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Chapter Text

The first time that Darcy met Loki, it was weird. Well, meeting the former evil overlord who wanted to rule the world with terror and fire would never be a walk in the park, but it was extra weird because Thor had him on a leash. It was a real leash with a collar and everything. Darcy didn't approve of people putting their kids on leashes when walking around a supermarket. Putting a god on a leash, even a kind of homicidal one, just seemed extra wrong.

Darcy and Jane were sharing an apartment in New York. It had been six months after the Loki incident where he brought his army and got his ass kicked by the big green guy, and Darcy was thinking that today would be another boring afternoon and evening after getting off work doing the same grunt work for Jane that she had always been doing. It wasn't at all, though. Instead, there was a large amount of thunder and lightning outside, and a giant booming sound on top of the roof of the apartment building.

Darcy shrieked when she first heard it, screaming and dropping her bowl of cereal, thinking that either someone had dropped a bomb or the building was trying to collapse or something equally as bad. Jane seemed to realize much earlier what the noise actually was, as she went running up to the roof with a large smile on her face. Thinking that her friend had finally lost her mind after not getting to see her godly boyfriend for so long, Darcy bolted up after her, screaming her name and telling her that running toward the loud, angry noise was a bad idea if she had ever thought of one, and Darcy Lewis knew all about bad ideas. Her entire love life was one giant bad idea, por ejemplo.

However, when she got up to the top of the building, she didn't see a hole in the roof, or anything obviously bad. Instead, what she saw was Thor standing in the middle of one of those circles he first appeared in when they first saw him in New Mexico, but he wasn't alone this time. No, this time he had brought along a slender, dark haired man that looked vaguely familiar although Darcy couldn't place him off the top of her head. From the sour look on his face and the way that he had his arms crossed over his chest, Darcy could tell he really didn't want to be here, though.

By the wide eyed look on Jane's face when she realized that Thor wasn't alone, though, it looked like she recognized just who that was. "Thor! It's not that I'm not glad to see you, but why is he here?" she asked, pointing to tall, pale and handsome.

"Kay…you're already one step ahead of me, because I don't even know who Mr. Emosexy is," Darcy admitted. She lifted up her thumbnail to her lips and chewed on it lightly, not quite able to stop herself from staring at both Thor and whoever the hell it was that he had brought with him.

"Jane, I am very sorry, but I could not leave him in Asgard alone. He is my responsibility now," Thor told her. He turned toward Darcy, and she could only presume that he was going to tell her who was with him, but his…companion interrupted him? She had no idea what to call him.

"I am a person, Thor, not an invalid," he snapped, and, despite herself, Darcy nearly purred when she heard his voice. Why did she have the feeling that she wasn't going to like what Thor and Jane had to say about this guy? "You could have left me in Asgard and I would have been fine. I don't need to come along on your…dates, as Midgardians call them."

Thor sighed. "Lady Darcy, this is my brother, Loki." Darcy's eyes went wide. While she hadn't recognized him in person, as any footage from that day had been super grainy at best, that was definitely a name she knew. Loki was the guy who had tried to take over the world with that alien army that had torn New York a new asshole. What no one had mentioned was that Loki was a total babe. She bet that he could have just walked around shirtless and lots more women (and more than a few men) would have been a lot more willing to bow before him.

"Right…Loki of Asgard with glorious purpose then," Darcy said nervously. She really did have to get over her bad boy issue. Her last like, five relationships hadn't worked because she tended to choose shitty guys that were hot and cut and dark, and Loki pretty much fit the bill. She really needed to excuse herself and run far away during Thor's visit, didn't she? "Right! Well, nice to meet you," she did a quick, awkward bow, "I should get going, though. I have things to do that aren't like…me being tongue-tied in front of new people."

As she turned to flee, she heard Thor's voice ring out behind her. "Actually, Darcy, there is a favor that I need to ask you…"

Wow, this was epic in the badness, huh?

OoOoOoOo

Turns out Thor had needed a babysitter. Well, to say that Loki needed to be babysat was somewhat insulting, but Thor DID need someone to keep an eye on Loki while he and Jane caught up with one another. Darcy was just thankful that, while she and Jane did share an apartment, it was one of those giant and expensive apartments provided by SHIELD so that she wouldn't have to listen to Thor and Jane 'getting acquainted' in her bedroom. As long as she had the TV on, anyway.

But that DID leave Loki and Darcy sitting on opposite ends of the couch in the living room, kind of staring at one another out of the corners of their eyes, not really sure what to make of each other.

"So…how does Thor know that you're not gonna like, kill me and run away?" Darcy asked, finally breaking the silence.

Loki let out a long sigh, and, with a wave of his hand, a thick, mechanical looking collar appeared around his neck. "If I get more than a certain distance away from Thor, it will send around 10,000 volts of electricity throughout my body. Not enough to kill me, but enough to make me think twice about escaping." His long fingers drifted toward his neck, fingering the collar unconsciously. "And it's enchanted so that only Thor can remove it. In addition, I cannot disenchant it. Trust me, I have tried."

"Yeah, I would have been shoving a screwdriver into that thing long ago to get it off," she said, sitting up to look at it, leaning in a little closer to him. Probably invading his personal space a bit, but Darcy had always had trouble with understanding the whole 'stay out of my personal bubble' deal. "I bet Jane could get that thing off, though. Science stuff is kind of her thing. I mean, she totally wouldn't, because I think that she's terrified of you, but I'm sure that she could." When she realized the leaning in that she did, she jumped back to her side of the sofa, reminding herself that, curious about him or not, she still needed to keep on her side of the invisible line.

He tilted his head at her, studying her. "Could you get it off?" he asked her. It was when he was looking at her that she kind of realized that she was so damn close to him, and, with a slight jump, sat back a little so that she wasn't all in his face.

She shook her head quickly. "Mechanics aren't my thing," she told him quickly. "I only started working with Jane because I was the only person to respond to her internship and I needed the extra college credits." Ones that she had nearly died for like, at least twice. "Do you know what college is?"

"I'm not nearly as ignorant of your realms customs as my brother," Loki said with a sniff. "What did you study when you were in college?"

"Political science," she told him, smiling. It was odd to be talked to at all. Most of the people from SHIELD just brushed her off, thinking of her only as 'Jane's assistant.' Even Thor seemed to be mostly bewildered with her and her high energy. "I'm really just kind of a humanities hound, though. I picked political science because that was what I had taken the most classes in and they told me that I had to pick a major at some point. Kinda wish that I could have just went to school without the whole 'gotta have a goal and get a degree' thing that they kinda push on you." She was babbling, she knew it, but those dark green eyes made her nervous as hell.

"You like to learn?" He actually sounded surprised by that. She didn't know if she should be pleased or insulted. "Most that I have met in this realm seem to be willfully ignorant in some way."

"Never could understand people like that," Darcy admitted, jumping off the couch and heading into the smallish kitchen area. Not that they ever used it to cook. They usually weren't at home enough to make meals, plus neither Darcy nor Jane had ever learned, but Thor just happened to pick a weekend day to drop in on them. Good timing on his part. "Do you want something to drink? I was gonna have some tea." Usually she lived and breathed coffee drinks, but right now, she was so buzzy that she wanted to relax, so it was time for herbal tea.

"If it is not inconvenient for you," he said, turning and keeping his eyes on her as she moved around the kitchen.

"I hope that peppermint tea is OK then. It's what I'm having," she told him as she pulled the teabags out. She was silent for a few minutes as she worked on getting some water boiled for them and making the tea, and soon enough she was coming back with two mugs, passing one to him with a smile. Sitting back down in her old spot, she tucked her legs underneath her body and tried to force herself to relax.

"You're tense," he observed, taking a sip of the tea and continuing to watch her over the mug. "Do I make you tense?"

"Well a little," she admitted to him. "Dude, you're the guy who tried to take over the world with an alien army, OK? Little freaky that you're sitting on my couch. But I'm having my calming tea so I should be good." She grinned at him and took a sip of her tea. "But it's not even like you were totally wrong about humanity." That had slipped out before she had thought about it. Damn she really needed to learn to control her mouth.

"What do you mean?" Loki asked her, setting his mug of tea down on the coffee table.

She sighed. "Dude, I should SO not be telling you this," she admitted before going on anyway. "The majority of people DO like being controlled, ruled, and told what to do. It's been that way all throughout human history. I mean, two great people in history were Napoleon Bonaparte and Julius Caesar. Some people at the time considered them tyrants, but others considered them really great men. They both took control of situations where governments were on the verge of collapse. The Roman Republic was starting to fall in on itself, because it was inefficient, and the French Revolution had pretty much torn France completely apart. Julius is always remembered as a good guy, pretty much, and, even though most historians don't agree with everything that Napoleon did, pretty much everyone is OK with how he put France back into shape, and French people still have monuments and stuff built to him over there."

She hadn't even realized that she had went into lecture!mode. She had originally been planning to end up as a teacher, until she crossed paths with Jane and science and bifrosts and gods. "There is one thing that I think you did wrong, though," she told him. "Well, other than the 'alien army' thing, obviously."

Despite the fact that she bored everyone else she knew when she got to talking like this, Loki didn't look bored. He actually looked interested in what she had to say. Darcy had to admit that it was kind of an ego boost to keep the interest of a god. "And what would that be, Darcy?"

Ugh, not fair. The way his accent curled over the syllables of her name had to be illegal in a few states. "Well, most successful dictators in history have made their public love them. It's a work in progress. You can't go straight to the 'I'm gonna be ruler of the world' thing. You have to work your way up to it. Make the public fall for you over time. Just showing up in Germany and spouting ideology is a good way to scare the hell out of people." WHY was she telling him this? She was basically giving him a step by step guide for round two, wasn't she? How sad was it that she was so starved for intellectual conversation she was coaching a murderous deity on How To Enslave Humanity?

"I was working on a bit of a short time table at the time," Loki admitted to her. "I was operating with someone else and was supposed to retrieve the Tesseract for them."

She arched an eyebrow at him. This was the first she had heard anything like that. Eric had told her and Jane all about what he had been working on after the incident in New York. He probably wasn't supposed to, but he had sought them out as soon as things were over and, over one too many drinks, everything came spilling out. It was fascinating, the idea that someone could create a way for clean energy to run the world, but it had turned out that it was being used for weapons, too. Another way that humanity would never change no matter what they said: they were always finding ways to blow each other up in even better ways than before. What was it Loki had said? Something about humans always scrabbling for themselves, and never uniting? Yes, he had been right about some things. Thinking wryly that maybe he wasn't so crazy after all, she found herself grinning at him. "Well, if you DID ever try to take over the world again, you should read up on some former dictators first to see how they did it. You could learn a lot."

Seriously, Darcy HAD to be insane for telling him all of this. Before she thought better of it, she jumped off the sofa, heading over to her overflowing bookshelf, grabbing one of her old college books off of it and tossing it his way. "Is The Prince a good guide to go by?" Loki asked, picking up the book and looking it over. "Seems a bit on the short."

"Think of it as succinct," she said with a grin. "If you say it right the first time, you don't need a lot of flowery language to make your point sound better." Before she could say more, they could heard Thor and Jane heading toward the living room. She watched as Loki tucked the book into his coat, and she plastered the slightly vacant smile that Jane expected from her. She was supposed to be Darcy the coffee wench, not Darcy the advisor of a would be tyrant.

OoOoOoOo

Once Loki and Thor had returned back to Asgard, Loki had headed straight to his room. His punishment on Asgard had recently finished, and now he was supposed to be treated as an equal again. He had yet to see this 'equality,' though. This wretched collar around his neck was proof enough that he was still a prisoner, along with the scathing looks of the other citizens of Asgard. He hadn't originally liked the idea of having to tag along with Thor to Midgard to visit his simpering maid, but it was better than being left here. He didn't know what might happen to him if Thor was away. No one would dare kill him, for that would go against the will of Odin, but someone might try to hurt him. Therefore, he had only put up token resistance.

He hadn't realized that his trip to earth would be so...enlightening. What little he had known about this Darcy before was that she worked for Jane and Eric, and while both had liked her, neither had really respected her. She was the girl who did the tedious tasks for them, since her understanding of their science was less than exemplary. It seemed that they had mistaken her ignorance in that one area for complete simple-mindedness.

As much as he disliked a lowly mortal reviewing him, much of what she had to say was right. He had not been able properly to cultivate the human populace before. He had been rushed. If he had to do it over again, he would try to at least avoid allying himself with the controllers of the Chitauri army. It had laid a heavy cloud over what should have been a simple matter. He had felt unduly pressured.

He had started reading The Prince as soon as he was alone, and it proved to be a fascinating read as well. It seemed odd that a human would write a how-to manual on how to be conquered, but he was actually glad for it. He even appreciated Darcy's notes in the margins. The girl was insightful; he had to give her that. It seemed that she was overlooked by her friends and coworkers.

Loki knew that an underappreciated person could make the best minion. The fact that she was actually intelligent was all the better. Oh yes, he had plans for Darcy.

Chapter Text

When Thor visited for the second time, Darcy found herself dreading the sight of the two brothers. She didn't know what had come over her, why she had practically given him tips on perfecting his world domination technique. Darcy liked the world just the way it was, thank you very much. Sure, it had poverty and bad people in it, and it could definitely use improvement, but that was just it—Loki wouldn't improve it. Would he? From the speeches he had given in Germany, she had gotten the impression he was kind of a fascist pig, in the casual sense of the term. But it had been hard to get her talk with Loki out of her head since he had last been in her living room, with her wondering if he even read the book that she had given him. He looked like he had been interested in what she had to say, but she had no idea if he was just humoring her. She had to admit, the one thing that she had missed about college was that she could have those sorts of conversations with her friends, like who was the better dictator and stuff, and Loki had fulfilled those desires marvelously. She couldn't really have those conversations with Erik or Jane, and she REALLY didn't understand the stuff that they talked about for fun. It usually made her go back to her own books so that she could keep herself entertained.

Jane and Darcy had been baking when they heard the loud boom on the roof that meant Thor was arriving. Luckily, after the first visit, they could actually set up times that he could come. They had just finished a batch of cookies, and Darcy turned the oven off as Jane rushed up to the roof. She figured that she could stay here, put the cookies on a cooling rack, and get things cleaned up while Thor and Jane said their hellos.

By the time that she heard Thor's big stomping, she had done just that, wiping down any crumbs that had gotten on the counter and making the place look almost as good as all of those kitchens in cooking shows that never get dirty no matter how much had been done in them. When they walked through the door, Darcy was a little nervous to see a not so sour looking Loki over Jane and Thor's shoulders as well. It was nice that she would have someone to talk to while Thor and Jane...went off and had their private time, but she would have preferred a conversation with someone besides the evil Norse god she had instructed in the finer points of PR. It wasn't like she needed a reminder of how badly she gabbed last week

It didn't take long for Thor and Jane to sneak off. They were already sharing those looks with one another, and, once Jane had given them a plate of cookies and two glasses of milk, they were off to Jane's bedroom. When they were gone, Darcy looked toward Loki and stuck her finger down her throat, making a gagging noise. "Ugh, I thought they were going to start making out right here," she remarked. Might as well act normal, right?

"They do seem to be terribly enamored with one another, don't they?" he asked, sending her a devastating smile. And then, for a reason she couldn't put a name to, she smiled back. Looking into his eyes, she felt peacefulness pour over her, like a gentle stream, such as she hadn't experienced since her childhood.

With a start, she remembered that he had said something, and must reply. Focusing on Loki's eyes again, she felt a sharp return of clarity, normalcy.

"Yeah, no kidding. After you guys left last time she wouldn't stop talking about him." Was there a hint of jealousy there that she didn't have her own Asgardian god wanting to love all over her? Maybe. She didn't even have an Earth boyfriend to go and see. It was kind of depressing sometimes. At least when Thor was away, she and Jane could bond over being sexually frustrated. Not so much anymore! "He had promised her that he would return for her, and she's been pining away like a schoolgirl ever since. I think she was really starting to worry that he had forgotten about her or something."

She watched Loki take a small sip of the glass of milk that she had made for him. "He won't stop talking about her at Asgard, either," he said with a small roll of his eyes. "I believe he thinks of her as a maiden to be rescued still, at least sometimes. He's...rather old fashioned in some of his ideals. Nauseatingly so, I might add."

"No real shock there," Darcy said, finishing her milk and heading over to the sink to rinse out the glass before sticking it in the dish washer. "He definitely seems like the type to be a little medieval in some of his ways." Apparently, not in the 'wait until marriage' part, if the grins and happy sighs that came from Jane last time after they left were any indication. Thank GOD she'd had Loki to talk to or she would have been run out of her home, more than likely. "So, did you get to read the book that I lent you?" she asked, not able to hold back a hopeful grin.

He pulled the book out of his coat, smiling a smile that was a little less devious than one she would expect for someone known as the God of Mischief, passing it back to her. "I did. I found the notes you had written in the margins to be especially enlightening."

She blushed slightly, thankful that she could turn away and put her book back up on the shelf so that he wouldn't see her looking like a damn kid. As she was sliding the book into place on her bookshelf (despite looking disorganized, she actually had an intricate shelving system that she didn't like others messing with), she suddenly felt him standing behind her. "I was wondering if you had any books on the 'Napoleon' that you mentioned before," he said, and she could swear that she could feel his breath on the back of her neck.

"Oh sure," she said, pretending like it was nothing to have a god standing so close to her like that. She ended up plucking out two books from her shelf, one on Napoleon himself and one on the French Revolution before he took over. "Read this one first," she said, turning toward him and handing him the French Revolution book. "You get to see the situation that everyone in France had just gone through and how unstable everything was. That's another thing about good dictators. They seem to know exactly when to come in and put everything back together. I mean, it was how Julius Caesar got away with taking his army over the Rubicon even though that was kind of an act of war. The people absolutely loved him for it." And there she went again. What was wrong with her? She pressed her lips together, turning to the bookshelf, swearing to be good. But he ran a finger over her shoulder—so delicate, she nearly didn't feel it—and she turned to him with almost mechanically, feeling that sharp, warm clarity again.

Smiling benevolently, he tilted his head at that last bit of information. "So, if, hypothetically, I were to try taking over the world again, I should wait until there was some sort of disaster?" he asked.

Darcy returned his smile. "If we're talking in totally hypothetical terms, then yeah. You should wait for a huge natural disaster or even one that humans create for themselves. We're kind of good at that." As if he didn't know. From what she had been able to find out from his last attempt (after his last visit, she had looked up everything she could find on him, including blurry videos on YouTube of his stunt in Germany), he seemed to have watched the human race enough to know they were quite capable of taking themselves out. "You have to be the one to help them out, though, not simply automatically say 'let me take over' again. They have to want you to take over, beg for your assistance."

"I understand that now," Loki said to her with a nod. "It was your Machiavelli who said 'men shrink less from offending one who inspires love than one who inspires fear.'"

She grinned at him. "Exactly. If you do it right, the public will have no issue with loving you," she told him, side stepping him and heading back into the kitchen. It was early, but talking with Loki made her feel nervous, especially with the subject matter of blueprints on how to take over humanity. She needed a drink. Pulling out a bottle of wine (good wine, because she had company), and, offering some to Loki, poured two glasses, and handed him one as she sat down on the sofa. "I mean, utterly gorgeous man with that lovely accent AND throwing in some good deeds while the world possibly falls apart? Oh yeah, people will be all over you." She hadn't even taken a sip of her wine yet and her tongue was too loose for her own good. She took a big gulp of it.

She watched him as he smiled at her in that toe curling way, taking a sip of his own glass. He didn't spit it out, so she assumed that it was good enough. She wasn't knowledgeable in wine, but the guy at the liquor store said that it was a good one, and it was expensive, so she could only assume that it was. "Utterly gorgeous, am I?" he asked, his voice coming out in a purr.

"Dude, you own a mirror, right?" she asked, arching an eyebrow at him as she took another sip of her wine, smaller this time. She didn't want to be tanked, after all. "Come on. You know you're hot." Many people online had thought the same thing. Even if he had been an egomaniacal homicidal type person, he had fans online.

Thinking along those lines reminded her of who she was dealing with. Damn she needed to keep her head on straight! "Well, yes I own a mirror," he told her, taking another small sip of his glass. "Do you think my looks would help with that, theoretically, of course."

She gulped down the rest of her glass, and, before she had the chance to put the glass down, Loki was giving her a refill. "Well sure," she said, taking a sip of the wine before she even thought about it. "People trust people that are attractive more, and you don't have facial hair, which is even better. For some reason, the public doesn't trust a person with a beard. I guess because it's harder to read a facial expression." She shrugged, not really sure on that one, but she had definitely read that in some study.

"You know quite a bit about these subjects," he said to her, watching her closely as she took another sip of her wine. "I should have found you when I first arrived on this realm. Things might have gone quite differently."

"Hm...maybe, but I'm sure that you would have just looked over me like everyone else does around here," Darcy told him, trying really hard to not sound bitter about that. "Just because I'm not a physics god doesn't mean that I'm not intelligent." She wasn't even sure how much she liked working for a shadowy group like SHIELD, anyway. She couldn't talk to her family about her work, and had to take her last classes by correspondence because they had demanded that she stay and work with Jane, since she already knew everything. She assumed that they didn't want someone running around out there that knew about everything that happened in New Mexico without them being under their thumb in some way.

A look of empathy crossed his face for a second. "Trust me. I know what it's like to be looked over in favor of another," he said to her. She wondered if that was one of the reasons that he had tried to take over the Earth, so that others would properly notice him. If only he realized just how much some people had noticed him.

She scooted closer to him, raising her glass up to him. "How about a toast?" He stared at her a second before raising his glass as well. "To getting the attention that we both deserve." She grinned at him and, as the clinked their glasses together, he returned her smile.

She tilted her glass back and downed the rest of it in an entirely unladylike manner, not even noticing Thor's thundering footsteps coming down the hall. She hadn't realized that they were no longer alone until she heard Jane ask, "What on earth are you two doing?"

Darcy flailed, jumping with a squeak and trying to turn around at the same time, causing herself to fall off the sofa, and she would have slammed her head back against the coffee table if Loki hadn't caught her and pulled her back, pulling them dangerously close for a moment before she managed to settle back onto the couch.

"We're drinking and talking," Darcy finally told her, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible. Who wanted to say that they were possibly plotting a takeover of the planet?

God she was so screwed.

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When Thor and Loki had finally left a while later, Darcy knew that she was getting a 'talk.' She always got one of these talks when Jane thought that she was developing a crush on another guy that wasn't any good for her. There had only been two of those while she was working with Jane, but two was more than enough to know the looks that she would get when the third one came around, and apparently, it had.

"Did I really just walk in on you drinking with Loki earlier?" Jane asked, her face looking like she was desperately trying to hide a smile.

"If I said no, does that mean you would forget this conversation?" Darcy asked in a faux-hopeful voice. When Jane shook her head, she just sighed. "OK, you totally did, but I was just being hospitable! I mean, I bought that wine with the intention of sharing it with someone at SOME point, so why not your totally future brother-in-law?"

Jane rolled her eyes. "God, you and dark guys," she said. "Look, I have eyes, so I can see the appeal. I really can. I even asked Thor, and apparently he's gone through his punishment on Asgard, other than the whole collar thing that he mentioned."

"Yeah, and he can't get it off, and if he gets so far from Thor, it sends like, a billion volts of electricity through him. Probably not enough to kill him or anything, but enough to make him think twice about doing it," Darcy recited to her.

"Yeah, well, just don't get yourself hurt or anything, OK? You really mourn for men when breakups happen," Jane told her. "It's just...just because he's got a collar on doesn't mean that he's totally safe."

"Trust me, I know that." Oh did Darcy already realize that. She wondered if she was making things even more unsafe right now by talking to him about all the things that they had been discussing. It was just a small, slightly demented part of her that didn't really care. Maybe that part of her liked him, or maybe she just liked the idea of being a king maker and putting all of her old college ideas into practice, if such a thing ever came up. She wasn't really sure. "Besides, even if I DID develop a tremendous crush on him, nothing would come of it. Just plain old Darcy here, Jane. Not all of us can pull in old Norse gods."

OoOoOoOo

While Jane and Darcy were talking, Loki was actually watching them, scrying from Asgard, because his teleportation ability was hampered by the dreadful collar that he was still wearing. He couldn't do anything about it himself and Thor had the actual key, but he was already planning to convince Darcy to take a try at getting it off.

That Darcy certainly was a curious creature. She was pretty, for a Midgardian, and at least she wasn't a stick figure like so many women there seemed to think was attractive. She was quite the opposite. Still, he never would have cast her a second glance if she hadn't opened her mouth to him. She was brave to suggest that he could have improved his earlier attempt on her realm, and he was realizing more and more that her ideas were clever. It was her intelligence and boldness that caught his interest. He did wish that she didn't use so much Midgardian slang that made her sound less intelligent than she really was, but that was something that could easily be corrected if he saw fit.

It was one of her suggestions today that had piqued his interest especially. She had said that the next disaster that happened on her realm, he should find a way to help out, and be seen doing it. That wouldn't be a hard thing to do at all. Just mention the idea of helping humans to Thor and his brother would jump at the first chance.

Now he just had to wait for something to happen. He hoped that his patience wouldn't run out before something did.

OoOoOoOo

A few days later, Darcy had been idly flipping through the channels in the break room of the SHIELD offices that she worked in. She was still working as Jane's assistant, but she refused to eat her lunch in the lab. She had picked up a lunch at a nearby falafel joint, and was watching the TV with a mostly blank look when the news interrupted with the story that there had been flash floods in India, with thousands dead and even more displaced from their homes. It was sad, and Darcy felt terrible for the people who had been affected, but it didn't stop her from finishing her lunch. That was the cost of being connected with the world twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. You quickly were desensitized to all the tragedy in the world.

A day or two later, Jane was waiting for Darcy when, bleary eyed, she showed up for her start of the day in the lab work. Jane almost always got there before her, since Darcy was so much not a morning person. Today, though, Jane wasn't doing work. She had her laptop open and had some news site pulled up.

"Figured you'd already be working now," Darcy said, rubbing her eyes a little as she conveyed a drink carrier full of coffees in with her. She set the drink carrier down and grabbed one, handing it to Jane before grabbing one for herself.

"Apparently the Avengers went off to help out with clean up and stuff with that flood in India," Jane said, absently sipping at the coffee, which was odd for her because she usually doctored it to hell before drinking it.

"Really?" Darcy asked. She didn't think that was usually their shtick. "Did Fury tell them that they need good PR or something?"

Jane shrugged. "No clue, honestly." She then started picked at the bag of creamer and sugar that Darcy had brought as well. "But they apparently brought Loki with them."

Darcy would have dropped her coffee if she wasn't such an addict and would NEVER drop anything as precious as coffee. "They LET him come along? I mean, Thor likes him because they're brothers, but I thought the rest of those guys hated him."

Jane didn't answer, just turning the laptop Darcy's way and hitting play on a video, which turned out to be a news story detailing how the 'American Avengers' had all went and volunteered their services in India. Dr. Banner had already been there (he seemed to like India), and the rest had come in. The news had even done a quick interview with Loki, who had explained the collar that kept him from causing trouble said and that he wanted to start to try and make up for what he had done in Manhattan.

So, he had actually followed some of her advice. Wow, Darcy was pretty sure that no one had ever followed her advice before. She didn't know if she should feel pleased that someone took her advice or freaked out because of what it might mean. It really freaked her out that figuring that out was a tougher decision than it should be.

"So, think Thor will stop by after they spend a while there?" Darcy asked. Obviously, they couldn't fix everything there or stay until it was, but it seemed that people there, at least according to the news, loved that they were all there to help. Right now Darcy was trying to distract herself from her own thoughts.

Jane shrugged. "Not really sure. This is kind of out of left field," she said. "I wonder if I could call him."

"Thor would just scream at the phone and think you were trapped inside," Darcy teased.

Chapter Text

Thor and Loki's next visit took a little while longer, since they had spent time helping out in India, but both Jane and Darcy ended up meeting them at SHIELD headquarters when all of the Avengers flew back. They had both switched to regular clothes, and Darcy couldn't help but think that it was odd finally to see Loki in something other than his Asgardian leather. When everyone arrived back, Loki was just in a pair of black jeans and a green button up, with the sleeves rolled up to his wrists. OK, he looked odd but delicious.

This was getting bad, wasn't it?

While Jane ran up to Thor when he came out of the quinjet, jumping on him and being spun around in his arms like something out of a movie, Darcy hung back and simply gave a wave to Loki. He smiled and waved in return, looking a little surprised to see her. When he made his way over to her, she simply said, "India huh?" to him. When he nodded, she smiled. "Good choice."

"I only chose to react," Loki explained to her. She didn't know exactly how far away he could get from Thor, but she knew that she'd like to be alone with him to talk again. Preferably, not at SHIELD's headquarters. This whole place was full of bugs. "I am amazed that SHIELD does not already have some sort of response to natural disasters."

"Not that I agree, but I bet they think that what they do is more than enough for the world," Darcy explained to him. "They really should have something set up, though. I'm guessing that you suggested to Thor that you guys do something and it went from there?"

Loki nodded. "My idea was just originally for Thor and myself to go, but he wanted to bring along his comrades in arms." Darcy almost laughed at the verbal eye roll when he said 'comrades in arms.' "I suppose the more help, the better, though."

"Did they give you too much shit over in India?" Darcy asked, nodding toward the other Avengers as they slowly made their way off the quinjet.

"Some, although it's not like I didn't earn it," Loki conceded. "Barton actually asked me if I caused the floods so that I could get good publicity."

Darcy snorted. That idea HAD actually crossed her mind, but that seemed cold, even for Loki. Then again, he had been willing to flatten most of Manhattan with those alien troops. She assumed that New York was supposed to be some sort of show of force, hoping to cower people into submission. If you have a weapon, you show it off, after all. She had to admit that she had no idea the true capabilities of Loki's powers. Maybe he could cause flooding in India. She certainly hoped that he just seized an opportunity when it was given, though. The idea of him killing hundreds of thousands of people just to show off left a bit of a bad taste in her mouth.

She also figured that that much magic would be traceable, and SHIELD would have done just that, traced it, if they really thought that Loki was behind it. "Well, it's going to take more than one trip to India to really turn their opinions," she said to him.

"Aye, I understand that," Loki agreed, and she had to fight back a giggle when he said 'aye.' She had to admit that she dug it when he and Thor slipped into anachronisms like that. Thor said them A LOT more than Loki, though. "I haven't finished the books that you lent me, though."

"Well you've been busy!" she told him with a smile. "There's not a timetable on books being lent out, though, so don't worry. Have you gotten to read any of them yet?" She was just more curious than anything else.

"I have actually mostly finished the one on the French Revolution," he told her. "It's...horrific what people did to one another, there." He actually did look a little horrified. Maybe he was living up to his name of 'God of Lies,' with that look, but she knew that the more she thought about it, the more she would just cause herself a headache. Figuring out what was truly going on in Loki's head was pretty much impossible.

"Humanity is capable of both great and horrible things," she told him. "The French Revolution had lofty ideals, but things very quickly got carried away. I don't think that the masses of France were quite ready for that much freedom yet. They broke into jails and massacred people just because they were a different class. That really didn't make them any better than the aristocrats, worse even. It's amazing what a little bit of freedom and the right placed words will do to people when they aren't ready."

Everyone but Jane and Thor had headed off inside, and the couple were cuddling up with one another. Darcy wasn't sure how far away Loki could be from Thor with the collar, so they had stayed outside as well. "Are you sure that humanity still isn't quite ready for that amount of freedom?" Loki asked her pointedly.

"We shouldn't have our political discussions here," Darcy told him. "SHIELD agents might get the wrong idea and lock both of us up." She was still at least phrasing this as if it was an intellectual exercise. Part of her REALLY wanted to pretend that it was, but she supposed that she should find out soon enough. "How far away can you be from Thor without you turning into a lightening rod?"

"Enough for privacy, but I cannot really go anywhere without him being nearby," Loki explained to her.

"Then let's see if we can get Jane and Thor to leave here and get coffee or something," Darcy suggested. Before she thought about it, she took Loki's hand and led him over to Jane and Thor. She had always been a bit touchy feely with her friends. At college, she was known as a personal bubble invader. She hadn't even thought that Loki might not like to be touched when she grabbed his hand. "Hey guys!" she called to Thor and Jane. When they looked up at her, Jane's eyes flickered to her hand and Darcy realized what she had done, but to jerk away now would make it look like she had done a bad thing, so she didn't. "You guys up for coffee or something?"

Jane's eyes were still on her hand, but Thor, bless his oblivious self, was already nodding enthusiastically. "Yes, I think that's a very good idea. It has been a long time since I have had the pleasure of coffee."

"Yeah, they don't exactly 'do' coffee in India, I would think." OK, Darcy really had no idea, but she assumed that there wasn't much in the way of spare coffee to drink in India. You know, they probably had the bad water and stuff, or was that Mexico?

They headed inside, since they had to go through the building to get back to the parking lot, and Darcy only let go of Loki's hand when they entered the building, but couldn't resist giving it a quick squeeze before doing so. She was terrible.

Thankfully, when they got to the coffee shop, Thor and Jane wanted more alone time, so Darcy picked a table a bit away from them so that they could have some privacy. Loki had ended up picking out some kind of tea drink, but if Darcy was anywhere near a coffee shop, she was going to be guzzling tons of coffee. She ended up picking out a mocha Frappuccino, because it was somewhat hot outside and it was full of icy, chocolatey goodness. "So! People, freedom, you asked if they could still handle it?" Darcy reminded him, and he nodded, motioning for her to continue.

"The argument could be made for either side," she admitted to him. "I mean, it's like some people, you give them a little freedom and responsibility, and they go insane. Lots of people really do better with some sort of…rules and control going on for them." She took another sip of her drink. "I mean, I'm human and I kind of hate to dog on my species like that, but you only have to look at any real point in history to understand that. It's just…you know, you have to pick the right person to follow. No one wants to find out that they were following a Hitler or something."

"I was compared to him when I was in Germany once," Loki admitted, and Darcy couldn't stop herself from watching his fingers as he lightly drummed them on the tabletop. "I didn't understand who I was being equated to at the time, though. I did a little research afterward."

"Wow, that's harsh. I mean, you weren't exactly picking out one race of humans to destroy, or just one to protect. That was more Hitler's style. That, and usually people get Hitler comparisons during Internet arguments," Darcy told him, making a face as she did so. "Did you get all genocidal with anyone?"

"Not that that human knew of," Loki said quickly. She arched an eyebrow at him when he said that. "It wasn't here. I sent an attack against the frost giants of Jotunheim. It was not my greatest moment."

"Seems like you have a lot of those," Darcy said quickly. When he narrowed his eyes at her, she held up her hands in defense. "Don't get mad when I speak the truth. Is there ever a good time to get all genocidal on someone?"

"I was raised to despise them," Loki explained to her. "Thor, I, and everyone in Asgard was taught from an early age that they were monsters." He cleared his throat. "That and…I had received some very bad news at the time. I wasn't exactly in my right mind."

"I totally understand, I really do," she told him, smiling at him. "Just…if you're gonna take over the world again, might want to keep that on the down low." Talking about this was obviously bothering him, whatever it was that he had found out. She didn't want him to dwell at the moment. She wanted to keep things light right now. Plus, she was pretty sure he might bite her head off for asking how serious of a personal issue he could have that would make him want to destroy a planet. She wasn't touching that with a ten foot pole. Not right now, anyway.

"I suppose you have a point there," he confessed with a small smile. "My past indiscretions should be kept from the limelight."

"Or you should eventually acknowledge them," she offered. "I know it sounds crazy, but, before someone tries to pull this stuff out on you, you should reveal it, own up to it, and move on. Ask David Letterman, it always works out better that way." She sipped her drink again. "Oh! David Letterman is a TV personality who, when someone wanted to blackmail him because he was having an affair with some chick who worked for him, he instead went on television and told the world exactly what was going on: the fact that he had slept around on his wife, that someone was trying an extortion thing on him, the whole shebang.

"If you want a political example, there was a guy a few years ago who had a real shot at being the American president, John Edwards. He looked like the clean cut, American family man with the pretty wife and kids. Well, it came out that someone that worked on one of his political campaigns had an affair with him, and to top it off, his wife was undergoing treatments for cancer. Bad timing, right? He tried to deny it forever, but finally he admitted to it, and it came out that he fathered a child with her, too. He even tried to get one of his male aides to claim the affair and the child for a little while to deflect attention from him, but it just made him look worse. His political career is like, beyond over now. John Edwards is like, exactly what you DON'T do when confronted with something about your past," she told him.

She watched Loki's fingers wrap around his glass and bring it up to his lips, taking another sip of his own drink while he was in thought. "So, if I am asked about any past deeds, I should admit to them and admit contrition for those actions," he said slowly, as if working on it in his mind as well.

Darcy nodded. "Yeah, you don't necessarily need to bring them up out of the blue nowhere, but if it's about to come to light anyway or if someone asks you about them, don't deny. If you deny, it's just going to come back and bite you in the ass."

"This is a very delicate situation, isn't it?" Loki asked her, the hint of a smile playing on his face.

"If you want to become the benevolent dictator of the free world, definitely," Darcy said to him with a nod. "I mean, you want to be the guy that the majority of the populace wouldn't dream of overthrowing, and would fight for you if a fringe group tried to do just that."

"Then I suppose I will have to work on this image so that people would not want to rebel," Loki mused, his emerald green eyes looking directly into hers.

Darcy felt her mouth go dry and she cleared her throat. Loki definitely had one of those stares that could both freeze a girl in place and make her melt at the same time, even though such a thing felt like it should be impossible. She finally made herself nod, not wanting to look like a girlish fool even though every time he turned those eyes on her she felt like she was just that.

OoOoOoOo

Darcy was right to worry that SHIELD had bugs on the base inside and out. What Darcy may not have realized was that SHIELD also had plenty of bugs around the city, at least in the closest businesses to their home base.

Director Nick Fury himself had listened to the conversation that Darcy Lewis and Loki had in the coffee shop over and over, wondering if this girl knew what sort of situation she was getting herself into. Did she really think that she was just having innocent conversations? If she did, then she was every bit the idiot that people assumed her to be.

Fury did not believe that Darcy Lewis was an idiot, though. What Darcy had to gain from the possibility of Loki actually fulfilling his despotic desires and ruling over the planet, he didn't understand, but he doubted highly that it was some girlish fantasy to be a queen at his side. She didn't come across as someone who wanted to wear a tiara and carry a scepter.

He believed that she may have had ambitions toward being some kind of advisor or 'kingmaker.' The idea of cultivating a ruler was a heady one. He wondered if this young woman really understood whom she was messing with, though.

"Sir?" Agent Hill had come up behind him. "Do you want us to bring the Lewis woman in for questioning?"

Fury shook his head. "Have her followed, and have her apartment bugged. I want to make sure that she's really a threat first. To bring her in now might just piss someone off and tip our hand too early." He wanted to make sure that this was a real threat and not two people who were simply having discussions. He wasn't sure how to find that out without something bad happening, but the last thing he needed was an incident of some sort from Loki because they had snatched away his buddy.

OoOoOoOo

It didn't take long for Darcy to realize that she was being followed. She knew that SHIELD was supposed to be an organization full of superspies, but either the training wasn't as up to snuff as she would have thought, or maybe they wanted her to know that she was being followed.

She knew all the regulars at the places that she frequented, like the coffee shop and the little bistro that she sometimes got lunch at, and SHIELD agents stuck out like sore thumbs. Did they really think that this was the right way to go? Then again, she supposed that having them follow her was better than the alternative, which was snatching her away and locking her up in an interrogation room for an indeterminate amount of time.

She wondered what would happen if they had tried something like that. Would anyone come to get her? She had no idea. Jane would complain and demand that they give her back because she was needed for work, as she was the only one who could stand to work with Jane for any real amount of time without going insane. She really wondered if Loki would vouch for her or even realize that she was gone. She thought that they were friends, but were they? Other than Jane, he was the one that she talked to the most now. She wasn't sure if that was sad or what.

She tried to push the whole 'being watched' thing to the back of her mind, even though it pissed her off royally. SHIELD didn't own her. They had no right to think that it was perfectly OK to have her spied on. Until she could do something about it, she couldn't do much more than go about her business like everything was hunky-dory.

She happened to be getting coffee at a shop near Stark Tower when Loki appeared outside beside her, making her nearly jump out of her skin. She hadn't been expecting a visit at all, much less for him to do the 'popping' act that she had heard about but hadn't seen up until this point. Without so much as a hello, he laid a gentle but firm hand on her arm and led her down an alley, out of direct sight from the street.

"You are being followed," he said to her, his eyes flickering back toward the street.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure ever since you guys got back from India," she grumbled. "How are you here? Where's Thor?"

He pointed idly toward Stark Tower. "He's having a meeting with his fellow Avengers. Something about Doom causing trouble, I believe. He's arguing for me to come along. I would be up there with him, but I sensed you nearby."

"You can sense me?" That was something interesting.

"Every person has their own signature. I only have to meet them once to be able hone in on them," he explained to her. "Why are you being followed?"

"I'm fraternizing with the enemy," she said with a huffy sigh. "I don't consider you the enemy, but I think SHIELD still does. This whole following bullshit is starting to really get on my nerves."

"You don't consider me the enemy?" he asked, actually sounding…a little surprised at that.

"No, right now I'm more pissed off at my employers than I think I could ever be at you," she grumbled. "At least you're up front about what you want." That came out wrong, actually, but there it was, out in the open.

"And what do you mean by that?" He sounded more amused now than anything.

"You actually want a second chance, right?" she asked him, point blank. She wasn't stupid. Just because they both seemed to enjoy each other's company didn't mean that he wasn't also getting information from her. When he nodded, she continued. "They might say that they want to protect the world, but sometimes I think they want to control it, too. They certainly try to control all of the information that comes out about them. And I REALLY don't like being spied on like this."

"I don't like you being spied on, either," he remarked. "Do you think they have put any listening devices in your apartment?"

She grimaced when he asked that. "GOD, they probably have," she said with another sigh. "Can you do something about those when you and Thor come by again?" she asked him.

He nodded. "Do not worry about that. The next time I come by your apartment I will have them taken care of and SHIELD will not guess the difference." He reached up and tucked one of the loose strands of her hair behind her ear.

She looked up at him and smiled, even as she felt heat creep into her cheeks. "Good, because it's hard to talk to your political adviser when she's afraid that anything she might say will get her locked up," she told him. So, this was becoming more official then. She really was a part of this now. She still felt conflicted about the whole idea of helping someone take over the planet, really conflicted, even. However, she also felt that, if this worked, she knew whose side she wanted to be on. She also thought that Loki could be a good leader, given the right guidance. Darcy knew everything that a world leader should and shouldn't do, so why shouldn't it be her that gave him advice?

Darcy figured that Loki was likely eventually going to succeed eventually, or tear the world apart trying. She supposed that what she hoped to accomplish here was maybe steering him in the right direction. He had shown some severe handicaps before, mainly in that he saw at least most of humanity as 'ants,' if the reports she had been reading were correct. She needed to make him like and form some respect for humanity if he was going to work out for this. She was also hoping that her influence on him would make him less...well, crazy. She wondered when he had last talked to anyone for any real period of time? That may have made him kinda crazy. She knew that she would go nuts if she didn't talk to anyone.

Hopefully, their talks would have some real influence on him besides the ideas he got from them.

Chapter Text

Loki had told her to go back to her apartment and wait for him there. She was pretty sure that Jane would be back there by now. The woman had wanted to spend some extra time in the lab, still working on her projects, but right now, all Darcy wanted to do was get Jane THERE so that Thor would bring Loki by her apartment and he could get rid of whatever tracers were in there.

It made her want to scream and pull her hair out thinking about her apartment being bugged. Were there hidden cameras there as well? Had they been spying on her while she was sleeping? While she was showering? The idea of it made her skin crawl. Who knew what sort of perverts SHIELD employed because of their useful skills? Someone could be jacking it to videos of her! If this whole scheme worked, she was totally having Loki burn down SHIELD's headquarters (okay, not really; and she still wasn't sure she wanted Loki to win, it was just—ugh, she didn't know what to think). They had made her sign so much paperwork that she had lost track of what she had initially agreed to (as much as she had been given a choice) when she started working for them, but she was SURE she hadn't consented to anything like that.

When she got back to her apartment, Jane thankfully was there, but she was passed out on the couch. Trying to keep her mood light and jovial (the walls had ears, after all), she nudged her friend with her foot, giving her a playful kick in the rear to try to wake her up. "Wake up, science lady. Thor and Loki are coming over."

Jane grunted at the kick, but shot up at the mention of Thor. "How do you know?" Jane asked, rubbing her eyes and yawning.

"I was getting coffee outside of Stark Tower and ran into Loki," Darcy explained, forcing Jane to sit up so that she could sit down on the sofa beside her. "Thor was having an Avengers meeting upstairs and I told him to make sure the two of them stopped by before running off or whatever."

"Speaking of Loki," Jane said, a smile in her eyes despite the serious face she was trying to put on. "What is going on between you two? I mean, I saw you guys holding hands at SHIELD headquarters. Didn't we have a talk?" Darcy wondered if Jane was putting on a fun face just for show. She hadto be worried that Darcy and Loki were spending too much time together or something. Jane could occasionally be oblivious, but she wasn't stupid. Still, Jane probably just wanted more reassurances.

"You know I'm handsy!" Darcy protested. "I touch everyone. It's not a big deal, so don't make it one." She had bigger things on her mind than what holding hands with Loki one time meant, but Jane didn't know that. Parts of Darcy's own brain didn't seem to know that, either, as they wanted to dwell on it, even as she told herself she had more important things on her plate.

"Well, even if it's not a big deal for you, maybe it could be for him," Jane tried to explain. "I mean, hand holding could mean like, a proposal or something for people in Asgard!"

"So that makes you and Thor married already then, huh?" Darcy asked with a smirk, deflecting.

Jane blushed. "Well, we're actually dating. Anything promised can actually, you know, be handled! You and Loki aren't dating, though." She paused. "You're not, right?"

"No!" Darcy replied quickly. "We're just friends, so get your mind out of the gutter or out of fairy tales where a handhold means something medieval. We're just buds."

Before Jane could reply, protest, ask questions, or whatever she was going to do next, there was a knock at the door. Since the door nearly shook off its hinges, she had to assume that it was Thor and Loki. Since Jane didn't walk around covered in bruises, she knew that Thor must have a light touch at times, so why couldn't he use it in normal circumstances, too?

Darcy popped up and ran to the door, peeking through the peep hole just to be certain before opening it, stepping back to let Thor and Loki inside. Jane tried apologizing for looking rumpled, since she had dozed off after getting back from the lab, but Thor assured her that she was as lovely as a spring day, and Darcy resisted the urge to gag again. God, even when she was dating a person she wasn't this kind of romantic with anyone. Romantic platitudes just weren't her style at all. Passion was nice, sure, but not that constant gentle sweetness. Thor and Jane together almost gave her cavities.

When Thor and Jane FINALLY disappeared for 'private time,' Darcy made her way into the kitchen, grabbing the half-finished bottle of wine from the last time Loki and Thor had visited, pouring herself a generous glass. She had been bubbly and happy Darcy on the outside for Jane and Thor (and the bugs in the apartment), but her nerves were rattled to the core. The idea that someone could be listening in on her conversations, even now, was really getting to her. She was trying to act normal, but the worry was always there, in the back of her brain, and it was already getting to her. How was she really going to survive this stuff? She took a gulp of the wine, and then grabbed a notepad and pencil, scribbling on it for a second before passing it to Loki.

Can you sense the bugs in the apartment?

When he read the note, he nodded, looking around the kitchen. He plucked the pencil from her hands, writing on the notepad before passing it back to her.

I'm certain that there is one in every room of this house, except possibly Jane's bedroom. I do not think they would bother with hers, since you are the one they are watching. However, simply getting rid of them will arouse more suspicion.

When she read that, she moved her hands in an 'explain' motion. She wanted those things gone, damn it.

She watched him as he wrote again, noting that he actually had really pretty handwriting for a guy. Then again, everyone she knew had atrocious handwriting. Must be something to do with living in the 'computer age.'

They will notice if all of their listening devices stop working at once. I think a better idea would simply be to silence them in one room while we talk alone and then simply watch what we say otherwise.

She let out a huff but nodded. If all of them stopped working at once, SHIELD would know that they simply got rid of them, and then she likely WOULD be arrested. If they didn't hear anything for a long time, they might give up on her. She couldn't stand the idea of someone listening to her every word like this. If anything, it made her want to help Loki even more, despite the worry in the pit of her stomach telling her that this would go horribly wrong in some way.

Then she thought of something, grabbing the pad and pencil and writing quickly.

Are there any cameras recording video?

If there were, then all of this pencil writing stuff was for naught, because it would only look extra suspicious to SHIELD. When Loki read what she wrote, he seemed to think the same thing. He shut his eyes for a moment, concentrating. Darcy chewed on her lip nervously while she waited for him to let her know something. When he opened them again, he shook his head, and she let out a huge sigh of relief. One small amount of dignity in all of this.

Forgetting in her relief that they couldn't talk freely yet, she opened her mouth to say something, but Loki shushed her, bringing up a finger to her lips. With his other hand, he flicked his fingers through the air, and she could see what looked like almost green smoke emit from his fingers as his lips moved, reciting some sort of spell. When he was done, he slowly slid his finger down her lips before pulling away, and she blinked, because she felt that familiar warmth again. Darcy gave a tiny shrug, trying to clear her head. He was likely only doing this occasional fleeting touch thing to ensure some sort of loyalty from her, but just because she knew it didn't mean that it wasn't working, unfortunately.

"Now we can talk freely," Loki said to her.

Darcy swallowed hard, angry with herself for her heart rate jumping when Loki had touched her. It had OBVIOUSLY been a long time since she had gotten laid, which she needed to fix soon (preferably with a nice, normal guy) to keep her nerves under control here. "Good," she said to him, grabbing her glass of wine and taking another gulp of it. "Want some?" she asked.

He shook his head. "How often do you normally drink?" he asked her.

"Just when my nerves are all rattled like when I learn that my home is bugged," Darcy admitted. "OK, and when I'm trying to relax...and trying to have fun. I'm young, though! It's like, almost expected for someone my age to drink a little too much, though. You get away with it when you're young," she explained with a grin.

He tilted his head at her. "Do you do it because it's expected of you?" he asked her. "And exactly how old are you?"

"If I did what was expected of me, then I'd be in medical school like my parents wanted," she pointed out to him quickly. Her father was a doctor and he had wanted her to follow his example, but she'd just had no interest in it. She had flailed at dissecting the frog in biology in high school and, while she had a stronger stomach now, it still really wasn't for her. "And I'm twenty-three, so still plenty young." She grinned up at him before finishing off her glass, deciding against pouring herself another one. She'd really rather Loki not think that she was a total drunk or a party girl. She wasn't even IN college anymore, so she couldn't quite get away with it like she used to, even though she was still plenty young enough to not stand out badly in any club she went to.

"Your parents had different plans for you than the ones you have picked out yourself?" Loki asked her, continuing to study her. It was slightly unnerving to have him stare at her like that. Yes, totally hot and all, but right now he was studying her like a puzzle he wanted to unravel, and she wasn't completely sure that she was keen on being 'unraveled.'

"Whose parents don't?" Darcy asked with her trademark grin and a light shrug. She hadn't meant to bring this up. Her father's disappointment in her had really stung at the time, and, while she was beyond it now, old hurts still smarted when you thought about them for too long. "Besides, working as a lowly lab assistant wasn't what I had in mind for myself, either, so I'm not all that concerned about plans at this point. Not plans for my mundane career, anyway."

"What do you mean? You don't like working for Jane?" Loki asked. She had no idea WHY he was picking at this, other than likely just figuring out what it was that made her tick.

She sighed, forcing herself not to grab the bottle of vodka that she kept hidden in the apartment. She only broke into it when she wasn't doing well, and talking about her personal life usually ended with her moping in some way or another. "I had wanted to be a teacher before stuff happened in New Mexico and Jane caught the eye of SHIELD. They offered all of us jobs, but it was less 'offer' and more 'take this so we can keep an eye on you.' Living here, taking this job, this apartment, it's all because SHIELD thought I knew too much to let out in the general populace. I can't let my family really know what I do, which isn't too big of an issue since I don't really talk to them anyway, and I'm Jane's glorified monkey because she assumes that I don't understand anything about her work but I'm the only one who can actually decipher her notes and make sense of them, so she can't work without me around now." She hadn't meant for things to come out in a literal word vomit, but these were some of her many issues. "Jane's my friend and all, but it drives me crazy that she thinks I'm a ditz."

"So, SHIELD has you trapped in a job where you can gain no respect," Loki mused. "Is that why you are willing to help me? Doesn't that…bother you?"

"Um, well, a little. I mean, obviously, I'd like to work in a job that gives me recognition, and that I enjoy doing, and…"

Loki leaned forward, his eyes widening in sympathy. That was what overdid it. Raising an eyebrow, Darcy cut her monologue short. "Um, why are we talking about me? Does my workplace angst really matter to a Norse god?"

Loki tilted his head, still staring at her with those wide, interested eyes. "On the contrary. I've only begun to become acquainted with the ways of Midgardians in your 21st century, and you, Darcy, have been my best teacher so far. I find humanity fascinating."

Darcy wasn't buying it. "I thought me and the rest of humanity were ants," she said, with a smirk.

He smirked right back. "Haven't you ever found ants fascinating?"

"Maybe," she said, smiling, but two things occurred to her. One, Loki thought she was an interesting insect to poke at. Two, the collar didn't prevent Loki from doing magic, as he had sabotaged the cameras with that green smoke thingy. Was Thor really in control of his brother? Not that she was particularly afraid of Loki at this point, but it was something to think about, just for future reference.

Something must have showed on her face, because Loki looked concerned and switched tacks at once.

"What troubles you?" he said softly. "You seem…nervous." Reaching across the table, he stroked her cheek, and Darcy felt immense calm flood through her body, starting from the spot his finger rested on. As always, her mind cleared of all worry, and she regarded him guilelessly, without fear.

Why was she nervous? How could she be, when Loki was staring at her like that and being completely adorable?

"Is that why you're helping me?" he whispered. "So you can be respected?"

Why did he have to be so good at taking people apart? It really wasn't fair in the slightest. She cocked her head, feeling a twinge of regret as he withdrew his touch. "Is it such a bad thing to want the people around you to respect you for what you're worth?"

Loki shook his head, and she saw a brief glimmer of empathy as if he had gone through similar issues himself. SHIELD's files on Loki were still woefully inadequate, and she didn't trust anything she read from mythology books. She realized that, other than what she had been able to glean from him and SHIELD, she knew nothing about him. "It's not a bad thing, Darcy," he told her. He leaned against the kitchen island, most of his weight resting on his elbows now. "You work for me now, though. I at least respect that you know more about how to rule this planet than I do, and appreciate your knowledge. Isn't that preferable?"

She copied his motions, leaning on the island as well, grinning as she looked up at him. "I don't even care if you're possibly just saying what I want to hear, because that's still one of the most awesome compliments I've gotten in a long time," she said in a teasing tone. The idea that he might be saying it just because it was likely something that she wanted to hear bugged her, but she told herself that at least she knew it was likely. She wasn't going into this blind.

He smiled back at her. "If that's the best compliment you've heard in a while, then the people of this realm truly are idiots in need of rule," he said to her.

"No arguments here," she told him. If helping him do this would get more respect for her intelligence, then it might be worth it for that alone.

OoOoOoOo

When Loki returned to Asgard later, he went to his room, stripping down to his bare tunic and pants before lying down in his bed. He could still perform magic even with the collar on his neck, but it was harder and more draining than usual. A simple teleportation to meet with Darcy and a spell to mask their conversation from the listening devices installed in Darcy's home should have been simple for him, but struggle against the collar made them tougher, as it inhibited his magic to prevent him from sabotaging it. The one time he had tried, he had needed to sleep for a day straight to regain any sort of energy.

He rolled over on his bed, now lying on his stomach. He wondered if SHIELD realized how much they were playing right into his hands. Angering Darcy by placing those listening devices in her home was only going to incite her to rebel more against them. He couldn't have planned it better himself. The young girl (and my, she was young, younger than he had assumed) was spirited and rebellious, but had the capacity for loyalty and shrewdness that would blossom if cultivated.

He hadn't realized how much he would have in common with her, though. She had also been a disappointment to her father by not following in his chosen field. Odin had wanted him to be a strong warrior like Thor and the rest of the Asgardians, and her father had wanted her to be a doctor. Their hurts weren't on the same level, but that similarity was something that he could play if needed.

Not that he needed to play much with her. He couldn't even quite say that she was playing into his hands as well for she seemed perfectly happy to offer information and go along with his plans. It was one of her last comments to him during their visit today that really struck him. She had said that she didn't care if his compliments were just playing to her sentiments. She knew that he would likely say just about anything to make sure that she stayed loyal to him, and either accepted it as what had to happen or simply didn't care. It made him all the more intrigued by her.

Of course, it made manipulation much less affective when the person in question knew they were being manipulated, at least to an extent. Her heart still seemed to flutter whenever he touched her, though. Then again, when she touched him, his heart did the same. He simply assumed that it was because a person outside of combat hadn't touched him for a very long time and he was simply out of practice at processing it. He understood that women were a lot more...affectionate on Midgard than he was used to, but hers held no manipulation behind it, as far as he could tell. He supposed that she was just...friendly. Nothing to concern himself with.

As he felt his eyes start to close, he wondered exactly what role he should give her once he was firmly in place as ruler of her realm. He had initially intended to keep her on simply as an advisor. His need to understand humanity wouldn't end when he had conquered them, after all. Considering the cunning she had displayed today when she so casually mentioned that he was likely manipulating her had elevated her in his mind, though. If she lived in Asgard, she would be excellent at courtly intrigue.

Maybe he should promote her to a higher status in his future government. He would just have to figure out the right position for her.

OoOoOoOo

Darcy had to force herself to not tear apart her own bedroom in an effort to find the bug that SHIELD had stashed in there as she started to get undressed for bed that night. She couldn't stand the idea that they had a way to eavesdrop on her in nearly every room of her home. Even if they paid for it, it was still supposed to be HERS. This wasn't fair in the slightest, but then SHIELD wasn't known for playing fair.

She stripped down to her underwear, crawling under her blanket and clicking off her bedside lamp. She was mentally exhausted from the knowledge of being spied on all day and finally admitting to someone that SHIELD only employed her to keep an eye on her, not for her intelligence or anything. Not that it had been hard for her to put together. Jane was the one they really wanted. She had the big science brain. Darcy was just the chick who tagged along, listening to her iPod while grabbing coffee.

How sad was it that it took a homicidal egomaniac to show her any real sort of attention and she practically fell over herself to help him out? And those light, lingering touches that occasionally happened between them were enough to drive a girl out of her mind. She had no idea how he was able to both calm her down and completely rile her up in the same sentence. It had to be some godly power of his. She was pretty sure even her bad taste in men didn't normally cover egomaniacal gods with more complexes than most psych books.

Curling up on her side, even more thoughts popped up in her head. She wasn't sure how she felt about him saying definitively that she was working for him now. She could only hope that this would be a very slow thing and that she would be able to figure out some way to help him head towards being...less homicidal than he was. In fact, his incredible violence was the one true issue she had with him. She wasn't sure if it was just how things were done on Asgard, or if it was some symptom of the madness that she knew was still in him.

If he was for real, she wasn't even totally sure she wanted him to pull this off. Part of her thought that, if you dialed back the crazy by A LOT, Loki could be a good leader of Earth. However, she had no idea how to make him less crazy, and she doubted that Norse gods went in for the whole 'psychotherapy' deal. She just really hoped that, if this was really going to go down, then they had plenty of time for her to help him with the insanity.

It also freaked her out a little bit that, at least in the moment, she tended to feel comfortable around him. It sucked that he was charming, because it knocked down the walls that she would normally keep up around someone so unstable.

She wondered if he had some power that put her at ease when she was around him. She needed to think straighter. She was already in this pretty deep. Even if she ran screaming to SHIELD right now (and there was no way in hell she was doing that after they wiretapped her), she'd still be in a hell of a lot of trouble. She just...needed to figure out just what she was trying to accomplish here.

The only reason that this idea appealed to her at all (that she could come up with, anyway) was that she wanted to be in control of her own destiny, and, by working with SHIELD, she wasn't. As long as she worked with Loki and continued to prove herself, though, she thought that, in the end, she would have control of her life and have the respect that she craved and thought she deserved. It worried her that someone that, despite her enjoyment of their conversations, still frightened her could pull this sort of loyalty from her, that he seemed to understand her so well. Yet here she was, pretty much playing the Machiavellian adviser to his would be king. She had no idea how to feel about herself right now, but she still knew already that her course was pretty much set from this day forward. Maybe now it was just a matter of molding him into the right image and hoping that it went further than skin deep.

Right now, all she wanted to do was sleep, though. It had been a long day and evening, and she needed her rest. Thor and Loki were supposed to stop by again in a week as Jane and Thor had another date, and she'd talk to Loki then about just what they should do as far as communication was concerned. She was sure that he could cook something up.

Chapter Text

It had been kind of a nerve wracking week for Darcy. She had to sit around and pretend that SHIELD wasn't listening to her in her own home, and then she had to act nice around agents at work, when they could be the ones that had to go over the transcripts of her conversations. She was doing her best not to completely flip out, but she likely looked like a nervous wreck.

It was the final day of the week, and she could at least comfort herself with the thought of the weekend. Of course, she couldn't spend much time at home without wanting to pull her hair out because she was starting to think that not only could SHIELD hear everything that she said, but they could also likely hear her thoughts as well. She knew that was nuts, but all of this espionage going on around her was freaking her out. She was honestly thinking of cutting out at lunch and just going to a nice place that she didn't have to worry about agents in sunglasses for a few hours.

She wiped her forehead and looked up from the computer she had been transcribing Jane's notes on. Despite what Jane and everyone else thought, Darcy was actually starting to get the basics of the theories that Jane was working on. Although the bridge thing had been completed, (thus how Thor and Loki got back and forth), she was now working on all sorts of other things for SHIELD. Jane seemed mostly interested in ways of harnessing the clean energy that the Tesseract supposedly hard, but Darcy figured that they would just put her ideas toward another way of making weapons. It seemed to be all that SHIELD was interested in, from what she had heard.

"Jane, you think you can do without me this afternoon?" Darcy asked, standing up from the computer and stretching. She had been sitting there since about nine that morning, and now it was after one. Apparently, Jane had gotten a lot of work done either last night or this morning, because she had a ton of notes for Darcy to deal with.

Jane looked over at her. "You feeling OK, Darcy?" she asked, standing up and looking at her. "You've been acting kind of off all week. Is everything alright?"

Darcy shrugged. She couldn't let Jane know about the bugs all over the apartment, even though it felt wrong to let her friend think that she was having private conversations when she wasn't. "I think I'm coming down with the flu or something." She was hoping that her general disposition for this past week would cover her right now. She hadn't exactly been happy and pleasant to be around.

Jane nodded. "Sure, go ahead and head home. Wouldn't want you to get anyone around here sick or anything like that," she said. "Besides, it's almost the weekend, anyway. Time to check out and get to relaxing."

Darcy was amazed that Jane was letting her off the hook that easily, but she knew that she had likely been acting off all week, so the idea of her sickness wasn't too farfetched. If only she realized the truth. With a nod and profuse thanks, Darcy gathered up her belongings and headed out, promising Jane that she would make up for lost time on Monday. If she managed to get some things off her mind, she might even come in on Sunday and do a little catch-up. That depended entirely on how she was feeling.

Instead of heading straight home, Darcy figured that some lunch would do her good, and she ended up hitting up a place that was near her apartment. It was a sandwich and coffee shop, so she got herself a cup of coffee (with lots of cream and sugar) plus a roast beef sandwich to munch on. Grabbing herself a table in the corner, she picked up a newspaper along the way. She really wasn't much of a news reader, but figured that she should have something to do while she ate.

When she flipped the paper open, she picked up her coffee and took a sip of it, nearly spitting it out when she looked at the front page of the newspaper. What the hell was going on with the world? A few weeks ago, it had been a flood in India, and now it seemed that last night there were bombings at U.S. military bases in the Middle East. And FUCK it was awful that the first thing to cross her mind was showing this to Loki tomorrow and seeing if he would suggest another 'missionary trip.'

She was still highly conflicted over all of this. Sometimes she really thought that she might have some influence over Loki and maybe, if he was really going to dominate the word, that she could guide him. Other times she wondered what the hell she was thinking and why she wasn't reporting him. She really did like the idea of having some control of her life, and she really didn't right now. It drove her mad that something like SHIELD had so much control over her actions and life. She supposed that was really what was driving her actions now. SHIELD was really no better than a despot, no matter how much they liked to pretend otherwise. If spying on U.S. citizens was what SHIELD did in their spare time, maybe Loki was the better option. She just had to break through the crazy. It really was a matter of choosing which necessary evil she was willing to work with. One thing about Loki was that he never lied about his ambitions. He might have been crazy, but at least he wasn't a liar. SHIELD would lie right to your face and then claim that they did it for your own good, which was seriously starting to irritate her.

She had pretty much lost what little appetite that she had, so she put her food in a bag and, now with the newspaper in hand, she headed out and up to her apartment. Putting the sandwich up, she went to her bedroom with her coffee. Sitting down on her bed, she grabbed a notebook that she had bought for this, writing in code the notes that she had been making. They included what she talked about with Loki, everything that she had him read and her own thoughts on him. Right now, she was making notes of the bombing of the U.S. military bases. He'd likely at least have an opinion on that, even if he didn't want to go over and see them. She also made a note to get Loki to let her examine his collar in detail. She doubted that she could really do anything about it. She wasn't a mechanic, after all. Still, better to try and learn that she couldn't do anything rather than not try at all.

Now more bored than anything, and all out of things to write, Darcy decided on a stress-relieving nap. And tried not to think of SHIELD operatives listening to her snore.

OoOoOoOo

When Loki wasn't being forced to follow Thor around, he stayed in his room in the palace on Asgard. Not that he was forced to tail his brother, but the other citizens of Asgard were not as forgiving as Thor had been. He was simply thankful that his brother did not seem to travel around so much that he had to follow him around Asgard often. He already felt like he was being kept on a leash. He'd rather that not be a literal one.

He had his nose buried in the book about Napoleon that Darcy had lent him (quite the intelligent man, in Loki's opinion), when there was a knock at the door. By the way that the walls had shook, it could only be his brother. Not looking up, he sighed. He knew that, if he didn't let his brother inside, Thor would only continue to knock and start calling out to him. "Come in, Thor!" he called out, still not looking up. He couldn't imagine what his brother wanted, other than possibly to tell him that he'd have to come along on some trip or another.

Loki heard the door open, jolting only slightly when Thor slammed it behind him. "What did that door ever do to you that it deserved to be slammed like that?" Loki asked, not bothering to look up from the page he was reading, even as he felt his bed sink under the weight of his brother sitting on the edge of it.

"Brother, may we speak?" Thor asked simply, not acknowledging his question about the door.

With a sigh, Loki marked his place in the book and set it aside. "What is so important that you must interrupt me in reading the book that I borrowed from Darcy?"

"I am actually here to talk to you about Lady Darcy," Thor said to him. "I want to know what your intentions toward her are."

Loki was only able to keep a serious face for a moment before bursting into laughter. "Why must you make everything complicated, Thor?" he asked him. "I am simply enjoying her conversations when you have to drag me along for your meetings with Jane. I would think that you would be happy to see me getting along well with a mortal."

"I want to make sure that nothing...untoward is going on with her. Darcy is still a very young maiden, even by Midgardian standards," Thor explained.

Did Thor really think that things were as simple as Loki simply seducing the 'young maiden'? This was highly amusing. "Thor, let me explain a few things to you," Loki said, leaning forward a bit. "Darcy isn't nearly as naive as you seem to think her." She wasn't nearly as stupid as Thor seemed to think, either, but Loki didn't say that out loud. "I can promise you that there is nothing unseemly going on between Darcy and I that you need to worry about." Well, not what Thor was thinking, at any rate.

He watched as Thor's face broke into a grin. "Forgive me for worrying, brother," he said quickly to Loki. "I am glad that you seem to be making a friend in Darcy Lewis. It is good for you to make attachments to some of the people on Midgard."

"Don't get carried away, Thor," Loki said, reaching for his book again. "I found one mortal whose presence I can tolerate. I wouldn't exactly call that an 'attachment.'"

He felt the bed shift as Thor stood up. "I know you think me simple, brother, but there are some things that even I can see," he said, backing away and slipping out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

Loki rolled his eyes, opening the book again and going back to his reading. His brother really was a fool. Thor had proven time and again that he knew nothing about Loki. Why should now be any different?

OoOoOoOo

Saturday couldn't arrive quickly enough. Tonight was even going to be a 'sleep over' for Thor and Loki (Loki taking the couch, obviously). Darcy wasn't too sure how she felt about them sleeping over, but Jane had the idea of waking up next to Thor in her head and any concerns that Darcy might have had, she quickly bit them back. She had a hard time raining on Jane's parade. In addition, she did have a lot to talk to Loki about. Maybe this overnight trip could give her some peace of mind.

When they heard the boom overhead that was Thor and Loki arriving, Darcy gave Jane a wave and watched her bolt up to the roof of the apartment complex. Jane really did have the look of a lovesick puppy whenever the chance to spend time with Thor arrived. It was kind of cute, actually, at least to a point.

Everyone came in a few minutes later, Thor and Jane arm in arm while Loki brought up the rear. They were supposed to all have dinner together, and then watch a movie back at the apartment. Once again, they had both arrived in regular clothing, so at least they wouldn't get any more stares than they already would with big, beefy Thor and the beautiful, otherworldly Loki. At least they wouldn't immediately be pegged as Asgardians or, to the less observant, Renaissance festival people.

The dinner was pretty fun, probably because Darcy didn't have it hanging over her head that SHIELD was listening in on her conversations the entire time. They went out for Italian, and Darcy once again got to see firsthand just how much Thor ate. It apparently was just a Thor thing, because, while Loki had a decent appetite, he didn't put away two baskets of bread sticks, a giant plate of salad, and then two plates of veal parmesan. Thor ate like a damn monster. Then again, a muscular body like that had to burn like, a million calories an hour or something ridiculous like that. Still, even with Thor eating like a starving man, dinner had gone well and the conversation flowed pretty easily. Even Jane seemed to be starting to relax a little around Loki, which was nothing short of amazing, really.

When they got back to the apartment, there was much debate over what to show to Thor and Loki for a Midgardian movie, but Darcy finally won the battle and ran to grab her DVD of 'Army of Darkness.' Hey, she wasn't in the mood for anything serious, and at least it was medieval. Maybe it would hold their attention.

"This movie is ridiculous," Loki said not even twenty minutes into it.

"It's supposed to be ridiculous, Loki," Darcy said with a laugh. "Come on, it's a funny movie. You just got to sit and let go with it. Get wrapped up in the movie."

"He just called a shotgun a 'boomstick,'" Loki said, pursing his lips. "This man has indisputable issues. He's a loose cannon."

"I like him," Thor announced with a smile. "He's a man who gets things done right away."

Loki snorted. "You would like him," he said with a roll of his eyes.

Darcy glared at the both of them. "Hey, HEY! I don't know about you two, but I'm trying to watch a movie here! Pipe down!"

"I do not understand. Where is a pipe?" Thor asked, looking around as if he expected a pipe to come floating out of the corner.

"Oh GOD," Darcy said with a groan, head rolling over to look at Loki, who was barely concealing a smirk at the moment.

It only took another twenty minutes before Thor and Jane were starting to make eyes at one another, and another ten before they were starting to kiss on one another. When Darcy caught it, she groaned again. "Get a room!" she called out to them, grabbing a handful of the popcorn she had made and hurling it in their direction. She caught a blush creeping across Jane's face as she and Thor stood, scurrying back toward her room. "We've got to come up with a signal or something to get rid of them before they get to that point," she said rolling her eyes.

Loki nodded, not taking his eyes off the screen as he flicked his fingers through the air. She could see the smoke coming from his fingers again, and she assumed that he was doing the spell so that SHIELD couldn't hear them talk again. "And now your employers will only hear the movie going on in the background."

"Good," Darcy said, visibly relaxing. Tonight had been a better night than most, as she had been distracted, but she also knew that they would be listening harder than usual because Loki and Thor were spending the entire night. "I'm so tired of this shit with SHIELD. We need to either distract them or find a way to make them think that I'm not a threat. This stuff is starting to really get to me."

"We'll find a way to distract them, Darcy," Loki said. They had been sitting next to one another on the sofa, but she hadn't realized just how close he was until she felt his hand trailing down her arm. She felt a wash of calm flow over her, almost relaxing enough to flop off the sofa and onto the floor. "Don't you worry about them."

Nodding, she reached over and rested her hand on top of his for a moment, keeping his hand on her arm. Even though she still had some reservations about him, she had to admit that his presence was comforting. Of course, none of this would have happened if she hadn't starting talking with him, but she wasn't exactly fond of working for people that had no problem spying on her, either. Maybe Loki was just her excuse to escape from them.

"Thanks," she said, giving his hand a squeeze before letting him go. "I know you can't really come back and forth without Thor right now, but is there a way we can communicate or something when you're up in Asgard? I think we kind of lucked out with you being around when they started tailing me. We may not get that lucky again."

She watched him nod as she turned to look at him. "There are a few things that we can do, depending on how immediate you want the contact to be," he said to her. She was happy to note that his hand was still relaxed against her arm. "I think that the most innocuous way may be for us to use a book that we can write back and forth in," he explained to her.

She shrugged. "That could work, I guess," she said to him before smiling. "Too bad that a cell phone wouldn't exactly work in Asgard without a way to get a signal, huh?"

Her smile got wider when she saw Loki crack a grin at that. "I'm sure that the roaming charges would be outrageous," he said.

"You really should smile more often like that," she told him. "Your whole face lights up and it would make the public trust you a little bit more if we can get the image of 'scary Loki in Germany' out of their heads."

"Do I still terrify people?" he asked her, still smiling at her.

"It's going to take a lot of acts of contrition to erase what you did in people's minds," she said to him, slumping against the back of the sofa more. "When we do good, no one remembers. When we do bad, no one forgets." She rubbed her eyes a bit. "You'll find a way, though. You're a smart guy." She leaned to one side, slumping slightly against his shoulder. She felt him stiffen for a moment before he lifted up his arm and wrapped it around her shoulders, pulling her closer to him.

Loki's attention went back to the movie. "How do you watch this? It's drivel."

"It's funny, Loki," she explained to him. "We have got to educate you on some pop culture. If nothing else, I'm sure that we can find something that you'll like." Maybe he would like some Shakespeare movies. "If you're going to rule over a people, you have to understand the stuff that they like, even if you do think it's 'drivel,'" she said, mocking his accent for a moment.

"I suppose I'll do it for the good of the cause," he said, still sounding dubious. "I can't go around getting confused by every phrase like some people that we know."

Darcy giggled. "No, can't have the future ruler of the planet doing that," she agreed. In the back of her mind, she wondered why she was allowing herself practically to cuddle with him, but she was relaxed and tired and he was warm and amusing so she didn't really care. Maybe she'd care tomorrow.

OoOoOoOo

When Darcy woke up the next day, she was in her bed. After being disoriented for a few seconds, since she didn't remember falling asleep, much less falling asleep in her bed, she realized that she much have dozed off on Loki last night, which meant that he had likely carried her to her room. Thankfully, for her still remaining shreds of sanity, she was still wearing the clothes she had on last night, which meant that he didn't undress her or anything. Sure, he could have peeked or something, but she had a feeling that he liked people to give themselves over willingly, at least in THAT aspect. She hadn't heard anything about Loki having 'relations' with anyone that he had mentally taken over before. She was SURE that would have leaked out, especially after him being in India. SHIELD wouldn't want to keep any sort of info tucked away that would make him look bad, after all.

She sat up in her bed, pulling her blankets tightly around her, when she noticed something that wasn't there before. There was a brown leather bound book on her nightstand that she didn't recognize. Darcy had good relationships with ALL of her books. She knew what they all looked like. This wasn't her book. She reached for it and opened it up, wanting to figure out what it was.

It looked like it was supposed to be a blank journal, but the first page had Loki's immediately recognizable pretty handwriting on it.

This is a way for us to keep in contact between visits. I wanted to give you this in person, but there was an emergency on Asgard, so Thor and I had to leave early. I apologize for being unable to say goodbye.

Anything you write in this book will appear in a similar one that I own back on Asgard. It will work similarly to what I believe is called 'texting' and 'instant messaging' on Midgard. You simply have to write it instead of typing it. I believe that this will help our plans move forward more quickly.

Loki

Well, that was certainly a neat little trick. She chewed on her lip for a second in thought before shutting the book and getting up, hiding it away with her other notebook. She didn't want anyone accidentally finding it and wondering what the hell it was, which was the last thing that she needed.

Just as she finished hiding it, there was a knock at her door. She shuffled away from her hiding place and looked up. "Come in!" she called out. Her clothes were rumpled, but at least she was covered and decent.

Jane came in, wearing a worried little frown. "Um...SHIELD needs us to come in," she said quietly, looking behind her shoulder nervously for a moment.

"It's freaking Sunday," Darcy said with a groan. "This is my weekend off. What the hell do they want?" She had no interest in coming in unless it was a state of emergency or something. Even then, she didn't really want to come in, but she understood the need.

Jane shut the door for a moment and moved closer. "There are agents here for us, Darcy," she said in a hurried whisper. "I don't think we have a choice in this. There's some emergency on Asgard. Maybe they want to protect us or something if things get worse there."

Darcy sighed. "Fine. Tell them to let me change clothes and I'll be out." When Jane left the room, Darcy ran for the book that Loki had given her, quickly scribbling down that SHIELD was taking her and Darcy into custody for something and if he didn't hear from her in a few days, to find a way to come back with Thor. She shoved it back into the hiding place and had just managed to change clothes when someone knocked on the door again, stepping into the room without waiting for her to answer.

"GOD! I could have been naked, you pervs," Darcy snapped, turning around to bitch more, but was then rendered speechless by who she saw. Finally, she managed to blurt out, "You look good for a dead guy."

Agent Phil Coulson looked at her with a blank smile and nodded. "If you'll come this way, Ms. Lewis? We need you down at SHIELD."

Chapter Text

When Darcy and Jane were both taken to SHIELD headquarters, they were separated and Darcy was put in one of those tiny interrogation rooms that you see on TV all the time but that you don't realize are entirely more claustrophobic than they seem, and they already give off that air, so they are REALLY claustrophobic in ways that no one can imagine. They left her in the room alone. She figured that Jane was in a similar room. She knew why they had taken her. They had probably figured out that the rooms going silent meant something, even if they couldn't prove it. Maybe they figured that they could scare her into admitting something.

Obviously, they didn't know Darcy fucking Lewis.

She sat in the room for three hours alone, with no one even checking on her. Finally, Agent Coulson came in. She had her head on the table, jerking up when she heard the door open.

"Mind telling me why I'm here, agent?" Darcy snapped at him. "And why you're totally still alive? I really hate it when people tell me that someone's dead and they pop up at my apartment. You're not a zombie or anything, are you? I wouldn't be too shocked if SHIELD could raise people from the dead."

"There were people that needed to think that I was dead at the time," Coulson said, as if that actually explained anything. "And you know exactly why you're here, Ms. Lewis. This isn't the time for fun and games. What we think you've been discussing with Loki is no joking matter."

She glared at him. "I have no idea what you're talking about," she told him. "All I've been doing is striking up conversations with a friend of mine that's stuck having to follow his brother around because someone thought that it was fitting to put a shock collar on his neck." Darcy may have her issues and concerns about Loki, but the last thing she liked was someone dragging her out of her home forcibly and interrogating her. That's what this was, an interrogation. She didn't want to tell them anything simply because she was pissed right now. "Where's Jane?"

"Oh we let her go," he said quickly, opening up a folder and flipping through some pages. "She doesn't really know anything about this, does she? We didn't even bother to bug her bedroom."

"Well, you did one thing right today," Darcy said. Jane had nothing to do with this. "So what is this going to be? You guys keep me here for hours? No food? Only a little sleep, wear me down until I say what you want me to say?" Darcy shook her head. "There's nothing to say. You guys are way off base." No one trusted Loki. No wonder he acted the way he did. She'd lash out all the time if people thought that highly of her, too. Then again, he hadn't exactly proven himself to be trustworthy, either. This was all so confusing.

"Something akin to that," Coulson said with a small smile. "I really don't think that you know what you're getting into, Ms. Lewis. I'm sure that you heard the stories, but do you actually know what he did? Did you see anything?"

"You guys shut most of the footage down on the internet and stuff," she pointed out to him. "Kinda hard to get the straight story when all you really want to do is hide it from everyone."

"It's part of our policy to keep the more sensitive information classified," Coulson said. He dropped the folder in front of her. Its contents splayed all over the table, showing mostly pictures from the battle in New York six months ago. Buildings blown to pieces, dead people in various stages of torn to bits. She could feel the color drain from her face as she looked them over. "The man that you befriended is the one that caused all of this, Ms. Lewis. Are you sure that you want to get involved with him?"

"And I'm sure that you've never killed anyone, either," Darcy said after looking at the pictures for a few minutes, pushing them back toward Coulson. "See, that's what I'm really not liking about any of this. During the Cold War, the government sent in all sorts of armies into South America, Africa, and anywhere else that they could stuff them in to help and set up their own agenda, not really caring about who they killed as long as they got the job done, and I'm sure that SHIELD had nothing to do with that." She rubbed her eyes and looked up at him. "Please tell me how you guys are any better than him? You've all done the same things, but he's the one that was caught and punished for it. It's not exactly fair that you guys get away with it but he doesn't."

Coulson sighed. "You might be too book smart for your own good," he said, standing up from the chair he was sitting in. "You're going to be here for a while, Ms. Lewis. I suggest that you get comfortable." After he said that, he got up and walked out of the room, shutting and locking the door behind him. With a sigh, Darcy bunched the pictures together and shoved them back into the folder, then pushing it to the furthest corner of the desk. This was beyond massive bullshit. Rubbing her eyes, she put her head back down on the table. This was going to be a long day.

OoOoOoOo

It hadn't been a long day. It had been a long two days. Two long fucking days full of questions and little else. They never actually bothered to feed her, only gave her small cups of water at random, only let her go to the bathroom twice, and barely let her sleep. She was pretty sure that all of this was against the Geneva Convention. This was a big pile of bullshit, and there was nothing that she could do about it. She was stuck here and, while she knew that Jane knew she was gone, she had no idea who else knew. She had sent a message to Loki, but she had no idea if he had gotten it. Not that she exactly expected a rescue. SHIELD getting bored with her and sending her home was far more likely.

It was during the second day that, despite the sound proofed walls, she could hear Thor screaming across the building. She had never felt more relieved to hear his voice, especially when he shouted more than a few times. As he got closer, she could actually make out what he was saying.

"If you do not let Lady Darcy go, I will tear this building apart to find her!" Thor roared. She could imagine him in his full regalia carrying that hammer. SHIELD agents didn't exactly scare easily, but she was sure that Thor in his godly glory had more than a few of them shaking in their boots.

She got up and started beating on the door. "Thor!" she called out. These rooms were supposed to be sound proofed (for torture purposes, she supposed), but if she could hear him, maybe him and his godly hearing could hear her. "I'm in here! I'm in one of the interrogation rooms!"

She heard a faint popping noise behind her, flying around to see Loki standing behind her, wearing his full Asgardian stuff with the green cloak and the hat with the horns. Despite everything, the first thing that she did was run up to him and threw her arms around him. Damn it, she had been kept hostage for two days! Anyone remotely friendly was a welcome sight right now!

She quickly realized what she was doing and pulled away. She really needed to get out of here already. "Please tell me that you can get this door open," she said. Before he could answer, she heard Thor yell from the other end, and suddenly the door was being ripped off its hinges. She grinned at Thor through the now open doorway. "Asgardian diplomacy at its finest, huh?" she asked.

"Nothing but the best for you, Darcy," Loki said from behind her, reaching up and patting her on the shoulder. She had been so tense that, when she felt herself relax at his touch, she just assumed that she was feeling some utter relief at having a friendly face around.

"You can't just waltz in here and remove someone who's in the middle of questioning!" She could hear Fury's angry voice coming down the hall toward the room. Thor had likely run her way as soon as he heard her, with Loki doing the teleporting thing. Damn that stuff was useful.

"You're done with your interrogation, Director Fury," Loki said when Fury appeared in the doorway. "I know why you are questioning her, and I can tell you that you are 'barking up the wrong tree,' as you Midgardians call it. "There's absolutely nothing for you to be so concerned over."

"I'll be the judge if I should be concerned or not," Fury said to them. "I haven't signed her off to leave yet, so you can take yourselves out of the building, thank you." Darcy could see that Fury was gritting his teeth when he was speaking. He was so pissed that she wouldn't be surprised if the veins in his forehead bulged out far enough that they made his eye patch pop off.

"We're not giving you a choice here, Directory Fury," Thor said to him, moving to stand in front of Darcy. "Either you will allow Darcy to leave here unharmed, or I will permanently remove my support from your group. Jane wanted me to relay that she would also be quitting if you did not let Darcy go. To my understanding, keeping Darcy here without any sort of charge is against the rules of your government."

Either Jane had told him that or Thor had been doing some reading, Darcy surmised. Either way, she was glad that he was willing to stand up for her like this. She was also admittedly glad that they were trying to talk her out of here rather than simply snatch her out. This was already turning into an interplanetary incident. That would likely have only made it worse.

Fury glared his one good eye at her, and then sighed. She doubted that he wanted to lose Thor and Jane both. She knew that, likely according to them, she didn't do any real work around here, but as Thor was an Avenger and Jane was a great scientist, he couldn't really afford to lose them. "Fine, she can go with you," he finally managed to spit out.

"And get the damn wiretaps out of my apartment!" Darcy snapped, looking around Thor's body at him. "That's a serious invasion of my privacy!"

"Technically that apartment is property of SHIELD," Fury pointed out to her.

"Fine, then consider this my thirty days notice of moving," she snapped at him, looking back at Loki. "Can you guys please get me out of here now? Where's Jane?"

"Jane is outside waiting for us," Loki said, taking Darcy's arm. He then looked toward Director Fury. "Till we meet again, Director," he said to him with a smile that totally read sinister to Darcy, then, before she realized what was happening, his grip on her arm tightened and it suddenly felt like all the air was sucked out of her lungs. Before she had a chance to wheeze or cough, the world was spinning and suddenly they were outside of the facility, next to what she recognized as Jane's car.

Feeling dizzy, she dropped a little sideways against Loki, taking big gasps of breath. "I'm sorry about that," he said, holding her steady as she regained her bearings. "It's a bit jarring the first couple of times that you teleport. You get used to it, though."

"I can't imagine ever getting used to that," Darcy said. Even outside she could swear that she could hear Thor shouting and stomping about. She looked around for Jane and barely ended up seeing her before the other woman jumped on her, hugging her tightly.

"Oh God, I thought that they had taken you to Guantanamo Bay or something!" Jane exclaimed as she squeezed Darcy.

"Jane, I'm glad to be out, too, but I kinda need to breathe, here!" Darcy squeaked out, and Jane loosened her hold on her a tad. Darcy then picked her arms up and hugged her friend back. "How were they to you?"

"They weren't that bad to me," Jane told her. "I mean, they questioned me for like three hours, but I kind of think that it was really you they wanted, not me. I think they just wanted to see if you had said anything incriminating to me." Jane studied her for a minute. "What did they want with you?"

Darcy shook her head. "Just because I hang out with Loki, they think that we're trying to take over the world together or something," she said with a laugh. "Guys just can't trust anyone, huh?" She saw the look that Loki gave her over Jane's shoulder. "Trust me, if something was going on, I totally would have cracked in that hell."

"And here I thought America was the land of second chances," Loki said dryly.

Before anyone could answer, Thor finally made his way outside. "I do not suggest that you go back to your apartment, Darcy," Thor said as he walked up. "I highly doubt that they will remove the listening equipment from it."

"They have bugs in our apartment?" Jane snapped. Obviously, they hadn't brought it up in the interview with her. When Darcy nodded, Jane groaned loudly. "Fuck me," she said, which showed how pissed she was because Jane hardly ever swore. "Not exactly dying to stay there myself right now then."

"Why don't we just get a hotel for a day or two and figure things out from there?" said Darcy, rubbing her eyes. Even though it was daylight outside, she was exhausted, as they hadn't exactly let her sleep like a normal human being in there. Nothing seemed to matter right now except getting some rest and feeling a little bit safer than she had in a while.

OoOoOoOo

Darcy didn't say much during the ride to a hotel. She was only about half awake. All of the adrenaline from having Thor and Loki show up to rescue her had drained away and now she felt half dead. She leaned against the window, idly staring out of it as the car moved. All she wanted to do was jump in a shower and get some sleep, as she had spent the last few days doing nothing but lying and trying her damnedest to show SHIELD that she wasn't a threat, even though she kind of technically was. She supposed that SHIELD hadn't actually bought her lies, but when Norse gods show up, you can't exactly reason with them.

She hadn't even realized that she had dozed off until she felt Loki gently shaking her, waking her up. When she opened her eyes, she realized that, while Thor was still in his armor, Loki had somehow changed into a regular gray button up shirt and black slacks. She wished that she could just morph clothing out of nowhere. That would totally be a useful trait, especially right now when she had been wearing the same clothes for several days.

Darcy rubbed her eyes, looking out the window to see that they were at a very nice hotel. "Wow, can we afford this?" she asked. From the look on Jane's face, Darcy could tell that she was wondering the same thing.

"Don't worry about that," Loki said as he got out of the car. Darcy was worried, though, but she wasn't just worried about the hotel's price range. She was also concerned that agents from SHIELD might have followed them, and she couldn't help but keep looking around the parking lot in case she saw someone watching them. She slid out of the car along with everyone else, following along mostly in a daze, though, when they all got inside, she did notice Loki pull out a wallet with a wad of cash inside of it. Just where in hell did he get money from? Did she even want to know?

When everyone led her up to the hotel room that they had gotten, it turned out to be less a room and more of a suite. At least they wouldn't all be trying to share one bed or something.

When they were inside of the living room area, Darcy turned toward all of them. "So, nice digs here," she said, turning away and looking around. She really had no way to deal with the trauma of being put away in a locked room for two days and starting to think that she'd never get away again.

"Like I would stay in anything less than five star," Loki remarked, and Darcy couldn't help but wonder just where he had learned that phrase.

"I hope that it's not too much trouble for you guys to pay for something like this," Jane remarked.

Loki shook his head. "Do not concern yourself with it," he said to her. "Besides, there are bigger problems right now than thinking about whether I spent too much money on a hotel suite."

Thor nodded. "He is right. Our father has entered into the Odinsleep again," he said. Darcy saw an odd look flicker across Loki's face when Thor said 'our father,' but at least he didn't verbally correct him. Small steps. "That leaves me to rule Asgard while he rests."

"What's an Odinsleep?" Darcy asked. "Sounds like a weird name for a coma. Who names a coma after themselves?"

"A coma isn't exactly the wrong thing to call it," Loki remarked, a smirk playing across his features. "It is how he regains strength and vitality." Then he frowned. "We do not know how long this will last. He could sleep for days, months, or even years."

"Because of this," Thor continued, "the throne has fallen to me, even though I do not consider myself ready to rule yet."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," Darcy observed quickly.

"I do not think of myself as too desperate," Thor said. "I have a counsel that will help me with any decisions." His eyes flickered to Loki. "With my brother on it as well." Darcy noticed that Thor looked utterly ecstatic at the idea. Loki seemed pleased as well, although a bit more subdued. Then again, Thor was always a tumult of crazy emotions. When he was happy, he was very happy. When he was sad, he felt the need to drop to the complete bottom. Was this dude bipolar or what? "I know that my brother the most cunning of all in Asgard. It would be impossible not to have him on my counsel."

"That is why we had to rush away," Loki said, looking directly at Darcy. "If we had still been there like we had planned, then we could have possibly stopped SHIELD from taking the both of you away." He paused briefly. "And keeping you for as long as they did."

"Or things might have gotten worse," Jane threw in. "SHIELD doesn't exactly like being told what to do." Darcy was a little surprised to hear her friend say that about her employers, but it's not exactly wrong.

Darcy yawned, and it hit her again just how tired she really was. "OK, guys, thanks for the rescue and everything, but now Darcy is going to head off to bed. She's only basically been kept awake for two days straight with stupid questions." With a wave, she walked off into one of the rooms, thankful that it was a bedroom. She stripped down out of her clothes, intending on taking a shower, but instead only ended up flopping down in the bed, curling up with the blanket and dozing off in minutes.

OoOoOoOo

She slept the sleep of the dead for what felt like forever, but, when she opened her eyes and looked at a clock, it had only been about six hours, because it was midnight. The second thing that she noticed in the room was that Loki was sitting in a chair next to her bed. Jolting slightly, she pulled the blanket up to her chest, turning to look at him. Before he realized she had woken up, he had been starring off out the window.

"Dude, watching people sleep didn't work for Edward Cullen, and it doesn't work for you," she said to him. "Well, it only works in movies and on thirteen year-olds who have no experience with actual men and how they should act."

"I apologize, but I wanted to talk to you when you woke up," Loki explained to her. The look on his face showed that he likely didn't know who Edward Cullen was (and wasn't he lucky), but now wasn't exactly the time for a pop culture tutorial. "I thought that waiting in here was the best way to make sure of that."

Darcy made sure that the blanket was tightly wrapped around her chest as she sat up a bit more, making herself comfortable. "OK, cool," she said to him. They really needed to talk, anyway. "How'd you know that I was there?"

"I got your message," he said to her. "I only waited a few hours instead of a day or as like you said, only long enough to get Thor away. When we arrived, Jane had just gotten home, and she explained to us what had happened. She suggested that we wait a day to see if they let you go on their own. When they didn't, we decided to come and get you."

"Thank you for coming for me," Darcy said softly. She wasn't sure what she had expected to happen, really. She just knew that, if she was going to get out of there, she was going to need some outside help.

"I wouldn't let them keep my advisor now, would I?" Loki asked. Darcy had expected him to say something like that, but she wondered personally if that was the only reason. She was torn between hoping that maybe, just maybe he might actually have been concerned about her, or thinking that he had just wanted to make sure that she didn't say anything. Then again, he would have gotten her out right away if he was really concerned about that, right? Damn, thinking on the twists and turns that Loki's brain might take gave her a headache.

"No, of course not," she said, smirking as she shook her head. Even if that really was the only reason, it had saved her ass, so she didn't care. She leaned back against the headboard, shutting her eyes for a moment.

"Part of me wishes that you hadn't gotten involved in this so that wouldn't have happened to you, Darcy," he said to her. He still really wasn't looking at her right now. "They will regret what they have done to you." She could see him tensing up, and she realized that he was actually digging his fingernails into the palm of his hand.

She reached out and touched his shoulder. "Hey, all they did was lock me in a room and question me," she said to him. "Sure, it sucked big green monkey dick, and they apparently felt like they didn't need to feed me or anything, but it wasn't like they were shoving bamboo shoots underneath my nails or water boarding me or something," she explained to him. "Chillax, OK?" She moved her hand down, reaching for his clenched fist and slowly making him unclench it. She could see that he had dug his nails in so hard that he had drawn blood. "Look, I'm out now and that's what counts, right?"

He nodded, and she leaned over the other side of the bed, grabbing her shirt from the floor and pulling it over her head. Thankfully, it was long enough to cover her butt, or she'd be flashing Loki her panties. This really wasn't her grandest moment. Jumping off the bed, she headed into the bathroom and wet a wash cloth, coming back and starting to clean the blood from his hand. She didn't have anything to clean the wounds, but this was better than nothing. "Still, don't blame yourself," she said to him as she sat back on the bed, then leaning over to clean up the blood. "This is on SHIELD's head, not yours." She sighed, trying not to think of her time there and the idea that they might have kept her forever. "So, is Thor really King of Asgard right now?" she asked, trying to make conversation and not think about anything.

Loki nodded, watching her as she dabbed at the cuts. When she was done, he slowly withdrew his hand from hers. "Everything is true. Despite everything, I'm glad that Thor is at least allowing a council now. He might not drive the realm into complete chaos then." When she looked up from her hand, she saw that he was staring directly at her. "Darcy, you're shaking."

"Getting snatched away by a super spy organization isn't exactly good on the nerves," Darcy explained. Despite the fact that her voice was steady, she realized that he was right and that she was shaking.

She felt him pull the washcloth out of her hand. She hadn't even realized that she was still holding it. She watched as his hands slid up her arms, resting just under the sleeves of her shirt. "You're safe here, Darcy," he said, his words hypnotic as she felt herself relaxing into his arms. She slumped forward, leaning against his shoulder. Despite the fogginess of her brain, something clicked within her mind.

"Are you like, giving me a magical Xanax?" she asked him.

"I do not know what that is," he said, and she could actually feel a chuckle reverberate through his chest. "I am simply trying to help you relax."

Now it was her turn to chuckle. "Not that I don't appreciate the sentiment, but magically doping me isn't a good idea," she told him. "Besides, I gotta learn to deal with the issues on my own." She forced herself to look up at him. "This stuff is only going to get worse before it gets better." She meant dealing with SHIELD, and he thankfully seemed to realize what she meant when he nodded. She gave him a grin. "So, now that we've had this little talk, if you do it again I'll totally taser you for it."

"I have heard about your prowess with the electrical weapon," Loki said, laughing again. It wasn't fair that his voice was like butter, especially in her magically inebriated state. "Thor did not appreciate that a weapon so small could fell him so easily." She could picture him rolling his eyes when he said that.

"The one I got now is even better," she warned him. SHIELD had given her a suped up one. It wouldn't kill anyone, but she could likely use it on Thor NOW and stop him in his tracks. "Fair warning; I totally use it whenever I get freaked out by someone."

"Then I promise to behave and not 'freak you out,'" Loki said and Darcy laughed at the phrase 'freak you out' rolling off his tongue in that accent. "I should let you get back to sleep, Darcy," he said, helping her lie back down and standing up. She wanted to protest, but he was right. She was still exhausted and still needed to catch up on her sleep a bit.

"Get a girl magically drunk and then run off. Such a gentleman," she teased. "Where are you going?" she asked. She meant to ask where he was sleeping, but it hadn't come out right.

He seemed to realize what she meant. "There's a sofa in the living area that's large enough," he told her. She hadn't realized that they hadn't gotten enough rooms for all of them, but she didn't really have it in her to question it.

She nodded. "See you in the morning then, Loki," she told him, settling in and relaxing on the bed. She was asleep again before he even closed the door on his way out.

Chapter Text

Darcy wasn't initially sure how long she had dozed, but she knew that she had slept like a rock. When her eyes finally did flutter back open, the sun was peeking around the curtains that she figured Jane or maybe even Loki had shut for her. Sitting up, she rubbed her eyes and looked around. She had no idea what she'd wear or anything like that, but right now all she knew was that she wanted that shower that she had skipped out on yesterday. She pushed herself out of bed, her feet brushing up against a bag. Opening it, she realized that Jane had likely tracked back to their apartment long enough to get some clothes for the both of them. She pulled some out, throwing them onto the bed.

She went into the bathroom, very grateful that Loki had spent some ridiculous amount of money on this place, because the bathroom had a shower the size of a walk in closet. Stepping into the shower and turning the faucet and smiling as the water ran down her body, she stripped out of the shirt and underwear that she had slept in. She washed herself all over, feeling something resembling human again. That interrogation really had done a number on her. She didn't want to admit it to anyone, even though Loki had seen her and realized in seconds that she was upset over it. Then again, he was the God of Mischief and Lies, and had caused such discord in so many others, so why wouldn't he recognize it in her? It just amazed her that he seemed to care enough to want to put her back at ease. Then again, he did have his own reasons for wanting her calm and collected.

She headed out into the living area of the hotel suite, and couldn't quite resist a smirk when she saw Loki sprawled on the sofa, feet hanging off it. He really was too tall for it, but he had let her have the extra bed, and, well, they had a light friendship and a serious working relationship. That did not entail her sharing a bed with him.

There was a knock at the door, and, by instinct, Darcy pressed herself up against the wall. It seemed like her nerves were still on edge. Loki jolted out of sleep as well, falling off the sofa and onto the floor, and despite her concern, she had to stifle a giggle at that. Hard to help it when you get to see even the always unflappable Norse gods get startled. He quickly jumped up off the floor and straightened himself up. "Go look through the peephole," Darcy whispered to Loki when the knock happened again.

He moved over to the door, and she couldn't help but notice him wearing what looked like black silk pajama bottoms and a black tank. OK, if he kept walking around in stuff like that, she might go crazy and revise the 'don't invite the people you're somewhat helping to topple the government with to bed' policy she had going.

He glanced through the peephole just as Thor and Jane stumbled into the room, looking confused and still half asleep. Loki looked back at all of them, confused. "It's Tony Stark," he said as if that was the last person he expected to see on the other side of the door, and, for all she knew, it might have been. She sure as hell didn't expect him of all people to show up.

Before anyone could say anything else, they all heard, "Come on, kids! I know that you're in there! If you're having a naked freak party, can I join in, or at least watch?" come through the door.

"Well, at least Tony Stark lives up to expectations," Darcy said. "What are you doing here?" she called out through the door. She moved around Loki, standing up on her toes so that she could look through the door, seeing Iron Man himself standing there, in a suit that probably cost more than her tuition during her last semester at college, holding what looked like a box.

"I come bearing gifts," Tony said back through the door, opening up the box he was holding and showing that there were donuts.

"Dude, Thor's going to eat through that in like, seconds," Darcy pointed out.

"Well, that's what these are for," Tony said, reaching down out of sight and lifting back up two large bags of what Darcy could only assume were more donuts.

Darcy looked to everyone else. "Should we let the billionaire in?" she asked.

"Of course we should! Anthony Stark is a friend!" Thor announced loudly. "I know that he will not bring about any SHIELD agents with him. He is the one who discovered that they were building weapons with the Tesseract before."

"Please speak louder so that they can hear you on Asgard, Thor," Loki said with a quick roll of his eyes. "Thor is right about one thing, though. Stark is no friend of SHIELD."

"Yeah, what they said," Tony called back through the door.

With a sigh, Darcy opened the door, looking him over. "When people are having a conversation about you, you really shouldn't listen in," she said, still stepping back to let him inside of the room.

"And yet I did anyway, and can you really blame me for it?" Tony asked, handing the bags off to Thor, who was more than happy to paw through them for the food they contained. "Come on, you know enough about me to know that I give a rat's ass about social norms and the like."

Darcy groaned, but she knew that he was telling the truth. From what she had read about him and seen on TV, he was an ass, and he got away with it because he was ridiculously smart. "How did you figure out where we were staying?" she asked him. She kind of understood that anything Tony Stark wanted to know, he likely just bugged people until he found it out, but this was something that she had to know.

"I had people ask around at any hotels if someone had seen anyone checking in that fit Thor's description," Tony said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "The man isn't known for being the type to blend in. He stands out like a massive sore thumb. Which I don't get, anyway. Don't all thumbs kind of stick out a little?"

While Darcy could understand that Tony Stark could be charming, right now she was too jumpy and worried about what was happening in her life at the moment really to care about his charm. "What are you doing here?" she asked bluntly. "Other than buttering up Thor with donuts."

Thor had almost plowed through one box of donuts when Tony laughed. "Actually, I'm here to offer you guys a place to stay." He looked around the hotel room. "This place is nice and all, but it doesn't have enough beds for all of you, if all the blankets on the sofa are any indication." Damn, Darcy HATED when people that she didn't trust were smart and observant like that.

"Why should I trust you?" Darcy asked. She didn't know when or how she had taken charge of this, but she was the one that had been held hostage for two days. She just couldn't really trust a person right now without asking them lots of questions. "You work for SHIELD, after all."

She saw a flicker of discomfort across his face before he was smiling again. "I don't work for SHIELD. I happen to occasionally work with SHIELD," he corrected her. "Sucks what they did to you, though. Really not nice to keep pretty girls hostage for a few days." He flashed his grin at all of them, and Darcy couldn't help but feel that he was a little like a salesman. Then again, he showed off his inventions, so maybe that wasn't so far off. "I know that what you're all wanting right now is a place safe from SHIELD, and you can't get a place more safe from the than my tower. Come on. Like I wouldn't find some little bug or twelve if they tried to plant them in my home."

Darcy had to sigh at that. He had a point. If she wanted to be away from any sort of listening devices from SHIELD, his place was likely the best. Of course, then she had to worry about what the Avengers might learn of Loki's plans (and her plans, too, as she really couldn't exclude herself at this point). Then again, if the Avengers trusted Loki enough to have him around the tower whenever he was on the planet, it would be good press.

She looked toward Loki for an opinion. "I doubt that SHIELD really could sneak anything into Stark's building without him knowing about it," he explained to her. Darcy looked toward Jane, but she could see fantasies of laboratories dancing in her brain. Stark had some of the best research and development in the world. Even though she was already working for SHIELD, she would have a field day working with the people Tony Stark could attract, much less Stark himself, along with Dr. Banner, whom Darcy knew was around there as well.

"Tony Stark is a trustworthy individual," Thor told her. "He would not allow for harm to come upon any of you," he vouched.

"Alright," Darcy said. "Think you can send anyone with us to help us clear out the apartment?" If SHIELD hadn't beat them to it. She also wanted to make sure that none of their personal belongings had been bugged as well.

"Fantastic!" Stark exclaimed. "I'll come over with you guys myself, if you don't mind." He seemed to realize what she was thinking, if the slight nod in her direction was any indication. She would just be glad to get all of her stuff back, as long as she was able to do just that.

OoOoOoOo

Going back to the apartment had been a bit terrifying for Darcy. If she hadn't had the others with her, she might have just said 'fuck it' and let them have her shit. Thankfully, she had Loki, Thor, and Jane with her. She also had Tony Stark, who couldn't seem to stop himself from rambling on, but he also had this nifty little device that checked for bugs, and they definitely found a couple of then amidst their things, so he was useful.

Darcy was also very glad to find that both her notebook of notes and the book Loki had given her were undisturbed. She had buried then deep in a secret hiding place, but she had been worried just the same about whether or not they would remain unmolested.

Soon enough, though, they were heading up to Stark's Tower, this massive building that touched the sky in a way that Darcy Lewis would never have the privilege to do. Tony was all about giving the grand tour, but Thor managed to bring up a question that had been bothering Darcy since this agreement started.

"Will you allow for my brother to stay here as well? It would not do for him to be placed far from me," Thor explained in his usual too wordy way.

"Don't concern yourself with it, big guy," Tony said with a wave of his hand, as if it hadn't been Loki who had once thrown him through a window. (So Darcy heard.) "If you think he's trustworthy, I'll roll with it. Besides, he'll only be around when you are, so no big deal." Darcy thought it was odd that he was so nonchalant about it, but she supposed she couldn't argue with it. Still, she made a mental note of maybe asking Loki about it, later.

When they did return to Stark Tower, the first thing that happened was that Tony showed Darcy up to her room, and if she thought that the apartment from SHIELD was nice, this place was a palace. It put her parents' home to shame, even on her father's doctor salary, as the closet was bigger than the bedroom that she had growing up! She hated having to go through the whole interrogation thing at SHIELD, but this place almost made it worth it.

Everyone left her alone so that Tony could show the rest to their rooms, so Darcy figured that she could start unpacking. She didn't have a whole lot of belongings, but she had enough that she figured she'd be busy for a few hours. As she started to pull her clothing out to put away, she heard a voice say, "Is there anything that I can help you with, Ms. Lewis?"

Darcy felt her body go stiff as she jerked around, wanting to figure out where the voice had come from. If she didn't know any better, it sounded like an old fashioned British butler had spoken to her, but there was no one in the room with her. "Who's there? Where are you at?" she called out, still looking around.

"I am JARVIS, Ms. Lewis. I am the AI created by Mr. Stark to help him with his day to day tasks," the voice, JARVIS apparently, spoke again. "I am linked to the house, so I can be in all rooms at all times."

"OK, no offense, but that's a little creepy," Darcy admitted to him. "Do you record as well?" she asked.

"Yes I do, Ms. Lewis," JARVIS replied.

"Darcy is fine," she said quickly, sitting down on the bed so that she could get her bearings. "Not that I don't trust you or anything, but could you not record in my bedroom or bathroom?" she asked. "I just had a really bad experience with my apartment being bugged by SHIELD, so I'm really not in the mood to repeat the experience."

"I'm already programmed to not record in the bathrooms for privacy's sake, but I can turn off the recordings in your bedroom as well," JARVIS replied. "Is there anything else that I can help you with, Darcy?"

"No, I think that's all for now," she said, still feeling nervous that Tony basically had a way to peek into her room if he wanted. No wonder he wasn't too worried about having Loki in his home. Not only would he only be around with Thor, but also he could watch him at all times if needed. Then again, this was still the best option they had. She'd just have to let Loki know about it and that they had to be careful. She figured that the part about not recording in the bathroom was true, because that would be creepy on a completely different level, so there was always that out if she needed real privacy in this place.

She continued to unpack, mostly to keep herself busy and not to think too hard about her current situation. When she was nearly done, someone knocked at her door. "Come in!" she called out. She had honestly figured that it might be Jane, so she was a little surprised to see Loki on the other side of the door.

"This building is quite impressive for a dwelling on this realm," Loki said as he walked inside of her room, shutting the door behind him. "I take it that a place like this is quite rare?"

She nodded. "Definitely," she explained. "Most people couldn't even dream of visiting a place like this, much less being able to live in it." She looked around, wrapping her arms around herself and sighing. "I just can't help but wonder if it's all too good to be true in some way."

"I have that feeling myself," Loki admitted to her. "Have you dealt with the AI yet?"

"Yeah," she told him. "Apparently it doesn't record in the bathrooms, and I asked it to not record in here as well." She didn't say it aloud, but it was kind of hanging in the air that she wasn't sure if it would listen to her or not.

"Jane asked for the same thing in her bedroom," Loki said. "Stark said that, if you asked, it wouldn't record. I doubt that he would want to alienate his teammate's girlfriend by lying to her, so I believe that you are safe from prying eyes."

She knew that he had some ability to sense any sort of recording devices (whether it was magic or if he just had good enough hearing to be able to hear any sort of feedback they put off, she wasn't sure), so she was going to trust that they actually had the privacy that she wanted.

"Thor and I have to return to Asgard on the 'morrow," Loki continued. "We'll still be making our regular visits, though. It's already too much of a pain for Thor to be away from his Lady Jane for a week at a time," he said, smirking as he rolled his eyes slightly.

Darcy giggled a little. "Well, before you get whisked away again, can I ask something?" When he nodded, she continued. "Can I see the collar up close? I've been meaning to ask, but, well, I kinda got Darcy-napped, so I haven't had a chance."

He seemed to think on it for a second before nodding, moving to sit on the bed so that she would have access to it. She sat on her knees, because, even when sitting together, he was still a bit taller than she was. Once settled, the collar reappeared on his neck, and she brushed his hair out of the way so that she could get to look at it. She was actually wondering if she could pick it, but it wasn't a simple lock as she had hoped. She thought initially that it was something that Loki's adopted father had come up with, but it actually looked too modern for that.

"Where did this come from?" she asked as she continued to study the collar. It looked like some wicked cross between something you'd see in an S&M shop and a dog shock collar.

"I don't actually know," Loki told her. "Odin put it on me, but it's not something from Asgard's weapon storage."

"I can't get this off myself," she said, a little softer just in case they could still be heard. "I might shock you, myself, or there might be some sort of alarm on it that alerts others that it's being meddled with." She sighed, unintentionally blowing some of his hair around as she did so. "It's…a lot more complicated than something I thought some old school Norse weaponry would have."

"I wouldn't be surprised if SHIELD had something to do with it as well," Loki said. She moved his hair back into place, watching as the collar disappeared again.

"Yeah, no kidding. They probably did," Darcy agreed. "Look, I don't think I can get this off with a simple screwdriver. I'd need the key...or you'd need to convince Thor to take it off you himself."

"How would I do that?" Loki asked her.

"Arguing with him less wouldn't be a bad start," Darcy pointed out. "He already trusts you enough to let you on his council. Eventually, it'll make sense for him to put enough trust in you to let you off the damn leash." Even though she was done looking at the collar, she didn't move away from him right away. She couldn't explain it at this point, but she felt a good deal safer when he was around. While he had more or less tried to kill her in New Mexico or attacked her world before, once they'd gotten to know each other, he'd never done anything really to hurt her. Maybe use her, but it seemed like everyone was doing that these days. Why should he be any different?

"Why are you still helping me, Darcy?" he asked. "I am the first to admit that it seems to have caused you nothing but problems."

She sighed again, leaning slightly against his back for a moment. "I'm tired of people like SHIELD thinking that they own me and can control what I do," she told him. "I've been spied on, dragged around, locked up and interrogated for two days, and they had to be threatened with an interplanetary incident to let me go. I'm not exactly wanting to help them out right now."

"You could just quit," he told her.

She snorted with something that, if it weren't so bitter, might sound like a chuckle. "You don't quit SHIELD. They don't even have a retirement plan. You work there until you die." She had heard low level agents joke about things like that, but it was all true. Hell, she only worked there because she had learned too much and Jane would have pitched a fit if they simply made her 'disappear.' "Besides, you've at least never hid your intentions from me and you've answered all my questions. That actually counts for a lot in my books," she told him. She sat back up, leaning back against the headboard of her bed. "I mean, you could be lying to me, although I'm not sure what you'd be hiding with what you've already told me, but you're still better than who I worked for."

Loki turned back toward her, smiling with an arched eyebrow. "'Worked' for?" It seemed that he had caught her past tense.

"Let's just say that I'm taking some 'personal time,'" she said, returning his smile.

Chapter Text

Darcy managed to get through her first few weeks of living in Stark Tower without much happening to her. That was likely because she spent most of it hiding in her room that Tony had given her. She had to admit that she felt safer in this place than anywhere outside of it, but that wasn't really saying much. The only way that she really felt anything remotely safe was when Loki and Thor were around. She knew that she should probably see a shrink or something, but she had absolutely no clue who she would talk to about this stuff. She did try talking to Jane about it some, but there was only so much that she could tell the woman. It just got complicated so she gave up trying to talk to anyone about it.

She did manage to talk to Loki about it a little when he was able to come around, but he and Thor had only managed to drop by on the weekends, and they weren't usually even able to spend the night as they had before. She did manage to notice that, when they were around, the two brothers were able to get along decently well, which Darcy was very happy to note. Public image wise, Loki getting along with Thor showed that he was learning from his past mistakes, and Thor held the key to allowing that collar to be removed. She hoped that the trend of them getting along continued.

From what she was hearing, though, her image at SHIELD wasn't doing too good. Of course, when someone is interrogated and then stops showing up to work after basically having to be rescued from said interrogation; it doesn't look good to all of those involved. She was sure that anyone who actually talked to Fury or even Coulson (if regular agents even knew that he was alive) were getting a slanted version of the story. She couldn't even remember if Loki and Thor had seen Coulson alive or not. She talked as little about her stay there as possible, so she just didn't bring it up. She could only somewhat remember her time under interrogation, anyway. It was better that way. She was sure of it.

She doubted that Fury and the rest of SHIELD liked that she was staying with Tony Stark, either. She hadn't seen too much of the man himself, but he had told her and Jane to both make themselves comfortable and enjoy themselves on his dime. Of course, Tony Stark had more money than the Catholic Church, so Darcy could literally buy anything that popped up into her head and she still wouldn't make a dent in any of his bank accounts. He had given her and Jane both credit cards, and Darcy had no idea what the limit on hers was. She just knew all of a sudden that she lived in a gorgeous tower with a great view and had access to more money than she'd ever had in her life. She was too freaked out to go out and do anything on her own, though, because she worried that SHIELD might try to snatch her away again. She knew that she was being ridiculous, that she was likely nothing to them, but her brain wouldn't quite understand that.

She also figured that Fury didn't like her staying with Tony Stark because it was kind of known that Tony didn't exactly like being told what to do by anybody, much less a secret government organization. The whole of SHIELD gave off something extremely creepy and weird to most people that dealt with them, it seemed. She figured that Stark was letting her stay there just because it annoyed SHIELD, but right now, she was grateful just the same.
However, it seemed like she was traumatized in some way. Did she really get PTSD from this or something? It wasn't like there was a shrink with whom she could talk. She was afraid to even talk to any of the Avengers. She wondered if Fury had people like Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton watching her. They came by from time to time and, unlike the rest of the Avengers hanging around, they were still full agents with SHIELD. People like Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner, and Tony Stark were only at best affiliated with them. It wasn't the same. She wasn't nearly as afraid of what she said in front of them as she was in front of those two.

OoOoOoOo

Loki was finding that he was looking forward to his visits to Midgard more and more. It wasn't just to learn about the place and plot, though. No, he was also looking forward to it because, unlike before, he had little time to himself on Asgard. He was grateful to not be locked away like before, but he missed having time to do what he wanted. Being a part of Thor's council kept him rather busy.

Every time he visited, Darcy all but threw books at him and talked to him until she passed out from exhaustion. He was reading the books slower than before, but he was still getting through them. After the biography on Napoleon, she had given him a biography on Adolf Hitler and a book that the man had written himself, Mein Kampf. According to her, he shouldn't only read about people that he could take good advice from, but also see the things that he shouldn't do. He couldn't help but think that was a pointed remark, since, as soon as he started to read about Hitler, he realized that the man had been something of a genocidal maniac who, according to some, might have been partially Jewish himself. It seemed too pointed of a remark, but he couldn't help but appreciate the shrewdness at the same time.

When he and Thor arrived again, he found Darcy hiding away in her room, writing away in a notebook that she had. He had noticed that she was always in her room, and only seemed to come out with coaxing. He didn't like that she hid herself away as she did, but he understood why. At least she would come out when others encouraged her; he knew that it could be a lot worse.

She jolted slightly when he first walked inside, but relaxed immediately when she realized that it was him. "Hey, didn't realize you guys were coming this weekend," she said to him, setting her notebook down.

"Thor and I were able to get away for the weekend," he explained to her. He wished that he could get away longer, but, with the collar still around his neck, it seemed like he would forever be tethered to Thor's side. He desperately waited for the day when Darcy could find a way to release him. He knew at this point that it would come down to her. Nothing he was able to do seemed to be able to remove the collar from his neck. He hated it; it made him feel like a lowly dog. If he didn't get rid of it soon, he'd be willing to risk the electrical shocking to try to get it off. Surely, it couldn't kill him, right?

"The whole weekend, huh?" Darcy asked with a bit of a grin. "That's almost a real vacation for you guys." He watched her as she folded up her legs against her chest. "So, what are you planning to do with this two whole days on Midgard?"

"Well, you are the one who knows what there is to do on this place," he pointed out to her with a smile. Moreover, it had to be something that they could drag Thor along with if they left the tower. Being tethered the way that he was had been growing to be annoying for a long time now.

"Hmm...good point," she admitted to him. "Well, I'd say that we could go and get something to eat, but we can have anything we could ever possibly want delivered to this place, or find it in here somehow."

"Can you get wild boar?" Loki asked, more to challenge than for any real want of it.

"Yeah, probably," Darcy said with an absent minded shrug. "This is New York. There are all sorts of things that you can get here." She leaned back against the wall. "Is there somewhere that you want to go, anyway?"

"Well, I'm sure that there are sites that I should see eventually," Loki said, sitting down on the edge of the bed, not wanting to crowd her. "But I'd have to bring Thor along for that, so maybe tomorrow." He didn't want to say it aloud, but he honestly just wanted to spend some time with her.

"And I'm sure that Thor is like all the worst parts of a tourist put together in one giant, blond package," Darcy said with a good natured groan, smiling. "Maybe just ordering take out wild boar and hanging here for tonight would be a good idea." He could tell that she was joking about the wild boar, but he'd likely just let her pick whatever they did eat. "Actually, there is something that I wanted to ask you about. People around here are getting curious about you, like, the good kind of curious. I wondered if you'd be up for some sort of televised interview one of the times you guys get to come here."

Loki thought on that for a moment. There was so much that he could tell in an interview, but there were so many questions that he could be asked as well. He wondered if he could pre-approve the questions, but that sounded like cheating. Not that he minded cheating when it truly benefitted him, but he had the feeling that it would quickly get out that he chose the questions, or the interviewer would spring something on him and catch him off guard.

"I am not sure if that is a good idea," he said after turning the idea over in his head for a few minutes. "There are many things that are hard to talk about for me to one person, much less an audience full of people."

Darcy tilted her head as she looked up at him, seemingly lost in thought for a moment herself. "Is it because you're adopted?" she asked him. "The homicidal parts that you did? What all concerns you?"

"All of that and more," Loki said to her. "It is...it is hard to talk about myself to one person, and the idea of talking about myself to such a large audience is worrisome."

Darcy nodded. "Well, try it on me first. Practice makes perfect, after all." She grabbed a pen. "I can even ask you questions like any interviewer will come up with. Prep you for them."

"Is this something that we must do?" Loki asked. He knew that it would be one thing for Darcy to be asking him questions and a complete other thing for a stranger asking them likely in front of an audience, whether the audience was in the studio with them or simply watching from televisions at home. He couldn't predict how he would do, but he wasn't sure that he would do well.

"Come on, Lokes," Darcy said to him, sticking out her bottom lip at him in an exaggerated manner. "I know you can do this. You'll be charming the panties off of any interviewer before you know it. They'll be eating out of your hand."

"It is hard to say not to that face," he conceded. "It cannot hurt to try," Loki said with a sigh. It could get worrisome, but he wanted to at least try this. If he wanted the people of this realm to trust him, then he needed to put himself out in the open.

Darcy smiled at him and nodded. "Alright, so just relax, and show me that charming Loki smile and personality that I know you got," she teased, and, despite himself, he did smile back at her. He wasn't sure how, but she managed to put him at ease.

"Alright, so we can start off with the obvious big fat question that anyone is going to want to ask you," Darcy said to him. "Why did you invade Earth? Some interviewers might hem and haw around the question, but others are going to jump out at you. Either way, anyone who talks to you is going to ask that."

He took a deep breath. This was going to take a longer explanation than she likely realized. There were many things that he hadn't told anyone about his time between falling off the bridge in Asgard and appearing through a portal on Midgard. Things that he didn't want to ever relive again. "That is…a much more involved question than you may realize," he admitted to her.

She frowned as she looked at him. "OK, well, let me tell you kind of what I know, and you can fill in the gaps," she offered. "This is just stuff that I snuck a look at while working at SHIELD and heard from Thor, so god knows how much of it is right or not. Feel free to correct. You came to Earth looking for the Tesseract and stealing it to open the portal and let the Chitauri army come through. Some of the more educated guesses out there were saying that you were either working for or with someone, since you kind of popped in with an army out of nowhere that even Thor knew only a little about."

"None of that is…incorrect," Loki said to her. "There is much that SHIELD and Thor do not know." He wondered how much he could keep to himself. From Darcy, likely very little. She seemed to know just what questions to ask and how to get the answers that she wanted. "When Thor returned from his banishment, he came to fight me. That much you know. I fell into the abyss." He let go, hoping to die, but that hadn't happened. Not in the least. "I drifted for what felt like eons, but what I think was likely only six months or so in your time. Eventually I was found, more than half mad, by a creature that wishes to court death. I mean this literally, he wishes to court the entity of death herself."

"Dude has some freaky tastes, I get you," Darcy interrupted. "He wanted to get close with Lady Death herself, and then what?"

"He had to say little to me to get me to agree to work for him. He only needed to remind me of everything that I already thought," Loki told her, grimacing. "That I was a monster, that I would always be seen as second best to the golden child that was my brother, that I needed to do something…big to be seen by everyone as the person that I wanted to be." He sighed heavily. "By the time I arrived on Midgard, I'd had my head filled with so much that he wanted me to hear that there was little room for anything else."

"That's not the first time I've heard you call yourself a monster," Darcy said to him. "Why do you keep saying that?"

He hated talking about these things, but he knew that, every time he did it, it would get easier. Possibly, by the time he was truly giving interviews, it would be second nature. "It was the bad news I received before I laid out my attack on Jotunheim. It…I am…" He had to admit that he had no idea how to phrase this. "Perhaps it is better that I show you rather than try to say it."

"I'm...I'm not sure that's wise." He Ihated/I to admit to any real sort of discomfort, but he had discomfort with this idea of actually showing her. Frost Giants were something that he had been brought up to hate and fear, as well as the rest of people in Asgard. Thor used to tease him that they hid under his bed! To show himself as one of these things to the one person that he...he had come to respect just made him shudder at the thought.

Darcy seemed to understand immediately where his reluctance was coming from. "Look Loki, any prejudices that you have...I don't have them. I didn't grow up with them. I know that it's hard to let them go long enough to even show me, but you've got to show people that you have no secrets about who you are, and that no part of you is anything to fear." She reached up and rubbed the side of his arm for a moment, a comforting gesture. He hated that he needed something to simple, but it helped just the same. "We don't have to show anyone else any time soon, but it helps to practice showing it to me first. I promise I won't be afraid or repulsed."

After thinking on it for seemingly forever, he finally nodded. He Itrusted/I what she said, and he couldn't remember the last time he had actually trusted a person. Maybe Thor, back when they were children? Despite that he still had unease with the idea, he stood before the bed, allowing for his second nature to come forth. He focused his eyes on the wall as his skin changed from its pale alabaster hue to the icy blue, ridges forming on his face and arms. He remembered reading one that some of them stood for the royal house of Jotunheim, proving that, despite Laufey's rejection of him, he was of royal blood. He had studied them growing up, mainly so that he would have the knowledge to defeat his 'homeland's' hated enemy, but now it helped him understand his own nature a lot more. "I am what I was brought up to hate and fear," he said, his voice level and numbed of emotion. "I am a Frost Giant. As you know now, I did not handle the news very well."

He searched her face for any revulsion or even pity, but he saw neither. Instead, he just saw the curiosity that he had seen on her face many times before. "Wow…" she breathed, starring at him. "It's too bad that you were brought up to hate that, because you look really cool." She sat up on her knees, scooting closer to him. "May I?" she asked, holding her hands up, indicating that she wanted to touch him.

He almost asked Iwhy/I, but he managed to swallow that down and simply nod. She didn't know any better. She wouldn't realize that Frost Giants were to be treated as barely anything more than animals. He watched as her hands came up, first reaching out and touching his bare lower arms, her face full of curiosity and fascination, but none of the disgust that he was still expecting.

"Your skin's cold," she said as her fingers danced over his skin. "You're kind of like touching an ice carving," she continued with a giggle. Her fingers moved up to his face and neck, tracing the lines of the ridges. "Do these mean anything? There're almost like raised tattoos or ritual scarring that tribes do."

"I am of the royal house of Laufey," he said, actually enjoying the warmth of her fingers over his skin. "I was rejected by him because, by Frost Giant standards, I was a runt." He realized that, other than Odin and very briefly, to Heimdall, he'd never shown this form to anyone. It was terrifying for him to be 'naked' in this way, but Darcy's almost childlike curiosity about him was managing to put him more at ease.

"You were adopted when you were a baby, right?" she asked. When he nodded, she continued. "Then they're likely either just part of your form or were done after you were born like ritual scarring. I honestly wouldn't be surprised by either."

"So, you were brought up to hate Frost Giants, only to find out that you're adopted and wound up going more than a little crazy when you found out that your birth family was full of Frost Giants as well," Darcy continued. Her fingers actually kept moving, so it was hard to concentrate on what she was saying. She was one of the few people to really touch him, so he wasn't used to it, anymore. When he managed to finally nod, she continued. "Not too shocked that you went off the deep end for a while then. It's not an excuse, but people will understand it a little more."

"I am starting to understand that myself." He really had done everything wrong when he came here before. If he truly wanted his own place to rule over, he should have been a lot more subtle about it. He was actually quite good at subtlety. He had just been so full of hurt and rage (some of which had been planted) that he could barely think straight.

"Would you show yourself like this to anyone else?" she asked him.

He shook his head quickly. "No, just you," he said to her. He wasn't sure why, but he trusted her. He didn't want anyone else to see him like this.

"People are going to be thinking that you're duplicitous if you won't show all of you," she pointed out, her hands now resting on his shoulders as she looked up to him.

"I Iam/I duplicitous," he pointed out. "I'm called the God of Lies, remember?"

"Well, it sounds like the mythology books left out a lot, anyway, so let's not go into what people called you in the past," Darcy said quickly. "If you're going to be king of humanity, then you got to know our favorite rule: you're in control of your own fate. Anyone can be redeemed if they try hard enough. Even the super duper Ironman was once known as the Merchant of Death, you know. He was a weapons dealer and dealt to both sides. If he can change and people can love him, then we can do the same for you."

He hadn't realized that about Stark's history, actually. If that was true, then she did have a point. Still, he wasn't exactly relishing in the idea of showing himself like this to anyone else. He'd have to put some deep thought into it.

He was about to reply, but he heard movement outside of the door. Darcy yelped and fell over in her bed, and he managed to change back to his usual form just in time to avoid being seen by Tony Stark, wearing what Darcy had taught him to call a 'shit eating' grin as he looked at both of them. "I didn't interrupt anything, did I?" Tony asked, sounding almost innocent.

"Just two people having a private discussion," Loki replied coolly. "I understand that you own the building, but there are such common courtesies as knocking on a door before entering," he said, helping Darcy to sit back up on her bed.

"You're right, I do own the building," Tony replied quickly. "Pepper complains all the time that I lack basic manners, although I try to make up for it with wit, charm, and genius level intellect." He grinned at them again. "Anyway, I was coming in for something now…what was it…oh right! We ordered out for dinner, so we've got about twenty or so pizzas waiting in the common room for when you guys are done…talking, and can come eat."

Darcy picked up a pillow from her bed and hurled it at Stark, who easily dodged it. "Either you start knocking or I start paying people to play pranks on you," she said to him.

"No one can prank me," Tony said with a shake of his head. "I'd like to see you find someone who can try."

Loki filed that away in his head for later. Obviously, Tony Stark had never dealt with a God of Mischief.

OoOoOoOo

The weekend was actually really nice. Darcy had gotten Loki to open up some, and he had encouraged her to come out of her room a lot more. He helped her calm down a lot more. She was sure that most everyone thought that she was insane because a former wannabe dictator was the one person she felt the most calm around right now. She didn't really care, though.

There were also many strange things happening to Tony over the weekend. All of his tools disappeared one day, only to all end up at the bottom of his pool. One of his Iron Man suits was turned bright pink by some paint that wouldn't come off or be covered up. Apparently, someone had taken up a bit of a pranking war against Tony, and Darcy couldn't complain in the least. All roads pointed to Loki being the culprit, but it seemed like there was no real way to get him back. It paid to be a little paranoid, it seemed.

Darcy ended up saying goodbye to Loki on Saturday night, as he and Thor would be leaving so early on Sunday that she likely wouldn't be up. When she could pull it off (which was a lot more lately), she liked to sleep late. However, she could swear she heard a pecking at her window around eight in the morning.

When she finally gave up and opened her eyes, looking at her window, she saw what looked like a bird, except that it looked to be made of metal. Sitting up, she opened the window, and the little bird flew in, perching on her headboard and starting to sing a song. When she got close to look at it, she realized that it had a little note attached to its foot. Taking the note, she unfolded it and immediately recognized it as Loki's handwriting.

I am still not sure if I am a monster or not, but thank you for believing in me.

Loki

She smiled, hiding the note in her stuff after rereading it a few more times. She hoped that she could get him past this whole 'I'm a monster' thing. It would help a lot in his plans. Still, she couldn't help but marvel at the bird. Did he make it? She had no idea where he would have gotten it. It was beautiful, though. She wondered what the song was. She'd have to ask him when she saw him again.

Chapter Text

It took a little while, but Darcy started to come out of her room a little more often. First off, she HAD to show Jane the present that Loki had made for her. She wasn't exactly sure how he had made it (he wouldn't tell her in the communications that she sent to him, saying that a magician should never reveal his secrets, and just how did he know THAT saying she had no idea), but it was utterly fascinating. Tony offered to figure it out, but he would likely have to take it apart, and Darcy had no interest in harming the pretty bird just to learn how it work, no matter how much Tony then proceeded to beg because he HAD to know how it worked now that he had seen it.

Still, it seemed like having the bird to show off somehow managed to encourage Darcy to come out and talk a little more. From as far as she could tell, the people in the tower at least weren't going to hurt her or let her get taken in by SHIELD again, so she was willing to put out a little trust.

Even with the newly gained confidence, it took Darcy a few weeks really to feel up to putting in her final notice to SHIELD. She couldn't help but feel terrified that agents would swoop into the tower and snap her up after sending the letter, but, when time went by and nothing happened, she felt herself begin to relax again.

Still, she needs to find a way to fill her time. As much of a vacation as it sounds, she can't exactly just loaf around the tower all day. She still transcribed Jane's notes for her, as it was the least she could do after leaving her best friend in a bit of a lurch, but she needed to figure out just what else she was supposed to be doing around here.

She had went to different businesses around the tower to gather applications, but she doubted she'd be qualified to do much more than minimum wage work. Sure, she could list her internship with Jane, but she couldn't really list the other stuff that she had been doing the past year since it was all a part of the super secret spy organization. God, she had gone to college to get away from this sort of work, but here she was yet again.

Bruce Banner was the one of all the people who came and found her, moping over her stack of applications. "What are you doing?" he asked her, voice projecting that quiet calm that belied the fact that he could turn into the epitome of rage that happened to be giant and green.

She looked up at him. She'd actually had her head down on the stack, bemoaning her current fate. When she sat up, she gave him something of a sarcastic grin. "Trying to find another job so that I can be gainfully employed again. I figure nothing can be worse than having my boss kidnap me, right?"

"I don't know. I've known some people who've worked some pretty awful minimum wage jobs," Bruce remarked, giving her a small smile over the cup of tea he was currently sipping at as he sat down at the kitchen table across from her.

"That's true. I worked at a cafe when I attended Arizona State, and some of the customers there were on the freakier side of insane," she commented. "Still, tips were good there. I was thinking of getting something that had tips. Cash is always fun to have on hand."

"You know, Tony brought up an idea to me the other day that I think might work better than working as a waitress," Bruce said to her, setting his cup on the table. "We both...kind of need someone to look after us when we're in the lab. Sure, Pepper functionally does it for Tony, but she can only be around so much because she's also running his company." Now Darcy was REALLY wondering what he was getting at. "We were both thinking that you could be our assistants in the lab. It's...basically the same job that you did for Jane: making sure that we eat, get some rest, transcribing notes, that sort of thing." He smiled at her. "You gotta admit; you're uniquely qualified for it."

He had a point; she really WAS qualified for this sort of job. It actually let her use all of the skills that she had gained from SHIELD, even. "So, I just work with the two of you? No SHIELD or anything?"

She knew that he had an issue with anything that resembled military because of his past experiences, so she wasn't surprised by the barely suppressed shudder that came from him. "Trust me, anything that I do will have nothing to do with SHIELD. Tony, neither, simply because he hates the idea of anyone telling him what to do." He smiled again. "Well, anyone but Pepper."

"Yeah, and I bet that's something that he gets off on," she said, grinning when Bruce almost choked on the sip of tea that he was taking. "You've got yourself an assistant."

He coughed, trying to get the tea out of the wrong part of his throat. "God, what am I getting into here?"

OoOoOoOo

Working with Bruce and Tony was a trip. If anything, they were WORSE than Jane about doing things like eating and taking care of themselves. She seriously wondered how Bruce lived, considering how little he seemed to eat when he was working. It had to have something to do with the gamma radiation. It wasn't consumption of calories that kept him alive, that was for damn sure.

Tony seemed to think that the only caloric intake that he needed was alcohol and coffee. Sometime after ten in the morning, he would start Irishing up the coffee, and she had more than once walked in only to nearly get blown up, then looking over to see a slightly ashy Tony looking like he hadn't done anything wrong, like SHE had been the bad one for simply walking in and making sure that he was alive.

Sometimes, she was sure that she would have been safer if she had hung around with the kidnappers at SHIELD. She might end up getting blown up or possibly Hulk!smashed if one of the resident geniuses was having a bad day, but she wasn't getting kidnapped and hidden away by spies. She'd take that any day.

It was one day after forcing both scientists to eat something real and not either full of alcohol or simply tea that her phone rang, showing up with an unknown number. Naturally, Darcy was a little wigged at the idea of answering something like that, but she simply forced herself to breathe, sitting down on the gigantic sofa that was in the communal living area of the Tower and hitting the button to answer it.

"Hello?" she asked, tilting her head to one side as she held the phone to her ear, grabbing Jane's notes from the night before and working on transcribing them. Apparently, her new assistant there was utter crap, and couldn't read her stuff at all. Where did SHIELD find these people?

"Darcy? It's Loki." Darcy hated to admit this, but she actually wasn't aware that Loki knew how to work a phone. Usually, if he wanted to get in touch with her, he used the book.

Darcy quickly dropped the notes and sat up, shocked. "Loki? Huh...wasn't aware that you had a phone," she said quickly, trying to hide some of the shock in her voice. It might not be a cell phone. He might be using a phone somewhere in the city, but that was still curious as she then wanted to know Iwhy/I he was in the city.

"They are not that hard to get a hold of," Loki pointed out to her, and she supposed that he had a point. "There's a coffee shop next door to the Tower that I want you to meet Thor and I at. We're in the city, and it's something of a surprise as to why we're here."

"That so, buddy?" Darcy asked, not able to stop herself from grinning. "Sure, I think I can handle going out to a coffee shop then." She had to admit, NOW she was really curious as to what was going on. "Give me a few and I'll be on my way."

She hung up and, after programming Loki's number into her phone, she ran a brush through her hair, made sure that she wasn't covered in any random science-y bits that she might have picked up from the labs, and then headed out. She had her issues with going out of the Tower much but, when she was meeting someone, she felt a little bit better about it.

She made her way to the tiny coffee shop that was near the Tower, giving a nod to the familiar clerk behind the counter (Darcy did come here a lot with Jane, after all), then went still as she saw Thor and Loki, who were sitting at a little table, as there was NO way that Thor would be able to fit in a booth properly. She was a little in shock, though, because she was seeing the both of them in SUITS, which was very different from usual.

The only time that she had ever seen Loki in a suit was in the footage from Germany, and she had NEVER seen Thor in anything like that. Even when Thor did wear regular clothing, it was jeans and t-shirts, not suits. He didn't look comfortable in the suit, though. Thor looked like, despite it looking like it fit, that he would burst out of the suit at any moment. He was continuously pulling at the collar, as if it was choking him.

Loki, on the other hand, seemed to know how to wear a suit for someone that wasn't from this planet. He was in a well tailored charcoal gray suit, wearing a green and gold striped scarf around his neck. Not that he didn't rock them, but what was with his penchant for scarves? If he wasn't careful, someone was likely to label him a hipster or something.

Even if he was completely more handsome than any hipster was.

Even as she thought that, Darcy mentally scolded herself. It didn't do any good to notice any sort of attraction toward Loki. Even if he was really yummy looking in a suit.

"Hey guys!" she called out, waving at the two of them from across the room. They both stood as she walked up, giving her a nod in greeting. "So, not that you both don't look great, but what's with the suits? Going in for a job interview?" She doubted that highly, but really had no idea why they would be dressed up, either.

"You're less far off than you might think," Loki told her. "We're actually going off for a television interview," he explained. When she arched an eyebrow at him, he continued. "I decided to take you up on your advice and tell my side of the story, as you put it."

Before she could question what made him really decide to do it, Thor busted into the conversation. "We both thought that, since Loki would be seen more often on this realm, then it was time that he gets to explain what caused his madness and show that he is no longer a threat to the people of Midgard."

Darcy nodded. "Uh-huh…so, what exactly are you going to tell them that's gonna sway them to your side?" she asked.

Loki shook his head. "All will be revealed in the interview," he told her. "Now come, I want you to be with us while we go."

"Wait…couldn't have given me a courtesy call so that I could get dressed in something more than jeans?" she asked, looking down at her outfit. Compared to the two of them, she looked woefully underdressed in her jeans, tank with a cardigan, and sneakers.

"You look perfectly fine," Loki told her, taking her gently by the arm before she could protest more. "Now come on. We can't be late for something as important as this."

He was right; being late would just be heinously rude. "I swear, if you guys hooked up with Doctor Phil, then I'm totally calling off this interview right now. Doctor Phil is a hack." God, please don't let them be going to see Doctor Phil. Loki would likely end up lighting him on fire before things were over with. The world would be a better place, but someone would end up putting up a fuss, maybe overweight housewives everywhere.

Even if Darcy suspected that overweight housewives were the ones who would be the biggest fans of Loki once he explained himself.

"No, it's with a man named Matt something or another," Thor told her as they headed off to a waiting car. Was that something from Tony? When did these two have cars waiting on them. Better than them driving, though. "Who is this Doctor Phil?"

"Trust me, you're better off not knowing," Darcy said quickly. "Matt Lauer?"

Thor nodded. "Yes! That's the man."

Darcy sighed. "Oh yay."

OoOoOoOo

At some point during the trip, Jane was picked up and, after a similar fit over outfits were had, they were all brought along to the television station so that Loki and Thor could be filmed for their interview. Darcy was pretty sure that, even with her current life, she had never expected to be in a TV station, much less a national one, and she is more than a little amazed at her surroundings. People are rushing back and forth constantly, and she's nearly run over three times during her gawking and, somehow, ends up getting lost from the rest of the group. Shit.

She's not sure if she should stop someone and ask for directions or just go and hang in a lobby or something. She was actually digging out her phone when someone bumped into her so hard that they actually knocked her into the wall. "God, walk much?" she snapped, figuring that, like everyone else in this place, the woman who did the bumping would simply ignore her and be on her way.

That didn't turn out to be the case. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" It was a woman that was probably only five years older than Darcy was but, by appearances, was way ahead of her, professionally. She was dressed in some sharp suit with tailoring that left it fitting every curve but still staying conservative.

Darcy's eyes went a little wide when the woman spoke to her. Well, 'woman' might have been a misnomer, as she was probably about the same age as Darcy was. However, with the sharp dressing and whatnot, it made Darcy feel like a little kid. Still, she wasn't going to let a random person walk all over her.

"I'm with Loki and Thor," Darcy said, puffing out her chest slightly and looking the other woman directly in the eyes. She knew that if she looked as if she knew what she was doing, then other people might believe her.

This woman didn't seem to believe in that, though. "Are you sure?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at Darcy. "You don't look like someone that would have come in with them." She had a point, though. Loki and Thor were in suits, and Darcy was in her jeans and sweaters that she usually wore. If she had known she was being brought to this...well, she would have been screwed, because she didn't even OWN a suit of any kind. She should look into that at some point, since Tony was basically throwing money at her that she wasn't even using.

Before she could argue, though, she heard someone come up behind her. "Darcy, where did you go?" Loki asked. Darcy turned around and looked at him, smiling in relief. He then turned his attention to the other woman, who seemed to shrink when Loki turned his eyes on her. "Is this woman keeping you for some reason?"

Darcy turned back to the now incredibly shrinking woman and grinned. "Not anymore, I don't think," she remarked.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Loki," the woman said, looking down at her feet. "We didn't know who she was...and..."

Loki held up a hand, stopping her in her tracks. "This is Darcy Lewis, my assistant. You should keep up with who works with me," he said.

Darcy was just brimming with some massive smugness at this point. It was nice to help put someone else in their place for once. "Mr. Loki needs to be shown to his dressing room. NOW," she said simply.

OoOoOoOo

After the stuttering woman showed them to the dressing room, Darcy shooed everyone away, saying that 'Mr. Loki' needed time to prepare mentally for his interview, actually getting a bit of a kick out of bossing people around. She could get used to this. Once everyone was out of the room (and there had been a ton of people buzzing about), she leaned against the door, turning to Loki and grinned. "So, I'm your assistant then?"

"Someone asked if I had one," Loki said. "I have no idea what it is, but it sounded important."

"Basically, someone who assists. Normally, it's a person who does things like runs errands for a person who's too busy to do them themselves, makes appointments, schedules interviews, that sort of thing. Pepper was that for Tony for a long time," she explained. "Although, if I'm doing that for you, please listen to me more than he ever did to her."

"I promise to do so," he said, smiling as he bowed his head slightly. "Do you think there will be more interviews?" He didn't exactly look thrilled by the prospect.

"That would actually be a good thing, as prying as they can be," Darcy said. "You're more than charming enough. Just be nice and tell as much of the truth as you can handle and you should be golden. People will be eating out of your hand before you know it."

She could already see him mentally agreeing with her, at least in that he was charming enough to get people eating out of his hand before too long. She really didn't understand why he didn't do things this way when he first came around. Then again, Asgardians were based in Viking ideology, or the other way around, and maybe he was thinking that he should divide and conquer. Bad idea. Seemed like he could learn, though.

"Do I have to tell them about the adoption?" he asked, hesitating slightly at the last word. She could see that he was still uncomfortable talking to anyone about it. Of course, she was likely one of the few people that he had actually told himself, rather than them finding out through Thor.

"It'll bring sympathy," she told him. "You were driven a little crazy by the fact that it was hidden from you all your life. You aren't the first that happened to. Sure, the first to go kind of genocidal over it, but what can you do?" When he smiled at her purposeful flippancy, she continued. "I'm sure I can find plenty of psychologists and other head shrinkers that will back that up. You had like, the biggest overreaction in history, maybe, but your upbringing was a lot different from ours. Gotta take that into account, too."

"I hope that others will be as forgiving as you," Loki said to her. "You are quite understanding of my situation."

"I'm an understanding type of girl," Darcy said, smiling as she gave him a small shrug of her shoulders. "All part of my charm. Now I'm working my charm for you, though, since I'm going to be your PA and all. I'm sure that if Napoleon had a PA, he would have done even better."

"From what I read about him, it certainly sounded like Napoleon was good enough at self promotion," Loki pointed out. "Someone should have explained that he should not have invaded Russia, though."

"Yeah, Russia in the winter is a death wish," Darcy said with a snort. "Hitler should have remembered that lesson. He had bigger issues, though."

"You know, if you have time, I need to give you the book I have on Joseph Stalin," Darcy went on. "You're gonna be busy as hell if all of this goes off without a hitch, but you should still have some downtime between interviews." She couldn't keep him too busy, because he was only here for short periods of time, but now all sorts of things were going through her head as to what she would have him do, whom she should have him meet, and whatever. Lordy, she was going to be busy!

Before she could go on, there was a knock at the door. The woman who had tried to boss her around earlier meekly stuck her head in, saying that Matt was ready for Loki. With a wave of his hand, Loki quickly dismissed her. Yeah, Darcy was definitely getting the regal thing from him.

"Well, guess this is it," she said, smiling him again. "I'll be able to watch from here." She pointed up at the TV that was mounted in the room. "You're gonna do great, so don't worry."

OoOoOoOo

While she watched Loki do his interview, it seemed that the people around the studio wanted to make up for how she was treated earlier. They would just about not leave her alone with questions about if she wanted this or that. She Idid/I allow for someone to go and get her a coffee, but otherwise was spending most of her time taking notes while she watched Loki's interview.

Loki was a wonderful subject when he truly wanted to turn on the charm. Of course, she had read up on what legends said about him, and it seemed that he had earned the name 'Silvertongue' for a reason. Well, a perfectly legit reason that could be talked about in public! (Darcy! Keep yourself from going there, darnit!) He looked wonderful on the television screen, although she realized that even HD screens were going to do anything to mess with that perfect skin of his that women around the world would kill for. It was hard to look at him, though. She was far too immersed in what he was saying.

Loki was going over everything that he had went over with Darcy, and Thor was filling in some blanks and explaining some Asgardian intricacies that would go over the heads of the Midgardian audience. It was Loki that was doing most of the talking, though. He spun tales for the audience, and she realized that he was a 'hand-talker' as well, fingers constantly moving when he was describing something or another. Darcy was starting to learn how to read him, or at least she could read the signs of things like nervousness that he had allowed her to see, more likely. He seemed to have really only gotten nervous when he was describing being adopted, and tried to talk as little as possible about what had happened to him when he was found by the Chitauri and their leader (whose name he was most reluctant to say).

Loki had hinted very lightly that the Chitauri hadn't exactly treated him according to the Geneva Convention, but Darcy knew that she likely couldn't imagine just what they had done to him. If she thought that any shrink on this planet could handle it, she would want Loki to see one. How the hell do you find someone who can deal with alien inter-planetary mental issues? She was pretty sure they didn't cover that in medical school!

She was moving back and forth in her notebook, making notes of things that she wanted to do in the future with Loki (she was his PA and Public Relations person now, apparently) while also taking notes on his interview. She knew that there would be dozens of 'experts' would be basically doing the same thing that she was, analyzing every little aspect of the interview to try and gain some insight on him, but Darcy believed that she already had some insight and was trying to figure out how to help him interview better for the next interview that she knew would be coming after this.

She had been so caught up in taking notes that she hadn't thought to account for the fact that they were filming on a time delay. She was just finishing up when she heard the door open. "I told you for the last time, I don't need anything," she said with a distracted wave of her hand, not even looking away from the TV.

"Have they been terrorizing you that much?" Darcy sat bolt upright when she heard Loki's voice in surprise, before starting to laugh. "At least they are giving you some more respect now."

"Not quite. They just fear me for what I might tell you that they did and then you'd never come back," she pointed out, putting the pen that she had been using in her hair, using it to twist her long locks into a messy bun. "Which, I admit, it still kind of entertaining to send them scurrying about."

"I have the feeling that I read somewhere that it is better to be feared than to be loved," Loki remarked, smiling slightly at her.

Darcy shook her head. "That's Machiavelli, and he says that you should go for both if possible. It's safer to be feared than loved if you have to choose one, though." She reached up and poked him on the nose. "You give it time, and I think we can easily pull off both."

"You're a person who touches a lot," Loki remarked, eyes drawn to her finger when she poked him.

"Does it bother you?" she asked. She was like that with everyone she knew.

"No, I am just unused to it," he answered. "Most do not seem to enjoy my touch."

She snorted. "I really should introduce you to the internet. All sorts of people are interested in touching you, Loki." And doing a lot more than touching. Teenage girls on the internet were weird, even for her.

"Let's just say that I am choosy in who I allow to touch me," he remarked with a smirk. Before she could say anything, he changed the subject, which probably saved her sanity for the moment. "What did you think of the interview?"

"Interview?" She had obviously gotten distracted. "Oh yeah! Here! I took notes and everything." She flipped her notebook open so that she could show him some of the things that she had noted. "Overall, you did well, but I think there are some things that you could work on for the next interview that comes along."

"You think that there will be more?" Loki asked as he took the notebook so that he could read it over.

"Are you kidding? We're gonna get SWAMPED with requests for interviews."

Chapter Text

Darcy apparently had NO idea just how right she was about them getting swamped with interviews. Somehow, it had gotten around that Darcy was Loki's PA as well, so now everyone was calling her at Stark Tower so much that she was barely able to do her work for Tony and Bruce. Of course, her main objective was to make sure that the two dunderheads did things like eat and sleep, so it didn't interfere too much, but her constantly buzzing phone was kind of a nuisance to her.

Not that she didn't want people ringing her up, though! She wanted Loki to be getting attention and people wanting to talk to him. When she communicated with him telling him how much people were clamoring to get him, he seemed pleased as well. It seemed like their little plan was going quite smoothly. Well, this part of it, anyway. It wasn't shocking that people were curious as hell about Loki and wanting to know his motives. How much they warmed up to him was a different matter.

Darcy was actually getting less sleep lately because of the other part of her job, which was to monitor the internet (as much as one human can track anything on the internet for long) for any Loki based chatter. Of course, that meant even checking things like the barest of the bottom: Tumblr. Darcy was certain that Tumblr was invented by someone who wanted to take over the world and make sure the populace was distracted enough that, when he did take over, no one would notice. Hey, she should ask Loki if he made it! If not, then she might have to shield him from it. If he saw too much, he might think humanity wasn't worth dealing with and just find a way to wipe the majority of them out. People were incredibly freaky on Tumblr.

While she's doing all of this, she's making notes on what she thinks that Loki needs to work on during his precious little time on Earth. Other than the millions of interviews that everyone wants to grant him, she realizes that he needs other types of good PR, like back when he helped with the cleanup of that monsoon. Parts of New York are still pretty much in ruins, and she knows that if she got Loki to help clean up some of the mess that he made, then that would look excellent for his reputation. Plus, well, it was kind of his fuck up to do things that way, so Loki working on some of the clean up is just what he needs to be doing anyway!

Of course, she can't actually really schedule anything, because she knows that getting Loki here means getting Thor here, which is just entirely too complicated to be real. They needed to figure out how to get Thor to let Loki off the leash so that he could be here on a more permanent basis. Loki can still go to Asgard and communicate with Thor when he needs council, but she kind of needs him here, too. Totally just for PR related things, though. Not because she just misses his company when he's not around. Not at all!

It takes a couple of weeks to actually get Loki and Thor back on Midgard, but Darcy is so relieved as soon as she finds out when they are coming back. People were practically hounding her for some interviews, and they didn't seem to understand that she really couldn't just poof Loki around whenever they wanted him there. People seemed downright irritated that she couldn't simply magic him in their offices for sit down interviews. Like she was the one who could teleport and do magic. If only.

As soon as Loki and Thor touch down on top of Stark Tower, Darcy is grabbing Loki by the arm and dragging him off. "Sorry to jump right into business right away, but I've hard people calling me like there's no tomorrow and they have to talk to you TODAY," she said with a comedic groan. "I'm starting to think that people really don't get the whole 'he lives on a different realm' idea when I tell them they have to work around your schedule. As if they've never done that before." She sighed, then smiled up at him. "Hi Loki. How are you doing today?"

Loki actually started to laugh. "Apparently much better than you are doing," he remarked between laughs. "It's seems like you've had quite the time dealing with people who want to talk to me."

"You have no idea," she grumbled. "I'm glad they want to talk to you, but these are people who have no sense of patience. Can you turn some of them into toads?"

"Don't give him ideas!" Thor protested, speaking over Jane's shoulder, who was hugging him for dear life. "He did that to me once and it was quite terrible. You should not suggest such mischief to him for he will do it!"

"You say that as if you did not deserve to be turned into a toad," Loki said with a good natured smirk.

"OK, now before I drag you away for interview type stuff, I have to hear this story," Darcy said, laughing. "Just what did Thor do to deserve such a punishment?" He likely did do something bad and just still didn't realize the blunder he accomplished.

"I only took a book of his and hid it! He was being obnoxious," Thor protested, finally releasing Jane, who then looked back at both Darcy and Loki. "It's not like I took anything precious."

"You took one of my prized books, Thor! I know you cannot read worth a damn, but that doesn't mean that others do not enjoy it," Loki retorted.

"Don't mess with a man's book, Thor," Darcy said, grinning as she pulled Loki into the building. "How long did you keep him that way, anyway?"

"Only for a week," Loki said as they headed over to the elevators. Darcy leaned in and pressed the down button so that they could head to her floor and little apartment room thing. "I thought it would teach him a lesson, but sadly, school was never his forte."

"Thor doesn't seem the type to learn lessons the first time that he's taught them," Darcy joked. She knew that Thor was much smarter than most people liked to give him credit for, but sometimes it still took an extra time or two for something to properly sink in for him. She wondered how many times Loki had to put spells on him before he realized that his little brother was not to be trifled with.

"Only when they are beaten into his head repeatedly," Loki said, smiling. "How many interviews do you have me scheduled for?"

Darcy had almost forgotten about those briefly! Bad PA! "One tonight and another tomorrow afternoon," she said. "I figured that I should at least leave you guys one day here without someone asking you questions constantly." She grinned. "Well, other than me."

"Your questions are always a pleasure to answer, Darcy," Loki told her, walking into the elevator as it finally reached their floor and opened. "I only hope that the interviewers do not ask me all the same questions as the other man did."

"Well, some will be the same, some will be snowball questions, and some might try to probe deeper,' she told him. When he looked at her in confusion, she realized what went over his head. "Fluff questions, the easy stupid stuff they ask to loosen you up, like your favorite color and stuff."

"And here I would have thought that my favorite color would be quite obvious," Loki joked, causing Darcy to laugh. "I do understand what you mean. It is good to know the interview tricks they will use on me."

"Trust me, I wouldn't send you into the lion's den like that without some warning. You sweating on stage like Richard Nixon is the last thing we want." Darcy frowned in thought. "I should show you that debate. Everything to do and not to do. You definitely want to emulate Kennedy in that, not Nixon." Now she was more talking to herself than him.

"I am sure that you know I have no idea what you are talking about," Loki remarked. "It's usually the other way around, me speaking and no one around me understanding."

"Welcome to the club there, bub," Darcy said, grinning as the elevator stopped on the floor with her rooms. "But I promise to get you up to speed quickly enough as soon as we can get to my computer.

OoOoOoOo

Darcy did keep her promise to Loki to show her the old Kennedy/Nixon debates, along with some internet reactions to his other interview. He had to admit that he was almost pleased that some of humanity was still wary of him, even if they were more curious than afraid of him now. It meant that they were smarter than he had initially given them credit for. If he wanted to have any respect for the people he would one day rule over (and now he was starting to understand that a good ruler should), then he should at least think they were remotely intelligent. If they had immediately fawned over him, he knew he would have simply felt contempt.

He would be glad when they came to the rightful conclusion that he was the right one to rule them, though. If nothing else, they needed someone who could represent them on the stage of the Nine Realms, and Loki wasn't sure if there was anyone on this planet fit for such a task. Not even the Avengers, even if he was starting to find them slightly more tolerable than before.

Very slightly.

He knew that Stark was occasionally finding ways to antagonize him just to see how he reacted. He had done something similar to Banner on the Hellicarrier during his first visit. It seemed to be the man's way of relating to those around him. Banner seemed to stay wary of him, but wasn't attacking him outright, either. Rogers seemed away more often than not (he wondered if that was on purpose), as did the spies (which he knew was on purpose). Still, he supposed it was an improvement.

This realm needed a strong leader, and the debate he watched, plus Darcy's many explanations, had been enlightening. She had joked that the thing to learn from Nixon was to not get caught in a huge web of lies, as she had put it, but he had taken the lesson to heart, anyway. It seemed to be the lesson to learn from Nixon, intentional or not. Or to at least not record any of his conversations.

He'd barely had any real time to digest the new information he had learned before Darcy was pulling him away for the first interview. She had told him that the questions would be similar to last time, although some might probe deeper, which he didn't like. Still, he was willing to stomach this if it helped him toward his long-term goal.

When they arrived at the television studio, he was taken into the backstage room set up, although the 'make-up artist' appeared happy that she didn't have to do much to him. Darcy had just laughed when the artist (who didn't look like any artist that Loki had ever seen before) had said such a thing, saying that all Asgardians were handsome like that. He found it odd that Darcy said such things so flippantly, but he had quickly learned that Midgardians were just naturally more forward, at least the 'western' ones were, as it had been explained. The women on Asgard, not even the manly Sif, had talked like Darcy. He found he liked her forward ways, though.

When he was brought to the sound stage, Darcy had come along with him, standing off camera and making sure that different things were taken care of. The interviewer this time was a woman, a young one likely not much older than Darcy, although her skin had an unnatural tightness that Darcy had said was from something called a 'face lift' that humans sometimes got when they felt they looked old, something that he didn't understand. Age showed you had wisdom, at least so others had insisted. Midgard seemed obsessed with youth, from what he had seen and Darcy explained. She had also said that he could use it to his advantage, since he looked so young for a being so old and powerful. He didn't want to tell her that, despite his age compared to those on this realm, he was still about as respected and experienced as those just a little older than her. It wasn't a matter of years. Despite that, he understood what she might have truly meant. She meant that his age here might allow him to influence someone despite him not truly being older than them.

"It's nice to actually get to meet you," the woman said to him as soon as she was seated across from him. "I've been dying to get to do a sit down with you ever since I saw Matt Lauer's interview."

"It is a pleasure to meet you as well, Ms. Ripa," Loki said, reaching out and offering to shake her hand. Thankfully, she took his hand and shook it. It would have actually been quite displeasing for her to be wanting to talk to him so bad but be unwilling to shake his hand when the cameras weren't rolling. Darcy had shown him a few clips of interviews that this 'Kelly Ripa' did. Of course, they were doing something out of the ordinary, filming early for her show instead of him coming to her show during the morning because of his schedule, but she seemed to want to talk to him badly enough to deal with it. "I'm very glad that you were willing to work around my schedule."

"Oh, I'm expecting it to be more than worth it," Ripa said to him with a small smile. "I'm just glad that you were willing to accommodate us as well. Thank you so much for that." Before either of them could continue, they were flagged by the cameraman, letting them know that he was about to begin rolling.

When the camera started to film, Ripa began immediately. "Hello, I'm Kelly Ripa, and I'm here with the most talked about man in the world, currently, Loki...I'm sorry, I don't actually know you're last name. Do you have one?"

Loki chuckled under his breath. His surname had once been 'Odinson,' and he supposed he could go by 'Laufeyson' and be technically correct. "Just Loki is fine," he said with a small smile.

She nodded, continuing to smile herself, although the smile looked too big for her face. He really didn't know what to make of it. "Just Loki then. I'm here with Loki, once would be dictator of Earth, now simply seeking our forgiveness and understanding." She turned her attention away from the camera and back to him. "Isn't that what you are trying to accomplish here?"

Loki nodded. "Yes, Ms. Ripa, that's exactly what I'm trying to do." He looked toward the camera, the audience that he was trying to influence. "I know and understand that there is a lot that I have to answer for in asking this, but I'm willing and able to hopefully seek out what I request."

She turned that slightly odd smile on him. "Well, hopefully you can earn that. I think the big question on everyone's mind is why they should give you such a thing. You're a very charming man, and everyone has seen the interview you did with Matt Lauer, but everyone definitely wants to understand more about why you tried to bring an invading force to Earth?"

He supposed that was the question of the hour. Loki sighed. He had managed to get away with not talking about this in his last interview too much, but he knew that it would come up sooner or later. The little blond woman surprised him with such a serious question so quickly, though. When he first saw her, he sort of expected questions like what his favorite ice cream was. "The idea was first brought up to me by...someone that I met after I was...after I fell from Asgard." He was uncomfortable with being so truthful, but it seemed to be the best way to get these mortals to trust him. "This being, who's name I will not mention, wanted a powerful object from Midgard...your realm, and I promised that I would give it to him. He pointed out that the only way that I could actually gain such as object was to invade the realm, and gave me the invading force that I brought to Manhattan."

"Why would you do that for him, though?" the interviewer asked. "Did he have some sort of hold over you?"

Either this woman was much more intelligent than her looks showed or someone was feeding her these questions. Either way, her questions were spot on. "This being found me when I was at my absolute lowest, and was more than happy to prey upon my weaknesses," Loki explained, suppressing a shudder when he did think about him. "Plus, he had other types of persuasive ways as well."

The studio was absolutely quiet as he spoke, and the implication because clear what he was likely hinting at. He would never speak of such things directly, as that would require him to think on them, but might as well be as truthful as he could handle.

Loki was actually quite grateful when the woman seemed to realize that this topic was simply something that he was highly unwilling to talk about at the moment, much less wanting to talk about it in front of what would likely end up being millions of viewers. She simply reached over and patted his hand lightly. "Let's move on to a lighter subject then, shall we?" She smiled at him before turning to the audience. "We actually polled our viewers in some questions that they wanted to ask themselves and we picked out a few that we thought might be interesting to hear the answers of. First off, Susan from Madison, Wisconsin wants to know if you've met any people here on Earth that you actually happen to like."

Unintentionally, Loki glanced over to the side, catching Darcy in his view. Before he could even come up with an answer that would likely be appropriate, the interviewer realized that he was looking at someone and turned as well, catching sight of Darcy as well. "Ooh, is that someone! Who's that?"

Damn. He hadn't intended for that to happen. "That's actually my friend and assistant," he said, not really sure if he wanted to say Darcy's name on television. SHIELD had to be watching if they were anything resembling intelligent, after all.

"Oh, is she just a friend?" Kelly Ripa asked, waggling her eyebrows at the audience. "Can she come out here? Maybe she can give us some insight on you!"

He should have known better than to look over at her, but it hadn't even been intentional! He looked over at her again, arching an eyebrow at her, but she seemed alright enough with the idea after thinking on it for a moment. With the audience now clapping and cheering, Darcy slowly came out onto the sound stage, giving an awkward wave to the camera as Ripa directed her to a seat.

Darcy looked mortified as she sat down. He knew that she hadn't planned on being seen by the cameras, and he hadn't intended it, either. This almost seemed to be asking for some sort of trouble to occur, but they couldn't exactly undo it now, could they?

Ms. Ripa seemed completely oblivious to what was going on. "So, you're Loki assistant? What does that entail, exactly?" she asked Darcy.

Darcy cleared her throat. "Mostly helping him get to know things about Earth, actually. Getting settled more into the history and culture. Plus, I'm the one who does things like schedule the interviews and whatnot. So, I'm sure you can guess that I've been busy as all get out lately."

"Oh I bet," Ripa said with a smile. "So, how did the two of you get in contact with one another? I can't imagine that Loki just put an ad in the paper seeking out an assistant or anything."

Darcy smiled and waited while the audience laughed. "Well, no. Actually, I know his brother's girlfriend. I used to work with her," she explained. He could see that she was quickly becoming more at ease. It seemed quite easy to relax, even under the bright lights and cameras. It was as if one could forget that they were even there. When he was talking, it was much easier as well.

"So, what's he like when he's not dressed up and charming the crowd?" Ripa asked playfully, although he could admit that he could see people being curious about that. Humanity wasn't as dumb as he had first given them credit for. Of course they would realize that he was on his best behavior right now.

"Well, I wouldn't work with him if he was a monster," Darcy said with a wink, causing the audience and the interviewer to laugh. "He's actually really smart, though. He seems to want to learn more about humanity and what we're about, and he's a really quick study." None of this was false. He did want to know more about humanity and what they were up to, but it was more for his own reasons than for anything truly altruistic. "And that sense of humor is no act. He'll crack you up if you let him."

OoOoOoOo

As the interview went on and then finally went to a commercial break, a certain audience to it was not amused. Fury had been watching the entire thing, and the interview before it, plus he'd had any internet chatter monitored. He knew that he couldn't let this nonsense continue.

"Sir," Agent Hill's voice chimed from behind him. "What are we going to do about this? It seems like they're gaining a lot of good publicity from these interviews."

"I think it's time that we deal with Darcy Lewis once and for all," Fury said. Hill simply nodded, heading out of the room for now. Fury couldn't let this go on. Even if she was just a simple headed girl, she was showing where her loyalties lied, and they weren't even with her planet, it would seem. He would make sure to nip this in the bud once and for all.

Chapter Text

Darcy was exhausted. She knew that it would be worth it in the end, but shuffling Loki (and Thor) between all of these interviews was draining. She wondered if she should just get a constant stream of coffee sent straight into her veins and see if that was able to keep her awake easier.

The interview the night before had went wonderfully. Now people were blowing up her phone even more than they had before, which she hadn't realized was even possible. She wasn't even sure where all of these people were getting her phone number from, which concerned her a little, but she also thought that they might simply be getting it through other connections in the industry. She wasn't sure when she became a connection in the industry of celebrity interviews, but this was now her life, it seemed.

Of course, before taking Thor and Loki to the Saturday afternoon interview, she was checking on Tony and Bruce and making sure that they were still alive and in one piece. She brought Bruce a sandwich and somehow managed to convince Tony to go to bed after what, by her count, was like a thirty six hour science bender. She had no idea how those men kept up those types of hours. Maybe when she was in college, she could pull that off once a semester, but it seemed like they were doing it more like once a week. She had no idea how they were doing it. Must have been magic.

After the interview, Darcy turned her phone on silent. Whomever the hell wanted to talk to her could talk to her voicemail for a while. Probably unprofessional, but she wanted a little bit of time during that her cell wasn't going off every five minutes with someone either congratulating Loki for his good publicity (in an effort to gain favors later), or trying to gain an interview of their own.

"Are you guys hungry?" she asked as they all climbed back into the limo that Tony had provided. If she didn't watch out, she was going to become jaded to all of these luxuries like she was pretty sure he was. "You wanna grab Jane and get some lunch somewhere? I think we earned it."

When the two of them nodded, she told the driver to go ahead and head back to the Tower, intending on grabbing Jane from whatever she was doing in the lab. Thor beat her to it, though, so, while waiting in the hallway for him to cajole her into coming (or simply picking her up and carrying her along like she had seen him do a time or two), she and Loki actually had a little alone time together.

She let out a small groan, leaning against the wall. "I'm starting to think that an evil wizard invented cell phones in order to curse us with never actually being left alone long enough to form a coherent thought," she said with a pout. "Know of who did it so I can taze them?"

Loki chuckled. "Alas, I do not. These things seem to ring incessantly, even if they are useful."

"And that's the curse. We become utterly dependant on them, but they'll drive us insane long before our time," Darcy said, smirking back at him.

"Then it was a fantastically evil yet intelligent wizard that created such things," Loki continued to tease. "I only wish that I could take credit for such an invention."

Darcy couldn't help but laugh. "I think you'd come up with something better than that, though. You'd come up with something truly wicked."

He gave her a mischievous grin. "Oh, you have no idea."

OoOoOoOo

Darcy was honestly thinking that, when they went out to dinner, that they would be going somewhere easy and comfort food-y, but, while they had waited on Thor and Jane to come out, Loki suddenly shoved her in her bedroom and told her to pick out something nice to wear. She had wondered just what had suddenly gotten into him and definitely asked him so, but he just insisted that she do it anyway. Hard to change a handsome god's mind when he was insisting on you getting yourself extra pretty.

Darcy didn't have much in the way of fancy clothing. Honestly, she still had the wardrobe of a college student, even though she hadn't been one of those since Thor had shown up on Earth the first time. Still, she had one of those 'little black dresses' that worked for any occasion that had a drapey neckline, tossing it on and letting her hair down and making her makeup look a little more dramatic.

She would like to say that it didn't take her too long to get ready, but she actually nearly fell over in shock when she came out and, for one, actually saw Jane in a dress! Darcy was pretty sure that she had never actually had the chance to see Jane in a dress before. Darcy was actually doubly impressed that Jane owned something other than a basic black dress herself, as she was instead wearing a royal purple, off the shoulder number that went down to her knees. Still, even Jane paled in comparison to when she saw the boys.

Darcy still thought that Thor looked a little odd in anything but the Asgardian armor that he usually wore, but he still looked a little more comfortable in the suit that he was wearing. Somehow, the charcoal gray of the suit managed to bring out his eyes even better than a typical black suit would. It made her wonder if Tony or Pepper had started picking out clothes for him. At least this one didn't look like he was going to explode out of it.

Loki, as per usual, looked smashing in anything that he put on. Darcy did notice that he seemed more at ease in regular Earth clothing than Thor could ever pull off. Maybe it was just his chameleon nature that allowed for him to wear it better. She really had no idea. He hadn't gone the traditional black suit route this time, either, instead going for the odd choice of what she might classify as indigo blue, but it still looked amazing on him. It actually made his green eyes appear almost blue.

"Now I'm feeling like I'm not dressed up enough," Darcy joked with a fake pout. "You guys are at least making me wish I had something in color." Really, she honestly had no idea that Jane owned a dress, much less one in purple, or did Pepper sneak into her closet, too? Could someone sneak into her closet next if she got pretty clothes out of the deal?

Jane just laughed when she said that. "I've had this dress since graduation. I think it might be my only dress that I have." Of course Jane would look magnificent in the only dress that she owned. Not that Darcy was anything to sneeze at. She at least knew that she looked good. She was just never going to be the tiny thing that Jane would likely always be.

They managed to get out to a wonderful dinner, and, while it was fantastic, Darcy couldn't help but feel a tiny bit unease. Maybe it was just her continuing paranoia, but she couldn't help but feel that she was being watched. Of course, she was out with Loki and Thor, the whole restaurant was staring at them. She tried to focus on her dinner and the wonderful dinner conversation (she was pretty sure Loki would be wonderful to have at any State dinner), but, when her phone started to vibrate and she saw that it was an important number, she excused herself and headed outside so that she could answer it.

She was so used to talking to people on the phone at this point (this time it was a magazine interview, which could be done through email which meant that they didn't need to waste half a day doing a TV thing), that she didn't pay any attention to her surroundings when she went outside. Even so, she would later tell herself that, even if she had been highly paying attention to what was going on around her, she wouldn't have noticed what was going on, anyway. All she knew that she suddenly felt someone grabbing her from behind, wrapping a large hand around her mouth before she could even think about starting to scream.

She started kicking and wriggling, trying to get away, but whomever had her was strong and used to a little bit of pain. She had dropped her phone at some point during the struggle, and had no idea where it ended up or if it had been stepped on. She couldn't even move her mouth enough to bite down on the guy's hand!

She was just wondering if there was an ominous black van in the distance to drag her off into when she suddenly felt the guy letting her go, dropping her down to the ground. She looked back to try and figure out what had happened, only to see a flash of green and then realize that there was a seething Loki behind where the guy should have been. Had he known that she was being attacked and come out? Did he just come out to check on her?

Before she could ask him, though, another person came out of the darkness toward them. Before she could even point him out to Loki, though, he turned around, pulling a knife out of somewhere (magic, she assumed) and slit the man's throat before he could come any closer.

Darcy had to bite back a scream when he did that, pushing herself against the brick wall of the restaurant, shutting her eyes and just trying to not freak out at the moment.

Loki seemed to take a second to look around before bending down to the ground to look her over. "Did they hurt you in any way?" he asked.

She looked up at him and shook her head, still not sure if she could trust herself to not scream and freak out. She was mentally reminding herself that whomever those guys were, they had obviously been after her to take her away, but she just saw someone DIE in front of her, and not in a peaceful way, either!

She took a few deep breaths so that she could calm herself the hell down enough to actually talk. "Hey Loki. You remember the magical calming down thing that I said never to do again?" she asked him. "I'd really like that right about now."

He nodded, reaching up and running his thumb over her temple, filling her with what felt like a warm liquid of calming coolness. If she were honest, she'd admit that just his touch was calming enough to her. It was just helping her come back down to Earth and not have a screaming fit right now.

"Are these men familiar to you?" Loki asked her.

Feeling a good bit more calm now, she looked over at the remaining man. She had NO idea what happened to the other one. Had Loki incinerated him or something? God, if she thought too hard on it, it was going to drive her crazy. "He doesn't look familiar to me," she said. "Go check his wallet and see if he has any ID." She certainly wasn't going to touch him. Magical Xanax or not, she was totally not touching him.

Loki stood back up, walking back over to the body and checking his pockets, finding a wallet and opening it up as he straightened up to his full height. As he was rifling through the wallet, she noticed ANOTHER large man coming up behind him. Without even thinking about it, she reached into her purse, which had somehow miraculously stayed attached to her during the entire fiasco, grabbing her tazer and aiming it at the third man, tazing him and knocking him to the ground. If Loki hadn't calmed her down, she probably wouldn't have remembered that she HAD a purse, so she was really grateful that he'd done that.

Loki jerked around saw what she had done. "Is that the weapon that you attacked Thor with when you first met?" he asked her. When she nodded, he smiled. "It's nice to actually get to see it in action." His smile disappeared when he held open the wallet so that she could see the ID inside. "We have a problem, though."

They certainly did. She was looking at a SHIELD ID in the wallet.

OoOoOoOo

Darcy was going to start singing the praises of magic soon. She had been worried about the bodies that were hanging around the alley, but Loki had been able to simply make them disappear and clean himself up, because he'd actually been kind of terrifying to look at with blood on him.

They'd went inside to get Jane and Thor and tell them what happened, everyone deciding that they needed to head back to Stark Tower and figure out what to do next there. Well, actually, Thor wanted to declare war upon SHIELD and burn their headquarters to the ground, but everyone reassured him that doing that would only cause more trouble right now.

Instead, they managed to all three basically push Thor into the car and get him back to Stark Tower. Darcy couldn't help but wonder just what any of the Avengers would think of this. Would they think that she had kind of brought this upon herself by hanging out with Loki? Of course, they didn't quite understand just what she was really up to, which then they would probably scream that she HAD brought this onto herself.

She stayed quiet throughout the ride back to the tower, simply staring out the window while Thor bellowed and Jane tried to keep him calm. Loki kept mostly quiet as well, other than telling Thor that he wasn't helping with all of his anger right now. He seemed to keep studying her, as if trying to figure out what she was thinking. Darcy wasn't even totally sure what she was thinking, so she had no idea what to tell him if he even decided to ask.

She didn't remember anyone calling Tony or Bruce back at the Tower, but they were both definitely there when they arrived. Tony actually looked serious for once in his life, and Bruce legit looked green around the gills, which, for him, was less about being nauseated and more about Hulk wanting to smash things. As much as a Hulk appearance concerned her, she also couldn't help but feel kind of happy that they seemed like they were concerned about her as well.

"So, SHIELD apparently decided to make another play for you then?" Tony asked. She just nodded while Loki handed over the badge that they had found on the remaining guy. Tony looked at it for a second before setting it aside. "Sorry guys, but I'm not exactly shocked. SHIELD doesn't really like being told no for an answer about things, and that includes who they get to keep."

"Says the man from the group who were put together by them," Loki pointed out.

"True, but we were put together because you were feeling all dictator like at the time and that freaked them out," Tony reminded him. "Of course, that could easily be because they probably have their own designs upon the place known colloquially as Earth."

"Well, talking about who is trying to take over the world is fine and dandy, but someone did try and kidnap me tonight, obviously on SHIELD's order, and quite frankly, I'm getting really tired of a shady organization trying to run off with me against my will," Darcy snapped. Everyone actually turned and looked at her.

"They likely weren't even just after you," Bruce pointed out quietly. "I'm sure that they wouldn't have hated being able to get ahold of Loki as well."

Ugh, he had a point, actually. Of course, those guys hadn't really been prepared at all for what Loki could pull out. Of course, his collar only prevented him from getting away from Thor. It apparently did not prevent him from doing harm onto others. It made her wonder how this would go over in Asgard. Not that she suspected they cared about a couple of humans on the whole, but it could be seen as a precedent. She wasn't sure what was going on.

"Well, they took her once, and tried again in public, so I doubt they will stop before a third attempt," Loki explained.

"I could hire a bodyguard to follow her around," Tony offered.

"Someone that could be secretly working for SHIELD," Loki retorted. "If this were me doing it, you trying to hire a bodyguard from the outside is something that I would expect you to do and plan for."

"Well the only other thing I can think of is for her to stay in the Tower all the time," Tony explained. "SHIELD can't get in here without me knowing about it."

"So she'd basically be a prisoner in here then?" Jane asked, finally speaking up. "I'm not knocking your building, Tony, but a gilded cage is still a cage."

Before an entire argument about her life erupted, Darcy intervened. "Can Loki stay here?" she asked, making sure that she was loud enough for to talk over anyone else that wanted to offer a way to deal with her currently life. When everyone turned to look at her, finally, she figured she could continue now that she had their attention. "Look, I know the collar is attached to Thor. It's long enough that he can get around, but he can't really get away. Can it be attached to someone else other than Thor?"

"I suppose that it is possible," Thor said slowly, as if he were thinking while he spoke. "I do not completely understand the device myself." He looked over at Tony.

"Well, I am the one who built it," Tony said with a shrug. "I don't know all the magic voodoo, but I can at least work on the tech behind it."

Darcy looked up at Loki. "Are you up for staying here for when SHIELD tries to kidnap me again?" she asked. This was a big part of what they had been wanting, after all. She'd rather have not nearly been snatched away for it to happen, but what was done was done.

He nodded. "It seems that they are intent upon you, so I will stay."

OoOoOoOo

It felt like they all had talked for hours afterward, but Loki knew that it was likely only an hour or so. He knew that Darcy had excused herself at some point, but, rather than go to bed, he realized that she had went up to the roof. A benefit of magic was that he could trace people if he so desired, and since she was still on the building, Darcy was easy to find.

After she had left, they had discussed the logistics of Loki staying here rather than simply going back and forth with Thor. Transferring the 'control' of his collar to Darcy was actually far simpler than he would have realized. Odin was asleep now, so he couldn't adjust the magic, but Loki was certain that he could, as long as Stark was working with him.

Once they were done discussing it, Loki headed up to the roof, finding Darcy sitting down, dangling her feet off the ledge. It was then that he realized that she had actually come out to where he and his brother had once fought when he was trying to take over New York.

"You can come closer if you want, Loki," Darcy called out to him, actually startling him slightly. He hadn't realized she had known that he was there.

"It's not often that anyone realizes that I am in the shadows," Loki remarked, walking up and sitting down beside her, letting his long legs hand off the building as well.

"Maybe I'm just used to you at this point and can sense you," she teased.

"I'm not entirely sure that I like the idea of someone sensing me when I skulk in the shadows," he joked.

"You're just not used to anyone noticing you, especially when you're not acting out in some way."

That caused Loki to arch his eyebrow at her. Before he could say anything, though, she continued.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm not entirely sure that you always know the difference between good and bad attention," she continued. "It's a good idea to remember that just because you have everyone's attention doesn't mean that you're doing the right thing."

"I have you now to tell me when I'm doing such a thing," Loki pointed out to her. "What has brought this on?"

"I don't know if SHIELD realizes the difference between good and bad attention, either," Darcy said quickly. "If I think the best about what happened tonight, they want me to know that they can find me anywhere. They're trying to scare me." She looked up at him. "I'm not going to let them, though."

"Good. I won't let them keep scaring you, either. It might be time to put some fear back into SHIELD as well," Loki remarked.

She looked back out into the city. "I know I'm tired of being the one scared," she admitted. He felt her rest against his side and, without thinking about it, he put an arm around her shoulders. "Did you guys figure out the collar situation?" she asked.

He nodded. "Stark if fairly certain that he can transfer who the collar needs to be near. It is not the same as removing it, but at least I will not have to transfer back and forth between Asgard."

"It's definitely a start toward what we're aiming for," Darcy agreed.