Elizabeth Martin, also known as Liz to the one friend she had, was recruited by the American government one semester into studying for her psychology doctorate. They told her that she was bound to do great things, that she would be an asset to the agency she would work for. They would pay for her student loans, something Liz would almost be willing to sell her soul for, as long as she worked for her agency for five or more years.
At the time she had accepted right away. She would maintain her United Kingdom citizenship and be eligible for dual citizenship in America if she wanted. She would travel the world and see different cultures just as she had wanted to do for her entire life.
But, she was three years into her contract, two more years to go, and she wished with all the world that she hadn't pressed her fingerprints on the papers that signed five years of her life away. She had traveled, just as they promised, but she wasn't able to see much of the places she visited. Instead, she had to do her assigned duty and report back immediately.
But that part was okay, they were still paying off her student loans.
It wasn't until she was assigned to a place in the American desert, it's exact location unknown because of its "need-to-know" standing, that she really started to regret her decision. She had been driven in, and as skilled as she was, she knew that she never would have been able to find her way back if she were to leave. But that wasn't the problem, she had been in many places where she didn't know her exact location. At least here there was proper food and a real bed she could sleep in, not the dehydrated meals and bedrolls in the middle of a rainforest.
But what she didn't sign up for was watching a human being live in captivity with nothing more than a thick stiff blanket on the floor and her only belongings being the clothes on her back.
Liz had been assigned to a room when she arrived and reported to her new workplace at her specified time. Her boss's boss, Agent Coulson, had been the one to tell her that she was to watch the woman on the screen and report of her doings every day. He had left the room without a word more, and she turned to look at the screens that covered one wall of the room.
She had gotten to know the men who worked in that room very well after spending weeks watching a woman do nothing but sleep, eat, pace and sit on the floor with her eyes closed. She was honestly disgusted as she watched the woman hour by hour, reviewing the recordings of what the woman did while Liz was off duty. No one deserved to live like that woman did, no human contact, blocks of grey slop as food, no change of clothes or anything to do for entertainment.
Liz brought it to her supervisor's attention and only received excuses as a response. She didn't have enough authority to make a difference for the woman, so she did what she did best. She studied the woman, trying to figure her out, while in her free time she subtly looked through the records, searching for any mention of the woman.
She had to look deep, and it took her several weeks to find any sign that there was a record of her at all. It had been buried under mountains of documents, videos, reports of other unrelated things. It had been surrounded by so many firewalls and code that it had taken two weeks for Liz to worm and wiggle her way into the records, copying and extracting the files without setting any alarms off.
There were so many documents, so many video and audio recordings that it took months for Liz to go through the project they called Sigyn. That was how they referred to the woman throughout her time with S.H.I.E.L.D. They called her Sigyn, had named the entire project after her.
Liz had googled the name, only finding that in Norse mythology Sigyn had been the wife of Loki. But there was no indication of why they called her that.
She was horrified when she finally reached the first logs of the project. It was dated fifty years ago and the reports said that they had dissected her. Alive. While she was conscious. They had already known then that she was much different, that she couldn't have been human. But that was no excuse to treat her like an animal. There was so much intelligence in the woman's mind, preliminary tests had found that out rather quickly.
It was then that Liz turned against the agency. She had known something was going on, and she had already started to distrust S.H.I.E.L.D. before she had been assigned in this facility anyway.
She took her defiance to the next level. Liz made excuses, made up stories, wormed her way into her boss's boss's mind enough to tell him she thought that some experiments would be beneficial to finding out how the woman's brain worked, how she would react to certain stimuli.
And finally, eventually, they allowed her to do as she wished. She started taking breakfast to Sigyn, escorted by a guard, and putting the tray in the little doorway with something extra. She started with a hairbrush, having noticed her long hair was a tangled mess. Liz knew that she wouldn't have been able to stand the tangled strands, and her hair had to have been even longer than she could tell.
After giving Sigyn a toothbrush and toothpaste, and shampoo for her hair the change in the woman was noticeable. She started looking healthier, especially when Liz started taking blankets and clothes to her regularly. Liz continued that, and eventually decided it was time to give the woman a book. Sigyn's reaction to it made Liz happy that she did it. The woman held onto it like it was the only thing that kept her alive. When she was almost done, Liz gave her the next book in the series. Sigyn treated it with the same type of attention.
But there were a lot of other things that happened while Liz was doing her "research" on Sigyn. S.H.I.E.L.D. had started doing their own experiments on her as well. That blue cube, the one that was top secret that no one was supposed to know about, mysteriously appeared in the second room of Sigyn's cell once a day. She knew, of course, having hacked her way through all the secrets that the sealed and protected documents on the server held, that that cube was very powerful. She expected more protection of the information from the top-secret government agency. American's could be so stupid.
Liz knew that there had been a lot that went on with that cube decades ago, when Hydra, something else she wasn't supposed to know about, had found it and started to use it to harm people. Captain America had stopped them and when they finally found him, S.H.I.E.L.D. had been the one to get possession of the cube.
They had experimented on it, of course, it was human nature to be curious, but then they started using Sigyn, the same doctor that had been on the team that had dissected her heading up the experiments. It was then Liz knew she didn't want to work for S.H.I.E.L.D. anymore. But she would be damned if she didn't try to do something about helping Sigyn get out of this place.
It was unfortunate that S.H.I.E.L.D. had decided that Sigyn, after killing that doctor, didn't need any of the extra things that had been given to her, that Liz's "experiments" didn't matter anymore. She had killed a man. It didn't matter if it was self-defense or not.
But, after that, Sigyn wasn't the same person. For months she just laid in her cell, laid there staring at the walls or sleeping. She only got up to use the toilet and to eat when she couldn't resist her instincts anymore.
Liz was beyond horrified. They were just letting Sigyn waste away, not caring that she had lost the will to live. So Liz reported that Sigyn had obviously lost whatever it was that kept her going. It wasn't a surprise that Sigyn fell asleep and didn't wake after ten hours, then twelve, then twenty-four. It was then that Liz turned her report in saying that Sigyn was in danger.
They took her to a medical room, and Liz was still responsible for overseeing her overall health, not that it did her much good. Sigyn stayed like that for days, not waking, and the doctors worked hard to make her survive. Liz felt like there wasn't anything that she could do to help Sigyn.
Liz had just laid down after finishing her report on Sigyn for the last twenty-four hours when the alarm went off. It was just before dark and there was still plenty of time before the base settled down for the night. Liz had learned early to take a break when she could. Despite her hard-earned degree, she had duties other than watching Sigyn, especially now that the woman had been comatose for two weeks.
She was just drifting off when the noise startled her awake. The loud tone, deep and annoying, sounded. It was followed by a man's voice. "This is not a drill. All personnel, the evacuation order has been confirmed. Please proceed to your designated vehicles for the safest evacuation. I repeat, all personnel, the evacuation order has been confirmed. Please proceed to your designated vehicles for the safest evacuation."
Liz jumped up, quickly putting her boots back on before hurrying into the hallway. There was already a mass of people, military, agency, and civilians all hurrying to her right, towards the closest stairwell. While Liz fell into the category of "all personnel" she had been told that her orders would be different in a circumstance such as this one. Everyone on the base had been drilled, but Liz's duty was hard to complete unless the circumstances were real.
The first thing she needed to do was make sure that every apartment on this floor was cleared out. Liz turned down the hallway, following the path of the other people, banging on doors and opening them if there was no answer. Every apartment was empty or filled with residence packing up as much as they could before leaving. Liz hurried them, practically pushing them out the door and toward the stairwell.
Once her floor was cleared, Liz moved to the stairwell herself, typing the code into the keypad on the door that signaled that all people were off the floor, before heading to the ground level. She went to the desk there, where the agent in charge of the building was waiting for others like Liz to report.
"Agent Elizabeth Martin reporting floor 17 clear!" She told him. He wrote something on a paper in front of him.
"Agent Martin, do you have other duties?"
"Yes sir," she said, then turned from the man, not waiting for him to dismiss her. She outranked him and her next duty was more important than waiting for dismissal anyway.
Liz jogged down the hallways, turning corners and taking stairways she was familiar with. She headed down to where the cube was studied. Liz didn't have access to the codes that would get her in the door of the med room Sigyn would be in. She thought it was ridiculous. Liz had studied the woman for months, had overseen her care and treatment as best she could despite the orders she received, yet they still didn't trust her with the damn medical code!
There were a few people who would have that access, one of which spent most of his time in the large room dedicated to the cube. She had worked with Agent Barton a few times while she had been here. He was nice, as agents went. He was cocky, but for a good reason. The man certainly had skill.
When she entered the large room, Agent Barton was already on the ground floor talking to Director Fury and Doctor Selvig. Liz knew that none of them would be happy if they were interrupted, especially since it seemed that the cube was the thing that had caused the evacuation. So Liz walked in from behind them, and stood waiting.
A woman with a white lab coat leaned out from behind a piece of equipment saying, "Doctor, it's spiking again."
Doctor Selvig moved to look at the equipment readings with the woman while the Director and Agent Barton moved up to stand next to the cube.
Agent Barton said, "No one's come or gone. And Selvig's clean. No contacts, no IMs. If there was any tampering, sir, it wasn't at this end."
"At this end?" Asked the director.
"Yeah, the Cube is a doorway to the other end of space, right? Doors open from both sides."
Liz heard Doctor Selvig mutter "Not yet," right before the cube gave a burst of energy causing the entire building to shake.
The cube sparked more energy, and everyone watched it with horror, slowly backing away. The cube's power coiled, swirling around itself until the energy was pulled back in, then quickly expelled towards the side of the room Liz had just been walking from.
A blue wall formed, blue smoke coming from it as it grew bigger. Liz thought that she could see stars forming in that blue wall, then knew for sure as it grew even larger and the stars started to shine more brightly. She gaped at it in wonder. It was something out of a television show, a book! She was inside, dozens of stories beneath the ground and she could see stars through an impossible blue window.
The window exploded, and everyone turned away from it. When Liz looked up, blue smoke crawled up the walls, but her attention immediately snapped to where that blue portal thing had just been.
A man was kneeling there, his head down, a spear in his hand. Agents pulled out their guns and aimed at him. They moved slowly and smoothly towards the man, and Liz pulled out her own gun a moment later.
She had been trained for this, had gone through hundreds of hours of learning how to use a gun, where to shoot to kill, to maim. But she had never thought she would actually be in a situation where she would need it. She had grown up in London! Guns were still illegal there, even for law enforcement! The man raised his head, a smile so evil and harsh on his lips that Liz had to shudder. The man stood slowly, looking at the people in the room.
A voice rang out. "Sir, please put down the spear."
The man's attention immediately went to Director Fury, his face almost confused as he looked down at the spear in his hand. The man looked up again, raising the spear a moment later, aiming at the Director. Blue light flew out of the spear hitting equipment as Director Fury and Agent Barton jumped out of the way. Liz did as well, taking cover behind another piece of equipment.
The man jumped as agents started shooting at him, but they only just sparked off his chest. He used the spear to stab one of the men shooting him, threw daggers at another, then used the spear's power to take down another man as well. Carnage ranged as more agents shot at the man and as more burst of energy flew from the spear.
The pieces of equipment that Liz had been hiding behind were blasted with blue power and she was thrown several feet across the room, landing so hard that her vision went black for a moment.
When she finally blinked and raised her head, she saw that the man had Agent Barton by the arm. He said "You have heart," before placing the spear tip over the agent's chest. Blue light flowed through his veins for a moment, his eyes going black, then the same electric blue as the spear.
To Liz's horror, Agent Barton put his gun in his holster, looking at the man for orders. The man moved, rushing towards another agent as Liz saw movement out of the corner of her eye.
Director Fury had gotten to the cube, had grabbed it and put it into a suitcase. He got up to leave, but was stopped when the man with the spear said "Please don't. I still need that."
Director Fury didn't turn as he replied. "This doesn't have to get any messier."
"Of course it does. I've come too far for anything else. I am Loki, of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose."
Doctor Selvig stood from where he was checking on a woman in a lab coat. "Loki, brother of Thor."
The man, Loki, turned towards the doctor with an annoyed look.
"We have no quarrel with your people," Director Fury said, drawing Loki's attention back to him.
"An ant has no quarrel with a boot," Loki answered, his voice matter of fact.
"You planning to step on us?" Director Fury asked, his voice full of real curiosity.
Loki turned, walking so that he was in front of the director. "I come with glad tidings, of a world made free."
"Free from what?"
"Freedom. Freedom is life's great lie. Once you accept that, in your heart," he turned. Doctor Selvig wasn't expecting the spear tip to be placed over his sternum, the same blue light running through his veins as it had the other two agents. "You will know peace," Loki whispered.
"Yeah, you say 'peace,' I kind of think you mean the other thing."
"Sir, Director Fury is stalling." Agent Barton walked towards the group of men, stopping beside Loki to look up at the building starting to break away. "This place is about to blow and drop a hundred feet of rock on us. He means to bury us."
"Like the pharaohs of old."
"He's right!" Doctor Selvig's voice came from behind the group, looking at the readings from the cube. "The portal is collapsing in on itself. We've got maybe five minutes before this goes critical."
Loki turned towards Agent Barton saying "Well then."
Agent Barton shot Director Fury in the chest and Liz couldn't hold back a gasp.
Her gasp drew the attention of the remaining four men standing.
Loki drew closer, and Liz started shaking in fear, afraid that he would kill her or brainwash her like the others.
"You are intelligent."
And before she could react the spear was resting directly over her heart.
She was surprised to find that she was still Liz. She felt the need to share with Loki, to do as he said, but she was still herself. Thoughts raced through her head as she realized that this might be the one chance she got to save the only person she really cared for in this building.
"There's something you would be interested in seeing." Liz turned quickly to walk out of the room, not even bothering to see if Loki and the other men were following. She knew, though she wasn't sure how, that he would be curious enough to see what she was talking about.
She lead them down the stairs, down several hallways before stopping in front of a door that had a tiny window in it. Liz looked in. "This was her cell." She moved quickly out of the way as Loki looked in just as she had. When he turned back to her, his eyes were different.
"Whose?" the word came out horse and desperate.
"Sigyn's," was Liz's answer.
The man blinked and his eyes were suddenly a natural blue. Liz hadn't even noticed that his eyes had been the same electric shade as Agent Barton's and Doctor Selvig's.
"Where is she now?" He said fiercely.
Though Liz no longer felt the need to obey him, as if whatever he had done to her had gone with the mention of the other woman's name, she led him down the hall to the medical room.
He must have realized that the others were no longer under his control because upon reaching the door he turned swiftly to Agent Barton, and placed the spear over his chest once more. Before the others could react they were all under his spell again. Not that Liz fought. She realized this was the only way to help Sigyn. She would give up her freedom if it meant the woman getting out of this place.
Agent Barton's key swipe opened the door to find Sigyn laying on a hospital bed, tubes and wires attached to her. "Remove it all," Loki said briskly.
Loki walked to Sigyn, taking her hand gently in his as the others started freeing her from the restraints and tubes attached to her.
"I found you," he whispered. "I asked you to be there and I never came back. But I found you." He brushed his hand gently across her face.
Once she was unrestrained, and everything attached to her had been pulled out as safely as it could he lifted her into his arms. He had little strength, but he would carry her out because she was the one thing worth living for.
As he walked Sigyn's arms came to grip around his neck, holding tightly. Hope surged through Loki. She would live. Now that he was here she would live. And now that he had her, he would live too.