When they got to the lab, Darcy and Thor found Jane, Tony—mother-yeah okay it's getting old—Stark, Captain America and the older man from the meeting room all standing in a semi-circle and gawking up at a screen that pretty much consisted of a huge map featuring every continent, plus an array of colors that kept popping up and disappearing. Most of the blips centered on Europe, but some flashed in the States along the East coast, up to Canada and all the way down toward Argentina. As Thor began to clear his throat in an effort to get their attention, Darcy did similar in her own way, eyes narrowed to see better as she pointed forward and asked,

"So what's on the tube? We looking for Waldo?" She couldn't really say which of them got the attention of the group, but four sets of eyes faced them a second later and she grinned, wiggling her fingers.

"Darcy you're awake." Jane said with a smile, master of the obvious, but Darcy didn't hold that against her. The woman was still the best boss she'd ever had, which was kind of sad considering she hadn't held a paying job in almost two years. "How're you feeling?"

Darcy gave a half-shrug as her and Thor walked closer, "I'm good. Those were totally nap-worthy sofas, just F.Y.I., not even a crick in the neck which already puts it way above beds in the dorm."

"Good. I'll send the manufacturer a memo with your seal of approval and C.U. gets a scathing report about their apparent need for furniture upgrades." Tony commented, and Darcy just couldn't tell if he was serious or not. Knowing what she knew about him though, he probably would do something like that. Darcy Lewis Approved people; it's the stamp to look for on all your household comfort needs. If Darcy didn't do it; don't. She liked the sound of her own fake commercial and decided to make a jingle for it later.

"Please, I have troubling news my friends." Thor interjected, taking up the mantle of Debbie Downer like a champ.

"Well that's always nice to hear." Older dude said in a tone that couldn't have been more cynical. "I for one, love troubling news first thing in the morning."

"Easy Banner, save the joy for Christmas." Tony said with a smirk, the two of them exchanging that Bro look that Darcy recognized from half the dudes on campus. They were sharing a moment, and holy shit balls did he just call that guy Banner? Like the,

"Bruce Banner?" Darcy blurted the question and couldn't stop herself before finishing, "The Bruce Banner, like, green, angry, smash and destroy Culver's science department that I totally didn't hack to find out Bruce Banner?"

A heavy silence fell in the lab and Darcy could have sworn a vein started to pulse in Dr. Banner's—holy shit it's the Hulk!—forehead. He humored her though, his eye switching with obvious annoyance and his mouth tightening before he answered, "Yeah. Wait, how do you know about that?"

"Dude, you are legendary." Darcy continued, shaking her head in disbelief and ignoring the rise of tension, "You know the janitors still talk about the mess you left behind; I mean, they don't know it was you, you, but they still talk about the explosion. Crazy stuff, and they have to deal with all the poor rush victims puking all over the place. And I've totally seen that video Jimmy took in the quad; you could totally go down in the college hall of fame for—"

"Darcy." Thor said her name as soft as his voice could, but it was enough to shut her up. He was right, they had more important things to talk about and here she was babbling about a college legend that probably didn't even want to hear it if his body language and facial expressions were any indication. Yep, she was a real charmer.

"Sorry. Shutting up now." Darcy made the key-locking-a-door motion over her lips and stuck with it, keeping her mouth shut—for now.

"Thor, what's—" Jane started to ask the question that was probably on everyone's mind, but the Norse god just gave her a sad smile before he answered.

"Stark, it is as you believed."

"Of course it is!" Tony blurted with the same level of delicacy Darcy always managed. "Wait which part? Not the part about Cap here whoring himself out in secret for all that good publicity he always gets right? I can't even buy that kind of publicity and I'm loaded."

Captain America—Darcy was sure he had a real name outside of that but she just couldn't remember what it was; something with an S—threw a look at Tony that suggested the promise of a stern talking to later, and Thor just shook his head, apparently not getting the joke because he continued on as if hadn't been a hilarious question that Darcy was trying not to laugh at. "No: your counsel that the Lady Darcy might hold an object of interest secret to us."

"Ha! I knew it." Stark boasted, holding his hand out toward the Captain. Everyone watched as Mister Apple Pie shook his head and fished out his wallet.

"That still doesn't mean they're keeping information from us, at least not without good reason." He countered, pulling out a tenner.

"Did you really think those meatheads learned their lesson the last time? I mean come on; you saw the file and the footage, and that—"

"There is more news." Thor interrupted, and everyone looked to him before he finished. He paused, for dramatic effect of course, before ending with the coup de grâce of: "My brother lives."

"No." Jane uttered, her head shaking, "No we watched him die. I was there."

"Wait you mean Loki's not dead now? How does that happen and what life insurance does he have?"

"I know not how he survived." Thor confessed, "But Darcy has seen him." And queue all eye in the room turning to her.

Darcy flushed from the attention. Wishing, but not wishing, that the invisible lock and key on her lips was actually real so she wouldn't have to explain everything to the group of hard-eyed superheroes—plus one—staring at her now. Boy did they know how to make a girl sweat, and not in the good way. Grinning from the surge of anxiety, Darcy gave them a shrug and a grin, nudging her head toward Thor.

"No; yeah, I mean it's pretty much just what he said."

"Uh uh princess," Tony denied her attempt at getting out of it, "We're having us some story time right here, right now, so you better get comfy. JARVIS send for popcorn. And you—" He pointed a finger at her, "—you need me to bring in one of those couches sweetheart? 'Cause I get the feeling we're going to be here a while."

An hour later, Darcy dangled her legs off the edge of a table and stared down at her hands for a moment, picking some dead skin off of her finger. "So yeah, then I poofed back here into your little meeting thing and that was that. Death averted. Go team Darcy."

"So Loki survived." Steve—as she had learned through Tony's teasing during the course of her story— reiterated, his eyebrows furrowing together in worry.

"Like the great Gloria." Darcy confirmed, pursing her lips while she nodded.

"And you both have pieces of a, what was it, an Infinity Stone?" Jane clarified, glancing at Thor to verify the term. He nodded, as did Darcy.

"Yeah, I guess that makes three pieces for yours truly now, but I don't know how much of the whole thing that translates to, and I don't know how many Loki has either."

"And you've filed yours away somewhere in Darcy organ land?" Tony asked.

"Apparently." She kicked her legs out and swung them back as she looked around. They were all still staring at her, only this time she could see an inch of suspicion there, hiding in their eyes. Whether it was due to her encounter with Loki or her ability to do whatever was in her heart's desire she couldn't tell. "I don't know." She added a second later. "I mean I just wanted them out of sight you know and BAM…pain in my chest so I don't know what happened or where they are exactly."

"Scan her JARVIS." Tony commanded, his eyes glancing over her breasts in a way that probably wasn't entirely professional.

"And what shall I scan her with sir?" The dry voice asked from above. "There is no medical equipment in this laboratory, or on this floor." He—it—the voice concluded.

"Right. To the med-lab then. Floor fifteen." He corrected.

"Floor sixteen, sir."

"Floor sixteen."

"Wait, no, no, no." Darcy said, shaking her head, "You are so not scanning or poking or prodding or probing anything, you got that? You can just take my word for it. They're here," she knocked on her sternum, "and that's all there is to it."

Tony Stark, that arrogant, sexy ass, just smirked at her. "Nobody but you said anything about probing. Slip of the tongue there or wishful thinking?" She was so going to stop fan-girling for him after this.

"Is it dangerous for her to have them inside of her like that?" Jane interrupted the banter, looking at Thor.

"Would that I know." He answered, looking a little ashamed at his lack of information. "There's scant knowledge as it is about many of these relics. One rests in the vaults of Asgard, and I've been told the other has been sent far to another location for safekeeping."

"Why not keep them both in Asgard, wouldn't that be safer?" Jane asked.

"No. The stones are most dangerous when brought together. It's rumored that if all Infinity Stones are collected, one could be granted the power of the All-God himself."

"But nobody knows that for sure?" Bruce asked this time.

Thor gave an uncomfortable shrug, his lack of expertise in this subject clearly getting to him. He looked seriously out of his element. "I'm afraid the stones predate even my people. What evidence we have is based on myth and legend, and only very rarely on fact. I could perhaps gather more information if I returned to Asgard, but—"

"I think you leaving the planet right now would be a bad idea there thunder."

"Stark's right," Steve agreed with a nod, waving his hand toward the map, "if those men have the same thing Miss Lewis and your brother have, then we'll need all the help we can—"

"What men?" Darcy interrupted, a flare of—holy shit really?—jealousy lighting in her chest.

After throwing her a glance, Tony grabbed onto of his weird quasi-phone-remote-device thing and slid a finger across the surface a few times. As he did, two different windows popped up on the screens in front of her. One looked like a wall of text, the other a paused video of some obese man standing in an alley. With one more finger swipe the wall of text grew larger, dominating the monitors.

"JARVIS pulled this off the SHIELD servers a little while before you crashed our party earlier."

"Should we really be sharing this information with a civilian?"

"Give me a break Cap, she's got the next possible world's greatest threat snuggled up behind her cleavage and you're worried about sharing secrets from an organization that won't even divvy it out to saviors of this damn place?"

"Point taken."

Tony waved at the screen and a picture came to the forefront. Smiling at the camera was a man. He looked handsome enough, probably in his late twenties or early thirties, blonde with brown eyes. The man looked amused, staring at whoever took the photo like he'd ask them to delete it a second later. Apparently he didn't get his way. He looked nice though, like the kind of guy you'd feel safe talking to at a bar because he wasn't physically threatening and didn't have one of those weird faces that turned every innocent flirt or comment into something creepy. Just to the left of the picture Darcy could see the words 'protective custody' and 'external consultant' standing out in red.

"Who's that?" She asked.

"That's what I'd call a little friendly competition. His name is Kristian Crotch, and—"

"I believe it's pronounced Koch, sir."

"Whatever. He's German, and according to this he might have a piece of the same rock you do princess."

Thor gave a solemn nod, "Given what information Loki has provided and the powers that Lady Darcy now possesses, I would wager anything that he does."

"And let's not forget Big Mac over here," Tony continued, bringing up the other window just before hitting play. "Lights!" The overhead fixtures in the lab dimmed as the video began to roll. Yeah, Darcy could totally get used to chilling in this place. She focused on the screen and grabbed out a handful of popcorn from the bowl beside her.

The video began with the heavy set man in an alleyway. He was shaking like he was in the middle of having a seizure, his dark, stringy hair plastered against his forehead with sweat. There was a momentary sun flare, and when the camera focused again the guy was on the ground this time, leaning on his forearms and knees. Darcy wondered why somebody would film this but not call for help until she saw the body lying motionless a foot away from the man. It looked like the body's head had exploded, no freaking joke, with nothing but a bloody stump left behind and a spray of matching red extending out across the ground and walls. Now she didn't blame the dude behind the phone video for not getting any closer. Fuck all that. Somebody whispered in a language she couldn't understand, and before she could ask Tony provided the answer.

"Hungarian. Something to the tune of 'oh shit, oh shit.'"

On the ground still, the guy started to prop himself up onto his hands, both arms shaking like a pair of crack heads fiending for the next hit. He let out a blood-curdling scream, and Darcy had to blink a few times to believe what she was seeing next—and yes, she completely understood how hilarious it was to still get hit by a little of the old disbelief after what she had been through lately. Right on camera the man's weight started to suck into his body. It was like the greatest commercial ever for weight loss featuring CGI that hadn't been invented yet as clumps of fat that had been pressing grotesquely against his shirt melted inward. While most of his body disappeared into the baggy clothes hanging from his form, Darcy was amazed to see the muscles in his neck start to bulge, his forearms erupting with rock solid tendons that were flexing like they were in the Strong Man competition.

His hair seemed to both slough off of his head and regrow, thicker and cleaner than before as the thinned, greasy strands slapped onto the pavement. His face got thinner, his jawline growing more defined by the second until the changes seemed to stop and he climbed to his feet. Even without him facing the camera, Darcy could tell the man had gone through supernatural makeover of the year. He seemed taller now and his frame was absolutely thick with muscle. A shoulder was clearly defined as the shirt hung from him, and she could see just enough skin to know he'd trimmed everything excess away. As if he'd read her mind and wanted to see for himself, the stranger reached down and ripped his shirt off Hulk Hogan style, revealing a body to rival Thor's.

"Holy crap." Darcy breathed.

"And look away." Tony said with a bored sigh, and everyone in the room did so except for Darcy.

She hadn't seen the video yet and she was sure as shit not going to miss the last few seconds. Her lack of reaction probably fell under that umbrella of stupid crap she always found herself doing because, what the hell Darcy, you only live once right? So she watched the screen as beefcake in the alley's head turned their direction, his eyes landing on the poor camera man. Beefcake roared something unintelligible, and less than a second later the man holding the phone screamed and the video plummeted to the floor. Then it went black. Darcy frowned.

"Why did I have to—?"

"Guess that rock of yours does even more than you know." Everyone was looking at her now. This whole center of attention thing was starting to get annoying.

"That's amazing." Jane breathed.

"What the hell are you guys talking about?" Darcy was getting impatient.

"You sweetheart." Tony said, nudging his head toward the monitor. "We've watched that video half a dozen times and it doesn't matter what we do or try, that last part makes everyone pull a temporary Stevie Wonder if you keep your eyes on it."

"Well nothing happened to me." She countered, forgetting for a minute that she might have had something the rest of them didn't.

"Really?" Tony asked, deadpanned.

"Oh the rock."

"Winner, winner." He replied with a smirk.

"Chicken dinner." She grinned.

"So we think they're all carrying the same thing then?" Steve, probably the most sensible person in the room, asked in an effort to more than likely squash their joking.

"She's the only one that wasn't blinded." Bruce answered with a small shake of his head, his eyes examining her like she was a future patient.

"And the boys down at SHIELD don't want to invite us to play in this game for some reason."

"They probably just don't understand what they're dealing with." Steve, bless his heart, tried to defend the organization.

An argument between all the men erupted after that as they all tried discussing the situation at once, but Darcy really wasn't interested in all that anymore. She had competition; as if Loki wasn't bad enough. She slid off of the desk and walked to one of the lab windows, the city of New York sprawling out in front of her. There was way too much construction going on, way too many closed businesses. Loki really had done a number on this place.

Jane joined her a second later, and without prompt hugged her from the side, which was kind of weird because she and Jane never had much beyond the whole boss/employee relationship thing with the exception of Darcy constantly getting on the scientist's nerves. "I'm glad you're okay." The woman said.

"Um, thanks?" Darcy answered with a shrug.

Jane pulled away and frowned. "I'm so sorry for sending you to check out those anomalies. I was irresponsible. This never should have happened." Ah; it was guilt then. Darcy grinned and shook her head.

"No worries Jane, I'm not dead so we're cool. Plus, I'm like totally rocking the super powers now so I guess I should thank you or something huh?" Before the conversation could get anymore feeling-saturated, Darcy waved her hand back to the guys still talking heatedly about strategy at their back. "So what's all this about anyway."

"That's what the meeting was for that you dropped in on. Tony acquired—"

"Don't you mean stole?"

Jane rolled her eyes, "Okay, he stole the file and that video from some SHIELD computer and wanted to ask Director Fury about it. They denied everything though and more or less tried to threaten him about not doing that kind of thing again. Even after you fell out of nowhere they wouldn't say anything. What I don't understand is why though; you'd think they would want the Avengers help on this thing."

"Because they want it for themselves." Darcy answered bluntly. She didn't know if that was true or not, but it would be a damn good reason because hell, she wanted it for herself and she wasn't some shady government organization.

"Do you really think so?"

"I think what I'm carrying right now is worth a hell of a lot more than anybody's giving it credit for, and I think if they can, they'll try to get the rest of it." She turned to Jane and flashed her most charming grin. "But I'm going to find it first."

"No way Darcy, that's too dangerous!" Jane warned, as if she had any room to talk about running into dangerous situations. "We should contain the pieces that you have so you can get as far away from this stuff as possible. Erik even said that—"

"I'm not giving them to anybody." Darcy interrupted with a tone more clipped than she'd intended. She couldn't help it though; Jane's suggestion felt more like a threat. "If Loki couldn't get them from me and couldn't kill me, I'm sure as hell not afraid of some normal from-earth European dudes."

"You should be." A male voice to her right said, and both she and Jane jumped from the unexpected proximity of a new person.

Darcy turned with a glare to find the blue eyed man who'd been sitting next to Prison Barbie watching the two of them with a disarming smirk as he leaned against the glass, his arms crossed, and for a second she just couldn't fathom how so many people could manage to look this good fighting crime. Didn't anybody ever get punched in the face? It was unreal, and she totally needed to get in on some of these secrets. The only issue the man had was a set of dark rings under his eyes, but she could handle a few sleepless nights if it meant a great body and a supermodel face.

"Agent Barton." Jane breathed. "I didn't hear you come in."

"That's why I get paid the big bucks." He answered with an amused twinkle in his eye. "So iPod girl found a new toy eh?"

Darcy opened her mouth to lash back when Thor's voice boomed from across the room, "Clint Barton!"

"JARVIS, how'd he get in here?" Tony asked, their voices drawing closer.

"I'm not entirely certain, sir." The computer admitted.

"Ventilation shafts." Clint confessed with a proud grin.

"Remind me to install cameras in there—so did Fury change his mind? He finally admitting that he needs Earth's ultimate heroes again?"

"Aw is somebody feeling like a spurred lover, Stark?"

"Just a one night stand at this point."

"What are you doing here, Agent Barton?" Steve asked, bringing serious back to the table.

"I'm here to tell you what Fury couldn't, that SHIELD is in over their heads and that the Avengers might need to step up, although in an unofficial capacity for now."

"Why do they keep this from us?" Thor asked with a frown.

"Because the Director's been compromised." He offered with a half-shrug, his face falling a little before he added in, "Romanoff too."

Heavy glances were exchanged by all before Steve asked with a frown, "How did that happen."

Clint pointed to the monitor behind them. "The German. He made some sort of agreement with them, that's all I know. They won't—or can't—say anything about the operation, but something big is happening. We had over a dozen agents go missing in Hungary yesterday, and I'd bet my bow it has something to do with that guy." His hand wavered to the right, toward the darkened video.

"Does anybody know who he is yet?"

Steve continued the questions, and Darcy had to admire how well he stepped into the role of leader without anybody even assigning it. Or maybe it was assigned? She realized now that short of what the tabloids, the TV and Jane told her, she really didn't know anything else about the Avengers. Did they all work part time jobs when they weren't off saving the world, get a government stipend or did Tony Stark keep them all like the girls living at the Playmate mansion? Did they live in this building or have their own apartments in the city? She pictured Bruce going all hulk in the shower after running out of hot water and grinned; probably not normal apartments.

"Andros Fodor." Clint answered. "He lives in Monor with his parents. Thirty-three, unemployed, middle child and now apparently a villain."

"It's always the middle children." Tony quipped with a shake of the head.

"There is actually some statistical evidence predicating birth order to be indicative of—"

"So SHIELD doesn't know you're here right now?" Steve interrupted Bruce and steered the conversation back on track. Even if nobody else did, Captain America definitely had his head in the game already; what a trooper.

"Of course not, Tasha'd have me on the floor and hogtied if they knew."

"This is no time to share your fantasies."

Clint continued, ignoring Tony's commentary, "Whatever's happening they're playing it real close to the vest on this one, and whatever deal her and Fury made must be solid if they aren't even telling me."

"So you don't know anything that we don't already is what you're saying?"

"I'm saying Apple here is right. I think Fury has this German working with Natasha right now to get more of these stones. They've both been more secretive than usual ever since that video hit the web, but after Darcy splashed down they've been so tightlipped they'd probably qualify for a Convent at this point."

"They couldn't even handle the last one."

"We must not let them gather the rest of the Infinity Stone." Thor agreed.

Knowing that another deep discussion was about to take place, likely in an effort to get her to give up the shards and make herself scarce while they all went off doing super-hero stuff, Darcy clenched her fists at her sides, steeled her nerves, then stated with as much authority as she could, "I'll look for the other shards." When everyone's attention turned to her, a few mouths even starting to open in protest, she continued in a rush, "And this isn't negotiable folks. There are three crazies out there all looking for the same thing, and since I'm less crazy than they are—"

"That's debatable." Jane muttered.

"—I'm the best option to try and head them off. Plus, none of you even know where to look and I seem to have a knack for it already." Darcy finished, throwing a small glare at her boss.

"The danger of such a quest would be great." Thor said softly, watching her with a new look on his face, probably a mixture of worry, maybe respect, and definitely an appreciation for her balls of freaking steel and smidge of stupidity.

"Miss Lewis," Steve started, and Darcy immediately shook her head and lifted a hand to give him the universal sign of 'hold your freaking horses.'

"Just Darcy dude, seriously, Miss makes me feel like I'm back in school."

"Darcy," he corrected, "If you'd be willing to help us in stopping the others from collecting the rest of this stone, we'll make sure to keep you safe while you do. You have my word on that."

She couldn't stop the grin from forming on her face at his promise. It was sweet really, and pretty darn endearing that Steve assumed she was offering her help on their account. She would have gone after the other shards with or without their blessing, something about the idea of having more so appealing that Darcy couldn't resist. Probably a good thing she never tried drugs if she got addicted to things this easily. Still, it was nice to look like a good guy in all this—not that she was bad dammit, just, well it was hard to explain why she wanted the shards so badly; she just did—and if she could help them out while helping herself then it was a win-win situation for all. Right?

"My brother will also seek these remaining pieces." Thor caught her eyes, "You do know this."

"Yeah I know."

"That's why Darcy won't be going out into the field alone." Steve said with an air of finality. "So here's what we need to do first…"


Author's Note:

Ugh, okay this chapter was a pain in the ass to write, and I really hope that I didn't break character for anyone. Feel free to let me know if I did however so I can fix it. Also, I really hope you enjoyed reading it more than I enjoyed writing it. I don't really like chapters this heavy in conversation, but I felt it was necessary for the story so yeah...couldn't be helped. Anyway, thanks again for reading, and thank you to everyone who has reviewed. You make it much more fun to write :)