Name: Dr. Rowan Vinter

Position: S.H.I.E.L.D. Operative, Asgardian First Contact Team

Education: Ph.D. Psychology, Anthropology

Skills: Weapons Training, Interrogation

Background: Adopted daughter of Dr. Hogarth Vinter, astrophysicist, and Dr. Gertrude Vinter, psychiatrist. True parentage unknown.

Don't believe a word he says. And probably best not to look him in the eye.

This had been Director Fury's last piece of advice. And now she stood, her feet firmly planted in Asgard, about to meet the man she had been sent to study. Loki. God of Mischief. God of Lies. War criminal. She had jumped at the chance to come here, despite the danger. A once in a lifetime opportunity, to see another world, to figure out, once again, how the human mind...she stopped her self. Asgardians were not humans, and Loki was not even Asgardian. This made it easier for some to deal with the aftermath of his destruction, his attempt to subjugate the human race. As if a human had never tried those things before.

How a sociopath's mind works. A sorcerer. A lost little boy. Because that's what they all are in the end, aren't they?

She was ushered to the door of the cell by Thor, the God of Thunder himself. In every sense, Thor was Loki's opposite. The picture to Loki's negative. It was easy to see how this whole mess got started. She quietly thanked her parents for keeping her an only child.

"Before I let you in, I have to let you know that for this first meeting, my brother will be muzzled. We thought it for the best, until we know how...strong... your mind is. Loki is a very powerful magician. Sometimes, even without speaking, he can end up controlling you. Even the guards are not allowed in. There was...an incident. Luckily we quickly got it under control, or he would be off trying to subjugate another world." Thor rolled his eyes a bit, but there was real concern behind it. Pain for a brother so seemingly lost.

Rowan thought back to the footage, of an entire crowd of people in Stuttgart kneeling before the trickster god. It was so easy for him then. She would not be so easily fooled.

"My Lord, I believe I have my work cut out for me."

Thor opened the door of the cell into utter nothingness. There seemed to be no floor, no ceiling, just a void. And floating in the void was a cube that seemed to be made of some kind of force field, open to view from all angles. Sitting calmly inside on the floor of the cube was the man himself. Loki. Thor stepped out into the void, and did not fall. He motioned for Rowan to follow him, and she put her right foot out, not quite knowing if it would find ground, and yet there it was. Her foot landed in the nothingness with a pleasing thud. What magic they have here, she thought. Magic. Science. Here they are the same.

"Just a few minutes here. No need to get him…over excited" Thor said, sighing.

Thor led Rowan to the edge of the cube, and she heard the quiet hum of the force field.

"Brother", Thor said by way of greeting. Loki rose from the floor and nodded. He wore the muzzle he had left Earth in, and a simple outfit of black leather breeches and black shirt. No more godly attire here, Rowan thought. No more horned helmet, but still always with the leather. She laughed inwardly. Asgardians and their leather.

"Brother, may I present to you Rowan Vinter of Midgard. She has been sent by S.H.I.E.L.D. to…um…help". Thor looked at her. What was he to say?, Rowan thought. To study you brother? Like an animal in a zoo? Rowan finally got a good look at her specimen. Tall, so very tall and imposing. Slim where Thor was muscular. His hair had the blue-black sheen of a raven's feather in the sun. And his eyes…like drowning in a sea of emeralds, then…opals, storm clouds. Ice.

Blood.

Rowan blinked and realized she had already not heeded the Director's final advice. She may have just made the biggest mistake of her life by looking the God of Lies in the eye.