Disclaimer: I do not own anything pertaining to The Avengers or any of its associations.


That night, Natasha dreamt of Loki.

When she woke, her fingers traced her lips where his had been the night before, and she wondered then if all of it had just been a ploy to mess with her head. But she knew better than to get distracted by such things either way, and she got up and showered and suited up for the day.

When she got to the kitchen, the others were all there. Clint looked like he had a massive hangover, his eyes red and eyebrows knitted together as if he were in pain. The others seemed to be fairing pretty well, eating the breakfast that Tony had ordered in.

She grabbed one of the breakfast sandwiches and went to sit down. The blood and glass from the night before were still on the floor, and she cast a glance at Clint as she slipped onto her seat.

He was staring at the blood, his face guilty, and that was enough of an apology for her.

She turned to Steve. ''What's the plan, Captain?'' she asked.

''We return to what we were doing before,'' he said, shrugging slightly. ''We have no leads, no idea how Loki intends to go about his plan, so that's really the best we can do.''

''With those weapons, he can turn the whole city against us,'' Bruce said.

''It would take years to turn the whole world against us though,'' Tony commented absentmindedly as he took a large bite out of his breakfast burrito. ''Unless he builds some sort of super machine that can use the power of the Tesseract to take over large masses of people all at... once... What?''

The others were staring at him, dead silent, frozen and wide-eyed.

''Oh jeez,'' he said. ''Do I have something in my teeth?''

Natasha broke her stupor first and rolled her eyes. ''How would he go about doing that?''

''He'd need to collect the materials, though he could recycle them easily enough from his machine from last time if he rescued it from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s evidence department,'' Bruce explained. ''Which he may have already, they are still working on a list of everything that he escaped with.''

''And it would take more than Dr. Selvig to construct it in a limited amount of time,'' he continued. ''So he would need someone else smart enough to... Oh.''

Bruce's words stumbled short, as the realization hit him. ''I guess I should be grateful that he's not going to use me for the other guy.''

''Not at first, anyway,'' Clint inserted.

Bruce tried to smile optimistically, but it faltered before it even really began, and instead the resulting twist of his lips was uncomfortable and nervous.

''We can assume from this point forward that Loki will take the offensive,'' Natasha supplied after a few long moments. ''To try and get close enough to Banner to take him over.''

''Should we relocate?'' Steve suggested. ''So that we aren't sitting ducks?''

''That's exactly what we need to be,'' Clint said. He looked to Natasha, and she nodded her agreement.

''My tower...'' Tony uttered, his voice laced with despair.

''As long as the fighting stays in the tower, there will be no civilian casualties,'' Steve said to him, and he groaned but did not argue.

''There is enough blood on my brother's hands,'' Thor rumbled.

They all nodded solemnly, and returned to their food.


Loki came that night.

Only Bruce was missing from the team when he did, stashed safely away and out of sight until the battle was over. Only Tony knew where, as he was the only one who could not be taken under Loki's control and forced an answer from.

They waited at the top of the tower for his army to come, but when only Loki stepped out onto the roof before them, their eyes wandered suspiciously around in fear of an ambush.

''Where is your army?'' Tony asked.

Loki smiled, playing with the scepter in his hand. ''They are here.''

''Didn't you learn from last time that no army of yours can defeat us?'' Tony asked rhetorically, without doubt.

Loki was unfazed by his confidence. He took a slow step forward, relishing as they all tensed to fight. ''Last time you had a Hulk.''

They were all slightly taken aback by this.

''That was your plan all along. Not to use Banner, but to get him out of the way,'' Steve said.

''And we played right into it!'' Clint growled in anger.

''No, you were quite right about me coming here for Dr. Banner. Down to very last detail. I was quite impressed,'' he said with raised eyebrows, though his tone betrayed that he was everything but.

''How would you...?'' Steve began, confused.

Loki's eyes sought Natasha's as he reached up and produced something from inside of his ear, tossing it down at the feet of the Avengers.

An earpiece.

''Thank you for your cooperation last night, Agent Romanoff,'' Loki said mockingly, drawing each word out slowly, trying to keep the satisfied smile from his face.

Her eyes widened slightly, and her hand flew to her ear, seeking her earpiece. Of course, her hand came back empty.

The others looked at her, eyes angry and confused and questioning.

''Did you not tell them?'' Loki asked, smiling mischievously. ''That I was in your bedroom last night.''

She ignored the others, narrowing her eyes at him. ''So you have bested me once, Loki. I have bested you twice.''

He smiled at her then, and it was full of malice. But there was something else there, a spark of fire in the Frost Giant's eyes.

''The night is young.''


They only heard the agents' footsteps when they were a few feet away. They were trained by S.H.I.E.L.D. after all, an agency defined by its ability to stay off of the radar. Their guns were trained on the Avengers, trapping them on all sides.

''Thank you for divulging the location of Dr. Banner to me, Mr. Stark. I think I will pay him a visit,'' Loki said with a smirk.

Steve frowned and looked to Tony. ''But you were alone when you put Banner away, why would you have said the location aloud?''

''He likes hearing the sound of his own voice,'' Natasha supplied dryly.

''That he does,'' Clint agreed.

''I don't recall being the one who gave him the earpiece in the first place,'' Tony reminded Natasha.

''Enough!'' Steve commanded, and their bickering fell silent. ''We have more pressing issues at the moment.''

Their gazes turned to the army surrounding them once again. Loki's eyes scanned over them once, outnumbered and defiant as they were, and motioned towards the Avengers with his scepter, a signal for his army to attack.

When they did, Natasha caught sight of Loki turning away and disappearing into the dark recesses of the tower.

With the others too preoccupied to notice, Natasha followed.


Author's Note: This chapter was far less exciting than the last to write, and probably to read as well. But the next one should make up for it. Please continue reading, and reviewing!