So, this chapter took a pretty unexpected turn for me while I was writing it. Lots of angst, fighting, that sort of thing. On that note, enjoy! Review, favorite, follow, and all the fun stuff when you finish :D

As soon as they entered the room, the temperature dropped easily fifty degrees. Goosebumps spread up Darcy's arms like a wildfire, chilling her to her very core. Loki gave her his tux jacket, but it did little to help her.

Her hand was tightly clasped to his, their fingers laced together.

This is how it should've been back in Egypt. I probably wouldn't have been as scared then. Ok, that's not true. I still would've been scared shitless. Loki's hand is just awesome.

They walked down a fairly steep incline for not even ten steps before reaching a giant spiral staircase leading down. Loki walked ahead of her, testing the first few steps.

"Looks good to-" He was cut off when the floor beneath him fell out and he disappeared from sight.

"Loki!" Darcy jumped forward, not even making sure she was on safe ground. The flashlight that had been in his hand had gone out, leaving them in complete darkness. A sheer panic went through her, straight down to her bones. "Can you hear me? Are you hurt?"

She heard him coughing, thankfully sounding relatively close. He must've only fallen about ten feet or so.

"Yeah, I'm all right. Don't try to come down here; I'll find the flashlight and come back to you." She couldn't see him, but she heard Loki stand up and start walking around. A light suddenly shined out; Loki had found the flashlight and was shining on the wall opposite where Darcy was standing.

"Is that…?" Darcy couldn't finish her sentence. On the wall where Loki's light shined, a Latin inscription wrapped around the wall of the circular room.

"It is. We did it," Loki's voice said from somewhere below her.

"What does it say? Where are we going now?"

"The first part says 'Artemis tenet," which means 'Artemis holds.' There's more to it, but the wall is crumbling there."

"Well, we don't need to know what she's holding. We just need to know where to look." Darcy commented.

"The most famous Artemis temple is in present-day Turkey, but that temple is ruins now. There's nothing left except a few pillars." She heard Loki sigh after that out of frustration.

"The Temple of Artemis you're talking about is the one at Ephesus, right? It was destroyed in 401. That's just after what we're dealing with. Maybe the original hiders of the treasure went back and made sure the clue was still there,"

"That would be really good for us, but this clue says 'Artemis holds.' If I had to guess, the clue would've been in the hands of a statue."

"Is 'holds' the only thing that word translates to?"

"Hmm… I think tenet could also mean 'keeps,'"

"There you go. Maybe it'll be like this and Egypt: something underground. The original hiders were obviously building these clues to last, so they wouldn't put a clue in the hands of a statue or anything like that. It's hidden, and hidden well."

Loki was silent for a moment. Finally, Darcy heard his voice again. "We have no way to know for sure right now. We'll discuss everything with the others tonight."

"Sounds good to me."

"I'm coming up now,"

"Be careful," It helped her, saying that. At any moment the floor could fall out beneath him, and this time he could actually get hurt.

Darcy could tell where he was by the origin of the light, making its way up the stairs toward her. All she could do in that moment was stand there and wring her hands and simply hope Loki would be all right.

Even with the light in Loki's hand, Darcy couldn't see her hand in front of her face. She had been in a cave once in her life, on a field trip in middle school, and this experience was something like that. Judging from the way the passage leading them in had been, this room was probably directly under the Pantheon's main room. There were no windows or light sources, but the distant sound of dripping water could be from the drains of the main room.

Loki's light fell onto her as he finished getting around the hole he had fallen through and back onto solid ground.

Darcy, without even thinking, stepped forward and wrapped both arms around him. His long arms wrapped around her as well, his face nestling into the curve between her shoulder and neck.

Three days ago. Three days ago, she was worried about them accidentally touching when they were both asleep and possible feelings and making sure she wasn't caught staring at him as they sifted through the sand. Now, three days later, everything's changed. Not just with Loki, but that's off topic right now. Anyways, he obviously cared about her, judging just by the amount of time they've spent kissing the past few days. Darcy wasn't sure yet how much he actually cared, though. For all she knew, he had some girl back at Cambridge waiting for him and he was just bored right now. No, he wouldn't do that. I think I know him well enough at this point to know he's not like that. Do I?

Loki separated from her and took her hand.

"Let's get back to the party before people start noticing we're gone," he said. She could hear the smile in his voice.

They walked back into the room with the graves and Loki pushed the door closed again. She didn't notice until they were in the light again, but Loki was walking with a limp.

"Are you all right?" she asked as they walked back toward the party.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I landed wrong on my foot, but I'll be fine." Darcy wasn't sure he was being completely honest, but she didn't want to push it.

"If you insist. Let's just go back to the hotel now. You're covered in dust anyway. The guests might find that weird," She tried to laugh a little with that to help lighten the mood, but she couldn't get it out. Darcy slipped her arm around him to help steady him. Loki didn't object to it, he just tried to put as little of his weight on her as possible.

They walked into the main room and Clint saw them and rushed to them.

"What happened?" he asked as he approached. He pulled Loki's arm around his shoulder and helped him stand up better. Darcy was a lot shorter than Loki and therefore could only do so much as his crutch. Clint was stronger and taller and would be able to help him better than she could.

"I fell. We're going back to the hotel now," Loki said.

"You sure you don't want to go to the hospital?" Clint asked.

Loki shook his head. They took a few steps, though, and Loki almost fell to his knees.

"You're going to the hospital. Darcy, can you run over to Nat real quick and tell her where we're going? She's just on the other side of that pillar," Clint motioned with his head behind her.

"Yeah. I'll be right back," Darcy started to run but then stopped, took off her heels, and then took off running again. She reached the pillar but didn't see Nat.

"Nat? Natasha?" she said.

"What is it, Darcy?" Darcy almost fell over from shock. Nat had snuck up and was now standing right behind her.

"Loki got hurt, so Clint is helping me take him to the hospital,"

"Ok. I've got everything here,"

"Thanks," Darcy said, not waiting for a response after that. She took off, going back to Loki and Clint, who were just now reaching the door.

Loki was a lot more hurt than he was letting on to be. She could see it in his face and in the way he was trying to walk when he could barely stand. He probably hurt himself even more trying to show her that he was fine. Goddammit, Loki.

The three of them got into a car, Darcy sitting with Loki in the back seat while Clint took shotgun. He told the driver to go to the nearest hospital in Italian; they were in a taxi instead of one of Stark's cars since the party wasn't scheduled to be over for a while. The driver didn't speak any English, but luckily Clint was sufficient enough in Italian.

"How are you feeling?" Darcy asked, her voice smaller than she had intended.

"I'm good. We really don't have to go to the hospital," he said. His face was pained, a thin layer of sweat on his forehead.

"Oh, shut up." she replied, shaking her head.

They drove for a few minutes in silence before Clint spoke up.

"So, did you guys find anything?"

"Yeah. There's a tunnel leading to a room with another inscription." Darcy said.

"Really? How 'bout that. Where are we off to now?" Clint asked.

"Turkey, we think." she said.

"What's in Turkey?"

"A temple to Artemis,"

"Alright. Sounds good to me." Clint obviously didn't need much as far as directions were concerned. Darcy had noticed about him that he was much more of an observer than a participator. Also: people are still into archery? Like, for security purposes? I know Loki said he was a 'specialist,' but damn.

They reached the hospital and Clint helped him inside, Darcy valiantly holding the doors for them as they made their way into the ER.

An hour later, the three of them were leaving the hospital to go back to the hotel. They were told that Loki had badly sprained his ankle, but that he'd be able to walk normally in about a week or two. The nurse they'd been with had wrapped his leg, told him not to walk too much, gave him some pain medicine, and sent them on their way.

They got back to the hotel and Darcy and Clint helped Loki out of the car. They threw one of his arms over each of them, helping him through the lobby, up the elevator, and into the suite.

Once he was sitting on the bed, Clint left the room to call Nat and make sure everything at the party had gone all right. The party had ended a little while ago, so everyone should be coming back soon.

Darcy helped Loki take his jacket off and untucked his shirt for him. She started unbuttoning his shirt, but he put his hand on hers to stop her.

"You don't have to do that," he said. He looked utterly defeated: guilty about needing help, in pain from his ankle, and just plain tired.

"I'll go check and see what Clint's heard from Natasha," Darcy said. She walked to the door to almost run into Clint, who had been trying to get back into the room frantically.

"What's wrong?" Loki said as he saw Clint looking panicked.

"At the gala," he began. "Hydra hit again. Nat took care of them, but she says there may be civilian casualties. She wasn't very clear. She says she'll be back soon and explain then,"

"Are all of ours all right?" Darcy asked, her mind immediately going to Jane and Thor and her new friends.

"Everyone got split up. She was able to get ahold of everyone except Jane and Thor,"

Darcy and Loki were both speechless. Darcy sat down on the bed beside him, staring at the ground in front of her.

Clint's cellphone started ringing, so he stepped from the room and swung the door shut behind him. Darcy looked to Loki.

"Well, today's turned to shit." she blurted.

"Everyone may be all right. For all we know, nobody at all got hurt and there was just a big confusion. And we did find the next clue. It still could be a good day."

"Maybe, but we can't know for sure now. Plus, you got hurt."

"I'll be fine. The doctor said I'd be back to normal in a week."

"But still," Darcy said. Her thought was cut off when Clint came back into the room.

"They're here. You up to sit in on this?" he asked Loki, who nodded in response.

Clint helped Loki into the main room and sat him down on the couch. Darcy sat beside him, knotting her hands together in anticipation. For all she knew, the group could show up and one of them could be dead or one of them could've been shot in the leg or something awful like that.

The door opened and Stark was the first one through. He looked pissed off beyond imagine, but he was fine. Pepper, Bruce, and Steve followed him in, all completely fine. Jane and Thor walked in next, to Darcy's relief. Thor had his arm around Jane, who looked like she was suffering from PTSD, but had no visible injuries. Natasha was the last one in; she had a splatter of blood across her face, but was uninjured as well. Everyone came in and sat down except for Steve, Thor, and Stark as to lack of enough seats. Stark walked over to stand directly in front of Loki.

"What the hell happened to you?" He looked at Loki's leg with confusion.

"I fell," Loki said bluntly.

"Was that before or after the Hydra agents saw you leaving the Pantheon with half our security?"

"Are you trying to blame this on him?" Darcy said.

"Tony," Pepper warned.

"You guys were as obvious as you could be when you left, weren't you?" Stark asked, his attention fully on Loki.

"He sprained his ankle, Stark. Would you have preferred us to sneak him out through the sewers? We weren't aware that Hydra was watching us." Darcy told him.

"We should be focusing on how Hydra knew we were here in the first place," Loki said.

"Did anyone get hurt?" Darcy turned to ask Nat.

"One man got shot in the arm. It was a clean wound, though. He'll be fine."

"What was Hydra trying to do?" Clint asked, sitting down in the chair beside Loki and Darcy.

"They didn't really have a plan that I saw. Only five or six of them came in, and they mostly tried to avoid the crowd." Natasha said.

"They went straight for the tombs, but Nat cut them before they got there. Just the sound of the guns is what caused the hysteria," Steve said. "A few people went toward the noise for whatever reason, but Nat was able to keep them back for the most part."

"I tried to keep one Hydra agent alive for questioning, but he had a cyanide pill. Killed himself before I could even get across the room to him." Nat added.

"But how did they know where we are?" Loki asked again.

"They could've known that from any number of sources." Nat said. "Someone followed us from Egypt. Another Hydra agent went down into the tomb and found the inscriptions themself. They probably knew because they heard Tony Stark was throwing a last minute gala at the Pantheon just after seeing him in Egypt," She shot Stark a look.

"We need to be much more careful. Next time, we'll travel more sporadically," Stark said.

"And not throw a giant party when we're trying to lie low," Darcy said.

"So, where are we going now? Did you guys find anything?" Steve asked.

"The encryption we found suggests the temple to Artemis in Turkey," Loki said, sitting up a little straighter.

"What'd it say?" Jane asked.

"I could only read the first part. It read 'Artemis holds,' something."

Stark scoffed, crossing his arms.

"Oh, I'm sorry. How about next time you go down and translate it for us?" Loki said. "And you know what? Ever since you walked in, you've been blaming me for everything that went wrong today."

Everybody else in the room went silent and looked at Stark, waiting for his response.

"I've been 'blaming you' because you were careless and almost lost a man his life."

"Yes, I directly caused that to happen. It's all my fault,"

"How about you roll back your sass for a second and maybe take a few more pain pills before you get too out of hand."

Loki pushed himself up to stand on his good leg in front of Stark. The two men were sizing each other up, standing probably a little too close, Darcy noted. Loki was a head taller than him, but Stark had enough bravado and ego to tower over him.

"Bring it on, professor. I'll hit a cripple,"

"Enough!" Pepper finally cut in, standing and walking to Stark. "Enough fighting. Tony, go to bed. You're only acting up because you're tired and someone ruined your party. Loki, you obviously need rest. Somebody help him. And for the love of god, nobody talk to each other unless you're going to be civil!"

Everyone stared wide-eyed and Pepper for a moment before springing into action. Thor and Steve helped Loki back into his room. Clint went to Natasha and the two of them left without a word. Bruce snuck out of the room pretty quickly; he wasn't really one for being around or a part of tension. Finally, Stark sulked out of the room followed by Pepper. Jane and Darcy were the only ones left, both sitting on the couch.

"What the fuck." Darcy was staring out in front of her, trying to process everything that went on.

"What have we gotten ourselves into?" Jane responded, equally spaced-out.

Not even a second later, Steve and Thor walked out of the bedroom. Steve left immediately, but Thor went to Jane and helped her up.

"My brother and Stark are both very stressed today," Thor said. "Tomorrow, everyone will be happier, hopefully,"

Darcy couldn't help smiling at Thor's optimism. Jane and Thor went into their bedroom, and Darcy had no intention of listening to what was most likely about to occur. She stood up and went into her own bedroom.

Loki was sitting on the edge of the bed, his back to her. He had changed into just pants (trousers- Darcy had learned her lesson when it came to the differences with American/British terms the day some old woman heard her say 'fanny' in public).

"Hey, big guy," She walked over and sat down beside him.

"I'd like to apologize for my behavior," he immediately said.

"No, don't. Stark's a tool. You should've hit him."

"I don't know why he is still keeping us around, or at least me, anyway. He doesn't need us and he obviously doesn't enjoy being around me,"

"He does need us, specifically you. You've found and translated everything so far. Stark knows that no matter how much he doesn't like us, he needs you to find the clues and eventually the treasure."

"I suppose you're right,"

"Of course I am,"

"I'm just feeling sorry for myself."

"Only a little,"

"I'm being extremely rude."

"I wouldn't go that far,"

"I need to be more polite to Stark. He's being very generous, letting us come with him."

"That's too far."

"Yeah, that is too far. We just need to be respectful to him without actually being nice."

"That sounds like a plan." Darcy grinned.

"A plan we will most likely struggle with," he replied, matching her grin with his own.

"But it will at least be a fun struggle, full of snarky and clever remarks,"

"Naturally,"

"This plan can start tomorrow. As for now, let's go to bed. You'll need your rest for when you wake up screaming in pain at five in the morning,"

"I don't think it'll be that bad," Loki said, pushing himself back onto the bed.

"Nope. That's how injuries always work. You'll start out fine, and then bam! It's 5 A.M. and you're crying, wondering where your god is." Darcy stood up and walked to her pile of clothes and began changing. She was way too lazy and tired to worry about the implications of changing her clothes in front Loki. She just needed out of this damn dress.

"I suppose I'll find out if this is true in a few hours regardless," he said.

"It's gonna be a good time." Darcy turned around when she was finished changing and joined Loki in bed.

I feel like it should bother me how fucking domestic we're becoming, yet here I am, snuggling up to him as we go to sleep. Whatever.