Chapter Fifty: Bested

In Eve's bedroom, Darla had curled up on the floor and fallen asleep like a cat. Eve was pacing around and fretting. How could she think the same three thoughts over and over? When will he be back? Is he okay? Am I okay? There were no distractions. She'd already finished cleaning up the glass. She'd already talked it to death with Thor. In her own mind anyway, she could give him no real answers, no true insights into her actions. Thor was lounging on the bed, his eyelids lazily shifting between open and shut. The quiet, uneventful room was soothing and even after everything, he trusted Loki to bring Jane safely. This could have been for no reason other than the fact that if he doubted his brother, everything would unravel.

Eve glanced at Thor's drifting eyes each time she strolled by. Finally, on her hundredth lap or so, they remained shut. It gave her an eerie feeling. To be awake and mildly frantic inside while two people slept peacefully made her feel very alone indeed. Selfishly, she knocked one of the books off her desk to rouse one of them. Thor's eyes shot open and Darla propped herself up in a frenzy.

"You should get some rest," Thor advised.

"I was trying," Darla muttered sleepily, unaware that she wasn't the one being addressed.

"He'll probably be back soon," Eve said. The truth was she couldn't relax. Her body wouldn't let her. Her anxiety was through the roof.

"Are you sure?" Darla wondered with a yawn.

"I mean, I-" Eve couldn't find any of the words she'd been using to reassure herself. They were all gone, too naive and pathetic to be said out loud. She looked to Thor. "He can do this, right?"

"There are a great many things my brother can do," Thor replied ominously.

"Cryptic isn't really doing it for me right now," Eve sneered impatiently.

"He is very impulsive. If he sees another route that suits him better, he will take it. If he's backed into a corner…"

"I changed my mind. Cryptic was less depressing than whatever this is."

"Do you seek the truth or not?" Thor snipped.

Like a child yearning for a happy ending, Eve answered, "No."

"Then Loki truly is the man for you," Thor retorted. Annoyed by her foolishness, he asked the most pressing question he knew she didn't want to hear. "What are you going to do if he doesn't come back?"

Elsewhere

Loki was only given a split second to decide whether to change his form or hide his captive. He chose the latter and silently begged the black-clad spy not to notice him right away. He couldn't very well go invisible himself, in any case it didn't occur to him in his overconfidence. He was very good at being Darcy and figured her cluelessness paired with his mischievous knack for deception would ensure his success.

His arrogance betrayed him again. When Natasha spotted Darcy, she looked angry. "Darcy!" She shouted.

"Natasha!" Loki shot back, playing it all off like a joke.

This only encouraged Natasha's distaste. "Where have you been?" She demanded.

"What do you mean?" Loki played dumb, flashing helpless baby deer eyes at his accuser.

"Everyone's been looking for you," she softened a tad, but not enough for his liking.

"Even Steve?" Loki inquired excitedly.

Natasha ignored this entirely. "You haven't been answering your phone."

Loki took Darla's cell out of Darcy's pale red sweater's pocket. The screen was dark and didn't light up when he pressed any of the buttons. "It's broken," he made sure to sound devastated. He knew how important the trinket was to her.

Natasha raised an eyebrow. "It's probably just dead…" she commented, unsure why Darcy wouldn't have known that. "Have you been drinking?"

Sensing her suspicion, he changed his tune. "Of course it's dead," he confirmed, "that's why I haven't been answering your calls."

"Where's Jane?" Natasha asked.

Loki shrugged. "As much as I love her, we aren't always together."

"Darcy! Cut the sass!" She snapped. "The last time anyone heard from you, you were telling Thor that Jane was in trouble. Now Jane, Thor, Eve and Loki are all missing. Jane could be in real trouble, so you need to start taking this seriously."

"What?!" Loki cried in a shrill pitch. "I haven't spoken to anyone, like, all day."

"Then what have you been doing? And what about the dog?"

"It's a dog, not a math test. It doesn't require my full undivided attention."

Natasha cleared her throat, giving herself a moment to catch her breath. She instantly disbelieved that Darcy ever gave anything her full attention, math tests included and near the top of the list. "Nothing you're saying is adding up. And why are you in the parking garage? Just...stay here, I have to get something from my car, then we're going upstairs." She moved toward her vehicle, which was very closeby.

Loki needed more time. That seemed to be the theme for the day. Nat got out her keys and clicked the fob, causing his eyes to light up. If he could get his hands on those, he'd be set. His thoughts began to coil around this clear goal.

Natasha flung open her back driver's side door and observed the few things resting in her backseat. A folder, a notebook (with nothing written inside) and her overnight bag-what she'd come to get. Since Loki attacked the city with the chitauri, she'd basically lived in this building. With trips now and then to her apartment to grab more stockings and undergarments and such, she had quite a collection of necessities in that bag. Most of her things had migrated to Barton's room over time. She slung the bag over her shoulder and felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She took it out and saw a text alert from Barton. She smiled, finding it amusing that she had just thought about texting him. Granted, it was to say she'd found Darcy, but it made her happy nonetheless. When she read the message, however, she was less pleased and more perplexed. It read: Darcy is chasing Cap around the building. He's flummoxed. It's great.

She sent back: Now?

Barton answered almost right away. I'm trying to get her to stop so we can find out what's up, but she's on a warpath. Fun to watch, anyway..

Instead of trying to explain and being asked dozens of questions, she snapped a picture of the Darcy before her and sent it to him. Then, she added: Something's up.

Barton replied: On it. We couldn't find her all afternoon and now we've got two..

Nat approached her Darcy with care after slamming the car door. In a motion that was purely to check that she was tangible and not a projection, she squeezed her shoulder and said, "Let's go."

Loki put all his effort into sounding concerned about a woman who was less than thirty feet away, still staring at the leash. "Is Jane going to be okay?"

"Hopefully we can make sure of that when you fill in the blanks for us," she sounded colder now than she had been, he picked up on this promptly.

He sniffled as though about to cry and embraced the redhead snugly. He mumbled concerns into her shoulder and tapped one finger across her earpiece to break it. Those small electronic things were so easy to render useless. They were simple technology with wires and magnets and all he had to do was break the circuit.

Natasha pat him on the back stiffly. "We should go now. The sooner the better."

Loki grimaced. Her entire demeanor had changed in the blink of an eye. It just wouldn't do. If he could get her cellular device away from her, she would have no way to communicate with her team. Even so, he wasn't sure of his ability to take her on physically in his current state. The situation held potential to come down to just that. He had magic left to spare but was not keen to waste it. If things went really poorly, he needed to have a way out. The time for making big decisions had come. He thought three steps ahead, like in chess, but no more. Distract, disarm, disappear.

He spun toward the elevator but took no steps. Once Natasha mirrored him, he uncloaked Jane and Sasha behind them. He then slipped the phone out of his hand so that it clattered on the ground. When he turned to pick it up, he yelped. "Oh my god, JANE!" He exclaimed.

Natasha whirled around and moved toward Jane. After no more than five strides, Loki crouched and swept her legs out from under her. The expert fighter caught herself on the trunk of a sedan with a spoiler. Her phone flew out of her hand and onto the pavement. Loki sprang to his feet and palmed the back of her skull, forcing her head down onto the spoiler. She turned her face to avoid her nose being broken but still hit the car fairly hard. He stole both guns from their holsters and careless tossed them so they slid beneath a nearby van. Natasha pressed into her earpiece and said, "Basement nine-one-one," but no one answered her. She dove toward her phone, but Loki kicked it across the floor toward Jane. Jane, curious, picked it up. "Jane!" Natasha called to her. The brunette didn't look up. Natasha sprinted toward her. "Jane, call Barton! Cap, Tony, anyone!" Still, she stared blankly at the screen like a mesmerized toddler.

Loki was close behind her and she felt the urgency seeping through her pores in the form of sweat. Her copper locks bounced into her face as she stopped and tried to grab the phone from Jane's fingers. "No!" Jane shouted defiantly, gripping the phone with all her might. "Darcy gave me this! You can't have it!"

"Jane, please, you have to-" Natasha argued and attempted to force it out of her hands.

Jane screeched into Natasha's face and dug in her purse, finding what she was looking for in no time. When Loki caught up to the pair seconds later, Natasha had collapsed on the ground, writhing as taser wires hung from her stomach. Loki laughed out loud. "Well done!" He complimented Jane, who beamed at him. "Come with me, okay?" Jane followed him gladly and he snatched Natasha's keys from her bag. She swiped at him but was too weak to do anything effective. He led Jane to Natasha's car and sat her in the passenger seat with Sasha in her lap.

Natasha ripped the sticky wires off of her abdomen and crawled until she could stand. She commanded every ounce of energy she had left to do so. Then she saw "Darcy" by her car and the adrenalin kicked in. She wasted no time with stealth, it came naturally to her now anyway, and made her way to the culprit. She leapt in the air and kicked him in the small of the back, immediately throwing a barrage of jabs his way. She fought to get him away from the car and drove him toward the elevator. He blocked a majority of her attacks but she got a few good hits on him, one heavy blow to the jaw included. Whatever hesitations she may have had about punching Darcy were far from her head now, and she even started to enjoy it. She knew if she stopped moving, she'd collapse, delirious from the pain. Soon they were sparring across from the elevator and Natasha was grunting and shouting with each throw, hoping someone in the stairwell would come rescue her. While "damsel in distress" wasn't usually her moniker, she accepted it with ease, she had no choice.

Loki found an opening in her endless stream of blows and landed a well-placed punch to her right shoulder. She stumbled, weaker than she felt, and fell. He maliciously drove his foot into her stomach and she curled into herself compulsively, her arms clasped to her body in defense. Just as he stepped away from her to meet his getaway car, the elevator dinged. He broke into a run but not quickly enough. The second the doors opened an inch, an arrow came sailing through the air and pierced his shoulder. He winced and growled in frustration. Surely enough, Barton soared out of the open doors and sent projectile after pointed projectile his way. Several grazed his arms and he swatted a few away before waving his hand to solve the problem. In the blink of an eye, Barton's bow became too heavy for him to hold. For a second, he stubbornly tried to lift it but it was at though it were glued to the spot.

Then Barton caught sight of Natasha, whimpering involuntarily in the fetal position. He lunged at Loki and started throwing full-force punches of his own. "You are such an arrogant prick," he spat.

"I bested your woman there without batting an eye," Loki laughed and finally took back his own form. The cat was out of the bag. Barton had to adjust his tactics with the change in height and those moments bought Loki two free blows, one to the cheek and one to the stomach.

Barton sailed around him, aggressive and angry, eager to hurt him in any way he could. "I'd say you'll live to regret this, but I can't guarantee you'll live," he threatened between blocks and hits.

Loki chuckled condescending, as he knew such a thing would drive the man up a wall, and kneed him in the side. "You are useless without your toy," he mocked, holding the man's shoulders down to knee him again. Barton pushed him away and stole a glance at Natasha, who wasn't making noise any longer. "Do you think she's dead?" He hissed and when Barton's head turned, he received a full-force punch to the face from Loki. He retreated to his partner and knelt beside her.

"Nat," he prodded at her gently but firmly. "Nat, Nat, Nat, Nat, NAT, NAT-"

"Shh," she protested with a wince. "Get the others. He's got Jane...in my car..."

"They're on their way," he ensured, then into his earpiece, "make sure no one can get out of this garage. Now."

"Already done," Tony responded, "Nobody comes in, nobody goes out."

"Your exit is blocked off!" Barton shouted at Loki's back, he was headed back to the car.

"No matter," Loki bluffed.

Barton was infuriated, his muscles tense. "Okay, coward, run away again instead of fighting like a man!"

"Coward?" Loki laughed as he spun around. "I know that I would not win a fight against your entire team. Not at this moment, anyway. I should engage in a battle where the odds are astronomically against me to prove to you that I am no coward?"

"That fight is gonna be here sooner than you think," Barton warned.

"And you want to see how it plays out?" Loki grinned as he observed Natasha's body trembling.

"I think we all know how it would play out," Barton sneered. He meant every word he said, but he was sweating, desperate to keep the villain where he was.

"You are a very foolish man," Loki surmised. "I could have killed you both by now. Right now, I could fetch the widow's guns from where they landed when I disarmed her and execute you side by side. How crucial are the two of you, really, on a team with an android and a demigod? In any case, I leave you two alive. You might be thinking 'Why?" but are too proud to ask me. Fear not, I shall share it with you. It's because I like to watch you suffer." He crouched down by the van and summoned one firearm into his hand. He pointed the gun at Barton. "Clear my exit," he demanded.

Barton was the one laughing now. "I knew it," he spat, with no concern for the weapon at all. Loki pointed the gun at Natasha, then. "You kill her, motherfucker, and you'll never get out. I'd sooner die than live without her."

Loki groaned. "Why?" He prodded.

"Are you that fucking thick? Just because no one ever loved you, you can't even grasp the concept? Eve is a lucky woman," sarcasm dripped from his lips. His eyes, despite his words, begged the man to point the handgun elsewhere.

Loki rolled his eyes. "When the time comes, archer," he intimidated, "you will beg them to open the gates for me." He took a leisurely stroll through Natasha's mind. He aimed to control it, seeing that as his only escape. But as he grazed her lobes, he found something darker. Something much better. Buried beneath her lust for Barton and deep below her regrets, all the horrible things she'd done, was a lonely impulse. It wasn't big, but it was there. A passing notion she had every now and then. Something that would never materialize without a push. He lit it up and he fed it until its glow was nice and bright.

Her eyes glazed over and she retrieved a knife from her boot. As it slid out of the sheath, Barton smiled as though she were going for a sneak attack. Then she held the knife at her own wrist.

"Nat-" he called out immediately.

"Don't speak to me," she commanded, causing him to lean in toward her. She shuffled away, weapon poised above her veins still. "Don't come any closer," she begged. He looked into her eyes and recognized the stillness they held. She was sure what she was doing was right.

"Let her go," Barton's tone was grave. "You sick son of a bitch, stop this, now!"

"You wanted me to stay so badly just moments ago. What? Now you're not keen to play my game?" He snickered. "The best part is that I found this suicidal gem instead of having to create it on my own."

"Shut the fuck up," Barton bit, "you're a goddamned liar and-"

"I lie on occasion, but not now," Loki's smile was cruel. "I can look around a bit more, if you like. Do you want to know how she really feels about you?"

Barton was floundering. He couldn't stand to lose her. Even more so like this. When he looked at her, she wouldn't even let him speak. "Stay away from me," her voice was near a whisper, "You'll try to stop me, even though you know it's what I deserve."

The other Avengers were so close that they could be heard in the stairwell. "Stop them," Loki requested coolly with his eyes on Natasha.

"So you're going to kill her just to fuck with me and then die yourself?" Barton was at wits' end.

"I'm not going to kill her," he mocked mercilessly. He knelt down beside the weak-willed woman and offered her the gun in his hand.

She took it from him as though she were receiving a gift and thanked him with her eyes. All she could think was, quicker this way, easier this way. The firearm was light and cool in her grasp like a snowball that would win her the war she'd been fighting since she was a child. In moments, the barrel was at her temple. Barton lunged and she clutched the thing with such severity that her knuckles turned white.

"Stop them," Loki repeated whimsically, almost a song. Barton sprinted for the doorway. "Oh and do tell them to open the gates while you're with them!" Loki added.

Natasha stared at Loki. There was no fear in her eyes, only impatience. "Can I..." She started to ask with the gun digging into her skin.

"It all depends on if there's scheming going on," Loki answered. "If they take too long, I'll let you. But honestly, when you die, I'd really like it if he watched."

Barton arrived just as the door was opening. "Wait! Stop!" He shouted as he saw Tony's metallic hand pass through the doorway. Barton tried pointlessly to shove the metal man back into the stairwell. He didn't budge.

"What are you doing?" Tony challenged. "I can see the guy we're looking for. He's not even disguised. Move."

"No," Barton refused firmly, much to everyone's annoyance. "Listen to me. He's got Nat under some weird spell and she's got a gun to her head. Seriously. Back up."

Tony, against his better judgment, retreated into the group and Barton followed him back into the stairwell. "Loki's holding a gun to her head?" Steve questioned.

"No," Barton answered. His heart hurt. His everything hurt. "He says if you all go in there, he'll make her do it herself. I've never seen her like this. I don't care if he gets away again, I don't care what he did to me, this is bigger than that."

Fury pushed past Bruce to look Barton in the eye. Darcy had tagged along and watched everything intently from the stairs. "How do we know you're not under mind control?" Fury wore his skepticism all over his face.

"Tell me what I have to do to prove I'm not, I'll do it, you just have to believe me here. I'm not going to let this happen to her. Open the doors, let him go." Fury was uncertain and studied the man's movements. Barton, in his panic, had forgotten about Jane entirely. Jane was not the reason he got up in the morning. He didn't care what happened to Jane, at least not more than he cared about Natasha, so his brain omit the detail. "LET HIM GO BEFORE HE CHANGES HIS MIND!" He screamed. No one spoke up or did anything. They all just looked at each other, waiting for someone to make a decision. As with everything, not deciding was a decision in itself. The door swung shut and Barton spun to try and open it. No luck. "Would you all really lose a member of the team for a chance at catching him?" He kicked the door in frustration. "HEY! LOKI! I'M TRYING!" He pleaded, hoping the psychopath could hear him. And then the gun went off.

A/N:

So I've been told that the link to my doodle isn't working. I tried to fix it but it's not cooperating. My username on deviantart is the same as on here, jlajulia, but I'll keep trying to correct the problem. It's not letting me change my profile at all now but I'll check back every so often. Anyway! I hope you enjoyed this super bulky extravaganza chapter with all its banter and violence. It was a blast to write. Oh, and sorry/not sorry for the cliffhanger! Just couldn't resist..