Stained (N.R)

Chapter 1

"I'll need you to come to the co-ordinates I sent you." Tony actually sounded serious for once. "I need you to get anything you can out of Loki, he knows something about S.H.I.E.L.D that we don't. And we need to know."

I furrowed my brow. "You better explain my presence before I get shot, Stark."

"I've told them I'm sending over my personal super hero that came back from the dead, so you better not fail me." He was toying with some kind of machinery on the other side of the phone, and I tried to pick up the whirling of the machine.

"Since when did you need help with science, Stark." I drew out a pure white card from midair, throwing it in front of me. In a flash, a giant metallic falcon appeared in front of me. I climbed on to its back and it took off into the night sky, as I gave it the co-ordinates of Tony's location. 

"Since when science involved getting dirty," He growled, "How long do you need." 

After drawing my protective runes around me so I won't freeze or die of the lack of oxygen in midair, I drew a rune on Jupiter's back, and his speed spiked again. "Give me half an hour."

When I arrived on the airship, I was instantly greeted with a weary Fury and a very, very excited Pluto. He leaped at me as soon as I shrank Jupiter back into a card. 

"Ms. Dreykov," He called out, his posture stiff as stone. "Welcome onboard."

"Please call me Katyusha, Director." I held out my hand and he shook it gingerly, as if shaking a bomb."I've been trying to replace that Surname for a long time, without any success. Not a lot of people wants to adopt a Dreykov these days."

He gave a hard smile that looked more like a frown. "I'll bring you to Stark's lab."

Pluto circled around my legs as I followed Fury into the compound, nearly making me trip and fall on my face multiple times. 

Fury dropped me off by the door of the lab, and Pluto charged in with an excited bark, leaping at Tony and scaring the hell out of a big guy with glasses who stood at work table at the back, who looked even more frightened after noticing me.

I paid him minimal attention. "Tell me where the Loki guy is so I can have this finished and done with. I have better things to do than waste my time on a psychotic higher being from another planet."

"Right," Tony waved me over to a hologram. "You see this room here, that's where you are heading."

 I glanced at the hologram, drawing a rune of anonymity around myself. "I'll be back in a mo."

The room I entered was large. It was mainly composited of cold iron stairs, a control panel on a dais, and a fancy cage of glass and steel, dangling in the air upheld by a upwards current. As I approached, I heard two voices. One was very familiar, and made my heart to a double flip.The other, was the voice of my target.

"Is this love, Agent Romanoff?" The voice reminded me of a serpent, powerful and sly, drawing its prey into traps willingly, without a second thought.

"Love is for children. I owe him a debt." Years of separation, and her voice was deeper than I remembered. It was still calm, and near emotionless, but there was something that changed, she was more relaxed than she was in the Red Room, more confident also. It was a good change. 

At least.... Being free made her happy...

"Tell me." Loki stepped back and took a seat in his high tech cage, raising his hands for Natalia to begin. 

I watched with interest. It was a spar between a serpent and a panther, lethal as each other, testing their boundaries before they strike.

It was Natalia who gave in first, she blinked, hesitating, then pursing her lips. Finally, under Loki's almost mocking gaze, she sat warily, on guard but tired, and began. "Before I worked for S.H.I.E.L.D....I...."

She deliberated with her words, choosing them carefully. "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."

Loki gave out a soft chuckle, "And what will you do if I vow to spare him?"

Natalia raised an eyebrow. "Not let you out."

"No," Loki leaded forward excited, "But I like this."

I frowned. This Loki, his eyes...I knew that look, it was a look that the serpent gives before he strike, and I hesitated if I should go closer. On one hand, there is no doubt I will be found out, but on the other, Natalia.... She is dealing with a psychopath that does not play by the rules at all. 

"Your world in the balance, and you bargain for one man."

"Regimes fall everyday," Natalia said coldly. "I tend not to weep over that. I'm Russian, or I was."

"And what are you now."

I drew a rune in front of me, pulling Diana's card out of thin air, twirling it along my fingers. If I strike now, nobody will know. I could kidnap her and take her away. I would get to know why she did all those things, and I could even keep her as my own...

"It's really not that complicated." Natalia stood, walking closer to the cage, regaining her composure. "I got red in my ledger, I'd like to wipe it out."

I bit down on my bottom lip, my eyes trained on the red haired woman, ready to summon Diana at a moments notice.

"Can you?" Loki's question seemed to stun her, her facial expression didn't change at all, but her right finger twitched sightly.

"Can you wipe out that much red?" He pressed on, coiling tighter around her. "Dreykov's daughters."

Natalia stiffened, her eyes turning blank and emotionless. 

"St Paulo, the hospital fire? " Loki stood, taking time to enjoy his victory over his dazed prey. "That little mute who liked to yap around your heels, who looked up to you like one does a god and stole bandages for you after your training sessions? The one you blew up without a second thought. What was her name? Katyusha Dreykov?"

That seemed to have hit the mark for both of us. Natalia gasped and shrank back and I growled, my nails digging deep into my palm. Fortunately, both were too focused in their thoughts to notice me.

"Barton told me everything." Loki continued. "Your ledger is dripping. It's gushing red. And you think saving a man no more virtuous than yourself will change anything? This is the basest sentimentality, this is a child at prayer. Pathetic."

"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." He strode closer, banging on the glass and making Natalia jump.

"I won't touch Barton, not until I make him kill you, or better, if there is a way to revive the dead, even only temporarily.... What will Katyusha Dreykov do to you? Will she call you Natalia again, like she had done before? Or will you be called murderer, traitor? She will have her revenge, and it will be slow, intimate. Perhaps I'll try and dig around for her dead body. I have heard of someone who can turn inanimate objects alive. Perhaps little Dreykov can have a new soul. And after your death, I will drag her soul across the plains of hell. This is my bargain, you...."

"Leave the sane alone Loki." I cursed myself in my head as I strode towards Natalia, trembling and gasping for breath, her lips were pale as she shivered. 

"Do bargaining with your own kind." I spread my hands out to him, staring him in the eyes. "Winner takes all."