Chapter 4 - A Crack can Become a Canyon
Hey, again! Sorry that this didn't make it out before Wednesday, but at least it wasn't all that late? Right? Cause like the typical teenager that I am, I decided to procrastinate a whole bunch of homework that I needed to do over my break, and therefore had to finish that before coming back to this story. Stupid school. D:
And I wanted to give a lovely shout-out to Sophia Jane Marie for putting not just one, but TWO guesses as to who the culprit could be. You certainly gave me some pretty interesting ideas… But thank you so much! I won't say if you're right or not, but thanks anyway!
REMEMBER TO THROW IN YOUR OWN GUESSES FOR A SHOUT OUT IN FUTURE CHAPTERS! I don't think that we'll see who the real culprit is for a while, at least not in this chapter, so there is plenty of time to get your moment of fame. :D
Officially hit the ten review mark! Woo hoo! Thanks to all of those who have reviewed! Love you guys! Let's hit twenty, shall we? Maybe with this chapter? *smiles shyly* Or maybe halfway…
Anyway, enough with my babbling.
Disclaimer: If you haven't deduced from the previous three chapters that I am in no way affiliated with Marvel, then you are either A) extremely paranoid, or B) are blind (which seems quite unlikely because fanfiction is not written in Braille, or C) just plain stupid.
"That doesn't matter," she finalized. "The fact of the matter is that he didn't do it. I was an eye-witness, and if you are going to honor Potts' testimony, you might as well honor mine."
She was met with silence.
"Well?" she demanded harshly, looking to the Director for support. "Don't pretend to not know what I'm talking about, sir. You know that there is no way that he could have gotten to the Tesseract with me being with him the entire time."
"Ma'am, you have to understand that Stark had no reason to take the Cube," Steve began warily.
"Clean energy right?" she pointed out.
"But he is on this team," Steve continued.
"Thanks, Stars and Stripes." Tony flashed a bright smile at the Captain who did nothing to return it, though Steve didn't seem bothered by the lack of affection.
"So, just because someone has a past means that they are automatically assumed guilty?" Natasha rounded, feeling like she was losing the battle. "Because then you might as well accuse me of taking it. I've got just as much of a past as he does."
"You've fought for us though," Agent Hill pointed out. "You've proved where your allegiances lie. He has a past of being like this. He's the God of Lies, and of Mischief. How can you prove that someone with tendencies like these wasn't the one who stole it?"
"I just told you! I was with him the entire time!" she yelled, slamming her fists down on the table.
"He has magic," Banner mentioned. "With the scepter, he was able to call Barton to get him from the cage. How do we know that he isn't using magic this time?"
"He can't use magic inside the cage," Natasha said weakly. "The scepter was just picking up on our argument before."
"And you know this how?" Stark asked warily.
"He told me," she excused with a shrug.
"And you believe the God of Lies was telling the truth?" Hill rounded.
"If there is anyone he can't lie to, it would be me," she snapped.
"And how is that?" Clint demanded.
Natasha sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Because we're the same," she replied in the quietest of voices. "I'm deception personified. And so is he."
"I believe her," Thor claimed resolutely, coming to stand beside her and put a fierce hand on her shoulder in support. "If there would be anyone who would be able to know the truth of my brother, it would Lady Romanoff. And if she was with him for the time that the Tesseract was stolen, then my brother must be innocent. Why do you question her this fiercely? Captain, you claimed that because Mr. Stark is on our team, we must trust him. The Lady is also on our team, and yet you doubt her. You humans," he mused with a frown. "Only using trust when it benefits you."
Steve looked rather dumbfounded by the comment before looking down into his lap with what could only be described as pure embarrassment and shame. Bruce took a deep breath and clenched the rims of the table tightly before nodding. Tony looked torn between accepting Thor's words and not. He finally let out a sigh and leaned back in his chair, digging out a bag of blueberries from his pocket and eating them. Hill also looked a little remorseful, and she sent an apologetic look to Natasha, who simply nodded, forgiving the other woman. Fury remained unreadable.
Clint though was the only one who seemed resolute in his claim that it was Loki. He met Thor's gaze easily, both demanding that the other surrender, and both remaining obstinate.
"I can vouch for Agent Romanoff by saying that she indeed with Loki in the duration of the robbery," Fury's cool voice rang out in the room, drawing everyone's attention back to the one-eyed director. "And I can also say that they were not speaking with any indication that Loki should be released to steal anything before the cameras were turned off. And that neither even looked like they had moved when the cameras turned back on."
Natasha gritted her teeth. Why he couldn't have said that earlier in the discussion was beyond her, but she was glad of his confidence in her nonetheless.
"However, I do believe that, in order to satisfy some of the members of this team," Fury carried on, sending a glance to Clint, "we need to ask the guy a few questions and verify for a fact that there was no possibility that he had anything to do with taking the Cube."
"This is preposterous," Thor growled, clenching his hand tighter around her shoulder and making her wince slightly at the furious grasp. "The word of the Lady is not enough for you?"
"For me, it is," Fury parried. "The surveillance is enough. But again, there are others who would like to be positive."
"Could I see the surveillance?" Clint asked.
"No," Natasha denied, shrugging off Thor's painful fist.
"Why? Was it private?" Clint taunted.
"I understand why Director Fury and Agent Hill witnessed the tapes, but no. I can't believe that you would take a tape's word over mine," she replied, feeling more than a little hurt by her friend's lack of trust in her. "Please, Clint?" she said quietly.
"I want to see the tape," Clint demanded again, not even casting her a glance.
"Agent Romanoff -" Fury began.
"Sir, if you give him permission to see the tapes, I will destroy them. And then any evidence you have regarding the Cube will be erased.," she threatened.
Fury's face flashed anger at the threat, but she continued to gaze at him simply. "Agent Barton, you are just going to have to go with me on this. That's an order. You're lucky we're even wasting the time to question Loki."
"Then I want to be there when you interrogate him," Clint rounded.
"As do I," Natasha stated, folding her arms.
"He is my brother, and I demand that I not be left out," Thor added.
Fury sighed and put his hands on his hips. "Agent Hill? Let's go. Stark, Banner, get going on tracing the gamma radiation from the Cube. Rogers…"
"I'll stay with him, Director," Hill volunteered. "I can attempt to catch him up in the world."
Fury nodded and began walking in the direction of Loki's cage, three of the other Avengers following dutifully behind.
Natasha's soul clenched painfully as they stepped into the detention center, Loki's masked face meeting them. She didn't know what Loki's endgame was, but she desperately hoped that he hadn't been the one to find a way to steal the Cube. She was confident that it hadn't been him, but that didn't mean that it couldn't have been. It made her wonder why she trusted the God of Lies, but something told her that his whole confession last night about a wise man not lashing out in defeat was not a hoax.
No, the agent was more troubled with the fact that Loki could very well speak openly of the discussion that they had during the early morning hours. He would have nothing to hide, and he was a mischief creator. He would probably relish in the idea to make Natasha squirm.
"Brother," Thor cooed, walking up to the glass and staring desperately at his kin.
Loki, however, kept his gaze on the redhead in his presence. She was the depiction of calmness, no worry lines or signs of stress on her becoming face. But buried in those big, green eyes, he could see the terror that she was trying so strongly to hide. She didn't want to be here. Or rather, she didn't want to be here with the others. She met his gaze, not doing anything to mask that terror, as if she was imploring him to do whatever it was that she wished of him.
Loki had heard everything that had been spoken in the conference room. He heard how everyone was very quick to place the blame on him, and then he had heard how vehemently Natasha had fought to defend him from the accusation. It had shocked him, to say the least. He never would have imagined that she would have been the kind of person to stand up for him like that. The only other person who had ever done that had been Thor, and quite often, Loki had rejected his brother's help, thinking it was a form of pity. And the god despised pity. Thor didn't understand, so that was all that he could do - pity. But Natasha understood him - what she gave him wasn't her pity. She didn't seem to be the kind of woman who could ever pity someone. But she gave him her confidence.
"Loki," Fury called, snapping Loki out of his glance with the woman.
"Yes?" the god purred peacefully, remaining on his bench with an innocent smile plastered on his face. He knew what they were coming to ask him about, and he could not deny that it made him slightly excited to be in such a position again.
"The Tesseract has been taken," Fury said blankly without blinking his one good eye.
"I am aware," Loki acknowledged, remaining suave.
"How?" Clint demanded, immediately assuming the worst of him.
"I heard you all speak of it," Loki addressed the archer. "Asgardians have sharper senses than you half-witted mortals."
"Is that true?" Clint asked, looking to Thor.
"It is true. He would have been able to hear," Thor agreed.
"So now you come to me with accusations that I was involved in the Tesseract's disappearance, am I correct?" Loki continued. Fury nodded. "Well, it regrets me to say that it was not I who stole the artifact. I was in here the entire duration of the evening. And if your timestamp is correct, then I can also say that I was not alone in this time. I have a witness."
"Yes, so she has said," Fury replied, nodding to Natasha.
"Unless you tricked her," Clint growled.
Loki grinned with malice at the young man. "Is it really that unbelievable that one of your own could come to the defense of a monster such as I? I had to have tricked her, yes? A woman who has claimed to loathe me on all counts, and yet she proclaims me innocent in the matter. Why? This is the root of your foundation that I am guilty, is it not?" He looked over at Natasha who hadn't moved since entering his room. "How can you defend me, Widow?"
She shrugged. "I know the truth."
"Yes, but how?" he continued.
"Because I just do," she bantered. "I was here with you."
"And there is no way that I could have manipulated you into thinking that you were truly speaking with a tangible Loki?" he taunted.
Natasha's face twisted into one of fury, and she shoved Thor roughly out of the way as she approached the glass. Thor looked quite confused, and one look from her told him to stand down. He nodded and walked back away from the two. Her voice lowered as she stared at the god, Loki boldly walking up to meet her on the other side of the glass walls, "You know that you are innocent. I know that you're innocent. Why are you giving the others reason to doubt you?"
"Because it is fun," he replied, coming to stand directly in front of her.
"You're making them doubt me, Loki. If they can't trust me, we can't get the Tesseract back," she pointed out. "Stop it."
"What makes you think that I want it back? It is the thing that will send me to my father, and therefore, my death."
"I could care less about that. But you're fucking with my life now, and that is unacceptable. You tell them that you were here with me, and that it was really you the entire time. That you can't do any magic here in the cage and that it was impossible for you to steal it."
"And I could care less that I am as you say it, 'fucking' with your life," he mocked right back, smirking slightly as her resentment became more evident on her face.
Her green eyes darted around on the floor as she tried to come up with a proper response for him while he stoically waited, the smirk never leaving his face. "How old are you?" she suddenly demanded.
The question undoubtedly caught him entirely off guard, the relevance to the current situation unknown to him. "I no longer remember," he answered coolly.
"Well, then something tells me that given your age, you know of a little something called honor? Or at least you're aware of the pay-back policy. I just covered your creepy ass; you're in my debt. This is how I'm asking you to repay me," she declared, looking smug.
A snarl ripped through his throat as he understood her. And it was indeed an unfortunate moment for the trickster when he realized that she was correct in her assessment. He gave one, curt nod, seeing her smile widen, a smile that he returned with a menacing glare. "The Lady is being truthful in her statement," he acknowledged for the others to hear. "She was in here with me during the time that the Tesseract was stolen. And she is also correct when she states that I had nothing to do with the theft. Your robber is not me." He looked back at Natasha. "Happy?" he whispered.
"Never," she chimed, leaving the smug grin on her face as she turned to look back to her team.
"Do you know who could have been the thief?" Fury carried on, ignoring the small interlude between the god and his agent.
"My interest in the Tesseract dissipated the moment it closed the portal. My attentions haven't been on the power source since then," Loki replied.
Fury frowned. "Well then are you aware of any other who could have had a desire to have the Cube?" he rephrased.
"I was to retrieve the Tesseract for a creature called the Other in exchange for the rule over Midgard. I only know that he wanted it to unveil more parts of the universe. This is the only being that I am aware of who would have wanted it. However, as Thor can attest to, there are other relics scattered throughout the universe that could prove helpful in his search for power."
Everyone looked cautiously at Thor. "This is true," Thor stated clearly.
"And how would the Other have reacted should you have failed your mission in recovering the Cube?" Fury pondered.
Loki scoffed. "Are you concerned that you may not be the only creatures opting for my death?"
"Do not speak like this, Brother," Thor pleaded, his face looking paler.
Loki seemed to acknowledge his brother's words, though did not spare him a glance. "In any case, I was promised torture and pain for my inability to give them what they wanted."
"And this doesn't bother you?" Clint asked, looking curious.
"Perhaps it would if I truly believed that these beings could have beat me. The Chitauri feared me even before I claimed the scepter, and now that I possess it, I do not believe that they would aggressively try to discover me. I suspect they will weakly search, and even if they happen to find me, they will report nothing to the Other," Loki answered. He paused. "But these facts are of no help to you now with the Tesseract taken. And as I stated, there are other artifacts in the realms that would give them what they want." Loki shrugged. "They may be difficult to attain, but no more difficult than acquiring the Tesseract."
Fury nodded before turning and leaving, Barton hot on his heels, eager to escape the room of his nemesis. "Brother, you have no idea how grateful I am to know that this was not one of your workings," Thor began, coming to stand next to Natasha.
"Simply be glad to the mortal woman for being here to clear my good name," Loki retorted with a roll of his blue eyes.
"The mortal woman is right here," Natasha mentioned crudely. "And the mortal woman does not like being referred to as such."
"And the immortal god cares little for the desires of the mortal woman," Loki taunted right back, arching his eyebrow up at her.
Thor looked between the two of them curiously, then a wide smile swept across his face. He shook his blond head, stalking off with his broad shoulders bouncing as he joyously laughed. The remaining two in the room looked at the God of Thunder with confusion, neither understanding the joke, if it could even be called such a thing.
"He seems like he knows something that we don't," Natasha said quietly, still staring after the red cape that swooshed as it disappeared around the corner.
Loki pretended that it didn't bother him. "Perhaps. Though he does get that stupid grin whenever he passes gas, so…"
Natasha's eyes widened considerably, taking a careful sniff of the air around her, sighing in relief at the normal freshness of the room. Meanwhile, Loki began chuckling madly in the cage until she realized what he had done. "That was a childish trick. Even for you," she accused.
"Yes, but anything for a good laugh," he replied.
She rolled her eyes in his direction, seriousness then taking over her pale features as she continued to gaze at him. "Are you really not at all worried about the Other's plans for you?" she asked.
His blue eyes quickly darted away from her, settling on the floor as he began pacing in a circle. "I worry not about it. And neither should you."
Here Natasha let out a harsh laugh of her own. "You think that I care for your well-being?"
"You seemed to care enough to extensively attempt to prove my innocence in this new mission." Natasha swiftly fell silent at that, and he grinned maliciously. "Why did you do that, anyways? A perfect opportunity to have me killed and you fight for me. Even against your precious Barton." She still didn't say anything in response. "Do you love him?"
"You've already asked me that," she snapped.
"And you retorted with the claim that love is a childish notion," he hurried with a nod.
"Then you should already know my answer," she replied.
"He is in love with you, you know," he reminded casually, as if discussing the weather.
"You just can't stand to not get under my skin every time I'm in here, can you?" Her attempt to sway him from his question made him grin all the more.
"What pain it must cause him to know that in the time you could be spending with him, perhaps training or laughing genuinely without a care in world, you remain here in this hellhole with me. A man who takes pleasure in crumbling your world and who does nothing but taunt you and degrade you."
"And how can you tell that that is not why I come here? You said it yourself: we are the same. Maybe I like the idea of your whole world going to hell and taunting you and degrading you. Easy prey for once, right?" she parried skillfully.
"I have no other alternative," he excused easily. "Unlike you."
Natasha's face flushed red in rage, hands balling into fists at her side. "I'm the one to kill you," she growled. "If I hadn't saved your ass in there, someone else would have killed you. And I'm the only one who gets to do that, right? Same reason why I asked about the Other coming after you. You're my kill. Not his," she continued. "That's why I covered for you, asshole."
She left him rapidly after conveying her reasons to him, and he stared after her retreating form, confused of how he was supposed to react to such a confession. Part of him reveled in the fact that she took her job as executioner so seriously; it made the game much more fun, after all. He also felt excitement that he was still capable of tearing her down to her foundations and making her mad with him. Hate was such a strong emotion, and he could not deny that he loved it. Yet, there was one part of him that was slightly upset by the fact that she only defended him because of his promise to her. Was there nothing more about him that made her want to protect him? That a woman like her could truly only hate him and consider him her prey? The paranoid part of him instantly latched onto this thought, twisting it further. All of their conversations… was it just a malicious way for her to tear information out of him? She had after all, given up a piece of her own history to learn his plans with Banner in their first conversation. Could this be another stem from that same plot? With this thought, he frowned, hitting the glass of his cage viciously and letting out a fearful yell. He had been tricked yet again by the Black Widow. And it had taken him even longer this time to understand his folly. Damn her. Damn her to hell, to Thanos, to every torturous place that ever existed. And with luck, he would get to be the one and only to send her there.
Natasha blinked as the gun fired, bullet hitting the moving target square in the head, leaving her to finish off the other three in seconds. The small pistol that had once felt so painfully heavy as a child, felt nonexistent in her palm. It had become a part of her, her body accepting the additional weight as a functioning mechanism for her. She would daresay that she actually felt rather naked without it holstered at her side, along with all of her other trinkets of war.
The range was quiet, save perhaps for the occasional groan of the ship that reverberate throughout the cement. Other agents often would have been in here, at that very moment, taking their time to do just as she was, but it paid to be so high up in the rankings with Fury hence her solitude.
Setting the gun down, she snatched a larger one, cushioning it against the crook of her shoulder, skillfully setting her gaze through the scope, crosshairs marking her aim with potent accuracy. The next course was designed to be more trying, the dummies moving faster and in ways that were unpredictable to an untrained eye. Even this though, only took her but a moment to shoot the all of the dummies.
She sighed heavily, removing the headphones and putting the weighty piece of artillery down with the smaller gun. Breathing felt like an impossible task for the agent as she dropped to the floor, her back pressed up against the coldness of the wall. Natasha had no idea why on earth was getting so very emotional all of a sudden. Though she had always felt traces of feelings in her, she had always been able to shove them aside when need be. It was one of the only ways she knew of to bury the pain. But now, it seemed as if a floodgate had been opened, and sentiment was coursing through every inch of her being, scaring her.
Being so unpracticed with the infernal things, she didn't even have the knowledge to properly name them. All that she knew was that there were so many, most likely a majority of them not even having names to go by. What troubled her even more though, was that these feelings all seemed to be centered around one bastard god in a holding cell.
For a moment, she triumphed in being able to identify anger amongst the feelings. Yes, she was furious with Loki. He had tormented her yet again, holding the threat of ruining her life at S.H.I.E.L.D. And it had been so easy! Without barely moving any muscle, he had cornered her in front of her director and her friend, spoiling her previous confidence in his innocence. And the smile that he had on his face! So full of mischief and cruelty! It made her sick to her stomach with the thought.
Betrayal followed anger, screaming so terribly loud in her head that for a moment, she was frightened of the tears that were beginning to form in her green eyes. It pained her far more than she would have cared to admit to know how simply he tossed away their deep and meaningful talks. Surely, she had been positive that he would have firmly stood by her testimony, perhaps even thanking her for her confidence in him. But no.
A cool teardrop fell on the back of her hand, drawing her from her moment of Feelings 101. An actual tear. Carefully, she brought her hand up closer to her face, staring at the tear. She couldn't remember the last time she had actually cried. She had wept before for her missions as it was a rather strong technique of persuasion and helplessness, but this tear had been shed for the pain that she was feeling. A tear that was just for her and for no one else to take pity on.
Natasha frowned deeply, flicking her pale hand with the tear away from herself and being sure to wipe away at any more of the salty water threatening to spill out. It was now that she fully realized how much Loki had broken her. Making her cry over silly things like feelings. Things that had absolutely no importance over the mission. It had been his goal all along. Make her feel vulnerable and weak. That way he could regain that precious pride back from the time when she had tricked him. He had to have his revenge. He had wound her up around his finger, playing his games with her, teasing her, indulging in those conversations with her. All to make her feel like the helpless woman that he believed her to be.
She stood quickly, reclaiming her guns and punching in commands to the range settings and then fired with a burning rage at everything that moved, imagining the face of Loki Laufeyson on each of the dummies. Natasha Romanoff could wipe that stupid smile off of his face. She could hurt him. Kill him.
Now it was just a matter of buying time for herself. He would have to trust her at some point, even more than he already did, perhaps. And it would be then that she would kill him. And she would stare with pride as he looked at her with horror in those deep blue eyes. Let him feel the betrayal.
There it is! I know that it's a little short, but I didn't want to leap into a whole new thing seeing as this seemed to be a pretty good place to stop. Just a little over 5000 words (just barely, but still!), which is pretty good, I think. And there was a cute bantering scene between our two favorites, so that's always fun, right? Hopefully, *cackles mischievously* there will be a few more of those in the future, right?
I know, I'm terrible. We all know that Loki really had no intention of doing that to Tasha, and we know that she wasn't really into the manipulating scene this time around. Total misunderstanding. Tee hee. I really shouldn't be enjoying myself as much as I am.
Anyway, next chapter, I think we shall get further into the plot. I know that everything up to this point has seemed like filler stuff, but we gotta have a little background into our characters' *cough, cough Loki and Natasha cough, cough* feelings towards each other before really going in. But I promise that we haven't heard that last of these "infernal feelings" that Natasha was thinking about. It is a BlackFrost fic after all.
LEAVE A REVIEW FOR A SHOUT OUT ON WHO YOU THINK STOLE THE TESSERACT! I'll even give you a hint: It is absolutely no one who you would expect and they may not be from the Avengers team… Let's see if we can hit 20 reviews! I think we can swing 9 this time around, yeah?
Love you all lots!
- Books