Natasha Romanoff wanted to scream in both anger and fear. Not only had someone gotten into the weapons vault without her initially noticing, but whoever it was also took Master's plucky little pet; the unforgiving god would surely blame her. She secured the room before seeking out Jane. Someone needed to sound the alert that the premise had been compromised.
As usual, Jane was flitting all over while somehow remaining in one place. Currently she was still dealing with Lynn's formal complaint towards Darcy. The woman claimed she had been harassed and demanded the other be fired immediately. Forster was trying to explain that only Loki had the right to dismiss a servant and was not even in the country. Natasha rolled her eyes, thoroughly unimpressed by Lynn's immature actions.
"I hate to interrupt this important conversation, but it seems we have had an intruder." Her passive voice effectively ended all talking in the room. Everyone was still for a moment before erupting into action. The first thing to do was lock down the entire building. After that, a head count. Then every artifact kept on the premise was logged. In the time it took to get it all done, the master had returned.
His eyes were positively glowing with rage and they landed on Romanoff. Almost immediately an impossibly tight grip encircled her throat. "What. Happened?" His voice was so tight, so angry he couldn't even yell. Natasha kept herself as calm as possible, knowing both she and her husband were too valuable for him to cause any real or lasting damage.
"An intruder broke into the weapons vault and took your servant, Miss Lewis. Both she and the assailant were gone by the time I got outside. There were no tracks. It's like they disappeared once outside."
Loki continued to glare with each word, but tried to work through his blind rage. He knew something had been wrong when he returned to his residence only to find it completely locked down. A feeling like a rock settling in his stomach had hit him and he immediately reached for the mind of his pet. The rock increased to that of a boulder when he felt nothing. Darcy. No response. Darcy, I am not angry, but you need to answer me. Not even a fleeting thought echoed back to him.
Some emotion filled him, clogging his ability to think straight and he immediately sought out Jane. She would know who was responsible for this. So now he tried to calm himself so as to not kill his best killer. Romanoff gave him an irritated look but otherwise kept any emotion to herself. "I don't suppose you can track her through that link?"
Loki didn't bother inquiring how she knew about the private link he shared with his darling pet - she knew about everything - and instead hurried off to the weapons vault. There were fresh traces of her being in the room and for a moment, the god worried it would be the last time he'd ever feel her. Shaking the feeling away, Loki examined the grandfather clock that lay knocked down beside the window Darcy was so obviously pulled from. Anger once again started rolling off of him, sucking the air from the lungs of those who had dared to follow him. "Leave me."
No one hesitated to scurry away.
Tears of frustration and fear streamed down Darcy's face. She had a killer headache and the man 'escorting' her kept tossing her around. They were all wearing masks and no one had said a word. Her mind felt fuzzy and for once the connection with Loki was silent and empty. That was more terrifying than she would care to admit.
"Can someone please tell me where we're going? If it's going to take a while I'll need to pee right now!" Darcy gave them all a look, letting them know she was serious. Two looked at each other, then back at her. Something about the way they were now approaching her was entirely too menacing. Gulping back her fear, the busty woman lifted her chin in defiance. She was damn tired of people bullying her. In hindsight, that was a mistake. Once again, she found the damp cloth that rendered her unconscious the first time pressed against her face.
Loki slowly lowered himself to the ground, taking an age old pose any sorcerer worth their salt would recognise. Immediately, his magic flowed more smoothly and far stronger through his body. Tracking living beings was no small task, but hopefully their mental link would make things easier. He clenched his jaw. Dead as it may be.
His senses flared out, covering miles in seconds. Within minutes, he knew they were no longer in his country. Pushing farther, he knew within two hours that they were no longer in the northern hemisphere. The rock returned to his stomach as he covered more and more ground with no sign of his pet or whoever took her. Reality dawned on him as he finished hours later, having completely scoured the planet. Darcy was no longer on Midgard.
An unexpected well of anger overflowed within and Loki rose to his feet with a sudden need to kill. He had finally found an entertaining little pet who dared defy him, and she had been taken away before he could fully enjoy what she had to offer. His anger was partly towards her and her pathetic lack of self-defence. She should have fought harder, gotten away so she could come back to his bed where she belonged and was going to stay once returned.
Loki swiftly left the vault; not bothering to walk, he transported himself to the one place even more forbidden than his personal chambers: the Communications Tower. One hundred and fifty feet high and made out of solid compressed graphite, it was impossible to climb even with the best of equipment. There were no windows or doors and Loki was the only person on Midgard who could possible enter it.
With a passing glance, he was in the room, surrounded by eight mirrors. Each represented one of the other realms and were only to be used when immediate contact was needed. Taking a personal servant from a ruler was a blatant act of war and an insult. Loki spoke with his daughter first, knowing Hel would give an honest response.
"Someone belonging to me has been taken, and I need to know if she is dead." He kept his face emotionless, knowing Hel would dig if she found any of the agitation he was feeling.
Hel's dual coloured appearance was still morose as usual, but Loki could see her interest had been piqued when he mentioned a woman. She blinked owlishly, before speaking. "I have not received a mortal who had contact with the gods since your last war. Whoever you are looking for has not perished." The barely noticeable relaxation of Loki's shoulders was not lost on his daughter.
"I thank you for your assistance." With that curt farewell, Loki ended the connection. At least Darcy hasn't completely loused up. Squaring his shoulders, the god continued to question the other rulers. Freyr of Alfheim, who like his sister Frigga disapproved of the young god's banishment, appeared quite insulted that after years of support, Loki could accuse him of such a foolish action. However, before the connection was cut, Freyr advised Loki to contact Vanaheim, the homeworld of the Vanir.
The god drew in a deep breath before he did so. Facing his adoptive mother's race was disconcerting enough, let alone the fact that they knew damn near everything a good millenium before it was to occur. The mirror warped, turning on its side and widening. The surface rippled like water before the Vanr Council appeared before him.
"She is with us, King Loki." A woman with long gold hair and blue eyes was addressing him. She looked so like Frigga it caused a painful twist in his chest. Loki gaped, her words finally registering. A growl escaped him.
"Why have you taken what has no use to you?" It was less of a question than a demand to right the wrong. A man with the same blue eyes all vanir had answered him.
"We are disappointed. Even with all your digging, you did not feel her true nature." The vanr seemed highly amused.
"What are you blathering about?" The trickster's words were like the snap of a whip.
"Your Darcy Lewis is almost entirely vanr in nature." Once again the woman addressed him. Loki stared at her, the words refusing to sink in. What in the name of Valhalla? His Darcy, not a mortal? She had lied to him? Opening and closing his mouth a few times, he managed to ask the woman to explain.
"When we vanir realized we were to lose the war with the Æsir, we sent ten men and women to Midgard in the event of total extinction on Vanaheim. It was nearly a century later when your mother," Loki frowned at the inappropriate term, "agreed to mary Odin, ending the war. By then, the people we had sent down had grown to love Midgard. They walked among the humans, many giving up their immortality to be with loved ones as mortals. As the millennia went on, eventually all the blood lines crossed at some point. Blood of the gods calling to blood of the gods. All leading down to two people: Miss Lewis's parents. They passed it down to her, leaving her as the only living descendant of the greatest of the vanir during the time of war." The woman watched as Loki carefully sat himself down on a large leather chair as if afraid his legs would no longer support him.
"...why did you take her?" of all the questions now swimming around his head, that was the only one that escaped.
"Unfortunately, mortal blood does not react well with that of a vanr. The electrical charges that occur when we have visions are often too much for the mortal structure. A vision, even just one, can kill those who are untrained or those who have exceptionally strong blood. She is going through a type of...therapy that will prevent any brain damage once her visions really start coming in. Thank you for alerting us."
"How...?" Loki felt a type of speechlessness he had not felt since before his banishment. Thankfully, the still unnamed woman seemed to understand.
"Your connection allowed us to find her. Vanir cannot have visions of demigods, so many simply die before we can find them. However, your psychic abuse," she glared quite heavily at Loki as she said this, a look he returned, "caused her blood to react, allowing us to find her before anything other than unnatural intuition could set in."
Loki kept his face blank despite the internal storm of emotions raging within him. That little...prevaricator. She had to know she was not normal, and if not herself than at least her parents. Despite that, Darcy had lied to him. Her master, and the god who walked among mortals. He had offered his residence up to her and she felt inclined to hide such precious information away. Loki spoke to council once more. "When will I have my servant back?"
There was a collective frown between them at the demeaning word for such a higher being. "She will be presented to you in 20 days. The psychic link between you has been severed though. It would be unwise to try to connect with her so soon after such intensive therapy."
With a dismissive wave of his hand, Loki ended the connection. Rage seethed through him, from both Darcy's deception and from having her taken away with such abruptness. In an attempt to calm himself, the god shifted his presence to the study, hoping a good book would take his mind off the current situation. In hindsight, this was one of the worst decisions he had ever made.
Every surface had Darcy's scent on it from the days previous when she cleaned it. Along with her sweet aroma Loki could clearly remember the way her body moved to reach the various places. That in itself caused a whole different problem very inconvenient given the current whereabouts of the only woman to incite such a reaction in quite sometime. Loki sighed. Twenty days, and he would have his pet again.