Yeah... So I am embarrassed at how long it took to update... I kind of stopped writing for a while... Life got in the way, I couldn't think of what to write, I got other ideas, and so on... But I promise I have returned. I will be writing all night tonight to try and finish as many chapters as possible. That way I can update even if I haven't been writing for a while. ^_^
Anyways, review and tell me what you think and what you'd like to see.
Clint stiffened when he heard the familiar voice. As much as he had hoped that it wasn't who he thought it was, he knew that that hope was diminishing. Stepping forward, Loki completely came back into the light. He looked thinner, less nourished and certainly tired. But Clint didn't care. He wanted Loki to suffer, even if it meant that Thor would be upset as well. The god deserved it after everything that had happened. And the worst part was that Thor didn't even know about the rape.
"Loki," Clint growled in a greeting. Loki smirked. He enjoyed that his pet was still scarred from the torture. It was much more amusing to deal with the archer when he could still see the fear behind his grey eyes. Noting that Loki was taking some sort of pleasure in him, Clint took a few steps away. He really didn't like being in the same room with this god. In the back of his head, he wondered what would happen if he called for Thor.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, my hawk," Loki purred as he moved even closer to Clint. The archer backed up until he hit something hard. Quickly glancing back, Clint realized he had hit the wall of the dungeon. Even though he looked away for a second, when he looked back, Loki was right in front of him. A soft cry of surprise echoed from Clint's lips before he could stop it. Loki chuckled. "How adorable. You are still frightened of me."
"I'm not frightened. You just... Startled me," Clint lied. Loki hummed and lifted his right hand and moved his index finger back and forth before Clint's face. Clint recognized the symbol for a no-no sign. Scowling, Clint looked away from the god again. Loki smirked.
"Don't lie to me pet. I can see it in your eyes. The so-called, window to the soul," Loki cooed. Clint looked back to his enemy and focused right into his eyes. At first all he saw was nothing but the color. Then he noticed something. Looking a little deeper, he noted it was getting easier to see until suddenly he recognized it. The Tesseract Blue was coming out of Loki. Snapping his head away, Clint scurried around the god. Loki laughed. He had done that using just the slightest bit of magic that he had. As much as he hated wasting the magic on something so easy, Loki was pleased with the results. "So it's the Tesseract you fear."
"No!" Clint shouted at the God of Mischief and Lies. Loki laughed. It took a second before Clint realized he had rushed in commenting. A rush that clearly meant he was lying once again. Frowning deeply, Clint mentally berated himself.
"Oh, how you think you're so smart. But my dear sweet one, give it time. I'll show you how much you and your people really needed me," Loki told the archer. Clint growled. He had been backing up once again and this time got himself stuck in a corner. Loki moved in and blocked him before Clint could try to escape. Slowly he lifted his left hand and used it to stroke Clint's warm cheek. Clint froze for about a minute before he reached up and slapped the god's hand away.
"This won't be like last time, Loki," Clint snarled. Loki smiled.
"Oh, I hope it won't be. I do so enjoy breaking you," the god whispered as he pushed Clint back against the wall. His leg lifted and pressed lightly against the middle of his legs. Clint growled but found he couldn't move. Loki smirked and placed his hands on the archer's chest. Slowly, he began rubbing the whole area. Clint's body shuddered out of disgust but Loki took it as something else. The god shifted to get closer, dropping his leg back down to the floor, and Clint felt it. It was the same feeling as before. A hard member throbbing between Loki's groin. Whimpering, Clint straightened himself to try and get away. "I thought you said this would be different?"
"It is," Clint answered before his own knee jerked up hard into Loki's body. The god let out a high pitch whine before dropped back and grabbing at his injured member. Not once in his long life had Loki ever been hit there before. Always it was a slap across the face, never there. And so the pain was much more intense then anything he had ever felt. Clint smirked at the reaction before rushing out of the corner and headed over toward the dungeon's cell doors. Not sure if he wanted to look stupid or not, Clint hesitated in trying to open the doors. Just as Loki began to come to grips with the pain, Clint decided to try. The doors, surprisingly, opened. "Ha!"
As he exited, Clint shut the doors. When he spun back to face Loki, he noted the god was standing at the doors. With an evil smirk, Loki tried them and was stunned to find they didn't work. He was still stuck in the dungeon. Even in Clint's dreams, he was still trapped in that retched place. Seeing that the god wasn't about to get out, Clint smirked back at him. Loki snarled.
"You can't keep me away forever, my hawk. I will get back to you," Loki said. Clint now laughed. He leaned in close.
"Yeah, but all I have to do is walk out this door and you're stuck," he responded. Loki rattled the cage doors. He was getting beyond pissed now. In Clint's eyes, Loki could see little of the fear that had been there before. Loki growled as he realized that in this dream world, Clint was the stronger one. He'd just have to lie in wait until Amora knocked that strength down.
"I will get out of this cage. And you better be ready for me," Loki taunted before heading the middle of the room and sitting down on the dirty floor. Clint frowned. That wasn't what he expected Loki to do. Trying to figure it out, Clint spun back around and began to walk down the hall, away from Loki. Inside the dungeon, Loki smirked. The dream wasn't over yet.
"Clint, darling," a female voice called through the darkness. Clint's head jerked up. He knew that voice just as well as he knew Loki's. It was Amora. His eyes adjusted to the darkness just in time to see Amora throwing a spell at him. As it hit, his body filled with unimaginable pain and he woke screaming.
"What the hell is that noise?" Natasha groaned as she rested her pounding head against the cool metal behind her. The Avengers had just finished the mission in Istanbul, which Fury was right, it was difficult without Clint there to watch over them. Steve had a dislocated shoulder, Bruce was still unconscious from whatever weapon hit him. Thor had a few cuts and bruises but the biggest was his blackened right eye. Natasha felt like she might have a concussion along with a few broken ribs and a strained ankle. Nothing she wasn't used to. And Tony... Well, Tony made it through, his suit didn't.
"Not from me, fixing my suit!" Tony growled as he looked at the broken remnants of his beautiful toy. The two looked around. Steve was resting peacefully over by Bruce. Thor was up front and could not be seen nor heard from the back area. So that only left the hawk which was still hidden in the alcove above. Steve lifted his head up at the noise but watched as Natasha grudgingly stood and headed over to calm the poor hawk. "Shut him up."
"I will," Natasha snarled as she reached into the alcove and began stroking the closest bit of feathers she could find. It was Clint's chest and as his bearing came back to him, he realized how lucky Natasha was that he didn't automatically strike out at her. As she pulled her hand away when the noise died down, Clint moved closer to the exit. "See, I shut him up."
"Thank fucking god," Tony grumbled before going back to his suit. Clint frowned and slowly jumped out of the alcove to land on the seat below. Natasha was already heading deeper into the back. He hadn't realized that he had been crying out. Nor did he realize until this moment that he had slept through the whole mission. At least it didn't take them that long, but it made him wonder if the team really did need him or not. They could function without him. Yeah, right now they were hurt but they'd get used to it.
Moping, Clint moved toward the back. As much as Natasha was in a bad mood, Clint still wanted to be near her. His talons clacked on the floor as the hawk walked across the Quinjet, knowing the area was too small to actually fly through. When he got close enough for the noise to bother the red headed assassin, she turned an evil death glare on her once human friend. Clint sulked for a moment, as though asking permission to move forward. It took a minute. But once Natasha rolled her eyes, Clint gladly hopped over to the seat beside her.
"Hmm. That seemed rather familiar," Steve commented, having watched the bird the whole time. Natasha shrugged, really not wanting to think about much at the moment. Her head was pounding and all she wanted to do was rest. But, she couldn't relax. Not without Clint around. Groaning, she began absently stroking the hawk's chest.
"How long till we get back? I need JARVIS," Tony suddenly complained. Natasha snarled. She was so not in the mood to deal with Tony's incessant whining. Steve smiled when he saw her upset face.
"We're almost back to the Helicarrier," he responded softly. Tony moaned, making Natasha cringe and accidentally stroke Clint to hard. He didn't make a noise though. Instead, he just focused on Tony, wondering when the man would actually be killed by one of his own teammates. "Once there, we'll get medical treatment, then debrief, and after all that-"
"We go home? Why not just go to my tower right now? I have a medical wing and we can debrief on the phone," Tony whined. Steve rolled his eyes. It was like talking to a three year old. He just didn't understand.
"And face the wrath of Fury? Really, Stark?" Clint squawked as though the others could hear him. Not one commented to the bird. Which was fine with Clint, for now. Especially when Natasha made him shush by stopping petting him. When he focused his still grey eyes on her, Natasha frowned but began petting him once again.
"But I want to go to my tower," Tony added, unfazed by the hawk. He just watched as Steve and Natasha began glaring at him. Frowning, he stopped. But everyone knew it wasn't over yet. Tony would start complaining again. It was just a matter of time.
About thirty minutes passed in relative silence. Steve managed to fall asleep and Natasha was relaxing more then she had on the whole flight. For some reason, the hawk at her side was helping her calm down. Just like Clint used to. As she thought about it, it just made her miss Clint even more. Too bad she didn't even realize that her best friend was sitting right beside her, carefully watching Tony mess around with his completely destroyed suit.
"Ugh, this is useless! I'm gonna need to build a whole new suit!" Tony loudly called out in the cabin. Curious as to the noise, Thor returned to the back.
"But Man of Iron, do you not have others?" Thor questioned, now leaning against the doorway into the cockpit. Tony groaned and leaned against the table before him.
"Yeah, I have other suits. But those are all older models... I don't have one like this one," Tony answered as though it was obvious. Thor frowned. He simply did not get why Tony needed the newest model. He had used Mjolnir for thousands of years and he had no problem with that.
"Man of Iron, why not simply use an older model? Take time to learn it's uses?" Thor asked. "They always have seemed to be in order."
"They are. I always fix my suits back to working order but... The technology is outdated. I mean, what if your dad came out with a Molner-"
"Mjolnir."
"Whatever... Version 2.0? Would you still want the outdated model?" Tony countered expecting a similar answer to his.
"No. Mjolnir and I have been though many battles together. I would not simply abandon Mjolnir," Thor retorted. Tony frowned, not getting what the big deal was. Thor, noticing that Tony was just not going to understand, shook his head and headed back toward the cockpit. He was done speaking. Just before he completely vanished, he called out to the entire group. "We are to land in ten minutes."
They did land in ten minutes. Just not on the Helicarrier. Nearly all of them had forgotten that Fury had banned them from ever stepping foot there again. It didn't bother Tony in the least. He just grabbed his hunk of junk (I mean Iron Man suit) and headed down to his labs to get started on repairs. Bruce, who had finally woken, took Steve and Natasha down to the medical wing that Tony had installed during the refurbishment of the towers. And Thor. Well, he had the wonderful duty of bring Clint back to his room. Too bad Thor didn't know about the water bucket, nor could Clint warn him. (*I forgot to mention that this water also could replenish itself that to JARVIS.)
"COLD!" Thor boomed, forgetting that he must keep his voice down when near the hawk. Thankfully, Clint's ears were slightly blocked by the water and so the sound didn't seem as loud as it should have been.
"Yup, freezing," Clint agreed as he shook some water off his feathers. Inside, Lex and Star were staring at them. Clint nodded a hello but said nothing. Thor smiled and waved to the other two raptors before bringing Clint deeper into the room. Once inside, he placed the hawk near a table in the center of the room. Clint jumped onto it and watched as Lex's feathers began to ruffle. Freezing, Clint watched, wondering what the other bird would do.
"No. He is friend," Thor softly commanded Lex. Lex turned a curious eye on the Asgardian. He had never been told no before. Looking back to the other male hawk, Lex decided that maybe the large man was right.
"Hey, Lex. Can you understand me?" Clint called to the other bird. Lex faced him once more but did nothing else in reply. Sighing, Clint looked to Thor's now retreating back. "Oh, yeah. This is just great."
It was an hour or so later that Clint began to get really bored in his room. Even though he could now fly, a dream of his, it just wasn't enough. Especially with Lex and Star glaring at him whenever he got to close to them. Sighing deeply, Clint looked about his room once again. That was when he noticed it. His computer, tucked away in a dark corner of the living room. Feeling joy for the first time in a long while, Clint flue over to it. Now, as he stared at the darkened computer screen, he wondered how he was going to turn it on.
"Hello? Anyone in here?" came a meek sounding voice from the doorway. Following that was a scream of shock. Clint mentally sniggered.
"I warned you about that Pepper!" Tony declared loudly before barging into the room and startling Lex. The other male hawk kree-ed angrily before taking flight and landing on a platform just underneath a vent. Clint focused on it. He knew that that was the vent he had loosened from all his travels in the air ducts. And that was the vent he would use to break out of his own room.
"I know you did! I just... I don't know, didn't believe you," Pepper finished arguing lamely. Tony chuckled as he watched his girlfriend enter the room dripping wet. "We're gonna have to take that down."
"No. I like that there! Do you know how long it took me to hook that up?" Clint cried in childish rage. But, to his consternation, he was ignored. Sighing once again, Clint turned back to the computer just before he heard some soft squeaking noises. Lex and Star also shifted when they heard the noise. Turning back to the humans, all three saw Pepper taking out a small cage filled with six small mice. Clint balked at the idea of having to eat a mouse, but then again... When he was at the vet's they did hand him something that looked similar except it didn't really move or squeak like these ones were doing now.
"I can't, Tony..." Pepper moaned. Tony smiled.
"I knew you couldn't," he gloated. Pepper groaned before baking away from the mice cage. Once the humans were a good enough distance away, Lex took flight once again and headed over to the cage. He locked his talons around the metal bars and lifted, bring the whole cage into the air.
"Oh my god!" Pepper screeched as she watched. Tony's jaw dropped as Lex lifted the cage to the top of the room and then promptly, let go. The cage shattered and six mice scrambled about the room. Pepper screamed, Tony even screamed. Lex and Clint quickly took off after the creatures. In the end, Lex ended up getting three while Clint grabbed one. The other two had gotten themselves under some furniture just in time. While Clint sat there happily munching on his mouse, Lex shared two of his three with Star, who never left her nest.
"Okay, that's just sick," Tony muttered. Pepper sobbed softly.
"Now we have mice in the tower," she softly pointed out. Tony moaned and looked over to Clint, who was now looking at the remains of his dinner in absolute disgust.
"You should have been a better hunter," Tony declared. Clint looked up and glared at the billionaire.
"Oh yeah, why don't you give it a shot?" Clint argued back before jumping back into the air and circling the room before landing back at the computer. Tony bristled, even though he couldn't understand what the hawk said, he was positive it was an insult.
"Hey! Don't touch that, you'll break it!" Tony snapped. Clint looked over at him bored before lifting a talon-ed foot. Tony's eyes widened. "Don't you dare." With a mental smirk, Clint dropped his foot across the keyboard and was rewarded with breaking every key he touched. Tony cried out in anguish. Clint just smirked.
"Tony, leave him alone. He didn't know better," Pepper muttered as she held the man back. Tony looked ready to pluck every feather off of Clint's smaller body. Clint just lifted his foot and did it again. This time, Pepper could barely restrain him. "Tony! He's just an animal!"
"No! He's doing this on purpose! Do you not see how he's making eye contact with me?" Tony snapped. Pepper groaned and began dragging her protesting boyfriend out of the room. "No! I will get him back! I swear it!"
"Just like you swore revenge on Clint?" Pepper countered just before she and Tony slipped back out the room. Clint perked up. He may not be able to use a computer or any of the StarkPads (Note: most tablets need the skin contact to work, talons and scaled feet would not work) lying about, but he can sure as hell prank everyone.
"Oh. This is gonna be fun," Clint declared before flying up to the loose vent and moving it aside. Within seconds, he was in the air vent system and heading straight for Tony's main lab.
Okay. Chapter ten is done. I have finished chapter 11. And I'll get to work on chapter 12 and so on. Reviews do help! Please review!