Darcy didn’t realise she was freezing to death again until she was woken up suddenly to the familiar sensation of her space being invaded. Before she really realised what was going on, she felt herself being pulled back away from the edge of the bed. She went completely stiff as Loki pulled her close to his chest, unable to believe he would actually try anything with Lil not three feet away.

"You’re freezing again," he mumbled into the back of Darcy’s neck as he moved the flimsy blankets around them.

He didn’t say or do anything else after that, and it took Darcy a few tense minutes to realise he’d gone back to sleep. His breath on the back of her neck was just about the only warm thing about him, making Darcy wonder how being held against him was supposed to make anything better. At least this time his dick wasn’t digging into her ass. She looked across the darkness to where Lil slept, wondering if she even would be able to help. Even if he was sick and broken, Loki was still what ancient people once worshipped as a god. He could probably overpower both of them if he wanted. But he was also asleep, and once Darcy finally managed to relax again, she tried not to admit that it actually felt kind of nice to just be held and not be groped or threatened. She looked at the clock between the two beds, actually kind of glad it was only 1:30 in the morning. It meant if she actually managed to get back to sleep, she could maybe get a full night’s rest for the first time in days.

The next time she woke up, she was pulled out of a dream where she was stuck inside a labyrinthine version of Culver while aliens attacked and stuff was being knocked off the walls with heavy thuds. Loki was suddenly holding onto her very tightly and sitting straight up behind her. She looked back at him, able to just make out his features in the dim morning light.

"What?" she started to ask, but before she could even finish the word, Loki clamped his hand tight over her mouth. She almost screamed anyway, but loud knocking at the door made her forget all about Loki’s hand on her mouth. She looked at the window by the door, realising she could just barely make out several figures through the curtains.

"Miss Crawley, we know you’re in there, and we know you’re harbouring a fugitive. Open up!" someone called from outside. It took Darcy a few moments to realise that someone was Coulson.

Darcy managed to twist her head away and looked back at Loki as he got up. Once on his feet, he grabbed Darcy by the wrist and led her to the door, standing against the wall so when the door opened, it would smack right into them. Lil was up as well, slowly getting out of bed and walking to the other side of the room like she was ready for a fight.

There was the sound of a key card in the lock, giving away their intent to break in suddenly. The door opened, and as soon as the first person stepped inside, Loki threw a punch to the side of his head, dropping the agent to the ground. It wasn’t until she looked down at him that Darcy realised that it was Agent Sitwell, which unpleasantly reminded her that he was part of SHIELD as well.

"Sitwell, no!" she said before she could stop herself. It was just enough to draw Coulson’s attention as he came in, gun drawn. He looked at her almost questioningly, but it was cut short by Lil launching a flying kick at him. They both toppled into the parking lot outside, giving an opening for Loki to grab Darcy again and run. A third agent had his gun drawn just outside the door, but before he could do anything, Loki let go of Darcy again and grabbed the agent. He moved so quickly, it was barely even a struggle before the agent fell limp after a wet cracking sound. Darcy stared down at him in horror, seeing what she knew was a dead person in the trampled snow. Even after Loki took hold of her wrist again, he had to drag her away. She looked back to see Lil giving as good as she got with Coulson as Loki led her out to the sidewalk. In the few seconds it took Loki to decide on which direction to go, something flew right past Darcy’s head and hit Loki where his shoulder met his neck. If he were human, the arrow would have killed him almost instantly. Instead, he howled an inhuman sound and turned toward the direction of the hidden sniper and threw his hand forward. Darcy watched someone fly off the roof like he’d been pulled by a wire. Unable to believe any of what she’d just seen, she looked back up at Loki just in time to see him snap the shaft of the arrow off, leaving the point still stuck in him.

Before Coulson could manage to arrest Lil, the apparent ninja or some shit, Loki pulled Darcy along down the road. The early morning commute was probably already starting, but as far out on the edge of town as they were, the streets were still empty. As Loki pulled Darcy along the sidewalk, she became acutely aware of the fact that she wasn’t wearing shoes, and was pretty sure she was about to get frostbite.

"We need a car," she said suddenly. Loki looked around, and started pulling her toward a new minivan parked outside a small shopping centre.

"No, it’s too new. I won’t be able to start it," she said.

She looked over her shoulder, knowing it wasn’t long before Coulson and his goons caught up with them. Turning her sights back to the meagre offerings of the shopping centre, she spotted an older Taurus estate and tugged Loki in that direction. On the off-chance the owner was an idiot, she tried the door, but was unsurprised to find it locked. She got ready to try to break the window, but Loki pushed her out of the way instead. He felt up the door like he was trying to get to second base and tried it again, this time opening it like it had never been locked. Darcy climbed inside and reached over to unlock the other door, only then realising the flaw in her plan.

"Hey, that thing you did to make people not see us. Can you do that to the car?" she asked.

The look of physical pain on Loki’s face actually hurt her to look at.

"I know it hurts you, but if we get pulled over, we’re dead," she said.

Loki sighed and looked around. "I need a knife," he said.

Darcy started looking around the car, and actually came up with a small jackknife in the glove box. She handed it to Loki so he could do his thing while she got to work on starting the car. She wrenched the bottom steering column panel out, having to throw all her weight into breaking it, and pulled the mess of wires free. She started sorting through them, finding the starter bundle amongst all the rest. She separated out the wires she knew she needed and poked her head out the door to see where Loki was.

"Are you done with the knife?" she asked.

Loki grumbled and skidded it across the ground at her. Using the knife, Darcy stripped a few of the wires and twisted them together, lighting up the dash panel. With that done, she stripped the brown one and touched it to the first bundle. The car engine started, revving almost lazily in the cold weather. Cringing desperately, Darcy revved the engine a few more times, just to make sure it didn’t die. Once she was certain, she used the knife to pry off the keyhole on the steering column and pulled the wheel hard to the left to break the lock. Darcy never thought she’d be so glad to have lost her keys her freshman year of college.

Just as she finished that, Loki opened the passenger door and fell into the seat. His hands were covered in blood, and Darcy was pretty sure his nose was bleeding as well.

A sudden, terrible thought occurring to her, Darcy jumped in her seat and slammed her hands against her thighs to feel her pockets. She shoved her hands inside them, and was immediately relieved to find their dwindling supply of cash still on her. She counted it out, wondering how they’d managed to spend over $100 already.

"Let’s get some breakfast. And then we’ll figure it out from there, okay?" she said.

Loki nodded tiredly and turned in his seat so he faced the window. "Get it out," he said. His voice was heavy and wet, and definitely not healthy.

"It’s probably stopping the blood," Darcy said, not wanting to look at the black shaft sticking out of his skin. There was less blood than she expected there to be, but she knew if she pulled the arrow out, he probably would bleed to death.

"Get. It. Out," Loki demanded through gritted teeth.

With a disgusted grimace, Darcy shut her door and turned to face Loki better. This was just like that first night, when she pulled out all his stitches. He hadn’t bled too much then, so Darcy convinced herself that it would be fine. She tried to find a way to grab the arrow shaft without getting too much blood on her hands, but he’d broken it off so close to the skin, she wasn’t even sure if she could pull it out at all. She finally just went in, grabbing it and pulling on it as hard as she could. Loki made a sound like he was biting back a scream, and she almost stopped. But there was no point in pulling it out halfway, so she repositioned her grip and gave it one last good tug. The arrow came free with a sickening squelching sound, letting the blood flow freely behind it. It was still less than Darcy had expected, but enough to make a mess all the same. She looked around the car, finding a small blanket balled up in the back seat, and grabbed it. After wiping her hands off with it, she pressed the blanket to the back of Loki’s neck and pulled his hand up so he held it in place.

"Can you eat right now?" Darcy asked, realising that the arrow had probably gone into his throat.

Loki settled back in his seat and nodded tiredly. Nodding back, Darcy turned back to face the wheel and put the car into gear. She had no idea where they were or how to get to where they needed to go, but she was pretty sure they’d find a McDonald’s or something sooner or later. Hoping Loki’s disgusting blood magic would work on the car, she pulled out of the parking lot and onto the main road, looking for big, black SUVs at every turn.