It had been four days since I had last seen Loki, and instead of allowing myself to be morose, I took as many liberties as I possibly could. I let my underwear dry in plain sight. I stayed in the tub till my fingers wrinkled. I watched TV with nacho dust all over my chin and sweatshirt and I found a take-out place at a border township that had a great combo-meal for one. I was not unhappy.

I did my deliveries for the fossils and rationed the edible rewards - pies and fruit bread and mystery meat surprises. I even got around to cleaning the kitchen out and straightening the living room and messing it all up again just because I could. And I slept over eight hours a night. When my foot went right through a porch step, I found I wasn't so bad with the tool box. But all the same, I missed him. I had nobody to grumble at. Nobody to conjure up burgers or fill the house with butterflies. You could've robbed the house of its furniture and it couldn't have compared to being robbed of those cold blue eyes.

While I was trying to scrape my life back together, denying any dependency issue whatsoever, I spent more and more time in internet cafes.

'How to Kill a Norse God' had a surprising number of results and I set myself to them. Each time I left wondering why they would want to kill Loki. Sure he was a troublemaker, but so were those punk kids who slashed tyres and sprayed poor representations of genitalia all over the bus stops. Nobody ever went after them.

Maybe the alien army was something to do with it. But how could they have known?

I was reading something about UFOs, when I came across the word S.H.I.E.L.D. which seemed vaguely familiar. Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.

"Holy shit."

It was four hours later on a Saturday night that I found myself bow-legged over a drink at O'Malley's. I needed to think. I needed a think. I needed a drink. A drink. "A drink!"

"What'll it be - oh you again, listen, miss I'm gonna have to cut you off soon."

"Come on," I narrowed eyes. "Three glasses is nothing."

"Are you alone here?"

"No, I have Jesus," I said and then laughed to myself. The bartender shook his head help up one finger and then made a slashing gesture at his throat.

"Alright, alright, alright. Last one. But make it snappy."

And I had drained it in two quick gulps, waiting for the liquor to spread to my fingers and toes.

"Hey lady, how you planning on going home?"

I got to my feet, "Like this."

I forced myself into an unnaturally stiff gait and walked out the door. As soon as I felt the air outside, I began to weave, pressing a palm to the wall now and then to steady myself. Had I even paid? What did it matter, I'd be back soon. I felt that there should have been a nagging voice telling me not to burn through my savings but something caught my eye. Something shooting across the sky.

"Close your eyes and make a wish," I sang to myself, watching it flash towards the horizon, only it didn't disappear. It simply hovered over an empty patch of line just beyond city limits. In awe, I thought I saw a beam of light and something suspended in it. "Somebody call the Discovery channel, okay?"

But there was no one on the street to hear me. They were all inside getting piss drunk. And then-

"Loki?" I breathed and then shook my head, "Right, what other space-men do I even know, right?"

Disregarding the state of my sentence construction or the way my legs felt like gelatin, I climbed into my truck and revved the engine. Not my finest judgement I will admit, but if there's one thing commendable about whiskey, it really gets you focused on the one thing. Thankfully South Dutton was not an over-populated nocturnal nightmare like other cities. I made it out to the highway pretty safe, even if I was swerving dangerously towards billboards and stop signs. After a while it felt like the truck had taken over. I could feel it pitying me.

Out in the wilderness just before the game-park, I thought I could hear the whirring of massive engines. How had nobody notice this already?

It was not easy staggering through the bramble and uneven earth, but I made it to a clearing where a group of figures were huddling conspiratorially. The mere sight of the Chitauri was bringing my whiskey up but then I caught sight of him, standing tall amidst them, pale as the moon, his face set like a marble sculpture.

"Loki!" I cried out and the congregation snapped their heads to me, teeth gnashing, muscles tensing.

He was completely caught off guard, "Paton! What are you doing here?"

"I was just in the nei-"

One of the Chitauri spoke and I didn't need to know the language to know those were not pleasantries. Instantly, I was seized by the arms and mutated looking bayonets were thrust at me.

Loki looked livid, "Stop," he ordered, "stand down."

An answer came in Chitauri, none of which I could see because the space gun or whatever it was was against the nape of my neck, forcing me to look down.

"There is no need to kill her, she is not an enemy."

"Well, that's good news," I tried to sound cheerful.

"Let her go," Loki said sternly which I thought was really awful of him to say because the moment the Chitauri released me I found myself falling flat against the earth and spitting grass for at least a minute. A tense silence had settled around us as the Chitauri watched me, a weak pathetic little creature trying to right myself.

Loki strode up to me, gripping me roughly by the wrist, "Why have you come here?"

"You're kidding right?" I looked around. "I saw your goddamn spaceship from a mile away. It's like Vegas over here."

There was a soft hiss from the Chitauri soldier next to me. I gazed up at Loki and noticed how worn he looked, beads of sweat on his forehead, lines under his eyes.

"W-what happened to you?" I asked, but he stared me down until I looked away. Quickly turning to whom I presumed was the Chitauri leader he bowed his head and said, "Forgive me, I assure you she won't be a problem."

I struggled against his vice-like grip and announced, "Contrariwise, I'm your solution."

Loki spun around like he was ready to carry my and stuff me in my own boot if he had to. I only beamed up at him.

"I found it. I found the hypercube. I saw it too. Blue. Just like your-"

A Chitauri roared somewhere.

"Wow these guys must have a pretty good translator, cause I'm just-"

Loki lowered his voice to me, "Are you inebriated?"

"Yes. But I still know where it is. Do you want my help or not?"

"This was not part of the plan."

"Your plan was to march into town with a mothership and then what? Break into a safe? Trust me, Loki. My plan is way better."

"You will not make a fool of me."

"You," I said smirking, pushing a finger into his chest, "need me. I am crucial to your plan. How about a little respect? I would never make a fool of you."

He didn't seem particularly convinced by that but he spun around and muttered quickly to one of his alien friends. He made a deep bow to them and then grabbed me by the scruff half-walking, half-dragging me to the line of trees.

"I am trusting you Paton, but I need you to tell me exactly what you intend."

"It's easy, there's a trap door," I slurred, "and at the bottom there's a safe. All we have to do is bust it open with your magic walking stick and then you can zap us out of there. No mess, nothing. Clean and simple. And it could be days before they even think to look for us. By then you'll be-"

I choked a little.

"By then you'll be gone. Back in Asgard. To do what you have to."

He looked at me with a funny expression.

"And no one here on Midgard would be the wiser," I said.

It wasn't anger. It wasn't malice. There was a strange depth to his eyes and I had longed to see it again.