Chapter fourteen

Liars and killers

Darcy's blood ran cold as she looked up at Loki with horror in her face. This was what he needed her for, wasn't it? This was why he brought her along, because he knew he needed a sacrifice. Her lips wobbled as fear flooded through her. Surely he couldn't swap her without her consent? She watched Loki take a step in front of her.

"No, I will not allow it," Loki said. "You can take me or my magic, but you cannot take her."

This was confusing. So he hadn't brought her along for this? Or had he simply changed his mind…

What was Darcy thinking? She felt guilt wrap around her heart as she realised she was worrying for no reason. He had told her many times that he would not hurt her. She knew him now. He couldn't be that good at pretending. That would be horrifying.

"If you are unwilling to trade her, then why is she here?" Hel asked.

"Company. I wanted company. Where I am now in my life, after everything, few people will wish to associate with me. Friendship and trust were always something slow to build…I took her out of boredom and loneliness at first, selfish as it was, but grew to enjoy her company," Loki answered. Huh. She wasn't expecting that.

"So…when you said you needed me…" Darcy said, coming out from behind him to look at him. Loki shrugged.

"I knew the Time Gem would need two people, however, I did not anticipate quite how you would be needed…" Loki said. She thought she could almost see a faint hint of a blush on his pale face. How cute. Damn him. It made it difficult to even consider the idea of trying to get over him. How could she when he was just so damned…damned…there was no word for it! He was everything and beautiful and broken. There was no garage, no glue, no doctor that could fix him either. But…

His mother probably could.

His mother was clearly the one person who never made him feel any of the hurt or sadness she has seen in him. Loki constantly compares himself to Thor, in one way or another which made her believe that, intentionally or unintentionally, Thor had made him feel inferior, feel the need to try and be everything he can be. When that failed, he decided to try and be the 'monster' that he believed Jotunns to be. And he clearly didn't like his father all that much after the lies. She took hold of Loki's hand and squeezed it.

"Loki deserves to have his mother back. I know people don't usually come back from the dead and this is…crazy is the only word that comes to mind," Darcy said. She could feel her heart beating fast as she found herself saying the most absurd of words. "You can swap me for his mother, if that's what it will take. I think she would be far more important and useful in this w―"

Loki's hand clamped over her mouth at the same time that he pulled her against his chest rather hard. It was almost to the point of discomfort.

"No. If you cannot swap the gauntlet and the gems for my mother then I will find another way. There simply has to be," Loki hissed.

"Oh? You are talking desperately here, Loki. You know very well there are no other ways than through me, and you know I cannot give someone back without fair exchange. It is much like alchemy," Hel said.

"I have nothing but myself to exchange. Why not me?" Loki asked.

"It would be too easy, Loki," Hel said. Darcy felt his arms wrap around her as if he was trying to hold onto something. She saw Hel smile. "Give me the gauntlet."

Loki handed it over and Hel studied it, before smiling. "I think your placement of the Gems is rather fascinating, and you pass," Hel said. "However, I will not return your mother to the land of the living for now. Trouble is brewing…I assume you know what I mean?"

"Yes…the blue beings…I…thank you, Hel," Loki said, shocked. She handed him the gauntlet back. "But…this is part of the exchange…"

"Our exchange is this: make right your wrongs, do everything you can to stop the oncoming trouble and do not stray from the path of good again. You will regret it. You also owe me three favours, whenever I choose to ask for them," Hel said. "The gauntlet belongs to you now, and no one else can utilise it."

She watched as Loki looked down at the gauntlet and back up at Hel, obviously shocked. Darcy turned in his loose embrace and smiled up at him. His eyes found hers and what she found there was truly beautiful. A man with renewed hope. Loki had something to live for again and she was so happy for that. She closed the gap and hugged him fiercely, her emotions all out of whack. The week's break on Alfheim hadn't been enough, but their fight wasn't over yet. The universe just couldn't be peaceful for a second, could it?

"I suppose we had best go," Loki said. "Thank you, Hel."

Loki led her out of the passage to Helheim and back into the mystical white and pale blue of Niflheim. It was such a strange and yet beautiful sight. A never-ending snowfall, one that didn't bring up feelings of frustration and annoyance at the idea of trying to drive through it all. They walked so far before the forms of three ethereal figures appeared before them. The Norns. They looked a lot more corporeal now and grim.

"We have lost one of our own. You know exactly how," Skuld said. "We want her back. She has been missing a year."

"A year?" Loki asked.

"The first to be taken. Vorindyr is young, but powerful," Urd said.

"I understand. I have been tasked to assist this situation, and I will bring her back for you," Loki said.

"Go forth, Loki and Darcy, the road is long," Verdandi said, before they disappeared.

Loki wrapped his arms around Darcy and looked down at her. "Before we go…why did you do that? Try to offer yourself…" Loki said.

"Admittedly, I feared at first that this was your intention, you did say you'd needed me, but then…" Darcy said. "I don't know, I just…Love makes you do stupid things."

Loki sighed and shook his head. "I am not surprised you would panic so, in fact, I would have done the same, but Darcy, you are no less important than my mother. While I still cannot have that talk with you, I do care about you, as difficult as it might be to believe," Loki said.

Darcy reached up and kissed his cheek. "I suppose we should go now. Got the worlds to save and all," Darcy said. And suddenly they were gone from that world, off to…

Agent Coulson?!

Loki had transported them onto some ship. Earth, of course, she could see that easily. Agent Coulson was knelt on the ground, clutching a woman to him, looking like they had tried all in their power to save her. An Asian woman stood off to the side looking grim and angry, though calm nevertheless. Another woman was crouched next to a boyish man, the woman with long hair and dark eyes, and the man with lighter, curly brown hair. Both were clearly not as good at hiding their emotions than the others. The man beside himself with grief. Another man in a suit and dark hair was stood to the side emotionless, though Darcy could see that he cared.

Mere seconds after they appeared, the group looked over at them and the Asian woman and the dark-haired man had their guns out, pointed at Loki. Agent Coulson stood up and brought his gun out, but holding it low, confused about…oh, her.

"I thought you were supposed to be dead. What are you doing with Miss. Lewis?" Coulson asked. Darcy moved from Loki's side and stood in front of him.

"It's okay! Don't shoot!" Darcy said. They all looked at her like she was crazy. "Please, just listen to me―"

"And I thought you were supposed to be dead," Loki said, ignoring it all. He had transported himself next to the fallen woman, who didn't seem to be breathing.

"It was like I said before; you lacked conviction," Coulson said. "Now step away from her."

"Why? Are you afraid I will kill her? Oh, wait, she is already dead," Loki said. He wasn't making it easy for himself. "Or, at least, it looks that way."

"What do you mean?" Coulson asked, his gun still in hand.

"Who did this?" Loki asked. "Let me guess, a bunch of blue beings?"

Darcy saw them look between themselves. Bingo.

"She is not dead. This is a fake body," Loki said, standing up. "Your team mate should be alive, along with the others across the realms who have suffered so."

"How can we trust you? What makes you think we can?" The dark-haired man asked.

"Really? Jemma's alive? Where is she? Please tell us!" The lighter-haired man asked. Coulson looked between Loki and Darcy, eyes resting on Darcy.

"We will sit down, all of us, in the conference room and you will tell us what is going on," Coulson said, firmly. So they were led to a room with a big table and sat down, Darcy and Loki at one end with the team on the other.

"Do we get any introductions?" Darcy asked.

"This is Agent Ward, Agent May, Agent Fitz and Agent Skye," Coulson said. "Team, this is Darcy Lewis, Dr. Foster's intern."

"Nice to meet you," Darcy said.

"You have been missing for just over half a year…I know for a fact that Thor and Dr. Foster continue to search for you, along with our organisation keeping an eye out," Coulson said.

"I…I know, there's just…it's a long story. So you know Thor battled Malekith…Loki had died but not died..." Darcy said.

"What happened, Loki? Thor said you were dead," Coulson said.

"I worked alongside Thor and Jane to get to Malekith in order to draw the Aether out. I assume you know about the Aether?" Loki asked.

"Yes," Coulson said.

"We managed to get the Aether out of Jane, however, we failed to destroy it. You cannot destroy an Infinity Stone, which is what it is. Six great Stones, limitless power. The Tesseract being another of them," Loki said. "A battle occurred and I took a blow for Thor. I died and they left. However, my mother had placed the Soul Gem, without my knowledge, on my person and it revived me. It was there on Svartalfheim that I met Darcy Lewis and decided to take her along on my―"

Loki was interrupted by a great shake of the ship they were on and Coulson was no longer interested in Loki or herself, going straight into Agent mode and not even needing to tell his team to get on the source of the shake.

"Our course has changed, we're going to the hub. I can't override it," May said through Coulson's comms, loud enough to hear.

"Stay there and see what you can do, we'll figure out what's stopping us," Coulson said.

It all started going really fast and she couldn't do anything to help. Another two agents came aboard after their jet had been targeted and, well, more guns were pointed.

"We never heard the whole story, actually," Coulson said. "But he has been helpful."

"We're dealing with murderous aliens now?" Garrett asked.

"I assure you those days are long behind me," Loki said. "I am actually here to help with the issue concerning the blue beings."

"Don't you know what they are?" Coulson asked.

"No, I have never encountered them before. They are reasonably skilled. It is difficult to say whether your mortal weapons will work on them, however," Loki said.

"Blue people?" Garrett asked.

"They came in and we didn't get chance to fight them, just saw them standing over Simmons and then they left," Coulson said. "It turns out that her body is a fake, so she could be alive."

Garrett turned to look at Loki. "And how do you know he speaks the truth?" He asked.

"I can vouch for him. This isn't something that has only happened on Earth, we've seen it happen and heard of it happening," Darcy said.

"So not only do we have the Claivoyant to contend with, but these blue aliens," Coulson said.

"Claivoyant? Tell me more," Loki asked. Darcy and Loki listened as Coulson recounted the important aspects of their dealings with this so-called psychic, up until the point where they now believe them to be an agent.

"Coulson," Skye said, interrupting them. "You need to look at this."

Darcy followed Loki over to the large screen as it decoded something.

It was too slow and the suspense was killing her.

Hydra? Wasn't that the group that Captain America fought way back when? What was it doing here now? This couldn't be good. Darcy frowned.

"Hydra…" Coulson said.

"Hydra was defeated a long time ago, right?" Fitz asked. "How can this be possible?"

"Cut off one head and two more will grow in its place," Loki answered. "Obviously, whatever was left undefeated, snuck into your organisation and has started to make its move."

"Bu-but…" Fitz said. "What do we do?"

"Fight it, of course. Find out exactly who is responsible and lock them up," Loki said. "Kill them, if necessary, but dead Hydra agents are silent Hydra agents."

"Do you think this has anything to do with the Clairvoyant?" Skye asked.

"Yes, and I think it may have to do with the blue beings. A Claivoyant by the name of Vorindyr of Niflheim was supposedly killed by these beings about a year ago, does that correlate with the earliest you have heard of the Clairvoyant?" Loki asked.

"Yes, yes it does," Coulson said. "You need to tell us all you know."

"I will, however, first I think we should make sure everyone here is trustworthy, hm?" Loki asked.

"I trust my team, I trust everyone in this room," Coulson said.

"You also trusted S.H.I.E.L.D. and look where that has gotten you. Thor trusted me and I stabbed him in the back, literally. Is this a time to trust blindly?" Loki asked.

"Alright, I understand. What do you suggest?" Coulson asked.

"Truth serum. You may start with me. I am sure that will aide your trust in me…a little, enough," Loki said.

"Alright, let's all sit around the table again. It'll be a while until the bus gets to the hub. We will keep an eye on everything as we talk," Coulson said.

Darcy noticed that Loki seemed to be watching Garrett and wondered whether there was something going on. She looked back and saw Ward sit down. He seemed reluctant. Loki took out nine small bottles of clear liquid.

"Is anyone else thinking of Harry Potter right now?" Skye asked with a small laugh.

"I am," Darcy said, chuckling too.

"Jemma would have been so fascinated…" Leo sighed.

Loki drank one of the bottles and sat back. "Alright, ask away," Loki said.

"Where are you from?" Coulson asked.

"I was born in Jotunheim and raised in Asgard," Loki answered.

"Jotunheim? Where's that?" Skye asked.

"It is a realm of Frost Giants, large blue-skinned monsters who once nearly caused an ice age here. Odin took me in and neglected to reveal my heritage, which was one of the main reasons for my loss of sanity and so on," Loki said.

"Why did you take Darcy Lewis?" Coulson asked.

"Boredom and my task to find the six Infinity Gems needed two people for one of the Gems to be obtained," Loki said.

"Do you have these Gems?" May asked.

"Yes, all six of them," Loki said.

"Do you have any more bad intentions?" May asked.

"No. I plan to help return the ones who have been taken and deal with this problem," Loki said.

"One last one, are you Hydra?" Coulson asked.

"No," Loki replied.

"I thought so, I just wanted to check. Darcy, if you please," Coulson said.

Darcy drank it.

"Are you Hydra?" Coulson asked.

"No," Darcy said. It went around the circle, drinking the potion and getting asked if they were Hydra.

"No," Coulson said.

"Nope," Skye said.

"Of course not," Fitz said.

"No," May said.

"Nope," Tripplett said.

"I won't drink this. It's a violation of privacy and I'm offended that you would not trust everyone in this room," Ward said. "I don't see the point."

Loki waved his hand and Ward seemed to sit up straight, frozen. "I think if you had listened, you would know. Agent May, perhaps you should give him the potion? I think he is hiding something," Loki said.

Garrett sighed and stood up. "Let him go, and you might survive the war," Garrett said. Ward seemed to look at him like he'd lost his mind. "It's over, Ward, one way or another, they'll get us to drink it and we'll say yes. No point beating around the bush any longer." He laughed and threw a grenade into the middle of the table. However, Loki was faster because it exploded in what must have been a bubble. Some form of knock out gas. Everyone was on their feet and pointing guns again.

"You? How could you?" Coulson asked.

"I suppose this is where I say if it weren't for the meddling alien and his sidekick, I would have gotten away with it," Garrett said, pulling out his gun and taking a shot at Coulson. It was so quick that Darcy didn't think he could dodge, but he didn't even need to. The bullet stopped in midair in front of him before it dropped. Then Garrett flew backwards onto the floor. Ward moved so fast as he knocked the table away and Garrett used the distraction to grab Darcy from behind, pointing a gun at her head.

"I get the feeling like she's your Achilles' heel, though you probably won't know what I'm talking about. Your weakness. After all, why would a so-called God take some intern who couldn't even get an internship within her own field?" Garrett asked.

Ouch. Darcy didn't know what was worse, the guy holding a gun to her head or the insult. "Fuck you, I wanted to stretch beyond my field," Darcy said.

"How does it feel, oh God of Death? Having such a weakness? It's pitiful, I think I will put you out of your misery," Garrett said, pulling the trigger.

However, Darcy was very much alive still and that was confusing. She had felt, for a split second, like she had become as light as air. Loki was still sat in his chair, sprawled in it lazily while everyone else was stood to attention, worried and guns out. Oh jeez, Loki was in his element. What was this guy doing, goading the trickster? She was glad she wasn't up against him or she'd be so damned mad right now. She felt herself pulled forward and out of Garrett's arms, over towards Loki.

"Are you quite finished yet?" Loki asked.

"You see, I don't quite understand how you could have lost and yet, have so much power," Garrett laughed.

"That was me on a bad day," Loki said. "You see, I was not at my full power."

"You didn't have all six of those Gems," Garrett said.

Loki shrugged. "They are an added bonus, but my magic is powerful without them," Loki said. Darcy watched as Garrett walked around, standing quite close to a window now.

"It's a shame, really. You would have made a good ally," Garrett said. The window and wall exploded and Loki shielded her with his arms. When the debris subsided, it left only a whirlpool, trying to suck everyone out. Skye lost her balance and screamed as she flew towards the hole, but Loki caught her, waving his hand as he fixed the hole.

"Thanks," Skye said, straightening up. "So weird."

Darcy didn't even need her to expand on that; she knew exactly what she meant.