A/N - I'm back, and much earlier than I expected! Sorry about the cliffhanger I left you on last time…but you didn't have long to wait. Here you go! (1,300 words! I'm a big girl now ;)

Clint walked quickly down the hallway, stepping sideways into the open kitchen.

There, standing in front of him, was Pepper and Loki, a couch —plain compared to Tony's regular lavish design—separated them.

Pepper did not see him at first, but Loki turned and looked over at him coolly. Then, as if Clint was just another insignificant insect, Loki glanced away uninterestedly and focused his attention on Pepper again. "Your chauffeur is here to escort you," Loki told her, and Pepper too, turned and looked at him.

"Hello, Clint," she said, looking slightly relieved. "What…"

Maybe it was his long day, maybe it was his rage at Loki being in the same building, or maybe it was the cold, mocking look on Loki's face. A look that clearly said, My little hawk. Did you miss having me in your head? Come back for more?

Either way, Clint saw red.

Clint flipped himself over the couch between him and Loki with ease, closing in the the distance in a moment. Perhaps if Loki had shown some sort of fear, just maybe Clint may have backed down.

In reality, Loki was very much afraid. He felt sure the Avengers were watching through the security cameras, but they would probably enjoy him being beaten at the hands of the archer. Thor, with his over-protectiveness, would surely come (though Loki didn't want him in the least bit), but maybe even Thor wouldn't understand the gravity of the situation.

Loki couldn't fight back. Well, he could, but punching Clint would only result in punching himself, and that was pretty much useless.

But even at his vulnerability, Loki had far too much pride to show fear that might stir sympathy in Barton. He, like Thor, was stubborn, probably even more. But it didn't show much, because Loki's will went in all sort of directions.

But Loki's biggest flaw was probably his pride. If it didn't suit his purposes, Loki never begged. Maybe to Frigga he could lower himself to invoke sympathy from her, maybe even to Thor if he really needed to. But Odin was a big no. Mortals, too, were a huge limit.

So Loki just smirked at the furious Clint, who drew closer. Now, Barton had an arrow notched, string taut as he aimed it at him. "How dare you come back?" Barton hissed. "How dare you, after everything?" Loki did not mention that it was not of his own will that he was here, in truth, he would much rather be in a cell on Asgard instead of suffering indignity after indignity at the hands of these mortal heroes.

Instead, he grinned at Clint. "What is this, Agent Barton? Mutiny? A slave rebelling against his master?"

"Stop it, the two of you!" cried Pepper, gesturing widely with her hands. The two of them ignored her. "This is a hero," growled Clint, "killing a monster."

Monster.

You're a monster.

Useless, worthless….

With a howling battlecry, Clint charged at Loki, who mockingly sidestepped away neatly, hands neatly folded behind his back. "You fucking son of a bitch."

Clint, raged as he was, had his own code of honor and did not shoot Loki, because he was unarmed. But he forgot that Loki couldn't harm him without harming himself, and Clint aimed a kick at Loki's stomach. Loki danced away, calling out derisively to him. "Come on, little hawk," urged Loki. "Surely you can do better than that."

I'll show you better.

Clint went into full battle mode, punching Loki hard in the jaw, quick so the trickster could not dodge it. After the punch landed, however, Clint realized what a mistake that was. It left his ribs open, unprotected from Loki's fists. Clint felt a twinge of surprise when he did not feel pain there, instead, Loki locked his legs around his own, sending the two of them crashing to the ground.

What resulted was a sort of tussle, Clint wrestling, punching and kicking Loki in a blind rush of rage and fury. Loki landed a few punches every now and then, but Hawkeye was too furious to note the look of pain on Loki's face after each blow.

To an outsider, it would seem like a slightly comical dance, Clint charging like an angry bull and Loki blithely gliding away. The god of lies was no longer laughing now, instead, his full attention was on darting away.

"Clint!" wailed Pepper. "Stop it! Can't you see? He can't fight back!" Once again, neither paid any attention to her. "Jarvis," Pepper said, turning her attention to the AI, "Get Tony down here, right this minute."

"He is already on his way," replied Jarvis. "Along with the rest of the Avengers." Pepper looked worried, unsure of what to do.

That's when Clint fired the arrow.

It had not been a fierce, deadly, accurate shot as he always shot it. If Loki could catch one of those, then he could easily dodge this arrow.

However, Clint had forgotten that Pepper had been right behind Loki.

Loki hastily sidestepped it, then froze as the arrow headed towards a dumbstruck Pepper. He wasn't doing this for anyone. He was doing this for himself, to gain the Avengers' favor.

On full speed, Loki rushed towards Pepper, shielding her with his body as he barreled into her side as the two of them smashed into the floor. But Loki hadn't been fast enough—the arrow embedded itself into his side, burying deep as Loki bit back a cry of agony.

Everything was fading now, Loki was aware of a panicked Virginia shrieking, "Tony, get over here!" Someone was muttering, "Oh shit, oh shit, shit, shit," and Loki was dimly conscious of someone saying, "Get Banner!"

Then everything faded to black.

—

"What happened?!" cried Thor, rushing full speed into the room. Clint glanced his way, unable to suppress the huge ball of guilt in his stomach as he looked down at Loki, gasping for breath with an arrow buried in his side.

Clint's arrow.

Tony didn't even look at him, instead, he brushed by him as though Clint wasn't even there as he walked over to a panicked Pepper. "Bruce?"

Bruce glanced soberly over at Thor for a moment. "He's not dead," he said, and Clint mentally let out a sigh of relief. He wasn't sure what was the punishment for killing a prince of Asgard, but he wasn't particularly eager to find out. But the next words that Bruce uttered tightened Clint's frame again. "But he's clinging on to life—only barely. We need to hurry if we want to save him."

Thor looked sorrowfully at Clint, as if to say, why? Clint couldn't handle that. He could handle angry words, even fists, but that look of sadness Loki's brother gave him….it was too much. It was wood, wood that fueled the burning fiery ball of guilt in Clint's stomach.

"Oh my god," Pepper was hyperventilating. "Tony…he saved my life." If it hadn't been for Loki, Clint realized, It would be Pepper lying there, except this time, the arrow would be sticking straight out of her heart.

Clint felt sick.

A/N - Just to let you know, this isn't going to be a Clint-bashing fic. Put yourself into Clint's shoes: you just got your mind taken over and controlled, and you killed people through that. Then, the very person who did that to you is in the same building as you, and you believe he's harming a friend. Then, you simply fire at him, thinking he'll dodge it, and purely by accident you almost harm your friend. That's a lot of weight on his shoulders. And remember, the other Avengers won't be as sympathetic because they don't understand how he feels. Bye, and stay tuned for the next chapter :)