Daphne moves through the corridors, Disillusionment Charm firmly in place, and curses as she hears Potter's voice echo throughout the ship, quickening her pace. She nearly crashes into a small man with curly light brown hair. Damn, Loki really is good at this whole disguise thing. Perks of being the trickster god, she guesses.
'Finally,' he hisses, 'you took your time.'
Daphne rolls her eyes, then realises that Loki can't actually see her.
'Nice hair,' she replies instead, and Loki scowls. He sets a brisk pace along and she has to hurry to keep up. Harry is still taunting Fury over the intercoms, keeping the attention of most S.H.I.E.L.D. agents firmly on the right side of the ship, giving them time to investigate the labs, whilst he rummages through the evidence room. If they're luck, Fury might even vacate the control room on the bridge, and they could have a quick peek in there too, although Harry has warned them not to count on it, 'and for the love of Merlin, don't take stupid risks,' he'd added, 'it's far more important for us to be alive than for us to have my stuff.'
Daphne had been surprised at such a sentiment from the Gryffindor Golden Boy, but she supposed that was what seven years of decent Auror training did to a person.
'Labs on the left,' mutters Loki, subtly glancing at the map, and Daphne nods.
'Got it. Homenum Revelio,' she whispers and Loki shudders as he feels the unfamiliar swoop of her magic rushing over him.
'We've got three inside – at least one of them's got to be a guard of some kind,' Daphne reports.
Loki nods, and knocks on the door.
'What are you doing?' hisses Daphne, 'this was not part of the plan!'
'Plans were made to be disregarded,' Loki replies, mouth quirking in a self-satisfied smirk that looks oddly out-of-place on the nervous face of the young man he's pretending to be.
Sweet Merlin, thinks Daphne with mounting dread, we're all going to die.
The door opens to show a pretty red-head with eyes of steel.
'I was sent by Hill to be additional back-up,' Loki says, just the right amount of deference to the woman in his tone, as Daphne slips in, unseen, through the door. She can't deny, he's a very good actor, but there's no way the woman will fall for it.
She has reckoned without the persuasion of his silver tongue.
The woman totally falls for it, and Loki is stationed in the lab within a matter of minutes. The other two people in here – two men – don't look like agents, but Loki is eyeing them in a way that suggests they are still a threat. But Daphne has spotted Harry's wand in the corner. She sidles over and slips it beneath her cloak, safely Disillusioned. It looks like they were right about S.H.I.E.L.D.'s paranoia – they've got these two detective-types working on their stuff even when the rest of the ship is on lockdown. She sees a couple of Decoy Detonators lying innocently on one of the benches. They in themselves are not vital, but if she can set one off, she's got a better chance of getting the man with the fancy facial hair away from the runic cube. As silently as possible, she tiptoes over to the bench, stretches out a hand...
And chaos erupts.
Loki looks thrilled.
The Detonators scurry around the lab, honking for all they're worth, scaring the life out of all three S.H.I.E.L.D. employees and enabling Daphne to reach out and grab the cube from underneath the nose of Fancy Facial Hair, who seems torn between standing on his chair and shrieking and trying to catch one of the things.
'PULL OUT!' she hollers above the chaos, and Loki makes a run for the door. Daphne dashes out and down the corridor, feeling elated and terrified and a little bit sick. How Potter managed to spend most of his Hogwarts time like this, she cannot fathom. She risks a look over her shoulder, and sees the red-head running after her.
'I have no visual!' she's shouting into an earpiece, 'they're too fast! You,' she turns to point at Loki, 'continue pursuit up this corridor! Do not engage unless absolutely necessary!'
Her voice trails out as she takes off in the opposite direction, and Loki can't help but laugh, slightly breathless, that it has all managed to work so well.
'Daphne?' he calls.
'Here,' she says, cancelling the charm, and wrinkling her nose at the nasty feeling of something cold tricking down her back. Loki grins, growing about a foot, hair darkening and straightening.
'Shall we return?' he asks.
'Sounds good,' Daphne agree, grinning just as manically as he is.
The crack bounces off the walls of the corridor as the god and the witch vanish.
XXXXXXXXXX
Harry reappears in Daphne's room just as she begins to worry, scowling.
'Couldn't find my wand,' he snaps, looking ready for a full-on sulk.
'Well, I guess it's lucky we did,' smirks Daphne, and Harry's whole face lights up. He hums in contentment as he grasps hold of the holly wood and swishes it down in a trail of red and gold sparks.
'Merlin, you really are Gryffindor to the core, aren't you?' sighs Daphne, rolling her eyes. Harry looks like he's not sure if it's an insult or a compliment. Loki just looks clueless and irritated.
'We have your cube as well,' he informs Harry, not moving from his position, sprawled out on the small sofa.
'We can go home!' he says excitedly, grinning at Daphne, who smiles back with a certain amount of resignation tempering enthusiasm. Loki's eyes narrow.
'The life of a socialite,' she half-explains, and Loki nods.
'At least you won't be rotting in a cell any more,' says Harry in a way that he clearly means to be cheering.
Loki raises an eyebrow. Daphne wonders if he sees the undercurrents, of a family fallen from grace, a sister entangled in politics and a social circle that runs entirely on thwarted bitterness from a lost war, and brutal reparations.
'You family cannot be more complicated than mine,' he assures her, and Daphne nearly laughs out loud at the thought of her parents and sister being compared to Norse Gods.
'I've been away for a very long time,' she murmurs.
'For what it's worth, your parents have been harassing the Ministry nearly constantly for the past year,' offers Harry. 'I think they'll be over the moon to see you back.'
Daphne wrinkles her nose. 'Well. That's parents for you.'
Harry looks uncomfortable for a minute, and Daphne remembers that he has none a second too late, and winces in sympathy.
Loki has gone back to looking bored. 'Well, fun as this is, perhaps we can now focus on this cube of yours that has caused such a surge in energy in your world.
Both Harry and Daphne turn to look at him.
'Oh, that's why you came to the base, then, for the cube,' breathes Daphne, with more realisation than hurt, but Loki still has the grace to look a little embarrassed.
'It is not right for a witch to be imprisoned.'
Harry studiously avoids meeting any of their eyes, given that imprisoning people is basically his day job. 'So, you have an idea of how this thing might work?' he asks in a painfully obvious subject change, gesturing to the cube and Daphne represses the urge to smack her hand to her forehead. Or possibly just to smack Potter and have done with it.
But honestly, who touches a volatile runic object without knowing what it does? Who is really that reckless?
XXXXXXXXXXX
'Head Auror's office.'
'Hi, Marcella, it's Madam Granger here. Could I have a quick word with Ron?'
'I'm afraid he's not here at the moment. Could I take a message?'
'Um... yeah, if you tell him that I've got nothing so far, but that he should call me back as soon as possible, that would be great.'
'No problem. Goodbye, Madam Granger.'
'Bye, Marcella.'
Click.
XXXXXXXXXX
'They broke into our base,' cries Steve, 'how are they not hostile?!'
'We did have their stuff,' reminds Stark, poking at a bundle of wires poking out of one of his many machines, 'and besides, everything is working much better now that their fancy wand is gone.'
'Oh yeah, because that is totally our main concern,' snaps Steve. Tony opens his mouth to snap back an undoubtedly brilliant retort, and Bruce's phone goes off. He shoots them an apologetic look, and moves off into a corner to take the call.
'It is a concern when they can disable all our tech with a stick,' Tony argues, and Steve makes an expression surprisingly close to a sneer.
'Says something for all you precious tech, then, doesn't it?' he remarks, and Tony bristles at the smug undertones to his voice, wanting to punch him right in the-
'That was Fury,' says Banner, coming back, 'we've got a team meeting.'
Tony's face shows exactly what he thinks of that, but he shows up anyway. Turns out the wizards are still stuck in that London hotel, and Fury wants them.
'To talk to?' questions Tony. Fury shakes his head slowly.
'We had that girl for over two years. She didn't want to cooperate. Now they've attacked our Headquarters, Stark. I think that makes them hostile.'
Steve shoots an I-told-you-so look at Tony, who ignores him.
'They only broke in because we had their stuff,' he points out, 'I'd have done the same.'
'We can't afford to take chances,' Fury snaps. Tony looks stubborn. Banner looks like he would rather be anywhere than here.
It's almost a relief when Natasha walks in. 'They've made contact with Thor,' she reports, and Tony doesn't think he's imagining the relief that sweeps through the room. Despite all their talk, they're really not a match for Loki, especially if he has accomplices.
'He wants Loki dealt with on Asgard.' Natasha's voice makes it clear that it's not a question. Fury nods.
'If you can bring them in alive, do. If you can't...' Fury doesn't need to finish.
'Any questions?'
'Uh, yes,' says Tony, 'I have one.'
Banner can see a little part of Fury die inside.
'Stark.'
'I don't want to attack these guys. They seem cool.'
'That is not a question,' points out Thor.
'Okay,' says Tony agreeably. 'Why are we attacking these guys? They seem cool.'
'Depends how you define "cool",' mutters Steve, 'if "cool" means allying with one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s most wanted enemies and breaking into their supposedly super-secure Headquarters, then yeah, sure, they're super cool.'
Tony glares at him.
'Bruce, back me up here.'
Bruce hesitates. Tony fixes him with injured, puppy-dog eyes.
Bruce caves.
'It does seem a little unfair,' he mumbles, and Tony turns to Fury.
'You see? Even the Hulk thinks you're overreacting.'
Bruce winces.
'Fine,' says Fury, and Tony beams. 'Captain, you and Agents Romanov and Barton are going to London. Stark, Banner, you're staying here, with me.'
The reaction to that is completely predictable. Tony is outraged, Steve businesslike, the two agents silent as ever. Banner, frankly, just looks tired.
'Shouldn't we be going?'' mutters Clint to Natasha, 'It's going to take us hours to get to London and we don't really have that kind of time.'
Natasha just gives him a very expressive look.
'Don't interrupt the kids when they're arguing,' she whispers back, and Clint has to hastily stifle his giggles as Fury glares over at them.
'That is final, Stark!' he shouts, and Natasha frowns as Stark backs down and agrees. Tony never backs down. She's still frowning as they board the jet ten minutes later, Steve suited up and Clint cradling his bow. He throws her a glance, but she shakes her head minutely, and he lets it drop. Whatever Stark is up to, she has no doubt that they will find out soon enough.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
'Ron!'
'Hermione, I got your message.'
'Anything?'
'No. I'm so sorry.'
'It's not your fault. Merlin, I just hope he's okay.'
'You know Harry, he always lands on his feet. He'll be fine. He's probably just... taken an impromptu holiday or something.'
'Harry? Taken a holiday?'
'Look, I don't know, but I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for it all.'
'There'd better bloody be.'
'Madam Granger, your meeting starts in five minutes.'
'Right, thanks. Got to run, dinner at eight?'
'Sure.'
