A/N: As some of you might have seen, I finally was able to move this story from Thor to Avengers, where it truly belongs... ^^ Oh, and I advise you to buy the movie's OST, it's purely Starkilicious... :D
9. Suspicion from above
Liana's POV
I was angry. For many reasons. I was angry because Tasha had barely addressed me a word after we landed, which meant she had something unpleasant to tell me. I was angry because I hadn't managed to get any informations on Clint's whereabouts from Loki. I was angry because Thor was a slap-face. I was angry because Tony had told me to go kill some mannequins before Hulk had to knock me down. And more than anything, I was angry because Loki wasn't anything I was prepared to face.
How could I end his life if I was ordered to? Now that I had circled his problem, mainly resumed in a huge lack of attention all his life, he had nothing of the heartless monster Fury had described. He was almost nice, actually.
Apart from a certain lack of politeness, of course. But I didn't blame him. Having been raised as a superior species to every other must have left marks.
The part that was the most disturbing in all of that was that I couldn't make where my allegiances laid. With S.H.I.E.L.D, though they had nothing but disregard for me? With Tony, who had been my more than a faithful friend since the beginning? With Clint, who was definitely more than a friend to me? Or with Loki, who was a mystery as never encountered before, and was far more handsome than permitted?
It was the first time in ages I had found myself able to think about that. Physical desire. I was always assuming I was too old for anyone contemporary to me, and yet here I was, meeting a thousand-year-old Norse God, and falling for his eyes.
I kicked the sandbag once more, very hard, but my strength was nowhere near Steve's, so it did only shudder faintly.
Out of rage, I pulled my favourite dagger from under my shirt, and whirled in every direction possible until my "enemy" was left bleeding on the floor. I made the blade twirl once or twice between my fingers, and then I launched myself in the air to grab a parallel bar and climb to the ceiling.
When I reached it, I pushed one of the plackets and soon found one of Clint's practise bows. I took it down.
Just taking it in my hands was a torture. Clint had been so much for me. He had taught me so much. And he was the only one here to trust me completely and insanely. Not even Tony could say that.
As I sat on the ground, holding the bow like a relic, images came flooding my mind.
o°o°oFlashback°o°o°
It had been my first field mission. It was also the last one.
Fury had assigned both Clint and I to infiltrate the Kremlin and to retrieve to journal of Johannes Schmidt, the famous Red-Skull. The Russians had no right on it, but we had to be as discreet as possible to prevent a world war.
Unfortunately for us, we weren't the only one to seek the journal. A neo-group of Hydra had risen in Germany, and Schmidt's heirs wanted the book so badly.
Clint had done his best, as always. He was jumping in every direction, firing without thinking, and I was there, like an idiot, unable to do anything but wait for an enemy to come on close fight.
The first one had tried to shoot me in the head. It didn't work. When he saw I wasn't dead, he shouted something to his talkie and some chief yelled back, his voice cracking from the distance.
I hadn't seen it coming. I was knocked out in one blurry moment, and the last thing I saw was a dozen men assaulting Clint.
When I was awaken by a charming bucket of freezing water, I was kindly told I was going to be tortured and analysed, both out and in. The thought of being dissected alive made me shiver so hard I thought I was going to blackout out of fear.
But of course, he came for me. The Hawk, as discreet as a shadow and as striking as a snake.
When he released me, I had already disgusted the pleasure to have all of my fingers broken one by one, to see how long it took me to heal.
They didn't understand my mutation. If my flesh and organs regenerated automatically, my bones couldn't snap themselves alone.
Clint had to do it. To break them all again and to push them back into place. He had given me an arrow to bite, and after the excruciating pain, he had held me in his arms until I stopped shuddering.
Then we had talked. A lot. I had told him everything about my missing past, about my fears and losses, and he had done the same.
I can assure you that the little esteem I felt for Natasha had to heal slowly after that, because it had been seriously amputated.
Clint, from that day on, had been much more than a friend. He was my confident. He was the one I knew I could relieve on in any kind of mission.
And I failed him.
o°o°o°o°o°
Tasha's POV
The bastard. He thought I didn't know what he was playing at? Of course he wanted something else from us than just talking head to head with Fury.
And I had been caught like a college girl. I hated the feeling.
I must admit I freaked out quite a bit, also.
The only time I had feared something that much, it was when Banner had faked anger on me in India.
This time was different. How could I ever praise my thoughts off it? Vivid images of Clint torturing me, his gorgeous eyes torn by both rage and madness, were invading me as I walked back to the lab.
He would pay for what he had done to him. To me. To us.
And she would too. As much as Liana pretended herself to be an ally, I had seen how she had looked at him. And I couldn't let that happen.
Loki wouldn't know what it's like to be loved.
For the simple reason that he had stolen my loved one from me.
o°o°o°o°o°
Loki's POV
What a pleasant encounter. So bad the Russian spy had finally discovered my plan to make the beast angry.
But I had managed to creak the surface. So it was true then, what I had seen in Barton's mind. They were bonded. Really strongly. Fine. It would only make my victory more fun.
I was about to sit back down when I felt it.
No, not it. Her.
I turned on my heels and smirked from ear to ear.
Liana was standing in front of me, her dark head tilted on one side, as if she was gauging the moment.
I walked towards the glass, and she did the same.
We were then inches away from each other, only separated by the cell's wall. And I felt something tickling in my fingers. Like an...urge to touch her.
She cut my disturbing thoughts once more. "How are you?"
Again that tone of friendliness. I still didn't know what to do about it.
'I don't want you to stop fighting.' Those words were dancing before my eyes.
"I'm fine. See, I've been offered my own room! Isn't that lovely?" I embraced the place with my arms.
She chuckled. It rang in my ears. "Yeah. Times cosier than my own quarters." She sat on the chair the Romanoff girl had left in front of me. "You seem troubled."
I snapped my eyes back at Liana. "What do you mean, troubled?"
She shrugged. "I can usually tell when people are thinking about hundreds of things at the same time."
I knelt so my head was levelled with hers. "I am always thinking about hundreds things at the same time." I put a hand on my temple. "And it's killing me."
She put a hand on the glass. "You don't have to suffer alone, you know." I widened my eyes in wonder. "I know you have tried to scan my mind, back on that plane."
This time I really dropped my poker face. "How?"
She smirked. "I am very smart."
I smirked back. "Indeed, you are, Miss Liana" she beamed at the sound of her name, "but so was my wife, and she never felt when I was scanning her."
When she heard "wife", Liana frowned imperceptibly. I wondered why, but she didn't leave me question myself too long. "You have a wife back on Asgard?"
I gestured the thought away. "Not anymore. She asked for divorce. It was arranged by our parents, and I've never been best at feelings."
She got down her chair and knelt in front of me. "I really want to help you. Why don't you let me?"
I didn't know what to say, so I just asked the first question that came into my mind, without thinking, and that was very new for me. "Why d'you want to help me? I am your enemy. Why would you help someone who's trying to rip you to pieces?"
She put a hand on mine through the glass and I could almost feel her warmth. "There can be only one reason. But I'll leave that riddle to you."
She then got up very quickly, put a hand to her ear, and I could guess she was communicating with her kind. "Sir?"
"Agent Noname, we have an intrusion. Make sure our guest is secured and join me in the armoury." I recognized the voice of their chief, Fury.
"Understood." She turned her head to me and smiled sincerely. "Try not to escape before I come back." And she ran out of my sight.
I sighed. What was that woman doing to me? Why was she helping me? Why didn't she want me lost? Why didn't she want me to stop fighting? And why, oh why, was my hand still on that glass, where hers had been seconds before?
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