Okay, here's another one of those little idea nuggets that wouldn't go away after I saw the Avengers. It takes place after Loki has been captured and is in Hulk's cage.

"He killed eighty people in two days," Natasha's voice reached my ears as I sat at the round table of the helicarrier's bridge.

Thor, who had been defending Loki wholeheartedly up to this point, stopped talking, shrugged his big shoulders and said, "He's adopted," as if that made up for anything his younger brother had done. In my book, it didn't. I could barely think straight I was so angry.

"What do we do now?" I spoke up as I stood from my seat.

"We pump him for information," Nat said defiantly. "We need to know what his game plan is and there's only one way to get that."

I nodded, but I inwardly cringed. I was disgusted that I still felt funny about torturing the psychotic bastard, but I did. He was still my husband… But whatever part of the man that I married that was left was either gone or buried deep down under all that crazy. I let out a huff of air.

"I'll work on him," Natasha said as she stood up. I could practically see her rolling up her sleeves and preparing for the interrogation. I nodded as I sat back down.

"Be careful, Romanoff," Fury said in his deep voice. Natasha turned to him and nodded before she left the room. Fury turned on the surveillance camera and a screen appeared next to me on the table. I could see him, pacing back and forth along the cell like a caged animal. He seemed fairly at ease though, given his circumstances.

*o*O*o*

Natasha was able to get information out of Loki like no one I had ever seen before. Well, that had been her job her whole life, I supposed. Loki was planning on pissing Banner off and unleashing the Hulk on the airship. I passed by the lab that Tony and Bruce had been working in and saw the whole gang in there. Even Fury was standing in there and it looked like Steve was confronting him about something. I kept moving. Now was the time to talk to Loki if I ever wanted to get anything out of him on my own. But I wasn't going down there on SHIELD business. Not this time.

When I got there, he was lounging on the one bench that was in the cell. He looked very introspective as he stared at a fixed point on the white floor of the containment vessel. No doubt he was stewing over Natasha's little stunt.

He looked up when he heard me, but he didn't stand. "Hello, dear," his voice dripped with sarcasm. "Something you wanted to say to me? Or something you wanted me to tell you?"

I crossed my arms as I took him in. He was a bit paler- if that was possible- but other than that he looked absolutely fine. "You…"

"Yes?" he asked after I trailed off. He was humoring me.

"What's your real plan?" I asked as I sat down in front of him. "I mean besides pissing Doctor Banner off and destroying the whole ship in the process- which means you die too, by the way. There just seems to be a missing part in your little scheme. The others have overlooked it but-"

I trailed off as Loki stood to face me eye to eye. He walked right up to the glass, and I thought he was going to bang against it with his fist as he had with Natasha, but instead he laid a single, spider-like hand against it. His green eyes peered into mine. "I think you may have other things you need to be worried about right now, my dear."

"Like what?" I asked. "You're in a cage; one hell of a cage at that and you are trying to threaten me?"

He nodded.

"With what, may I ask?" I said as I took a step back.

"I am not the only one at work on Midgard. I have my ways of infiltrating even the darkest corners of SHIELD. They think themselves to be safe from me at present, but they have never been more wrong."

"You're crazy," I said as I stood up to leave, putting my back to him.

"You did not seem to take issue of that the other night… I wonder has anyone else ever made you scream like you did when you were with me?"

With that little comment I snapped back around. "You're a pig." He didn't argue. "I'm going to stop you, Loki. If it's the last thing I do, you will not win this war." I turned back to leave.

"Then be careful, Love," he whispered and even though he was on the other side of a sheet of glass that was at least a foot thick I felt the whisper tickle my ear and send a cold shiver down my spine.