Jane looked over her shoulder at Agent Barton up in the rafters with her heart thumping high in her chest. His gaze drifted around the empty lab, not really paying her much attention. She breathed out and faced the Tesseract. Her computer's monitor competed with its unearthly glow. The screen blinked at her, telling her the program was complete and ready to run.

Anticipation and dread zipped through her veins. Three years, and the Bridge was finally ready.

Her finger hovered over the Enter key. She'd have only a few moments once she hit it.

Closing her eyes, she played through the plan one last time. Everything needed to be perfect for it to work.

She touched the cool plastic key and pressed down. The Bridge turned on with a deep hum and sucked the power from the lights for a brief moment. She got to her feet and walked as calmly as she could to the containment unit holding the Tesseract.

"Dr. Foster!" Agent Barton called.

After releasing the lever, she picked up the tongs and removed the swirling blue cube.

The hiss of the agent's quick decent down the rope rung through the air louder than it should've.

She took the last few steps to the Bridge with ever increasingly shaky hands. Her heart was in her throat now. She could barely breathe.

His footsteps pounded on the concrete floor as he ran to her. "Dr. Foster, don't."

She slipped the Tesseract into the portable bridge she'd designed and built, then locked it in place with a quick twist of the handholds.

The sudden void of sound had her spinning to face the stern man who'd been in her life since the day she'd arrived, but who'd barely spoken a word to her. His bow was up, string pulled back, and an arrow was aimed at her chest.

"Put it down," he demanded.

The Tesseract connected to her, filling her with its readiness. The sensation was like slipping into a warm silky bath. Hey eyelids fluttered closed, but then shot open as the screeching alarms blared through the room.

Barton released his fingers from around the bowstring.

Her gaze zeroed in on the arrow as it streaked toward her. It undulated and spun. Light glinted off the metal tip. She shifted and released a bolt of energy from the Tesseract.

Time snapped back in place, and the the arrow sliced through the fleshy part of her shoulder. Blood seeped through her torn shirt and spread into a wide circle. She blinked down at the flesh wound, then at the agent lying on his back. His bow had fallen from his grip and landed a couple feet from him.

Soldiers streamed in through the large double doors and lined the perimeter of the room with rifles pointed at her.

Fury stormed in. His leather trench coat billowed out in the wake of his powerful stride. Coulson was right behind him, smaller but no less determined to stop her.

Before her gaze could dart back to Barton to see if she'd killed him, Fury spoke. "Put down the Tesseract."

"What right do you have to it?" she asked.

"The world is not safe if it's not in our hands."

She snorted in contempt. "The world would be safer without people like you keeping them blind and ignorant."

"Dr. Foster."

"People have a right to know the truth."

He lifted his open hands. "You've been working nonstop for the past couple weeks. You're tired and confused. Just give us back the Tesseract and the Bridge, and we—"

"You stole my work."

His gaze flicked to the soldier who had his fist raised, holding everyone back from shooting her. "Dr. Foster, this is your last warning."

She teleported out of the room just as he nodded and the soldier lowered his hand.

Jane appeared in the hallway of SHIELD headquarters, breathing hard. Her knees almost buckled from the adrenaline crashing through her in tidal waves. She looked down at the Tesseract. Its soothing hue calmed her nerves.

The plan.

She looked around the wide corridor and at the people backing away from her in surprise. "What floor am I on?"

No one responded.

Grabbing the person nearest her, she repeated the question.

His answer was garbled and rushed, but she got it nonetheless.

It took several jumps to get the hang of teleporting to such a specific destination. Still, it wasn't close enough.

She sprinted past people and darted into every room until the alarms turned on and the building went on lockdown. The Cube came in handy then. She blasted her way through every door to find mostly clerical offices and panicked workers. She grumbled at each failed attempt. Soldiers would no doubt be on their way.

Just when she thought she had been given the wrong information, she found the freezing cold room filled with rows and rows of tall servers. She fumbled through her pockets, and her phone clattered to the floor. After snatching it back up, she pulled out one of her flash drives and inserted it into the motherboard.

The virus needed time.

She teleported to the lobby and blasted the towering SHIELD symbol from its base. The relative silence crescendoed into discordant chaos. Screams filled the air. The rush of people fleeing from the falling monstrosity and the alarms added to the din.

A single thought was all it took to find herself alone in the conference room where the World Council had interviewed her three years ago. It was exactly as she remembered, expansive and surrounded by tall windows and glass walls.

She blew up the row of curved screens and their accompanying chairs where the councilmen and councilwomen virtually sat. It didn't erase the humiliating memory of her subjecting herself to their critique just to continue her life's work, but it helped to improve her mood.

A familiar woman ran in. Her heels clinked against the tiled floor, but then she abruptly stopped when she caught sight of Jane. Her eyes widened and she scurried back out.

Jane teleported in front of her. "Where's Pierce?"

The young assistant whimpered, but rattled off his location without hesitation.

The next instant, Jane appeared on of the three curved sections of the roof. Crewmen ran around the helicopter on the other section, prepping it for departure as Pierce walked straight to it with his head ducked and hair whipping around from the wind.

In a flash of the Tesseract's light, the helicopter went up in flames and Pierce was thrown back by the force of the explosion.

She teleported to his side and looked down at him. "Remember me?"

He blinked at her. His eyes were unfocused and his head lolled as he slowly regained consciousness.

"I remember you from the interview," she continued. "I remember everything, but you knew that already, right? That's what my file said: crack astrophysicist, eidetic memory, genius." She bent over him. "Docile."

The building's exit door rattled as someone tried to open it. She directed the Tesseract's power to shoot a beam of energy at the overhanging roof. The structure crumbled in on itself.

"I need something from you." She turned back to him, only to be blasted back several feet. She hit the ground hard. The air was forced from her lungs and the Bridge was knocked out of her hands. It landed close to the edge of the roof.

She gasped for breath and rolled on her hands and knees to crawl to the Bridge. The device still seemed to be in working order.

"Dr. Foster," a notorious amplified voice called out.

Jane turned to find Iron Man standing between her and Pierce.

"What's a nice girl like you going around stealing highly dangerous artifacts and blowing things up for?"

"What's a narcissistic man like you acting as a SHIELD henchman for?"

"You wound me." His voice suggested he found her amusing. It grated her nerves.

She turned back around and continued inching toward the Bridge. Being so close to the edge of the high rise building made her dizzy, and she wasn't even looking out past the barely-there border.

"You've made quite a mess of things, Foster." His footsteps were heavy clomps as he moved to her. "But if you give this up now, I'm sure we can work something out."

She didn't stop.

"Don't make me do it." His arc repulsors charged with that distinctive whine she'd heard numerous times in the videos of his fights.

Thunder rumbled overhead. She paused and looked up. It had been clear skies a moment ago. Lighter clouds rolled in under darker ones. They churned the sky into a roiling ominous mass.

Tony Stark's helmet shifted upwards as well. "What the—"

Lightning streaked from the sky and crashed into the rooftop with a blinding flash and an earsplitting boom.

While her eyes adjusted, all she could do was listen to a battle. Tony used his arc repulsors repeatedly, metal crunched, grunts ensued, and then there was nothing.

Jane scrambled to the edge despite the splotches still partly obscuring her vision.

"The Cosmic Cube does not belong to your kind," an accented deep voice said.

She clasped onto the Bridge just as a large hand grasped her arm.

The Tesseract ignited from her need to escape.

They landed in some kind of golden hall. Tall men, covered in armor, lined the walls. A wide staircase led to a platform where an older man sat on a throne and a younger dark-haired man, clad in green, stood. Everyone stared at her, but it was the younger one's arched brow who caught her attention. While the rest's expressions bordered on surprise and indignation, his was merely curious.

The hand holding her arm clenched tighter. "The Cosmic Cube. Give it to me."

She gritted her teeth and struggled to pry herself free. "Let me go."

He laughed, and her gaze shot to him. His firm grasp and hard words belied the softness of his blue eyes.

If she didn't know better, she'd think she'd landed on some kind of extravagant movie set with nothing but the most handsome actors playing out their medieval roles. As it was, she did know better. What more, she knew they weren't on Earth.

Jane connected to the Tesseract, and the old king stood. "Thor!" he called down to them.

The blond man pulled her closer to him just as she sent them away from what had to have been none other than the fabled Asgard.

Desert air and sun-baked rocks filled her lungs. It was the smell of home. She hadn't thought of a destination, but the Tesseract must've picked it from her brain.

Thor reached for the Bridge, but she twisted around and blasted him away from her. He landed on the dusty ground, tumbling end over end.

The plan.

She turned away from the Asgardian to find another before her. The dark-haired one. He made no move to stop her, though. She narrowed her eyes at him and teleported back to SHIELD headquarters.

Tony Stark was nowhere to be found, and Pierce was sitting upright, dazed but more aware of his surroundings. He flinched back at her sudden appearance at his side.

"You," he said. Recognition flickered in his eyes. Finally.

"Where's the main HYDRA base?"

His brows shot up, but then they lowered into a scowl. "You're a traitor."

"That all depends on how you look at it." She pointed the Tesseract at him. "Where's the base?"

"If we knew that, don't you think we would've already destroyed it?"

"Then tell me where you think it might be?"

His jaw clenched.

She blasted the space next to him.

His eyes widened and he scooted away from the charred section of the roof. "You're the double agent. Surely your contact would've given you the location."

She didn't have help from anyone, but he didn't need to know that.

Grabbing his hair, she teleported them to the top of the Statue of Liberty's crown. She kept her gaze locked on him and not on their absurdly high position. It was colder and windier, but she wouldn't let him see her discomfort.

He teetered on the edge, then darted toward the head with wide eyes. "You're insane."

That wasn't the first time she'd been called that. "I'm going to destroy HYDRA," she explained.

His face transformed from frightened to bitter acceptance. It was as if he'd just taken off a mask. "I'll never tell you," he said, standing taller.

She furrowed her brows. "Why? They're your enemies too." When he said nothing, she added, "Tell me or I'll send you right off this thing."

He walked toward the edge with certain steps.

"What are you doing?" she asked despite knowing exactly what he was about to do.

She moved to him, but stopped when the dark-haired Asgardian materialized next to Pierce, holding onto the shorter man's collar. Pierce struggled to get away but was unable to move an inch. Restraining the human took no effort at all, leaving her to wonder just how strong these beings were.

A phone rang. And rang.

The Asgardian sighed and she realized it was hers. Surprised she had reception, she fumbled through her pocket, pulled it out, and almost dropped it. Erik's name flashed up at her, but she silenced the ringer and shoved it away.

"Shall we return to your mission?" the dark-haired man asked in a mocking manner.

She ignored his tone and said, "I need the location of HYDRA's base."

He looked at Pierce. "We all know you work for this organization."

She didn't.

"Waste my time," he continued, "and you will become intimately acquainted with the most excruciating forms of torture in all the realms." He bent closer to him. "We have ways to extend your pathetic life span, so that unbearable pain will be all you know for centuries."

The two men stared at each other for a long moment. Whatever death glare the Asgardian gave him must've been truly intimidating because Pierce's knees buckled, and he gave her exactly what she needed.

She teleported into a strange lab with a shirtless man strapped to a chair. Computers surrounded him, monitoring his vitals. The man struggled while scientists stood around, observing him as another called out words in Russian. No one noticed her in the corner of the room, and just as she was about to slip out, she noticed the man's silver arm. Bionic from the looks of it.

As more words were called, the man settled down, which should've been a good thing, but a chill raced along her spine at the deadness overcoming his panicked eyes. Whoever he was seemed to be slipping away with each utterance.

It was exactly how she'd felt working under SHIELD. The plan was the only thing that kept her going.

Before she knew it, she was blasting away the scientists, running to the now-still man, and undoing his restraints. He didn't move, just continued to stare at nothing.

"Hey, are you okay?" That was a stupid question. Of course he wasn't okay. And she didn't have time for this.

She got in his line of sight. "Listen, you're free. Get out of here before they realize it."

Still, no response.

She shook her head and teleported out of the room.

Similar to SHIELD headquarters, she was forced to run around to search for their server room. Unlike the last time though, she couldn't find it. All of the logical places came up empty. Even more surprising was that their alarms hadn't turned on. Surely someone had noticed her presence.

Two guards turned around a corner and stopped when they saw her. They shouted at her in Russian. She could surmise what they had said, but, in the end, it didn't matter.

She lifted the Tesseract and directed its power at them. Their ashes rained down on her as she continued to the next corridor.

"Brutal...but efficient." The Asgardian's smooth voice had her spinning around.

"Why are you following me?" she asked.

"I am intrigued. You are the first truly interesting thing to happen in a century."

She rolled her eyes and turned to leave, only to find herself face to face—really face to chest—with him.

"I don't have time for this," she exclaimed.

"Yes, you mortals don't have time for much, do you?" he asked from behind her.

She whipped around to find him still standing in the same place, yet he was also next to her. A copy, she realized.

Walking through the fake Asgardian, she allowed herself a brief moment to marvel at how it shimmered then disappeared before she continued on.

"I can get you the information you need," he called to her.

"Unless you know where the server room is, you're useless to me." She was actually dying to know how he did all of his feats.

"I'm sure that can be arranged."

She clenched the Bridge and faced him. "If you're wasting my—"

He flicked his hand, and Pierce appeared on his knees looking worse off than before.

Jane couldn't keep her surprise from showing. "Was he invisible, or did you teleport him here without touching him?"

"These are but simple tricks. There are far greater mysteries out there, Jane Foster."

"How did you—" Pierce must have told him her name. Probably through torture by the looks of him.

The Asgardian smiled, and though it was on the mischievous side, she found herself drawn to him even more. He nudged Pierce with his boot and said, "The server room. Where is it?"

"I'll never tell you." He spat blood on the Asgardian's pants.

The dark-haired man clicked his tongue and waved his hand. Pierce disappeared.

She turned away to continue her search, but spoke over her shoulder at him. "Come find me if you can get the information out of him." She hoped he accepted her challenge, but only because she wasn't sure if she'd find the room without his help.

Three floors down, he materialized in front of her, holding a limp Pierce by the collar. The human's feet barely touched the floor. He shivered and trembled, and his skin was mottled with frostbite.

Without any encouragement, Pierce rattled off the location through teeth that clattered uncontrollably. Then, his eyes hardened and he continued. "You can't stop us. HYDRA is everywhere, in every government and every major corporation. We will persevere."

"When I'm done," she said, "there will be no hierarchy for you to hide under."

Then she teleported to the correct floor and ran to the designated room. After blasting open the locked door, she slipped the last virus-riddled flash drive into the motherboard.

When she walked out, the man with the metal arm stood before her, several feet away. Those once-dead eyes were now filled with murderous intent. Of course it was just her luck to rescue someone who wanted her dead.

"Who are you?" she asked.

His answer was a gunshot to her head. Except, the Tesseract's field quanta engaged, and the bullet merely pinged off the energy barrier. Though, it didn't stop her from flinching back.

He unloaded the entirety of his magazine clip on her, and still, he kept trying to fire his weapon. It was like he was a scratched record. And she couldn't help but feel an odd affinity for him.

As gently as she could, she sent out a beam that rammed into him like a truck. He crashed through a wall into another room, but at least he wasn't a pile of ash.

She teleported around the building, destroying anything that looked important, and outright obliterating what seemed to be torture chambers. Smoke filled the room she was in—hell, the entire floor she was on. Everywhere she turned, there was proof of HYDRA's deplorable intent to control by any means necessary. SHIELD was no different. Both thought they knew what was best for mankind.

The overhead sprinklers turned on with a violent hiss. She lifted her face and let the water cleanse her grime-coated skin. Strength and certainty replaced the fatigue that had settled in her bones over the course of the years.

She teleported to the top of a hill that overlooked the HYDRA facility and watched the blazing fire slowly consume the compound. The shirtless man's image flickered in her mind, and she sighed.

After finding her way to his prostrate form, she touched his metal arm and sent them back to the hill. He was far too heavy for her to move, so she just left him lying there at her feet.

Her phone vibrated in her pocket.

Without taking her gaze off the building, she answered it.

"Jane?" Erik asked. "What are you doing? Where are you?"

"I'm doing what is necessary."

"It's madness, Jane. Stop this and come home."

She looked down at her feet and whispered, "I'll miss you."

He breathed out. "Oh, Janie. They'll come for you. They'll all come for you, and they won't stop until you're no longer a threat."

"Good." It'll make it easier for her. "Take care, Erik."

"Jane! Jane—"

She hung up and sent the phone to the bottom of the Pacific. Tears lined her eyes, and her heart stuttered off beat. He and Darcy would be the only people she missed from her old life.

"You are a strange Midgardian," the Asgardian said.

She didn't bother to look at him. His sudden appearance was no longer a surprise.

"Who's he?" he asked.

Her eyes landed on the unconscious man. "A reminder."

"Of your purpose?"

Honestly, she wasn't quite sure.

He turned to watch the growing fire and clasped his hands behind his back. "What will you do next?"

The smoke was now a thick black, like a charred hand grasping for the ephemeral clouds. "Destroy the rest of them," she answered.

"They will slander your name, make everyone hate you."

"I know."

"Powerful people will hunt you, Thor included."

She nodded, because that was expected as well.

He faced her with a gleeful smile. "Mind if I join you?"

She lifted a brow. "Who are you?"

"Loki of Asgard and Jotunheim, God of Mischief, adopted son of the Allfather, and brother to the mighty Thor."

She should've guessed that. "Will you explain how you're teleporting without an external aide?"

"Not only that"—he leaned toward her—"but I will teach you all of Yggdrasil's secrets."

Bending, she touched the metal-armed man, and said, "Then try to keep up this time."


Author's Note: this was supposed to be a one shot for me to experiment with an anti-hero Jane and work with several themes, but my sister is demanding that I continue it. If you agree with her, let me know.

Regardless, thanks for reading!