Once the hour was up, the two women were both rudely awoken by Natasha's alarm clock blaring at them to haul their asses out of bed. However, the thing that really woke Natasha up was her girlfriend slapping her arm repeatedly to get her to turn the alarm off. Natasha was so close to turning herself slightly so that she could kick Eleanor in the stomach to send her flying off of the bed, but she used self-control.

All things considered, they slept rather well. Usually, they wouldn't be able to sleep with the anxious thoughts from the day swirling around in their heads, but exhaustion overpowered anything else that was going on in their brains. Once their heads hit the pillows they were out like a light.

They would have preferred to have not removed themselves from the situation temporarily and continued working on getting Clint back, but they would be of no use to the team if they passed out in the middle of an altercation; so needs must.

Natasha seemed to wake up more energised than Eleanor, who was practically still asleep on their walk back to the bridge to be told what to do now as further developments may have occurred during their slumber.

Nat had to link arms with her girlfriend on their walk as she kept tripping on thin air due to her eyes being half-closed, "Come on Sleeping Beauty, we gotta get back to work".

"I got woken up in the middle of deep sleep, I think I'm gonna need more than 2 minutes so shhh". Nat chuckled slightly at the response she had received, having dealt with her in this state all too often in the past.

They did manage to reach the bridge without any casualties, though there were a few close calls on the stairs.

"Ah, Agents", Fury called out at them as they rounded the corner.

"Sir", Natasha nodded at him, whilst Eleanor blinked a few times and widened her eyes to stop them from closing, and smiled at the Director.

Fury gave them an odd look seeing one of his best Agents on the brink of sleep, being supported by another one of his best Agents but shook it off as he needed them in action right now.

"I need you both to try and crack Loki, no one has gotten through to them yet, we need them to talk if we have a chance at understanding what mind games are at play here".

The two nodded and made their way down to Loki's cell at a fast pace. When Eleanor shook her head a few times and let out some heavy breaths it signalled to Natasha that she had now woken up fully, which was good as she didn't think that the two would be able to get through to Loki if they looked like a comedy act.

Eleanor had no clue if their attempts at getting a grip on what Loki was doing was going to work, and there was a lot of pressure on them. They were kind of the last resort move here, if they were unable to succeed in this then they are stumped.

"What's our play here?", Eleanor asked when they reached the door to the holding area. They were paired in a lot of interrogations in the past and so had come up with a few techniques that worked for the two of them.

"We act as though we are just colleagues, thanks to Stark's comment in the jet they probably know we are a thing if they were listening, but still act distant so that they don't think to use us against each other in the moment, kind of like a blank slate".

Eleanor nodded along and hummed in agreement, "We need to get them to ramble, it's like that guy we detained from Puerto Rico when we got under his skin and he rambled and rambled and then slipped up, giving his entire life story away in the process".

"Right, right, that guy. If Loki resorts to getting under our skin we have to make it seem like it's working, they won't talk if they don't think that they have the edge", Natasha paused and held her breath slightly when looking at the door, causing Eleanor to look at her with some concern before she turned back to look at her with a blank look, "Let's head in".

Nat was slightly worried as she got the feeling that Loki, when unable to physically confront you, would go on a verbal rampage to make you feel small and weak, but she shook it off to try and clear her mind, ready for the interrogation and walked in first quietly, Eleanor following.

They stood in silence for a few moments, facing Loki's back, before Loki turned around with an unnerving smile, "There's not many people who can sneak up on me".

"But you figured we'd come", Nat replied calmly.

"After. After whatever torture Fury can concoct. You would appear as friends, as a balm, and I would cooperate. What does surprise me though, is that he sent the two of you".

They both narrowed their eyes slightly at Loki insinuating that it was a mistake to send the two of them in, but didn't say anything about it.

"What have you done to Agent Barton?", Eleanor asked in a dry tone, stepping forward a few paces ahead of Natasha to get closer to the cell.

"I would say I've expanded his mind", Loki shrugged. Eleanor tilted her head at the God, asking for elaboration with her body language.

Nat stepped forward to where Eleanor was, "And once you've won, once you're King of the mountain, what happens to his mind?".

"Oh", Loki smirked, "Is this love, Agent Romanoff?". Eleanor had to resist gagging at the thought of Nat and Clint together and instead kept a straight face.

"Love is for children. I owe him a debt".

"You really believe that? Then who's that next to you?", Loki smirked. Okay, they were definitely planning on using their relationship against them here. "Do you think that love is for children Agent Hughes? Does it hurt to know that she does? That she might not be able to ever fully love you?". Nat and Eleanor exchanged side glances but kept an otherwise blank expression, though their jaws were slightly tighter than at the beginning of the conversation.

They both knew that what Loki was saying wasn't true, at all. But Nat's chest still tightened slightly at hearing the words being said about her.

Loki smirked knowing that they had gotten under their skin slightly, Nat wanted to get Loki's attention off of her girlfriend, not liking the direction that this was going in, so crossed her arms and took a step forward.

"Fine. Tell me about this debt", Loki said whilst walking backwards a few paces.

Nat hesitated slightly, wondering if she should open up about this, but it would be a step closer to getting him to ramble, or explode, or both, "Before I worked for SHIELD I uh... well, I made a name for myself. I have a very specific skillset. I didn't care who I used it for, or on. I got on SHIELD's radar in a bad way. Agent Barton was sent to kill me. He made a different call".

"And what will you do if I vow to spare him?", Loki asked.

Nat smirked, "Not let you out", there was no way in hell she was about to entertain the idea of a trade, they were here to get information on Loki's plans, but she pretended to seem pretty carefree about the situation.

"No, but I like this", they grinned, "Your world in the balance, and you bargain for one man".

"Regimes fall every day. I tend not to weep over that. I'm Russian. Or I was". Eleanor smiled slightly at Nat covering that up using a bit of humour.

"And what are you now?".

"It's really not that complicated, I got red in my ledger, I'd like to wipe it out".

"Can you? Can you wipe out that much red?".

The two women knew that they were probably about to be emotionally damaged, but they were ready to take the hit because they could sense the start of the aggressive rambling approaching rapidly.

"Dreykov's daughter, Sao Paulo, the hospital fire? Your girlfriend's father". Nat had been acting shocked at hearing Loki recalling these events, going with the 'letting Loki have the edge' plan. Not that it was nice to be reminded of these events, but she did freeze slightly at the mention of the last one. "Barton told me everything, your ledger is dripping, gushing red".

Eleanor stepped forward slightly and shook her head, eyes narrowing on the God in front of her, wanting to look like she was warning Loki to back off, but was secretly adding more fuel to the fire. This worked as Loki turned to her with pursed lips before starting another wave of attacks.

"And you, Miss 'Could Never Do Any Wrong'. You think that you're putting good into the world by following in your father's footsteps? You don't see all of the collateral damage you leave behind, you're just a pawn in spreading lies and pain, your life amounts to nothing. You are nothing", Loki seethed getting more aggressive during the little rant.

They then turned to look between Nat and Eleanor, seeing them with seemingly horrified faces, causing Loki to grin, "And you think that saving a man no more virtuous than yourselves will change anything? This is basest sentimentality. This is a child at prayer, pathetic! You lie and kill in the service of liars and killers. You pretend to be separate, to have your own code, something that makes up for the horrors. But they are a part of you. And they will never go away".

As much as they didn't want it to, Loki's words were getting to them slightly, several doubts running around in their minds. Their thoughts were cut off though when Loki slammed their hand against the glass wall in between them, making the pair flinch and step backwards at the sudden outburst.

"I won't touch Barton, not until I make him kill you", he directed the last part at Eleanor before turning to Natasha, "And make you watch. Slowly, intimately, in every way he knows you both fear. And then he'll wake just long enough to see his good work", at this Nat turned around to act distraught, although it wasn't hard, the image of her best friend killing her girlfriend in front of her was enough fuel for that. Eleanor just continued to stare at him with a face filled with horror.

"And when he screams, I'll split his skull, and you'll be left all alone. This is my bargain you mewling quim".

Nat was now 'crying', "You're a monster". Eleanor turned around to Nat, she knew that this was all an act for their benefit, Natasha's actual cries did not sound like that, but her heart still broke slightly.

"Oh no, you brought the monster".

Eleanor snapped her head back to Loki at the same time Natasha spun around on her heels. "Banner", she spoke with a small smile on her face.

"That's your play", Nat continued, making Loki's confidence immediately plummet.

"What?".

Nat started walking back towards the door, speaking through her earpiece, "Loki means to unleash the Hulk. Keep Banner in the lab, we're on our way. Send Thor as well".

Loki sent a questioning look at Eleanor, who just shrugged and started following her girlfriend down the steps. Nat turned to face Loki again, "Thank you for your cooperation", she stated and walked out, signalling for Eleanor to follow.

"Much appreciated my friend", Eleanor added on in a chipper tone before following.

---

On the way to the lab, the two women were oddly quiet, they may have needed Loki to get like that so that they would snap and reveal the plan, but the words still cut deep.

After a few minutes of silence Eleanor looked up to see that Nat looked as though her mind wasn't really in the present, so she took ahold of her hand.

Nat stayed quiet for another few seconds before coming to a standstill, abruptly stopping Eleanor as well. "You know I really do love you right?", she asked with such vulnerability in her voice, Loki had triggered some insecurities to arise.

Eleanor's face softened, "Of course I do, I know that everything Loki said was bullshit". Nat sighed and nodded with a small smile. "You are a person fully capable of love, and I am reminded of your love every day".

Nat leaned forward so that their foreheads could touch, "I love you so much", Eleanor whispered, making Nat break out in a cheesy grin.

After a few seconds of basking in the nice moment that the two very much needed, Nat pulled away and wrapped her arm around Eleanor's shoulder, starting the walk to the lab again, feeling a bit of a protective streak after everything that had happened in the interrogation.

The two resorted to silence once more, they still weren't feeling 100% fine, but they would be okay if they were together.

The silence was soon torn away from them, however. Nearing the lab they had heard the bickering of the men within it, so they sped up slightly to see if there was any way to be able to mediate the situation. It was highly unlikely that they would be able to do so though. Testosterone.