Loki Misses the Asgardian Prison System

Chapter 155

"Ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys..." Tony puts on his loudest, most obnoxious announcer voice for this. "Welcome to the new Avengers Compound training room!"

Tony pushes the door open, and everybody marvels at the room it reveals. He's done a hell of a job of setting the place up. It's full of different exercise machines and training gear.

There's only one problem.

Loki has no idea what any of it is.

It seems he's the only one with this issues though, because everyone else seems ecstatic. Even Thor seems to understand what he's looking at, which makes Loki a little uncomfortable. He hates when Thor is the smart one.

"Oh, hell yes!" Clint elbows Natasha's side and nods toward the wrestling ring in the middle of the room. "C'mon, Nat. Let's go a round."

Natasha scoffs. "This whole training room, and your first thought is that you want me to beat you up?"

"Of course not," Clint says. "My first thought is that I want to beat you up."

Tony goes, "Ooh!" in a way very much designed to egg them on, and Thor, Steve, and Pietro join in. Loki would do the same, but he's not sure they're friendly enough for him to do that.

"Oh, it's on," Natasha says with a grin.

They hop up in the ring, and the others gather around the outside, all eager to watch the show. Natasha makes a show of cracking her knuckles. Clint bounces side to side, warming himself up in the most dramatic way.

"Give him a minute, Nat," Tony says teasingly. "He's gotta warm up those old man muscles."

Clint snorts. "You would know, old man."

"Damn right, I would," Tony says. "That's why I don't agree to fight the infamous Black Widow in hand-to-hand combat."

"Hey, it's not my fault you're a coward," Clint says with a shrug.

Natasha covers her mouth with her fist, stifling a laugh.

"Natasha?" Tony looks at her. "Kick his ass."

"Oh, you know I will."

They both prepare, getting into their starting poses. Clint spreads his feet, knees bent, making sure he has a low, wide base. Natasha does something similar, though somehow, she makes it look much more graceful.

"Hey, before we start," she says, "what's your safe word?"

Clint rolls his eyes. "'Go fuck yourself,' that's my safe word."

"Hmm." She hums thoughtfully. "Little wordy, but I think we can work with it." She flashes him a smile, and he grins back, a silent sign that it's all in good fun.

"Alright," Tony says. "Three... two... one... kick his ass!"

Clint makes the first move, delivering a swift kick to her stomach. She stumbled backward, but she regains her balance quickly. She grabs his calf and pulls it toward her, and his standing leg buckles, sending him to the ground.

"Ooh!" Tony laughs.

But she's not done. She kicks his chest, and he lands flat on his back. She steps on top of him and holds her arms up, flexing her muscles with pride.

The Avengers all clap, and Tony and Pietro throw in some cheers and, in the former's case, a wolf whistle. Loki doesn't join in — he's not friendly enough with Clint to clap for his downfall — but he can't help the smile on his lips. That was amusingly fast.

Clint stares up at the ceiling. "Ow."

Natasha laughs and holds a hand down, and Clint takes it gratefully, using it to pull himself to his feet. He presses his hand against his chest and winces, but he doesn't mention it, and neither does anyone else.