She has a date? HOW does she have a date? Darcy couldn't have read Jane's little note correctly. She was sleep deprived, obviously having not been able to sleep after Loki's little visit. It'd be easier if she could figure out if she wanted to strangle him or strangle him. Besides, when would Jane have had the time? She'd only left the apartment once in the past three weeks, and that was a grocery run because Darcy had forgotten the 'critically important' party rings. Fucking British not-cookies.

Apparently a grocery run after only the most cursory of showers was enough for perfect beautiful mermaid Jane.

At least the note mentioned where she was going. Darcy took it and her coffee into the designated lab room and put up her feet for a long day of nothin'. She didn't want to talk to Loki, not immediately, and ironically not going out was the best way to avoid him, since he'd gone all proprietary on her. Theoretically that was a good step towards the goal of 'avoiding other aspects of minionhood via feminine wiles', except now he knew. She hoped he'd find the book just at the right level of incomprehensible that he'd take forever with it, but wouldn't bother her about it.

After a while, Darcy finished her coffee and got up to throw the cup away. That was when she noticed the not-Gameboy was doing a thing. A thing that involved swirly bits and occasional beeping. Great. It's broken. She rapped it a couple of time with her knuckles and looked more closely when that did exactly nothing. It took her a moment to realize what was so familiar: the swirly bits and the beeping matched the projected readings in the file that Erik had sent Jane in the first place. That was probably important. But she was not in the mood for scientist-wrangling that morning. Especially not if it meant wrangling Jane away from a well-deserved date. Especially not on zero sleep. Darcy paused and pulled out her phone. Two bird with one nerd: wrongfoot Loki and get some backup for Jane. "Hey, Science Guy. Yeah, sure, whatever. Listen, remember how I work for Jane Foster? I totally need an intern. Yeah, you get to meet her. Sweet. Be there in five!"

The restaurant Jane's note directed her to was way fancier than any place Darcy had ever worked in, much less been to, and she had to take a second to breathe in the wealth before she zeroed in on Jane and a cute-in-an-extremely-nerdy guy who was about as far as you could get from Thor. Understandable.

He saw her first. "Hi! Um, could we get some wine, please?"

"Sure, I'd love some." If anyone needed a drink, it was definitely Darcy. And there could be no way he actually thought she was a waitress. She was wearing a hat. And a coat.

Jane sighed slightly. "Richard, this is Darcy." Richard, huh? Darcy gave her a thumbs up and mouthed 'cute'. Jane did not seem to approve. "What are you doing here?"

Darcy pulled up a chair and grabbed a piece of bread because she was hungry and, frankly, if this guy was gonna go out with Jane, he should probably get used to weird early. Also, fancy bread. Rich people restaurant food! "Sup! So, I show up for work at the lab-slash-your-mom's-house, fully expecting you to be moping around in your pajamas eating ice cream and obsessing about-" Darcy cleared her throat, trying to think of the best way to phrase it, "you-know-who…But you're not! You're wearing lady clothes! You even showered didn't you?" She sniffed. "You smell good."

Jane looked slightly murderous. "Is there a point to all of this? Because there really needs to be a point to all of this."

Darcy put down her piece of (delicious) bread. "Right. You know all that scientific equipment you don't look at anymore?" She pulled the not-gameboy out of her coat and passed it to Jane. "You might want to start looking at it again. This is the reason we came all the way out here."

Jane stared at it. "It's malfunctioning."

"That's what I said."

Jane rapped it a couple times against the table, and Darcy repressed an eyeroll. "That's what I did! Thought you would do something a little more...scientific." She wiggled her fingers at the other woman for emphasis.

Jane smiled awkwardly at her cute-but-clearly-not-that-smart-if-he-couldn't-identify-a-waitress date. "I'm sure it's nothing." She handed the not-gameboy back to Darcy, who again had suppress a roll of the eyes.

"Doesn't look like nothing. Kinda looks like the readings that Eric was rambling about." She turned to the date. "Our friend Erik? Kinda went-" Darcy paused, trying for tactful and failing. She made 'wacko' sign and settled on: "banana-balls."

Jane was now looking very murderous, for Jane. "I'm not interested. I'm not interested! Time for you to go now!" Rude.

"Okay," said Darcy, making a face and getting up. Normally she'd support Jane going for a dude over Science for once, but any dude Jane was trying to hide the weird from was clearly not the One. Darcy didn't really believe in the One, but Jane had literally had a whirlwind romance with a prince, so obviously the rules were different for her.

It didn't take long for Jane to call it quits and come to the car, where Darcy was waiting. Because duh. Cute or not, that dude was not enough to defeat the siren call of Science.

She looked less miffed when she got into the car. "Aaand I hate you."

Darcy shrugged. "What? I said he was cute!"

"Just shut up and drive."

Darcy couldn't resist a slightly shit-eating grin at that.

Shortly, Intern (he'd been upgraded upon hiring) popped up out of the backseat from whatever he was doing; scaring the life out of Jane, who apparently would not survive a horror movie. "You need to take the next left."

"Who's he?" asked Jane.

"He's my intern," replied Darcy, feeling slightly smug/proud. Smoud. Moving up in the world, Darce.

"You have an intern?" Jane sounded slightly incredulous. Today was not her day.

"Oh, yeah." Sometimes it was best to just move Jane along new things without letting her get too caught up in the details.

Intern, meanwhile, seemed like he was going to legit cream his pants. "He-hello, Dr. Foster. It's a-it's a great honor to be working with you."

Jane nodded slightly. Nervous and awed college students weren't exactly new to her, from what she'd told Darcy, although they had apparently gotten less frequent since the S.H.I.E.L.D. weirdness after New Mexico. "Right. I have to call Erik."

One or the other of them still called him daily and left a message. His voicemail still wasn't full, so Darcy guessed that he was at least looking at his phone occasionally, but there was still no answer. She and Jane had both gotten rather resigned to it, even if it still took cute-but-not-even-slightly-perceptive to get her out of her slump. At least I know it's not Loki that's messing with him, now...Darcy forced herself not to shudder at the thought. She did not like the idea of two-thirds of Team Jane being compromised. Maybe she'd have Intern stick around longer than she'd initially planned.

Although, frankly, after dealing with his navigation skills, Darcy was very much reconsidering that thought. He did not seem to understand the concept of giving her time to turn. She was feeling slightly proud that she'd made it to their destination without having to backtrack or having any oncoming crazypants crash into them.

Jane was still irate by the time they got there, but she had started to perk up at the sight of a giant truck on its side and the Stonehenge of freight containers. Darcy gave her enough time to have the Intern get their stuff and lock the car before she herded her to the not-gameboy's hotspot proper.

The creepy factory was even more horror movie set on the inside, if it were possible. Complete with jump-scare-ready birds and the pitter-patter of tiny demonic feet. "I am not getting stabbed in the name of science." Darcy raised her hands and said, louder: "It's okay, we're Americans!"

"Is that supposed to make them like us?" hissed Jane.

Three whispering children stepped out from their hiding places, and Darcy put her hands down. "Oh, they're kids," said Jane, relieved, although Darcy personally felt that any child who hung out in incredibly weird abandoned factories was automatically suspect.

"Are you the police?"

Jane took a small step forward. "No, we're scientists. Well, I am."

Darcy looked at Jane flatly. "Thanks."

The kids, at least, seemed less frightened. "We just found it."

Jane took another step, and Darcy could see her hands tremble slightly. Darcy held her breath, trying not to hope too much that maybe whatever the kids found will finally center Jane again. "Will you show us?"

They didn't have much further to go before they see something that makes Jane gasp and make Darcy very glad she's not the one carting around the VIP of toasters, because she would definitely have dropped it. "That doesn't seem right..."

There was a cement truck floating a foot off the ground, and it only took a single gentle push from one of the kids to send it spinning in midair. Jane approached it, her face an odd mix of consternation and wonder, then turned suddenly to the kid who'd done it. "Is there anything else?"

The group led them to a stairwell and went about halfway up before they stopped and looked up. The kid that had gone on ahead was a floor above them, and he dropped a bottle partially filled with what Darcy hoped was leftover orange soda. It fell for two floors before it vanished, a ripple in the air like circles in water.

Jane looked sharply at the apparent leader of the group. "Where'd it go?" The girl pointed back up, and their gazes all followed her. The bottle reappeared, a little above where it had been dropped, and fell back to the same spot before vanishing again. The kids let the loop repeat another couple of times before one reached out and grabbed the bottle out of the air.

Jane's mouth was hanging open slightly, and after a moment Darcy remember to close her own. "That's-that's incredible." Jane sounded excited again, for the first time in a while, and Darcy couldn't resist a smile as Jane hunted for something to drop herself and came up with an empty can. The scientist dropped it, and they watched with matching grins as it disappeared and looked up to watch it fall back.

Nothing dropped from the sky in turn. Jane looked back at the girl. "What happened?"

The girl shrugged. "Sometimes they come back, sometimes they don't."

Huh. Darcy shrugged as well, and grinned again. "I want to throw something!" She turned to Jane. The woman owed her, since it was Darcy who had been the one in the lab watching the equipment and not going on dates with cute-but-mediocre dudes. "Jane, gimme your shoe."

Jane ignored her and grabbed the not-gameboy from off the phase meter. She stared at it, the familiar curious smile playing across her mouth. "I haven't seen readings like this since...since..."

Darcy watched her fondly. "Since New Mexico?"

Jane stared at her for a moment, brain almost audibly whirring. Suddenly, she looked very determined and pushed Darcy to one side. "Don't touch anything!" she called as she ran off. Jane would be all right. She sounded like her old self again. Darcy had missed it.

She snorted slightly, watching the other woman go, and turned to the Intern. "Give me your shoe," she commanded, pointing. There was no way Darcy was relinquishing any footwear. That would be asking for a horrible disease.

He didn't give her his shoe, and she didn't press when he gave her a slightly sad puppy look, but the kids apparently had a stash of bricks. They all took turns chucking one in and watching it fall through the loop, giggling. That was, until the Intern threw something in and it didn't reappear. It took a second for Darcy's brain to catch up. "Were those the...car keys?"

The Intern stared in horror at the gap in the stairwell above them. Darcy sighed. Fucking physicists.

They waited for several minutes in resigned hope before Darcy realized Jane still wasn't back. She glared at the man. "You wait here and pray those keys decide to be the one thing that comes back." He gulped. "Pray."

Darcy followed the stairs up, looking down all the hallways for signs of the wayward scientist. When she got to the roof of the building with still no sign or even an echo of muttered technobabble, she began to panic. There were two other stairwell entrances on the massive roof, and Darcy ran for the furthest one and took the stairs down two at a time, calling Jane's name several times on each floor. Still nothing.

She got lost at least twice on the way back to the stairwell with the Intern, despite the fact she could hear him calling for her and Jane. If anything, it just made her panic more. Jane should have been able to hear her yelling, even if the woman had gotten completely lost in her science-addled state. Jane, after a month of careful training with baked goods from the good grocery stores, had learned to respond to her name even if she'd mentally gone five galaxies away.

Darcy was out of breath by the time she found the Intern again. The kids were all gone, probably having fled when she'd starting screaming like a loon from the other side of the factory. He looked terrified and was clutching the phase meter like a shield. She grabbed his arm to steady herself, trying to get her breathing back to something that didn't involve hyperventilating.

Something is beginning to happen. A...convergence of the realms. Loki's words from the night before echoed in Darcy's head. He couldn't...could he? Suddenly, Darcy couldn't remember if the words of her agreement with Loki meant he couldn't hurt Jane...or if it was only that he couldn't kill her. There were a lot of things you could do to a person while they were alive, and they all popped to the forefront of Darcy's mind in an instant.

He hadn't seemed upset, merely amused, when he'd (finally, thought the part of Darcy that always had a comment ready, even if she was losing her shit) cottoned on to her clumsy attempts at working him. He'd seemed amused in the way she was going for, actually, but that wasn't reliable. Thor had grown up with the man, you'd think he'd've known his own brother's tells. And he'd definitely been blindsided. Except Thor had grown up with the man, and the familiar things are the ones you stop noticing because they're always there. Darcy took a long breath. Loki hadn't seemed upset. And if he was upset, Darcy could figure out something. She could always figure out something.

"Er...Darcy?" The Intern's voice pulled her out of her reverie, and her head snapped up to look at him. He looked bewildered. "That kind of hurts?"

She realized she was still clutching his arm, and let go instantly. Darcy patted the spot, smoothing the wrinkles from his hoodie. He winced. "Sorry, dude. Um. Do you think you could go back to the apartment and wait in the lab?" She gestured at the phase meter, still in his arms. "That needs to go back. Can you find your way? I need to look for Jane."

He nodded vigorously, eyes wide. Darcy tried to smile in a reassuring way, but she was pretty sure it came out more as 'leave or I will eat you', because he very quickly made to leave. He was a floor down when something else occurred to her, and she leaned over the railing. "Wait! Do you have the number for the police, in case I can't find her?"

After she got the number and a short explanation of the etiquette of calling the cops in England, Darcy waited until even the echoes of his footsteps died away, and slumped against the railing. After a few moments of steeling herself, she looked upwards. "Loki? You there? You listening? I need to talk to you right fucking now!" She waited several minutes, with no familiar smirking man appearing around a corner. "Loki! LOKI!"

It figured that the one time she'd actually be trying to talk to him, he wouldn't be there. She supposed it was her own fault. Darcy scrubbed a hand over her face, thinking, and paused. She took a breath, and recited: "I am Darcy Lewis, college student." The words that came out of her mouth were unfamiliar, although they sounded vaguely Eastern European. She'd been going for Latvian, and she had to assume it had worked. Although if you've any magical talent it may...stick around. Darcy wasn't exactly sure what the intended timeframe had been, considering he was functionally immortal to her, but she hoped six months was long enough.

Would the possibility of magical talent be useful without actually knowing any magic, though? It was worth a shot. Blood seemed to be as good a starting point as any, and she fumbled in the pocket of her coat for her latest steak-knife acquisition (Darcy had never thought she'd be even slightly grateful to the NRA, and she still wasn't, but she was getting very sick of having to gallivant around strange countries without her taser). She pulled it out and slid off her coat, folding it carefully over the railing. She was not going to lose it to blood or space shenanigans. As Darcy positioned the blade over the back of her forearm (least risky place to cut), she paused. Blood was a good start, but what to do with it? Almost automatically, she touched her forehead again. The presence of magic already could only help. Probably. Hopefully.

Gritting her teeth, Darcy cut a ragged red line across the back of her arm. Blood welled up immediately, and she dabbed at it with her index finger before smearing it across the spot on her forehead where Loki had drawn his symbol. She concentrated on him, all the fear and all the hate for what he'd done. But the irritation as well, over the incessant book-hogging, and the small pleasure of someone actually reading what she gave them for once. Even the way her skin had burned the night before. The way she didn't mind him that much, if she could just keep him contained and everyone else safe.

Darcy felt something like a full-body snap, and rather anticlimactically, all she could think to say was exactly what she wanted to say to him: "Loki, get your skinny ass down here, now!"

Loki was reading, trying to relax in the space that he certainly wasn't going to call his 'lair', but was also definitely not his home. It had been a rather decent suite of rooms, empty and on the market before he'd arrived and laid down his spells to make the owners forget they even had it. He made do with the furnishings already present, though sparse, as he did not intend to stay much past the convergence. He knew where the Hekaton was, and that for him it would be simple enough to obtain, as degraded as its defenses had become without proper maintenance.

Of course, one he had it he had no idea what he would do with it. He hadn't planned that far. Loki had noticed, as of late, that his plans had an unfortunate habit of falling completely apart right at the climax. He did not wish to repeat the experience a third time in as many tries. Something would come up, he was sure, and until it did possessing one of the stones would give him a small measure of insurance against Thanos' armies. Safety finally came before the power he was due. Loki would not make such allies again.

In the meantime, he had a day or two to wait until the convergence ended, and time enough to decode the mortal's damnable book. It was supposed to be a comedy, and he could recognize the jokes, but it was impossible to tell what was a cultural reference and what was meant to merely flow by on a wave of the amusingly bizarre. He felt like something was being gotten over on him, and he did not like the sensation.

At least he wasn't the only one who'd lost their balance. It was, he could admit, slightly embarrassing that he had not realized she'd been trying to manipulate him before. But it had been surprisingly pleasant, the idle companionship of shared stories and-even-casual touch. Loki did not hate Odin or Midgard's fumbling attempts at civilization any less, but it had settled into his bones, where it rested and no longer would explode quite so...expansively. And even as it powered him, it was exhausting. The semblance of being able to trust someone, even if it was only because he had bent them to his will by means of magic, was a welcome relief.

He smiled, thinking of the way she had trembled when he'd touched her, her eyes going dark. He'd quite like to make her do it again, although giving her time to become nervous about it was probably ideal from a planning point of view. He could decide after he finished the book.

Loki. He looked up and shut the book sharply, glancing around the room. Nothing had changed, and there had been no sense of alertness that meant someone had breached the perimeter he'd set. The sound had been fainter than a whisper, the voice too quiet for recognition. Loki! It was stronger this time, enough for Loki to realize that it wasn't a sound at all. It was Darcy, his name rolling out from the faint sense of her he'd established with their bargain. He frowned. It seemed she was attempting to summon him, something she should not have been able to do as a mere Midgardian.

Clearly he'd had more of an effect than he'd thought, which was disconcerting and a little worrying. A useful minion was not one who fell so easily into obsession. Still, Loki put on his most charming grin and focused on the vague sense of her, and appeared several feet away.

He was prepared for her to look out of sorts, but he was not prepared for the combination of terror and righteous fury writ across her face. Her eyes were wide and her hair was disheveled, the hat she wore in London's dreary weather nowhere to be seen. Her right arm bled sluggishly from a long but shallow cut, and there were traces of blood left on her face, the leftovers that her fumbling (and yet somehow successful) attempt to contact him hadn't used up. In her left hand there was a bit of a cutlery, a knife, but as she strode towards him it shifted with an ease of familiarity Loki hadn't expected of her.

She stopped just short of reach, glowering. "What. Have you done. With Jane?" Her voice was a ragged snarl, and he wondered suddenly what she'd actually been up to.

Loki raised his eyebrows coolly. "Nothing that I recall. Why, has she wandered off to become a stray?" She didn't respond, merely waited for the explanation she felt was due. He raised his hands, mimicking the posture she always took when she tried to appease him. "Truly. I have done nothing."

Darcy watched him stonily for another moment before slumping suddenly to sit on the floor, dropping the knife as she did so and covering her face with her hands. The improvised weapon clattered to a stop at his feet, and Loki kicked it behind him. It was extremely unlikely she'd actually have been able to hurt him, but it never did to let the underlings get ideas.

"Fuck. Fuck!" She dropped her hands to rub her arm, and seemed surprised when her palm came away red. She looked up at him. "If it wasn't you...I need to call the cops." She looked down at her hand again. "I need to clean this and then call the cops, so they don't think I murdered her."

Loki thought a moment. It was unlikely that what passed for a Midgardian police force would be able to do much. Occasionally, a brick fell through the air behind Darcy, and it was always the same brick. If Thor's mortal toy had gone astray in the convergence, it was likely the man himself would be showing up sooner than later. He stepped towards the woman seated on the floor and held out a hand. "I believe I may be of some assistance in that matter."

She eyed the offered palm warily, and Loki smiled again. "Of course, you will be needing to keep an eye on a certain man with a hammer. I've no doubt he'll find time to visit soon."

After a second of consideration, Darcy shrugged and placed her sticky hand in his and pulled herself up. Loki closed his eyes, still gripping her hand, and the blood on both of them vanished. "He hasn't so far," she said, voice dull.

Loki pulled her closer, examining the cut. He ran one finger down the length, causing her to wince slightly, but it closed up with not a mark left. "This is, I think, a special occasion." Darcy's mouth twisted and she started to pull away, but he merely tightened his grip until she stilled. "You will follow him where ever he goes, and keep an eye on him for me. Do not tell Thor of my presence, do you understand?"

She nodded grudgingly, but something flickered in her eyes. Loki reached out and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look him full in the face. "Or Odin, should he follow."

Disappointment washed across her features, but nevertheless she bit out a "Fine."

Loki smiled and let her go. Surprisingly, she remained still and didn't immediately go to make space between them. He stepped closer, testing, and there was no change. "I'm sure I'll see you again soon."

After he was gone, Darcy shook herself and turned to retrieve her phone from her coat. Dialing the number the Intern had given her, she went to find her hat.