A/N: Sorry for the delay! Again... ;) Didn't think it would take this long to update - tempus fugit, ugh. But at least it wasn't several months! And we're back to our regularly sized chapters here. Thank you to my readers and reviewers, you guys are awesome. Sorry if I don't get around to responding to all your reviews but I read every single one. :)

But anyway, hope you enjoy. ^^

Hollow Skies - Chapter 13

Loki's entire body seized up at the revelation. No! It's impossible! But how could the agent have known those words? The very words and pleas that had been spoken on that fateful day, when Stark allowed him out of his personal hel and into the light? He had begged him then, to stay with him, to let him out- How can he know?

It was impossible. Wasn't it? His eyes...

Loki yelped when he was once again thrown to the ground - this time with the mortal's tight grip around his collar - as a pair of metal cuffs were fastened around his wrists behind his back.

Still stricken with confusion and panic, Loki didn't resist, barely acknowledged the metal until it was already on him.

The man sat on Loki's back, suddenly, straddling him. He bent down again and whispered, "You think you can get away that easily, Jotun? Didn't you say you were mine? Your brother won't survive - you'll be mine again and we can watch him bleed together..."

He could hear the smile in the mortal's words, but he refused to believe them - or, at least, that Thor could ever be defeated - now that was impossible.

"Let's start with that lying tongue of yours, hm?" he said suddenly.

What-?

A knife was suddenly near Loki's face and he tried to jerk away.

"Nuh-uh. No moving. Wouldn't want to cut up your pretty face-" But Loki couldn't remain still. He knew what the mortal meant to do-

"No!" Loki screeched, trying to struggle.

"Be still!" he screamed into his ear causing Loki to freeze in fright. Eyes wide, he couldn't bring himself to defy, suddenly. Move, move, please move! He breathed in and out, so fast, in a panic. You don't have to listen to him. He's no one- no one to you! The knife neared, slowly, as if deliberately. "Now, open your mouth..."

Tears fell from Loki's eyes. He tried to shy away but he couldn't. He also couldn't bring himself to open his mouth, either.

"Now!" screamed the mortal and Loki complied, unable to stop himself opening his mouth.

No no no! Why are you listening? Just stop!

The metal touched the side of his mouth, he whimpered and jerked.

"Stay still..."

A popping noise nearby made Loki flinch, but the next moment the mortal let go of the knife just as he slumped heavily against Loki, pushing him to the floor.

What's happening- Did he change his mind?

"Fuck, Loki!" exclaimed a familiar voice. "I mean, uh...I really feel weird saying that word around you anymore..."

The weight of the - apparently now unconscious - agent suddenly lifted, just as Loki was turned over, somewhat carefully. "A-Agent Barton?" Loki stuttered, utter surprise engulfing him.

The mortal smirked. "Nice to see you remember me."

Loki continued staring, wide-eyed and confused. He looked to the man at his side, he was indeed asleep. "What-" He didn't finish his sentence as the floor shuddered. Thor...the Hulk... His eyes snapped back to Barton's. "Thor- where's Thor? What's happened? How did- what-?"

"Woah, woah, one thing at a time." He helped Loki sit up, then taking out a set of keys, he uncuffed the trembling god. "But first - because Thor would kill me if I didn't - you okay?" He returned to face Loki, leaning down on one knee, his expression one of slight worry - genuine. The god couldn't help but feel grateful.

Loki nodded quickly. He wasn't okay, of course, and he knew his falling tears no doubt gave it away, but he didn't care - he wanted to know where Thor was. "What is happening?" He wished his voice wouldn't shake pathetically but it couldn't be helped.

The archer sighed, looking about, then back at Loki. "The Hulk." Any other time and Loki might have rolled his eyes. "Which...you probably already guessed. Thor's fighting him, I guess you guessed that, too. No idea what the fuck is going on with everybody else, though."

Loki frowned. "W-what do you mean?" he asked, although he had his own ideas. Or, at least, an idea of what might have afflicted the agent.

"That guy," Barton nodded in the agent's direction. "I guess you noticed the eyes?" Loki nodded. "Tesseract, I'm guessing." Barton seemed to be waiting for some reaction from Loki but he continued anyway. "No idea how or why or whatever the hell other questions we should be asking but everyone has gone fucking nuts. A few blue-eyed agents just started attacking everyone else, and..."

"...What?"

"There's a lot more of them now than when this whole thing started."

Loki looked to the ground, trying to keep his mind from reeling, his breath from stuttering. "And...Thor?" Please no please no please-

"I don't know. He's fighting the Hulk, though. I guess...that's a good sign?"

There was no way to know. Green eyes met Barton's. "What are we to do?" Loki didn't say what he really wanted to, didn't want to ask the question that gnawed at his mind, because what if it became true? What if...could he, could Barton come under the influence of the Tesseract? Other questions flew passed. What did the Tesseract have to do with what had happened to Loki? How did the agent know? Was it just a coincidence, something unrelated to what was happening?

"Come on," Barton spoke as he stood up. "We can't stay here." At Loki's questioning look, he replied, "That guy there, he made a beeline for this room." Loki frowned. Barton snorted. "Thor asked me to look after you - more like ordered, but anyway." He made his way to the door and peeked out, then looked to Loki. "I saw you on the security cams. There really wasn't anyone on this level except you and Mister Frisky here." He walked to Loki and helped him stand. "You hurt?" Loki shook his head, uncertain what to say. "Okay. Let's get the hell outta here before somebody else with creepy eyes comes looking for you."

X - X

Indeed there were few people on this level, although the floor continued to shake indicating that a battle waged elsewhere, which no doubt occupied most of the helicarrier's residents. Barton had explained that he had no intention of killing any of the blue-eyed agents, unless absolutely necessary. The popping noise Loki had heard earlier was some sort of gun that rendered the agent unconscious instead of killing him. Loki was uncertain what to feel about that, except that it was probably prudent, if...if these people were indeed not in control of their actions.

Loki shivered.

"You okay?" Barton kept asking him that, Loki never knew how to answer. He nodded. "You know," they passed into another room, also empty, "I'm not sure if I ever believe you." He glanced back at Loki. "No offense."

"No..." responded the god. "I understand." No, he didn't. He truly didn't know how to answer the archer. Words frequently passed between them but Loki barely knew what to do with any of it.

Loki suddenly realized that he had been so long without contact with others that he didn't even know how to respond or react around them. Thor he was accustomed to, but others... What could he expect from them? What did they expect of him? Did they secretly hate him, want to hurt him, and if Thor wasn't around, would they act on those desires?

Barton had told Loki to stay behind him and to crouch down, try not to draw attention to them. Feeling vulnerable and ever more fearful with each step, Loki clasped the back of the agent's black vest, and, to Loki's relief, he didn't seem to mind. In fact, he seemed to prefer it, if only so that he would know where Loki was at all times while he looked out for other agents in each new room or corridor.

Loki had no idea where they were. The helicarrier seemed a labyrinth of corridors, rooms and labs, all unfamiliar and innumerable. What made it worse was that there was very little variation in architecture - he was having difficulty keeping track of where they were, which doors they had passed through. Still, he kept his head low and tried not to tremble too much as he kept one hand perpetually on the archer's back, hoping that Thor would soon return.

"I really can't take much more of this!" Tony shouted at the third unconscious agent that lay at his feet. He coughed and leaned against the wall by the door, wondering what the hell was going on.

Actually, he was also very surprised at how the hell he had beat his third SHIELD agent in a row. Not that he was a slouch when it came to fighting, but these guys - well, two men and one woman - were specifically trained for this sort of thing, and Tony didn't even have his suit.

Squinting, Tony noticed that the second agent's foot had somehow gotten caught in the door during the third scuffle. Well, what the hell... He moved toward it and, immediately, nearly fell back as two people crashed through the door as they fought each other.

"Holy shit-!" yelled Tony.

The two men, both dressed in SHIELD uniforms, wrestled with each other as if their lives depended on it.

"Mister Stark!" one of them yelled as he knocked the other down. "Get the hell out of here! They're out of contro-" The other punched him and their struggle continued.

Well, far be it for me to ignore an order... Not that SHIELD agents had any authority over him, even Fury didn't have that luxury.

Not knowing what the fuck was going on, or just who he should help - if he did - Tony stumbled out of the infirmary.

Now what? The corridor was in chaos. At least eight agents were fighting each other. Gunshots reverberated through the floor and walls, somewhere to his left. Scientists, agents, medical personnel, men, women- everyone! What in the name of Thor's dad is fucking happening here?!

Ducking under a stray kick from a female agent, Tony made his way down the corridor. The few that noticed him - and what is up with their eyes - he pushed away as quickly as possible and continued running down the hallway; he didn't have time for this.

He had one destination in mind, and only one thing he could think to do. Just hope it works.

"The helicarrier's server rooms are one level above this one," stated Barton. "Almost nobody goes there, and, well, if there's anyone there to attack us, they'll just be some computer nerds. Shouldn't be a problem." By Barton's light tone, Loki assumed he was attempting to assuage the god's fears; not to mention, Loki had no idea what a "nerd" or "server" was, although he assumed the latter might be some sort of servants' quarters.

Seeing several agents fighting in the corridor outside of the "office", Barton opted to take another route. He said something about not wanting to 'risk it' given that he had to look out for Loki. The god lowered his head, suddenly feeling like a burden.

"Hey," said Barton, glancing back a moment. "I'm not saying you're useless or anything." Except that's exactly what Loki was - a liability. "I'm just saying that all this might have something to do with you; I can't let them get their hands on you," he finished in a pragmatic tone.

Loki nodded but wasn't sure he believed him. Barton had also said that Thor would 'tear him a new one' if something happened to him, although Loki wasn't sure just what he was afraid Thor would tear, he understood his meaning.

The archer put a hand on Loki's shoulder, stopping them just shy of another closed door, tranquilizer gun ready. He looked back at Loki. "You know," he said, as if he wasn't sure he should speak his next words, as if they had just popped in his head, "you could have just twisted that guy's head off." Loki frowned, bemused. "I mean...not that I'm saying you should have. Just...you know, you could have." Loki still didn't understand. A small sigh escaped Barton. "The agent, the one that attacked you? You could've killed him, you know, really easily." Barton opened the door a crack, then quickly shut it, gritting his teeth in annoyance.

And suddenly, Loki understood. Killed him... Could he have? Loki shook his head, so confused, breath quickening. Could have...could have...killed him? He scrunched his eyes shut. No...no I-I couldn't-

"I'm not condoning it, of course," continued Barton, "just that...you don't have to be a doormat."

His voice was so far away; Loki's hand on the agent's vest felt numb. He felt dizzy - his mind, distant.

"...that Thor's not always gonna be there, you know? I'm not saying you should fight back, exactly, just that..." his voice trailed off into a low murmur in the back of Loki's mind.

No no no no... Words rushed back to him, echoes from memories he wished to bury, to forget. Nightmares, even when awake. No please. "...the second you step out of line, the door goes shut, and no more mister nice guy." There weren't any lights there. So dark. He couldn't pull himself away, couldn't stop- couldn't take himself away- get away! Blood everywhere and there was no one, no one for so long and dark, dark, dark, please don't make me!

"...Loki!" Barton's voice crashed in and Loki wrenched his eyes open. He breathed hard, in and out, so shallow and not enough- never enough. "I'm sorry-" breathed Barton. "Sorry, really, I didn't mean- damn..." murmured the archer. Loki suddenly noticed the two hands gripping his shoulders, the worried eyes of the man before him. "Seriously, just- sorry. I didn't mean it, okay?" Questioning eyes. Loki nodded absently, breath slowing. "You're okay...you're okay..." the archer repeated. "...right?" The two hands rubbed a little, meant to be comforting but they only served to unnerve Loki further. Seeing his reaction, Barton let go. He didn't turn away, though. "You don't have to do anything," he assured with worried tone. "Just," he turned around, "stay behind me. Don't let go. Understand?" Even the obvious order was softly spoken.

Loki nodded but Barton didn't seem to need to see it.

X - X

It turned out the "server rooms" were not what Loki was expecting. Tall metal casings with blinking buttons and other things he didn't recognize filled the rooms. Each one the same. The floor was a strange black rubbery substance and the ceiling was high.

There was, as Barton had predicted, no one here. Still, the archer walked methodically, from line to line, checking every corner. Loki followed, barely a step behind, both hands secured to the agent's back as they moved. Reaching the end of the vast room - the largest of the three, or so Loki assumed, unless there were more - Barton stopped. He looked around. "Fuck. Wish I had Stark here, he could-"

Loki whimpered and ducked his head, curling up against one of the long metal containers nearby.

"Oh," blurted out Barton. "Shit, sorry. I mean- you know what I mean." Loki looked around nervously, as if he could spot Stark around the corner. Of course, it was ridiculous, but still... "Sorry, man," mumbled the agent as he shifted awkwardly.

"W-what are we doing here?" Loki asked timidly, head still low.

"Uh, hiding, mostly. But I'm hoping to-" at his suddenly wide eyes, Loki followed the archer's gaze across the room.

Loki froze; then, Loki fainted.

A/N: I know, I know! I'm so mean with these cliffhangers. But hey, I'm already halfway through the next chapter so hopefully it won't be too long until the next update. Still, with the holidays and all I'm not sure when exactly I'll find the time to update. Until then, I hope you guys liked this chapter!