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Coulson leaned forward on the small steel table, folding his fingers together patiently. "It's been a long 72 hours."

I nodded in agreement, twiddling my thumbs beneath the table. I found myself in another interview room, similar to the one back at headquarters. I kept my eyes trained on the table so I wouldn't have to look up, at the crowd of people probably standing behind the mirror.

"Starting with P.E.G.A.S.U.S," he added, clasping his hands in front of him. "No, how about I tell you what we know." He opened a manila folder, clearing his throat. "On the night Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. imploded from the Tesseract, we have logs showing that your supervisor, Agent Sullivan, accessed a room containing the supercomputer. We don't know why."

"Agent Sullivan told me before then that he had been assigned to copy all the material off the hard drive by Director Fury," I explained, trying to keep my story straight. "He told me that he was going to copy the information onto a disk." The struggle to keep my voice even grew as Coulson watched me with calculating eyes, probably trying to use some training to figure out if I was lying.

"Did you see the disk?" he asked softly, his eyes still boring into mine.

"No, but he said he had it with him. At the last minute he asked me to do it because he had to check on Selvig."

"What did you do?"

I swallowed quickly. "I did what I was ordered. I copied the information onto the disk and waited outside to make sure nothing was going to collapse. When it was finished, I gave it back to him."

"You are aware that was classified information," Coulson said with a raised eyebrow. I kept my eyes focused on him, not on the people behind the glass. "And we could strip you of everything, dump you on the street in the nearest city, and leave you there for breaching protocol. Ms. Pegadia, you may or may not be aware of this, but your involvement in this entire situation makes you look incredibly guilty."

"What've I done to make me look guilty?" I felt my passive face melt away as I realized the implication behind his words.

"Accessed classified information and escaped in the arms of a killer...without struggling." He tilted his head. "Which makes you look very, very guilty."

It's probably just interrogation tactics, I told myself firmly. "Agent Coulson, Loki is as strong as ten bodybuilders. I'm 120 pounds."

"Speaking of which, here's the big question," Coulson replied, narrowing his eyes slightly. "You're a technician. You type on computers, you hide in the basement, you update programs. What does a God want with a technician?"

I was starting to dislike Agent Coulson by the minute. "He thought I had the disk."

"Did you?"

I sighed in exasperation. "No. Sullivan had it, because I gave it to him. In the boiler room he whisked me off to West Virginia and, well..."

"Well, what?" Coulson demanded, waving his hand. "Agent Pedagia, we are short on time and limited in resources."

I found myself becoming more irritated with the questions. Coulson wasn't taking any of the hints I gave him, that I'd rather not talk about it, or skip over some things. I sighed calmly though, so the people behind the mirror wouldn't think I was getting angry. "He tortured me. Later Loki discovered that Sullivan had hidden the disk in a black bag he brought with him to the old base. When Agent Barton-"

"You encountered Agent Barton?" Coulson said sharply, interrupting me. "Is he still compromised?" I furrowed my brow when I saw a spark of hope in his eyes.

"Yes." Did they really think that getting Barton back would be easy?

Coulson's eyes fell and he scribbled something hastily. "Go on."

"And then the information deleted itself."

"Standard protocol," Coulson said curtly. "Pedagia, is there anything we need to know? Anything you should tell us?"

The truth, probably, I thought guiltily.

I opened and closed my mouth before speaking. "Only that Loki is dangerous. He's insane, and he's harnessing the Tesseract to build some sort of...portal. He said he was going somewhere before I escaped. I don't know what he's building the portal for, but it's dangerous. Your best bet of finding him is to locate that old base and destroy it. You won't find him because he's gone. I don't know where."

"Anything else?"

"That you might want to consider tightening security protocols for the database," I added, my eyes narrowing. "There are some former S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and other enemies working for Loki to build that machine, and they almost have access to every corner of the database. It's astonishing."

"Anything else?"

I caught the intonation in his voice and arched an eyebrow. "Agent Coulson, do you think I'm lying to you?"

"I didn't say that." A dry smile tugged at his lips. "But I definitely feel like you're hiding something from us, but at the moment, you're free to go. Directory Fury expects you to resume your work, whatever it was before you were whisked away. And stay on top of this. No one knows Loki like you do."

With my one free hand, a few hours later I found myself sitting at the large conference table in the command center, doing some modifications to security protocols for the database, like I'd planned. I still can't believe how easily they accessed our information. The nerd in me was outraged.

For the most part, I was beginning to sink back into normal routine, feeling comfortable as I typed on the computer. No more Loki, no more scepter, no more Selvig. Whatever happened from here on out no longer concerned me. At least for the moment, I was out of Loki's hands. A small smile touched my lips and I mentally gave myself a pat on the back for my quick thinking.

But again, that lingering thought in the back of my mind did surface, that my escape was too easy. Why would Loki leave me unchained in a chair with two guards who were also charged with watching the other staff? I stuck to my thought that he let me escape. But I was back with S.H.I.E.L.D., and that was all that mattered.

I was in the middle of re-writing a few programs, when one of the technicians called, "Sir!" Raising my eyes, I saw Agent Coulson, Fury, and a tall, muscular man wearing khakis and a brown jacket peering over his shoulder. "It's a 76% match."

"For what?" I called curiously as Fury peered over his shoulder.

"Loki. No, wait...it's an 87% match!"

I walked over to the technician, who stared at the screen with disbelief. I couldn't believe it either. Standing outside of a large, marble building was Loki, dressed in a black dress jacket, black slacks, and wearing a green scarf. I had never imagined I'd see him wearing normal clothes.

On the video feed, he was standing outside talking to a group of well-dressed people. On the marble building above the entrance were some words written in German, and pictures of art beneath them. BMWs and silver Camaros rolled up to the curb and young valets opened the doors. On the screen, Loki looked around the area, a look of interest and pleasure on his face. He continued to stride towards the building, walking with a cane.

The distraction. That's what he went to Germany for.

Anxiously, I glanced at the others, who stared at the screen with looks of pure disbelief. My conscience told me to do something about it. So, I widened my eyes theatrically and leaned closer over his shoulder. "Wait a minute," I breathed. "Loki said something about going to Germany for some element...I think it was called Iridium."

You're a horrible liar, the voice chuckled in the back of my mind.

"Iridium?" a deep voice asked with curiosity. The man in the brown jacket had spoken, turning to face me. "Ma'am, what is iridium?"

If I get called ma'am one more time, I'm going to punch a wall. I'm only 25. Ignoring that thought, I answered his question. "An element Selvig said he needed to stabilize the Tesseract device."

"Cap'n, you're up," Fury stated seriously.

"Cap'n...what?" I repeated, glancing at the visitor. Agent Coulson cleared his throat behind me proudly.

"Pedagia, this is Captain Steve Rogers. You may remember his story."

Oh. With a laugh, I stuck out my hand. "Yeah, I've heard about you. I'm sorry, I've never seen your face before." A kind smile graced his face. His hair was blond, cut military style. And with muscles almost large enough to rival the Hulk's, which I noticed when he shook my hand. "I'm Elle."

"It's quite alright, ma'am. If you'll excuse me..." With a nod to Fury, he excused himself towards the nearest hallway.

I, of course, knew a little more about Steve Rogers than I'd wanted to. I watched him retreat, wondering how he was adjusting to his new life some 90 years in the future.

"Pedagia, you said you had nothing more to tell us," Fury's voice said with disapproval. "Is there anything else you're hiding from us?" I stood upright and turned to face him, feeling guilty.

"Sir, I...I told Agent Coulson that Loki had been planning to go somewhere. I didn't put two and two together until I saw the video," I stammered. "If I'm withholding information it's only because I don't have a prompt to remember it. But...Captain Rogers!" I called anxiously, prepared to run after him. He stuck his head out, raising an eyebrow. "Just...be careful."

Rogers smiled at me and nodded once, then continued on his way. The sensation that I was being watched swept over me and I turned to see Director Fury staring at me with obvious dislike. Without a word, he turned on his heel and strode for the door.

"He does that," Coulson explained with a half-hearted shrug, then following his boss. I was left with the technician, feeling completely embarrassed. I gave the male technician a weak smile and shuffled back to my computer to fix protocols for a small portion of information. A mass notification was sent out to all S.H.I.E.L.D. bases informing them of the change.

"Miss Elle?" Kat's voice said nearby.

"Yes?" I grumbled, not looking up from my work.

"Are you feeling better?" she asked timidly. She wrung her hands nervously, glancing at my bandage.

I sighed, looking at her. "Much, much better. Have you cried enough rivers?" Kat responded with a quiet giggle.

"I was just worried 'bout you," she admitted, sliding in the chair next to me. "I saw you changed security protocols. Real smart," she added with a firm nod. "Keep them nasty thieves out of the system."

"Hey, what did Fury say when you told him about Selvig's email?" I asked her, remembering the information she told me.

"He just shook his head, Miss Elle." Kat's blue eyes were worried. "He doesn't believe Selvig would do something like that."

"Me neither," I murmured. We were silent for a while until Kat placed her hand on my forearm. I flinched from the touch and she noticed. It was a knee-jerk reaction.

"Are you okay, Miss Elle?" she whispered, dragging my attention from my work. "What'd he do to you?"

"I'm okay, Kat," I lied. "Just a bruised arm and my jaw is a little sore." Leave, please.

"What did he try to do to you?" she murmured worriedly, leaning forward.

I glanced at her again and my hands stilled when I fully looked at her. Her skin had lost its normal glow, and looked pale and ashen in the light. Her light blue eyes were fixed on me, pleading for a response, anything to let her know that I was okay and not completely broken from my small time as a P.O.W.

I glanced down at her hands and noticed that her normally manicured nails were short and stubby. "Your nails," I noted.

"I bite them when I'm nervous," she explained, her cheeks turning pink.

"I'm fine, Kat, really," I said again, squeezing her hand in response. "He...he had self-control, at least. He likes blackmail, though," I added in a whisper.

"What kind of blackmail?" Her eyes widened again and she leaned forward, asking for more information. I didn't really want to talk about it. As a matter of fact, I just wanted to throw myself into my work and forget about Loki. But Kat refused to drop the issue.

"Was it your sister?" she whispered, glancing around the command center. I kept my passive face on and stared past her, at a set of guns resting against the wall. "Oh..."

"Is it the easy to see?" I groaned with disbelief, rolling my eyes to the ceiling. "Kat, I...I've always been so good at hiding my emotions. No one ever knew what I was thinking, and then this...demi-god shows up, and suddenly he can read everything on my face. That's how...how he got me so easily," I said on an exhale.

Hang on. "Wait. How did you know about my sister?" I demanded. "I never told you about her." She grinned crookedly at me, and I frowned in understanding. "Snooping," I assumed dryly.

"Well, all you have to do is have someone teach you how!" Kat responded cheerfully, leaning backwards in the chair. "You know what you should do? Talk to Agent Romanoff. She's an expert assassin. She probably has a better poker face than anyone I know," Kat suggested, a hopeful spark in her eyes.

Have the Black Widow teach me how to fight doesn't sound like a bad idea, I thought to myself, nodding at the suggestion.

Unfortunately, I learned from Coulson that Natasha was out with Captain Rogers attempting to apprehend Loki and bring him the ship. I'll be honest: when I learned that they intended to bring him back here, I became incredibly nervous and queasy. While they were gone I stayed glued to my computer, monitoring the ship's progress. They were almost to Germany.

How is he going to get it? I thought with confusion, trying to figure out his master plan. That has to be well guarded. Using an eyeball...how?

It was times like these when I was so glad that S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't have any mind-reading devices.