Prompt: Due to a storm, the power goes out at SHIELD and the building goes on lockdown. Loki and Darcy are stuck in one of the labs, and decide to swap scary stories to pass the time. -sigridhr

"Hey Jane, Mind if I leave a little early tonight?" Darcy called over her shoulder to her boss, packing up her messenger bag.

"Sure, go have fun tonight." Jane Foster replied, typing a furious stream of numbers onto her computer. "I'm off now, actually. Need to pick up Erik from the airport."

"Is my brother not escorting him? Why must he resort to Midgardian transport?" Loki asked, looking up from the archaic Norse texts he was translating. The three were the remaining stragglers in S.H.I.E.L.D's astrophysics lab, and patience was wearing thin in anticipation. Loki especially, as this was his first night off of parole, planned to work through the night without distraction.

Darcy, however, was thrilled for her Halloween night out, and her first night off of guard duty in a year. Loki seemed thrilled at the chance of privacy, so Darcy made plans to go clubbing with a friend from school.

"Loki, you sure you don't want to come with?" Darcy asked the God, grabbing her bag. "Halloween is the most mischievous night like...ever! If you promise not to kill anyone, we could pull some great pranks tonight!" Jane shot her intern a look of disapproval before grabbing her keys.

"Don't get in too much trouble."
"I assure you, Doctor Foster, that I am to remain-"

"I was talking to Darcy." She interrupted. " Frankly, I trust you more than I trust her tonight. Halloween is kind of her kryptonite."

"Pardon?"

"Her weakness." Jane glided through the glass doors and out of sight, and Darcy soon followed suit.

"I'm going to go change and catch the train back to Manhattan, You going to be alright here, Loki?" Darcy asked, clutching the door handle.

"I assure you, Miss Lewis, that I will be perfectly fine."

"Alright..." she sighed. "Well if you need something, call me!" She waltzed out of the lab, leaving Loki alone.

"Finally," he breathed. Peace at last.

He enjoyed his first twenty minutes of silence in ages, before hearing the rushed clicking of shoes outside the lab.

"Sorry! Left my notes."
Darcy scuttled in her high heels to her station, wearing a delicate white dress and sheer veil in her hair. Loki gasped. At that moment, she looked more beautiful than ever... save the organs and splatters of blood apparently gushing from her stomach.

"What...in the nine realms...are you wearing?!" Loki spat in disgust. "You look repulsive."

"Thank you!" Darcy beamed, twirling in her dress. "It's a tradition on Midgard to wear a costume on Halloween, the scarier the better."

"And what, pray tell, are you dressed as?" asked Loki, lips pursed. He looked at the paintball gun, left over from last month's adventure, clutched in her lacy, gloved fingers.

"I'm a shotgun wedding! Get it?" Darcy giggled. "I was going to add a fake baby to the mix, but I didn't want to get mistaken for dressing as abortion again."
"Wait...again?"
"Let's just say my Quato costume in High School got me detention for two weeks."

"Once again, Miss Lewis, Your prattling is nonsense to-"

Shoooooooom.

Suddenly, black. Nothing but cold, silent black. Loki snapped his fingers and immediately produced a small ball of blue light. Darcy screamed bloody horror. The illumination under his face distorted his features, rendering him unearthly looking, shadows cutting across his face.

"Sorry...sorry..." she choked apologetically. You just look...

"Terrifying?" Loki finished her sentence, flicking the orb of light into the air. A dangerously sentimental look glazed his eyes as he approached her, like a cobra about to strike. "Like the monsters your mother told you about at night?"

"No, no...well kind of? Not like that..." Darcy tried to explain, cowering slightly. "It's just...you're a dead ringer for Dracula in this lighting. It's the cheekbones, you know?"

"Please clarify." Loki murmured cautiously. He always needed further explanation of her Midgardian references.

"It's a book...about a blood sucking vampire who prays on innocent young women." Darcy blabbered, backing against her desk. Loki grimaced at her analogy as he continued toward her.

"It's a good book! Really...Vampires are considered sexy nowadays...!" her words tumbled out of her mouth like lemmings, not helping her case. Loki stopped inches away from where she stood, grabbing her gloved hand before leaning down to kiss her, stopping inches away from her lips.

"You really don't know when to stop talking, do you?" He smirked before releasing his grip and standing up straight.

Darcy smirked and leaned her forehead on Loki's chest. "I'm sorry, this lockdown has me all freaked out... "

"It's quite alright, love." Loki smiled, petting her hair. "I am sorry you are missing your festivities."

"Oh, we can still celebrate! Pass me one of your glowy orby things!" Darcy chirped, making her way to her bag and rummaging around inside. Loki could hear the shrill crinkle of cellophane as she returned, the blue glow setting her pale complexion alight. He looked down at the strange orange package in her arms.

"I brought these for the office, but I'm glad I saved them"

"What is that?" Loki looked puzzled at the bag.

"Candy!" She bubbled. "A Midgardian tradition for Halloween. I've got kit-kat bars, hershey kisses, skittles..." She sifted through the package and pulled out several foil-wrapped objects. "Try a Reeses-You're not allergic to peanuts, are you?"

"I doubt any mortal sustenance could make me ill, your liquor is like water." Loki sneered, and Darcy so wanted to take him out drinking after that comment. With long fingers, Loki popped the small chocolate into his mouth and paused.

"They're great, right?" Darcy giggled, lighting a Bunsen burner at her station.

"Not terrible, an interesting taste." Loki replied, swallowing and joining his companion. "Besides confections, what else did you have planned for tonight?"

Darcy swung on her stool, the playful flame reflected in her eyes. "Well, I planned on drinking too much marshmallow vodka and waking up in Brooklyn...but I guess we can still celebrate here," she beamed. "We can sit around the fire and tell scary stories...old school! Know any?"

"Why don't you start? I'm curious about this Dracula you mentioned." Loki answered, inching closer to Darcy and unwrapping a kit-kat bar with long, calculating fingers.

"Okay. Well...it was a dark and stormy night..."

Darcy began to recount the tale of Jonathan Harker with incredibly disgusting detail.

"And THEN! Van Helsing chopped off her head with a machete, drove a wooden stake through her cold, dead heart, and stuffed garlic down his fiance's pulsating windpipe...rotten, spoiled blood gushing from her corpse all over the doctor's bare hands..."

"Alright, I get it." Loki grimaced. "What happens next?"

Shoooooooooom

The lights violently burst back on, causing Darcy to jump. She looked down at her cell phone.

"It's only 10:00!" Darcy cheered. "I can probably catch the C train into-" Her words trailed off when she saw Loki extinguish the Bunsen Burner and reopen his texts.

"Go," he waved his hand, nonplussed. "Try not to get into too much trouble. I'll see you tomorrow."

Darcy wrapped up her candy and stuffed it back into her purse.

"Actually...I was wondering. We didn't get to finish the story."

"You can tell me tomorrow...it'll be twice as scary when you're hungover."

"How about we watch the movie? I have the Coppola version on DVD. We can eat some more candy, make some skittles vodka shots...it'll be fun!"

Loki smiled. "No, go enjoy your night off. I'll be perfectly fine with my work."

Darcy closed her bag reluctantly and headed towards the door. Suddenly, she stopped at the light switches and shut them all off before running back to their quasi-campfire, stumbling in the darkness.

"Flick that burner back on. Let's finish this."

She heard Loki clap his book shut as he twisted the dial on the Bunsen, the flame flickering back to life. Darcy leaned on his shoulder and opened a pack of skittles. Loki ran his cunning fingers through her long, brown curls.

"As you wish, Miss Lewis..."

Happy Halloween, everybody! Love, DC.