Chapter 2:

I banged on the glass, "You know you can't keep me in here. It's only a matter of time." I yelled to no one in particular. It took two seconds for Fury to shove me in the glass case. Apparently he didn't want to, but the Council insisted I be contained. Since they still couldn't figure out how kept disappearing. Only Fury knew what I could really do. I slumped against the glass side and whispered. "Not that I want to get out. I wish it was as simple as staying here forever."

I hated my powers. They had ruined my life, my childhood. I just wanted them gone. I abhorred the Doctors that only wanted to study me, but that doesn't mean I don't want help. I wish I could control my powers, but like the Hulk a switch in my brain just trips. I disappear into time. I wanted someone to help me control it so I wouldn't keep getting hurt, but I needed the right person. Fury at least wanted to help. But was he the right person?

Fury knew I went through time. He probably figured I could get out of here if I wanted to. Sometimes when I go through time I don't always come back in the same place. It was more than annoying. The Council only thought I could see the future. There's a distinct difference. Or at least I assume there is. I don't really concern myself with the science.

None of them got it anyway. Not even Fury did, really. Knowing and understanding are two different things. I should know. I can't control my power. It just happens. Sooner or later it will whether I'm in a glass prison or at my fifth birthday party. It didn't matter. Eventually, I would teleport through time to see the future and come back naked. Sadly, my clothes don't time travel well. The heat from ripping through space-time burns them up in transit. On more than one occasion I've come back with burns.

"Hey umm—if you insist on keeping me here maybe you could get me an extra pair of clothes or something. I'd rather not be naked when I come back. Considering you probably didn't stop time in here." I shouted again. It took about three seconds for a SHEILD agent to come in with a blanket and a freshly pressed outfit. "Thanks." They were very efficient.

I fell asleep against the cold glass. At least my powers couldn't take my dreams away among other things.

I dreamt of my fifth birthday party. It's karma for mentioning it.

I was sitting in front of my birthday cake. My mom had curled my hair that morning. My blonde locks bounced with each movement. I smiled from ear to ear trying to be as cute as I could be in that white dress. It was covered in eyelets and underlain with a frilly pink tool. I would never forget that dress or the cake.

Vanilla with chocolate icing, it was just about as plain as a cake could get, but it was the best cake ever. Let's face it. I was five. Any cake is a good cake. It had five candles. A red one, blue, yellow, blue, green in that order exactly. The flames danced as all my friends from preschool watched. They grinned, practically foaming at the mouth waiting to eat the cake.

I remember being so happy and so innocent. Getting ready to blow out those candles, wishing for everything I could ever imagine and then I disappeared. I didn't understand it then, what was happening to me. It was only years later when I first saw Alice in Wonderland. And then I realized—I was the Cheshire cat. I evaporated and for a time I didn't exist because no one saw me. I existed away from reality. To this day I don't remember where I went or what I saw.

I resurfaced a minute later. I was verging on unconsciousness and naked in my own cake. A five year old nude and coved in chocolate icing was more than enough to scar a few kids for life including me. Then I started coughing up blood and that only made it worse. It was the first time I jumped through time. And it was terrifying.

We moved after that.

We moved so many times that one time my mom forgot to pack me. She told me to wait in the living room and never came back. I was suddenly that old toy robot painted blue with only one eye that lit up anymore. The toy that always gets left behind because the mother is yelling at the kids to get everything in the car. Then the dad is one of those absentminded guys who can't find his glasses even when they're on his head. The mom shuffles him in the car too and all she can think of is moving on. She's on tunnel vision and ready to get on with life. That old robot was no longer part of it. And that old robot was me.

"Agent Chance," someone tapped on the glass beside my head. "Agent Chance, would you do us the honor of waking up."

I blinked a few times trying to figure out what was going on. The artificial light filling the cage hurt my eyes. How long was I asleep? I couldn't tell. Although I wasn't sure I really cared. I've been having that nightmare on repeat ever since it happened. I just wanted to forget. For some reason my brain wouldn't let me.

"Don't call me that. I don't work for you. My name is Kali." I pushed myself off the ground and rubbed the stiffness out of my hair. I'm sure it looked terrible. I get bed head within four to five minutes of falling asleep.

"Kali. I see you haven't disappeared yet." Fury said pushing back the flaps of his coat to place his hands on his hips. I put a hand to the glass holding myself up. Gods was I starving.

Natasha, Bruce and Stark stood to either side of him. Stark occupied himself with an apple, throwing it into the air probably determining its trajectory. I would kill for an apple.

I looked into his one good eye and said, "I bet your superiors are happy about that."

"There's always a first time," He grinned.

"Well, there was that one time, remember," Stark said. "When I joined the team."

Fury pursed his lips, "Yes. Even I was happy about that."

"I'm just happy you rebuilt my cage, Director." Bruce took off his glasses, cleaning them up with his shirt. He sounded like he was accusing Fury. I wonder if this really was for him or for his other form.

"It isn't quite up to your standards yet, doctor. We had to rush construction when she came. So, don't worry you won't be put in here anytime soon."

"She can get out then?" Bruce asked. Fury decided not to answer.

"Director Fury." Natasha pressed him to get back on task. Whatever that was?

"Oh yes. I am sure you've figured out my now that the Council wants to study you. Now, they don't know much, at any rate it's less than we do. Although, I doubt anyone will ever understand your abilities."

"Is that why those two are here?" I motioned towards the two science crazies. Stark was looking at me like he couldn't wait to cut me to pieces and study me. Bruce just gave me a sorry stare.

"Yes."

"You can't control my powers if that's what you want."

"It's not." He turned and patted Natasha on the back. "I'll leave you to it. Try not to destroy the cage again." I don't know why I didn't believe him. Maybe it was the eye patch. I bet it was full of secrets.

~0~

Natasha and the science crazies took me down the hall to the lab. I was ecstatic when I found out they weren't going to be studying me in the confines of the cage. If Bruce accidently stuck himself with a needle and turned green—I definitely don't want to see that future.

They sat me on a table and started getting needles out. I shied away ever so slightly. Natasha guarded the door. Because if I disappeared I would so go through the door, obviously that was how my powers worked. "I'm just going to warn you now that sometimes—when I'm in emotional distress—I disappear."

"Emotional distress?" Stark questioned coming at me with a needle. I yelped. I hate needles. Ever since my mom figured doctors could help with my condition. They didn't.

"I think that's the kind of distress she means." Bruce said staring down at vials of definitely toxic poisons. Bruce stared at me, trying to discern all my secrets in a single look. I'm not sure how well it actually worked. "How do your powers work exactly? From your point of view what do you feel?"

"Burning and brightness. It's like I have to travel through the sun to get where I'm going. Then I'm just there, a ghost hovering over the future. However long I stay there is usually how long I'm gone. And then I feel the burning again and I'm back."

"I'd like to see that," Bruce said.

"You'll have to wait. It just happens." I said. Tony stuck me in the back with the needle. "Ow!"

"Sorry, love. We need to see it happen."

"What—what was in that?" I already felt it starting. My heart beat quickened and I started sweating like there was a five gallon bucket below me that absolutely needed to be filled.

"Adrenaline."

"Tony, why'd you do that?" Bruce took a little flashlight and shined it in my eyes. I couldn't even focus enough to see it or to look at him. My eyes felt like they were bouncing off the walls.

"You wanted to see it."

"I hate you." I said before disappearing. There was the fiery, searing pain on every particle of my skin. My arms had since stopped growing hair. They, like me, had given up a longtime ago on this ever stopping. I closed my eyes, but the brightness came through like tiny stars burning so hot it made holes. Eyelids were useless. The fire licked my skin telling me my clothes had already been consumed. It was almost over.

And then it stopped.

I was hovering above a rainbow. I never imagined a rainbow would look like this close up. It shimmered with different colors up and down a geometrical wonder. Below me stood a man with black hair and green eyes he held his hand out for a staff that didn't seem to be there. I floated down and touched my toes to the rainbow. It was cold.

I looked at his face trying to picture where I'd seen it before. It was sad, but defiant as if he didn't want to be lonely and refused to let it consume him. But part of me thought it already did.

"What are you looking at?"

He can see me? "You can see me?"

"You are right in my face. You are also stripped bare."

"Well sorry, people don't usually see me. And I'm kind of lost. Where am I anyway?"

"Asgard." He replied innocently. I came to Asgard? I've never traveled off Earth before.

Who was I talking to anyway? Who was this man clad in gold and emerald? Oh, oh, oh, oh! I'm an idiot. "Loki."

"Obviously, and you are?"

Before I could answer I felt myself fading and the burning start to return. "I'm disappearing." It was only a matter of minutes before I went back to the lab. Great, I just realized I was going to me stark-naked in front of Tony and Bruce. Bruce wouldn't be so bad since he'd shown up naked hundreds of places.

"That's a rubbish name."

"It's not my name. I meant it's already over. I suppose it doesn't always last this long anyway."

He studied me with his interesting green eyes. "You aren't really here, are you?" He started with my head got to my neck and stopped. He actually blushed. Knowing his reputation, I figured he would look me up and down without any regret. He wasn't as evil as everyone thought. I could just tell.

"I'm not sure. Science isn't really my thing." I shrugged.

"It is magic not science. Just like a mortal to think that. You manipulate the vortex. It is surprising a human like you could do that."

I cocked my head to the side and rolled my eyes. A single strand of hair fell in my face, "Thanks. You're so nice."

I always seem to leave at the most inopportune moments.

Here we go again…

~0~

I tumbled through the vortex. My heart was already out of sync just as it always does when I go back. The burning was worse this time without clothes to protect my skin.

I hit the cold lab table with a thump. Flasks and vials went everywhere some broke beneath me mixing their contents together. I saw Bruce glare at Tony like he was about to hit him. Then I convulsed. Blood sputtered out of my mouth and into my hand.

Bruce yelled, "Get the Defibrillator. Her heart's going."

"No time." Tony grabbed two jumper cables attaching one side to his heart monitor the others…I don't remember, but I'm sure you can guess.

Was this what getting shocked by Thor feels like?

I woke up back inside the cage. They'd piled blankets around me like the warmth would make it all better. It didn't.

I folded back the top layer with the one arm that wasn't burnt. It was the only part of my body that was untouched. The rest was burnt, broken, bruised, or electrified. Overall diagnosis wasn't great, but at least I could move. Albeit limited.

"You shouldn't move too much," Natasha appeared from the shadows. She pulled a chair up outside the cell and sat down. "You've lost a lot of blood."

"Yeah. And I see Fury thought my recovery would be done best in a glass prism."

"Yes well, the Council didn't want you running off again. Do you always make such a splash when you come back?"

"Usually. How long was I out?"

"A day. Don't worry. Tony fixed your heart. It was arrhythmic."

"I'm sure it was. When I jump back my heart seems to have forgotten the time. Like it doesn't know if it ended on the first beat or third so it bounces around some till it figures it out. It's never been that bad before though."

"That must take a toll on your body."

"Well when you've had the equivalent of a heart attack once a week for your entire life. I guess it does."

"Have you always had to deal with it alone?"

"If you're wondering about my family, they're gone. My dad was never in the picture and my mom left me when I was ten. She had a mental breakdown and couldn't take it anymore. But you know what that's like, don't you?" I raised an eyebrow. A strong independent woman like her, she had to have a horrible emotionally disturbing background story. It only fitted. She looked away deciding not to answer. I sighed, "Sorry, I didn't mean to overstep—it's just I've never had anyone to talk to about it. I've been pretty much alone since my mom left. Trying to stay under the radar isn't as easy as the movies make it seem."

"Yeah, it isn't."

~0~