S.H.I.E.L.D. had acted quickly in New Mexico and set up a whole base around the crater before any other nosy humans stopped by. Already Seren had to ward off several people who thought they were being sneaky. Phil joked that it was uncanny how such a "small creature" could be terrifying sometimes. Seren hated those jokes but at least they had done what she asked.

Agent Winters was called in and brought to New Mexico ASAP.

The young blonde woman was led inside the base until they met Seren near a structure where the hammer was. It was purposely built high with three floors. "What on Earth do we have?" A teasing smile spread across Chloe's face. "Get it? What on Earth?"

Seren rolled her eyes. "If we could be serious, Chloe, that would be great." She gave a nod to the agents who'd brought Chloe to her. "Thank you."

Chloe waited until the agents were gone before speaking again. She looked Seren over and for a second, it looked like she would laugh. "Gotta say, I'm not a fan of this attire on you." She made a gesture at Seren's clothes. It was a pantsuit just like when she arrived. "Where's the actual suit?"

"Let's focus," Seren insisted. She wouldn't admit to Chloe that she too missed her old supersuit, however plain it was. At least in that, she knew what to do. Being Stardust and being Agent Soul were two very different things.

"Alright, so what do we have?" Chloe asked, prompting the real reason she was brought in. She knew very little about why she was requested in New Mexico in such an abrupt manner but since it was Seren who made the request, Chloe knew it had to be important.

Seren turned and led them towards up to the railing overlooking the crate and the hammer. They were on the third floor. "Three days ago, this thing just dropped from the sky. No one's been able to pick it up and believe me, many people have tried. I'm thinking only certain people might be able to lift it."

"Have you tried it?" Chloe smirked. Given the situation, she couldn't say whether or not she would want to take a turn with the hammer.

"I'm not going to touch it," Seren shook her head. "We don't even know what it is."

"It's a hammer!"

"It looks like a hammer. I would never judge a thing by its cover, otherwise you'd think I'm a completely normal human."

Chloe smiled. "You got me there." At first glance, Seren looked and behaved completely human. Nobody would know how different she was if they didn't work with her inside S.H.I.E.L.D. Chloe herself believed Seren to be completely human when they first met. It wasn't until Seren showed her that she was different that Chloe believed the opposite. "Alright, so what do you want me to do?"

Seren gazed straight down at the hammer. "When I got here, I tried studying it and I felt like something was coming off it. I was hoping that maybe you could use that Hivemind of yours to figure out what it is."

"Aha..." Chloe now understood, "So you want these aliens—" she tapped the side of her head,"—to figure out what aliens own that?" She pointed at the hammer.

"Exactly," Seren nodded. "I figure it's our best bet for the moment. The Hive Mind is an entire race of aliens—"

"That we still don't know what they're called," Chloe reminded. "And believe me, I have tried to get them to tell me what they're called."

Seren had no doubt about that but she knew that Chloe's relationship and connection to the Hive Mind wasn't the most stable. "Just do your best, that's all I ask."

"I will," Chloe promised. She glanced down at the hammer one more time then started heading for the staircase. "I guess you must be really excited about this mission considering it's the first one we encounter with actual aliens." Seren's expression was unreadable when Chloe glanced back. "Sorry," the blonde said. "How are you feeling about this?"

Seren's own relation with her roots was never a straightforward one. Seren had grown up doing her best to hide who she was and at all costs. Chloe felt terrible for automatically assuming that Seren would be excited about this. For all Chloe knew, Seren could be downright terrified.

But Seren purposely remained stoic. She wasn't going to say a thing. She straightened her jacket, putting on a professional face. "Just doing my job. You think you could do yours and help me out?"

Chloe smiled. "For you, anything." She went down the stairs. As she approached the crater, the other agents stepped back. They were aware of what Chloe would be doing. She admitted that the closer she got, the more she felt that odd feeling Seren talked about.

From above, Seren watched Chloe come to a slow stop in front of the hammer. Chloe slowly bent down in front of it, eyes focusing on it and only it. It was always peculiar the way Chloe seemed to lose contact with everything around her except the item of her focus. Light blue lines crossed her face as if her veins were protruding. Seren could see the same lines peeking out from under Chloe's long sleeves.

Chloe soon felt the whispers of the Hivemind. She didn't always get the information she wanted from them — half the time she couldn't even understand what the creatures were saying and other times they didn't even talk to her — but this hammer generated a lot of responses. Whatever it was, it seemed to rile them up.

Heart of a dying star…

Only one may lift it…

Being worthy…

Wields the hammer commands lightning and storm….

Its power has no equal - as a weapon, to destroy, or as a tool, to build…

Asg—

Chloe sucked in a breath. Her body slumped forwards.

"Chloe!" Seren called from above and dashed down the stairs. Other agents had already come to help Chloe get back on her feet by the time Seren reached them. "What happened? Are you okay!?"

Chloe nodded her head but her eyes were yet to open. "I just...sometimes they get to be too much. Whatever this thing is, they're really into it."

"I got her," Seren told the other agents. She helped Chloe come back to the stairs and sat her down. "What did they tell you?"

Chloe tried opening one eye and when that seemed easy, she went for the next one. "Um, it's specially crafted. And you were right, only certain people can lift it. Worthy people."

"What does that even mean?" Seren could only imagine the thousand possibilities to that answer. "Worthy is a vague term."

"I know," groaned Chloe, reminding Seren how much it took out of her to get that vague information.

Seren winced and called for an agent to bring by some water. In a few minutes, she offered Chloe the bottle of water. "Anything else you were able to get?"

"Many, actually, but it's all in pieces. I'm sorry." As much power as people thought she had, Chloe felt useless half the time. The Hivemind had never given her full information. It was like she didn't have full access to the Hivemind.

"It's okay," Seren smiled softly. She never saw Chloe that way no matter how many times they bickered over it. "Whatever you saw is useful."

Chloe sighed. She proceeded to tell Seren everything the Hivemind had whispered to her. The weapon that the hammer was, the tool, the power to command the lightning and storm. Even the half word that she was sure would name the origin of the hammer.

"A-S-G," Seren repeated. Of all the stories she could remember from her grandmother, nothing with those particular letters in that order came to mind.

"I'm sorry Seren," Chloe said after watching the ginger think hard on those letters for ten minutes. "I didn't do much for you."

Seren immediately set aside her thoughts to assure Chloe that she'd done wonders. "Course you did. I think it's time you got some rest. I don't know where you came from this time round but I imagine a ride on the quinjet couldn't be a comfortable place to nap in."

"I'm good, I promise," Chloe said as she was brought up to her feet again. Together, they walked up the stairs. "I haven't seen you in a while, you know."

"I know," Seren agreed. They started down the corridor. "Where've you been lately?" She was always curious to know what countries Chloe traveled to for her solo missions. Fury never told her.

"Oh, I was in Washington. The state." Chloe said and shared a laugh with Seren. "Fury called and told me you needed me here."

"I did," Seren said, stopping when she saw Coulson coming towards them from the opposite direction.

"Did we get anything, Agents?" He asked them as soon as they saw him.

"Sort of," Chloe shrugged. She explained to Coulson what the Hivemind told her and unlike Seren who'd been thankful, Coulson wasn't that impressed.

"It's better than what we had at the beginning, which was next to nothing," Seren was sharply looking at him. He would have to agree there.

"We may have a clue," he announced. "Soul, you're coming with. As the agent, not Stardust."

Seren dutifully nodded. She glanced at Chloe, silently asking if she would be fine.

"Yeah, go, go," Chloe waved her off. "I'm going to see if I can get more info from the Hivemind."

"Don't over-exert yourself," Seren warned as she followed after Coulson. She knew Chloe tended to do that sometimes and the last thing she wanted, and needed right now, was to come back to the news Chloe was in the med bed.

~0~

Coulson commanded the agents around them to pick up every last bit of tech and paper they saw in the room. Beside him, Seren looked around with nothing but disdain...for them.

"Lighten up, Soul," Coulson said for the third time. "It's protocol."

"Doesn't mean I have to be okay with taking what must be valued research to these people," Seren muttered. She felt terrible for the poor souls who would come back to the building to find their work confiscated. Outrage would just be the scratch of the surface. S.H.I.E.L.D. somehow connected the hammer to a astrophysicist in the town and as protocols dictated, her work was S.H.I.E.L.D.'s work.

"They know too much," Coulson said with a shrug of his shoulders. "It's not the first time we do this."

"And it doesn't mean that I like doing it each time," Seren muttered. Everyone worked hard to get to where they were and they, S.H.I.E.L.D., had the unfortunate task to take anything they seemed dangerous towards the nation. Today, that included this particular research building.

"What the hell is going on here?!" They heard an outraged woman outside.

Must be her, Seren internally sighed.

Seren and Coulson walked outside to see a brunette woman arguing with the agents passing by with her equipment. Behind her stood a smaller woman and an older man. Seren presumed the brunette woman was Jane Foster, the owner of all the admittedly impressive research behind them.

"Ms. Foster," Coulson called, "I'm Agent Coulson and this is Agent Soul from SHIELD."

Seren saw a flicker of recognition in the older man's eyes. As for Jane Foster, she could care less who and what they were.

"You can't do this!" she yelled at them. "It's my work, my research!"

"Ma'am," Seren tried to cut in, "I'm really sorry but we have to take it."

"Why!?" she snapped.

"Jane," the older man cut in, pressing a hand on Jane's arm, "This is more serious than you realize. Let it go."

Seren wondered what that man could possibly know about them and much more how he knew of them.

Jane wrestled free from his grip. "Let it go?! This is my life!"

"We're here investigating a security threat," Coulson said, "We need to appropriate your equipment and all your atmospheric data."

Jane scoffed. "By 'appropriate' you mean 'steal?'."

Seren sighed. That's exactly what they meant. As such, Coulson handed Jane a check.

"This should more than compensate you for your trouble."

Jane snatched the check only to throw it to the ground without so much of a glance at it. "I can't just pick up replacements from RadioShack! I made most of that equipment myself!"

"Then I'm sure you can do it again."

Seren hoped to God that Coulson had better people skills than this.

"And I'm sure I can sue you for violating my constitutional rights!" Jane yelled.

"Miss Foster, unfortunately that wouldn't do you any good," Seren told her. "Please, take the check and do what you can with it." Jane could've murdered her on the spot with that glare. Seren expected as much. "I promise that we're the good guys here."

"And you think we're not?" Jane challenged with a very good point. "We're on the verge of something extraordinary!" She brandished a hand notebook as proof. Seren was sure that they were. They wouldn't have gotten on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s radar if they weren't close to something 'extraordinary'. "Everything I know about this phenomenon is in this lab and in this book, and no one has the right to take it from me!"

Coulson gestured for a nearby agent to take the notebook as well. Jane gasped when it was plucked right out of her hand. "Thank you for your cooperation."

"I'm very sorry," Seren told Jane and walked off with Coulson in a hurry. "That was terrible."

"It had to be done, Soul," Coulson said, not that Seren needed a reminder.

"Yeah, but doesn't it ever tug at your heart?" Seren's challenge made Coulson smile.

"Can't afford it." He stopped them in their SUV. "I didn't think you still had this problem."

"I don't do it so often to get used to it. And by the way," she went around the car to the passenger's seat, "The fact that we have to keep doing it to the point we get used to it isn't any better." Coulson climbed into the driver's seat and studied her for a second. Seren met his gaze after buckling her seatbelt. "What?"

"It's just odd seeing you on this side," he remarked as he went to turn the ignition on. "Usually your job is to find and extract. Stardust, you know?"

Seren nodded. She knew how to handle the aspects of the missions but her primary jobs were typically to fight. Stardust was recognized for her ability to bring down almost every opponent. She had the strength that no other agent had. "I know, and truth be told it's a lot easier than having to do this."

On occasion, she would do missions like this where Stardust was put away in order to be Agent Soul. It was slower and, in her opinion, a lot trickier. Fury said she had too much heart sometimes and that she needed to work on it in order to master this side of the job. Thankfully, Seren never handled a lot of these jobs in a row to get used to it. Hence her difficulties when she got a job like this. This one, however, was extra special due to the circumstances.

~0~

Later on, Seren sought Chloe to see how her second delve into the Hivemind had gone. "Anything new?" Seren asked her.

Chloe gave a shake of her head. "I'm sorry." Anyone else would've been irritated with her lack of input but Seren merely smiled and headed for the hammer's area.

"Maybe you should rest," Chloe suggested as they walked together. "Have you done that since you got here?"

Seren shrugged. She couldn't really remember. "I need to know what this is and who it belongs to." She left the 'and if they're here' unsaid, though Chloe suspected it.

"Hey," she stopped Seren. "Stop and breathe. I can only imagine what this mission is doing to you—"

"Doing to me?" Seren's eyebrows raised. "What? What would it be doing…?"

Chloe raised an eyebrow at her. "You're not going to stand there and tell me that this isn't doing something to you. It's not bringing up any feelings?" Seren looked away. Chloe put her hands on Seren's shoulders. "Take a moment for yourself, Seren. Five minutes. Take 5 minutes."

Seren softened at the idea. It would be good for her to take a small break. It was dark out and the heavy, sleepless night was coming. "Okay," she agreed. "I'll take those 5 minutes but only five."

Chloe beamed. "Yup! Call home or something! Hey," she snapped her fingers, "Have you talked to Steve yet? I heard you've been reassigned."

"Well, word spreads fast," Seren said sarcastically, making Chloe chuckle.

"How are you doing with that?"

"I don't know, what should I be doing?"

Chloe raised an eyebrow at her. "You're deflecting."

"Wha-at!?" Seren's voice cracked. "I am not!"

"Your voice just cracked. You're feeling something alright," Chloe folded her arms over chest, grinning. "You're a bit upset aren't you?"

"No! Not...not upset…" Seren tucked some hair behind her ear, "It just means that I won't be seeing him as often anymore."

"Oh," Chloe's mouth formed an 'o' shape. "I see."

Seren winced. "Not like that. I've grown to like our friendship. He's different."

"You got that right!"

"I meant besides the obvious fact," sighed Seren. "I haven't talked to him. I'm sort of afraid that the longer I don't talk to him, the more upset he'll get."

Chloe scoffed. "I really doubt that."

"I've never seen him get mad, except for that unfortunate moment where he woke up, and I'd rather not be on the receiving end."

"Somehow I really think that won't happen," Chloe patted Seren on the shoulder. "Take a break. Give him a call. Relax."

Seren would ultimately agree. Sooner or later she would have to face Steve. She was sure Fury already talked to Steve about her reassignment. If he wanted to, he could have called her already.

Maybe he's upset? She decided to go ahead and call before the nerves got the best of her. She moved into a more private room when the call went in. After the third ring, the nerves had a better claim on her.

Finally, she got an answer. "Seren, hey," Steve was as polite as ever. If he was upset, he was very good at hiding it. "How are you?"

"Uh, good...I guess?" Seren shook her head. Go straight for business! If she beat around the bush she might get more nervous. "Has, um, has Fury talked to you yet?"

"Yeah, he did, and it wasn't all that surprising honestly." Steve had plenty of time to think about things after Fury left him. Looking back, he shouldn't have expected Seren to last that long with him. She had other things to do, important things, and he had to start figuring out what he was going to do with himself in his new life. "It's a little better if you think about it."

Seren blinked. "R-really?" Of all things she wasn't expecting to hear that one. "Why?"

Steve laughed as if he was seeing her reaction in person. "It's better to know that you're coming to see me because you want to and not because you have to. I'm not your assignment anymore."

"What...Steve, if I ever gave the impression that I didn't like being around you, I'm so sorry," Seren panicked at the idea that that's what he thought about them.

"I didn't feel that, but I know how forceful missions can be. I didn't want you to ultimately tire of me asking you senseless questions." As polite as Seren was, there was always a small part of him that dreaded becoming a nuisance for her.

"Never," Seren laughed softly. "No one could ever tire of you."

Steve's eyebrows raised at the comment and for some reason he had to remind himself that Seren was just being nice. He tried not to think about it so much. "Listen, I know your missions are top secret but if there's anything you want to talk about, I'm all ears."

"Thanks," Seren said genuinely. She glanced back to see if anyone was around. Chloe had asked her several times if there was something she was feeling about this precise mission and it had been quite easy to lie and say 'no' and yet now that Steve was asking her the same thing...she felt easy enough to answer. "It's...it's a different one. I'm in New Mexico. There's...there's something here that nobody can explain."

Steve detected that earnest fear in her tone, along with the uneasiness. "Nothing like me, is it?" He decided to half joke with her and he did get one small chuckle from her. He liked knowing that he could make her laugh.

"No," she said, "Actually, this time it's more like me and that's bad because there's never been anything like me since the 90s."

"What do you mean?" Steve asked before he remembered she wasn't at liberty to say everything. "Sorry, you don't have to…"

"I trust you," Seren blurted, only realizing it after saying it. She'd been very careful avoiding that specific word for obvious reasons and now she'd gone and said it, putting Steve in an awkward position. "I mean—"

"You can trust me," Steve cut her off, smiling to himself as he added, "You can always trust me."

But can you trust me? Seren was too afraid to ask him. Steve had made it very clear early on that he had no trust for S.H.I.E.L.D, not Fury, not Maria Hill who had helped him before Seren came around — he couldn't trust anyone and anything in this new world. It was understandable given his situation and that's the mindset that Seren had when she first started working with Steve. She wouldn't take offence if he dealt with her at a distance, or even coldly — he had that right.

But now that they were friends, now that time had passed and they both seemed to get along so well, Seren anxiously thought about it more than she should. She grew to trust Steve, but had he grown to trust her? Had she done things right to earn that from him? If she hadn't, why not? Had she done something he didn't agree on? There were too many questions that went in her head and she wasn't brave enough to ask a single one.

So, instead, she went on with her story of the fallen hammer.

"It's the first mission with a possible alien entity and I have no idea what I'm doing here. I'm afraid that what I would like doesn't match with what S.H.I.E.L.D. wants. No one's bother to ask themselves why this hammer fell here and where the owner is. Was it an accidental crash? Is the owner still here? Are they okay?" Seren hated to say her next words because she was always sure of what she was. "I'm starting to sound more alien than ever." And she was dumping this all on poor Steve. "This is too much, I'm sorry."

"Don't be." If anything, Steve wished that he could be there with her to help her sort her feelings. It was the least he could do for her after everything she'd done for him.

"Yeah, but you're probably freaked out or something. It's one thing knowing that I'm also an alien and another thing hearing about it."

"Seren, I promise you that I am okay. You know if I was there, I'd probably be wondering some of the same things you are," he admitted. Before he met Seren, he would've probably thought more like the other agents. It was easier to deal with things when it wasn't personal. Seren opened the doors of aliens and outer space to him and he hadn't even realized he'd walked in. "There isn't anything wrong trying to find answers to those questions. Who knows, maybe by answering those questions, you'll find a solution to the hammer. This threat might not even be a threat."

It did a lot of good hearing that from him. Seren felt less alone. "There was this woman we took research from, research that's pretty interesting and might actually explain how this hammer came to be. I can't help but feel she would make a good ally but S.H.I.E.L.D. went in and made itself an enemy with her."

"There's no way to get around that?"

"Not that I can think of or at least not without me breaking a dozen rules." She didn't even want to imagine Fury's reaction to finding out she went behind everyone's back to recruit a complete stranger to the mission. Just as she was about to add say that thought out loud, an alarm went off.

Steve heard the alarm in the background. "Seren?"

Seren whirled around to see several agents running down the corridor. She hurried towards the threshold, poking her head out to see a dozen more agents coming.

"Seren! What's going on?" Steve called again.

"I have no idea but I think I need to go." Seren could hear the overbearing loud voices in the comms. "Yeah, definitely gotta go!"

"Please be careful—" Steve managed to say just before Seren hung up, or perhaps cut off.

Either way, for a split second, he thought of the last time he'd seen Bucky before he went off to war. It seemed like he was always stuck on the other side without the fighting and his friends were on the more dangerous side. Bucky dealt with Nazis, Seren with aliens. With Bucky, Steve knew he had failed and with Seren he didn't even have the opportunity to help her.

Author's Note:

We're getting into iiiiiit! So excited for the next chapter because that's where Seren meets our God of Thunder!

P.S. As always, I have a tumblr account dedicated to my fanfic works! It's a place where anyone can comment about a story or even just talk to me! I often drop aesthetic work belonging to my stories too! Feel free to check it out, my URL is "saiilorstars"

For the Reviews:

qmione: Thank you so much!

Wonderwomanbatmanfan: Funny you should ask that ;)). They have their first real conversation in the next chapter and that'll definitely answer your questions!