A mobile phone rang somewhere on the floor and agent Phil Coulson awoke from a strange bed between satin sheets and dived after the ringing voice, still sleepy, his head feeling dizzy. In a dim lighting he found his phone from the pocket of his jacket. "Coulson," he answered with a raspy voice and cleared his throat. The traces of his tiredness wore off as he listened to the caller's case. "Yes. I understand. Yes. Right away. Thank you," agent Coulson ended the call and felt a rush of adrenaline kicking in.

Not again! They hadn't even gotten over with the first one. This was another serious case, he thought and went for the light of the bedside table. He took a careful glance around him in a luxurious penthouse apartment, picking up his clothes from the floor where also lingered a red woman's cocktail-dress, golden high heel shoes and other girly stuff that didn't belong to him.

Manhattan peeked behind the half-closed window curtains. There was someone in the bed sleeping, and Coulson noticed long wavy ginger-red hairs on the pillow. He grimaced. Oh no, not the red-head, he thought and pulled up his pants, trying his best to recall the last night's events. Note to myself; never let Tony Stark mix your drinks again.

He left a short thank you note on the pillow next to the woman in bed and sneaked out from the apartment in a stealth mode. In a slightly moral hangover and a real one, he craved for a large cup of coffee. Not that decaffeinated crap. He wanted the real stuff.

Right after getting into the elevator he speed dialed again. The phone rang a few times and then Fury's voice answered. "Talk to me, Coulson."

"It seems we have a situation in Greenland. A field agent informed of a great energy discharge, similar as we saw in Thor's case. It was spotted also by our meters as well as NASA's. Apparently we have a new visitor. It's not him though. This one sounds dangerous."

"Yes, I just heard about it from Hill. There is one of our teams heading there as we speak. I thought it was over with Thor getting back home." Fury was silent a moment. "Casualties? Witnesses?"

"An agent wounded. A couple of witnesses at the moment. And the one who seems to be aiding the visitor has been on our follow-up list, the one of our candidates; the mutant."

"all right. I'll send two more teams to back up. One to pick them up and the other to clean up the mess. You go to the second one. I'll tell them to pick you up from New York."

"Yes, Sir."

"Oh, and Coulson. How was Stark's party?"

Agent Coulson stared at the degreasing numbers of the elevator, the content of his stomach rising up in the same speed. "Um... it was unforgettable."

... …

The headlights of the orange SnowCat cut through the snowy darkness as the tracked snow vehicle hummed slowly over the icy plain. The speed wasn't breathtaking, way under 20 miles per hour on maximum, but at least they were getting somewhere. Watching out into the dark scenery, Loki sat in grim silence, his right elbow leaning against the door, stroking his lips, being fully immerged deep into his bleak thoughts.

"I could have done it, father! I could have done it. For you, for all of us!"

"No Loki!"

He felt a stab in his heart, hearing Odin's words with that disdaining voice, rejecting him and his efforts to secure Asgard's permanent peace from the threat of the Jotuns. He had embraced death but even the death itself had rejected him, casting him into Midgard instead. He felt so mixed up, disturbing feelings storming inside of him from sadness to hatred, from guilt to being betrayed, leaving him broken and wounded. In all his life he had wanted nothing more than to be seen and loved in the way he was, but the Asgardians had never looked at him the same way they looked at Thor even his brother was an arrogant hothead without manners. A small moment he had been a rightful king of Asgard and yet he had been looked down and betrayed by those who should have been the most loyal to their king. And he was a Frost Giant, a cursed monster who everyone hated. With all that circling in his mind, he feared he was going completely insane. He desperately needed other things to fill his head with. So, he turned his eyes at the equally quiet woman next to him.

The needle of the compass pointed at west. Emma kept her eyes straight forward as if trying to ignore the mad demigod by her side. She hadn't even noticed that the pain in her body had left her, and warmth filled her insides again. Unsure was she even alive she breathed in slowly.

They had driven in silence, Emma not saying a word ever since she sat behind the steering wheel. The humming sound of the engine had been the only sound filling in the space of the truck's cabin. Curiously Loki kept staring at her, putting aside his own misfortunes. He was good concealing his feelings from others. He had always been. As he recalled the young woman had threatened to kill him, and he was looking forward for her to try it.

"So, why would you not tell me what you are?" he asked once more, ending the silence. It was going to be an awfully long journey if he had to do all the talking. And he hated small talk. "I mistaken you for a mortal but clearly you are something... quite different."

Emma still said nothing. Tears were burning her eyes and the smell of her own blood made her feeling sick. She couldn't forget the expressions of her co-workers when she had risen back on her feet after been shot. She couldn't forget the image of Loki stabbing Scott. She was filled with worry would he survive. Had it even been the right thing to leave? No. She should had stayed and do all there was to be done for Scott. The shock had turned off her rational thinking and made her to run. That was what she was good at, and this wasn't the first time she was running away from her troubles. Emma just wanted to scream the pain away. She stopped the truck and pulled on the hand break.

"Why are we stopping?" Loki inquired, watching at the woman who jumped out from the vehicle and walked into the outer range of the lights. He followed her out and circled the van in a huff, annoyed of her silent treatment. He was not going to be ignored by some mortal. "If you think you can leave me here in the middle of this all-gods-forsaken place..." he shouted after her.

Her back towards him, Emma let out a pained scream like a banshee and threw off her quilted jacket. She peeled off the bloody layers of her shirts as if her clothes had been on fire until she wore only bras on her upper body, not giving at damn if he'd see her. She dropped on her knees and begun to scrub the blood off from her skin with the snow like she'd been possessed.

A bit taken aback of her behavior, Loki watched her from the distant, intrigued, noticing that there was blood on the front as well as the back side of her slender torso but no visible damages to been seen. By his basic knowledge of humans, they didn't heal that fast. His gaze lingered on her for a moment longer with another kind of growing interest as well. He could have ravished her. She was practically asking for it. It would have simply been a small compensation for all the torment he had faced. But for the first time, he gave her some privacy and returned to the truck, waiting. After all, his mother had taught him better than that. Loki frowned for that thought. What had brought Frigga, his adopted mother, into his mind at the moment like this?

The snow didn't feel cold as Emma washed off the blood with it. The blood was her own but it felt like there was Scott's blood on her hands too since she had brought Loki to the research unit. What happened to Scott was partly her fault. A SHIELD agent? What the hell did that mean? Wasn't he with the NASA? Why hadn't he told that before?

Emma stopped scrubbing and touched her stomach and her back. There where an hour ago had been a gaping gunshot wound she couldn't now even feel a scar. What are you? Loki's question echoed in her mind. She wasn't sure about that anymore. She knew her body had always been able to adapt to extreme environments and her small wounds had healed fast, but never had she believed she would survive something like this. It was beyond her limits, wasn't it?

Emma glanced at the truck where the demigod sat frighteningly calm. She didn't want to go back there but she really didn't have any other choice. Picking up the remaining of her pride she strode at the SnowCat and put on her extra tank top and sweater from her bag from the backseat. She noticed the god creature glancing at her half naked frame over the seats, with nearly a shy expression on his face. Dressed up again she sat behind the steering wheel still without a word, wrapping a blanket around her.

The ailing of women! Loki thought, not really having an understanding for them. She was alive. He had just been through a lot worse and couldn't understand what she was mewling about. He's the one who should have been screaming out. He had liked what he had seen, though. Her pretty little body had appealed to his eye. The Asgardian women would have never exposed themselves so boldly. Being now more decent in her clothes, Loki dared to give her a longer, studying glance. "Feeling better? Or would you need a shoulder to cry on?" he asked caustically.

Still furious and without thinking of the consequences, Emma gave him a sharp slap on the face. It must have stung more of her palm than his face. She should have punched him instead. "That was for Scott! And, yeah. It does actually feel better!"

It was too dim for her to see the gleam in his eyes when Loki shot a flared up look at her and slid over the seat close to her. His hand rose up on her throat, not squeezing but to hold her. Loki saw her perfectly even in the dark. Without her silly hat, her long hair hung free over her shoulders. Her lips were smooth, her blue eyes big by fear and the scent of her skin inviting as the blooming gardens of Asgard. For a mortal, he found her attractive enough to touch her and let his hand dwell on her bare slender neck for a moment, wondering how she'd managed to pull through alive from his choking grip when they've met. It must have been the same reason she'd healed so fast from the gunshot wound.

So, she's got more spirit that he would have guessed. Loki breathed out aloud, a smile creeping on his parted lips. "I took you more of a lamb. I do like some fire, but do not ever do that again," he said with a dark voice. Slowly he let her go, honoring his side of the bargain; not harming her if she would take him wherever he wanted to go. It had only been a warning.

When he let her go Emma hit on the gas and the truck was in motion again, continuing the course. She exhaled her frustrated emotions. He wasn't going to get easy on her. Her own outburst wasn't helping either. She had expected him to hurt her, but his touch had been gentler this time. His breathe on her skin hot and fierce and left her shivering, but at least he hadn't harmed her. She needed to gather herself for a moment, forcing herself to speak. She might have as well tried to get inside his head. "Why did you harm him? Why did you stab Scott?"

"Do not tell me you weep for a man who shot you. That is pathetic!"

"Whose fault was that?" Emma squeezed the steering wheel, her knuckles white. "You could have disarmed him without hurting him. I saw you vanishing and reappearing, pulling your weapons out from nowhere. How do you do that?"

"Basic illusions and sorcery that I learned as early as I was a child," Loki said carelessly, giving a short thought for his mother who had taught him all he knew about Asgardian sorcery. He was probably never going to see her again. The thought of it made him sad.

Emma took a risk and shot another question at him. "And your brother? Is he like you too? A... god of... whatever?"

Loki glared at her angrily. "What? Where did you bring him into this conversation?"

"Earlier, you said I sounded like your brother. I take it you don't like him?"

Loki snorted, rolling his eyes. "I am not overly fond of him." No! He wished that Thor would have died when he sent the Destroyer after his brother. He would have still been sitting on his throne if Thor wouldn't have come to meddling with his plans. "He is a traitor and a coward. Do not ever dare to mention him again."

A sore spot? So he had one, Emma thought. To keep her insanity in this madness, maybe she should have used Peter's idiotic approach to things. "So, this Asscourt? What is it? Your heavenly kingdom? You own private nook of space?" Emma asked keeping up casual tone, her eyes at the snowy road, afraid as hell for what might follow.

"Asgard!" Loki cleared it annoyed. "The realm of Eternal lies in so far 'in space' that your great seeing glasses are not able to find it."

"Then, what's the purpose of your trip here? Business or pleasure?" Emma nearly gasped after blurting something like that out of her mouth. What was she thinking? A crazy idiot! Don't courage him with some poor choice of words!

Loki couldn't hide his grin. "Pleasure. Most certainly," he stated with a voice giving her chills, leaning closer to her. She was nervous, he sensed it. And her fear strangely excited him. "Aren't we awful chatty all of a sudden? Good. Since we are talking again, I was wondering," he said summoning his dagger in his hand, making sure she would see it, "if I would stab you, would you recover from it? And if so, how many times do you think we could repeat it without either one of us getting too tired?"

Emma couldn't ignore the knife she saw in the corner of her eye or that deranged question. He had stabbed Scott with that same dagger. So, he was a psycho, mad alien. "I don't know! I rather wouldn't put it to a test," she whispered, her voice beginning to quiver. "You know, you're..."

"You think I am mad, don't you?" Loki asked, actually sounding like mad.

"I wouldn't say that. Maybe, you're just short of a few marbles, that's all."

Loki frowned, uncomprehending the metaphor. "What is that suppose to mean?"

"Nothing. But that bullet wound... By all reasons I shouldn't have been able to pull through it." Emma glanced at Loki's dark figure, his gleaming dagger, and him again. "Why you keep intimidating me? You've already made your point."

Loki laughed a little, an uneasy laugh. "Have I? You haven't yet answered my question."

"You want to know what I am? Fine. I'm a human, only evolved. Those who consider themselves normals calls my kinds", Emma hated the word, "mutants. We've developed abilities that the normals don't posses. I know that I could survive here in the freezing coldness a few days without single frostbite or dive without holding my breath. But I never knew that my body could actually recover from a gunshot like that. It doesn't make sense."

Loki listened to her, interested, putting down his weapon and conjuring it away. "So, there are others like you? Why do you make it all sound like it is a misfortune?"

It was Emma's time to snort. "Do you have any idea what it feels like to be afraid of what you are?" Emma asked turning her gaze at Loki. "To be something too different? To be afraid that you are turning into a monster?"

Loki knew that feeling all too well. He had always felt himself different, an outsider, living in the shadow of his brother his whole life, until he'd discovered the reason why; that he was born as a Frost Giant. His dreams crushed by that knowledge and not so long ago.

"You would be surprised," he said it aloud, unintended, in a voice that made him sound humane after all his threatening. They stared at each other for a few seconds in the dim truck. Loki mentally kicked himself for opening his mouth, and Emma confused trying to understand what he had just meant by it. "Continue!" said Loki then, shaking off his personal feelings.

Emma hadn't talked about this with anyone. He was literally forcing her to talk. Hesitating she continued, staring far ahead through the windshield while driving. "I never wanted this. I was born with it. They called it a gene-X, or something like that. My DNA is fucked up because of it. I would gladly be normal, not needing to hide what I am. My mother would have liked that too. I was sixteen when my, um... abilities came out into the open. We were on our holiday trip in California, a day on the beach, some sun, swimming in the sea. I loved to swim. It was fun, until I went too far and was caught by the current. I sank under the surface, unable to get back up, and thought that I was going to drown. But I didn't. I thought I had become a mermaid." Emma let out a tiny pained chuckle. "It was so peaceful down there, under the surface. I wouldn't have wanted to go back up. When they finally pulled me up they said that I had been drifting in the water for two hours. The divers had been sure I was dead. And they freaked out when they saw me living." Emma swallowed. It was a painful memory she would have gladly forgotten. "I can't forget the expression on my mother's face when she first saw me. At first she looked so relieved that I was all right. And then when she noticed that I had developed gills..."

Loki lifted an eye brow, staring at her. "You have gills?" he asked a bit disgusted.

Emma shook her head. "Only when I dive. They vanished as soon as my lungs adapted to breathe air again, but my mother never looked at me the same way. From that moment I was a freak, and she sent me to be tested. Some men came into our home to take me away. I believed that it would have been just a normal hospital, but..." Emma stopped. She didn't want to take a trip down on that unpleasant memory lane of hell. Her voice turned to emotionless when she continued: "Let's just say, it wasn't a good place. So, when I finally got a chance, I ran from there. And I've been running ever since."

Loki felt surprised that he had actually bothered listening to her sentimental whining. At least she had not been lied her whole life like he'd been. "You are much more than the others and yet you buried yourself from the world? In here?" Loki asked, upset, staring outside into the cold darkness that surrounded them. It would have been more pleasant to go hiding in Jotunheim than here.

"I don't know how things are where you're from, but here being too different isn't so desirable. People, the normal ones, believes that my kinds are a plague they need to get a rid off. They fears what they don't understand, and begins to hate what they fear. The outcome isn't that pretty." She gave another glance at him like telling that the same thing goes with him.

"Why will you not hate them back?"

"What good would it do? Get myself killed? Look, whatever you intentions might be, don't expect the world to welcome you with open arms."

Loki smiled revealing his perfect teeth. "No. I expect them to kneel before me. I have come from too far for anything else."