Grace leapt bolt upright in a large plush bed, looking around to see Loki standing in the doorway, a bemused look on his features.

"Y-you…" She tried desperately to remember what had happened since she'd passed out. Nothing. Yet again, her memory had let her down.

"Good, you're awake," Loki said with a smile, moving to sit down next to her on the bed. He was sitting close to her, too close for comfort.

"What happened last night?" She asked and yet again she was met with a smirk from the Asgardian.

He cocked an eyebrow, "You hit your head, I brought you here."

"You're lying. We were talking and somebody grabbed me. My clothes are crumpled on the floor and there's dirt on my shoes, and there is no way a minor concussion would knock me out for…" she glanced at the clock and her eyes widened in shock, "13 hours…"

"You're observant…clever." He replied, almost proudly. She didn't want him to be proud of her. He shifted slightly, seemingly hesitant to tell her the truth, before caving, "Alright. I needed you to retrieve something and thought you might need some persuading…"

Her eyes narrowed, "You drugged me?"

"It was necessary," He shrugged.

"Yeah, whatever you say." She snapped quickly, speaking through gritted teeth

He smiled slightly, his hands creeping along on soft bedsheets, the fabric winding between his fingers, "After last night…I thought we were making progress." His hand had laid to rest on her thigh through the sheets.

"Last night? I don't even remember what-" Before she could finish his lips pressed firmly onto her's. She could almost remember this happening before, maybe they had kissed last night. She'd had no control over her actions, who knows what she'd done with him or for him.

"That happened quite a lot," He breathed, confirming her suspicion.

"I might just remember that," She replied, and this seemed to please him because he smiled.

"Get dressed, we've got a long day ahead of us," He commanded.

As he shut the door with a click, she leapt from the bed, looking over to the window to see if there was a way out. The luxurious Parisian streets stretched out before her and Notre Dame was just in view. Paris? Since when was she in Paris? They were high up in a hotel or apartment, too high to jump out the window and survive. She wrung her hands, feeling that her ring was not on her finger. Suddenly her vision was taken over as she started to remember what had happened last night. Perhaps the drug was leaving her system, or perhaps her mind was being kind. They had gone to the Louvre and she had taken a box from the archives. She didn't know what was in it but she knew that Loki wanted it. She remembered fighting with someone, but everything had happened so quickly she did not catch their face. Memories of her and Loki kissing floated through her mind and she shuddered, wiping her lips with the back of her hand. Good, she thought. Kissing and nothing more. Her mind then went to the box. There must have been something powerful and dangerous in it, or Loki wouldn't have needed to get it so urgently. She could only imagine the trouble she could cause in those periods of blackness, where she was acting only on orders, and no inhibitions and emotions.

Pulling some jeans and a top from the fully-stocked cupboard, she got dressed. The back of her head was bruised and ached, and her knuckled and hands were battered and scratched. She must have put up a fight for something. Her legs ached as if she'd been running and there were hand-shaped bruises on her waist where Loki had been too rough with her the night before. She took a deep breath as anger rose within her. Whatever drug he had used, it must have made her do whatever he said.

She brushed her golden hair and walked out of the opulent room. They were staying in a grand French apartment, which overlooked the river. In the main living room, she saw Loki sitting on a large sofa, a box in his hands. Guards stood around the apartment watching her as she entered the room.

"What's in the box?" She asked, and her presence must have surprised him because he quickly shut the box, pressing a button on top so it locked with a click, asking for a four digit code.

"None of your concern," He slammed it on the table, "At least not yet."

"Oh yeah?" She replied, smiling cheekily at him and sitting down next to him, "You're sure that isn't your top secret weapon to single-handedly cause the destruction of Earth and life as we know it, protected only by a four-digit code?"

"One which you will never guess," He told her matter-of-factly, getting up from the sofa and walking towards another room. As he turned his back to her she picked up the box, her mind running at a million miles an hour to think of a combination. The best attempt she could offer was Thor's birthday, to no avail. "You'll never get it," Loki called, smirking to himself as he left the room.

She laughed slightly and looked around, waiting a moment before looking up at the two muscular guards who's piercing stares had been burning a hole in her face. Loki had certainly upped his human security detail, although he didn't have an alien army helping him this time. She got up and looked out of the window, gaging where she was and where the secret SHIELD facility was located. She needed an excuse to leave.

She walked over to where Loki had gone and saw he was dressing, about to tuck in and button up a smart shirt to blend in with the people of Paris. She blushed and sheepishly turned around, muttering an apology.

He laughed to himself, finishing buttoning up his shirt and walking over to her. She could feel his breath on the back of her neck before he wrapped his arms around her waist, "What can I do for you?" He whispered sensually into her ear.

"I'm hungry," She complained, turning him around and wrapping her arms around his neck, "I'm going to get some breakfast," She told him, beginning to pull away.

"No you're not," He grabbed her arm and she quickly yanked it away from him.

"Yes, I am. I'm bored and hungry and want to go for a walk."

"I need you here," He grumbled shortly, growing tired of her disobedience.

"You don't need me for anything,"

"I need you more than you know," He told her softly, but she didn't believe him. She was suffocating there, knowing that she was a prisoner and that he was going to hurt everything she knew.

She retorted quickly, "You want me here so I'm not helping the Avengers take you down again." She took a deep sigh, "They're headed for disaster, at least let me take a walk to clear my head."

"I gave you my word no harm would come to them." He told her, taking her hand and squeezing it sympathetically. she could almost believe him, "You're important to me…so I'll let you go and get some breakfast." He smiled at her softly, leaning in and kissing her on the cheek, "It would be a crime not to see this pretty little city."

She smiled back at him, forgetting for a second why she couldn't love him, "Thank you."

"Follow her," ordered Loki to a guard, looking back at her with a smile. She smiled back, before walking out into the corridor. Before the guard left, Loki caught his arm, standing up, "If she doesn't co-operate, you know what to do." He muttered darkly.

After a moment in the lift with the guard, Grace sprung into action, punching the guard hard in the face then kneeing him in the groin, making him double up in pain. As the lift opened on the ground floor she ran as fast as she could from the building, but the guard was in quick pursuit of her. He grabbed the hem of her shirt, ripping it slightly, then reached for her ankle. He succeeded in tripping her up, where she scraped her hands and created a new cut on her face that was now bleeding down her cheek. However, she scrambled up from the floor, ignoring any pain her body felt. After running for a moment, she jolted to a stop abruptly. Placing her hand on her chest to calm herself, she took a deep breath in and everything around her stopped. People in mid-step stood stationary, leaves that had been blowing in the wind stood still in mid-air, and the guard was right behind her, an angry glare on his face as he stood, frozen in place. She looked at him cheekily, moving one of his legs to cross over the other one, then smirked, imagining him tripping up when time restarted. She wasn't going to stick around for the spectacle, however, and Grace took this opportunity to run. She sprinted down the street, the river Seine insight as time reanimated. She could hear the buzz of a crowd gathering around some sort of charity event by the flowing water, cheering and talking, distracting her for a second. She turned around, her eyes widening as she saw more of Loki's men gathering and looking for her. The man who had been initially chasing her spotted her, a gash on his forehead from where he had presumably tripped over. He narrowed his eyes, pointing in her direction and leading the pack of men towards her. She dodged past people walking through the populated area, coming closer and closer to the crowd, hoping that she'd reach it before the men. Suddenly, someone barged into her shoulder, his eyes locking with her's for a single moment before he walked off. Grace stopped dead in her tracks, a few rows into the crowd as her eyes trained on the man. He turned for a moment, his expression dark before he turned back around and continued walking. Her breathing was fast after running continuously and she patted down her coat. In an instant, all of the roaring sounds around her tuned out and she could hear nothing but a gentle beeping. Her hand grasped around something small and metal and in her pocket and she looked down to see a small device in her hand, a red blinking light on it. She knew what it was. She began desperately pushing through the crowd towards the river.

"Get out the way, déplacer loin de l'eau!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. Panicked screams and yells began sounding around her as she threw the bomb into the air over the river. The manic running had lulled for a moment as it hurtled through the air, the beeping sounding louder and the blinking light growing brighter. Just as the small bomb released a powerful explosion, Grace pulled up a forcefield, putting up a wall of blue light between herself and the crowd, and the bomb. Gasps and screams sounded all around her as the explosion was heard from everyone in a mile radius. Those closest to the explosion felt it's impact being greatly protected by the forcefield but still feeling some power push them backwards. Grace jerked her head away from the explosion, feeling the heat of the fire hit her forcefield and run down to the palm of her hands, not enough to burn them but just enough for her to gasp and let down the forcefield. The explosion had subsided and near silence had fallen across the square, or at least that was what Grace thought as her ears were still ringing. All she knew was that everyone was staring at her: she had exposed herself. She stumbled out of the crowd, people getting out of her way as she moved. She couldn't tell whether their stares were in awe, in shock, or in fear. It was for the best to stop time once more, allowing her to make a top-secret getaway. It took a few minutes for her mind to clear, and in that time she had weakly moved towards the alley she'd remembered from a book on S.H.I.E.L.D bases. She looked around to see she was still alone and, opening an old-looking fuse box, placed her thumb on a secret fingerprint scanner. The metal door swung open and with that, everything around her became re-animated. Walking to the reception desk she bumped into none other than Agent Coulson.

"Grace? Thank god," He said holding the girl's shoulders and inspecting her wounds. He then reached into his pocket and spoke into his communicator: "Gratia is safe." He said, letting out a breath of relief. She was still shaken up, but she smiled. She didn't want to worry about what had happened, SHIELD would take care of her.