Utter Darkness

She woke up breathless and sweaty. She slapped the off button on her alarm to make Ozzy shut up, and rolled unto her back. The predictable nasty headache was there, and she was burning up. She threw off the covers and wrenched off the hoodie. Her room felt like a sauna. “What the hell? JARVIS, what is up with the temperature in here?” she demanded.

“It appears there is a mal-function with the heating and cooling unit in your rooms.”

“Yeah funny, I got that much. What’s temperature in here, like a 100?”

“Your thermostat registers the room to be 70 degrees.”

“Ha-ha, what temperature is it really?”

“It is 89 degrees.”

“Geez, can you notify maintenance for me please?”

“Of course, your rooms have been placed on the maintenance list and the repairs should be complete by 2 p.m. Is there anything else Ms. Lewis?”

“No, that’s all, thanks JARVIS.” Darcy put on her glasses and rolled out of bed. She wandered to the bathroom, took a few extra strength Tylenol, and brushed her teeth. As she brushed her hair, she saw it. “Oh goddammit, alien-boy!!!” She had a monster hickey. A scarf or turtleneck wouldn’t work; it was too high. She took a quick shower to clean up and cool off. It didn’t help much her rooms seemed to be getting hotter by the minute. She quickly dabbed a little foundation over the hickey and prayed Jane would be too preoccupied to notice. She went into the kitchen, grabbed a cereal bar and her iPod.

As she walked through the living room to leave, she spotted her album collection. “Shit, I hope they aren’t ruined already.” She grabbed the milk crate and took it with her up to the lab.

When she got to the lab, she nodded to Jane who was already busy working numbers and fiddling with the equipment. She placed the milk crate by the wall out of the way, and proceeded to fire up the coffee machine. Erik and the SHIELD agent came in at about 7:30. Erik was looking over some of Jane’s numbers while the SHIELD agent just stood in a corner and watched them all. He was seriously intense, and it kinda freaked Darcy out, fortunately for him, she had left her taser back in her apartment.

According to Jane, the SHIELD agent’s name was Clint Barton and he had been mind-controlled by Thor’s brother too. Both Erik and Agent Barton seemed antsy, like drug addicts going through withdrawal. Erik was thinner than she’d ever seen him, and muttered to himself a lot. It made her sad to see how broken the brilliant man seemed.

“Jane, have you cross referenced the particle data for your second dry run with the data from the first contact?” Erik asked. Normally when they started talking science Darcy tuned them out but something in Erik’s tone made her perk up and listen.

Jane scribbled another line or two before she looked up. “What? First contact… you mean when Thor landed? You know we lost a good bit of that data when SHIELD returned my stuff. Why, what are you seeing that I’m not?” Jane went over the table Erik was working at and began looking over the data. Erik pointed to a few things.

“I don’t see anything different. The pattern has remained constant for the last nine months of tests.” Jane shook her head.

“Look, there is a variance here, since your numbers in Tromso, and then the data that you’ve collected here, but look from the second dry on, there is this anomaly.”

“Oh that… I believe that’s because I had to accommodate for the alignment between Ursa Major and… blah blah blah science science science.” Darcy stopped listening; they got way too technical for her. Erik seemed satisfied by Jane’s explanation, and that was enough for Darcy.

Two and a half hours later, she was on her third cup of coffee and buzzing away on the data entry Jane needed for later that afternoon when Stark finally wandered in. “Alright, I’m here let’s get to work.” He grinned.

Jane and Erik ignored him, but his cockiness bothered Darcy. “Seriously dude? What, do you want an award or something? The rest of us have been here working for hours already.”

“What’s your problem kiddo?”

“Umm, how about I was woken up way too early yesterday morning, had to get here early today, which means I don’t get to have my weekend, my room was a fricking sauna, and I’m worried my album collection might have gotten ruined by the heat.”

Stark arched an eyebrow at her. “Whoa, easy there, first did you have JARVIS inform maintenance?” She nodded. “And second, you said album collection, you’re barely legal, you grew up in the digital age how do you have an album collection?”

“Umm, I’m 26 and it started out as my Dad’s collection. I kept them after he died.” She huffed and pointed at the milk crate.

Stark picked up the crate and put on a nearby table. “Son of a bitch, your pops had good taste! AC/ DC, Metallica, The Doors, Megadeath, Van Halen, The Stones, and… Oh oh oh... Black Sabbath’s debut album!” The billionaire looked like a kid at Christmas. “Kiddo, you are officially my new best friend.” He carefully pulled the Black Sabbath album from its cover, inspecting it for heat damage. Darcy put her coffee cup beside her computer and walked over to where Stark was messing with her albums.

She stared as he looked through her collection; he might be the only one she could ask. “Okay totally random question, but you were there at New York right?”

He tensed slightly and his eyes narrowed, “Yeah, why? Where you going with this?”

She noticed his behavior and backed up slightly, “Is this an okay topic or should I just ask Steve?”

He sighed heavily and rifled absently through her albums. “I don’t like talking about it, but Pepper says that if I want to get over it I need to talk about it. So ask your question, just know, if I don’t want to answer I won’t, kapeesh?”

“Duly noted, I was just wondering about what exactly Thor’s brother did to Erik and Agent Barton.”

“Umm, well I don’t really know, He had a scepter with a stone similar to the Tesseract, and he used it to control them. They both got hit on the head and they seemed to come out of it, mostly, but from what I understand since he didn’t release them using the scepter, and it got destroyed, they’re still kinda not all the way back to themselves.”

Darcy was quiet for a while, “What was his problem, why did he do that?” she wondered aloud.

“I guess because he needed a couple of SHIELD minions.”

“No, I meant all of it. Was he always Senor Psychopath, or did something happen?”

“Oh nah, he was a troublemaker and a liar, but he went nuts when he found out he was adopted. Turns out he was a frost giant or something, though he didn’t seem all that giant to me, he was strong, I give you that, but no taller than Thor really.”

He put the album he was holding back and looked at some of the others. His actions dictating the subject of New York was closed. “They look alright, no warping or anything. I don’t suppose you’d let me borrow a few of these?”

Darcy looked at him thoughtfully; Steve had asked her to be nicer. “Tell you what, Tony; if you promise to be careful with them and keep your eyes focused north of the border,” she drew a line under her chin, “I’ll let you borrow all of them. I know how much you love that kind of music, and until my apartment cools down, they’ll probably be safer in your rooms anyway.”

He looked up and gave her his most charming smile. “Sure thing kiddo!” He glanced meaningfully at her poorly disguised hickey, and dropped his voice to a whisper. “Besides, it looks like you already got somebody to take care of south of the border for you.”

She blushed profusely and stammered, trying to come up with a way to refute the evidence.

He held up one hand. “Save it, I’m sure given time you’d have come up with a great cover story, but I know what a hickey looks like.” He smirked. “Since you were so nice, how about I fix the weekend thing, and get you at least the rest of the day off?” He winked conspiratorially, turned to Jane, and announced loudly, “Hey Brain, I just found myself preoccupied for a while. I think I’ll come back and work some tomorrow. How’s that work for you? Great? Good, all right. Later Losers!” and Tony strode out of the lab carrying Darcy albums like they were the greatest treasure known to man.

“Wait… what? Tony get your ass back here! ” Jane shouted, as she jumped up and ran after him.

Darcy grinned and turned to Erik. “Hey, if Tony’s out, then so am I! Tell Jane I’ll see you guys tomorrow morning at 7.” Darcy nearly sprinted out the door. She figured Jane would have followed Tony up the private elevators so she took the staff elevators down to her floor. When she opened the door to her apartment, she could immediately tell maintenance hadn’t been there yet so she grabbed her favorite messenger bag, stuffed her laptop and her wallet in it, and headed out.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

She spent the rest of the day in her favorite coffee shop, a few blocks down from Stark Tower, in the front booth so she could people watch, and play on her computer. Darcy was in her own little world, enjoying watching the city as evening rolled in, when someone called her name and startled her. Darcy turned in her seat to see Tony walking towards her with a smirk. He pulled out the chair next to her and sat down. “Hey kiddo, since you turned your phone off, I figured I’d come down here and tell you maintenance got your room fixed up. And I thought I’d let you know, Jane might be ready to call the cops because she can’t find you.”

“Crap.” She pulled out her phone and turned it on. She had over dozen missed calls, almost as many voice mails and about twenty texts, all from Jane. A thought occurred to her, “Aww, you really do like me. You didn’t tell Jane about my hiding place, and you came to warn me. You really can be a nice guy,” she teased.

Tony grimaced, “Don’t tell Pepper, it’ll ruin the bad boy image I cultivate. She likes that about me. Don’t want her to get the idea I’m going soft.”

Darcy shook her head. “Soft please, somehow, I think you’ll be 85 years old and still be hard to handle.”

Tony threw a hand over his heart, “Ouch, you wound me kiddo. But seriously, you should call Jane before she has an aneurysm. It’s hard to find astrophysicists with the drive she has. You gotta be more careful with her.” He winked.

Darcy quickly called Jane and put her on speaker. Before Jane could say a word Darcy started with, “Hey Jane, Tony said you were looking for me.” Tony gave her a look of mock betrayal.

Jane began ranting about both of them bailing on her. Darcy tuned her out and leaned towards Tony. “Now that she knows I'm safe, how am I going to sneak past her into the Tower?”

Tony shrugged, “I’m not helping you, you sold me out. Good luck getting home without a lecture from Momma Jane.” He pointed to her neck. “Maybe your boyfriend could help you out.” With an ornery grin, he stood up and told Jane “Hey Brain, I know I ran out today. You promise me one day off in seven and I promise I’ll be there with bells on the other six.”

Jane heaved a frustrated sigh. “Fine. I expect to see both of you; yes, that means you Tony, in the lab at seven a.m. sharp. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, ma’am.” They both chorused. Jane hung up with a grumble.

Tony offered his elbow, “Ms. Darcy Lewis I would like to escort you back to my Tower.”

Darcy shoved her stuff into her bag, grabbed her latte, and took Tony’s arm with a grin. “Why Mr. Stark I believe you can be a gentleman after all.” She said with an overly dramatic southern drawl.

Tony threw back his head and laughed. “Yeah right, nobody would ever believe that.” He arched an eyebrow at her “Won’t your boyfriend be jealous to find you on the arm of the Tony Stark?”

Darcy blushed profusely, “I don’t know if you could call him my boyfriend, or at least not yet. Really, I hardly know him. I like him a lot, but he’s kinda troubled, but really hot.” She grinned at the sidewalk. “He’s not the kind of guy to write home to mom about.” And under her breath she mumbled, “Scars, and a criminal record and everything.”

“Is that why you haven’t brought him around to meet us, because of his criminal record?”

She gave him a bit of a panicked look, “Crap, I said that last bit out loud,” he nodded. “Yeah that’s part of it. He’s done time for it and is a better man now, but that doesn’t always mean anything to other people.” She sighed. “Look Tony, now that you’re being nice it’s really easy to talk to you, but a girl has gotta have some secrets. Please don’t tell Jane about him, she’ll get all ‘mother hen’ on me.”

Tony nodded and held the door open for her. He had led them around the Tower to a back entrance that Darcy had never noticed before. They went up a flight of stairs, down a hall on the second floor, up the service elevators, down another short narrow hallway, and came out through a door labeled janitorial supplies near the private elevators on Darcy’s floor. Darcy grinned, “So, is this how you sneak out of the Tower when Pepper’s looking for you?”

“Yep and if you tell her, I’ll tell Jane about your ex-con boyfriend.” Tony held out his hand, “Deal?”

“Deal.” Darcy grinned as she shook his hand. “See you tomorrow, bright and early, right?”

Tony frowned as he got on the elevator, “Yeah guess I gotta. Otherwise Brain might yell at me.”

“You’re more afraid that she’ll get Pepper to crack the whip.” Tony visibly flinched, Darcy laughed. “You know, I’m totally right!” she called as the elevator closed.

She hurried into her apartment, hoping not to run into Jane. She deposited her bag on the kitchen table and grabbed a water bottle from her fridge. In the bathroom, she brushed her hair and her teeth, and scrubbed her makeup off. She flounced to her bedroom, she felt like a giddy teenager again. Screw being an adult, it sucked! She was going to go to bed at nine at night and she was excited about it. The only thing left was… what to wear?

This was the first time dressing for a guy felt so intentional. Of course, she’d had the requisite drunken college one-night stands, followed by humiliating walks-of-shame, one long-term boyfriend in college that was a bit of a dud. Hell, even her first time wasn’t much of anything. But, her alien, hot damn!!! With one kiss, he blew every other guy she’d ever been with out of the water. She wasn’t lying to Tony, she really didn’t know if they could be considered boyfriend and girlfriend or not. And to her it really didn’t matter. She was going to set him free tonight. It seemed too cliché to wear a lingerie, and just a bra and panties seemed a little slutty. She wanted to look sexy, but not like she thought a lot about it. She pulled out one of her workout tops. It was green and black, sleeveless, and had a shelf bra inside. The idea of a shelf bra was really not designed for women built like her and that was why she’d never actually worn it to the gym, but it would be perfect for this. A lot cleavage would work in this case. She went with the black yoga pants again because they made her butt look great too.

After changing, she debated about how to bring the bolt cutters and the water bottle. She didn’t want to wear the hoodie, but if she let go of the bolt cutters to use both hands for other things, they might float away. A string! She jumped up off the bed and ran to her junk drawer. She found a roll of ribbon leftover from an old Halloween costume she made and cut off about a three-foot length. She tied one end to the handle of the bolt cutters, the middle to her wrist, and the other end to the neck of the water bottle.

She turned the light off and crawled under the covers, clutching the water bottle and the bolt cutters. She was so nervous and excited she knew it would take forever to fall asleep so she started with 500, 493, 486, 479, 472, 465

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

After she left, he had slept, for what seemed like days. When he awoke, he realized that the stars had stopped multiplying. So many things about this imprisonment made no sense to him. He puzzled over the inconsistencies but made no headway. It mattered not, in a few hours she would return.

He knew the truth now. It had only been nine months since he had attempted to rule Midgard, not three thousand years. He was at war within, if she figured it out by herself, she would hate him, but in this instance he had not actually lied, he’d only just come to the truth himself. If he could tell her who he was, she would know the truth, but could she forgive him?

He cleared his throat; “I am Lo…” he coughed and gagged.

He took a deep breath and tried again, “I am L…” he gagged again.

He tried time and time again, growing angrier with each failed attempt. He raged and he fought, somewhere in the back of his mind he knew, this was what he had to do. If she figured it out by herself, she would feel just as betrayed as he had when he found out about his true father. If he could tell her himself, she may eventually be able to forgive him.

“I am L…” His own name was torturous; his identity was abhorrent. Who he had been, who he was… he was the enemy of her people. He had attempted to subjugate them. She would surely hate him.

“I am the go…” He was the god of mischief, silvertongue, the trickster, the god of lies. His life had been built around a lie, and he was more adept at deception than he had ever been at sincerity. The lies of Odin, the lies of Frigga, his own lies… the multitude of his own lies, deceptions, half-truths, trickery, guile, fraud, subterfuge, betrayal! All of it lies, lies, lies!!! He was surrounded by it, steeped in it, drowning in it. Lies, lies, lies, lies…

He threw back his head and screamed in frustration, a single tear running back and into his hairline. His anger spent, his head dropped to his chest as he panted.

There was a soft whisper in the back of his mind, “And then you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free…”

His voice was rough and low as he continued, “I am a monster. I have done truly evil things and I hate everything I’ve done, but I would change nothing.” He confessed all to the empty space around him, “What I’ve done is unforgivable, but everything, everything, the good, the bad and even the truly heinous acts, have led me here. And she is worth it all.” He shuddered as tears flowed freely. “I want to tell her the truth, I have to tell her the truth; I need to tell her… I… am… Loki.”

Notes