- Chapter 17 -

It was with a growing interest that Natasha watched the exchange between Loki and Stark. The fight between Loki and those humanoid things was very enlightening. The kind of skills that Loki was displaying weren't the kind that were learned in a few years. Those were the kind of skills that were practiced for so long that they were now as ingrained as breathing. This was particularly disturbing. It would mean that Loki had these skills before New York. We never saw a hint of this. Why? The closest they'd come to seeing this was in the Tesseract chamber when Loki first came through the portal. Even then, Loki hadn't relied on speed or skill. Loki relied on simply being tougher than anything they had to go against him with.

What's going on here? Natasha was beginning to think there was much more to the invasion than they thought. If Loki was this skilled, and even skilled enough to hide his actual level of skill, then what else had he been hiding? And why? A quick glance back at Thor confirmed that he'd never seen this from Loki either. Another quick glance back to King Frey confirmed that this was nothing new. Is he smirking at me? Bastard. She turned her attention back to the recording.

If we assume that Loki was making an actual attempt at invading, then he made a very poor attempt. With how many mistakes Loki made, the attempt was doomed to failure. Natasha read the after-action analysis; it was scathingly critical of Loki's military prowess. This was something that Natasha always found odd. Thor was competent at military strategy and tactics. He was raised as a Prince in a militarized society. Loki was raised right next to Thor, and it seemed foolish to think that Loki didn't get the same training. Though it was never openly said, Natasha was able to tell that Thor and even Sif and the Warriors Three, had always considered Loki to be better at planning than Thor. So, if Loki was better at planning, why make an open attack on SHIELD?

Loki allowed himself to be captured in Stuttgart, that was always obvious. He had the element of surprise and took the Tesseract with ease, there was no reason for Stuttgart, not when he could've ambushed his target at home, quickly and quietly. That would've bought him several more days to plan and act unimpeded. The report portrayed Loki as an exhibitionistic narcissist, unstable and bordering on outright insanity. Even this short interaction was enough to tell Natasha that the assessment was incorrect. While Loki's family seemed surprised by his behavior, it was King Frey's attitude that she considered to be the most well-informed.

Loki's family hadn't noticed when he'd tried to commit suicide, on an unknown number of occasions, so how much could they be trusted to know about Loki, the real Loki? Natasha considered them to be an unreliable source of information. Then there was Corporal McCorrmick. He said that everything they thought they knew was a lie, that everything they were seeing was the actual truth. That would mean that all the assessments were wrong. Our understanding of Loki's true motives is flawed. What about Clint then? And that mask?

I want one. Natasha thought about the strange mask.She knew that her teachers in the Red Room would salivate at the very prospect of getting their hands on that. Both Thor's mother and uncle were highly impressed by this. Thor's father had no reaction. His father seemed to have no reaction to many things. Thousands of years of training, she mused. Being able to fight in a state of sensory deprivation was damn impressive, even she had to admit that. So, they didn't know Loki's motives, and they didn't know Loki's abilities. What do we know about Loki?

We need facts. Natasha began creating a list of things that they knew for certain.

We know he came through a portal created by the Tesseract, but we don't know who actually opened the portal.

We know that Loki seemed to be sick or injured after coming through the portal, the fragment of security footage showed him nearly collapsing, but we don't know why, and it didn't stop him from acting.

We know that he killed without hesitation, but he also spared people just as often.

We know that we couldn't find him, even with Bruce, until Loki chose to show himself in Stuttgart. But we can't say that we know the actual reason why. It appeared to be a gambit to get onto the hellicarrier.

We also know that Thor only reappeared on Earth after Loki showed himself.

We know that he was expecting me, Natasha sighed, it was long past time to admit the truth, and we know that Bruce only changed after I spoke with him.

We know that Loki sent Clint after me, but we don't know the reason and Clint can't tell us, he doesn't remember. He doesn't remember. That stood out to Natasha now more than ever.

We know that there's about six hours of time Clint can't account for, but we don't know if that's important in any way.

We know that Loki waited at Avengers Tower, but we also know that he didn't defend it, even though it was the site of the portal machinery.

We know that Dr. Selvig knew how to shut the portal down, but we don't know how he knew that. We assumed it was the Tesseract, but he can't tell us for sure.

We know that Loki stabbed Thor, but then he ran, despite clearly being at least an even match for Thor, if not better. That was particularly disturbing.

We know he rode with the Chitauri, but we also know he didn't fully engage in the battle.

We know he decided to speak with Stark, but we don't know why.

We know he tried to turn Stark, but we don't know why it didn't work.

We have security camera footage from numerous independent civilian businesses that shows Loki watching Stark guide the missile to the portal. That same footage shows Loki completely disregarding the action, why?

We know from Stark that the missile struck the Chitauri ship and destroyed it, but that's all we know. We don't know the full casualty count for the enemy, or the actual size of the ship. Stark has refused to tell us anything else. His PTSD is too severe.

We know that Thor heals at a remarkably fast rate from serious injuries, and we know Thor confirmed that Loki would heal that fast as well. We know that the Hulk injured Loki, and Loki didn't heal.

We know Loki made it out of the tower, but we don't know how, the security footage was destroyed.

We know he disappeared for nearly two months after the invasion. The invasion was in April of 2012, he reappeared in June, but we don't know where he went.

We know he got back into the tower, but we don't know how.

We know he retook the scepter; we weren't able to pin down a single location where he was hiding after that, but we think he stayed in New York.

We know that in February of 2014 Stark somehow found him again in that theater, went in after him, but we don't know what happened. Even the statement that Stark gave us was short on details.

We know that a massive explosion collapsed the building, but we don't know what caused it.

We know there was a tremendous amount of Loki's blood at the scene, even bone fragments, bits of skin and bits assumed to be organ tissue, but we don't know what happened to Loki. A body was never recovered. Natasha remembered being disgusted as she'd watched the blood, bone and tissue samples disintegrate into a black viscous slime as she'd tried to help the collection team. They tried to work quickly because they had so many specimens to collect. None of them ended up being usable.

We know that Stark reported Loki dead, said he left Loki's body behind in the rubble, the building collapsed on it, but we don't know what happened after that.

We know about what Loki did, but not why. What do we know about Loki, about the man himself?

What do we know? Natasha wasn't like Bruce, she didn't like puzzles and mysteries, didn't like the unknown. She liked certainty above everything else. What she was finding out was that there was very little that could be counted on with certainty in this. It was times like this that she wished she could take a day off, not get out of bed, not have to face a world of constant uncertainty.

What do we know? Natasha took her lead from Director Fury after she came to SHIELD. She assumed the worst. The worst outcome of any situation. The worst aspect of any person. The worst parts of humanity. It was easier to assume the worst and not be disappointed.

What do we actually know? Natasha still had too few answers. She grit her teeth in frustration. Can we even hope to kill him?