It's funny how being in the right place at the right time can change your life.
The first time I ever saw Loki was in a picture book when I was four. My mother read me stories about the ancient norse gods before bed most nights and I fell asleep dreaming of Bifrosts and Valkyries.
I always particularly remembered Loki's illustration because of his peculiar expression. My mother said that he was a cruel trickster, but when I saw his pale face I didn't see malice or mischief, I just saw a lack of feeling whatsoever. He looked cold and quiet.
I knew why; Loki was the unloved one between Odin's two sons. He would never be king or the favorite in his father's eyes, and that drove him to do the things he did.
Sometimes I knew how he felt. I was always in my brother's shadow too. He was two years older and a genius. He skipped to college before I even knew what algebra was. Daniel could do no wrong; mom and dad always thought he was perfect.
I was his awkward shadow growing up. I wanted desperately to be a part of his world, but I was quiet, too tall for my age, and didn't have enough good looks to pique the interest of any guy or girl around. At least, that's what my mother's friends always told her whenever they would talk about me while they thought I was out of earshot. They clucked and fussed, calling me "poor girl" and "little thing".
I thought, despite their commentary, that I grew into myself nicely. My teenage years saw the addition of some slender curves and that natural female grace that every woman eventually gets. That still didn't help me in the friend department though, so I took to studying in all the free time I had so I could get somewhere with my education.
Ten years later, I was successful. I had two degrees: one in astrophysics, the other in journalism. I worked for the New York times as a reporter by day and studied for my third degree, this time in political science, at night.
Where was my brother? Lost in the Canadian wilderness, studying the migration patterns of caribou. I always felt a stab of satisfaction during the holidays when I could proudly show my parents an award I'd gotten for my writing while my brother droned on about selective breeding and natural predators.
I never outwardly showed my satisfaction at finally eclipsing my older brother. I could never outwardly admit that I had always wanted to be the one getting the praise and admiration, that would make me hardly better than him. At least I never asked to borrow money.
The second time I laid eyes on the Norse god was during the battle for New York. I was assigned to cover the fight from as far away as possible while still on Manhattan. I was downtown when the first strike came, so I just followed the action when I could. The aliens were everywhere, ripping into buildings and mowing down people by the hundreds. The damage was catastrophic.
I had just crossed the Avenue of the Americas when two alien fighters screamed over my head. I ducked as one of them scraped a building and chunks of glass and metal came raining down on me. An explosion rocked the sidewalk beneath my feet.
I regained my balance and continued down the street, sidestepping piles of rubble as I went. I'd lost my phone somewhere, but my camera was still in my hands. I had no idea how good any of the shots were, but there would be no shortage of footage of the battle for New York with all these people around pointing their snapchats at every alien that came by.
Another fighter went over, blasting the street behind me with its guns. Something green dropped from the sky, jumping off one of the fighters just circling overhead. I ran towards it.
I snuck up closer and saw a green clad figure waving some sort of staff at a knot of terrified people. Over the roar of the city burning, I could just make out his words.
"...kneel, and I will spare you."
The group slowly sank towards the ground, but several stayed standing, unsure of what to do. The man laughed, raising the staff.
"No!" I shouted, throwing the only object at my disposal at him. My camera. It caught him in the side of the head, effectively distracting him. The staff arced in my direction and I dodged the ray of light that flew out of it, ducking around a pile of rubble and running for a nearby alleyway. A quick look over my shoulder told me that the magical man was following me. With all the rubble around, there was no way I could effectively outrun him.
I flew down the alleyway, my lungs burning. I hadn't gotten far when my feet tangled and I hit the pavement hard, biting my lip. I spit out blood and tried to get up, but the butt of a metal staff pinned me down.
"Pathetic little mortal, you will pay." The man's cold voice echoed. "Get up."
I did what I was told, blinking dust out of my eyes. It took a moment, but I recognized those cold eyes.
"Loki?" I asked. It was incredible. I knew that Thor had joined the Avengers, but I had no idea it was that Thor and he actually had a brother named Loki. Who was currently digging the end of his gold staff into the hollow over my heart, pinning me to the bricks behind me. Sweat dripped down the back of my ponytail.
"And how does a mortal like you know my name? Not that I'm displeased." Loki said.
"I'm familiar with your story." I replied. "I had a storybook of Asgardian tales when I was a kid."
"Did you? Well, did your stories predict this?" Loki said, grinning and gesturing to the destruction back out on the main street.
"No," I breathed.
"Are you impressed?" He asked.
"No," I replied. "This is my home."
"I should kill you for your impudence." Loki chuckled.
"Then do it, you've already murdered thousands." I replied. Loki's head snapped up, blue eyes crackling with electricity. He raised the staff threateningly. I willed myself not to flinch.
We stood there, blue and grey eyes locked. Loki's jaw clenched, then he lowered the staff. I blinked, and he was gone. I fell to the pavement, feeling the bruise where he'd dug his staff into my chest. Why had he let me go?
The rest of that week went in a blur. Witness accounts said that The Avengers caught Loki and Thor took him back to Asgard to face punishment. A firefighter found my phone in a gutter, it miraculously still worked. I called my mother and assured her I'd made it through the carnage. I didn't tell her about my encounter with Loki himself.
Something was different after the battle. Reporting no longer held any interest for me. My mind was constantly working on the conundrum of space. If these aliens had shown up out of nowhere, easily persuaded to Loki's cause, what else was out there? Would Earth be prepared the next time something like that happened?
I went to a conference in Geneva on advancement in astrophysics, and that was where I met Jane. I didn't know her connection to Thor at the time, but her research on space travel was unlike anything I'd ever seen. Her and her colleague Eric were on the verge of figuring out how to replicate the Bifrost, though none of their peers knew it. After some correspondence, she agreed to take me on. I started to work on a space sensor project while she continued with the Bifrost. Everything was quiet... for a few months.