It was chaos in the base. Seren couldn't understand what had happened until she caught sight of the source of the problem. A man had broken into the base and taken down every agent that'd come to stop him. He tore through them like rag dolls. Coulson was going crazy trying to get every available agent to stop the intruder.

"What the hell is happening around here?" Seren came running into the hammer's area, nearly crashing into Chloe.

"I want eyes up high! With a gun! Now!" They both heard Coulson over the comms.

"Whatever it is, he just brought out big guns...literally," Chloe's eyes were wide and sharp as she looked above where their skilled co-worker would eventually come into view.

Seren's eyebrows knitted together as she desperately tried searching for the intruder. No nosy human would go through this much trouble—and be successful—to get through the base. "Who is this guy?"

"Who knows!"

"Stardust!" Coulson cried, startling Seren. "You're up!"

Because outside, the intruder had just thrown their biggest agent out like nothing. He was making his way towards the structure for the hammer now.

"You can't go out there!" Chloe latched onto Seren's wrist before the ginger even thought of stepping away. "Let Clint take him down!"

Seren was about to tell her to ease up when she noticed the peculiar electric storm swirling above them. "Hold on…" She murmured in thought. There were absolutely no weather reports on storms coming in.

Not even the intruder ripping open the plastic wall scared Seren, unlike Chloe who gasped. "Seren!"

Seren looked below and saw the large man that was staring at the hammer. He was bruised and battered from the fight, drenched from the rain, but something about the hammer seemed to make it all like it was just a scratch for him. Seren followed her intuition. "Chloe, read it," she instructed.

Chloe's head flipped in her friend's direction, eyes wide in alarm. "What!? Now!?"

"Look and study!"

"But he's about—"

"Just do it!" Seren shouted over Chloe, only to then be raged over by Coulson again.

"Stardust! I said you're up!"

Seren brought a hand up to her ear comm. "Hold on!" The man started for the hammer and at the same time, it developed a blue electricity and glow. "The owner," Seren whispered. She came up to the railing, her hands curling and gripping it as the intruder grew closer to the hammer. "Coulson, stop! It's the owner! He's the owner!"

"What!?" Coulson had come up from another access point in time to see what she was talking about.

Seren looked at him, urgently telling him to back off as well as their sniper above. "Hold your fire!"

The intruder worked his way up to the hammer. He stretched an arm forwards, wrapping his hand around it to lift it up. One pull, two pulls, three pulls, but it never lifted off the ground. Even the man seemed confused. Seren swore she saw it on his face. With two hands this time, he pulled again but nothing happened.

"Soul…" Coulson started but she shushed him. Seren was captivated by the sight of the man desperately pulling the hammer over and over. He was thoroughly frustrated that no matter how much strength he put into his pulls, the hammer didn't move an inch. He screamed from his effort, raging up to the sky with the pouring rain.

Chloe gasped at the sight of a glow on the hammer. She nudged Seren towards it and they were both able to see some type of runes marking the hammer before they disappeared. The man seemed to have caught it too but whatever he thought, no one knew except for his utter disheartening over the frozen hammer. He fell to his knees without an intention to move.

"So much for that," Coulson shot Seren a disappointed, yet irritated, glance.

Seren said nothing. Her eyes were trained on the man. She could genuinely feel whatever heartbreak was filling his soul. It didn't exactly look like it was an enemy barging into their base to take something. What Seren saw was something completely different. And it was strange...but familiar in a sense.

"Seren," Chloe gently called to Seren, unknowingly pulling the ginger out of her thoughts. "The Hivemind...they don't know…"

Seren slowly waved a hand at her; she wasn't interested. Something else was occupying her mind at the moment. As the agents took their intruder away, Seren pulled away from the rails.

"What are we going to do now?" Chloe asked her, curious as she took a peek below to see the agents taking the man away.

Seren headed for the tunnels. She wouldn't ignore the tug at her heart.

~ 0 ~

As soon as the man had been brought to a holding cell, Coulson interrogated him. Seren stayed just outside, watching through the glass wall. The man, unfortunately, couldn't see anything from his spot but it seemed like he wasn't in the talking mood either. Coulson went on and on but the man never said a word.

Well, he said three words and though they appeared to mean nothing to Coulson, Seren felt that tug to her heart again.

'Just a man' could mean something if one paid extra close attention.

As soon as Coulson emerged from the cell, Seren made herself front and center. "I need to talk to him."

"What?" His look was unsurprisingly incredulous.

"I need to talk to him," Seren reiterated. "He's...he's the owner of that hammer—"

"Right," scoffed Coulson. "He wasn't able to pick it up!"

"So?" Seren challenged. "Who says just because he wasn't able to lift it doesn't mean it's not his? He knew that hammer, alright? He came to take it. Why do everything he did if he wasn't going to be able to take it?" Coulson tilted his head at her, eyes narrowing as Seren went on. "He thought he would be able to take it. He just automatically assumed he could. Doesn't that interest you even a bit?"

"Yeah, I suppose, but he's not talking anyways. You heard him."

"Yeah, I also heard what you said," Seren pointed out. "Let me try a different tactic. Let me...let me be me."

Coulson soon understood what she was trying to say. He was impressed that she was brave enough to consider the idea. So far, none of her missions ever required her to be that bold. Without saying a word, he stepped aside.

"Thank you," she whispered. He nodded and motioned her to go in. Taking in a deep breath, she moved forwards.

"...goodbye…" the man had just said when she walked in.

She blinked. "Uh, sorry, I was coming in," she said. He raised his head only to see who had now come in. Seren had no idea who he was but the one thing she was sure of was how defeated he was.

He was much bigger upclose - Seren felt like she was only half of him. He was strong, very strong, and it seemed to match the gruff voice she overheard when he spoke to Coulson. His long blonde hair was all soaked and damp from the rain, as were his civilian clothing. If he is the owner then he must have either stolen the clothes or someone is aiding him. Seren could only guess somebody in the town was doing it.

The man only gave Seren a minimal look over before his gaze fell to the ground again. He didn't care that the woman was clearly studying him.

Seren's hands wringed together as she thought about what to say. She was never one to get nervous when interrogating a potential enemy. He's not an enemy. Seren was confident in that even though no one would believe her if she said it out loud. "I'm Agent Seren Soul," she started, figuring that her name wasn't the worst place to start. "I, uh, I saw what happened out there…" She waited for a shift in his seat. When it didn't come, she continued, "That hammer...it's yours, isn't it?"

The man's shoulders would only do a half shrug and Seren had to replay it in her head to make sure she didn't imagine it. Half a shrug was akin to once.

"Listen," she grabbed a chair from the corner and dragged it to sit directly across from him, "I don't know the circumstances that led you here, and I definitely don't intend on inquiring about them, but I will tell you what I know and saw. I saw someone who thought he was going to take something back, something that rightfully belongs to them but you weren't able to."

The man raised his head, revealing an expression sardonically asking if that's what she thought she saw.

Seren sighed. Her eyes briefly flickered to the mirror wall. She was sure that Coulson was listening in. The tug of her heart was there again. She met the man's eyes again and before her courage slipped away, she started again. She had to do this her way; a way that resembled the way she first started with Steve. It worked then, why wouldn't it work now? "My name's Seren Soul. I was born on Earth but with a lineage not completely from Earth." Already she'd gained the man's attention. He was looking at her with a slight interest in his studious eyes. "My mother was born here but my grandmother was not."

"You are not from this realm?" The fact he willingly posed a question was taken as a good sign.

Seren nodded, barely able to contain her beam. "Yes, um, well, I don't really know what that means but if it means not being completely from Earth then yeah."

Now he was studying her. Seren swallowed hard as she sat there letting him do just that. She'd done it first, after all.

The man's eyes soon fell on her neck, specifically the right side of her neck. He saw the mark of a star peeking out from under her shirt's collar. "A Celessian," he immediately recognized.

Seren's eyes widened, her hand coming over the right side of her neck. Her birthmark was usually seen just as that: a birthmark in the odd shape of a star. She worked hard to keep it concealed growing up but when she was at S.H.I.E.L.D., there was no need. It was the mark of a Celessian, specifically that of her matriarch lineage. "Yes, that's exactly it." To say she was amazed at his immediate knowledge was an understatement. It was actually rather exciting for someone to know what she was and be familiar with her rather than frightened as she was warned people would be if they ever found out her secret.

The man straightened up in his seat and had Seren instinctively moving back. He cocked his head at her. "What is a Celessian doing on Earth?"

"Uh, I live here?"

The man seemed confused by her answer. "Why would a Celessian choose this planet to live in?"

"Because she was born here?" Seren figured those were pretty honest answers. "My mother is Celessian and my father is a human. I've lived here all my life. My grandmother was the one born on Celessia. She had a life there before she had to leave."

"What was your family name?"

"My grandmother's name was Atria Despina before she changed it to better fit in with the humans."

"A Lady of the stars," the man said, as if he only just then realized it.

"A-a what?"

"The Despina family was prestigious in its day, known for its powerful matriarchs. Ladies, mistresses, of the stars. If you are a descendant of the Despina family, that is your title. Usually they wear these, uh, precious star jewelry—"

"Oh! I have one!" Seren exclaimed, far too excited for the situation they were dealing with. She only realized it after she had her outburst. Her cheeks flamed with embarrassment. "I mean..." she cleared her throat, "I have a-a choker — a necklace — with a star pendant I usually wear when I'm at work. It's not mine, it belonged to my grandmother. She says there's a tradition where you carve your own star on Celessia but obviously I can't do that so she gave me hers instead."

"Why are you not wearing it right now?" the man curiously inquired. "Is this not where you work?"

Seren nodded. "Yeah, I do, but this precise mission involved more of a civilian persona so I had to take it off. I always do that, though, when I'm done here and go home — I put it away."

"Isn't that hard?"

Seren was taken aback by the question. Nobody really bothered to ask her how she felt when she had to take off her prized possession each time she left S.H.I.E.L.D. "Um..." she shrugged meekly, "I mean, I'm used to that. If a human asks me where I got my pendant from, what am I supposed to tell them? I'm an alien hybrid and this is a real star from a foreign planet? They would run terrified."

The man tilted his head at Seren, his eyes squinting as he continued to study her. Seren felt like she was the one being interrogated. "I wouldn't say that," he said a moment later, puzzling Seren until he added: "I've met people here. Their minds are more open that I thought."

"Mm," Seren nodded. So he does have allies here. "And, um, are you...are you from somewhere else, then?"

The man took in a breath, a tired one if Seren had to describe. "Once. But not anymore." There was a heavy weight in his tone, a despondent one.

"What's your name?"

The man stared at her for a long minute. Seren wondered if this was where the interrogation ended. "Thor," he eventually said.

"N-nice to meet you," Seren said. "How did you get here? Are you lost? Did you mean to come? I ask because my grandmother was forced to come here a long time ago."

"Celessia had a war," Thor said, vaguely recalling that story. "It was a long time ago. They are at peace now."

Seren half-smiled. "Yeah, well, I can't imagine my grandmother wanting to go back. Me? I can't imagine they'd want the likes of me." She felt stupid for adding that last part. What did he care how she felt? You're losing track of yourself! She took in a breath. "That hammer...that's yours, isn't it?"

"It was," Thor corrected.

Seren brought a hand over her chest. She wanted to stop the tug of her heart already. "What do you mean it 'was'? What changed?"

"I am unworthy," Thor said, eyes falling low. "That is all."

"Wh-what does that mean exactly?"

Before Thor would answer, if he would give her an answer, the cell door slid open. It was the older man that'd been with Jane Foster earlier in the day. Seren noticed that even Thor looked confused with his presence.

"Donny, Donny, Donny! There you are!" The man came up to Selvig, far too cheery for Seren to ever consider believing the lie. "It's going to be all right, my friend. Come on, I'm taking you home."

Seren rose from her seat at the same time Thor did. They met gazes for a moment and it was in that moment that Seren pleaded with him to believe in her honesty. For some reason, he seemed to do so.

When Seren found Coulson later, she asked him how on Earth he could believe that this man wasn't an alien. "We don't just let people waltz out of here after causing such chaos."

"Exactly," Coulson agreed. "So we better keep an eye on him. We did find out he's the owner of the hammer, right?"

"Yes, but I think we have all this wrong." Seren folded her arms over her chest. "The way he was...don't you think he was truly upset about the hammer?"

"Sure but I don't think that's any of our concern."

"If someone had that type of heartbreak over an object, I'd sure be concerned," Seren quipped. "I dare to think that the loss he felt over that hammer is what I would feel if somebody took my star pendant."

"Yeah, I heard," Coulson said, eyeing Seren strangely. "You don't usually make a habit of telling your life story to potential targets."

Seren straightened up, holding her head high. "Well, in this case, I don't really see our 'target' as a target."

"Oh, Seren—"

"There's a story behind all that, Coulson!" Seren exclaimed. "We can't just ignore that! I think it would be detrimental if we ignored it!"

"We don't need the history lesson, Seren," Coulson gave her a wave. "We just need to know what he's planning—"

"But there's nothing!" Seren insisted. "He's heartbroken over that thing!"

"I think you're getting too close to this and we can't have that."

Seren frowned. "I'm sorry, I thought that was exactly what you wanted from me? It's like everyone's been saying. This is the first mission that we have in ages that's dealing with aliens. We're lucky that S.W.O.R.D. hasn't stuck their nose into it and I want to assume it's because of me. Who better to take this mission than the only alien S.H.I.E.L.D. has?"

"You're letting your feelings cloud your judgement," Coulson said, "Or it's heading that way and like I said, we can't have that under any circumstances."

Seren groaned. "That man didn't exactly look like an enemy!"

"Did you miss the part where he tore through the base? Injured a handful of our agents?"

"Did you miss the part where he fell in front of that hammer, screaming his lungs out!?"

Everyone in the room froze with the two agents getting in each other's faces snapping at each other.

Seren exhaled a shaky breath when she realized the eyes were mostly on her. She took back her previous statement from earlier. Now she had never felt more like an alien on Earth.

"Go rest, agent," Coulson reiterated, tone sharp. Seren lowered her gaze and ultimately turned to leave.

~ 0 ~

The night would be a long one. Seren had shamefully thrown her bedding to the ground the moment she returned to her motel room. She was furious yet close tearful. How could she be both at the same time? She had no idea.

She eventually found a spot on the ground against the foot of the bed to let it all out, whatever it all was. It was overwhelming to sort through. Her phone went off just as the tears had come down her face. She wasn't surprised when she saw her grandmother's name on the screen.

The seer.

"My little star soul," Atria said as soon as Seren had answered, "You need a call."

"I need a lot more, grandma," Seren sniffed. She pulled her knees up to her chest. "I'm messing up and I don't even understand how it happened." That was a lie. She knew exactly how it happened. "I'm being too much of an alien right now."

"Hey," Atria snapped. "I never want to hear that word used in a derogatory way, do you hear me?"

"But grandmother, you don't understand—"

"I don't care! You're not reduced to that word and even if you're using it to describe yourself, it shouldn't be done in that manner. You're as much a human as anyone else, and as much an alien as those above us. Nothing wrong with that."

"Right now, I feel like it is. I feel like an outcast."

"Why don't you run it down for me, hm? Tell me the mission."

Seren didn't think twice in telling Atria everything. She was only surprised that she hadn't completely burst into sobs by the end. "I'm not used to thinking differently for these missions but it's the first time I've met someone like...like me."

"He's not like you, my little star soul," Atria said with a soft laugh. "Nobody is like you."

"I know," Seren frowned. She rested her cheek against her knees. "Nobody's like me. I don't have siblings, I don't even have family here that could possibly be like me." Her father's side of the family never suspected that she was anything but a human. She always had to hide. It was no wonder that the arrival of this 'Thor' man had brought up all these feelings. "He knew where I was from. He called me a—" she laughed a moment, "—'Lady of the stars'. There was no reaction other than familiarity. You don't know what that meant to me, grandma."

"Ooh, I know you feel like you're alone but I promise you that it is not like that. You have friends around you."

"And I appreciate every single one of them but this is different!" Seren sighed. Would Atria also not understand her? "I'm thinking differently and it's putting me on opposite ends with Coulson and the others. I have this tug at my heart and it's telling me to do this and say that. I've never had that with my other missions."

"Because the other missions have never involved another alien, I know," Atria said.

"More than that, this man...he's not an enemy, I know it. If people would just slow down and listen to me, I'm sure we could work together." Seren thought back to her earlier call with Steve. He'd suggested trying to find a way to work with Jane Foster, solely trusting her with her feelings and not the logic of the mission. Couldn't Atria be like that?

"You'll have to get used to this, sweetheart…"

Apparently not.

Seren sucked in a shaky breath. "I don't think I should be Stardust for this mission. This man, Thor, he could be a friend. We just need to work out a way to show him that."

"Do you have an idea?"

"I mean...I would have to talk with him first." That was the only thing Seren could think of at the moment. Talking.

"And are you sure that you could make it work?"

"You didn't see what I saw. He's as lost as one can be."

"Why?"

"I don't know. I figure that's one of the things I'd have to talk about." Seren straightened her body and let her knees fall. Ideas were brewing in her head.

Author's Note:

And there we have it! I tried so hard to make the "interrogation" the way I wanted it and I guess I'm content with the results. I didn't want to unpack everything in this one moment so of course Seren's and Thor's relationship will be expanded as we go on! But right now, I genuinely see Seren understanding Thor a whole lot better than anyone else at S.H.I.E.L.D.

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"

Thanks to those who reviewed! Hope your expectations were met!