Chapter Ten: Interrogating the Gods
Darcy drifted slowly to consciousness, first becoming aware of the low murmur of voices nearby rumbling pleasantly amid the backdrop of her scattered thoughts. There was something about blue giants and fire-breathing robots. Oh right, the Destroyer. She thought. It had been a while since she'd dreamed about that. The blue giants were new. Frost Giants? That seemed right. She'd never seen one before, but they had made it into her memory-dreams. How odd.
A higher-pitched murmur. It sounded like Jane. Grief cascaded over Darcy as she recalled Jane's unseen death. Hang on. It still sounded like Jane. Surely, she's imagining things. Wait. She had just seen Jane; she had handed off a couple puppies to her. No, wait. That was a dream. No, a memory. And then the roof caved in. No, that's not how it happened. I evacuated the dog – I gave him to a guy in a truck. Right? Or did the roof cave in? There was a Frost Giant. No…yes…wait. The memories of Puente Antiguo were just as fresh as Westview and the Hex, if not more so. But they were jumbled and conflicting.
Thoroughly confused, Darcy cracked her eyes open to find a pair of glowing green eyes staring at her, hovering six inches above her nose.
"Aaargh!" she yelped, swatting at the face above her. The face dodged, snickering. "What the heck?" Darcy muttered under her breath, levering herself up to a sitting position. A firm hand at her elbow helped her and then her glasses were placed in her hand. She slipped them on and gasped.
Loki.
He was perched on the arm of the couch near her feet, and he was glowing. Darcy gave Loki a squinty-eyed look as he released her elbow. His amused expression deepened, his smile widening slowly, looking incredibly boyish and mischievous. God of Mischief. Whoo boy. Handle with care.
"Hello, mortal," he said in a smooth, cultured voice.
"That's Doctor Mortal, to you," she snarked, reacting to the condescension with her title out of annoyed habit.
"Oh-ho!" he laughed. Oops. That wasn't exactly handling with care, was it? "A sassy one!" She glared at him.
Darcy crossed her arms over her chest. "I thought you were dead," she grumped, feeling out of sorts.
Loki looked genuinely startled and eyeballed her suspiciously. "Whyever would you think that? Do you even know who I am?"
"Darcy!" Thor cut in with a deliberate air as he placed himself bodily between them. "You're awake!"
"Master of the obvious," Darcy heard Loki mutter. Thor ignored him and took her hands, holding them in his own massive paws. Darcy cocked her head, looking at him. He was glowing brightly. That made more sense than Loki glowing at all. But why? It was on the tip of her tongue…the tip of her mind?
Thor looked into her eyes intently, apparently trying to communicate with her telepathically. His eyes really were beautiful…so blue…and luminescent. Did he always glow? No, that didn't seem right. It's more of a recent thing, she thought. That Jane-like voice spoke again in the background, too quiet to make out the words, especially over the sound of Thor clearing his throat. Darcy started to turn her head and found Thor moving in front of her field of vision.
"What the heck, Thor?" she asked.
"Look at me," he said authoritatively. Startled, Darcy looked at him. He had never used that tone with her before. He placed both of her hands in one of his own and brought his other hand up to her cheek, cupping the entire side of her head and gently holding it in place, keeping her from looking about. Still looking directly in her eyes he said, "Do you know where you are?"
Darcy frowned. "New…" York? Asgard? Mexico? Jersey? She dropped her gaze and pinched her eyebrows together, trying to remember. Thor squeezed her hands and twitched his fingers against the back of her head.
"Look at me," he said again. "We are in New Mexico. Do you remember meeting me?"
"We hit you with the van," she said confidently.
Thor smiled. "Yes. And what happened right before that?"
Darcy's eyebrows furrowed together as she thought. Thor kept his eyes locked on hers, still refusing to let her look around. She closed her eyes to think. They hit him with the van. She was in the van. She was flying through the van. Her body flinging through the sky. "What the…?" She kept thinking, remembering. A portal. An orb. An anomaly. S.W.O.R.D. Back in time. Holy shit. She had time traveled. She was back in time. That was Jane's voice! She was back in time and…everything clicked into place. Now she remembered. Her eyes snapped open. "I remember."
Thor smiled and his shoulders sagged in relief. He leaned forward, resting his forehead against hers, massive hand still cradling the side of her head, blocking her view of the room. "Are you ready?" he whispered.
"Yes," she whispered back.
Thor released his hold on her and pulled away. She immediately turned her head and spotted Jane who was bouncing on the balls of her feet excitedly. "Jane!" she exclaimed, holding her arms open wide. Jane shot forward and hugged her.
"Oh, Darcy! I was so worried! Are you okay? How's your leg? When I saw Thor carrying you, I thought you were dead! But you had just passed out! Does it still hurt?"
Darcy squeezed Jane tightly. "I'm so glad you're okay," she whispered to her friend.
"Darcy, it was crazy! There were giants! Huge blue giants! Jotun? Jötnar? Frost Giants from Jotunheim. That's one of the nine realms. Did you know? Anyway, one almost got me while I was carrying the dogs. Fandral distracted it and Volstagg got me away." Jane shot the two Asgardians a grateful look. They smiled and inclined their heads. "Darcy, I tried to go back for you!" Jane looked earnestly at her and held her hand tightly. "But before I could, something happened. I don't know exactly what, because nobody will tell me," Jane glared at all of the assembled Asgardians. "But it's like they all knew simultaneously that you were in trouble." She glared around the room again, most of the subjects of her ire flushed or ducked their heads in embarrassment. Sif and Loki met her gaze evenly. "Volstagg tossed me in the back of a truck just as it was pulling away," she shot him a dirty look. Volstagg shrugged and nodded in confirmation, confident in the wisdom of his action. "I was evacuated out of town and couldn't come to you. I'm so sorry!" Jane squeezed her hand and hugged her again.
Darcy patted her back. "Jane, it's okay. I'm not upset! I'm just glad you're okay, too." They smiled at each other with watery eyes. Then Jane stood up, placed her hands on her hips and addressed the warriors.
"Alright, start talking. I want to know what's going on. How did you know Darcy needed help? And why are you all glowing?" She turned and looked pointedly to Thor at the last question. Everyone else looked to Thor, ready to follow his lead. Loki, still perched on the arm of the couch, folded his arms across his chest and leaned back nonchalantly, an amused smirk playing at the corner of his mouth at his brother's obvious discomfort.
"Erm, well…" Thor hesitated and spoke haltingly, "…as I said before, it's part of my physiology." He gestured around to his brother and friends. "We are all Asgardian, so it is a part of all of our physiologies." Darcy glanced at Loki and saw his eye twitch.
"Yes, thank you. I worked that part out myself," Jane said dryly. "Now, what triggered it? None of you were glowing when I first met you. Well, except for you." She gestured to Loki who grinned like the Grinch with a terrible awful idea.
"Yes, well, it is tied to –"
"Emotions. Yes, I know. How so?" Jane narrowed her eyes. "Whose emotions?"
Thor faltered, hemming and hawing. The warriors glanced back and forth between each other. Loki looked around at everyone, grinning delightedly at everyone's discomfort before locking eyes with Darcy. "Oh, sweet supplicant," Loki purred. He leaned forward, "Are you embarrassed? Are you ashamed of your gods?" There was a steely glint in his eye at that, behind the amusement, as if daring her to admit to being ashamed. It was predatory and frightening.
"Brother…" Thor warned. Loki raised an eyebrow at Thor's voice but kept his gaze locked on Darcy.
She licked her lips nervously.
"Supplicant?" Jane pondered aloud.
Before she could continue, Darcy confessed. "I'm not ashamed," she said, looking Loki dead in the eye, her heart hammering secretly in her chest. "But I am a little embarrassed to have my private thoughts so very publicly broadcasted to literally everybody who looks at you." Loki raised an eyebrow at that, but the amused twinkle returned.
"Darcy, what do you mean?" Jane asked.
Darcy sighed and looked away with some relief from the God of Mischief. "Ugh, Jane. This is so embarrassing. No offense, guys. But seriously. They're glowing because of me. Because I…you know." She twirled her wrist.
"No I don't. That's why I'm asking."
"Eurgh. Because…because I…believed in them. As, y'know…gods." She mumbled the last bit.
"Past tense? Believed?" Loki over-enunciated the "d."
"Oh my god. Fine! Present tense!" Darcy could feel her face burning.
"Oh your god, indeed." Loki smirked. "But that's not all, is it? It's not just about believing in us. Dr. Foster here has met us and believes us to exist. Yet the divine light shines within us not because of her belief." He looked pointedly at Darcy, and she covered her face with her hands.
"Enough," Thor said. "You are upsetting her."
Jane knelt in front of the couch. "Darcy, what's going on?" she asked.
"I prayed, Jane. I prayed to them for help."
"And?" Loki prompted.
"Loki!" Thor scolded.
"And there appears to be some degree of…worship…involved. Even if by accident." Darcy glanced to Loki at the tag-on at the end. He narrowed his eyes at her and that frightening steely look returned, but he held his tongue. She quickly looked away from him. A droplet of sweat ran down her back.
Recognizing Jane's thinking face as her friend's mental cogs were turning, Darcy mentally braced herself for an onslaught of questions. "Worship how?" Jane asked. "What do you do?" Darcy recognized the beginnings of the scientific method forming as Jane was clearly seeking to replicate the phenomenon to better understand.
Breaking it down scientifically actually eliminated some of the embarrassment and Darcy was more comfortable answering. "It's not something done so much as something felt." At Jane's pinched expression, Darcy continued. "It all started because of something Thor said about how he could hear prayers." Jane cocked her head. "Like, I knew he was part of the Norse pantheon and all that, but I figured it was more about ancient humans not having a framework for aliens." Jane nodded in agreement. "But when he said he could hear their prayers, well, that changed things. I associated prayers with gods. I mean, they are alien to us and we are alien to them, yet we don't hear when they pray."
"Have they ever prayed to us?" Jane asked pointedly.
"Ummm…"
All of the Asgardians looked taken aback at Jane's question. Finally, Loki spoke up, "Why would we ever pray to mortals? What could you possibly do for us that we cannot do for ourselves?"
"I don't know," Jane replied, "But how can we know for certain that we can't hear your prayers if you never pray to us?" Loki raised his brows and tilted his head in a "point taken" gesture.
Jane turned back to Darcy. "So you're saying that acknowledging them as gods resulted in the…divine light, was it?"
"Sort of." Darcy grimaced. "Acknowledging and revering, more like." Jane looked thoughtful.
"How do you quantify reverence?" she mumbled, distractedly, her fingers twitching against her legs as her formidable intellect tackled the challenge.
"Lady Darcy," Volstagg spoke up. "I must thank you. While our friends and princes, Thor and Loki have once upon a time experienced the pleasure of the divine light, 'tis a new experience for some of us. I believe I speak for us all when I say we are honored that you have chosen us as your gods." Hogun, Fandral, and Sif all nodded in agreement.
"I, too, have experienced the divine light long ago," Sif said. "Even if your ancestors were confused about my strengths. But I am honored to be remembered again." She inclined her head toward Darcy.
Thor snorted and turned to Sif, "I had forgotten," he chuckled. "Family and fertility, was it?"
Sif rolled her eyes. "Yes," she said, annoyed. "Norns forbid a shieldmaiden patch your wounds after battle." She turned to Darcy and Jane to explain, "Your ancestors took that to assume Thor and I were wed and suddenly I am the goddess of family and fertility. There was no convincing them otherwise. The tales they spun about me are astounding."
Darcy's lips twitched. "Speaking of astounding tales of the Norse…" she turned to Loki with a grin.
The smirk at Sif's expense dropped from his face. "Lies! All of it!" Loki stated, emphatically.
Thor hummed in amused question, "Mmm? All of it? Nay, brother, I think there were seeds of truth planted here and there within their tales of you."
Quietly, Erik spoke up from the background, "Sleipnir?"
Loki sputtered and the Asgardians roared with laughter.
"Apparently I need to catch up on my Norse mythology," Jane muttered.
Darcy leaned in and explained, "He turned into a mare and got busy with a stallion then gave birth to an eight-legged horse."
Jane's lips formed an astounded 'o' and she looked at Loki with wide eyes.
"Do not believe a word of that drivel," Loki said smoothly. "I am a master of illusion. Your ancestors were merely confused by a harmless trick I played centuries ago."
Darcy whispered in Jane's ear, "Remember, he's the god of lies, too." Jane pressed her lips together and her shoulders shook with repressed laughter. Darcy cautiously glanced at Loki, gauging his reaction. Though he wore an outward expression of annoyance, she could see he was haughtily masking his amusement by the twitch at the corner of his lips and a playful look in his eyes. As she had hoped, the God of Mischief couldn't resist a little mischievous fun, even if at his own expense.
"Perhaps," Hogun cut in through the chortles and giggles, "we should use this time to regroup and plan our next course of action."
"Aye," Thor agreed, clapping Hogun on the shoulder. "You are wise, my friend."
The mood of the room immediately turned serious, and everyone looked to Thor who, in turn, eyed Darcy contemplatively. "Volstagg, Hogun, Sif, Fandral," Thor turned his gaze to his friends, "I have gathered intelligence on the movements of Thanos." Someone sucked in a breath through their teeth. Thor continued, "I believe he sets his sight on Yggdrasil. You will be needed across the nine realms, to prepare armies to meet the Titan and his Black Order." The warriors nodded and agreed to his plan.
He turned to Loki, "Brother, if you are willing, I would have you stay with me on Midgard to prepare the mortals. I fear the center of the realms will be the most vulnerable target." Loki eyed Thor with suspicious contemplation but nodded once in acquiescence. The Trickster's calculating gaze drifted over to Darcy, and he looked her up and down briefly before winking and looking back to Thor. She felt unsettled.
"My friends," Thor addressed the room, "I am honored by the trust you have placed in me. Go now and prepare the realms. This threat is not to be taken lightly." He pulled each of the warriors into a strong embrace and escorted them outside. Jane helped Darcy up from the couch. Darcy cautiously placed weight on her injured leg and realized with some surprise that it was completely healed. Thank you, Odin, she prayed quietly in her mind. As she and Jane joined the others in a clearing next to Smith Motors, Hogun approached Darcy.
"You are protected by two of the fiercest warriors in all the realms," he said, nodding to Thor and Loki. Darcy looked at him, questioningly, but said nothing. "Should you have need of it, you have my protection as well." He placed a friendly hand on her shoulder, "You need only pray, and I will hear you." To Darcy's surprise, a tear slid down her cheek at his words. Spontaneously, she pulled Hogun into a hug, whispering "thank you" against his shoulder.
He seemed startled by her action but recovered quickly, laying a palm flat on her back. "Thank you for having faith in me," he said. Darcy wasn't sure what to say, so she squeezed him a little harder before letting go and wiping her cheek with her fingertips. Hogun gave her a short nod then turned and joined his friends in the clearing.
As Sif called for Heimdall to send the Bifrost, Volstagg and Fandral turned to Darcy and grinned. She waved cheerfully to them as a wall of rainbow-colored light shot down from the heavens, enveloping the glowing gods. The Bifrost kicked up a cloud of desert dirt and by the time the warriors were gone, Darcy and the others were coughing. Even Thor and Loki weren't immune to the small dust storm.
"Ugh, why the desert?" Loki grumbled as they made their way back into the building.
"A question for father," Thor replied simply, to which Loki harrumphed as he helped himself to a glass of water.
Jane gently poked Darcy in the arm to get her attention. "Hey, can I talk to you?" she whispered.
"Yeah, sure. What's up?" Darcy asked curiously.
Jane made a sharp gesture with her head to follow her outside. They climbed to the roof and settled in the flimsy beach chairs. Jane looked at Darcy contemplatively, as if she was analyzing data. Darcy squirmed in her chair a little.
"Everything okay?" Jane asked.
Darcy shrugged. "I guess so. I mean, it's been a weird couple of days. There's a lot to process." She eyed Jane cautiously.
Jane nodded and tapped her fingers casually on the arm of the chair. "You're different," she said baldly.
Darcy froze, unsure how to respond.
Jane paused and when Darcy didn't reply she nodded again and continued, "Ever since Thor arrived, you've been different."
"How so?" Darcy asked in a slightly strangled tone.
"You're more confident, for one." Darcy must have made a face of disbelief because Jane assured her, "It's little things, like the way you move around the room. You walk with purpose instead of shrinking in on yourself. You speak calmly and mostly rationally," she winked playfully, "rather than covering any insecurities with humor."
Jane cocked her head to the side while examining Darcy. "And you suddenly know a whole lot about astrophysics."
Darcy was prepared for this one, "Well, I'm your intern. I'm learning from you," she said nervously.
"Hmm." Jane stared at her a moment. "You're a poli-sci major. Yes, I expected you to pick up a little bit of astrophysics from me. Like broad, overarching general astrophysics-y things…not the specifics of my research, which according to most of my esteemed colleagues is a little…" she made finger quotations, "out there."
Darcy snorted, "They're gonna eat their hats when you prove them all wrong with the Bifrost Einstein-Rosen Bridge thing."
Jane leaned back in her chair with a self-satisfied grin, "Yeah, I'm looking forward to it." Suddenly she scowled and leaned forward, "You're doing it again!"
Darcy blinked, startled. "What?" she asked, honestly confused.
"Distracting me! Every time I start to get curious about something lately, either you or Thor distracts me, which is totally unfair because you know I'm easily distracted!"
Darcy opened her mouth to refute but found she couldn't bring herself to lie to Jane. Instead she just looked down at her hands that she was twisting in her lap and said nothing.
"Dr. Lewis."
Darcy's eyes widened, but she stared resolutely at her hands, refusing to look up at Jane.
"You told Loki to call you Doctor Mortal. Yet you are finishing your Bachelor's degree…" Jane trailed off thoughtfully. Darcy continued to stare at her hands.
"Darcy."
She looked up slowly, blinking rapidly. Jane didn't look angry, just pensive.
"You don't have to tell me anything. I can see there is something going on that you and Thor want to keep quiet. I'm guessing it has to do with the whole 'fate of the universe' thing he was talking about earlier." She tilted her head again, examining Darcy's face. "I have a couple of theories, but I'll keep them to myself for now."
"I'm sorry," Darcy whispered.
Jane reached for Darcy's hands and held them between her own. "Don't be," she said sincerely. "Like I said, I have my theories. And if my suspicions are accurate, I get why you have to be quiet about it. Though it's killing me to not know! Because there are some details I really, really want to know!"
"I want to tell you so badly," Darcy admitted. "But it's too dangerous," she whispered.
Jane nodded. "I understand. It's freaking annoying, I'm not gonna lie. But I understand."
Darcy smiled and squeezed Jane's hand. "Thank you."
Jane gave her a steely look, "You realize I'm going to expect more from you now?"
Darcy sighed and chuckled. "Fiiine," she whined good-humoredly.
"Jane! Darcy!" Erik poked his head up from the staircase, frowning worriedly. "S.H.I.E.L.D. is back!"
"Ugh! Those bastards!" Jane spat. She hopped up and stormed down the stairs with Erik, Darcy trailing behind them. Just as the roof was passing out of her view, Darcy caught the slightest shimmer in the corner of her eye but by the time she turned her head fully to look, it was gone.
A/N: Still working on the next chapter, folks. Sorry, it's been taking me a while - a little bit of writer's block, end-of-story-anxiety, and work and holidays and things. I'll get it together eventually. Got a good chunk done. Just struggling to end it. Anyway, this story is almost done as our time with the first Thor movie is drawing to a close. Thank you to those who have been reviewing! Imagine all the heart emojis here!