Outlaw

Chapter 9: Rising Inaction

"You care about me that much, Romanoff? Wow, I'm touched. Maybe you take me up on that dinner offer after this is all done?", he replied with a teasing smile. "That wasn't what I meant, and you know it, Cowboy. Just hold still and let me finish with this...", she calmly fired back as she resumed tending to his bruises, Darren feeling sure that he'd seen her barely hide a smirk just then.

While applying some kind of salve to numb the pain and accelerate the healing, Natasha looked up to find her face inches away from Darren's, seeing his stormy gray eyes looking into her emerald orbs. "Hey.", he said quietly, before starting to lean in. Before he could get in any closer, The Russian pulled away.

"What's the matter?", he asked curiously with raised brows. She shook her head, resuming her work on his injuries. "Nothing, I just think we shouldn't worry about anything like that right now...", she said dismissively.

"Nat, c'mon, it's not like we haven't been heading this way already.", he tried again, trying to lighten the mood. This only seemed to bother her more. "Darren, I just can't right now... Okay?", she said a bit more directly, which didn't lessen his concern, but he nodded in acceptance anyway. "Okay... maybe later then.", he responded, with a softer smile this time, which Natasha partially returned

They finished patching Darren up, he put a black T-shirt on over his bandages, and they went back out to join the others...

[Helicarrier Command Deck]

They came out to the table everyone else was sitting around the large central table while Fury was in the detention level interrogating Loki, which could be seen on the monitors at every seat.

Tony and Thor gave Darren a slightly longer look as he entered, evidently from not having seen him without his hood before now. Banner and Rogers of course had already seen it when they all first arrived.

"...You get how that works? Ant... Boot.", Fury chided the god from the other side of the reinforced glass. "It's an impressive cage. But not built, I think... for me.", Loki jokingly responded, "Something much stronger, in fact. Specifically a mindless beast, making play that he's still a man." As he said this 'subtle' reference to Bruce, Loki walked toward the camera, as if to look at whoever was on the other side.

"How desperate are you, calling such lost creatures to your defense?", the Asgardian added mockingly. "How desperate am I? You're threatening my world with war, possessing a power you have no hope to control, you talk about peace, and kill because it's fun. You have made me very desperate. And you may come to feel that was a mistake.", Fury shot back.

Loki still didn't look very moved, smirking once more. "Does it not burn you to have come so close? To have the Tesseract, have unlimited power... and for what? A warm light for all mankind to share.", he remarked, again looking to the camera with a wide taunting grin.

"...Only to be reminded what real power is.", he finished, to which Fury just scoffed and walked away. "Well, let me know if 'Real Power' wants a magazine or something...", he called back as he exited. Loki just turned back to the camera once more, walking slowly toward it, before the feed cut out for the rest viewing it on the command deck.

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?", Banner anxiously joked. "That's one way to put it...", Darren replied dryly.

"Loki's gonna drag this out, so... Thor, what's his play?", Steve asked the god, standing a short distance away from the table. "He has an army, known as the Chitauri. They are not of Asgard, nor any world known. He means to lead them against your people, and they will win him the Earth, in return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."

"An army. From outer space...", Steve repeated, looking at the others as if to see how insane it sounded to the rest of them. Natasha looked down, off into space, as Darren just shrugged.