AN: Continued by (popular?) demand! Hope this chapter keeps up with expectations.
Saying that breakfast had been tense was an understatement. Everything Loki did made Darcy want to kill him. But she was still concerned about the validity of the 'unbreakable vow'. She had barely eaten, leaving quickly to shower and dress- with a steak knife at the ready- and headed to work. She walked into the lab to see Jane running around, checking data reports and computer screens.
"What's up?" Darcy asked, setting her bag at her own small desk.
"We're getting some crazy energy readings. Here in town! It might be Thor, or someone else from Asgard!" Her excitement was obvious, as she bounced around grabbing data sheets and running calculations.
"Was there any activity at Rainbow Road?" Darcy tried to sound excited, but couldn't shake the feeling of guilt and apprehension.
"No, not that I can see, which means that whoever's causing these readings has a different method of traveling between the realms. Do you know what that means?" She didn't give Darcy a chance to speak, "It means that there may be another way to reach Thor!"
"So what do we do now?"
"I-" Jane paused, her hand hovering above a printer which was spewing out reports. She looked at Darcy, "I don't know. I guess we have to find him. Or her. Whoever's causing these readings."
"And how do we do that?" Darcy picked up a few data sheets and skimmed them, pretending she understood what they said.
"Here," Jane grabbed a few palm-sized devices and held one out to Darcy. "These are EMF scanners."
"Like on Ghost Hunters?"
"No, not at all. Because we're using these for real scientific research, not gimmicky 'reality' tv shows."
"Right. We're using them to find a god on earth who found a way to travel between worlds that doesn't use the recently destroyed Rainbow Road."
"I know, it sounds pathetic," Jane sighed.
Back at Darcy's villa, Loki was pacing. He had gotten himself into a bit of a jam. After Thor had destroyed the Bifrost, he had landed on Jotunheim- not the best place to be after he had tried to destroy it. But luckily he already knew other passages between the realms, like the one he had used to sneak the first three Frost Giants to Asgard. He had hidden out in the ice and snow for months, trying to plan out his next move. After that he had bounced through other realms, acquiring support- and enemies- as he gathered momentum for his master plan. God he had become so cliché.
Loki now had thousands of soldiers, scattered throughout the nine realms, awaiting his order to attack Asgard and overthrow Thor. But while his soldiers were biting at the leash to fight, Loki was hiding out once more. A band of self-righteous warriors from Vanaheim had discovered his recruitment, and though they did not know his plan, decided he needed to be stopped. Loki had barely escaped Vanaheim before dashing through Alfheim and finally to Midgard.
He sat on the couch, eyes focused on the ballerina figurines above the mantle. They were beautifully crafted- each one a slender blonde-haired goddess, similar to many of the women of Asgard. Loki knew little of Darcy and her family, though he knew the origin of the figurines. Darcy's mother had been a ballerina in the New York ballet before an ankle injury ended her career. For years she had urged Darcy to pursue ballet in order to live vicariously through her, but Darcy lacked natural grace.
"Curious girl," Loki muttered, leaning his head back on the couch and staring at the ceiling as he reminisced how he had learned of the Earth girl's existence. He was a teenager at the time, practicing magic in his room. He was attempting to use a mirror to spy on Thor and his friends in order to plan a prank, but mispronounced a word and saw a dark-haired child instead. The mirror flashed through her life, nearly in an instant, but it froze on an image of Loki's face, contorted in agony. From that moment he knew this girl would be a threat, so he had taken measures to ensure she would never harm him.
Darcy walked the streets of Puento Antiguo, her EMF scanner buzzing and whining quietly as she pointed it at passersby and various buildings. Across town, Jane was doing the same. But Darcy already knew the source of the readings, and where exactly to find it…
"Hey! Darcy!" She looked up to see a young man running up to her.
"Oh. Ben. Hey, what's up?"
"Not much. Whatcha got there?" he fell into stride beside her, staring curiously at the EMF scanner.
"Oh, it's just a doo-dad for Jane's research. We have to canvas the town to get a base reading or something like that." Not exactly true, but Darcy didn't feel like explaining anything at the moment.
"Cool, cool. So listen, I was wondering if you'd heard of Gina's party. Tonight at the skate rink."
"Yeah, I don't know if I'll go though."
"Oh…"
"Well I mean I might have to pull a late night at the lab. Jane's on some energy reading kick and I don't know how obsessed she's gonna be with it."
"Gotcha. Well y'know, if you can go, I thought it might be fun to…y'know, go with someone?"
"Yeah," Darcy smiled. "Yeah it would. I'll see if I can make it out tonight." She glanced up into his deep blue eyes.
"Cool! Well uh, I should probably let you get back to your…Whatever it is," he chuckled, turning off to walk to the library. "See you tonight," he smiled. Darcy watched him leave, smiling to herself as she turned to continue her assignment, lightly scuffing the soles of her shoes against the pavement as she meandered down the sidewalk.
Eventually she ran into Jane, signaling that they had finished their scan of the small town. They returned to the lab to process the results, grabbing some coffee while the reports printed.
"Well, I didn't find anything," Jane huffed.
"Me either," Darcy sat at her desk with a pink mug of espresso.
"Maybe we need to branch out into the desert? Towards the Bifrost site?" she ventured.
"Maybe. But…if this energy thingy is caused by a person, how do we know he hasn't already left town?"
"That's true. Maybe I should tell S.H.I.E.L.D. about this."
"About what?" Agent Coulson strode into the lab, flanked by security guards.
"Uh," Jane stuttered, "We got some crazy energy readings last night. We tried to track down the source, but we couldn't. We're not even sure if it's an object or a person."
"We know what it is," he slipped his hands into his slacks' pockets, standing in the middle of the room to look at both Darcy and Jane like a parent about to give a lecture. "The energy is coming from an Asgardian named Loki. We're not sure how, but this guy knows how to travel without the Bifrost."
"How do you know that?" Jane demanded.
"He opened a portal right into our central offices. Caused quite a stir when our Human Resources ladies found him in a filing room. He escaped, however, injuring several members of our security staff."
Something's not right, Darcy thought. Coulson's never been this forthcoming before. Does he know something?
"So you think he's here in Puento Antiguo?" Jane leaned back in her chair.
"He at least passed through," Coulson glanced at Darcy, then to Jane.
"So how do we find him?" she inquired.
"Right now that's not the focus," Coulson tipped his chin up slightly. "You see, we managed to keep Loki's portal open." Jane gaped at the agent, and Darcy's eyes widened. "I'm here to take you to headquarters so you can scan it, possibly manipulate it."
"I'll be ready in fifteen," Jane leaped to her feet, dashing to her bedroom.
"I can-"
"We don't need you, Miss Lewis. At least," he quickly added, "Not at base. You'll stay here and keep monitoring the Bifrost site. Just in case someone on their side gets it going."
"Right." Figures, she thought, I get to stay and babysit the Bifrost and the Monster.
Jane, Agent Coulson and the rent-a-soldiers left within the hour, leaving Darcy alone in the lab. There really wasn't much to do there, since she had already set up an alert program to forward any news to her iPhone. The one thing she was better at than Jane had always been staying up to date via phone. Well that and eating. She could eat an entire pizza on her own, whereas Jane could only nibble a slice, maybe two if she was really hungry.
But still, even though she had nothing to do at the lab it was better to be bored there than at her house. With him. Darcy shuddered at the mere thought.
So now she was sitting in the lab, wasting time on Tumblr.
"I wonder," she mumbled aloud before typing in 'S.H.I.E.L.D.' and hitting enter. No results. "Figures." She typed again, this time 'Loki'. It resulted in two images, paintings by long-dead artists. One was a man tied to boulders, a snake hissing over him as he shrank away to the best of his ability. Another was a very basic image of a man wearing a helmet with horns.
"So he is the devil," she mused.
"That's not a very flattering depiction."
Darcy whirled around in her chair to see Loki standing behind her.
"How'd you get in here? I have the security system armed."
"Come now, you really think I can't get past a door? Don't forget how I popped in to visit you yesterday. I didn't use doors then, either."
Darcy stared. Every second he spent before her convinced her more and more that he might actually be a god. He had his fancy little magic tricks, and he also spoke differently- like Thor. Not to mention that his clothing was strange. It wasn't too outlandish, at least it hadn't been yesterday. But yesterday was Halloween, and half the town was wearing cow suits and superhero costumes. His black and green clothing, which seemed to resemble medieval costumes, had seemed natural then. And that morning Darcy hadn't been paying attention to his clothes so much as whether or not he would attack her.
But now, as he stood before her, she definitely felt the god vibe.
"So what do you want?"
"I wanted to see what was keeping you. Jane and Agent Coulson left quite a while ago yet you hadn't returned."
"I have to stay and monitor things."
"Please, Darcy-"
"Don't say my name."
"-You think I'm a fool?"
"Maybe."
"I know you must think your insolence is endearing, but trust me, it's not." His eyes were serious and his expression grim. Darcy gulped. "If it persists, I just may have to put you in your place. And if that happens, I can assure you it won't be pleasant," he paused, as if considering something, "For you, at least."
"You're a monster."
"Don't call me that," he snapped. "I may be a villain, but I am not a monster." Darcy stood, stepped toward him, and before she could stop herself…
"Prove it."
"I warned you, Darcy." She cringed at the sound of her name. Then paled when she realized what had just happened. "Insolence will not be tolerated."
AN: Alrighty, there you go. As always, read and review to let me know what you think and what you would like to see more or less of!