Chapter 13 – Orders vs. Style

A/n: And now the action really kicks off. Look forward to Toni exploding in this chapter :)

Booklover2526: Yay! Yeah the bickering is so much fun and I can never resist Bruce/Toni interactions.

Ashtree1165: I'm glad you liked the side talk, as the action kicks off there may be less of it but I'll try and keep it at a good level.

youwannabekate: But I already have plans for that scene and you wouldn't want to ruin my plans now would you. There will be interludes in this story after every movie and at other points including one at the beginning of Iron Man. I always thought that Piper would be purely because this is a guy she admires and spends all day with :)

amy: I'm glad this is making you feel better. Good luck on your midterms and I will continue to write this for you to read after them :D

paisley15: During this story they won't break up but when Piper comes back for the sequel (if I do decide to write it) then they might. And if they do it'll most likely be Bruce/Toni but I might make it Steve/Toni too

XxxBellaBellaxxX: Enjoy this chapter and keep up the excitement lol

LaNaturalBreezeOf-Books: Steve will get a lot of Toni related feels but he brought them on himself in a way :) I know poor Toni but it's a great opportunity to bash SHIELD and forever change Clint and Natasha's loyalties.

Guest: At this point they're still together

twilightjazz: Yes, they are :) Enjoy

Harm Marie: Glad to hear it

ReaderoftheBooks: No, Loki does kind of like Toni and this will come to light during their conversation. Loki means that Toni is the only person in the world working on clean energy and that's what SHIELD are claiming to use the Tesseract for even though they're not really. He's doing it to make them suspicious and keep them apart.

A truck was driving steadily through a long tunnel within was the mobile lab that had been set up by Loki which shook slightly with the movement of the vehicle.

"Could have set it up better," Toni muttered going on to say something about stabilisers to Bruce that the rest of the team ignored seeing as they knew they wouldn't understand a thing she was saying anyway.

On the bench to the side Selvig was working using tongs to lift the stolen iridium over the Tesseract and into the container that had been built to house it causing it power on with a sinister red glow.

"As soon as Loki took the Doctor, we moved Jane Foster," Coulson informed Thor, "They've got an excellent observatory in Tromsø. She was asked to consult there very suddenly yesterday. Handsome fee, private plane, very remote. She'll be safe."

"Although not very happy when she found out why she was asked to consult there so suddenly by all accounts," Clint laughed.

Thor threw him a very disgruntled look but couldn't argue with that. Jane hadn't been happy that she had been moved away from what was going on and had scolded Thor quite thoroughly for it despite him trying to explain that SHIELD had done it before he had inquired about her safety. That had led to another lecture about how she should have been his first priority which had left Piper and Clint trembling because Natasha and Toni both appeared to be taking mental notes.

"Thank you," Thor said gratefully, "it's no accident, Loki taking Erik Selvig. I dread what he plans for him once he's done. Erik is a good man."

"He talks about you a lot," Coulson said softly, "You changed his life. You changed everything around here."

"I find myself afraid that not all of influence was for the better," Thor said sadly.

"Nobody always has a good influence on everybody. It simply doesn't work like that," Toni said comfortingly, "you simply have to try and influence some people positively which you have."

Thor gave her a brief smile before turning back to the screen.

"They were better as they were," Thor sighed, "We pretend on Asgard that we're more advanced but we come here battling like bilge snipe."

"Like what?" Coulson asked confused.

"Bilge snipe," Thor reiterated throwing in actions, "You know, huge, scaly, big antlers. You don't have those?"

"By the sounds of that description I'm glad we don't," Natasha said with a look of distaste at the mere thought of such a creature.

"I don't think so," Coulson replied.

"Well, they are repulsive," Thor continued, "and they trample everything in their path." Thor paused to stare out of the windows of the deck at the dark before resuming his words, "when I first came to Earth, Loki's rage followed me here, and your people paid the price. And now, again. In my youth, I courted war."

"So did I Thor, that doesn't make you a bad person," Toni said sympathetically, "It just means that you made mistakes and that's what makes you a good person. Because you learned from them and weren't doomed to the endless cycle that Loki was."

"War hasn't started yet," Fury said intruding on the conversation, "you think you could make Loki tell us where the Tesseract is?"

"I do not know," Thor replied, "Loki's mind is far afield. It is not just power he craves, it's vengeance, upon me. There's no pain would prise his need from him."

"A lot of guys think that," Fury said in a sinister tone, "until the pain starts."

"It's official; the moment that I see Fury I'm going to punch him in the face," Toni seethed, "that was the most insensitive thing he has ever said by a long shot. He can't even fire me because I'm only a consultant. And he can't threaten me because I can hack their files and destroy everything they have in an instant. Don't think I wouldn't."

"What are you asking me to do?" Thor asked apprehensively as Fury leaned down on the railing next to the stairs.

"I'm asking, what are you prepared to do?" Fury said bitingly.

"Loki is a prisoner," Thor spat out.

"Then why do I feel like he's the only person on this boat who wants to be here," Fury asked incredulously.

"As much as I don't like him I have to admit he was right there," Bruce interjected.

"Common sense," Toni said brushing it aside not keen to give Fury any form of compliment at all.

The scene changed to show Loki pacing up and down the Hulk-proof cell until at one end he paused as if hearing something and smirked before saying softly, "there's not many people who can sneak up on me."

He turned and there stood Natasha who said plainly, "but you figured I'd come."

"Please don't finish Loki's thoughts Tasha; I know you're good at what you do but just no," Clint muttered darkly.

"After," Loki said with a smile, "after whatever tortures Fury can concoct, you would appear as a friend as a balm. And I would cooperate."

"Like that would be SHIELD's plan," Natasha scoffed, "I've come to see that SHIELD is far from as sophisticated as I thought which is primarily Toni's fault."

Upon hearing this a genuine grin lit up Toni's face. She always loved getting one up on SHIELD as she had come to truly hate most of its members excluding Phil, Natasha & Clint.

"I want to know what you've done to Agent Barton," Natasha said coolly almost clinically.

Steve, Bruce and Thor looked bewildered and looked between Clint and Natasha several times as if determining what was between them. But Clint and Toni knew better (even if Toni knew there was at least something between Clint and Tasha) this was Natasha and she was getting information the way she knew best.

"I would say I've expanded his mind," Loki explained.

Clint could tell that it wasn't going to be very pleasant for him to sit through this scene. Loki was going to throw something in Natasha's face and it wouldn't turn out well for him. As if sensing this Natasha grabbed hold of his arm and Toni left her seat beside Bruce and sat down on his other side to do the same thing.

"And once you've won," Natasha said her tone not altering, "once you're king of the mountain, what happens to his mind?"

"Oh… Is this love Agent Romanoff?" Loki teased.

Toni had to try very hard not to laugh or make some sort of comment about how even Loki noticed something between Natasha and Clint although she was probably just about to deny it. She was sitting right next to the pair and there was nobody in the world that she was more scared of than Natasha despite their close friendship.

"Love is for children. I owe him a debt," Natasha said in a monotone determined not to let any emotion show.

"Tell me," Loki said clearly convinced the ball was in his court.

Natasha considered her approach for a moment before softening her voice to contain somewhat real emotions as she walked over to take a seat, "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."

"Yeah well it was fairly obvious that nobody actually told you that your moral values were off kilter," Clint said shrugging off his act of mercy.

"And what will you do if I vow to spare him?" Loki said trickily

"Not let you out," Natasha replied quickly but Loki didn't seem to care exclaiming, "No, but I like this. Your world in the balance and you bargain for one man."

"Regimes fall every day," Natasha said matter-of-factly, "I tend not to weep over that. I'm Russian. Or I was."

"Получение американского гражданства не делает вас менее любой русский," Toni muttered to Natasha enjoying the looks of shock on everyone's faces when she spoke Russian.

"Так же, как говорил русский не сделать вас менее американская," Natasha replied clearly enjoying the shock as well.

"Okay, what are you two saying?" Steve asked getting annoyed that he couldn't understand the conversation.

"I simply told Natasha that because SHIELD made her an American citizen it doesn't mean she's any less Russian," Toni said shrugging, "and she told me that it was just like me still being American although I speak Russian. Nothing ground-breaking."

"And what are you now?" Loki asked.

"It's really not that complicated," Natasha said dangerously rising to her feet, "I got red in my ledger, I'd like to wipe it out."

"Can you?" Loki asked his tone suggesting he was about to drop a bombshell on Natasha, "Can you wipe out that much red? Dreykov's daughter, São Paulo, the hospital fire?"

Natasha's face was getting notably tenser as Loki revealed how much he knew about her life but her blank expression didn't falter. "Barton told me everything," Loki continued.

This of course elicited a flinch from Clint that Toni and Natasha were quick to recognise and offer silent support for. Natasha especially knew that the next section of this film would be hard for Clint although Toni had her suspicions. Loki was a manipulative son of a bitch after all.

Loki's tone took on a sinister hint as his voice level rose to match his words, "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 at prayer."

"This is Tasha at her best," Toni added with a smirk managing to get a chuckle out of Clint who other than Natasha was the only one who could hear. As that had been her intention Toni was rather pleased with herself.

"Pathetic!" Loki spat obviously had enough of playing this game.

His voice switched to a voiceover as Bruce and Toni were shown inspecting a screen together in the lab and Fury and Agent Hill were shown looking at a screen which indicated there was a security breach, "you like and kill in the service of liars and killers. You pretend to be separate to have your own code," here Steve was seen discovering a case containing a Phase 2 weapon, "something that makes up for the horrors. But they are part of you. And they will never go away."

Suddenly the screen changed back to the cell as Loki slammed his hand up against the glass causing Natasha to take a step back as his tone turned extremely threatening, "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 and when he screams, I'll split his skull," Natasha apparently couldn't take this anymore as she turned away, "This is my bargain, you mewling quim."

Clint had never been so tense for the entire movie and Toni could tell that just the idea of doing anything to Natasha just wasn't worth thinking about in his opinion. As Natasha was being bombarded with questions about the lack of her usual poker face in the scene by Thor and Steve Toni was left to comfort Clint. "Clint you didn't do anything," Toni whispered, "Tasha's fine, you're fine, I'm fine and we all got to kick Loki's ass." Internally she was thinking that she really needed to sort out that Loki themed archery range for Clint in the basement when they took a break. It was almost done after all.

Natasha sniffled away with her face turned to the door and she breathily said, "You're a monster."

Loki simply chuckled and responded, "Oh, no. You brought the monster."

Natasha's head snapped up and she turned obviously not having been crying at all, "so, Banner. That's your play."

"What?" Loki said confused by the change in topic.

"Loki means to unleash the Hulk," Natasha said into her comm link making her way to the exit, "Keep Banner in the lab. I'm on my way. Send Thor as well." Before she departed she turned to Loki and got in one last jab in retaliation for his comments, "Thank you for your cooperation."

"My actions after this aren't going to shed the best light on me," Natasha sighed knowing now that she had made a serious mistake in directly confronting the issue instead of going the Toni route and making Bruce feel more comfortable.

Before any of the Avengers could respond there was a cry from the doorway, "Alright I've seen enough; what the hell is going on?" exclaimed a very confused Piper Potts.

A/n: Oh did I say Piper wasn't going to come in until the sequel. Whoops! My bad :D Hope you liked it y'all. Bad Russian is bad; it's from an internet translator and probably completely wrong.