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The Avengers: Tainted Love	By : ParadoxdelaPaladino Category: Marvel Verse Movies > Avengers, The Views: 6390 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own the Fandom of Avengers or anything Marvel. I do not own the characters. I make no profit, money, etc. from it. I own nothing. :)

Chapter List
- 6
- 7
- 8
Disclaimer: I do not own the Fandom of Avengers or anything Marvel. I do not own the characters. I make no profit, money, etc. from it. I own nothing. :)

Author’s Note:

I guess it was pretty pointless in renaming “Russia” to the “Red Country,” but I guess at the time I was a little peeved that the Russian were the bad guys. Again. Oh well.

ABOUT THE POV

I just wanted to clear up any confusion on the POV’s. If you’ve read this far, this will not be a surprise but I felt like I should state it anyway.

When a scene does not involve Tony, then the POV is Third Person – which means that it’s like watching a movie. You get to see (or in this case, read) everything that happens, but you can’t hear any thoughts (which is Third Person Omnipotent).

However, when a scene involves Tony, then the POV shifts slightly to Third Person Limited, which means now you will read a scene from the same third person perspective, but you get the added bonus of Tony’s thoughts and feelings. The reason I did this is because Tony cannot be and is not in every scene. Furthermore, I did not want the reader to simply read Loki’s thoughts and feelings but discern them from his actions, facial expressions or Tony’s musings.

~*~

The loops and turns of his stomach slowly brought him to consciousness. He groaned as his head throbbed, feeling like someone cracked it open in order to make an omelet from his already scrambled brain. In hesitation, Tony Stark slowly opened his eyes. A quick scan of the room let him know that, he lay in his room as opposed to the clinically white furnishings of the hospital.

As he tried to sit up, a jolt of pain ran through him, alerting him to the various bruises dotting his physique. Usually, he shrugged off the pain, but a dull throbbing at his backside caught his attention. In quick flashes he remembered the invading army and the alien latching to his boosters before both of them crashed into a destroyed office building.

He felt the stirrings of desire course through him as he remembered cold calculating eyes draw him into their poisonous green depths. His mind had resisted but his body, intent on releasing pent up tension, had submitted. He had allowed the god to dominate him. Disgust pooled in the pit of his stomach and, as with all disturbing memories, he pushed this one into the darkest corner of his mind.

He distracted himself with the dull action of propping himself up by plush pillows; however, his body refused to deny the memory. He could feel his erection growing and decided to give in to the desire.

Just as he began sliding down a hand into the folds of the blanket, he heard the familiar sound of heels clicking against the marble floor and quickly removed it. He turned his gaze to the door and listened as the sounds grew louder, alerting him of Pepper’s proximity.

Moments later, she walked through the door and after spotting a conscious Tony, casually leaned back on the door frame with her arms crossed. Tony’s heart continued its rapid beating, like a teenager almost caught in a lewd act. Completely oblivious to her facial expression, he only noted her crossed-arms and assumed she had come to lecture him again.

“Pepper! How much did I drink last night? I feel like hell,” Tony feigned a yawn, waiting for the lecture to commence. Instead, Pepper took out a remote and clicked towards the window to Tony’s left. He turned his head only to realize that sunlight streaming in was only a hologram. In fact, his window had been shut by armor. His head snapped back to Pepper.

“Why are we in . . . lock-down mode?” Tony’s question trailed off as he took in Pepper’s appearance. She wore one of her usual suits except that the usually well-ironed folds were crinkled. Her eyes had a tint of red and her mouth was set in a grim line.

Before he had a chance to ask her what was going on, she held the controller and turned on the screen encompassing his entire wall. He slowly moved his eyes from her and began to watch the news.
“Yesterday was a day for all of us to remember,” the newscaster began. “The people we once considered our heroes began a vicious assault.”

As she continued to reiterate the events, footage of the Avengers began playing. He watched as Thor flew to the top of the Chrysler building, summoning lightening with Mjolnir. Moments later, the building became engulfed in electricity, traveling down through the building before destroying it as well as the surrounding area. Tony watched in shock as people chose to jump to their deaths rather than die in the fire. The image changed to show Natasha laughing as she unpinned grenades and hurled them into a building filled with screaming civilians.

“The viciousness of the attacks has shocked the nation.”

Again, the image changed to show Steve using his shield to decapitate some trapped civilians, while Clint stood on the other side of the city square and shot at them continuously, laughing as he watched them fall down.

“But all is not lost. Many still believe that Tony Stark is still on our side, although his whereabouts are still unknown.”

He had a hard time believing that the footage was not an elaborate hoax. Out of all of his teammates, next to the man with dual personalities, he always believed he would be the first to take the immoral path.

“The group called themselves ‘the Avengers.’ Many believe that they have planned this attack for a while and are comparing their actions to other malevolent terrorist groups.”

At the last comparison, Tony flinched. His time in the caves of Afghanistan played before his eyes and he suddenly felt sick. His hand went to his throat as if the wire that went down to his stomach was still in there. He remembered pulling it out inch by inch and almost vomited at the memory. For weeks he had lived in fear and upon his return to the States, he had blocked the memory.

Of all people, he knew what a real terrorist group was and the comparison made his blood boil. He shook his head free of the painful memories and concentrated on the task at hand; his frantic mind racing to put all the pieces together. He stopped his theories once the scene switched to Loki stabbing Natasha from behind. Moments later, a giant icicle impaled Steve and a giant cage of ice destroyed Thor.

“But thanks to our new leader,” the newscaster beamed. “They were vanquished and peace has been restored.”

He watched Loki speak to the crowd, but he no longer heard anything. His mind refused to accept what he had just seen.

“Off,” he spoke to the room in a whisper. Within a blink his wall went blank. He turned to look at Pepper and asked, “How long have I been asleep?”

“About a week.”

His eyes darted to Pepper’s in shock. He could not wrap his mind around the fact that one week could change his entire reality. He began to dig into his memories, trying to figure out how he ended up in his bed. The last thing he remembered was Loki smiling down at him.

“I found you on the beach,” Pepper answered, as if she could hear his inner thoughts.

“My suit?”

“Nowhere in sight.” Pepper sat down on the chair next to Tony’s bed. She turned to look at him with a forlorn expression. “Tony what are we supposed to do?”

“Has anyone contacted you?”

“No,” She shook her head, knowing who he meant. “I haven’t heard from Fury and that monster has been controlling everything,” she gritted out, tearing up from both fear and frustration. “I didn’t know what to do so I had Jarvis put your mansion on lock-down.” She had never felt so helpless.

Tony sat there, running scenarios through his mind until his eyes lit up.

“I have an idea,” he announced as he stood up. “I’m going down to my lab. There’s something I need to build. Then I’m going to visit our new king,”

Pepper looked up with a glint of hope. “How do you even know where he is?”

“He’s just conquered the world. There’s only one place he’d go to make sure it stays that way,” he announced with a grin before he walked out the door, grabbing his pants on the way out.

As soon as he reached his lab, he turned on all the monitors and did what he did best – extract information. He logged into S.H.I.E.L.D.’s data frame and began to search for the schematics he saw Bruce working on at S.H.I.E.L.D.’s lab. He then copied the files onto his computer and began to create a smaller version of the containment field.

~*~

“Sir?”

Fury’s eyes shifted to watch a timid agent approach him. He merely raised his eyebrows in answer.

“Someone is hacking into our system.”

“Can you trace him?”

Without another word, the agent briskly walked away. Within moments he returned, only to stand in front of Fury, shifting uncomfortably under the scrutinizing glare.

“Well?” Fury demanded impatiently.

“It’s Stark, Sir.”

Fury closed his eye in relief. A week ago, the others had been seemingly wiped out from existence. Somehow, he knew that the Avengers that Loki killed were merely decoys. If Stark was hacking into the system, he had probably come to the same conclusion. Fury smiled knowing that at least one of the Avenger’s was still alive. He opened his eye to look at the agent.

“Don’t interrupt him,” he ordered as the agent looked at him in shock before slinking back to his station.

“What should we do in the meantime?” Coulson asked as he walked up to Fury.

“Evacuate everyone except those in the main sector. Put up the containment shield. It will protect the main sector and those of us who are left.”

“I don’t understand. Why are we staying here? Won’t Loki come here?” Coulson asked as he crossed his arms in confusion. Fury beamed back at him.

“I’m counting on it.”

~*~

Bored with the obedience his human slaves offered him, Loki decided to finally deal with the only organization standing in his path of complete domination. Grabbing his staff, he vanished and reappeared in front of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s headquarters in a glimmer of smoke. Scanning the buildings, he quickly realized something seemed out of place. He slowly began walking until he stood in the very center. As he observed his surroundings, the dank air of the night blew across his face making him grin in discovery.

“Very clever, Director,” Loki shouted as he spun around. “You seemed to have anticipated my arrival.” Loki took his staff, aimed and destroyed a building in front of him. He sighed as his effort did not warrant the outcome he wished for. He turned to another building and again eliminated it with his staff.

“Where are you hiding?” He demanded. He once again lifted his staff and fired towards another building. Only this time, the building reflected his blast and Loki barely had enough time to dodge his own attack. Startled, he aimed again and prepared to move. As if on cue, his blast once again bounced back.

“An anti-magic shield? I may have underestimated you, mortals,” Loki admitted as he began to float in the air. He hovered near one of the last buildings that remained standing.
Meanwhile, Fury stood inside and watched everything happening on the big screen. He knew Loki had already calculated the radius of the shield and would begin infiltrating it soon. Coulson shifted uncomfortably next to him.

“Sir, you do know Banner never completed the shield? It is penetrable.”

“I am aware Agent Coulson, but we have no other choice.”

Coulson flinched as Loki fired another blast. As he contemplated their current situation, Coulson’s eyes widened in realization and he turned to Fury. “It’s Stark, isn’t it? You’re relying on Stark to fix this?”

“I’m hoping.”

“You’re hoping?” Coulson repeated the question and felt his anger start to boil to the surface. He never had trouble trusting Fury’s opinions or actions but this time, Fury had placed his confidence in one of the most unreliable men.

“Yes,” Fury declared as he turned his gaze to regard Coulson. “I have no other choice. Stark is the only Avenger left and the only one, besides Banner, that has a chance at stopping this monster.”

Coulson turned away from Fury in anger, taking in shallow breathes to even his heartbeat. Another blast hit the shield and even Coulson could see that the shield was weakening.

As Fury and Coulson stood in the control room, Loki continued his assault on the headquarters. He smiled with glee, realizing that the shield, although initially effective, had not been completed. He continued to drift just above where the last remaining agents stood. With one swift motion, he allowed his magic to travel into the staff and sent another blast at the shield, each time carefully dodging the progressively weaker and weaker counter blasts.

He heard a strange mechanical noise but before he could glimpse the source and attack, a blast sent Loki hurling towards the ground. Growling in irritation, Loki stood up and looked around. Instantly, his eyes locked onto Tony Stark, who was floating in the air.

“Miss me? Heard you had quite a party!”

“Stay out of my way,” Loki moved his staff and fired at Tony. At the same time, Tony fired a few missiles. Both detonations caused a small explosion which culminated in a thick grey cloud of debris. While Tony could breathe with the aid of his suit, Loki covered his face and began coughing. Using Loki’s small momentary weakness, Tony repositioned himself until he had a clear aim of the glowing blue staff and shot a beam straight towards Loki’s hand.

As expected, the blast ripped the staff from Loki’s clutches. In response to the sudden onset of pain, Loki instantly clasped his aching hand, before soon realizing that his instinctual reaction had cost him his precious staff. He immediately started scanning the area in hopes to retrieve it.

As the staff began plummeting, Tony’s eyes carefully followed its downward projectile. Without hesitation, he began flying after the magical rod. During his pursuit, he caught a glimpse of the cube embedded in the staff’s head, which he realized was the source of the blue illumination. He finally understood where all of Loki’s new power had come from. For days, S.H.I.E.L.D. had been searching for the cube and all this time, Loki had it safely tucked away in his staff.

With the smoke fading, Loki quickly spotted and teleported to his staff, unaware that Tony was flying towards the same spot. Loki swiftly picked up his staff, relieved to have it back, but his premature celebration came to an abrupt halt as he felt something quickly snap around his neck. He briefly touched the collar and felt metal before he spun around and aimed a blast at Stark, but no energy emerged from his hand. His grin disappeared. He looked at his hand in disbelief before he tried teleporting and realized that he no longer had the ability. Tony quickly zipped by him and grabbed the staff in victory, standing in front of Loki.

“What’s the matter? Fairy princess lost her magic wand?” He taunted the now flustered god while twirling the staff in his iron fingers.

“What have you done to me?” Loki sneered.

“Oh, nothing. I’ve just created a neat little anti-magic collar,” Tony answered as he looked at the metallic collar, lined in black and containing beautiful slivers of green. Sure, the collar could do without any sort of flashy design, but this is Tony we’re talking about. Even in the midst of a war and an angry god attacking S.H.I.E.L.D.’s headquarters, Tony still had to make something pretty and shiny.

Loki stood rooted to the spot, staring at the mortal who dared to rob him of his powers. He overheard Tony talking to someone via intercom, but his eyes moved towards his staff. He lost all his powers, but if he could get his hands on the staff, he could still cause some damage. Tony followed the direction of Loki’s gaze and moved to hover in front of him, just out of reach.

“Come and get it,” Tony teased in a lilting voice as Loki growled up at him. Within moments, both Fury and Coulson walked out of the building and stood in front of Loki and Tony. Tony tossed the staff and Fury easily caught it. He turned the staff over and his eyes fell on its blue center.

“So this is how you’ve been controlling us?” Fury voiced his thoughts out loud as he turned the staff over to get a better look at the embedded cube. Tony floated down to stand on the ground, completing the strange square-like formation the others stood in.

He turned to his right and looked at Fury, his helmet going up so that he could see eye-to-eye with him. “I’ve been napping this whole time, according to Pepper, so do you have any idea where the others are?”

Tony watched Fury stop twirling the staff, his eyes lost in thought. He slowly looked up towards Loki. “No, but I’m sure he does.” At the mention of his name, Loki smirked and folded his hands to his chest, feeling a semblance of power return.

“Possibly,” He teasingly answered.

“Are they dead?”

“Are you always this crude? I thought they were your comrades,” Loki asked with false shock but after seeing the stone-cold look cross Fury’s eyes, he sighed. “Not . . . yet.”

“I’m assuming you know where they are?” Fury asked, observing Loki. Taking the god’s silence as an affirmative, Fury considered his options. “Well, then, today’s your lucky day. You get a choice. You can stay here with us, where you can live in a nice glass box until we find the others or you can go with Stark and lead him towards our allies,” Fury smiled and Loki’s grin faltered as he simply stared. At the mention of his name Stark shot Fury a look.

“Are you serious? I’m not going anywhere with this guy. He’s . . . He has . . . he would –” Tony faltered.

“Would what?” Fury demanded.

“I don’t know – throw me out the window. Break one of my cars. You know, generally, try to kill me,” Tony answered adding mentally, “Kiss me within an inch of my life, seduce me, fuck me against a wall.”

At his last thought, mental images begin swirling in Tony’s mind and his eyes drifted towards the trickster. Tony made the mistake of locking his eyes with the poisonous green of his seducer. Gone was the earlier apprehension, now replaced by amusement. Loki turned to Fury with a bemused smirk.

“I agree.”

“What?” Both Tony and Fury echoed, the former terrified, the latter surprised.

“Are you afraid, Stark?” Loki innocently asked. “Surely, I can’t do you any harm. You’ve bound my magic,” Loki tapped his collar.

Fury sensed something strange in the air but decided to ignore the feeling. Instead he focused on the fact that Loki had actually agreed to his terms and he had high hopes of finding the rest of his team.

“Good. Do you know where to look?”

Loki shrugged his shoulders. “I know the vicinity. Before the cube sent them off, I briefly glimpsed where they went.”

“Come on, Fury, you’re not seriously going to make me go with him somewhere that he briefly saw, are you?” Tony almost whined.

“Stark, we have bigger problems on our hands. Right now, he’s our best bet to finding the others and I suggest you work with him while he’s being cooperative,” Fury ordered before turning to face Loki. “Are they in danger?”

“Some are, some aren’t,” Loki smiled. “I sent them to the places they most feared. Doesn’t that sound like fun?”

Fury snorted his answer before looking at Tony. “I suggest you two go now. Agent Coulson and I will stay behind to try to fix whatever we can.”

Tony growled at his current predicament and looked at Loki with disdain. Sensing his anger, Loki simply reached out his hand in an almost dainty manner, goading Tony’s anger. Once again, Tony realized the two would be caught in a struggle.

Ever since they met each other, they struggled physically and then progressed to battles with their tongues which then further culminated in his complete subjugation under Loki’s skilled hands. Tony shuddered at the memory, denying his arousal. His helmet slid back into place. He lifted his arm towards Loki and a chain shot out, tying itself around the stunned god’s waist.

“Look familiar?” Tony laughed. Coulson and Fury just looked at each other and exchanged shrugs. After successfully securing the chain around Loki, Tony watched him struggle against it for a few amusing moments. Without warning, Tony lifted them into the air and Loki emitted a surprised yelp, complete with curses in a language he never heard of.

“Where to, dear?” Tony asked, his voice lilting in mockery. Beneath him, Loki continued to struggle against the chain, trying in vain to unhinge it. After a few wayward attempts, Loki ceased his struggle and let himself hang loose with the chain looped around his waist. To Tony’s chagrin, he noticed that in defiance, the god refused to speak. As Tony continued flying, a fun idea popped into his head and he laughed, causing Loki to look up at him with narrowed eyes.

“Jarvis, retrieve the chain,” he ordered.

“Right away, Sir,” his AI answered before Loki began spinning like a top as the chain retreated to Tony’s suit.

Once the chain finished its retreat, Loki dropped like a heap of lead. Panicking, Loki clawed at his collar before attempting to summon any magic, but to no avail. He felt his heart race as he watched himself descend rapidly, a few thousand feet per second, towards mountainous terrain. Without his magic, he would be unable to heal himself properly and highly doubted the human would take him to a hospital. Before Loki had a chance to start making his good-byes, he suddenly jerked upward as a metallic hand caught his wrist.

“See, isn’t it nice when someone catches you? You, know, instead of letting you fall out the window. Once again, gotta thank Thor.”

As soon as Loki heard his brother’s name, his head snapped up to look at Tony and he used his free hand to climb up the Ironman and began punching the helmet. In retort, Tony flared his boosters to life and flew with increasing speed past the clouds to a part of the atmosphere that even made Loki feel woozy.

“Can you behave?” Tony demanded as he continued his ascent into the thinning atmosphere, watching Loki’s eyes close as slowly lost consciousness. Taking Loki’s passive demeanor as an answer, Tony suddenly dropped a few thousand feet to a place where Loki finally opened his eyes and caught his breath.

“Where to?”

“Red Country,” Loki growled. Tony loosened the chain once again and it looped itself around Loki’s waist, with no resistance this time. Tony released Loki’s wrist and watched him drop a few feet before swinging violently with the chain. An uneasy silence settled between them as Tony continued his flight to the Red Country. Once in a while he glanced down at the surly god, uncomfortable with the lack of words between them.

~*~

The flight took only a few hours, but to Tony, he felt it took days. Loki stayed silent the entire trip, while Tony’s mind attempted to come up with something to say, only to scrap it a few seconds later. Before him were the Ural mountain range and he admired the icy peaks as he flew by towards his destination. Loki’s directions were only two words, but Tony could discern that if the Red Country was involved, then Natasha was most likely in the base she had once been stationed in.

He flew close enough to the base before he slowly descended, allowing Loki ample time to gain his footing. His suit shifted around, exposing him to the harsh climate.

“Is that wise?” Loki asked with a quirked eyebrow.

“Aww, don’t worry about me, babe,” Tony winked.

“On the contrary, I would enjoy watching you freeze to death,” Loki sneered as he turned away. Tony ignored the comment as he watched his suit transform into a neat little block, with Loki still attached.

“Stay put, will you?” Tony stated before venturing forth, trying to shield his face form the icy gales. As if on cue, two men appeared. Both were holding guns and deep in conversation. As soon as they spotted Tony, they aimed their guns and began to fire. Without missing a beat, Tony ran towards them, sliding on the icy path and knocking both men over like bowling pins. He delivered a blow to the head of one of the men, effectively knocking him out before attacking the other furiously.

After a few rounds, Tony finally released a punch that sent the man spiraling into Morpheus’ domain. He disrobed the man, putting on his warmer black fur-lined boots as well as his dark grey coat. He looked at the grey hat lying in the snow with a shiny red insignia and decided to complete his outfit by putting it on. The fur flaps on the side of the hat kept his ears deliciously warm. Satisfied with his wardrobe change, he sauntered back to Loki.

“How do I look?” He asked, striking a pose. Loki rolled his eyes. “You want one?” Tony asked, gesturing to the other unconscious man. Loki glared at Tony for a moment before he turned his face to the side and uttered a very curt, “No.”

“Suit yourself,” Tony shrugged before telling his AI some commands. In an instant, the chain around Loki’s waist moved to encircle only his right wrist and the other side reached out to encircle Tony’s left wrist, binding them together. Loki blinked, realizing that they were now in handcuffs. Before he had a chance to comment, the block which housed Tony’s suit, took to the air and Loki watched it leave with curiosity. He then stared at the handcuffs that bound him to Tony.

“I know you’re into bondage, but play time is later,” Tony smirked. He looked at Loki and swore he saw a blush but then just chucked it up to the cold. “By the way, if you try to escape, my suit will aim at you from the sky,” He told him nonchalantly before he started walking away, with Loki in tow.

“Do you even have a plan?” Loki sighed as he trudged next to Tony.

“Not really.”

“If I had my magic –”

“Don’t even think about. The collar stays on. Besides, if you did have your magic, you’d probably just kill her and you would definitely kill me.”

Instead of answering, Loki rolled his eyes as he was being lead closer to the base. Tony crouched behind a large slab of rock jutting out from the snow, tugging at the restraints to move Loki near him. With a sigh, Loki sat down and watched with boredom as guards rotated their assigned positions. Tony moved down so that no one could see him and took a round disk-looking object from his pocket and placed it on the snow, tapping it once.

“Jarvis, blueprints.”

“Right away, Sir,” the computer politely responded before a 3D image of the entire base appeared above the disk, which was no bigger than the size of Tony’s hand. Tony then began tapping at places on the holographic image, searching for something. Out of the corner of his eyes, Tony could see Loki moving closer in interest.

“Neat, huh?” Tony asked as Loki pretended to look bored, but his eyes betrayed a different story. He continued to watch as Tony picked apart the model.

“What are you looking for?” Loki finally asked.

“I’m trying to find where their main computer is. I’m sure I can hack it and cause one hell of a distraction while we find Natasha.”

“Can’t you use this,” Loki gestured to the strange device. “To find her?”

Tony laughed, “Not unless she has a tracking chip in her head. But seriously, I need their computer. These blueprints are great but they’re incomplete.”

“Why not use your suit?”

“I don’t think Fury would be too happy if I started a war,” Tony laughed.

“You can blame it on me,” Loki offered. Tony looked at him with a raised eyebrow, but once he saw the glint of amusement in his eyes, Tony laughed.

“I’ll think about it for next time,” He offered before finally locating the room. He then looked from the hologram to the base and discerned where they needed to go.

“You’re no assassin and you have no magic. How are you going to get in?”

“Oh, I still have a few tricks up my sleeve,” Tony winked before checking to make sure the coast was clear and then tugging at Loki’s restraint. “Just follow my lead, ok?” The question was more of a statement because as soon as the word was out of his mouth, Tony began walking directly towards the guards.

As they spotted them, the guards drew their weapons. Upon inspecting Tony’s attire, they slowly lowered them.

“Tovarishi, Ya prenoc’ vam plenek (Comrades, I have brought a prisoner),” Tony said in Russian, tugging at his handcuffs to bring Loki in front of them. The guards looked at each other in confusion.

“Otkyda vi? (Where are you from)?”

“Sibir’ (Siberia).”

At Tony’s answer, the guards nodded in understanding. Naturally, anyone with a horrible Russian accent could only be from Siberia.

“On kto (And who is he)?” The guard asked, gesturing to Loki with his AK-47.

“Yzhacniy Amerikanski shpeon (A horrible American spy),” Tony answered, making sure to emphasis “American” with disgust. The men nodded in agreement before they moved to let him pass. Tony walked inside only to be stopped by the guard’s voice.

“Tovarish, vi ne tyda edeo’te (Comrade, you’re going the wrong way).”

Tony turned around, giving them his most innocent smile before answering sheepishly, “Izviniti! Ya iz Novorossiska (Forgive me! I’m from Novorossiysk!)”

The guards laughed before they pointed him the right direction. One of the guards had a puzzled look on his face as he turned to his friend.

“On skazalzhe shto on iz Sibira? (Didn’t he say he was from Siberia)?”

“Da, e (Yes, and)?”

“Novorossiysk radom c Chornim Morea (Novorossiysk is near the Black Sea).”

Both guards turned around to see that both Tony and Loki had already vanished. They both turned to each other and shrugged.

“Ne nasha problema (Not our problem),” one of the guards spoke, phrasing the sentiment of the country.

~*~

“So where did you learn Russian?” Loki stole a sideways glance at the man proudly strutting down the hallway.

“From this guy that tried to kill me. He had this strange obsession with his ‘boirrrd’,” Tony mimicked the heavy accent before shaking his head with a grin. “I told you I had a few tricks up my sleeve,” Tony stated with a twinkle in his eye. Loki smiled in return, but he must have realized his mistake because after a brief moment, he once again donned his usual indifferent expression.

Tony continued leading them down an almost empty corridor before he stopped in front of a room. Before Loki had a chance to take in his surroundings, Tony kicked open the door to the surveillance room. Three surprised pair of eyes looked up at them before they went bounding for their guns. Tony beat them to it and grabbed one of the Kalashnikovs before using it to bash one of them in the head, knocking him unconscious.

Tony stood in a fighting stance as best he could with a passive god tied to him and aimed kicks at his opponents. As he blocked a punch, he spotted the other man about to attack him from his unguarded right side. Before he had a chance to get near Tony, Loki spun behind Tony and kicked the man, sending him sprawling through the open window. Using the last guard’s distraction at watching his comrade fly away, Tony aimed a kick that send the other man to meet his friend on the ground below.

“Thanks for the help. We don’t make a bad team.”

“I work alone,” Loki sneered as he straightened his clothing.

Giving up arguing with the haughty god, Tony walked over to one of the chairs and immediately made himself comfortable behind the main computer. As he sat down, he pushed a chair towards Loki as an invitation. He began to look through the surveillance footage and once he found where Natasha was, he took a mental note of it. He then took out a disk from his jacket and inserted it into the computer. He looked back to see Loki quirk an eyebrow as he slowly sat down.

“It’s a virus,” Tony beamed. “It messes with any technology, like their security system, that needs access to the internet.” He looked back to Loki’s quizzical eyes and blank face. “It’s like . . . magic. Think of it as a confusion spell,” Tony added and watched Loki nod at the comparison.

Tony let his virus run and after a moment a screen popped up letting him know that the virus had set up a suitable distraction giving Tony less than ten minutes to do his business and then get out.

“Let’s go!” Tony tugged at Loki’s arm and led him through the hallway. His heart was pounding from excitement – it’s been a long time since he actually infiltrated anywhere. Usually he just landed in the middle, with his guns blazing.

Tony continued to dart from corner to corner, with Loki quickly adapting to the situation and moving with him. A few times when Tony wanted to move, Loki would put his hand in front of his chest to still him. Less than a beat later, a guard would walk by and Loki would easily knock him out.

A few knocked out guards later, the two managed to get into the bowels of the base. Luckily, Tony had a photographic memory and remembered exactly where Natasha’s cell should be. He easily pried the keys from an unconscious guard and walked over to her cell.

“Natasha! We found you,” Tony sang into the darkness of the hallway as he fumbled with the keys to the cell door.

He pushed open the door with both excitement and pride in completing his task without his suit. When he saw Natasha, his smile faltered and Loki’s eyebrows shot up. Natasha was chained to the wall in the fashion of the Vitruvian man. Her body drooped against the shackles, which dug into her skin. Sets of blood stained contraptions lay on the table near her. A bone jutted out of one of her shins and there were numerous lacerations on her body – one atop another.

In lieu of an answer, Natasha moved her head to look at Tony, forcing a weak smile. For once Tony lost his humor and settled on unchaining his friend while Loki merely looked on with disinterest although his eyes kept straying to Natasha’s wounds. After unshackling her, Tony put Natasha’s left arm over his shoulder and looped his other around her waist, letting her know she could lean on him.

“We need to leave quickly,” she wheezed into the coldness of the cell as she allowed herself to use Tony’ strength for leverage.

Tony stole a glance at his watch and as if on cue, a slight rumble shook the cells. “No need to worry about that! My little virus has given them enough to worry about.”

Natasha merely nodded and pointed the way out, “We need to go this way. It’s slower than the tunnels, but after I helped Clint escape, they made sure no one could ever use the tunnels again.”

“No sweat. If we run into any problems, I’ll just call my suit down,” Tony answered as the three of them began making their way down the corridor.

~*~

As soon as they managed to escape the crumbling base, Natasha slowly unhinged herself from Tony’s support and made a bee-line for a snowmobile. As soon as she was near it, she collapsed onto the seat and placed her hands on the bars. Tony briskly walked after her, Loki matching his pace.

“Hey, are you going to be alright?” He asked as he placed a tentative hand on her shoulder. She gave a slight wince before turning her head to look up into Tony’s worried eyes.

“I’m assuming Fury wants me back at S.H.I.E.L.D. as soon as possible and I’m guessing you and your new partner,” she stole a glance at Loki, “will find the others. I’ll be fine,” she managed a weak smile although she knew her words did little to reassure Tony. She turned forward and started the engine before Tony had a chance to stop her. With surprising fluidity rode off into the snowy dunes.

Tony let Natasha go with reluctance. Sure, the assassin was not one for chit-chat and her stare was usually devoid of emotions, but this time she was different. When he looked into her eyes, Tony had shuddered from the lack of life there. She seemed as if her body ran on autopilot and her mind had shut down until it could deal with the emotional trauma.

“Is this wise?” Loki asked, clearly seeing the same thing Tony was.

Tony turned to him and asked with mock surprise, “What’s this? You care?”

Loki gave a half-hearted laugh, “No, I just don’t want your director sending me after her again just because she decided to run that contraption over a mountain.”

“She’s a strong girl. She can take care of herself,” Tony stated with conviction as a part of him reached out to her, partly understanding her desire to block out the memories. He stood there for a few more moments almost grateful that Loki had stopped commenting. Honestly, if the trickster had said another word against Natasha, he probably would have punched him in the face. He took one long breath of the cold wind before turning to Loki.

“So, where to?”

A grimace crossed the god’s face before he turned to stare off into the distance. As he waited for his answer, Tony crossed his arms and began tapping his foot as he stared at the god. The expression on Loki’s face changed rapidly from anger to disgust to maybe even . . . worry. Just as Tony’s curiosity almost reached its peak and he threatened to burst, Loki suddenly spoke.

“Jotunheim.”
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The Avengers: Tainted Love