Chapter 10: Forming A New Plan

It didn't take too long to reach Jane's mother's house, and Jane was grateful that it was dark as she parked the car. She knew there would be comments tomorrow, and her mum was undoubtedly going to complain and ask what happened, but there was no time to dwell on it.

She opened the door, tossing the keys onto the little stand by the table, making Darcy jump. The young woman leapt to her feet, staring at her.

"Jane!" Darcy jumped to her feet.

"Hey," Jane greeted her, weary.

"You can't just leave like that!" Darcy scolded her. "The whole world is going crazy!" she complained. Ciara lingered by the door, closing it behind her, while Thor hung Mjolnir from the coat rack on the wall. "All the stuff we saw is spreading. "Did you go to a party?" Darcy asked, looking at the blue dress and metal armour Jane wore. She then looked over at the other two who'd arrived, and her eyes widened as she saw Ciara, and even more so when she saw how bruised and cut up she was. The speedster offered a weak smile in return.

"Erik!" Jane broke into a wide smile as she saw her fellow scientist sitting there.

"Jane!" he finally looked up and smiled, getting to his feet. "How wonderful!" he exclaimed. Ciara tilted her head, confused by the sight. While Erik wore a shirt and tie, he seemed to have forgotten his trousers, and was wearing just his briefs. Even Jane looked a little startled at the sight as he hugged her tightly. "You've been to Asgard!"

"Where are your pants?"

"Weren't you on the news?" Ian's question earned their attention as Ciara pulled down her hood. He was staring at her, looking curious. Erik looked up, and immediately his face paled and he stumbled backwards, away from her, and crashed into the table hard enough to knock things to the ground and make Darcy jump.

"What is she doing here?" he demanded, looking furious.

"I told you it was a bad idea for me to come here," Ciara muttered, hanging back and standing partially behind Thor.

"Erik, it's okay," Jane soothed him quickly. "She's helping us. Trust me. Please," she pleaded with the man, making him look back at her. He looked unhappy, with a million reasons ready to give about why she shouldn't be there. Just seeing her reminded him of the time he was trying to forget - the reason he had been taking so much medication in the first place.

"It's okay," Thor nodded. "Ciara will not harm you. You have my word," he vowed. Erik closed his eyes, still wanting to say something, but nodded.

"Fine. Just...keep her away from me," he muttered.

"Won't be a problem," Ciara muttered, still by the door.

"Erik, I'm going to need everything you've got on this," Jane tried to get back to the topic at hand. "All the work you've been doing on gravimetric anomalies, everything," she requested.

"Okay," Erik nodded, and Jane walked past him.

"Are you well, Erik?" Thor asked the man, smiling softly at him. Erik laughed, raising his arms in a shrug.

"Your brother's not coming, is he?" he asked, looking nervous. Ciara's fists clenched tightly, and she forced herself to stay quiet.

"Loki is...dead," Thor answered, voice quiet.

"Oh, thank god," Erik breathed. Ciara twitched as, for just a split second, she wanted to hit him. "I - I meant, I'm so sorry," he quickly apologised as he saw the pain in Thor's expression.

"Thank you, I-" Thor stopped as Erik hugged him, trying and failing miserably to hide his glee. Ciara just rolled her eyes, turning and looking at the others there. Ian was staring at her with a look of fascination, while Darcy looked uncertain. Ciara scratched at her head, feeling sand fall free as she did, not sure what to say or do.

To her surprise, Darcy suddenly flung her arms around her in a tight hug.

"I don't really know what's going on or what you did, but I'm glad you're okay too," she declared. Ciara couldn't help but laugh, patting her on the back in an awkward gesture.

"Thanks," she said quietly, hugging the young woman back.

Gods, Ciara had missed showers more than she'd realised.

She probably would have stayed in the shower for the entire night, clogging the drains with the amount of sand and dirt that came off her. The layers of grime and sweat were thick, making her feel disgusting.

But she knew that it wasn't that simple. Jane was safe now, no longer being killed by the Aether inside of her, but now the entire universe was at risk, as that same power now flowed through the veins of its Guardian. A Guardian who planned to use it for his own selfish gain and plunge the Nine Realms into true darkness again.

So instead Ciara emerged from the shower, hair dripping as she slipped on the clothes that Jane had given her. She couldn't help but feel strange in clothes from Earth, after a year of Asgardian tunics and dresses, the jeans and pink cami were restricting yet comforting at the same time.

"Malekith is going to fire the Aether at a spot where all Nine Worlds are connecting," Jane explained what she had seen in the brief moment that she'd been connected to the Dark Elf. Ciara joined their group, making sure to stay away from Erik, who still watched her warily.

"He'll be able to spread the Aether through all Nine Realms at once to twist them into the reality that he wants," she said, ignoring his look as she spoke.

"It will amplify the weapon's impact," Erik surmised as he looked away from her. Jane nodded. "For each additional world, the power will increase exponentially. The effect would be universal," his words were grim.

"Yes, but the Alignment is only temporary," Thor reminded. "He must be in exactly the right place, at the right time," he said.

"He'll know exactly where that is. He's been planning this for centuries, he'll be able to calculate exactly where he needs to be. And he won't need long once he's in place," Ciara warned, arms folded as she thought about it. "He's a Guardian, and he has a hell of a lot better control than I do," she added, glancing up at Thor. His expression darkened, as he'd hoped the Dark Elf would need time like Ciara had to perfect control.

"What's a Guardian?" Ian asked.

"Never mind that, how do we know where he'll be?" Darcy dismissed her intern's question. They were all quiet for a moment, unsure, before Erik's eyes lit up.

"We follow the directions," he stood quickly. He still hadn't put his trousers back on, and everyone averted their gaze out of sheer awkwardness and moved out of his way. "This has happened before, thousands of years ago," Erik grabbed the map and went over to the other table. "And the Ancients were there to see it," he declared, knocking everything off the table. Jane flinched, knowing her mother would have more to complain about. "All the great constructions; the Mayans, the Chinese, the Egyptians," Erik listed as he spread the map open. "They made use of the gravitational effects of the Convergence. And they left us a map," using a ruler, he started to list important places and everyone leaned in to watch.

"Greenwich?" Ian frowned as Selvig started to cross the sections together, surprised that it was so close.

"The walls between worlds will be almost non-existent. Physics is gonna go ballistic," Jane realised. "Increases and decreases in gravity, spatial extrusions," she listed as her mind raced. "The very fabric of reality is going to be torn apart," Jane realised.

"And that's all before Malekith uses the Aether to put out every sun in the universe," Ciara said. They looked up as Mjolnir flew from where it hung, back into Thor's hand.

"Better get my pants…" Erik muttered.

Despite the threats, Erik directed for everyone to get some rest. 'Even a handful of hours of sleep would let them think clearer', was his insistence, and so he'd ushered them to get some sleep before taking the spare room himself.

While Darcy and Ian slept on the couches, Ciara stood in the kitchen, staring at the glass of water on the counter that she'd gone for. It wasn't as if she wasn't going to be able to sleep on the floor, which she'd insisted on taking when Ian had tried to be a gentleman about it.

"Dammit, what the hell am I doing?" Ciara asked as she lifted the glass and took a drink. "He had to be a damn Guardian, didn't he? I was only in it for…" her quiet words trailed off and she set the glass down quickly before she could break it. Frigga's death flashed in her mind, followed by Revna's sobbing words about Astrid. "Shit," Ciara gripped the counter as her eyes started to burn, and she gasped in shaky breaths, trying to fight it.

She moved her hand to her side as a reflex, wanting the physical pain to cancel out the pain in her chest. She knew it was wrong, but she couldn't stop herself.

Until a gentle hand stopped Ciara for her. Her eyes shot open, and she looked at Darcy, who was looking up at her, tired and worried at once. Ciara immediately pulled out of her grasp, backing away until her back pressed against the counter behind her. "Don't. Please, I-" Ciara stopped, sinking to the ground as her walls shattered and the tears fell. "Dammit...dammit," she buried her face in her knees as her body shook with sobs.

Ciara couldn't stop them, no matter how much she fought it, unable to hide her cries as Darcy sat down beside her, leaning into the taller woman. She was quiet, not saying anything, and just let Ciara cry beside her. No longer able to block it out, Ciara cried for the people on Asgard she had known and lost. For the people she wished she could have let in, if she wasn't so scared of finding a place to belong for real. For the one person who she shouldn't mourn, but couldn't help but do so.

After what seemed like an age, Ciara finally ran out of tears. She kept her face pressed against her knees for a little while longer, until finally her breathing settled, and at last lifted her head. "Wow. I haven't cried like that in a long time," she forced a laugh, but it quickly died when Darcy just watched her.

"Wanna talk about it?" Darcy finally asked, and Ciara sighed. She was quiet for a moment longer, before looking away from Darcy.

"I broke into SHIELD's base where they were doing experiments on this thing that they called the Tesseract," she decided to start from the beginning. Darcy's eyes widened at the confession.

"What is SHIELD?" Ian took a seat on the floor of the kitchen with them. Darcy went to scold him, but Ciara answered instead.

"They're an anti-terrorist group, fancy law-enforcement, whatever you wanna call it. They were the ones who created the Avengers. Well," Ciara paused, thinking as Ian looked amazed. "They shoved the time-bomb that is the Avengers together," she considered. "The Tesseract, it's, well, it makes portals. And when they were messing with it, it made a portal and someone came through," Ciara looked down.

"Loki," Darcy realised, and Ciara nodded.

"I was captured when he attacked, he brainwashed Selvig and Clint, but he couldn't use the power on me. For some reason, the sceptre didn't work on me. But I joined him all the same. That's why Selvig freaked when he saw me. Guess he hasn't quite forgiven me yet," both Darcy and Ian stared at Ciara as she told them her story, a wry smile on her face. "Anyway, when Thor took his brother back to Asgard, the Tesseract dragged me along with it," Ciara then launched into her tale of arriving on Asgard.

She wasn't sure if she was just exhausted from such a breakdown after everything, or if it was just because she needed to talk to someone, but she told the pair about what had happened since she'd vanished off Earth, and they seemed eager to listen. Some part of her found it hilarious that she was talking to Darcy, Jane's intern and friend, and Ian, a complete stranger, about it all, after over a year of refusing to trust anyone with anything.

"You've really been to another planet?" Ian asked, eyes lit up with excitement. Darcy shushed him.

"Two other planets now," Ciara had more patience with him, it seemed. "I was stuck there. They didn't want to risk the Tesseract, and the Bifrost was destroyed when Thor and Loki fought during that time in New Mexico. And I hated it. But I put up with it, just counting the days until I could come back. But the longer I was there, away from Earth and away from all the bullshit I caused, the less I wanted to come back," Ciara ran a hand through her still damp hair.

"Thor did say Asgard is pretty amazing," Darcy sympathised. Ciara snorted.

"If you're an Asgardian, maybe. I don't know, I just didn't want to leave. I just kept coming up with excuses to stay," she admitted, cradling a cup of tea in her hands that Ian had made, having decided to make them all tea while she talked.

"You know, I hated school," Ian mused, and both Ciara and Darcy frowned at his sudden comment that seemed so off-topic. "I was bullied a lot. No surprise there, right? But when it came to leaving, I was sad about it. When you put up with something so long, it's hard to step away from it," he commented. "Even if you hate it, it's somewhere that you've had to be for so long that you just accept it. No...that doesn't make sense," Ian huffed to himself, a little embarrassed.

"You know, in some weird way, I get it," Ciara couldn't help but laugh. "I guess some weird part of me wanted to belong there. Even if the people didn't trust me," she admitted what she'd refused to tell herself from the start. Even if the only person she actually liked was a prisoner who treated her with disdain everytime she bothered him.

Part of her did like the Warriors 3, but they were too...straightforward for her. So eager for battle and great tales to tell. So charming, so smart. And the pretence of friendship, forced even harder by the training that Ciara hadn't even wanted. They never trusted her.

There it was again. Trust. Ciara was getting sick of thinking the same things over and over again. She was sick of her little pity-party. Asgard had turned her into a moping brat, and she was done with it.

"Can I ask you something?" Darcy interrupted her thoughts, and Ciara tilted her head. "Why are you helping us? Your friend...Dark and Brooding, in New Mexico," Dark described, unable to recall his name.

"Lance," Ciara laughed lightly at the description.

"Yeah. He said you went for whatever sounded the most fun. This doesn't sound fun. Why are you helping us?" Darcy asked again. Ciara's smile instantly faded.

"When Malekith attacked Asgard, Queen Frigga was killed protecting Jane. And...there was this girl, Astrid. She wanted to be my friend, and I think she did consider us to be friends. She died in the attack, and the last thing I thought before I found out was how annoyed she'd be that I got blood on my outfit," Ciara was glad that she didn't have any tears left. "I wish I could have been the friend she'd deserved. But it's too late. And I want to get Malekith back, and stop him from hurting anyone else," she confessed.

"Wow," Darcy then nudged her, grinning. "That sounds kind of heroic," she teased. Ciara immediately grimaced.

"Oh, gross. What a way to make me want to leave," she said, sounding disgusted at the very idea of it all. "Trust me, I'm more about the vengeance part, and the self-preservation of not letting the universe die," Ciara insisted, but Darcy just laughed, getting to her feet.

"Sure," Darcy drawled, making it very clear that she didn't believe a word she said. Ciara groaned as Darcy got comfortable on one of the couches again, and Ian made to stand up.

"Hey," he paused as Ciara addressed him quietly. When he met her gaze, it was sharp, and immediately made him nervous. "What can you do?" she asked, and immediately he went pale.

"Do? I'm just an intern. An intern's intern," he said with a shrug, and Ciara scoffed.

"Dude. I've been around our kind for a long time. Not hard to tell," she said, but then got to her feet, groaning as her exhausted body protested the movement. She set the empty cup down on the counter. "Okay, don't tell me," she patted him on the shoulder as she passed him. "But maybe tell Darcy?" Ciara winked at him.

"It's kinda lame," she stopped at Ian's quiet words, and turned back to him. He looked nervous, eyes darting from her, over to where Darcy was already falling asleep. "I can calculate anything immediately. Statistics, probability, anything," he admitted to her quietly.

Ciara didn't say anything, having had a suspicion that he was like her. The others hadn't noticed, but Ciara's speed allowed her to pick up on things that were said too quickly. And Ian had calculated the location of the Alignment before Selvig had connected the dots. "I just have to look at something and I can tell how much force it would take to move it. I'm banned from every casino in England for counting cards, and I can't play pool because I win every time," Ian explained, embarrassed as he admitted to the other mutant.

"Using your power to your advantage. I like it," Ciara's grin made him blush.

"I haven't done that stuff in ages. I just like...physics," he said lamely, trying to defend himself.

"Trust me, you don't need to justify yourself to me," Ciara told him, walking over to her spot on the floor where Jane had left her a blanket and pillow. "I've abused my powers since I got them. And I'm not about to stop," she said honestly, blue eyes glittering in the poor light. "You don't need to be ashamed of who you are," Ciara told him, and he tilted his head.

"Then neither do you," he said, and saw her eyebrow twitch upwards for a split second.

"Who said I am?" Ciara cracked a smile, but Ian didn't quite believe it. However, he didn't say anything, and instead got comfortable on the couch, yawning as the lull of sleep grew too enticing to ignore.

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