nevanna | Ficlet: "Ready, Aim"

Fandom: The Avengers (movieverse)
Characters: Clint and Loki
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, and I do not profit from their use.
Summary: "Who knows the demons that wake the Black Widow in the night, that make her bite back her screams… who knows, better than you?"
Words: 225
Notes: Written for the "going in for the kill" prompt at

comicdrabbles.

Ready, Aim

“I was once known for my facility with stories,” Loki muses. “A few well-chosen words could cause bloodshed and chaos.” Nostalgia curves his mouth into a smile, and he caresses the handle of his spear as lovingly as if he feels the sensation himself. “I almost regret the need to use… cruder methods of persuasion.”

Clint stands at attention as the Asgardian circles him. “Time is a factor,” he points out.

“Indeed it is,” Loki agrees. “Clever little bird. However, nothing forbids me from hearing the stories of others.” And Clint knows, somehow, what he will say, like sighting along an arrow and pulling the string taut. “Such as, perhaps, Agent Romanov. Who knows the demons that wake the Black Widow in the night, that make her bite back her screams… who knows, better than you?”

The clenching dread in Clint’s guts, the voice somewhere in the back of his head that cries no and stop and I’m sorry, Natasha, aren’t enough to stop the word that falls from his mouth. “Nobody.”

“As I thought. You shall hear her beg for death, and you shall savor it.”

Then even the protesting voice is silent, and all he knows is that he is Loki’s weapon to aim, and unless she is very lucky or goes in for the kill very quickly, Natasha will be the target.