was incapable of using it and her right arm was pinned in an inescapable hold behind her back. There were many things that she could have done but the knife held close to her throat would make almost all of them deadly for her. She would not get out of his hold by force, which meant she had to reevaluate her approach.
"Ooh did that touch a nerve? Remind you of certain nightmares that have been plaguing your sleep?" He whispered against her ear.
A threatening growl slipped behind her teeth and she fought against his hold on her but the more she struggled against his hold, the tighter he twisted her arm, eventually forcing her to still her resistance against him. Faintly she could feel a few liquid drops rolling down the svelte curve of her neck and she knew it to be blood. Finally she stilled completely, focusing on calming herself down so she could think clearly.
"The only one plaguing my nightmares," she lied, "Is you."
"I'm flattered." He chuckled malevolently.
She stiffened again when those words were spoken against the side of her throat but he did nothing beyond speak against her skin.
"However," Loki continued with his cheek resting against the side of her head, "It is pointless to lie to me."
"Is this a sort of revenge for me outsmarting you a week ago?"
When there was no response a smirk curled across her lips.
"As the God of Mischief it must eat at you to be bested by a mere mortal not once but twice."Natasha sneered, "Aren't you ashamed?"
A creeping coldness slowly washed over her and when it at last encompassed her whole body, Black Widow fell limp in Loki's grasp. Emerald eyes rolled in their sockets as he took the knife from her throat and dropped it and used his newly freed hand to hold her more securely. Then she was settled into a chair, facing a full length mirror. Natasha's face held a blank expression since she was completely paralyzed and could only stare straight at the reflection she was faced with.
The dark figure of the Asgardian loomed over her, bent forward at the waist with his hands propping himself up on the arm resters. Raven hair fell a little over his shoulders as he stared at her reflection. Circles loomed beneath his eyes, hinting that she had not been the only one with sleepless nights and his skin seemed paler than she remembered it. The sole dim light in her room cast gaunt shadows across his face emphasizing the cruelty behind his sneer.
"It's going to happen, you know." He promised darkly, "I'll have Barton start with your face first."
A cold finger drifted up to her cheek where it began to trace imaginary shapes across her skin. Natasha tried her hardest to move but not a single muscle would obey her commands. The only part of her body that would do what she wanted was her chest, which rose and fell in time with her breaths.
"Then he'll cut out your tongue all while he whispers how it's going to be ok."
That finger turned into a hand that slid down to brush against her mouth.
"After that he'll break your fingers," A hand engulfed her own.
"One." He roughly twisted her first digit, hard enough to cause discomfort but not pain.
"By." Another finger.
"One."
The last finger gave a soft pop beneath the force applied but no harm was done.
"And then he will kiss you so lovingly, like he has always wanted. Then he will carve your body and you will scream."
His hand embraced her throat as if he planned to strangle her but applied no pressure. While her expression could only remain blank, her heart was breaking. Whether it was because of Loki's magic messing with her mind or because of his detail, Natasha could see everything he said play out in her mind. It was a wound that dug deeper than any blade to see her cherished friend in such a state.
"And when at last he's done, I'll have him tell you that he loves you before ramming a blade through your chest." He growled into her ear, the grip on her throat tightening dangerously, "And you will be alive long enough to see his horror and hear his scream of anguish."
Suddenly his grip turned vicious and it forced her to look him the face where his deep forest eyes bored heavily into hers, "Then he will die with you."
Warmth tingled back into her face as Loki's magic receded so she would be able to form facial expressions. Then it sank lower until at last, she had complete control over her entire body. She took a moment to recollect herself, not hearing the god's dark whispers against her ear. Then Natasha knocked his left arm out from underneath him and darted her hands up to yank him downwards, flipping him over the chair. She snatched up the knife that was lying by the chair and leapt upon Loki, straddling his waist, with the knife pressed to his throat.
"You will not," She snarled, "Touch him."
"Are you planning to stop me, Agent Romanoff?" He asked amused.
"Yes."
"Then why haven't you cut my throat yet?"
Natasha's eyes widened slightly at his question and it caused her to drop her guard. Faster than she thought possible, Loki twisted her arm and the knife was released from her grasp to fall uselessly to the floor. The world spun around her and then she was on her back, arms pinned above her head. She snarled and thrashed beneath him but his hold was strong and there was not a way where she could get him off of her.
"Now what would Barton think?" he smirked, "What would the rest of the team think? Holding sentiment for your sworn enemy?"
"I'd call it pity." Black Widow said calmly.
His eyes turned as icy as his skin and then his hand took hold of her jaw, upper lip curling in malice.
"And why would a god need your pity?"
"I never said you needed it." She said, "But all the same I pity you. You claim yourself to be superior to all. But just like other humans, you have been made a slave to your hate until it is all you know. You seek vengeance upon your brother and all else he favors because you cannot let go. Even if you wanted to, you could never let go of the road you have taken for revenge."
Loki snarled and pressed her head and jaw fiercely into the floor before hissing in her ear, "You think to say you know me? A mere, pathetic mortal like you? You think you're so clever?"
"See? You lashed out in anger. This is a part of you that you have yet to acknowledge."
The god glared hatefully at the woman beneath him who infuriatingly held his gaze, undeterred by his violence.
"It is a part of you. And it will never go away."
The words she spoke caused her to hold a small quirk in the corner of her lips as she recited the very words he had spoken to her a year ago and he did not seem at all pleased with her using his words against him. It would seem that she was starting to win again and Loki did not like losing at his game one bit. His green eyes narrowed and he seized a fistful of her hair, yanking her head back but still ensured that her eyes were met with his.
"Do not assume to know me. You will be gravely disappointed when you find that you do not."
"You plan to kill me now?"
He smirked then, "Oh no. I believe that is Barton's job. For now, I am done with you."
The pale hand tangled into her fiery locks slackened and slipped away to settle on the top of her forehead letting a prickling coldness settle over once again. The world began to blur and grow hazy until at last her eyes fluttered shut again. When she woke it was six in the morning and she held not in her head but vague memories of a dream that she had with Loki there to terrorize her. The assassin swung her graceful legs over the edge of the bed throwing back the covers and headed to the bathroom where she could shower. As she climbed into the hot stream of water, she never noticed the barest thin existence of a cut that was on the side of her neck.
A/N: Sorry it took so long. Things have been a little difficult recently. First up I've had a pinched nerve that has pretty much rendered my right arm useless because moving it causes me pain for nearly two weeks. So this chapter has pretty much been written one-handed. Also my computer crashed and I only just got it fixed. One problem after another. =_= Hopefully soon I'll get the issue with my arm fixed. Also as of next Tuesday my updates will be slower. I will be taking a difficult class over the summer at my college and it will take-up a considerable amount of my time. I'll try to update as quickly as I can.
Finally, reviews fuel my fire! The more feedback I get, the more inspired and excited I get which should help with me pumping out chapters! :3 Thank you all for your support!
