Freya

Chapter Eleven: Vacation

Black Widow/Natasha Romanov

"Jesus Christ," I muttered. How long did it take to build a damn portal? It had only taken Dr. Selvig a couple days when Loki had him under his control...well, then again, that was probably the reason it had gone so fast.

"Can I turn on the radio?" Darcy whined. She was leaning back in her seat, staring at the ceiling. Her iPod had run out of battery an hour ago.

"No," Jane snapped. I had a feeling stuff like this happened all the time.

"You're supposed to be helping."

"Im not an astrophysicist. I don't know how any of this works," Darcy muttered.

Jane sighed and went back to helping Dr. Selvig. So far no real building had taken place. Just tons of pictures and diagrams that were being edited and reedited. Everything had to be exactly right, apparently.

"How long until you start building the portal?" I asked, hoping I didn't sound impatient.

"It depends on how long it takes to finish my calculations," he replied, intently focusing on his notepad.

I repressed the urge to groan and exited the lab. This was definitely not my area of expertise. All I wanted to do right now was go to Asgard and beat up a couple gods. That would get Mila back, not this waiting for the heavens to align with what was on paper.

I headed for the detention level, not really knowing that I was going there until I was standing in front of the empty space where the cell that had held Loki had once been. According to Thor, he had found Loki escaping and had been tricked into trapping himself inside. That was also when Agent Coulsen had been killed.

Damn Loki. Why did he always have something to do with what went wrong around here? It was beyond pissing me off, and Director Fury didn't seem to want to do anything about it. Why had he let Thor take him back to Asgard? I had known that once he found out about Mila, he would retaliate and come back to get her. If only I had been able to tell Fury, but Thor had told me to keep it a secret.

I sat down in the chair that was still in the same place as it was that time. No one had come in here for awhile. The bloodstain remained on the wall behind me, the hole in the wall to the right of me was still there, and the fact that I was the only one who had stepped foot in here for years reminded me of what had happened.

I shuddered. Loki's words had been so cruel and terrifying, and not many things scared me.

"I won't touch Barton. Not until I make him kill you. Slowly, intimately, and in every way he knows you fear. And then he'll wake just long enough to see his good work, and when he screams, I'll split his skull." That had been his dark promise.

To this day those words haunt me. I wonder if Loki knew about Mila, if he had made Clint tell him everything. He was the only person I had told. Maybe that had been a mistake.

"Agent Romanov?" Director Fury interrupted my inner monologue.

I stood up, turning to face him.

"Director."

He studied me intently, and I knew what he was going to say.

"Yes, I know. I need to get some sleep," I said. "I'll get right on it."

"Actually I was going to say that you need to get away from here. Take a leave of absence for a couple days. Agent Barton can go with you."

"What?" This was new.

"You heard me. I want you out of here until you get back on your feet. We'll call you back if we get anything new."

"Sir, I can't just walk off when my daughter is in Asgard---"

"Agent Romanov, this is an order." He gave me a firm look with his one eye. "Go home. Relax."

"You think that I'm going to mess up the mission because it's personal, don't you?" I asked.

"No. I think the fact that it's personal will make you even more valuable on this mission, but I need you focused. The only way I can see you being focused is if you take a break from this. Don't take too long with it," he told me, finalizing the conversation.

I sighed and left, thinking about my trip back to Moscow with Clint.

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