CHAPTER 1
It had been almost a year since Phil Coulson's death, and during that time Eira had been babysitting Thor's beloved, Jane Foster. She wasn't exactly sure about the situation, but she was sure that she didn't care. It wasn't that she didn't like Jane, she just didn't want to become attached. You can't mourn over someone you hardly know. She did admire her, however. Jane was a rather cheerful and positive person, and she always got Eira to laugh, but she was no Phil. No one was.
Living with Jane and her mother never had a dull moment. Jane and her mother would nicker worse than a married couple, but they were most entertaining. Marcie, the mother, was a neat freak and a little impulsive. While Jane was a slob and passive-aggressive. It was better than watching the telly. It was real. Eira knew she should've intervened a few times, but she found the fight more amusing and opted against it. What she found even more amusing was watching Jane sabotage her date. The poor guy never stood a chance.
As she looked over her menu, Eira listened to Jane's nonexistent conversation through her earpiece. She laughed when Jane poorly explained her profession, or when laughed at the wrong thing. Jane was the worst date ever. Eira thanked the universe for front row seats.
When Eira ordered the sea bass, Jane found herself repeating it about fifty times as she looked over her menu.
"Jane, you're saying sea bass over and over," her date, Richard said.
"Right," Jane mumbled.
"What?"
"What?" Jane looked up.
"You said 'right'."
"Oh," she nervously laughed. "Right. I meant the fish. Seabass. It's just so... right."
"Is that what you're getting?"
"What?"
"The seabass?"
"Oh, I'm not sure," Jane looked at her menu, ignoring Eira's laughter.
Richard took out a pen and wrote on a napkin before he slyly pushed it over to her. Jane looked at it and smiled.
"Hi," he said.
"Hi."
"So what's the story with you?"
"What? Why does there have to be a story, there's no story," Jane babbled.
"You've spent the last ten minutes of our date hiding behind a menu that has three choices on it. It's either chicken, vegetarian, or fish, Jane. I think there's a backstory, and I'm thinking it involves a guy?"
"It's complicated."
"Cheers to that," Eira said and sipped her wine.
"Is he still around?" Richard inquired.
"No, he... went away," Jane explained.
"I've been there. The going away, it's hard. I'd been seeing a woman and uh... she took a job in New York and the distance killed it. And the fact she kept fucking other dudes."
"No!" Eira and Jane shouted.
"Sorry," Eira whispered to the agitated customers. Then as though on cue Darcy waltzed into the restaurant and toward Jane's table. Eira got up from her table and ran up to Darcy.
"Hi," Richard waved at her. "Could we get some wine?"
"Sure, I'd love some!" Darcy replied as she dragged a chair to their table and sat next to Jane.
"Darcy!" Eira put her hands on her hips. "Jane is on a date. Leave her be!"
"Richard, this is Darcy and Eira," Jane introduced and turned to Darcy. "What are you doing here?"
"Is your bodyguard always around?" Darcy gave Eira a look.
"Yes," Eira answered. "Explain your interruption before I pull your ass out of here by the ear."
"Just the ear? Does that actually work?"
"I don't know. Would you like to give it a try?" Eira threatened.
"Just tell me why you're here?" Jane begged.
Darcy helped herself with some bread and buttered it. "So, I show up to work at the lab-slash-your mom's house, fully expecting you to be moping around the house in your pajamas eating ice cream obsessing about you know who..."
"Ah," poor Richar concluded.
"Is there a point to this, there must be a point to all of this," Jane said.
"Right. You know that scientific equipment you don't look at anymore? You should probably start doing that," Darcy handed Jane one of her gadgets.
"It's malfunctioning," Jane said.
"That's what I said."
Jane banged her gadget on the table.
"That's what I did!" Darcy shouted. "But you just hit it a little more scientific."
"I'm sure it's nothing," Jane brushed it off.
"It kinda looks like the readings Erik was rambling about," Darcy turned to Richard. "Our friend, Erik, kinda went banana-balls."
"He's not interested. I'm not interested. Time to go," Eira pulled Darcy by the ear.
"Ow! Jesus, you're strong! Okay, I'm leaving!"
When Eira let go, Darcy dragged her chair back to where she found it. Then walked away.
"Short but sweet," Richard declared.
"She needs help," Eira said as she walked back to her table.
"I think I'll get the seabass," Richard teased.
"Seabass," Jane said. "Seabass is good."
"Jane, maybe you should stop saying seabass and go out with your friend," he said.
"Seriously?" Eira whined.
Jane glanced up at him. "This was so much fun," she said before she exited out of the restaurant, with Eira following her. Darcy waited for them to meet her by the car. Eira climbed into the back seat while Jane sat up front. "And I hate you."
"What?" She said defensively. "I thought he was cute."
"Just shut up and drive."
Eira looked at the milquetoast man sitting next to her. "Who's he?"
"He's my intern," Darcy replied as she pulled out of the parking lot and drove off.
"You have an intern?" Jane asked.
"Oh yeah."
"Hello," he greeted. "Hello, Dr. Foster. It's uh ... it's a great pleasure to be working with you."
"Right," Jane said. "I have to call Erik."
"Intern," Eira began. "You gotta name or should I just call you Intern for the rest of the evening?"
"It's Ian," he answered as he pulled out his navigator. "Right."
Darcy sharply turned right. She continued to drive like a lunatic until they reached their destination. They stood outside of an old abandoned factory. For a moment, Eira was pretty sure they were about to be murdered.
"Come on, this is exciting! Look, the intern is excited!" Darcy exclaimed.
"Ian," Eira corrected.
"Do you want the phase meter?"
"No," Jane answered.
Darcy turned to Ian. "Bring the phase meter." She threw her keys at him and walked away. "The toaster looking thing!"
"I know what the phase meter is."
As Eira and Jane walked toward the factory Darcy called Jane - which started playing an annoying tune. Jane grabbed her phone and randomly hit buttons. "How do I change the ringtone on this thing?"
"An Astrophysicist with three degrees should be able to change her own ringtone," Darcy said as she walked up to them.
"Why are you calling me?"
I didn't want to shout," She turned to Ian. "Intern, entrance is this way."
"Ian," Eira corrected again. "His name is Ian."
As they entered the creepy, old factory, they heard a noise. Eira searched the perimeter. No one was around.
"I am not getting stabbed in the name of science," Darcy stated. There was another noise and she rose her hands up in the air. "It's okay, we're Americans!"
"That's suppose to make them like us?" Jane replied.
Suddenly three kids come out of their hiding places. When they realized there was no harm, the children decided to show them what they've been up to. they led the adults up to a truck. One boy touched the truck and pushed it up with two fingers. They watched with amazement as the truck floated in mid-air. The kids then took them to a stairwell. The girl dropped a bottle down and they watched the bottle disappear into thin air.
"Where'd it go?" Darcy asked.
The girl pointed her finger up, they all looked up to see the bottle reappear above them, and continuously fall and disappear in the same spots.
"That's incredible," Eira said.
Jane picked up and empty can and dropped it down the stairs. It disappeared into thin air. When they looked up, it didn't reappear.
"What happened?" Darcy asked.
"Sometimes they come back, sometimes they don't," the little girl explained.
"I want to throw something," Darcy said. "Jane's bodyguard, give me your shoe."
"My name is Eira."
Jane picked up her gadget. "I haven't seen readings like this since..."
"New Mexico?" Darcy gave her a meaningful look.
"Don't touch anything!" She yelled as she ran off.
"Wait! Jane!" Eira rushed to catch up. "You mustn't go anywhere alone!"
As she ran toward her, Eira found herself in another realm. She wasn't sure how she got there. She called out everyone's name, but no one was around. It was dark, cold - like death had gripped her in his claws, clamping down until the like was snuffed out. She felt as though she had been trapped there for hours, screaming for someone to help her, panicked that she would be stuck there - lost. Of course, this would be the way she died, alone. She felt her body drift in the air and everything went black.