Chapter 5

I think I'd prefer to be with Loki. Angel thought to herself as the tall, firm faced, one eyed Director loomed over her as she sat on a chair. She felt even more stripped down than when she had Loki staring her down, and he had two eyes.

The brunette female Agent was there standing behind the intimidating leather-dressed pirate, you could say she was almost like a parrot. A right hand man.

What surprised Angel most was how quickly information was carried around and processed in this place, the red-haired Agent knew her name without even asking, Agent Coulson whipped up a file about her quicker than a flash. The girl was almost jealous about it, since it took a while for her to process things thanks to her childlike understanding. One thing she was proud of though, was being able to remember small things, like names and bits of information mentioned only once – that will come in handy.

Angel's fumbling hands twisted into the embroidery of her dress, threatening to pluck the seams out. Reminding herself that she would need to tread carefully around this powerful organisation, Angel plucked up the courage to look up at the Director – masking her emotions.

"So Miss Amsel." Fury said, getting down to business. "Why exactly were you talking to Loki? Regarding the fact that you were forbidden to be in that area."

"I didn't know I wasn't allowed to be there." Angel shyly defended.

"But who said you could be there?"

"Well, Thor took me?"

Fury stepped back, still making Angel uncomfortable with his harsh glare. "You seemed pretty friendly with Thor earlier, both of you talking in the corridor."

"How do-"

"Security cameras." Fury replied shortly. "But you seem to have something going on with Loki. That's what we're interested in, you're not as dumb as you look are you?"

"I don't think I'm awfully clever." Said Angel meekly.

"No, but you got something else, you don't even realise it."

"What?"

"The ability to fool everyone into thinking you're just some random girl. We were curious when we saw you standing with Loki in Germany - that's why we brought you in, in the first place – but then on discovering your connection with two Asgardians, we were almost intrigued."

Panic flooded the sitting girl, believing that she was being found guilty of conspiring with Loki. "I don't know who they are, they just know me. I-I... Loki, I don't know why he-"

"It's ok Miss Amsel, calm down. We are not accusing you of anything... just yet. We just want to know who you are." The female Agent said.

"But... I don't know who I am."

"Then tell us what you do know about you." Said Fury.

"Hang on." Angel stood from the chair as something clicked into place. "Thor knows who I am, so surely he would have told you about me. You should really be the ones to give me this information."

"How about we make a deal Miss Amsel, you tell us what you know about you and we'll tell you what Thor told us." Fury calmly replied, gesturing to the girl to sit back down.

The previous panic had caused the pieces to get jumbled up, Angel's mind was in a race to put what pieces she had into place and to try and make chronological sense of it. She slowly lowered herself back down onto the chair.

"Well, my name is Perdita and I used to live on... umm Asgard – yes – as a companion to... err who was it – Frigga yes! But I don't know who she was err..." More pieces clicked and she stifled. "There was Thor – we didn't get along. Loki well... we were... I don't know, it's rather confusing."

"But there was something between you. Something happened didn't it?" The female Agent pressed.

"Well... I think we might have been engaged, it's still unclear what we were exactly. But yes something happened."

"Mmm interesting. So what then?" Fury said, pacing the width of the room and listening intently.

"I ran away. Hurt him..." Tears shimmered through the girl's eyes as guilt rested on her shoulders. It was her fault why Loki had gone through so much pain– isn't it?

"Go on." The female Agent ordered with an annoyed tone.

"I-I think that... I might have sacrificed something in order to run away."

"What?" Pushed Fury.

"My memory." Angel said simply. "It was selfish and I'm a horrible person." Silent tears fell down her cheeks like rain drops.

"Why do you say that?" Fury questioned as he stopped his pacing and turned to face the dishevelled girl.

"Well." Angel laughed mockingly. "I have caused someone to go through hell and turn into a psychopath and you all know about my miscarriage..."

"Indeed. So you think it was Loki's child."

"Who else's would it have been? Thor's?" Retorted Angel.

"So you think that sacrificing your memory made Loki the crazy fucker he is and caused you to lose your baby? How exactly?" Asked Fury.

"How? I don't know the science of it; I only know that was the effect of what I did. Anyway, I've told you all I know, you'd better return the deal." Angel sniffed with frustration.

"Very well." Fury started, with a gestured look to the other agent. "Thor told us - pretty much what you just said, but we do know the science behind you losing your memory. Do you know anything of the Bifrost?"

The girl shook her head.

"Well, it's basically a magical rainbow transporter between realms – or something like that, it's not my key area – anyway, it is very powerful, enough to wipe out your entire memory evidently. As Thor told us, one way – the legal way - to open the Bifrost was for the gate keeper to open it. You did it the illegal way."

"Illegal!" Blurted Angel.

"Only in Asgard. The illegal way consists of a sacrificing something that is strong enough to power the Bifrost. For example your entire memory."

"And... that transported me to earth?" Angel shyly questioned.

"Obviously, or you wouldn't be here now." Fury blatantly said.

"Was I right?" Angel quietly asked.

"About what?"

"About me and Loki?"

"Yes." Said Fury. "You were indeed engaged to Loki."

"Was my pregnancy known about?"

"Thor didn't mention anything about it, so he probably doesn't know. Impossible to know if anyone else did either." Fury said solemnly.

"Hmm." Angel pondered. The girl's mind had cleared and the things around her had finally started to make sense. Some things. The jigsaw of her past still had many gaps in, but she now had some grip of understanding and that was good enough.

But Loki – the unpredictable warrior – what was his game? Angel couldn't pin-point anything on him. He said one thing and then another, going two different ways, all the time. Angel didn't know what to think of him. She knew what she was supposed to think of him – he murdered her Vater– but what she did think of him was mixed: Hate (obviously), some pity and – well - lost desire?

"Miss Amsel." Angel was pulled from her distant world back into the present; she needed to stop doing that, pondering distracted her from the present as someone once said.

"Agent Hill will now escort you back to your quarters." Fury gestured to the female agent who stepped forward.

"Are we done?" Asked Angel, rather surprised.

"Yes." The female agent bluntly said, gesturing Angel to stand from the chair. "Now follow me."

Angel obeyed and nimbly walked behind the agent, until she was once more alone in the grey confines of her bedroom.

"Oh damn!" Angel exclaimed. Why was it only now when she came up with another question but missed the opportunity to ask it? The girl hit the wall in frustration. Stupid. Stupid. What happened that caused me to run away in the first place?

After huffing in anger for a few minutes against the wall, a sudden urge took control of Angel and pushed her gently to the bathroom and forced her to look into the mirror – it wasn't the same girl as before.

This girl had eyes full of stubbornness and feist, no longer blood shot and sorrowful. Her face seemed older, determined and somehow wiser. Angel knew she wasn't the same as before, something hidden within her had cracked open and escaped – courage...maybe?

"You're Perdita." The girl stated to the woman opposite her. "You've lived in a far away land, ran away from your fiancée, and wiped your own memory clean by illegally powering a transporter thing. You've left me here to clean up the damage you have caused, to deal with your losses. Why? Were you not happy in Asgard? Did Loki do something so awful that you were desperate to escape? No matter what the cost?"

Angel placed gentle finger tips onto the looking glass. "We are the same person you and I, just in different circumstances. I don't blame you, for you are me and have reasons of your own. I'll make everything right again, I'll find out what truly happened and I'll know everything."

Doubt crawled into her mind. "Why do I still not remember everything? Why isn't anything famil-"

The girl was knocked off her feet by a violent shake. A distant boom echoed in Angel's ears. What's happening?

The girl gathered her wits about her and pulled herself off the floor. Angel hadn't a clue what was going on around her, but she definitely knew that it wasn't good.

Angel ran out of the bathroom and bedroom and into the corridor. Alarms blasted loudly and red was flashing everywhere. Something tapped Angel's shoulder, causing her to shriek and startle backwards.

"You must come with me." An expressionless man ordered, wearing combat gear, sunglasses and holding a gun in one hand.

Without warning, the man grabbed her wrist and pulled her beside him down the corridor. Angel didn't appreciate being handled in this fashion a second time, this man hadn't even told her where he was taking her either.

"Can you tell me what's happening?" Angel got no response as they turned a corner. "Hello?" Angel went up on her tip-toes to try and look the man in the face.

A strange glow shimmered from behind his sunglasses. What? Curiosity got the better of Angel and ripped the sunglasses off the man's face. His head snapped to look at Angel who startled backwards at the sight. The man's eyes were unnaturally alien blue, the same blue as the warrior's staff. This was all Loki's doing, and now he was trying to kidnap her!

In a blur of panic, Angel tugged her arm towards her in a vain attempt to free it from the henchman's bruising grip. The girl swung her arm forwards, catching the henchman off guard as her petite hand whipped sharply against his face making him drop her arm and collide with the ground.

"Sorry." And with that, Angel hitched up her layers of skirt and ran like a mad man.

Left, right, left, right – her throat tightened- left, right, left, right – her breathing turned more rapid – left, right, left, right – and her heartbeat grew stronger.

So focused on her pacing feet, Angel didn't notice where she was heading to; all that was on her mind at that moment was that she had to lose the henchman. Angel turned quickly around a corner and straight through a nearby door.

A trembling gasp escaped the girl's lips at the scene before her. I'm so stupid! She thought, as she saw Loki stumble out of a wall, a thin mist of black smoke lifting off him. There was the dead or dying body of the Agent who first questioned her, slumped on the floor in front of Angel. Blood was seeping through his shirt.

Loki gave a hissed grunt as he straightened his back, pointing a devilish smile at the frozen girl. He took notice of her staring wide-eyed with horror at the blood drenched point of his sceptre.

"Well I was expecting to meet you on our transport out of here, but this will do nicely." Loki paced forward quickly.

"Don't you dare touch me!" Angel shrieked, turning to escape from the murderer, only to be dragged backwards by a crushing arm around her waist. The girl screamed in defiance, slapping and clawing at the leather arm that squeezed her tighter, making her cough for air.

"Your stubbornness will make no difference. You will be my queen and only mine. I will take your disgusting planet in the fiery hell of war! And then you will stop being an ungrateful wretch!"

Angel's long locks were whipped in front of her face in her struggle to be free. The warrior merely carried her by her waist as if she was air.

Angel knew she was fighting a losing battle as Loki pulled her into an awaiting aircraft, the door closed immediately after them and the plane zoomed off.

Angel was dropped down onto a seat, finally allowing her the chance to scrape back the obscurity of her vision, only to see the one person she loathed kneeling in front of her with a hand on her elbow, smiling. What nerve he has to smile after what he's done.

"It's all right my angel." He said delicately, reaching his hand to her face, which Angel flinched at and wacked away. Loki let her and instead placed his large hand on hers. "No one is going to harm you."

Angel pulled her hand from under his and held it close to her, as if protecting her for what was to come. "I'm not sure I believe that." She snarled through gritted teeth.

"You will not allow me to touch you?"

"What? No! You murdered the one person who ever cared for me. It's no wonder why I ran away from you in the first place, with you being selfish and evil! I hate you! And you hate me too, you never loved me. If you did, then-"

"Do not speak of things that you have no memory of!" Loki yelled and stood up tall, towering the sitting girl. "You can't remember anything of me before now. You can't remember what we were, what we still are or what we could be. You don't even know what's stopping you from remembering or feeling."

Loki knelt back down and cradled Angel's face tightly, forcing her to look into his eyes.

"You will never know what you do to me, or even how deep my...sentiment... is for you." He swallowed.

"Please let me go."

"Such a little lost thing you are. Too much has happened to the both of us." His eyes were tinted with sadness of long ago as if lost in a distant memory. Angel carefully unlocked his hands from her face and threw them away from her.

"Will you not allow me to hold you?" Loki asked. "You may find it somewhat familiar." It's all I want from you in this moment. He thought.

"No." Angel replied coldly, showing no empathy towards the sad man. All previous pity had diminished.

"I'm not taking that for an answer." Without warning, a warm glowing green hand was pressed to her head. Angel found herself spinning with drowsiness. The last thing she remembered was heavy armoured arms enveloping her frame, her cheek being pressed against cold metal.

That bastard...