Chapter Text
Loki’s been living in the compound for about a week when they get their first lead on the scepter.
The rest of the team is still a bit skeptical about bringing Loki along, though they all reluctantly admit that they did agree to it, as Thor incessantly reminds them. Natasha has no such problem. She’s seen enough of the guy over the last week or so to know that he’s probably not going to be an issue. And, most importantly, Thor is sticking with him the whole time. If Loki tries to pull something, there’s a bigger, stronger god right beside him to knock some sense into him.
The god squad heads in first, drawing the HYDRA soldiers’ fire while the rest of the Avengers prepare to take their own roles. Sam takes flight; Clint whips out his bow from afar; Tony lowers his helmet. And it’s go-time.
Natasha and Steve are tasked with sneaking in together. She likes that plan very much. It’s always nice to have a partner; it’s even nicer when that partner is twice her size and has a vibranium shield on his person at all times.
Natasha holds her gun firmly in her hands as she stands against the wall, with Steve on her side. Why she’s in the front when he has the vibranium shield, she’s not sure, but she takes that in stride. She peers around the corner, then quickly steps back to her hidden hallway.
She glances over at Steve and holds up two fingers. He nods once in return. She suspects they share the same plan: he takes one, she takes the other. It’s about as easy as it can get.
After a silent countdown, they both round the corner, guns held in front of them. Natasha shoots off a shot at the soldier on the left; Steve shoots off a shot at the soldier on the right. They both go down before they’ve even processed what’s going on. The heroes share a fist-bump, and then they continue on their way.
They’ve nearly reached the two soldiers on the ground when Natasha realizes that one is still holding a gun, and that gun is now pointed right at them. Before Natasha can think to act, Steve throws his shield, and it not only knocks the gun out of the soldier’s hand, but then makes its way right back to Steve.
Natasha scoffs. “How do you do that?” she whispers, incredulous.
Steve shrugs. “Lots of practice,” he says.
She shakes her head to herself. She can do a lot of impressive things, but she can’t do anything like that.
As they walk past, Natasha swoops in and grabs their guns, which she unloads and then slides across the floor toward the door.
“Roof’s clear,” Clint’s voice says in her ear.
That’s a good sign. It means Clint and Sam are one step closer to joining the party inside.
Steve gestures for Natasha to stand back, then looks around the next corner. It must be clear, because he gestures for her to follow. They find themselves in a dark corridor, and while Steve takes the lead, Natasha takes up her role in the back, glancing behind herself every few seconds to make sure nobody is sneaking up on them.
“Heading in now,” Tony’s voice says. He’s taking a different route. It’s not their problem, so she tunes it out.
It’s a long corridor, she’s starting to realize. She keeps expecting to walk past a room – why would they need a corridor this long if it’s not connecting a bunch of rooms? – but it doesn’t happen. It’s starting to get weird.
The hallway branches off in two different directions, and once again, Steve gestures for her to stand against the wall while he makes sure the coast is clear. He’s barely craned his neck out past the end of the wall when the shooting starts, and he hides himself behind the wall once more, his shield held up instinctively.
“How many?” Natasha whispers.
“A lot,” Steve whispers back.
Natasha nods once and readies her gun. At least she’s not doing this alone.
The next ninety seconds are very chaotic – so much so that she’s honestly not sure she really knows what’s happening. She knows she’s shooting. She knows she’s punching. She knows she uses some half-dead guy as a human shield at one point until Steve can take out the guy that’s trying to kill her. Overall, it’s a bit of a mess.
They’re still mid-fight when Loki’s voice comes through the comms.
“Am I allowed to kill people?” he asks. “Thor says I am, but I don’t know that I believe it.”
Natasha laughs in spite of herself. It’s a fair question, she supposes, but she wouldn’t have expected him to actually take the time to ask it.
Steve looks over at her, and the judgment on his face is impossible to miss. Instead of acknowledging it, she shoots off a shot at the HYDRA soldier closest to him – if he’s not going to pay attention, she will – and then says into the comm, jokingly condescending in her answer, “As long as you promise to only kill the bad guys.”
“A fair compromise,” Loki says. “Thank you, Agent Romanoff.”
Natasha bites her lip as though it can hold back her smile. The guy’s not even here and he’s still brightening her day. If someone had told her when Thor first floated this idea by them that she’d end up liking having Loki around, she would have called them crazy. It’s funny how things change.
The fight resumes, and thoughts of Loki fade away as she focuses on what really matters: staying alive. She’s moving so fast, so focused on her direct surroundings, that she hardly even registers what’s happening in the rest of the room. All the grunts and groans and gunshots blur into the background, and all she’s focused on is keeping herself alive – and keeping an ear out for Steve, just in case he needs a hand.
They’re just finishing up taking out HYDRA’s henchmen in this room when one of them says into their comm, “They’re in the back. They’re–”
Natasha catches sight of which of the soldiers it is, and she shoots him in the leg. While he’s busy screaming like a baby over a simple gunshot wound, Steve swoops in and snatches the comm from his ear, crushing it between his fingers.
Natasha looks up at him. “You think we’re gonna have to deal with a round two, or…?”
“I’m hoping the others take ‘em out before they can find us,” Steve says.
“I hope so, too.” Not that she can’t handle another fight, but she’d like to avoid it if she can. There are gods and metal-suited men out there that can do that for her.
With this fight done, Natasha and Steve continue on their walk. They lapse into silence once more, though it probably isn’t necessary. Every HYDRA soldier in this base knows they’re here, and now, thanks to that soldier, they know what direction they’re coming from. They’re not exactly stealthy right now.
They walk for what feels like a very long time, but she’s learned from the hundreds of missions she’s taken in her lifetime that more often than not, it just feels like a long time because it’s so stressful; because every bit of every moment is studied and evaluated thoroughly. It feels like they’re nearing an hour; in reality, she imagines it’s only been minutes.
It’s dark here more often than it’s not. That’s probably for the best. They’re looking for a glowing scepter; finding it in the dark is probably easier than finding it in the light. But as they enter hall after hall, check room after room, it’s nowhere to be seen.
And then there’s a gunshot from behind them.
They missed, whoever it is that shot it, and she thanks whatever higher power there may be for that. It gives Steve time to grab her by the waist and pull her in, and he holds the shield up in front of them both. Natasha ducks her head instinctively, but she’s very much aware that she’s exposed like this. Her legs are easy targets right now. Hiding isn’t going to do it. She’s going to have to fight.
Natasha sticks her head out from behind the shield and raises her weapon, and she wastes no time in firing off a shot. It seems Steve had the same idea, because he’s hit with two bullets at once, and he’s down in an instant.
Natasha looks up at Steve, who looks back down at her and flashes her a grin. They make such a good team.
Unfortunately, their celebration is short-lived, because where that one HYDRA soldier stood, a fuckton more appear in his place. She’s not sure what annoys her more: that there’s this many HYDRA soldiers here, or that there’s this many here and they all decided to come after her and Steve instead of the other five people here.
Steve shoves Natasha backward, holding his shield up in front of them, and she gets the hint immediately: they can’t do this here. They need a wall to hide behind, at the very least. She backs up to the last corner they rounded, and Steve stays no more than a half-foot in front of her as he does the same, protecting them both with his shield.
Natasha puts a finger to her ear. “Uh, guys? Could use a little help over here.”
“Working on it,” is Tony’s strained reply.
So it’s just the two of them, then. This is going to be fun.
Steve and Natasha both stand with their backs to the wall, and Natasha takes a few deep, calming breaths. They don’t do a whole lot to calm her down, but it was worth a try. The two share a look, and then a nod, and then it’s time.
Steve steps out from behind the wall, his shield held up in front of him in one hand as he raises his gun in the other. Natasha doesn’t have a shield, but she stays behind the wall as much as she can while she shoots off shot after shot. She prides herself on her aim, but from this distance, with this much going on at once, she’s not doing nearly as well as she would have liked – and Steve is having about as much luck as she is.
Natasha steps back behind the wall to take a breather. She needs to do better. She can’t let herself get overwhelmed. She can’t let herself get distracted. She’s here to take out HYDRA’s base and as many of their men as she can in the process. And unfortunately, she’s not sure she can do that from this distance.
She looks over at Steve. “I’m moving in.”
“Are you sure?” Steve asks.
“I’m sure,” she says.
Steve glances over at her, only for a moment before he turns his gaze back to the guns firing at him. He gestures with his head for her to come closer, and she does, ducking past the weapons firing at them until she’s mostly hidden behind Steve’s shield.
She has a thought then – possibly a stupid thought, but a thought nonetheless – and she opts to share it with him largely for her own amusement. “How many of ‘em do you think you could take out by throwing your shield?”
Steve huffs a laugh. “That depends. Does the shield have to come back to me after?”
“Mm, probably should.” She fires off another shot.
Steve ponders that for a few moments. “Four.”
Natasha scoffs. “Only four?”
“If it has to come back to me at the end? Yes, only four – and, honestly, I don’t think ‘only’ is a fair descriptor!”
Natasha shakes her head to herself, amused. “Well, go ahead, then. Hit your four.”
“You’re willing to give up the shield for a minute?” Steve asks, a bit cautiously, and for good reason.
“I think we have to,” Natasha says. “We’re not making a whole lot of progress here.”
Steve takes another look at their surroundings, and it’s clear on his face that he agrees. So he holds the shield flat, winds up, and throws it at the enemies.
He hits five people, but only three go down. That’s close enough, in her mind.
While they’re all processing that shield that just flew right through them, Natasha takes advantage of their distraction. She runs up and grabs the first HYDRA soldier she reaches, and she holds him in front of her, blocking the other soldiers from shooting her. Needless to say, he doesn’t like that. He tries to shoot her, but she grabs the barrel of his gun before he can, and she manages to twist that out of his hand. It falls to the floor, and she kicks it behind herself.
She tries to fire at the others, but her human shield is still unhappy with this arrangement, and he grabs her by the neck, digging his nails into her skin. She groans and brings her knee up between his legs, though from his angle, she probably hits his coccyx more than his genitals. Still, his grip loosens, and she pulls his hands off of her.
She kicks her foot into the back of his knee, and he goes down in an instant. It’s smooth sailing from there. She grabs his neck in her elbow, cutting off his airflow, and she stomps on his calf to make sure he can’t try to get away. She puts her gun to the side of his head…
Actually, she doesn’t want to risk getting blood on her clothes. She throws him to the ground and executes him from there. It’s much cleaner this way.
She looks up, ready to find her next target, but instead, all she sees is the gun pointed right for her.
She doesn’t have time to move.
She doesn’t even have time to think.
He’s already pulled the trigger.
… And then she’s lying on the floor.
Not only that, but someone’s on top of her. She wasn’t expecting that.
Her first thought is that it must be Steve, but she he yells her name, it’s from too far away. It’s not Steve that threw her out of the way. So who…?
“Ow.”
It’s Loki’s (rather deadpan, given the situation) voice that comes from above her, and as he moves off of her, she can finally make him out. With a groan, he climbs to his knees – still blocking her from the enemies, she notices – and presses his hand over his abdomen. She furrows her brows. What…?
“You need to be more careful, Agent Romanoff,” he says, and the lightheartedness in his voice quells any worries she may have. It couldn’t have been too bad if he’s still in such a carefree mood.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Natasha tells him, a playful smile on her lips.
Loki gives her a smile of his own before he climbs to his feet. He groans again at the movement, his face contorted in pain, and he turns to face HYDRA’s soldiers. As he marches toward them, he shoots off a burst of his magic, and that alone takes one soldier down. Someone fires off a shot, and it’s encircled in green wisps before it falls to the ground.
He reaches the first soldier in his path, and he grabs him by the neck, snapping it with one hand before he throws the body to the ground. By now, all the gunshots are aimed toward him, and they all bounce right off of him like it’s nothing. A knife materializes in his hand, and he uses it to slice across the throat of the nearest HYDRA soldier. The next, he grants only a brief stab to the chest before he throws them aside. One soldier makes the mistake of trying to attack him, and Loki grabs his gun, fires it straight through his skull, and throws both the weapon and the corpse aside like it’s nothing.
By this point, Natasha is pretty content just sitting on the ground and letting him take care of this. She could blame it on the pain of Loki throwing her to the ground so carelessly, but in reality, she just sees no need to fight when he’s able to handle it so swiftly himself. Even Steve has paused where he stands, shield held up in front of him with no real force as he just watches Loki take out soldier after soldier. Why are they even here? Why don’t they just send Thor and Loki to do this alone?
Because Loki has everything else handled, Steve heads over to Natasha, kneeling down in front of her and protecting them with his shield, as if anybody is trying to kill them and not the god that’s tearing them apart like they’re nothing.
“Are you okay?” Steve asks.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.’’ She lets her head fall forward, stretching her neck, and rolls it to the sides a few times. “Remind me to wear long sleeves and long pants tomorrow so nobody can see all my scrapes and bruises, will you?”
Steve chuckles. “Hey, if you’re getting out of this with just scrapes and bruises, I’d say you’re doing pretty well.”
Natasha offers him a small smile, and he returns it with one of her own. This probably could have gone better, but he’s not wrong in reminding her that it certainly could have gone worse.
And then it grows quiet – not just between them, but throughout the entire room. Loki groans, and there’s a soft thump before the silence resumes.
Natasha pops her head up over Steve’s shield to find Loki sitting on the other side of the room, and though it’s difficult to make out his features from this distance in the dark, she’s pretty sure she sees his hand pressed against his chest again, just like it was after he pushed her out of the gun’s way. That doesn’t bode well.
“Loki?” she says cautiously, climbing to her feet. “You okay over there?”
“Fine.” His voice is strained, and it’s followed by yet another quiet groan that serves as a reminder that he’s lying through his teeth, just in case she wasn’t aware of that.
Natasha frowns and jogs over to him, stepping over all the dead bodies (and holy shit, this is a lot of dead bodies) until she reaches him. She kneels down beside him, and, despite the very obvious pain he’s in, he offers her a smile. She has to admit, that’s kind of cute. He’s kind of cute.
“Don’t tell me you took a bullet for me,” she says, a playfully condescending tone to her voice.
Loki huffs a halfhearted laugh. “Does it count if it bounced right off?”
Oh.
Right.
Duh.
“Well, someone got you good,” she says, looking pointedly at the hand he has pressed against his chest.
Loki shakes his head. “I suppose the healers in Asgard had a point when they suggested I rest until my wound healed.”
“Ooh.” Natasha’s face scrunches in discomfort. She should have guessed that was what was going on. If a simple clap on the back when he arrived was enough to send him to the floor, she can’t even imagine how much it hurt when he literally threw himself onto her. (Is it weird that the thought is kind of giving her butterflies?) “Are you gonna be okay?”
“I will be,” he says. “I just…” He shifts on the floor, and he grimaces once more. “I need a moment.”
“Take as many moments as you need,” she says. “Trust me, after this, you’ve earned it.”