Chapter 1: Two Boys and a Cape Fire

Kayla strode through the golden hallways behind a man in armor a color that was quite similar to the place they were in. It was a good thing she had a guide she thought, this place boiled down to being a very elaborate, although very beautiful, maze. It would take her quite a long time to be able to navigate the corridors of Asgard by herself.

She thought back on the events of the past few days, not days, there are no days in the negative space, passage of time is different for you she corrected herself. It felt like days though. She had been sitting at her desk and, as usual, she was pulling another late-night. She shook her head, no time, no nights. They did have a set. She did need to sleep though, and the lights in the base just followed a regular schedule. Xavier said that their concept of "time" around there was based on the current Guardian's dimension. So lights on equaled day and lights off equaled night to her.

She often stayed up late into the "night" doing research and other work. These were one of these such nights. When a young messenger burst into the room, he bent over and panted. He held out a large packet with one hand and put the other on his knee. As she got up to grab the packet he shot up into a standing up position. Terror emanating from his face.

He saluted and spat out words so fast they were barely recognizable "I'msorrysiruhmamIshouldofknock edfirstIamsosorryPleaseforgi vesuchrudenessyouwereprob-"

"Please don't worry about it. I don't mind." She smiled lightly, she had not had time to prepare herself for the young man so her face couldn't hide the evidence of so many sleepless nights.

"B-b-b-butyouwereprobablysleepingor workinganditwassorudeofmetod othattoyouandyouaremysuperio r..." His eyes widened, probably with the realization he was wasting her precious time. "I-I-I accept any discipline you might feel necessary." He bowed is head and his eyes drifted to the corner of the room as he chewed the corner of his lip.

"Don't worry about it. I won't punish you. You bursting in was probably a good thing, I was starting to fall asleep at my desk. I still have lots of work to do." She muttered through a yawn. Her arms reached up in a stretch. "And judging from how heavily you are breathing, you must of been running. It must be important, is it not?"

"It is very important!" he piped, perking up considerably. "You have a mission. There is detailed information in the packet but I was told to give you a quick briefing. I am assuming you have heard of the Avengers?" She nodded, her hand motioning for him to continue as she turned and took her cup of coffee from the desk. She chugged the whole cup in 5 seconds, even though it was cold and probably from this morning if she could recall. The stuff had become her life force. "Well you have a mission in the dimension that connects to the movies that were made in yours recently. Intel shows there is a Shadow there. We believe it shows up in a large battle. However we believe that to keep you from getting arrested or anything you need to go undercover for several of thousands of their years. To start with you will be meeting with Odin Allfather, our agents in that dimension have already set up a alternate identity for you. You will be the "nanny" so to speak of his boys. Thor and Loki Odinson. We know they play a large role in that dimension's timeline. You will check in periodically to find out what you need to do later. We have found just one rule other than the basics for you. To keep your cover and to prevent altering the timeline you cannot reveal your true identity to any of the Avengers or anyone else in that dimension until after the fight with the Shadow. You can choose if you are taking your dragon with or not."

"I will not take her, it will be easier to keep my cover that way." She said taking the packet. He nodded.

"Oh and one more thing. Mr. Jones said that you can take a day off from your other work to prepare before leaving and that all of your desk work will be taken care of while you are gone."

"Jones? Oh you mean Xavier. Okay please tell him thank you if you get a chance. I will get right on it." With that he had left. Now she was here in Asgard preparing to meet the ruler. Her stomach had butterflies and her Aesir clothing was unnatural and uncomfortable. She straitened her armor then walked into the throne room.

She knelt "Allfather"

"Please rise, and if you are going to care for the boys we must become more friendly. Please call me Odin." The man mentioned standing up and coming down the stairs. His golden armor glinted in the light.

"Yes sir, I am Kayla Sterron. Thank you sir, uh, Odin for accepting me for this position." She stood looking him in the eye.

"No, thank you. I am sure you will be a big help. But you should probably meet the boys." He smiled and nodded to a guard who rushed to a door. With that two young boys, who looked about 6 to 8 years old, but were probably much older came into the room. One immediately caught her attention when he ran up to her, red cape rustling behind him.

"Hello! I am Thor" He said a huge smile stretched across his face as he looked up at her. He pushed up on his toes to get as close to her face as possible. His blond hair cascading down is head. "What might your name be, my lady?"

"My name is Kayla." She smiled back. She bent down to talk with the young Thor. Who was so excited to meet her. Suddenly she saw a green flash of light and the corner of her cape caught on fire. Not surprised, she calmly bent down and smothered the flame with the rest of the cloak. She looked to the other boy. He had stayed back closer to the door. His head was turned away from her trying to hide his laughter. She walked over to him and crouched down to his level. "So you must be Loki, that was a pretty cool trick you did there." She smiled. "It's nice to meet you both."

He stared at her for a moment with large green eyes. "It is nice to meet you to." He smiled. She looked at his eyes and them straightened up.

He was lying. She knew from that moment that he truly hated her.