Title: Till Death Do Us Part

Summary: Clint and Toni are in a relationship. That would have been fine. If a certain Loki situation hadn't cropped up and Toni hadn't been mind-controlled by an Asgardian bent on destroying the country and Midgard. At what risks will Clint go to save Toni? And will Toni emerge from this situation unscathed mentally? (I doubt so)

Pairing: Toni Stark (fem Tony Stark) x Clint Barton

Disclaimer: I do not own anything except the relationship Clint and Toni have, which, personally I think is very sweet.

Unsaid Apologies

"I spy with my little eye, something that starts with N."

"Nick."

"Wow, you're good. I'd thought you'd never guess that one. How about, I spy with my little eye, something that starts with-"

"Nick."

"How do you this? Are you looking into my mind or something?"

"Toni."

"Yes, Clint?"

"Shut up."

Toni Stark, billionaire, genius, ex-playgirl, philanthropist, and proud girlfriend of Clint Barton, snickered as she clearly heard the exasperation clearly in his voice.

She and Clint were sitting on the top most platform of Eric Selvig's lab and, though it wasn't as impressive as hers, she had to give it props for the Tesseract it was housing.

One would think guarding alien technology would have been more exciting, but twenty minutes in Toni had already rolled her eyes and given it up a bad job. Twenty-five minutes later, she and Clint had now been reduced to playing I spy with an unsuspecting Nick Fury.

Groaning slightly and slouching against her boyfriend, Toni pouted as she stared at the glowing mass of blue Nick was currently circling.

"What does he think the Tesseract's going to do?" she whined petulantly not counting on Clint listening though not caring," It's not as if it's going to explode any second. It's probably going to just sit there and look all pretty like it did yesterday. And the day before that. And the day before that. And the day before that. And the day before-"

"Toni!"

Toni sighed," Like I was saying, it's not like it's gonna do anything! Can we go now?"

There weren't many times when Clint was annoyed at his girlfriend but today was one such day. It's not as though Toni did it on purpose, Clint knew (though she may be doing that partly for her own entertainment), she did have a huge press conference right before his guard shift but she chose to seek him out instead of the huge Jacuzzi waiting for her back home at Stark Towers. He appreciated that.

He did.

But it took a hell lot of patience to keep quiet on a surveillance mission and he was sorry to say that Toni did not have such patience.

"Toni," he said impatiently, her voice already playing with his last thread of patience," Maybe you'd like to go home first? I'll meet you there after my shift."

Maybe he'd made his voice too cold or his eyes too hard, but Toni caught a hint of the underlying tension and she seemed to wince, a hurt look passing over her pretty features. She shifted away from Clint's side, an apathetic expression already adorning her face, an expression he was used to seeing on Toni around reporters but not near him. Never near him, he thought in distress.

"Toni, I-"

"I think I'll go first, Clint," she cut him off coolly, her chocolate brown eyes indecipherable. She brushed herself off as she got to her feet, withdrawing them from where they were dangling off the catwalk with Clint's. "Your job's really… interesting. Yea, action-packed and all that bull. I really enjoyed it. … But next time, I think I'll just prefer staying at home if you don't mind."

Another beat later, she was jumping of the catwalk (a feat which was child's play for Toni but never failed to make Clint's heart skip a beat) and she threw a hand back in goodbye without even looking back.

"Bye Nick," she called over her shoulder at the S.H.I.E.L.D director," Bye Clint. Good luck with your job. If you need me, I'll be at the Tower. Preferably having a hot bath complete with cucumber slices. See you."

Then the world exploded.

"TONI!" Clint screamed from where he was he was standing in an instant, blindly grabbing for his bow and arrow which he had left beside him.

His heart was beating erratically and his eyes were wide but all his mind could think about was Toni, Toni, Toni, Toni as he looked frantically for his girlfriend.

Though he might as well have been staring into fog because all he could see was the blinding blue light of whatever it was in the lab.

He could hear Eric's panicked instructions, Nick's angry bellowing above all the others, but he couldn't hear Toni. A coil of fear settled in the pit of his stomach like a leaden weight. Please don't be dead…

Then the light cleared and his fears abated because Toni was right there where he'd last seen her but she looked dishevelled and there was a look of panic in her eyes that didn't suit her at all.

He looked behind her.

"Shit."

Apparently there was a use for Tesseract after all: To bring baddies inter-galactically, through time and space from its other port.

But Clint couldn't congratulate himself for his reasoning skills because Toni was in danger. His Toni. And he could all but pray that nothing happen to her.

As Toni whimpered in fright, her body language showing panic, her chocolate eyes screaming at him not to come any closer, the creature, or whatever-it-was, examined himself, looking over his body with a type of calm that Clint would have expected when picking out a sandwich in a store, but certainly not in the middle of a lab with a highly unstable alien technology in the room with an irate, but cautious SHIELD director whispering instructions into his communicator.

"Interesting…" it mused thoughtfully and it was only then that he noticed the spear like, glowing thing pressing into Toni's back.

He saw red.

"Get away from her!" he all but spat as he descended from the catwalk, his bow and arrow already notched and aimed with deadly precision. "Let go of Toni!"

But before he could come any closer, Nick threw a hand in his path and gave him a warning look. Don't you dare…

Torn, he looked back at his girlfriend to the director and found the same warning in her eyes as Nick's. Don't.

He felt as though he wanted to tug his hair out and die with his decision but with a pained huff, he slowly placed his bow on the ground and returned his arrow to his quiver.

He almost hated the look of relief in Toni's eyes.

He was, however, certain that he hated the look in the other being's eye.

He looked the girl he held hostage over once and he adopted a sly gleam.

"This girl," he said softly, he fixed his green eyes on Clint and he suddenly got a feel of dread," She is precious to you, is she not?"

Then, without warning, he spun her around. He glowed blue briefly and he pressed the spear into her chest.

Clint barely had any time to respond or protest.

There was a blue light which surrounded the pair of them, the same one his body had emanated a few seconds ago and Clint watched helplessly as the chocolate blue of Toni eyes he loved so much faded into a glowing type of grey.

He let out a strangled, pained cry.

"What the hell did you do to her?" he yelled angrily, now thrashing in Nick's restraining arms," You're going to die when I get my hands on you!"

The being merely smirked, satisfied. "My dear," he purred in a voice that made Clint's blood boil," Please keep our guests busy while I… tie up loose ends."

Toni nodded, her blue-grey eyes glimmering in an ominous sort of way her chocolate eyes never had.

"Toni?" Clint asked cautiously.

"I don't know you."

Then she erupted in a tornado of kicks and a flurry of punches.

Not quick enough to get out of the way, his brain was still struck dumb by her response, Clint felt Toni's fist impact with the side of his hand and he knew no more.

Kay, that's my take on Avengers if Toni was a girl and she and Clint were dating at the time Loki attacked. I think it's alright but, hey! That's only my opinion. I want to hear yours! Push the button down there to send in any comments or thoughts about this fanfic. :)