Chapter 1

Deidra Cole was a 26-year-old biology intern. She had long brown hair, always pulled up, and bright green eyes. She loved her job at the lab, but felt stuck. She had enough money to live on, but that was absolutely it. She felt there had to be more to life than working and working and working, but getting absolutely nowhere.

At the same time, deep into the universe, a world named Asgard was holding the trial of its prince, the king's youngest son, Loki.
He faced many charges; horrible charges. Any civilization would have him put to death for his crimes, however King Odin felt pity for his son. In an act of both mercy and justice, the king stripped the dark prince of all his powers and threw him to a world far away. Not even he knew where his son would land.

Deidra was in the forest, looking for certain plant life, when she saw the light come from the sky. Intrigued, she ran towards it. She ran for a long time, and by the time she got to where the light was, it was gone; only a strange design was left on the ground.

"What in the hell?" She said in awe at the design. She looked up at the sky, then looked around.

She heard the brush move to her right. It sounded big. Bears were known to be in the area, as well as feral dogs, which were vicious. She slowly picked up a large stick to defend herself if she needed to. No sudden movements. She kicked herself mentally for not bringing a form of protection for herself.

'One day I'm going to get eaten out here,' she thought, staring into the forest in the direction of the sound.

The noise came closer. Cold fear raced through her veins and she trembled. This was it. It came even closer and the brush moved to the side. Her brow furrowed and she cocked her head to the side, lowering her stick a little. It was a man. A black-haired man in rather nice clothing.

He stumbled out into the opening, obviously dazed. He spotted her and scowled. "You dare brandish a weapon at me, you puny mortal?" he spat.

He looked and sounded strangely familiar. Where had she seen him? Then it hit her suddenly. She sucked in her breath as her eyes widened and she raised the stick again. "You!" she exclaimed, raising her stick again.

It was that god, Loki, who had attempted to enslave the world just a few months ago. She now wished she were facing a bear instead of him. A bear would be much, much more preferable.

"Lower your weapon!" he commanded and menacingly stepped closer to her. "You are no match for me with your little stick. I am the god, Loki! I will crush y-"

But he didn't finish his sentence. Deidra dropped the stick and sprayed him in the face with the bear mace. With a strangled cry of agony, he fell to the ground, grabbing at his eyes, writhing in pain.

"What did you do to me?" he yelled at her in pain, blinded by the mace. "I will destroy you!"

She picked up the stick and raised it over her head before bringing it down hard on his side. She brought it up again and hit him once more before throwing the stick down and running off away from him as fast as she could. His howls of pain followed her.

Finally she stopped and caught her breath. She looked off into the direction she came from, still hearing him. Wasn't he a god? Didn't she see the footage of him taking hits like it was nothing? He fought off bullets, for god's sake, yet he couldn't handle mace and getting hit with a stick? Something wasn't the same about him. If she hadn't of seen him do those incredible things on the television she would have assumed he was just an ordinary man.

She sighed. She'd never be able to live with herself if she just left him writhing on the ground. She took another deep breath and walked back towards him.

He was exactly where she had left him, still on the ground, clawing at his eyes. She stared at him for a second, thinking over what she was about to do, then dug through her bag for her water bottle.

"Here," she said, dropping to her knees beside him. She reached out to touch his arm, but hesitated for a second. Her resolve hardened and she placed her hand on his forearm. "I have water, you need to put it on your eyes," she told him, but he continued growling in pain. She tried to move his hands, but he jerked away.

"Get away from me!" he snarled.

She frowned. "I'm trying to help you!" she said loudly. "That was bear mace. If you want your eyes to keep burning like that for another few hours, then fine, I'll leave. But this water will help the pain stop."

He stilled, breathing heavily. He allowed her to remove his hands from his streaming eyes. She pried them open and gently flushed them out. After her bottle was empty, he was much calmer.

"There," she said, putting her bottle back in her bag.

Loki sat up and rubbed at his running nose and watering eyes. He gave her a dark look. "You injured me," he said dangerously. "That was a very unwise thing to do..."

She held up the mace. "I'll spray you again if you try anything," she said. "And this time I won't come back to make it better."

He considered it and dropped his shoulders in defeat. He laughed darkly. "Imagine," he said under his breath. "A son of Odin felled by a Midgardian with a bottle." He looked up at her suddenly. "Who are you?"

"Deidra Cole," she said. "Who are you? You look like that god who destroyed New York, but I don't think you're him."

He smiled. "Oh I am him," he said.

"You can't be. That guy wouldn't have been phased by mace."

He frowned. "Do not speak of matters in which you are not concerned," he warned.

She frowned back at him. "You came out of the woods and threatened me," she said. "I defended myself. I should have kept going when I ran off, but I came back to help you. Obviously something is going on with you to make you so weak."

"I am not weak!" he snapped.

She shrugged. "You owe me," she said.

Loki stared at her. She was the most insolent thing he had ever met. Incredibly stupid also, to sit down with him and engage in conversation. 'No, not engaging,' he thought. 'Forcing conversation.' Was she incredibly stupid or incredibly brave?

He hated having debts, but he couldn't argue that if she hadn't of come back he would still be rolling around on the ground like an injured beast. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, gathering his patience for this little Midgardian woman. "I was thrown from Asgard," he said slowly, opening his eyes, but not looking at her. "And as a result, I...lost my abilities."

She stared at him. Lost his abilities? So now there was nothing special about him? He was thrown from his world? He was in exile? Suddenly, strangely, she felt a pang of pity shoot through her heart. He was all alone on a strange planet nothing like his own with nothing to protect him.

He looked up at her and glared. "Do not look at me in that way!" he said harshly. "I need not your pity."

She turned her head from him, then looked back at him firmly. "You say you have no powers?"

"It seems not," he said flatly.

She stood. "Then you're going to need help."

He looked up at her quizzically. "What?"

She looked down at him. "You don't know how to deal with this world, especially without any powers. Force will only cause you to stand out here and in your state you are no match to fight anyone. Stop glaring at me, you know it's true," she said seeing the look he was giving her. "You need help to survive here."

"And you will help me?" he raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Why should I believe you? You attacked me with fire in a bottle."

"I came back."

He sighed. He knew what she said was true. He had no idea how to navigate this world without using force or his abilities. He didn't want to stand out because he knew Midgard wanted his head on a platter for what he had done. He needed to stay low and figure his next move.

"I shall accept your assistance," he said standing up and dusting himself off. "For the time being at least."

"Great," she said turning around and walking off to her car. He followed, hating the fact that he was reduced to relying on the help of a mere mortal woman.

'I will rise again,' he thought darkly as he walked. 'One way or the other.'