Once at S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters, Fury quickly departed, leaving Natasha and Clint the task of showing Sarah to the lab where she will begin testing. Sarah was relieved that she would be starting almost immediately. The sooner they started, the sooner they would realize they have the wrong person. While Sarah could never describe her life as glamorous or even affluent, she lived comfortably and had a small group of friends that she could really trust. After a lifetime living in the system, that was all she needed.

"Sarah?" Natasha's voice brought her out of her thoughts. "We're at the lab. Clint and I can't stay but we'll introduce you to Bruce."

Unable to speak for a moment, Sarah settled on nodding in agreement. The doors opened with a mechanical 'whoosh' and the two agents escorted the bartender into a lab, at least that was what they called it. Sarah tried to identify some of the equipment, but only got as far as a microscope and a table before she gave up. She decided to refocus her attention to the older man standing in front of her. Bruce lifted his hand for a handshake. "It's nice to finally meet you, Sarah."

At her confused expression, Bruce continued. "I read your file so I could get an idea of where to start with the testing, I assume that Fury has filled you in?"

"Oh, sure. Why wouldn't I have a file here?" Sarah muttered to herself as she shook Bruce's hand.

Overall, Sarah got the nearly the same impression of Bruce as she did with Phil. Both were innately friendly but on edge, almost as if they were prepared for an attack at any moment. Bruce gestured to the back of the room, where there was a relatively comfortable looking examination table and a couple of machines with at least twenty wires coming out of each. "If you would like, I can go through the process with you before we begin."

Sarah shook her head, but then immediately shrugged. "No, I mean, maybe. I just want to get this over with. Pretty sure that I am not the Valkyrie that everyone assumes I am."

Bruce did not appear to react in any way to Sarah's indecision. "Why don't I explain as I hook you up?"

Hopping onto the table, Sarah eyed the machinery with disdain. "Sounds like a good compromise."

Bruce sat on the stool next to the table. As if for the first time, he studied Sarah, specifically her shirt. "Um, some of these sensors need to be attached to your chest. I don't suppose you are wearing a shirt underneath?"

Sarah looked down at her t-shirt. Though it was form-fitting, the neckline was high enough for Sarah to bend over without exposing too much of herself. Her roommate, David, always encouraged her to dress more provocatively, like the other female bartenders, to get better tips. However, an unfortunate incident when she was 16 including a shared bathroom without a lock and two teenage boys living in the same home curbed her need to sexual attention from strangers. "Sorry, not today."

Bruce smiled reassuringly. "That's fine, there should be a spare somewhere around here."

After a few minutes of opening random drawers, he pulled out a navy blue oversized button-down. Bruce handed the shirt to Sarah and turned around. "Just let me know when you are changed."

Sarah disrobed quickly, her eyes glaring into the security camera the entire time. She put on the shirt, leaving the top three buttons undone and thanked her good fortune for remembering to wear a plain bra. She did not feel that Bruce would appreciate any of Victoria's secrets. "You can turn around again. So what are you doing to me, electroshock therapy?"

"As much as some of the agents could use a good round of mechanical shocking, Director Fury would not let me bring in any of the necessary equipment." He chuckled a little at his own joke, relieved that Sarah offered a half smile of her own. "This is a little more complicated. There is reason to believe that you can transport your mind into other realms, though your body stays in the same place. I would like to see if you can do it. These wires will monitor your vitals as well as your brain waves. Hopefully, I can track when you have left this realm and when you come back."

Bruce anticipated a lot of reactions, mostly ones of confusion or refusal, but he did not expect Sarah's bemused smile. "Funny. What does it really do?"

Sarah's smile slowly faded as Bruce continued to study her. He cannot be serious, transporting to another realm? Oh my god, he isn't saying anything. "Seriously?" She whispered.

"Seriously." Bruce continued to hook the sensors onto Sarah. One on each temple, one on her forehead, and three on her chest; looking up, he watched as Sarah began to process what was about to happen. "I'll walk you through the process and if it doesn't work, we can simply try another time."

"I'm sorry. It just hit me how unreal this all is. After what happened a year ago with the attack, I thought I could handle any weird truths that came up. But the fact that I am in the middle of all of this is just…" Sarah trailed off as she tried to find the adequate words to describe what she was feeling.

"It's easy to accept new information about the freakishness of the universe when you are just a normal bystander. When it is about you, then you become the freak. It will never stop hitting too close to home." Bruce finished the thought for her.

Sarah looked at the scientist before her. His brown eyes held a streak of loneliness and sorrow. "What happened to you?" She asked.

Bruce was silent a moment. Sarah wasn't sure if she would get an answer out of him. "Let's just say that I am living proof that a human should never get too close to Gamma rays." He put on the last sensor. "You know, you look different from your picture."

Recognizing that Bruce was deliberately changing the topic, Sarah decided to indulge him. Even though Sarah was convinced that the agents had the wrong person, she could understand why Bruce would not want to talk about his unnatural talents with a relative stranger. "How so?"

"You looked happy in the photos. I think they were taken when you were with your boyfriend at Atlantic City. You were relaxed." Bruce handed her the photograph.

Sarah smiled at the picture. "I remember this. David and I went to Atlantic City for a vacation. We saved up for an entire year to afford it, so we went all out. But you are wrong about one thing, David is just my roommate, not my boyfriend."

"Ah, so that explains why you two could be inseparable for an entire week and still be happy." Bruce took the photo back and tucked it into the file. "So where was your boyfriend when you were gallivanting with this young man?"

"I have no idea, haven't met him yet." Sarah sighed at Bruce's raised eyebrow. "I don't have a boyfriend. Perhaps my standards are too high."

"Are they now? Dare I ask?"

Sarah began to tick them off, using the tips of her fingers for visual assistance. "Good hygiene, not a jerk, must be willing to not cheat or beat on me, financially and mentally stable are also a plus."

"Wow, no wonder why you are single. I can't think of a single man who fits that description." Bruce's voice was practically dripping with sarcasm.

Sarah gestured towards the beeping machines. "Well, it might be a good thing if I can transport. Maybe I can meet some hot alien who exceeds my standards."

Instead of following along with the joke, Bruce just looked sadder for a moment. "Perhaps. We should get back on task before Fury comes down here and 'supervises.' It throws me off to have him breathing down my neck."

Envisioning Fury's scowl bearing down on her as she was hooked up like a lab rat made Sarah grimace. "Good point, should I just lay down?"

Bruce nodded. "It should work best when you are in a relaxed state. Well, as relaxed as you can get with all this equipment and in a lab."

As soon as Sarah was properly settled, Bruce wrote down her vitals and turned back to her. "I want you to close your eyes and breathe deeply." He waited until Sarah complied. "Just envision yourself in a comfortable place, maybe doing an activity that you like."

Instantly, Sarah was curled in her favorite recliner with a book. The chair actually belonged to her favorite foster parents, the Smith's, ironically enough. When her two years with them came to an end, she was required to move onto the next home in hopes that they would adopt her. In her mind, though, the recliner was sitting in the middle of her bedroom, right where the sun poured through her window. She snuggled in deeper and read out of the new mystery novel that she picked up the other day.

Bruce kept an eye on the monitor. Sarah's pulse finally had dropped to an ideal number and her breath had evened out. He briefly wished that he could relax that completely so quickly. "Now Sarah, I want you to think about your path. You have a lot of questions about who you are and why you are here. I want you to ask your subconscious to reveal the truth."

Sarah looked up from her book, her brow furrowed. She had just gotten comfortable when she was reminded of her predicament. Looking out the window, she saw the sun was setting behind the buildings across the street. "What am I supposed to be doing with my life?" Sarah murmured.

Suddenly, she was ripped out of her apartment. It was almost as if someone had grabbed her by the back of the shirt and lifted her out through the ceiling. After a moment of weightlessness, Sarah landed on a floor. Looking around, she was not sure where she was. Did she fail the transport? Did they move her out of the lab and into a weird cell? Sarah looked around quickly. The room was sparsely furnished with white tile floors and walls. One wall was entirely made of glass, though Sarah could not see what was beyond it. Right when she was convinced that she failed her mission and Fury locked her up out of sheer irritation, Sarah heard footsteps behind her. A deep silky voice followed soon after, sounding amused. "What do we have here?"

Sarah jumped up, startled. Behind her, a tall thin man stood. Considering that Sarah must have appeared out of thin air, he was surprisingly calm about it. "Um, my bad?"

Loki studied the woman in front of him. Judging by the horrible attire and confused expression, he figured she was a Midgardian. She was quite a bit shorter than he was with the top of her head only grazing the bottom of his chin. She had light brown hair and her eyes were a surprisingly bright shade of green. But what was she doing here? No mortal could just pop out of nowhere, especially in an Asgardian prison cell. Loki's mind reeled with options, but there was one that seemed the most likely: Thor is using her as a spy. His brother was getting smarter these days, deliberately bringing in a woman who Loki would find attractive. Why though?

"I assume that you are as surprised by standing in my prison as I am, which is why I won't be offended that you aren't answering my question. So let me pose it to you again and in much easier terms: Who are you?" Loki started to feel impatient at the woman who was openly gawking at him.

Sarah was too busy taking in her surroundings to notice that the man had spoken. Even though he was dressed in a pair of pants and a simple shirt, something told her that they were not on Earth. She took in his long black hair and aggravated look on his face, wait, what did he say? Sarah smiled in apology. "Yes, I was not expecting to land here. My name is Sarah Nystrom and pardon my ignorance, but where am I?"

Despite the growing irritation that he was feeling, Loki could not help but smile back at Sarah. "You don't know where you are? Where were you trying to go?"

"Well, that's the tough part, I don't know."

Loki's smile slid off his face. "Enough!" He shouted. "I may be a prisoner, but I am still royalty and you will answer me."

This really isn't going well. Sarah thought. I am in a prison cell with a very angry alien, who just so happens to look outrageously hot. Wait, where did that come from? "It's a really long and bizarre story and I'm not even sure if I believe it, so how can I expect you to?"

In a maneuver that was too fast to see, Loki grabbed Sarah by the throat and slammed her against the wall. "Try me." Loki growled.

At this point, Sarah figured that she had nothing to lose. "Fine, you crazy assed goat-fucker, some government agency freaks think I am this weird alien Valkyrie-witch hybrid and are running tests on me. I don't know why, so don't even ask. Last I remembered, I was trying to meditate and I asked for the truth about what I needed to do and wound up here."

Sarah closed her eyes and waited for the worst. Instead of imminent death, however, she felt the hand at her throat drop. Opening her eyes, she saw Loki staring at her with a stunned look on his face. "Sigyn?" He gasped.

Sarah was not sure what language he was speaking, probably his native tongue. "Sorry, what?" She inquired.

Loki's eyes narrowed. "I think you have been grossly uninformed about your role in history, my dear. Perhaps you should ask your government agency freaks, as you like to call them, for the whole story. But where are my manners, I am Loki."

Still off-balance by Loki's extreme change in mood, Sarah shook her head as if it would clear out some of the fog. "It sounds like you are just as familiar, so perhaps you should tell me instead."

Loki loved hearing the snap in her voice as she was trying to make sense of what was going on. "Unfortunately, there is no time. The guards will be coming through momentarily and they would have quite a few questions if they see you with me. But I can tell you this much, when you were born, you were immediately promised to another. Once you came of age, you would have been married to him and together, you two would have done many great things."

Sarah could hear the murmur of voices from outside of the cell. She did not have much time left. "I was supposed to marry someone? Who?"

Loki watched as Sigyn started to fade. She didn't even realize it was happening as she looked to him for an answer. "Don't use past tense, the promise still stands. And you are looking at your future groom right now."

Sarah did not even have time to react. The voices were getting louder. She turned to look out the window, hoping that this time she could see something, anything. However, the room did not stop spinning, instead it got faster. Before she knew it, Sarah was looking up at a very concerned Bruce Banner.

"Welcome back." He simply said. "Find out anything interesting?"

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