Frozen Web

Chapter 4

NOTE: If you read Chapter 3 before Sept. 22, I added a few sentences because it didn't end where I needed it to. Also, this chapter contains some pretty intense violence. Just a warning!

...

Clint felt his jaw drop when he saw Loki standing in the doorway, a wicked grin on his face.

"Hello, Mr. Barton," Loki said, as casually as if he were meeting an old business partner. "I'm afraid I need your services once again."

Clint's usually clinically cool mind struggled to control itself, to process just what was happening in front of him. It only took him a second to recover, and his arm was already instinctively reaching for the door to slam it before he completely accepted this unexpected reality. It was a useless gesture; Loki easily shoved the door open, knocking Clint backwards.

"Do we really have to go into this tiresome charade?" Loki asked, voice dripping mockery. "We both know how it will end. It will be a lot less painful if you just give me what I want."

"The hell I will," Clint growled, already formulating a plan. What he really wanted was his bow and arrows, but they were stored downstairs in his basement, and the stairs were across the room. He knew better than to try to go toe-to-toe with Loki. The god of mischief wasn't as physically intimidating as his golden foster brother, but he was certainly no pushover. "What do you want?"

"I simply wish to know the whereabouts of Agent Romanov," Loki replied innocently. "We have some… unfinished business."

"You're not going to get anywhere near her," Clint ground out. "If you know what's good for you, you'll slink back into whatever hole you crept out of."

Loki chuckled darkly. "Strong words, but I doubt you can validate them. Let's test your mettle, Midgardian."

With that, he launched himself at Clint. Clint managed to duck under Loki's reaching arms, saved by his sharp reflexes, but barely. He vaulted over his couch and sprinted for the basement door. He had no false pretenses about how this would end if left to run its natural course; he was a skilled fighter, but Loki was stronger, faster and probably, if he was honest, smarter. His only real hope was getting to the basement and to his arrows—and his cell phone, still tucked into his backpack. If he could call Steve or Tony, the Avengers would be at his place in a heartbeat.

He'd managed to open the basement door when Loki grabbed his arm and flung him across the room. He smashed into his kitchen counter but was on his feet almost instantly, reaching for the knife in his belt. He hurled it at Loki's head, a shot that would have skewered the demi god's eye if it had landed. But Loki caught it with maddening ease and threw it back at Clint's shoulder. Clint jerked to the side to avoid the blade, but before he could straight up, Loki was on top of him, slamming him across the jaw with a blow that felt like a sledgehammer. Clint's head snapped to one side, and he had no time to recover before Loki hit him again with a vicious uppercut that threatened to knock him out.

Clint tried to push Loki off him but the demi god was too solid to budge. So instead he slammed a knee into Loki's side. Loki stumbled backwards with a grunt of pain, and without really thinking about what he was doing, Clint tackled him. They landed in a heap and rolled across the floor, each trying to land blows but restrained by their close proximity. Finally, Clint landed on top, grabbing Loki's shirt and smashing a fist across his jaw. He pulled back for another blow but Loki kicked up with his leg and launched Clint over his shoulders—and through the basement doorway.

Clint tumbled down the wooden steps, landing with a sickening crunch onto the concrete floor of the basement. His right leg suddenly felt ice cold, and a wave of nausea washed over him. As Loki started descending the stairs, Clint hurriedly tried to stand, only for a bolt of pain to shoot through his leg. He crumbled back onto the ground, only then noticing the white bone sticking out under his knee and the blood seeping through his pants.

Loki reached the bottom of the stairs and took in Clint's condition with relish. "It seems the hawk has a broken wing."

Clint tried to crawl away backwards, but Loki easily closed the distance between them.

"Are you ready to cooperate?" he asked.

Clint could feel he was starting to go into shock, but he still managed, "Get bent, you son of a—"

Loki kicked him then, right against his leg's compound fracture, and Clint barely controlled a scream as he was hit by an agony so excruciating he thought he'd pass out. He instinctively rolled up into himself, desperate to shield his leg, but Loki kicked him again in the face. He felt blood running down his chin, and his vision started to blur.

"Pathetic dog," Loki snarled. "Your stubborn heroics will do nothing but get you killed. Tell me where she is!"

It was then that his cell phone rang.

Both men heard it at the same time. Loki jerked around to scan for the source, digging Clint's phone out of his backpack. The screen displayed the incoming caller in big black letters: Natasha Romanov.

"How helpful," Loki said with a terrible smile. He kept his eyes on Clint as he answered the phone in Clint's voice. "Hello? Hey, Natasha, what's up?"

Clint was swimming in and out of consciousness, but he tried anyway to shout out a warning. He managed a feeble, "Natasha—" but he knew it was futile even before Loki kicked him in the stomach, so hard his breath was knocked out of him. One last alert part of his mind registered that at least one of his ribs had cracked, but he was having trouble focusing at this point as his mind swam in and out of hazy consciousness.

"It doesn't matter when you show up," Loki said into the phone. "I'm not going anywhere. Okay, see you in a bit."

He ended the call and hurled the phone into the floor, where it shattered.

"It seems Agent Romanov is coming to me," he told Clint with a dark smile. "This time, the spider will get caught in someone else's web."

The words hardly registered to Clint, who was fading fast into unconsciousness.

"As for you, Agent Barton," Loki continued, "you still may have a use, so I won't kill you—yet. I think I'll wait to do it until Agent Romanov can watch."

Clint was vaguely aware that Loki was grabbing a rope to tie him up, but everything felt blurry and slow. The last thing he heard before completely passing out was the demi god's voice drifting around him in the darkness: "Thank you for your cooperation."