Hello again! Thank you for your continuous support! To BaDWolF89, I miss Laura and the kids too! I wish I could put them in every single chapter!

Clint's POV

I felt abnormally angry, I had questions to ask but I couldn't quite formulate them without feeling a foreign force in my mind. I thought about Tasha, something about saying her nickname bought an odd sense of comfort but I couldn't place any actually emotion to it.

We arrived at an underground lab where Selvig began setting up. Meanwhile, I saw Loki approaching me with a smile.

"Agent Barton, a pleasure to have you here," Loki spoke gleefully as he looked into my eyes. I gave him a curt nod, he clearly had more to say, "Agent Romanoff, that your partner is it not?"

"Yes, she is."

"Beautiful young lady, you must agree?" His smile grew.

"Tasha is very pretty," it was the truth I couldn't lie about it, even if I wanted to.

"Tasha? How did you come to start calling her that?"

"I've been calling her nicknames since I bought her in to SHIELD."

"You were the one to bring her into SHIELD? You two must be very close," Loki's smile didn't waiver.

"We are, there's only one other person I'm closer to," I suddenly felt alarms ringing in my mind, something was screaming, begging me not to say Laura's name. I couldn't place why but whatever it was, it desperate not to have me reveal that I'm married.

"And who might that be?" Loki asked.

Whatever force it was struggling inside me was not relenting so I gave in, "Coulson, my handler Natasha and I are both very close to him," the force relieved itself but I felt as if I had done wrong.

Loki paused as if thinking, suddenly his grin reached from ear to ear, "Very well, agent. Why don't you tell me more about your lovely partner Natasha?"

The force returned it felt weaker, as if it used up its energy with Laura. Although weak I could still manage to make out bits of anger, anger at Loki for saying Natasha's name to me. The force wanted me to walk away from him but I knew I needed to flush that force out.

Natasha's POV

I walked towards Loki's cell, I could only hope that emotion wouldn't get in the way of this interrogation. I stepped quietly, around the glass prison and stood in front of the entrance, a few cautious meters away. It took a moment for him to notice me.

"There's not many people that can sneak up on me," his slight grin disturbed me.

"But you figured I'd come," I came for answers, I planned to retrieve them using every interrogation tactic I knew, this one being to never underestimate the target.

"After. After whatever tortures Fury can concoct, you would appear as a friend, as a balm, and I would cooperate." Not a far off conspiracy theory, respectably predictable however.

It was time to kill two birds with one stone, "I want to know what you've done to Agent Barton."

"I'd say I've expanded his mind," his eagerness threatened to falter my emotional disguise I was wearing.

Annoyed, I let it slip off a bit, "And once you've won. Once you're king of the mountain. What happens to his mind?"

"Is this love, Agent Romanoff?" I responded immediately, yet not before I truly analyzed the question. Of course it was love, maybe not the aspect of love he's referring to but I doubt anyone would challenge that we loved each other. Explaining this form of affection would counteract the image I was trying to form with him, so I repeated Black Widow's punchline.

"Love is for children, I owe him a debt." I was satisfied with that answer, he became suspiciously intrigued in my past forcing me to be honest. I didn't want to be a main character in this conversation but I had a mission to complete, not the Tesseract but the mission of returning a man to his family and best friend. The latter portion was a bit selfish on my behalf, but necessary to tame my sanity if losing Barton.

"… Agent Barton was sent to kill me, he made a different call," My mind was shipping off to a vent in a dingy motel room, the first time I heard someone defend me I think of me as something more than a tool or a body.

Loki cut the flashback short, "And what will you do if a vow to spare him?"

I released a scoff, surely he wasn't bargaining with me, "Not let you out…"

"Ah, no. But I like this. Your world in the balance, and you bargain for one man?" His laugh was meant to insult my intelligence. I assumed Loki was unaware that it wasn't just for one man. It was for a wife who lives to see her husband return home with one more scar. It was for two small children who at this moment are missing the hugs and corny jokes of their father. It's for an assassin whose world constantly rocks and tumbles and she desperately needs an anchor to cling to. It's for the peaceful lives of those who will not be in peril or tragedy because Hawkeye will one day take down a human trafficking ring or terrorist attack that could have meant your life. Loki didn't consider these factors, enlightening him now wouldn't somehow soothe his anger, I needed to stick to my plan.

"It's really not that complicated. I've got red on my ledger, I'd like to wipe it out."

And so it began, deepest forms of distressed I've caused, the highest forms of evil I've committed, exposed to the enemy. Loki ran though my short list without hesitation as if he'd been setting me up this whole time. He fumed at lifestyle in its entirety as if I chose this path for myself, in my mind I defended my choices to no avail.

The dramatic flair of his fist pounding the glass fazed me to my horror, "I won't touch Barton. Not until I make him kill you slowly, intimately in every way he knows you fear! And when he'll wake just long enough to see his good work, and when he screams I'll split his skull! This is bargain you mewling quim!"

I turn my back to him fearfully and let out soft whimpers, hoping to convince him. Truthfully, I was more so attempting to convince myself that I was still acting, I was compromised but I wasn't willing to openly reveal such a downfall.

"Oh no, you bought the monster," I saw my moment to pull out of this interrogation on top, I brushed my hair from faced and turned.

"So Banner, that's your play?"

As I headed to the lab, I almost felt as if I achieved something. I didn't. Clint was still brainwashed and missing, nobody wins in this scenario. The world needs a hero, a wife needs her husband, and an agent needs her partner. It these fundamental truths that keep the world turning, then again there are more than one world. So whose rules are we playing by exactly?

I really wanted to include the next chapter with this but it just wouldn't have so I had to break them up again. Also you may have noticed that chapter 7 has been edited, I accidentally posted the pre-proofread version (don't ask) earlier. Anyways, thank you for your time, I appreciate it.