Chapter 9

The next day, Stark Tower

"Jarvis?"

"Welcome back, Dr. Eklund. How may I assist you?" the overly-pleasant synthetic voice replied.

"Is Clint Barton within the city limits?"

"He is on Sublevel Three, Section H, ballistics range. Shall I connect you?"

"Audio only, Jarvis, thank you."

"Erin?" Clint said, slightly breathless. "Are you okay? Stark said that you—"

On any other day, she might have attempted to gently correct his lack of formality, but today, it was very much to her advantage. "I apologize for interrupting you, but I must ask you for a favor."

"Sure, yeah," he said, wiping his face with a towel. "Did you change your mind about dinner?" The smile in his voice would be short-lived, Erin knew.

"Can you and Ms. Romanoff come to the quarantine lab?"

His tone became serious very quickly. "Is there a problem?"

"You could say that. I need your help, and for now, I am asking for your discretion, as well as that of Ms. Romanoff. I will tell you more when you arrive, if you are willing. Please."

"Yeah, sure. I'll get Natasha. We'll be there in ten minutes."

"Thanks. I owe you," she said with a weak smile.

Loki stood just where she'd left him, outside of the large glass enclosure built to hold her colleague, Dr. Banner, staring at it with a look of resignation and horror. Through the Thralldom Bracers, she had reluctantly forbidden him to speak or move. It made her heart ache to use that power against him, but it was the only way. She went over and took his hand, which remained limp in her grasp, and kissed him lightly on the cheek. It might be the last time she would ever have such an opportunity.

"I'm sorry, Loki. I really am." He was just as handsome as he ever was, with his chiseled cheekbones and intelligent eyes, even though they now regarded her with barely-contained rage. "Maybe someday you'll forgive me. But don't worry, if all goes well, I will go back into hiding and spare you the humiliation of having to admit it. I hope you know by now that I will keep your secrets." She released his hand and waited by his side in silence for her two accomplices to arrive, not daring to let him speak while the Mad Titan's influence remained. She knew it would be nothing but venom from his lips anyway.

"Shit. Is that Loki?" Natasha said from the doorway. "What the hell is he doing here?" She pulled two semi-autos from her back and leveled them at Loki, but Eir stepped between them.

A tense moment followed, but when Loki didn't react, didn't flinch or even turn his head to flash his evil smile, Clint put out a hand to calm the nervous redhead. "Erin, what's going on?"

"It's the Tesseract. Loki has been under the influence of the same power that you were, Clint, during the Chitauri invasion, though I fear it has had him for much, much longer. I need your help to free him from it."

"This is a trick, Doctor. He's using you." Hawkeye was becoming increasingly agitated, Eir knew, because his voice was getting calmer and more controlled while his body became very still. She'd seen the behavior before in many a warrior in the moments before battle.

"I can heal him, like I healed you, but I need your help. You know what it's like to be possessed by that thing." Eir walked carefully towards him. "You know what it's like to be freed from it, to be given a second chance, to be forgiven." She glanced at Natasha briefly. "Please, Clint. You are the only one I trust with this."

His eyes never wavered from Loki's still form, but his voice softened slightly. "He's dangerous. You have no idea."

Eir turned away from Barton and entered her code into a keypad on the nearby console. "Loki, please go into the containment chamber."

Loki complied without looking at her, but Eir could feel the waves of hatred coming off of him as she sealed him inside in silence.

She spoke quietly to the two agents. "I have him under my control right now, but when I go into his mind, the… power behind the Scepter and the Tesseract will attempt to seize control of me. If it succeeds and I fail to free Loki, you will have to kill him."

"Why wait?" Natasha asked, her voice icy.

Clint's focus finally shifted from Loki to Eir as she answered, "Because there's a chance that he can be our ally when an even more dangerous enemy comes to threaten the Nine Realms, and there is something much worse coming. We need him."

"I recall we had some trouble killing him last time. What is the best way to end an Asgardian? It's fine if it's painful," Natasha said.

"I will supply you with the means if we have an agreement that you will only use it if I fail. I need your word, Clint. Give me a chance to help him, as I helped you."

"Fine," he said reluctantly, but there was a gentleness in his eyes that convinced her the man was sincere.

Before Eir could thank him, Natasha interrupted. "Doctor Eklund, why am I here? I'm sure you weren't looking for moral support."

Eir had to smile at her forthrightness. While they had only met briefly once before, Erin admired her pragmatism. "You're here to kill me if things go wrong."

Natasha held the doctor's gaze for only a second before nodding her assent, but it was Clint who objected, as Eir expected. "No, Erin… we'll just figure out a way to fix you if that happens. Natasha has a mean right hook… if she hits you hard enough, that will bring you back, right? No one is killing you."

"Clint…" Natasha warned.

"It takes more than a punch to damage us," Eir said, looking back at Loki briefly.

Clint's eyes widened, then narrowed again as he studied her face, the realization becoming clear. "Us? You told me you were from Norway." He looked put out.

She just smiled at him, knowing that he had been aware of the truth since she first touched his mind. It was only his wishful thinking that keep him from embracing it. "This is the safest way for everyone. I had to get him out of Asgard, away from the Tesseract," she said, deliberately leaving out mention of the Casket, "and you two are the only ones I can trust with this." She turned to Clint, "He wasn't always this way. Please give me a chance to save him."

"Alright," he said, looking into her eyes for just a moment before turning around to stare at Loki. "But if he hurts you, I will kill him. Painfully."

"I know."

Hawkeye toyed with the case of a nearby Geiger counter. "How will I know if he… if it is not you anymore? If the Tesseract has you?"

"You'll know. That's another reason I asked you to help me. You'll know." Clint just nodded, but wouldn't look at her. She knew she had placed him in a very difficult position, but without their help, she would be doing this without a backup plan and risking all of Midgard, if not the Nine Realms.

Natasha cleared her throat. "So, Doctor, what's your plan? How do you propose we kill a god, and I suppose, a goddess?" Her eyes flicked up and down Eir's body, clearly looking for a weakness.

Four small clay spheres appeared in Eir's palm, two pairs with very similar runes inscribed upon them. She set one pair down before withdrawing a blade from her belt and raising her shirt. The quick flare of her magic down the blade preceded the sharp slice in her side as Clint rushed towards her. Thankfully, Natasha held him back with an arm in front of his chest and a few quiet words.

Eir whispered the incantation as she pushed the sphere through the incision, coating its match in her blood as she finished. To the amazement of the two agents, the blood disappeared into the clay, leaving behind a faint red glow. Saving her magic for the main event, Eir rubbed a light lavender salve over the wound, sealing it within seconds.

She passed the stone to Natasha. "If the time comes, whisper my true name, Eir, then 'banahögg', which means 'death-blow'. Crush the sphere, and it will be done." She had Natasha and Clint practice the pronunciation several times. "Use same procedure with Loki's name, Clint, should it come to that."

Natasha recognized the doctor's name and its historical significance, but fortunately chose not to make this an issue, but Clint wasn't satisfied with the arrangement. "He's not going to let you walk up and cut him open, Erin. Sorry, Eir."

"Loki will permit it because unfortunately, he has no choice at the moment," she said.

Clint stood just outside the door to the containment chamber, staring through the thick plastic walls at Loki, still standing immobile just inside. "If he's so powerless, why don't you just keep him that way instead of risking… all of this?"

"I know you hate him for what he did," Eir said calmly, "and I don't blame you, but no one deserves to be enslaved." She looked at her former husband, feeling only pity for him. He could have been a very great man. Resting a hand on Clint's shoulder while she looked back at Natasha, she knew they couldn't wait any longer. Mr. Stark, Fury, and Allfather knew who else would be arriving at any moment to stop her. In fact, she was counting on it in case things went terribly wrong.

After sealing Eir inside the chamber with the man who would be king, Hawkeye and Black Widow stood as silent sentinels, waiting to see if they would gain an ally or murder a friend.