Chapter Eight: Lie To Me

Tony was sharing a tender moment with Pepper when the call came in.

Natasha was outside Barton's door, seconds from knocking, when both of their phones went off.

Bruce was showing Steve an array of movies he'd missed during his slumber. The ringing interrupted Die Hard.

Jane jumped up from the bar so fast that she ran out without paying. Darcy sighed and reached for her wallet. She threw every bill she had stashed in there under her glass, muttered something about Jane owing her big time and dashed out after her drinking buddy.

Thor sat with Fury, arms crossed across his broad chest. They waited for the others to arrive. Natasha and Barton were the first, followed shortly by Tony, Steve and Bruce. It was two awkward moments before anyone spoke. "Well?" Tony prompted. "I was right in the middle of something," he responded to their glares.

"Jane isn't here yet," Thor's voice was shallow and impatient.

"And?" Thor looked about ready to drop him off the building. "Hey! I'm just saying, she's not gonna be the one activating her thrusters to go get our little problem child. We can fill her in later."

"Heimdall couldn't locate him," Thor sounded completely at a loss, utterly defeated.

"What? What does that mean?" Steve exclaimed.

"It means we don't know where he is," Barton snapped before excusing himself.

Natasha tried to stop him, but he rejected her without even looking her way. She turned back to the group, feeling scorned, and ignored whatever feelings his actions brought up in her entirely. "What do we do now?"

"With no leads, we'll have to go in blind," Fury instructed.

"You mean just...wander house to house?" Bruce sighed incredulously.

Tony made no effort to disguise his blatant delight at the idea. "Yes, hello, I'm your friendly neighborhood Iron Man-are you harboring a known psychopath, by chance?" He laughed until he held his sides.

"I would appreciate if you would treat this matter with slightly more seriousness than you are. In fact, a shit ton more seriousness. Who knows what that freak is up to?" Fury barked.

"Maybe he's dead," Bruce offered, "and that's why he can't be found. Maybe he teleported into oncoming traffic or something."

The unproductive group discussion halted as they heard heels clicking quickly down the hall. Jane slid into the room, nearly falling. She was followed closely by Darcy, who was panting and holding her chest. Steve reached out instinctively to steady her. She looked to the Captain and offered him a smooth, "Sup?"

Jane, however, had been staring at Thor since her eyes locked with his. She frowned, realizing the news without having to hear it. The look on his face told her everything she needed to know.

Elsewhere

Eve threw caution to the wind. Even though Loki may have been correct in assuming what her relationship was with Sam, how could he look down on her for it? He had done awful things, and her actions paled in comparison. They weren't even on the same grid. So when she acted, she was fueled by spite and malice. She lifted her right hand and wiped the tears from that cheek with her own thumb. She then offered her digit to him, holding it close to his lips with an eerie steadiness. He licked his lips and smirked before leaning forward a bit to lick off the tears he'd caused in one slow motion. She waited for his eyes to flicker shut in strange satisfaction. And then she punched him in the face.

He fell back with a clamor and she managed to grab her phone from his clutch as he went. She sprinted to the bathroom and locked the door. She clicked Sam's speed dial icon on her homescreen and started on opening her bathroom window, prepared to climb out and run like hell.

"Hey," Sam answered, sounding guilty and glad.

"Sam!" She shouted, tears welling up in her eyes, adrenaline flooding every drop of blood inside her.

"Listen, I-" He began, no doubt on the verge of some apology he didn't need to be making.

"No, no, Sam, you listen. I don't have much time," she threw the window open and stood on the tub's rim to get better leverage to dislodge the screen. She checked behind her, and it seemed Loki wasn't even messing with the door yet.

"Eve, I really need to say-"

"Sam! Shut up! Let me speak! I'm in danger-" she gagged in reaction to the hand on her throat.

In her right ear, Loki whispered, "Your emotions will be the death of you."

In her left ear, Sam was losing his mind. "Eve? Eve!? I can hear you breathing-what's wrong?"

Right ear, "Tell the boy you've been depressed since you lost your job."

Left ear, "Talk to me, or I'm assuming something's really wrong. I swear to god, I'll call the police!"

"S-Sam," she stuttered, scared near to death.

Left ear, "Yes, I'm here. Eve-what's wrong?"

"I'm in danger of slipping into a negative spiral." The frantic tears pouring down her face must have provided a realness to this lie that she could have never managed without assistance.

Right ear, "That's my girl."

Left ear, "Why?"

"I've, uh, I'm just really shaken by what happened."

"Our fight?"

"No, not that. That was h-hardly a fight. Remember homecoming sophomore year?" She forced a laugh, usually tickled by the memory. It felt dirty to use it to mislead and distract her oldest friend.

Sam chuckled pitifully into the phone. "Been trying to forget about that since the moment it happened."

"I'm talking about when the Chitauri-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Sam cut her off.

"What? It's what those-"

"I know that. Why do you know that? That information is classified."

Eve twisted her face up in confusion. "Classified? Who do you work for, the FBI?"

"Not quite," he answered completely seriously. "I need to know where you heard that word."

"Musta heard it on the news," she bluffed.

"Come on, tell me the truth."

"That's a large request coming from someone who definitely isn't telling me everything."

Sam sighed. "Fine. But you tell no one about this, got it?"

"Whatever you say," she prompted.

"I work for an espionage agency known as SHIELD."

Loki gripped her throat a little tighter in annoyance. "Of course he does. Of course."

"Now," Sam continued, "you wouldn't have heard that word on the news. I need you to think hard and remember where you heard it. Have you been out at all since?"

"No," she answered truthfully.

"Then the only logical conclusion is that you heard it from that new guy you've been seeing. How much do you know about him, anyway?"

"I guess not a lot," she answered, again, truthfully.

"Listen, I have to call this in to my boss. It'll be my head if I don't. I'll be stopping by tomorrow to see what else we can find out-is your new friend over for the night?"

"Yes he is," she praised Sam for phrasing his questions so she didn't have to lie anymore.

"Tell him I'll be over to do a report. Or, don't, if you think it'll be easier to get some answers out of him. This could help us out a lot, you're a lifesaver."

"Yeah, no problem," she twisted her head a bit to make sure Loki was still awake. She'd expected him to object to this idea profusely.

Sam hung up without saying goodbye, and she attempted to slide the phone into her pocket. Loki grabbed it from her hands and pushed her toward the window. "Close that," he barked, "and be quick about it." She shut it and rubbed her neck, thankful to have a completely clear airway. "Did you know he worked for SHIELD? Did you lie to me?"

She turned to face him. "No, I had no idea, he told me he was a bookkeeper for some law firm." When this seemed to satisfy him, she caught her breath at last. She completely lost control and collapsed, sobbing and blubbering like a spoiled child.

"Shut. Up." He sneered at her. The rage behind his eyes was like nothing she'd ever seen. What she'd done was foolish, desperate and doomed to fail. It was a strange thing, her situation. Growing up, she was taught that the good guy always wins. The prince rescues the princess, the dragon is slain and the kingdom rejoices. Now there was presented to her a clear role: the role of the 'good guy.' Yet with each passing moment it became clearer and clearer that there was no way out of this for her. She took note of the door that remained locked behind him and remembered bitterly that he could teleport.

"I'm sorry," she looked up at him with honest eyes, "I'm sorry I'm too bold for my own good."

"Do not speak to me," he broke eye contact and fiddled with her phone for a moment. "So he'll be here tomorrow to question your bedfellow," he half-stated, half-asked. She nodded in response. "I can make this work," he reflected, clearly swimming in a deep pool of thought, "and then when it's over, we'll have a calm discussion about what happened here." Eve was perfectly still, taken aback by the notion that had left his mouth. He drank in her puzzled stance before finishing his thought. "It'll be hard for you to argue with me when your tongue's been ripped out."

A/N:

Just want to let you know that I'll provide warnings at the beginning of any chapters coming up that contain serious violence or sexual content. So you don't have to worry you're gonna come across something you're not comfortable with. And as always, reviews are love :)