Utter Darkness

Darcy left the building for a while, got a latte, and a sandwich. Tony had been a total asshat but she was fairly sure he didn’t mean it. She returned to tower about eight that evening. She couldn’t get Tony’s words out of her head. She sat heavily on her couch.
“Dammit,” she muttered. “JARVIS,” she called.
“Yes, Ms. Lewis?”
“You monitor Tony’s vital signs at all times, right?”
“Yes, though I’m uncertain why you ask.”
“Well I was thinking, a lie detector is a machine that detects a change in heart rate, blood pressure, and how fast or slow the subject is breathing… And since you’ve been monitoring that stuff on Tony for several years, and you’ve been there when you know he’s obviously told some lies I was wondering if you could cross reference all that data and then tell me by that baseline if he was lying this afternoon?” Darcy sped through her explanation.
“I cannot comply with your request, Ms. Lewis. I am programmed to keep Mr. Stark’s private matters confidential.”
“Oh, come on JARVIS; don’t make me hack you again. Look, I’m already pretty sure he was lying when he said…” she faltered, shook her head and started again. “He said Loki ‘decided to rape me and take my memories’ but something about the way he said it was so fake. I just want to know what’s going on here. Please J?”
The AI was silent for a moment, “Based on the parameters you’ve outlined, yes, he was lying when he made that statement.”
Darcy hopped off the couch and began to pace. “Ok, so either he lying because he just wanted to piss me off, and/or it could have been a lie because he knew personally that what happened was not rape. JARVIS, you’re sure Tony hasn’t seen the part of the footage that included me and Loki having sex?”
“Positive. No one has viewed that portion of the footage except you.”
“Okay, so have you noticed Tony acting a little out of the ordinary lately?”
“Again, I must remind you, Ms. Lewis, that I am programmed to ensure Mr. Stark’s privacy is kept private.”
“Come on J, it’s not like I’m gonna run out to the National Enquirer, and blab about Tony acting weird. I’m just trying to figure out why he would spend almost two weeks trying to convince me that Loki’s not so bad and then turn around and say something like that.” The AI remained silent.
“Okay then how about this, I’m going to tell you some of the weirdness I’ve personally observed and then you can tell me if it’s going on when he’s alone too. When Tony talks to himself when he’s reasoning out a problem it tends to be in broken sentences, partial ideas, but I’ve seen him lately having whole conversations with himself.”
“Yes, I have observed occurrences of that as well.”
“I think he’s talking with Loki.”
“I would register Mr. Odinson’s presence in the building if that were the case.”
“But, he’s got magic. He’s the god of lies, of mischief, of chaos. Maybe he has some kind of way to circumvent you. You register a person’s presence by visual, heat signature, and sound right?” Darcy was working on a theory…
“Yes, however…”
“Jane said ‘Magic is just science we don’t understand yet.’ What if he has some kind of cloaking ability? We already know he was able to fool you the week he was here. On the footage he doesn’t look like Loki, he looks totally different.” Everything began to click, in her mind.
“JARVIS, I want to see the footage Loki’s last hour here with me.”
“Ms. Lewis, I do not recommend re-watching that portion of the footage. There is…” The AI attempted to prevaricate.
“Show me.” Darcy ordered.
Darcy sat on her couch as her TV popped on. She and Loki lie entangled on the bed together. Her counterpart was sound asleep and Loki lay one his side watching her. One hand traveled down her spine and she shivered in her sleep. He grinned at her and leaned over planting tiny kisses across her bare shoulders.
Suddenly his spine went stiff and he arched away from her, their bodies untangling as he lay on his back. His eyes rolled back in his head and his arms contorted painfully until they appeared almost bound beneath his back. She slept beside him completely unaware of his pain. He struggled against whatever unseen foe held him captive. A shallow cut wound its way across his chest, blood pooling in the dips and crevices of his lean musculature. His mouth stayed tightly shut though she could see his obvious pain. He shook his head forcefully. His head wrenched to the side as though he’d been struck and blood began to dribble from his split lip.
“No,” he growled quietly. “I will aide you no longer.” Darcy had to turn up the volume. Somehow, he was being tortured by… who knows what… and yet he was still mindful that she lay beside him asleep?
His abdomen caved as though he took a blow to the stomach. “Again, I think you overestimate my worth, my skills. I can no more get into Asgard than you can. This is becoming tedious, you ask the same questions, torture me, I give you the same answers. Perhaps we should switch it up a bit, you give me the knife, I’ll torture you, and we can see if you can find the Gems any faster.” His neck stretched as his head pulled hard to the side. “Either way you’ll receive no help from me.”
“Do what you will to me but I am done with you, I am free and shall remain so.” He hissed and then his lips curled back and she could see how tightly his teeth were grit in pain. He thrashed slightly as a cut appeared on his abdomen. The cut deepened and the blood began to flow in earnest. Blood bubbled from his lip as he rasped, “You’ll not see another damn stone! I will find the rest myself and kill you and him before I let you harm her.”
He made a gargled sound of pain as the cut pulled and twisted in his gut. Tears coursed down her face as she watched him writhe in torment. He thrashed for a few more moments and she was just about to turn it off when his whole body went limp.
He rolled away from her and stood. He leaned heavily against her wall, one hand gripping his wound and the other moved to magically remove the blood from her sheets. She watched as his smaller wounds quickly knit back together. He held the ragged edges of his wounded abdomen together as he conjured a long wrap bandage. He wrapped it around himself wincing when the movement jarred his wound. He tied it off and stared at her sleeping form. “I swear no harm shall come to you, min elskede. I shall make certain of it.” His voice was so quiet Darcy had to rewind the footage and turn the volume all the way up to hear him.
There was a heavy knocking on her apartment door in the footage. She could hear Tony’s voice calling for her.
Loki looked up sharply as her counterpart stirred on the bed. His clothes magically appeared, hiding his wounds. She rolled over groaning as she did. He looked at her with such longing. He seemed concerned about her and when he asked if she was well, Darcy could hear the pain in his voice. Her counterpart stretched and the sheet slipped down her body. Darcy could tell her counterpart had enjoyed every moment of the time they had spent together. He flinched as a pain laced through his abdomen but he asked if she needed to be healed of her bruises. Her counterpart was proud of her bruises and floundered for her glasses, as he seemed to debate about something. As she rolled back over to him, his casual clothes became his Asgardian leather, armor, and helmet. Her counterpart seemed startled by his appearance and his face hardened.
“I regret this.” He used magic to knock her unconscious, told JARVIS to unlock the door, used magic again to make sure her modesty was covered, and disappeared.
Darcy turned off the feed. How could she not tell he had been injured, how had she slept through that?
She stood and paced through her small apartment.
Something truly terrible was coming. Something that could summon Loki’s consciousness anytime it wanted, and could seriously injure him without ever physically touching him.
Tony was in contact with Loki, and Loki knew who and what was coming.
Loki was trying to protect her. He removed her memories to protect her.
Tony probably said those awful things because he was trying to protect her, he might have even been prompted to say them by Loki himself.
With these thoughts and many more running rampant through her mind it was several hours before she could even think of sleeping. It was well after one in the morning before she finally fell into a fitful and restless sleep.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
When she finally woke the next morning, it was to the sound of someone pounding on her door and shouting at her. “Gimme a minute!” she shouted in return. She rolled over put on her glasses and gasped in shock when she saw the time. It was twenty after 9, her alarm never went off. She jumped out of bed cursing JARVIS for being a traitor as she hurried to the door.
Jane stood there looking angrier than Darcy had ever seen. “Thor left without me. None of my alarms went off, I think JARVIS messed with them, Happy’s got Pepper held almost prisoner up in the penthouse, and now JARVIS won’t unlock the elevator or the door to the stairwell. I don’t think we’ll be able to get out of the tower.”
“Oh, hell no!” Darcy growled. “Come with me. You still got your jeep down in the garage right?” Jane nodded. Darcy ran back into her room and got dressed in a hurry. “I got this. I can’t do anything about Pepper but I think I can get us out.” She pulled out her laptop and pounded away on the keyboard for a few minutes, muttering all the while.
“Yes!” she slammed her laptop shut, grabbed Jane by the hand, and began to run through her apartment as she explained. “Come on we only have maybe ten minutes before JARVIS is back up and running. We’ll have to take the stairs cause I couldn’t get the elevators back up but I think we can do it!”
They raced through the halls, to the stairwell, and down as fast as they could. Darcy kept checking her watch as they ran. Thirty flights of stairs was no small trek. They made it to the garage in about six minutes time, climbed into Jane’s jeep, and raced through the garage only to find several security guards blocking the exit.
Jane looked at Darcy. Darcy held out her hand and laughed, “Let’s do this, Thelma and Louise style. GO!” she urged.
Jane took her hand with a smile and pushed the accelerator to the floor. The guards scattered as Jane’s jeep crashed through the barricade and out into the road. They laughed as they sped through traffic, and made it to Central Park with about ten minutes to spare.
Jane bullied their way past the SHEILD agent guarding the edge of the test site and when they got to the machine, Darcy heard Tony curse. There was less than a minute on the big digital display. Tony came clunking around the corner in his full Iron Man suit. Darcy looked around and realized that none of the interns or other scientists they had worked with previously were onsite. They were surrounded by heavily armed SHEILD agents.
Tony voice sounded metallic from inside the suit. “Dammit, I told JARVIS to keep them at the Tower.” His faceplate lifted and he scowled at the two of them. “They gotta go; Thor and the rest of the team won’t be able to focus if they see either of them.”
They both began to protest as the Einstein-Rosen Bridge machine began to hum and Tony lifted one hand. “You can’t be here.” He looked over Darcy’s shoulder. “We don’t have time for this; take care of them, now.”
Darcy was about to give him an earful when a strong arm wrapped around her waist. She and Jane were crushed together in the grip of someone far taller and lifted off their feet. “Close your eyes.” A voice growled in her ear.
There was a terrible disorienting feeling and a rush of wind and when Darcy opened her eyes, they were in Tony and Pepper’s Penthouse apartment. Jane was pushed forward, and the voice of the guy still holding Darcy spoke to Happy. “Keep Dr. Foster here as well.”
Before Darcy could protest or even turn to look at who held her, the guy’s other arm wrapped around her as well and he whispered in her ear, “Close your eyes again.” The wind rushed around them once more, and Darcy felt her stomach lurch at the disorienting feeling.
When it stopped, Darcy opened her eyes and they were in an empty corner of her favorite coffee shop. He gently set her down and she turned to see who it was that had grabbed her.
“Loki!” she stumbled away from him.
He inclined his head in a slight bow, “At your service my lady. Your wish is my command.”
She stuttered in surprise, “What in the… why did you… I knew you were working with Tony! Why? Not even two years ago you were trying to take over the planet!”
“Any realm you inhabit is a realm worth saving.” He smiled crookedly at her.
“Bullshit. You don’t give a damn about Earth, tell me the truth, why are you really doing this?” she demanded.
He cut his eyes at her, “Fine, you’re right I don’t give a damn about this realm, but you do, so I will save it for your sake and try to keep you safe as well. That is why we’re here now.”
“Dammit, I’m not some fragile little thing! I know I’m not a superhero or a god, but I can help! Take me back there right now!”
“I am afraid that is one of the few things I will not do.”
“Fine then give me back my memories!” she demanded.
“That I cannot do,” heavy regret marred his features. “I made a mistake, I attempted to remove the evidence of my magic from you, and somehow your memories came with the magic. I’m still trying to figure out how it happened so I can fix it properly.”
Something else was going on but she couldn’t figure out just quite what. In the distance, there was the sound of a explosive blast. Darcy ran through the shop to the windows and looked out. He slowly followed her, he was already aware of what she’d see. Foot traffic seemed to be only coming away from the direction of Central Park. She ran back towards him, “Take me back there dammit, my friends, your brother, they could be dying! We… I have to do something!” she stopped just short of throwing herself on him. She still had some dignity.
He shook his head and for just a moment, she could see the magic hiding his true form. The people around them saw a handsome but unrecognizable well-dressed man in a business suit, while Darcy saw the man she knew. He was in his full battle regalia, horned helmet, and all. “You are doing something; you are staying here safe from harm. I have cloaked this shop we are safe for the time being.”
The lights flickered, as there were several more blasts each seemingly closer than the last. The ground rocked beneath her feet and Darcy stumbled. Loki reached for her, “I have not taken you far enough. My cloaking spell will not protect us if the building collapses. Come I shall find a safer place.”
Darcy pulled away from him. “Don’t you see? There is no safe distance away! I should be there helping, not running like a coward!”
He grabbed her by the elbows, pulled her close, and hissed. “Running doesn’t not make one a coward. Sometimes it is the wisest and safest action. I only seek to protect you!”
“You can’t protect me from everything! I…”
Something rocketed past the coffee shop, blowing out the windows in the process. Darcy screamed as Loki shielded her from the flying glass with his own body. Another explosion went off, the ground rocked harder this time, the lights went out, and the emergency lights popped on. In the dim lighting, his face was fierce. “I can and I will.” He crushed her to him in a bruising kiss. She struggled against him for a heartbeat before her arms wrapped around him too.
It was midday but the smoke and shadows dimmed the small coffee shop. They were surrounded by chaos, people screaming, debris falling, but finally something felt right. A small part of her heart seemed to sigh. Together they were the eye of the storm. He was the god of chaos, and in the middle of it all, she was his anchor, his peace. Their mouths tangled, their breath mingled, their hands roamed. When she finally pulled back, her heart raced and she felt something stir deep in her heart. She began to understand some of what had drawn her to him. There was a naked vulnerability in his eyes, a raw hope. She swallowed around a lump in her throat. “Loki, I…”
Suddenly he stiffened, his gaze was far away, and his hand went to the side of his helmet. His already pale complexion lost all color. “No…” it came out as an anguished whisper. He stumbled back away from her, and his form grew semitransparent. She reached for him and his image flickered out altogether.
“Loki!” she called out, fear causing her voice to shriek. He was gone. She turned to run to the door and he reappeared in front of her, his face ashen. He held in his hands a large golden metal glove. It was slightly bloody.
He fell to his knees before her and whispered, “The Avengers have fallen.”

Notes

I will post my chapters three days in a row...
There will be cliffhangers, I will not guarantee that anyone lives. If the suspense is too much you can wait until Tuesday. I will post 22 and 23 at 10 am central time Monday and Tuesday.