Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel Comics or any of their characters, nor do I make any profits from the online publication of these works.

Warning: dark themes, psychological trauma, allusions to PTSD, psychological warfare, homosexuality (why, exactly, is this a warning? Oh yeah, not everyone's okay with this. Whatever), language, alcohol use, alcoholism, major character death, explicit content, the warnings just keep going. Don't say I didn't warn you?

Author's Note: Welcome to Part 6 of Bitter Sirens. The pace is about to make a major shift. Okay, everything's about to make a major shift. I'm sorry the last part's pacing was all over the place. I'm glad to finally be done with it, though. As for this one… it's a reaction chapter, for the most part. Necessary for the story, at least. Thank you guys for being so damn patient with me.

BITTER SIRENS

PART VI: NECESSARY EVIL

CHAPTER I: BLACKOUT

It was impossible not to notice when the Stark Tower went dark. It started at the base, one row of bright white lights clicking off after another. Clint could see it on the wall next to him, reflected in the stone face of the café. Soon enough, Manhattan was a lot darker than it had been in a while.

Clint raised his hand, signaling over the waiter. Even at night, there were lights on in the Tower. Clint turned in his chair, looking up at the monolith. Nothing. Not even the sign was lit. He frowned, shifting his weight to pull out his wallet. It figured that the first night he really took off to relax, something happened.

A light caught his eye when the waiter came with his bill. Clint turned, squinting up at the landing on the tower. That was the Iron Man armor, no mistaking it. From there it didn't look red and gold, but it could be the sudden lack of light. What he could see, though, were the thrusters on the suit, a bright streak as he took off from the Tower.

Stark must have been making repairs to the arc reactor powering everything, or updating it. He was always upgrading everything.

Clint went back to his bill, taking his time now. There was nothing to worry about.

0

The gun shook, only for a moment as she steadied her fingers, turning white from the pressure, and her breaths, which had been in quick gasps. She couldn't see her gun, couldn't even see her arms in the sudden darkness. There were no windows, nowhere for even a shred of light to come from, and that was worse than the darkness itself.

Arc reactors did not just stop working.

Natasha reached her fingers forward, flicking the switch for her laser sight. The thin beam of red didn't do much, but it was something. She could see her gun, the edges highlighted with the crimson glow, and the air between her and where the dot hit. With that, she turned the end of it, opening up the iris at the tip. The dot vanished, but the red glow acted like a flashlight, a dim and barely useful flashlight, but that was better than the last option.

"Jarvis, are you there?"

Silence greeted her. In a normal power outage, everything would switch to reserve energy. She knew Stark had upgraded the arc reactor powering the tower, had the old prototype as a backup. She waited, holding her breath.

The reserves did not switch on. Nothing switched on. Natasha pressed the communicator on her wrist, lifting it to her mouth. "This is Agent Romanoff. Can anyone read me?" She let go of the button, pointing her gun outward again. There wasn't even static in response.

This was something a lot more serious than a power outage.

0

The S.H.I.E.L.D. floor was an angry hive, kicked a few too many times. Agents in nice suits wearing headsets were all tightening the straps of Kevlar vests and checking clips of ammunition, going through a full 180 metamorphosis in a matter of minutes. If there was an immediate threat, that would have been too long of a delay.

Coulson lifted his radio, pressing the button with a firm click. "Radio check, one, two, three."

"Check confirmed, unit 52." "Check confirmed, unit 34." "Check confirmed, unit 89." Coulson checked off the numbers as they were called out, holding his flashlight steady in the same hand as his radio.

It was old fashioned, but right now, that's all they could rely on. SI's servers were down. The power was down. They needed to secure the perimeter and assess the situation as quickly as possible. That involved communication. Organization. Calmness.

Now that they were communicating, they could move on to the organization phase. Coulson ran his thin beam of light down the list, checking for any openings on it. There were a few.

"How's the check going?"

"We're still not hearing from multiple agents." Coulson knew what the next step was. He pressed the button again, standing perfectly still as he spoke. "Unit 25, can you hear me?" He took his finger off the button and waited. Nothing. He circled the unit number and moved to the next. "Unit 3, respond." Nothing. Circled. "Unit 7, respond."

"Agent Romanoff reporting. Unit 7 can hear you loud and clear."

"What's your current position?" Coulson checked it off, tapping his pencil on the desk as he waited.

"I've secured my floor and am now searching for supplies to force the lock on the stairwell."

"Stay put for now." Coulson skimmed the list again, finding his place. "Unit 12, can you read me?" Nothing from that one, either. He frowned, tracing the number over to the name. Captain Rogers. Coulson frowned deeper, forcing down the urge to go hunt for him immediately. He had to get everyone organized first, then they could handle search and rescue. There was just a few more. "Unit 146, copy. Unit 13, respond. Unit 93, are you there?"

Agent Barton, unit 3, still hadn't responded. Nor had Mr. Stark, unit 13. Phil tapped his pencil again, looking at the other numbers.

Unit 146 and unit 93 were scheduled to guard duty in Containment.

"Director, we have an issue."

Fury turned, still fitting an earpiece for his radio into place. He had a group of agents spreading out maps across every clear table they could pull to the center of the floor, a make-shift command center. "What's the problem?"

"The agents positioned in Containment are not responding."

"Radio them again." Fury started shining his light on agents, waving them aside quickly. Soon there were small groups, three minimum, though there were a few of four. The moment Coulson shook his head to signal continued radio darkness, Fury waved one of the groups of four over to him, giving a final nod.

It was time to actually meet Loki face to face again.

0

"What's the situation?" Natasha set the radio on the dresser, sharply zipping the front of her suit. In a matter of seconds, her gauntlets were clicking on, buzzing with blue energy. She took her flashlight, gun, and radio back up, waiting for the response.

It was Fury responding this time. "We are sending teams to secure each level of the tower currently. Coulson is leading the team for Containment."

Natasha pressed the button immediately, almost cutting him off. "Is that a good idea?"

"We need an immediate response before matters have a chance to get out of hand."

"With all due respect, it looks like they already have." Natasha checked her clip, sliding it back to place. That done, she seated her headset and microphone, giving it a few taps.

"Report to the main floor. I'll assign you to a team."

"Where's Agent Barton?" Natasha opened the drawer in front of her, pulling out four more empty clips and loading them with a practiced precision. She had to keep moving. Even a moment's pause might be a moment too much.

"Not answering. Neither is Captain America or Iron Man."

"I doubt Stark would use a radio." Natasha tapped all the clips into their cases, clicking them shut. Everything secure, she started back for the stairwell entrance. It was for emergency purposes only, but the locks were electronic. Either that, or they'd been set to lock electronically before the outage occurred, which raised even more issues.

"Agent Romanoff."

"I'm heading up. Agent Barton may still be off campus. That leaves the Captain and Stark. I'll start with the former. Keep me updated."

She was sure there was a sigh, but it was cut out, the beep only sounding once Fury was talking again. "A team with meet with you on Captain America's floor. Do not proceed without them." Natasha rolled her eyes, but agreed.

0

When the dust cleared from the blast, he could see they were too late. Coulson stepped in first, gun and flashlight raised. It cut a thin white beam through the blackness, barely enough to see with, but all they had underground right now.

There were two downed guards. His team went to them first, checking for pulses. They were just unconscious, thankfully. Coulson kept moving forward, straight for the open doors of the glass cage, which was empty. There was no sign of Loki whatsoever. Coulson closed his eyes, letting out a slow, shaky breath.

"HQ, we've got bad news." Coulson held on to the button on the radio, trying to collect his report, not wanting a response quite yet to scatter his thoughts. "The captive is loose. Repeat, the captive is loose."

0

Every S.H.I.E.L.D. operative must have been holding their breath for that news. Natasha was. The other agents with her were. The Tower went silent, and when the news hit, it felt like something broke.

"I'll suit up."

Natasha nodded, but not even that was needed. Rogers was already out of the room, and she could hear him preparing for battle.

This had been planned. It had to have been planned. Catching Rogers in a place which had the capability of locking down, seeing to it that Banner was gone, Barton was not in the Tower, SI communications knocked out. Natasha added it all up in her head, but still couldn't place who it could be, unless it was Loki himself.

That was a possibility they could not rule out.

Finally, she clicked the button on her radio. "We need to send a team up to the penthouse now. If no Starktech is working, that means Stark himself is defenseless."

"Go. We're sending reinforcements."

"If Loki's intention was escape, he already would have gone."

"A team of six is coming up from Agent Barton's level. I've also ordered Coulson's team to come as well, though it will take a while."

"Fine. We're going."

0

After being trapped in the darkness of his own shower for what felt like ages, a deep seated fear threatening to take over again, the penthouse level of Stark Tower looked bright, almost light even.

Maybe bright was the wrong word for it, given what they were faced with.

The suits were all gone. Steve had only been on that floor once, when they rounded up Loki the first time, and there had been suits lining one wall, the wall which connected to the fully stocked bar. The bar looked a lot emptier as well, but he wasn't entirely sure.

Steve paused by a small table next to the couch, lifting up a little framed photograph. In the dim light, he could only make out the basics: it was Bruce and Tony, somewhere with water in the background, smiling. Tony had an arm around Bruce's shoulders. It looked like Bruce was fiddling with something on his wrist. Steve squinted, then put the photo down slowly.

"No sign of Stark or any of his equipment. Looks like it was all shipped out." Natasha stood in the center of the room, mostly a silhouette but no less commanding. He straightened his posture a little, readjusting his grip on the shield. "It doesn't look like a hostage situation."

Steve's stomach flipped at that thought. Just two hours ago, he'd been standing guard over Loki. He looked defeated, resigned, more likely just to fade away in the background than fight. In fact, nothing about him seemed like an animal backed into a corner. Steve knew that look. He knew how dangerous it could be.

"I don't think Loki was planning on breaking out."

Everyone turned, staring straight at him. Natasha's eyebrows furrowed, streaks of red in the half-light, and then her eyes widened.

The stairwell door banged open, Coulson and his team coming in. Coulson walked straight for them, waving for the others to go away. "I thought you should be the first to know." He looked between them, taking a deep breath. His hands on his hips might have seen nonchalant, if it wasn't Coulson. "The guards from Containment woke up."

Steven turned, frowning. "What did they say?"

"Stark pulled the pin."