It was about three days later that they reached New York. Air services had been disrupted by the damage to JFK and La Guardia, and people were flooding out of the city. Most who stayed behind stayed in their apartments, and those brave enough to venture out had to deal with cracked roads, upturned sidewalks, overturned vehicles, and streets strewn with multiple bodies of Chitauri and humans alike. At night the streets were cloaked in darkness, with only a few flickering lamposts to illuminate the path.
That was the New York they were greeted by.
The debris didn't stop Jane, though. The determined young woman was taking big strides along whatever little was left of the pavements, and Darcy had to jog to keep up. They had landed in Newark determined to beeline for Thor and give him a huge whack upside-down and inside-out, but all that had changed when they'd gotten the call from the Bronx V.A. Medical Center.
It didn't change the fact that Jane was thoroughly pissed about the deception, however, and she made sure to voice her annoyance as much as possible while they made their detour. "...if SHIELD would have just told me the truth, I could have helped!"
"What, fight aliens?" scoffed Darcy. They both knew how that'd turned out.
They both knew. No matter how many times she repeated it out loud, or in her mind, the statement always felt slightly surreal. Three days ago Jane had declined her offer and, while understandably still wary and a bit angry, agreed to wait one more day for Darcy to fully regain her strength to cast her glamour so that they could get on a plane without the flight attendants screaming till kingdom come. From then on, there was a warm fuzzy feeling within Darcy — there was hope.
"I could have helped shut down the portal!" Jane insisted, bringing Darcy back to the present. They had reached the medical center and were now rushing through the halls.
"You've been awake for 72 hours," Darcy made to remind her. "Maybe you should take a nap. You should definitely take a shower."
"I'm not doing anything till I find — " Jane stopped so suddenly that Darcy nearly barreled into her. "Erik?"
Darcy followed her line of sight, and for the first time took note of the ward they had stopped outside. Sure enough, their old friend was in the room, slumped over in a chair, his face pale and his hands shaking. He looked up at the sound of his name, and his eyes widened when he spotted the pair.
"Jane," he rasped, "you shouldn't be here."
Jane rushed to his side, while Darcy held back slightly. "Erik, are you all right?"
With a sudden burst of energy, he lunged out of the chair and seized her by the shoulders. "Listen to me," he said frantically, a crazed look in his eyes. "He knows about you. He was in my head. I saw. Loki knows about you! You're in great danger!"
"Erik, I'm okay," Jane told the rambling man soothingly, placing a hand on his shoulder to calm him. Gently, she lowered him back against the chair.
The old man's brows furrowed, the craze gradually leaving his eyes. "Wait...It's over, isn't it?" he mumbled confusedly. He blinked furiously. "I can't think..."
"You're going to be okay," Jane assured him. "I'm going to take care of you. I promise."
"T-thank you. Jane." He sunk back into the chair, lifting one hand to knead his forehead.
"Thor," he muttered suddenly, as if recalling something. "Thor wanted me to tell you something, but I can't remember...what was it?"
It was then Jane and Darcy were both reminded of their initial aim of the day. "Where is he?" Jane asked with a new streak of resolution. "I need to see him."
Erik lifted his head, exposing his disoriented expression. Slowly, he turned and lifted a trembling hand towards the ward's window, pointing towards the night sky outside. "He's outside the window...?"
"No..." Jane drifted towards the window, looking up at the stars, knowing exactly what that meant. "He's gone," she breathed, with a tone of unmistakable devastation and crushing defeat.
"Who's gone?" asked Erik, blearily.
"Thor," Darcy answered for Jane.
Erik's head snapped up to her, as if fully registering her presence for the first time. In that instant, he jolted in his chair, fear flooding his face.
"J-Jane..." he whispered. "Stay away from Darcy. She's dangerous. She...she's..."
Jane swiveled back from the window and glanced at Darcy, a look of betrayal passing over her face. "Does he know?"
Darcy found herself gawping like a goldfish, desperate to blurt out some sort of quick explanation but not knowing where to start. "I...he — "
"You found out?" Erik asked Jane shakily.
Jane nodded mutely.
Darcy stepped forward. "Erik, my father — "
Erik's hand shot out. "Stay away," he told her, in a growl that was almost feral.
"Erik — "
"Stay away!" Both women jumped at the old mentor's sudden outburst. Immediately he seemed to realize what he had done, and instantly curled into himself. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he murmured, shaking his head profusely. "I don't know what came over me...it's just, I see you, I think of him, and everything...his smile, his piercing blue eyes, his magic..."
Jane looked to Darcy helplessly, but Darcy knew what she needed to do. She backed up towards the door. "It's cool. Really, Erik, I understand..." she said, as nonchalantly as possible. "I'll be outside if you need anything," she told Jane, before turning on her heel and heading out the door.
She was barely out in the hall for five minutes when there was a scream from the ward.
"Darcy!"
She bolted back into the room in a flash, but this time came face to face with an utterly terrifying scene.
Erik was seizing, violent tremors wracking his entire body. His eyes were squeezed shut in pain as his limbs jerked uncontrollably, as if possessed by some antagonistic force. Jane was by his side, trying to hold him steady.
"Get the nurse!" she shouted in a frenzy.
Just then, Erik's eyes flew open — they were glowing a phosphorescent shade of green.
"J-Jane," Darcy said as steadily as she could, "this doesn't look like a medical problem."
"Well, what is it then?" demanded Jane.
Without warning, Erik's neck lashed back and his back snapped into an unnatural arch. He began to gag. "I am...burdened...with glorious purpose..."
At this Jane released her grip on Erik and began backing away from his convulsing body. "Darcy, what's happening?"
"I don't know, I've never seen — "
"Do something!" Jane practically shrieked.
Without really thinking, Darcy surged forward, gripping the sides of Erik's spasming head. She was about to cast the sleeping spell when her mind suddenly felt a powerful tug, like a mental whiplash, and she was thrown into a sea of images.
Dim shadows of monstrous beasts loom over her. Gutteral barks of hunger mix with the hair-raising sounds of metal chains being dragged against the rocky floor.
Jeers of hatred and bullets of spit fly at her. Boots pound against her ribcage, again and again, and again.
"Little völva..." she hears a voice in her head. "Little völva I'm sorry..." A hard gauntlet strikes her cheek, and there was a stinging sensation in her nose, and she knows tears will soon follow. She feels a desperate force within her trying to keep the floodgates closed.
"The runt who begs...the runt who cries...the runt who was the god of lies!" comes a voice, in a grotesque singsong growl. The jeers crescendo into a cacophonous chorus.
She struggles, but claws hold her limbs firmly in place. There's a sudden flare of pain in her side as she feels a jagged metal blade thrust into her bare flesh. She screams, but the claw pressed painfully against her mouth ensures that no one can hear her.
"Is he finished?" There is only one shadow now, but it instills in her a fear unlike any other.
"He is ready."
"Darcy! Darcy!" She stumbled back as Jane finally managed to tear her away from Erik, and the two women crashed unceremoniously onto the floor of the ward.
It took a moment for the buzzing in her head to stop, and when it did, she noticed a slight tingling all over her body. It felt like there was something else running through her veins, almost like —
"What happened?" Jane asked, scrambling to her feet. "You touched him, and then you started convulsing too and your eyes started glowing..."
"My father," Darcy whispered hoarsely, still slightly winded from the episode. She looked up at Jane. "He had some of Loki's...memories implanted in his mind. And memories are linked to emotions, and emotions...are linked to our magic." She shuddered as she remembered her own recent emotional outburst.
"What you're saying is..."
"Erik's brain was soaked with Loki's magic," Darcy explained breathlessly, "and a mortal mind wasn't built to withstand a god's — well, not really god, but you know what I mean — magic."
"So...what did you do?"
"Well, it seems I removed it...absorbed it if you will." She was once again aware of the tingling sensation in her body — her father's seidr, incompatible with her own. "Now that you've reminded me, I've got to expel it before it corrupts my own and messes with my nervous system. Give me a minute." She got up and, after shaking out her body, began to channel the seidr into one specific spot of her body. A coldness began to intensify in her left hand, to the point it was almost hot, like the comings of severe frostbite.
"Ack! Hot! Hot!" She shook it furiously and looked around. Spotting an unattended mop and bucket at the corner of the room, she clambered towards it and plunged her hand in the bucket. Almost immediately, a clouded mass of green liquid seeped from the pores of her hand, staining the water. The frostbite sensation receded, and she slumped next to the bucket, heaving a sigh of relief.
Jane was looking on with slight awe. "It is official," she deadpanned. "I will never understand Asgardians."
"Correction: my father and I are technically Jotunn," Darcy piped up. "Well, I'm half-Jotunn, but you get the point."
Jane extended a hand, and Darcy took it (with her dry hand, of course), letting her friend haul her to her feet. "So, Erik's going to be all right?" asked Jane, looking over her shoulder to where the old mentor lay, now sleeping more soundly than ever.
Darcy delayed a moment to dry her hand with her other jacket sleeve. "Physically, he'll be fine..." she began, "but I can't be sure about his mental state."
Jane's fingers tugged nervously on her bottom lip. "Why is it only happening to him?" she asked softly. "From what I've heard, everyone else who'd been under Loki's control is fine, seizure-free."
"I think...I think my father has been influencing his mind for a long time, even before the events of New York." Darcy thought back to that flash she'd seen during that Skype call all those months ago, now certain she had not imagined it. "And I think it's because of me."
Jane's gaze flickered towards Darcy. "What?"
"I think my father put a message in Erik's head," Darcy breathed. "For me."
A/N: Just want to take the time to thank all those who have tolerated my extremely slow updating, and especially those who have reviewed! I've recently found some direction with this fic, so fingers crossed that it's a bit more smooth sailing from here...
