She found herself standing in the doorway of the large observatory, its huge telescope directly in the center of the room. She saw movement in the corner, saw that Mr. Lamont was already there. Through the darkness she could still see the disarming smile on his face as he approached her. ''Well, well, what have we here? Little Miss Violet can't seem to keep herself out of trouble, can she?'' Violet put her hands on her hips. ''I'd have far less trouble to contend with if you would simply leave me alone!''
''Oh but dear Violet, where would be the fun in that? We have to stick together, you'll know. I'll bet that we can be quite of use to each other.''
''Why should I think that?''
''You know it, secretly.'' He drew her close to him with a restrained roughness. ''Or you wouldn't always be looking for me.''
''I don't look for you!'' she insisted, her fingers digging into his shoulders. His teeth closed lightly around her earlobe and her knees weakened. ''You just...oh...you just show up everywhere! You're the one who's following me!''
''Maybe we should just decided that it's fate, then?'' he whispered, pulling away to look her in the eyes, his fingers on her chin, tilting her face up towards him. Instead of kissing her as she expected, he said, in a low, curious tone, 'Watch the skies, darling. Something's coming.''
Darcy woke up with a start and looked at the clock. It wasn't even five a.m. yet! She had at least an hour and a half before she had to get up. She shook her head and tried to clear it. That dream had been very real. Well, they were all real, and getting more so all the time, it seemed, but it had been so...tactile, she could still almost feel every sensation, every touch. She turned over in bed, sighing. Well, really, what did she expect? Her subconscious was probably working in overdrive after her reassignment the day before, which had been quite a shock to say the least. Being around Loki for nearly all of the day after only before seeing him in passing was apparently setting her imagination ablaze. After arriving home, she had very poured herself an enormous glass of wine and had wrote wildly for almost two hours-as if she were trying to purge something from her system. Apparently, though, it hadn't worked, as evidenced by this latest dream. But if she was being entirely honest with herself, (and Darcy bore a nagging suspicion that she hadn't been, recently) she was protesting a bit too much. There were worse things she could be dreaming about.
Working with Loki was easier than Darcy had expected, they were actually getting along quite well, despite the obvious tension on her end. More and more, as the day went on, she was able to convince herself that all her worries had been overblown and silly, that he hadn't read any of her stories at all, and obviously had better things to worry about. Once she had decided this, she was less anxious around him, but there was still those pesky lingering feelings that, like the dreams, didn't seem to be going away. Darcy tried her best to ignore them. Everything had been quiet today so far, boring even. Hopefully the signal had been some kind of a weird...space burp of no consequence. Jane would be back in a few days and she'd be moved downstairs again and everything would go back to normal. She could finish her story and end this silliness, and then maybe take up knitting or scrapbooking or fantasy football as a new hobby.
''You know,'' Darcy remarked, pulling a fun-size Milky Way bar out of her candy jar and unwrapping it, ''this signal thingy is a lot like that movie Contact.''
''I didn't see that one,'' Loki replied, watching her take a large bite. She held the jar out to him. He shook his head and she shrugged. ''Your loss. You need to expand your palate. Anyhow, so, this astronomer detects a big signal that's coming from this star called Vega. And inside the signal is like a transmission of Hitler giving a speech, so they're like 'oh my god, space Nazis,' but really it's just because it was the first really strong transmission that got sent into space and they sent it back to us, but hidden inside is this weird blueprint for building like an interstellar transport device, so they build the thing but then some radical dude blows it up but then this rich bald guy-''
''Maybe,'' Loki said loudly, holding up his hands, cutting her off. She stopped, and he continued on in a milder tone, ''Maybe, rather than you narrating the entire plot to me, we could just watch it.''
She grinned impishly. ''You mean like now?''
''Are you currently doing anything that's of great importance?''
''No, actually,'' she said. ''And you know, we could say that this is for research purposes.''
''My thoughts exactly.''
So Darcy happily forked over the $2.99 to rent it from Amazon, and she and Loki spend the next two hours hard at work on 'research', watching the movie on her laptop.
''So,'' she said when it was over, ''any insights?''
He scowled. ''What utter rot.''
She scrunched up her face a little in agreement. ''Yeah, the ending kinda blows.''
''It was appalling drivel. I expected better. The first half was actually rather interesting.''
Darcy nodded. ''True. Hey, I've got a better one. We should watch Independence Day next, it's much better. It starts out with a signal from space like that one did, but instead of wimping out and getting all philosophical there's like tons of explosions and chaos and Jeff Goldblum, you'll love it-''
''I'm sure I will,'' Loki quickly cut her off, ''but let's save that one for tomorrow, shall we? I expect it will be equally as uneventful as today.''
She smiled and opened her mouth to say something else when her computer screen showed an incoming video message.
''Oh, it's Jane in New Mexico! She mentioned that she'd be checking in.'' Darcy clicked at the screen. ''Hey!'' she said as her friend's face came into view. She seemed to be outside, the sky and the array of telescopes could be seen in the distance behind her. ''How goes it out in the desert?''
''Quiet,'' the scientist replied with a shake of her head. ''There's been no more recurrance of the signal, not so much as a twitch.'' She sighed.
''Did they check the last one for imbedded messages?''
''Darcy, I told you, that doesn't really happen.''
''It could! We might be missing something important!''
''I don't doubt that, but I'm sure its not imbedded messages. Now-'' Jane paused as she seemed to be looking at something over Darcy's shoulder. Or someone. ''Who is that?'' she demanded. ''Where are you? Is that Loki?''
Darcy saw him roll his eyes as he moved closer into view. ''Hello, Dr. Foster,'' he said, waving at her. She blatantly ignored him. ''What are you doing with Loki?''
''I was temporarily reassigned to help him with research while you're gone.''
Jane's face twitched and then she exploded into a tirade so fierce that Darcy found herself turning the speaker volume to nearly mute. When Jane appeared to be finished, she turned it back up. ''-of all the irresponsible moves they have made, this is the stupidest one...just wait until I get back there, I'll break my foot off in Fury's-''
''Ok, not done,'' muttered Darcy, turning the volume down again. Suddenly, Dr. Foster was interrupted in her ranting by a smallish object that seemed to fall directly out of the sky and bounce off of her shoulder. It was soon followed by another, then more, until there was a steady shower of them.
Quickly turning the sound back up, Darcy leaned closer to the screen. ''Jane, what is that? What's going on?'' Even Loki seemed to be curious, he was now leaning over her shoulder to see the developing situation. Despite the inappropriateness of the timing, Darcy couldn't help but notice that he smelled very good. It was an exotic, mysterious scent, like incense in some foreign temple. She gave herself a mental pinch and returned to the matter at hand.
The scientist gave a little shriek, and the screen shook as she jumped out of the way of something. The tablet was tilted down at an angle that they could see...
''Frogs!'' Jane yelped. ''It's raining fucking frogs!'' It did indeed appear to be. As Darcy looked on, unsure of whether to be concerned or crack up laughing, more and more of the amphibians tumbled from the sky. Jane had started running now. ''I gotta go, I'll call you back!'' And then the connection cut out in mid-shriek.
''She really hates frogs,'' Darcy explained. ''And snakes. And turtles, interestingly enough. But mostly frogs.'' She thought for a moment. ''We should probably call the National Weather Service.''
She now saw that Loki was practically doubled over with laughter. It was a near-astonishing sight, almost as uncommon as frog-rain, she'd never seen him actually laughing before. She couldn't help but notice that it was a rather pleasing sight. He had a nice laugh, too.
''Hey, it's not funny...well, ok, it is kinda funny but-'' then she paused. ''You didn't have anything to do with this, did you?''
He laughed even harder at the suggestion. ''No,'' he managed. ''But I wish I had—the look on her face!''
Much as Darcy hated to be amused at her best friend's expense, the expression on Jane's face had been priceless.
She was not disappointing, Loki mused to himself about Darcy Lewis. Some of the nervousness that she had displayed in his presence before was going away, and she was acting far more at ease. He wondered what she had heard about him, someone must have told her awful things, probably Foster. Even if they were true, she'd probably just been scared unnecessarily; he had hardly any of his abilities anymore, none of the major ones, anyhow, but he still had his intelligence, and his wit, and a few of his naturally more evolved senses. No, she didn't seem quite as anxious, but there was still something, something deliciously intriguing that he couldn't quite place. It glimmered in her eyes, sometimes, like a spark, like a heat hiding under her skin. Yes, he had made the right decision: she was definitely worth a closer look.
Darcy spun in her chair after hanging up the phone. ''So, I called the National Weather Service and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration—god, try saying that one three times fast—and nobody could tell me anything. They are as confused as we are about the whole frognado situation.''
''It wasn't really a frognado,'' he replied. ''It was more of a steady rain, I would say.''
''Yeah, but this sounds better. It's more relevant.''
''I see.''
She sat thoughtfully for a moment. ''I wonder if anything else weird is going to happen?''
Loki scoffed. ''Like what? A plague of locusts, perhaps?''
''I don't know...it just...seems...ominous, somehow.''
''Strange weather—and that's all this was-isn't necessarily indicative of anything.''
''Maybe not, but-'' As Darcy was completing that thought, there came a loud tap against the window. ''What the hell...'' Now followed a loud clattering from outside as what sounded like thousands of tiny rocks plummeted down upon the city. One car alarm began to screech, then another. ''Is that hail?'' she wondered, moving closer to look out. Loki put a hand on her arm, pulling her back. ''It's not hail. Come away from the window.''
''These windows are like triple reinforced,'' she protested. ''Still,'' he told her, though he quickly let go of her. This phenomenon lasted for a few more seconds, then stopped abruptly. The sound of sirens followed soon after. ''What was that?'' Darcy asked, paling a little. He ran to the computer. ''That,'' he said, ''was a small meteor shower.''
''Here?'' she said with disbelief. ''In the middle of the day?''
''Well they can happen any time, they're just not usually this visible.'' He frowned and tapped at a few keys. ''Nothing,'' he said. ''It didn't register at all. Not even a twitch.''
''What do you mean, it didn't register!? We just saw like a gazillion meteorites hit the city!''
''Of course we did, but it's not showing on any of the equipment. There isn't any evidence that it actually happened.''
''What about all the freaking space rocks scattered all over the ground!'' Darcy looked down at the street, where traffic was gridlocked, more than a few fender-benders had occurred, small fires were being put out, and people were very, very angry. ''What about all that?''
''You're misunderstanding me, calm down for a moment and listen!'' Loki gripped her by the shoulders and then once again swiftly pulled away, saying in a calmer tone, ''Of course there is physical evidence. Obviously. However, you know that part of your job, and mine, and Foster's, is to watch for signs in order to detect things like this before they happen. And normally, when there is a meteor shower, or a rain of frogs or some such things, it is detectable. It leaves behind some sort of trail, showing that it was there. It registers on all this equipment that they pay an inordinate amount of money for. And now, I'm telling you, that it might not be working anymore. We might not have a way of seeing what's coming.''
Thankfully, though there were several injuries and a small to moderate bit of damage to some cars and buildings from the impromptu meteor shower, there were no casualties and, while admittedly very strange, the situation seemed to be no real cause for alarm. Darcy herself had been a little shaken up at first, but Loki seemed very calm and unperturbed. He did most of the talking when they were summoned to Nick Fury's office, explaining most of the lack of detection away as a possible widespread equipment malfunction, probably a networking error. Darcy had to hand it to him, he was an excellent bullshitter, a regular Billy Flynn. Though the Director scowled quite a lot, he seemed mildly appeased by the time that the conversation was over. However, he did say, ''If what you're saying is true, then you had better figure out a solution and fast, or I will personally kick your ass all the way back to Asgard and let your father deal with you. I'm sure he won't be pleased to hear that you almost let the Earth get destroyed again.''
''That was a little harsh,'' said Darcy, once they had been dismissed and were walking back down the hallway. ''I mean, it's not your fault. You're trying your best.''
''I know it's not my fault,'' he said crossly. ''I'm just the one that's around to blame.''
Darcy was quiet for a minute, then she sighed. ''I wish we could have gotten the frognado instead.''
Loki's expression lightened a little. Then his phone rang. She looked on in interest as he answered it. He rarely got calls. ''Yes...yes I do...'' his eyebrows went up. ''Are you serious?'' As he registered what the voice on the other end was telling him, wheels were spinning in his head. With every crisis, he thought, with a glance over at her, there came an opportunity. ''Well, when...that long...oh, fine,'' and then he hung up on the person rather abruptly.
''What is it?'' Darcy asked, concerned. ''Is everything ok?''
''Apparently there was some significant damage to my flat during the...'' he nodded at the window. ''And because everyone is so very competent, they can't tell me exactly when I will be able to return.''
''Oh, shit. Well...'' She knew that she shouldn't be thinking what she was thinking, shouldn't be considering it, but what kind of decent person would she be if she didn't offer? The words were out of her mouth before she could stop herself. ''Would you like to stay with me at my place? Just for a night or two, until you can find something else?''
''I couldn't possibly inconvenience you like that,'' Loki said, knowing that she would insist.
''It's not an inconvenience at all. My place is plenty big enough, and that way we can get more work done and figure out what's really going on. So you don't get your ass kicked back to Asgard.'' She offered him a small grin.
Loki grinned back at her, and once again Darcy wondered what she had gotten herself into.
