Thor (movieverse) "Victims and Cowards" Loki/Darcy | rated PG
Fandom: Thor (movieverse)
Title: Victims and Cowards
Author: Paynesgrey
Characters/Pairings: Loki/Darcy, slight Jane/Thor
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2,101
Genre: Drama
Notes: Takes place at the end of the movie. Written for prompt "04 - The first to see the sunrise." for 100_fairytales. Part 5 of my Mischief and Tasers Loki/Darcy serialization. The previous part is here.
Summary: Darcy instantly suspects Loki's involvement when Jane discovers her sabotaged research, and Loki steps up his role in Darcy's life.
Mischief and Tasers
Part Five: Victims and Cowards
Darcy did not expect to feel the sun warming her face, waking her at in the early hours of a weekend morning. She shifted, and when her eyes opened, fully alerting her to her environment, she jumped out of her chair and almost fell on her butt. She looked around, knowing full well she would never fall asleep in the kitchen, especially when she kept her room quite dark and cursed any sunlight that dared to peek through the blinds.
“What the...?” Was she sleep-walking now? It definitely wasn't like her, even if she had taken some sleeping pills last night. She'd taken them before; they were just over the counter ones, nothing to worry about when it came to side effects or weird sleeping disorders.
So how in the hell did she end up here?
She heard Jane's trailer door creaking open outside. Darcy panicked, not wanting her mentor to find her sleeping in the kitchen, so she put her thoughts behind her and dashed back to her room. She heard Jane puttering around inside, knowing her routine as she started the coffee pot and waited for the S.H.I.E.L.D agents to show up.
Darcy sighed a breath of relief, and she looked around her room to see if anything was out of the ordinary. Nothing appeared strange, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something really bad was going on here. She had a sneaking suspicion that Loki wasn't done with her, and that he was still skulking around the physics building - messing with her, no doubt.
Darcy darted into the shower, letting the water run hot before she climbed inside. No doubt Jane would hear the water and know that she was up and ready for work after she cleaned up. Hopefully, Darcy would put her strange moment of sleep-walking out of her mind and concentrate on work. She still had unfinished credit riding on this internship, even though it was almost done. Jane had asked her if she wanted to work with her after school was over, and of course, S.H.I.E.L.D agents had been standing behind her when she did, leering at her and intimidating her into an affirmative answer.
Not that she'd let them influence her anyway, despite knowing so much about this research. She wanted to help Jane, and well, whatever Jane was working on was going to be a lot more interesting than becoming a politician. Darcy was already working on a book, a biography of sorts on Jane, and Jane Foster was a work in progress. Thankfully, Jane gave her permission, albeit after a slight blush.
Darcy closed her eyes and tried not to think about the menacing presence that seemed to follow her around these days. Working with Jane, shadowing her when she made her discoveries and tried to fix the damaged wormhole with S.H.I.E.L.D was something positive in Darcy's life. Of course, there was still this problem of being single, even around enough hot S.H.I.E.L.D agents to never show her any interest. Bastards. They were probably married to their work (or gay) anyway.
Of course, having an Asgardian God as a stalker probably didn't help her love life either. She didn't want to think there would be a connection - it was silly, right? But she really didn't know what Loki was up to anyway, and if he was the reason she was out of bed and drooling on the kitchen counter this morning, well, then he was a coward and a major tool for messing with her like this.
“Humph,” Darcy said aloud as she came out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her. She dried her hair, did her make-up, and checked Facebook for the day. Her Thor picture was still getting comments, and it made her sort of sad in a way. She popped over to Jane's page, and just as before, Jane's profile picture still was the one Darcy took with her one breakfast morning with Thor. He was wearing an apron, holding a spatula with dangling egg pieces, and he wrapped his big muscular arm possessively around Jane's waist as she smiled shyly in front of him.
Darcy sighed. They looked so happy. Maybe Thor and Jane were her reasons for staying on and seeing Jane's research go through. It was happier times, and Darcy would love if they could return to them. She made a silent promise to help Jane get Thor back, and she dressed, donning her knit cap before she met Jane in the kitchen. Pop-tarts and coffee flavored with Hazelnut were waiting for her as Jane's eyes were glued to the screen.
“Morning, Darcy,” Jane called to her, waving a hand before she went back to typing. She looked extremely engaged in her research. Her brow furrowed, and Darcy saw her whispering to herself.
“That's not right,” she said, louder than a whisper. Darcy bit into her pop-tart but started gravitating over to Jane's computer. Jane was sighing with exasperation, and the more she looked through her work, the angrier she was getting. It was almost incredulous anger, as if she didn't know about anything she was reading.
“This is all wrong! What happened?”
“Did you get a virus?” Darcy asked. “Maybe S.H.I.E.L.D can help with that.”
Jane didn't turn to her and kept banging on the keys. “It's not a virus of any sort, and I haven't needed S.H.I.E.L.D's help with protecting my work before. Nobody else knows the kind of work I'm doing,” she said, glancing over her shoulder to Darcy. “It's not like you, I, or Erik tell anyone anyway.” She peered at Darcy suspiciously. “Unless you let it slip on Facebook.”
Darcy tilted her head and frowned. “Seriously? I would never tell my Facebook friends that, cuz you know, S.H.I.E.L.D would probably assassinate me in my sleep. Besides, half my friends wouldn't even know what the hell I'm talking about anyway. They're all communication and art majors.”
Jane sighed. “Yeah, I know. It's just...all of these readings are wrong, like bad physics and math equations totally changed around,” she said. “It's like someone broke into my computer and just changed everything to random numbers and theories.”
Darcy wrinkled her nose. “I am the only one here last night, and I was out like a light. I had to take sleeping pills I was so wired.”
“Sleeping pills?” Jane cocked her head, looking worried. “Are you okay?”
Darcy waved her head. “It's nothing. I've been having some nightmares...you know, since...”
Jane looked away awkwardly and licked her lips. “Since the attack.”
“Yeah. It was kind of out of this world so...I don't think my brain has fully accepted it yet,” Darcy said.
“I'm sorry,” Jane said genuinely.
“I should be the one that's sorry,” Darcy said. “You're stuff was messed with last night, and I wasn't alert enough to realize it.”
“I'll have to call S.H.I.E.L.D, see if they can help me with some security,” Jane said, and she turned around and her gaze swept the room of the building. “I wonder who could have gotten in here. Do we have a window that wasn't locked?”
Darcy looked around, and when she saw a tilted picture on the wall, her blood froze. Yesterday, that picture had been straight - perfect, and as it drooped to its left, it seemed to be mocking her. Only one person could have done that where she would notice.
Loki.
And suddenly, she was very angry - so angry she may have to keep her taser around with her at all times.
“Well, I guess I have to go through everything and start revising all these wrong figures,” Jane said with a sigh, staring mournfully at her screen. She looked at Darcy desperately. “I guess this means your internship with me is going to be a little bit longer.”
“How long will it take you to fix it?”
“Two months - one month maybe if S.H.I.E.L.D can spare Erik, but the way he's been lately, so secretive, I don't think they can.”
“If there's anything I can do to help... I mean, you know, stay up late or do more errands than usual,” Darcy said, already feeling like this was her fault. Maybe now was the time to tell Jane that she suspected Loki, but before the words could come out of her mouth, she couldn't do it. It's like the motivation or idea stalled her and then wound her up tightly like a tourniquet. In seconds, the thought was out of her mind as if she'd never conceived it.
“You do enough already, Darcy, but if there is something I need, well, you're the one I trust most,” Jane said, and she patted Darcy's arm before going back to her work. Darcy stared at her, feeling a crumbling ache in her stomach as if she didn't deserve Jane's trust.
She mumbled “sorry” but she didn't know if Jane heard her. Finally, Darcy went back to the kitchen, made a fresh pot of coffee, and headed back to her room to grab her iPod. While she was there, she closed the door and released a deep sigh. She gritted her teeth and glared at the air.
“You like leaving notes, you little asshole? So here's a note for you,” Darcy said, and she rushed to her drawer, pulled out a note tablet and wrote in huge, red capital letters 'COWARD' and then deposited it in her incense bowl.
If that didn't get the message across, she didn't know what would. Darcy only hoped that Loki wouldn't kill her over it.
.xxxxx.
Darcy and Jane were already back to the desert site with the S.H.I.E.L.D agents when Loki returned to the physics building to see how his plan had gone.
Jane had taken her laptop with her, and a quick visit to the site showed Loki that she had already realized her work had been tampered with, and she was slowly making her way back through the necessary corrections.
Darcy looked out of sorts, and Loki caught her looking sadly at her mentor often, doing her usual errands and trying to stay out of the way of the bustling S.H.I.E.L.D agents. He had sensed some definitive guilt from Darcy, but he did not know if she suspected that she was the one who tampered with Jane's work or if she was oblivious to his involvement. His suspicions were realized, however, once he returned back to Darcy's room and found her quaint little note.
It certainly angered him. He took the note, crumbled it in his fist, and turned it to dust. He didn't like when the warriors or even Lady Sif called him a coward. He didn't like when Thor once called him that as well. (It stung worse with Thor.)
But Loki found it entirely reprehensible when a mortal dared call him that. One word, so simple yet so biting. He hated that she affected him like that. Oh, the things he could do to her to make her remember her place; however, it would do no good, and the girl already suspected him. Despite the binding spell he put on her voice to stop her from blabbing to Jane Foster, he suspected Darcy was clever enough to find some way to alert S.H.I.E.L.D and Jane Foster of his presence.
Perhaps she had a small point. It was getting boring lurking in the shadows like a common boogie monster just to spy on her. Playing tricks on her were getting old, and he had admitted, for a time it was amusing, but now, with Darcy's charge toward him, his games had lost their glamor.
She knew he was lurking around, and that wouldn't do anymore. No, he had to get to Darcy some other way. She could still be so useful. Even after what Loki had her do, Jane Foster still didn't suspect her little helper as being the saboteur. The trust between the two women was strong, and Loki supposed it would be delightful to see it torn apart. He grinned, and he slipped out of Darcy's room - a plan for the next stage already simmering on his mind.
No more tricks, no more lurking in shadows. Tomorrow he would meet Darcy in person, and in her loneliness, she would reach out to him, regard him - and he would ultimately steal her away from Jane Foster.
Easily.
Part Six
Title: Victims and Cowards
Author: Paynesgrey
Characters/Pairings: Loki/Darcy, slight Jane/Thor
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2,101
Genre: Drama
Notes: Takes place at the end of the movie. Written for prompt "04 - The first to see the sunrise." for 100_fairytales. Part 5 of my Mischief and Tasers Loki/Darcy serialization. The previous part is here.
Summary: Darcy instantly suspects Loki's involvement when Jane discovers her sabotaged research, and Loki steps up his role in Darcy's life.
Mischief and Tasers
Part Five: Victims and Cowards
Darcy did not expect to feel the sun warming her face, waking her at in the early hours of a weekend morning. She shifted, and when her eyes opened, fully alerting her to her environment, she jumped out of her chair and almost fell on her butt. She looked around, knowing full well she would never fall asleep in the kitchen, especially when she kept her room quite dark and cursed any sunlight that dared to peek through the blinds.
“What the...?” Was she sleep-walking now? It definitely wasn't like her, even if she had taken some sleeping pills last night. She'd taken them before; they were just over the counter ones, nothing to worry about when it came to side effects or weird sleeping disorders.
So how in the hell did she end up here?
She heard Jane's trailer door creaking open outside. Darcy panicked, not wanting her mentor to find her sleeping in the kitchen, so she put her thoughts behind her and dashed back to her room. She heard Jane puttering around inside, knowing her routine as she started the coffee pot and waited for the S.H.I.E.L.D agents to show up.
Darcy sighed a breath of relief, and she looked around her room to see if anything was out of the ordinary. Nothing appeared strange, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something really bad was going on here. She had a sneaking suspicion that Loki wasn't done with her, and that he was still skulking around the physics building - messing with her, no doubt.
Darcy darted into the shower, letting the water run hot before she climbed inside. No doubt Jane would hear the water and know that she was up and ready for work after she cleaned up. Hopefully, Darcy would put her strange moment of sleep-walking out of her mind and concentrate on work. She still had unfinished credit riding on this internship, even though it was almost done. Jane had asked her if she wanted to work with her after school was over, and of course, S.H.I.E.L.D agents had been standing behind her when she did, leering at her and intimidating her into an affirmative answer.
Not that she'd let them influence her anyway, despite knowing so much about this research. She wanted to help Jane, and well, whatever Jane was working on was going to be a lot more interesting than becoming a politician. Darcy was already working on a book, a biography of sorts on Jane, and Jane Foster was a work in progress. Thankfully, Jane gave her permission, albeit after a slight blush.
Darcy closed her eyes and tried not to think about the menacing presence that seemed to follow her around these days. Working with Jane, shadowing her when she made her discoveries and tried to fix the damaged wormhole with S.H.I.E.L.D was something positive in Darcy's life. Of course, there was still this problem of being single, even around enough hot S.H.I.E.L.D agents to never show her any interest. Bastards. They were probably married to their work (or gay) anyway.
Of course, having an Asgardian God as a stalker probably didn't help her love life either. She didn't want to think there would be a connection - it was silly, right? But she really didn't know what Loki was up to anyway, and if he was the reason she was out of bed and drooling on the kitchen counter this morning, well, then he was a coward and a major tool for messing with her like this.
“Humph,” Darcy said aloud as she came out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her. She dried her hair, did her make-up, and checked Facebook for the day. Her Thor picture was still getting comments, and it made her sort of sad in a way. She popped over to Jane's page, and just as before, Jane's profile picture still was the one Darcy took with her one breakfast morning with Thor. He was wearing an apron, holding a spatula with dangling egg pieces, and he wrapped his big muscular arm possessively around Jane's waist as she smiled shyly in front of him.
Darcy sighed. They looked so happy. Maybe Thor and Jane were her reasons for staying on and seeing Jane's research go through. It was happier times, and Darcy would love if they could return to them. She made a silent promise to help Jane get Thor back, and she dressed, donning her knit cap before she met Jane in the kitchen. Pop-tarts and coffee flavored with Hazelnut were waiting for her as Jane's eyes were glued to the screen.
“Morning, Darcy,” Jane called to her, waving a hand before she went back to typing. She looked extremely engaged in her research. Her brow furrowed, and Darcy saw her whispering to herself.
“That's not right,” she said, louder than a whisper. Darcy bit into her pop-tart but started gravitating over to Jane's computer. Jane was sighing with exasperation, and the more she looked through her work, the angrier she was getting. It was almost incredulous anger, as if she didn't know about anything she was reading.
“This is all wrong! What happened?”
“Did you get a virus?” Darcy asked. “Maybe S.H.I.E.L.D can help with that.”
Jane didn't turn to her and kept banging on the keys. “It's not a virus of any sort, and I haven't needed S.H.I.E.L.D's help with protecting my work before. Nobody else knows the kind of work I'm doing,” she said, glancing over her shoulder to Darcy. “It's not like you, I, or Erik tell anyone anyway.” She peered at Darcy suspiciously. “Unless you let it slip on Facebook.”
Darcy tilted her head and frowned. “Seriously? I would never tell my Facebook friends that, cuz you know, S.H.I.E.L.D would probably assassinate me in my sleep. Besides, half my friends wouldn't even know what the hell I'm talking about anyway. They're all communication and art majors.”
Jane sighed. “Yeah, I know. It's just...all of these readings are wrong, like bad physics and math equations totally changed around,” she said. “It's like someone broke into my computer and just changed everything to random numbers and theories.”
Darcy wrinkled her nose. “I am the only one here last night, and I was out like a light. I had to take sleeping pills I was so wired.”
“Sleeping pills?” Jane cocked her head, looking worried. “Are you okay?”
Darcy waved her head. “It's nothing. I've been having some nightmares...you know, since...”
Jane looked away awkwardly and licked her lips. “Since the attack.”
“Yeah. It was kind of out of this world so...I don't think my brain has fully accepted it yet,” Darcy said.
“I'm sorry,” Jane said genuinely.
“I should be the one that's sorry,” Darcy said. “You're stuff was messed with last night, and I wasn't alert enough to realize it.”
“I'll have to call S.H.I.E.L.D, see if they can help me with some security,” Jane said, and she turned around and her gaze swept the room of the building. “I wonder who could have gotten in here. Do we have a window that wasn't locked?”
Darcy looked around, and when she saw a tilted picture on the wall, her blood froze. Yesterday, that picture had been straight - perfect, and as it drooped to its left, it seemed to be mocking her. Only one person could have done that where she would notice.
Loki.
And suddenly, she was very angry - so angry she may have to keep her taser around with her at all times.
“Well, I guess I have to go through everything and start revising all these wrong figures,” Jane said with a sigh, staring mournfully at her screen. She looked at Darcy desperately. “I guess this means your internship with me is going to be a little bit longer.”
“How long will it take you to fix it?”
“Two months - one month maybe if S.H.I.E.L.D can spare Erik, but the way he's been lately, so secretive, I don't think they can.”
“If there's anything I can do to help... I mean, you know, stay up late or do more errands than usual,” Darcy said, already feeling like this was her fault. Maybe now was the time to tell Jane that she suspected Loki, but before the words could come out of her mouth, she couldn't do it. It's like the motivation or idea stalled her and then wound her up tightly like a tourniquet. In seconds, the thought was out of her mind as if she'd never conceived it.
“You do enough already, Darcy, but if there is something I need, well, you're the one I trust most,” Jane said, and she patted Darcy's arm before going back to her work. Darcy stared at her, feeling a crumbling ache in her stomach as if she didn't deserve Jane's trust.
She mumbled “sorry” but she didn't know if Jane heard her. Finally, Darcy went back to the kitchen, made a fresh pot of coffee, and headed back to her room to grab her iPod. While she was there, she closed the door and released a deep sigh. She gritted her teeth and glared at the air.
“You like leaving notes, you little asshole? So here's a note for you,” Darcy said, and she rushed to her drawer, pulled out a note tablet and wrote in huge, red capital letters 'COWARD' and then deposited it in her incense bowl.
If that didn't get the message across, she didn't know what would. Darcy only hoped that Loki wouldn't kill her over it.
.xxxxx.
Darcy and Jane were already back to the desert site with the S.H.I.E.L.D agents when Loki returned to the physics building to see how his plan had gone.
Jane had taken her laptop with her, and a quick visit to the site showed Loki that she had already realized her work had been tampered with, and she was slowly making her way back through the necessary corrections.
Darcy looked out of sorts, and Loki caught her looking sadly at her mentor often, doing her usual errands and trying to stay out of the way of the bustling S.H.I.E.L.D agents. He had sensed some definitive guilt from Darcy, but he did not know if she suspected that she was the one who tampered with Jane's work or if she was oblivious to his involvement. His suspicions were realized, however, once he returned back to Darcy's room and found her quaint little note.
It certainly angered him. He took the note, crumbled it in his fist, and turned it to dust. He didn't like when the warriors or even Lady Sif called him a coward. He didn't like when Thor once called him that as well. (It stung worse with Thor.)
But Loki found it entirely reprehensible when a mortal dared call him that. One word, so simple yet so biting. He hated that she affected him like that. Oh, the things he could do to her to make her remember her place; however, it would do no good, and the girl already suspected him. Despite the binding spell he put on her voice to stop her from blabbing to Jane Foster, he suspected Darcy was clever enough to find some way to alert S.H.I.E.L.D and Jane Foster of his presence.
Perhaps she had a small point. It was getting boring lurking in the shadows like a common boogie monster just to spy on her. Playing tricks on her were getting old, and he had admitted, for a time it was amusing, but now, with Darcy's charge toward him, his games had lost their glamor.
She knew he was lurking around, and that wouldn't do anymore. No, he had to get to Darcy some other way. She could still be so useful. Even after what Loki had her do, Jane Foster still didn't suspect her little helper as being the saboteur. The trust between the two women was strong, and Loki supposed it would be delightful to see it torn apart. He grinned, and he slipped out of Darcy's room - a plan for the next stage already simmering on his mind.
No more tricks, no more lurking in shadows. Tomorrow he would meet Darcy in person, and in her loneliness, she would reach out to him, regard him - and he would ultimately steal her away from Jane Foster.
Easily.
Part Six