Chapter Ten
Loki stormed around the forest floor. Why hadn't he been able to crush the woman? How dare she get in the way of him enjoying his toy! And yet, Loki couldn't kill her. That simple fact caused a pin prick of fear to start burning in the god's heart. Maybe his hold over this body wasn't as absolute as the Other had told him. Not wanting to go back, to face that female again, Loki continued to pace. Eventually the stupid woman would have to fall asleep. That was when he would return to play with his toy once again.
LOKILOKILOKI
As she made her way down Clint's chest, Emily was shocked and horrified by the damage she found there. It had taken her a few minutes to build up the nerve to uncover the man. When she'd pulled Loki off of Clint, she'd thrown a blanket over his prone form. She hadn't wanted to see him naked. He was a complete stranger to her. This was not something that she was used to dealing with. But, from what she'd seen so far, she knew she couldn't leave him in the state he was in.
Carefully, Emily rinsed the cloth she was using out and gently wiped at yet another nasty bruise showing through the blonde man's skin. Under her ministrations, Clint stayed unconscious but he still randomly flinched and moaned. It made her skin crawl. Yet, she continued. When she had cleaned Clint's chest and abdomen, she awkwardly rolled him up onto his left side so she could get at his back. The new set of bruises brought bile to her throat.
"My God," Emily swore under her breath as she took in the tapestry of pain that covered Clint's body. The part that got to her was that she knew that worse probably lie underneath the thin fabric, she'd only uncovered him from the waist up. She had not yet built up her nerve to pull down the blanket. The image of their captor on top of him, forcing his lust inside of him still burned through her mind. With any luck, she'd never have to witness such cruelty and violence again.
So intent on cleaning the blood, sweat and grime off of Clint's skin, Emily didn't notice immediately that the blonde archer was awake. He'd gone completely still, unsure of whom Emily was or what the hell she was doing here. Part of Hawkeye believed the woman was a figment of his imagination but he assumed that Natasha would have been whom he created. This didn't make sense to him. None of it did. Instead, he watched the woman through barely open eye lids, waiting to see what her intentions were. He knew that at this point, he didn't have the strength to fight her.
While she worked, the woman hummed quietly to herself. It took Clint a few bars to realize she was humming a Christmas carol. That struck him as funny. Couldn't she come up with a more current song? Gently, tenderly, she wiped at the wounds on his back and then his side. The humming never ceased. After a few minutes, Clint almost found it reassuring to have that background noise. It only paused for the briefest of moments while the woman appeared to take a deep breath. The humming resumed as he felt the woman slowly, tentatively, pull the blanket down from his waist to his hip to his upper legs. Fear spiked through him. No, not again!
"I REALLY don't want to do this," the woman breathed. Steeling herself, she rinsed the cloth one more time and then Emily looked down at the new flesh she'd uncovered. She hadn't believed it was possible to shock her any more. She'd been wrong. The too large, too dark hand prints on either of the man's hips told her more than she'd ever wanted to know. Her breath hitched as she swallowed bile. Tears pricked the inside of her eyes, making her job that much harder. Angrily, Emily sat back on her haunches long enough to rub her hand across her eyes. The last thing this man needed was for her to hurt him worse because she couldn't see what she was doing.
Carefully, Emily washed Clint's tortured skin. It made her skin crawl to be touching a stranger, especially in such intimate areas but there was no one else here to do it and she couldn't leave him the way he was. Under her fingers, Emily could feel the man's soft skin ripple as his muscles reacted to her ministrations. Goose bumps were erupting as the cool water touched Clint's skin as well as random twitches in reaction to the impulses of pain flashing through his system.
Deciding the woman didn't mean him any harm, Clint slowly opened his eyes the rest of the way. Emily still didn't notice, her attention was solely on Clint's lower abdomen at this point. The bright red flush of embarrassment on the woman's face was almost charming.
"Who are you?" Clint asked just as Emily reached the top of his pubic hair. He could feel how badly the woman was shaking. She really didn't want to do this. He didn't want her to either.
Gasping, Emily pulled back from the man's body. If possible, she turned an even brighter shade of red as she crew her eyes up from the man's genitals to his bright blue eyes. "Ah. I'm so sorry. I was just trying to help," Emily sputtered as she anxiously tried to figure out what to do now.
"It's okay," Clint reassured him. Unconsciously, he pulled the blanket a little further up. "I'm Clint. Who are you? How did you get here?"
"I'm Emily. That giant dragged me here along with you. I was doing a wetland study. Are you okay?" the woman asked. She was rattled so badly by the fact that Clint was awake and speaking that she was rambling. "Oh, God." Swallowing her words, Emily closed her eyes and dropped her head for a moment while she got a hold of herself.
"Where is he?" Clint asked as he quickly scanned the tree house. He was shocked to realize they were no longer in the cave. When had that happened? The world shifted slightly under Clint. They'd moved. This was going to make it even harder for the other Avengers to find him. Deep within Clint's psyche the thought 'Did I really want them to find me?' burned along with the shame. Emily raised her head again, her brown eyes steady for the first time.
"I don't know. He disappeared after he, ah," Emily broke off, the memories of the god ravaging Clint's body were too new, too real. Her head dropped again in both shame and fear.
"Can we get out of here?" Clint asked as he tried to sit up, to get off the bed. Pain crashed down on him immediately, taking his breath away. Emily moved forward, catching hold of Clint's nearest shoulder, trying to help him but unsure of how best to do that.
"I don't think so," Emily replied as she waited for Clint to recover. The man had curled back over onto his left side, trying to relieve some of his battered body's agony. The blanket had fallen down, revealing his butt and front. Emily pulled it back up. Suddenly remembering the pills she had in her backpack, Emily turned form Clint long enough to rummage once again in the blue vinyl confines of her pack. Her fingers found the bottle of Tylenol almost immediately. But, they also found something else. Emily's cold, trembling digits wrapped around the cool plastic case of her cell phone. It had been turned off. She hadn't wanted it to disturb the birds she'd been studying. Now, however, she flipped it open in the pack and turned it on by feel. The giant might be watching. She didn't want to let him in on the device's existence.
"Here," Emily said as she filled a cup up with water and poured three tablets into her hand. With a little difficulty, she managed to brace the archer up enough for him to take the pills without chocking on them or the water. It felt very strange to be this close to him. First of all, he was naked as the day he was born. A rather unfamiliar situation for Emily, barely above a virgin having had only one boyfriend in her life, and he'd been over twenty years ago. As much as she'd thought and dreamed of the other sex, she hadn't really expected to see someone this beautiful this naked.
"Thank you," Clint whispered as Emily helped him settle back onto the bed. His whole body hurt. It hurt to breathe, it hurt to swallow, it hurt to simply be alive. Unwillingly, his eyes kept trying to slam shut. His body had had enough and was trying to shut down.
"You're welcome," Emily said. Retrieving the damp cloth out of the bowl of water, Emily placed it on Clint's forehead in a vain attempt to alleviate some of the man's discomfort. He squirmed and grunted under her hand while he rode the waves of pain moving had created. It seemed to last forever but eventually the drugs kicked in and he seemed to settle.
"Are you hungry?" Emily asked once Clint was relatively quiet again. His eyes kept fluttering shut. Just as she thought he'd finally fallen back asleep, the man would force them back open. Clint's determination surprised him. If she were in that much pain sleep would have been a very viable option.
Clint considered for a moment or two while he continued to fight against sleep. As much as he desperately wanted to sleep, he knew he needed to eat too. If there was any chance of them escaping, he would have to keep his strength up. Well, that was his rational anyway. "Yeah," Clint finally conceded.
"Well, I don't have much and I haven't taken the time to search our humble abode but I'll share what I have," Emily said as she turned her attention once more to her backpack. She'd planned to be out in the field from sunup to sundown. She was prepared. The others in her group always kid her about carrying so much but right now she was grateful for every ounce.
Within minutes, Emily had two sandwiches, an apple, some cherries and almonds spread out on the bed beside Clint. He was still fighting to stay awake. He was glad nothing she had required being cooked because he wasn't sure he'd be able to make it that long. Emily handed him half a sandwich.
"You aren't allergic to peanut butter, are you?" she asked before he had a chance to figure out what kind of sandwich it was. Then the scent of peanut butter hit him. With a half grin, Clint carefully shook his head no. As a matter of fact, peanut butter and jam was one of his favourites.
"Good. Everything else tends to get soggy and nasty in my pack during the day," Emily said. She was hungry too but figured the battered man needed the calories more than she did. So, she was content to wait until he'd had his fill before she selected from what was left. Leaving the archer to eat what he would, she began to prowl the tree house to see just what there was available to them.
By the time she'd inspected every inch of the place, Clint had eaten nearly a full sandwich and a few of the cherries. Now he was sound asleep on the bed, the blanket pulled up to his chest as he shivered. Tentatively, Emily reached out a trembling hand and gently pressed it against Clint's forehead. Despite the Tylenol, he had a fever. "Damn it," Emily swore. That was the last thing the man needed. Then he began to cough.
"Some of a bitch," Emily swore again as she listened to him. Clint had more problems than she'd imagined. Quickly, she came up with a game plan. Her modestly forgotten in her concern, Emily pulled the blanket down and set about finishing her cleaning. She knew the archer needed to stay warm but he needed to be clean too. For the most part, Clint seemed to be oblivious until she reached his back end. Under her hands, the archer squirmed and cried out as she wiped the blood and other fluids off his skin. The entire time, Emily was humming the tune of "Silent Night". It was the only song she knew off by heart that didn't require any thought she was too busy to waste any on trying to keep the notes straight.
LOKILOKI
Thor lay where Loki left him for several hours. He couldn't reach his hammer. He was helpless. And he hated every minute of it. After what felt like an eternity, Thor felt a slight tingling. With a supreme effort, Thor managed to turn his head. In the sky just at the edge of his line of sight, Thor could see dark clouds beginning to build up. As he watched, lightning crackled followed shortly by a distant roll of thunder. Relief flooded through the blonde god. He wasn't going to spend the night here after all.
With growing impatience, Thor waited and watched as the storm drew closer and increased in violence. It wasn't until it was right on top of him, lightning streaking across the sky and thunder hurting his ears, though, that he was finally able to move the few inches to reach his hammer. As soon as he did, power surged through him. Within seconds he was able to reach his knees. Then Thor got to his feet and held the hammer over his head, pulling in more and more power.
Feeling like himself for the first time since Loki shocked him, Thor tilted his head back and yelled in frustration into the sheets of rain that were now pelting him. He'd been so close! He'd had Agent Barton in his hands and allowed Loki to take him back. Not looking forward to the upcoming conversation with Natasha, Thor quickly scanned his surroundings. The woman was nowhere to be seen. Great, now Loki had two hostages. Grumbling under his breath, Thor took to the air. He had yet more bad news to impart of the Avengers.
LOKILOKI
"What do you mean, Loki got away?!" Black Widow demanded. She'd rounded off on the god who was sitting dejectedly in a chair at the conference table. He'd told Tony Stark, Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff what had happened.
"Natasha," Rogers warned. He was deeply disturbed by the new developments as well, particularly the possibility of a civilian being involved. "Is there any way to figure out who the woman was?"
"I am unsure," Thor responded. To be honest, he wasn't even sure what part of the planet he'd been on.
"Hill has been monitoring all frequencies. She had heard from a province in Canada, called Saskatchewan, about a woman doing a field survey of a wetland going missing. She's trying to procure a picture of the woman. Would you be able to identify her?" Fury demanded as he came into the conference room. Thor had all ready told him the entire story five minutes before relating it to the others. It was enough of a head start for Hill and the other people on the bridge to start a search.
"Yes, I remember her quite clearly," Thor responded as he gained his feet. For the first time since being taken out by Loki, the blonde god had a spark of hope in his heart.
"Good," Fury said. Behind him, Hill entered the room, a pad clutched in her hand. Quickly she covered the distance to Thor and handed the god the electronic device.
"Is this her?" she asked without any formalities. Thor found a familiar face staring out at him from the surface of the pad.
"Yes, that is she," Thor responded.
"Emily Herring," Hill said, turning to her boss. "32, lives in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada. Employed by Ducks Unlimited to do surveys of wetlands across the province. She didn't show up at the hotel last night. The others in her team called their supervisor. I can show you the exact location of the wetland she was studying."
"No, that won't really help us. Loki could be anywhere," Fury stated. Great. Now they really did have a civilian involved.
"Apparently she carries a cell phone, just in case of emergencies. The only problem is that the carrier she uses is specific to Saskatchewan. Outside of that range, we have been unable to pick up her signal," Hill continued.
"Now that's something I can work with," Tony stated erupting out of his seat. He was tired of searching fruitlessly. A cell number was something Jarvis could track in a second. "Give me the number!"
In a minute at the computers Fury had set up for them during the first Loki attack, Stark had Jarvis and himself searching for the signal. It wasn't on the North American continent, of that he knew all ready. Europe and Asia were a little harder to scan but not much. Australia, England and Africa were a little harder but not much. As a last ditch effort, Stark and Jarvis turned their sights to South America. And there it was. "Son of a bitch," Tony breathed as he sat back in his chair. They were in the Amazon Basin.
A/N: Hello! As always, I'm extremely sorry that it's taken me so long to get this chapter out. Now that we're into September maybe real life will slow down...maybe.
Thank you for sticking with me. Yes, the calvary is on the way. Keeping Emily and her cell phone along for the ride was the only way I could think of for them to find Clint. Hopefully it isn't too farfetched. Also, I couldn't resist the whole Moose Jaw thing, I love that name!
There're probably one or two more chapters after this. Hopefully you will still around for those as well.
Take care and thanks again.