She sits on his bed and stares at him standing in the middle of the room.

"Now what?" she asks, after an eternity of silence.

"Now we wait."

He's done nothing, said nothing, since she laid out her plans and he acquiesced. It makes her nervous, but there's nothing to be done. If this will ever end then she has to play his game. And win.

She hears sharp footsteps in the corridor outside, no doubt a team of agents who've been alerted to the fact that Loki's cell is wide open.

Loki turns to her, mischievous smile on his face. "Are you going to tell them, or shall I?"

Darcy glares at him. "I will. I doubt they'd believe you anyway."

"My supplicant is quite astute," he says. "How very lucky for me." Darcy can't tell if he's being sarcastic or not.

SHEILD agents rush in, guns drawn. Five men and women in nondescript suits form a semicircle by the entranceway and point their guns at Loki.

"Loki, hands up!" one shouts.

Loki slowly raises his hands, rolling his eyes at Darcy.

"Down on the ground now!" another yells, and Loki sighs as he sinks to his knees, and then lies on his stomach.

"Miss Lewis, are you alright?" an agent asks, inching her way to Darcy. "Has he hurt you in any way?"

"Yes, Miss Lewis," Loki hisses. "Have I hurt you in any way?"

"N-No," Darcy replies. "No, he hasn't. You can let him up; he won't hurt anyone."

"Miss Lewis, are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure," she says. "Let him up."

"Miss Lewis?" the agent asks.

Darcy holds her hand out to Loki. "Don't hurt him." Loki takes her hand and she helps him to his feet. "He's with me."

He looks at her and smiles. "Thank you, Miss Lewis."

"Darcy," she breathes.

"Thank you, Darcy."

The female agent looks on in confusion. "Call the Director," she says.

Loki has to hand it to his captors; the speed and efficiency with which they rally the Avengers is quite impressive. They are all gathered in a nondescript conference room – white walls (as if he hadn't seen enough of those) and a metal table and chairs. He sits in one, handcuffed and gagged; Darcy sits to his left looking nervous and toying with the hem of her shirt.

"Does someone want to tell me what the hell is going on?" Fury asks – nay, demands. "Miss Lewis, what exactly were you doing in Loki's cell tonight?"

"I – we made a deal." She raises her head to meet the glares of the Avengers. Well, most of them anyway. Thor looks both confused and concerned, an expression he makes regularly whenever Loki is around. And the Man of Iron looks faintly amused, another regular expression of his. It's all so predictable and Loki is miserably bored waiting for this pointless meeting to end and for his and Darcy's work to begin.

"And what kind of deal is that?"

"Well, like Thor said," Darcy replies while trying to remain composed under the weight of everyone's stares. "Since I prayed – accidentally, I might add – to Loki, he has to do what I say. Mostly."

"Mostly?"

Darcy took a deep breath. "I asked him to help Jane, and I made him promise not to hurt anyone or try to escape."

"And you believe him?"

"The bond of a prayer is unbreakable," Thor interjects. "If they have entered into the bond then Loki must uphold his end of the bargain. And Darcy must uphold hers."

"Really?" Fury says. "So, Miss Lewis, what's your end of the bargain?"

"I just… owe him a favor," Darcy replies.

"Not a sexual one I hope," Tony says. Both Darcy and Loki glare at him.

"No, not a sexual one," Darcy snaps. "Look, Loki can explain better than I can, if you let him."

Fury rubs his temples and sighs. "Fine."

Darcy tentatively reaches for Loki; he remains completely still as her fingers brush his hair out of the way. She undoes the clasp and the muzzle falls off. She removes it and sets it on the table.

"Thank you, Darcy," Loki says softly.

"Brother," Thor booms, "is what the Lady Darcy said true?"

Loki glares at him. "Darcy has asked me to assist your woman. She issued a prayer and I have answered it. We are bound."

"Bound?" Fury asks.

"Did you brainwash her like you did me, you sick son of a bitch?" Barton asks angrily.

"I did no such thing to her," Loki replies smoothly. "Nor to you, I simply freed your mind from the inanities of your feeble Midgardian consciousness."

Barton lunges for Loki, the redhead next to him barely able to restrain him.

"Calm yourself, Barton," Loki says. "There's no need for your ire. If you wish to suffer under the weight of your own psyche then I will leave you to it."

"You piece of – " Barton breaks free of the redhead's hold and launches himself toward Loki. Suddenly a wave of long brown hair is in front of him and Barton stops short. Darcy leans over the table, blocking Loki from Barton's attack.

"Stop!" Darcy cries. "He promised not to hurt anyone, and at least be civil." Darcy shoots him a glare.

"I have been nothing but civil," Loki says. "Hardly the same can be said about Agent Barton."

"How can you trust him?" Barton asks incredulously.

"Loki," Darcy murmurs. "Tell them what you told me."

"If either Darcy or I break the bond of a prayer then our lives become forfeit."

"Forfeit?" The Captain asks. "As in dead?"

"In a way," Loki replies. He raises his right hand (though still shackled to his left) as if swearing an oath. "May Darcy be punished by the god whose promise she did not fulfill, and may I lose my place in Valhalla should I go back on my word."

"So let me get this straight," Tony interrupts, his eyes flicking between Darcy and Loki, the corner of his mouth upturned. "If Darcy breaks her promise Loki gets to kill her, and if Renaissance Man over here breaks his he just doesn't get to go to Viking heaven? Don't you think that ship already sailed after his whole world domination phase?"

"Being denied a place in Valhalla is greatest dishonor for an Aesir. He will never be able to join the most honored of the Asgard, and remain disgraced in the depths of Hel for all eternity."

"It still seems a bit disproportionate to me," Tony says.

"Look," Darcy begins, "you guys need to figure out the source of this signal or whatever. Loki's agreed to help. Everyone wins."

"Except for you," Banner says softly.

Darcy looks up at him, adjusting her glasses. "What?"

"There's nothing in this for you," Bruce explains. "And now you owe Loki a favor and you don't even know what it is."

"I assure you and Darcy that any favor I ask of her will not be anything she deems unsavory," Loki replies. He glances at Stark. "Though I cannot speak to her sexual proclivities."

"Brother!" Thor cries. "Enough! You will not impugn the Lady Darcy's honor any further!"

Darcy groans and buries her head in her hands. "Oh my god."

"Do not take my name in vain, Darcy," Loki says. "Flattering though it is."

Fury slams his fist on the table. "Okay, people, listen up. Loki will help Dr. Foster during the day and spend the rest of his time in his cell. There will be no contact between Miss Lewis and Loki outside of the lab and if any of Loki's actions are deemed combative then he will be locked in his cell 24/7 with no outside contact whatsoever." He looks around at everyone in the room, his gaze landing on Darcy and Loki. "Have I made myself clear?"

"Absolutely," Loki grinned.

Darcy sips on a cup of very strong coffee while entering the lab. She hasn't slept at all and it's almost nine in the morning. Loki is already there, but Jane is still absent. No doubt she's being briefed on the turn of events from last night, along with Erik. Darcy winces; Erik would not be happy about this. Not at all. She remembers his warning to her, and thinks even at that point it was already too late for her.

She is totally fucked and everyone knows it. Especially Loki.

She glances over at him as he inspects all of the equipment in the lab, poking and prodding it with a look of refined disdain. In the hand not holding her coffee, she has a large plate of pancakes. She's exhausted and starving, but she still had some leftover ingredients in Stark's kitchen from the last pancake debacle. So she had decided to fire up the griddle and made some breakfast.

Darcy sits at the table and commences with syrup pouring; she makes sure to cover every square inch in maple syrup, her stomach grumbling loudly.

"More of the same slop?" Loki asks.

Darcy shrugs. "Maybe you don't like it, but I'm starving." She digs in with abandon, savoring the syrupy deliciousness of a well-made (if not terribly well-balanced) breakfast.

Suddenly, Loki's sitting beside her. "I'm hungry," he tells her.

Darcy's fork stops halfway to her mouth. "And that's my problem, how?"

"Well, you were so intent on feeding me before," Loki replies.

"You had your chance," Darcy says. "This is my breakfast."

"I want some."

Darcy shoots him an exasperated glance. "Is that your favor?"

Loki stares at her for a moment, eyebrow raised. "My, but you are a clever one," he murmurs. "No, that is not the favor I would ask of you. I merely entreat you to explore the kindness of your heart."

Darcy snorts. "You really do have a way with words," she says.

"They do call me Silvertongue for a reason," he smirks.

"Yeah, well don't let it go to your head." Darcy slides her plate in front of him. "Here. My eyes were too big for my stomach."

"Thank you, Darcy," Loki says and something in the way he says her name makes her toes curl and her stomach twist.

"Don't expect this next time," she tells him. "I'm just too tired to listen to you whine."

"I do not whine," Loki replies stiffly.

"Whatever," she says. "Enjoy your breakfast."

Loki delicately cuts a bite size piece of pancake and puts it in his mouth. She watches him as he chews and swallows. "This isn't terrible," he says.

"Thanks."

He eats the rest almost as quickly as Thor did when he first tried them, but Loki has much more self-restraint. He meticulously cuts every piece and places it in his mouth with sophisticated deliberation. If she hadn't known better she would never have guessed that this was his first meal in weeks.

The door to the lab opens and Jane walks in. "Good morning!" She enters the lab dripping with a false cheeriness that makes Darcy wince internally. Jane walks right up to Loki and extends her hand with a very forced smile on her face. "Thank you for agreeing to help us," she says.

Loki looks at her hand – his disdain returned. "You should thank Darcy. It is her prayer I have answered."

"Right," Jane replies, withdrawing her hand. She turns to Darcy. "Can I talk to you for a minute, outside?"

"Sure." She follows Jane into the hall.

"What are you thinking?" Jane asks once the door closes behind them.

"What?"

"Thor told me about this prayer thing with Loki, and it sounds like a terrible idea," Jane says.

"Well, it's not like we have another choice," Darcy replies. "You told me you wanted Loki's help, so now he's helping."

"Yeah, but…" Jane trails off, biting her lip. "I know that I asked you to talk to Loki, but I – I didn't mean for something like this to happen."

Darcy shrugs. "Yeah, well it has."

"I'm sorry, Darcy," she says. "I'm really, really sorry." She wraps her arms around Darcy and Darcy reciprocates.

"It's okay, Jane," Darcy says.

"No it's not," Jane mumbles. "What if he makes you do something terrible?"

"He won't," Darcy tells her. "He promised."

Jane pulls back. "Thor told me some of the things Loki made people do, Darcy. They weren't very nice."

Darcy looks down at her shoes. "Loki and I talked about it. He basically told me that I was too useless to do anything too awful." Jane rolls her eyes. "I know he's not really known for telling the truth," Darcy continues. "But when he's honest he really doesn't pull any punches."

A loud metallic crash sounds from behind the lab door. Darcy and Jane rush in to see Loki standing over one of Jane's delicate instruments lying broken on the floor.

"My spectroradiometer!" Jane cries. "It took me forever to calibrate it!"

"It was useless," Loki says. "Your machine would never be able to accurately read the signal; it was designed completely incorrectly."

"Now we have to start all over!" Jane starts picking up the pieces and trying to put them back together.

"Precisely," Loki tells her matter-of-factly. "Your technology is laughable in its quaintness. We will have to – what is the phrase? Ah yes, start from scratch."

Darcy groans.

A/N: This chapter's a bit lighter in tone, but we're moving the plot along! I love your reviews, please leave them with reckless abandon!