A/N: And perhaps this is the chapter you have been anticipating?

I just gotta say I'm really sorry this took so long to get up. My life has been utter hell lately. Long story short, I started college. Expect less delays.

Thank you to everyone who has consistently followed and reviewed this story in my silence. I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint (it is short, sorry). The next one is when the real drama gets to pick up~

(I threw in some Bruce and Tasha POV. My Tony muse has abandoned me momentarily.)

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Except for Virginia and Ivan. (Sadly.)

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Chapter 7: When Shit Goes Down (like planes)

The plane ride was oddly silent. Not that silence was odd; Clint and Tasha rarely spoke as it was-they hardly had any need for words.

But this silence was tense, and it irked Tasha like an ant crawling on her arm during a picnic. Nobody likes ants. Except maybe Ant-Man.

She sighed and glanced over at Clint who was dozing in the co-pilot chair. He looked so peaceful when he slept. She'd known him...forever. And ever since Loki had controlled the assassin's mind, she'd rarely seen him with a relaxed expression save in his sleep. This man means the world to me, she stopped her thoughts before they got ahead of her. The love she felt for Barton was wrong-it was dangerous and forbidden in their profession. But they couldn't help themselves all the time. Everyone screws up, right? She scoffed softly to herself as she thought back to the odd way Tony had been acting around their prisoner back at the tower. I hope I can make it back before he does anything too terribly stupid. For a genius, that man was an utter idiot. Poor Pepper.

She checked the monitoring system of their aircraft. Even though it was a Stark Industries creation, the assassin found herself constantly checking for malfunctions. Maybe that was because she'd sabotaged too many planes in her lifetime. Everything seemed to be going smoothly until the plane shuddered. Shuddered. Like an icecube had been slid into its shirt. That's not exactly normal. Planes did not wear shirts, last Tasha checked. Something's wrong. She flipped a few switches and checked the monitors. Nothing was giving off an alarm. The plane shuddered again, this time harder. It's as if we are breaking through barriers. She frowned. Being over 30,000 feet in the air was not her ideal situation and even less so in a malfunctioning tin can of death. She glanced over at Clint, and her quiet panic met his cool blue eyes and he smiled slightly, understanding her general unease with height. Spiders don't like falling.

"Tash, what's with the shudders?"

Her shoulders relaxed when his warm voice washed over her. Just being near him was enough to make her feel safe. "I don't know. It's like we're passing through barriers or something."

"How far are we from Russia?"

She frowned, "That's the other problem. We should already be there, but all I can see is water and clouds." The plane shuddered again, this time the warning lights began to flash angrily. "JARVIS, what's going on?" Luckily Tony installed him in Avenger-related planes.

"I do not know, Miss Romanof. As you suggested, you appear to be passing through barriers, similar to sound barriers however without any increase in speed."

"Hm," Clint sat forward and glanced at the monitors and then out the window. "Let's try landing on the water."

Natasha shot him a confused look but began to descend as he suggested.

"You are reaching dangerous heights, Miss Romanof. I suggest pulling up before you reach the water."

"JARVIS, aren't we supposed to be over land with these coordinates?"

"Yes."

Tasha looked over at Clint, frowning still. He met her gaze with a frown of his own. "Open a channel to Sta-" Before she could finish her order, the plane started shuddering violently, just as she was slowing down to land on the water-which was oddly not reacting to the blowing of the jet engines. She grit her teeth as she and Clint clung to their seats, loosing control of the steering wheel. The plane lurched forward and crashed into the ground, instead of water. The movement jerked Tasha's head into the panel before her, and she groaned, black dots swirling in her vision. Before she passed out, she saw the sky and water hologram shimmer an inch or two above the plane, like looking at a computer screen sideways.

What?

...

Natasha groaned, feeling awareness wash over her body with a skull-splitting headache. If this is another hangover... She opened her eyes to the sight of blood caked on the control panel of the airplane She rolled her head on her neck and groaned, gingerly touching the wound on her forehead. Good news was it was closed, and the scab didn't feel too long. Tasha twisted around to look for Clint. He was slumped in his seat, unconscious, but she didn't see any visible wounds on him. The assassin undid her seatbelt and walked over to him, swaying momentarily when a wave of vertigo. When she reached him she dropped to her knees and undid his belt, allowing his body to slide to the floor.

"Clint," She hissed, looking out the fractured window and seeing three trucks headed towards their location. "Wake up."

She didn't wait to see if he stirred. She stood quickly and rushed towards the com system, picking up the radio. "Hello?" She tried, feeling a bit panicked before she heard Tony's voice.

"Miss me that much, sunshine?"

"Tony, we crashed in Russia! Jarvis should have the coordinates. There's something bad going on here."

"Nat? You're breaking up real bad."

"Tony! We crashed!"

She sighed in frustration, throwing down the radio and turning to shake Clint. "Barton!"

She looked over at the ominous black cars as they pulled up and bit her lip. Shit. Clint was in bad condition and so was she. With the com system down there was no way she'd be able to wriggle out of this mess alive. There was only one option left. Playing dead, or in other words, surrender.

Begrudgingly, the assassin laid on the floor near her chair and cast a worried glance at her partner. This was a dangerous move—either the Russians could kill them on sight or take them "unconscious" into custody. Neither option was good. She gritted her teeth and prayed to whichever-God-that-was-not-from-Asgard that they would survive this. Godspeed, Tony.

"What, exactly, do you mean?"

"We're gonna bond. Movie night."

"I caught that, but with Loki? Seriously?" Steve was gaping at him, for some reason appalled.

"Tony, how is this a productive activity?" Bruce was rubbing his forehead with one hand, his glasses in the other.

Why did no one else think this would be fun? Tony sighed, "Bruce, you need to unwind. We all do. The assassins have been gone a day and we have all be wrapped up in work lately. We need to take a break."

"Since when are you the responsible adult?" Steve gave him a suspecting look, slinging a fresh punching bag over his shoulder. They were in Bruce's lab, where the punching bags were tampered with in an attempt to make them more durable. "And getting drunk isn't work, Tony."

"That was one night!" Tony huffed. "None of you complained at the time."

Bruce sighed, "I suppose one movie couldn't hurt." He glanced longingly back at his lab table.

Steve scoffed, dropping the punching bag back to the floor. "I want to pick it."

Tony grinned widely, "See, I knew you'd come around!"

Bruce rolled his eyes, stiffening when Tony threw his arm around the scientist's shoulder. "I still don't see how this is constructive."

Tony shook him amiably, smirking. "You think too much. Besides, we have to show Loki the awesomeness of Midgardian filmography. Remember when Thor watched Hellboy? It was worth replacing the living room when he summoned Mjolnir and flipped his shit."

"If you say so. You weren't the one who had to keep Hulk back."

A devious glint lit up Stark's eyes. "You could've let him go."

"Tony-" the terse reply was cutoff by Steve clearing his throat.

"You two done? I haven't got all day."

"We're coming, don't get your panties in a bunch, Cap'n." The genius let his arm fall from Banner's shoulders and began to follow the soldier. With his back to the scientist he missed the slight blush and the flustered way he fixed his glasses.

Loki, however, did not. He melted from the shadows as Steve and Tony left the lab, and blocked Bruce's exit, a slight smirk curving his lips. "Doctor Banner," he stepped forward as the man in question backed away.

"L-Loki. What do you want?" His eyes darted for an escape. Damn it. This psychopath made him so nervous.

"I came to speak with you." Bruce glimpsed a flash of amusement in the god's features before he schooled his expression into one of slight disinterest, raising an eyebrow. "About my magic."

"What about it?" The scientist in Bruce led him to snap his eyes to Loki, interest peaked. His shoulders relaxed almost instantly. I need to stop being so jumpy. Tony trusts him.

"I understand that you study things?"

"Uh, yeah, you could call it that. I'm a scientist. It's kind of like being a magician, but we create our own magic."

Loki blinked slowly at him, "I want you to study my magic."

Bruce's breath hitched unwittingly, whether out of excitement or surprise he did not know. "Wha...what do you mean?"

"You need to learn, Doctor Banner, about things over which you have no control." The god's eyes twinkled with the familiar madness from their last encounter, causing him to shift uncomfortably.

"I, uh, know a few things which fall into that category, actually." Like my heart.

"Do any of you know how to track the Chitauri?" His voice was borderline condescending. This was beginning to annoy Bruce.

"No..."

"To sense the approach of me or my br-Thor?"

"Not exactly, no."

"Well then," He smiled slightly, "I mean to teach you, Banner."

"Why?"

His face grew dark. "Because there are other things you will need to be on the lookout for."

Just then, Tony came bouncing back into the room. "C'mon Brucy-ahhhh, that's where you've been, Loki!" The genius grinned. "C'mon you two, the movie is about to start."

"Tony, there's such a thing as a 'pause button.'" Bruce grumbled good-natured-ly, raising a brow at his friend.

"I don't like waiting." The genius shot back.

Loki shot Bruce a meaningful look. "I expect we will begin tomorrow." And then the god strode from the room. He shouldn't look like royalty in sweatpants and a t-shirt, but he did.

Tony pointed his thumb over his shoulder after Loki. "What was that about?"

"I'll fill you in later." Banner strode past Tony, elbowing him. "Hurry up."

Stark chuckled and followed him into the living-room where everyone was seated and waiting for the movie to start. He plopped down next to Loki-who was literally as far as one could get from the spot Thor was occupying-and shot the god a smirk when Loki glared at him.

"JARVIS! Dim the lights! Everyone got popcorn? Good. Movie time." He wiggled a bit as the first scene opened. He casually entwined his fingers with Loki's, ignoring the way the god stiffened at the contact before slowly relaxing.

They were just at the part of the movie where the shark ironically named Bruce was talking of his father, when Jarvis interrupted.

The movie paused and the lights turned back up. Both Tony and Loki jerked their hands away from each other's touch before anyone saw.

"Sir." The AI patched them immediately through to an incoming communication.

"Miss me that much, sunshine?"

"Ton...e...cr...d...Rus...sia...Jarvis...ld...av...the...coord...in...here...somet...bad...go...o...ere."

Everyone exchanged a concerned glance and Tony jumped to his feet, Steve joining him, both frowning. "Nat? You're breaking up real bad."

"Ton...we...cra...shed!"

The fizzing stopped as the com went dead. Tony felt his heart drop and his mind began to race. "Jarvis, do you have the coordinates of where they were last?"

"Naturally, sir."

"Good." He looked around the room. "Let's suit up guys.

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A/N: My tumblr is now plummuffins, not lunarlemonkidd. I figured out how to fix it. Also, follow my Slenderman blog at slendermensch. I am willing to harass anyone. :D

Story Time:

My friend and I were watching Thor and we had a funny conversation:

Katie: "It's so sad, like Shakespeare!"

Me: "No it's worse, it's like the Lion King!"

irony. LOL cause we're dorks.

Also, did you know there is a clip after Thor? -found out recently-