A big, meatloaf filled sandwich tasted finger-licking good with a large cup of coffee after a long drive. The small roadside café was neat and nicely quiet, only a few more customers sitting at the tables as Logan the Wolverine ate his breakfast alone in a pleasant silence.

A TV was on over a cupboard behind the desk, but the volume was low, so it didn't bother him. With a one quick look, there was again this crazy, egoistic damn clown in black-green outfit with a twisted, golden, horned helmet on, giving a show about his magic tricks. Logan snorted. The poor bastard reminded him too much of Magneto with his helmet and a green cape. And he hated that kind of self-centered stuff the boy was talking about, so he gave more attention to his sandwich than to the TV.

The complimentary newspaper of that day laid on the table in front of him and the main headlines screamed 'The World Wide Web is down' and 'Conspiracy theories running wild'.

Logan didn't give a damn about that. He'd never even used the Net so he couldn't care less if the Internet was down.

It had been a good, quiet morning and he would have loved it to stay that way. He had been driving without a real destination but he pondered he should have been heading towards New York State, seeing some old friends in the Xavier's place. He had never truly felt he would fit in there, but it had been alright for a while. He needed some peace and quiet every now and then but he used to return to the old mansion, the Xavier's school for mutant kids, eventually.

When Logan noticed a black luxury car, an Acura, parking in front of the café and a man in a black suit, looking like a fed, stepping out checking out Logan's old campervan, Logan felt that his day just turned bad. He tried not to pay attention to the tidy dressed man who entered the café, removed his sunglasses and walked over to the desk.

Logan concentrated to finish his breakfast but he was disturbed as the suit-man came slowly at his table with a large cup of coffee and a donut.

"Excuse me, sir, do you mind if I'd sit here?" the man asked in an annoyingly calm tone, without being friendly or unfriendly.

Logan glowered at the man and then glanced at the rest of the empty tables. The man could have chosen anywhere else to park his arse, it wasn't the lack of tables, and Logan hadn't been asking for company.

"Yes, I mind," Logan said shortly and took a bite from his sandwich.

The man sat opposite Logan anyway and took a sip from his cup. "You are a hard man to find, Mr. Logan."

Logan's hackles rose by that remark. He had been right; the man had been looking for him. It was the hunch that never had failed him.

"Apparently not hard enough," Logan stated grunting and stared at the man who looked and sounded like a government's agent, a nasty one. He hated those guys. They came with a stench of trouble with them. "I'll take a wild guess that you're not from the IRS?"

The man looked straight into Logan's eyes, putting his cup on the table. "My name is Phil Coulson. I'm working for one of our governments agencies, yes, but that's not why I'm here. This is a rather personal matter."

Logan heaved an annoyed sigh, rolling his eyes. "Have you come to take your revenge on me on something I have done? Let me finish this and we can take it outside!"

Coulson shook his head with a dry small smile. "It's nothing like that, Mr. Logan. I'm not here to bring you trouble."

"Then leave me alone. Can't a man eat in peace?"

"I think you might want to hear what I've got to say."

Logan wrapped the remains of his sandwich into a napkin and took it and his coffee with him. "No, I don't!" he said sounding bored as he got up from his seat and walked towards the door.

Coulson followed him calmly. "Yes you do. Please, sit down, sir, and listen to me. It won't take much of your time."

"Look, whatever you've got to say; I don't give a damn!" Logan reassured and pulled the door open. "So, fuck off!"

"You have a daughter, Mr. Logan!" Coulson said simply and Logan stopped moving as if he had frozen. "And she is… like you. You two share the same genes. I'm sure you know what I mean."

Logan knitted his dark, thick brows turning his puzzled gaze at the man. That was the craziest thing he had ever heard. "I have no kids!"

Coulson nodded and took a step closer, going for his jacket's pocket and picking up a folded paper. "Yes, you do," he said, handing the paper to Logan that had a printed picture of a young woman. "This is Emma Morgan, formerly known as Emily Morrison."

Logan took a moment to look at the picture utterly dumbfound. The girl was pretty, with long wavy blonde hair and big brooding eyes, but she looked nothing like him. He lifted his doubtful eyes at the man. "She's not mine. She doesn't even look like me!"

"Your DNA match was 99 percent accurate and since you two share the special features, not mentioned the same cheerful attitude, the test result would be 100 percent accurate. This is your daughter, Mr. Logan. And she is in a bit of a trouble. Do you think we could have that talk now?" Coulson asked and offered him to take a seat back at the table.

The quickly flared up anger was settling down and Logan gave the man a perplexed frown, pondering the possibility of what the man had just told. He looked like he'd gotten lost in his thoughts for a moment. He knew someone who could check up the facts faster than anyone. "I need to make a call to my psychic."

Coulson made an approving expression. "Take your time."

Logan pointed his finger at the man holding his sandwich in his palm. "If you fuck with me, if this is some sort of trick, I will cut your goddamn head off, bub!"

"There are no tricks here, sir," Coulson promised calmly.

… …

"Since we are both still here I assume that the mortals haven't given you the Tesseract yet?" Loki smirked dryly at his blond brother who had come to visit him again.

Thor gave him a sour look and shifted his weight to another foot. A part of him was very glad that Loki had somehow pulled himself up from the depths of his despair, another part hated that smug, once again carefree attitude of his like he had no care in the world. "No, but I am working on it. I am seeing Fury again today and will make him to see reason."

The trickster god walked slowly back and forth beside the strong glass wall, his hands clasped behind his back, like a cocky rooster. "Well, you should bring Mjölnir with you. He wouldn't see reason even he had both eyes," Loki said and shot an amused look at Thor. Farther away from Thor stood four guards who were there keeping an eye on the Asgardian brothers. "Do you not find it annoying, brother, when those you consider as friends adjudge you to be unworthy to trust?"

"I am sure you know something about that, brother," Thor retorted. "I wish I could trust you, Loki. It would make this much simpler, for both of us."

"Hm… Well, set me free and we could discuss more about trust over a tankard of mead," Loki suggested glancing lazily at the guards, pondering how fast the soldiers would storm at them if Thor would actually lost his mind and set him free.

"When have you become a drinker?"

"When have you become more concern about others than yourself?" Loki returned a question in a sardonic tone. "To be completely honest…" he begun and noticed Thor giving a snort to that, and Loki could only smile sadly. "You still think I am incapable of sincerity? When we fought each other in Asgard and here… those were not probably the finest moments of our lives. But I am glad," he said and swallowed finding it hard to say it aloud being sincere, "I am glad that I failed to kill you."

"Yes, well… me too."

That had felt like a small step closer to the old times, to the brotherhood they once had shared. The brothers stared into each others eyes for a short while thoughtfully, Thor pondering was that just another lie and Loki thinking did his words hold any value to his brother anymore.

"I cannot blame you. I would not believe me if I were you."

"We can leave that debate for later. But one way or the other we will go back home, Loki."

Loki stopped pacing and turned at his brother with a small smile. "Why would you want to go back to Asgard? The Allfather cast you out once. You, his only true heir. You have here in Midgard everything you need, and Jane," Loki spoke persuading, stretching the woman's name. "You could even become the king of this realm. Show them a few lightnings and they would worship you as a god."

Thor shook his head. "I do not share your desire to subject people under my rulings. Not here and not in Asgard. And mortals are doing fine without our interference."

"You are jesting, right, my brother?" Loki asked and let out a chuckle, spreading his arms wide to his sides. "The mortals are slowly destroying their own realm with their short-sighted actions. What they would have needed, and what I would have gladly given them, was one strong leader," Loki said as thought justifying his own actions, touching his chest like he'd had been talking from his heart, "a benevolent despot who would have showed them the right way to salvation."

Thor rolled his eyes heaving a sigh. Nothing had changed! "You have deluded yourself with those poisonous dreams, brother."

"Indeed," Loki remarked ruefully. "But what did you really expected from one who had been living his whole life in others lies?"

"Even I do not approve father's decision of keeping the truth of your origins hidden from, you cannot excuse your foul choices with that anymore."

"Funny, that's what Emma said the other day."

"I heard that she has made a remarkable recovery," Thor said, his voice compassionate. "Considering her healing rate she cannot be a mortal. What is she? I heard you calling her Valkyrie. Er… she is not a valkyrie, is she?"

"Why?" Loki asked a bit amused understanding Thor's concern. "Would you be envious if I have found the last valkyrie and made her mine?"

"No!" Thor grunted hastily. "But she is not one, right?"

"She does fight like a valkyrie, don't you think?"

"Not really. I have not even seen her using a sword."

"She doesn't need one."

"And she is too small."

Loki frowned in a disapproving way. "When have you become an expert of valkyries?"

Thor looked upset. "You know how much I enjoyed the stories father told about them."

Loki tried not to grin but failed miserably. "Yes, I remember when you wanted to become a valkyrie."

"That was before I realized they were all women. And I was much, much younger then," Thor continued glancing behind him at the guards as a clarification for them if they even paid attention to their talk. "But we are not taking about me. We were talking about Emma. That is if you even know what she is."

The god of mischief found it refreshing that Thor wasn't praising his own achievements anymore. "Oh, I do know her. She is more than a mortal. She and her kinds are the next step of the evolution of mankind."

"When you say it like that you make it sound ominous."

"Brother, you seem to share the charity of the majority of the mortals. Most of them want to see her kinds wiped off from the face of Earth," Loki smirked with a dark tone. "Why do you think your new friends keep her caged? If they cannot control her I fear… they will kill her."

"I will not let that happen."

"Well, have you seen her lately?"

"No, but…"

Loki moved closer to the wall, his expression turning gloomier. "Thor, they will take her away today. And I do not know where. As I have told you she is not safe with these people. I wish you could believe me that much." He swallowed lowering his gaze in uncertainty and continuing in a silent voice. "If you should find a way to take us back home, I shall take her with me."

"You know more than well that you cannot bring a mortal into Asgard!"

Loki returned his gaze at Thor a challenge in his eyes. "Oh, you just watch me, brother! I will not leave Emma here alone to die."

… …

It was late in the afternoon when Emma was brought into the nicer room with a big window where she had talked with agent Coulson a couple days ago. She sat at the empty table, her hands cuffed, alone and just waiting. She was told to wait, but she didn't know what she was waiting for. Agent Coulson perhaps, but she hadn't seen him the whole day. She hadn't yet given her consent or refusal to his proposal to join on the S.H.I.E.L.D.

Simply accepting to it felt like she would have betrayed Loki in every way possible. And uncertainty of the outcome of refusal also terrified her. She had the horrible feeling that she wouldn't never walk out from that place as a free woman or alive at all. She feared that her time was up and she couldn't any longer put off her answer.

The nights she had spent talking with Loki's projection, planning how to get out, dreaming about a future together if that time would come. They had found creative ways please one another without a real touch and in a humorous way planned how to take over the world together like Pinky and Brain. And she had cherished every moment with him.

A good half an hour later, Emma had grown tired of sitting and went at the window, staring down at the riverside. It was a grey day outside, it wasn't raining yet but it was just waiting to happen. Finally the door opened and agent Phil Coulson walked in. He gave her a short glance as if saying hello. "Ms. Morgan, there is someone to see you."

Curiously Emma took a few steps forward, hoping that agent Coulson had fallen into a temporarily mental disorder and brought Loki to her. But no, she saw Logan entering the room. It was the man she recognized from the photograph Coulson had shown her. He had the same thick head of hair, a quiet hairstyle. He looked exactly the same as in the picture. And he wore a dark-brown leather jacket, a blue tartan flannel shirt under it and blue jeans.

"Oh dear god," a bewildered sigh escaped her mouth. Coulson had dropped quite a bomb on her.

Hesitating and cautiously Logan made his entrance, gazing at the young woman in cuffs. She looked small and scared. Jesus Christ! What had she ever done to get into a place like this surrounded by all these people?

Coulson gave them a short self-satisfied look like he'd done something valuable. "You've got a lot to talk about. So, I'll leave you to it," he said and left the room.

Talking wasn't one of Logan's best qualities. And he had never expected to face this situation; to meet up with his own adult kid who was a completely stranger to him. The door closed behind him and he took a cautious step towards the girl. He had been trying to prepare himself for this moment while driving after Coulson to Washington D.C. but he didn't feel ready anymore.

"Hey, I'm Logan," he said and felt like he had just jointed the AA session. Get a grip, man! "I was told… well, that Coulson guy told, that I have a kid. So, um, you must be Emma."

Dumbfound Emma just stood and watched at the strange man, her father, who should have known all the answers to her questions about her origins and the curse she was carrying. "Hi," she managed to say aloud. "Yeah. I'm Emma. Morgan."

They stood on the opposite sides of the room like trapped animals, unknown to each other, neither of them really enjoying the moment. Emma not even prepared to meet with him.

"You don't have to fear me. I know I'm called Wolverine but I don't bite," Logan said, seeing that his showing up unexpectedly had made her confused, scared even.

"No… It's just that, I'm at a loss here," Emma swallowed. "Are you really my father? Or are you just one of those freaking agents, paid to change my mind?"

Logan took another step closer, his thick brows curving. "Do I look like one those fucking clowns in a suit? Their sort gives me the itch. I hate the whole bunch!"

"Yeah, same here. Why… why have you come?"

That was a very good question, Logan thought pondering the same damn thing. If he had never spent time with the kids in Xavier's mutant school he wouldn't have probably taken this trip at all.

"I don't know. I guess, I wanted to see are you real. Jesus Christ! I didn't even know I had a kid until this day. How old are you?"

"How old do I look like?"

Logan snorted. The kid was getting a smartass with him already! "You look like a kid to me. What comes to our kind, age is just a number. I don't remember when I was born, but I've been looking the same at least over thirty years."

Emma sighed in puzzlement. "Okay. Um, I'm 25."

"So, it was sometimes in -86 then?" Logan pondered aloud. He stopped everything and only sniffed the air like a dog, suspiciously. "Hang on! You smell that?" he asked and walked close to the window, passing her on his way.

"What?" Emma took a sniff but she only smelled him, and his odor was quite strong. He smelled… wild but safe.

"Cheap cologne. Eau de toilette; breeze of my ass!" Logan grunted severely annoyed staring at the window.

He clenched his right fist and revealed his adamantium claws, striking his deadly blades through the glass. Electrical sparks flew in the air as the riverside scenery in the window pane went all black and the broken pieces of the blackened glass fell down revealing a hidden room behind it, and two agents, a male and a female, who looked at him horrid.

Emma had taken a frightened step back when she had seen his claws emerging but returned by Logan side, staring at him and the revealed secret. She hadn't had any idea that the window had been fake and they had been monitored the whole time. It had been some sort of high-tech 3D illusion screen. It was nothing compared to Loki's illusions but still impressive. They had surely fooled her. "For fuck's sake!" she gasped getting angry.

Logan frowned at her, a bit surprised that she wasn't scared of his action. "Hey, watch you mouth, kid!" he told her in a fatherly manner and she just gave him a 'are you fucking kidding me' –look.

Coulson entered into the hidden room just to witness the shattered wall and Logan's furious glower, his claws pointing at Coulson. "Hey, buddy! I thought you promised us a private conversation and no tricks. This looks like a damn trick to me. I hate liars! Do we get some privacy here or do you want me to start redecorating some more?" Logan asked.

I love you, dad! Emma was speechless, gazing at Logan and his steely claws and then at the utterly perplexed and worried Coulson. The agent's expression was priceless, finally showing some real emotions, and Emma grinned after recovering from the shock.

"Er," Coulson swallowed, pondering hard should he be calling for the security or not. This was the man he didn't want to make a scene here. "I recommend you keep your claws to yourself, sir. Let's give them some peace, shall we?" he said to his fellow agents and they left with hurry. He had no idea how to explain this to the director Fury.

Emma heard the male agent saying something like that it had been a half million dollar window and it had been a mistake to bring Logan there. Coulson was starting to agree with that.

Logan smirked like a crook watching them leave. The bastards wouldn't try to fuck with him again! "Thanks, Charles," he murmured, pleased of some unexpected telepathic help from a friend.

Emma looked the man in front of her with a new kind of respect, and realized that her own claws made some sense now. Loki had been blaming himself for her icy claws and shared his thoughts with her about it. And Emma had been sure it was just her being a freak for developing such spikes, but now she knew; she was born to have those in some point of life. They ran in the family. This man was truly her father.

"You know what? It doesn't matter that I never knew you until now. That just made it all up. How come…?" She didn't even know where to start. She just stared at his mighty claws. Those were much bigger than hers and looked a lot stronger and sharper too.

Logan pulled his claws back in, giving her a long, studying gaze. "These don't come off. So, I take that you don't have a pair of these then?"

Unintentionally tears were creeping into her eyes. "Not quite like those. I wouldn't really want to show them because…"

There was a sorry looking in Logan's eyes. "It hurts every time when they comes out," he filled her sentence and Emma only nodded to agree with that.

Logan took a seat, sitting on one of the armchairs and turning his compassionate eyes at her. "Coulson told that you've inherited my genes. So, is that your speciality too? The claws?"

Emma sat on a chair next to him. It felt odd to talk about it, but he did feel like a kinder spirit. "The claws are a new thing to me, I'm trying to get the hang of them. I… I heal fast and my body adapts to surrounding environments quickly. I could go to freezing Antarctic only with bikinis on for a few days and live to tell you about it. How about you? Were you born with those blades?"

Logan stared down at his hands, the small holes already healed between his knuckles. "No. And yes. I was born with these claws but my whole skeleton has been covered with this indestructible alloy. Don't ask me why," he said and turned back at her. "I heal fast too which makes me hard to kill. I have lived long. I don't even know for how long. I have no recollection of what happened before the mid seventies."

Emma listened in silence and then couldn't hide her sudden grin. "Yeah, I heard that the seventies did that to a lot of people."

"Don't get a wiseass with me, kid! I've got a bullet stuck in my brain. It caused me to lose my whole memory. I know nothing of my life before that time."

They had more in common that she could have ever imagined; both shot in the head, but she had regained her memory, though. "No shit?"

"Yeah. Shit!" Logan heaved a long sigh. For some strange reason if felt easy to talk with her. "I've got no relatives. No family. Well, except you, now. I, um… I'm sorry, kid. It must have not been easy for you."

Emma let out a tiny pained laugh. "You have no idea."

He lowered his gaze down. "I know it's not easy to be what we are. It has been hard enough to bear it with myself. I would have never wanted to pass this curse down to someone else."

"Are you saying that you wish that I would have been never born? Jeez, thanks, dad! A good talk!"

"No, I'm not saying that. I don't know what the hell I'm saying!" He took a moment to gather his thoughts, watching at her. "So, your mother? What's her name? Is she still around?"

"Aileen Morrison… I heard she's living a nice, perfect, little family life in Florida with no-mutant kids. My mom dumped me the moment she realized what I was. I was sixteen at that time. Haven't seen her ever since," Emma told, bitterness in her trembling voice.

Logan turned his gaze at her, a great concern and disappointment in his eyes, feeling like he had been the one letting the poor girl down. "Just like that?"

Emma snorted. "No. She let some freaking monsters take me to be tested and tortured for a couple of months. I guess I would have still been there or died, if I wouldn't have fought my way out from that fucking place. You know, the claws would have been pretty handy back then. It's a shame I got them just recently."

"Jesus… I…" Logan swallowed hard. "I am so sorry, kid," he said staring into her blue eyes. Her young life had been probably as much hard as his had been.

Emma gazed back at him with a small smile. He was nothing she had expected him to be; an arrogant, couldn't-care-less prick with a bear belly. No. He was a hell of a cool and compassionate, definitely a badass with his claws but alright.

"It's not your fault. After all you didn't even know that I existed. Mom really didn't talk about you. When I asked from her about my dad she told that his name's Logan and that she met him just once. I wasn't curious about the details, knowing her style... She wasn't very smart when it came to men. Um… No offence."

Logan let out a snort with a dry laugh, pondering a moment, a gentle smile spreading on his face. "I wasn't looking for a company in that bar on that night, just to get drunk. Aileen? Yeah. She sure was pretty. She asked me to dance and didn't take no for an answer and I'm a guy with two left feet. There wasn't much talking." Suddenly he felt awkward to continue. "Trust me I wouldn't have ever carelessly put a woman to carry my child. We were careful, you know… used the protection…"

A grin made Emma's cheeks twitching. "Yeah, I guess it could be a bit tricky to put a rubber on with those claws…"

"Hey, what did I tell you about being a smartass? Show some respect to your old man!" Logan grunted at her.

"Sorry, dad!" Emma laughed and finally so did Logan.

"Just call me Logan, alright?"

They talked a while about everything and nothing important, finding out that they did share more than just a few genes.

Emma kept watching at him, just trying to understand that he was really her father and he had come there just to see her on the very moment he had discovered he had a kid. It touched her so very much.

"Do you ever," she begun but hesitated a bit, "feel like there's something dark inside of you, something you can't push aside…"

"It's like a beast you can't control. It gets you in rage, makes you do unthinkable things, and you can't help it," Logan continued her words like he had been reading her mind. They stared at each other in the eyes for a long while in silence and in a deep understanding. And it got Emma on the verge of tears. "Oh, kid. I'm sorry," he said and it felt like that was all he could say. Logan realized he had truly passed down his own curse on her. "I wouldn't wish that for my worst enemy."

"Yeah, I've done some bad things, unable to control myself… thinking that I'm a monster. Thinking that there is something wrong with me. But there's not… there's nothing wrong with me. You and I, we are what we are. It's in our nature, right?"

"Damn! You're wiser than your old man. It took me more than 25 years to figure that out."

Logan couldn't ignore the cuffs around Emma's wrists. She seemed to be a good kid just like the young ones in the X-mansion and he couldn't understand what Coulson's bureau wanted with her. It was time to ask the difficult questions.

"You're alright, kid. Which makes me wonder… This Coulson told me that you're in some sort of deep trouble. He also mentioned that your boyfriend is a dick who got you in that trouble in the first place. So, who is this guy of yours?"

Emma's eyes got rounded by a surprise. She had never expected to talk about guys with her father. She had never had neither until now. "Do you mean Loki? Our relationship… It's complicated. It is a bit difficult to explain."

"The whole life is complicated! What do you mean? Is he bad company, some hot-head mutant? Has he hurt you? If so just point me into his direction and I'll give him some claw."

Emma could only imagine Loki's and Logan's encounter; it could get nasty. "It's nothing like that. He's been good to me and I really care about him, very much. He has done a few bad things in his life but so have I. We have – I would say it's – an understanding. He knows what I am, and it doesn't freak him out. And I know what he is, and I see the good in him, even the others may not."

Logan frowned. "Then what's the problem? Why are you here in those bracelets? And why Coulson so desperately wishes me to convince you to leave this Loki guy?"

Emma frowned too. So, that's why Coulson had brought her father to meet her. At least Logan was being honest with her. "Maybe it's because Loki is not from around here."

"A foreign guy, huh? Don't tell me he's some fancy pants finance criminal from Europe? Or a thug from the Russian mob?"

"He's bit more farther off than that." Emma grimaced. "He's an extraterrestrial."

Logan stared at her a moment without blinking. "What the hell? Are you telling me that you're dating a fucking alien?"

Emma rolled her eyes. "He's actually a very nice when you get to know him. It's not like he's a little green man." No, he's more of a big blue guy. "He looks like a normal human being and he's actually a quite lovable. He didn't land on my backyard with his space ship for trampling crops. He was cast out from his own realm and he ended up here. Alone."

Logan shook his head in disbelieve. It had started as such a good day and turned out into a freaking nightmare. "Do you have any idea how fucking deranged that sounds?"

Emma let out a tiny, sad laugh. "Yeah, I do. And I do know what it feels like to be alone and abandoned. These people here are going to kill him and probably me too if I don't join them. Or then they will keep us locked up and throw away the keys."

"Oh, for fuck's sake!" Logan grunted combing his fingers through his hair with both hands. "Could you not just see the reason and give up on Loki? Phil Coulson seems to be a decent guy even for a sly agent. I'll have a talk with him. Maybe he'll let you go if you would join up in Charles Xavier's team. He's an old friend of mine and helps our kind. Charles is reliable and I would trust him with my life."

Emma had enough with sitting. She took a few steps, glancing at the broken fake window and the empty hidden room behind it. "Look, Loki and I met by a chance, but I am not going to abandon him!"

Logan watched at his daughter with sad eyes. "This is your life we are talking about. Is this guy really worth it?"

"Yes. I'd trust him with my life," Emma said without hesitation. She gazed at her father, tears glimmering in the corner of her eyes. "I know this is an unfair thing to ask you, since we have just met, but I'm going to ask anyway, because this might me my last chance. So, here it goes, Logan; Will you help us to escape this place? A small distraction would be fine. Just something to get me started, and I'll take it from there."

Logan got up on his feet too, with a look of concern in his face. "Are you crazy? Do you even hear what you're saying? Have you not seen the security measures of this place?"

"I've done it once before," Emma said quietly, but it felt like those weren't her own words. She had once escaped from the bad people but it had turned her into a monster, a beast that hadn't cared of who got hurt. Actually she had done it twice; the second time in the Helicarrier. But she wasn't sure if she could go through it again. "Will you help me?"

Logan let out a long sad sigh. "I'm sorry, kid. I can't."

"You can't or you won't?" she asked sounding upset but then she lowered her gaze ashamed. "Sorry… I shouldn't have asked you. It's not right. Shit! I don't know anymore what I'm going to do. I'm getting a bit desperate here."

Logan took a long while to talk with her trying to reason with her, telling her that he would help her but not that way. And Coulson finally came to tell that it was time to say goodbye for now.

As Logan was leaving, he stood in front of the door next to agent Coulson and gave Emma one more look. "I will come to see you again, soon. Until then Goldie Locks, stay away form the Big Bad Wolf, alright?"

Emma stood in the middle of the room, a small smile on her lips. "You're not very good telling bedtime stories, Logan. You mixed up the characters!"

"Huh?"

"Goldie Locks went to the house of the Three Bears." She smiled a bit more. "Maybe on her way there she met the Big Bad Wolf who turned out to be a decent guy. They were good together. It was those three fucking Bears that made a big deal out of it," she said nodding towards Coulson.

"Wiseass!" Logan snorted but smiled at her fondly. "Look… things might seem bad now but just don't do anything stupid, alright! I will be back. I promise. You're my kid and I won't leave you alone."

When he stepped out and the guards closed the door behind him, he let out a long suffering sigh, thinking hard what do to. That was really his kid in there. He had met her only for a couple of hours but something inside of him told him that she was his, they were the same. And if she was anything like her old man, she was going to try to break out from this place in some point if the situation would seem hopeless.

"Shit!" Logan grunted and went for his pocked and picked up a big cigar, biting and spitting out the top of it.

"Sorry, sir. You can't smoke here!" the other one of the guards told him before he got a chance of lighting his cigar. "The smoking areas are on the left side from the main entrance and the back of the building."

Logan frowned at the guy who was supposed to escort him out. "Damn! I get lost even in a library. You wouldn't want to point me into the right direction on our way out, would you, buddy?"

… …

Logan had left and Emma sat in silence at the table agent Coulson opposite her. It was the already familiar situation. Coulson had talked to her, but she hadn't really paid attention of what he had to say after he had told that it was time for her to back up her things and get ready to move into the another location, to that campus where her training would begin.

She had been staring at an envelope in front of her that contained her new identity (passport, IDs and even new birth certificate), not opening it. Accepting the training would require her to participate into a gene-testing because of her mutation and she abhorred the whole testing idea.

When she finally lifted her gaze at the agent, there were tears in her eyes. She couldn't leave Loki there alone. And the meeting with her father had felt like she had been given a chance to say goodbye to a man she hadn't otherwise even known. She feared that she had to leave behind both of the men that meant the most to her. It felt so unfair.

She couldn't give up the life she had built, and she couldn't give up Loki. She had made up her mind, just gathering courage to get it done. She was going to hate to do it. Agent Coulson had been the only one who had treated her with some sort of respect there. The sheer thought of letting her beast-side out broke her spirit.

"Agent Coulson?" Emma asked with a small voice, interrupting his weird and insane talk of something about Loki's internet takeover.

"Yes, Ms. Morgan?"

"Thank you for letting me met my father. Why did you do it?"

"I was hoping that it would clear things up a bit and help you to understand of your own gift."

Emma closed her eyes. She wasn't sure was he only being kind to her or messing her mind completely. "Why are you being so different?"

The change of her mood and the certain coldness in her voice gave Coulson a warning sign. "Different than who?"

"Than those people who kept me caged back then. You're making this very hard for me. You wouldn't happen to have a pen to click or something?" She needed something to ignite her anger. She couldn't go berserk on the verge of tears.

"Ms. Morgan, I really encourage you to reconsider you possible intentions carefully," Coulson said in his calm voice. "We have made a great progress here. Please, don't let me down now."

"Oh fuck…" she heaved a long shivering sigh. She would have only needed to shove her claws out and hit him, but she couldn't do it. Not to him. And her plan to escape wouldn't have probably gotten her very far anyway because she didn't want people getting hurt. "You must have a dozen kids back home, agent Coulson."

Coulson looked a bit confused. "I have no children. What makes you think so?"

"Well, you should. You'd be a great father. I've never met anyone with nerves like yours."

"I'll take that as a compliment. I'm married only to my job."

"Yeah, I've noticed!" she said with a sad smile picking up the envelope. "How about we make a deal? You'll quit your job here, get married and raise a bunch of kids, and I'll go training to become an agent for these creeps. As long as Loki stays safe and I can see him every now and then, I'll promise I would make you proud." That was her second best choice. Not a good one but I would keep her alive, she hoped.

Phil Coulson looked very lost for a moment. "I… really… can't accept…"

The door opened and one of the guarding soldiers entered the room in full outfit with a helmet and vizier down. Coulson glanced at the man confused. "What are you doing here?"

The soldier approached him looking like he had something to say in private and Coulson got up from his seat. Before he realized the soldier pounced on him roughly. Coulson fought back hard relying on his special agent trainings, managing to deliver a few punches, but soon he found himself unarmed and in a tight grip, his face against the table and his arms locked behind his back.

"W-what?" Emma screamed and jumped up from her chair and moved back in a fright, snatching her chair to her protection. She exchanged distressed glances with agent Coulson who was pressed against the table looking suffering.

Coulson had made a lot of his own investigations and discovered Emma's theory of the Hydra's infiltrations could have been very much correct. And now he only assumed that the attacker was after her, a Hydra's henchman. "Run!" Coulson grunted at her with a grimace, worried for her sake. "Go! Now!"

Without really thinking much Emma went with her animal instincts and those told her to fight like a beast. She swung the chair at the assaulting soldier with force over the table and threw her arms wide to her sides popping out her claws fiercely, ready to fight with a burning rage.

Right before she was about to jump over the table at the soldier, she saw three long steel claws emerging out from the soldier's fist as he smashed the chair in pieces before it hit him.

"Hey, what's wrong with you, kid?" the soldier grunted at her, keeping the agent down with another hand while he opened his vizier, revealing a familiar face.

Shocked of what she saw Emma couldn't get a word out of her mouth, slowly letting her guards down, her own icy claws as extensions of her fists pointing at the man. "Logan?" Emma stammered. "W-what are you doing?" she yelped at him, pointing at the suffering agent down in his grip. At least he saved her the trouble of trying to take Coulson down by herself, but now she was actually worried for the poor guy.

"Goddamn! You do have claws!" Logan took note slightly astonished. "She's really my daughter," he noted to Coulson in his grip and turned back at her. "What are those made of? Ice?"

"I think so… I thought you said you were coming back later. What are you doing?" she asked again and glanced at Coulson, pointing her claws at him. "You are hurting him!"

"I gave it another thought and came into a conclusion that I can't leave you alone here any longer. And just maybe you should introduce this boyfriend creep of yours to your old man. What do you say, kid? Shall we go to say him hello?" Logan asked with an apologetically small smile, pulling agent Coulson up from the table like a doll.

Emma could only answer that with a smile, pulling her claws back in. "You would help us getting out?"

"That's what the fathers are for, right?"

"Logan?" Phil Coulson gasped, glancing at the man over his shoulder. "What do you think you're doing, sir? We are on the same side here!"

"Sorry, bub. I'm an impulsive guy. They should have mentioned that in my profile. It's nothing personal. But if you'll bully my little girl, don't expect me to let it go. Now, where do you keep that no-good E.T.-boy?"

Emma picked up the envelope from the table staring at Coulson looking a bit sorry. Things had changed so suddenly. "Um… Sorry! Mind if I take a rain check on this agent training matter?"