A/N: Hello! I'm finally posting on time :D Hope you enjoy this chapter!
KillerCupcakes: I hope you like this one too! Thank you so much for reviewing. It really gives me motivation :)
Minimonstrosity: Oh yay! I'm not confident with my action sequences so this made my really happy! I'll try to write more of them better.
They are now officially doomed. With no protection and no movement, they won't be able to fight. At all. This is a new sight, seeing five superheroes completely helpless at the hands of a madman. Barton quickly takes out the one dagger he has been saving, getting ready to throw it. But it's too late. The glow has engulfed her body and he is already taking the scepter off her.
"Any plans now, Captain?" Barton asks, carefully noting the man's every movement. He is insane, so it is only natural that he will be erratic and unpredictable. He might try to kill her - an illogical move, for strategically she would be a great asset - which would force him to use his dagger, to stall at the very least. He knows the man is insane, because no one in their right mind would advocate and go so far as to try to implement an alien regime. His greatest worry is about Turner. He should really tutor her himself when he has the time. Her self-defense skills are well below average. He would have done it sooner, of course, if he had known that she was here to begin with. That is, he would do it, if she makes it out alive.
"We have to get these off," Rogers replies. He stoops down and grips the metal pieces, trying to pry them apart.
"Not everything works with brute force," Tony says, annoyed. He is always easily annoyed with Rogers.
"You have a better idea?" he asks, bitten by his snark remark and the fact that his 'brute force' really didn't work.
"Don't I always?"
I watch with horror as the blue light spreading through my body. I know what will happen next. I will be brainwashed, forced to listen to his every command, and then killed. This is the end of the line. I wait for my mind to be taken over. The man takes away his scepter. "Now, rise."
Wait. My mind is still mine. I can still think. Will my body move of its own accord? I wait for a second, and find that I am still on the ground. No, I am not brainwashed. Nevertheless, I quickly get up to divert suspicion. My mind races as I do so. I still think that this man is a lunatic, I still believe I am on the same team as the Avengers. Perhaps it is they who have controlled my mind? But then why would the scepter be in the man's hand, and why would they be in restraints? I stop myself from pressing my temples, from doing anything he has not ordered. I don't know how this whole thing works. Maybe I am controlled. Maybe this is how it goes. The man has launched into a speech during this whole time.
"... and so I have been delayed greatly, but the repercussions shall increase more so. Now, girl, let me go near them."
For one last time, I wonder if I am on the wrong side: whether my affiliation with the Avengers is not actually real. But then I can't be bothered to think. I punch the man straight in the face.
My punch makes contact with a satisfying crunch. He shouts in surprise and clutches his nose, the exact same spot that I did earlier. I take this chance to lunge for his scepter, hoping to use it to undo their restraints. I manage to grasp it before it is yanked out of my hands. In a moment's flash, my back is pressed against the wall again with a tight grip. I sigh impatiently but also in relief, knowing now that I am not mistaken. Unless I am. This is all too confusing. "This is getting old, fast,"I growl.
He doesn't listen to me at all, mumbling something under his breath in a confused way. With a sudden enlightened light in his eyes, and a little shout of discovery, he feels the middle of my chest.
"Hey!" I exclaim indignantly. "Sexual offense against a minor is going to be added to your growing list of crimes."
He quickly takes his hand off, embarrassed by his wrong assumption. "I don't understand. She does not have the arc reactor. It should work perfectly." He shakes his scepter, as one would do to make a pen work, and tries again. Nothing happens. I roll my eyes at his endeavors.
Tony whistles when he sees Elizabeth's punch. "Well, that's gotta hurt."
"And your plan?" Fury asks impatiently.
"Hold on a second," he replies, fidgeting with his earpiece, which he has now taken out. He glances up from his busy fingering to look at the girl. "Although, maybe we don't have a second."
In a quick movement Romanoff throws a knife at the man's back. "Take your time," she says sarcastically to Tony as she draws another one. "I only have three more," she reports to Barton.
He nods once and also draws a dagger. "It would have been nice to do this when she was about to be brainwashed!" Tony exclaims, hurrying to complete his project.
"I was going to," he replies, not bothering to finish his sentence. In this time, the man had swiftly turned around and was blocking all the knives aimed at him. Elizabeth looks with startled eyes at the whole situation before giving him a kick in the back, sending him sprawling forwards. Romanoff is about to throw the fatal shot, when he is gone in a flash. They quickly look about them, knowing his tricks. The only benefit of him imitating Loki is that they know his abilities. Now they only need to know his flaws, like he knows theirs.
The man reappears with Elizabeth on the other side of the room. The knives disappear from their hands in a puff of smoke.
"You cannot defeat me!" he bellows.
"You're going to regret this for the rest of your short life. We will catch you, and will not give you the freedom of being killed. No, we will make you regret every footstep you took to get this far. And when you're screaming for your life, I will take the pleasure of crushing your skull myself."
"Touché," Tony replies, "although I disagree with the killing part. I'd like that for myself." The man blanches slightly, but so does Barton. He realizes that his speech is very similar to that of Loki's. It sends a shiver down his spine.
He clears his throat in an attempt to resume his intimidation, after having been scared like a chicken from Barton's threat. "Well, you know what they say: 'if you can't make them come to your side, kill them'."
"I've never heard of that!" I protest, but it is too late. The sharp tip lunges towards my chest.