I don't own Loki or the Avengers. Theme song for this Chapter (although especially for the last scene) is "My Oh My" by Tristan Prettyman.


Chapter 26: A New Assignment

The next week went by quickly. Tony made inquiries and found that he was, in fact, the only person who strongly objected to the male version of Loki joining them for poker night. Steve even joked that they could call it "boys' night" again.

Loki considered the note He had given her carefully. It asked for money so he could buy some clothes and get his hair cut. She doubted that was what he intended to use it for. She used the extra magic she had over the weekend to create a wardrobe for him, with input from Natasha, who knew more than a little about men's fashion. She also volunteered to provide the haircut, surprising Loki.

"You just want him at your mercy with a pair of scissors in your hand," she joked.

Natasha laughed, and didn't let on how right she had been.

When it came his time to reappear, Loki cursed at his own cunning. He had meant to spend the money on several things, including Natasha. Well, there went that plan. He changed into one of the new outfits, one which Natasha had specifically suggested: a charcoal grey shirt with rolled up sleeves, black jeans, and black suede shoes. He then made his way across the hall.

Natasha answered her door, eyeing him warily. "What?" she asked.

He raised his eyebrows. "Hello to you, too, darling," he said sarcastically. "I believe you threatened to wield a pair of scissors on me?"

Her eyes narrowed, until she realized he meant the haircut. "Alright," she opened the door and jerked her head towards the kitchen. "Have a seat."

He pulled out a chair from the table and sat where he could see himself in the mirror over the sink as she went to the bathroom for supplies.

"How do you want it done?" she asked as she came back. She wrapped a towel around his shoulders and used a spray bottle to get his inky black locks wet.

Loki was momentarily distracted by the sensation of her fingers running through his hair. "Er... I usually have it trimmed at the collar."

He watched in the mirror as she nodded absentmindedly. "Looks like it just grew out from there."

He chuckled. "The Chitauri didn't seem big on the whole haircuts thing."

She met his eyes in the mirror, startled by his reminder of the past.

"Sorry. I make bad jokes when I'm nervous," he admitted.

This elicited a raised eyebrow from her, but she said nothing. Instead she began working, measuring out lengths of his hair and carefully snipping away. He watched her in the mirror, mesmerized. She added a few layers here and there, trying for something that would balance out his sharp cheekbones. She pulled some of it to the front, coming around to face him to check if the two sides were the same. Loki swallowed and resisted the urge to bite his lip as she afforded him an excellent view of her cleavage. He glanced up to see that her expression remained closed and professional—either she was too engrossed in what she was doing to notice or she had done it deliberately.

"There," she declared at last, standing up. "What do you think?" she took away the towel and went to grab a broom to sweep up the floor.

Loki stood, walking over to the mirror. He ran a hand through his hair, studying her work. He was surprised. It was rather shorter than he would have chosen, but it looked good. He could probably pass for human better this way. She came up behind him, folding her arms.

He nodded. "It's good. Thank you."

She nodded back, reaching out to brush away a stray bit of hair on his shirt. "We need to go to headquarters now, Fury wants to swear you in."

He turned, frowning. "Swear me in?"

She smiled a little. "Dr. Bryardie's idea, actually. Since we know when you lie, we know when your word is good. An oath should give us a little security."

Loki closed his eyes and clenched his fists. Would he ever be free of being manipulated? He sighed and opened them again, to see Natasha eyeing him warily, her feet in a ready stance. He deflated. "Alright then," he gestured towards the door. "Let's go."

She blinked, surprised he had given in. A moment before he had looked livid. "Okay," she said cautiously.


Loki looked down at the paper Fury had given him. "This is all?"

Fury nodded. "Just read it, to the camera. And mean it."

He glanced over at Agent Hill, who was manning a digital camera. He shrugged. "I, Loki Laufeyson," he amended. He was not going to read 'Odinson.' "Do hereby swear to be an ally of the SHIELD corporation and all of its agents. I will not enact or encourage any act of hostility toward the agency, nor will I willingly mislead them in my actions or words." He let the paper fall to the table, and looked to Fury.

He tossed him a pen. "Sign it," he ordered.

Loki clenched his teeth, but bent down and affixed his name and symbol to it.

"Good," Fury said when it was done. "There's a meeting on Tuesday I'd like you to attend, on behalf of Femme Loki. Agent Romanov can fill her in on the details, but I'd like you there anyway."

Loki nodded, hiding his surprise. "I'll be there."

Fury glared at him. "You had better be. Dismissed."

Loki recognized that Fury was trying to get a rise out of him, so he merely smiled pleasantly and left.


Loki sauntered into the room, smiling wryly at the faces around the table. Most of them were irritated. A few, including Clint and Natasha, didn't look surprised in the least. Well, he had been invited to this little party, he didn't see why he couldn't show up fashionably late. Not all the Avengers were present; the absence of Bruce and Thor indicated an assignment where brute strength would not help.

He took the last remaining seat next to Natasha. Not, he thought, a coincidence. In this form, she was about the only ally he had. Well, except perhaps Thor, but his other half had made things… uncomfortable between them. As he sat, they all continued staring at him.

"Well?" he asked, gesturing eloquently to Director Fury.

Fury glared at him a moment longer, then glanced down at the dossier before him. Loki silently gloated over winning the staring contest.

"Polish officials have contacted us about a little problem they are having." He swiped a hand over the info, and digital copies appeared in front of each of the team members. "It seems there is a serial killer, possibly a group of killers, preying on the illegal sex industry there."

As Fury elaborated, Loki flipped through the info. His ability to absorb information quickly was rivaled only by Tony, but he lost the race when he came to the photos. Sweet young girls, underfed and over-painted, cut up in nasty ways and left for dead. He resisted the urge to lick his lips, and felt a flash of pain from the ruby.
Natasha glanced over at his intake of breath. She saw what he was looking at, and quickly returned her eyes to her own station. She squirmed uncomfortably, and Loki could not resist a smile.

"Agent Romanov has agreed to infiltrate the situation undercover. She'll be running this show, she's more familiar with the territory."

Loki bit his tongue on asking whether he meant the geography or the profession. Natasha would not like that.

"Clint," Natasha spoke up, "I'll need you in a chopper. The local police think they've identified the culprits," The image of three thuggish men, obviously brothers, came up at each station, "but they've had trouble following them. I'll need you to track them from the air."

Clint nodded.

Natasha turned to Steve. "Captain, I'll need you to follow on your bike, in case Clint loses sight. There are a lot of tunnels in the area, and that seems to be their usual tactic."

Steve pursed his lips and made a sound of acknowledgement. He looked a little sick; obviously the photos had affected him as well, although not in the same way.

"Next is the matter of who will be posing as my pimp," Natasha said with sly humor.

Everyone looked at Tony, who held his hands up. "Hey! I think I am just a little too high-profile for that. Never mind my upright morals." He winked at Clint, who rolled his eyes.

"You will be given a disguise," Nick Fury explained, but Tony was clearly having none of it.

"I volunteer," Loki spoke up before Tony could continue to protest.

There was a moment of silence where everyone stared at Loki. He leaned back in his chair, smiling. "I'm not high-profile, and I am a master of disguise. As an added bonus, I don't mind the implications on my character at all." He let his gaze slide over to Natasha, who closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Loki," Director Fury spoke up. "We were hoping that your… counterpart… could place some kind of tracing spell on Natasha to ensure we didn't lose her."

Loki lifted his eyebrows. "She could do that. But only She or I would be able to sense the trace. It makes more sense for me to be on the ground in this operation. I'm sure She would agree, and would be more than happy to cooperate."

It did make sense, and none of them seemed to like it.

"Nobody's questioning Femme Loki's loyalties," Tony offered quietly. "But why do you want in on this?" he was still Femme Loki's friend, but that didn't mean he trusted him.

Loki shrugged, smiling. "I lack a function here. Without my magic, I cannot work on the restoration project. This would give me… purpose."

"And who's to say you won't turn tail as soon as we get there?" Steve's station showed a map of Central Europe, clearly he was eyeing the distance between Poland and Latveria.

Loki's face turned serious, and he turned to study Natasha. "I assure you that as long as Agent Romanov's safety relies on my presence, I won't be going anywhere."

Natasha narrowed her eyes at Loki, angry at his implications. She tapped her nails against the glass table, and then sighed heavily. "He's right, it would work better if he or she were on the scene."

There was a collective mutter of disapproval around the table, and a vein began throbbing on Fury's forehead, but clearly no one could come up with a valid argument.

"All right," Fury finally said reluctantly. "Take him down to the armory and see if you can find something to suit him. But if I get one whiff of trouble," he leveled a finger at Loki, "you'll be in lockdown until you lie, understand?"

Loki raised his hands in a pacifying gesture, but the smile had not left his face.

"Dismissed," Fury ground out.


When Loki and Natasha entered the armory, there was one agent at the firing range and two sparring in the training area. One glance at him, and they quietly stowed their equipment and left. Once they had gone, Natasha turned to Loki.

"Before we do this, I need to know why you really want in on the mission," she demanded.

Loki began to examine the racks of weapons along the walls, everything from ancient swords to the modern energy weapons they had reverse engineered from the Destroyer and the Chitauri tech. "I believe I already explained myself," he said casually.

"Yes, and you did so very carefully," Natasha folded her arms, standing her ground.

Loki sighed, but turned to her, smiling. "One of these days, I will figure out how to trick you, little spider," he said affectionately.

She merely narrowed her eyes.

He shrugged. "Alright, then. It's like hunting." He gestured towards the older weapons, many of them intended for more practical purposes than warfare. "It has been many centuries since the average human has needed to hunt in order to feed himself, his mate, and his offspring. And yet," he laid a hand on a modern compound bow, painted in camouflage, "the instinct, the urge remains."

He turned to Natasha, something sparking deep in his green eyes. "I need to hunt, Natasha. Even if it is just sport."

Natasha swallowed thickly, remembering the way he had lingered over the crime scene photos. "Then why not prey on the innocent?"

Loki chuckled. "The innocent are so unsuspecting. True fear can only come with understanding. Besides, my powers have always been more effective on those with evil in their hearts. Innocence is… boring."

Natasha tilted her head to the side. "Is that why—" she closed her mouth on the end of her sentence, angry that the first half had escaped.

But Loki understood. He walked towards her slowly until he stood only a few inches from her. She stood her ground, as he knew she would. "Is that why I pursue you?" he asked.

She pressed her lips together, refusing to break his stare and concede ground. Unlike Fury, she knew the rules he played by.

He leaned even closer, until they were almost touching. "Yes, Natasha," his voice was low and soft, almost a whisper. "You and I, we know the darkness. You know how it feels to… embrace it."

Natasha's breathing began to quicken, but she held her ground a moment longer. She recalled their confrontation on the helicarrier. There was no glass between them this time, no cage to protect her, but fear was not her immediate response. He knew all her darkest secrets, and he liked them. Part of her was repulsed by this, the part that hated herself. The other part…

The tension between them was palpable, electric, and for the first time Natasha seriously considered his offer. When she found herself staring at his lips, twisted in a wry smile, she broke away. She walked over to one of the weapon cases, taking the short moment facing away from him to collect herself.

"I've seen your work with a spear," she said, her voice completely calm and professional. She took down a couple of naginata from the rack, and tossed one to him. "You're not bad."

He caught it, and assessed her for a moment. Once again, he was unsure how much he had affected her. For a moment it had seemed like he had finally caught her. But now he would never have guessed anything had happened. Which was the act?


A/N: Oh man, I have been wanting to post this chapter for FOREVER. Finally, we're getting to the good parts! ^.~

If you're wondering what Loki's hair looks like now, take a look at any of the interviews with Tom Hiddleston taken during the filming of the Avengers or Thor, while his hair is black. He wears it in a more relaxed, slightly shorter style. It's like that.

I recently found out that I can change my username here on . I would like to change it to my real name, Maria Arnt, but I don't know if that would make things confusing for you guys. I'd like to hear your input on the issue. Also, any reviews on the story always make my day a little brighter!

Next, on Wednesday, some fun sparring and conversation between Loki and Natasha in "Weapon of Choice."