Jane reached the pick up place with just minutes to spare. She was so focused on the book it completely slipped her mind she was supposed to go on the half-day excursion at the fjords. Luckily the buses waited near her hotel so Jane didn't have a long way to get to them.

She approached the guide with a list of those who reserved a place for the sightseeing and greeted him. His English was pretty good and just minutes later her name was checked and she took a seat in the back of the bus.

The sun was high in the sky, for some reason the trip was scheduled to begin at noon. It was a bit strange to Jane who was used to school trips that started early in the morning so they could be home before it was dark outside.

A question from somewhere at the front of the bus made her lean in the aisle. Apparently someone else wondered the same thing.

"Another company goes in the morning. We scheduled out trip this way to prevent the visitors from mixing up and getting lost in the crowd. It happened in the past many times." the guide was polite, but it was possible to hear in his voice he was annoyed with reckless tourists who didn't listen to instructions.

Jane looked away and smiled at the older woman next to her who was fixing the strap of her camera. In that moment Jane wondered if she would stick out too much by not carrying a camera of any kind, but she quickly forgot all about that when she looked past the older woman and through the window. There, on the sidewalk, stood the two men from earlier.

And they were looking straight at her.

Jane instantly sat straighter in her seat, looking directly at the backrest in front of her and the colorful flyer tucked in the net there. Her thoughts were all over the place as she desperately tried to keep her breathing calm. Freaking out right now would do her no good.

She had no idea who they were but it didn't matter really. They were following her, what more did she need to know?

Sometimes during her mental rant Jane thoughts turned to Erik. He must have known she was gone by now, possibly panicked at the sight of the dismantled machines in the lab, and tried to call her. She wondered whom he called next.

Brown eyes widened as Jane cursed under her breath and then glanced to see if her travel companion heard her. Luckily the older woman was too focused on her camera to pay any attention to the astrophysicist next to her.

She was certain Erik called this Coulson guy. She didn't manage to find out what SHIELD was, but if it was an acronym... the possibilities were endless.

And to think she considered calling her mentor when she returned to the hotel.

Jane knew she was over her head with this trip and could use help. Any other day she would turn to Erik for assistance and guidance, today she wanted to cry at the knowledge her father's old friend worked with someone who was after her research, and possibly had her tracked down and followed.

The guide was friendly man in his early thirties who answered all the questions with a patience of a saint and a thick accent that made it a bit harder for Jane to understand him. She considered staying on the edge of the group, instead of in the very center of it, but a feeling of being watched made her change her mind about that.

Obviously it was far safer to remain close.

After few minutes of walking it became rather difficult to focus on the task on hand. And frankly Jane didn't know what she was looking for anyway, so she started to look around, finally noticing the beauty that surrounded her.

The wind was pretty strong this close to the cliffs but the chill didn't bother her in the least. The young astrophysicist stood rooted on a single spot for several moment before a click on her right made her turn to see what was going on.

It was the woman she sat next to on the bus.

"It's gorgeous, isn't it?" the older woman asked, "It's been my dream to visit the fjords for few years now and eventually I decided to just go for it. Life is too short to postpone things, you know."

Jane nodded, a small smile on her face, before she looked in the distance once more.

The tall green grass moved like waves around them, the air smelled like salt. It was calm... relaxed... serene.

Her slow footsteps eventually brought Jane away from the group as she passed the guide that was answering questions in between telling the tourists about the history of this place. And while eyes were focused on the blue horizon, her mind was elsewhere.

Jane had a feeling she would have to call this trip a bust and return to Puente Antiguo empty handed, waiting for whomever Erik worked with to come to her. If they haven't already waited for her. If they haven't already sent someone to pick her up here as she suspected. Honestly, she didn't know which option was worse.

Einstein-Rosen bridge was her main focus, her goal in life.

Jane wiped away the tears that gathered in her brown eyes before they managed to escape. She felt so angry at herself and she didn't even know exactly why.

For letting this strange reading pull her focus away from her research?

For traveling thousands of miles only to find nothing?

For letting herself be blinded by anger towards Erik to do something so stupid?

What could she, an astrophysicist that was mocked by her peers for having too big dreams, find in this land that hasn't been found already?

"... Frost giants?"

Jane's head snapped in the direction of the group that still hasn't moved from their spot. If it continued like this with questions they won't see much of the fjords in the excursion beyond this one spot.

And as lovely as the view was grass, tiny blue flowers and a large boulder at the edge of the cliff weren't much.

Still, the mention of Frost giants eased her annoyance a bit.

The guide laughed, "I have read the book you speak of. I personally do not believe in the tale but there are some who do. Many older people would tell tales of seeing a... are you part of our group?"

Sudden change of subject made Jane step a bit to the right to see beyond the gathered group. She was curious whom the guide addressed and, based on the number of people that turned to look in the direction of the buses, she wasn't the only one.

"No." one of the two men that slowly walked towards the group answered, "We are merely taking a stroll."

"Ah, alright. Now as I was saying... I heard many older people mentioning they have seen the blue man. Apparently he visits Tromso. It sounds more like a children's story if you ask me, a tale about a monster that would come to take them away if they misbehave."

Jane listened only vaguely as she tried to find somewhere to hide. For now the newcomers were listening to the guide answering the question about the Frost giants, but if she's right they will soon start searching for her.

It was quite a risk she was making but carefully Jane walked to the edge of the cliff and stepped on the small ledge. A quick glance down informed her she needed to be extremely careful and still for there was little chance she would survive the fall.

And for a second Jane felt like laughing hysterically at the strange turn her life took.

It felt like hours, but was actually only minutes later, that the footsteps approached her hiding place and Jane took a shaky breath before carefully wiping her eyes. She tried to tell herself it was the wind that irritated her eyes, not the feeling of helplessness, that caused few tears to escape.

She had no idea what she was doing.

What she supposed to do next.

She was hiding but what was the point?

She could go back to where the buses were parked and then what?

Could rejoin the group with some excuse why she wondered off and then what?

"You're an idiot, Jane Foster." she muttered to herself, "What are you doing here?"

After few moments of allowing herself to doubt herself and hate herself for the stupid decisions she made Jane looked around the corner of the large moss covered rock that was her hiding place. Her brown eyes instantly found the two forms she was looking for.

The men were looking around, as if looking for something specific, and Jane felt her heart started to beat faster. She moved back behind the bolder and took another shaky breath.

There was no way out for her.

And Jane knew it.

Looking around herself Jane saw nothing but the narrow edge and then the fall. The bare rock and dirt under her feet stretched to the left and led down towards the sea, but the path was so narrow Jane doubted anyone would even dare to take it.

"I'm not doing it." a whisper escaped her lips, "I'm stepping out from behind this place and rejoining the group. I'll say I had to pee or something. What's the worst thing that could happen?"

Loud voices made Jane's breath hitch as she turned in the direction of the excursion group. The wind was blowing harder by now and it felt like whisting in her ears, but she could still hear them. They were that loud.

"Excuse me?" she recognized the guide's accent.

"Jane Foster, she is in your group but isn't present. Young American, brown hair and eyes. She is wanted, it's a matter of national security."

Jane frowned. National security? It seemed more like a convenient excuse than the truth.

Brown eyes widened and Jane began to panic. National security. She really was on to something and they, whomever they were, wanted to know what she knew. That must be what's going on.

Jane took a deep breath and glanced to her left.

"Could it be worse then it already is?" she asked the wind and seconds later made the first careful step down the narrow path.

The entrance was large and Jane wondered how it wasn't mentioned in any articles she read about this area. Perhaps because it was on such a location and therefor hidden from sight.

Looking up she realized she walked down almost halfway down the cliff and shivered, from chill or from fear Jane wasn't sure. All she knew was she made the strange decisions and was now standing in front of some sort of cave in Norway.

Only few steps in the cave and Jane already started to doubt the sanity of this idea. She couldn't see a single thing, especially since she was out on the sunlight just moments before. As large as the opening was it let in very little light in and she didn't have a flash light.

"Of all the dumb things I did this must be the-" Jane gasped as a faint light from the dept of the cave slowly moved towards her. It wasn't a regular flash light, it wasn't directed light.

It looked more like... Jane's mouth opened in shock as a globe of pale blue light appeared, flying in air.

In fright Jane stepped back but tripped over the backpack she didn't even realize she dropped. She didn't even flinch at the pain of landing on her behind or twisting her ankle. Her eyes never left the strange flying orb.

Until a heartbeat later, when a man stepped out of the darkness of the cave into the light.