Utter Darkness

The talk with Tony helped a lot. She was grateful for his honesty, and his humor. He had even stuck around for a while and helped her put some of the bigger pieces of furniture back the way they belonged. He asked her to let JARVIS unlock the door and promised she wouldn’t be bothered unless she specifically asked for company. He also got Jane and the doctor to let her go back to work the following Monday.

Jane was so close to the final test run of the Einstein-Rosen Bridge machine, it was a wonder she wasn’t working 24/7. Darcy smiled ruefully at the thought, she wanted to be there to work but also be the one who made sure Jane ate and rested when necessary. She was tired of being taken care of; it was her turn to take care of someone else. It was that or dwell on her own miserable situation.

Tony had been so nice about Loki but she just felt hollow. How the hell could she have developed feelings for the monster who tried to take over her planet less than a year ago? At this point, his motives for taking her memories mattered very little to her. She was so done. She hated feeling used and that seemed to be exactly what happened. He had been bound, she set him free, broke him out of space jail, they had sex, and he left, stripping her of every memory that they had made together. She had woke up very sore and covered in bruises. And the bite mark, a bloody fucking bite mark, he marked her like an animal.

The more she thought about it, the more she decided that she really disliked him, maybe even hated him. The manipulative bastard. It was a good thing she was going back to work on Monday so she could get her mind off him.

She spent the weekend piddling around her apartment doing anything and everything to avoid thinking about him. When she arrived at the lab Monday morning, she found chaos. Interns and lab assistants were running back and forth, Jane was shouting at people and Erik seemed to be trying to calm Jane down. Tony stood to one side with a slight smirk on his face.

Darcy leaned against the wall beside Tony. “What’s going on?” she whispered.

“One of the main processors went down last night and Jane’s about to lose her mind because of it. I don’t recommend making eye contact. I think she can smell fear.”

Darcy chuckled. Some things never change. “How long has she been yelling?”

“Twenty minutes or so, why?” Tony had an odd look on his face.

“She’ll probably go critical soon. Hey, did you ever figure out what it was he was looking for your vault?” Darcy tried to ask nonchalantly.

Tony’s quirked eyebrow said she hadn’t succeeded. “All he took was this old yellow stone that used to be my mom’s. It wasn’t worth anything, mostly just sentimental value. Kind of a weird thing for him to take. I think he may have just been in there to mess with my head though.” Tony shrugged.

Jane’s voice rose in pitch and Darcy’s eyes went wide. “Shit, she’s about to blow.” She covered her ears. “5… 4… 3…”

Tony’s eyebrows shot up but he covered his ears as well.

“2… 1!”

Jane gave an incoherent shrill shriek and collapsed into a nearby chair.

Darcy smiled at Tony, “Now, she’s safe to talk to.”

Jane had a weary, slightly manic look on her face. “Hey Janey-bird, wassup?”

“Processor 3 went down last night, and we might have to delay the final test runs, and if we can’t get it working today if we have to delay the test runs, that’ll mean we can’t actually create the bridge for another whole week.” Jane’s hands were fisted in her hair.

Darcy grabbed Jane’s hands and gently began to detangle the astrophysicist’s grip. “Whoa, chill out there girly. You’re gonna give yourself a bald spot. It’s not that big a deal, if you have to wait a couple days. What happened, do you know yet why it went down?”

Jane shook her head, “No, it looks like it may be just a computer glitch.”

“Okay, well, computer glitches happen sometimes. It’s fixable right?” Darcy looked to Tony who nodded. “See, it’s fixable. I’m sure if everyone works on it, it’ll be fixed in no time. But you’re gonna have to chill out cause I think you may have scared the ever loving piss out of some of your new interns.”

Jane looked up sharply and a few of the interns did indeed flinch. “Oh, geez.” Jane stood and attempted to smile at everyone. “Sorry I kinda lost it.” She announced loudly.
There was a quiet round of murmured understanding as everyone went back to trying to figure out the problem.

Fortunately, there was a very clever new intern and the issue was resolved by the end of the day. Darcy had gotten back to her personal computer and began working through some of the most recent data. It felt good to be back doing something she was familiar with. By the end of the day, she was waning though. About 6:30, she looked around and realized it was only she and Jane left in the lab. “Hey, we’re the only ones left, let’s call it a night.”
Jane still looked a little frazzled from earlier and insisted that she’d only stay for another hour or so.

“If you’re not in your apartment by 8 I’m coming to get you, and I will be in my rattiest pj’s.” Darcy grinned crookedly at Jane, knowing that Jane would be far more embarrassed by Darcy’s appearance than she was of herself.

Jane sighed heavily, “Alright, alright. I promise.”

“Or why don’t you come to my apartment when you’re done? I got Ben and Jerry’s.”

Jane perked up at that. “Cherry Garcia?”

“Would I invite you to my room for ice cream without it? We can have a girl’s night, wear our slouchy pj’s, eat ice cream, and watch sappy movies.”

Jane gave her a watery smile, “Actually, that’d be really great. We haven’t done that in a long time.” She stood and gave Darcy a long tight hug. She stepped back wiping at her eyes. “It’s a date! I’ll see you in an hour or so!”

Darcy swiped at a few tears herself, “Look at that, you got me crying and we haven’t even started watching The Notebook yet!” They both laughed. Jane sat back down to finish what she was working on and Darcy made her way back to her apartment.

Darcy changed into her pj’s, pulled her hair back into a messy ponytail, and munched on a few pieces of leftover pizza, as she threw some blankets on the couch, pulled out her girliest movies (she didn’t like the romcoms but Jane did), popped a bag of popcorn, and set out a couple of wine coolers. She pulled out the ice cream and set one the counter. Satisfied with her handiwork she looked up at the clock. It was ten after eight. “Hey JARVIS, where’s Jane?”

“I’m sorry Ms. Lewis but I’m not sure. I’m getting a mixed reading from her lab. She’s there but she’s not.” The AI sounded genuinely confused.

Darcy was in motion as she spoke. “Goddammit! She’s trying to run the bridge machine! Tell Tony to get to the lab like right now!” She ran down the hall to the elevator as fast as her slippered feet could go. At the elevator she paused, was it faster to take the stairs of the elevator? “Hey JARVIS, can you make the elevator go faster than usual?”

The elevator in front of her popped open, “Yes, ma’am I can.” Darcy stepped into the open elevator, the immediately slid shut. “Please hold on the railing Ms. Lewis.”

Darcy grabbed unto the railing and the elevator shot up the eight floors. The doors slid opened and Darcy ran down the hall to the lab.

“Jane!!” Darcy called desperately as she got to the door of the lab. “Hey, Jane!!”
She wrenched open the door and found Jane lying on her side. The machine was winding down. There was almost static-y buzz in the air. “Jane, Jane!” Darcy knelt carefully next to her trying to figure out if she was okay. She was breathing, that was a good sign.

Suddenly Tony, Steve, and some guy with a bow and arrow busted into the room.

“What the hell happened in here?” Tony sputtered.

Darcy looked around and saw the mess for the first time. It was as if every paper in the lab had been pulled from every folder, book, file case, and desk, tossed them around like a tornado, and dropped.

Darcy scowled at the guy with the bow and arrow. “Really Robin Hood, what the hell were you gonna do with that?”

His eyes narrowed, he relaxed his grip on the bow, and flipped the arrow so she could see the tip better. “Small contained explosive ordinance.”

“Oh, okay so that sounds highly effective.” Darcy’s eyes were wide as saucers.

Jane groaned and rolled towards her. “Hey Jane, what happened in here?”

The astrophysicist looked sheepish as she sat up and explained. “Um, well it looks like for the final test runs and the actual creation of the Einstein-Rosen Bridge, we’ll have to work on the roof.” At Darcy’s confused look, Jane shrugged. “Creating a wormhole indoors isn’t such a great idea. I took a stapler to the head.” Jane rubbed the side of her head as she gestured to the mess.

Darcy fell back on her butt and laughed.

“Really Jane, seriously?” Darcy shook her head. “You do realize the absolute paperwork nightmare you’ve created here, right?”

Jane laughed too. They looked at each and really lost it, laughing so hard they had to lean on each other for support. A few minutes later when they calmed, Darcy looked up to see only Tony watching over them.

“Better, now?” He snarked as he offered them each a hand up.

Darcy grinned, “Yeah, I think we’re good.”

Jane grimaced as she looked at Darcy. “You’re in your pj’s.”

“Yep, told you if you were late I’d do it.” Darcy grinned unashamed.

“Darcy…” Jane whined.

“Jane,” Darcy mocked in return. “Oh forget about it, I got ice cream melting on my counter.

Go get your stuff and meet me down there. I’ll get these papers picked up. We’ll have to sort them in the morning though.”

Jane relented, “Alright I’ll put the ice cream in the freezer if I get there before you.” She left as Tony and Darcy picked up the papers.

“So I’ll be honest, when JARVIS told me to get to the lab I thought Loki was back.” Tony quipped.

Darcy stiffened but didn’t respond. She kept her back to Tony and hurried to finish picking up all the papers. She could hear him rustling around behind her.

“I still have the recorded security tapes; if you want I could pipe the feed into your TV so you could see it.” Tony offered.

Darcy bristled and slammed the remainder of the papers on the desk in front of her.

“You okay, Kiddo?” Tony asked carefully.

“No, no I’m not okay. I don’t want to talk about him.”

“Okay, I’m sensing some hostility, here. Just to be clear, you’re mad at him not me right?” Tony’s eyes were wide with concern.

Darcy sighed heavily; she was freaking out the guy with the emotional range of a teaspoon with her anger. “Sorry Tony, yeah I’m just a little pissed…” Tony gave her a look of doubt for the word little. “Okay a lot pissed, but I promise none of it’s directed at you. I just don’t want to talk about him.”

“I don’t get it, we were laughing, and joking last time we talked. Why are you so pissed at him now?” God, emotional stuff put him so out of his element. He sighed, give him a broken down machine or a complicated math problem any day, but give him an emotionally broken down person? He had to stuff his hands in his pockets to not to call Pepper in L.A.

“I’ve had too much time to think about it. He practically mind-raped me Tony! Three months of my memory are gone! There’s no getting them back. And even if he gives me back my memories, what’s to say he hasn’t tampered with them? No one else saw what happened between the two of us, there’s no outside source that can verify that’s he’s telling the truth. Hello, he’s the god of lies! He could have been manipulating me the whole time and now I don’t even have my own memories to tell me what to believe. I can’t even trust my own memories…” She faltered; she was dangerously close to the screaming fit from a few days earlier.

“And the scariest thing is, there’s this tiny little part of me that wants this love story that you and Jane have told me to be true, that I could be his reason to be a better man. I want to hate him for what he’s done. But I want this fairytale redemption arc to be real too.” She whispered.

He reached over and pulled her into a hug.

They held each other for a while when she spoke, her voice was a little rough. “What made you decide to play devil’s advocate anyway? He threw you through a 40th floor window.”

Tony shrugged, “Everyone deserves a second chance. I got one.”

“So when are you and Pepper gonna have some rugrats?”

Tony’s grip slackened and when Darcy looked at him, he was white as a sheet. “What, why would you ask something like that? Did Pepper say something about it? Shit, is she… am I gonna…?”

“Take it easy, breath Tony, breath! I was only asking because I think you’d make a great dad.”

“We’ve had this conversation before, only last time you said I would have made a great big brother. I think I like that better. Yeah let’s stick with that, I’d be a terrible father.”

Darcy laughed, “No you wouldn’t, you’d be awesome. Your kids would have all the best toys!” Darcy sighed, “I’d better go; if Jane’s in my apartment to long she’ll start trying to alphabetizing all my books again.” She was by the door when Tony spoke.

“Hey Darcy, when he comes back, he’ll want what you guys had before. As he left he was being very cryptic, and his biggest concern was that you were kept safe. In fact, he implied he’d kill me if you got hurt. Something’s coming, something big and it scared him. And, something that could scare the king of the freak show, it’s gonna be bad. It may be better if you and Jane aren’t there when it happens.”

“You aren’t going to be able to keep us away. This is going to Jane’s big moment, and I’m going to be there to support her. Don’t worry about Jane, I got my taser, and this time I want to be the big gorramn hero. You guys are just gonna have to stay sharp, and be there if anything does happen. Don’t forget he is the god of lies; this could all be some kind of trick.” Darcy gave him a crooked smile and left for her apartment.

Tony headed up to his own apartment. “JARVIS, what’s ‘big gorramn hero’ a reference of?”

The AI began to answer, “Never mind, just put it on my ‘to watch’ list.”

“The movie or the television show, sir?”

Tony frowned in thought as he entered his penthouse, “Hmm, both? Both… Both is good.”

He walked to his bar, pulled out a bottle of scotch, and plopped down in his favorite chair. He hadn’t been lying when he told Darcy, he thought Loki had returned.

Without realizing it, he began mumbling aloud as he tried to work out the plan…

“…Due to start testing any day now. Jane messed around with it, can’t test in in the lab… She said we’ll need a location change, maybe the roof… Could take a few days… Still by Wednesday maybe Thursday, should be ready for the final test runs.” He wasn’t sure delaying the tests or the creation of the bridge was going to help at all but damned if he wasn’t going to keep trying. He took a long drink straight from the bottle, and scrubbed roughly at his face as he thought about it. If only Loki hadn’t been so vague maybe, he could have…

“Dr. Foster is…”

“HOLY SHIT!” Tony jumped up from his chair, clutching at his chest, as his heart pounded
madly. “Son of a bitch you nearly gave me a heart attack!”

Loki sat on his couch looking mildly concerned, “Are you in need of medical assistance?”

Tony took a couple of deep breaths trying to calm his racing heart, “No, it’s just a figure of speech, look we’re gonna have to establish some ground rules here. You cannot just pop in here whenever you feel like it. I get that you’re doing the whole redeemed thing and trying to help us but I could have had company.” Tony sat back heavily in the chair.

“Once again, you underestimate me, Mr. Stark. I’ve been here in your apartment for hours; I specifically waited until you were alone.”

“So you’ve been creeper-stalking me? I’m not okay with that.”

Loki frowned, “Stark, there are far more important thing to discuss, than your comfort level. For instance, Dr. Foster’s assertion that the tests and final run of the Bi-Frost Replicator should not be run indoors. This is correct, however the roof is not a viable solution either. It needs to be done as far from any populace, as possible.”

Tony grimaced as he ran through possible nearby locations, and discarded each as soon as he thought of them. “Why? It worked just fine when Selvig ran it on my rooftop a year ago.”

“Because the one coming through does not fly, I am not certain if your building is structurally sound enough to hold his bulk. He is far larger, stronger, and more merciless than the Chitauri. His goal is not to subjugate this planet, but to destroy every life upon it.”

“How do I know any of what you’re telling me is true?”

“You don’t.” He smirked. “I could very well be lying. However, if I tell the truth the only hope humanity has lies with the plan I have placed before you. I have a weapon, perhaps the only one in existence that will work against him. I give it to you and the Avengers.” He laid a large heavy looking gold gauntlet palm up, on the coffee table. “It is unimaginably powerful, nearly sentient, and should only be wielded by someone with a truly noble heart. Someone who will not be corrupted by the power of it. I recommend the Captain.” Loki sat back and sighed heavily.

Tony quietly contemplated the god before him. When Loki left, he was the picture of health, now a little more than a week later he had heavy bags under his eyes, and he was gaunt.
“You look like hell, what happened to you?”

“I had more trouble retrieving that than I had planned. I am fine; my welfare is none of your concern.” Loki stood and began to pace, he faced away from Tony as he spoke again, and the billionaire thought he heard a catch in the god’s voice, “How fares Darcy?”

“She’s really pissed. I get that you were/are trying to protect her or whatever. But she’s starting to hate you for taking her memories away.” Tony took another long drink of scotch.

Loki turned his face a mask of confusion, “What did you say?”

“Umm she kinda hates you right now?”

“No, what did you say about her memories?” His confusion was turning into something akin to horror.

Tony’s breathe left in a startled hiss, “Damn, you messed this up bad. JARVIS pull up the last twenty-five minutes of security footage from the lab, and play it on the screen in here.”

Loki sat on the couch and watched in horrified silence as Darcy spewed venom about him.

Tony cut the footage off as Darcy left the lab.

Loki groaned and dropped his head into his hands.

“So, I take it you screwed up and didn’t mean to mess with her memories?”

“Obviously.” He sneered.

“Okay, don’t be snarky with me, it’s not my fault.”

“What is done cannot be undone, the spell was simply meant to remove any presence of magic from her. They know I have a connection to her, if they cannot locate me they would look for her. The traces of my magic surrounding her would have led them straight to her.” He shook his head and stood slowly. “Perhaps this is for the best. She no longer has any connection to me. She is safe, and shall remain so.” For a single brief, second Tony saw a broken man before him. There was utter desolation in his eyes. When the god spoke again, it was as if he’d forgotten he wasn’t alone. “No matter the cost I will keep this world safe for her.”

He took a deep breath, and it was as if the moment had never happened. “When you run the tests, catch Heimdall’s attention and request Thor’s assistance. When you create the Bi-Frost be certain SHIELD is there in full force.” He turned to leave. “I will contact you again before it happens. Keep that hidden, Thor will recognize it and it will create unnecessary suspicions.”

“What am I supposed to say to get Thor here?”

“Tell them The Mad Titan is coming.”

Notes

Author: You've gotta be kidding me...

Loki: Not at all. (author remains stubbornly silent) You will do as we discussed!

Author: Fine! Loki is not a jerk, he is simply misunderstood, he would never intentionally hurt Darcy .

Loki: And...

Author: Nope, no way! I am not apologizing for the number of pop culture references this chapter! I enjoyed putting them in there, and I bet the reviewers will like them too!

Loki: You're almost as bad as Darcy. (stalks away)

Author: He's being incredibly difficult. First he takes her memories, (not in my original plan) and now he says he didn't do it on purpose! What am I going to do what that god?