The last thing I heard was footsteps before the darkness swallowed me.


There were voices. Two male voices. I couldn't see them. I recognized Loki's voice but the other I did not know.

Something was fading into my vision. It...it was Loki, no he had...blue skin.

He kneeled over a pool of water, gazing at his reflection. Someone was approaching him. It was a kid. A lost kid. I wanted to reach out to stop the child from going any further but I could not move.

Loki looked up and the child. The child screamed and ran away.

Pain crossed Loki's face. Slowly, the blue faded and his normal skin returned.

"I'm the monster that parents tell their children about!" His voice screamed.

It went black. There were hushed voices all around me. I knew all of them.

"When do you think she'll wake up?" Bruce's voice quavered as he talked.

"They don't know. She's in a coma-like state. It could range from hours to weeks." Phil tried his best to keep his voice steady but it broke within the last couple of words.

A coma?!

I tried to open my eyes, but nothing happened. I focused all of my energy into opening my heavy eyelids. Finally, they fluttered ever so slightly open.

The first thing I saw were all of the worried looks on everyone's faces. Bruce saw me open my eyes before anyone else. He had been pacing.

He rushed forward and put his hands on either side of my face. The others looked at him and their faces went white when they saw me.

Bruce started to cry into my hair. He had me in a tight hug and I couldn't help but to wrap my weak arms around his shaking body.

"What happened?" I asked. I was surprised by how weak and small my voice sounded.

"You've been out for two days." Tony stated.

"Two days?!" I exclaimed. My memory of last night came flooding back.

Loki. Something in his mind put me into a coma-like state.

I moved the white sheet off of my legs and swung them over the edge.

I attempted to stand. My knees buckled under my weight but Phil's arms caught me before I could hit the ground. He eased me back onto the bed.

"You need to rest then you can go." I looked right into his eyes. I saw truth and love in them. "You put in contacts?"

I had forgotten I put in a pair of brown contacts into my eyes to hide my normal violet eyes.

I sat on the bed. Uncle Banner had stopped crying but Tony was right on the brink.

"You scared us all, Em. What did that?" Tony's voice was full of worry. It pained me to see them all so vulnerable.

"I, I don't know." I stammered.

"Well, get some rest. We'll talk more when you wake up." Tony planted a kiss on my forehead. Banner smiled at me from across the room. Phil pulled the sheets over me as I laid on my side.

"Rest up Baby Girl." He said and placed a small kiss in my hair.

I had a couple different nicknames. My family called my Baby Girl while others called me Em or Emma if they were new. I was rarely ever call Ms. Thorpe. I had to remind JARVIS a few times to call me Em or Emma instead of Ms. Thorpe.

Phil flicked off the lights as he walked out the door.

I stared into the darkness.

I had to know what was in Loki's mind that did that to me.

I threw the sheets off of my legs and swung them over the edge of the bed. I placed my feet on the ground and attempted to stand. I wobbled at first but I was soon steady enough to walk.

I stumbled slightly as I opened the door, looking out to make sure it was clear.

I closed the door behind me and silently made my way to the cell room.


Loki was pacing as I walked into the cell room. I stumbled slightly as I walked in but I quickly grabbed the railing to stable myself.

"What are you?" I asked.

He just stared at me as I stumbled closer to the cell.

"If you show me who you are, I'll show you who I am." Bartering with the villain wasn't a good idea but I needed an answer.

He sighed and moved to he middle of the cell. He took in a deep breath and clenched his fists.

The blue skin I saw started to spread across his skin. After he was done, he looked up at me, expecting me to run away in terror.

I just looked at him. It confirmed my vision.

I reached up to my eyes and removed the contacts, setting them down on the control panel. They were cheap and I didn't need them.

I watched Loki's skin return back to it's normal shade of peach.

"Come to the edge of the glass." I commanded. He must have known by now not to question it because he moved without question.

I walked to the edge. and looked at him. He looked at my eyes, seeming to study them.

"You've been feared. I've been feared. People fear the things they do not understand. I was cast out. Treated different." I sank until I was sitting with my back against the glass. "We're not as different as you would think."

"What were you doing, when you sat me down and looked at me?" He asked.

I sighed. "It's my talent. I can see who people are by looking into your eyes. I saw, pain but it was behind a wall. You hide your pain. You feel betrayed."

I turned to see his face. By his expression, it was true.

"Why were you gone, these past two days?"

"I was..in a coma. Something in your mind triggered it but I don't know what." I turned back around to face him.

His eyes widened when I said coma. "A...a coma?" He clutched his head.

I reached to my neck and pulled out my pendant. I played with it when I was bored or my hands needed something to do.

I flipped it over and over in my hands.

"Where did you get that?" Loki asked. He was pointing at my pendant.

"I've always had it. It's all I have from my parents."

"Can, can I see it? It looks familiar." He was staring at my pendant with his eyebrows raised.

I stood up and walked towards the control panel.

I held my hand over the button. "Try to escape, and I will kill you." I pressed the button and the cell door opened.

I slipped the pendant over my head and held it out over his hand. He pulled it out of my hand and looked closely at the design. He slowly flipped it over and when he saw the word engraved on the back, he gasped.

I looked up at his face, searching for why he gasped.

He pressed it gently back into my hand. I walked back out and closed the door, leaving him in the cell.


I could now walk smoothly to the lab.

I opened the door and Bruce and Tony both looked up at me.

"Couldn't sleep." I simply said as I walked in. I sat down at an empty seat and looked at the computer screen.

"Tony, what is this doing?" I pointed at the computer screen.

"JARVIS is hacking into all of SHEILD's restricted files." I knew by now not to question what Tony does.

I scanned the files JARVIS was hacking into.

"You know, you should come by Stark Tower sometime. Top ten floors, all R&D. You'd love it. It's candy land." Tony was speaking to Uncle Banner.

"Thanks, but the last time I was in New York, I kind of broke Harlem." Bruce replied while typing something into the computer by Loki's staff.

"Well, I promise a stress-free environment. No tension, no surprises." Tony walked past Bruce and shocked him with a small electric stick that he was carrying.

"Ow!" Bruce exclaimed.

Tony looked into Bruce's eyes, looking for any signs of the 'other guy'. Bruce smiled as he rubbed his side.

"Hey!" Steve yelled. Oh great.

"Noting?" Tony asked.

"Are you nuts?"

"Jury's out. Tony said. "You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz, bongo drums, huge bag of weed?"

"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve asked. I didn't have to look at him to sense that he was stressed maybe even angry.

"Funny things are." I pressed my hand to my forehead after his response. Tony was...one of a kind.

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny." He turned to Uncle Banner. "No offense, Doc."

"It's alright, I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things." He turned to Tony as he spoke. I stifled a laugh.

"You're tip-toeing big man. You need to strut." Tony walked around the table.

"And you need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark."

"Do you think I'm not? Why did Fury call us in? Why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I cant do the equation unless I have all the variables." Tony spoke with logic. I'm not saying he's dumb, it's just that he usually adds a sarcastic comment.

"You think Fury's hiding something?" Steve asked.

"He's a spy. Captain, he's 'the' spy. His secrets have secrets." He popped a blueberry into his mouth. Where did he get blueberries? "It's bugging him too. Isn't it?" He pointed at Bruce.

"Uh..." He waved his hands in a 'no' fashion." I just want to finish my work here, and..."

"Doctor?" Steve persisted.

I spun around in my chair, minimizing the tab that displayed all of SHEILD's restricted files.

Bruce removed his glasses. " 'A warm light for all mankind.' Loki's jab at Fury about the cube."

"I heard it."

"I think that was meant for you." He pointed at Tony. Tony held the bag of blueberries out to Bruce and he hesitantly took a couple from the bag and popped them into his mouth. "Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the tower, it was still all over the news."

"The Stark Tower? That big, ugly" Tony turned towards Steve. "building in New York."

"It's powered by an arc reactor, a self-sustaining energy source. That building will run itself for what, a year?"

"It's just the prototype." Tony added. "I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now. That's what he's getting at."

"So, why didn't SHEILD bring him in on the tesseract project? What are they doing in the energy business in the first place? Uncle Banner made an amazing point. Why didn't Fury bring him in for the Tesseract project?

"I should probably look into that once my decryption program finishes breaking into all of SHEILD's secure files."

"I'm sorry...did you say..." Steve tried to ask but Tony cut him off with his answer.

"JARVIS has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours, I'll know every dirty secret SHEILD has ever tried to hide. Blueberry?" He offered the bag at Steve and I stood up and reached into the bag and grabbed a few, popping them into my mouth.

"Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around." Steve said.

"An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically, not awesome." Tony said back.

"I think Loki's trying to wind us up. This is a man who means to start a war, and if we don't stay focused, he'll succeed. We have order. We should follow them."

"Following's not really my style."

"And you're all about style, aren't you?" Steve spoke with thick sarcasm.

I had decided at the beginning of this argument to stay out of this. I would let them handle this on their own.

"Of the people in this room, which one is A, wearing a spangly outfit, and B, not of use?"

"Steve, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you." Bruce asked.

Steve looked between Tony and Bruce. "Just find the cube." And with that he walked out of the lab, leaving Tony, Bruce and I to find the cube.


Author's Note: I made this chapter a little longer than the others to make up for not uploading this yesterday. Shit will hit the fan in some of the later chapters, so bE WARNED!

It takes hours to write a fic but only a few seconds to follow and favorite. :)