He was a bit rusty. Loki hadn't navigated a mind in quite some time. He once could go right to the consciousness of the subject wherever it was dwelling at the moment. Considering he was standing in sickeningly pink room absolutely covered in various breeds of stuffed animals, he was going to guess he had started somewhere in the girl's childhood memories. The consciousness could travel any number of places in memories while dreaming, but it did not appear it was here. He looked around, some of the room was fuzzy and out of focus, some items were very clear, as the mortal whose head he occupied only remembered some things so vividly.

A crash from outside the door caught his attention. Loki frowned, as it was followed by some sort of argument of a man and a woman. His long, graceful stride toward the door to the room was interrupted by a slight squeak beneath his boot. He kicked the small stuffed rabbit to the side, annoyed, as he continued to the door. His stride was broken once again as a tiny figure came bursting through the door, the argument outside getting louder for a moment until the tiny girl shut the door behind her, covering her face with her hands as she leaned against it. A tiny sob escaped the small thing with long dark hair and denim overalls. He watched as she finally pulled her hands away from her face, her blue eyes filled with tiny tears as she launched herself over to her bed, curling up as tightly as she could, facing her unbearably pink walls.

Loki looked away uncomfortably. This quite clearly was not the memory he needed to access. He looked back toward the door, going to leave as the younger edition of his current target jumped off of the bed, coming to grabbed the purple rabbit he had just kicked out of his way. As soon as she had grabbed the thing she returned to her fetal position on her small bed. He was not part of her current consciousness and was not part of this memory, so she clearly could not see him. All the better, he decided, as he straightened, finally exiting through the door.

Every person had a manifestation of their mind. Though very few people ever worked on it consciously, as Loki had. His was a rather labyrinthine library he was quite proud of. Anyone trying to break into his mind would find themselves lost for a while, usually going down the same aisle time after time without realizing it.

As Loki looked down the corridor of seemingly endless doors, it seemed Darcy's mind was arranged as some sort of hotel. As he cracked open each door, he could see her memories fractured into snippets of minute relational circumstances rather than something logical like chronological or geographical. The next door had revealed her being lost in the woods at around age eleven. He was clearly on some floor related to fear: generally the most invasive and most useful memories, in his professional experience. However, it was doubtful that Jane or Thor would appreciate him digging around all of the girl's worst nightmares, in spite of how fun that may or may not be.

As he first entered the hall, the corridor seemed quite endless; but there was, in fact, and end. It took a bit of a walk as he strode casually past door after door, using every bit of self-control he had -which was surprisingly little while unobserved- to avoid peeking into any of the girl's memories. As he finally came to the end of the hallway, he spotted an elevator. Curious, but useful, he thought to himself. Of course, it was possible she was in one of these doors that he was passing, he supposed, but he hoped the elevator would help the process along.

There was one more door just before the end that he decided to investigate briefly, on the off chance she was there. When he opened the door, he saw Darcy of her current age, from what he could tell, and Jane staring at a computer screen in some unassuming little room. He quickly went to close the door until he caught a glimpse of what they were watching.

Him.

More specifically, his attack on Earth two years prior. He could hear the Midgardian news reporters scrambling to make sense of the creatures absolutely destroying the city. Loki came up behind Darcy and Jane sitting at a desk clutching each other's hands, both quieter than he had seen any of them. He chuckled, looking back toward the computer. Unstable footage of the Chitauri intermixed with footage of the so-called Avengers and him dominated against the anchors trying to make sense of it all. He sneered at the Chitauri in combat. Absolutely mindless drones were all they had been. The Other had the gall to demand his services, whether he was willing or not, and handed him a horde with no sense finesse at all.

"Isn't Loki Thor's brother?" Jane questioned worriedly. Loki rolled his eyes. He supposed that blasted title would never leave him.

"Yup. Giant-Killer-Robot-Sendy-Guy extraordinaire, apparently," Darcy said.

Loki raised an eyebrow at the oblivious image of the girl. Ah, yes. She must have been referring to the Destroyer. He hadn't really thought about the two of them being in New Mexico. Only that Thor had been. An image of the Destroyer blasting the two of them into ash flashed before his eyes before he blinked it away, uncomfortably. "I hope if he does take over the world, he gets a fashion consultant. Those horns have got to go." Loki scowled at the back of Darcy's head as he came closer to them.

"Darce, you don't have to joke about everything."

"Right, have we met?" Darcy replied, getting up and walking toward the kitchen, pouring two cups of coffee. Loki watched her closely, seeing the worry etched in her features. While seeing her cry as a child was less than pleasant, seeing her nervousness during his assault on earth was a bit more enjoyable.

"It's okay," Jane said, looking towards Darcy. "Thor is here, apparently. Tony Stark is helping him, along with the guys at SHIELD. They are all fighting back."

"Yeah, hopefully they can get that gateway closed. Those things are falling like flies, but there doesn't seem to be an end to them." He watched as Darcy walked back over to couch, handing a cup to Jane. Loki watched as the object of his brother's affection put a comforting arm around the shoulders of the younger one. He shouldn't linger, he knew. Her consciousness was not here, and so he was only invading her mind with no cause. If he were another person, he might even be bothered by it. As it was, he was not bothered in the least.

"I guess I can kiss graduating goodbye," Darcy said in an overtly flippant tone. "Look at NYU. Half of the buildings are wrecked."

"You weren't really that happy with their internship options anyway," Jane replied softly. Darcy laid her head on Jane's shoulder, both of them still staring at the television.

"You think this is why SHIELD sent us to the middle of nowhere, Norway?" she asked.

Jane paused a long few moments. "Well, I do now," the scientist said quietly.

Loki straightened, finally heading back toward the door as the two women silently continued to hold each other, uncertain of what to make of his feelings about it. It was hardly relevant, aside from his curiosity. He immediately found himself back out in the hall of the girl's mind, and he headed for the elevator.

The bad news was that there seemed to be an infinite number of floors with no actual numbers. The good news was there were exactly three floors lit up, one of which was his floor. It made sense that the other two happened to be the other two entities occupying the lighted floors. It was just a matter of whom he found first.

"Thor, her nose is bleeding!" Jane said, panicked. Thor appeared immediately, tearing a cloth nearby and placing it over the blood coming out of her nostrils. Jane opened her mouth to make sure she could still breath, all while avoiding dislodging Loki from his stance at Darcy's head.

"She has three beings in her mind," Thor said gravely. "It is a lot for a human with no magic."

"You said it would be fine," Jane said lowly, taking the cloth from him and trying to dab the blood away.

"She will be, Jane," Thor said. "Trust in her strength, she will make it."

The elevator dinged opened to a lobby with only one door this time, rather than a long corridor. He nodded his head appreciatively as he stepped out. That made his job easier. The entire vestibule seemed to be made out of slate and stone. Quite bland, really. A very distinct banging seemed to be coming from the other side, along with some rather annoyed growls of feminine frustration. He was quite certain he had found the girl first.

"Darcy?" he called from the other side of the gray, stone door.

All was silent.

He knocked on the door.

"Darcy," he called again.

"No, it's the Great and Powerful Oz. Who the hell are you?" he heard muffled from the other side. Loki rolled his eyes for the second time since entering the girl's mind, and he doubted it would be the last.

"I am Loki," the sorcerer said quite proudly. "I am here to rescue you."

"I'm dreaming about you coming to save me?" said the muffled voice, followed by another loud bang. "I guess this is officially rock bottom." Another bang. Loki was not wrong in his assumption regarding his desire to roll his eyes once more, but he refrained for the sake of not boring himself.

"I will ignore your cheek, mortal, as I understand you have encountered a certain amount of distress."

"I'm honored," the muffled voice said. Loki grit his teeth as another loud bang sounded against the stone.

"What is that noise?"

"A sledgehammer."

"Where did you get the that?"

"I thought about having one really hard. In any other case, you might think that was sarcasm. But it's not."

"Then why didn't you think the door open really hard?"

"Wow, I hadn't thought of that. You really are the brains of the family, aren't you?" Loki was sure he would grind his own teeth into dust if he stayed much longer. "The door is at least cracking," she continued. "I'll be out of here in no time. Get out of here, dream-Loki. Please crawl back into whatever horrifying part of my brain you crawled out of."

"I'm not part of your memory, you little fool. I am in your mind at the request of my brother to wake you up. Now tell me what you see, so that I may assist and be out of this sanitorium you call a mind."

"How in hell would you get in here?"

"It's called magic, mortal. Do try to keep up."

"You are actually here in my brain using magic?"

"It appears wonders will never cease, she finally understands," Loki sneered.

"Get out of here!" she shrieked, still muffled behind the door, banging on the door for emphasis. "I don't need you in my brain. I like wearing pants, thank you very much!"

Loki literally shook his head, genuinely confused. "I don't plan on interfering with your ability to do so, I am quite sure."

"Tell that to Erik! Get out of my head!" Another bang. Loki pinched the bridge of his nose, committed more than ever to finishing this task as quickly as ever. Clearly, altruism was not working out for him. Ignoring the creature on the other side, he turned his attention to the door. It was of a solid construction. In spite of what she claimed, he was sure it was not going anywhere. Though how she had trapped herself in her own mind he was sure he would never know.

The door, while plain, had several indentations. He hovered his hand over them feel magic humming. The door had actual runes on it. The girl hadn't made it, and that only left whatever had taken hold of her responsible. It left a strange feeling in his stomach, as they seemed somehow familiar. It was old magic. Asgardian magic. He frowned. How or why an Asgardian would have done all this, he wasn't sure. If it had been successful in trapping her in her own mind, then it would have no problem coming into control. Why had it not made its move then? Curious.

"Stand back, child, I can open this," Loki said confidently. Several moments passed, and the constant thumping stopped. Confident she had ceased her fruitless attempt to break the door, he ran his fingers over the door, the runes lighting up under his touch.

"Whoa!" he heard from the other side. He smirked, watching as the runes lit all the way down to the floor before fading, draining themselves of magic. The door began to groan as it slid open, leaving only the little mortal before him, arms crossed and determined to look unimpressed. The hammer she had managed to conjure lay useless at her feet.

"Thanks," Darcy replied awkwardly, not looking at him. "I guess."

"Yes, yes, your gratitude abounds. Let us get moving, shall we?" Loki watched as she frowned at him cautiously, but still obeyed, her eyes darting around as if expecting something to jump out at her. He took a cursory glance into the room in which she had been trapped. It seemed a very comfortable room, many of the items in Asgardian style.

"You created this room?" he asked. Darcy shook her head.

"Just the sledgehammer earlier this morning when I finally realized I was trapped in my own head," she replied. "Weird realization, let me tell you. I managed to think some screwdrivers up, but then remembered the door was stone. Also: not a cat burglar."

"Interesting," Loki said, heading towards the elevator.

"I have an elevator in my head?" she squeaked. "And why is that interesting?"

"The rooms of your mind seem to be your memories," he said, his long stride reaching the elevator quickly. "If you do not recognize this room, then it was created by something else."

"Something else?" she questioned absently. "Hey buttons," she said in a tone somewhere between interested in non-chalant. Loki took note that only two floor were lit up, their current one included.

"Astute observation, mortal," he said dryly, pressing the other lit floor.

"How do you know so much about my brain?" she asked. "And where are we going?"

"The Soulforge told us there was another consciousness in your mind," Loki said, realizing just then how truly isolated she had been from events around her. "You recall your fall on the bridge, I assume?" Darcy looked to the ground.

"Yeah," she said quietly, shuffling her feet.

"The light that attacked you was some sort of traveller looking for a host. It is hiding in your mind, and we have to go find the creature and extract it." Darcy tried her best to grip the elevator walls and it took off up to the lighted floor. "As far as the workings of your brain, it was not difficult to figure out, given enough time to look around."

"Look around?" she said, eyes landing on Loki. "You know what, not even going to ask." She paused for exactly one second. "Why are you helping me? I thought you were dead."

So much for no more questions, Loki mused.

"Is that why you jumped off of the Rainbow Bridge at the sight of me?" he asked. "You thought me a ghost?"

"No," she said, drawing out the syllable. "That tends to be my gut reaction to terrorists who try to take over my planet running at me," she replied as casually as possible, sticking her hands in her pockets. "You being dead was kind of an afterthought. Has your brush with death got you turning over a new leaf of helping people?" Loki scoffed.

"I am here to avoid being nagged into a second death," he replied. "I'm afraid that is the extent of my new leaf, as you put it."

Darcy shrugged. "And here I thought I wasn't going to believe a word you said," she replied, looking at the buttons to the elevator. "No numbers or anything?"

"It is your mind," Loki commented, as if to explain. Darcy was silent a moment.

"I bet Jane's brain looks like tornado hit it. Not sure about Thor."

"Dust blowing in a desert, I assure you." he replied. "We have reached the floor." Darcy hit the close door button quickly before the elevator opened.

"Wait!" she whispered harshly. "We can't just walk in on whatever's in my brain. What if it is like a monster?"

"Then I will dispose of it quickly," Loki replied easily. "Whatever this creature is, it is from Asgard and it has been avoiding taking full control, for some reason. It is either weak or non-malicious." He pressed the button to open the door.

"You don't think that's jumping to a conclusion just a little bit?" Darcy said as the doors slid open.

"Yes, I'm going to take advice in reasoning from you," Loki sneered, crossing from the elevator into the hallway. Darcy scowled.

"I see you have not lost your sense of diplomacy, my son," a soft voice said from the new floor. Loki froze, his eyes slowly shifting to the 'creature' within.

"Mother?" he whispered.