GSMemorial18, Destined627, xxPaige23xx, internetangie, sleeplessinbudapest, GhostGlowLight, Littlesister007, cookiesandcream, WhiteRose and Guests : Thanks for the review :)

17 : BLEEDING LOVE*

Everyone was trying their best to locate the Captain but they had all failed so far. SHIELD wasn't able to detect Loki or Captain America anywhere.

Natasha was more than worried, but she hid it under her cold façade. She was working hard, just like Tony and Bruce. She didn't sleep, just simply took 2 hour naps before she would get back to work. Clint tried to get her to sleep and eat but he failed most of the time.

Until the day Thor came back from Asgard.

"Friends! I come with good news" Thor announced as he arrived. "Heimdall is able to see the location of the Captain. Fortunately, he's still in Midgard."

"Lead us there, Point break" Tony said.

The team suited up and got on the quinjet. SHIELD also sent them a backup team.

"Are you sure this is the place, Thor?" Natasha asked

"Aye, Heimdall saw Lord Steven was inside this building" Thor replied "What shall we do?"

"We're going in" Natasha stated and ran into the building without listening to her teammates.

Everyone followed her in. Tony's armor detected nothing. They found Steve, hanging from the ceiling with a rope tied around his wrists. He was unconscious and looked beaten and battered.

"Steve!" Natasha called and ran to her boyfriend.

Clint fired an arrow to cut down the rope. Natasha held him in her arms, eyes assessing his wounds. She lowered her head and heard very faint breathing from Steve. Fear consumed her.

"Loki! Show yourself!" Thor demanded while everyone was tensed up in anticipation.

"Dearest brother, do you miss me?" A poisonous voice came from the second floor.

Loki emerged showing no sign that he wanted to fight.

"Surrender yourself or we will do this the hard way" Thor proposed.

"I am one for the challenge, Odinson. If you can get me" He disappeared, only his voice could be heard "You remember this trick, Thor. The one you always fell for"

Loki reappeared, this time; the mischief god created four illusions of him one for each Avenger. Natasha was not going to join the fight, she needed to protect Steve. Hawkeye retreated to the third floor to get a better line of sight.

"I see him" Clint told the group before firing his arrow towards the mad god.

Loki caught the arrow before it hit him, but it was a net arrow, so it exploded and entangled the god within it. Hulk caught Loki by his throat to prevent the god from getting away.

"SHIELD, we got Loki and Rogers." Tony reported "We're moving out now"

Thor lifted the Captain up in his arms and carried him to the quinjet. Thor and Hawkeye kept a close watch on Loki. While Tony, Natasha, and Bruce took care of Steve, trying to revive the Captain.

He slowly gained his consciousness back and before they knew it he slowly opened his eyes and saw his friends.

"Steve, I'm here" She gently said and held his head up onto her lap.

He looked at her. His blue eyes stared at her with pain, anger, frustration, distrust, hatred, and most of all, disgust.

That was the thing that Natasha feared the most.

"Stay away from me" He growled before passing out in her arms.

Loki's wicked smile widened when he heard what the Captain said.

They put Loki in the Hulk containment cell in the Tower's dungeon, awaiting to return to Asgard, with Thor in two days.

Steve was put in the medical bay. His wounds were tended to properly and all were wrapped up in bandages. Natasha sat on the chair beside his bed, waiting for him to wake up.

The night came. Tony told her he could take shift watching Steve and Loki before he went to bed. Bruce did another scan on Steve's body before went to his room.

"If you need anything, just let JARVIS call me"

"Of course, Bruce. Thank you"

The doctor walked out the door. Natasha sat back on the chair and kept her eyes at Captain America.

Natasha wasn't sure when she fell asleep but when she opened her eyes, a pair of deep blue eyes were looking at her. Steve's face hovering above her.

"Hey, handsome" She greeted with a soft smile. "Feeling better?"

Steve didn't answer. His eyes tinted in red, filled with an anger that she had never seen before. He grabbed her shoulders and lifted her up on to her feet. His hand closed around her throat, as he led her backwards and slammed her to the wall.

"Steve—"

He tightened his grip and lifted her up that her toes barely scratched the ground. She tried to plead, to beg him to release her but he couldn't hear any of it. She took a pained breath. Her hands caught his, struggling to make him let her go.

His eyes showed nothing but insanity. Her oxygen supply was dwindling as she couldn't breathe, eyes fluttering shut.

"Stev..." Natasha rasped, about to fall unconscious.

The doors to the recovery room flew open as the Hulk burst in and tackled Steve away from Natasha. The unconscious spy fell into Thor's arms and he carried her out of the room. Steve too was knocked unconscious by the Hulk

They moved Steve to another Hulk containment room, on floor above medical bay, as they didn't know if Steve would wake up again, he still had Loki's spell on him or not.

And what his reaction towards the rest of the team would be.

It was a rough night for everyone. Bruce and Tony stayed up all night just to keep watching Natasha who still laid unconscious in the recovery room. Thor and Clint kept their eyes on Steve. Clint prepared his bow and arrow in case Steve broke out from his cell.

Their Captain regained his consciousness and started to move around. When he saw his two friends standing outside the cell, he called them.

"Clint! Thor! Let me out of here" He demanded, fists smashing into the glass cage.

"We cannot do that, Lord Steven"

"I'm fine! Look at me!" Steve told, slamming his hand into the glass again.

"Nothing you say will change that, Captain" Thor replied and held his hammer tight.

Steve walked around the containment room feeling frustrated. Clint kept his eyes on the Captain. He still saw the same shade of blue in Steve's eyes, the shade of blue indicated the Captain was still under Loki's spell.

"Let me out of here now!" Steve growled angrily.

"No!" Clint yelled back "If we let you out, what would guarantee that us that you will not hurt us like you hurt Natasha?"

When Steve heard that name, he turned. His eyes gone dark, clouded with madness.

"Don't ever say that name again"

Natasha slowly opened her eyes and lightly moved her fingers

"Slow down, princess" A concerned voice came from her right.

"Stark, where am I?" She asked

Tony helped her sit right up. She looked around and didn't find the only person she wanted to see.

"Where's Steve?"

"Uh—Red, it's a bit complicated—"

"What's going on? Where is he?"

"Loki had him under his spell, Natasha." Bruce answered "He hurt you last night so we put him in the containment cell. Clint told us that he had a reaction towards you"

"I will go see him"

"No, Natasha" Bruce grabbed her arms "Don't do it. He will hurt you again"

"Sorry, doc. I have to"

She got out of bed and walked out the door. Tony quickly alerted Thor and Clint.

"Birdbrain and Point Break, secure Rogers in place. Tie him down with the magnetic cuffs. Red is on her way now"

"Got it" Clint replied before turning to Thor "You hold him and I will put the cuffs on"

"Aye!"

The two heroes walked into the cell. Steve reacted normally to both of them but he didn't expect that Thor would lock his body in place with a powerful hug while Clint secured the cuffs at his wrists, tied together at his back, and his legs tied together before the archer activated the magnetic mechanism and the Captain was pulled to the metal wall, locking him in place.

"Let me go now, Barton"

"I can't. There's someone who wants to talk to you"

Thor stepped away from the door and revealed who was behind him. Every muscle in Steve's body tensed up when he saw Natasha Romanoff walk in. His eyes filled with the same emotion she saw yesterday.

"May I speak with him in private?" She asked the god and the archer.

"No!" They said in unison

"Please"

"Alright" Clint agreed "But we will keep a close watch"

Thor and Clint walked out the room. They kept their eyes on them. Natasha walked towards her boyfriend. She could hear Steve growl angrily at her.

"Steve, try to fight it" She said "You are under Loki's spell"

"Why should I believe you, Romanoff?" He spat back harshly "Why should I take any word from you seriously, liar?"

"What did you just call me?"

"Liar, you are a spy, you manipulate people to get what you want. You do everything, and every mean to bend people to your will. How could I be sure that you really love me or you just lied to me?"

"Steve, I really do love you"

"Really? I think you say those words just to keep me with you. You were just afraid of losing me to someone else. How do I know that you will ever choose me? I am just one of your trophies, one of your conquests!"

"What did Loki do to you?"

"He just told me the truth about you"

"And you trust Loki more than you trust me?"

"At this point, I don't know who I can trust anymore"

"Listen to yourself! This is not you, Steve. Try to break free of Loki's spell"

She cupped his face before she kissed him on lips. She could feel that he resisted and tried to break away from her. She deepened the kissed until he gave up and returned it to her. She broke off but then she saw angriness in his eyes.

"Don't fucking touch me again" He growled "And stay away from me"

Natasha was really hurt but she didn't display anything on her face. She just simply walked out the room and saw her teammates waiting for her, concern filling their faces.

"Natasha…" Tony tried to say something but couldn't find the right words.

"I'm okay, Stark"

"Loki poisoned his mind. That was surely not Steve" Bruce reminded.

"Steve would never do that to you, Tasha" Clint tried to reassure her.

"Whatever spell my brother casted on him, I will make sure it's gone" Thor vowed and walked towards the elevator. "I will speak to him"

"Loki! Release the captain from your spell at once!" Thor shouted as he stormed into the dungeon.

The mad god was sitting in his cell, looking up at his brother.

"I cannot do that, Thor" Loki simply replied "Every spell has its own remedy and this spell is the most complicated of them all"

"I do not believe that, Loki"

"Whatever you say, dearest brother" Loki retorted "The spy and the soldier have to find their way back by themselves or else… we all have ourselves front row seats to the greatest entertainment in the nine realms"

"Do you mean to shatter this team, brother?"

"No, that was never my intention, Thor." Loki said, a wicked grin appeared "This time it was simpler, just to shatter the spy"

"You seek revenge on Lady Natasha, why?"

"Last time she played me like a child"

Thor couldn't bear to listen to his insane brother anymore. The god turned around and walked to the elevator.

"I must warn you brother." Loki spoke up "The spell will get stronger and stronger with each passing day"

Everyone''s body reaction about Loki was different but one feeling that rippled throughout the team was they uncomfortable feeling knowing that the psychopath god was under the same roof as them.

Nobody wanted to visit Loki except Thor and Darcy. Jane still didn't trust the god of mischief as he lied to them once again. Clint and Dr. Selving had the same reaction. They were afraid of Loki and tried to stay away from his cell as much as possible. Bruce sealed himself in the labs and medical bay.

Tony wore his Iron Man armor all day just in case he were to be thrown out of his building again.

But Natasha was the worst.

She couldn't sleep, as nightmares kept haunting her and without Steve to help repel them, she couldn't close her eyes. Loki had left some mental damage from their last encounter. A damage that Natasha thought was long gone.

But it was still fresh and new, this time it was like putting salt into a fresh wound.

Natasha kept visiting Steve everyday despite everyone's disapproval especially Bruce and Clint. Every time she came back from Steve's detention cell, she was never the same Natasha as the one that went in. Steve (under the spell of Loki) somehow broke Natasha, mentally and physically.

Every time, he unloaded a verbal assault on her or he would try to hurt her with his fists, but Thor and Iron Man intervened just in time, before he could really harm Natasha.

"You should stop, Nat" Clint expressed his concern. "He will kill you and he will not feel a damn thing"

"Loki really intends to take his revenge on me" She said bitterly "I am the one who put Steve into this mess"

"Don't you dare blame yourself, Tasha" The archer replied "That psychopath is the only one to blame, not you or Steve"

"You know I'm the only one that can bring him back"

"No, Nat. don't do this to yourself. He is not Steve Rogers anymore. This is a monster, Tasha! Look at him!"

"I have to save him, Clint even if it means I have to die"

AN:

- Please kindly leave a review :)

- Thank you to my proofreader, CAMILLE JONES and GSMemorial18!