Thor, "The Missing Link" Loki/Darcy, part 22 of "Mischief and Tasers" rated PG-13
Fandom: Thor (movie-verse)
Title: The Missing Link
Author: Paynesgrey
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: Loki, Darcy, Loki/Darcy, Jane Foster, mention of Thor, Agent Coulson, Tony Stark, Erik Selvig, and Nick Fury.
Word Count: 4,019
Spoilers/Warnings: post-Thor movie, some bad language, some violence, implied sexual situations, and implied non-con
Notes: Written for the "#074 - Building castles in the air" prompt for 100_fairytales. Part 22 of my Mischief and Tasers Loki/Darcy serialization. The previous part is here. The first part is here. The rating will go up next chapter!
Other URLS: AO3 | FFnet
Summary: Darcy experiences the side effects of Loki's power, and he's forced to reveal himself.
Mischief and Tasers
Chapter Twenty-two: The Missing Link
It was becoming a dangerous habit, but Darcy woke up in another daze. This time it hadn’t been from booze or crying, but she knew that it was worse. She remembered bleeding and the piercing sound that wouldn’t escape her head before blacking out on the couch.
She also remembered Loki holding her soothingly before she passed out.
However, he had been the cause of her pain, and Darcy couldn’t help but be miffed by that. She thought about yelling at him, but she was no longer in any pain after she woke, and she almost felt better than she had in a long time. The stress from her neck and shoulders seemed to be gone, and any past signs of blood or migraines were basically non-existent. She actually felt peppy for once too, without the aid of caffeine.
She looked around her surroundings, noticing that he had carried her to her bed once again. Jumping energetically out of her bed, Darcy sprinted toward the living room, not expecting Loki to still be there but hoping that he was.
When she saw him lying on her couch, Darcy was relieved, but the unhealthy pallor of his skin as he slept instantly worried her. She approached him, putting her hand on his cool forehead and realizing he was in a deep sleep, and his body was humming with some kind of power that felt like a strange pressure all around her.
So this is what he had given her? Some kind of power? He said he had taken too much, so where on earth did he get such power?
Darcy’s brain buzzed with millions of questions, but she had a sneaking suspicion such power didn’t come from her planet, and she supposed he’d been sneaking around other dimensions again, doing God only knew what.
Frowning and moving toward the kitchen to brew some coffee, she jumped in alarm when her phone’s ring-tone cut through her contemplative silence. Picking it up, Jane was on the other end asking her how she was feeling.
“Alright. I feel...great, actually. Is it okay to come into work today?” Darcy asked, unsure if she wanted to leave Loki like he was, but enjoying the idea of getting away from his craziness for a bit. Plus, she was curious to see the progress Tony Stark was making with their equipment.
“Yeah, Tony Stark is still there, so looks like you’ll finally get to meet him,” Jane said, referring to that one point when Darcy wanted to meet Tony Stark, joking that it’d be wonderful to snag a millionaire like him some day.
Darcy had hardly been serious at the time. Okay, maybe she had been a little.
It didn’t matter now, not really, but Darcy really was curious to see how his input would change the progress of their project. Having Tony Stark involved only indicated to Darcy that S.H.I.E.L.D was getting impatient at bringing Thor back. There must be a desperate situation afoot, and thinking of Loki’s state in her apartment last night, Darcy feared the possible connection.
“Okay, I’ll get ready in twenty. You picking me up?” Darcy asked.
“Yeah, I’m ready to go. Don’t bother making coffee. I have an extra cup for you. Just get dressed and bring something to eat,” Jane said. “Be ready in fifteen and not twenty.”
“You got it, boss.” Darcy saluted, but she knew Jane couldn’t see it. “I knew I stocked up on protein bars for a reason.”
Jane ended their conversation with another passive-aggressive order, and Darcy jumped into her bedroom to hunt for some clothes. She only wished she had time for a shower, but she was presuming Tony Stark would barely even notice her, as well as anyone else.
.xxxxx.
Darcy reluctantly left a sleeping Loki on her couch and instantly worried about him on their way to the site. Jane was quiet and more anxious than usual, and Darcy wondered just how hard Jane had taken it these past few days after S.H.I.E.L.D had kicked her off the research site. She also could tell by the white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel and the short answers about Tony Stark that Jane didn’t like the playboy genius touching her stuff, despite having no say in the matter at him being there.
Sipping the fine Starbucks coffee Jane had brought her, Darcy woofed down the protein bar as they finally parked Jane’s van and headed toward the center of the site.
Darcy stood awed as she laid eyes on it, noticing it was much more beefed up with expensive machinery than before. Not only that, Tony Stark was parading around giving orders in his Iron Man suit with his helmet open.
Darcy couldn’t help it; she was speechless and having a hard time moving beyond her spot.
“Come on, fan-girl,” Jane said, pulling at her elbow and dragging her along the site. Jane chuckled at her. “You might want to wipe that drool off your lips too.”
“Shut up,” Darcy said, and Jane’s laughter only increased. Jane and Darcy both smiled as Erik Selvig approached them with an eager expression.
“Good, we have lots to do today,” he said, and Jane moved forward expectantly.
“Erik, does Mr. Stark think we can bring Thor back today?” she asked.
“We’re almost there Jane,” Erik said, patting her arm. “He says there’s one missing link in your equations, one he can’t figure out himself, but once we solve that, maybe we can get this man-made wormhole to work. Now, the question is, is it going to work on Thor’s end?”
Jane nodded, and Erik directed her to Tony Stark so that both brilliant minds could solve the problems. Darcy fell behind, staring anxiously at all the hustle and bustle around her. She saw Coulson approach her and give her some meager duties moving equipment and making sure adapters were plugged in correctly. When she was done running around with equipment and water and coffee for the S.H.I.E.L.D agents, Coulson put her on a boring data entry task that a monkey could do.
She supposed that was how S.H.I.E.L.D and Tony Stark saw her, a simple monkey.
Darcy sighed with boredom, already finishing her data entry duties but acting like she was still working so she wouldn’t get stuck with a new more boring task. She stared as Tony Stark buzzed around as Iron Man, and she watched in wonder as they started to power up the machines for the wormhole. Mostly the machine just bustled around a bunch of wind and sand, and Darcy stalked unnoticed to a large screen computer where Tony had landed to observe over Jane’s shoulder.
Jane was entering equations as Coulson barked orders, and Darcy became mesmerized by the man-made tornado that was spiraling with measured control into the sky, sort of like when Thor had fallen to earth, only pushing upward instead of down.
Darcy was struck by it, staring into the wind tunnel and feeling herself fall into a daydream. She could see inside this tornado. She could feel its turbulent energy, winding and pulsating in chaos, but not burgeoning as expected. It was reaching upward for something, but something was missing, and the whirlwind could go into space but could not reach its end.
She didn’t know what is is, but as she thought further, she could feel a white beacon of light in between the top of their whirlwind and a shimmering rainbow bridge. Above the beacon, Darcy could see in her mind’s eye a damaged bridge and an ornate gate just hovering on the edge, healing itself at a slow pace. At the gate, Darcy could see a large, god-like man of armor looking at her. She almost escaped this dream out of fear as he recognized her. He nodded at her with bright eyes, and then she saw him stab a large sword into a portal of light. The light sunburst toward her, reaching just barely toward Jane’s whirlwind.
Darcy suddenly felt the intense desire to link them both; Jane’s whirlwind and the white light of the portal trickled toward each other like white veins in the starry sky. With a mental push, Darcy felt them fuse together. Her body felt overwhelmed with otherworldly warmth. The universe seemed to sigh in relief around her, and when she blinked open her eyes and came out of her thoughts, everyone was looking at her strangely.
“Darcy! You....you were glowing!” Jane exclaimed.
“What?” she said. It was impossible. She couldn’t be glowing. “No way! Protein bars don’t make you glow,” she said nervously, hoping the reason they were all ogling her didn't have anything to do with Loki’s magic, but Darcy knew she couldn’t be so lucky.
“You were definitely glowing, just for a second,” Jane said. Coulson, Fury and Stark were looking at her with curiosity too.
“No way,” she said, shaking her head. Coulson started toward her, and Tony Stark looked at her like he wanted to experiment on her. Darcy backed away.
“Ms. Lewis, you were glowing with an unexplained white light right now,” Coulson said. “I think you have been exposed to some kind of unknown phenomena. We should give you a full check up,” he said, and Darcy still backed away as S.H.I.E.L.D agents surrounded her.
Oh, shit. If they analyze her, they’ll find out about Loki. She didn’t want to tell them about him, and despite the spell he had placed on her, now she was sure she never would tell. Yes, she felt conflicted about helping a known antagonist of S.H.I.E.L.D, but this was Loki; she’d come to care for him so much that she’d never betray him now.
And now S.H.I.E.L.D would find out everything.
“Hold on, Phil,” said Tony Stark. “I think we may be onto something with the intern.” He turned to everyone with a wide grin. “She fixed it! I don’t what she did, but she stabilized the wormhole!”
“What?” Jane said. “Darcy didn’t do anything! She just...glowed with light.”
“Light that shot out from her head and into the whirlwind. Not natural or scientific, I know, but if this girl is under some kind of spell...or if she has some kind of powers, whatever they are, she fixed the problem with wormhole,” Tony Stark said.
“That means Thor can come back now,” Jane said. She turned to Darcy with a grin. “You did it, Darcy!”
“What did I do?” Darcy asked.
“Take the girl,” Coulson said. “I’m sorry, Ms. Lewis, but we have to contain you.”
“I don’t think so,” said a voice behind her. Everyone snapped their attention toward the voice, but only Darcy recognized it. She felt a jolt of fear ripple throughout her body. Loki was here! She feared that Jane and the others were now in danger.
She turned around and Loki was in his full battle regalia, which didn’t bode for the others if he decided to fight. Tony Stark had already put down his Iron Man mask and was ready to blast off toward him. Loki, however, did not seem fazed by him at all. He only glared at everyone and then focused on her.
“The girl is coming with me,” he said with an air of command.
“And just who are you?” Coulson asked, just as unfazed as Loki. He was curious, but the man was never startled or emotional about anything. He was just about business. He seemed amused by the visitor, almost happy for a change of excitement.
“You will find out soon enough, but the girl is mine,” he said, and before the S.H.I.E.L.D agents could contain Darcy, she watched Loki faze in and out of reality. She gasped when she felt an arm grasp around her torso before she was snapped like a rubber band through her surroundings. She closed her eyes, and she could feel Loki’s body flush against hers as he clutched her tight. She was so scared she could barely remember to breathe, and when the pressure around them ceased, Darcy opened her eyes and found themselves back in her apartment.
Only something was different.
Loki had expanded the dimensional closet around her whole apartment, phasing it out of her reality into somewhere else. Darcy looked around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and everything in her apartment was in its place. Yet, she knew that things were different. There was a dark haze all around them, and her eyes began playing tricks on her as things warped in and out of reality.
She spun around as Loki released her and met his eyes. “What the heck have you done? Are you crazy?”
“You’re welcome, Ms. Lewis, for rescuing you from the S.H.I.E.L.D agents who wanted to dissect you,” he droned wryly. He moved away to inspect her. “I trust the side effects are beginning to show themselves? I’m just glad you’re no longer bleeding.”
“You! You did this to me! What did you do? I remember...hearing a terrible sound, and then...my head. You burned me, but then I was healed!” she babbled crazily at him. “You doped me up with some kind of alien power, didn’t you! Holy crap I’m a freak now!”
“Please, calm down. You are fine,” Loki said, annoyed by her manic behavior. “Yes, I did give you an excess of my power. I had taken too much, and I knew you could handle it despite the side effects. You humans are terribly resilient, so you should be proud of your species that you didn’t die.”
“Your...magic? So, that was all you?” Darcy narrowed her eyes at him and put her fists on her hips. “Hey, but there’s more to it that you’re not telling me. You got extra power somewhere. I heard you say it.”
“Yes...but you don’t need to know anything more than that,” he said stiffly, and Darcy darted toward him and stabbed a finger into his chest. He seemed uncomfortable by her rough touch, which only meant that his magic was still infused within her.
“Don’t give me that! You gave me this power, and it freaked you out enough that you took me away from Iron Man and S.H.I.E.L.D, which means you really have to tell me what’s going on now because despite your spell on me not to tell, you just outed yourself in front them,” Darcy said, still stabbing her finger into his chest. Finally, he stopped her finger, grasping it tightly until she backed down. He looked down at her with a frown.
“Very well. It was an experiment. I acquired a power source from an ally and attempted to absorb its power. It was working very well after I studied the artifact and knew more about it. I thought I had taken the proper precautions, but the power was more than I anticipated,” he said, letting go of her and stepping back. Darcy continued to stare at him bewildered. “I had to give you the excess. Though I did not know it would cause a hemorrhage in your brain. I am sorry for that, but it seemed like a good time to call in your debt, and as I suspected, my magic more than healed your hemorrhage anyway. Your skin seems to be healthier as well, so really you have nothing to complain about.”
“Well, I suppose,” she said with a grunt, and she crossed her arms, still feeling used. “Still, you have a shitty way of bringing that on me. You could have warned me.”
“I was unable to,” Loki said, his tone prickly. “You had banished me from your place, and I was injured from the magic.”
Darcy hated how he made her feel guilty. She was going to explain to him about kicking him out, but she thought it best to wait. She still didn’t know if he had heard her confess her love to him on the bathroom floor. Darcy shuddered and turned away from his eyes.
“So that was your magic I used to stabilize the wormhole today?” she asked quietly, and she walked hesitantly to her couch, which still seemed weird and hazy to her in this other dimension. She was too tired to care if there were any side effects from touching things in this dimension. She let out a sigh when her bottom sank softly into the couch. Loki joined her shortly, turning toward her. He seemed amused by her question.
“Ah, yes, Jane Foster’s wormhole. It seems as though I inadvertently helped her repair the Bifröst bridge through you,” he said.
Darcy arched an eyebrow suspiciously. “You’re way to happy to admit such a mistake.”
Loki chuckled. “I do not see it as a mistake. I welcome the happy accident. I am more than ready to meet my brother on his triumphant arrival.”
“And S.H.I.E.L.D and Iron Man?” Darcy prodded.
“Pathetic mortals of no consequence,” he said snottily.
“What about me? Why did you rescue me if you don’t care if they know you’re around or that I have your magic?” she asked, and she had a glimmer of hope inside her that Loki actually came back for her because he cared.
“Well, I do not want them to get their hands on you if you are still infused with my magic. In fact, I am not sure I will be able to let you go back to them at all. I’m guessing part of my magic within you will have some permanence,” he answered, and Darcy felt her blood go cold.
“What...” she asked softly. “You mean, I’m your prisoner now? Hell no!” She turned to him, throwing her fist up ready to deck him. Effortlessly, he caught her fist, and she had almost forgot about his exponential surge of power. He glared at her, and she winced as he tightened his grip around her knuckles, quickly causing bruises.
“You know,” Darcy said, still wincing. “You really know how to charm a girl.”
“And that, Ms. Lewis, is why I have come back,” he said, and she felt his grip lessen, as he reached out his other hand to her cheek, caressing it softly. “I’m curious. You have confessed your feelings to me, and then you have kicked out of your dwelling.” Darcy froze, feeling busted as it was finally clear that Loki heard her. He drew her toward him, and she watched him as he continued weaving his fingers through her hair. “I do confess to feel some attachment to you as well, but I am not sure what it is. I have felt this way for some time, but I cannot identify it, and I am fearful it is the human sickness that affected my brother toward Jane Foster. Still, I was willing to experiment anyway, though with caution.”
“You can experiment all you want, I know that you can’t understand it,” she breathed, trying to compose herself as he pawed her yet insulted her. She felt her heart sink as she knew where this was going: Rejection-ville. She had feared it all along. “You can’t understand the love Thor felt for Jane. It’s how he could defeat your monster that one time. It’s how he got his powers back.”
“Don’t you think I know?” he replied icily, but he did not get angry. He did not harm her as he had minutes ago. He seemed entranced by her, and Darcy could only imagine the strange Loki-type thoughts in his head. They must be terrifying.
“So, Thor found human love but you can’t,” she turned to him, looking deeply into his green eyes. “Only world domination seems to get you off.”
He smirked at her. “Oh, what little you know of me, Darcy, my dear.”
“Oh yeah?” she challenged him, which only seemed to amuse him despite the dark look on his face. His magic pressured around her, and she knew he was still enjoying his boost from yesterday. Whatever magic she had absorbed from him would have been useless in her defense, but she didn’t feel some sort of confidence from it. “I don’t know anything about you, other than that you want to do bad things to people on my planet. How can anyone like that love someone like me? It’s okay, you can call me an idiot. I tell myself that everyday I see you.”
She locked with his eyes coldly, and surprisingly, she found a softness in that curiosity.
“One thing I will teach you about me, Darcy Lewis,” Loki said, and he was pushing her back against the couch. He hovered over her and she stiffened, feeling hazed as if he was putting her under another spell. “On Asgard, I was second to my brother. Second to everything. His friends were only my friends because of him. Women were only mine because he discarded them first. Now, is that someone who learns about love? I will not learn something just because my brother did it first.”
“But you're curious, right? Otherwise you wouldn’t have kept me around,” Darcy said in a shaky voice. She swallowed as his hands rested on her shoulders, framing her neck. His power blanketed her, and she didn’t know whether to feel aroused or scared for her life.
His pause gave her some kind of hope. Maybe he wouldn’t harm her, and perhaps he had some small amount of redemption within him.
Maybe he too loved her enough to see if something was there.
Loki’s eyes roamed over her, and Darcy braved a hand and traced it lovingly down his face. He didn’t flinch from her touch, only stared at her wondrously. She said, “I’m not asking for it in return. I get that’s probably not possible...”
“Darcy...” he said, but she cut him off, unwilling to give up the chance to say her piece.
“I promise, I won’t betray you,” she whispered, and she saw the surprise in his eyes as she said those words.
His hands framed her face and she felt his forehead against her skin. “You say these words but...I have heard them before, and I have squandered the power of such a promise.”
Her head was still caught in a haze from his magic, and Darcy didn’t even realize her lips were on his cheek, trailing light kisses down to his chin. He sighed raggedly against her, and weirdly, for a moment they connected emotionally, and she could feel the war that was going on in his thoughts.
Suddenly, Darcy felt Loki’s mouth bruising against hers in a desperate kiss. He sighed warmly against her mouth as he broke away, and she could feel his eyelashes brush against her skin.
“I told you that I do not understand your affections for me, and this is true,” he said in a heated pause. His body was already moving against hers. “It is also true that I do not understand my own affections for you, and mark my words, girl, the presence of you better not ruin my greatest plan.”
Darcy’s hand snaked around him as he took her, his hands pulling at her clothes and his armor disappearing with a mere whispered incantation.
Soon, neither Loki or Darcy could fight the pressure between them. All they could do was simply succumb.
Part Twenty-three
Title: The Missing Link
Author: Paynesgrey
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: Loki, Darcy, Loki/Darcy, Jane Foster, mention of Thor, Agent Coulson, Tony Stark, Erik Selvig, and Nick Fury.
Word Count: 4,019
Spoilers/Warnings: post-Thor movie, some bad language, some violence, implied sexual situations, and implied non-con
Notes: Written for the "#074 - Building castles in the air" prompt for 100_fairytales. Part 22 of my Mischief and Tasers Loki/Darcy serialization. The previous part is here. The first part is here. The rating will go up next chapter!
Other URLS: AO3 | FFnet
Summary: Darcy experiences the side effects of Loki's power, and he's forced to reveal himself.
Mischief and Tasers
Chapter Twenty-two: The Missing Link
It was becoming a dangerous habit, but Darcy woke up in another daze. This time it hadn’t been from booze or crying, but she knew that it was worse. She remembered bleeding and the piercing sound that wouldn’t escape her head before blacking out on the couch.
She also remembered Loki holding her soothingly before she passed out.
However, he had been the cause of her pain, and Darcy couldn’t help but be miffed by that. She thought about yelling at him, but she was no longer in any pain after she woke, and she almost felt better than she had in a long time. The stress from her neck and shoulders seemed to be gone, and any past signs of blood or migraines were basically non-existent. She actually felt peppy for once too, without the aid of caffeine.
She looked around her surroundings, noticing that he had carried her to her bed once again. Jumping energetically out of her bed, Darcy sprinted toward the living room, not expecting Loki to still be there but hoping that he was.
When she saw him lying on her couch, Darcy was relieved, but the unhealthy pallor of his skin as he slept instantly worried her. She approached him, putting her hand on his cool forehead and realizing he was in a deep sleep, and his body was humming with some kind of power that felt like a strange pressure all around her.
So this is what he had given her? Some kind of power? He said he had taken too much, so where on earth did he get such power?
Darcy’s brain buzzed with millions of questions, but she had a sneaking suspicion such power didn’t come from her planet, and she supposed he’d been sneaking around other dimensions again, doing God only knew what.
Frowning and moving toward the kitchen to brew some coffee, she jumped in alarm when her phone’s ring-tone cut through her contemplative silence. Picking it up, Jane was on the other end asking her how she was feeling.
“Alright. I feel...great, actually. Is it okay to come into work today?” Darcy asked, unsure if she wanted to leave Loki like he was, but enjoying the idea of getting away from his craziness for a bit. Plus, she was curious to see the progress Tony Stark was making with their equipment.
“Yeah, Tony Stark is still there, so looks like you’ll finally get to meet him,” Jane said, referring to that one point when Darcy wanted to meet Tony Stark, joking that it’d be wonderful to snag a millionaire like him some day.
Darcy had hardly been serious at the time. Okay, maybe she had been a little.
It didn’t matter now, not really, but Darcy really was curious to see how his input would change the progress of their project. Having Tony Stark involved only indicated to Darcy that S.H.I.E.L.D was getting impatient at bringing Thor back. There must be a desperate situation afoot, and thinking of Loki’s state in her apartment last night, Darcy feared the possible connection.
“Okay, I’ll get ready in twenty. You picking me up?” Darcy asked.
“Yeah, I’m ready to go. Don’t bother making coffee. I have an extra cup for you. Just get dressed and bring something to eat,” Jane said. “Be ready in fifteen and not twenty.”
“You got it, boss.” Darcy saluted, but she knew Jane couldn’t see it. “I knew I stocked up on protein bars for a reason.”
Jane ended their conversation with another passive-aggressive order, and Darcy jumped into her bedroom to hunt for some clothes. She only wished she had time for a shower, but she was presuming Tony Stark would barely even notice her, as well as anyone else.
.xxxxx.
Darcy reluctantly left a sleeping Loki on her couch and instantly worried about him on their way to the site. Jane was quiet and more anxious than usual, and Darcy wondered just how hard Jane had taken it these past few days after S.H.I.E.L.D had kicked her off the research site. She also could tell by the white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel and the short answers about Tony Stark that Jane didn’t like the playboy genius touching her stuff, despite having no say in the matter at him being there.
Sipping the fine Starbucks coffee Jane had brought her, Darcy woofed down the protein bar as they finally parked Jane’s van and headed toward the center of the site.
Darcy stood awed as she laid eyes on it, noticing it was much more beefed up with expensive machinery than before. Not only that, Tony Stark was parading around giving orders in his Iron Man suit with his helmet open.
Darcy couldn’t help it; she was speechless and having a hard time moving beyond her spot.
“Come on, fan-girl,” Jane said, pulling at her elbow and dragging her along the site. Jane chuckled at her. “You might want to wipe that drool off your lips too.”
“Shut up,” Darcy said, and Jane’s laughter only increased. Jane and Darcy both smiled as Erik Selvig approached them with an eager expression.
“Good, we have lots to do today,” he said, and Jane moved forward expectantly.
“Erik, does Mr. Stark think we can bring Thor back today?” she asked.
“We’re almost there Jane,” Erik said, patting her arm. “He says there’s one missing link in your equations, one he can’t figure out himself, but once we solve that, maybe we can get this man-made wormhole to work. Now, the question is, is it going to work on Thor’s end?”
Jane nodded, and Erik directed her to Tony Stark so that both brilliant minds could solve the problems. Darcy fell behind, staring anxiously at all the hustle and bustle around her. She saw Coulson approach her and give her some meager duties moving equipment and making sure adapters were plugged in correctly. When she was done running around with equipment and water and coffee for the S.H.I.E.L.D agents, Coulson put her on a boring data entry task that a monkey could do.
She supposed that was how S.H.I.E.L.D and Tony Stark saw her, a simple monkey.
Darcy sighed with boredom, already finishing her data entry duties but acting like she was still working so she wouldn’t get stuck with a new more boring task. She stared as Tony Stark buzzed around as Iron Man, and she watched in wonder as they started to power up the machines for the wormhole. Mostly the machine just bustled around a bunch of wind and sand, and Darcy stalked unnoticed to a large screen computer where Tony had landed to observe over Jane’s shoulder.
Jane was entering equations as Coulson barked orders, and Darcy became mesmerized by the man-made tornado that was spiraling with measured control into the sky, sort of like when Thor had fallen to earth, only pushing upward instead of down.
Darcy was struck by it, staring into the wind tunnel and feeling herself fall into a daydream. She could see inside this tornado. She could feel its turbulent energy, winding and pulsating in chaos, but not burgeoning as expected. It was reaching upward for something, but something was missing, and the whirlwind could go into space but could not reach its end.
She didn’t know what is is, but as she thought further, she could feel a white beacon of light in between the top of their whirlwind and a shimmering rainbow bridge. Above the beacon, Darcy could see in her mind’s eye a damaged bridge and an ornate gate just hovering on the edge, healing itself at a slow pace. At the gate, Darcy could see a large, god-like man of armor looking at her. She almost escaped this dream out of fear as he recognized her. He nodded at her with bright eyes, and then she saw him stab a large sword into a portal of light. The light sunburst toward her, reaching just barely toward Jane’s whirlwind.
Darcy suddenly felt the intense desire to link them both; Jane’s whirlwind and the white light of the portal trickled toward each other like white veins in the starry sky. With a mental push, Darcy felt them fuse together. Her body felt overwhelmed with otherworldly warmth. The universe seemed to sigh in relief around her, and when she blinked open her eyes and came out of her thoughts, everyone was looking at her strangely.
“Darcy! You....you were glowing!” Jane exclaimed.
“What?” she said. It was impossible. She couldn’t be glowing. “No way! Protein bars don’t make you glow,” she said nervously, hoping the reason they were all ogling her didn't have anything to do with Loki’s magic, but Darcy knew she couldn’t be so lucky.
“You were definitely glowing, just for a second,” Jane said. Coulson, Fury and Stark were looking at her with curiosity too.
“No way,” she said, shaking her head. Coulson started toward her, and Tony Stark looked at her like he wanted to experiment on her. Darcy backed away.
“Ms. Lewis, you were glowing with an unexplained white light right now,” Coulson said. “I think you have been exposed to some kind of unknown phenomena. We should give you a full check up,” he said, and Darcy still backed away as S.H.I.E.L.D agents surrounded her.
Oh, shit. If they analyze her, they’ll find out about Loki. She didn’t want to tell them about him, and despite the spell he had placed on her, now she was sure she never would tell. Yes, she felt conflicted about helping a known antagonist of S.H.I.E.L.D, but this was Loki; she’d come to care for him so much that she’d never betray him now.
And now S.H.I.E.L.D would find out everything.
“Hold on, Phil,” said Tony Stark. “I think we may be onto something with the intern.” He turned to everyone with a wide grin. “She fixed it! I don’t what she did, but she stabilized the wormhole!”
“What?” Jane said. “Darcy didn’t do anything! She just...glowed with light.”
“Light that shot out from her head and into the whirlwind. Not natural or scientific, I know, but if this girl is under some kind of spell...or if she has some kind of powers, whatever they are, she fixed the problem with wormhole,” Tony Stark said.
“That means Thor can come back now,” Jane said. She turned to Darcy with a grin. “You did it, Darcy!”
“What did I do?” Darcy asked.
“Take the girl,” Coulson said. “I’m sorry, Ms. Lewis, but we have to contain you.”
“I don’t think so,” said a voice behind her. Everyone snapped their attention toward the voice, but only Darcy recognized it. She felt a jolt of fear ripple throughout her body. Loki was here! She feared that Jane and the others were now in danger.
She turned around and Loki was in his full battle regalia, which didn’t bode for the others if he decided to fight. Tony Stark had already put down his Iron Man mask and was ready to blast off toward him. Loki, however, did not seem fazed by him at all. He only glared at everyone and then focused on her.
“The girl is coming with me,” he said with an air of command.
“And just who are you?” Coulson asked, just as unfazed as Loki. He was curious, but the man was never startled or emotional about anything. He was just about business. He seemed amused by the visitor, almost happy for a change of excitement.
“You will find out soon enough, but the girl is mine,” he said, and before the S.H.I.E.L.D agents could contain Darcy, she watched Loki faze in and out of reality. She gasped when she felt an arm grasp around her torso before she was snapped like a rubber band through her surroundings. She closed her eyes, and she could feel Loki’s body flush against hers as he clutched her tight. She was so scared she could barely remember to breathe, and when the pressure around them ceased, Darcy opened her eyes and found themselves back in her apartment.
Only something was different.
Loki had expanded the dimensional closet around her whole apartment, phasing it out of her reality into somewhere else. Darcy looked around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and everything in her apartment was in its place. Yet, she knew that things were different. There was a dark haze all around them, and her eyes began playing tricks on her as things warped in and out of reality.
She spun around as Loki released her and met his eyes. “What the heck have you done? Are you crazy?”
“You’re welcome, Ms. Lewis, for rescuing you from the S.H.I.E.L.D agents who wanted to dissect you,” he droned wryly. He moved away to inspect her. “I trust the side effects are beginning to show themselves? I’m just glad you’re no longer bleeding.”
“You! You did this to me! What did you do? I remember...hearing a terrible sound, and then...my head. You burned me, but then I was healed!” she babbled crazily at him. “You doped me up with some kind of alien power, didn’t you! Holy crap I’m a freak now!”
“Please, calm down. You are fine,” Loki said, annoyed by her manic behavior. “Yes, I did give you an excess of my power. I had taken too much, and I knew you could handle it despite the side effects. You humans are terribly resilient, so you should be proud of your species that you didn’t die.”
“Your...magic? So, that was all you?” Darcy narrowed her eyes at him and put her fists on her hips. “Hey, but there’s more to it that you’re not telling me. You got extra power somewhere. I heard you say it.”
“Yes...but you don’t need to know anything more than that,” he said stiffly, and Darcy darted toward him and stabbed a finger into his chest. He seemed uncomfortable by her rough touch, which only meant that his magic was still infused within her.
“Don’t give me that! You gave me this power, and it freaked you out enough that you took me away from Iron Man and S.H.I.E.L.D, which means you really have to tell me what’s going on now because despite your spell on me not to tell, you just outed yourself in front them,” Darcy said, still stabbing her finger into his chest. Finally, he stopped her finger, grasping it tightly until she backed down. He looked down at her with a frown.
“Very well. It was an experiment. I acquired a power source from an ally and attempted to absorb its power. It was working very well after I studied the artifact and knew more about it. I thought I had taken the proper precautions, but the power was more than I anticipated,” he said, letting go of her and stepping back. Darcy continued to stare at him bewildered. “I had to give you the excess. Though I did not know it would cause a hemorrhage in your brain. I am sorry for that, but it seemed like a good time to call in your debt, and as I suspected, my magic more than healed your hemorrhage anyway. Your skin seems to be healthier as well, so really you have nothing to complain about.”
“Well, I suppose,” she said with a grunt, and she crossed her arms, still feeling used. “Still, you have a shitty way of bringing that on me. You could have warned me.”
“I was unable to,” Loki said, his tone prickly. “You had banished me from your place, and I was injured from the magic.”
Darcy hated how he made her feel guilty. She was going to explain to him about kicking him out, but she thought it best to wait. She still didn’t know if he had heard her confess her love to him on the bathroom floor. Darcy shuddered and turned away from his eyes.
“So that was your magic I used to stabilize the wormhole today?” she asked quietly, and she walked hesitantly to her couch, which still seemed weird and hazy to her in this other dimension. She was too tired to care if there were any side effects from touching things in this dimension. She let out a sigh when her bottom sank softly into the couch. Loki joined her shortly, turning toward her. He seemed amused by her question.
“Ah, yes, Jane Foster’s wormhole. It seems as though I inadvertently helped her repair the Bifröst bridge through you,” he said.
Darcy arched an eyebrow suspiciously. “You’re way to happy to admit such a mistake.”
Loki chuckled. “I do not see it as a mistake. I welcome the happy accident. I am more than ready to meet my brother on his triumphant arrival.”
“And S.H.I.E.L.D and Iron Man?” Darcy prodded.
“Pathetic mortals of no consequence,” he said snottily.
“What about me? Why did you rescue me if you don’t care if they know you’re around or that I have your magic?” she asked, and she had a glimmer of hope inside her that Loki actually came back for her because he cared.
“Well, I do not want them to get their hands on you if you are still infused with my magic. In fact, I am not sure I will be able to let you go back to them at all. I’m guessing part of my magic within you will have some permanence,” he answered, and Darcy felt her blood go cold.
“What...” she asked softly. “You mean, I’m your prisoner now? Hell no!” She turned to him, throwing her fist up ready to deck him. Effortlessly, he caught her fist, and she had almost forgot about his exponential surge of power. He glared at her, and she winced as he tightened his grip around her knuckles, quickly causing bruises.
“You know,” Darcy said, still wincing. “You really know how to charm a girl.”
“And that, Ms. Lewis, is why I have come back,” he said, and she felt his grip lessen, as he reached out his other hand to her cheek, caressing it softly. “I’m curious. You have confessed your feelings to me, and then you have kicked out of your dwelling.” Darcy froze, feeling busted as it was finally clear that Loki heard her. He drew her toward him, and she watched him as he continued weaving his fingers through her hair. “I do confess to feel some attachment to you as well, but I am not sure what it is. I have felt this way for some time, but I cannot identify it, and I am fearful it is the human sickness that affected my brother toward Jane Foster. Still, I was willing to experiment anyway, though with caution.”
“You can experiment all you want, I know that you can’t understand it,” she breathed, trying to compose herself as he pawed her yet insulted her. She felt her heart sink as she knew where this was going: Rejection-ville. She had feared it all along. “You can’t understand the love Thor felt for Jane. It’s how he could defeat your monster that one time. It’s how he got his powers back.”
“Don’t you think I know?” he replied icily, but he did not get angry. He did not harm her as he had minutes ago. He seemed entranced by her, and Darcy could only imagine the strange Loki-type thoughts in his head. They must be terrifying.
“So, Thor found human love but you can’t,” she turned to him, looking deeply into his green eyes. “Only world domination seems to get you off.”
He smirked at her. “Oh, what little you know of me, Darcy, my dear.”
“Oh yeah?” she challenged him, which only seemed to amuse him despite the dark look on his face. His magic pressured around her, and she knew he was still enjoying his boost from yesterday. Whatever magic she had absorbed from him would have been useless in her defense, but she didn’t feel some sort of confidence from it. “I don’t know anything about you, other than that you want to do bad things to people on my planet. How can anyone like that love someone like me? It’s okay, you can call me an idiot. I tell myself that everyday I see you.”
She locked with his eyes coldly, and surprisingly, she found a softness in that curiosity.
“One thing I will teach you about me, Darcy Lewis,” Loki said, and he was pushing her back against the couch. He hovered over her and she stiffened, feeling hazed as if he was putting her under another spell. “On Asgard, I was second to my brother. Second to everything. His friends were only my friends because of him. Women were only mine because he discarded them first. Now, is that someone who learns about love? I will not learn something just because my brother did it first.”
“But you're curious, right? Otherwise you wouldn’t have kept me around,” Darcy said in a shaky voice. She swallowed as his hands rested on her shoulders, framing her neck. His power blanketed her, and she didn’t know whether to feel aroused or scared for her life.
His pause gave her some kind of hope. Maybe he wouldn’t harm her, and perhaps he had some small amount of redemption within him.
Maybe he too loved her enough to see if something was there.
Loki’s eyes roamed over her, and Darcy braved a hand and traced it lovingly down his face. He didn’t flinch from her touch, only stared at her wondrously. She said, “I’m not asking for it in return. I get that’s probably not possible...”
“Darcy...” he said, but she cut him off, unwilling to give up the chance to say her piece.
“I promise, I won’t betray you,” she whispered, and she saw the surprise in his eyes as she said those words.
His hands framed her face and she felt his forehead against her skin. “You say these words but...I have heard them before, and I have squandered the power of such a promise.”
Her head was still caught in a haze from his magic, and Darcy didn’t even realize her lips were on his cheek, trailing light kisses down to his chin. He sighed raggedly against her, and weirdly, for a moment they connected emotionally, and she could feel the war that was going on in his thoughts.
Suddenly, Darcy felt Loki’s mouth bruising against hers in a desperate kiss. He sighed warmly against her mouth as he broke away, and she could feel his eyelashes brush against her skin.
“I told you that I do not understand your affections for me, and this is true,” he said in a heated pause. His body was already moving against hers. “It is also true that I do not understand my own affections for you, and mark my words, girl, the presence of you better not ruin my greatest plan.”
Darcy’s hand snaked around him as he took her, his hands pulling at her clothes and his armor disappearing with a mere whispered incantation.
Soon, neither Loki or Darcy could fight the pressure between them. All they could do was simply succumb.
Part Twenty-three