Chapter 16 - Life in Reverse

As a courtesy, he shielded her from the worst effects of the travel. She still looked a little wild-eyed for a fraction of a second after they landed in SHIELD’s headquarters, though she swept it away quickly and started down the hallway without asking for his direction.

“Has something changed other than Stark’s status?”

“We found our assassin. I didn’t hear anything beyond that, though. Except that things are getting messy at the higher levels fast and Fury’s starting to have a hard time keeping the government off our backs.” Natasha turned confidently down another hallway and then opened an unmarked door. Hill turned to look at them from where she was watching a panel of screens, all showing the same man behind a pane of glass.

“That’s our guy?” Natasha said, without preamble.

“Colin Taylor,” Hill affirmed, her eyes flicking distrustfully over Loki for one moment before turning away from them both and back to monitoring the video feed. “Five years with us. Four as active field agent.”

“And suddenly…what’s he said?”

“He doesn’t remember anything,” Hill said with some frustration. “Says he went home and there was someone in his house, but other than that…there’s no sign of an intruder, and his activities yesterday were normal right up until…”

Loki narrowed his eyes. “Magic?”

“No,” Natasha said. “Drugs. His tox screen turned up a cocktail that would make him highly suggestible and subsequently create a memory block. That’s something we can work through with time, but…time is something we may not have.”

Loki’s right hand flexed at his side. He could, he thought, probably break through whatever ‘block’ this mortal concoction had created. Extract the information they needed. But…Natasha was watching him. If she guessed what he was thinking, she didn’t ask.

Natasha looked back at the screen, showing the man inside his glass cage. He looked truly wretched. Loki didn’t recognize him. “Whoever’s setting this up is moving fast, but if they’re counting on Stark buckling under pressure then they’re going to have a surprise coming for them. But that they pulled SHIELD into this…”

“Do you have ideas of possibilities?”

“Still too many,” Natasha said, lowly. “Could be AIM or HYDRA, or it could be any number of billionaires making a power play, Justin Hammer, Norman Osborn, Wilson Fisk…someone with a lot of money and a lot of heft. We don’t exactly have a shortage of those.”

“Hammer’s still out,” Hill said, firmly. “We’ve got enough on him that he hasn’t managed to buy his way out yet after the affair with Vanko. There’s the possibility this isn’t someone we know, too. New players turn up.”

Natasha shook her head. “That doesn’t seem right for this. Someone’s been setting this up for a while and knows exactly where to strike. And I get the feeling they’ve got more of a hand to play.”

Hill frowned. “If there’s another attack…we don’t know how whoever this is got to Taylor in the first place.”

“Then I guess we’d better get moving, huh?” Natasha drew herself up. “Is Barton…”

“Hill?” A voice Loki didn’t recognize crackled through the communicator at her hip. “We’ve got a problem.”