When Thor exited the prison building and rushed out, Rose was apparently long gone. Even the guards were unknown to where she was headed rather than just a vague direction.

Thor somehow ended up in the upper province and stress started getting a hold of him. Rose did not know anything about Asgard. Where the damned hel was he supposed to find her?

He didn't suppose his father could lend him some foot soldiers to look for her either.

Perhaps the Warriors Three and Sif would not mind lending him some hands.

He had just reached the premises of the castle when an odd thought struck him. The likes were less, but there weren't a lot of places on Asgard Rose was aware of.

As he made his way to the royal gardens, he finally spotted familiar purple-pink hair under the fig tree. She had her knees folded, pressed into her chest, arms wrapped tightly around her knees and her face buried between her chest and knees.

Thor knew that she was the smallest member of the team, she was endlessly teased about it, but now she looked even smaller.

He made his way to her and saw her freeze. And then he felt the magic around her. Her magic was protecting her.

He carefully set his hammer on the ground and that seemed to work as the looming feeling of magic dispersed and her body relaxed.

She didn't move when he kept a hand on her shoulder.

"Rose..." he called softly, kneeling next to her.

She sniffed loudly as she raised her head and quickly wiped her hands down her face. His hand shifted to her back where he started rubbing her back in soothing circles.

"Pl-Please tell me...please...he's lying!" Her voice came out choked, almost dead and gravely. "He's lying. He's...He's gotta be ly-lying. He's lying!"

Thor took a deep breath, "I'm afraid I cannot confirm nor deny his claims right now."

She looked at him, eyes green eyes now dull, red rimming the whites with all those unshed tears.

She chuckled, with an entire lack of humor. Rather, it had a lot of bitterness.

"You know, if only, Loki had dared check up on me once, once, when I was a teenager, so many things could have been right. They wouldn't have died. I wouldn't have lost so many people! I wouldn't have suffered so much!"

Thor pressed his lips. He only had a partial idea of what she was talking about but he could piece that Loki's presence in her life could have tilted the scales in her favor. And Loki hadn't done that.

"Rose..."

"I need some time alone."

Thor nodded. "I'll give you some space and I'll make sure you remain undisturbed in your chambers."

"I don't wa-"

"As long as you are on Asgard, I'm afraid you are my responsibility. I will not be leaving you here. I would you rather be alone in your chambers."

Rose sighed.

"Fine"

True to his word, she remained undisturbed for the rest of the day. She laid there in bed, a single thought crossing her head again and again.

It wasn't fair! It wasn't fucking fair!

She never knew she had an actual godparent. Emphasis on the god part.

She sighed, turning in the bed and pulling the covers all the way to her chin.

No matter how much she hated it, loathed the very idea that Loki could be telling the truth, she...she didn't really how to feel.

No, she shook her head. She cannot afford to lose it right now. She had a game planned. She was not going to let that game plan go. She could deal with Loki's claims later.

She snorted.

Of all the times she could have found out about this. Fate had been such a bitch to her lately, this could have easily been one of the worst times the secret could have gotten revealed.

Can she not catch a break?

She had just found out that her grandparents were murdered, their killer was alive, Phil was alive, and her employment being endangered, it was as if she could not even breathe for more than a while without her situation worsening.

She exhaled and buried into covers.

Sleep wouldn't come to her, her head was way too saturated with her thoughts.

Arna came in, sometime in the afternoon with her lunch and the second time with her dinner at night. Thor came to check up on her once but that was it. No one came to see or talk to her and she appreciated that very much.

The next day, Arna came in with her breakfast.

"Prince Loki has his trial today in front of the entire court." she softly said while she served her breakfast.

"Good for him." was all she said.

Arna nodded, getting the clue that she didn't like to talk about it. She reminded her that she'd return with her lunch and asked if she needed anything. Getting a negative response, Arna just nodded and left.

No one came to invite her for the trial, so she figured Thor must have covered for her.

Rose desperately wanted to call Tony, ask him to dig around her original birth documents and check 'em up. She personally wasn't sure if she wanted Loki's claims to be true or not. On one hand, it'd mean that she indeed has an alive godfather, a legit parental figure. On the other hand, that very parental figure was a wanted criminal facing a trial.

This was one curveball that had thrown her off the track.

To her surprise, Frigga came to see her in the afternoon with her lunch. As soon as Rose saw her, she jumped to her feet.

"Uh..." she opened her mouth, unable to know what she was supposed to say.

"Thor informed me you've been feeling unwell since yesterday. As our guest, I just wished to confirm your health status."

"Does mentally and emotionally tired work?"

Her eyes widened as soon as those words came out. Of all the times she could have been snarky, it had to be in front of the Queen of Asgard.

Frigga chuckled, a soft smile remaining there, "It most certainly does."

Ohk.

"Sit down and have your lunch."

Rose followed and Frigga joined her with a plate too.

They sat there, on her bed, eating quietly.

"Loki is your godfather."

Her head whipped up so fast she ended up pulling a nerve.

"I was told by Thor."

Rose just nodded.

"I had a little suspicion about the same."

"what?"

Frigga smiled, "Your magic is quite similar to Aesir magic. Not same. Just quite similar. As if your magical core was influenced by the Aesir magic." she slightly nodded to herself, "I taught Loki most of the skills he knows. I could see that his magic had altered yours to be similar to his."

"Oh," was all she said.

She knew her magic was a little different at times, acting up and doing some things it shouldn't, but she never thought in her wildest dreams that Loki would have influenced her magic.

"It's not that potent, Loki's effect. Rather subtle."

Rose just nodded, looking down at her plate. She wasn't hungry. The only reason she was eating was not to appear rude to Frigga.

Frigga hummed, looking at the window.

"I would like to show you something."

Rose looked at her, surprised. "What?" she blinked, "It's alright. I don't want to be an inconvenience."

"I will have none of that," Frigga said sternly, but still with care and softness in her voice.

"The fo-"

"Arna will clean it up."

Rose just nodded and got up, following Frigga.

As the two women walked, Rose just ogled everything, fascinated. She knew that there was still a lot she hadn't explored, especially the palace. Frigga tried to keep up small talk, which Rose positively responded to, to the best of her tired abilities.

"The royal library has all sorts of scrolls, tomes, ledgers, and opuses. I'm sure your interest will be piqued by more than a few of them."

And damn right was she piqued up the moment she heard "Library".

The Royal library was huge, bigger than anything she had ever seen filled entirely with just books, books, and bloody books.

"The tomes on magic are on the eastern side." Frigga smiled, urging her to step inside, "Feel free to stay here and read whatever you wish for. I'll send Arna once supper is ready."

"Thank you."

Frigga just caressed her hair and her face with a smile, "I thank you for bringing forth the truth and saving my son. You have a brave and noble heart, Rosalie Stark."

Rose just smiled back before Frigga turned and walked away. Once Frigga was gone, Rose turned her attention to the library.

Her sojourn just got better.

The entire royal library was pin-drop silent, except for one scribbling sound.

Rose had quickly made her way to the magic section, picked out about 10 books, and began doing her research on how in the fucking hell did Loki manage to influence her magic when he never came in contact with her?

On that note, she asked Arna where she could find some parchment and quill-ink when she came to fetch her for dinner. Rose was hungry, but not for food.

Arna left and returned with a nice stack of parchment sheets, a couple of quills, and two ink jars, after which she left her alone with her thoughts and the books.

Rose quickly noted down everything Loki claimed, which made her pause.

Loki said James Potter was her birth father. But that wasn't true. He was her adoptive father. So, Loki wasn't really aware of her birth conditions. Then what the hell did he mean when he said he knew her 'birth conditions'? What did he know?

And while Loki's claims were a little outlandish, she wouldn't put it past the Marauders to pull a prank like this. A sad smile stretched on her lips. It was probably their last prank together.

She shook her head slightly and picked one of the books, more like tomes, and began to see if any of them held an answer to her questions.

One of the books mentioned magical contracts. Loki was right and the book backed him. Irrespective of the type of magic that created the contract, all magical contracts are universally binding by default, unless specific spells are added to them for customization.

It was probably on her fifth, or sixth, book that she found a topic vaguely similar to what she was looking for. Never did the content exclusively state a godparent-godchild between an Asgardian and a Midgardian, but it did mention rather vaguely about how Asgardian godparenthood works.

One of the paragraphs stated that if the godparent and godchild both are of magical nature, the contract that binds them in such a relationship also results in the godparent's magic to bleed into the godchild. The amount of magic of the godchild after such an influence could range from bare minimum to being an exact replica of the godparent's magic, depending on how much time is spent together by them and only if the godparent's magic is stronger than the magic of the parents of the child.

She looked up to stare at the wall. now it made sense why her magic was slightly altered. Loki must have visited her once or twice when she was a baby or something. Maybe stayed a night. Or lingered around the house invisible. And considering that Loki's magic was considered Aesir magic, it'd definitely be stronger than her parent's magic.

Then again nothing related to magic came without fine print. It was always there. She was a bit surprised that the book failed to mention anything like that but do they ever?

But did she want it to be true? Did she really want Loki to be there for her like a godparent? After all these years?

She leaned back, propping her feet on the table and supporting her head on her fist.

Irrespective of what she wanted at the moment, this...would change a lot of this. Tons of things. For starters, she'd have to break to him what were her actual birth conditions. Not to mention the team won't exactly be throwing a welcoming party for him of all people. In fact, she doubted that even one of them would be able to hold back at Loki's sight. Clint would probably skewer his eyeball of something.

She...wasn't sure.

Lost deep in her thoughts, Rose failed to see a certain someone step in.

"That is a good tome. Used to help me with magic, growing up."

Rose jerked to the source to find one of the last people she wanted to ever see. Irrespective of what she wanted, she was still mad at Loki.

"Odin ruled in your favor." she deadpanned

"That he did." Loki nodded, stepping towards her, "I'm forever in your gratitude for that."

"Yeah, don't be. I'm not sure I want anything to do with you." she muttered, going back to the tome, "I'm surprised Thor didn't mention that I don't wanna be disturbed."

"Thor was rather loud with that direction. But I'm sure as you would have guessed, I seldom listen to him."

"Yeah, no shit."

She turned her back towards him, the book in her lap.

She heard a loud sigh behind her before the table creaked. Nice. Just what she needed.

"You honored your word. It's time I honor my end of our agreement."

She looked up and then over her shoulder at him. Once Loki was sure he had most of her attention, he continued.

"The security schedules are altered after a fixed time interval. I'm afraid I've been...imprisoned long enough to not be familiar with the current security schedule."

She snorted, "That shouldn't be a problem, then."

Loki chuckled, quite puzzled, "You've been on Asgard for three days. How are you aware of the security schedule?"

"Why the hell did you think I slept with Fandral?" she raised a brow, "Other than wanting to experiment sex with an alien. It was nice, though."

Loki did not look pleased to hear what she did to get that, but seeing the expression she was wearing, he knew it would be better to not say anything.

"Now if you are aware of the security schedule, do you know how to mask your magic?"

She blinked, confused, "I can do that?"

Loki raised a brow, "Did they not teach that in Hogwarts?"

She pressed her lips inhaling a deep breath, "I was a tad busy with other...uh...co-curricular activities."

Loki just looked at her for a few moments in silence, as if waiting for her to elaborate. And when she didn't continue, he did.

"sneaking into the healing hut with the lack of knowledge on how to mask your magic can be problematic. If your magical signature is found..."

"You got any other idea, then?"

Loki studied her again, shifted on his perch on the table before he continued.

"Frigga has scheduled healing sessions with Eir to examine my mental health. Whatever you wish to sabotage, I can do it on your behalf."

She snorted, "Or you can teach me how to mask my magic."

"Masking your magic will take days to learn, even if you are a fast learner. And I don't believe that you have that luxury."

She rolled her eyes. "Or you can get me in the hut."

"I'm quite certain everyone is aware of what entailed on Midgard. To see us together would raise questions."

She harumphed.

"Who do you wish to sabotage that you are so persistent on doing yourself?"

She exhaled and looked at him, "The mortal man with a metal arm."

"I've heard of him. He came to Asgard with you."

She nodded, "Well, I have more than one bone to pick with him."

"I would need more information than that if I'm doing whatever you want me to do."

"His name's James Barnes. A professional assassin and killing machine. He was kidnapped and brainwashed by HYDRA, a terrorist organization. I managed to snatch him before, well, things could go worse."

Loki nodded, "And am I right to presume he's here for a healing session for his mental condition."

"Yup." she looked at him, "Eir did some calculations for his treatment. Changing the values or altering what she wrote would do enough damage."

"How much is the window of opportunities open?"

"His treatment began the day before yesterday and he's undergone the first phase. So, the window's not that much open."

"I see."

Rose could tell that he wanted to ask more but refrained and she was glad about that.

"Let me know when you're done with it," she said, picking the tome back, turning her back to him, and diving back into the book.

Loki didn't say anything further.

In fact, if it wasn't for her being able to feel his presence, she would have thought that he had long left.

She didn't pay her mind to his presence. She had more interesting things to read in those tomes.

"Jotun."

She rolled her eyes as he spoke up and did a small-time spell. the silence had lasted for merely 15 minutes before Loki broke it.

Sighing, she dog-ear marked the page, closed the tome, turned, and faced him.

"I'm sorry?"

"I'm a Jotun. From Jotunheim. Not Muspelheim." he cleared his throat, "That's where Odin adopted me from."

She looked down at the table, and after another second's thought, started collecting all the parchments and quills.

"I said all that just to annoy you. I really don't care what realm or race you are from and I could have gone without that knowledge." she looked at him, getting off her seat, "I've got other important things to do. Try to get with your end of the deal as soon as possible."

With that, she tucked the chair under the table and left back to her chambers.

Loki exhaled, as he entered his chambers after almost two years.

He had expected his chambers to be emptied, but it was still clean, pristine without a single layer of dirt. Everything was where it should be.

Closing the door behind him, he went to sit on his bed.

How could he convince Rose that what he did was for her own safety? That it hurt him for so long that he couldn't visit or raise his own goddaughter?

After having his three children taken away from him, he knew for certain that if Odin, or anyone in the royal court, had gotten a whiff that Loki in fact had a goddaughter, they'd have termed her as a 'monster' as well without investigating it any further. It always happened with him.

He never really had great relationships with his own spawns. But when he was named Rose's godfather, he accepted that role wholeheartedly. He thought he could redeem himself for his checkered past by being the best godparent any child could have to Rose and making sure she became the most powerful magic user in the whole universe.

But his own doubts and self-consciousness had clouded his judgment. His fear of what Odin might do to a mortal girl, whose only fault was having Loki for a godfather, had driven him away from her.

Apparently, fate does what fate wants to be done.

Rose had found her way to Asgard. She had challenged Odin's verdict for him. She had brought further evidence in his defense. She had convinced him to speak up and stand up for himself, to tell everyone the truth. Also being blissfully unaware of the true relationship they shared.

Loki wondered if he should have kept that secret.

No. She deserved to know. She deserved to know that she had a godparent.

She deserved to be treated like a god's ward.

Yet she wasn't.

Her magic, while still quite powerful for any Midgardian witch or wizard, was still not fully developed. She had a lot of potential. She had the potential to be the greatest magic user on Midgard, if not the Universe.

When Stark had referred to Rose as the 'greatest magic user on earth' during their discussion at the tower, he had felt delighted. Sure the scepter hadn't allowed such feelings to appear on outside due to its control, but he was ecstatic to know that his goddaughter had accomplished those feats by herself. Only to learn that was not the case.

Apart from that, he could tell that there were disguises she was wearing. No one in their right mind dies their hair such a vibrant color unless they wish for attention to be taken off something else. He could feel subtle signs of glamour magic all over her body. He had noticed the subtle tremor of her hands when he had broken the news to her. She had had certain experiences that were not blissful, but rather...hurting.

And he blamed himself for that.

What hurt further was that she informed him that didn't wish to have anything to do with him. She didn't want a relationship with him.

He sighed.

Perhaps he could try another tactic tomorrow. He should probably start with keeping his word towards their agreement.

Rose rubbed her eyes before fixing her glasses back.

Note to self, get an eye correction treatment once she returns to Earth.

Also, she hated what she was reading.

Loki was right. Learning to mask her magic would take days to learn, if not weeks. The books were not written with Midgardian magic users in mind after all. And she didn't have that much time. Not to mention self-learning meant trial and error and that...could prove to be disastrous. To some extent.

She rubbed her temples and flipped the page. There had to be a quick version of it.

Her deep reading was interrupted by a knock on the door. She groaned and buried her face in the book. And then the door opened.

It had to be Thor. Only he ever did that.

"Are you still having trouble sleeping?"

"No!" her voice came out muffled. She raised her head, adjusted her glasses, and looked at Thor. He looked nervous for some reason. "What's up?"

"Have you spoken to Loki?"

She narrowed her eyes, "Briefly. Why?"

"Did he mention anything about the trial?"

"Nothing other than that Odin ruled in his favor." she shifted in her seat, "Is there something else? Thor, you are starting to make me nervous."

"Did he mention his sentence?"

She raised a brow, "Loki got a sentence? But he just got out of the prison!"

Thor nodded, taking a few steps in her direction. "While Father and the Court ruled that everything Loki did was not under his own volition and he had been under mind control during those events, he was sentenced for various crimes including the murder of 80 people, sabotaging various operations, and a few more. Father couldn't let such heinous crimes go unpunished."

"That's a tad bit brutal, but it's not my place to comment on the Asgardian Justice system." she completely faced him, "I'm almost afraid to ask this, but what is his sentence?"

"Father has bound Loki's magic and banished him to Midgard to answer to his crimes to the people he committed them against."

"That...okay. Not gonna comment. Where do I come in?"

"That punishment is to stay in place...until you decide otherwise."

She blinked, totally confused. "Hold on. What?"

"To put Odin's words in a simpler form, Loki is now your responsibility for as long as he stays on Midgard due to his sentence. He'll leave for Midgard, with you, at the end of your sojourn."

Hold on a goddamn fucking second. What the fuck did he just say?

"No. No! Fuck no! I'm not taking responsibility for your lunatic homicidal brother!"

"I'm afraid that sentence has passed."

"I was not consulted! Your father just can't impose that shit on me!"

"I understand. But the only other option was to banish him to Midgard without any supervision."

She took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Why can't you take that responsibility, Thor?"

"As the crowned prince of Asgard, I have responsibilities towards the other realms as well. Though I do assure you that I will share your responsibility of Loki whenever I'm on Midgard."

She glared at him, while mentally cursing herself.

She had to find the tape. She had to open her big mouth. She had to challenge Odin. She had to work on Loki's defense. She had to play with her Messiah Complex. She had to tickle the sleeping dragon. And now, now she was stuck with a person who wasn't even fun to be stuck with!

"Your father hates me."

"No, he doesn't. He just..." Thor paused, as if unable to find the right word.

"It's okay. I was never really a favorite of my friend's parents anyway. Too much trouble along with me." she shrugged before diving back into the book.

Thor sighed, "Also I came to accompany you so we can break our fast this morning."

She exhaled and turned to him, "Just go ahead. I still need to get a bath. I'll be there in a while."

Thor nodded and gave her one last over, left, closing the door after him.

"Fucking splendid," she muttered. She glanced at the bathroom. Shaking her head, she closed the book, picked a new set of clothes, and walked into the bathroom.

Giving herself a once over in the mirror, she wondered if she should tuck in her blouse or just let it out. After 10 tries, she finally decided to tuck it in. having a small waist had its own perks at times.

She had just made her way to the vanity to braid her hair when there was a knock on the door.

Thor had gone for breakfast. Frigga wouldn't be here at this point, but rather at breakfast. Odin didn't care about her. Arna wouldn't disturb her at the moment.

She made her way to the door and opened it to find Loki.

"what are you doing here?" she asked

"May I?"

She exhaled, stepped aside as he walked in.

"Won't people talk now?" she folded her arms

"People don't have anything better than to talk, do they?" he asked, closing the door. "Why aren't you with Thor breaking your fast?"

"None of your concern."

Loki looked like he wanted to say something further but thankfully didn't. He reached inside his jacket and pulled out a rolled-out parchment, extending it towards her.

She gave him a look before she accepted the parchment warily. Unrolling it, she found hastily done calculations. Some were correct. Some were wrong.

"The correct ones are the ones Eir had done. The wrong ones are the changes I made."

She snorted.

"And you are sure Eir won't be able to tell it?"

"This is something new for Eir. I made sure the changes and alterations were subtle enough to not get noticed. Besides, I've been called Silvertongue. Lying happens to be one of my strongest suits."

"Nice." she rolled the parchment before setting it on fire, "just precautions."

Once done, she wiped off her hands and headed for the vanity. She started brushing her hair before braiding it.

"I assume Thor told you of my sentence."

"He did."

Rose looked at him in the mirror of the vanity as he nodded.

"I suppose you are not too thrilled."

"No. I'm not."

Loki nodded again before looking at her. Before he could say anything, she did.

"Look, I...really had a lot to deal with recently. I'm still processing half of that shit. I'm sure you had some reason that you thought was good enough to do what you did." she turned around tying the bottom of her braid with a rubber band, "I just need some time and space. And if I'm getting it right, you also need to get your head straight. After all, I'm stuck with you for foreseeable future. We'll have plenty of time...for...whatever."

She got up and pulled on her boots and headed for the door.

"I'm kind of starving. So..."

Loki took the cue and exited the room. She followed him out, locked her room, and without giving Loki a second look, made her way to food.

Thor had been visibly worried about her ever since the revelation that she was his god-niece. And yes, he had called her that.

It felt quite weird. Thor had always been her friend. And now he was kind of her uncle figure.

This led to him taking responsibility of cheering her up from her morbid mood. No matter how many times she let him know that she was content being locked up in her room or the library, preferably the latter, and just left alone.

But the God of Thunder would not take no for an answer.

That was how she found herself sitting on the stairs leading to the training grounds as Thor, Warriors Three, Sif, and other warriors trained. Well, what was happening in front of her was more like four adult children trying to wrestle each other along with immature jabs and taunts and laughter resonating in the immediate vicinity.

Certain comments made her lips twitch and turn into a smile. She was sure that had she not been in such a morbid mood, she'd have laughed like a psycho at a quarter of those taunts.

"They are not always this immature."

She looked up to see Sif standing next to her.

"I really don't care." she shrugged, "sometimes it's best to be a child."

They stood there silently for a few moments; Rose trying her best to focus on Fandral trying to twist his footing and make Volstagg lose balance while the bigger warrior loosed so done with that tactic.

"I wish to apologize."

Rose raised a brow and looked at Sif.

"My words where I claimed you were evil and sided with Loki because of your magic were rude and disrespectful. And my implications that magic is evil were ignorant. That is not the way Asgard treats its guests. I apologize for the same."

"that's mature of you," Rose muttered, "But I'm not the only one who deserves that apology."

Sif looked confused. "I'm afraid I'm not sure who else I've offended."

"Perhaps another magic-user. Loki."

"Loki?"

She shrugged and looked forward, "Loki ain't the sharpest tool in the shed. But neither are you." she looked back at Sif, "I got to know the whole double courting thing. That was low and so wrong. he deserves an apology as well."

Sif didn't reply and Rose knew Sif would not be apologizing to Loki.

"What did he ever do to get on your wrong side anyway?" she asked

Sif remained silent for a few more seconds before she spoke up, "He's the reason I have this black hair."

"That can't be the only reason."

Sif pressed her lips as if looking for the right words to form her sentence.

"What man in his right mind chooses magic over a sword?"

Rose blinked. "Uh...the one who knows the odds better. Magic has benefits that no blade or sword in the universe can provide."

Sif snorted. "Magic is effeminate. Magic is to be used by women. Not men."

So...to get it straight. Sif's exact problem with Loki was deep-rooted sexism?

"And I presume you don't approve of Loki fighting with magic rather than a weapon or blade, like those fine men out there?" she gestured to Volstagg wrestling Thor, while Fandral and Hogun stood on the sidelines.

Sif's silence was an answer in itself.

Rose snorted, "So...riddle me this. How come you aren't using magic?"

Sif looked at her sharply.

"You are a woman. You are a warrior. How come you have a sword on your hip and not magical tools? Isn't that violating the gender norms of Asgardian Society?"

"My circumstances remain different."

"How so?"

"I'm the Goddess of War."

"So?"

"Only the mightiest blades belong to the side of the Goddess of War."

"Who said wars cannot be won by magic? Hmm?" she looked ahead, "Magic is as much of a legit tool in a war as any sword or blade."

"how many wars have you won to speak of such?"

"Pardon my age, but one. That war was won by magic with only limited use of a blade." she stood up and patted off her pants, "Look, Xena, I get it. You wanted to show the misogynists of Asgard that a woman can wield a sword almost as well as any man, if not better. I appreciate that effort. I applaud that effort. I'm sure you earned your title as the Goddess of War.

But here's the deal. If you want people to accept you as someone who proudly wields a sword against the gender norms of society, you must also behave that way and not hate Loki for wielding magic.

You earned your title, your reputation, and your skills with hard work and countless other stuff. So did Loki. If magic is effeminate, then by those rules, any blade is manly. And yet you and Loki both defy those norms.

So do us all a favor, especially yourself, and stop being such a hypocrite and hyper-feminist. Everything looks good only in limit."

Whatever she had said probably struck a nerve since Sif just turned and left.

Rose shrugged and was about to sit down when she noticed Loki from the corner of her eyes. Great.

She lowered her head and rested her forehead on her knees. It seemed as if she just can't seem to get rid of Loki for now. Wherever she went, Loki would be somewhere in her sight. And it was starting to irritate her.

"Lady Rose?"

She looked up to see one of the women she recognized as Eir's assistant.

"Yes?"

"Lady Eir has sent me to fetch you. There is a situation that needs your urgent attention."

Rose all but gaped at what was in front of her.

How had she not seen it before? It was plain as day!

"I presume you what this is?"

Rose raised her head and looked at Eir.

"I most definitely know what this is. But..." she picked the paper, "I've never seen anything like this done to a human brain. It's almost...ingenious."

"And what happens to be so ingenious about this?"

Rose slightly flushed, gave her a quick smile before she continued. "These look like factory reset codes but with neurons."

Before Eir could raise any questions, she continued.

"Factory reset is a setting that is mostly, if not entirely, used in electronics and technology. This setting wipes off whatever data was stored before, marks the beginning of a clean slate."

"Finding such a setting in his head would explain how they were able to reprogram him every time."

Rose nodded, "Yeah it does." she leaned back, "but how were they able to activate the factory reset every time? I don't suppose he has a switch on him or anything, does he?"

Eir shook her head. The two women stood there, running their heads for ideas.

"What is the switch happens to be verbal?" Eir asked

"As in?" Rose asked

"If a man is stored in a cryogenic chamber for long periods of time and taken out infrequently, he'd be disoriented. The vision would be blurry and the brain would work its fastest to recuperate with the surrounding. In such a case, a verbal switch would be most profitable."

"Verbal switch..." Rose muttered, racking through her brain because she had heard or seen or read something like that but where(?), until it finally dawned on her, "A set of words"

On getting a look from Eir, she continued, "My friend, Nat, had this done to her. They had programmed her brain in such a way that listening to a set of words would knock her unconscious for certain time periods."

"Like an off switch."

"Exactly. And considering everything about her, it makes sense. And since KGB followed HYDRA, it'd make sense that they also had a set of words that'd factory reset him."

"Well, I can work on undoing this code, first."

Rose nodded, "And once everything's untangled, I can get in his head to get those words."

I'm trying to make quick updates bcuz I want this story finished before July'22.

So... the TLE series has been put on temporary hold.

Also, should I post the first chapter of the prequel? Lemme know that too...

What do you think of the story so far?

You know the drill.

Ciao