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“You’re relieved, Agent Paddy, Agent Jackson,” Clint said as he walked into the room.
“It’s Agent Patrick, -sir-,” Agent Paddy replied. The tone of his last word was ruined a little from the lilt of his accent.
“I’ll try to remember that next time,” Clint said. “You’re both dismissed.”
Agents Jackson and Patrick looked at each other and left the room without another word. They weren’t staying on Loki sitting duty for any longer than they had to.
Clint sat down on the chair near the door and picked up one of the magazines someone had left behind. He grinned. Someone was teasing the demi-god with girly teenage fashion magazines. He hoped it wasn’t Tasha. He flipped through one lazily and laughed out loud at one of the articles.
“And just what is so funny, Agent Barton?” Loki’s sounded intrigued by his reaction.
“Just some of the advice they give to young girls on ‘101 ways to make your boy love you’.” Clint sat sideways on the chair with his feet hanging over one of the arms. “Please tell me you weren’t reading these. You’d lose your reputation.”
Loki just smiled. “I wasn’t reading them.”
Clint shook his head. “You know, I can never tell whether you’re lying or not.”
“Are you going to talk for your entire … what is it you call them? ‘Shift’?”
Clint shrugged. “Why? Does it annoy you?”
“I do prefer the quiet, yes.”
“Well, that’s just too bad, isn’t it?” Clint picked up another magazine and leafed through it.
“Page sixty-eight has an,” Loki paused for a moment. “‘interesting article.”
Clint looked up, raised an eyebrow and then flipped forward to the mentioned page. He roared with laughter. “A ‘Which Avenger are you’ quiz? Please tell me you got Thor.”
Loki chuckled. “No. I am as likely to be assigned as Thor, as you are to be assigned as your Black Widow.”
Clint smirked. “They think I’d do what?” He shook his head at one of the questions leading to ‘Hawkeye’. He flipped back to the front of the magazine and continued reading.
Loki lasted five minutes before his curiosity overtook his want of silence. “So why have you been assigned to watch me? I would have thought you would be the last one they wanted to assign here.”
Clint smirked again. Loki did have a point, but the rules for being assigned ‘Loki-sitting duty’ were pretty clear. He closed the magazine. “Yeah, but that was before I shot Coulson with NERF darts. And then told Agent Wilson about it…”
“NERF darts?”
Clint pulled a small brightly coloured pistol out of his pocket and launched its two darts at the perspex wall of Loki’s cage. Loki stood up, walked over to the edge of the cage and examined the darts.”
“What are they?”
“Inaccurate pieces of foam tipped with a bit of rubber that you fire out of air powered guns,” Clint explained. “Also known as ‘fun’.”
“Fun? How is shooting foam darts ‘fun’?”
Clint smirked. “Depends who you’re shooting.”
Loki nodded sceptically. “I still fail to see the entertainment value.”
“Your loss, Rudolph.” Clint threw the entertainment magazine back onto the pile. He spent the next half an hour or so flipping through magazines, muttering comments on the articles and watching Loki out of the corner of his eye. Loki cringed every time Clint said something, which just encouraged the archer.
“Can you not just remain silent?” Loki finally snapped. “You are more irritating than the doe-eyed junior agents who just sit and stare with their mouth hanging open.”
“Not really. It’s a problem I have. Can’t keep my mouth shut when I don’t have to…”
“Agent Barton, please report to Agent Coulson.” A voice spoke over the PA system.
Clint pressed his communicator. “What about…?”
“A replacement is being sent.”
“Looks like you get out of me having to babysit you, Frosty,” Clint winked. “I’ll probably see you around later.” He stood up and walked out of the cell block, headed for Coulson’s office.
Loki stepped forward and examined the darts, still stuck to the outside of the cage. Fun? These little toys? He shrugged and shook his head slightly. Midgardians were a strange lot.