Elemental {Avengers}

45. Mizpah

Steve

Loki's hands were white against the flowery chair, his forehead slick with sweat. Nat looked at me as if she was going to say Don't you dare say anything, Steve and I backed off, letting Nat take over.

I knew I wasn't Loki's favourite, well, he sure didn't pretend like I was. And I knew that Loki would shrug off whatever I said to him. However kind, however gentle. Natasha would deliver the facts to him, harsh and true.

"Loki, look at me" she ordered.

His eyes, almost rolling to the back of his head, came into focus, darting around the room. He stood up, tall and proud. "I'm going after her."

But Nat stood in his way to the front door, her nimble frame small compared to his. " No, you're not"

" Mortal, I can kill you with one thought-"

" I know you can." she furrowed her eyebrows. " We thought this might happen"

Shock swept through his face " And why didn't you express your concerns?" he almost spat, facing morphing into dangerous.

" Because we thought that it would be better not too, considering the circumstances."

He gave a pointed look to Nat, to me. They stared off for a few seconds. "Face it, Loki. Even if you do go after her, you're going to be facing at least 100 men, Andrei with the Sceptre, and Maeve."

" What do you advise me to do? Sit her on my Asgardian ass?"

" I advise you to listen to us. We made a new plan, Plan Z, as Tony likes to call it. If she did get found out"

" And why didn't you tell us- oh. Right." he backed away, pacing the kitchen. "She's going to tell him the plan"

" Yep"

He placed his hand on his chin, deep in thought. " And what does this plan entail?"

Natasha grinned, sitting back down on the armchair, her shoes on the coffee table. " So, Maeve is going to tell him everything about the plan, which was to wait a couple of days until he was in New York, and then ambush the place. Of course, now, we aren't going to do that, in fact, we're going to do the complete opposite."

" Continue"

" Thor will be waiting near the Avengers tower if the Hulk is unleashed. Providing that the Hulk is there of course. Tony's there too, to prevent any civilian casualties."

"What  makes you think the Hulk is in New York?"

" We have reason to believe Nick Fury and Maria Hill are there, so Bruce might be as well. Clint's on the side of a road near the Nuuk base, tracking supplies, and trucks. I've just sent the message for him to get out of there, so that Maeve can't kill him. He's going make himself invisible, whilst Tony and Thor fly in from New York."

"And what of Barton? Maeve knows how capable he is, they could find him easily"

" Not if he disguises himself as one of Andrei's men."

Loki paused. " Where in the base?"

" He's currently storing weapons into some trucks for transport. If anything goes wrong, he can hijack the truck, and drive off"

" Have you given him any weapons?"

" Collapsible bow and arrow set. Two guns, and a knife set"

" Tell him to drop the bow and arrows" Loki said.

" Why?"

" Because that would be like a lure for anyone who wants to find Clint Barton"

She considered, and then placed a hand to her earpiece. "Barton, drop the bow and arrows. You'll be found too easily." she said, raising an eyebrow at Loki.