The door opened -- rather ominously -- as if all by itself, and whilst Darcy liked to believe she wasn't a complete wuss, she also didn't mind admitting or showing when something made her feel uneasy, so as they both cautiously stepped inside, she instinctively edged closer to Loki.
Which was ironic, seeking protection from him, of all people.

The large entrance lobby they found themselves in was very grand, but dimly lit, which annoyingly hindered Darcy's less-than-perfect vision. It often took her pupils a while to adjust, whereas Loki's keen eyes seemed to be everywhere at once, scanning the room for the inhabitants.

"What is this place? Darcy whispered, obviously not as quietly as she thought, because it wasn't Loki who responded....

"This is the Sanctum Sanctorum."

Darcy's head whipped around so quickly, she almost gave herself whiplash, and even Loki visibly jumped at her side.

Okay. So they were no longer alone.

She blinked, having to resist the temptation to rub her eyes just in case she was seeing things. But no, it would appear she actually found herself staring at one of the weirdest things she had ever seen.

A tall, thin man with dark hair and a neatly-trimmed goatee, was....well, gliding, down the elaborate staircase toward them, levitating several inches above the ground.

As far as outfits went, his even outdid Loki's leather armour get-up, when it came to being ostentatious. The red cloak he wore had an outsized collar, and he seemed to be a fan of costume jewellery.

"Sanctum Sanctorum?" Loki echoed, raising a sceptical eyebrow. "Latin for 'Holy of Holies'. How....fascinating."

The man's dead-pan expression didn't falter as he continued his descent, his eyes never leaving one of his unexpected guests. "Loki Odinson of Asgard." He stated like an accusation.

"Ah yes, the last time we met we weren't properly introduced were we?" Loki riposted, and swept the man a mocking little bow. "I am Loki....Odinson. Rightful king of Jotunheim. The saviour of Asgard, and the God of Mischief. You may call me whichever you prefer."

"I would prefer you not to be here." Came the reply, which Loki responded to with a thin smile, not bothering to hide his arrogant indifference.

"That makes two of us."

"Then why are you here? I was under the impression that you were being kept under surveillance in a secure facility. Your brother gave me his word that you wouldn't be loose on the streets to cause chaos. I only agreed to let you remain on earth because whilst being confined there, he assured me you wouldn't pose any threat."

"You allowed me to remain?" Loki scowled, visibly irritated by his remark. "Who are you to stipulate who should or shouldn't be permitted to reside here?"

The man glided closer, and Darcy could practically feel the blood pressure collectedly rising in the room.

"I am Doctor Steven Strange. Master of the Mystic Arts--"

"I am a prince of Asgard." Loki interjected gruffly, so not to be outdone. "Therefore I strongly advise you treat me with a little more courtesy."

Doctor 'Strange' appeared to be unimpressed, and proceeded to finish his sentence. "I am also the sorcerer supreme, and protector against magical and mystical threats."

"Sorcerer supreme?" Loki scoffed openly. "I am a God!"

"Wait, he isn't a threat." Darcy chimed in, hurriedly. "Not anymore."

Strange turned his head to survey her curiously, his eyes flicking over her person in careful assessment. She shifted nervously from one foot to the other, knowing that he was trying to work out how much of a potential risk she was too.

"And you are?"

"Uh, I'm with him." She gave a little nod in Loki's direction.

"I can see that, but it doesn't answer my question."

"Oh, right. I'm Darcy Lewis....of Earth." She supplied helpfully, her voice friendly as if they were meeting in a completely mundane setting.

"Okaay. Miss Darcy Lewis, with all due respect, I don't think you fully appreciate how much of a danger to the public this man is."

Darcy couldn't help but feel he -- like so many others -- was underestimating her.
Well, she wasn't an idiot, and she wasn't a pushover.

"I know all about him letting aliens into the city. I know he kinda is an alien himself. Ancient, primitive cultures worshipped his race as deities, because they're from another planet. But he's basically a royal, space boy, with daddy-issues. Seriously, he won't hurt anyone. He doesn't do that sort of thing anymore. He's retired from....um, trying to enslave the human race."

Loki's eyes burned into her like two lasers, and despite her just having vouched for him, she couldn't help feeling that if he was able to, he'd burn two holes right through her skull with them.

"You're not helping." He grated. "And....space boy? Really?" He looked almost comically disgusted, as he pointed a long finger at her accusingly. "Have you ever stopped to consider that to us, YOU are the aliens?"

She thought about this for a moment, then answered less than eloquently.
Darcy always knew what she wanted to say, she just often struggled to find the right way of expressing it. And she was also guilty of not stopping to choose her words carefully.

"Okay, so we're the aliens to you guys, but we don't come to your world and start killing everyone." She pointed out.

"Miss Lewis, that was one time!"

Darcy's mouth, quite literally, fell open. "One time is more than enough! No offence L, but the crap you've done is kinda one of the reasons why aliens are portrayed as scary. It's the stuff horror movies are made of."

He folded his arms and stared at her, aghast. "That is staggeringly offensive. Is it any wonder your planet keeps being invaded?"

At that, Strange made a point of coughing loudly, in order to regain their attention. They'd both seemingly forgotten where they were.

"As much as I hate to interrupt this gripping debate, we need to stick to the matter at hand. Which is, Loki being allowed to roam freely, is not acceptable. I'm going to have to detain him and--"

"If you think for one minute that you're going to kidnap me again and hold me hostage in one of your portals, you are gravely mistaken!"

"Excuse me, stop interrupting. I'm talking." Strange said in his calm, clever voice.

"Well I'm not listening!"

Fearing the worst, Darcy could no longer stand-by idly and listen to this war of words. Loki was growing increasingly angry, and she recognised this situation had the potential to become dangerously heated.
Although, they both put her in mind of a pair of disagreeable kids, squabbling unnecessarily, and from where she was standing, it seemed like little more than a battle of the gigantic egos.

"Boys, boys....you're both pretty! Enough already, just call a truce before it escalates to wand-comparing or something."

Strange regarded her with a slightly bemused, perplexed expression, whilst Loki stared at her incredulously.

"Wand-comparing?"

"Yeah, like...who has the biggest wand."

"The biggest wand!" Loki's eyes were now swimming with confusion, drowning in bewilderment. "Please tell me that isn't a metaphor for something else?"

Feeling flustered, she tried to contain her exasperation. "Ew, no it wasn't! I meant actual magical wands. You're both magicians, right? Or wizards, or whatever. Don't you use wands?"

"Who are you?" Strange asked, though his tone wasn't nearly as firm as it was when he was speaking directly to Loki. "And By that I mean, what exactly are you to him?"

She pointed needlessly at Loki. "Him? Uh, nothing really. Well, we're kinda pally, but officially I'm just his minder."

"Minder?" Strange looked suitably unconvinced.

"I despise that term." Loki muttered indignantly. "Can't you use a different title?"

"Master then?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Okay maybe not. How about, partner?' She offered.

"Partner? I don't think so."

"Fine.....sidekick?"

His jaw clenched, and she was pretty sure she could actually hear him grinding his teeth. "No. I don't have a 'sidekick'. Pick something else." He ordered.

"Carer." She replied dryly, before turning to look directly at an exceedingly baffled looking Strange. "I'm his carer."

Loki was grinding his teeth so hard now, Darcy actually feared for his back molars. "Yes, that's right. She's my 'carer'." He ground the words out sardonically. "She cares, so I don't have to."

Strange looked from Darcy to Loki, then back to Darcy. He really didn't seem to know quite what to make of the unlikely duo.

"Well, Darcy Lewis of Earth, as much of a pleasure it has been to make your acquaintance, the same can't be said of your companion here. So on that note, I will bid you adieu!"

Before Darcy knew what was happening, a sparkling circle of red light formed on the ground around Loki's feet, startling both him and her.

"Oh, no. I don't think so." Loki hissed, and with a flick of both hands conjured not just one, but two, daggers, seemingly out of thin air. "You're not doing this to me again, you second-rate magician!"

Jesus, she thought.
That was chilling.
To see him magically pull weapons from nowhere like a character from a Looney Toons cartoon. All he was missing was a stick of ACME dynamite.
To think he had had that ability all along, and could've used this tactic on her at any given time, made her blood run a bit cold. She might not even have had time to administer a controlled shock if he pulled a stunt like that, especially whilst she was relaxed around him and not expecting it.

"Loki, stop!" She yelled, producing the controller and holding it up in the air as a deterrent. "Put the knives away, otherwise I'll be forced to use this!"

Amazingly -- and to her relief -- Loki hesitated, standing frozen to the spot. Clearly he had no desire to be zapped in front of Strange.

"And you, wizard-guy.....can you stop doing that?" She used her free hand to gesture at the red spinning circle, which worryingly was steadily increasing in size. "He'll behave. I have this." She waved the controller.

"And what exactly is that?" Strange demanded, undoubtedly curious.

"Let's just call it....an attitude-adjuster."

Strange landed now, and with his feet firmly on the ground, Darcy realised just how tall and imposing he actually was.

"Is that linked to the Sakaaran obedience disk?" He asked, which suggested he obviously knew of the device.

She nodded. "Yes. Now will you please just listen to what he's got to say? It's seriously important." Turning to Loki, she eyed him encouragingly. "L, where's the Tesseract-thingy? Give it to him."

At the mention of the Tesseract, Strange swallowed hard. His Adam's apple visibly bobbing up and down in his throat, and in spite of his relatively pale complexion, he seemed to pale even further.

"The Tesseract? You have it in your possession?"

Loki glared at him, then with another hand manoeuvre, his duel daggers disappeared. "I do, and believe me when I say I no longer wish to carry that burden. Which is why I am here."

"Does your brother know you've got it?"

Loki eyed the sorcerer steadily. "No. I didn't want to alarm him. Besides if he knew, he would promptly inform those cretinous companions of his. And as you should know, Doctor, if such a weapon should fall into the hands of S.H.I.E.L.D again....well, it will only lead to disaster. I do hope you consider those agents of espionage a potential threat also. Tell me, are they on your naughty list?"

Strange ignored him, refusing to rise to his taunts. Instead he said nothing, remaining ominously silent for the longest time. He appeared to be digesting this information, no doubt contemplating how to respond.

Finally he replied with a straightforward, "Where is it?"

Loki raised a hand slowly. "I'm going to summon it now using conjuration, so please refrain from mistaking my movements as an attack. I have no wish to find myself falling through some unknown universe, do I make myself absolutely clear, Doctor?"

Strange remained unwaveringly calm and collected. "Crystal."

Darcy looked on in wonderment, as Loki used his magic to make the blue crystalline, glowing cube materialise in his hand.
This wasn't an illusion.
This was a different form of magic, she realised, the same kind he used to summon his daggers at will.

He held the Tesseract aloft like a prize trophy, but remained standing within the boundaries of the swirling red circle, which had the potential to open as a portal if Doctor Strange so chose to.

"Take it." Loki instructed, to a somewhat apprehensive-looking Strange. "As much as I am loathed to admit it, you alone on this realm can understand the workings of it like no other. The cosmic power of the space stone is generated from the universe itself. Whoever wields it can open gateways, allow inter dimensional travel, or even utilise it's energy into making weapons of mass destruction."

"All of which, I actively want to avoid." Strange said flippantly, but his stoic expression was now one of grave seriousness. "This item will be highly sought-after, by the most unsavoury of characters, no doubt."

"No doubt." Loki agreed darkly.

Strange stepped forward, and carefully took the coveted object from him. He examined it closely, seemingly quite mesmerised by it's other-worldly qualities.

An awkward silence descended on the room, and for once Darcy felt it was best to keep quiet.

"It will be safe here." Strange said eventually. "Thank you, for entrusting me with this...enormous responsibility....but, I will do everything within my power to keep it from falling into the wrong hands....again."

Loki bristled slightly at his barbed remark, and couldn't resist responding with a curt reply of his own. "Do better."

Darcy sighed under her breath, wanting to knock their big, brainiac heads together.

"Well, that was.....intense." She said airily, flashing a bright smile, trying to break the ice once and for all. "So now we've got that out of the way, any chance of a coffee? Or maybe something a bit stronger? My nerves are shot." She laughed, but both men remained stubbornly silent. "I'm just kidding. Don't worry. I'd better be getting space boy back to the tower."

"Do not keep referring to me as 'space boy', earth girl!" Loki retaliated childishly, though she knew he wasn't nearly as pissed off with her teasing as he made out.

"Allow me to assist with that." Strange said, suddenly becoming quite animated at the prospect of ridding himself of his unwanted guests. "Miss Darcy, would you be so kind as to, erm..." He rotated his free hand encouragingly, gesturing for her to step into the portal circle.

"Uh, I don't know about that. I've never done this kind of thing before and I get travel sickness on long journeys."

"You're only going up town." Strange tried to assure her. "I'm not sending you to Narnia, Oz or Wonderland."

"I beg to differ with you, Doctor, but you're not sending me anywhere." Loki grumbled, as Darcy loitered apprehensively at the periphery of the circle. "I shall leave the way I came, if it's all the same to you."

"Well it isn't." Strange argued, showing no signs of having been swayed by Loki's acts of honesty. "I'd rather be sure you get there personally. For my own peace of mind."

By now Loki had had enough, and was no longer able to contain his annoyance. His expression grew thunderous, and Darcy could visibly see a vein pulsing in his forehead.

"Quite frankly, I don't give a damn about your peace of mind. I will not be bullied by--"

"Okay, bye bye!"

Swirling his finger around in a circular motion, the red circle spun ever-faster, and a knee-jerk reaction prompted Darcy into overcoming her attack or irrational jitters, as she threw herself at Loki in a blind state of panic.

This proved to be a good call on her part, as the portal opened, and suddenly she felt herself falling.

Closing her eyes in fear, she clung to Loki for dear life, and in return felt his long arms tightening around her protectively.

At first they seemed to be falling at a frighteningly rapid rate, and it was so overwhelming her lungs filled with pain, as she fought to take a much-needed gasp of air.
But then she caught the sound of Loki muttering something inaudible under his breath, and a distinctive tremor seemed to shake the very air around them.
And then their plummeting ceased, until the feeling of nothing -- of being suspended in mid-air with no up or down-- engulfed them, and seemed to last an eternity.

She was just contemplating opening her eyes, relieved at least to no longer be falling, when suddenly they were dropping again.

Their bodies were plunging so fast her insides turned somersaults. Beneath her she could feel Loki, who she was eternally thankful to have, as she clutched onto him as if he were her own personal life-raft.

Then in the next instant they collided with something solid, landing with such force that Loki's body bounced, despite the firmness, jolting them both with the impact.
He let out a shriek of pain, but she was too breathless to make a sound or utter a word.

She would've been praying in her head, except that thanks to the likes of Loki and Thor, that kind of altered her perspective on the whole religion thing.

Gasping, she sucked in great breaths of air, and bravely prised open her eyes, as she raised her head cautiously.

They weren't at the Avengers tower.
They were outside, in a grassy area to be precise. Surrounded by trees and overgrown hedges.

Okay, where were they? She was most definitely panicking now.

Though still in shock, she managed to roll from on top of Loki, enabling his chest to heave, and he began coughing as he inhaled loudly.

Neither of them were able to speak or move for a moment, they just lay side by side, flat on their backs on the hard ground. The only noise was that of their ragged breathing, and the sound of birds -- which sounded an awful lot like Ravens -- cawing their disapproval, for having been disturbed by their arrival.

"Loki...." She managed at last. "I don't want to worry you, but....where the fuck are we?"

Loki took his own sweet time in sitting up, but then again, he had taken the full force of their landing, and she'd squashed him for good measure.

He winced slightly, as he limped to his feet, rubbing his lower back with one hand.
She watched him as he surveyed their surroundings, his expression as serious as a heart attack. She then became alarmed when he wandered a little further away up a slight incline in the terrain.

"Hey, hey! Don't leave me!" She wailed pitifully.

"I am not leaving you. Please just....be calm, and let me think. I need to get my bearings."

"Oh shit. What planet are we on? Oh god. I'm not sure I wanna know, actually. Why are we here? Why aren't we back at the tower? What did wizard-guy do?"

"Please calm yourself, Miss Lewis. I can only answer one question at a time."

He rejoined her after what felt like several millennia had gone by -- which in reality was no more than a few minutes -- but that had given her more time to work herself up into quite a frenzy.

"Loki, I don't know where we are but I can't die here. It smells gross like...like, dog piss. And I've got to get home and delete my browser history. I can't die without doing that, I don't wanna be judged--"

"Nobody is dying." He said in an irritatingly calm voice. "And the reason you can smell dog urine, is probably because it is dog urine....and you're laying near it, or in it!"

He offered her his hands, and she duly took them so he could help hoist her to stand. Her small hands were dwarfed by his large ones, but she felt inexplicably grateful for the contact. It was strangely calming, and the connection felt somehow reassuring.

"Are you alright?" He asked kindly, looking genuinely concerned.

She nodded. "Do you know where we are then?"

His gaze slid away. "Yes I'm afraid I do."

Her heart was in her mouth now, as her imagination began to run amok. "Oh god. We're on some weird shitty planet aren't we, that looks like earth, but they probably have like creepy gnomes, or evil unicorns that like to stab people with their heads."

His lips curled into an amused smile, which made the corners of his eyes wrinkle. "No I'm afraid it's much worse than that. We're still on earth. But it would appear that we're in London."

Her face split into an enormous smile, and she responded by throwing her arms around him, pulling him into a forced-hug. "Ohh, thank god for that! Phew! I'm so happy right now, I could kiss you! But I won't....obviously."

He pulled back a little so that he could look down at her, a mischievous gleam in his eyes. "I was about to say you'd better not. As tempting as I'm sure it is for you, do try to restrain yourself, Miss Lewis. You don't want to lose your job for fraternising with the enemy."

"Oh shush!" She let him go, feeling decidedly embarrassed now. And his comment had got her to thinking about her job.

Shit. She'd forgotten about that.
She needed to get him back to the tower. But they were in frickin' London. How was that going to be possible?

"Are you absolutely certain we're in London? What makes you so sure?" She was actually hoping now that he was mistaken somehow.

He gestured toward the top of the incline he'd climbed. "The view rather gave it away. My suspicions were first aroused when I saw the oversized clock tower, and gigantic Ferris wheel."

Darcy groaned, her earlier jubilation and relief now dwindling to nothing. "But the Doctor didn't send us here, did he? It makes no sense. Why would he do that? He wanted you back at the tower."

"Yes well, as we travelled through the portal, I think I might have inadvertently disrupted our direction, thus resulting in us not arriving at our intended destination." He admitted with disarming honesty.

Her eyes snapped to him. "What?"

He raised his hands defensively, immediately looking martyred. "I didn't do it deliberately. I was so inflamed by that odious man wielding control over me, and in my temper I unleashed a seismic blast of my mystical aura. Did you not feel the electromagnetic pulse disrupting the atmosphere?"

Darcy stared at him, unsure of what he meant, and too angry to try and understand. "So in English that roughly translates as....you threw a massive tantrum while we were traveling through space, and so we came out at the wrong place?"

He looked momentarily peeved, but then shrugged apologetically. "It would appear so. But believe me, it could've been far worse."

"But you can just get us back though, right? By using your own magic again? Open a portal or summon the rainbow bridge dude--"

"The Bifrost was destroyed along with the rest of Asgard."

She felt a slight twinge of guilt. "Right, sorry. But....there is something you can do, isn't there?"

To her dismay he shook his head solemnly. "Unfortunately, no. The Asgardian Magic I practice, doesn't work like that."

She was pissed now. They were completely stranded, and it was Loki's doing, all because he couldn't control his temper.

Feeling the need to vent her frustration, she unleashed her anger on him. "So much for you being better at magic than Doctor Weird." She sniped.

His brow furrowed in annoyance. "Let's not go there, Miss Lewis. I am a master sorcerer in my own right--"

"Yeah who can't get us back!"

"Well why can't you get us back? Use Midgardian money to purchase aircraft tickets."

"Yeah right!" She scoffed. "Do you have any idea how much those cost? From here to the States? No of course you don't, space boy, because you have spaceships where you come from. Well, I don't have that kind of money. I shit you not, I'd need to sell a kidney online to raise that sort of cash!"

Loki's anger had been  fleeting. He was now overwrought with agitation, and began pacing back and forth, unable to remain still. "There has to be some way of getting back. I've made it out of more challenging situations than this before."

"L, we're going to have to face the music. All we can do is call Jane. Or Tony. And they'll come get us--"

"No!" He yelled, his tone anguished, as he spun around to face her. "We can't! Once they discover what we've done, they'll clamp me in chains, throw me in a cell, and you'll lose your job. You may even face charges for having been my accomplice."

"Accomplice? We're not Bonnie and Clyde, Loki. We haven't robbed banks and gone on a mad killing spree!"

"But we might as well have. Don't you see? In their eyes, we've betrayed their trust. Broken their precious rules. Dared to disobey their orders."

He came closer to her now, and affixed her with a heartbreakingly desperate look.
And he had no right to look like that. Absolutely no frickin' right.
It caused an irrational ache in her chest, seeing him look so frantic.
The sad, sorrowful expression in his gorgeous eyes put her in mind of a lost puppy that had just been kicked.

"Please, Miss Lewis. We can't afford to get them involved." He pleaded.

"No and we can't 'afford'..." She made quote marks in the air with her fingers. "....to get back either!"

"We can. We will." He insisted, and she had to admire his conviction, his unwillingness to accept defeat. "Trust me. We'll find a way."

Trust him?
That was rich. She almost wanted to laugh in his infuriatingly handsome face.
It was due to trusting him, that they'd ended up in this mess.

But what other choice did she have now?