Kara sighed as she felt Loki drift into sleep. He had never answered her, but before he slept she had felt a veritable abyss of emotional pain well up within him. His head had turned toward her as he relaxed and she could feel his warm breath in her hair. She smiled sadly. It was hard to believe there was another adoptee out there with an even more painful and tragic emotional history than her own, and beyond all odds that she would be asked to help him, but there it was. She didn't believe in coincidence, so they must have both been moved to this place and time for a purpose. Dismissing the situation from her mind as best she could, she allowed herself to drift off as well.

A soft chime announced someone at her door a moment before it began to swing open. Kara groggily looked at the digital display imbedded under a clear surface in the far wall. She'd slept through the afternoon. At some point Loki had turned on his side and had both arms wrapped possessively around her. It felt good.

…

"Holy Christ," Tony muttered as he walked into Kara's suite. The most potentially dangerous woman he'd ever met was nestled in the arms of the most ruthless man he'd ever met. This could not be good, regardless of what Barton and Romanov had told him of Kara's objectives. There was nothing objective about the sleepy befuddled look she turned in his direction.

"Tony? What's wrong," she asked softly.

He shook his head and gestured at the two of them. "This," he said. "This is just wrong. I mean, seriously Kara? We're talking dogs and cats living together…mass hysteria."

Kara rolled her eyes at him and groaned. "That's it, you are hereby forbidden to watch any more eighties movies." She levered herself up on one elbow and looked down at her bed partner with pursed lips. "He is kind of cat-like, though. Big sleek cat, maybe a panther." Turning to face him again she continued, "That would make me the dog, Tony, so woof, woof, and get out of my room before I bite your ass."

"Promises, promises," he said with a mock leer. "We need you upstairs, we're having a conference call with Fury in fifteen. There's trouble afoot."

"And no more Sherlock Holmes books," she grumbled as she slid out from Loki's embrace and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. "I'll be right up."

…

Loki was still sleeping deeply. She dashed into the closet and grabbed a pair of jeans and her favorite blouse and clean underwear and carried them into the washroom. After a quick shower she dressed, brushed her teeth and hair, then entered the bedroom to grab her sandals. Loki's eyes were open and he was frowning. "What's wrong now?" she asked.

"I was about to ask you that. Where are you going?" he wanted to know as she sat on the bed to tug on the footwear.

"Meeting upstairs. I'm going to have to put the suite back on lockdown again, I'm very sorry."

"It hurts."

"What does?"

"The dampening technology. It's a much stronger version than the others I've been subjected to and it vibrates through my skull after a bit and becomes painful."

She frowned and leaned across the bed to stroke his cheek. "I have to turn it on, Loki, you know that. I'll be back as soon as I can and if you're in pain, I'll deal with it for you. That's the best I can do."

He sighed, closed his eyes and moved on to his back. "I understand. You do not trust me, and you're right not to. If I felt the need to be elsewhere, I would not stay here had I any choice in the matter."

Loki started when she stretched to kiss his cheek. "I wish I could trust you, Loki. But you haven't done anything to build that kind of confidence with me."

His voice was tired and reflected the bitterness she could feel. "I know."

She hurried out the door, and called for Jarvis to initiate the lockdown as she headed down the hall. When she arrived in the conference room, everyone was waiting. "I know, I'm late. I needed a shower, I hadn't had one since early yesterday."

"I'm sure we're all grateful, doctor. Or at least those of us in the room with you," Nick Fury said dryly from the huge screen that had been extended from the wall to show a conference room at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. "Okay, people, I'm going to turn this over to Jane Foster, our resident astrophysicist."

A woman near Kara's age with sandy hair and a serious expression nodded and picked up a controller. "I'll show a series of aerial photos on the other screen. The first, as you can see, is a world map with highlighted points. Each point represents an ancient site of some sort. Stonehenge in England, the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, Machu Picchu in Peru, and so forth." She flicked through twelve more aerial views of locations around the world and returned to the map. "Each of these sites has recently had reports of strange activity, the most prevalent report being of a sound like rushing waves where there is no water and flashes of blue lights. This went on for three days at all of the sites and then stopped abruptly."

Kara stared at the map and the twelve pinpointed sites spread across the globe. "What are those two in the U.S.?" she asked.

"The first is in Sedona, Arizona, near the Bell Rock vortex. The other is the site in New Mexico where we first met Thor," Foster said.

"All of them were reporting simultaneous activity?" Natasha asked.

"Every single one, yes, once we'd calculated the time differences."

A sick feeling twisted her stomach into knots. "Any way we can reach Thor?" Kara asked the group.

"Already tried," Tony responded. "And I've got to tell you, standing on the balcony, talking to thin air does nothing for my image."

Kara blinked. "What?"

Steve spoke up. "Thor told us we could reach him by calling out loud for someone named Heimdall, that this guy could hear his name called from here and would let Thor know if we had a problem."

"And no response, lovely." She looked around the room at the rest of the team. "Well? Is anyone going to spell it out?" Looking back at the screen, she addressed Nick Fury and Jane Foster. "Are we thinking this looks and sounds a little too similar to the tesseract opening and closing?"

"We are, doctor," Fury agreed."The question is, who is opening or trying to open wormholes, and why."

"Okay. Has it occurred to anyone that we need to ask the expert?"

"The experts have all discussed it, and we're at a standstill, obviously. Dr. Selvig is in agreement as to what is happening, but we can only speculate as to why," Nick continued.

"Not our experts, Asgard's expert," she clarified.

"Uh, yeah, spitfire, Thor isn't picking up the phone," Tony snarked.

…

Bruce Banner removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Tony, she means Loki. And as much as I hate to admit it, she's right. He's the only one on the planet who would be likely to have a good theory as to who or what is causing the phenomena."

"And that would be great, if we could trust reindeer games not to lie his ass off about it. That is in his job description, you know."

"I think we have a guarantee that he won't, or that if he does, we'll know it," he retorted. "We have a genuine empath, a powerful one. How many of us have tried to B.S. her and failed? I seriously doubt that Loki would have any better luck."

"No, not just no, but HELL no," Tony insisted.

"Stark, you don't run this outfit," Fury pointed out. "Nor are you the leader of this team."

"Fine, let's hear what soldier boy has to say about it."

"I don't consider that an insult, Stark," Steve Rogers said. "You're slipping." Tony waved off the comeback. "If this is something to do with wormholes opening, we're in big trouble. I say we consult with the expert, but we check and double-check anything he tells us. Dr. Gunnarssen, we'll need you to monitor him, let us know if you think he's pulling something."

"Oh for Christ's sake, she's sleeping with the son of a bitch," Tony griped. "That's like asking the…oh hell, I can't even think of a metaphor that fits."

Bruce looked at Kara who was surging to her feet. "Kara, calm down, you know he's an ass, don't let it get to you."

Her head whipped around and she stared at him for several long seconds before settling back down in her chair. "Fine. I'm calm." she turned back toward Stark. "I am not on intimate terms with Thor's brother and you damn well know that. I don't trust him, he's keeping too many secrets, but that doesn't mean he can't or won't help with this. The only other beings besides Thor's people that we know about with technology to use wormholes damn near killed him. I really think it would be in his best interests to determine if this is something they're doing and if so, to help us find a way to stop them."

"That was my thought, too," Bruce agreed. "Cap? What do you think?"

"I think we need to bring him in on this," Rogers said with a censuring glare at Stark. "And I also think certain people need to show more respect for their own team members."

…

Loki felt the dampening field disengage and relaxed. Trying to block the pain in his weakened state was draining his already limited energy. A moment later the door opened and Kara entered with a suited up Captain Rogers on her heels. The man walked over to the bedside while Kara opened the door to the walk-in closet. "Back from your trip so soon?" he asked the flashily dressed mortal.

Rogers frowned at him. "We just needed to verify a few things in person. It didn't take long. You're needed upstairs, you feeling up to it?"

His eyebrows rose before he could stifle his surprise. "I've an almost blinding headache and I'm exhausted from fighting it."

"Loki, this is important, you really need to get dressed and join us," Kara said as she exited the closet and headed for the washroom carrying men's clothing. "Let me set this down and I'll take care of that headache for you."

"Why is it important?" he asked lightly, schooling his features to indifference.

"Anyone besides the Asgardians and your former buddies know how to use wormholes?" Rogers asked.

"Yes, the Jotun, though they haven't the technology for it at the moment, and both the Ljósálfar and Svartálfar, ah, the Álfar? Hmm, the light and dark elves?" he clarified at the mortal's questioning look.

Rogers was staring at him with a seriously disturbed expression. "Huh," he finally said. "So, are Dracula and the Wolfman real, too?"

Loki sighed. "Not that I'm aware of, though several of the races can shift forms if the individual is powerful enough." He relaxed back against the pillows as Kara pointed firmly at the bed. Her fingers were tingling with energy as she touched his temples and began to rub them gently in a counter-clockwise direction. The tension that was sending spikes of pain through his head began to drain away. "Thank you," he breathed as he let his eyes drift shut.

"Would any of these Álfar have any reason to be trying to open a wormhole to here?" Rogers asked.

"Not hardly, it's forbidden them. Their treaty with Asgard restricts all contact with Midgard. The All-Father wanted your people to have the opportunity to destroy themselves, or not, without any outside interference."

"Then we have a serious problem, Loki," Kara told him as she withdrew her hands. The last of the pain seemed to go with them. "Sit up and let me energize you a bit, so you can get dressed." He complied and she placed her hands, as she had before, above his Base and Solar Plexus Chakras, and he felt the slight push of energy. Too soon she stopped and stepped back. "That's all I can manage right now. Can you make it to the bathroom?"

"Yes, thank you." He touched her cheek as he pushed himself to his feet and took hold of the foot board as he made his way around the bed.

Captain Rogers moved in and hefted the heavy iron table up and moved it back under the window once he was out of the way. "Let me know if you need a hand in there," Rogers told him.

He used the facilities and rubbed a hand across his jaw. Looking down at the kit that had been set out for him, he found shaving supplies and used them. Though he didn't have the generous amount of facial or body hair that male Asgardians produced, he did have some, and he detested stubble. Face smooth, he combed back his straight hair and frowned as it fell down untidily into his eyes. Loki sat down on the vanity bench for a moment, then shrugged. "Kara?" he called out.

The door opened. "Do you need Steve?" she asked.

"If I'd needed Rogers, I'd have called for him. Do you have anything designed to hold hair in place?"

"I have mousse," she said as she pushed the door the rest of the way open and walked over to the shelf that held different grooming products.

"How is it used?" he asked.

Kara turned and frowned at him. "It's easier to show you than explain, then you can do it yourself next time." He nodded and watched as she pressed down on a lever and a fluffy blob of product squirted out into her cupped palm. "How did you want it to look, all set straight back, like it was when you arrived last time?"

"Yes, please."

"Okay." She stepped closer and worked the 'mousse' through his hair and then swept it back with her hands. After reaching for the comb, she combed back stray pieces that she'd missed and then looked him over critically. "That should do it. It will stay that way even when it dries," she told him. "My hair is even finer than yours and it holds it all day." Kara returned the product to the shelf and then washed her hands. "Are you all set, then?"

"Yes, thank you." He stared into the mirror for a second. His exhaustion was obvious, but there was no help for it. If the mortals sought to betray him after granting him refuge and hospitality they'd find that he was far from weak. "I'm ready."