A/N: Hey, guys. Sooo, this is basically a completely re-done version of Psychique Femme. It will have aspects that remain the same, but if you're expecting a slightly altered version of that fic, prepare to be disappointed. Some of the basic premise will remain the same, but Riley, her powers and backstory, and the arc with Asgard is all going to change and follow the MCU more closely. That said, please don't let that deter you from reading, as I'm really excited with the new stuff, and hoping my ideas will be well-received by you guys!

These first few chapters will not be too terribly different from the original, but they still need to be read, since Riley's background has changed.

As always, I don't own anything Marvel-related.

A Note: For the sake of this story, there's a character who comes from Mythology. I know that with JK Rowling's editing of history, this could serve to be a touchy/hot subject for some, so I'd like to make it clear that nothing about any myths are changed for the sake of this fic. He's simply added in, particularly in Norse Myth, so let me know if this causes any offense to anyone.

…

"Sounds like you already have your hands full. Why do you need me?"

"We need as much help as possible."

"They can't know who I am."

"I know."

"I'm surprised you didn't send one of your agents."

"I figured this case might need to be handled delicately."

Riley snuck a short glance up from her computer screen to scan over Nick Fury's face. Tall and well-built, the black man's eyes (or eye, rather, as the other one was masked beneath a patch) had a severity in them that could put a hawk to shame, sharp and ever-analyzing. He donned an inky jacket that had to have been making him sweat in the humidity; Riley had already offered once for him to take it off, but he ignored her bid.

"And yet I doubt you're here alone," said Riley as her eyes returned to her work, making it appear as though she were busy, but in actuality, she hadn't written a single sentence on the word document.

"Would my answer do anything to steer you toward a 'yes' or 'no' answer to my proposition?"

"Probably not."

"Then that's none of your concern."

Riley leaned back in her office chair and folded her hands across her chest, all of her attention now focused on him, her lips pursed. "I'm not a superhero, Fury. And you know it."

"I don't need a hero. And we made an agreement. I've upheld my end of the bargain. You need to take up yours."

"I have." The brunette stood abruptly, her movement causing the rolling chair to skid across the wooden floors and back against the wall. "I've done everything you've asked of me up until this point. But this? Come on, Fury. You know what I'm capable of."

"I'm not asking, Harrow." Nick Fury did indeed know what she was capable of, and the fact that he stood his ground in front of her spoke volumes of his character.

He's not asking, Harrow, that voice parroted mockingly in her head, the sneer present even with his face absent.

Riley's dark eyes darted to the side only briefly, acknowledging him with no more than a light squint.

Valek.

Valek The Demon. Valek The Demon of Demons. Valek The Destroyer of Worlds, The Dark God, etc. etc.

For those few and far between who had not heard of him, Valek was, to Midgard, little more than another myth. Across all mythology, he was present, under different names, aliases, and stories. But the truth of the matter was, Valek The [Insert preferred title here] was a beast.

Riley knew the truth, of course; he came from the dawn of time, when only dark and light reigned, having not yet merged into grey. Valek spawned from the darkness as one of the first ever sentient beings to stalk the universe, hunger and murder taking the reins of his putrid mind. He sought only to kill, to torture, to maim. His power could bring entire civilizations to their knees, could crush planets into dust with little to no effort.

And he did the latter, at first—but the immediate crumple of a planet in his hands brought him less and less satisfaction. He came to enjoy playing with his toys before sending them on their way, relishing in the screams and pleas of those lesser than him. He took and he destroyed what he desired, and none could stop him.

That is, until his Achilles' heel, so to speak, emerged.

Valek's essence could be contained in a sentient being. Through a magic-induced process (an incantation, if you will), Valek's soul could be captured within a living being. Only certain creatures could hold such immense power, however—not those of physical strength, or even strength of the mind, but of the heart.

And so, throughout the years, Valek had many, many masters. One being after another took hold of his spirit, but even then, few could handle him. He tortured his hosts constantly, unrelenting in pain and torment, until one by one, all gave in to his will.

Valek could die, but only if his master died with him tied to them, and he took all manner of precautions to prevent this from happening. Each host fought the good fight, but every single one would eventually relent, and allow Valek to use their body as a vessel, until it grew too weak to hold him. Then, his devastation would continue, until such time as someone captured him again.

Riley Harrow was the final host. Of her parents, she knew little—Valek refused to tell her much, but from bits and pieces, she found out that her mother was of Earth, and her father had hailed from a place called Asgard. Her parents had attempted to seal Valek in her mother, before realizing she was pregnant, which thereby transferred Valek's soul into Riley's.

From there, her history was in pieces. How had her parents died? Had someone killed them? She'd ended up in a foster care place after their deaths, but none could tell her what had occurred. As for the rest of her past…well, this bit of information is presently unimportant.

What is important is that Riley, now in her early 30's, holds the title as the sentient being with the longest duration of time hosting Valek's soul. And he is not happy about it.

"Harrow," Fury's voice cut into Riley's thoughts, luring her back into the present reality. She blinked owlishly back at him.

He's not asking, Valek repeated again, coming to stand in front of her. A mind-based image of him followed her everywhere, only seen through her eyes. He mostly wore his hair black and eyes hazel, his skin pallid and face chiseled like a Greek god (and he was a god, wasn't he? Sort of?), his build muscular and tall. He changed it up a bit sometimes, but predominantly remained male.

Ignoring him, Riley sighed, reaching for her desk chair and wheeling it back into place before re-seating herself. "I know, I'm legally obligated to this or whatever. But let me get this straight…This 'Tesseract' has fallen into wrong hands, and you want me to help get it back."

"Yes. But the other thing is…" Fury began to pace about the room, but his one good eye was still on her, piercing her. If she didn't know better, she would have sworn he was looking straight into her mind. "The guy we're dealing with is from another planet."

Riley arched a brow at him.

"Asgard."

"Oh." Riley linked her fingers together on the desk, then separated them, seeming unable to figure out where to put them. "Okay. And?"

"The man's name is Loki. Ring any bells?"

"Loki?" Riley racked her brain to remember. She'd never actually been to the planet Asgard before, but she knew of it. Valek hadn't bothered with Asgardians up until now, so while she had his memories tied to hers, she knew very little about it. Even so, she had done some reading up on mythology before (Norse included), so the name did ring a bell. "Oh, God of Mischief, yeah? Thor's brother." She recalled hearing about Thor's escapades a while back, when he was briefly in New Mexico. "Didn't Thor go back home when the whole situation was resolved?"

"Yes, but that's not important."

"Then what is?"

"Loki is the one I was talking about before, the man with the Tesseract. I'm definitely bringing you on board with the Avengers Initiative, but…" He trailed off, coming to stop near her apartment window, hand running along the sill.

"But?" Riley prompted.

"But I'm afraid you might just start a family dispute," Fury finished.

Riley stared at him, dumbfounded. "They're not…related to me. I don't think, anyway." She glanced at Valek, and he nodded his assent. How nice of him to actually acknowledge her question. "No, they're not. So how would recruiting me start some 'family dispute'?"

"All right, not family. But am I wrong to assume that you might become…curious?"

Riley removed her hands from the desk and they traveled up to rest as a bridge under her chin. "I don't think the first thing I'll do when I meet him is ask if he knows anything about my family tree, sir."

"Good." Fury had finally stopped pacing. "And if you need any more motivation, I'd just like to add that…Howarth's been compromised."

Riley jumped up again, accidentally biting her tongue. Blood pooled in her mouth, but she hardly noticed. "Are you sure?"

"Yes." Fury leaned forward, the palms of his hands pressing on the desk as he drew his face close to hers. "So. Are you in?"

Riley hesitated. She couldn't exactly say no—Fury would make her help either way, per their agreement. But what if curiosity did get the better of her? Valek was about as much help as a dung beetle, and she'd give her left foot to know more about her parents, but if Loki wanted something other than her foot in exchange for that information, then she'd refuse.

She sighed again through her nose. "God of Mischief, right?"

"That's him," Fury confirmed.

A grin worked its way across her lips. "Well then, in that case, we might just get along. I'm in."

…

In all her time at SHIELD, Riley could not remember a time when she'd ever been on a ship so large.

She didn't like it.

Tons of people were scurrying around like ants, talking into earpieces and carrying folders and documents here and there. The entire thing appeared to be made of some kind of metal, with an abundance of fighter jets landing on it. The whole area made Riley queasy…She disliked the idea of being cramped in anywhere, even on such a large ship, in the middle of a vast ocean.

Riley was used to working alone. In the past couple of years, she did basic agent work at SHIELD, eventually coming to be known by New Yorkers as "The Brown Recluse," based on the dark brown attire she dressed in for "superhero" work. She did writing on the side, but her agent job provided enough money for her to live comfortably.

Her agreement with Fury essentially had her working with SHIELD, doing whatever vigilante-justice-bullshit Fury chose for her, in exchange for…privacy. Major privacy. In fact, few people at the agency knew her real name, and even then, even fewer had seen her face. She wore brown and off-white layers and a belt, with a hood, mask for her mouth, and goggles over her eyes.

Silly as it sounded on the surface, it shielded her identity well, and she used Valek's voice to cover her own, so most assumed she was a male. In SHIELD's records, even if one were to dig and dig and dig, they would only ever find the name "Riley Harrow," her alias, and a picture of her in her suit. For her to agree to Fury's terms, his part of the bargain had to be serious. It killed the man to do it, especially since he required personal information from all the other agents, but he'd eventually given in.

After all, she was a valuable asset to his agency. With powers that constantly "updated" and strength seen on no normal human, she contributed a lot to Fury's work. However, nothing comes without a price, and Riley had paid it enough times to know when to be careful.

When her emotions spiked, Riley's control over Valek slackened. Over time, she had managed to develop a level of resistance to his power, but if she used too much of it, or let her emotional stability waver, he'd have a chance to take over. And he had before. The times that she lost control were the worst memories to taint Riley's mind, and in order to never let them happen again, she could only use limited amounts of his power, and had to take great caution with her emotions.

"Ah! Miss Harrow," said a recognizable voice, snapping Riley once again back into the real world; she looked over her shoulder to see Coulson approaching, and the nauseous feeling in the pit of her stomach dissolved. Finally, a familiar face.

"Shh! SHH!" Riley rushed forward, hands up as she herded him away from the people nearest them. "What, are you crazy? Someone could have heard you!" In spite of herself, she was smiling. Agent Phil Coulson was one of the only other people apart from Fury who knew her real identity. She had worked with him before, and trusted him more than anyone else. He had an honest, endearing demeanor and a charming personality, and her tension never lingered long when he was around.

Coulson was also one of few people to really make a serious effort to befriend her, and make her feel at home around the agency. Sure, Fury could be amicable enough, but she would by no means call him warm and fuzzy. Phil, on the other hand, could get her to relax in his presence, and was always available as a friendly ear to talk to.

"Sorry, old habits." Coulson offered a hand, but she ignored it in favor of a firm hug. "Oof! Okay, we're hugging now, that's…all right."

Riley released him, her lopsided grin unseen beneath her mask. Making sure to use Valek's voice, she continued, "How have you been, Phil? It's been a while."

"Good, good…Been busy, as always. I've got some people over here I'd like you to meet," he added, ever the businessman, re-directing her toward a group of three individuals, all of whom were already engaged in conversation.

"Everyone, this is Agent Harrow. Come introduce yourselves."

Riley made to correct him, but decided against it. If she was going to be working with this people as a team, the least she could do was give them her real name.

"Riley Harrow," greeted the man on the left, and the first thing Riley noticed about him was how…jacked he was. He looked as though he had stripped the American flag off its pole and made a flag out of it, and Riley mused that he could use a bald eagle for a companion. With a handsome, model-esque face, blond hair, and bright cerulean eyes, he was definitely not going to be easy to talk to. Riley had never been good with conversation to begin with, but the sheer beauty of this man was enough to leave her nearly speechless.

"Steve, uh, Rogers. Er—Captain, I mean," said Riley, nodding at him as he shook her hand. She noted that his grip was very firm and his hands were rough, calloused. "Good to meet you. Nice to, um, see you out of the ice and stuff. Must've been cold."

To her dismay, Steve seemed highly amused with her spluttering. At least he couldn't see her face, which was no doubt flaming red by now. Given her male voice, he probably assumed she was a star-struck gay guy. "Nice to meet you too. It, uh…it was cold, yeah," he added with an awkward chuckle.

Riley turned to the next Avenger, and immediately assumed she was in the presence of a goddess. The woman had flaming red hair, striking blue eyes, and full lips. Her black, skin-tight agent uniform outlined every detail and curve of her perfect figure. Riley had purposely avoided wearing the SHIELD uniform, too afraid to see how her own chubby and large-breasted physique would look, all stuffed like dough into a catsuit.

That would be a fucking riot, Valek commented helpfully. Riley grit her teeth.

"Harrow," the woman acknowledged politely.

"Hey, Agent." Riley swallowed, trying to not immediately loathe this woman for her beauty. "Natasha Romanoff, right?" Otherwise known as the Black Widow. "I've seen you around before. Never had the chance to meet officially."

The third man Riley recognized as Dr. Banner. He had brown hair and eyes to match, and he looked as though he could desperately use a good night's sleep. Ironically, he seemed to have just rolled out of bed, with his clothing rumpled and curly hair disheveled.

"Hi," said Riley, smiling more than she should be, in spite of herself. Secretly, she had wanted to meet the infamous "Hulk" more than anyone else. She related to his plight, with the whole emotions-dictating-power thing, and how they both probably needed to go to some kind of anger management therapy. With great power, comes great responsibility indeed.

"Dr. Bruce Banner," he answered, reaching out to take her hand. She hesitated before taking it, but to her surprise, his grip was not as tight as she had anticipated. Apparently it's only when he's the green guy, she thought. "It's Miss Harrow, right?" he added, returning her smile. "It's a pleasure to—"

"Everyone, you may wanna step inside in a minute. It's gonna get a little hard to breath," said Natasha suddenly, breaking into their conversation; she was glancing over the edge of the ship.

Suddenly, the Helicarrier started shaking violently from below, as though an earthquake were erupting beneath their feet. Riley peered over the side of it curiously to see the turbines spinning more and more rapidly, the machinery groaning as it did so.

"Is this is a submarine?" said Steve.

"Really? They wanted me in a submerged pressurized metal container?" said Dr. Banner.

"I hear you there," Riley chimed in, sincerely hoping that Steve was wrong.

Together, they edged closer to the edge of the Helicarrier and watched, in awe, as it started to lift into the air.

"Oh, no. This is much worse," said Dr. Banner, smiling slightly.

"We're going to…fly?" Riley demanded, her jaw dropping to the floor. She had to admit, being up in the air was at least better than being cramped underneath the surface of the water, where she could drown any second. But then, there was also the idea of falling…

Such a Nervous Nelly, Valek chuckled, circling the edge of the ship. Although, you are pretty clumsy, aren't you? Could fall right off the edge of the ship. Or, it could break down. This thing doesn't seem all that stable to me. Might fall right out of the—

SHUT UP, Riley shot back, shaking her head as she and the others were escorted inside. Thankfully, if nothing else, she had learned to tune Valek out for the most part. If she pushed her brain hard enough, she could entirely shove him into the back of her mind, at least for a time. His control was worse when she was younger, when her mental strength was not enough to keep his torments at bay. Now, his torture only came at night. In sleep, she had no means of keeping him at bay, which gave him the perfect opportunity to attack.

The interior of the ship was as massive as the exterior, and equally impressive. Riley found herself gawking at the scenery unraveling before her, her eyes darting here and there over the complex technology and intricate designs.

"Let's disappear," said Fury.

But what occurred next stole the entire show. Some sort of device surrounded the entire vessel, vanishing them from sight. Completely. Invisible.

"Okay, that was cool," Riley admitted.

"Gentlemen," said Fury.

Without looking at Fury, Steve reached into his pocket and handed him a ten dollar bill.

Fury said nothing, only smirking a little. He turned to Dr. Banner. "Doctor, thank you for coming."

"Thanks for asking nicely," Dr. Banner acknowledged. "So, uh...how long am I staying?"

"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the clear."

"Where are you with that?"

Fury pointed to Coulson.

"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cell phones, laptops. If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us," said Coulson.

"That'll take forever," Riley pointed out.

"He's right. That's still not gonna find them in time," Natasha contributed.

"You have to narrow the field. How many spectrometers do you have access to?" said Dr. Banner.

"How many are there?" asked Fury.

"Call every lab you know, tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?" Dr. Banner added.

"Agent Romanoff, would you show Dr. Banner to his laboratory, please?"

Natasha nodded. "You're gonna love it, Doc. We got all the toys."

Once the pair of them had exited the room, Fury turned his attention to Riley.

"I see you're staying undercover," he assessed, his good eye roaming over her attire.

"We agreed I'd join the team, but that was the extent of it." She glanced around, watching the other agents busying themselves in front of computer screens. "Anyway, so what are we doing now? Trying to locate where Loki is?"

"Precisely. We're using satellite facial recognition."

Riley nodded, but inside she questioned whether it would actually work. She had a feeling Loki wasn't exactly going to be casually wandering around in the open.

"I mean, if it's not too much trouble," said Coulson's voice. Riley turned her head a degree to look at him. He was engaged in a deep conversation with the Captain, who seemed far less interested in it than Coulson.

"No, no. It's fine."

"It's a vintage set. It took me a couple of years to collect them all."

Riley stifled a snicker. Such a fanboy.

"Near mint," Coulson continued, "slight boxing around the edges, but..."

"We got a hit," one of the agents interrupted. "Sixty seven percent match. Weight, cross match, seventy nine percent."

Oh. If they had already found Loki, then he clearly didn't care if he was found. Or…maybe he wanted to be found. The thought made her insides twist.

"Location?" said Coulson.

"Stuttgart, Germany. 28, Konigstrasse. He's not exactly hiding."

"Captain, you're up," said Fury.

The Captain simply nodded to him and went after Agent Romanoff, presumably to the plane. They were already going in for the action? Riley turned to Fury, prepared to protest, but he was way ahead of her.

"They'll be enough to go catch the bastard. You can wait with Dr. Banner for the time being. But don't think you're getting off that easy," he added, as though he could see the delight in her hidden eyes, "you're still going to be needed sooner or later."

"Good enough for me." Riley wasn't exactly…trigger-happy, for lack of a better term. Her powers were too much of a risk, and she had learned the hard way by using them flippantly before. Most of her missions with SHIELD were easy enough, and required little effort on her part. But if Fury had bothered to recruit an entire team of super-powered weirdos, then she had a feeling this mission was something serious.

She met up with Dr. Banner in the lab, where he paced about the equipment like a trapped mouse, nervous and on-edge. Riley collapsed in the nearest chair with her legs splayed out, arms across her chest.

Seeing her presence, he came to a halt, eyebrows raised questioningly. "How come you're not going with them?"

"I could ask the same of you."

The doctor's smirk was devoid of humor. "I'm not here, for uh…that. I'm just here to help find the Tesseract."

"Really?" That was surprising. The Hulk would be a great addition to their team, so why wasn't Fury putting him to use?

Probably for the same reason as you, babe, Valek remarked, now wandering around Dr. Banner, eyeing him in the manner of a predator stalking its prey. No self-control…But I'm betting Fury has a fail-safe for this guy. Maybe even one for you.

Huh. Riley hadn't considered that. Fury relied on her for assistance, but she wasn't so sure he trusted her. Not that she could blame him, seeing as she hardly trusted herself, but the thought that he'd have something here to…stop her if she went too far? That didn't sit well in her stomach.

"I read your file. It was pretty skimpy." Dr. Banner opened a cabinet, only to close it again. He seemed restless.

"Oh yeah?" Riley regarded him with interest, slinging her legs around as she turned to face him. "What did it say?"

"Uh, it had your name and said you were half-Asgardian. There was some footage attached of you in action, but that was about it."

"Mm." So Fury had mentioned her heritage in her Avengers file? She wasn't altogether surprised by that, given the context of the current mission, but she was pleased to hear how limited her file was. "Yeah, I keep a pretty low profile."

"No kidding. Wish my file was like that." Dr. Banner pulled up a chair beside her, wringing his hands together in his lap. "Where are you from?"

"London." At least, that's where she was born, anyway.

"Huh. Really? You don't have an accent."

Riley was about to correct him when she remembered she was using Valek's voice. "Oh, uh—yeah, I, um, lost it. Didn't live there very long, so...never took, I guess."

He seemed to buy into her lie, and glanced away, seeming lost in himself. His behavior reminded her a lot of herself, what with the nervous shifting and twitching, and the appearance of being stuck in his own mind. She almost wanted to tell him everything, and take comfort in their mutual experiences, but it was too dangerous. People could know her name, her gender, even her Asgardian heritage. But Valek? Nick Fury was the only living person to know about her connecting with Valek. If anyone else found out…Well, she didn't even want to consider it.

"So, how much do you know?" Riley ventured, drawing Bruce's attention back to her. "Have you heard anything about the agents that were mind-controlled?"

Dr. Banner shook his dark curls. "Nope. Not anything new, anyway."

Riley's heart sank to the pit of her chest. No word on Quinn Howarth, then. She had a history with Agent Howarth that she didn't intend to think about (and had done everything in her power to bury), but circumstances were going to bring them back together, and she'd have to face them sooner or later.