CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE
Romanoff stalked quietly to Loki's prison and waited until he noticed her. A few seconds later her patience was rewarded.
"There's not many that can sneak up on me" Loki informed her, impressed despite himself as he turned round to face her.
"But you figured I'd come" she replied calmly.
"After. After whatever tortures Fury could concoct, you would appear as a friend, a balm. And I would cooperate"
"I want to know what you have done to Agent Barton" She stated.
"I'd say I've expanded his mind." He told her with an insane smile on his face.
"And once you've won. Once you're king of the mountain. What happens to his mind?" she asked.
Loki leaned forward,
"Is this love Agent Romanoff?" he asked with a smile.
"Love is for children. I owe him a debt" she replied instantly. He leaned back and spread his arms,
"Tell me" he invited her. Natasha took a seat to the side.
"Before I worked for SHIELD, I uh… well I made a name for myself. I have a very specific skill set. I didn't care who I used it for, or on. I got on SHIELD's radar in a bad way. Agent Barton was sent to kill me." A small smile appeared on her face, "He made a different call" she told him.
"And what would you do if I vowed to spare him?" he asked curiously.
"Not let you out" Natasha responded dryly. Loki chuckled,
"Ah no. but I like this. Your world hangs in the balance and you bargain for one man?"
"Regimes fall every day. I tend not to weep over that, I'm Russian. Or I was" she returned.
"What is it that you want?" he asked. Natasha stood up and approached the glass barrier,
"It's really not that complicated. I've got red in my ledger; I would like to wipe it out"
"Can you?" Loki asked her softly, "Can you wipe out that much red? Sao Paulo? The Hospital Fire?" Natasha's eyes widened in fake horror, "Barton told me everything. Your ledger is dripping, it's gushing red, and you think saving a man no more virtuous than your self will change anything?"
He slammed his fist onto the glass. Natasha pretended to jump back in fear,
"This is the basest sentimentality. This is a child at prayer... PATHETIC! You lie and you kill in the service of liars and killers. You pretend to be separate, to have your own code, something that makes up horrors. But they are a part of you, and they will never go away!" Loki slammed his fist against the glass again,
"I won't touch Barton. Not until I make him kill you! Slowly. Intimately. In every way he knows you fear! And when he'll wake just long enough to see his good work, and when he screams, I'll split his skull! This is my bargain you mewling quim!" Natasha flinches slightly before walking away disgusted,
"You're a monster" she informed him quietly, her head bowed. Loki chuckled evilly,
"No, you brought the monster" Suddenly she spun round, her face cleared of all emotion,
"So, Banner? That's your play?" Loki stepped back puzzled,
"What?" he replied confused. Natasha smirked at him and began walking away, talking into her com,
"Loki means to unleash the Hulk, keep Banner in the lab, I'm on my way." She stopped and faced Loki one more time,
"Thank you, for your cooperation" she informed him coolly before spinning back around and hurrying away.
"What is Phase 2?" Stark asked as he studied the screen in front of him.
"Phase 2 is SHIELD's plan to use the Tesseract to make weapons." Rogers told everyone as he stormed in and chucked a prototype onto a desktop.
"Rogers, we gathered everything on the Tesseract, that doesn't mean we-"Fury was cut off by Stark,
"I'm sorry Nick, what were you lying? He showed everyone the screen.
"I was wrong Director; the world hasn't changed a bit" Rogers spoke in disgust. Thor and Natasha walked into the room and instantly tensed upon noticing the tension. Natasha kept her eyes on Banner.
"Did you know about this?" Banner demanded of her. She frowned,
"No. You want to think about removing yourself from this environment Doctor?" she replied. Banner snorted,
"I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed, No what I want to know is why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to make weapons of mass destruction."
"Because of him." Fury finally answered, pointing at Thor. Thor looked surprised,
"Me?" he said.
"Last year Earth had a visitor from another world and we learned that not only were we not alone but that we were hopelessly, hilariously outgunned."
"My people want nothing but peace with this planet." Thor protested him.
"Yes but you are not only people out there are you? You're not the only threat. The world is filling up with people who can't be matched, who can't be controlled." Fury refuted.
"Like you controlled the cube?" Steve asked.
"You're work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies. It is a signal to all the realms that the earth is ready for a higher form of war." Thor lectured them all.
"A higher form?" Rogers asked
"You forced our hand. We had to come up with something." Fury defended himself.
"A Nuclear deterrent? Because that always calms everything right down." Stark muttered.
"Remind me how you made your fortune Stark?" Fury demanded.
"I'm sure if Stark was still in the business-" Rogers was cut off.
"Hang on how is this now about me?" Stark demanded.
"I'm sorry isn't everything?" Rogers replied with a smug smirk.
"ENOUGH" Natasha shouted. Everyone turned to look at her.
"This is doing us no good. Yes SHIELD is making weapons that really shouldn't be created. Yes Thor is not the only visitor that Earth may have. Yes Stark did make weapons in the past. However this does nothing to solve our current dilemma of Loki and an alien army on its way." She informed them coldly.
"Now, everyone shut up and focus on finding that cube" she ordered them all. They all stared at her for a moment before a beeping drew their attention. Bruce hurried over to the screen and took his glasses off,
"What the-?" he was cut off as an explosion sounded somewhere on the ship. Everyone was blasted through the air in different directions.
Natasha and Bruce fell through the glass floor that had shattered upon impact. She landed with a grunt as she felt several pipes landed on her legs. Bruce desperately tried to prevent the Hulk from coming out.
"Doctor?" Natasha asked as she used her strength to shove the pipes of her and crouch next to the man. Bruce looked at her and growled,
"GO!" Natasha's eyes widened slightly before she was off like a shot. Her hand went to the com in her ear as she ran,
"Fury!" She called.
"Romanoff? You alright?" Fury's came through slightly crackly,
"I'm fine. The Hulk has been unleashed. Gotta go" she informed them quickly before turning it off and increasing her speed.
Natasha could hear the Hulk behind her, getting closer. She ran through the glass hallway, sensing the Hulk right behind her. Before she could change direction, a large force impacted on her back, making her go flying. Natasha smashed into the wall and slumped down to the ground, blood trickling from the cut on her head. She looked up and saw the Hulk right there, glaring down at her. She forced herself to her feet and drew her gun but before she had even got it up, Thor came out of nowhere and tackled the raging green monster away from her. Sighing with relief, Natasha slumped back to the ground and rested her head against the wall behind her. Already she could feel her numerous injuries healing and she closed her eyes.
"Barton's on his way to the detention level, does anyone copy?" Fury's voice came through her com a few minutes later. Quickly, she turned it on and responded,
"This is Agent Romanoff, I copy" and she was off on her feet and running to intercept her wayward partner.
Quickly, Natasha came up behind Barton. Barton sensing someone behind him quickly drew an arrow and fired. Natasha dodged and kicked him in the chest before jumping over to the other walkway. The fight progressed at a furious pace and she knew she had to end it quickly. Hoping she would not injure him too badly, Natasha slammed him hard into the metal railings. She watched him groan and attempt to get up.
"Natasha..." he whispered looking up at her, his eyes back to his original colour. Just to be on the safe side, she punched him. Hard. Barton was out before his head slumped back to the floor.
"This is Agent Romanoff, Agent Barton is down. Medical personnel are needed on the detention level."
"Medical personnel are on route. ETA three minutes" came the response a minute later. Natasha waited for them to show up and then followed them to keep watch over her partner.
"Agent Coulson is down." Fury's voice came over the com. She stiffened.
"Medical personnel are on route" A SHIELD agent informed him.
"They're here. They called it." Natasha's shoulders slump as she heard him. 'Not Coulson' she thought. 'Not him' her gaze landed on her unconscious partner and her features softened.
"I've got your back partner." She whispered to him before taking a seat next to his bed to wait for him to wake up.