Chapter 28
He dreamed, and in his dream there was a man.
He wasn´t supposed to dream. He hadn´t really slept since he entered S.H.I.E.L.D.
But he was. The man stared at him with a burning star in his face, and it took all he had not to cower. He had nothing to hide.
Eventually, the man tore his burning gaze from Loki and the mood of the dream lightened more and more until it was just the dullness of thought Loki was used to while on his resting trance.
Someone was shaking him, and he stiffened until he reasoned that whoever it was was trying to wake him up instead of killing him when he was vulnerable. He relaxed somewhat, and his senses started coming back.
The first thing he heard was Thor´s voice urging him to move.
"What in the name of... What´s happening?" He demanded, shaking off Thor´s hand. The god looked back as if wondering whether he´d been followed.
"Steve´s talking to the Director." He informed.
"Amazing. Now goodbye, I heard I´m in for a pretty interesting test tomorrow and I´d like to rest." He tried turning his back to him, but Thor held him still. "What?"
"We found the Chitauri base. Steve´s trying to convince the Director to launch an attack to rescue our friend Clint. In case he denies him, my duty is to get you out."
"Hawkeye let himself get caught?" Loki arched an eyebrow in disbelief.
"He went in alone."
"... Really, where´s this incredible wisdom you see in these mortals, Thor?"
"Not now, Loki..."
"Have you idiotic bunch got a plan yet?"
"We enter the burrow, kill those in our way, and reach our friend Clint before killing the rest of them." Thor grumbled without taking his eyes off the door.
"I´m going to take a wild guess here and say it was your plan, am I right?"
"If you think you´ve got a better idea, keep it to yourself because frankly, your magnificent plans are the cause of every single problem we have right now."
"That´s hurtful."
"Not as hurtful as the organization if we get caught while breaking you out so help me watch out for the signal."
--
"Sir?"
"What part of `no´ did you not get, Rogers?" Fury looked back at his reports, frowning.
"Sir, what we have here is a unique chance. We can recover Clint and wipe out this menace before they get their chance to strike!" Steve tried again.
"The councilmen want their prisoner, and that´s not up for discussion."
"Nick, you shot down a plane because you didn´t like their orders." Tony grinned his most charming smile. Of course he knew it would just irritate Fury further, but he couldn´t help himself.
"That involved a whole city of innocents wiped off the map. This involves you giving me the coordinates and me directing a non-destructive operation. You want to blow up a whole block." He answered through clenched teeth, prompting the two men at the other side of his desk to start talking over each other.
"We want our teammate safe!" Steve´s voice raised. "He could be considered useless by the time you choose to act!"
"You just want to run more tests on my hot piece of ass." Tony wanted to cackle madly when Fury´s face paled and then purpled.
"Listen here, Stark. If that nutcase of a fucker ever gets out, I don´t want you anywhere near him. Understood?"
Tony´s grin grew wider.
"Right. Away from Loki. Filed. Just to be sure, though, how will you know that model I take to my car show is not him? Or that secretary at the tower that everyone knows I occasionally sleep with? "
Steve looked at Tony with a disbelieving expression, and the other man shrugged.
"Well he can´t do it now, but his magic will be back at some point, right?" He pulled another smile, making Steve laugh. Across them, Fury trembled in rage.
"Stark..."
"Thing is, Nick... It´s none of your business, and that´s something you just can´t stand."
"I can and I will keep him here if I have to. He´s a danger to this planet, to others and probably even to himself, I don´t really give a damn."
"He hasn´t moved a finger to cause trouble since he landed here." Tony argued. "Unless you count the birds and Steve´s hair but I don´t because the first one was some kind of courting, I´m sure."
"Do you even think before you speak?" Steve slapped his shoulder, rolling his eyes.
"Sometimes." He crossed his arms and returned his attention to Fury. "Your deal was preventive imprisonment disguised as in-base protection. If we ice the fuckers you won´t have a valid reason to keep him and trust me when I say you won´t get away with it for long. Better to let him walk away now."
"Sir, as much as I might not like Loki either, Tony´s right. Besides, as someone who has been involved with our enemy before, we could use his help in our attack..."
"Rogers, that rat brought the bastards here. I wouldn´t trust him to guide you down there for a second."
--
Both gods tensed as the door opened for the second time. Thor gripped Mjölnir, and Loki reached for the power Thor´s presence gave him. However, it was just Bruce at the threshold. Thor lowered the hammer.
"How are they faring?" He asked.
Bruce shook his head, and passed them a small speaker through which three voices could be heard. He then proceeded to pace around the cell, inspecting it with the same interest the aliens showed for the speaker.
"You know? If this was furnished a bit more comfortably, I´d move in a pinch."
"That´s one of the many, many differences between us, Banner."
Thor hushed them, bringing the speaker closer to his ear.
"We won´t have much time." He grunted. "We´ll have to take action as soon as the final word is said, I have no doubt the Director will want to check on you himself, to make sure we didn´t..."
"Can you text them, Banner?" Loki cut him. Bruce frowned.
"I can. Why?"
Loki smiled.
--
"I insist..." Steve´s reply was cut short by Tony´s pocket blaring up. He stared in disbelief. "Really? Right now?"
Tony pulled a not-really-apologetic smile, and checked the phone´s screen.
"It´s from the tower´s medical staff." He patted Steve´s arm hurriedly. "Natasha woke up." He hopped to his feet, quickly followed by the other.
"We´ve got to go, sir." The soldier muttered as Tony headed for the door without a single look back. Fury nodded.
"Have Romanoff give me a call when she´s feeling better." He instructed. "And Rogers..." He added in a firmer voice, waiting until Steve turned on his heels to faces him. "Stay away from that hole. I won´t risk it losing anyone else."
Steve tightened his fists at his sides. "Yes sir."
Fury waited until the footsteps had faded a little before tapping on his desk´s intercom.
"Make sure they leave with no detours."
--
Steve tried not looking tense as they left, wondering whether the time they had provided would be enough for Thor and Bruce to take Loki out or if they should´ve caused another distraction. Tony looked busily at his phone even as they walked, so Steve refrained from asking until they had left the building.
"How´s Natasha?"
"Probably dreaming of me, but don´t tell her I said that."
"What?" He asked, freezing on the spot. The grin he received in response made him groan.
"Don´t worry. She´ll be back up and kicking in no time at all."
"... What´s going on?"
"It seems we overlooked a crucial fact when we planned this outbreak."
"Which was..."
"Someone just doesn´t give a fuck anymore." Tony declared with a smile, and if he was way prouder than he should´ve, he counted it as a part of their amazing, successful outbreak.
--
Everything hurt.
She tried turning, as her senses kickstarted along with her headache. She couldn´t move. She fought to open her eyes, and found herself in too much pain to do so. She was scared. She hadn´t been this scared in a long time. No matter what situation she found herself in, she had always been certain of her ability to get out by herself. Now it all seemed to indicate this wasn´t the case.
Her sudden intake of deeper breaths
So she paid attention to the voices.
"She´s frowning. Is she in pain or something?"
Not good, looking so weak in front of her team leader. (She frowned all the time. How did he know which meant what?)
"Should I get someone to bring her painkillers?"
That damned, idiotic genius. He´d never let her live this down. (He was probably talking to one of the top class medics he´d hired for her.)
"Let the man do his job, Tony."
No that was a poor decision. WHo´d let Bruce into a small, crowded medical room? (At least no one would try and play smart with the Hulk´s menace pending over them.)
"Don´t worry, friends. My brother knows his spells." Shit. If there was something worse than showing your leader just how weak you were, that was showing it to the warrior alien prince. Had he mentioned his brother? She tensed. (Except she didn´t, because she could almost see Thor´s broad hand on Loki´s shoulder, a warning and a reminder.)
Her breathing evened.
She was safe.
And then, just like that, the pain was gone.
She blinked a couple of times as her eyesight blurred and finally focused.
Her teammates stood around her bed, looking down at her. She recognized the weight on her forehead to be a hand, but it was gone before she could shake it off herself. Then Loki appeared in her visual range.
"I need to check if you brain came out unscathed." He said.
She nodded, she recognized the procedure.
"My name is Natasha Romanoff. My codename is the Black Widow, and the last thing I remember is entering an enemy base to aid my partner." She rubbed her forehead with two fingers, frowning once again. "I am currently at the medical wing of the Avengers Tower, these men are my team. Your name is Loki Laufeyson, and I wish Banner would´ve killed you back when you were still expendable." She finished.
Loki´s mouth twitched upwards.
"I take it I´m not as expendable now, agent Romanoff?"
She allowed herself a half smirk. Hell, she´d just come back from a coma, she could ease off a little.
"You help us getting Clint out, and I might reconsider your status."
Her words seemed to hit her teammates like a wave. Most frowned and looked down or away, but Steve gently eased a hand on top of hers, tensed as if prepared to pull it back the moment she tried to bite it off.
"It´s been three days since you went in. Thor and I tried a recon yesterday, but we didn´t find him." He started. "I guess I don´t have to tell you of all people to not let your hopes get too high?"
She stared back, unblinking. "I´m going to bring Clint back. Dead or alive." She clenched her teeth at the quiet snicker Loki let out.
"I take it the ledgers are still dripping red?" he asked, and didn´t budge when met with her glare. After a while, though, he smirked again. "You´d be wise to take a small rest... We might make your threat effective soon." he muttered, walking out without another look back.
Natasha stared after him for a second, before shaking her head a bit. "I don´t owe your brother anything." She declared, more to herself than to Thor.
The god, however, grinned. "Of course you don´t. And don´t ever let him tell you otherwise, it brings a lot of trouble."
She nodded absentmindedly. "When are we leaving?"
"As soon as you get stable enough. Tonight, if we can pull it. We want to catch them off guard." Steve explained. "We´ll let you rest now. We´ll be back later with your equipment."
He stood up, and the rest followed.
She tried to stop the words before they escaped her lips, but she couldn´t help it.
"Thank you." She whispered to their backs. At first she thought they hadn´t heard, thank god, but then Tony sped up, Steve rubbed his nape, Bruce stopped walking for a second, and Thor actually sent a small, bright smile her way over his shoulder.
She couldn´t help the smile that came to her lips, either, or the sigh after the door closed.
She was getting soft... Those fools would be the death of her.
--
"I must admit... I had really begun to think you had given up on me." Loki sipped on the cold liquor he didn´t even know he´d missed until now, and smiled when the footsteps turned to his location. "I had forgotten that self-destructive habit of yours." He added when two calloused hands wrapped themselves across his chest, and a bearded chin came to rest against his nape.
"You have Pepper to thank for my gracious return to your waiting arms." Tony grinned to himself when the muscled shoulders under his arms stiffened. "Jealous, Loks? Careful, I might like that." He sighed. "I told her I didn´t see the case in going to see you. You were going to die soon, after all."
"Unhand me."
"But then she asked me something."
"Stark..." Loki started, but cut himself when a single kiss landed behind his ear.
"What if you didn´t die?" Tony whispered against his skin.
Loki swallowed.
"What if that´s the case?"
The silence seemed to stretch forever, as if it was afraid of parting for the speech´s last words.
"Then whatever this is..."
"It´s probably nothing." Loki interrupted him harshly.
"I know." Tony replied, paying no mind. "And if you die tonight, then I´ll move on and go on sleeping around with super models in two months tops."
"Nice." They both allowed the little lie. One, because he had to keep some of his pride, and the other because of the warm feeling that came with knowing the falsity of the words.
"But if you don´t." The hands tightened. "Then this nothing might turn into something."
Tony waited for an answer, but the god stayed silent, ethereal under the sunset´s lightening.
He cleared his throat. "I´m not saying I know what something is, I mean, the one time I tried it didn´t work out, but maybe-" And he cut his rant when a cold, bony hand went to rest on top of his wrapped fingers.
He exhaled long and slow, trying to ease out the tension he felt. And he allowed himself to crumble with his forehead against the luscious black locks.
The hand over his tightened its grip.
And they said nothing else.