Loki smiled to himself as he slowly paced his cell. This was going to work splendidly. He stopped suddenly and smirked, brushing his hair out of his face. He turned to face her.
"There's not many people that can sneak up on me," Loki lied through his teeth. The young women hadn't snuck up on him in the least.
"But you figured I'd come," she replied. Loki turned around smiling thoughtfully before stating,
"After. After whatever tortures Fury can concoct, you would appear as a friend, as a balm. And I—" Loki smiled widely his teeth showing "—would cooperate," Loki finished, laughing slightly. He sat back on the small bench, resting his chin on his hand, his elbow on his knee.
"SHIELD doesn't torture," Natasha replied. Loki couldn't help but notice that both of them were talking in oddly hushed tones.
"Oh really," Loki breathed as he stood.
"Were you not once on the opposite side of this cell? Begging for mercy as they tortured you in every way you fear?" Loki whispered. Natasha wondered how he sounded more menacing in a hushed tone then when he was speaking aloud. Loki could see the fear on her face after his speech, but to the normal eye she hid it well. She crossed her arms, her face carefully emotionless.
"I want to know what you've done to Agent Barton," Natasha stated plainly. Loki noticed her accent, wondering where she was actually from, and if the accent was natural or faked. He shook the thoughts from his head. He had to pay attention.
"I'd say I've...expanded his mind." Loki shrugged, raising his hands in the air. She paused and slowly began to walk forward. She was trying to intimidate him.
"And once you've won. Once you're king of the mountain. What happens to his mind? " she asked.
"Is this...love Agent Romanoff?" Loki asked, raising his eyebrows in a suggestive way. She never flinched.
"Love is for children. I owe him a debt." Loki paused and then smirked, turning back to the bench.
"Tell me," he said, sitting down. She opened her mouth to speak, and she then paused and then started again.
"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, he made a different call." She sighed, her first sign of emotion in their conversation.
"And what will you do if I vow to spare him?" Loki asked.
"Not let you out. Unlike your brother, I'm not an idiot," Natasha said dryly as she glared daggers at him.
"Oh, no. But I like this. Your world in the balance, and you bargain for one man?" Loki said, the words rolling off his tongue in a way that sent shivers down her spine. He grinned widely at her, his eyes sparking.
"What is it you want, Black Widow?" he asked, using a different one of her names.
"It's really quite simple: I have red in my ledger...I'd like to wipe it out," she said. Loki raised his eyebrows, shooting her a look that was a cross between a glare and a smirk.
"Can you?" he asked. "Can you wipe out that much red?"
She said nothing.
"Can you? Can you wipe out that much red? Drakov's daughter? Sao Paulo? The hospital fire? Barton told me everything. Your ledger is dripping, it's gushing red, and you think saving a man no more virtuous than yourself will change anything? This is the basest sentimentality. This is a child, a prayer. Pathetic. You lie and kill, for liars and killers," Loki said, standing now as close to the glass as he could get. Loki snapped, slamming his hand against the glass. He was impressed that she didn't so much as flinch.
"Isn't this story the same for you, Odinson?" she asked.
"Don't call me that!" he snapped.
"But isn't it the same? Isn't this what you're doing? You're trying your damnedest to wipe away your past. To ignore your past. To wipe the same gushing red color from you ledger. Are you not killing and lying for liars and killers? You accuse me of the same retched things you commit on a daily basis. You say I'm pathetic. But don't you realize that you are the pathetic one, Odinson?" she asked her voice carrying the same amount of calmness as his only a moment before. His face did not stay as calm as hers had during his speech however.
"I lie and kill for myself," Loki growled.
"But you fight for a goal. To prove yourself though lying and killing," Natasha said.
"That is how life is, my dear Black Spider," Loki said calming down once again.
"Don't call me that," she growled.
"I do what I want," Loki snapped.
"As do I," Natasha replied without missing a beat.
"Alright Natasha, or should I call you Natalia Alianovna Romanova," Loki said. He could see her raise her eyebrows at the name. "I won't touch Barton! Not until I make him kill you. Slowly, intimately, in every way he knows you fear. And then he'll wake just long enough to see his good work," Loki growled. She turned away faking her disgust to trick him. "And when he screams I'll split his skull! This is my bargain, you mewling quim!
"You're a monster," she said, making her voice shake a helpful skill she had learned over the years.
"No, you'll unleash the monster," Loki replied. She spun around smiling.
"So, Banner? That's your play," she said.
"What?" Loki asked now confused, a rare sight for the dark haired god.
She pressed a button on a headset she was wearing. "Loki plans to unleash the Hulk. Keep Bruce in the lab, I'm on my way. Send Thor as well," she said she paused at the door and then smirked at him.
"You underestimate who I am. Thank you, for your cooperation...Laufeyson" she said before walking briskly out of the room. Loki ran his fingers through his greasy hair.
"Shit," he muttered before sitting on the bench. That had been a mere fluke in the plan. It would end well in the Endgame. It always did.