Not long after we had entered the forest surrounding the facility, Loki had Clint stop so he could get into the cab of the vehicle. He slid into the seat next to mine, resting the end of his scepter on the car's floor. As we began moving again, he sighed quietly, and slowly began to relax a bit more. His shoulders released their tension gradually, and his head lowered to face the floor. He seemed to almost shudder at times.

Despite my dire situation, I couldn't help but be curious about the newcomer. Why had he come? How had he come? Would he be able to face the combined force of Iron Man, Captain America, and the others that were slowly coming under the unified banner of the Avengers initiative? He seemed to be under a great deal of emotional stress in addition to physical ache, but he wasn't being open enough about it for me to get a good idea of what exactly he was feeling.

The drive was spent in complete silence, only the whirring of the wheels and humming of the tesseract and scepter to pass the time. Every once in a while Loki would look over towards me, and I was careful to make sure that I kept my gaze straightforward, or surveying our dark surroundings as Barton and Selvig were. My heart pounded in my chest every time his eyes passed over me, I prayed that he wouldn't realize I wasn't turned, and decide to kill me. He eventually seemed to settle on gazing out the window into the night, giving me the freedom to make quick glances over to him, observing his now very calm demeanor. A weight seemed to have lifted from his shoulders, if only slightly.

We were transported to another underground facility, though I wasn't told where in the world this facility was. I was set up to help Dr. Selvig with whatever he needed, but he barely ever asked for anything, instead mumbling to himself and tinkering with the equipment. I just stood outside the contained area he worked in, waiting for something else to happen. I was stationed in the lab, but Loki would occasionally be walking around, checking up on various things. I didn't know how long it had been since our initial extraction, and I saw no real way of finding out. None of the nameless lackeys would speak with me, and Dr. Selvig was too enthralled with his work with the Tesseract to even acknowledge my existence. I began to wonder if I would ever see my brother again. If he had even survived the compound implosion. I shuddered, suddenly feeling cooler, my skin longing for the touch of the sun once more.

Everywhere that I could see in the facility was windowless, mostly full of miscellaneous shelving and other things, but Loki had a small area kept clear not too far from the tesseract, the bare floor an odd sight among all of the boxes and humming machinery.

Loki walked by, glancing up at me as he strode past, the scepter firmly in his grasp. He seemed to have regained a bit of color, the circles under his eyes lessened. His eyes broke away from my own, and he walked into the space, kneeling on the bare floor. The golden staff pulsed with an energy, and I found my head beginning to ache heavily with every pulsation. My vision flickered, my balance thrown off, forcing me to lean against a wall to prevent myself from falling over.

Loki seemed to inhale, and as he did, my surroundings changed entirely. I was sucked from the laboratory into a strange, rocky place, surrounded by stars. I nervously knelt down, trying to remain hidden behind an outcropping of rock. Loki still knelt, not far from me, but a second version of Loki appeared in front of him, with a helm on and a green cape flowing off of his shoulders. The projection spoke with what I could only call an alien of some kind.

"You still resist our control, you still refuse to let us use you as our true vessel." the alien said, its words hissing and sharp. "The Chitauri grow restless. Why do you not take charge, and destroy that world with the tesseract, that we might come collect the Titan's bounty?"

"I do not wish to destroy that which I have been given to rule." Loki's copy answered. "If this world is to be recompense for my efforts, why would I burn it down to gain it? That would make ruling it worth naught. The king of all the fires in the world is still left with only ashes in the end."

"You know the terms of the agreement we made upon your arrival here." the Chitauri growled, approaching the copy of Loki. "We agreed to send you to earth, only so long as you captured for us the tesseract, and vanquished the humans in the process. Your only benefit from our agreement was walking away with your life."

"I was a king!" Loki's projection shouted, "I deserve to rule!"

"You deserve nothing!" the Chitauri hissed, "You trespassed upon our domain, falling from the sky. You live on for the sole purpose of carrying out our plan to recover the tesseract for the Titan. If you stray from this agreement, resist our control, try to escape us, we will come for you, and you will wish you could die as easily as the humans you control."

"Is there no other way to gain earth?" Loki said, almost sadly. "Must I wipe out all but those weak minded enough to follow? Surely they might be of some use even to you. Must there be such destruction of the land that the tesseract lies within?"

"This path you have chosen already stretches thin the bounds of our agreement." the Chitauri answered, "You must destroy the group called the Avengers, and then we will collect what is ours. If you fail to kill them, if you fail to wipe out the resistant forces of the pathetic humans, we can assure you that your death will be long and painful. As will that of your brother." The alien spat at Loki, growling.

"Very well." the Loki copy said, bowing his head slightly. "I will do as you ask. I only need a few day's time."

The projection turned as if to leave, but then said over his shoulder. "We will meet again, and we will speak of these things. Perhaps then you will come to see my reasoning. If not..." he trailed off, smirking slightly as he stepped away.

The real Loki sighed heavily, letting his shoulders relax and his head lower, and the vision melted away immediately. Loki still knelt, now gasping slightly for air as if he had exerted a great amount of energy. A sheen was on his face, something that I could only assume was sweat. I scrambled to stand upright once more as he grumbled something that I could not hear, and then turned and marched away, leaving my sight.

I stood in shock, momentarily unaware that Dr. Selvig was calling my name for the first time since Loki's arrival. I turned, and fumbled around until I was able to hand him what he needed, all the while thinking of what I had just witnessed. Loki surely was unaware that I had seen what had just transpired. He gave no indication that he had purposely allowed me to see it, and he also did not show any sign that he knew that I was there. Did everyone see it, or was it just myself? I couldn't imagine Eric would be so calm and collected still if he had seen what I had witnessed. At the same time, what would be Loki's purpose be in allowing me to see that?

For another thing, how on earth had I witnessed that? Was it simply an illusion created by Loki to fool all of us working here? That seemed rather unnecessary, with everyone but myself being under Loki's complete control. As far as he knew, I was one of the mindless followers. If what had happened was purely accident, but all was true, what could I do with this new information? Was there a way to get the information to my brother, to Director Fury? The whole interaction made it seem like this whole idea to take the tesseract was not Loki's idea, that he didn't want to take over the earth, at least not by killing. It had to be an illusion. Why would he allow some to work under him, and allow others to die in the wreckage?

"Are you alright, Y/N?" Dr. Selvig asked. I smiled slightly. Even when he was under the scepter's influence, he stubbornly refused to call me by my last name. Probably because it would get me confused with my brother.

I smiled at the Dr. "Yes, I'm fine. Just spacing out a little, Erik."

"Alright. Come here, help me set up these tubes so I can begin narrowing down the search for a compound that I need." he gestured to a shelf that had several chemist's tubes and other scientific equipment. "I'll set up the computer to simulate situations and look for the correct compound as well, I need to see what I can find here on earth that will create antiprotons."

"Antiprotons? What would you need that for?" I asked, setting up the chemist's tubes that he required.

"The cube creates a massive amount of unstable energy, it fluctuates so much that any portal opened will not remain open for long." Eric said. "The antiprotons will help to stabilize the energy fluctuations, and in turn will enable the portal to remain open for an indefinite amount of time. If done properly, the portal would stay open until manually closed."

"Where does this portal open to?" I asked Eric, "Do you know?"

"I can't say that I do, but-"

"It opens to another realm." Loki said, startling both Dr. Selvig and myself. "A place undetectable by your mortal instruments. It is from here that my army will rise to take hold of this earth."

I simply nodded, hoping that I hadn't betrayed myself by asking too many questions.

"This world will kneel before me." Loki said, "And you the few, my faithful followers, will revel in all the glory at my side." he smiled briefly, glancing towards myself.

Turning to Dr. Selvig, he added, "How much longer until you know what we need?"

"It shouldn't be too long." Selvig explained, "We simply have to run simulations with all of the elements we know of, and see which one will work for us. I can foresee us having the answer by either tomorrow, or the day after."

"Very good, Doctor." Loki said, grinning. "Though I hope it is the former. Simply tell me when you have discovered what you need. I will see to it that whatever you need will be acquired as quickly as possible."

Dr. Selvig nodded, smiling gleefully as he returned to his simulations, pouring unknown substances in the tubes I had prepared.

"You, Coulson's sister." Loki said, pointing to me.

I internally balked, how did he know that? I stepped forward in obedience, not wishing to blow my cover. "Yes, sir?"

"Come with me." he said, a chill coursing through my body. "I need to speak with you."

I simply nodded, following Loki out and away from the tesseract. I hoped and prayed that he had his staff with him, but it did not appear that he did. If he stayed close to the tesseract, my cover would remain intact, but with a few more feet, I would be discovered.

"I wanted to speak with you about why you are here."

"Sir?" I asked, feigning bewilderment, "I'm here to help you, what else would I be here for?"

I stopped at the edge of my safe zone. Ice flowed through my veins and my heart began to beat faster and faster. One more step and my eyes would no longer glow blue as everyone else's.

"Is there a problem?" Loki asked, eyebrow raising. He almost seemed bemused.

"I don't want to leave my post, sir." I answered quickly. "I have your orders to assist Dr. Selvig with his research."

"You don't have to stay there. I'm the one telling you to leave." he said. Stepping much closer than I ever would have expected, he whispered into my ear. "And I know that you are here of your own will, not mine. So let's just drop the facade, shall we?"