Do You Wanna Die?, 2/4. NC-17
Title: Do You Wanna Die?
Series: #22 in Ready For The Siege
(#1 - Look Over Your Shoulder, #2 - Armed Up To The Teeth, #3 - Misery Inspires, #4 - Broken Underneath, #5 - Change Is Coming Soon, #6 - Lick Your Wounds, #7 - Bitter Sparks, #8 - Father's Will, #9 - To Feel Safe Again, #10 - Hit Your Prime, #11 - Open Your Eyes, #12 - Can't Be Ignored, #13 - Make You Ill, #14 - Aim Straight, #15 - Not The First Time, #16 - Friendly Fire, #17 - Relieved, #18 - Release, #19 - Never Noticed, #20 - How You Live And Breathe, #21 - Love)
Author: Eustacia Vye
Author's e-mail: eustacia_vye28@hotmail.com
Rating: NC17
Pairing: Loki/Natasha, Natasha/Bucky, Clint/Darcy
Disclaimer: Not mine! Some comic backstory is incorporated into characterizations, but this is still primarily movieverse. Warning for eventual major character death.
Spoilers/Warnings: Post-Avengers, AU to the rest of MCU.
Title and series title from "The Royal We" by Silversun Pickups.
Summary: Things started out so well. Unfortunately, it couldn't stay that way when a psychic vampire decided to target Midgard's Runestaff.
Prior chapter:
One - Taste of Magic
Two - Practice
Levitation spells were easy. Shadow spells were easy. Energy blasts and orbs and halos were just pretty, and Wanda loved doing those. She could visualize and manipulate the spá like small children played a game of cat's cradle. Using fire spells, Wanda could ignite flammable objects. Partitioning or removing air from a particular space didn't require as much concentration as deflecting objects or stopping projectiles in midair. It was amusing to use her gift for some light "telekinetic" abilities, like opening doors, exploding objects, creating force fields and lifting objects. The force fields and her energy barriers could deflect magical attacks, though she wasn't sure how strong her ability was.
Portals, however, were going to be the death of her.
Loki actually took pity on Wanda and decided to change up the practice session for the moment. "You have improved," he began. "But perhaps you are overworking yourself and losing the shape of the spell. Let us try something different as a rest."
"Like what?" she asked, frustration evident in her tone.
"Copying spells." She seemed bored, so he added "Including people."
Wanda sat at attention for that one, making Loki smirk in amusement. All right, Frigga would possibly say he was torturing the poor girl, drawing out her education this way. But it was far more interesting for them both, and kept challenging her skills. She was actually quite gifted in the seidr, which was a pleasant surprise.
Making a copy of himself to sit beside Wanda, Loki felt the split in his consciousness from the two copies. He could ignore it at this point, and went through the basics of crafting the spell and drawing out the copy from the physical body. "It's like tying a bit of the spá to an illusion in order to give it weight. Only for a copy of a person like this, a copy of you, tie a piece of your own spá to the image."
"Isn't that dangerous?"
"Depends on the copies you make and what you do with them," he replied with a smirk.
She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Why do you seem to make everything dirty?"
"Why is it that you assume I am?" Loki asked archly, though of course there were those kinds of applications to such a spell. "I have used such a spell for intimidation purposes, following others about unseen, assisting myself in research..."
"Okay, okay, how does this work?"
First they went through the basics of a copying spell, using inanimate objects for her trial runs. It took some time for her to grasp that, which was frustrating for them both. Loki had to leave her practicing it overnight, and was irritated at how little anyone would praise him for showing restraint at not yelling at her for the incompetence. It was how he was trained by some of his mo- Frigga's contemporaries. Frigga, of course, only used cutting remarks to make him feel small and churlish for not understanding tasks immediately.
Of course the next day Wanda did a better job of it. She must have been practicing relentlessly overnight to do so well on mimicking books and movies and even a bowl of fruit. Loki opened the books and sure enough, there was text matching the original item flawlessly, the movies played in the bluray player, the fruit tasted exactly the same. The girl preened under his genuine approval, which made him feel better. He wasn't feeling guilty over his anger, not really. It was more that he thought this was terribly easy. Why wasn't it the same for her?
But then, he was too frustrated with the spá or some of the runes, so perhaps it was the same way with her approach to magic.
Wanda worked on copying her own image first, which was surprisingly difficult for her. The initial copies should have been simple illusions, especially after the level of detail she had gotten in the inanimate objects. But her face was ghostly in its smooth pallor, empty eye sockets and gaping, lipless and toothless mouth. She actually nearly screamed at the sight of it, staggering back into Loki with her arms up as if to protect herself from the illusion. The ghostly copy lifted an arm up, black smoke trailing down from the upraised arm, reaching out for her. Twitching his arm impatiently, he dispelled her illusion and turned his attention to the shaking girl.
"Bibaxt," she whispered, trembling in Loki's arms. "I remember that. I remember that. I don't remember much of my girlhood, but I remember that much."
"What does that even mean?" he asked, exasperated.
"Very bad luck. Very, very bad luck. You don't mess with the spirits. Ever. It is such bad luck, something I probably can't even counter..."
Loki huffed impatiently and bodily moved her to face him. "You make your own luck, little witch. You scared yourself, which is possibly quite the accomplishment out of all you have seen so far. It means you can terrify others, without necessarily having to rely on fighting skills you may lack."
Shivering a little, Wanda shook her head. "Pietro fought harder. He learns how to battle on Asgard even now."
"You must be clever and catch opponents off guard. That little spectre, horrifying as it is to you, can also terrify others. But you can't let it stop you from learning what you need to do. You need to make a copy of yourself. It doesn't seem to spring fully formed for you."
"No. Even the objects, I needed to do an outline and fill it in later."
"Well, then. No wonder your body was so unfinished. Try making it without looking at it. Try to sense its form instead."
Wanda sighed, but did as he suggested. Loki watched her carefully, seeing the way her fingers twitched as she tried to control herself and her mental image of her copy. The gestures helped her focus her spells, much like some practitioners needed verbal cues. This was at least less of a giveaway when she cast, but Loki couldn't help but feel a bit superior for not needing such a thing with his magic.
Magic was will made manifest, after all. If anything, he had an excess of will for magic. It was for everything else that it all fell apart.
Slowly, painfully, the copy of Wanda filled out and really came to life, no longer looking like a wraith intent on sucking out souls. It looked exactly like her, down to the wrinkles in her clothing and the small rip in the seam at the hem of her shirt. She looked at it critically, lips pursed. "It looks like a wax model in a museum."
"Tie it to your spá," he instructed. "Then it will move and speak like you."
"Will I feel it?" she asked hesitantly. "Will it hurt?"
Loki frowned, trying to think about the first time had done this particular combination of spells. "I hardly notice when I do it now, and I can have five or six copies without difficulty. I don't think it does anything, but I can't even remember the first time I have done this. So I don't know what to tell you."
Taking a deep breath and then letting it out, Wanda nodded. "Thank you for being honest."
"Why wouldn't I be? It does you no favors to minimize the risks involved with magic."
"Most of your mother's handmaidens didn't want to scare the little ones, I guess."
Loki didn't even bristle at Frigga being called his mother. Wanda didn't mean harm by it and he wasn't ready to go into the politics of it. Yes, that was a perfectly acceptable reason for not calling her out on the misinformation.
Wanda had to flick her hands as if weaving in order to attach a fragment of her spá to the copy, and she sucked in a breath. "Oh. Not painful, exactly. A twinge," she said, bringing her fist up to her chest, right over the breastbone. Her copy did the same thing, staring at her with large, almost frightened eyes. "Oh," she murmured, and her copy echoed it.
"Right now, I think she'll do everything you do," Loki said, bringing his hands to Wanda's shoulders. He massaged them gently, remembering the physical strain that spellcraft would leave in its wake for a beginner. "Over time, if this is a spell you'd like to perfect, it will be easier and easier to have her roam independently of you."
"I see through her eyes. I see me," Wanda whispered. Her copy did, too. "It's... This is weird."
"You get used to it."
"And you do this five or six times?"
"Easily. I have done up to eight, but that was uncomfortable."
Both Wandas looked at him incredulously. "Uncomfortable? I would think that's dizzy."
The echo effect of the copy mimicking Wanda's speech was amusing, but not enough that Loki would actually tell her. "Take her around with you, see if you can get accustomed to it."
That led to hilarity, as Wanda tried to maneuver both herself and her copy through doors and around tables. If she didn't hit something, her copy did, and they both winced in pain. "This sucks," Wanda hissed. Her copy did as well.
Loki didn't bother to smother his laughter this time. This also gave him a rather wicked idea for the next time he was in control of Natasha at the Astoria apartment.
***
James arrived for his monthly visit to Tony's workshop to evaluate the functioning of his metal arm. It had started with the first visit after his release from the glass walled cell, so that Tony could get a baseline reading on its functioning and fix the bent plates and venting he had damaged when he tried to smash his way through the walls. Tony had been very straightforward about his interest in the mechanics of the arm, and there was something about him that James found himself drawn to. Eventually he realized that it was because he vaguely remembered Howard Stark and his womanizing bravado as he tried to impress the Howling Commandoes. James wasn't sure how else he remembered Howard, and really didn't want to ask Tony or Steve about it. Other than Natasha or Loki, most of the others in the Tower looked at him askance when he mentioned the holes in his memory.
It was actually somewhat pleasant to visit the workshop. He didn't feel so odd to have the mechanical arm, not when there were robots around him and virtual schematics of machinery and electrical wiring everywhere. He was just a guy with a prosthetic arm, not a living weapon that had to be carefully monitored to be sure he didn't malfunction and kill everyone. Not that anyone made him feel that way, but he couldn't help but wonder if they worried about that when he wasn't in the room.
Sitting in his usual seat, he spun around on the stool and took in the workshop. It looked different somehow, but he couldn't put his finger on it right away.
Then he saw the gold armor that didn't look exactly like Iron Man. The gold was a little softer, and the frame was smaller, as if it was meant for a more delicate figure than Tony's. "Pepper," he said aloud as he realized whose armor that was.
Tony looked up from his readout of the arm's functionality and saw James' line of sight. "Yeah, actually. It's for her." He grinned as James spun around. "It's been fun watching her learn how to fly and use repulsors, aiming and all that. Kinda reminds me of when I first started out, you know? When everything was new and wonderful and the ideas..." Tony gestured an arc shape out from his temple and made a whooshing sound. "Good God, the ideas I used to have when it was a joy and not a job... You have no idea."
"So is my arm a job?"
"What? That? No. No, this is fascinating as all hell. C'mon, Bucky. This thing is a highlight of engineering and robotics. I might've updated this thing, but I kinda wish I thought of it first. But then, I didn't know too many guys that would've needed it."
He turned away from James abruptly, making him wonder if there was something else to the comment. Or maybe he felt he didn't pay enough yet because of his former arms dealing. James though that castigating himself over what others did with the weapons his company designed was just silly. He didn't do that damage. Others did. And what had he expected would happen when weapons were used? Blood was spilled, people died. That was what it was for.
"What else are you doing with my arm, then?" James asked, looking over at the schematics in front of Tony.
"Nothing that out of the ordinary today. Some of the cooling vents need cleaning, the hydraulics need topping off, and it looks like a few plates have to be hammered out a bit."
"Oh. Right. Probably when Steve landed that flying kick there."
"Flying kick?" Tony echoed.
"You know how he does that thing where he launches off the ground and kicks with both feet, his entire body straight as a board? Or spinning around as he jumps and flattens himself out? Got me good sparring yesterday. He's such a fucking meatball sometimes."
That set Tony to coughing as he tried to hide his startled laughter. "This is priceless. You are the best addition to this tower."
James nodded toward the golden armor that Pepper used. "You sure she isn't it?"
Tony's expression softened. "Well... It's a wonder why she stays with me sometimes. All we've got is each other. Once you take out the Avengers, I mean. But she doesn't see it that way. She wants to stick with me. And I'm not going to question that too hard, or else she'll come to her senses and run screaming in the opposite direction from me."
"You don't have a very flattering picture of yourself."
"I'm a partially reformed womanizing alcoholic. And let's face it, it wasn't just women and booze, it was whatever I could get my hands on, anything I could possibly self destruct from. I'm not a catch if you ignore the money."
"The inventing though..."
"Pft. How many people actually value that?"
Lifting his metal arm, James shot Tony an exasperated look. "They tell me people are not their net worth or just the skills they have. You tryin' to tell me different?"
"I'm not the pep talk guy. You want Pepper, I think. She's good at that part. And surprisingly good at flying. Maybe it's all the yoga she does. Her balance is exquisite, and nothing seems to throw her off."
James realized that Tony was uncomfortable with that line of discussion, so he followed the man's lead and deflected to Pepper. "So. You're Iron Man. Is she Iron Woman? Or Gold Woman, since hers is more yellowy?"
"Rescue, actually," Tony replied.
"Huh. I like it."
Tony's shoulders relaxed. It wasn't a loosening most would have noticed, but Tony carried his stresses in his shoulders and neck. James knew where to look, and by now that Tony only pretended not to care what people thought of him. He even cared what James thought of him, when that really shouldn't have been a consideration for him.
"You know what? Why don't I tweak a few things?"
"Tony, no."
"What? The cooling system is stupid, you know that. A few coolant variations, altering how the plates move against each other... I can make this ten times more efficient than it is."
"Works fine. Doesn't hurt much, I can do what I need to-"
"Doesn't hurt much?"
"Metal on bone, tendons wrenched out of place, whatever else is in there... Look. I'm used to it, okay? I know how this works, what I'm capable of. You make it lighter and faster, it could throw off my whole game."
"You practice daily. You'd get it back in no time."
James sighed. "Not everything needs a new upgrade just because you can do it."
"I design new armor all the time."
"I don't need a new arm."
Blowing out an irritated breath, Tony threw up his hands in exasperation. "Here I am, trying to improve your lot in life... Fine, then. But I reserve the right to tinker with the design and institute it if you ever bang that one up to kingdom come."
"Deal." James wagged his arm at Tony. "How about fixing what's here before you drool over plans you're only starting to think of?"
Tony grumbled but went to work. Honestly, James glad for the help, but found it irritating that Tony could never outright say what he wanted to.
Then again, he supposed he had been in the same position until this past thaw.
***
Darcy was shocked when Jane wasn't in her lab and Bruce had no idea where she was. "It's seven thirty! She's always in the lab!"
"Thor's back," Bruce pointed out mildly. "She shouldn't always be in the lab."
"Good point." She leaned in and gave Bruce a hug. "What about you? Sitting all lonely in a lab? I don't like the idea of that."
"It's safer that way," Bruce replied with a diffident shrug.
Not fooled in the slightest, Darcy nodded knowingly. "She broke your heart, didn't she?"
"What? No! Betty isn't like that at all!"
"Total skank, then?"
"Absolutely not. She's honorable and loyal to a fault."
"Ah. So that's it."
Bruce looked at her warily. "So what's it?"
"Loyal to a fault. You think you're protecting her, don't you?" Darcy asked, poking his arm in much the same manner she did to Jane if she was being dense on not-science matters. Bruce gave her a mulish look but didn't answer, so Darcy impulsively gave him a hug. "Dude, you are an awesome guy with a lot more going on in a positive way than you think. Just give her a call. I think anybody here will vouch for you."
"That's not what I'm worried about."
"You think she's moved on?"
"I know she has."
O-kay. That sounded a bit like a creeper. Unless it was his own wishful thinking. "You know that for sure, then?"
"It's been years since I last contacted her. She can do a lot better than me."
"Pft. That's for her to decide. I think Jane has her number. I hear she's awesome at radiation and biomedical research or something."
"Darcy..."
"No, really. Because Jane gets excited over very few things, you know. And Betty Ross is one of the people that makes her get stars in her eyes. It's very cute, you've seen how she gets. Just promise me you'll call her? Because you're not always out there saving the world, and you deserve better than sitting in an empty lab with a computer full of numbers. You deserve to be happy, Bruce. Not mostly-happy, but really-happy."
He looked touched and utterly surprised by her statement. "I-I'll think about it."
"Okay. And if Jane for whatever reason doesn't have her number, I'm sure I can find it somewhere on the internet, even if it's just an office number at wherever she's working now."
"If I call her, I'll get her number. I can do that much," he said, a wry tone in his voice.
Bingo. He totally kept track of her. Darcy grinned, sure Bruce would eventually call her. "Fantastic," she said, meaning it. "Now I just need to track down Jane and see if she's not in some sweaty game of limbo with Thor."
Bruce winced a little at the matter of fact tone in Darcy's voice. "Did not need that visual."
"Gonna call Betty, huh?" Darcy replied with a grin.
"You and Clint deserve each other," Bruce said instead, shooing her away.
Darcy obliged and started going through the common areas. Whatever else she might want people think, she didn't intentionally crowd people in their private places. She wasn't that much into everyone's business.
Jane and Thor were not caught up in any torrid embrace worthy of a romance novel cover, but sitting with their heads touching in one of the dens, scattered notebooks, pens and Jane's beloved TI-85 on the table in front of them. Ooh, their hands were clasped, fingers interlaced, and Jane's lips were curled in a delighted smile. Thor only had his eyes for her. Hey, look at that. Maybe the science was their flirting, in which case, rock on.
But Jane spotted her out of the corner of her eye as Darcy was about to beat a hasty retreat. "I'm sorry!" Darcy squeaked. "I didn't mean to interrupt the sciencey prelude to sex!"
That got them both to frowning at her. Oops. They didn't unclasp their hands, at least. "We are working on some of the formulae so that Jane may use Ketilve's data from the library and Heimdall's Observatory instruments," Thor said, gesturing for her to come closer with his free hand. "It's part of my basic education, but unfortunately I am not a great scholar."
"Well, all that stuff is way over my head."
"Basic mathematics and observation of the known worlds of Yggdrasil," Thor said with a shrug. "I was not as attentive as I should have been. My attentions were more on the daring tales of my forefathers in the wars they fought, or trying to become more skilled in battle. Loki is the scholar of our household, but I understand that he may not wish to aid you."
"That's if I even asked," Jane told Darcy, rolling her eyes. "He's got his hands full with teaching Wanda magic, and I can hear the cursing through the walls."
"What? He uses lab space on your floor for that?"
"If not the common areas," Jane replied. "I've been trying to do some of the math up here."
Now there was a lovely shy ducking of her head, which meant she was doing it to spend time with Thor. Darcy heartily approved.
"The cosmos is vast and beautiful," Thor said. Oh, look, their hands were still clasped. Darcy wanted to clap her own hands and grin stupidly at them. She tamped down on that impulse and instead plunked down into a chair across the table from them. "But come. You were searching for Jane for a reason."
"Kinda personal. It's relationship stuff." She pulled a pouty face at him.
"If I may be of assistance, send for me," he told Jane, kissing her temple and getting to his feet. "I will leave you to your conversation."
There was a noise from the kitchen as Thor left the room that made Darcy jump. She turned, suddenly aware that the den lacked a door to shut. Biting her lip, she noticed Natasha heading toward the same den area with a yogurt and a book tucked under her arm.
Sighing, Darcy turned back to them, intending to defer the conversation. Then she recalled that Natasha was Clint's best friend. And was in the middle of rather complicated relationship stuff herself. "Um... Natasha? Dunno if you're really busy, but..."
"Not particularly," she said, changing course from the couch near the window to the table where they were sitting. "What's going on?"
"Relationship stuff." Darcy looked toward the open archway, biting her lip. "This is kinda weird now. I mean, I was only planning to talk to Jane about this, but..."
"Meaning it's about Clint," Natasha said. "I think you're good together."
Darcy let out a sigh as she nodded. "Okay, sorry, I'm just being weird because I never had the kind of girlfriends that I could talk to about this kind of thing before, they were all horrible judgey people in my Ph.D. program. We'd talk about where to go and stuff like that, but nothing deeply personal."
"Just take your time," Jane said, reaching across the table to clasp Darcy's hand in hers.
"It's just... You and Thor are so adorable together. And you do the science stuff. And probably a lot more than that behind closed doors."
Now Jane looked positively scandalized while Natasha snickered. "There has to be more behind closed doors," Natasha replied, laughing. "Jane doesn't strike me as an exhibitionist."
"Natasha!" Jane cried, eyes huge with surprise.
Natasha laughed again, and Darcy thought this was getting downright surreal. The infamous Black Widow was giggling and sitting down for girl talk. Then again, she first met her while commiserating with Jane about relationship stuff. Perhaps there was no need to feel overly self conscious about this after all.
"Anyway," Darcy said, cutting off Natasha's next snarky comment. "Natasha knows, and I feel like I'm violating some kind of dating code by telling you this, Jane, but Clint doesn't do the sex part."
Jane looked at Darcy blankly. "He's not interested in you? But I thought he was. I mean, I saw you two here the other night kissing like you were running out of air-"
"No!" Darcy covered her face with her hands again. "Oh my god, I'm going to have to spell it out for you and feel like a creeper. Clint doesn't like sex. Ever. With anybody. But he likes all the other stuff, the dating and the kissing and cuddling. Just not the sex part. And I do, and I don't want to get that part elsewhere because it feels like cheating even if he said it was okay and it wouldn't be. And I tried other stuff, but it just isn't the same, and I don't want him doing what he doesn't want to do because that's just gross, and this is not the kind of problem I ever thought I'd have with a guy ever."
"Well, what have you tried?" Natasha asked matter of factly.
Jane didn't look horrified, at least, but stared at her in fascination. "No sex drive at all?"
"Oh, this is awkward," Darcy said miserably.
"I may have complete lack of boundaries on this," Natasha began, her tone still even and straightforward, "but it's not awkward at all to me. I really can only make suggestions if I know exactly what the problem is. So what have you tried to do?"
Maybe it was her brisk, no nonsense tone and Jane's fascinated expression that did it, but Darcy outlined the masturbation she did alone or in front of Clint, with or without toys. She was utterly mortified by it, maybe a holdover from her mother's reticence to talk about sex at all while she was growing up, even going so far as telling Darcy to ask her friends or talk with her gynecologist about the subject. Which ew, no, she had been old and not someone Darcy felt comfortable talking to about anything at all. And her friends back then had been just as clueless as she was.
"Have you considered having sex with someone in the same room as Clint? Or if that feels strange, would sex with a woman feel like it's not cheating?" Natasha asked in her same straightforward tone. Darcy goggled at her, and she simply shrugged. "I probably have a lot more experience in a great many things related to sex."
Of course she did. She was a spy, and sometimes they had to romance the target. They did in movies, anyway, and Darcy would guess that Natasha saw sex as a regular bodily function like eating or sleeping. Though there was a tightness in her voice at the last sentence that made her wonder how much Natasha actually enjoyed what she had to do in her line of work.
"Girls can be really pretty, but past that? I'm as straight as a ruler."
"This entire conversation is enlightening," Jane said in the growing silence as Natasha thought, and didn't seem to bristle at Darcy's glower at her.
"You're not helping," Darcy told her.
"Of course I am. I'm listening. I don't have a lot of expertise in sex, either solo or with someone else," Jane told her. "I'm sure we can research this. There would be plenty of websites or books about it or something, right? It can't be that hard to find. Or if you feel weird about it, I'm sure we could go to Asgard and consult Ketilve. There might be something in the archives..."
"Oh my god, I am not going to Asgard for sex advice," Darcy snapped.
"They're rather vanilla and rigidly polarized on what's appropriate anyway," Natasha said dryly. "Trust me on that one."
Darcy gaped at her. "There's a story there. There's lots of stories there."
"Of course there are," Natasha said sweetly, lips twisting into a bit of a smirk. "I'm sure you've talked about this with Clint."
"Of course. He's okay with me going out on the side, but I'm the one that doesn't like the idea."
"Well, there's the threesome that isn't," Natasha began.
"Never did that, probably wouldn't," Darcy interrupted. "Isn't that weird? Too many arms and legs to keep track of. I mean, it's hot in movies or romance novels, but that's just fake."
"It's just a matter of coordination and communication," Natasha said with a shrug. "And of course making sure everyone has a good time." She smiled a little wider at Darcy's gape. "There is possibly very little on a purity test that I haven't done."
Jane leaned in a little closer almost in unison with her words, Darcy noticed. Huh. Maybe she and Thor were interested in more than vanilla sex together. Aw, that would be so cute to quiz Jane about later.
"So, knowing Clint... What would you suggest?"
"You like dirty talk?" Natasha asked after a moment's thought.
Darcy blinked. "I guess? I haven't had boyfriends good at it before."
Natasha gave her a very filthy grin, and Darcy could see how she was able to charm the pants out of anyone, male or female. "I have an idea, but it involves a little spell work. Asgardians don't have formal sex magic, but there are wonderful ways to corrupt spells. I'm thinking of one that will allow you to experience the sensation of whatever is described. And believe it or not, Clint is very creative with his storytelling."
Oh. Is that what Clint meant by asking Loki for help? In that case, count her in. "I think I like your dirty mind," Darcy declared.
Natasha gave her a satisfied smile and tucked into her yogurt, book forgotten. Darcy wondered if Jane would smack her if she handed over her copy of the Kama Sutra. It wasn't as if she needed it at the moment, anyway.
***
***
To Chapter Three - Creativity At Work
Series: #22 in Ready For The Siege
(#1 - Look Over Your Shoulder, #2 - Armed Up To The Teeth, #3 - Misery Inspires, #4 - Broken Underneath, #5 - Change Is Coming Soon, #6 - Lick Your Wounds, #7 - Bitter Sparks, #8 - Father's Will, #9 - To Feel Safe Again, #10 - Hit Your Prime, #11 - Open Your Eyes, #12 - Can't Be Ignored, #13 - Make You Ill, #14 - Aim Straight, #15 - Not The First Time, #16 - Friendly Fire, #17 - Relieved, #18 - Release, #19 - Never Noticed, #20 - How You Live And Breathe, #21 - Love)
Author: Eustacia Vye
Author's e-mail: eustacia_vye28@hotmail.com
Rating: NC17
Pairing: Loki/Natasha, Natasha/Bucky, Clint/Darcy
Disclaimer: Not mine! Some comic backstory is incorporated into characterizations, but this is still primarily movieverse. Warning for eventual major character death.
Spoilers/Warnings: Post-Avengers, AU to the rest of MCU.
Title and series title from "The Royal We" by Silversun Pickups.
Summary: Things started out so well. Unfortunately, it couldn't stay that way when a psychic vampire decided to target Midgard's Runestaff.
Prior chapter:
One - Taste of Magic
Two - Practice
Levitation spells were easy. Shadow spells were easy. Energy blasts and orbs and halos were just pretty, and Wanda loved doing those. She could visualize and manipulate the spá like small children played a game of cat's cradle. Using fire spells, Wanda could ignite flammable objects. Partitioning or removing air from a particular space didn't require as much concentration as deflecting objects or stopping projectiles in midair. It was amusing to use her gift for some light "telekinetic" abilities, like opening doors, exploding objects, creating force fields and lifting objects. The force fields and her energy barriers could deflect magical attacks, though she wasn't sure how strong her ability was.
Portals, however, were going to be the death of her.
Loki actually took pity on Wanda and decided to change up the practice session for the moment. "You have improved," he began. "But perhaps you are overworking yourself and losing the shape of the spell. Let us try something different as a rest."
"Like what?" she asked, frustration evident in her tone.
"Copying spells." She seemed bored, so he added "Including people."
Wanda sat at attention for that one, making Loki smirk in amusement. All right, Frigga would possibly say he was torturing the poor girl, drawing out her education this way. But it was far more interesting for them both, and kept challenging her skills. She was actually quite gifted in the seidr, which was a pleasant surprise.
Making a copy of himself to sit beside Wanda, Loki felt the split in his consciousness from the two copies. He could ignore it at this point, and went through the basics of crafting the spell and drawing out the copy from the physical body. "It's like tying a bit of the spá to an illusion in order to give it weight. Only for a copy of a person like this, a copy of you, tie a piece of your own spá to the image."
"Isn't that dangerous?"
"Depends on the copies you make and what you do with them," he replied with a smirk.
She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Why do you seem to make everything dirty?"
"Why is it that you assume I am?" Loki asked archly, though of course there were those kinds of applications to such a spell. "I have used such a spell for intimidation purposes, following others about unseen, assisting myself in research..."
"Okay, okay, how does this work?"
First they went through the basics of a copying spell, using inanimate objects for her trial runs. It took some time for her to grasp that, which was frustrating for them both. Loki had to leave her practicing it overnight, and was irritated at how little anyone would praise him for showing restraint at not yelling at her for the incompetence. It was how he was trained by some of his mo- Frigga's contemporaries. Frigga, of course, only used cutting remarks to make him feel small and churlish for not understanding tasks immediately.
Of course the next day Wanda did a better job of it. She must have been practicing relentlessly overnight to do so well on mimicking books and movies and even a bowl of fruit. Loki opened the books and sure enough, there was text matching the original item flawlessly, the movies played in the bluray player, the fruit tasted exactly the same. The girl preened under his genuine approval, which made him feel better. He wasn't feeling guilty over his anger, not really. It was more that he thought this was terribly easy. Why wasn't it the same for her?
But then, he was too frustrated with the spá or some of the runes, so perhaps it was the same way with her approach to magic.
Wanda worked on copying her own image first, which was surprisingly difficult for her. The initial copies should have been simple illusions, especially after the level of detail she had gotten in the inanimate objects. But her face was ghostly in its smooth pallor, empty eye sockets and gaping, lipless and toothless mouth. She actually nearly screamed at the sight of it, staggering back into Loki with her arms up as if to protect herself from the illusion. The ghostly copy lifted an arm up, black smoke trailing down from the upraised arm, reaching out for her. Twitching his arm impatiently, he dispelled her illusion and turned his attention to the shaking girl.
"Bibaxt," she whispered, trembling in Loki's arms. "I remember that. I remember that. I don't remember much of my girlhood, but I remember that much."
"What does that even mean?" he asked, exasperated.
"Very bad luck. Very, very bad luck. You don't mess with the spirits. Ever. It is such bad luck, something I probably can't even counter..."
Loki huffed impatiently and bodily moved her to face him. "You make your own luck, little witch. You scared yourself, which is possibly quite the accomplishment out of all you have seen so far. It means you can terrify others, without necessarily having to rely on fighting skills you may lack."
Shivering a little, Wanda shook her head. "Pietro fought harder. He learns how to battle on Asgard even now."
"You must be clever and catch opponents off guard. That little spectre, horrifying as it is to you, can also terrify others. But you can't let it stop you from learning what you need to do. You need to make a copy of yourself. It doesn't seem to spring fully formed for you."
"No. Even the objects, I needed to do an outline and fill it in later."
"Well, then. No wonder your body was so unfinished. Try making it without looking at it. Try to sense its form instead."
Wanda sighed, but did as he suggested. Loki watched her carefully, seeing the way her fingers twitched as she tried to control herself and her mental image of her copy. The gestures helped her focus her spells, much like some practitioners needed verbal cues. This was at least less of a giveaway when she cast, but Loki couldn't help but feel a bit superior for not needing such a thing with his magic.
Magic was will made manifest, after all. If anything, he had an excess of will for magic. It was for everything else that it all fell apart.
Slowly, painfully, the copy of Wanda filled out and really came to life, no longer looking like a wraith intent on sucking out souls. It looked exactly like her, down to the wrinkles in her clothing and the small rip in the seam at the hem of her shirt. She looked at it critically, lips pursed. "It looks like a wax model in a museum."
"Tie it to your spá," he instructed. "Then it will move and speak like you."
"Will I feel it?" she asked hesitantly. "Will it hurt?"
Loki frowned, trying to think about the first time had done this particular combination of spells. "I hardly notice when I do it now, and I can have five or six copies without difficulty. I don't think it does anything, but I can't even remember the first time I have done this. So I don't know what to tell you."
Taking a deep breath and then letting it out, Wanda nodded. "Thank you for being honest."
"Why wouldn't I be? It does you no favors to minimize the risks involved with magic."
"Most of your mother's handmaidens didn't want to scare the little ones, I guess."
Loki didn't even bristle at Frigga being called his mother. Wanda didn't mean harm by it and he wasn't ready to go into the politics of it. Yes, that was a perfectly acceptable reason for not calling her out on the misinformation.
Wanda had to flick her hands as if weaving in order to attach a fragment of her spá to the copy, and she sucked in a breath. "Oh. Not painful, exactly. A twinge," she said, bringing her fist up to her chest, right over the breastbone. Her copy did the same thing, staring at her with large, almost frightened eyes. "Oh," she murmured, and her copy echoed it.
"Right now, I think she'll do everything you do," Loki said, bringing his hands to Wanda's shoulders. He massaged them gently, remembering the physical strain that spellcraft would leave in its wake for a beginner. "Over time, if this is a spell you'd like to perfect, it will be easier and easier to have her roam independently of you."
"I see through her eyes. I see me," Wanda whispered. Her copy did, too. "It's... This is weird."
"You get used to it."
"And you do this five or six times?"
"Easily. I have done up to eight, but that was uncomfortable."
Both Wandas looked at him incredulously. "Uncomfortable? I would think that's dizzy."
The echo effect of the copy mimicking Wanda's speech was amusing, but not enough that Loki would actually tell her. "Take her around with you, see if you can get accustomed to it."
That led to hilarity, as Wanda tried to maneuver both herself and her copy through doors and around tables. If she didn't hit something, her copy did, and they both winced in pain. "This sucks," Wanda hissed. Her copy did as well.
Loki didn't bother to smother his laughter this time. This also gave him a rather wicked idea for the next time he was in control of Natasha at the Astoria apartment.
***
James arrived for his monthly visit to Tony's workshop to evaluate the functioning of his metal arm. It had started with the first visit after his release from the glass walled cell, so that Tony could get a baseline reading on its functioning and fix the bent plates and venting he had damaged when he tried to smash his way through the walls. Tony had been very straightforward about his interest in the mechanics of the arm, and there was something about him that James found himself drawn to. Eventually he realized that it was because he vaguely remembered Howard Stark and his womanizing bravado as he tried to impress the Howling Commandoes. James wasn't sure how else he remembered Howard, and really didn't want to ask Tony or Steve about it. Other than Natasha or Loki, most of the others in the Tower looked at him askance when he mentioned the holes in his memory.
It was actually somewhat pleasant to visit the workshop. He didn't feel so odd to have the mechanical arm, not when there were robots around him and virtual schematics of machinery and electrical wiring everywhere. He was just a guy with a prosthetic arm, not a living weapon that had to be carefully monitored to be sure he didn't malfunction and kill everyone. Not that anyone made him feel that way, but he couldn't help but wonder if they worried about that when he wasn't in the room.
Sitting in his usual seat, he spun around on the stool and took in the workshop. It looked different somehow, but he couldn't put his finger on it right away.
Then he saw the gold armor that didn't look exactly like Iron Man. The gold was a little softer, and the frame was smaller, as if it was meant for a more delicate figure than Tony's. "Pepper," he said aloud as he realized whose armor that was.
Tony looked up from his readout of the arm's functionality and saw James' line of sight. "Yeah, actually. It's for her." He grinned as James spun around. "It's been fun watching her learn how to fly and use repulsors, aiming and all that. Kinda reminds me of when I first started out, you know? When everything was new and wonderful and the ideas..." Tony gestured an arc shape out from his temple and made a whooshing sound. "Good God, the ideas I used to have when it was a joy and not a job... You have no idea."
"So is my arm a job?"
"What? That? No. No, this is fascinating as all hell. C'mon, Bucky. This thing is a highlight of engineering and robotics. I might've updated this thing, but I kinda wish I thought of it first. But then, I didn't know too many guys that would've needed it."
He turned away from James abruptly, making him wonder if there was something else to the comment. Or maybe he felt he didn't pay enough yet because of his former arms dealing. James though that castigating himself over what others did with the weapons his company designed was just silly. He didn't do that damage. Others did. And what had he expected would happen when weapons were used? Blood was spilled, people died. That was what it was for.
"What else are you doing with my arm, then?" James asked, looking over at the schematics in front of Tony.
"Nothing that out of the ordinary today. Some of the cooling vents need cleaning, the hydraulics need topping off, and it looks like a few plates have to be hammered out a bit."
"Oh. Right. Probably when Steve landed that flying kick there."
"Flying kick?" Tony echoed.
"You know how he does that thing where he launches off the ground and kicks with both feet, his entire body straight as a board? Or spinning around as he jumps and flattens himself out? Got me good sparring yesterday. He's such a fucking meatball sometimes."
That set Tony to coughing as he tried to hide his startled laughter. "This is priceless. You are the best addition to this tower."
James nodded toward the golden armor that Pepper used. "You sure she isn't it?"
Tony's expression softened. "Well... It's a wonder why she stays with me sometimes. All we've got is each other. Once you take out the Avengers, I mean. But she doesn't see it that way. She wants to stick with me. And I'm not going to question that too hard, or else she'll come to her senses and run screaming in the opposite direction from me."
"You don't have a very flattering picture of yourself."
"I'm a partially reformed womanizing alcoholic. And let's face it, it wasn't just women and booze, it was whatever I could get my hands on, anything I could possibly self destruct from. I'm not a catch if you ignore the money."
"The inventing though..."
"Pft. How many people actually value that?"
Lifting his metal arm, James shot Tony an exasperated look. "They tell me people are not their net worth or just the skills they have. You tryin' to tell me different?"
"I'm not the pep talk guy. You want Pepper, I think. She's good at that part. And surprisingly good at flying. Maybe it's all the yoga she does. Her balance is exquisite, and nothing seems to throw her off."
James realized that Tony was uncomfortable with that line of discussion, so he followed the man's lead and deflected to Pepper. "So. You're Iron Man. Is she Iron Woman? Or Gold Woman, since hers is more yellowy?"
"Rescue, actually," Tony replied.
"Huh. I like it."
Tony's shoulders relaxed. It wasn't a loosening most would have noticed, but Tony carried his stresses in his shoulders and neck. James knew where to look, and by now that Tony only pretended not to care what people thought of him. He even cared what James thought of him, when that really shouldn't have been a consideration for him.
"You know what? Why don't I tweak a few things?"
"Tony, no."
"What? The cooling system is stupid, you know that. A few coolant variations, altering how the plates move against each other... I can make this ten times more efficient than it is."
"Works fine. Doesn't hurt much, I can do what I need to-"
"Doesn't hurt much?"
"Metal on bone, tendons wrenched out of place, whatever else is in there... Look. I'm used to it, okay? I know how this works, what I'm capable of. You make it lighter and faster, it could throw off my whole game."
"You practice daily. You'd get it back in no time."
James sighed. "Not everything needs a new upgrade just because you can do it."
"I design new armor all the time."
"I don't need a new arm."
Blowing out an irritated breath, Tony threw up his hands in exasperation. "Here I am, trying to improve your lot in life... Fine, then. But I reserve the right to tinker with the design and institute it if you ever bang that one up to kingdom come."
"Deal." James wagged his arm at Tony. "How about fixing what's here before you drool over plans you're only starting to think of?"
Tony grumbled but went to work. Honestly, James glad for the help, but found it irritating that Tony could never outright say what he wanted to.
Then again, he supposed he had been in the same position until this past thaw.
***
Darcy was shocked when Jane wasn't in her lab and Bruce had no idea where she was. "It's seven thirty! She's always in the lab!"
"Thor's back," Bruce pointed out mildly. "She shouldn't always be in the lab."
"Good point." She leaned in and gave Bruce a hug. "What about you? Sitting all lonely in a lab? I don't like the idea of that."
"It's safer that way," Bruce replied with a diffident shrug.
Not fooled in the slightest, Darcy nodded knowingly. "She broke your heart, didn't she?"
"What? No! Betty isn't like that at all!"
"Total skank, then?"
"Absolutely not. She's honorable and loyal to a fault."
"Ah. So that's it."
Bruce looked at her warily. "So what's it?"
"Loyal to a fault. You think you're protecting her, don't you?" Darcy asked, poking his arm in much the same manner she did to Jane if she was being dense on not-science matters. Bruce gave her a mulish look but didn't answer, so Darcy impulsively gave him a hug. "Dude, you are an awesome guy with a lot more going on in a positive way than you think. Just give her a call. I think anybody here will vouch for you."
"That's not what I'm worried about."
"You think she's moved on?"
"I know she has."
O-kay. That sounded a bit like a creeper. Unless it was his own wishful thinking. "You know that for sure, then?"
"It's been years since I last contacted her. She can do a lot better than me."
"Pft. That's for her to decide. I think Jane has her number. I hear she's awesome at radiation and biomedical research or something."
"Darcy..."
"No, really. Because Jane gets excited over very few things, you know. And Betty Ross is one of the people that makes her get stars in her eyes. It's very cute, you've seen how she gets. Just promise me you'll call her? Because you're not always out there saving the world, and you deserve better than sitting in an empty lab with a computer full of numbers. You deserve to be happy, Bruce. Not mostly-happy, but really-happy."
He looked touched and utterly surprised by her statement. "I-I'll think about it."
"Okay. And if Jane for whatever reason doesn't have her number, I'm sure I can find it somewhere on the internet, even if it's just an office number at wherever she's working now."
"If I call her, I'll get her number. I can do that much," he said, a wry tone in his voice.
Bingo. He totally kept track of her. Darcy grinned, sure Bruce would eventually call her. "Fantastic," she said, meaning it. "Now I just need to track down Jane and see if she's not in some sweaty game of limbo with Thor."
Bruce winced a little at the matter of fact tone in Darcy's voice. "Did not need that visual."
"Gonna call Betty, huh?" Darcy replied with a grin.
"You and Clint deserve each other," Bruce said instead, shooing her away.
Darcy obliged and started going through the common areas. Whatever else she might want people think, she didn't intentionally crowd people in their private places. She wasn't that much into everyone's business.
Jane and Thor were not caught up in any torrid embrace worthy of a romance novel cover, but sitting with their heads touching in one of the dens, scattered notebooks, pens and Jane's beloved TI-85 on the table in front of them. Ooh, their hands were clasped, fingers interlaced, and Jane's lips were curled in a delighted smile. Thor only had his eyes for her. Hey, look at that. Maybe the science was their flirting, in which case, rock on.
But Jane spotted her out of the corner of her eye as Darcy was about to beat a hasty retreat. "I'm sorry!" Darcy squeaked. "I didn't mean to interrupt the sciencey prelude to sex!"
That got them both to frowning at her. Oops. They didn't unclasp their hands, at least. "We are working on some of the formulae so that Jane may use Ketilve's data from the library and Heimdall's Observatory instruments," Thor said, gesturing for her to come closer with his free hand. "It's part of my basic education, but unfortunately I am not a great scholar."
"Well, all that stuff is way over my head."
"Basic mathematics and observation of the known worlds of Yggdrasil," Thor said with a shrug. "I was not as attentive as I should have been. My attentions were more on the daring tales of my forefathers in the wars they fought, or trying to become more skilled in battle. Loki is the scholar of our household, but I understand that he may not wish to aid you."
"That's if I even asked," Jane told Darcy, rolling her eyes. "He's got his hands full with teaching Wanda magic, and I can hear the cursing through the walls."
"What? He uses lab space on your floor for that?"
"If not the common areas," Jane replied. "I've been trying to do some of the math up here."
Now there was a lovely shy ducking of her head, which meant she was doing it to spend time with Thor. Darcy heartily approved.
"The cosmos is vast and beautiful," Thor said. Oh, look, their hands were still clasped. Darcy wanted to clap her own hands and grin stupidly at them. She tamped down on that impulse and instead plunked down into a chair across the table from them. "But come. You were searching for Jane for a reason."
"Kinda personal. It's relationship stuff." She pulled a pouty face at him.
"If I may be of assistance, send for me," he told Jane, kissing her temple and getting to his feet. "I will leave you to your conversation."
There was a noise from the kitchen as Thor left the room that made Darcy jump. She turned, suddenly aware that the den lacked a door to shut. Biting her lip, she noticed Natasha heading toward the same den area with a yogurt and a book tucked under her arm.
Sighing, Darcy turned back to them, intending to defer the conversation. Then she recalled that Natasha was Clint's best friend. And was in the middle of rather complicated relationship stuff herself. "Um... Natasha? Dunno if you're really busy, but..."
"Not particularly," she said, changing course from the couch near the window to the table where they were sitting. "What's going on?"
"Relationship stuff." Darcy looked toward the open archway, biting her lip. "This is kinda weird now. I mean, I was only planning to talk to Jane about this, but..."
"Meaning it's about Clint," Natasha said. "I think you're good together."
Darcy let out a sigh as she nodded. "Okay, sorry, I'm just being weird because I never had the kind of girlfriends that I could talk to about this kind of thing before, they were all horrible judgey people in my Ph.D. program. We'd talk about where to go and stuff like that, but nothing deeply personal."
"Just take your time," Jane said, reaching across the table to clasp Darcy's hand in hers.
"It's just... You and Thor are so adorable together. And you do the science stuff. And probably a lot more than that behind closed doors."
Now Jane looked positively scandalized while Natasha snickered. "There has to be more behind closed doors," Natasha replied, laughing. "Jane doesn't strike me as an exhibitionist."
"Natasha!" Jane cried, eyes huge with surprise.
Natasha laughed again, and Darcy thought this was getting downright surreal. The infamous Black Widow was giggling and sitting down for girl talk. Then again, she first met her while commiserating with Jane about relationship stuff. Perhaps there was no need to feel overly self conscious about this after all.
"Anyway," Darcy said, cutting off Natasha's next snarky comment. "Natasha knows, and I feel like I'm violating some kind of dating code by telling you this, Jane, but Clint doesn't do the sex part."
Jane looked at Darcy blankly. "He's not interested in you? But I thought he was. I mean, I saw you two here the other night kissing like you were running out of air-"
"No!" Darcy covered her face with her hands again. "Oh my god, I'm going to have to spell it out for you and feel like a creeper. Clint doesn't like sex. Ever. With anybody. But he likes all the other stuff, the dating and the kissing and cuddling. Just not the sex part. And I do, and I don't want to get that part elsewhere because it feels like cheating even if he said it was okay and it wouldn't be. And I tried other stuff, but it just isn't the same, and I don't want him doing what he doesn't want to do because that's just gross, and this is not the kind of problem I ever thought I'd have with a guy ever."
"Well, what have you tried?" Natasha asked matter of factly.
Jane didn't look horrified, at least, but stared at her in fascination. "No sex drive at all?"
"Oh, this is awkward," Darcy said miserably.
"I may have complete lack of boundaries on this," Natasha began, her tone still even and straightforward, "but it's not awkward at all to me. I really can only make suggestions if I know exactly what the problem is. So what have you tried to do?"
Maybe it was her brisk, no nonsense tone and Jane's fascinated expression that did it, but Darcy outlined the masturbation she did alone or in front of Clint, with or without toys. She was utterly mortified by it, maybe a holdover from her mother's reticence to talk about sex at all while she was growing up, even going so far as telling Darcy to ask her friends or talk with her gynecologist about the subject. Which ew, no, she had been old and not someone Darcy felt comfortable talking to about anything at all. And her friends back then had been just as clueless as she was.
"Have you considered having sex with someone in the same room as Clint? Or if that feels strange, would sex with a woman feel like it's not cheating?" Natasha asked in her same straightforward tone. Darcy goggled at her, and she simply shrugged. "I probably have a lot more experience in a great many things related to sex."
Of course she did. She was a spy, and sometimes they had to romance the target. They did in movies, anyway, and Darcy would guess that Natasha saw sex as a regular bodily function like eating or sleeping. Though there was a tightness in her voice at the last sentence that made her wonder how much Natasha actually enjoyed what she had to do in her line of work.
"Girls can be really pretty, but past that? I'm as straight as a ruler."
"This entire conversation is enlightening," Jane said in the growing silence as Natasha thought, and didn't seem to bristle at Darcy's glower at her.
"You're not helping," Darcy told her.
"Of course I am. I'm listening. I don't have a lot of expertise in sex, either solo or with someone else," Jane told her. "I'm sure we can research this. There would be plenty of websites or books about it or something, right? It can't be that hard to find. Or if you feel weird about it, I'm sure we could go to Asgard and consult Ketilve. There might be something in the archives..."
"Oh my god, I am not going to Asgard for sex advice," Darcy snapped.
"They're rather vanilla and rigidly polarized on what's appropriate anyway," Natasha said dryly. "Trust me on that one."
Darcy gaped at her. "There's a story there. There's lots of stories there."
"Of course there are," Natasha said sweetly, lips twisting into a bit of a smirk. "I'm sure you've talked about this with Clint."
"Of course. He's okay with me going out on the side, but I'm the one that doesn't like the idea."
"Well, there's the threesome that isn't," Natasha began.
"Never did that, probably wouldn't," Darcy interrupted. "Isn't that weird? Too many arms and legs to keep track of. I mean, it's hot in movies or romance novels, but that's just fake."
"It's just a matter of coordination and communication," Natasha said with a shrug. "And of course making sure everyone has a good time." She smiled a little wider at Darcy's gape. "There is possibly very little on a purity test that I haven't done."
Jane leaned in a little closer almost in unison with her words, Darcy noticed. Huh. Maybe she and Thor were interested in more than vanilla sex together. Aw, that would be so cute to quiz Jane about later.
"So, knowing Clint... What would you suggest?"
"You like dirty talk?" Natasha asked after a moment's thought.
Darcy blinked. "I guess? I haven't had boyfriends good at it before."
Natasha gave her a very filthy grin, and Darcy could see how she was able to charm the pants out of anyone, male or female. "I have an idea, but it involves a little spell work. Asgardians don't have formal sex magic, but there are wonderful ways to corrupt spells. I'm thinking of one that will allow you to experience the sensation of whatever is described. And believe it or not, Clint is very creative with his storytelling."
Oh. Is that what Clint meant by asking Loki for help? In that case, count her in. "I think I like your dirty mind," Darcy declared.
Natasha gave her a satisfied smile and tucked into her yogurt, book forgotten. Darcy wondered if Jane would smack her if she handed over her copy of the Kama Sutra. It wasn't as if she needed it at the moment, anyway.
***
***
To Chapter Three - Creativity At Work