Disclaimer: Don't own them, only borrowing them to play for a while.
Notes: Sorry for the wait but Life has been crazy busy. This chapter is a bit of a catch up on things happening elsewhere, while Thor and Jane get some much needed rest. ;) There is more action coming – I just have to finish editing.
Chapter 10
Asgard…
It was dawn as Frigga made her through the palace in search of Odin. She found him, exactly where she had expected him to be, standing on a high balcony overlooking the golden city with the mountains of Asgard rising in the far distance. Just as she approached, and before she had a chance to call out a soft greeting to him, two ravens swooped down and perched, one on each of his shoulders. Frigga waited while the ravens chattered softly in the Allfathers's ears and then, at his nod of acknowledgement, they flew off.
Before she could speak Odin turned to her and beckoned her to come stand with him.
Frigga hurried over to stand at his side. "Have you word of our son?" she asked the question that had preyed on her mind for the past days.
"I have," he stated.
"Is he still in the roots of Yggdrasil?" Frigga wanted to know.
"He is in a place of safety for the moment. It appears that he has made his way to Alfheim." Odin replied. "He arrived there but a short time ago."
"Alfheim? How has he come to be there? And why has it taken him so long to arrive? My dreams have been dark of late as regards him." Frigga's anxiety was clear in her voice and she twisted her hands together as she spoke.
Odin reached over to take one of her hands, a sign of regard that he reserved for their private moments. His touch calmed her.
"He clearly encountered some trouble during his journey, although I do not yet have exact details. You know that even Heimdall cannot see him while he travels the roots."
Frigga looked at him sharply, aware that he was not telling her all that he knew.
"What aren't you telling me? Is he injured?" she questioned sharply.
"He is not injured, at least not physically. He has clearly been through some ordeal." Odin paused and then continued, "He is not alone."
"Not alone? Who is with him?" Frigga demanded. "There are foul creatures to be found in the roots, some of whom appear to be fair. Do not tell me that Thor has been taken in by one of them." Her worry was clear in her tone and she began to pace.
"No. Thor is not with a creature from the roots."
"Odin, tell me who he is with." Frigga stopped her pacing and gave her husband a hard stare.
"He is with the woman from Midgard, Jane Foster as she is called."
Frigga stared at him, "The woman from Midgard? How did she come to be with our son? Is she a magician then that she can travel the roots of Yggdrasil? I thought she was but an ordinary human. Is she a part of some dark conspiracy to take not one, but both of our sons from us?"
"She is naught but human." Odin reassured his wife. "I do not yet know how she came to be with Thor, but I do not believe that she means any harm to him. They both sleep now, but they are safe for the time. My ravens have returned to them to watch and learn, and they will keep me informed."
Frigga frowned, but before she could question him further, Odin turned and looked back over the city, clearly putting a close to the subject. Frigga sighed but she knew him well enough to know that she would learn no more. She went to stand silently next to him and together they gazed out over the gleaming golden spires, watching as the sky grew lighter overhead.
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Puente Antigua, New Mexico
Darcy paced restlessly across the lab. It had been five days since Jane had rushed off in a panic. Five days since Darcy had gone to the Bifrost site and found Jane's truck, sitting there abandoned.
As Jane had instructed, she had kept the Bifrost energy identification program running, but with no significant results. When two days had passed with no sign of Jane and no word from her, she had reported Jane's disappearance to the local police who had dusted Jane's truck for fingerprints but found none besides Jane's and Darcy's. At her insistence, they had put out a missing persons bulletin, but they clearly believed that Jane had gone off willingly. Darcy had been hard put not to pull out her pepper spray and use it on one deputy who had leeringly suggested that Jane had simply picked up some 'boy toy like that big blonde one she was draggin' all over town last year' and had gone off with him for a wild fling.
She had even attempted to call Shield, but with Coulson gone she had no real contacts there, and had to settle for leaving a message. Every day she went to the Bifrost site and waited but there was no sign of Jane. She knew that she needed to do something but had no idea of what that something might be.
"Hello?"
Darcy turned to see Talia and Clint standing in the doorway of the lab.
"Is Jane here?" Talia wanted to know.
"No." Darcy stated flatly, all of her previous suspicions of the woman returning in a rush.
Talia looked at her sharply. "What's happened?"
"Where have you been?" Darcy demanded, suddenly suspicious of the fact that Talia and Clint had both been gone since the day that Jane had disappeared.
Talia frowned, "A… family thing. I had to go to LA for a few days and Clint came along to share the drive. Where's Jane?"
Darcy didn't answer and simply stared at her stubbornly. "Maybe you know that better than I do," she finally said.
Clint had been standing next to Talia, observing in silence. "Darcy why and how would we know where Dr. Foster is if you don't?"
"Because it's just so suspicious is why. First she turns up out of nowhere and takes a waitress job in this two-bit town, right before something broke into the lab and attacked Jane. Right after that you conveniently appear, just when Jane needs work done around here. Then Jane vanishes at the same time you two leave town, and now here you are back without her. That's why." The words came out in a rush and Darcy found herself gulping back tears. "And the stupid police think she took off to have some kind of a fling with some random hot guy she picked up somewhere but she'd never do that because she's waiting for Th…, for someone's she's involved with, to come back here for her. And I don't know what to do!" With that, all of the stress and worry that had been eating at Darcy overtook her, and she started to cry in earnest.
Clint and Talia exchanged glances and the next thing Darcy knew, she was sobbing on Clint's shoulder as he gently patted her back. After a few minutes he steered her to a desk and pushed her down into one of the chairs. "Here, drink this."
Darcy numbly took the silver flask that was offered to her and took a gulp. She sputtered in shock as the vodka burned its way down her throat. After a minute she began to feel a bit better. She rubbed at her eyes and blew her nose with the Kleenex that Talia silently held out to her. "What was that?"
Talia shrugged, "Russian vodka." She took the flask back from Darcy and set it on a desk.
"Darcy, I know it seems strange that we're here just at this time, but I promise you that we aren't here to harm either Jane or you." Clint began.
"So why are you here then? You like hanging out in dusty, boring towns in the middle of the New Mexico desert? No way someone who looks like her comes to a place like this." Darcy stubbornly insisted glancing over at Talia.
Clint sighed and looked at Talia, "Make the call and come back here."
The redhead nodded and walked outside, pulling out a slim cellphone as she walked.
"Who is she calling? The head kidnapper? Cause if she is, neither Jane or I have any money. I'm a broke college grad who's looking for a job in what is probably the worst job market ever, and Jane spends almost every penny she has on her research. I still can't believe she actually had you renovate this place. She'll probably never buy any furniture for it." Darcy trailed off, "If she ever comes back that is…"
Clint shook his head and kneeled down in front of Darcy, taking her hands in his. "Wait until Talia comes back in and maybe things will get clearer."
Darcy rolled her eyes, but sat silently waiting, wrung out from stress and her emotional outburst. The two remained that way, watching Talia pacing outside the lab window as she spoke on the phone. After what seemed forever to Darcy, the redhead slipped the phone into her pocket and walked back into the lab.
"Well?" Clint asked.
"Clear to tell her."
"Tell me what?" Darcy said, her hostility towards Talia clear.
Talia exchanged a look with Clint. "I think she might listen better to you. She doesn't seem to like me very much."
"You think?" Darcy snapped, annoyed at being spoken of in the third person.
"Darcy," Clint began. "You know about SHIELD right?"
Darcy stared at him, "SHIELD? The SHIELD that was all hot and heavy to help Jane when they thought they could get something out of it, and then dumped her like a hot potato when they decided she had nothing for them. That SHIELD?" Her anger was clear in her tone and body language. "Don't tell me you two work for them?"
"We do, but your reading of the situation with Dr. Foster isn't exactly correct, although it must have seemed that way to you. After the New York incident, Nick Fury, the head of SHIELD, came under a lot of pressure from those who were not happy with his handling of the situation. Dr. Foster being connected to Director Fury would put her at risk if certain individuals prevail in removing Director Fury from his position. For that reason, a decision was made to sever the connection and make it appear that Dr. Foster had nothing that was of any use to SHIELD."
"And someone couldn't have told Jane this?" Darcy wasn't giving an inch.
Clint sighed, "The fear was that Dr. Foster would have given it away. She's not used to subterfuge. She, and you, needed to believe what you did believe, so that anyone looking at you would have written you off and left you alone."
"Well it seems like your little subterfuge worked out really well didn't it? Someone obviously still had Jane in their sights, and now it looks like they've taken her away."
Talia sighed. "Darcy, I've just gotten off the phone with Director Fury and there is no indication that any unfriendlies have taken Jane. He's initiating a search but he believes there is something more going on here."
"So wait, if it's so bad for Jane to be associated with SHIELD, why is it now okay for SHIELD to start looking for her? You're not making sense." Darcy narrowed her eyes at Talia.
"SHIELD isn't initiating the search. Other than Director Fury, Clint and I are the only SHIELD personnel that know anything about Jane. Every SHIELD file concerning her and you is marked closed and filed in the dead files." Talia was becoming exasperated with Darcy and it showed in her clipped diction.
Darcy gave Clint a long suffering look. "See why I don't trust her? One minute she says SHIELD is searching for Jane, and the next minute she says not. I may look like an airhead, but I'm not that dumb."
"SHIELD is not doing the search for Dr. Foster. Director Fury has called in the services of an outside consultant, one who actually doesn't have a lot of love for SHIELD himself, which should make you feel better." Talia explained curtly.
"Huh," was all Darcy said in response.
"Darcy, I promise you that we want nothing more than to help locate Dr. Foster and make sure she is safe. Once we do that we'll get out of your lives." Clint said calmly.
"Right. As in you send someone else to spy on us now that your cover is blown? Or don't you need to do that anymore?" She paused as realization washed over her face, "Oh my god, you bugged this entire place when you did your renovations, didn't you? How many cameras and microphones are hidden in the walls? Did you hack into the computers as well?" Darcy demanded, her anger taking over once again.
Clint and Talia exchanged glances.
"Darcy, all we want to do is to make sure you and Dr. Foster are safe. Through no fault of your own, you both got mixed up in some pretty heavy politics and unfortunately, given Dr. Fosters area of expertise, I don't see any way either of you can just walk away in the near future, if ever."
"As in interplanetary politics?" Darcy said. "As in gods and monsters attacking New York City and being beat down by our own gods and monsters? Those kind of politics? What exactly did happen to Phil Coulson and who did it?"
"That information is on a need to know basis and you don't need to know." Talia said curtly. "I understand that you're upset, but every minute we waste is another minute spent not looking for Jane. You may not like us, but right now we're your only option. The local police don't care, and even if they did, this is way over their heads."
"And it isn't over yours?" Darcy demanded.
"At least we have an idea of what we may be dealing with. And we have resources and people who can deal with that on a more level playing ground than the Puente Antigua sheriff's department could ever hope to. "
Talia finished speaking to Darcy and looked at Clint. "You stay here and try to talk some sense into Ms. Lewis. I have to start putting things into place. Oh, and I'm supposed to tell you that we're on our own in this this. If things go sideways SHIELD is going to disavow anything we do."
Clint grinned. "And that last is something new?" he said sarcastically. "The day that SHIELD assures me that I have their full backup is the day I'll start to be worried. You get things started, Tasha, and I'll work with Darcy."
Talia nodded and left the lab, pulling out her cell phone on the way.
"Work with me?" Darcy asked.
"We'll need to know everything Dr. Foster did the last day that you saw her. Every phone call she took, every email she sent, everything she said to you, or to anyone else in your hearing. Something is going to give us a clue to what happened."
Darcy was silent, and then she said, "Wait a minute, you just called her Tasha. I thought her name was Talia."
"Tasha is just a nickname I use for her," Clint shrugged nonchalantly. He looked around for paper, "We need to get started."
Darcy frowned at him as if something was nagging at her, but she pulled out a blank notebook from the supply she kept on hand for Jane and handed it to Clint.
"Let's get this show on the road," she said.
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