Pinned down
She was thrown to the side, with inhuman force, and landed on the floor, in a perfect spot to watch that enormous metal beam fall on top of the person that had pushed away from harm.
“Loki!”
But it's too late for Loki, too late for anything, for moving away, for magicking himself away, for making the beam disappear or transporting it some place. Now Natasha could see as the heavy metal fell across Loki's chest, only a tinge of instinctive magic keeping it from sinking down further and cutting the man in half. Still, it had made a decent dent on his rib cage, and Loki was suffering, and all Natasha could do was watch.
For a split second, she was frozen, trying to process what had happened. A moment ago, she was canvasing an old warehouse with Loki, making sure that there were no bad guys in it, joking (as they did) about their team mates and their lack of patience at being tricked. Nothing had been wrong and nothing should have been wrong and would have been wrong if it wasn't for mother's nature making things difficult for them.
They had known that this was an area with a lot of sismic activity, but no tremors had been warned. Of course, a lot of unexpected things had happened lately, so maybe they should have been prepared. But they weren't and then the earth started shaking, and as they were trying to find a safe place to wait out the earthquake a whole ton of metal had fallen in her partner's chest.
Loki, who a mere seconds ago had been his well groomed, well presented self, a look of confidence in his features, was now covered in dust from the quake, bits of wood and debris on his hair, and oh, good, he was coughing up blood. Probably a punctured lung, if it wasn't collapsed all the way. The confident look was now replaced with fear and pain and something.... beseeching. A cry for help.
And Natasha felt horrible, because despite her varied set of skills, she was helpless to move that bean and stop it from crushing Loki's chest. Steve maybe would have been able to do it, and Stark most probably with his suit, or maybe Bucky with his metal arm. Even that Spider kid had super strength, but her, for all her abilities and skills to get out of a bad situation, could do nothing.
She also felt horrible because she knew how it felt. She'd also been pinned down, helpless to move and knowing that the more time she spent there, the lower her chances at a happy ending would be. You had to add the horrible physical pain weighing down on you and the crushing force of gravity to the frustration of trying to get yourself out and not being able to. And getting weaker every second and knowing that you were getting weaker and not being able to do anything....
Natasha tried all her comms and all her super secret distress signals, and hoped that somebody had seen something, that somebody was coming. They had a lot of allies, surely somebody must have known that they were there, when the quake happened. Now it was a waiting game, but Natasha really didn't know how much time they had. She could see the beam getting lower, however slightly, every second that passed. It was only Loki's willpower and magic that was keeping him alive and keeping that beam from slicing him in two, and they both knew that the moment Loki passed out he would be done for.
A silent tear fell into the floor from Loki's eye, creating a spot in the debris. The abject fear from before was gone from Loki's eyes, and had been replaced by something far more... final. A look of resignation. Natasha, who had holding herself together so far, broke a tiny little bit upon seeing that. If he thought he was dying.... what hope could there be?
“La...lady Romanoff.” Came a very low, rapsy wheeze of a voice. “You have to tell...”
“No. We are not doing deathly wishes Loki, I will not tell your brother that you love him, I will not tell anyone to forgive you. You will tell them yourself if you want to.”
And so she took one of Loki's pale hands, so terribly white under all the rubble, squeezed it tightly and went closer to say something important.
“Help is coming. They will arrive on time.”
Loki managed a sad smile, but she could tell he didn't believe her. Damn it. She had lost partners before, she had seen people she cared about die... But one could never get used to it, specially when they had such expressive eyes. She hadn't thought Loki would ever qualify as someone she cared about, but he had wormed his way into her heart, little by little.
She tricked him first, and he tricked her back, some time later. Then it became a kind of competition, seeing the other's limits, figuring out what was the lie, what a carefully put piece of truth so that a bit of manipulation could work. They both shared some strategies, despite their differences. Letting people underestimate them. Using their good looks with nefarious intentions. Making people talk themselves into trouble, speak their best kept secrets without realising it. They were things they enjoyed.
And besides, Natasha had also started in the opposite side, and she knew how it was. When no one trusted you and looked down on you for what you used to be. The dirty looks, the fear in some people who were supposed to be with you. It could be rough, and Loki was a more sensitive soul than she had been, so she knew it hurt him, all the bad comments and mean messages from other agents and operatives. Idiots.
Loki was a great asset, and bullying him would only move he god further away from them. And also... Loki could be a nice guy, in his own strange self-involved bitter way. He was great with ironies (one of the few who could shut up and outdo Stark) and he was strangely loyal to those he considered underdogs, people he considered hadn't been sufficiently appreciated, like him. Like Nebula. Like Wanda. Younger siblings all, never the face of any group. But important, and powerful.
“Help is coming.” Natasha repeated, like a mantra. She kept looking at the doors, hoping for a saviour.
But she too, was starting to lose faith. They would find them, and she'd be okay, but Loki's strength was fading, running out. The area around the beam was covered in blood now, as it had broken the skin. Natasha squeezed Loki's hand tighter, willing him to fight. For himself, for her, for anything.
“You can't leave me.” His eyes were losing focus... “Look at me! Loki, I need you! You have to hold on.”
Natasha focusedon the green of Loki's eyes, as if there was nothing else in the world.The blood had made its way down Loki's leather and was now falling to the floor, slowly, silently. The god was blinking rapidly and coughed up even more blood. There wasn't much time left, and they had only themselves and their misery.
No, it couldn't end like this. Natasha went into her headfiles (what she had collected in her head) of the guy and thought of something to comfort him in those (hopefully not) last moments. What did Loki want more than anything? To be loved, to be appreciated and liked like Thor was. To be the name people cheered.
“You need to hold on, you hear me? You're too great to go like this. A god of magic and chaos, one of the most powerful people I have ever met, you know you can do this, and I know it too. And I know that when you get out of here you will continue to dazzle us with all feats of... greatness and strength and power and everyone will see, like I do, how imponent Loki is.”
Through his tears and the blood covering half his face, Loki smiled, a small smile, but genuine.
He mouthed a deaf thank you in her direction and grimaced. He couldn't hold on any longer, the pain was too much, the force on him was too much and his strength was gone. At least his last moment had been pleasant, despite the agony from the beam in his chest. He would perish with the Widow's kind words in his ears, and a soft smile in his lips.
“Loki, no! Don't you dare close your eyes!”
And then, a tiny little miracle. An ant sized man who became man sized, and then giant sized to be able to pick up and throw away the beam in a second.
“Lang! I have never been so glad to see you!” Natasha breathed, when the size changer became normal again.
“I just hope I was here in time.” Lang breathed, a bit woozy from so many changes. They both knelt down next to the now unconscious Loki, looking for any signs of life.
His breathing sounded horrible, but it was there, and so was his heartbeat, irregular and slow, but there. Natasha smiled, breathed, and nearly hugged Lang. It had been a very close call, and had made her realise that she appreciated Loki more than she made herself believe. Lang picked up Loki in his arms, and they left for some much needed medical care.
Loki was left with a scar from where the beam had cut the flesh and sometimes he had breathing difficulties. Natasha had many scars of her own, so this made her feel, in a way, closer to Loki. She became weirdly protective, too, and even though Loki was more powerful than her, he let her. It was sweet, and Loki had lacked that for a lot of his life. They looked out for each other after that incident.
Sometimes, when Loki was having a low moment, he would remember Natasha's words. I'm imponent, he would think, I'm all greatness. They both were.
And the were very damn hard to kill.