Disclaimer: I don't anything you recognize. I'm sorry too.

Well, it seems I am inspired with this story. Let me know what you think, please! I need your reviews like I need oxygen to breathe. I apologize for any mistakes you can find.

Enjoy it!


Darcy looked around her. Her office was in perfect condition now, and she was slightly tired. She had been cleaning the place the entire morning. She turned on the computer and put some music, dancing a little on her way to the chair behind her desk.

She poured herself a nice cup of hot coffee, the fourth that day, and she was drinking it when the door opened and Jane entered, looking upset. Darcy raised her eyebrows, wondering what was wrong with her friend. Jane slumped on the little couch that Darcy had managed to get into her office without Fury's knowledge.

"Hey, you should knock instead of breaking in without warning. Who knows what you would find me doing in that couch one of these days." She said, smiling to Jane.

Her words caused no effect. Jane still looked upset, and slightly afraid, as if she wanted to say something but didn't know where to start.

"Look…" Jane hesitated. "I wanted to warn you about… You-know-who."

"Voldemort? You can say his name, he's dead anyways. He managed to kill himself, remember?" Darcy laughed at her own joke. Still, Jane's expression remained worried.

"No. Loki. He's… not well. I think he is completely crazy, and I think Fury has made an awful decision. All I can say is sorry, Darce."

Now Darcy was dumbfounded.

"Sorry for what, exactly?" She asked. "Yeah, Fury is releasing the devil inside SHIELD, or at least a dangerous psycho, but that's his choice and I don't see how it's going to affect us…unless Thor plans on getting to know his little not-brother again and repair their relationship. And believe me, you would be in trouble then, not me. I'm not planning on making friends with that guy. Like, ever. As a matter of fact, I think…" Her rambling was interrupted by Jane, who was on full-crisis-mode.

"Are you saying that you haven't talked to Fury yet?" She asked, her voice trembling with fear.

Darcy stared at her, denying slowly. Fury was looking for her? What had she done?

"Nope. I've been here the entire morning, and no one has required my presence anywhere. I've even cleaned this place, as you can see, because I was seriously bored."

In that moment, someone knocked on the door. Jane rose quickly from the couch.

"Come on in." Said Darcy, still looking at Jane, full of questions. An agent opened the door and said, his face completely expressionless:

"Agents Lewis? Colonel Fury is waiting for you in his office."

"W-well… let's go, then. Will you escort me or something?" Darcy asked. She didn't know the way to Fury's office.

"I will." He wasn't looking at her, as if he was a robot. Darcy rolled her eyes. Okay, if he wanted to act all professional, she would let him. She rose from her chair and turned the music off. She waved her hand in Jane's direction. Her friend was still looking at her, almost pleadingly. Darcy wondered why. She guessed she was about to find out.

Darcy had always hated SHIELD's hallways. They were all gloomy and lifeless. She felt like a prisoner in them.

That's why she preferred her office, she thought. Her office was always warm and inviting, and she kept it that way on purpose. Jane always went there when she had problems, and also Thor, and even Steve had been there once. Tony was a regular, and he always made sure to leave funny stuff for her to read, or to see. Like magazines with him on the cover. Or photoshopped pictures of him and Steve. Or weird pieces of tech with crazy behaviour. Seriously, she had to be careful with those.

Darcy smiled when she remembered Tony. They were friends, he had helped her during her basic training when they started to work for SHIELD (not that she and Jane had a lot of choice either, SHIELD could be really persuasive) and Darcy chose to start using her degree in Political Science for something significant. So, Ian-dickhead was now Jane's intern, and Darcy could do something she really liked, instead of hearing Jane's craziness the entire day. Not that she didn't love her friend, but she didn't understand the first word about science.

But, at first, it had been hard. Agents were really cold and they didn't really care about her, or about knowing each other at all. Darcy had hated each and every one of them, until Tony showed up and told her that they were like that because they weren't allowed to socialize too much with her until she decided to be a permanent SHIELD's member.

Tony had become her big brother, just like Thor. He protected her and he had made her laugh when she was worried she was never going to find friends among the agents. Finally, her basic training finished, she chose to be a SHIELD's agent permanently and the other agents suddenly transformed themselves into humans again.

That did not mean they were one big happy family, but at least she got to know two of them, and they were a nice team.

"Here we are." Said the agent, pointing at a black door. She nodded and the agent left, leaving her alone.

"Alright, Darcy, now it's time to face this shit and get over it. Fury can't be that bad, can he?" She thought for herself, and knocked the door.

"Come on in, agent." she heard on the other side, and she entered the room.

Fury's office was…black. And full of tech. That was the first thing Darcy thought about the place in which they directed every single movement agents made all around the world. Fury was sitting behind a big dark desk, with a lot of papers on top of it, and all of him emanated power. Maybe it wasn't too late to start running and get a job at McDonald's, right?

"Good afternoon, agent Lewis." Nick Fury's voice interrupted her internal monologue. Too late. Farewell, McDonald's.

"Good afternoon, Colonel Fury." She said, without hesitation. Yeah, she was about to have an internal anxiety collapse, but she could manage to look unfazed on the outside. "What did you need me for, sir?"

Nick Fury's eye assessed her as if trying to get into her head. She remained there, trying not to run away from that powerful gaze upon her.

"You have a degree on Political Science." He said. Stating the obvious, thought Darcy.

"Yes, sir, I do." Her voice sounded slightly intrigued by Fury's affirmation.

"Well, this is your new assignment." Fury's expression was as serious as death. "You will help Loki to blend himself on earth. He must learn everything you know about our technology, and you will make him an efficient agent. I want him to be an Avenger, and I want him to learn to cooperate."

She stared at him in disbelief. Surely he wasn't asking her to help a psychotic alien. She didn't even know how to protect herself from something like magic.

Shit, she didn't even know how to protect herself from life! She wasn't Natasha Romanoff…

The little beeps of the machines around her brought her back to the unpleasant reality.

"With all due respect, sir, are you sure you have called the right agent? My clearance level is like… one? And I don't have that much experience on the field, you know, I'm not a soldier, I'm a political…scientist? I…." she stammered and stuttered, but Fury interrupted her with a firm voice.

"As I said before, you have a degree on Political Science. You know how to treat with people from the other side of the world. You know how to negotiate with them, how to make them do everything you need them to do. We need Loki's cooperation, but we are not fools. We know he acts for his own benefit. That's why we need someone like you."

Darcy was astonished, and, she had to admit, completely terrified. Loki was a mass murderer. A friking mass murderer. She didn't interact with people like him. She ran away and hide. That's what you do with crazy psychos, she thought. They're beyond reason.

"What about Romanoff?" she asked, hopelessly. "She's like… the woman for that job, isn't she?"

Nick Fury sighed and frowned dangerously. Darcy took a step back.

"Agent Romanoff bested Loki's acting skills before New York. He hates her, to say the least. And besides, her profile is not what we are looking for. We need a non-threatening person. Someone like you."

Darcy needed something strong. Like Tony's vodka. No way Fury was doing that to her.

"But…"

"Are you questioning your superior's order?" He snapped suddenly, and Darcy took another step back.

Shit. Fury was furious. Pun intended.

"You have chosen to become an agent, and agents do not let their emotions interfere with their jobs. Haven't you learn that during your training?" He continued with the same tone.

"Yes, sir." She mumbled. She was about to faint. If only she was more girly, she could pretend to be fainting and perhaps they would call someone to rescue her.

But probably Fury was going to slap her awake before anyone could do anything.

"That's what I thought. Brock and Gadhavi will be your supporting team, but they cannot know Loki's true identity. If they ask you, you will say he's a new agent and that he's learning about New York. You can invent anything to avoid further questions. If someone besides me and Dr. Foster and the Avengers knows he's here and not dead, they will do anything to attract him. That cannot happen."

"Yes, sir." She mumbled again. Great, she had to lie to her two friends. That was just marvellous.

"You can leave now." He dismissed her with a wave of his hand, and Darcy turned around and left the office.

She walked back to her office feeling numb. She didn't even know how she managed not to get lost.

She opened the door and almost threw herself on the couch. But Jane was sitting there, and the look in her eyes told Darcy she knew this was coming all along.

"Hey" She said, and sat on her desk. Jane gave her a cup of coffee.

"So…Fury told you." Said Jane, tentatively.

"Yeah… he was pretty…bossy." Darcy took off her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose softly.

"Is it going to be a 24/7 assignment?" Jane was positively terrified now.

"Fury didn't say, so I guess it will be more like a tour around the city, showing you-know-who we are not as pathetic as he seems to think. Not that that is going to change his mind about us. He knows he could crush us if he wants to."

Jane nodded.

Neither of them said anything in a while, trying to accept the reality. Fury had gone mad, Darcy was sure. She couldn't say it out loud, but she knew Jane was thinking the same.

Suddenly, a commotion outside caught their attention. Thor, Tony and Steve stormed inside her office and started talking at the same time. However, when Steve saw Darcy's face, he went over and put a hand on her shoulder.

"We will help you, Darcy." He assured her, his warm voice sending shivers down her spine. She smiled, blushing slightly. She had a crush on Steve, although she was never going to let anyone know about it.

"Thanks, Cap. I think I will need all the help I can get."

"I'm going to talk to Fury. He will change his mind, he needs to understand the danger he's putting you under." Tony was utterly convinced there had been a mistake.

"My brother is no longer a threat, I assure you, Darcy." Thor's voice boomed on the room like thunder.

"Yeah, you say that because he's been on a cell for the past two years. Now he's going to be free. I don't want to see Darcy being thrown out of a window as it happened to me." Snapped Tony.

"She's going to be okay, we will protect her." Intervened Steve, trying to calm things down. Jane was hugging Thor, her face almost desperate, and Tony seemed like he was about to break something.

"Loki could have escaped that cell, but he didn't. I think that speaks for itself." Said Thor.

Suddenly, four faces looked at him in disbelief.

The argument grew into heat, and soon enough the three men looked ready to hit each other.

"Guys" started Darcy, trying to make them listen. They ignored her. "GUYS!" she screamed, and they finally looked at her. "I will do it. It's an assignment, and my first big one. Yeah, I don't think I will succeed, but at least I will try. I have experience with people from 'the other side of the world', as Fury put it, and I will use it for this."

"Yeah, well, he's not from the other side of the world…he's from another world, and that is it. It's not like he's German. He's…" Tony started, but Thor interrupted.

"He's Asgardian, and as an Asgardian he's been taught to understand other realms."

"It seems he does not want to understand anything outside his ambition." Said Steve.

"We do not know what he pretends right now." Stated Darcy. "Perhaps I can find out."

"You will be in danger." Tony was almost pleading right now. "Let me talk to Fury."

Darcy sighed.

"No. I will do it. I know you will protect me, and that makes me feel a little better. You did defeat him two years ago." Darcy smiled softly. She was grateful for having such friends around her.

"We did." Tony smiled mischievously, recalling old times.

Thor looked a little embarrassed. Jane smiled reassuringly at him.

"Now, go away so I can think this through. I don't want you around bickering like five year olds."

Jane and Thor left, and soon enough Tony did too. Steve was following him, but in the last moment he turned around and took her hand in his.

"I promise you, I will be there for anything you need." He said, his voice soft but firm at the same time. She blushed like a teenager. Damn her!

"I know, Steve. And I thank you for that." She smiled sheepishly at him. Geez, she definitely had a big crush on this perfect man. Steve nodded and left her, closing the door on his way out.

"It will be fine. He will learn to like us, and I will have freed the world from a threat. It's going to be just fine." She thought, trying to calm herself.

She did not know how wrong she was.