AN: This is the final proper chapter of With All Vice Tainted, with only the epilogue remaining. I will be writing that over the next couple of days. It is about now that old readers of Vice may want to once more tune in... because things are going to take a rather alternative road. Hope that you enjoy... and keep your eyes open for the epilogue.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Biology

A month passed before Malory unleashed his damning evidence. The wait had been torturous, but Alex suspected that this had been Malory's intent. It was a disgustingly effective trap. For her to disappear without explanation would likely rouse suspicion. Yet, every day spent within the compound only increased her anxiety. What was Malory waiting for? Her to confess to Fury in person? Maybe he expected her to grow complacent, to repeat her actions with Loki? Whatever it was, Alex was almost relieved when she got an urgent call from Director Fury.

For too long she had watched the blaze from a distance.

Now the flames had come.

That morning she donned her uniform with the utmost care. No crease or stain tainted the material, the navy blue sheath uncomfortable in its crispness. Her boots were at a high sheen, the faint residual scent of polish almost comforting. She spent longer than usual before the mirror, making sure her hair and minimal make-up were perfect.

In a few hours she would join 5.4% of her fellow Australians. Unemployed.

The journey to Loki's cell seemed to drag by as though experienced in slow motion. Alex almost imagined the funeral march being played, the steady click of her boots a metronome to the tune. As she walked, she pondered how expansive Malory's exposure of her shame had been? Had the video been sent straight to Fury's computer? Or perhaps it had also been sent to the Australian press. Oh, how they would love to see the 'face of S.H.I.E.L.D' brought to the ultimate low. Would the tabloids write lurid stories about the scandalous love affair?

It was almost too horrible to contemplate.

Everything seemed to be in an almost cruel state of normality as she entered the observation deck. Becky greeted her with the same contagious grin. The guards at the elevator let her enter with the same bemused smiles. The only difference was the small crowd nestled within the glass cage. The Avengers, Fury, Agent Hill, Malory – all crammed within the space of Loki's bedroom, where a television had been placed a few months before.

Apparently it was seen as a good idea for Loki to be exposed to the public's opinion of him.

Yet now the screen was a dull blue, two single white lines in the left corner signifying that a video was paused. The video.

Fury greeted Alex with a mere nod, the simple gesture brimming with an undercurrent of anger and disappointment. The remote that controlled the privacy of the cell was in his hands. Within seconds, the glass clouded, the microphones falling mute.

Fury turned to Malory. "Remove the camera."

Malory's smirk faltered somewhat, but he obeyed. The camera was hidden in a copy of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables: a tiny thing, no bigger than a thumb tack, camouflaged against the spine of the huge tome. Still, Alex wondered how Loki had not noticed it. Surely he had read every book on the shelf ten times by now?

Fury grabbed the ingenious little device, crushing it beneath his heel. "This footage should have been brought to be the moment it was taken."

Alex almost smiled. Malory was being reprimanded.

Fury continued. "The placement of the camera should also have been mentioned in the initial blueprints of the cell. Exactly why you felt it necessary to have a secret camera within the prisoner's bedroom is entirely beyond me."

Tony Stark sniggered, the sound quickly extinguished as Fury's dark gaze fell in his direction. It seemed, to Alex, to be a form of procrastination. The contents of the video were obviously known to everyone in the room, yet it remained unspoken. Alex had never understood the saying "elephant in the room" until this moment. Only now, it did not feel like an elephant at all, but rather a Mûmakil. Every square inch of the room seemed to be occupied by the massive trumpeting beast.

"How long has this been going on for?" Fury gestured vaguely toward the paused television screen, the intensity of his single eye now trained on Alex.

There was no point in lying. "Several months, sir."

"So while you were assigned to Asgard?"

"Yes."

"And it never occurred to you that it was a bad idea?"

Alex looked up, surprised. "Constantly, sir."

"But you didn't stop?"

"She did not because I would not allow it." Loki's voice spilled from the far corner of the room, his presence near forgotten in the sheer tension. "I wanted her, I took her."

Fury's forehead creased at this point. "So it was not consensual?"

"No."

"This is bullshit," Malory snapped, drowning out Loki's singular answer. "She wanted it just as much as he did! You saw the video."

"A mere trick," Loki shrugged. "I find no pleasure in an unwilling lover. I merely coerced her into thinking she was enjoying herself."

"Loki, please-" Alex's answer was cut short as Loki laughed. Cold. Distant.

"Look at her now, the foolish quim. Believing that she is in love with me. It will wear off, in time. A trick, as I said."

Malory crossed his arms. "But this cell deters magic."

"Biology. My Jotunn form allows me to create a pheromone to attract a mate." Loki smiled now, the cruellest smile Alex had ever seen. "It's quite fun, actually. Turns them into my slave. I always thought it was magic. Now I know better. She is not the first mortal I have fucked, nor will she be the last."

"Brother!" Thor's gaze was wide at this point. "Surely this is not true."

"Of course it's not," snapped Malory, "it is a lie fabricated to protect her."

Loki smirked. "And why would I want to do that? The whore will lose everything either way. I just don't want you believing me capable of falling in love with something so pathetic."

Fury looked on the edge of boiling point. Slowly he rubbed his temple with the pad of his thumb, before turning to Alex. "Is this true?"

"No." Her voice was monumentally weak, yet she could not help it. Loki's words had stung, though she suspected they were false. She hoped they were false. Even if they were, with every syllable he surrendered, his ledger became increasingly red. World domination and now rape? His imprisonment would never end.

"She does not know what she is saying. The pheromone has clouded her mind."

Thor gently interjected at this point, eyes downcast. "What my brother says holds reason. I have seen mortal women behave this way around him before. It is likely that Agent Beckett has been corrupted by this... pheromone."

Fury merely sighed. "I don't know what to believe, and frankly at this point I do not care. You" – he pointed at Malory – "will remove all the secret cameras from this cell. You" – this time Thor – "will come with me. And you" – Alex – "I will deal with tonight. You are confined to your quarters until further notice. Dismissed."

Everyone filtered out of the cage at this point, the awkward atmosphere within the glass confinement almost stifling. Alex waited until she was almost alone with Loki, knowing full well that this would be a brief moment. The last moment.

"I never said that I loved you."

Her voice was a mere whisper, a delicate hum of sound. Yet within those seven words she knew everything was revealed. Her hurt. Her confusion.

And most of all, love.