She pushed him into the back of her car like a cop arresting a felon, shutting the door behind him. He was cuffed, but not gagged. She got into the car and began to drive off.
"Sorry about that." She said, pulling out onto the road, scanning the landscape in front of her.
"What?"
"I'm sorry about that," she repeated, "you have to put on a show for Fury. He's a little pretentious, I find, and seems to think that he's the only one that knows what he's doing," she sighed, turning up the radio, "he must have been in the Air Force. They all think they're better than the rest of us because their butts are further off the ground."
Loki's brow furrowed, and he decided to change the subject, "nice car."
"1968 was a good year for Chevrolet," she answered, "not so much for Hollywood, I mean, the Planet of the Apes sucks." She shrugged, still driving, perhaps faster than she should have by the speed in which the cacti were rushing past the back window. He watched behind him as a tornado engulfed Odin and Thor, taking them back home. He sighed; he never thought he could miss that five by nine cell. At least he did not have a babbling mortal for company.
"What do you mean?"
She laughed, glancing at him in the rear view mirror, "you're so adorable," she grinned, "like a little penguin. You're so cute when you don't understand."
"Cute?" he fumed, scowling. Rodriguez continued laughing, and Loki fumed. He was really going to hate this, "and do not cuss out movies that I like."
"I think you're confusing that second-rate piece of shit with something good."
"I am not confused."
"Are too."
"Are not." He snapped back, "and I refuse to take part in such a ridiculous argument."
She turned up the radio again, "I can't hear you, music's too loud!"
He recognized it, ACDC. The man with the super suit, Tony Stark, liked the same type of music. ACDC made him angry because it reminded him of New York, and having his cosmic ass kicked by a small group of pissed off humans, and that was just the tip of the iceberg.
He looked out as the desert whipping past and the yellow lines of the American highway, "of all the places Bifrost could transport to," he muttered, "a dessert, why a dessert?"
"Desert," Rodriguez corrected him, "it's pronounced 'desert'."
"That's what I said."
"No, you said 'dessert,' as in what you eat after dinner."
"No I didn't."
"Yes you did."
"Didn't."
"Did. Did. Did, and did."
"Fine," he scowled at her, "I know two thousand languages, please forgive me if I make a few mistakes with yours."
"My first language is Spanish."
He shrugged, "I hate you."
"No you don't," she said simply. That teased a tiny smile out of him. She drove silently, a small smile on her face, and he got the feeling that being detained by this woman may not be so bad after all.
"Perhaps you're confusing 'dessert' with being deserted," she offered.
"Now twist the knife counter-clockwise."
She stopped smiling, "want to listen to the radio?"
He shrugged. Right now he didn't care, "guess I can't stop you."
She flipped a switch and the song changed, though he didn't know how, or care, for that matter. He sighed again and sprawled out across the back seat of the car, it was leather and extremely comfortable. She turned the volume down, "tired?"
"Very," Loki answered her.
"Have a snooze," she offered, "but you scuff my leather and you're a dead man."
"Can I ask you a personal question, Agent Rodriguez?"
"Please, none of this 'agent' crap. Call me Bella," she bit at him with a shrug, "but about the question, I guess I can't stop you."
"Why did you join SHIELD?"
"That's not really a personal question," she shrugged again, "I was sent to New York because with the Afghanistan pull out, there were hardly any Marine units stateside," she smiled again, "I took down fifteen Chitauri assholes on the ground, and one of those ship-slugs with an RPG to the face. Fury recruited me after that."
He raised his eyebrows. They were hard to stop, and yet one single woman took down fifteen of the most powerful foot soldiers in the universe and an entire cruiser. Even he found himself in awe of her.
"I'm not asking how, I'm asking why."
She glanced into the rear view mirror at him, "the Corps gave me a dishonorable discharge. I went in against orders. It was either SHIELD or the street."