To those who have asked me to put this in movie-time context, when Loki took his leave of Taryn and gave her into Hassan's care, that was just before his lovely "KNEEL BEFORE ME" appearance in Stutgardt. So when the raid happened on his underground base and Cap was there, you can see a bit of time passed-enough for him to have been at Loki's "capture" and Thor's dramatic entrance, and to have returned to lead the invasion on the base. Taryn got shot and was out of it for about a day-ish, during which Loki was locked up in Hulk's lovely room, pissed everyone off long-distance, and Hawkeye + assorted flunkies busted Loki out and put a hurt on the Helicarrier.
Now is where I admit to departing from the movie a bit, because I needed Banner and Thor present to throw their muscle around and they're basically not after Loki is rescued by his henchmen. But I wanted them, and this is my story, so Hulk did his thing and came back. Same with Thor. Because I said so.
Also, I don't like Nick Fury much. (I'm sure my long-time readers will be SO shocked to hear that... him and Odin, man, they light my fuse and not in a good way...) My dislike is based on some of his treatment of Tony Stark, but mostly because after Loki is captured and Fury is talking with Thor, he's all about the torture. Thor says, "There's no pain could prise his need from him" and Fury says, "A lot of people think that until the pain starts." Translation, oh, you think it won't work? I'll just torture him HARDER then! So the fact that he was torturing Taryn isn't the slightest bit out of character.
As a last note, platypus venom is a real thing. I don't know if it can be purified and concentrated, as I've done here, but I didn't make it up. "Ornithorhynchus anatinus" is the scientific name for the platypus, hence, my creation of "anatinus venom." Now you have learned something today, and since you should learn one new thing every day, you are officially a success. Congratulations, you!
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Luckily for Taryn, Thor's anger wasn't focused on her.
"Nicholas Fury, I did not want to believe you would truly torture a helpless woman. Have you no shame, no honor?"
Thor's enraged growl rolled through the room like the thunder he commanded as he strode to her bedside and firmly pushed Barton away from the IV When the agent resisted, Thor threateningly raised an enormous metal hammer, and Taryn realized with shock and wonder that she was looking at the real Mjolnir, the Hammer of Asgard.
Two other men pushed their way into the room while Thor glared Barton down until he backed off. First came the tall blond man in the red, white, and blue uniform she'd glimpsed during the raid. She now she recognized him as Captain America, the World War 2 hero–she'd grown up on stories about him. Cap was followed by a much smaller man wearing a white lab coat and wire-rimmed glasses. Looking around at the tension between Fury, Barton, Romanov, Thor and Captain America, he hesitated in the doorway.
Romanov released Taryn's wrist and stepped to block the intruders from her bed. "Who told you we were here?" she demanded.
"Is that really important?" Cap shot back, likewise striding forward, getting right in her face. Taryn's fear spiked at the promise of violence storming between them. If there was a fight, she was helpless to get out of the way.
"This ends now," Thor said, giving Fury the full force of his wrathful gaze.
"Thor, stand down," Fury returned sharply.
"You do not command the Son of Odin," Thor growled, half-raising Mjolnir. "You would be wise not to try."
Fury apparently wasn't wise. "I don't give a fuck whose son you are. You're on my team and you'll take orders from me whether you like it or not, and this is my captive and my interrogation!"
The Captain strode to her bedside as Thor and Fury shouted at each other. He ignored them and laid a gentle hand on her good shoulder–her skin throbbed, even so far from the injection site, and she whimpered. "Ma'am, I'm truly sorry for what you've been through. We're here to help you," Cap said.
Taryn gaped up at him, trembling hard and hardly able to understand the sudden change in her circumstances. The yelling, the threat of violence saturating the air, Thor's presence, her pain–it was too much, she couldn't comprehend it. She tugged at the handcuffs, hardly aware of what she was doing. It was nothing more than an animal's desperate urge to escape the anger and violence in the air.
Cap looked back at the smaller man in the doorway, worry writ large on his expressive face. "She's shaking all over, Bruce–if she's not in shock already, she's close. Do you think you can do something for her?"
Bruce nodded as he hurried to her bedside. He scowled when he saw the two syringes in the IV line and pulled them from the ports. Taryn couldn't hold back the little sob of relief when the threat they posed was gone. He brandished them at the archer. "What the hell were you giving her, Hawkeye?" Bruce demanded, and despite the fact that he was several inches shorter and at least fifty pounds lighter than the muscular agent, Barton was the one who took a cautious step back.
"She's had a little of this one–it's morphine," Barton said, pointing at the syringe in his right hand. Then he gestured to the one in Bruce's left hand and took a deep breath. When he spoke again, his voice was a mixture of defiance and something that might have been shame. "And that's purified anatinus venom."
Bruce stood stock-still for a moment, clutching the syringes. "Have. You. Lost. Your. Fucking. Mind?" he snarled, every word bitten off. Something started beeping a strident warning–his watch, maybe–and Barton, as well as everyone except Thor, took another fearful step back.
Barton glared at the shorter man even though he'd retreated. "No, I got my mind back."
The thunder god, however, stepped closer and laid a massive hand on Bruce's slight shoulder. "Easy, my friend," he murmured. "This is not the place."
The reminder seemed to calm him. Bruce carefully put both syringes down and took slow, deep breaths. Everyone, even Fury, went silent as if afraid to disturb his efforts to calm down. The watch eventually stopped its beeping, but Bruce's voice was still stilted when he spoke again. "Do you. Have any idea. What anatinus. Venom feels like?" he asked Barton, literally shaking with the effort of containing his anger.
"Yeah, actually I do," Barton replied, and although he was clearly making an effort to ratchet down his own anger, he didn't sound apologetic in the least.
"And knowing that, you would still give it to someone else? Straight into the vein?" Bruce's voice rose and the beeping started up again.
"Doctor, you need to calm yourself," Fury ordered, scowling. "It won't help anyone if you lose your temper, the prisoner least of all."
"Prisoner?" Thor roared the word loud enough to make them all wince, and Bruce's watch beeped more insistently. "My brother has already done her enough harm. You would add to it by victimizing her once more? I will not stand for this!"
"Yeah, prisoner," Fury repeated firmly. "This isn't your call, Thor. We don't know where Loki is, what he's planning, or how to stop him. I need that information fucking yesterday. We don't have time to play nice, or have you forgotten the body count your brother has racked up in the last three days? Have you forgotten Coulson?"
The two of them started arguing again. Bruce finally got hold of his temper and reached out to Taryn, but Romanov stepped forward and caught his wrist before he could touch her. His green eyes flashed with anger–they almost looked like they glowed with it–and he took a deep breath before looking deliberately at the agent. "You don't want to go there with me right now, Natasha," he said quietly. He was still enunciating every word with extreme care. "Trust me. You really, really don't."
Romanov released his arm as if burned but she didn't step away. "You don't need to get involved in this," she told him. "Just leave it to us, Dr. Banner. We've got it under control."
"Yes, we can see just how under control you have it." Now it was Captain America speaking, and he sounded nearly as angry as Thor. "So we rescue people from criminals just so we can torture them ourselves? If this is what America does now, I wish I'd stayed in the ice. Did anyone even ask her if she wanted to cooperate first?"
Fury turned his back on Thor and glared at the group surrounding the bed. "This woman spent several days with Loki during his little killing spree, seemingly of her own free will, so excuse me if I feel the need to give her a little motivation to answer truthfully," he bit out, his own temper rising. "Even Hawkeye had to get the shit beat out of him before he could shake off Loki's mind control–"
Barton was frowning now as he interrupted Fury. "Wait, whoa, I told you she wasn't being controlled like I was," he said, a hint of doubt showing in his face for the first time. "You said she refused to answer your questions, Director."
Taryn stared wide-eyed at the drama taking place around her. When all eyes turned to her, she wished she could cower. "This is the first time anyone's asked me anything," she whispered, and then winced when Romanov swore in some other language–Russian, maybe–and Barton spun away from her and punched the wall.
"You lying fucking bastard," he snarled at Fury.
Thor shoved past Fury with a sound of disgust. He grasped the handcuffs securing Taryn's arm to the side rail and snapped the chain without any apparent effort at all. The strap across her chest ripped like tissue paper between his massive hands. Taryn's jaw dropped at his strength, but then she gasped when Fury drew his guns.
"Back away from the prisoner, Thor," Fury ordered, one pistol aimed directly at Thor's head and the other at Captain America's chest.
The blond god snorted and didn't stop tearing away the straps that kept her down. "Your puny weapon will have no effect on me," he scoffed, and Cap added, "I've survived bullets before, I'm pretty sure I can do it again."
Bruce stepped between Fury and Cap and stared down the barrel of the gun. "You'd have to shoot me first and you know what will happen if you do that, Director," he said quietly, and damned if everyone wasn't hanging on this small man's every word like he was a nuclear bomb seconds from going off. Taryn couldn't imagine why–he seemed like the least dangerous person in the room. "Do you really want to be responsible for the Other Guy making another scene?"
Fury held his gaze for a long moment, so long that Taryn thought her heart might pound its way right out of her chest, before he sighed and holstered the weapons.
When Thor had done away with the last of her restraints, Captain America carefully lifted Taryn from the bed. She tried, truly she did, but she couldn't stop a strangled, agonized scream from escaping. "Sorry, God, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," he murmured, cradling her to his broad chest as she tried unsuccessfully to stop the tears rolling down her cheeks. Every inch of her throbbed and burned–shoulder, back, stomach, head, and especially her thigh. The only time she'd ever experienced pain like this was in Loki's memories.
And there, unfortunately, she'd felt such agony many times.
Taryn pushed the visions away and concentrated on Cap's soothing voice, the concern in his blue eyes. "We're going to make it better soon, I promise. Bruce, can you unhook her?"
"Got it," Banner replied, and an instant later, he had disconnected the IV tubing and clamped the saline lock in her arm. "Okay, she's ready. Let's go."
Despite putting his guns away, Fury still didn't move away from the door. "Stand down," he growled. "All of you. I can't let you do this. We need the information she has. The world is quite literally at stake, don't you people understand that?"
To Taryn's surprise, it was Barton who answered, and he did so by drawing his own pistol and aiming it right at Fury's throat. "Let them pass," he said. "Now."
Fury stared at him for a long moment before finally stepping aside. "Barton, you're still compromised."
"No," Barton countered, not lowering his weapon. "I'm not being controlled by Loki. I'm just pretty sure I don't want to be controlled by you, either. I'm fed up with lies."
"The blood of millions will be on your hands!" Fury shouted after them as they left with Taryn. "If we don't stop Loki, it will be your fault! Rogers, this will make Hitler look like a playground bully!"
Captain America's arms stiffened around her and Taryn's fingers dug into his shoulders with a combination of pain and fear. Even though his war heroics were before her time, she'd grown up on Captain America comics and she could only imagine how much Hitler's depravity haunted him. "I'll help you, I will, I'll tell you everything I know," Taryn babbled, desperate now, certain they'd turn around and give her back to Fury. "I will, I really will, I swear."
"I know," he replied, and to her surprise, he smiled down at her–and even though she saw the tension in his face, it was a genuine smile. "Don't worry, ma'am. You're safe now. I give you my word."
