I don't own Loki or the Avengers. The theme song for today's chapter is "Bulletproof" by La Roux.


Chapter 27: Weapon of Choice

After half an hour of training with the naginata, Natasha was exhausted. She didn't think she had enjoyed that intense of a workout in a long time. "Okay," she huffed, out of breath, "I stand corrected. You know exactly what you're doing with a spear."

Loki smiled a little, twirling the naginata expertly. "You are fairly accomplished yourself, considering you can only have had what, a decade? Two, at most, to master it? I've had several centuries."

She glared at him a little, and eyed her spear. "Unfortunately this isn't what you would call a stealth weapon. Pretty difficult to conceal."

Loki examined his as well, running a hand down the shaft. "I don't know... I might be able to come up with something as long as She cooperates."

Natasha nodded, and took the spears back to their rack. "Still, it's a mid-range weapon, not very good for close-quarters or long range fighting."

He glanced around the room, assessing which weapons he was most familiar with. "Daggers," he suggested, spying a set of long knives. He picked one up, tossed it in the air to catch it by the blade. Taking a step back, he aligned himself with the open door to the firing range, and threw. At a distance of forty yards, the knife embedded itself in the paper target's neck.

She raised her eyebrows, impressed. "How about these? They're easier to conceal." she pulled open a drawer below the display of knives to reveal an array of small, sharp shapes.

"Shuriken?" he asked, remembering the term from a television show his counterpart had watched. He picked up a set shaped like small arrows with a circle in the middle, they were not unlike the small daggers he would once conjure in battle. "They should do." He attempted the same feat as before, but only hit the target's shoulder. He frowned.

"Not what you were aiming for?" she asked.

He twirled another between his fingers, thinking. "These are much lighter than what I am accustomed to."

She took one, examining it. "Carbon fiber," she judged. "Lighter, holds a decent edge, but won't show up on a metal detector."

"Hmm... I'll get used to it." He glanced around the room. There was a water fountain in the corner by the sparring mats. Setting down the Shuriken, he walked over and turned it on, watching the stream of water.

Natasha watched, frowning, as he held a hand under the arc. After a moment, his hand began to turn blue, and the water froze to it, accumulating into a spike of ice. She felt a knot of dread tighten in her stomach. "I thought you couldn't do magic," she said quietly.

He glanced up, surprised. "Hm? Oh, I can't." He lifted the hand, now encased in ice. "This is a natural ability of mine. A trick, learned from my long-lost cousins, as it were." He examined his hand. "Brittle, but sharp. It would do in a pinch."

So that's what they mean by Frost Giant, she thought. "What else can you do?" she asked, trying to sound more curious than wary.

He thought about it. "If I get a good grip on someone, severe frostbite in a matter of moments."

"That sounds... painful," she commented.

He held his hand back over the fountain, and it turned back to pink within the ice. He slid it out carefully, leaving the sharp casing to melt in the basin.

Natasha thought of something. "While you have some pretty impressive abilities, they take time to demonstrate. If you need immediate intimidation, you're going to have to use something familiar." She gestured for him to follow, and he complied, curious.

She led him into the firing range. The side walls were lined with an impressive array of firepower: sniper rifles, automatic weapons, even a few bows which he guessed to be Barton's. There was also a set of drawers, of which Natasha opened several. Inside were a variety of handguns, ranging from tiny one-shot pistols to a big, blocky piece with tag that read "Desert Eagle."

"If you want someone to stop in their tracks, pointing one of these at them will usually do the trick," she explained.

He ran his hand over the pieces, thinking. He spied a very small piece, and, curious, he picked it up. The bullets would have to be tiny. "This is intimidating?" he asked.

She smiled wryly. "Well, not that one." She took it from him, and opened one of the bottom drawers, which held various forms of ammunition. She chose a small metal tin, opening it to reveal six tiny pellets in a cushioning piece of foam. She loaded the gun carefully, and walked over to one of the firing lanes. She didn't take the time to aim, firing it in the general direction of the target.

It exploded in a ball of fire, startling him a little. She brought the gun back, smiling. "One of Tony's toys," she explained. "He calls it the Cricket."

Loki laughed. Seeing her inquisitive expression, he explained. "It's from a movie we watched. Really, Agent Romanov, you should watch more television."

She seemed to find this funny, but gestured back to the drawers. "Since you'll mostly be using it for show, I suggest you pick something you like the look of."

He closed the drawers of smaller pistols, and focused on the one which contained the Desert Eagle. "What are the specifications for these?" he asked.

She rattled off the list: "Desert Eagle .50 caliber, Smith & Wesson 500 Magnum, Colt 45-70 Peacemaker, Smith & Wesson 460 XVR, and the Smith & Wesson .44 Magnum revolver. Most of these will make lunch meat out of anyone they hit, because the rounds are so large."

Loki eyed the 460 XVR, it had a mean look to it, but picked up the .44 Magnum instead. It would be more practical if he needed to shoot without killing. He glanced up at Natasha, who was smiling.

"What?" he asked.

"Has Tony shown you Dirty Harry?" she asked. He shook his head. She sighed. "He has no respect for the classics, you know. Watch it some time." She gestured to the gun. "It suits you."

"How so?" he asked as she closed the drawer with the other pistols, and began looking through the bottom drawers for the appropriate ammunition.

"Well," she said thoughtfully. "It's not ridiculously huge like the others, but it can still pack a mean punch. Revolvers aren't terribly popular these days, they take longer to reload than ones that use magazines, like the Dezzy. So it's kind of old-fashioned."

He smiled a little. "Old School?" he asked.

She returned the smile. "You bet." She showed him how to load it, both one bullet at a time and with a special device that loaded all six chambers at once. Next she put on a set of noise-blocking headphones and safety goggles. There was another set there for him to use, but he ignored it. "It has quite a kick," she warned. "Try to keep your aim steady by pressing down as you fire. Don't let it jump out of your hand, either."

Loki nodded and then lined up his shot with both hands, like she had shown him. He took careful aim, and fired. The shot ended up towards the bottom of the target. He frowned and tried again, not pressing down as much this time. Now the shot was just a few inches to the left of the bullseye. He sighed, glanced over at Natasha, who looked encouraging. He pressed his lips into a thin line, and taking a far more casual stance he raised the gun with one hand and let off the remaining four rounds in quick succession. They left only one hole in the paper, right in the middle of the target.

Natasha let out a low whistle. "How'd you do that?" she asked as she took off the safety gear.

He opened the gun and reloaded it with ease. "You won't like it," he said at length.

She studied him. He looked uncertain, guilty. "Tell me," she insisted.

He sighed. "Barton," he said simply.

She blinked, remembering. You take too long, Tasha. You're over-thinking it. You gotta just feel it, without thinking, and trust that your body knows what to do. She swallowed. He was right, she didn't like it. But at least he was being honest with her. "How much do you remember, anyway?"

He looked to her, hesitant. "Everything. Everything about his past, everything about you..." he trailed off.

She raised an eyebrow. "Everything about me?"

Loki closed his eyes and swallowed. When he opened them again, they burned with a desire that she knew all too well. "Yes," he said hoarsely. "Everything."

So, she thought, he already knew what it felt like to hold her, to take her. All her little preferences, all the private moments she had shared with Clint, and he had stolen them.

"For what it's worth," he said softly, "I would rather have learned it from you, the hard way."

She fought hard against the rising tide of anger. Gnev zastavlyayet vas nebrezhnyy, she remembered her mentor saying: anger makes you sloppy. "You need to talk to him," she said instead.

Loki looked surprised. "She has been trying, you know. But he avoids the both of us, and he's very good at it."

She shrugged. "He's had a lot of practice," she reminded him.

He nodded.

"Have Jarvis help you," she suggested. She held out her hand, and he gave her the gun. She opened it, tipping out the rounds into her palm. "Go. You two need to figure out how this is going to work before it gets one of you killed."

He stared at her a moment. He wasn't terribly likely to die, so he knew what she meant. If there were any mistakes, any casualties on this mission, in her mind the blame would rest squarely on him.


A/N: I had way too much fun doing the research for this chapter lol. I would like to thank my husband and beta, Brian, for helping. He was pretty sad when Loki didn't pick the Desert Eagle, his favorite from his years in the Navy. But I just had to give him the .44 Magnum.

Sorry this chapter is so short, I had to pick where to break a chapter and if I'd included the coming confrontation with Clint here, it would have made this chapter too long and the next one even shorter than this. So you'll just have to wait until Saturday to see.

As I haven't heard any objections about changing my user name, I will be switching it to Maria Arnt. FF assures me this won't interfere with your update emails, but just in case, if you don't get a notification on Saturday, please check the story on Sunday. Thanks!

As always, reviews give me a happy.