"Woah, woah, back up." Clint lurched between Darcy and Loki, arms flailing. "How...is this even possible? Dude, everyone here wants to see you dead! You're not even playing!"
"Aren't I, though?" Loki sneered. "Well, if you must know. I decided to watch from the men's washroom. There, I learned, the very agents who hated me were more than willing to roll bullets under the door simply to relieve themselves. A very delicate system emerged, and here we are"
"I think I've seen enough." Tony began, heading towards the exit. "And I'd like my gun back now."
The room fell silent, as half the room, including Pepper, Natasha, and Steve, pulled weapons on the trio.
"Mister Stark, only Fort Asgard personnel are permitted to arm themselves inside."
"Alright, so you have us here, unarmed, now what do you want?" Tony glared at Loki, who simply dawned his signature grin.
"We'll discuss this over dinner. Tonight, we feast!"
Loki casually waved his hand, and plates of food, AMAZING food, graced the tables. The room was apprehensive about the meal provided by the trickster, but Darcy was so hungry she dived head-first into a roast chicken. Everyone realized the food was neither poisoned nor cursed, so they joined in the festivities.
The Avengers (plus Darcy and Loki) sat around an ornately decorated cafeteria table in the back of the room. Loki waved another hand, and the cups in front of them filled with water. Asgardian liquor might have been too strong for the occasion.
"What if I told you," Loki began, "that I know where to find enough ammunition to end this petty game? Split the prize seven ways, what do you say?"
"So send your lackeys to get it," said Tony, not touching his plate.
"Oh, they'd never bring it back. Thor is with you, I am entrusted to Miss Lewis, therefore we are akin to family."
"That's pretty warm and fuzzy coming from you, Loki..."Natasha retorted, raising a perfectly groomed eyebrow.
"Is it?"
"You're a monster. You've acted like a monster since you arrived. The world is still recovering." said Steve righteously. Loki physically tightened at the ''m' word.
"Fair." Loki struggled to remain poised. "But my intentions here are honorable."
"Oh, please. like I'm risking my ass to haul ammo back to a guy who nearly destroyed the earth." Tony said bitterly. Loki paused before speaking, treading lightly around the minefield of tension. "I know you all wish to see me dead. You have every right to. But please, let me begin atoning for my actions. It's a long road, but let me start by doing this for you. Let me aid the Avengers, Earth's mightiest warriors, in their time of need."
"Need I remind everyone that this is a paintball game?!"
"One-hundred grand is a lot of money to us with student loans...how many of us interns do you think are still in school?" Darcy reminded Tony.
"Oh, believe me, it's much more than that.." teased Loki. "More rides on this little competition than any of you can imagine. I have seen what will happen if you fail."
"Thank you, Captain Cryptic." groaned Clint. Darcy was frustrated at the lot of them. Loki was reaching out, an emotional seven-lane highway from his start on earth. She knew there was good in him somewhere in the massive black hole of issues.
"Fine, I'm in. Can't resist a challenge, and my wife will kill me if I don't give you a chance." Tony muttered, making sure Pepper's eyes were still green and not tesseract blue. The man was a bastard, but he did show a semblance of kindness to his postpartum wife.
"Alright. I'm game." Clint added.
"I'm in. Let's end this thing, I'm missing Colbert." Natasha half-smiled, refilling her ammo. Steve wondered who Colbert was, and if Clint knew his girlfriend had another man in her life.
"Well, it's settled!" Darcy stood up, raising her cup. "To The Avengers!"
"To The Avengers!" echoed the table.
The group made their way to Fury's office, leaving Loki to man the fort.
"I hope we find this cash of ammo soon, I need to pump." winced Pepper, dropping her usual poise in her discomfort. Steve blushed again.
"Hey," Tony grabbed Darcy's wrist and flashed her an apologetic smile.
"What?"
"I'm sorry, about earlier. I've been so focused on the Loki factor that I was insensitive about-"
"No, it's okay." Darcy smiled. "It's just...S.H.I.E.L.D is my family, ya know? and Loki is my responsibility. I can't pick and choose, I need to handle both...and somehow get my degree on top of it."
"You're a good kid, I hope you stay that way," said Tony, patting Darcy's head.
"Man, fatherhood really has you by the balls, doesn't it?"
"Pretty much."
The group went ahead as Darcy stopped in front of the Intern's lounge. She heard familiar, female voices.
"Hank Wilson, for your betrayal against the Astrophysics Interns Alliance, we hereby sentence you to pretensies death."
"C'mon, girls! I betrayed Accounting for you!"
"Ready...Aim..."
"Fire!" Darcy shouted, shooting each intern square in the gut.
"Not cool, Lewis!" their leader shouted.
"Yeah, well thanks for inviting me to your ASTROPHYSICS alliance, ho! Leave the guns."
"Whatev."
The girls dropped their weapons and filed out of the room.
"'He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not, will be victorious.' Fuck that!" She thought. Sun Tzu was full of it.
"Hey, Darce, can I join your alliance?" Hank had stood up, but his hands were bound with an ethernet cable.
"No!"
"Well, ok then!" Hank gave her a nod before ducking under her arm and running off, damn he was fast. Tony looked back and saw Darcy shooting furiously at the weaselly kid.
"Darcy, you ok?"
"Ugh, I'm out. Give me your gun."
"Alright, but be careful-"
Darcy was already halfway down the hall, chasing furiously after her prey. The rush was insane, she wanted victory. Darcy thought she tailed him into the lobby, but she was wrong. Someone else was waiting for her. The doors swung shut, and the Masked Rider had a gun to her back.
"I'll take that..." he whispered, gently unlacing the pistol from her fingers.
"Who are you?"
"The guy that's gonna win..."
"Stop the whole lone ranger act, it's creepy. Do you even work at S.H.I.E.L.D?"
"Sorry, I get paid to shoot paintballs, love, not the breeze."
Darcy froze. This was it, she was out. Goodbye, money. Hello, lifelong debt. The masked assassin aimed Tony's weapon against the small of her back and fired. Nothing happened. He pulled the trigger twice more. Nothing.
"You're dry, sweetheart."
Darcy's sigh of relief turned into a hiccup when he raised his own weapon.
Crap.
"Hey-" Tony was leaning against the newly opened door, gun to his hip.
"Hey, there." Clint emerged from behind the bookcase, how did he do that?
"I'll save you for last, sweetheart..." The gunslinger whispered menacingly into Darcy's ear.
"You won't get the chance," her lips mouthed before slamming her heeled boot into his foot. Darcy lurched out of the way as Tony and Clint shot from opposite directions. She took cover under the desk as her enemy smashed the observation window and out of sight. Once the coast was clear, she emerged and grabbed Tony's gun from the aftermath.
"Darce, did he shoot you?" asked Tony, checking her clothes for paint.
"He tried..." Darcy muttered angrily before firing two shots at Tony.
"What the hell?" he winced, but then looked down at his surprisingly clean shirt.
"Loki loaded your gun with blanks."
Another early update this week. There's tons of juice in the next chapter, so I wanted to get this one up and running and speed the process. Almost at the halfway mark! Thanks, everyone, for reading so far. I think I've rewatched the Community finale at least twenty times since I began writing AoW, haha. Love, DC.
