Disclaimer: I do not own anything of Marvel's.
A/N: I know a lot of people skip through author notes because, well – they aren't part of the story. In the past, I've done it a few times myself. But if you are still reading this, take a moment to close your eyes and imagine what life would be like with a severely limited Google, no Wikipedia, Facebook, Deviantart, or Fanfiction. Crazy, no? An act will be voted on by Congress this year that has the possibility of destroying these very things. Inform yourselves about SOPA; and spread it in any way you can – news stations don't seem to be mentioning it very much. :/
Onto the next chapter, please read and review!
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Cue the Evil Twin
VII
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He needed a good spot to attach his library to this plane of existence. It had to be easy enough to enter, but in a place no unwanted person would venture into. Ultimately, Loki decided that the ice box held enough delicious irony for it to be the spot. Good thing these Earther rooms came with a small fridge for hoarding meals and drinks when you wanted to ignore everyone else.
A couple of anchoring runes scratched into the side, a drop of blood and a thirty minute ritual chant later and Loki had himself a cozy little void space library within the freezer next to the frozen concentrate and TV dinners.
Loki looked up at the building with a mischievous smile. No one would have any reason to open his freezer and attempt to step inside; it was hidden perfectly in plain sight. The grounded magic concealing the dwarven architecture would keep it unseen and concealed by touch. The only way to find the front entrance would be to step inside.
By the Gods I am amazing! The miniature form of Loki thought as he puffed out his chest standing in front of the library he carried in a sub-dimensional pocket. By his approximate guess he had to be about a third of a finger tall a rather dangerous body modification spell – if used in than hand of any other. Few magic users seemed to be at his level of technical precision; with some of them, you were just as likely to wind up with a few of your innards on the outside.
The two-story building, a gift from one of his past teachers housed a few thousand books Loki had collected throughout his time as a lower student in the study of magic. Not that he was an apprentice for long, with his mind made up he focused on magical learning with the zeal he had typically used only for pranks and exploring.
As an added bonus, Heimdall and his all-seeing creations could not see him here. Loki smirked; he would be using that to his advantage.
"Sometimes," Loki said to himself, "It is what you don't see that screws with people the most."
Ice cracked under his boots as he walked up to the front door made in bronze with a golden stag's head knocker. The door opened automatically with the sound of gears clanking. Dark silence greeted him within.
"Something is missing…." He mused rubbing his chin, a smile curling on his lips, "oh, yes." Loki snapped his fingers together; torches and candles all around the room lit up revealing bookshelves filled with old spell tomes and books on different magic theories. In the center of the room was large comfy looking chair with a fireplace behind it.
Loki ran his long fingers over an embossed plate on a shelf. He quickly looked up at the books within, eyes scanning for a particular phrase on the spine in hopes that the answers to what he needed would be hidden within.
Through he had books on many types of magic from Asgard and other realms, the ones that had been thumbed through the most were books detailing useful spells in illusion.
"Home away from home!" The God of Mischief said to himself as he stretched and cracked his back. The green Hawaiian shirt draped down to his knees, and while he was not a fan of non-form fitting shirts, this one had become something of a worn old friend. Perhaps he'd see just how far he could take ugly wearable decorations; would the S.H.I.E.L.D agents eventually kick him out for not meeting their standard of dress? Questions to gain an answer for when he got bored.
Loki flopped down into the comfortable chair and raised one, brow wrinkling in concentration.
"Runic protections."
Numerous books from around the room pulled themselves out of the shelves they sat on.
"Incantations particularly on the element of fire."
Heavy tomes leapt back into place. Five still hovered. Loki shrugged. Those would do.
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Somewhere above, deep within the darkened corridors of the main building, in storage rooms filled with dust and long forgotten – but well recorded, experimental equipment; the cameras and motions sensors picked up the signal of one humanoid body of midsize.
Darcy was having the time of her life; that is if she could just find her iPod that S.H.I.E.L.D. had taken.
"Hello? Is anybody there?"
"Hm, thought I heard something." She pushed her glasses up and continued searching the room.
Creek
"Hello?"
The sound of water plopped loudly somewhere in front of her. Darcy whipped her head back and forth between the two places unsure of whether she was alone in the room – or if something was here with her.
"I'm just looking for my iPod." She called out in the semi-dark room.
Metal screeched and scratch against metal.
"Oh! Owch." Darcy said when she rammed her elbow into the hood of a car. She rubbed it gently as she examined the speedy looking vehicle. It was cleaner and nicer than most cars she'd ever been in, especially compared to Jane's van. Jane seemed to be taking it pretty well that it had disappeared, possibly as soon as the stepped forward on to the plane to get here.
Who would have known that thieves in New Mexico were big on cramped old vans.
She patted the car. "You wouldn't happen to know where my iPod is would you? I can't seem to find it."
The car had a spaz attack.
In such cases, not that Darcy had ever run into a car that had problems with people – other than Jane's van, Darcy knew what she needed to do. She was off as fast as her legs could carry her.
Rather than running straight to the door, she pried back the medium sized vent that was just large enough for her to fit in and scouted along on her hands and knees. Huge footsteps boomed closer and she knew she had made the right decision; there was no way something that big would fit in the ventilation system.
She felt safe as she crawled farther in.
It honestly was not the weirdest thing she had ever done. Jane had needed a sewer diving partner at one point to help capture readings on noble gases to make sure they would not interfere much with Jane's finicky equipment. It was gross.
The whatever-it-was on the other side was much too large to climb inside, but it seemed happy enough to shine a bright light down the vent.
"Urgh. I just wanted my iPod back, I'll check in here for it then, thanks." And with that Darcy scuttled off in search for her long lost iPod within the confines of the ventilation shafts of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Until she hit a 90 degree drop and found herself crashing through a vent cover and landing on a bed.
A room that looked very familiar. With a very different person climbing out of the freezer.
.
Jane took a seat in front of A.E.G.I.S's computer monitor with her spine ramrod straight and determination flashing in her eyes. She clenched and unclenched her fingers quickly, warming them up before placing them on the immaculate keyboard hooked up to what must have been one of the most complex computers she had ever seen.
For such a high tech looking piece of equipment, she was a bit surprised at the primitive visuals of the graphical user interface.
"Okay." Jane sighed to herself.
/search: Norse Mythology, Transformation
The screen lit up with luminescent blue letters running across the screen reminding Jane of a movie she had once seen; minus the man in a black trench coat and glasses destroying computer AI viruses.
The wall of moving text and numbers ceased with a list of articles. Her shoulders slumped at the large number found. Unable to form a better search query without having any idea of what she was looking for, she opened the first page and began to read.
"You're interesting."
Jane shot backward into her chair as she blinked after images of computer text from her eyes. A warm mug was pushed into her hands and Jane was finally able to identify her disruptor, Natasha Romanov.
Jane's eyes widened in surprise and she reflexively answered, "How so?"
"You sit here before the A.E.G.I.S, the most complete database of information available now, continually adding and downloading gigs of new information in all languages, completely self-managed," Natasha's lips twitched upward slightly, "and yet… here you are… reading fairytales." Amusement permeated the air like clouds of heavy perfume found near women's make up counters.
The Astrophysicist shrank in a bit, before mustering her defense, "I'm off right now, and these could be more than what they seem. To us at least. Fairytales? Legends? Or possibly the only way for primitive cultures to describe extraordinary things for what are extraterrestrials?" Jane turned back to the screen, eyes roving over what seemed like an endless block of bright text.
Jane saw Natasha's head bob slowly up and down as she took in what would have seemed like wild declarations if not for the information and jumps in science they were both privy to. Mutant abilities. Extraterrestrial artifacts. Thor himself.
"Well, if you get any ideas on where the cube might have sent him, be sure to let the team of egg heads you work with know. Dr. Cooper was positively salivating at the idea of reacquiring the body back for an autopsy.
"It's not like I can point at star cluster with any sense of surety and say 'this is where he went,' set the coordinates for here." Jane huffed and crossed her arms. "It is much more involved than that."
Natasha stared at her for a second before rolling her eyes. Jane swore she could hear the red head muttering, "Thank god I only have one egghead to babysit. Gospodi."
Natasha shook her head harshly as if to rid herself of a particularly bad memory. She looked over at the screen. An eyebrow rose at the contents A.E.G.I.S had vomited up. Jane quickly scanned the page and noticing absolutely zero of what she was looking for, moved on to the next entry. And the next.
Natasha still standing next to her. The silence began to reach at Jane and distract her from her current mission; she couldn't stand having someone read over her shoulder. Just as she was mentally sorting through a few conversation topics, Natasha broke the silence.
"So. Norse mythology. Trouble in Vahalla?"
"Something along those lines…" Jane uttered distractedly. A blurred picture of a gigantic wolf flashed onscreen. She looked at it briefly before moving on.
"Well, I'd get it fixed if I were you - he is quite he looker isn't he? Hmpf, Norse God. Are any of the other ones real as well?" Natasha leaned over her shoulder, closer than Jane would have liked when a few ancient drawings showed on screen.
"From what Thor mentioned when we first met, it seems to be true." An image of a slender and well muscled black-haired lady warrior flashed through her mind, followed by a disconcerting feeling of envy at her figure. "The few I've met look just as gorgeous; figures that our culture would put upon a pedestal of beauty, for sure."
"And you've been able to keep him here?"
"He hasn't talked about Asgard much lately." She quickly replied steering the conversation away from where it was leading.
Jane did not want to analyze the underlying question Natasha was asking- she didn't quite know the answer herself anymore. It wasn't for looks, unless he had a thing against raven locks. Jane knew this wasn't the case, as the chances of an entire population having only black or blonde hair seemed astronomically low. But then, she didn't seem to know him – and she was back at square one.
He seemed so much more distant than before. And with a different temperament, as if he had gone from a passionate fireball of warmth to the coolness of the shade of a tree on an overly warm summer's day. He also seemed to be a little more…ironic? And overly dramatic, for sure. All conclusions pointed to a different person; or someone had beamed him so hard in the head his frontal lobes, if they housed the personality as they do in humans, had been thoroughly damaged.
"Jane? How many pages is this –"
"Do you know much about Norse mythology? Being home schooled most of my life my parents gave me few curricular choices beyond sciences, language, and math." Jane swiftly interjected.
The redhead's lips pursed in disapproval. "You didn't study anything that you couldn't prove with theories or you own senses, hm?"
"Not too much." And it showed it should by being one of the top researchers in her field of study. Alongside the low number of amorous relationships.
"What are you looking for?"
"Shape shifters, I just got off track; your database is a bit different than mine – and I don't know where to start." Jane rolled her eyes at the screen. "Well, beyond Norse Mythology. I've found stories of many different people transforming into animals, dragons and things. But I'm not sure which of these 'myths' would align with the modern day equivalent I am looking for."
"Loki is the most consistent, sort of, when looking at transformations in Norse culture, I believe. Unless you are looking for Fafnir."
Natasha stole the keyboard from Jane and typed in a new search query.
/Search: "Loki" - IMG, legend, background. Norse.
The screen lit up as it calculated. Jane clicked into the first article with a title taking up half the screen. Loki, God of Mischief.
"God of mischief. That should help, hm?"
Jane didn't answer as she stared at the screen. Everything seemed to fall into place. Thor's current coolness toward her, the over compensating speech patterns.
Her stomach metaphorically flipped.
This was the person she had been telling her dreams and wishes too; the person she had hoped had returned only to be with her – they way romance novels she had secretly read under the covers at night as a young teen. Thor was supposed to be her prince; at least that was the way it had gone in her dreams and fantasies at night.
Now. Now she felt covered in a veil of unease and vaguely nauseous. She rubbed her upper arms lightly, to remove the touch of a stranger.
Why? Echoed in her head. Obviously, she was being used. But she had few ideas why.
To hurt Thor.
An icy hand of fear gripped her heart and she choked at the feeling. Anger followed soon after coursing through her blood, in what she was embarrassed to admit carried with a tinge of eagerness to put him out of his misery and save Thor.
Perhaps in her story she would be the princess in shining armor coming to rescue her prince. She had an innate strength of her own and she would prove it.
"Thank you, Natasha. There is something I need to take care of." Jane said coolly as she stood up from the desk and walked out of the room.
"Okay." Natasha blinked when the scientist left the room. Out of curiosity, she scrolled farther down the page. Her eyes widened.
"Normal? This guy birthed a horse and a bunch of other creatures. He can't be real."
.
Just as Loki was stepping out of the freezer, rapidly growing to a normal height, the air duct above his bed burst open in a haze of dust and stupid human. The dirt covered Earther hacked and coughed, it was Jane's little follower.
In the silence and coughing that followed he voiced the only thing that could come to mind, "What were you doing in there?"
"What are you doing in there?" The girl on the bed said at nearly the same time, pointing to his leg that was still partially in the freezer. His normal leg, he hadn't replaced his Thor illusion yet; he had not been expecting a rude drop in from the ceiling.
"Who are you, again?" The dirty, room-interloper asked from what had once been a clean bed.
Loki paused. "If I told you I was the janitor, would that be acceptable?"
"Yes." Darcy blinked.
"I am a janitor then." Loki lowered his leg to the ground.
"Okay." The girl stood up and brushed off her clothes, bits of dust and matter dropping to the ground. With her head down and focused on her slightly torn sweater, she missed his nostrils flare in disgust. "Have you seen my iPod, Mr. Janitor?"
"No."
The room invader shrugged and looked around the room. "Okay… guess I'll be going then." Darcy adjusted her glasses and moved to the door.
"No. No, I don't think so. You've seen too much Miss. Lewis, and I can't have you talking about this to anyone. Even if it is a bit serendipitous that you don't really seem to care what I'm doing here, no loose ends."
And with that Loki stepped forward, grabbed her by the arm and raised his other, a book appearing in hand.
"I hope you like stories." His eyes sparkled, and he grinned. Before she could even cry out, he flipped it open and slammed the empty pages into her back.
"Eek!"
Blank pages attacked her from behind, encasing her in old spellbound paper. A second later she was sucked into the book, runic writings seeping up into the pages as it dropped to the floor.
Silently, the God of Mischief picked up the tome and thumbed through the first few pages describing a young women being sucked into a book.
Loki chuckled heartily and placed the book next to the bed. The raven haired god would read of her adventure later.
A harsh knock rattled at his door. Loki waved a hand in front of himself and his form rippled, growing in length and size.
He opened the door.
.
She stood in front of the faker, whose eyes glittered differently than Thor's – maliciously, she assumed. Thor's bright blues iced over should have triggered an alien feeling in her before; she mentally berated herself for not perceiving it earlier. Other things were different as well, the doppelganger's chin was a little more angled and where Thor's face seemed chiseled by an expert stone carver his seemed thinner and a bit rounded.
There were so many things she wanted to yell and scream at him, her mind was a jumble of it all.
When his eyebrow rose in a way that seemed completely unlike him, the dam broke and a single word flowed out.
"Loki."
His eyes hardened and the smile dropped from his face. Suddenly, she realized it had not been such a good idea to do this without back up.
She stumbled backward preparing to run.
He moved faster than she expected, lightly tapping her on the neck.
Jane's legs seized and she dropped like a stone.
"I'm just getting a bunch of visitors today, aren't I?" He snickered from above.
As she faded into unconsciousness, she wondered who else had confronted him; and what he had done to them.
TBC...
