Jane's eyes were wide as she stared at what she'd mistaken as a mere boy in front of her. Looking at the Draugur's humanoid features she found the resemblance to be uncanny – she didn't know how she hadn't caught it earlier. Dressed in a torn and shredded SHIELD uniform, the alien towered over her petite frame, much taller than she first thought, and its hands were large; she could just imagine him plucking her out of the air and crush her with a flick of his wrist.

Her breath catching in her throat, Jane could feel her lungs burning as she struggled for oxygen; her brain whirling with confusion and hysteria. Her body on auto-pilot the room desperately, she hunted for a weapon – anything to protect her, but the only thing she could find was a water pitcher on the black table that was too far away for her to reach.

The Draugur was heading toward her now; cornering her against the surveillance controls. It was speaking in a low voice but in her befuddled head she couldn't understand a word it was saying as she watched fixated when it slowly stretched its hands out to her. Was it going to strangle her? Crush her skull? Rip out her heart and feast on her soul?

Running her hands across the controls – refusing to look away from those deceivingly bright blue eyes as the Draugur continued to approach her– her wrist bumped across smooth porcelain. A coffee mug! Tracing the rim with shaking fingers, she grasped the handle as the Draugur leant down to look her in the face, still speaking in that soft, slow voice. Did it want to watch the fear and pain course through them when it killed her?

Jane couldn't take it. With a fierce battle cry that would have made Thor proud, she lashed out, swinging the mug wildly at the Draugur's head, the porcelain shattering against its skull along with a wave of cold, half-drunk coffee across its dark hair.

"Ow! That really hurt!" The Draugur whined, clasping its head in its hands, stumbling back and collapsing against the doorframe for support, its large body effectively blocking her only escape route.

Turning on her heel she ran to the large glass panes, her hands balled into fists as she raised them to bang against the window looking out toward the Operations Room below.

"Somebody, please—!"

The Draugur had other ideas. One of its long arms wrapped around her waist, dragging her back further from possible rescue. She opened her mouth to scream when its free hand clamped over her mouth – effectively muffling her cries.

She began to squirm, kicking her legs out and jabbing her elbows sharply into its side. Silently rejoicing each time the monster let out a pained grunt.

It was speaking again, its voice taking on an agitated tone as it pulled her towards the black table. Was it going to gut her across it surface? Sacrifice her to a higher unknown being? Panic overtook her, giving her a second wind as she doubled her efforts to escape, biting down on skin covering her mouth hard enough to taste copper.

The Draugur let out a yelp, roughly dropping her into one of the many chairs surrounding the table as it cradled its hand.

The moment the Draugur let go Jane let out a long, loud shriek, her face scrunching up like a newborn baby with the effort, in hopes that any SHIELD operatives or Avengers were close enough to save her.

The shock of cold liquid left her sputtering in surprise and her screams come to a halt. Snapping her eyes open she blinked at the empty water pitcher in the Draugur's hand, who was panting hard and glaring at her with an annoyed expression.

A shocked silence filled the room as Jane stared at the Draugur, water dripping from the ends of her hair to splatter in her lap.

"Now will you shut up? Seriously, I have the biggest headache in the world and you had to go and make it ten times worse with your demented banshee screeches!" the Draugur huffed, its fingertips probing at the spot where the mug had collided with its head, hastily pulling them away with a wince.

"Y-you're not going to kill me? Or suck out my soul or something?" Jane asked timidly, curling up into herself, blinking water out of her eyes.

The Draugur looked disgusted, "What? Why in the world would I want to do anything like that?" it asked, obviously miffed.

Jane cocked her head confusedly, her voice becoming stronger at the lack of hostility from the Draugur, "But what about what Thor said? About Draugar being some of the most evil creatures in the universe?"

The Draugur chuckled, "'Most evil'? That's a bit much to live up to, isn't it? A lot of ghosts I know are really nice. Well, okay, not all of them…" it shrugged, taking the seat next to her, inspecting its bitten hand, "Am I going to need a shot for this?"

Jane ignored the jibe, "Well then, is this how you usually look? All human-like? You're not controlling some poor kid's body with your magical-zombie powers, are you?"

The Draugur stared at Jane in horror, "Magical-zombie…? No!" Its expression turned aghast, "And I'm not a kid either– I'm nearly seventeen, thank you!"

Jane narrowed her eyes, "What do you mean nearly? I thought you were dead."

The tips of the Draugur's ears turned red as it coughed uncomfortably, "Er… I meant that I was going to turn seventeen before I – you know – uh, died," it shifted uncomfortably in its seat before jumping up suddenly, "Well, I kinda need to go now… nice meeting you, sorta!" the Draugur waved distractedly as it hurried to the exit, but froze at Jane's next words.

"Tell me the truth or I'll tell everyone about your human form. In case you didn't know, nearly every room has a camera and I can easily identify you to the Avengers, who, by the way, seem to have a bit of a grudge against you – especially my boyfriend," Jane crossed her arms and smirked victoriously.

Jane watched the Draugur's tense muscles loosen in defeat as it sighed heavily, "Darn it."

/ / /

Thor hammered at the ice encasing his legs with Mjölnir unrelentingly as the thick ice slowly began to splinter off in a fine spray. The other Avengers were fighting the death-demon with little result. Natasha had long since run out of bullets and was hunting through the crowd of SHIELD agents for an intact firearm. Barton's quiver had been stolen by the dive-bombing Draugur, and was currently hanging from one of the metal support beams running across the vaulted ceilings. Fury was barking orders at the pitiful amount of remaining agents, as many had fled shortly after the destruction of their weaponry.

Freeing his right leg from the ice, Thor roared out triumphantly, swinging his hammer with more fervour at his left. The ice buckled under the force before shattering. Dragging his legs free, the god grinned eagerly, tossing and catching Mjölnir with fluid flicks of his wrist as he quietly stalked up behind the distracted Draugur. Hefting Mjölnir up in his grip, he pulled his arm back, aiming at the Draugur's head – whom was currently locked in battle with the Captain, unaware of Thor's newly-found freedom - and leant all his weight and power behind it; aiming for the killing blow. Not even a Draugur would be able to survive such an attack by Mjölnir.

A high pitched whooping of an alarm echoed throughout the room – distracting Thor enough to lose his momentum. Releasing Mjölnir in surprise, he gritted his teeth in frustration as the hammer flew over the Draugur's head – watching as it collided heavily with the metal wall, piercing through with a sharp crack. The monster jumped in fright, twisting in the air to lock eyes with Thor, before giving a revelling grin and slipping through the walls out of sight.

With an angry yell, he called back Mjölnir, easily catching the hammer as he made to run out if the room and follow after the death-bringer, but was stopped by Fury who had finished speaking with his magical black box.

"Thor, it seems that we've found your brother," the director called over the ringing of the alarm, tucking away the little square and clasping his hands behind his back, "We are to regroup in the Operations Room for pending actions. Forget the Draugur for now, we have more important things to attend to."

Thor hesitated, desperately wanting to follow the Draugur, before letting out a resigned growl. Holstering Mjölnir, Thor gave an affirmative nod.

/ / /

Danny and Jane watched as the room below began to fill with SHIELD agents and operatives, the alarm still blaring. Their suits creating a sea of black – not too difficult to hide in, even with Danny's impressive height. He would be as invisible as he was with his Phantom powers.

"What's going on?" Jane asked, placing a hand on the large glass pane.

Danny shook his head, "Dunno."

Squinting down, Danny frowned as he watched Tony Stark and Bruce Banner make their way through the crowd, heading up towards the empty raised platform at the front of the room below them. If they looked up at the right angle, they would be able to see him. Slinking back deeper into the confines of the room, he edged his way towards the door, ready to slip through and escape at any moment.

"Jane!" He hissed at the scientist, who didn't glance up from the crowd.

She waved him off, "Just wait. I'm looking for Thor— Oh! There he is!" Jane pointed excitedly out towards the crowd. Danny reluctantly made his way back over to the window.

It was easy to catch sight of the god, along with his mismatched team that Other-Danny had battled just earlier. Watching as they made their way up to the platform, he let a gloating smile play across his lips at the thought of Thor encased with ice – screaming promises of a long and painful banishment when he escaped – while the SHIELD agents ran about like headless chickens at the sight of their destroyed weaponry.

Pulling himself from his memories, Danny cheerfully looked down only to feel his blood freeze in dread. A woman with red hair making her way to the platform had stopped in her tracks to glare up at him. Danny yelped, trotting back out of sight into the room.

Jane spun around to catch the halfa's expression, "Danny, what's wrong?"

"I think I just got caught," He replied breathlessly, tripping over a chair and collapsing into it, "The red-haired lady – next to Steve Rogers," He forcefully gulped in a lungful of air, his eyes widening in recognition as he muttered to himself, "I knew I'd seen her somewhere before! She was the one with Doctor Banner, right before I met Tony!"

Jane stared at him, before shrugging and turning back to the window, scanning the crowd, "You mean Agent Romanoff? She doesn't look like she's figured anything out, more like she's confused about something."

Danny heaved a sigh he crept up to the window again. The woman – Romanoff –appeared to have lost interest, her expression creased with a slight frown as she turned her head towards Tony and Bruce standing on the other side of the platform.

Satisfied, Danny stepped back and said evenly, "C'mon, you better get going so you don't seem too suspicious."

"Sure, there isn't anything more suspicious than running a couple minutes late to a meeting you haven't even been authorised to attend. I mean, being a human-ghost hybrid hunted by the majority of the world is much less suspicious," Jane giggled as she walked out the doorway, pausing to look over her shoulder when she noticed Danny wasn't following, "Aren't you coming?"

Danny rocked on his heels, "I'll just be a sec, I have to do something first."

Jane simply nodded with another smile as she turned the corner and made her way down to the Ops Room.

The automatic door slid firmly shut as Other-Danny popped his head through the wall.

He grinned, "Heya, partner."

Danny rolled his eyes as his copy dragged himself through the wall, hovering over to him with a jaunty smile. He reached for Other-Danny's proffered hand and, before he could grab it, Other-Danny had whipped it out of his reach.

"Too slow!" Other-Danny giggled.

Frowning, Danny snatched at Other-Danny's other hand, and felt the familiar tug as Other-Danny was sucked back into him, merging the two into a single being. Danny felt his headache come back with a vengeance with his duplicate's sharper memories.

"Ugh, no more play-fights with the big kids for a while," he groaned, holding his head in his hands.

Shaking the ache off, Danny strode out after Jane, sending a last-minute ice-blast at the surveillance console, not even bothering to watch as his ghostly image on the screens flickered and died.

/ / /

Tony watched as Jane Foster slipped silently into the room, her short stature immediately hiding her from eyesight as she melded into the crowd of black-suited officers.

It was the second figure that caught his interest, however. Tall and scruffy, the boy in the tarnished SHIELD uniform attempted to duck down out of sight, crouching slightly to become level with the agents around him.

Chuckling under his breath, Tony nudged Bruce lightly in the side, tilting his head in Danny's direction when Bruce sent him a questioning glance. The gamma-scientist followed Tony's eye-line and raised his eyebrows in bemusement, the beginnings of a smile playing across his lips. Tony had to admit that Danny's camouflage was good – but still not good enough to escape his keen eyes.

Whistling shrilly through his teeth, Tony casually glanced over at his teammates to see if any of them had seen or recognised Danny. All of them seemed oblivious, lost in their own musings as they waited for Fury's arrival.

Steve was watching the sun set in the sky outside the window, his eyes unfocused and lost in his own musings. Clint was checking over the contents of a quiver – not his usual one, oddly enough. Tony wondered where it had disappeared to. Thor was constantly swivelling his head, searching the high ceilings for a glimpse of something, fingering the leather thong of his hammer distractedly. From what Tony had heard of the 'Draugur's' escapades throughout the Helicarrier, he was almost certain he knew what the god was hunting for. Natasha, however, had her head lowered, her brow furrowed in concentration as she whispered disjointed words to herself in Russian.

Almost as if she had sensed Tony's eyes on her, Natasha's head jerked up – their eyes colliding in a heated battle of will. With a roll of his eyes at the determined look on the woman's face, Tony broke off the contact first as he looked back into the crowd for Danny. He noted Natasha copy him in his peripheral vision until she suddenly tensed, her hand automatically landing on her holster as she made to move off the platform – when she was luckily (or unluckily) blocked by an ignorant Fury emerging onto the stage, gathering the attention of everyone in the room.

Tony sighed – slightly relieved – before smirking. His little game of 'Guess Who' had just become a little more dangerous.

/ / /

Danny continued to weave his way through the crowd, ducking down warily when he saw Tony knock Bruce in the side and nod in his direction. Wandering deeper into the mob, he hurried over to one of the darker corners of the room, ignoring the curious and disgruntled glares each time he accidentally shoved one in his haste. At least no one had approached him.

Hunching his shoulders and leaning back against the back wall heavily, Danny attempted to slide down it inconspicuously. It didn't work; he just got even more curious looks – including the unwanted attention of Agent Romanoff who was watching him with a wary expression, her hand hovering over her hip.

Looking back up to the platform, Danny found himself to be surprisingly relieved to see Nick Fury's scowling face as the SHIELD director made his way to the centre of the stage – distracting Romanoff who now stood rapt, hanging onto her commanding officer's every word. Danny wasn't shocked to find Fury had decided to skip formalities.

"It appears that our good friend, 'Master' Loki, has decided to join us back here on earth for another unwanted visit. This time, he appears to be visiting the sight and is currently in Vatican City. He's not exactly hiding from us this time either; we've got over two hundred different surveillance cameras feeding us live footage of him and an unidentified companion. We believe that this creature is who possibly aided Loki in his escape from Asgard. Now, I may not know what this thing is capable of, but what I do know is that it is certainly not human. I suggest you all be on your highest guard."

Fury tapped one of his translucent screens, a small projection leapt out of the monitor, displaying what looked like a blue-skinned vampire with glowing red eyes. Gasps were heard throughout the room and Danny watched Thor growl ferociously, baring his teeth at the flickering image. The halfa could feel his own face twisting in an ugly manner at the sight of the miniature Vlad. Tapping on the screen again, Fury allowed the hologram to disappear.

"Now, our main priority is to capture Loki. Due to the Asgardians' 'unique' form of compromising that we humans would commonly refer to as terrorism," Fury glared at Thor, who returned the look with just as much fire, "We are to keep Loki alive. Since the other creature is not under such jurisdiction; you have my full allowance to kill on sight. If this thing is proven hostile, I want it removed from the situation before it had even started and destroyed as quickly as possible. Any friend of Loki's is not a friend of ours.

"All SHIELD agents are to evacuate the area of civilians and mark a perimeter eight miles round – we are sending in the Avengers to take out Loki and his friend," Fury nodded in the direction of the rag-tag group behind him, "Now buckle up people! We're going to be arriving at the drop-off zone in less than twelve minutes! I want you ready to go in half that, so if any of you need a potty break, I suggest you do it now!"

Swiftly walking off the stage, Danny saw Tony roll his eyes at the director before following – the rest of the Avengers trailing behind.

The crowd quickly dispersed in a flurry of black as agents rushed to collect gear and weaponry, leaving Danny in a nearly empty room. Pushing himself off the wall, Danny jogged after the agents as they hurried out. Rushing down the empty corridor, he frowned in thought. If Vlad was getting involved in, well, whatever this was, it wasn't going to be good for anyone.

Danny scoffed; it was just typical of Vlad to start an intergalactic war.

Spotting a narrow alcove, Danny looked around for hidden eyes, before ducking inside. In the soft shadows, he let out a shallow breath and balled his fists; he spread his feet and bent at the knees, feeling his weight shift to his core, ready to let the flow of white-hot ectoplasmic energy overcome him, when he heard the sharp (and very memorable) click of a hammer being pulled back off a gun.

Tensing, Danny shoved his ghostly power back down inside himself, letting the energy tingle just beneath his skin – begging for release from its corporeal prison – and twisted around slowly, raising his arms in the air as a peace gesture. Looking down, he found himself staring at the open end of Agent Romanoff's handgun, which was, once again, pointed at his head.

"How are you still alive? You're supposed to be dead." Natasha growled, her muscles lax despite her tone – ready to lash out at Danny at any given chance.

Danny shrugged as best he could with his arms in the air, "Only sort of," he grinned nervously down the barrel of her weapon.

Danny really hoped that being threatened at gunpoint wouldn't become a habit.