Chapter 4

Contempt loves the silence

Darcy stepped out of the bathroom freshly cleaned and ready to carry on her day, most likely being lazy and watching some television; she wasn't going to be working anytime soon and the clean up wasn't going on today as far as she could tell. So, day off! Hair dry, snacks found and remote in hand, she dropped herself down onto the sofa and pressed the power button, watching as the lights turned on and…static. Darcy pressed another button, but there was more static. She must have pressed them all before chucking it to the other side of the sofa in a huff and slumping back in the sofa.

"So much for top-of-the-range…" Darcy said, although she wondered whether it had anything to do with the attack. She stood up after a moment and walked to the door, opening it and thinking for a moment, before shrugging to herself and making her way into the room to her left, shutting the door and sitting down in the sofa there, clutching her snacks to herself as she picked up the remote and tried this TV instead. To her relief, it turned on and she commenced in watching the Big Bang Theory. She loved the show a lot and had missed it very much while she was in Tromso. Seriously, how she had survived without a TV was beyond her. Or at least internet, but they didn't even have that.

About ten minutes later, Darcy didn't realise she was no longer alone in the room until she heard the voice speak.

"What are you doing in my room?"

Darcy jumped in her seat at the sudden speech and stood up, turning around to find a tall, dark-haired man stood there looking none too happy. She couldn't help but think that he seemed familiar; green eyes, odd clothes, and he looked a little worse for wear. Oh holy mother of-

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Darcy exclaimed, her hand slowly going into her pocket and wrapping around the familiar comfort of her taser, even though technically she wasn't allowed a taser in New York, but she had only just arrived here. She would definitely have to talk to S.H.I.E.L.D. about special permission or whatever. However, the current issue was why the alien terrorist was in this room, and what did he mean by his room. Surely he couldn't be serious? She swallowed a little as the alien—Loki—made a few steps towards her.

"I am staying within these quarters. You, however, are uninvited," Loki said. Oh, he was a little too close and, well, the next thing she knew, Loki was shaking after she had brought out her taser and pressed the trigger. He dropped like a sack of potatoes.

Darcy stood there, staring at the fallen Norse God as he lay unconscious on his back, wondering what the hell she should do now. If she stayed long enough for him to awaken, she was going to be in a lot of trouble and she didn't really fancy dying on her first day back to the States. So she ran out and knocked on Thor's door erratically. "Thor! Open up!" Darcy called out. She heard some footsteps and the door opened to show Thor, looking concerned.

"Lady Darcy, what is wrong?" He asked.

"The guy who flattened New York's in the room opposite; I was using the TV, as mine was broken, and he suddenly was there, claiming that I was in his room," Darcy said. A look of realisation spread across Thor's face and he left the room, shutting it surprisingly carefully for a man with his muscles.

"Ah, Lady Darcy, I had not had the chance to inform you that he, my brother, is here on punishment for his crimes. He will not, however, hurt you, for his powers have been restricted," Thor said. Darcy blinked at him; so Earth was Asgard's naughty corner now? What kind of bullshit was this? If she ever met this Odin, she'd tell him where to shove it.

"I see. Well, your brother's not going to be particularly happy with me; I just tased his ass," Darcy said with a shrug. Thor blinked before laughing.

"You are quite something, Lady Darcy. My brother will not be happy, no," Thor said, crossing over into his brother's room and seeing the damage himself. He was thankful that his powers and physical abilities would not allow him to harm his friend; he could not trust his brother right now. Thor bent down and lifted Loki into his arms, before carrying him to his bed, lying him down on the sheets. "He will awaken in time." Darcy looked around the room, though it was pretty much the same as her own. The whole apartment was the same, save for the fact it was just the opposite way around. A few minutes later, both of them turned their attention to the unconscious God as he let out a groan.

Loki had been exploring the tower, invisible of course, for the lack of anything better to do. He thought it best to know the layout of the place he would be trapped for the unforeseeable future. Loki knew that his punishment upon Midgard would be far longer than that of Thor's; even if their crimes had been the same, Thor would always win out in the end. He kept the bitter feelings buried deep within him, not wishing to give Odin any reason to make his punishment worse. After all, even if he would likely die a mortal before he managed to regain the trust of all those who supposedly loved him, he still had his magic. Restricted, yes. He was unable to silence that insufferable man Stark, even though he seemed to aggravate each of his team members.

As soon as he returned to his abode, however, he found a mortal female sitting in front of the strange box he had yet to find out about. Now, it had moving pictures upon its surface. However, soon he felt a great jolt of pain run through him after speaking with the mortal and everything went black. When he felt consciousness stirring within him again, he groaned and blinked his eyes open. In his line of sight he could see Thor sat on the side of his bed and the mortal stood a little behind him. Loki's eyes didn't stay on the mortal long before turning back to the form of Thor, who appeared to be hiding his humour poorly. Loki scowled at him; if he was here to mock him, then he could leave. Or rather, he could leave regardless.

"Leave me, Thor," Loki growled.

"Good day to you too, brother," Thor said. Loki glared at his incorrect usage of the word brother. "I see you have met my friend Darcy Lewis."

"Is that her name? I care not, Thor. Now if you have nothing useful to say, leave," Loki said, turning on his side away from Thor, ignoring the pain it brought him.

He felt the pressure on the bed leave, much to his relief. "Very well, brother, but do not think that I have given up on you yet. While I have not forgiven you yet, my love for you never wanes," Thor said. Loki scowled.

"You are an idiot," Loki said.

"Call me what you like, I—," Thor started. Loki turned and sat up painfully at the same time, unconsciously sending a wave of green light towards him that caused the mortal girl to shriek and the magic just fizzled before it hit Thor. Loki growled and Thor shook his head, leading the mortal out of the room and shutting the door. Loki looked at his hands with a frown; that magic would not have hurt the oaf, merely sent him backwards, but…ahh, the mortal. Perhaps it would have hurt the mortal girl. This was the third time he had seen that girl and once again he could not fathom what Thor saw in the little scientist mortal, since Darcy Lewis was clearly the more attractive one. Not that he cared either way; if he had a choice, he would take himself far away from those he knew and…well, he was not sure what he would do after that, but it was a start.

Loki could hear some sound still within his outer chambers and stood up, walking over to the door and opening it. He was relieved to see that neither Thor nor his friend was in here; the box had just been left on. He turned it off with his magic and returned to his room. Loki shut the door with a quiet click and stared around the room. He was tired, but he didn't want to sleep.

He had more to fear from dreams than reality.

Darcy sat down on Thor's sofa and rested her head against the back.

"Darce, do you want a drink?" Jane asked.

"Pile up the vodka," Darcy said dryly, but chuckled when she saw Jane's expression. "Fine, fine. Hot chocolate." She watched as Jane got to it and Thor sat on the armchair near the two seater she'd sat on. He looked apologetic.

"Lady Darcy, I apologise for my brother, his spell aimed for me must have stopped for risk of hurting you," Thor said.

"It looked like a flippin' avada kadavra curse! What does it even do?" Darcy asked.

"It just pushes me backwards. Loki started using it when he couldn't physically push me back and I, er, annoyed him," Thor said, his eyes full of reminiscence. Even though his brother was a psycho, she couldn't help but feel sorry for the big guy. The guy had a lot of love and she found that she was even happier for Jane. Though she couldn't really say for certain right now, he seemed to truly love Jane. Hopefully he wouldn't hurt her, because she would find a way to taze his ass and have it hurt him even in all his Godly glory.

"Do you think this whole redemption thing will happen? Can someone who caused that much shit really change?" Darcy asked, gratefully taking the mug of hot chocolate from Jane and watched as Jane sat next to her. She could tell she had asked a difficult question of Thor; painful, even, but she was curious. Darcy knew his crimes when he had been banished were bad, but as far as she could tell, Loki's actions were far worse.

"My brother never used to be this way; he was thoughtful, wise, kind…perhaps hiding his animosity for my callousness towards him and arrogance, however…we are brothers. We had each other's backs and no matter the strife, we loved one another…our blood does not change that, but…he does not seem to think the same," Thor said in a low voice and Darcy heard the pain there. Darcy felt a great amount of compassion for him and she reached forward to place her hand on his.

"Then keep showing him this; don't give up on him and be persistent, no matter how many times he might reject you," Darcy said. "Because when he does come around, he'll need you." Perhaps she was using a far too optimistic preposition there, but why not? The big guy needed the comfort and the reassurance. Thor looked at her and gave her a sad, but grateful smile.

"Thank you, Lady Darcy. Your words mean a lot to me," Thor said. Darcy smiled bashfully and looked at Jane, whose eyes would not leave Thor, filled with sorrow, wariness, love and worry for Thor. Darcy knew she was an oddity and would have a higher chance of accepting Loki than Jane, because Darcy was just…Darcy. If he tried anything on her, she would tase him. Simple as. Considering he couldn't actually hurt her, that was pretty extreme.

Darcy finished her hot chocolate and stood up. "I think I'm going to head back to my room, leave you two to talk. We still have some time before we have to go back to work, and you're starting the rebuild tomorrow, right? So you're going to want to have some Thor and Janey time, so I'll leave you to it," Darcy said.

"Are you sure?" Jane asked. "You could stay…"

"Naw, c'mon, you haven't seen each other in a year or whatever, so I'm happy to let you two reacquaint yourselves…though, do so quietly. I amonly across the way. And Loki's insane enough without adding to it," Darcy said, winking playfully before giving Jane a hug. "Laters." Darcy returned to her room, realising she would need to get a lot of stuff shipped up here.