-1-
As Darcy wished herself away from Stark tower toward the coordinates on the screen, she also wished that Loki would somehow get lost in translation. Would anybody really miss him if he just suddenly dropped off the face of the planet? Thor might, but she was sure he'd probably get over that. He had already once before, right, so why not a second time? Plus, Jane was there to distract him so it could all work out in the end. Powers or not, and like it or not, her wish decidedly did not come true, much to her disappointment.
As she appeared under a glaring sun, less than a second later he was at her side, his eyes squinting in the same way hers were from the sudden change in lighting. Heat barreled down at them from a cloudless sky, and as her eyes adjusted she could finally see what was around them: an expanse of ruins. They were standing near the edge of a crumbling group of temples or ancient city, she wasn't really sure; something super old and the kind of thing a person would probably pay booku bucks just to take a tour to see. Taking a quick look to the distance beyond the ruined stone walls was plenty of sand and shrubbery. Darcy didn't have a clue as to where she was, but it was definitely in or near a desert. Fun, fun. Maybe once she got what she came for she'd whip up some sunscreen and a beach towel.
Glancing over to the man—or maybe she should just consider him a monster? Seriously, who tried to bury people alive!—at her side, Darcy caught Loki doing the same until he sensed her watching. His eyes met hers and a second later he was grinning. He bowed and waved his hand forward before offering her in a mocking tone, "After you."
She scowled. Darcy couldn't feel the next fragment yet, and she assumed he couldn't either; otherwise, he'd already be on his way over to it. The smart-ass. She smirked then and crossed her arms, "Is somebody having a hard time tracking down the next piece on his own?"
"By your lack of forward progress I could surmise the same. And here I thought you were quite possibly more perceptive than I." He answered as he stood again. "It is satisfying to be proven wrong on the rare occasion."
"Yeah, well, you're wrong about a lot of shit buddy, and you sure as hell are not getting this thing so you may as well just slink off to wherever it is you came from. Be happy with what you've already got."
His lip curled a little and the smile slipped away, "If you think I'll let you escape with three pieces of my Stone in a single day then you are sorely mistaken. I will not lose to you again, mortal."
"Three? Dude, I think you need to go back to math class 'cause this'd only make numero dos for me today."
He let out a dry laugh, "So soon you've forgotten the wreckage of fire left in your wake from mere minutes before our unpleasant encounter on Jotunheim? Perhaps this relic is too powerful for you after all; I may have given you too much credit."
"Look, I don't know what you're talking about okay? Whatever fire you found sure as shit wasn't mine." She snorted then as realization dawned on her. Oh this was good. "Well smack my ass and call me Betty—you don't even know about the others do you! That's hilarious."
So fast she might have imagined it, a look of concern passed across his features then disappeared. "Others?" He barely opened his mouth to ask the question.
"Yep. Two other guys with pieces of our little Reality Stone too. Happy days right? Gee, and here I thought you knew everything with your freaky god powers. Welcome to the present. Sucks, don't it?"
"This is unacceptable."
"You're telling me! One's some little German punk who's working with SHIELD and the other is a freaking terrorist! Bet he's the one who got that first one, the asshole. He's—"
Darcy shut up when a shiver coursed up her spine and tingled across her scalp. The shard had finally appeared. Both their heads turned to the left. Darcy was getting ready to make a rush for it and teleport to the end, but before either of them could move another set of people appeared between them and the shard, a man and a woman holding hands. They started to look around the area, and when the woman, a red head, turned her head in their direction, Darcy recognized her immediately. It was Prison Barbie back from Stark Tower. Their eyes met, the other woman's widening ever so slightly in recognition as well, and Darcy got the distinct feeling that the chick probably thought she was here working with Loki since they were just standing around like a couple of old pals.
"Ah shit." She said, just before the blond man pulled on Barbie's hand, his body heading in the direction of the fragment they were all after.
Everybody moved after that. Darcy teleported ahead of Barbie and Ken—she couldn't remember his name but it started with a K so the nickname was sticking—but she was shoved aside when Loki appeared just a few inches ahead of her and pushed her to the left with a burst of air. She tried to teleport again but for some reason things were feeling wonky, like whatever power she as using before was stuttering; she wondered fleetingly if either of the men were trying to block her ability. So she ran and tried to do the same, wishing their teleports to be unstable or for some invisible barrier to be sitting wherever they appeared. Barbie and Ken popped up a few feet further ahead of them after that, dust flying up under their feet as they ran at the same time. She wasn't the only one having a hard time then; it was working. That was good to know. She managed to teleport again, this time landing just on their heels when a gunshot cut through the air, burning into her ears and leaving a lingering ring behind. Barbie was freaking shooting at her! She stared at the barrel of the gun in shock. Just as Darcy threw up a shield to bounce away any further bullets, a blast of golden light flew past her from the right, and a glance over her shoulder revealed Loki shooting back at Barbie with his crazy staff.
Crumbling stone walls passed by in a blur while all four of them ran and teleported closer to the shard. They dodged and jumped around fallen pillars and through arches missing chunks of rock, and a few more turns brought them to a small opening where Darcy could see a huge dip in the earth; it looked like a crater. She could feel the shard so much closer now. The thing called out to her like it was meant just for her and her alone. Darcy got ready to give it her all and punch it when another person appeared ahead of all of them, his body right on the edge of the crater. He was blocking their path, his back to them as he stared down into the pit. Even if she hadn't recognized his solid shoulders and long hair from the video, the flare of energy from the fragments he carried was impossible to miss. He must have sensed them too because his head turned at the same time, his lips curled up into a snarl as he caught sight of everyone running straight at him.
Slowing down to a stop now that everyone was close enough to talk without yelling, Darcy found herself in probably the least-fun Mexican stand-off a person could ever have considering she was being shot at by the law, and was lucky enough to be in the presence of not only one psychopathic killer but two. Boy the stories she'd have to tell to her grandkids; you know, if she lived long enough to pop out actual kids and see them continue the Lewis legacy. She probably wouldn't have been this freaked out if she couldn't tell that old Andy there was holding the biggest chunk of power-rock of them all. But she could feel it, and so her stomach was doing the dance of oh-my-god-lets-just-get-the-hell-out-of-here. The sensation was hot in her bones, vibrating through her and whispering warnings a plenty. At the same time, she could also feel that Ken has the smallest bit, then Loki, and she was standing in a cool second place. This was so not going to be pretty.
As luck would have it, Darcy already had a shield up when Andy send the first attack heading their direction. There was no warning, not even a hint of movement from him before a giant ball of swirling fire blasted at them from the front side. Ken and Barbie managed to teleport out of the away, but Loki did the same as her, shielding himself instead. Fire burned past her on every side, hot against her skin when a familiar sound filled the air, and a ray of golden light shot through the fire, cutting into it like a hot knife through butter that was already on fire, which wasn't a great analogy but it was hard to compartmentalize things never seen before. She'd reflect on all of this later, when she wasn't worried about trying not to die.
Gunshots filled the air from her left, and for some reason Darcy thought to hell with it. Everyone else was attacking the guy so why not her? Having not had a whole lot of practice in that department though, she did the only thing she had before and summoned an exact replica of the weapon Loki was using before, shooting at Andy as well. The fire in front of them dissipated a second later, and Darcy had just enough time to scream in surprise and teleport off to the side before a wall of stone came rushing at where she and Loki had been standing. It burst into dust when it failed to hit them.
For what seemed like hours they fought around the crater, each one of them throwing what amounted to elemental attacks. Darcy knew somewhere in the back of her head that they were capable of so much more, but she couldn't reach that power yet, nor was her imagination so good that she could think up attacks that weren't grounded in what was physically possible already. It was hard to think outside of the box when the box was all you knew. Still she tried. A wave of gelatinous acid goo—she was thinking of branding it as the Jello that ate you—made both Andy and Loki fly for cover and get off of the ground, but then she went on the defensive as walls surrounding her started to move and smash together. The world was chaos and archeologists everywhere would have had a heart attack to see what was happening to the old human ruins. Darcy had almost forgotten about Barbie entirely as the four of them faced off until she caught a flash of red hair in her peripheral vision. Turning, she spotted the agent rushing for the crater while the rest of them were distracted. Oh that bitch wouldn't dare! Three competitors were enough; she wasn't going to allow another into the mix.
"Not on my watch." She murmured, urging a wall of stone to appear less than a foot away to block the woman's path.
Darcy decided that Barbie might get upgraded to Cat Woman because the chick dodged to the side with a tuck and roll, glancing over her shoulder for just a second to glare. Yeah, they'd probably never be besties after this, but maybe she'd just understand that business was business. It wasn't personal, not really. Darcy got ready to do whatever was necessary to stop the woman from getting there, but she wasn't the only one to notice the move. There was a shout from her right, something in another language, and as she turned she saw Andy raise his hand, and back where the SHIELD agent stood a giant void appeared in the air. The crazy bastard had summoned a black hole!
Where Darcy has only tried to block Cat Woman, Andy was out to kill her. And the hole had appeared too close to avoid. Paralyzed in shock, she could only watch as an expression of confusion turned to surprise and horror as the agent was sucked off of her feet and into the air. There wasn't even time for her to scream before her body crumpled when it hit the event horizon, her skin and bones just disintegrating like she'd been made of dust this entire time. When her body disappeared into the black void, a wave of guilt choked Darcy, tears escaping from the corner of her eyes. She felt sick. Oh god. If she hadn't drawn attention to the agent, if she hadn't stopped her, if she hadn't done that then that bastard never would have noticed! Oh my god. This was her fault.
Darcy stood there, so stunned by the incident that she could barely breathe. Her chest was tight and there was a vice around her heart, squeezing and squeezing, tighter and tighter. She glanced away from the revolving hole that continued on to devour stone and sand. The men had started fighting again. Kristian, she remembered his name now, was attacking Andros with his fists, a scream of rage peeling off of his tongue. Loki was spinning his staff at them both, the other men wrestling as waves of energy rolled away in every direction, the aim unstable in the midst of their melee. She stared at them dumbly, her body unwilling to react. She wondered if they would kill her next. I killed that lady.
Something rumbled on the ground beside her then, and seconds later Darcy caught sight of another figure entering into the fray. Thor. The air was filled with the sounds of fury and pain, blasts of energy and the blunted sound of skin on skin. Somebody was batted away from the tussle, his body slamming into a wall of rock just before Thor's face appeared in front of her. He was looking into her eyes and staying something, but Darcy couldn't understand the words. They sounded a million miles away, muffled and underwater, but there was a look of panic across his features. His hand was on her wrist and she thought he was pulling, but she wasn't ready to move yet. She couldn't move. She'd helped kill that woman whose name she couldn't even remember. Had she ever even been told what it was or did she just never care enough to retain it? Now that woman was dead. What kind of monster was she?
A black shape started to loom behind Thor then, a shadow growing larger and closer. It sucked up the light around them, and Darcy wondered for a moment if it was god or the devil or something; somebody coming to judge her now and tell her she was unfit for this whole charade. Who did she think she was anyway to try and get these shards? She was nobody. She was just some intern working toward a degree she didn't really have a whole lot of passion in anyway. What did she think she'd accomplish? All she was managing to do was get people hurt or killed. She was ready to tell Thor this, to confess and give up. He deserved to hold the Reality Stone more than her and he needed to know, but before she could another shape dropped down from the sky between them and the dark shape drawing closer. It was Loki. Darcy frowned. What the hell was he doing there?
The world around her suddenly burst open with sound again as he rocked her out of the dark thoughts and into confusion. The shadow was no longer some dark angel come to judge her, no; it was that fucking black hole that had killed the SHIELD agent. It was heading toward them now, too fast, and Darcy felt panic flood her. She wanted to move, she really did, but she couldn't do anything except watch it draw closer and wonder why Thor wasn't getting out of here or what Loki was doing in the path. As she stood there like a brainless statue, Thor's hand still holding onto her wrist, Loki lifted his hands and to her amazement she saw the black hole change direction. It flew to the left, barreling past them, consuming the landscape around its path. Loki turned then and caught her eye, his face unreadable.
Whatever his emotions or reasons were, Darcy felt her confusion and panic and fear melt away as a flood of appreciation filled her body and coursed through her veins like a drug. She was alive. Heat rushed to her face, and she realized a half-second later that it was rushing to other places too, and oh god she felt that flare of attraction for him that was so alien it almost knocked her on her ass. He stood there looking wild and powerful and full of fury, but he had just saved her life. He knew it and she knew it. There was something heavy sitting between them now, but before Darcy could think about it any longer there was an earth shaking explosion to the side that turned all their heads.
Standing atop a pillar of stone was Kristian, one arm outstretched to the black hole while the other pointed at Andros. He seemed to have the hole lassoed somehow, the thing no longer rolling forward to whatever distant destinations lie ahead. At the same time there seemed to be some battle of willpower going on between him and the other man. As the black hole started to shrink in to itself Kristian's nose began to bleed, and both of his arms shook like he was having a seizure.
The black hole popped out of existence and the German fell to his knees, both of his hands suddenly shooting up to his head. Darcy's eyes darted between him and Andros. The other foreign guy was inching closer, both of his hands raised up now toward Kristian. A wave of energy blasted out from both men and Kristian teleported off of the pillar. Darcy thought he might have been trying to get away, but somehow that was cut short and instead he appeared only a few feet from Andros. He screamed then, this one piercing and full of pain as his hands continued to press against the sides of his head like he was trying to hold it together.
"What's happening to him?" Darcy heard the question leave her mouth even as she thought it, but nobody had the answer.
"I don't know, but it doesn't sound good." Thor remarked, having let her go at some point. His hand started to swirl his hammer, but Darcy felt her hand reach out to stop him.
"No." She said, "He'll kill you."
"We must save him." Thor argued, and she felt him start forward despite her warning. Loki was holding still just as she was, both of them entranced by the situation. This was new. This wasn't something either of them had seen before, the idea of getting hurt before now a little far away—with the exception of personal stupidity like Darcy's mental breakdown of course, but she didn't plan on letting that happen again—but this, this was different.
Before Thor could make it a foot forward, Kristian's scream stopped and there was a deep tremor that cut through the air, heavy and resonating like bass from a techno song that hadn't picked up just yet. A second later Kristian popped. His head flew up into the air and body parts exploded in every direction with mist of blood that sprayed outward in a circle, hitting everything except Andros. In addition to the blood and gore, several items glinted in the air as they flew outward, and Darcy knew in an instant what they were: his share of the stone.
Like they were on a preset trajectory, most of the shards flew back where they'd come from like little boomerangs, but those that had gotten far enough away swept in another direction: hers and Loki's. They cut through the air without a sound, some flying straight at Loki while others headed right at her. She couldn't even bring herself to move as they shot into her chest, slicing right through her until they were burrowed deep inside. The unexpected pain sent her sprawling as she clutched at the entry wounds, but while her hand was covered in blood she didn't expect there would be any openings as she willed the damage away and climbed to her feet. Thor was torn between watching all three of them, and Darcy noticed the other two doing the same as her, each of them rocked by the impact of the jewels reaching out to their sisters.
And then it was done. Kristian was dead and his share of the Stone dispersed among them, each of them a little more powerful now, yet Andros was still on top. His eyes found them next, and a moment later she could feel him trying to reach inside of her. Oh hell no! Darcy shook her head and pushed him away with all her might, the mental battle so strange that she wasn't even sure how she was doing it as she did. It was as if his fingers were inside of her head, his nails dragging across her brain and trying to dig their way in, but with hands she couldn't see, she pried his fingers off of her and smacked them away. Andros shouted at them then, and Darcy was sure that she was getting cussed at or warned, although she had little desire to understand any of what he meant. Screw him. She was glad he was pissed though; how dare that asshole try to blow her up like Ken—she tried not to think of him as Kristian anymore—and so she smiled at him. Her show of defiance set him off.
At least a dozen spiraling pillars of fire erupted from the ground around her, Thor, and Loki just then, blocking them inside. Darcy threw up a shield to protect her and the Avenger, leaving Loki to handle himself because he could, and could he did. The demi-god strolled out of the fire with a sphere of protection keeping the flames at bay. There was a burst of green beyond the firelight, and as the pillars fell to the ground with a wisp of smoke, Darcy caught sight of Andros' body flying through the air before it smashed into a pile of broken stone and sand, the mound exploding outward from the impact in a spray of smaller rocks and pebbles.
She saw Loki teleport to the edge of the crater then and jump down, only to get thrown out a second later and go flying through the air like a rag doll. Unable to resist Darcy teleported to the crater's edge just in time to watch Andros grab hold of the shard. It had been sitting in a perfect cube of clear water. He didn't even look at her before disappearing after that. With him gone, as well as the fragment, the water splashed to the ground and she was struck by the sudden knowledge that there would be no more after that. He'd collected the last piece, and now there were no more left to find. That meant that the three of them were all there was, and if the Stone were to ever be complete, that meant death would come for two more of them. Darcy shivered at the prospect and wrapped her arms around herself. This was not how she had pictured things.
She wasn't sure what she'd do next, only that she didn't want to stay there anymore. The memory of Kri—no, no we aren't going there Darcy, don't you dare—Ken and Barbie, she corrected in her head, trying not to think of them as real people for the moment in case it broke her down again, was too strong here. She needed to get away and have a drink or five. Darcy turned to head back to Thor in an effort to offer him a ride home, but when she turned she noticed Loki standing nearby, his eyes glaring down into the crater. He looked furious, and Darcy felt another swell of attraction for him. He'd saved her life and god there was something else now too. She wanted to be closer to him; she could feel his fragment calling out to hers. As if being a fan-girl of the man who saved your life wasn't enough. She shook her head. No, she couldn't stay around him, this was sick. She was sick, and Darcy was absolutely horrified at the fact that she wanted him now, whatever the cause. What the hell was wrong with her? She couldn't like him, not even if he had saved her life.
Thinking about that, Darcy thought about the other man who had saved her life not that long ago. Ian. She needed to see him now more than ever before. She needed to prove to herself that the only reason she had this sudden boner for Loki was because she hadn't been laid in a little while. Okay so she had a small hero complex, but that was getting the fuck out of there right the hell now. Refusing to look at Loki any longer, and just when his eyes rose to meet hers, Darcy teleported out of there. She found herself standing in a quiet hallway after that, a familiar door standing just in front of her.
Glancing down she noticed the blood on her hands and the dirt all over her clothes and skin. She wished it away and smiled. Darcy could do this. She'd prove it to herself that Loki was just a quick phase set on by an addled mind, a splash of guilt and just a twinge of gratitude for being rescued. She didn't like him, like him, she was just having a thing; that was all. Darcy took in a deep, shuddering breath, straightened the nonexistent wrinkles out of her clothes and then knocked on the door.
-2-
Loki turned away from where Darcy had been standing and stared down into the crater again. He had been so close, so close, and now there would be no more to collect. He couldn't say how he knew, but the knowledge was there nevertheless and it pained him to realize how little he'd accomplished. At the very least, now there were only three of them holding onto fragments now, and Loki could not have ignored the draw to Darcy had he tried. He was magnetized to her share of the Stone now that there were no others to be found, and he knew it would be the same with the other mortal. They would be lured together as the relic tried to become whole once more.
That should have been good news. It would save him the effort of waiting and hunting. The only downfall of course was that the other man was far more powerful than Loki could ever hope to be at this point. He'd been lucky with the few hits he had managed, and as much as it pained him to admit, Loki wasn't sure if there was anything he could do or try at this point to reclaim the other portions of Reality Stone. Both he and Darcy were doomed to destruction if they fell into the temptation, unless he could somehow absorb the woman's share first. That would put him on equal footing. He sighed, feeling Thor follow after him. He really was not in the mood for trying conversation, not when he has so many things to consider.
"Brother." Thor started. Loki could hear the uncertainty in his voice. "You saved Lady Darcy's life and mine. Thank you."
Loki scoffed and shook his head. Of course the sentimental oaf would assume that. No doubt the mortal thought the same. "I didn't do it for either of you." He answered, turning around to face the prince of Asgard.
"Then who for?"
"For myself, of course." He motioned to the stain and body parts left behind by his fallen adversary. "I had no way of knowing what would happen to the fragment held by the Midgardian should she have been consumed by a black hole. I could not risk those pieces to be lost forever."
Thor's face contorted into thought, and Loki gave his brother a moment to consider those words. He wondered if he would be lectured next on the pitilessness of his actions, or if he'd be asked to give up his portion of the Stone. Thor would be simple enough to ask such a thing of him. It would be amusing to hear, and even more amusing still to give his answer, and so he waited for the question.
"Why did you fake your death, brother? I would not have taken you back to those cells." That was a question he hadn't expected, not here and not now.
Loki shook his head. "You wouldn't understand." He chuckled then, pleased by Thor's occasional ability to surprise him, even after all these years. "Do not search for me after this Thor; I cannot assure you that I won't kill you on our next meeting. But I will give you a bit of parting advice, for old time's sake: stay out of this before it destroys you and the remainder of your little team of Midgardian warriors. Go home to your mortal and leave Darcy and that other creature to me."
"The remainder? What do you mean?" Thor asked, his eyes crinkling at the corners in worry. The warrior was so sentimental these days, likely the fault of that Jane Foster.
"Your little assassin." He grinned, recalling the conversation with her from the mortal transportation device. "Her ledger has finally been wiped clean it would seem. Do give my regards to Agent Barton however. I'm sure he'll miss her dearly."
With a final laugh at the look of shock on his brother's face from the news—he really did seem to have high expectations for a race that barely lived longer than Asgardian infancy—Loki vanished himself away from Midgard and back to the comfort of his old realm. He appeared near the outskirts of Asgard, the city shining beautiful on the horizon, each building ablaze from the setting sun. He could feel the warmth, but more than that he could feel the additional energy surging through his body from the shards lost by the blonde mortal. He was more potent than ever before, and despite having less power than those wretched mortals on Midgard, he was still the most powerful presence here. Loki stared at the city and smiled, considering what he might do next.