"Skyriel!" he called across the expanse of the Hub's underground atrium. She barely had time to turn, to register strange dark clothes in black and green before he was there, effortlessly scooping her up as if she were no more than a doll.

As he crushed her to him, Skye heard him murmur, "When you were taken, I feared the worst."

By this point events had caught up with their team and Ward and May had their weapons trained on the alien criminal in their midst. Coulson was shaking. Knowing that the thing who had stabbed him-killed him-was being moved through the Hub today for interrogation, he'd almost relished the chance to see him again, to find out if hatred for Loki might reconnect him with his life before death. He had never expected to have his killer so close, to be forced to interact.

"Unhand my agent!" Coulson called, voice mostly steady despite his shaking hands. He hadn't bothered to draw his weapon, knowing that in this state of upset there was no way he could safely use it.

On the other side of the massive underground room, the guards who had been escorting Loki had realized what had happened, and were rushing to get back to his side. Even a room full of trained agents turn skittish when confronted with an interstellar terrorist with uncanny abilities, so the throng was shouting and fearful, not quite able to return to their orders and protocols in the face of such a blatant display.

For his part, Loki held the girl out at arms length so he could better see her. His pale brow was wrinkled in consternation.

"What trickery is this? FURY!" he yelled, and the halls reverberated with his anger, then fell eerily silent. It took Skye a second to realize he was calling for the Director and not announcing his emotional state. She looked at him sideways, not quite wanting to meet the livid gaze he had turned on her. She knew that this was Loki, adopted brother of Thor and the one responsible for the Battle of New York and its fallout. She knew she couldn't have seen him in person before, but there was also something vaguely familiar about him. Was it the feeling of his arms? The way he smelled?

"Skyriel," he repeated, "What have they done to you?" Loki's anger paled a little, and when Skye finally turned her eyes to his she couldn't uncover any deceit, just infinite sadness.

"I don't. . ." Skye cleared her throat. Was she afraid? She should be, but more than anything she felt confused. Her brain burned with the feeling of hovering at the precipice of a breakthrough, of finally uncovering some profound truth. It felt like hacking. She cast her eyes to the side, and was shocked to find that the rest of the room stood still around them, May and Ward's guns raised, Coulson's mouth open mid-shout. Fitz-Simmons were gawking with identical expressions of fear and surprise on their faces. Only she and Loki were moving.

"Shh," he soothed. "It is disgusting that they have involved a child in their pathetic plays for power, but I should hardly have expected any less of Midgardians. Believe me when I say I will make them pay." Loki's expressive eyes grew icy as he spat this out, and Skye shivered.

"Don't," her voice failed. She gathered herself together, grasping for any of the spunk she was frequently told she possessed. "Don't hurt anyone, ok? I know you were here for talks-I know you're here from Asgard to make amends or whatever. Please don't change your mind. I don't know you-I don't know why seeing me would change your mind."

This speech had the effect of thawing Loki's gaze, but Skye was completely unprepared for the tears that moistened the edges of his hard eyes. She was unprepared for this whole encounter.

"Poor, poor Skyriel. How unfair it is that children must pay for the sins of their fathers, though that truth holds on Asgard as surely as here. Perhaps it is a universal constant. I pray that someday we will have time to unravel this miserably tangled skein. But tell me quickly before my shield fails, how have they aged you so rapidly in a single year?"

At Skye's blank look he tried again. "Or is there something darker afoot? How old do you think you are? Do you even know your name?"

Skye knew she probably shouldn't be cooperating with the enemy, especially one who was spouting this much crazy, but she found herself answering.

"Twenty-five, I'm twenty-five-not a child," She raised her chin defiantly, though she suspected that only made her seem more childish. "And my name is Skye. Just Skye, not-whatever you said," she finished lamely.

Loki smiled a little at her, eyes still bright with unshed tears. "Twenty-five would still be a babe in Asgard, but by my reckoning, you should have only recently reached your second birthday. An infant by anyone's standards, I think." Loki had never relinquished his hold on her arms, so it took barely a tug to have her sprawling back against him. He kissed her forehead and hugged her close, whispering in her ear. "I promise I will discover what happened to you, and I will come for you. Keep safe, Skyriel Lokisdottir."

He kissed her forehead once again, and then he was gone, and instead chaos surrounded her. Between the heads of her crowding teammates, Skye saw Loki once more across the atrium, impatiently gesturing to his guards to get back in formation and lead him on toward the security checkpoint.

Coulson closed his mouth, surged forward, and for the second time in the last ten seconds, Skye found herself enveloped in a fatherly hug. After a lifetime of doing without, she guessed she should have been starved for them, but instead it felt like too much too soon. She patted Coulson's back a little, then pulled away, giving him a weak smile.

He didn't let go of her arms, but held onto her just as Loki had.

"Did he hurt you? I'm so sorry. We'd been assured he couldn't do-couldn't use-" Coulson still struggled to apply the human notion of "powers" to acts that matched so perfectly with the human concept of "magic".

"No-he just wanted to-ask me a couple of questions," she trailed off, not sure how much of that bizarre encounter was obvious to those around her. Was this a secret she should keep, or did everyone else already know? She looked around her with new eyes, and felt certain that if they'd thought it necessary-if it was orders and for her own good-every one of her teammates would have kept this from her. That was the point of SHIELD, wasn't it? To keep the pathetic little individuals from the truths they couldn't handle.

"I knew he would be here, I selfishly wanted to see him again, never thinking it would endanger my team," Coulson seemed to be talking to himself. His eyes widened again.

"He didn't-try anything else?"

So maybe Coulson didn't know.

"Ew, no," said Skye, aware of the others' eyes. "Let's get going." She tried a bright smile, but suspected from May and Ward's hard eyes that it fell pretty flat. "We still have a mission to complete. Orders, right?"

They slowly turned and continued toward the research wing where they had been headed before the world had turned sideways. The agents around them eyed her warily, but no one said a word to her as they slowly resumed their duties. Skye could tell from May's tense stance that she at least was expecting someone to stop them, but no one did. Fitz-Simmons seemed to be bursting with questions, but Coulson shook his head. No one voiced the obvious and they continued on unhindered. Skye blinked her eyes, inwardly reeling in shock, trying to process the outrageous story lurking behind the short conversation she had just held. It stood in stark contrast to the dark and purposeful air of the Hub. Secrets and lies. Business as usual.

A/N

So I know there are like 5 billion other supervillains in the MarvelVerse whose daughter Skye could be, but still, wouldn't it be weird/something if it was Loki? And and and time travel!? What do YOU think?