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"What kind of name is Darcy anyway?" he asked, shifting his legs forward.

She would have wanted to answer back with "What kind of name is Loki?", but she knew he would have a smart reply about deity and mythology and she wasn't up for another debate.

They were standing in one of the many observation rooms, every item in it as impersonal and cold as the god himself. She had to suppress some comments.

"It's sort of French," she mumbled eventually.

"French? Didn't you say you were American?"

"Our names can have different origins," she argued.

"And your parents picked French? Why?"

Darcy was a bit confused. Why would anyone be so interested in this name? What was it with him and questions anyway?

"It's not very common and it sounds elevated. I think that's why they chose it," she answered.

Loki raised an eyebrow, looking her up and down.

"And you are uncommon? And elevated?"

Darcy smiled in acquiescence. He had a point.

"I guess I didn't turn out that way, after all."

"Your parents hoped you would, then," he offered.

"Can we stop talking about my name?" she asked, looking down.

"Why? Does it shame you? Does it remind you of your shortcomings?"

His smooth, cruel voice made it sound a lot worse in her mind, even though he probably meant nothing by it. She made an indecipherable face.

"I don't think about it," she answered. "It's just my name."

"So...you don't think about yourself? About who you are?"

"Enough with the questions!" she suddenly burst out. "God, why are you so curious?"

"You don't have to call me that every time we speak," he said, smirking.

"Call you what - ?"

"God."

"That's not what I – I didn't mean you."

"Then you inferred another God? Who is he?"

"Someone infinitely more pleasant than you," she muttered more to herself.

"I guess I could believe that," he said, his voice growing stern.

Darcy turned back to her laptop. She was watching him though, from the corner of her eye.

He sat back against the wall and sighed in boredom.

"When does your mistress come back?"

"My mis - you probably mean Jane. And she's not my mistress. She's my friend. There's a difference."

"She seemed to be ordering you around. Not to mention she is your superior."

Darcy blushed furiously.

"She wasn't ordering me around! I'm an intern and I have some duties around here but it doesn't mean I'm working for her exclusively," she said rolling her eyes.

"But you admit you are her inferior?" Loki asked, his eyes dancing.

"What? Intellectually?" she said, as if the word was tedious to her.

"And socially most likely, but yes," he nodded.

"We work in different fields, so you can't exactly compare us."

"Then what are you doing here?"

"I'm a student. Majoring in Political Science, but I was interested in her work," she said. It wasn't a complete lie. It certainly wasn't anymore anyways.

"So, it means you are still learning. Am I correct?"

"I suppose, yes."

"So, you are Jane's inferior," he concluded.

"Just because I haven't reached her level of knowledge doesn't mean I'm inferior," she retorted.

"Isn't that the definition of the term?"

"In your messed up head, maybe. But I don't like that word. No one does."

"Well, of course, no one likes it when it is applied to them," he reasoned.

"I'd still be pissed off if you called someone else inferior."

"No, you wouldn't."

"Yes, I would. It's just not your call."

"Not my call?"

"I mean you don't know people well enough, you don't even know me so you have no right to draw conclusions like that."

"Don't I have the right to an opinion?" he asked innocently.

"When it's not stupid, sure," she said boldly.

"Now who is being unfair? Why would you say my opinion is stupid?" he asked, feeling offended.

"If I have to explain it to you, what's the point?" she said, shutting her laptop.

"Is this your way of holding an argument?" he asked, scandalized.

"No. It's my way of saying I don't have time for this."

Loki knew she wasn't going to give in soon, so it would be best to ignore her nonsense. She would prattle on endlessly, otherwise.

"You still haven't answered my question. When does...Jane come back?"

Darcy sighed and pulled her bag from the floor.

"Not for a while."

"Not for a while? What does that mean?"

"It means she doesn't feel like seeing you right now."

"She could at least endeavour to speak to me."

"Problem is, you tried to kill us, several times. And you pissed her off when you went for Thor. They're sort of together, if you hadn't noticed."

"I had," he said, almost as if it disgusted him.

"The reasons for my actions are unknown to her," he suddenly said.

"She doesn't have to –"

"Didn't you say we shouldn't draw conclusions without knowing?" he countered, repeating her words.

Darcy was caught off guard. She did not know how to reply to that. A loophole in logic.

"Yeah... I did say that," she admitted. 'But this is a bit different.'

"Why? Because you know me? Because you know Thor?" he asked, frustration rising in him.

Darcy was going to get up, but she sat down again, feeling a bit overwhelmed.

"You can't expect people to ignore what you did. You almost destroyed a town. And you were gonna kill off some poor giants just out of spite. Jane told me."

Loki sighed in annoyance.

"If you knew them, you wouldn't say they are so poor. And you wouldn't be so hasty to discredit me. I may have been blinded by power, but I am not one to wreak havoc senselessly."

Darcy snorted.

"But that's kind of who you are, isn't it? God of mischief. Yeah, I'd say you do wreak havoc senselessly."

Loki looked away.

"I should then surmise Jane is not going to see me."

"Nope. Not very soon."

"So, you mortals are just going to keep me here until my magic dies out completely?"

Darcy rolled her eyes.

"Stop being such a drama queen."

He frowned confused.

"We are...observing you," she added, as an explanation.

"You have nothing to gain from me."

"Why don't you let us decide that?"

"There's no point in keeping me here, like a piece of furniture. Just let me go."

'Are you kidding me? Letting you run free is like letting Hannibal Lecter take a cooking class.'

Loki chose to ignore the gibberish.

"I am no threat. Not in this state," he said bitterly.

"Exactly. You're no threat now. But you will be," she replied.

"Am I to understand you will keep me here indefinitely? Isolated from everyone?"

Darcy sighed, running a hand through her tangled hair.

"I wish. But, they've made me do it."

Loki seemed a bit confused.

"Made you do what?"

"Check on you."

"You?" he asked bewildered. "You're just a child."

"Subtle," she replied, rolling her eyes.

"They are just going to let someone like you handle me?" he asked, mystified by the complete lack of sense.

"Geez, compliment me some more, why don't you? I'm just your outside, human contact. I'm not going to "handle you". There are specialists for that."

Loki gave her a miserable look.

"So, you are here to keep me entertained then?" he asked bitterly.

"You've got some nerve, you know that?" she said, glaring at him.

"What did I say?"

"What haven't you said?" she asked.

He glared back. She had a strange, irritating way with words.

"I prefer complete solitude," he spoke, after a while. "At least I would be alone with my thoughts."

"Really? Is that what you want? Because if I get it in writing they might give me something else to do," she drawled, rolling her eyes.

"You are very insolent for your age."

"I'm twenty-one, FYI," she retorted.

"Twenty-one?" he snorted, chuckling. "That's barely being alive."

Darcy shook her head. "You'll find I'm just as alive as you are."

"Don't insult me with mortal adjectives," Loki replied, his tone flat and careless. "I'm not alive. Living implies dying. I am immortal."

"Hey, twenty-one feels immortal to me too right now," she countered.

"You can't even compare to me – " he began.

"Yeah, well, I already did, so maybe immortality is overrated," she said.

Loki shook his head annoyed.

"You don't even know what you are talking about."

"Guess what? You don't either. You're on Earth now. Time to rethink some things."

With that, she finally got up, pulled her bag over her shoulder and her laptop under her arm and walked out of the observation room.

Loki looked at the door as it closed shut. He blinked, trying to make sense of what just happened.

Her last words had left a small indentation in his thoughts.