Author's Notes: Hey there :D You know, I might just have to change the genre from humor to drama :P
Replies to reviews down below.
HyperFangirl: Hey, you, thanks so much for leaving a review AND IT WAS THE 50TH ONE SO YAAAAYYYYYY! I'm so chuffed that we passed the silver milestone and thanks so much for your lovely comments about the story. I'm so glad you like it. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Queen Martha Pond: Darcy rocks, dude. She's so underrated and I decided to change that. Thanks for the review and I hope you like this chapter too :D
Guest: Thank you Guest :3 I will try my best to do so. I hope you enjoy this chapter :D
Now, before I move on, I have to say, we passed the 50 reviews mark! Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart! To commemorate the occasion I decided not to be a useless hypocrite and to edit ALL my previous chapters. If you go back and read them, you will notice I have added a BIG GRAMMAR EDIT note to all of them, and I assure you, except for a single sentence that is ALL I changed. The story is still exactly the same as you read it. I'm sure the grammar will be less atrocious, the punctuation better and the capital letters en pointe though.
So once again, thanks for the reviews, the follows and the favourites. I appreciate them all greatly. Now that that cheese is over, I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 16
Darcy POV
Her arm felt heavy, and hurt every time it was jostled (which was always) and she felt like her legs were going to give out under her.
All in all, Darcy thought hazily, it was a pretty shitty plan.
Note to self: never attempt to wrestle a man who is taller than you.
Darcy didn't mean to start making a scene. Honestly, when had she become that impulsive? She really felt like a bit of an idiot. Her plan just jumped all over the place like a crazy, wound up jack-in-the-box running on three bottles of coca cola and a bucket of gummy bears.
First, she had wanted Pepper's tracker. She was almost absolutely positive that Tony had given her one and so was slightly let down when it turned out Pepper had no idea about any sort of tracker being on her person. Already, Darcy's stupid plan was going to the dogs, although for the life of her, she couldn't help feeling that she hadn't overestimated Tony's sneakiness.
Not letting it get her down too much, she moved on to the next best option: a phone call.
Luke's phone seemed perfect - it was a model she used to own so she was pretty sure if she got her hands on it, she could rig it to call Jane and keep redialling until somebody picked up. If she got her hands on it, she could do this and then leave the phone in the truck and nobody would know. Hell, she could even type out an SOS message and delete it after; with a phone, the options were endless. Then, if this tentacle dude was going to be accompanying her and Pepper to wherever the hell these idiots were taking them, the phone would be well away from his disruption and the phone call would most definitely go through.
That was just Part A of her incredibly bland plan. Part B involved leaving clues. Darcy watched enough TV to know how to leave a few hints on the road for the others to find. A scuff of the shoe here, an earring there, a strand of hair under a pebble - the possibilities were endless.
But, the minute Darcy saw the cloth sacks for their heads she knew her plan was shot through. Hell, if she couldn't see how could she leave clues discreetly?
Think, you idiot, she thought angrily to herself, you work with geniuses. Something must have rubbed off on you.
Think.
Fuck, she wished Jane were here. Jane would know what to do. Of course if Jane were here, Thor would probably barrel through the entire country with Myuh-myuh until they were found.
Dammit she wasn't cut out for this! She was an intern. An intern, for goodness sake! This kind of thing was what Jane did, or Nat, or heck, even Louie. Not her.
She thought of Louie, and remembered what Luke had said about them "not catching the freak". A mistake had been made and the wrong girl had been taken.
Louie was still in danger then, thought Darcy and she swallowed. She had to warn the Avengers. Fast.
A flash of silver on her guard's waist was all she needed for another idea to spring to mind.
She began to scream.
It wasn't at the top of her lungs - just enough to make her guard look up in annoyance and jump onto the truck.
"Shut up," he said roughly, shaking her. Darcy waited until he was close enough and went for the dagger on his belt. She was too slow though, and the man blocked her hand and sent her spinning away.
Then she caused a scene.
She threw a tantrum like she had never done before, hollering at the top of her lungs, shrieking and wailing and she could hear others yelling at her to shut the hell up or so help them, until there was a soft bang and her arm felt like it was on fire. Still, she kept screaming, on and on, eyes doing a crazy dance and never really focusing on any one man.
She risked a glance downwards. Several guards were gathered and one of them had his gun out, silencer and all. Darcy's head swam at the sight of the blood on her arm. She had been shot.
She could see Luke dragging Pepper along and when they got close enough, Darcy realised that Part A had failed miserably. She began to scream again, but now it was almost second nature. Her brain was still working, even though everything was a little cloudy and she was having a major out-of-body experience. She barely heard a goon tell her to shut up, but she did.
As Pepper rushed closer Darcy could see her dress was torn and her jaw was turning purple. Something glinted on her collar which was flapping open now.
Darcy, even through her red cloud of pain, understood immediately that Tony Stark was one sneaky son of a gun. She had been right, then.
She barely had time to let Pepper know, when she was pulled up.
"No," she said thickly, and clutched Pepper's collar. She wasn't ready to be tied up again, thanks very much.
Pepper held her tight, but after a small tussle, Darcy was pried away and her hands brought in front of her roughly. She yelped in pain.
As her wrists were retied, she held the little tracker tightly clutched in her fist. Blood dripped steadily from her forearm, which they didn't bother to even bind. Damn, if she didn't die now, she was going to, of blood loss and infection.
Might as well make use of it, she thought, as the outside world disappeared into a black bag.
In a way she was glad for the cloth sack. It stopped anyone from seeing the manic half smile on her face.
The next bit was going to be painful, but it had to be done.
Before she had time to think though, something wrapped around her waist and she was hoisted off the ground. She was dropped back seconds later but it didn't feel like she was on tarmac any more.
The ground felt springy and cold. A garden then? She pondered her predicament for a moment. Something cold and hard prodded her in the back and she stumbled forward.
Once they were walking once more, a quiet chatter began among the men and Darcy began to leave her clues. She dug her heels into the ground and shuffled slightly and when she was pushed forward, she gouged out a bit of the land with her shoe. It broke her hear to do that: those shoes had cost her a fortune. She was so going to bill Tony for this.
The air got cooler as they walked on and once or twice Darcy stumbled over tree roots, partly because she was exhausted, partly because she was feigning it and partly because it wasn't very easy to navigate your way around clumps of this and that when all you could see was the inside of a cloth sack. It wasn't like the goon gripping her good arm and guiding her was nice enough to point out obstacles in her way.
The second time it happened, she fell to her knees and her arm actually went into a hole of some sort, dug out by something.
Praying to God it was a rabbit hole, she unclasped her hand, getting up and leaving the tracker safe and hopefully out of sight inside it.
She gently wiped blood off her arm and let it drip from her fingertips. She brushed it against trees and the branches that hit her in the face (thanks Mr Guide, you are so helpful). By the time they reached hard cement floor again, Darcy felt faint. She was losing far too much blood, she knew and her kidnappers didn't value her enough to save her.
Maybe it was the last thought that spurred her anger and disgust. She was kind of fed up being the intern that nobody really gave a shit about.
If she ever made it out of this alive, she vowed, she would get Steve to teach her to fight.
She was firmly gripped by the arms again and this time ushered forwards faster. They were setting a brisk pace to wherever they were going. There was a faint whirring noise echoing through the halls that sounded oddly familiar to Darcy, although she couldn't quite place it.
They walked on for a while, taking sharp lefts and rights. Okay, so they were definitely inside some sort of building.
She was manhandled into a chair, the sack whipped off her head and her wrists untied. She winced as she was jostled for the bazillionth time. Darcy threw the man who cut her bonds a deeply disgusted look, conveying as much contempt as she could. To her left, Pepper was sitting in an identical chair.
The door was behind them, with a couple of computer screens on her left. The place wasn't excessively neat but it smelled of some sort of strong chemical. She exchanged a glance with Pepper. A few minutes passed in silence, which Darcy spent trying to wriggle her way to freedom. Then, a light flickered on above their heads and the whirring noise increased by a miniscule percentage.
A generator, Darcy realised, that's what it was. It made her think of long nights when she had only a single cup of coffee to keep her awake and Jane would barely shut up for half a second. She missed Jane so much right now.
The door swung open and hit the wall with a crash. Darcy jumped and used all of her willpower not to turn around and look at their captor.
A thin, impeccably dressed man entered her line of vision. His grey hair was oily and slicked back and on his nose were a pair of thick glasses. He steepled his hands together in front of him and grinned.
"So this is them, yes?"
"Yep," came Luke's voice behind her. Darcy tried to turn and felt an intense wave of vertigo. Okay, so no turning or moving of any kind. The man in front of them made a mock bow.
"Levine Quincy," he said with a smirk. "You may have heard of me."
"No," said Pepper, looking utterly unimpressed. Darcy mentally applauded her for being a complete boss.
"No?" Levine Quincy looked displeased. "You mean to say your little demigod friend didn't mention me at all?"
"You're one of Loki's friends?" Darcy wrinkled her nose in distaste, although a few things were starting to add up, including why they'd taken her.
"Friends... would be pushing it. We were merely business partners."
"What kind of business?" asked Pepper suspiciously.
"My dear lady," he said shaking his head, "did you really think a complete idiot like him would have been able to gather all that manpower on his own last year? Nonsense. The speeches he was making put people off completely. It was I who sent him people to be used, I who supplied him with the labour for his work."
"So, you're in the human trafficking business," said Darcy, her dislike for this man steadily increasing.
"Let's not call it that," he said sweetly. He pulled up his own chair, near the computer screens and sat.
"I have a bone to pick with your dear friend Loki. You see," he said, examining his nails, "he promised me payment. And I am yet to receive it. The outcome of his petty little fit never mattered to me. What did matter was my money, which I never got. You can imagine how angry I was when I realised my labour force was dead and I had no payment."
Darcy could imagine it, yes. This guy looked like he could throw a helluva tantrum if he wanted to. Something about his oily slick persona didn't cut it with Darcy. It seemed to her that if a match was struck, he would go up in flames, breath fire and burn everything in his path mindlessly.
"So there I was," Quincy continued, "angry and near bankruptcy. Now, a good year later, I have built up my sodden reputation and you can imagine my delight when little birdies tell me they see a certain demigod going jogging with the Avengers in the morning." He laughed shortly.
"Well, personally, I think it's your fault for striking a deal with the god of Lies," pointed out Darcy.
"Be quiet," he snapped, his eyes suddenly flashing. Darcy fell silent in surprise. Quincy continued in a softer voice. "I do not like to be interrupted. It's story time. You children must listen."
Pepper scoffed and Darcy gave him a grin.
"Yeah, sorry, that's just not how we work." Quincy gritted his teeth.
"Perhaps we need a supervisor in the room. Slasher!" he snapped. "Get in here."
There was a low, animalistic growl and the hairs on the back of Darcy's neck went up. That wasn't human...was it?
The metallic stench of coppery blood filled Darcy's nostrils and a hulking great figure advanced on them. He was huge - bulging muscles and a thick neck, cords popping as he growled menacingly. His hands weren't quite hands, Darcy realised with horror. They curved into dangerous looking claws.
"This is Slasher," said Quincy, smiling, "he comes and goes. Such a free spirit, he is. I was lucky enough to hire him for this operation. It saved me so much time tracking you women down to the club. All I had to do was give him one of your scents and in five minutes he found you."
Darcy swallowed. Those claws looked very, very sharp. So did his teeth. She glanced at Pepper who looked equally terrified.
"Now that I have some nice peace and quiet, perhaps we can come to some sort of agreement. I had initially meant to get the other girl, you know. Apparently not everyone is as clever at identifying people as Slasher is. They will be punished accordingly. Slasher, I told you, you should have joined the extraction team. You wouldn't even be here if you'd done that. I'd have let you go on your merry way early," said Quincy irritably.
"And I told you a million times," said Slasher, his voice rough and cold, "that I don't do extraction. You've got only fifteen minutes left with me, bub. After that, I'm gone."
"As I was saying," said Quincy, ignoring Slasher, "I have a bone to pick with Loki. At first, it was just getting my money back. Then, I heard that someone out there put quite the price on his head. So much more than that lying piece of shit could ever offer to me."
"So... what exactly is your plan now?" asked Darcy skeptically. "Because–" Slasher bared his teeth and she fell silent.
"Why, my dear," Quincy spread his arms, "you are the bait. And the Avengers have swallowed it, hook, line and sinker."
Darcy swallowed. This day could not possible get any worse. But then, of course Quincy snapped his fingers and pointed at her.
"This one," he said, "is unnecessary. I had thought the mutant girl would be a good catch for my collection but her, I want her out of the way immediately."
Well, Darcy always had a big mouth. Slasher dragged her to her feet and she would have protested had she not been swaying on the spot. She gave one last, helpless glance at Pepper who had tears streaming down her face and headed out of the door.
Two men stood outside and Slasher shoved her into them.
"Sort it out," he said to the shorter of the two. The man nodded and Yessired before taking hold of her wounded arm and frogmarching her away. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Slasher watching them as they turned the corner, an inscrutable look on his face.
Darcy bit her lip.
"Where are you taking me?" she demanded. All she got in reply was silence.
She tried to struggle free but her attempt must have been pretty pathetic because the taller of the two men just rolled his eyes at her.
"Don't bother," he said loftily. So Darcy just resorted to using every insult she could come up with in multiple creative ways and firing them at top speed at the two goons.
She kept up the steady stream of insults even as they marched straight into the sunlight and ran into two more guards on the outer perimeter.
"Where are you two goin'?" asked a perimeter guard, raising an eyebrow.
"Boss said she's not needed anymore," said one of Darcy's Neanderthals. The perimeter guard nodded an assent and let them through, giving them a few parting words.
"Use the clearing up ahead; you're still well in the words so nobody will hear you." Darcy gulped. How the hell was she gonna get out of this one?
The clearing that the perimeter guard was talking about was up ahead. Already, two figures stood there, waiting. Once again she made a feeble attempt to break free.
"Will you stop?" snapped the taller one, "you're only making you arm bleed even more."
"That's the least of my problems right now, don't you think?" Darcy shot back, "considering how I'll be dead soon."
The taller man rolled his eyes once more and then, so quickly that Darcy almost missed it, his eyes flashed an emerald green. On her left, the shorter man started humming a few bars of an eighties classic.
It was then that Darcy looked up at the clearing, where she could now see the two figures standing there clearly. A grin split her face and she surged forward. Her "guards" let her go, because she stumbled straight into Thor's big, bear armed hug.
Loki POV
Loki was hot and it irked him. He was a frost giant, not a desert rat and his throat was so dry he would kill for a drink of water. They all stood at the edge of the fence, arms crossed and scrutinizing the twenty foot, spiked abomination of nature. The Man of Iron scanned it with his suit and Loki bet that if they could see him, he'd be shaking his head.
"Well, it's an electric fence," said Tony dryly.
"Of course it is," muttered Louie.
"I could fly us over it, Lady Louie," offered Thor and Loki had to fight down a possessive glare.
"Look, now that we know which way to go, let's try and use some magic here," said Tony. Loki nodded his agreement.
"We can check for traps and other patrols then."
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Louie asked him skeptically, "we haven't really tried this before."
"Tell me again why this will work?" asked Tony.
Louie pulled up her sleeves and placed her hands, palms down in Loki's. Thor took it upon himself to explain.
"You see, Tony," he rumbled, "young Louie is like a little Tesseract. She had much energy that my brother can borrow, or in this case, use like you use the tin man away from home."
"He's... possessing her?" Tony didn't sound very happy about that.
"Oh no, Tony," said Thor, sounding appropriately horrified, "not possessing. He uses Louie as a vessel of sorts."
"I still don't understand."
"It's something like an external battery to keep your heart in use, Tony," said Loki snidely. "You do not always need one, but when you do, you can be attached to the power source and function normally." He knew he'd struck a nerve because Tony didn't say anything more. Louie squeezed his hand tightly and frowned.
Not good, her eyes said. He half shrugged apologetically, before he realised what he had done. He shook off the feeling of exasperation and focused on not killing them both.
"Keep calm," said Loki, closing his eyes and concentrating. "I have to maintain a physical connection until we are bonded enough in mind for me to let go."
It was no lie, what he'd said to Tony. It was exactly like being on life support. His magic swirled within the boundaries of his fingertips, unable to move out of the surface of his skin. It felt so stifling, so painful at times. The tattoo on his back tingled as he touched Louie's aura, tasting her power and energy. It changed and whirled, unlike anything he had ever felt before. Faintly, he could hear the workings of her mind, memories of a smiling woman and a comforting smell of tobacco wafting by.
He kept a hold for a moment or two, taking in a small amount of her energy, one sip at a time to make sure he didn't overdo it and end up paralyzed on the ground. When he was sure he'd had enough, he let go tentatively. A tiny spark formed at his fingertips. It had worked. He had, he assumed, around ten minutes of safe energy before he had to borrow again.
Tentatively, he opened his mind to his surroundings.
It was a sensory overload at first. For the first time in what felt like years, he could feel the nature around him, every cell, every miniscule creature and for a minute he was overwhelmed with the amount of information he was taking in. Then he pulled himself together and concentrated on finding a trail for them to follow.
Auras left a shadow behind and several had been in the area, a few making their way into the forest.
He had forgotten how much he missed this, this feeling of utter control, the ability to bend things to his will. For a moment he felt like he could blast his companions away and make his run into freedom. It was an appealing thought. So very appealing.
Instead he turned his heightened senses to the fence and beyond, checking every corner and crevice for traps and men on patrol. The grass, the branches, the trees, everything.
"It is safe," he decided. There was nothing there that gave him the impression that there were technological devices secreted away, at least on this side of the woods. Neither were there any men, although there were still several auras heading into the forest and by his estimation, it wasn't very long ago that they had set out. He told the others so.
"Excellent," said Tony briskly and before he could do anything else, Loki was grabbed around the waist by a cold, metal arm, flown over the fence and dumped unceremoniously on the grass. Louie made a more graceful landing when Thor carried her over, bridal style but in one arm, his other spinning Mjolnir and propelling him high in the air and safely onto the ground. Apparently Louie thought it was hilarious too because she had a silly little grin on her face and winked when Loki shot her a glance. Loki forced himself not to sulk. Why did everybody love the stupid hammer?
He pointed in the direction the fading auras had headed. "That way," he said.
Tony agreed. "That's where the tracker went."
"Stay on the ground and stay together," Loki commanded softly. "I shall give us an illusion of invisibility."
Only he felt the power draining from his fingertips, leaving him strained and in knots. Before he could say anything a warm hand slipped into his.
"You're the boss, man," said Louie, nodding encouragingly. Loki only felt his stomach tighten and even though he knew Louie was referencing some sort of Midgardian literature, he resorted to scoldingly declaring that he most certainly was not a man, although the boss part he could perhaps deal with.
Everything was brimming with life, with so much untouched potential that Loki was half dazed at how stupid mortal were, how weirdly ignorant to the power their land kept in the folds of the earth. If that potential was unlocked - why, it would be almost as much magic as Asgard had held in its infancy.
They kept walking, slowly and closely together, Tony and Thor hovering as they moved forward because, by Odin, they had no idea how to be stealthy. It should have occurred to Loki sooner; after all, they were both more of the 'run hollering into battle' types.
After a few minutes of silently walking, Louie's hand twitched in his own. She hunched over, her eyes level with a mark on a tree trunk.
"Is that -?" she asked, looking slightly ill. Loki passed a hand over the tree trunk, where a small, red swipe was shining slightly in the filtered light.
"Indeed," he said, "and the aura is familiar. I believe it is Darcy Lewis' blood." Loki had a sudden suspicion. He projected his senses, letting them bounce off trees and foliage, grinning when his theory was confirmed.
"Miss Lewis is very clever. She has left us a trail to follow."
"Ha-ha, he called a human clever," Tony sing-songed.
"Has anyone ever told you that you have about as much maturity as a six year old?" asked Loki conversationally.
"Several times, in fact. Anyway, you're right. We're still heading in the direction of the tracker," replied Tony, his iron sleeve open, their little yellow dot selves heading slowly towards the little red one.
They quickened their pace, moving faster towards their destination. Loki could feel something brimming on the horizon - a source of auras that had gathered like the crackling heat of a bonfire from further away.
"Stop! Here-," said Tony sharply. "The tracker is somewhere here." Louie looked around.
"She must have left it somewhere for us to find," she said.
"There," said Loki, pointing at a knotted tree root. The shadow of Darcy's aura was quite strong there.
"Hole," said Louie unnecessarily. Without letting go of his hand she crouched and with a slight grimace, stuck her hand inside it. She rummaged around for a few moments, muttering "That better not be what I think it is" and "Oh, this is not a rabbit hole, ew" and a few seconds later, "Aha! Got it." She brought out a grime covered hand, holding a microchip.
"Darcy is indeed very wise," said Thor, "to have thought of hiding it so well and then to have used her own blood to leave a trail for us to follow. Indeed, this is a tale worthy of being sung in the years to come. I will personally see to it that it is written."
"That's nice, Thor," smiled Louie, "I'm sure Darcy would love to be, um, sung of for centuries to come."
Loki bit down a retort to where exactly Thor could put his songs and instead focused on getting them further into enemy ground. It would be difficult here on out as the tracker was now in their possession but he needn't have worried. Darcy's clues were very well spread and though they got fewer and farther in between, Loki was by that time used to spotting out her aura amongst others and so had no problem finding a trail.
"The auras are getting stronger," he said after a few minutes of walking, "we are nearing a place they pass through often. In fact, it couldn't have been more than half an hour since they passed along with Miss Lewis and Miss Potts."
"You're welcome," said Tony smartly, "for providing you with a high speed aircraft."
"Thank you, Tony," said Louie, her eyes warning Loki not to snap back. Loki made a mental note to put salt in Tony's coffee later on.
They entered a space of sorts were there were no trees or grass and the ground crunched under their feet. Loki held out a hand, signaling them to stop.
"Beyond here," he said, his eyes travelling over the cluster of trees surrounding them, "there are patrols. It would be difficult for me to get us all through, depending simply on an illusion of invisibility. I would advise Tony and Thor to stay here."
"Mm, nope, not taking your advice," said Tony. Loki could practically see his eyes narrowing. "My girl is in there and I'm going to get her back."
"And you'd rather barrel your way in, instead of safely sneaking in and, how do you mortals say it - bust them out?"
"I really love it when you try and get hip with the lingo, Real Power, I do, but that's the way the Avengers roll. We don't have anything to be afraid of."
"And yet you will put the lives of Darcy and Pepper in danger." Loki rounded on Thor, pointing at him. "Ask this one! Is it not the one who picks the battle ground who is at an advantage? They already have an advantage. Why cannot we try to be quieter?"
"He is right," admitted Thor grudgingly.
Tony scoffed. "Louie? What do you think?"
Louie bit her lip and looked from Loki to Thor to Tony, and settled the billionaire with a wide eyed, apologetic gaze.
"Traitor," muttered Tony. "You and Thor both. Fine, okay. We'll do it your way. We'll bust them out quietly. Even though there's nothing wrong with blowing things up, right Thor?"
Thor nodded in agreement and Loki fought the urge to roll his eyes.
"Okay. Fifteen minutes, alright? Thor and I will stay here and have a nice little heart to heart about the two of you and you can go and do your magic thing. But only fifteen minutes. That's all I'm giving you." The metal man crossed his metal arms and sulked.
"Daww, Tony," said Louie, patting his metal arm. "It's okay to feel a little jelly. You can blow things up next time."
"Jelly? I'm not jelly. Who even invented this phrase? When did jelly become short for jealous? I don't understand kids these days."
"Try not to have a seizure over it," Louie said dryly. She squeezed Loki's fingers again comfortingly, "shall we?"
Loki wondered where exactly his feelings of repulsion had gone. He didn't like being touched, not by people he didn't know, not by mortals and yet here he was, holding this girl's hand like they were simply having a stroll through the gardens of Asgard. He didn't mind it, he realized. His brain immediately tried to repel the thought but ultimately he had to grudgingly accept that damn it all to Hel and back, he was fine with holding Louie's hand.
So, he inclined his head and replied, "We shall."
He ordered Thor and Tony to stay together and in the clearing. He then cast a complex little spell so that the two Avengers were invisible and begged - begged them to be quiet and not make a scene, before he and Louie turned and headed towards the bonfire of auras.
"Be very quiet," he said, the illusion still keeping them invisible. Louie nodded. The woods thinned out and a concrete building appeared out of the distance. It had no windows to speak of, just barred air vents and a single door as far as Loki could see. It was a fairly big building - one floor but, by the looks of it, making up for height with length and width.
"It's an old army bunker, I think," muttered Louie.
"We must hurry," said Loki, "I do not know how many soldiers are in the area."
They quickened their pace, making their way swiftly and silently to the building. They were a hundred feet away, seventy, fifty, when suddenly Louie pulled him back with a quiet hiss. A guard strolled by in front of them; Loki would most certainly have run straight into him had he gone on without stopping.
Thank you, he mouthed. They both stood stock still, hardly daring to breathe as the soldier paused, looked around, looked straight through them and walked on. They both let out sighs of relief.
A few more steps, and the door was open, and they were inside.
"Which way do we go?" asked Louie.
Loki pointed down the corridor. "They were taken down that way."
Loki was right about the structure of the place, he was pleased to find. The corridors showed a long, winding passage into the bowels of the building. Louie shifted closer to him as they walked past rows and rows of men on sentry duty. She seemed to hold her breath as they walked, her hand almost shaking in his.
They turned the corner where voices grew louder and Loki paused to listen. There was a closed door up ahead and one on its immediate right, where the door was slightly ajar. Loki took a step forward and then froze, skin tingling. Something was off about the people in that room.
There were mutants there, he realised, and more than one. The door opened and Loki swiftly backed around the corner and into the shadows of the wall, dragging Louie with him.
"Wha-" he clapped a hand over her mouth.
"Stay. Very. Still," he breathed. Louie's eyes widened and she nodded.
He peered around the wall slowly. A man was now leaning against the wall. He was the mutant, Loki guessed. There was a cloying, murderous tinge in the mutant's aura. He was enormous, like Thor, with ginger sideburns and claws for hands. As he stiffened and turned, his eyes slanted, a tawny yellow in colour.
Mutant, he mouthed at Louie. Louie raised an eyebrow.
You can tell? He switched to communicating telepathically.
Yes. They are quite different from ordinary humans.
Louie nodded, showing that she understood. Immediately, the mutant let out a low growl.
"Who's there?" he called, his eyes narrowed. He sniffed, eyes narrowing. "Come out before I rip your goddamn throat out." He could smell them? Well, then it was no use hiding.
Follow my lead, he said to Louie, and let me do the talking. He melted out of the shadows and stood at attention.
"Just us, sir," he gave himself a higher voice, sounding obnoxious to his own ears. Next to him, Louie, also cast over with an illusion, gave a brief nod. The mutant nodded back, relaxing.
Another man exited the room, dressed in a grey suit. He barely glanced at them, instead walking to the door on the opposite wall and flinging it open with a bang. If this mutant wasn't there, scaring the living daylights out of him, Loki would have laughed at the theatrics.
Then, he noticed the familiar aura waiting out of the newly opened door. He felt a rush of adrenaline. Darcy was in there.
A few minutes passed and Loki and Louie took up guard. Loki bit his lip in worry as the seconds ticked by. He didn't have long before he needed to regain some power from Louie. Already it was around three minutes since he last let her go.
The mutant was standing outside the door, frowning at them. Loki swallowed. If he didn't touch Louie soon, they would have no illusion.
Turn around, he willed the mutant, go on, turn. Nothing happened.
Six minutes, by his count. The mutant took a hesitant step forward, frowning at Louie. His claws were held at his sides, curled and ready to pounce.
"Who-," he started, almost curiously, warily, when there was a loud call from within the room.
"Slasher!"
The mutant - Slasher – let out a low growl of annoyance and disappeared into the room.
Loki let out a deep breath and reached for Louie's hand, the energy streaming into him.
"What was that about?" she asked, confused. Loki shrugged, eyes fixed warily on the door.
"All I know is that he can smell us. Being invisible wouldn't keep us safe around that mutant. However," he said, "Darcy is in there and Pepper too, I'd say."
"How do we get them out?" Louie asked. They edged forward, until they were just outside the door.
"...you are the bait. And the Avengers would have swallowed it, hook, line and sinker," a sickly oily voice was saying.
They knew, Loki realised. They knew the Avengers would come. Loki was suddenly extremely thankful that they had done this his way and hadn't just come running head on at the building. If this man was confident that the Avengers could find them without a tracker of any sorts (well, as far as they knew, anyway) and was still boasting about it, then he had to have some extreme tricks up his sleeve.
The man was still talking.
"This one is unnecessary. I had thought the mutant girl would be a good catch for my collection but her, I want her out of the way immediately."
Loki stiffened, stepping away as the coppery smell of Slasher filled his nose and Darcy was brought out.
Next to him, Louie might have whimpered. Darcy was deathly pale, her hair a wreck, her dress dirty and her arm covered in blood. She was swaying as she stood and they had to catch her as Slasher pushed her forward.
"Sort it out."
Dispose of her, his eyes seemed to say. Loki nodded and gripped Darcy by the elbow, leading her away. It repulsed him to turn his back on the mutant who had an utterly unpleasant vibe to him, dangerous and uninhibited. His neck crawled at the thought of those claws.
A/N: And there ya go :) I hope you enjoyed.
Until next time,
Much love,
xo