Then

Loki, in a fit of frustration dealing with his brother's antics, decided that he needed a break from Thor's shadow.

However, Thor had become surprisingly adept at finding Loki even when he was disguised. Which meant odds were his brother would bust him within the first decade and he would have to return to the headache of listening to how great Thor was.

Which was why he was going to do something a bit different. He was going to hide on one of the realms that didn't have regular contact with Asgard.

He was going to hide on Midgard. He wanted to see exactly how far their magic had progressed since Asgard cut off contact with them centuries ago.

And to insure Thor had a bit harder time finding him, Loki opted to hide as a girl.

Specifically a ten year old girl with green eyes and auburn red hair. She even found the perfect family to hide with. An Irish Catholic family by the name of Evans. Loki was even given the name Lily.

Now

There was a lone teenage girl sitting on a mostly ruined playground.

Her once dark raven black locks had swiftly paled until it was almost the color of freshly fallen snow. Her eyes were a deep green and shined almost like cut gemstones...though there was a sort of internal glow that suggested a subtle hint of power just waiting to be unleashed. There was a tiredness in her gaze, but also a sense of steel.

Unlike the other kids in the neighborhood, she did not have many friends locally. The only friendly face she could actually claim was that of her beloved owl Freya.

Evergreen Potter hated Privet Drive, and she almost loathed Hogwarts. Considering the disaster of the past four years, one could understand why she was almost dreading returning to the place she had once thought would become her sanctuary.

Instead the school had become something closer to a prison. One in which her unwanted fame resulted in her being treated like a prized doll, one the magical public was all too happy to toss to the ground every time she did something they didn't "approve" of. So long as she played the part of the 'golden girl', they loved her. If she did something that she wanted to do or displayed any sort of talent or ability they didn't like, they acted like she was the epitome of evil.

Everyone thought she was a glory hound, someone who enjoyed the ridiculous fame and attention she got every year. No one ever apologized for treating her like crap, even when evidence revealed they were wrong about her the entire time.

Second year had merely been a prelude to this truth. Fourth year had been a rather unpleasant eye-opening experience. She was honestly shocked finding how little allies she had, and those that might have spoken up were oppressed by everyone else.

She had no idea what she could do. Maybe if she had a better idea of where she could go without being dragged back things could be different. But as things stood, she honestly had no idea whether she would live to see her eighteenth birthday.

She sighed quietly, just trying to think in the oppressive heat of the summer. The air conditioning had taken a hit earlier that week and the repair man was so backlogged it wouldn't be until tomorrow before the unit was fixed. Considering how humid it was, the only sane option was to leave the house for several hours and try to find some relief away from her 'family'.

So you could imagine her shock when a few black cars that looked very official slowed down right as they reached the park.

"Ms. Potter?" said a man wearing a very fancy suit and looking like a government agent.

"Yes?" she asked carefully.

"You need to come with us. There's been an incident and we need your assistance in straightening it out."

Evergreen was highly suspicious.

"Look, I don't know who told you what, but I'm not going anywhere with someone that looks very much like a part of a secret government program that will likely do some very unpleasant experiments on people with special gifts," she said flatly.

She noticed one of the younger agents snorted at that. The man before her had a very thin smile.

"Miss Potter, my name is Agent Phil Coulson with SHIELD. We're a UN based agency and someone had requested your presence specifically."

"Why?"

"I'm afraid that's classified."

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"You're a very good liar, however I've been lied to my entire life so I know the signs. Why should I come with you?"

His smile didn't reach his eyes.

"Miss Potter is there anything you need before we relocate you to a secure location?"

"I want your word that you're not trying to simply disappear me to some black-listed location because of my powers," she said flatly.

"Miss Potter, even if we did have plans to use you as one of ours, we would wait until you have finished high school first. At most our director will likely relocate you to a special school for those with...unique...talents until you are a legal adult and are qualified for the training required. We hardly have need for a half-trained young woman who isn't legally able to drive," he replied flatly.

Finally, something truthful.

"Fine, let me pick up a few of my things and we can go."

"Tell us what you need and our agents will retrieve them. Time is very much of the essence at the moment."

"My owl and my satchel that should be hanging on the chair in front of the dresser. Everything else I can easily replace later," said Evergreen.

She had moved everything of any real importance to her to the satchel after Ginny broke into her trunk. That and she had been seriously contemplating running away. Having a bag already packed had eased a lot of those thoughts. She really only needed one good push before she left this place and never looked back.

Seeing Freya act so calmly around the strange men, Evergreen relaxed a bit.

"I hope you're not afraid of heights. Where we're going, it's going to be fairly high up," said Coulson.

"You're kidding, right? I love being up in the clouds," said Evergreen incredulous. She would live among the clouds if she could.

Evergreen observed her surroundings, and was almost drooling at being so high up in the clouds. She was loving every moment of this.

So you could imagine her open confusion to learning why they had taken her out of England in the first place.

"Let me get this straight. A man claiming to be the pagan god Loki demanded that you bring me here before he would talk about where this...cube...is. He already has several of your people under his control and he's killed several others. What does he want with me? I mean I know my father and his friends worshiped Loki but I honestly have no idea why he would want me here," said Evergreen in confusion.

"At this point Ms. Potter, we have no idea what Loki's game-plan is. All we know is that he was unusually adamant about having you here and refuses to say a word until he sees you personally," said Fury.

"...Your agent said that I would be relocated to another area once I got the information you wanted."

"There's a school that takes in...unusual...cases. People such as yourself who have special powers that need training and an education. If you help us, we will personally deliver you to the man who runs it."

"What's the name of the school?" she asked.

"Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters," said Fury.

"Oh, you mean the school for mutants. I suppose it can't be worse than Hogwarts has been up till this point," she replied.

She had heard of that school, and honestly living in a dorm with mutants might be a step up from her situation before. She was already used to living in a boarding school after all.

Evergreen was lead past an odd lab, and didn't notice the expression of the muscled blond man when she passed by the window.

The second she came face to face with Loki, she felt a strange kinship with the man.

"So the monkeys can be taught to fetch correctly. Impressive," he snarked.

Dear gods, it was like she was dealing with a better looking, far cleaner version of Snape!

Fury glared at Loki, and hovered over a red button.

"Just a reminder, if you don't talk then it only takes one press of this button to send your sorry hide down several thousands of feet in a cage."

Loki rolled his eyes, clearly unimpressed.

Fury left, but there was no doubt in their minds that they were being watched and recorded discreetly.

Evergreen couldn't shake the feeling she knew Loki, even though they had never met before as far as she could remember.

Something in Loki's eyes softened as he looked at her.

"What do you want from me?"

"My follower informed me of the inept attempts on your life, and the fact that the old headmaster has been giving empty platitudes regarding your living situation. It was simple enough to realize that the best way to insure your safety was to make use of the humans," said Loki bluntly.

Evergreen blinked. She wasn't the only one, though only Thor in the observation deck above was beginning to realize why Loki demanded her presence on the helicarrier.

"What?" she said absolutely baffled.

"Contrary to popular belief, Severus doesn't actually hate you because of your father. It was simply the most effective way to insure no one suspected your true heritage, particularly Dumbledore."

"What are you talking about? Snape loathes me!" she said confused.

"Not quite. He was actually quite clever in diverting their attention from your natural lineage by hiding behind his justified hatred of James Potter," corrected Loki absently.

Evergreen was completely lost as this point. She had a feeling she wasn't the only one.

"Please tell me you're not about to use some cliché like saying you're my father or something equally ridiculous. Or that I was adopted," she said, half joking.

"James Potter is your father," said Loki.

"Thank the gods," muttered Evergreen.

"However Lily Evans was not the real name of your mother."

Evergreen had a rather horrified look on her face. Considering who her father's friends worshipped, she was surprisingly well informed about the legends regarding Loki. Such as the fact he was a natural shape-shifter that had once given birth to a horse of all things.

Loki looked rather smug, as it was clear he knew she had figured it out, or at least guessed at some of the truth.

"Really, I wasn't expecting my disguise as Lily to work so well. If it wasn't for that curse you might even have had siblings, though James could be an intolerable bastard. Severus was rather shocked when he realized I wasn't joking about who I was."

Evergreen felt she could be excused for her reaction to the knowledge her mother was actually Loki Odinson.

She fainted straight off.

(Up in the room above, Thor had to helpfully explain that "Yes, Loki was skilled enough in shapeshifting that he could become a full woman to the point he could carry a child to term." Tony did a rather impressive spit-take when Thor clarified why Evergreen looked so horrified, and Steve Rogers had a rather...interesting... look on his face. Bruce was still trying to figure out the logistics of how that was possible, before he eventually gave up on trying to explain magic.)

A few hours later...

Thanks to the wonders of potions and an explanation by Thor that Loki had gone missing at least three decades prior on Midgard before Hiemdall brought him back with partial amnesia, it was quite easy to prove that Evergreen was in fact Loki's biological daughter.

Thor had mostly suspected it the second he saw her, but he was delighted to have it confirmed. His mother was going to be thrilled to have a granddaughter to spoil, and his father be very interested once he learned that Evergreen was able to pick up Mjolnir.

You could excuse the fact that Evergreen was very much in shock over the revelation her mother was Loki. And that he had recently been in contact with Snape of all people.

Loki was even 'kind' enough to explain why he demanded her presence. He had learned through Snape that Dumbledore had allowed his daughter to be put through several life and death situations with only the barest minimum of training, and had even put a watcher on the neighborhood where she lived so that any attempts to leave would result in her being brought back. Apparently he believed that the 'blood wards' would be sufficient enough deterrent against those who wanted Evergreen dead.

Never mind that there was actually zero blood connection between "Lily Evans" and her sister Petunia.

Considering the idiocy of wizards, it was simply easier and more efficient to make SHIELD do all the work removing her from Privet Drive, as it insure that whomever Dumbledore had guarding the place would be unable to locate her.

Loki absolutely refused to leave his own flesh and blood with that absolute shrew of a woman, especially once Snape alerted him to where his daughter was living.

The bindings he had placed on her magic were already unraveling, and Loki dreaded to think what would happen once the wizards were alerted there was a demi-goddess in their midst. Snape had barely been able to cover for any slip-ups Evergreen had unknowingly made over the years.

(He was also beyond pissed about the basilisk. No twelve year old, Asgardian or not, should be forced to rescue another student with absolutely no combat training and an inept adult who attempted to curse them to make himself look better!)

Evergreen was very confused at this point. She was still coming to terms with the fact she had a living parent who managed to remove her from that family.

Having an uncle like Thor was going to take a lot of getting used to. Even if Freya liked him.

Thor assured her that her grandparents would welcome her with open arms.

Considering the mischief Loki recently got into, she had genuine doubts about that. Her track record with family wasn't the best. Hell, they had a special gag around his mouth!

She held onto her satchel like a life line.

No matter what her decision, her life was never going to be the same after this.

The bifrost opened up and she held the same end that Loki's hand was on. It was like a minature portkey of sorts, though she never had any luck with magical travel.

Freya was clutching the handle on Thor's end.

With a sharp twist of his wrist, Thor activated the portal.

Evergreen could only hope what lay at the other end would be kinder to her than what she was leaving behind. Her heart couldn't take much more of the weight being placed upon it.