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Darcy still had no idea how Jane had gone missing. Sitting in the dimly lit lab, she was reviewing all the CCTV footage until the very second her boss vanished a day ago. To where she didn’t know. Jane crouched to the ground before the footage got stuck and then resumed, trying to go near a contraption. A blinding flash and poof, she was gone.
Some men appeared afterwards and shot at every equipment and then at the CCTV cameras. What she knew was that SHIELD captured them. Those men consumed cyanide pills lodged in their teeth before they could be questioned.
She knew who did this. It was one of the Madripoor gangs. They were already becoming a problem for her. And now it seemed as if they had united their efforts against her family.
“Any idea where she might have gone?” The question made her flinch with surprise. Natasha stood near the entrance of her office.
“Nat! Why didn’t JARVIS tell me you were coming up to meet me?”
“I told him not to.”
“How’s Clint? I heard he took a hit. Is he—?”
“He’s functioning. His ribs broke, and his left elbow took a hit.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry, SHIELD’s working on him. He’ll bounce back in no time.”
“Hmm.”
“If it makes you feel better, he was enjoying all the coos he was getting from the nurses.”
“Ugh, why would you tell me that, Nat???”
“Well, I know you have a crush on him. I’m telling you all this to warn you.” Darcy shook her head and chuckled.
“So, to my earlier question.”
“Ah, yes, we were studying the properties of a possible Einstein-Rosen Bridge.”
“Hmm.” Darcy handed her some data sheets.
“A year and a half ago, our equipment registered this…anomaly. We are yet to decipher the purpose, but it has quite a theoretical coincidence with the properties of Einstein-Rosen bridges.”
“So, someone came.” Darcy smacked her lips.
“Possibly.” She saw Natasha texting the Avengers.
“Nat, if this gets out, it will create an international scandal.”
“Darce—”
“Listen, I care about Janey, I do. But she was the last person to have Adamantine with her. We got it from the Greeks. If anyone in the world knew, then the Avengers—”
Both of them were so engrossed in their conversation that they did not hear the sliding of her lab doors when Tony entered. The dimly lit room suddenly became bright, blinding the occupants for a moment.
“Not so loud, ladies!”
“Tony!” It was the second time that someone had made her jump that day. JARVIS spoke up.
“Sorry, Ms Lewis, I was about to inform you that Sir is here to meet you.”
“It’s okay, JARVIS. Thank you.”
“Hey, Darce, found anything?” Tony took a sip of his scotch. Darcy and Natasha rolled their eyes.
“No? Tch, tch.” She huffed at his antics. He finished his hip flask.
“Why do you drink so much when you know it’s not good for your heart?” She pointed towards the arc-reactor on his chest.
“Why do you work as a scientist when you’re a mafia princess?” Darcy scoffed at him. Seeing that their banter may stretch, Natasha stepped in.
“Tony, the Adamantine is missing.”
“I know, Natty. So is Jane.” He looked at them pointedly. He took a long breath in. “Darce? What do you think?”
“I think Madripoor is trying to create some issues. They sent their crew.”
“Madripoor? I thought they didn’t care what happened outside of that trashy island.”
“Seems like they cared enough for what was going on in our labs, specifically with Adamantine, Tony.”
“Huh. How did they do this?”
“Unity, I guess.” Tony blinked at her and then let out a chuckle.
“Now I have seen everything in my life.” Natasha was getting fed up with his antics.
“Tony, be serious.”
“I’m very serious, Natty. Those guys were never united and now…they are?” His eyes held mirth. “I don’t know what to say.”
Darcy interjected. “We need to find both—Jane and Adamantine. Also, we need to inform SHIELD. Jane was on their payroll.”
“We cannot tell them about adamantine, Natty.”
“We won’t, Tony.” Natasha left the lab to call someone. Tony hopped off the table and was about to follow her.
“Tony, Mom asked me to inform you of the dinner today. Pepper is invited.”
“Ugh, not Pepper, Darce!”
“What happened?”
“We are on a break, okay.” The presence of Tony Stark is enough for her to make her eyes roll. Tony got serious. “It is too much for her, mafia she was okay with, but then this Avengers and Iron Man gig. She fears for me.” Darcy rubbed his arm soothingly when the alarms started blaring. They moved towards the screen.
“What is that?” Ten huge blue figures appeared on the screen.
“I don’t know. JARVIS, what are they?”
“Sir, from the latest record from the SHIELD, they appear to be Jotuns from Jotunheim.”
“Norse mythology?” She looked at Tony, confused.
“Yes, Ms Lewis, but this list was curated by the experts from SWORD.”
“Did they appear from thin air?”
“I really don’t know, Darce. JARVIS, their status?”
“They do appear to be using what Dr Foster and Ms Lewis have continually worked upon, the Einstein-Rosen Bridge.”
“Hey Darcy, weren’t you working on an anomaly recently?”
“Hmm.”
“What if they are connected?” Darcy blinked back and started thinking. JARVIS interrupted her musings.
“Sir, Captain Rogers is requesting your presence in the lounge.”
“Yeah, tell him I’m coming. Sorry, Darce, raincheck?”
“It’s cool, Tony. Just be safe, okay. And bring all the samples possible.” Tony smiled at her and left the lab.
Darcy Lewis followed a rule: never cry out of helplessness, but her tears weren’t stopping. It was now five full months after Jane’s disappearance. She had already lost hope of finding her boss but continued her search. She cannot stop. For Jane. She threw her pens off the table. Her frustration was mounting, and her target was SHIELD. After four months of continuous pestering, they provided her with the reports of the incident. Tony had to pressure Fury for that data. Typical government bullshit.
“Do you think she’s hiding?” Her butler, Viktor, spoke. The man was a statue around everyone. His speaking to her was a surprise.
“I don’t know.” She turned her head towards him from the screen where the footage of Jane’s disappearance was playing on repeat. “All our contacts are investigating. SHIELD has employed every possible personnel on seven different continents. Do you think if she were hiding, we wouldn’t have found her?”
“Hmm.”
“This is a puzzle, Viktor. We don’t have all the answers yet.”
“Have you ever done those maze puzzles as a child?”
“I don’t know where this is going.”
“Sometimes, when I did those, especially the difficult ones, I started with the end point to reach the start.” Darcy shifted in her chair and listened to him raptly. “This,” he continued, pointing to Jane on the screen, “is your starting point. Maybe you need to go backwards. If we can’t find her on earth, then she’s—”
“Not on Earth.” Viktor nodded his head.
She ruffled through the previous data sets and found the similarities. They were uncanny. The Jotun attack that happened five months ago and the anomaly. Both of them indicated the arrival. She was sure that someone had come. She matched that with data given by SHIELD. Something was different. There was a clear indication of the opening of an Einstein-Rosen Bridge. However, nobody came. What if it was Jane who travelled to the other side? The puzzle seemed to be piecing itself together. She needs to know where she went.
“Viktor, do you know where Tony is?” He checked his iPad.
“Hamburg, for a conference.”
“Hmm. And any news on Fury?”
“He’s on vacation, in Santorini.”
“Ugh!” An idea formed in her mind. She smiled devilishly. “Let’s ruin that.”
“But madam—”
“Ah, ah. Do you know how difficult it was to get this information from him?” She waved the papers in his face. Viktor shook his head. “If we need to know where Jane exactly is, there is only one person we can go to. And Fury will help me find them.”
Viktor looked confused, which made her sigh with exasperation.
“See, this person who came from the first anomaly, we haven’t found them.” Viktor looked at her. “They are still here, because if they were just visiting us, there would have been similar data of them leaving.”
“As what happened with the Jotun incident.”
“Exactly.”
“So, whoever came from the initial anomaly and is living here might have some answers.”
Darcy nodded her head. “Yes.”
“What do you want me to do?” Darcy smiled at him.
She was waiting patiently when her phone rang. The caller ID of an angry emoji popped up on her phone. Darcy smiled and took a deep breath.
“Yes, Fury.”
“Lewis, listen, I really don’t like you for the stunts you pull, but you sent that one email about a hundred times now.”
“I thought you put a blocker on my emails.”
“Yes, then you start sending reports to my home. My wife’s not talking to me anymore.”
“Tell Soren, I’m sorry about that.”
“How did you—? Whatever. You sent Romanoff to me while I was on my much-needed vacation.”
“I’m not sorry about that. Santorini is overhyped. Long queues for what? Blue domes?” He could feel his annoyance through the phone.
“While you have already ruined my peace, I’ve done some work for you. I’ve emailed you the details about this man who appeared in our records around the same time frame you chalked out for the first anomaly.”
Darcy checked her email, one unread email from Nick J Fury. “Yep, got it.”
“I hope you find her, Lewis.”
“Me too, man.”
“And Lewis, don’t pull this stunt ever again with me.” Fury was about to disconnect when she stopped him.
“Hey Fury, I have sent some tickets for Bali for you and Soren. Sorry, I ruined your vacation and thank you for the info.”
The resounding click from the other side disconnected the call.
Darcy, along with half of the Avengers, was sitting in the conference hall of Stark Tower. Natasha was standing near the screen, which displayed a face.
“I have been looking into the info about this man. After SHIELD’s intel, many parties are interested in finding him.” Tony sat up straight.
“What’s his name? Lackey?” Darcy rolled her eyes.
“No, Tony, it is Loki. Loki Odinson.” Steve Rogers, who was sitting opposite Tony and Darcy, finally broke his silence. “Natasha, who is interested?”
“Mostly SHIELD, and the government. I got intel that HYDRA is interested. Especially after that Jotun fiasco.” There was a collective eye-roll from Tony, Darcy and Steve.
Darcy cleared her throat. “There is also intel that Madripoor’s gangs are interested.”
Tony scoffed and muttered, “when are they not?”
“What is this man?” Steve asked aloud, ignoring Tony’s comment. It was Darcy who answered him.
“Looking at his profile, he is not a man. He is a god.”
“Gods don’t look like that. Or dress like that.” Steve commented on the photo where Loki was wearing a dark green cape over the suit of the same colour.
“Well, Steve, you haven’t met many then.”
“What are you talking about?”
Tony interjected. “Are you talking about the Greeks?”
“The Greeks?” Steve was more confused, and Natasha became frustrated with the chatter.
“Children! We have an issue to address. We have a very volatile man-slash-god here who might lead us to Foster.”
“What is he doing on Earth?” Steve questioned, looking expectantly at Natasha.
“Don’t know his exact motive, but currently he works as an illusionist as a freelancer.”
“Illusionist?”
Darcy interjected. “If he’s Loki from Norse Mythology, then this is not surprising.” The occupants looked at her with interest. “After all, he is the God of Mischief and Lies.”
“What do we do about this?” Tony asked seriously, surprising everyone.
“How about we wait?” Everyone looked at Steve, urging him to continue.
“Looking at this man, I don’t think he would readily work with us. He has no reason for it. And his status as a ‘god’ might make him more difficult.”
“What are you suggesting, Cap?”
“This might be controversial, Tony.”
“Our lives are controversial, Cap. Go ahead.”
“You two are associated with the mafia,” Steve addressed Tony and Darcy, who nodded their heads.
“Why don’t you create some issues for him?” Both looked at each other and then at Steve, confused. He continued.
“He might not work with us as he has a steady flow of work. What if you two did something and, let’s say, make him desperate enough that he agrees to work with us?”
Tony and Darcy let out a collective gasp while Natasha gaped at him. Tony voiced what everyone was thinking.
“You did not just say that.”
“Our responsibility is to find Dr Foster, by hook or by crook.” Tony gasped even more.
“You just became my childhood nightmare.”
“I lived through the great depression; I’ll live through your great disappointment, too.” Steve smiled innocently.
“Even if he comes through, who’s going to convince him?”
“Let me do it, I know a way or two.” Steve nodded his head in affirmative.
“Aww, Darce, you have a crush!” She took a breath to hide a slight blush forming over her cheeks.
“Look at him, Tony, he’s handsome, who wouldn’t fall for that?”
“What happened to your crush on Clint?” Natasha teased. Darcy rolled her eyes.
“Well, it fizzled when I found out that he is married.”
Tony screeched. “What!?!?” When he didn't get a reaction from any of them, he continued. “You knew, all of you?”
Natasha ignored his antics. “How will we make sure that he’ll come to us?”
This got everyone thinking. Darcy spoke first.
“If he doesn’t come, let’s kidnap him.” Tony laughed, but Steve got concerned.
“Darcy, he is a god who might have powers. Are you sure?”
“Steve, look”, she pushed a file towards him, “he hasn’t used his powers for the past seven months. If he’s a god, he's on the verge of becoming a man.” He was still concerned. Darcy had an idea.
“Stark Tower might be too cagey for him. Let’s bring him to my home lab. We can install surveillance, and you guys will be in the next room. If anything goes awry, you can come to the rescue.”
The remaining occupants nodded at her suggestion, and Steve voiced their thoughts, “alright, let’s do this.”
They finally got Loki Odinson after three months of continual efforts. Here he was sitting in front of her, face covered with a black cloth.
“Viktor, remove that cloth from his face. You are restricting my access to a pretty face.” When Viktor removed that cloth, Darcy let out an inaudible gasp. He was beautiful. Godly. The pictures didn’t do him justice. She thanked the Gods that he didn’t see how he affected her and was blinking to adjust his eyesight. She smirked to hide her reaction.
She saw him struggling with the handcuffs. Viktor took care of everything, but she knew in her heart that Loki Odinson wouldn’t harm her.
“Viktor, please remove his handcuffs. This is not how we treat our guests.”
Her guest said something, but she wasn’t interested in paying attention to what he was saying. She put on a smile. She pulled out his empty wallet from her bag and waved it towards him.
“This yours?” She felt sorry for him; after all, she was one of the reasons he was on the verge of being bankrupt. She put a few crisp bills in and pulled out his driver’s license.
She was feeling so giddy that she almost sang his name. It reminded her of the time when she had her first crush. “Loki Odinson.”
She knew that this task would be momentous. In front of her sat a God who dealt with Mischief and Lies regularly, but couldn’t believe that she had a breakthrough. He agreed to work with her. With the Avengers. Finally, she could find out what happened to Jane.
But Loki was not done. She was eating bibimbap when he asked her the last query.
“I have a last query, for now.” What if this question made him refuse this job? What would she do? She had to maintain her calm exterior. If she appeared even a little bit rattled, then this would backfire.
“Go ahead.”
“What is your name?” Her brain took a sigh of relief, and she smiled, almost on the verge of amusement. What was she thinking?
“Hello Loki,” his eyes were searching her soul and she wanted to drown in them, “I’m Darcy.”