Darcy pushed herself back into the hospital room waiting chairs, trying to find a comfortable spot. She failed. The doctors had accepted the story they came up with: her ridiculously drunk boyfriend had thought it would be hilarious to start a fight with a biker, had lost miserably and the biker had fled.

Of course, it had all been fine and dandy 'til the lead doctor who looked after Thor had stepped in to check on him- and seemed to have recognized the other three. After one look, they knew their story was all but debunked on paper.

So now they were waiting for the other shoe to drop, trying not to look like They'd Done This Before With The Other God Brother.

After a few minutes, the doctor came out of the exam room, looking more angry than confused like he had with Thor. "You three again…" he mused.

Darcy got up. "How's my boyfriend? Is Steve okay?". He didn't look like a Steve at all, but it was the first name to pop up since she had to go down the list of exes when she was getting the cover story, and Steve had been the least douchey of them all, so she had picked that one.

The doctor, to his credit, squinted at her. "Is he your boyfriend? Is he really?"

"Excuse me?!" Darcy squeaked, trying to sound indignant as possible. Erik had shifted uncomfortably, so the best thing to do was distract him.

The doctor crossed his arms. "Don't think I don't remember you people. A month back, you brought in some… Nordic looking guy who had enough superstrength to take out four doctors and a security team. Now this guy can't do damage since he's out cold, but by rights he should be dead."

"By rights?" Jane finally cut in.

The doctor levelled her with a look, but brought up his chart. "Bruising, consistent with your story, so at first I wondered about some… fight club the two of them could've been involved in, and if that's still the case, it's very much a 'talk about Fight Club' deal, but then… all of the veins showing, all the coloring-those are side effects of at least ten fatal diseases and infections. Your guy should've been dead about six times over by now. But he seems to be healing at an alarming rate too, and his vitals are normal for a person of his height, weight and apparent age, so if there's anything you want to tell me…"

"He's a way fast healer. He's apparently always been, so nope, just tell us when we can get him back," Darcy cut in.

The doctor frowned at her, but sighed. "As soon as he wakes up, I'm assuming. If he's a fast healer, and… well, records show he is now, he just has to regain-"

There was suddenly panicked shouting from behind them.

The doctor donned a far-away look, then set them with another disapproving look, and they tried to match his far away look. They were all dreading history repeating itself. The doctor turned on his heel and headed for Loki's room. Darcy, Jane and Erik all looked between each other before bolting after him.

In Loki's room, the God had apparently woken up, ripped his I.V out and was brandishing the drip's stand like a staff. He was barely getting it off the ground in his weakened state, but the nurses and doctors, apparently also having flashbacks from Thor were staying as clear as they could from him.

There were a few seconds of silence, and then Loki visibly swayed on his feet, then collapsed in a heap.

More silence passed between the onlookers, then Darcy bolted forward. "Well, he did wake up!"

Erik made a grunt of acknowledgement. "We'll pay up like we did the last time. You have our word!"

"Just get him out of here!" the doctor snapped.

Darcy thought about coming back at him with a shot at bedside manner, but she decided they had bigger issues to deal with. Besides, if he got back to full health- if that was even possible now, judging by his reactions, if he was in the hospital, more people would get hurt. The three of them made their way over, framed the man, and then dragged him out of the room, down a couple of halls, and out of the hospital.

After a while, they had managed to drag him into the camper and had settled for getting as many bungee cords as they could and tying him to one of the folding metal tables they had in the back. It would last a grand total of ten seconds, but at least it would be something.

They took turns by the hour to watch him. Of course, Darcy had the sixth shift, and that was when he woke. She had gotten distracted by the last of the blue veiny lines running along his cheeks when she had noticed he opened his eyes. She reared back.

Loki, on the other hand, jerked forward, then looked down. "What are these holding me? Release me, mortal!"

"No can do, since you tried to kill us that one time."

"Do you think these… ropes can stop me?!" Loki hissed, and arched against them.

"Apparently they can, so it works for me," Darcy countered. She had no idea where she got the courage to talk back, considering who she was talking to, but she had been bullied too many times in life to change so quickly.

Loki scowled at her. "Do you even know who you challenge, you foolish girl?! I am Loki, son of-" he stopped short and almost looked like he had been slapped. "… it doesn't matter anymore." He settled back.

Darcy frowned. "What? Did your and Thor's father not like the whole murder thing?"

"Hold your tongue, mortal. My business is my own." He clearly wanted to add something, judging by his facial expression, but he stayed quiet.

"So that's a yes, then?" Darcy asked, and when he gave her a death glare, she was finally rightfully terrified. She risked getting her phone and sending a 'he's up' text to Erik and Jane.

Loki stared at her for a while, then sighed. "Leave me be, Mortal. I've no quarrel with you any longer, you have no quarrel with me. Let me go."

"Are you kidding me?!"

The two turned to look at the door when they heard Jane, and sure enough, the woman barreled through. She stormed over and stopped a couple of feet from Loki. "You tried to kill us, you killed Thor-"

Loki scoffed. "Yes, you've mentioned that-"

"-And now you're back here, so you're probably back to try to kill him again and were off to a bad start, so let me break this to you, too. He's gone. He's been gone for a little while now."

"Of course he's gone. He destroyed the bridge to protect all of you from me. It was the last thing I saw him do. He's back at his precious home with his precious family," Loki spat.

"You mean 'our'?" Jane countered.

"No," Loki murmured, "I don't."

Darcy looked between the pair of them. Well, that definitely meant something had gone wrong… up there. She could've sworn she saw him look hurt for a split second, but it was gone behind that cold stare a moment later. Christ, what had happened up on the rainbow bridge thing when they had been awkwardly standing around waiting?

Loki glowered at her. "As I was telling your companion, I had no quarrel with you. I never have. I was after Thor, no one else. Let me go."

"Says the God of Lies," Jane countered.

Loki made a face at her.

"We did our research when Thor mentioned you," Darcy explained.

Jane nodded. "God of tricks, lies… basically we shouldn't trust you. We shouldn't even have brought you here."

Loki groaned and leaned back. "So continue to conflict yourselves. I am offering to leave in peace, you don't want me to be here, I don't want to be here. If you continue to wait for the attack that will not come, be my guest."

Jane frowned at him, then looked at Darcy. "Keep an eye on him. I'm talking to Erik."

Darcy sighed, then looked back at Loki when Jane left. "Sure, leave me with the crazy murderer when he's awake. This won't end well."

"It won't…" Loki murmured. He leaned his head back and didn't speak for a while.

Darcy looked at him, and the pained look was back. She wondered if he was trying to play them. To her annoyance, that part of her that felt that if someone looked like a kicked puppy, they needed and wanted help kicked in, as much as she didn't want it to. "… You… want water or something?"

Loki looked back up at her briefly, puzzled.

She shrugged. "We're not exactly experienced in the whole… kinda sorta taking-a-god-prisoner-'til-we-figure-out-what-to-do thing. I mean, Thor was a first and he wasn't… well…"

"A monster? A murderer, as you keep saying?" Loki spat and laid back down.

"Dunno about the monster bit, but yeah, murderer. At least you can admit it," Darcy shrugged.

Loki scoffed.

Silence passed between them for a few minutes. After a while, Darcy strained her neck to see if he was awake. When she saw he was, she leaned back. "So… do you still have your powers? 'Cause we thought Thor was a mental case and then he got them back when he was fighting you that metal death machine thing you sent, and it was mad cool, and-"

"I don't. I wouldn't be here if I did," Loki explained. "I don't understand…" he continued, but stopped.

Darcy bowed her head. She still wasn't sure whether to believe him, but that did explain his 'vitals being normal' despite 'all the infections and diseases.' He was mortal, just like Thor had been. Okay, maybe that was Earth 1, Norse God 0. But what would happen if he did get his powers back? Better start kissing his ass now, she pointed out to herself. "You uh… you comfortable?"

"What?" he looked more confused than he had with the water comment.

She motioned vaguely at his armor. "Looks kinda pointy in all the wrong places to be laying down with it."

"It's fine…"

"Alright dude, I'm just… trying to make this okay for you."

Loki looked at her in confusion again, then shook his head, dismissive, mocking, and leaned back yet again. "You're trying to gain my favor in case I break free or I'm lying to you," Loki corrected.

Darcy shrugged. "You know what? Yes."

"I told you, this is the last place I want to be…" Loki murmured.

" 'Scuse me if I don't believe that."

Silence passed between them again. After a few minutes, Erik came back into the room. He hesitated in front of Loki for a moment to the point that even the god looked uncomfortable. Erik finally spoke. "We're at an odd spot, aren't we? We can't trust you, but we can't keep you here. And I don't think you have the strength to do anything else."

"I keep telling you worthless halfwits that I want nothing to do with any of you. Nothing to do with the people who helped him. Nothing to do with this blasted realm!" Loki snapped again, straining against his bonds again. "I assumed you were all smarter than this."

"You can take the offer or leave it. Makes no difference to me," Erik shrugged. "We've just got to figure out a way to get you home and away from here."

"I have no home," Loki deadpanned.

It was Erik's turn to make a face. He hesitated again. "Well, what will it be?"

Darcy stepped back again and fished her phone out of her pocket. She didn't pause in dialing 9-1, and waited.

"… I decline," Loki replied without missing a beat.

Erik studied him, then nodded. "Fine. I've got to make a call, anyway…" he backed up, then went to leave the room.

Darcy leaned back towards him at the last minute. "Call? Call who?"

"Our mutual friend who Jane won't be happy with," Erik answered.

It took Darcy a moment, but realization dawned on her. Coulson. No, Jane would be livid. She'd kind of be livid too, but she could deal. "Remind him to give me back my iPod!" she suggested.

Erik grunted in acknowledgement, then walked out of the room.

Darcy turned back to Loki, who was aiming a confused look at her once again. She crossed her arms over her chest. "Dude's a hardass. You're in for it now."

"I'll take your word for it," Loki replied.

Darcy's frown deepened. So this standoffish little shit was the one Thor was so upset about pre-murder? Not to mention this guy was a murderer? Of manners, seemed more likely. Maybe the metal death monster was some sort of ploy from another person, because it didn't seem like this guy could have the mere interest in controlling it. Then again, he was apparently an inch from dying and yet perfectly okay, so who really knew what was what in this case?

At least for now, she had more important things to focus on.

Like how long Itunes was going to take getting all her replaced and new songs back onto her iPod. Idiot princes from other realms could wait.