Darcy could not have been more thrilled when she was offered a job working at the Avengers Tower.

Yes, THE, honest-to-goodness, Avengers Tower!

Finally, she was going to actually have a job that paid.
Plus, a small part of her had hoped that maybe she'd be taken a little more seriously as well.
But obviously not too seriously. She had no desire to become one of those boring, stuffy old scientists that rarely ever cracked a smile.
There was more chance of her cracking a rib laughing at some of the drab, dreary clothes that seemed to be the preferred choice of the majority of people who worked in that profession.

Being a college intern, she had known since day one that being paid wasn't going to happen. But technically she was a political science major, and whilst assisting the brilliantly-minded Jane Foster in investigating unexplained cosmic phenomena was fun and interesting and all, she hadn't signed-up for getting dragged into inter-galactic grudge matches.

So the prospect of being offered a position at the plush, swanky Avengers Tower appealed to her for so many reasons.

Finally she would have a proper foot in the door with S.H.I.E.L.D, instead of feeling like an overlooked outsider.
Plus, she figured she'd be getting to rub shoulders with the likes of playboy brain-box Tony Stark and his cool alien sidekick, Vision -- or Jarvis -- or whatever his name was now.
AND Captain America, and his two buddies...the one with the robotic wings, and the hot dude with the metal arm.
Not to mention the awesome, badass black widow, oh, and the arrow-guy.
She made a mental note to ask Jane if those two were a 'thing'.

It was all very exciting. And she felt a bit like a little kid whose Christmases had all come at once.....

That was until she was actually informed that her duties basically involved...

"Babysitting Loki!"  She exclaimed, large eyes rounding further. "Thor's brother, Loki? The one Tony calls 'Rock of Ages' 'cause of the whole, leather and long hair thing? The crazy bastard who nearly killed everyone in New Mexico, and then brought an alien army into New York? THAT Loki?"

Jane rolled her eyes in slight exasperation, as if Darcy was merely overreacting. "Yes, that Loki. There is no other. Well, mostly. When he's not conjuring duplicates of himself."

"Wait, what? You're kidding me right? Tell me this is someone's idea of a joke. A very bad joke--"

"No, Darcy. It's not. Look, Thor seems to think we're able to trust him more now. And we have to respect his judgement. Besides, as long as you've got the controller....he can't cause any harm."

"So much for trust." Darcy scoffed. "If he's like, all trustworthy now, then how come he needs babysitting in the first place, huh? And the obedience thingy? I mean what even is that anyways? Seems a bit...I dunno, harsh."

"Obedience disk." Jane clarified, her patience visibly thinning. "It's something Thor attached to Loki back on Sakaar. It's deeply embedded in the skin, and the attachment system even goes through clothes-"

"Even leather? Like, lots of leather?"

Jane nodded. "Yes. Even Asgardian leather armour. And in spite of their race being incredibly durable, the disk administers such an extreme shock it will render Loki completely incapacitated if he steps out of line."

"Like, how though? I mean...what is considered stepping out of line? Because how am I supposed to know whether he's about to pull out some magic wand and try to kill me, or he's just going to scratch his ass?"

Gathering up her purse and various folders from the table, Jane prompted her intern to follow her to the elevator. "Well, I'm kind of hoping you'll be able to tell the difference. Obviously you'll need to be alert, and proceed with caution. But....please don't zap him every time he has an itch."

"That's easy for you to say. You're the one working in the lab, all safe and sound." Darcy pointed out, before adding sourly. "And I'm starting to think Thor only talked Tony into giving me this gig because he's trying to win you back, after you dumped him."

Jane hit the button for the elevator, and shoved a stray strand of hair behind her ears, awkwardly. "I did not dump him!"

"You totally did. And who does that? You're insane. I mean, who dumps a freakin' God?"

The elevator arrived and the pair stepped inside. "Look, can you please just....focus?" Jane begged, pulling a file out from one of the folders she was clutching, and handing it to her. "This is Loki's file. Everything you need to know is in there. So please read it. And don't lose it. Or spill coffee on it."

Darcy took the file from her, and placed a hand theatrically to her chest. "I'm actually hurt right now that you have such little faith in me."

"Thor has faith in you. So please don't let him down. He's convinced you're the right candidate for the job."

Darcy smiled now, feeling unreservedly pleased. "He does? Wow. That's nice that he's recognised my potential."

"Um, yeah." Jane murmured, as they arrived at the top floor and the doors  slid open. "He also recalled how adept you are with a taser."

"Ah, and there's me thinking it was a compliment. Silly me."

"Well, it sort of is. He figured you won't hesitate to use the obedience disk if you need to. Whereas others might, you see Loki can be very charming, and charismatic."

"Oh really? Like in a "Hey girl, how about some world-domination and chill?" kinda way?"

Jane stared at her, but forced herself to keep on walking. "Uh, no. I don't know. Maybe. Who knows. Just...please focus. Don't be taken in by him, okay? Anyway I have to go. I'm late for a meeting."

Darcy waved animatedly as she watched Jane hurry off, then she smoothed down her burgundy corduroy skirt, and pressed the buzzer on the intercom panel outside the Avengers private quarters.

A few minutes later, she found herself standing in the middle of the main lounge room, waiting patiently for introductions to be made.

As she waited, she noticed a bag of candy on the table, and couldn't resist helping herself to one. Which turned out to be a bad call, seeing as she inadvertently picked a chewy, toffee caramel, that immediately got stuck between her teeth.

Just then, a door opened, and to her slight dismay instead of being greeted by Tony Stark, or Captain America, she was met by the familiar face of Agent Coulson.
He smiled his usual wry smile as he entered the room, dressed in his trademark smart suit.

"Hello again."

Darcy forced a smile, but couldn't speak due to her teeth being glued together. So instead she bobbed her head like one of those toys you see in the back of cars.

Then a tall, dark, imposing figure swept in through the door behind Coulson, and Darcy almost choked on the damned candy.

Holy shit.
Here he was, in the flesh.
The dreaded Loki.

"I believe this is now yours?" Coulson said, handing the small controller to her. He turned to Loki, eyeing him with a measured amount of suspicion. "And you, be sure to play nice."

Loki glowered angrily at the agent, then promptly turned to glower at Darcy.

Unsurprisingly, he was in full leather get-up, except it looked slightly different to the style she'd seen him wearing on the News footage.
Still, it was no less flamboyant, and....unarguably rather sexy.

"I presume I need no introduction." He stated frostily, as Darcy chewed furiously in order to rid herself of the toffee that prevented her from speaking. "You must be Miss Lewis?"

God, that voice was incredible. Deep and velvety. Very sexy. A little threatening, and utterly unnerving.

"Mm hm. Soooo. You're Loki?" She managed at last, though her words came out rather unclear, due to still having her mouth full. "Wow. You're really.....tall."

Okay, so admittedly she hadn't thought that through. Stating the obvious didn't seem to cut a lot of ice with the oppressive trickster God, who's brow now forged into a deep scowl.

"I beg your pardon?"

She waved her hand dismissively. "Nothing. You look even taller in person than you do on T.V. Just saying. By the way, you can call me Darcy....I'm kinda like your babysitter I guess. Which I literally just found out, like two seconds ago, so....yeah. Anyway, how's things with you?"

Loki's mouth seemed to perceptibly slacken a little, and he turned to look at Coulson questioningly. As though he needed an interpreter.
Either that or he couldn't quite believe the level of inane rambling coming out of her mouth.

"Play nice." Coulson repeated warningly, which made Darcy feel slightly defensive.

"Uh, hello." She waved a hand in front of Loki's face, nerves having gotten the better of her now, which always made her slightly hyper. "Maybe you're having trouble hearing me up there....I'm trying to break the ice here--"

"I don't care." Loki replied, eyeing her with a look of disdain which bordered on contempt.

And she was glad, for her own sake as well as his, that she finally succeeded in swallowing the candy, because her mouth quite literally fell open. "Uh, rude!" She folded her arms defensively, clutching his file to her duffel-coated chest.

So much for him being charming, she thought.

Just because he was a God, and obscenely tall, and rather good-looking --exceptionally, actually, she realised grudgingly -- and a Prince, didn't give him the right to talk down to her, or look at her with such unveiled condescension.

"Well I see you two have hit it off." Phil interrupted dryly, as he began beating a noticeably hasty retreat. "I'll be right next door if you need me."

"Wait, you're going to just leave me alone with him?" Darcy exclaimed, panic beginning to froth in her throat. "Talk about being thrown in at the deep end! I'd have thought you of all people would stick around to provide me with some...some moral support here. Or backup."

Coulson hesitated, looking perplexed. "Me of all people?"

"Yes you." She pointed an accusatory finger at the God of Mischief. "He...he killed you!"

Loki heaved an exasperated sigh. "Well clearly, I did no such thing."

"No, but you tried. And everyone thought you had. You could have done. You skewered him like a kebab with that space glow-stick of yours!"

Loki stared at her, looking decidedly nonplussed. "Are you completely incapable of engaging your brain before your mouth?"

"Wait, enough now." Coulson said, as if addressing two badly behaved toddlers. "Whatever may or may not have happened in the past, we don't talk about it. It's imperative we all try to move on. Darcy, you have the controller. As long as you have that, there's nothing to worry about."

"I don't believe this." Loki piped up, seemingly now utterly disgruntled. "Am I to be left at the mercy of someone so incompetent? As though I am no more than a caged animal?"

"Incompetent? Really? Um, you don't know me!"

"Thankfully I don't. But I don't need to know you in order to conclude you are incompetent--"

"Listen buster, I don't have to take this crap from you!" Darcy's hand instinctively flew to her hip, and the movement caused the controller to slip from her grasp.
She desperately tried to catch it, as it seemed to fall downwards in almost animated slow-motion.
But her efforts were in vain.
It clattered to the floor, and in the process, the impact accidentally activated the shocking system.

The distinctive crackling sound of the electrical jolt, filled her ears, and she watched in horror as Loki's tall, lean body went rigid, save for his muscles and nerves jumping and constricting due to the shock.

He fell to the ground with an unceremonious thud, where he lay helpless, his limbs contorting.

"Shit! I am so sorry." She gabbled hastily, as she scrabbled to retrieve the controller.

She hit the deactivate button, and leaned down to examine the damage. Though not too closely, as she anticipated her blunder might well provoke an angry outburst.

"Are you okay?" She ventured apprehensively, noting the way he glared up at her.

Yep.
He was pissed.
Hardly surprising really.

"Oddly enough, I am not O-KAY!" He hissed, still lay flat on his back. "Do you have any idea how painful that is? Do you?"

She didn't, but she could only imagine.
The intensity of the voltage had quite literally, made his hair curl.

Oops.

"Look I am sorry. Like, really sorry. That was an accident. I swear!" She chanced a nervous smile. "Do you need CPR? Because I totally know CPR."

She naively hoped that he might see the funny side, and smile back.

He didn't.