The Fall Of The Phoenix (Marvel/The Avengers)

Chapter 8 - Playing Games

For the next hour or so I made myself busy while Loki made a few idle comments. I had actually almost finished the gun, more or less. It wasn't as powerful as I wanted just yet, but I was getting there and it would work. Despite Loki's frequent distractions I managed to get a lot done in the last 24 hours or however long it had been. I now sat at my computer typing away.

In Norse mythology, Loki was the god of lies and mischief. That would easily make him the best liar on this boat and although I wasn't bad at lying in fact I was quite good at façades and deceptions, I knew someone even better.

While Loki thought I was typing out equations I was actually messaging Nat and figuring out a plan. We waited for a bit not wanting him to get too suspicious before she entered the room.

"Lex, Stark and Banner need you." Nat announced as she walked into the room. "I'll watch him while you're gone." She nodded over to the Asgardian.

"Alright." I agreed as I closed the doors to my lab yet again. "Friendly warning... he doesn't shut up." I threw him a smirk that he almost rolled his eyes at before taking my leave.

In the corridor there was another door to the left of the one that led to Loki's cage. Behind it was a small observatory room. He wouldn't be able to see or hear me, but I could him. I picked up an earpiece Nat had left in the room for me and put it on so that I could speak to her if need be.

Nat and Loki stood, staring each other down. "I want to know what you've done with Agent Barton." Nat stated.

"I would say I've expanded his mind."

"And once you've won, once you're king of the mountain, what happens to his mind?" In truth, Nat and I weren't using lies to get to Loki. She wanted to know as much as I did what would happen to Clint.

"Is this love Agent Romanoff?" Loki teased.

"Shut that down." I said quickly to Nat through the earpiece. Loki wasn't one for love and probably wouldn't respond well to it, if this was going to work it would have to be through some other form of loyalty.

"Love is for children. I owe him a debt." Nat said calmly.

Loki walked backwards until he reached the bench behind him and sat down. "Tell me."

"Before I worked for S.H.I.E.L.D... I... Well, I made a name for myself. I have a very specific skill set. I didn't care who I used it for, or on. I got on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s radar in a bad way. Agent Barton was sent to kill me. He made a different call." She explained in a gentle voice.

"And what will you do if I vow to spare him?"

"Not let you out." She said back.

"Oh no, but I like this. Your world in the balance, and you bargain for one man."

"Regimes fall every day." She said, looking him in the eye from across the cage. "I tend not to weep over that. I'm Russian." She stated causing me to smile a little. "Or I was."

"And what are you now?" Loki asked.

"It's really not that complicated." Nat said, standing up straight. "I got red in my ledger, I'd like to wipe it out."

"Can you? Can you wipe out that much red? Dreykov's daughter, Sao Paulo, the hospital fire?" Loki began to list out some of Nat's past crimes. "Barton told me everything. Your ledger is dripping. It's gushing red and you think saving a man no more virtuous than yourself will change anything." Loki had risen from his bench and was walking towards her again, his voice growing sterner and harsher. "This is the basest sentimentality. This is a child at prayer. Pathetic!" He declared. "You lie and kill in the service of liars and killers. You pretend to be separate, to have your own code, something that makes up for the horrors. But they are part of you and they will never go away." Loki's fist suddenly slammed on the glass and Nat jumped back a little in surprise, it was a good thing I had turned the cage off auto or else he'd be falling by now. "I won't touch Barton, not until I make him kill you. Slowly, intimately, in every way he knows you fear. And then he'll wake just long enough to see his good work," Nat turned her back, her head hanging low, "and when he screams, I'll split his skull! This is my bargain, you mewling quim!" He finished cruelly.