Loki/OFC Rated M (may go up to E in future chapters) Trigger Warnings: Angst, talk of suicide, therapy, unhealthy family dynamics, mention of torture and mind control
Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4
Loki’s plans to conquer and rule Midgard have come to a disastrous end. After being captured by the Avengers, he is being held on Earth. Odin has refused to interfere, and the outlook for the God of Mischief appear bleak. His only hope may lie in one mortal woman, a Psychiatric expert brought in to interrogate him.
Dr. Caroline Thorpe is intrigued by Loki and thinks that more lies beneath his actions than is commonly known. Can she find out the truth before he is shipped off to die for crimes against the Earth? And can Loki bring himself to care?
Caroline's thoughts raced as she strode down the hallway. What should she do?
At first, she had considered going to Pierce with her discovery of Loki's history, but she just as quickly jettisoned the idea. The Secretary had made it abundantly clear that he considered Loki nothing more than an alien war criminal deserving of the harshest sentence possible. She would never be able to explain to him the layers of trauma, not to mention the brainwashing, that had led to his actions on Earth. All she would achieve by going to him with her concerns would be getting herself removed from this case for losing her perspective. Pierce wanted Loki killed and he wanted it now.
Who then? Reaching into her pocked, she grabbed her cell phone and scrolled through her contacts until she found the number she sought.
"You have reached the voice mailbox of Director Nick Furry. You know how to leave a message, so do it. If it's important enough, I just might get back to you."
"Hi, Director Fury," she said, cursing silently that he wasn't there. "This is Doctor Thorpe. I just had a breakthrough with the patient, and I really need to talk to you. Please call me back at his number as soon as you can. We have to stop Pierce from taking Loki to the raft. Also, it looks like there may be a new, even more dangerous threat waiting for us out there."
Damnit! Fury was the only one who might be able to pull rank on Pierce. She was not sure what the hierarchy was, but she would not want to face down the SHIELD Director if she didn't have to. Hopefully, the thought of a new danger would warrant a call back. From what Loki had told her, Thanos was something they would need to prepare for sooner rather than later, especially since two of the stones he was looking for were in this very building!
In the meantime, who else was there? Thor? He might be brought to believe that his brother had reasons for his actions. A part of him must hope for Loki's rehabilitation or he would not have insisted she be allowed to treat him. Perhaps he could be of help.
"Excuse me, but have you seen Thor?" Caroline asked a passing scientist as she made her way to Fury's office on the off chance the Director may just be holed up there ignoring his calls.
"He's gone," the man said, eyes doing a quick once over of her.
"Do you know where?" she asked, a sinking feeling in her stomach but smiling none the less. She had found over the years that a friendly smile could be a disarming weapon in places like this. People were taken aback by a show of openness, and often replied in kind before they knew what they were doing.
"I think he was sent on a mission," the man told her, glancing around to see if the hall was clear before continuing. "I heard a rumor there was a bit of a dust up earlier. Thor actually yelled at Secretary Pierce!"
"Really?" she asked, trying to look surprised. "About what?"
"Something about his brother. The select team that guards the prisoner were all furious about it. I heard Pierce had Thor sent on some drummed up mission to get him out of the way. Not that I blame him - I wouldn't want to get on Thor's bad side! When Fury tried to take the cube from him the other day for us to examine, I thought he was going to use that hammer of his on the Director's head!"
"The cube?" was he talking about the Tesseract? Caroline had heard just enough about it that she knew it was central to Loki's story.
"Yeah, some Alien tech. Thor wanted to bring it to Asgard, but Fury wanted it to stay here."
"Who won?" Caroline was truly intrigued.
"It was compromise, I guess," the scientist looked about nervously again. "They locked the cube up in Fury's private office along with some other mysterious artifacts. In return, Thor got some concessions for his psycho brother. Now that he's gone though, I wouldn't bet on Pierce keeping Fury's terms. He's really got it in for the would be king of earth."
"Can you blame him?" Caroline laughed, not wanting to show how anxious she felt with the man confirming her own belief.
"After he tried to take out New York? Not one bit. Hey, I have to get going. I'm supposed to be working on the cloaking mechanism."
"Sorry to keep you."
"No Worries. I'm Marc, what's your name?" the man asked, smiling and once more letting his eyes roam a bit more than she liked.
"Laura," Caroline answered, giving him her sister's name as she had often done with men over the years. "See you around!"
He looked a little annoyed by the brush off, but Caroline didn't take the time to worry about it. She rounded a corner, ducked into a stair well, and scrolled once more through her phone. As she dialed the number, she prayed to all of the Gods including the one sitting not far away that she would not get voice mail again.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't my favorite head shrinker! What's up Doc?"
"Stark, thank God!" Caroline breathed a sigh of relief that someone was answering her call.
"I knew you couldn't stay away from me. Let me guess, all your other patients are mind numbingly boring after me, and you just can't wait to get me back on your couch so you can probe me further."
"Actually, I have a pretty interesting patient right now," she said, thinking about Loki. "He might even give you a run for your money!"
"That's it, I'm hanging up now," Stark said, offended.
"No, wait! Tony, I need your help!"
"Fine. But only because you are the only one who likes to listen to me talk about myself as much as I like doing it."
"That's because I get paid by the hour," she laughed, unable to help herself.
"Touche, and ouch. What do you need?"
"Okay, you can't ask me why, but do you by any chance have the lock code to Director Fury's office?" she held her breath.
"Uh, one question. Why?" he asked automatically.
"I can't tell you. All I can say is it is vitally important that I get in there, and Fury has gone awol."
"Yeah, a little bird told me he was off planet at the moment."
"Fuck me!" Caroline swore before she could stop herself.
"Is that a serious invitation? Because Pepper -"
"Tony, do you have the code or not?"
"If I did," he began, giving her a glimmer of hope, "it would be for emergency use only. Or playing a really good prank."
"This is an emergency. And in a way, it might be considered a prank," it was stretching things, but she was desperate.
"You swear to me that you are not doing anything to put yourself in danger?"
"Why Stark, I didn't know you cared," she was honestly flattered.
"I don't, I just don't want to have to break in a new therapist. Okay Doc, I am trusting you. And I trust that Fury will never know where you got it from. Also, when you're in there, you have to move all of his pictures so that they are just barely at an angle. I will drive him nuts deciding if they're off or if it's just his impaired vision."
"That's awful!"
"So is breaking and entering."
"Good point. I will tilt them all."
"Not too much. Don't want to give it away. Alright, I am sending you the sequence. Don't make me regret this, Caroline."
"You are my favorite billionaire patient!" she told him.
"Aw, I bet you say that to all the oligarchs. Talk to you later. And I mean that. I'm having my office call to schedule a tune up. I have some teenage years stories about my dad I am just dying to get off my chest!"
"I look forward to it," she told him as the call went dark.
She felt a small pang that she would most likely not be able to make that appointment. There was a very good chance she would be in jail before too long. Still, she had a duty to the patient she was treating now, and that took precedent over Tony's lifetime of family issues.
By the time she made it to Fury's office she had heard the ping alerting her that the info from Stark had arrived. Just to be on the safe side, she knocked several times and called out the Director's name. It would be a disaster if she broke into his office only to find him sitting there eating his dinner. When she was certain he was not, she copied the code from her phone into the keypad next to the door. She knew they updated the codes frequently, but she trusted that Tony would somehow have the most current one.
To no surprise, Caroline heard the small click as the lock released and she pushed the door open and slipped inside. The office was smaller than she had expected, and almost completely empty. A shiny metal desk was bare of anything more than a lamp and a single pen. There were no drawers or cabinets that secrets could be stored in anywhere to be seen. One chair sat behind the desk and two more, much less comfortable looking, in front. On the one wall opposite the desk hung a few memories. That was it, the sum total of Fury's workspace.
Caroline looked about, uncertain what to do next. There was nowhere to search, and to be honest she was not even certain what she would be looking for or why she had come. She knew she needed to help Loki, but beyond that, she had very little in the way of a plan and was instead acting off of sheer instinct. Halfheartedly she felt along the underside of the desk for a hidden button, but as expected there was nothing there.
Oh well, she decided, she might as well keep her promise to Tony, after all he had gotten her inside. Of course, as he likely knew the contents of the room that was no harm in that. With a self-depreciating shake of her head, she walked over to the decorated wall. The three items hanging there were a strange collection. One was a framed copy of the Shield insignia, above it a picture of youthful looking Fury, Coleson, and a blond woman Caroline didn't recognize, and finally a slightly out of focus picture of an orange tabby cat staring balefully at the camera. Caroline had to stop herself from pausing to decipher what she could from these pictures. She did not have the time to dip into Director Fury's subconscious, but boy would she bet money it would be an interesting swim! Instead, she one by one tilted each of the photos so that they were slightly off-center, thinking as she did how juvenile Tony Stark could be.
The moment she tilted the photo of the cat, Caroline jumped back in surprise. The wall to her right, with no audible sound at all, began to slide. Where once a blank off-white barrier had stood, now the space opened up into an area twice again as large as the one in which she had begun, and it was as different as she could imagine.
In one corner, stacked with alarming haphazardness, was a pile of what she took to be some sort of advanced weaponry. Caroline gave that section a wide breadth. Boxes of documents, filed and loose, sat on the floor containing who knew what secrets. A map on the far wall of the world had small lights gleaming in different colors. As she approached it, she discovered from a legend on the bottom that each light represented a member of the Avengers, or some other enhanced person. After a moment, the map zoomed out so that instead of depicting just Earth it showed what she gathered was a map of different planets. Additional colored lights gleamed in locations she could not give names to.
After staring at the map for a few moments, Caroline wandered to the long table in the center of the room. She would bet money that these were the alien artifacts that Fury and the Avengers had taken off of Loki, at least those not being studied by SHIELD scientists. Now her interest was truly peaked. if there was something that could help her patient, chances are it was here. She had no idea what most of the clutter was, but her eyes were drawn to a pair of keys made in the same metal that composed Loki's manacles. Upon closer inspection, she saw that the long keys were etched with letters and symbols from some language she was ignorant of.
Ignoring a touch of fear, she grabbed the keys and put them in her blazer pocket. Loki was a prisoner, and for good reason. He had committed acts of atrocities on the city of New York and beyond. And yet, she was sure that he was not now a threat to humanity unless they pushed him to that point. He had been under duress when he made war on them, and not acting of his own free will. In addition, he had years - centuries - of trauma that he hadn't begin to come to terms with. Given time and a willing ear to listen, it was possible he could process these experiences and come to terms with his life, but he would not get that opportunity if he was shipped off for a show trial and put to death.
Could she act so recklessly as to free a confessed murderer? Would she be able to live with herself if she did not?
Randomly, Caroline reached over and opened a shiny silver briefcase that sat next to the keys. She drew back a bit as she looked at the glowing blue cube that sat inside. There had been enough gossip going around that she knew what this cube had to be. Loki had spoken of the Infinity Stones, and of alien who was seeking them. With this and the scepter here at the compound, how long would it be before they were attacked by a force led with more conviction than Loki had shown?
Acting on impulse, she slammed shut the briefcase and grabbed it as well. This might be the most insane thing she had ever done in her life, not to mention treason against her whole planet, but her decision was made.
***
Loki was in a better mood than he had been since his capture. There was an odd lightness inside him that he could not provide a reason for. He decided to avoid trying to - he only had a few hours of life left, best not to poke too hard and ruin them.
Instead, he set about making himself more presentable. He might be a prisoner and trapped in cuffs that prevented him from full use of his arms, let alone his magic, but Thor had removed the other chains, and he had enough range of movement to tidy his hair some, smooth out his clothing, and try to present a more appealing appearance. He had a lady he wanted to impress after all.
He knew it would not be easy. Caroline might be attracted to him, but she was a professional and he would guess highly ethical. Well, Loki's silver tongue had worked its way around others' ethics before. More concerning were the men sitting outside his cell. Loki paced near the glass, glaring at them, and to his amusement they looked away. He pointed to the light above and raised a speaking brow, hoping they would think he meant to try to sleep. One of them seemed to catch on to this idea, for after a moment the lights in his cell dimmed. That was better. He was not completely averse to public displays, but he doubted that Caroline would consent to be part of one. With the lights down, the guards would have to look hard to see what they were doing on the other side of the room where his bench was.
Yes, it was not a perfect situation, but it was workable. An evening spent attempting to seduce his lovely therapist would be far more amusing than one spent with nothing more to occupy him than counting down the minutes until death.
When he saw her enter the outer area Loki sprang to attention in more ways than one. It seemed his body was quite taken with the distraction he had in store. Caroline had a silver brief case in her hands that was similar to the one Selvig had used for the tesseract, and Loki wondered fleetingly what SHIELD equipment she was hauling. Most of his attention, however, was caught up in noticing once more how shapely her legs were and how the buttons of her blouse strained slightly over her breasts.
The door to his cage opened and Caroline entered. She seemed jittery to him, and he wondered if she sensed what he was up to.
"Ah, my darling doctor. Come to ease my pain some more," he purred, standing near to her and breathing down her neck.
"Loki, I have a couple of questions for you," she said in a clipped voice.
"And I for you," he smiled. "To begin with, what is it that gives your hair that delicious smell of strawberries?"
"Shampoo, I guess," she waved him off, much to his annoyance. "Loki, if the cuffs were off of you, you could access your magic, yes?"
"If the cuffs were off, I could do many things. But even with them on, I can still manage quite a few I would wager you would enjoy."
"Stop that! Focus!" she glared at him, and he took a step back.
This was not going at all how he had envisioned. Was she so devoted to her work that she would insist on exploring more of his sins?
"Could you use your magic."
"If the cuffs were gone? Yes, I could."
"And you could get out of this cell, out of this base without injuring anyone? And I mean ANYONE."
"There might be a few cuts and bruises," he looked at her oddly. "What is this about, Caroline?"
"I have the keys," she said, then took a big step back as he moved towards her instinctively. "Wait! Loki, I do not believe Pierce means to give you a fair trial. He has sent Thor away and Fury is off world. I believe he means to kill you, tomorrow if not tonight."
"You are right, of course," he agreed, laser focused on her now, wondering where she had hidden his keys. "Although I had hoped for tonight."
"I am beginning to doubt you have that long," she took a deep breath and looked up at him. "Loki, you have done some truly terrible things, but I do not think that you deserve death. The extenuating circumstances far out way your crimes. I cannot, in good conscience, allow them to kill you. If I let you go, do you promise to leave quietly and with no casualties? To go find somewhere to heal?"
"As I said, there may be one or two small contusions, but I can avoid anything fatal. You would really do this Caroline? Why?"
"I told you," she said, looking at the floor.
"And that is the only reason?" he asked, unsure why he was pressing. His freedom was at hand! He should grab it run.
"I like you, Loki," she admitted, blushing as she looked at him. "I think if you were just shown a little bit of compassion, you could be a remarkable person."
"Ah, Caroline, what a shame our time is so limited," he found he meant it. "You have my word."
"Alright. It's good the lights are low, that will hide us a bit from the guards. Go sit on the bench. I will sit next to you in a moment and pretend to be taking your vitals. As I do so, I will unlock your bonds and you may escape."
He could not believe his luck. Maintaining a calm demeanor, excruciating given the circumstances, he strode to the bench and sat down, pulse racing. Caroline went to the table and took out a contraption of some sort, still holding on to the suitcase he supposed must contain the keys. A moment later she sat down next to him, her knee bumping against his. Again, he felt a moment of disappointment that they were not to share the evening. She set down the case and wrapped the medical device around his arm. Once she had his wrists in hers, she slipped a metal key out of her pocket and began feeling along the cuffs for the slot to put it into.
"Caroline, love," he murmured, seeing movement outside, "best hurry. We seem to be expecting more company."
"I can't find where the key goes," she grumbled, feeling along the other cuff.
As Loki watched, a squad of men led by the human who had carried his chain before, entered the outer room and then the lights in his cell brightened.
"Damnit! I don't know how these work!"
"Step away from prisoner and bring us the Tesseract!" a voice from outside demanded as one of the guards began punching in the access code.
"The Tesseract! Caroline, is the Tesseract in the briefcase?"
"It is. I thought you could take it somewhere safe away from earth."
"Oh, my darling doctor, you are my angel!" he said, meaning it.
Reaching around her, Loki grabbed the case and popped it open. There, bright and blue as before, was the Tesseract. He was free!
"The hostile has the cube! Open fire!"
As the door opened Loki saw the men draw their guns. Acting on pure impulse he grabbed the Tesseract and holding it in his manacled hands slipped his arms over Caroline's head and around her neck.
"Hold tight," he told her, "this might be a bit bumpy."
A moment later the cell, the guards, and SHIELD were all gone as the space stone swept them away.
“This isn’t an intentional bribe I just happened to be baking at 4am.” The voice startles Natasha who freezes on the sofa she’d just strewn herself gracelessly onto. Her eyes snap open and her body tenses. But there’s not eminent death, the voice is unknown but no one is attacking her so they can’t be here to hurt her. Lazily as if she wasn’t just startled she turns her head toward the kitchen stark had set up in their common area. The young woman standing there is holding a dripping whisk over cookie sheet and has flour smudged across her forehead. The likelihood of death shrinks even further in Natasha’s mind. She arches a brow. All her questions in one. The girl must belong here. She’ll know.
“I’m Darcy, I help with the Science! and make cookies at odd hours.” She says and slowly splatters more dough onto the sheet. Both her hands stay visible and she’s moving in measured movements like she knows she’s started the assassin and is trying to prove she’s a friendly.
“Bribe?” The word comes out rougher than intended but Natasha hasn’t spoken in a few hours and needs a drink. The girl relaxes and begins to form her cookies more confidently.
“It’s just that, Well I’ve mastered the Eye Twitch . I’m good. But Barton? Barton has achieved this like Vein Forehead Bulging thing that makes the Eye Twitch look mediocre. And you get it, I can’t be mediocre next to Clint. But nothing bothers Phil enough.”
Natasha smirks and lets her head fall into the back of the sofa to watch the curious girl.
“Clint does”
“Oh. OH!
#############
After that night, Natasha watched Darcy charm the hell out of every Avenger to cross her path with a mixed batch of stubborn acts of Bad-Assary and adorableness.
Clint and Thor were wooed by her tasering of Thor and ceaseless bitching about her Ipod in a time before Natasha. Clint loves to bring up the seven different triplicate filed forms she submitted stating how the thift was unnecessary and just freaking rude. Clint of course has a weakness for people who are bitchy via paperwork so Natasha counts him as an easy win.
Steve Rogers, however is not an easy win. He’s sad and grumpy lots of the time, and working the rest of the time. So he doesn’t care for the seemingly flippant girl at first. Eventually Steve falls into her clutches when they’re mid battle and Darcy, who happened to be downtown to meet some friends, rushes to the front of a crowd of trembling civilians and told the monologuing Doctor Doom to “Get Bent” before lobbing a rock at the tallest and ugliest robot that was probably meant to be RoboBear or something similar. Darcy’s defiance makes the stern Captain bark out a laugh into the stunned silence before he can stop himself. Doom turned in Rage to the man laughing at him and the New Yorkers emboldened by the brunette begin throwing anything not tied down at the monsters.
After that the Captain laughs more. He smiles down at Darcy like she’s a miracle and he’s not sure how he got so lucky to have her near. Natasha understands that more than she’d like to admit. Darcy’s 4AM cookies have bribed more than the girl intended. Thankfully it doesn’t become an issue when Steve admits one day during lunch that she reminds him of Bucky.
Darcy of course preens a little and pinches Steve’s cheek.
“Awwweee you big nerd!!!”
Bruce had been a slow turner as he is in most things. She brings an array of teas by his desk swapping out the cups while he mutters and scribbles like a mad scientist. Natasha watches with interest as Darcy buys a thousand and ten flavors and Bruce drinks them all without complaint, even tho he only enjoys a few. Then orbit each other like that for the longest time but when Bruce turns up to the gym one morning for Yoga to find Darcy drooling lightly onto a mat, he’s done for. She had tried to catch him at it many of the previous days and had only been met by the smells of freshly put of candles and his rolled up mat. So She’d gotten up even earlier or perhaps went straight from 4AM Natasha time to the gym to stake him out. Natasha suspects this as Darcy’s shirt is still a little icky form where she wipes her hands on it after she cracks eggs.
Bruce looks at Natasha and then fondly back at the brunette before shaking his head. Sucker, Natasha thinks, but can’t fault the man because she knows she’s hooked too.
Tony’s probably the easiest and it honestly could have gone either way. Everyone’s passing threw the kitchen in search of some form of breakfast. Steve’s fresh in from a run and Natasha had only just woken up herself but not Tony or Darcy. They’ve been up all night doing Science! They’re not even here for food really just coffee. They blunder toward the coffee pot and sort of have a stand off when they realize they others goal.
“We’re on a 36 hour break thru” She says calmly. Tony frowns thoughtfully.
“I just got off a plane form Tokyo” He counters.
“I live next door to Thor and Jane and they bang a lot.” Steve chokes on whatever he was eating.
“Pepper made me sit in chair meetings?” He offers weakly. Darcy’s eyes light as if she knows she’s going to win.
“I had to take loans for my degree and I’ve never ridden in an Aston Martin ” She says smugly. Tony blanches and waves her ahead.
“We can fix that if you ever get done sciencing,I’ve got a few in the garage.” Tony offers searching for his blend at the back of the cabinet.
“Nice I’ve never had a sugar daddy before! Can we make it like a sugar uncle tho? because I’m on an no dude diet” Steve chokes again. Tony however laughs.
“Yea kid no problem” He switches the filter not looking at Darcy. The brunette gathers her victory coffee and leans in to kiss Tony on the cheek.
“Thanks Tony!” and she’s off like a breeze threw their airtight tower. Tony adores her.
################
It’s during 4AM cookie time when things change again for Natasha. She wonders into the kitchen to find Darcy baking but also drinking heavily. The brunette hic-ups loudly and grins at the assassin.
“Welcome to my midnight kitchen Tasha,” Darcy waves her spoon around in wide fast motions, a glob of batter flings across the face of the fridge.
“What’s the occasion?” The red head nods at the bottle. Darcy grabs is and examines the label as tho she had forgotten it was there. She hums slightly with a frown.
“It was a courage shot, but I think it’s closer to a courage bottle now” She admits placing it slowly back on the counter. “Oh Darcy,” She rests her elbows on the counter and her head in her hands. “messing things up” She sighs.
“I don’t think you need that for courage, little one, you are incredibly brave” Natasha says kindly. Darcy snorts and pops the spoon into her mouth.
“Not about you” Darcy says around her spoon. “Just wanted to say I love youu” she muttered her cheek still packed with dough and a spoon. Her eyes water slightly in the dim lights of the night. Natasha’s heart clenches with a sudden and strong hope.
“That’s very good news, but I think you should tell me again in the morning” Natasha says taking the spoon from her mouth and pulling Darcy’s hand to bring her closer. The brunette folds effortlessly into Natasha’s arms and the red head smiles into her curls.
“This isn’t an intentional bribe but I just happen to have Gatorade and painkillers in my apartment and you’re gonna want it in the morning.” Natasha offers.
“Awwe isn’t that what I said to you? You’re so cute Tasha, cute and funny and smart and you helped me make Phil’s forehead do the thing” Darcy taps her temple with an adoring smile. Natasha chuckles and presses her lips to Darcy’s temple lightly.
