Loki awoke to darkness. He lifted his head suddenly and immediately regretted doing so. White hot pain flared through his skull, nearly causing him to faint. He slowly tried to get out of the chair he was sitting in, only to discover that he was bound.

"Hello?" He called cautiously.

Suddenly, a bright light was shined in his face. Loki blinked, momentarily blinded by the sudden onslaught.

"Oh! Sorry!" A female voice cried. The light vanished, and Loki was once again rendered blind.

"Wha- Who?" Loki asked, confused. He was barely able to make out the form of a young woman. She was fumbling with what appeared to be a torch that ran off of some form of electricity.

Electricity, Loki thought with an amused smirk, how primitive.

"So, you're probably pretty confused," The woman began, "I'm Darcy. Hi. So, who are you?"

"I am Loki, Son of Od-" he paused. He had almost said 'Son of Odin' but could he still say that? Now that he knew that he was not the King of Asgards son, how should he present himself?

"My name is Loki." he said finally.

"Huh." Darcy nodded, "Well then, welcome to Earth, Loki."

Earth, Loki thought, I'm stranded on Midgard then. How fitting.

"It's rather dark in here," he said, "Perhaps some light would be nice?"

"This is going to sound crazy," Darcy said, "But a few days ago, this big man-machine thing came and ripped up some of our power lines, and they haven't been fixed yet, so we don't have power right now. But Erik is setting up a generator in the back, so hopefully the lights will come back on soon."

Loki winced. He understood half of that explanation; he had been the one who sent said 'big man-machine thing' in order to prevent his oaf of a brother from ascending to power.

I had to do it, Loki wanted to say, he would have soaked Asgard in blood.

"Perhaps I could have something for my head?" he said instead. The pain had subsided to a dull throb, but was still present.

Darcy blinked and looked away sheepishly, her green eyes illuminated by the soft glow of the electric torch she was still carrying.

"Yea, sorry about that…." She said, blushing, "I miiiight have tazed you…"

"Yea, was that completely necessary?" another woman had entered the room. She looked strangely familiar, but Loki couldn't seem to place her.

"In my defense," Darcy turned to the woman indignantly, "He did break into our van."

"I can assure you that no 'breaking in' occurred," Loki said, "The door was unlocked." Well, with a bit of magic, it was. Silence. Both women turned to stare at him as though he had shed his skin and become a bilgesnipe.

The lights in the room flickered to life, but neither mortal took notice.

"The door was what?" The brunette's voice had become dangerously low, turning slowly towards Darcy.

"Whoa, don't look at me!" Darcy cried, "Erik was driving!" And with that, the second woman whisked out of the room

"I'd better go supervise this." Darcy grimaced, and Loki was once again left alone.

Now, he thought, the matter of my bindings… He knew that he could escape easily, but where would he go? No, he was much better off with these mortals than he would be alone. He would use them to his advantage. However, the bindings had to go.

Somewhere outside, Loki heard people yelling. He caught the words 'millions of dollars', 'equipment', and 'research'. He grinned. They had bought his story.

Suddenly, Darcy appeared in the doorway with a cold compress. She gave him an unreadable look before placing the compress on his forehead unceremoniously.

"I don't know what you did," she said, watching him through narrowed eyes, "But I know for a fact that Erik locked the van." So close.

"I haven't the faintest idea what you are talking about," Loki said, giving her an innocent smile. Her cat like eyes stared him up and down, as though she were sizing him up.

"Why are you here?" She said finally.

"I was banished from my home." Well it was half true. While he hadn't been banished, Loki knew that he could never return to his home, and wasn't that basically the same thing?

At that moment, the brunette stormed angrily into the room, followed by an equally-upset man.

"Jane, I swear I locked it!" The man said. Jane! That was it! Loki knew exactly who this woman was; Jane Foster, the mortal with whom his brother had become smitten.

"You!" Jane said warily, locking eyes with Loki, "How did you get out of the hospital?"

"Magic." Loki answered curtly, winking at Darcy. A flicker of recognition flashed in her eyes.

"No such thing." The man, presumably Erik, said quickly, but Loki caught the look that passed between Jane and Darcy. These mortals had indeed witnessed true magic then. He needed to choose his next words very carefully.

"I'm assuming that you've met my brother then?" Loki said nonchalantly.

"Thor!?" Jane squeaked. Darcy rolled her eyes.

"So you are Asgardian?" Erik eyed Loki skeptically. He doesn't believe me Loki thought.

"Can you prove it?"

Loki smiled up at his captors. Suddenly, his restraints disappeared. He stood up, brushing himself off. He grinned at the three stunned faces before him.

"Now, if you don't mind, I am rather tired. I think I'll retire for the night." And with that, he strode out of the room. Success.