Don't own the Avengers, Loki, or any other Marvel characters, and I'm not using this story for monetary gain. Just to feed my ego.


Chapter 16: All the Right Faces

It grew late, and it became clear that Jane would not be leaving soon. Thanking Natasha for her kindness, Loki left her apartment and steeled herself for what she might find in her own. She knocked and then opened the door, relieved to find them sitting at the kitchen table, chatting.

"Hi!" Jane said cheerfully. "You must be Loki?"

Loki blinked, and nodded.

"Thor was just telling me that you've been through some rough times lately. I'm sorry to hear that." She seemed genuinely concerned.

She folded her arms. "You could put it that way. How did you find us, anyway?"

Jane grinned "Eric was telling us about Asgard and accidentally mentioned that the bifrost had been fixed. After that it was just a matter of Darcy and I wheedling it out of him. Mostly Darcy, actually."

"Mmhmmm. I'm sure SHIELD will be thrilled to hear that one of their operatives cracked under the intense interrogation of two young women and spilled the housing location of several of their most important operatives." Loki said deadpan.

Jane blinked. "Uh, I guess I hadn't thought of it that way..."

Loki gave Thor a look that clearly said 'I thought you said she was smart.' She sighed dramatically. "Well I am going to bed. It's late." She walked to her room, closing the door ever so slightly louder than she needed to. She tossed the book on the shelf and flopped onto the big green bed. She could still hear Jane and Thor talking in the kitchen.

"I don't think she likes me," Jane said quietly.

Thor sighed heavily. "It's... complicated. But she is right, it has grown late. You may stay here if you like, I would gladly sleep on the couch."

There was a pause. "That's sweet of you, but I think I should go. Darcy would be intolerable if she thought we..." Jane trailed off in embarrassment.

Loki grabbed her pillow and slammed it over her head. This was the worst day ever. She waited until she heard the front door close, and then threw the pillow across the room. She looked at the clock, 11:59. She knew she should go to sleep, even if tomorrow was still the weekend, but she was so peeved she doubted it would happen.

Her attention was caught by a light turning on across the courtyard. She got up to close her curtains, and noticed that the light belonged to Natasha, who was clearly about to get undressed. Loki flipped the switch to close the curtains quickly, turning away and blushing. Did Natasha ever close her curtains?
She found her pillow and her iPod and set it to play her collection of classical music. She lay back on the bed, staring up at the poster of Thor.

The next thing she knew it was morning.

She scrambled out of bed, glancing at the clock, which said 7:18. Good, Thor wouldn't be up and Natasha might not have left yet. She tiptoed out to the kitchen, grabbed a banana, and let herself out the door. This time she was expecting the agent sitting next to her door. She waved at him, and received a lifted eyebrow in response. She walked over to Natasha's door and knocked.

She answered quickly, hairbrush in hand. "Hey," she said, and opened the door to let her in.

"What are you doing today? I really need to get out." Loki flopped on her couch, and started to peel the banana.

Natasha continued brushing her hair. "Actually, I have to go into HQ this morning," she said regretfully.

"Can I come with you anyway? I promise I won't get in the way. I just... I can't stay here." She gave Natasha her best puppy-dog eyes.

They didn't seem to work, eliciting the same raised eyebrow the agent in the hallway had given her. Loki wondered petulantly if SHIELD included that in their training.

"Alright," Natasha said at last, surprising her. "But I'm taking the bike," she warned.

"Sweet!" Loki changed to her riding leathers, her hair back in a slick braid.

"Ugh," Natasha looked jealous. "Well I have to go finish getting ready." She padded off to the bathroom.

Loki ate the banana while she was waiting, staring out the window and into Natasha's bedroom. She vanished the peel, debating if she should say something about the way she left the curtains open. Natasha emerged a few minutes later, ready to go. When Loki saw her in full Black Widow regalia, she lost the nerve to mention it. Natasha locked her door on the way out, and relieved the agent in the hallway of duty.

This time Natasha took the time to show Loki a little of how the bike worked; where the accelerator and shifter were, how to run the brakes. She tried to absorb the information, and as Natasha drove she payed closer attention to how much lean was necessary to execute a turn.

As they entered the main lobby, one of the secretaries caught their attention. "Director Fury wanted me to tell you that Loki is to attend the meeting this morning," she explained.

Loki and Natasha looked at each other. That did not sound like good news. As they rode the elevator up, Loki changed her outfit to something utilitarian and somewhat modest, not unlike the uniforms female SHIELD agents wore while on duty. Natasha nodded her approval, and they braced themselves for whatever awaited them.

When they walked into the meeting room, Fury greeted them with a wide, kind smile. This made Loki even more suspicious.

"Welcome, ladies. Please have a seat." he gestured to the table, where Agent Hill was already sitting.

"Said the spider to the fly," Loki muttered under her breath, and she saw Natasha fight back a smile as she took her seat.

"Loki, how are you adjusting to your new life here?" he asked solicitously.

Loki blinked, she had not expected personal questions. "Fairly well, I guess. I keep myself busy with the restoration work."

"Good, good," Fury nodded. "I hear your brother's girlfriend is in town," he continuing with his casual tone.

Ah, so that's what this was about. "Yes."

"I have to admit I'm impressed, this would be what, the second time that she infiltrated SHIELD?" he turned to Agent Hill.

"To be fair," she responded, "I believe she was only an accomplice last time."

Fury turned back to Loki. "You have any idea how she managed to find us this time?"

Loki sat back, shrugging. "Maybe."

"Let's hear it then," Fury's single eye seemed to be boring into her soul.

Leave it to Fury to find a way to manipulate my situation, Loki seethed. He wasn't going to let her bluff, and she could not lie. She had no love for Jane, but she wasn't a narc either, and she felt vaguely that she owed Selvig better than this. "I believe she received the information from Eric Selvig," she ground out at last.

Fury sat back, satisfied. "Well then." He gave Agent Hill a meaningful glance.

"Maybe you should think about hiring her," Natasha spoke up. They all turned to look at her. "With more contact between Asgard and Earth, you need someone who can understand what kind of transportation system they're using, in case some other group decides to use it against us. Selvig is good, but from what I understand he's mostly working off Foster's research."

Fury seemed to think about this for a moment.

"She does have a point, sir," Agent Hill said quietly. He nodded but said nothing further on the subject.

Loki glared silently at Natasha. She was not helping. If Fury hired Jane Foster, she would never go away.

"Agent Romanov," Fury turned to Natasha, clearly done with the previous conversation. "Here's your assignment." He tapped the console in the table in front of him, and flicked something over to Natasha's screen. She flipped through it, at first with a bored attitude, but then she frowned.

She looked up at Fury, then to Agent Hill, then back to the director. "Sir, with all due respect, Agent Hill looks nothing like me. Even with substantial facial prosthetics, she wouldn't look like my twin, and those sorts of things don't hold up under close scrutiny."

Fury started to object, and Loki cast an illusion, making it look like she was still in her chair while she got up and read over Natasha's shoulder. It seemed SHIELD needed to interrogate a drug lord with a particular taste for twin girls. Fury and Natasha were still arguing when Loki returned to her seat.

"I could go," Loki interrupted.

This effectively silenced them. They all turned to face her, looking incredulous. She took this opportunity to copy Natasha's appearance exactly. "No make-up necessary."

Natasha scrunched up her nose. "Is that really what I sound like?" she asked.

"Yes," the other three said in unison.

"How do we know you're not just looking for an opportunity to run away?" Agent Hill asked.

Loki-still looking for all the world as if a second Black Widow sat in her place-shrugged. "And go where? I am no longer welcome in Asgard. If I wander away from SHIELD, my unhappy former allies will jump at the chance to snatch me up. I believe my change has thrown them off the trail, but I can't depend on that. Staying with SHIELD is my only sure protection, they are not so foolish to openly attack those who defeated them so easily."

Fury sat back, frowning. "I don't remember it being all that easy," he said warily.

"Nevertheless, your unintentional protection puts me in your debt. Natasha has been especially kind in helping me adjust to life here, and I'd like the opportunity to return the favor. You have to admit, I am uniquely qualified for the job." Loki smiled.

Fury did not look terribly pleased with the idea, but she had a point. He turned to Natasha. "Do you trust her to work as your partner?"

Natasha looked at Loki, and it was like looking in a mirror. "I trust her, yes. She's inexperienced, but for this mission I can easily take the lead if she pretends to be shy."

"It's not uncommon for one twin to be more extroverted than the other," Agent Hill added. It was clear that she was not eager to go on this mission, although she didn't seem very happy about her replacement.

At last Fury nodded, reluctantly. "You have a week to train her. Your target will be in London next weekend." He stood, and walked out of the room, Agent Hill hurrying after her.

Loki let the illusion go, returning to her normal appearance. "Well... That was... unexpectedly easy."

Natasha frowned. "They are testing you."

"I know," Loki stared out the window. "And I intend to pass."


Loki had hoped that her training would fill up the hours she didn't spend working over the next week, but it took only a couple afternoons. Natasha didn't expect them to fight, since they were only looking for information, but if it came to that she believed Loki could defend herself easily with magic. Mostly she just ran through the scenario, and taught her a couple hand signals so they could communicate without speaking. At Natasha's suggestion, she told no one of her assignment to the mission.

She did her best to avoid Jane, but eventually it became impossible. She had to go home every night and sleep, or she would have no magic for the next day's work. Jane, thankfully, seemed to sense her animosity, and usually convinced Thor to go to wherever it was she was staying. But that meant that she didn't get to see Thor much either. Loki did not pray, but if she did she would have pleaded for Fury not to hire Jane. She didn't think she could put up with this much longer.

One evening she came home to find not only Thor and Jane, but also another young woman.

"Hey!" she shouted when Loki came through the door. "There you are! I've been trying to meet you all week!" she jumped up from her chair, and ran over to greet her.

Loki was at a loss for words. "You have?"

"Well duh. Whenever Thor talks about stuff it's always 'Loki this,' and 'Loki that,' he makes you out to be a real badass. I'm Darcy, by the way."

"Charmed, I'm sure," she said automatically. She hoped that in her inexplicable enthusiasm, Darcy didn't notice the flush in her cheeks. What sort of things had Thor told them, she wondered? She looked past Darcy and saw Thor and Jane, who appeared to be trying her very best to be invisible.

Loki's ruby glowed, and she suddenly felt very guilty. It wasn't that she had a personal problem with Jane, she was just... competition. But Loki knew she wasn't helping herself by avoiding them both. She would just have to... share him for a bit. With a sigh, she sat at the table.

Thor and Jane tried not to look surprised, Jane was the more successful of the two. Darcy was oblivious. "Where'd you get that outfit, anyway? It's fabulous."

Loki made an effort to pay attention to her chattering. "Err... The Sartorialist, I think."

Darcy blinked, quiet for a brief moment. "But... Isn't that a photo blog? They don't sell stuff, do they?"

"Hm? Oh, no, I made this."

Darcy's face lit up. "Ohmigod, you can sew? I always wanted to sew but I pretty much failed home-ec, but only because my teacher was a real bitch, and-"

"No," Loki interrupted, realizing that Darcy wouldn't stop otherwise. "I make them with magic. Well, illusion, actually."

This caught both Darcy and Jane by surprise. "No way," Darcy said quietly.

Loki grinned, a mischievous idea popping into her head. She took a close look at Jane, and then cast her illusion so she looked exactly the same. Jane gasped, and Darcy nearly cheered. Loki ignored them both, instead locking eyes with Thor.

'See?' she seemed to say. 'See what I can do?' It was almost a threat, almost a promise.

Thor got the message, and swallowed thickly. Then he seemed to rally his wits, and smiled, laughing. "Ladies, I know you're impressed, but Loki needs to conserve her magic for her work." There was an edge to his voice that let her know exactly what he thought of her little display.

Jane looked at Thor, and then at Loki, who had changed back to her usual appearance. A frown creased her brow, but she said nothing.

Darcy immediately wanted to know everything about Loki's work on restoring New York City. Loki found herself warming to the girl. Her enthusiasm eventually calmed into a sly, sardonic wit that Loki appreciated well. It was certainly easier to deal with Jane when she was present.

At one point in the conversation, Thor and Jane somehow managed to get lost in each other's eyes, their fingers entwined on the table. Loki was just starting to get irritated when Darcy spoke up.

"Ugh, you guys, get a room, seriously!" she made a gagging noise.

Both Jane and Thor jerked their hands back, and Loki thought she could see a hint of blush on Thor's face. She laughed.

"You know what, I think I like you, Darcy."

"I know right? I am awesome," she said smugly, eliciting another laugh from Loki. "Did Thor ever tell you about when we all first met?"

Loki shook her head.

"I totally tased him," Darcy bragged.

"What?" Loki said incredulously. Jane nodded in agreement seriously.

"You're one to talk," Darcy said, even though Jane had not spoken. "She hit him with the truck." Jane started to object. "Twice," Darcy added over Jane's protestations.

Loki grinned, leaning back. "Ok, this I have to hear. Start at the beginning."

"Ok, so we're out in the middle of freaking nowhere," Darcy started eagerly, "looking for this weird phenomena that Jane swears is going to happen..."


A/N: I love Darcy. I really need to write more Darcy into this story…