"Machiavelli's Favorite Son" 9/?
Title: "Machiavelli's Favorite Son" 9/?
Author: Lena
Fandom: Marvel
Warnings: Many political discussions.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Marvel is god, I'm just a lowly worshiper, blah, blah, blah.
Summary:
When Thor comes to visit Jane after the events in New York, he has a tag along, and Darcy, the ultimate tag along, ends up befriending him. How CAN this end well. Eventually Darcy/Loki. Rated T for now, but I may adjust it, depending on where things go.
Beta'd By: Sadly, just by me now!
(Thank you again to all of my reviewers: jenefaner, Lady Miel Cacao, Gyoro and Ururun, AnAnnaGrin, dixiehellkat101, Merri85, Vahinepapaya, MetaAuria, Potkanka, fringeperson, Chuuulip, Dontgotaclue88, guest, Sara60691, NoVacancyMind, scarletwitch0, Ie-maru, moonlightkiss1515, and Phoenix Rebel.
I’m sorry that it takes me so long to update! Is three months better than four? *laughs* I know, not quite. I’m working out a writing schedule now, so hopefully updates will start coming faster than, well, months between. I’m always doing a little work on this story, though, so trust me when I say that it’s never gonna die. I’m just a temperamental writing that needs to be in the mood to write. *snorts* I know, I’m a goof. Also, I want to add that I have lost my beta, who, despite her awesomeness, doesn’t have the time to devote to such a story.
And BOY, did this chapter explode, so I hope it’s worth the wait? Hope you all enjoy!)
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 why 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 did 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."
Author: Lena
Fandom: Marvel
Warnings: Many political discussions.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Marvel is god, I'm just a lowly worshiper, blah, blah, blah.
Summary:
When Thor comes to visit Jane after the events in New York, he has a tag along, and Darcy, the ultimate tag along, ends up befriending him. How CAN this end well. Eventually Darcy/Loki. Rated T for now, but I may adjust it, depending on where things go.
Beta'd By: Sadly, just by me now!
(Thank you again to all of my reviewers: jenefaner, Lady Miel Cacao, Gyoro and Ururun, AnAnnaGrin, dixiehellkat101, Merri85, Vahinepapaya, MetaAuria, Potkanka, fringeperson, Chuuulip, Dontgotaclue88, guest, Sara60691, NoVacancyMind, scarletwitch0, Ie-maru, moonlightkiss1515, and Phoenix Rebel.
I’m sorry that it takes me so long to update! Is three months better than four? *laughs* I know, not quite. I’m working out a writing schedule now, so hopefully updates will start coming faster than, well, months between. I’m always doing a little work on this story, though, so trust me when I say that it’s never gonna die. I’m just a temperamental writing that needs to be in the mood to write. *snorts* I know, I’m a goof. Also, I want to add that I have lost my beta, who, despite her awesomeness, doesn’t have the time to devote to such a story.
And BOY, did this chapter explode, so I hope it’s worth the wait? Hope you all enjoy!)
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 why 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 did 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."