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3.1

May 31, 2011

The first week had me busy typing up all that I could remember about PRT protocols. While I knew quite a few of them it was because of my interactions with personnel in the field and not so much behind the scenes. Most of the threat assessments weren't as useful, because this Earth hadn't developed things like containment foam – at least the kind the person trapped in it could breathe through. It wasn't their main line of defense for the low end cape. SHIELD's was through more mundane means: hand to hand, stun guns, and projectile weapons. I was told there were other things in the works, but that was beyond my limited security clearance. Hopefully, it would help spark ideas that they could incorporate into their own response teams.

It may seem like I'm one of the lead people on the project; at times I feel like I'm anything but. My scope was severely limited and Sharon Carter was my minder. It was her judgement, probably backed up by Hill and Fury, as to what I was allowed to see, where I could go, and what tools were at my disposal. Officially, I still didn't even know what city I was in. Thanks to my bugs, I'd overheard enough conversations to know we were somewhere in the mountains just south of Simi Valley, California.

Security reasons; I get it. As far as they were concerned I was a pseudo-alien that was being backed by a major power that offered up something they wanted or at the very least something they might be able to control. Truthfully, if I was in their position with their power backing me, then I'd probably be doing the same thing. One just doesn't walk up off the street and get handed a seriously sensitive job like this without any boundaries.

It wasn't like I was hampered so much I couldn't do my work. The second week I wound up going through each and every one of the people that were on the Index, their files anyway. A good number of them were incarcerated already and if their personality profiles were anything to go by, those particular people were deranged and dangerous enough to belong in the Birdcage. Their powers did something to their minds or they were simply the type of people that never should have possessed them to begin with.

A handful of people were in other countries that fell under the purview of the foreign divisions of SHIELD. I concluded that their abilities were more along the lines parlor tricks, or even nuisance powers. For instance, there was a teen boy that lived in France who could turn any part of his body the color blue. That was it.

While I consider myself talented in terms of making something out of virtually nothing, I couldn't think of a damn thing to do with him.

As far as I could tell, each and every one of them triggered – for lack of a better term at the moment – though accidents. Science was the cause and not some multi-dimensional space being shedding parts of itself. Ultimately, I suppose I could call that science as well, but I'm sticking with more mundane terms when I use the word.

In the weeks following, there were a handful of prisoners that I'd personally spoken with at the Fridge – SHIELD's version of the Birdcage. The ones that didn't seem entirely sociopathic I mean. Six of them were a complete wash, and two I was very iffy about. They went into my last resort pile while I had Agent Hill running some different psychological profile tests on them to see if they might be willing to work on some sort of probationary status.

The only reason I suggested it was because they weren't involved in purposefully hurting other people. Their powers were just that volatile. A big enough mistake and people could get hurt just by being around them.

The past two days I had foregone my regular running routine at the really nice gym they had for agents that lived on site. My knees and thighs were killing me, I think from overstress. I was never much of a weight lifter so most of my athleticism came from running and general calisthenics. Needless to say, when I'm without my routine, I substitute coffee in its place. Their tea really sucked.

When I made it to the office that morning, Sharon had already beaten me there and had a profile up on the big screen as I walked through the door. Armed with a half empty coffee cup I was mildly coherent.

"Another bad night?" she asked in a voice that was far too chipper.

"I'll get over it."

"You really ought to drop by medical. It's what they're there for."

I shrugged and dropped off a file on my desk that I had been working on the previous night. "Who's this?"

She grabbed a controller off her desk. "Sarah Garza; she's a level three SHIELD computer technician."

I raised my brows at that. "She's a cape?"

Even after a few weeks Sharon still looked at me funny whenever I used terminology I was most familiar with. "She has powers, yes."

"And I'm just now finding out about her?"

"STATION has had her for the last two years."

One thing I have learned over the previous few weeks was that SHIELD loved acronyms. Maybe it's just governments in general, but I find that SHIELD really goes out of its way sometimes. STATION for instance – Scientific Training and Tactical Intelligence Operative Network. It's basically the first step after a think tank comes up with an interesting idea and STATION tries to make it work. Case in point: Sarah Garza.

I read over her general statistics while Sharon started in on the explanation.

"She originally started off at the Operations Academy and then switched over to Science and Technology."

"Why?"

"Bad fit. She wanted to be a field agent, but physically couldn't handle the pressure, and she clashed personality-wise with the instructors."

I nodded while she clicked to a split screen which showed two guys in suits.

"Dr. Abner Croit and his assistant Marcus Daniels; scientists. They were working on harnessing the electrical power of a substance known as Darkforce."

Daniels I recognized; one of the psychos currently locked up in the Fridge. "I remember Daniels was the one that went chasing after a cellist. Agent Coulson took him down, if I remember right."

"Correct. Before the accident that gave him his powers, SHIELD had their eye on the lab. Garza had the right qualifications to be placed inside. It was supposed to be a babysitting job. Once a week she'd pass on whatever progress they made and eventually we assumed the project would flop."

I could already see where this was going. "She was there that day… when the lab blew."

Sharon didn't bother acknowledging my conclusion. Instead, she clicked the remote and the screen split with a before and after image of Sarah Garza. Her security photo was the before image: a young woman, Hispanic heritage, long curly brown hair, and dark eyes. The after image was completely different. If they were separated I would never think they could be the same person. Her skin was stark white; I would guess stage makeup was involved if the picture had less resolution. The white of her eyes were bright red and her cornea had turned gray, or perhaps silver might be a better choice. That wasn't the most obvious change.

Her hair was bright orange, cut in a short flared bob.

"Tell me she colored her hair."

"Uh, no."

"Ouch."

"What didn't make it to your report on Daniels was that Garza was the cause of the explosion at the lab where it happened."

That got my attention. "She was a mole?"

Sharon shook her head. "No, whatever happened there happened to her. It changed her. She emits… energy, uncontrolled. If she gets the least out of sorts emotionally, everything within a hundred feet of her feels the fallout. It was an accident, but that energy caused the explosion that turned Daniels into whatever he is."

I was already categorizing her in my head and thinking of ways to take her out if need be, then I remembered what I was supposed to be doing there in the first place.

"Right. I'm guessing since STATION has her then they've found a way of controlling her power?"

Sharon smiled. "They have, but it's not exactly… well…."

Instead of telling me, she clicked her remote again.

"Is that…?"

"Iron Man armor? Sort of. It was based off Tony Stark's idea, but all the work was STATION."

It wasn't full coverage, only a breastplate, and gauntlets, but the device centered on her chest made it look like piecemeal Iron Man armor.

"It collects any energy she puts out and diverts it to batteries that she can expel though her gloves and the main emitter on her chest."

"So she's safe to be around now?"

"Yes."

I almost smiled. In fact, I was halfway there at the moment I realized there had to be a catch. It couldn't be this easy. Nothing ever is.

"Why isn't she here?"

Sharon set her remote on the desk and crossed her arms. "She doesn't want to be a field agent anymore."

"Ah."

"Garza just wants to go back to her computer. Apparently one bad experience was enough to sour her opinion of the job."

"One really bad experience," I noted.

"It's a valid reason, I know, but we could really use her."

I frowned at the way she said that. "She could be a valuable team member. We don't use people on this project."

"That's not what I meant, Taylor."

Taking a sip of coffee, I walked around my desk and set the mug down. "SHIELD is a spy agency. Garza has just become a very valuable asset to be used. Whether or not you know it, that's what it means. It's what you were trained to do, and I get it. For now let's just attempt to change the way we speak about people that have powers and hopefully down the line we might one day believe they're something more than a new weapon to be deployed."

Sharon leaned against her desk and sighed. "I'm not your enemy. We have the same goals here."

"We have similar goals. That's not the same thing."

When she didn't say anything, I took a seat and started downloading Garza's file into my laptop.

"Sharon, I get what SHIELD is trying to do. There could come a time where there are genuine threats out there that will need a trained and talented response team to take the lead. I just want to make sure that we're doing it for the right reasons and not wind up being part of the problem."

"I've listened over the last few weeks," she said while approaching the chair in front of my desk and sitting down. "I know you had a rough time of it on your Earth. I can see a lot of the things the ones in power did wrong, but we aren't them. We aren't the PRT or the Protectorate or even Cauldron. You can't assume that we'll act like them. Some of this you'll have to take on faith for now, just like we're taking a lot about you on faith."

The stories I told her were mostly summaries or the reports I'd been submitting to Agent Hill. It was all in an attempt to show them what could be out there in terms of versatility of powers. Examples of mind control powers were submitted along with my summation of Master/Stranger protocols. Examples of brute abilities were submitted with my report on alternative ways in taking down someone that could shrug off high caliber ammunition.

In other words, Sharon had spent a lot of time just sitting there and listening. I'm sure it all made it into her reports to Hill on me. They never verbally spoke about it within range of my bugs, but I was fairly sure it happened regularly. Again, it was something I would expect, given the nature of my job. I didn't hold it against them, since I would do the exact same thing in their position.

They had given me a lot of leeway in terms of creating a team from virtually nothing. So, I concluded that I should reciprocate in turn.

"That's fair," I replied.

"So, I'll try to be understanding when you point out my occasional slip of the tongue, and you can understand when I make them. It's our actions that will speak for us in the meantime."

I sighed and closed my laptop. "Deal. So… where's Sarah Garza now?"

~O~

Off went the pants suit and on went the SHIELD uniform. The only time I got to do this was when we left Hill's field office on a trip to another SHIELD facility. Fewer questions were asked about me if I didn't look like a civilian that was far too young to hold the position that I did. Basically, I looked out of place all dressed up for the office. I felt out of place as well. In the form fitting outfit that any number of agents used while on the job, I could be any one of a thousand people fresh out of the academy and on assignment, even if my level access didn't match my age.

Before leaving my room I grabbed an apple for the road and didn't even make it to the hanger bay before being intercepted by a familiar face.

"Agent Coulson?"

"Valkyrie." He looked me up and down with a pleasant smile. "Uniform looks good on you."

I shrugged as I shook his hand. "It's just when I leave the office. I'm on my way out. Is there something I can do for you?"

"I'm commandeering your quinjet, Agent Carter, and you for the duration." He gestured down the hall and then looked to the side with an odd expression on his face. "That sounded wrong. The skies above Puente Antiguo are acting up again, the same as right before you arrived last month."

"Really? But I thought the Asgardians were supposed to use the site in Nevada when they come down."

"Exactly. The Director wants eyes on the ground in New Mexico. I've been assigned there and he wants you there just in case we have an incident."

I nodded as we were cleared through security and hit the doors to the hanger bay, so I finished the unsaid portion of his sentence. "In case it's someone that's not supposed to here."

"If you wouldn't mind."

This is what I liked the most about Phil. He was nice and actually asked for my help even though he could put it in much stronger words.

"No problem. The last thing we need is someone breaking the deal."

"I'm glad we're on the same page."

I almost stopped and went back for my costume, but if we were meeting up with any Asgardians then my armor would be better suited. Frankly, I was somewhat annoyed I still hadn't had a chance to use it. There never seemed to be a reason to anymore. That was one of the biggest differences between Earth Bet and this one more than any other. Weaver didn't need to make a daily, or even a weekly appearance. At this point I was going to add monthly, but I hadn't been on this Earth long enough to make it plural.

"So how have things been?" Phil asked when we reached the boarding ramp.

"You haven't been keeping track?" I said jokingly.

"Hardly; this thing with Stark has been taking up most of my time."

Right. Tony Stark was having meltdown issues at the moment. Senate hearings, attempts on his life in Monaco, stock prices taking a dive, a new CEO, and his latest fiasco, a drunken binge at his birthday party a few days back.

"Do I need to be on alert?"

The ramp started closing and Phil looked at me oddly. "You could take on Iron Man?"

"For a first meeting? Probably. I've studied all the footage I could get on him. In flight his armor needs air intake. I could block that easily enough with my bugs and ground him. Swarm him afterward and slip in hundreds of bugs through every nook and cranny that opens whenever he goes to shoot something at me. I'm sure some systems would be affected. While he's busy with that, I have an Asgardian sword that can cut through almost anything, and armor that can protect me from virtually anything he can throw at me in the meantime. He's a genius though, so if I can't take him down then the second time around might be a different story."

"Bugs," Phil said in a low voice before he smiled. "That might be a show worth seeing. And no, he's under house arrest at the moment, so we're good."

I went ahead and strapped in while he went to speak with Sharon and then joined me in the back, handing me a pad with a number of people already loaded up on the screen.

"Just to keep you in the loop if we wind up meeting them," he offered.

I nodded. "Short version?"

"Jane Foster, astrophysicist out of Culver University back east. Her and her intern, Darcy Lewis have been there for over a month studying the strange atmospheric goings-on since your arrival."

"Oh… sorry."

"Not a problem. Or it wouldn't be as long as this latest incident doesn't hit their radar, which is unlikely." He didn't seem the least bit put off by having to clean up my mess. "With the addition of Eric Selvig things get a little dicey."

I looked down at the pad. "He teaches theoretical astrophysicist at the same university. Friends? Colleagues?"

He nodded. "And mentor. With the two of them working together I wouldn't put it past them to figure this whole thing out."

"Really?" I raised my brows at that. "They'd conclude that Asgardians did it?"

"Specifically, no. Have you ever heard of an Einstein-Rosen Bridge?" When I shook my head in the negative he explained in layman's terms. "Think wormholes. Since your arrival, that theory has pretty much been made a proven fact by SHIELD scientists. Now think about what an astrophysicist, much less two, might do in order to publish a paper on this topic."

"Ugh."

He grinned. "Right."

Then a feeling of dread started welling up in my stomach. It was almost a comfort in a way, because adrenaline followed soon after.

"If it is Asgard doing this, then Heimdall will probably use the exact same site as last time."

Phil looked away, obviously pondering something. "Excuse me. I need to make a call."

3.2

STATION – Mesa, Arizona

Even SHIELD has technical issues. It was almost gratifying to hear. Our quinjet was grounded for two hours for repairs before we were able to make it in the air. I almost expected to see Phil fidget or at the very least look annoyed, but the delay didn't faze him in the slightest. I think it had something to do with me giving him the idea about where the landing site might be, and the call he made afterward. So it came down to either waiting in one place or the other for something to happen.

What finally made an impact on his superhuman ability to avoid getting annoyed was me insisting on picking up Sarah Garza on the way to New Mexico.

"It's the perfect opportunity to bring her on board," I explained, "literally and figuratively speaking. She's at STATION, so it'll take thirty minutes tops."

Phil glanced up at the cockpit and then back at me. "Who is this person?"

"Garza is a potential team member that was burned on her last mission. She wants to ride a desk now, but she has an ability that could help us in a few areas."

Pulling up her file I handed it off to Phil.

"She's already a SHIELD agent – level three." His lips briefly turned down. "That helps, but if it is the Asgardians or someone related she won't be cleared for this incident."

I shrugged. "If she joins my team in the end, her clearance level will be jumping anyway, right?"

"This isn't the way we do things, Valkyrie."

Sharon stuck her head around her seat. "Agent Hill already approved her to the team if Taylor can talk her onboard. Since she's already an agent, she'll have provisional level five status."

I nodded in agreement. "And that's why this trip, this exposure, to what we'll be doing is necessary. She's needs to know that it's not all going to be industrial espionage or whatever she's used to. Sometimes it's about protecting the people that aren't equipped enough to protect themselves."

Sharon's input seemed enough to ease Phil's mind; mine just made him feel better about it. "Go ahead and make the stop at STATION. Call ahead and tell them I want her ready by the time we make it there. Refer them to Agent Hill if they need higher authority than mine."

~O~

The security guy that met us at the hanger when we landed didn't have good news.

"She says that she'll take the exit plan before she goes on assignment again."

Which was another way for saying she'll quit SHIELD which wasn't really feasible since she would most likely glow in the dark wherever she went without the suit that the agency would be able to provide her on the job.

"I'll talk to her," Phil offered.

While I wouldn't mind him doing it, because of his way with people, I thought it best to be done by me. "I'll be her team leader. It should be me."

He glanced my way and then gave me a nod. "I'd like to make it to New Mexico before dark."

With a grin I said, "No problem."

I was escorted to a plain building among a bunch of others which gave the impression that the place was a decommissioned Air Force base. We entered and I had my ID scanned and approved before hitting the elevator and dropping three floors.

The place was more clinical than Hill's facility. We passed lab after lab instead of office after office. Why she'd prefer a place like this instead of being out in the sun I wouldn't care to guess. We all have our phobias to bear.

Once we made it to the end of the hall, the security guy motioned to a pair of doors at the next juncture. "She's in the one on the right."

"Thanks. I'll take it from here."

Halfway down, once I was assured of a reasonable amount of privacy, I called on my valkyrie armor along with the spear. An impression needed to be made, one that would tell her she wasn't alone in the whole wacky world of super powered humans.

With an armor tipped finger I tapped on her door. It didn't even take a few seconds before it was swung open and a caustic remark was on Sarah Garza's lips, only to fall short when she saw who was standing there.

"I told you… oh crap."

Seeing her dark red eyes in person was entirely different than seeing them on the computer. There was a lot more expression in them, fear even. Two small lights on either side of her neck lit up and I could hear a quiet high pitched whine building from the chest plate she was wearing.

"I'm only here to talk, Sarah," I said as pleasantly as possible. "My codename is Valkyrie, but you can call me Taylor."

With that said I willed the spear away, which startled her once more. At least this time it was on a positive note.

"How did… where did…? You're powered like me!"

"I am." Gesturing to the room I asked, "May I come in?"

She blinked and opened the door further. "Uh, sure. I didn't think there were others. I mean, Doctor Lawrence said that the upper levels wanted to start a team, but he didn't say anything about more people like me."

"Sorry, it's SHIELD. You have to have the proper clearance to use the toilet around here. Then they'd probably have someone on the other end scanning, weighing, and declassifying what comes out just in case it mingles with the public sewers."

She stared at me for moment before making an awful face. "Eww."

I looked her over and nodded. "So, you're already dressed and ready to leave?"

"What? No. This is what I have to wear all the time. And I'm not going anyway."

It looked like a formfitting black body stocking, only thicker. With the chest plate and the gauntlets Sarah still looked underdressed. I had a bad feeling the scientists involved were all guys – geeky guys.

With a shake of my head I tried to reason with her. "This is a show and tell only trip. It's to show you what we do. You'll be sitting in a nice safe quinjet most of the time. No action; I promise."

She grimaced. "That's what they said about the lab."

"Well, I won't be asking you to participate in anything. If there's trouble then I'll take care of it."

"You?" Sarah checked out my armor. "Well, you're dressed for it. Are you really a valkyrie or is that just a name? I mean you have the winged helmet and all… and the spear."

I shrugged. "Can't tell you unless you're in the quinjet."

She threw an annoyed look at me. "And then it'll be too late and I'll be trapped again."

Obviously, the direct approach wasn't going to work, so I looked around her room and slid onto my next tactic. Slowly taking in a couple of movie posters I gave her time to relax a little before trying again.

"What is it you think I do, Sarah?"

She grumbled for a moment and then answered. "Ferry souls to Asgard?"

I tossed her an appreciative smile. "For SHIELD I mean."

That broke her concentration. I didn't exactly tell her she was wrong or that her joke could actually be the truth.

"Well, they said they wanted me for a team. I'm guessing it's to take on the harder missions: hostage rescue, military missions, or a coup d'état or two."

I suppose that would be a decent guess given what she knew about the organization she worked for.

"I can't say they wouldn't try to use us in that way, but no. We're not the only ones out there that are super-powered."

Sarah pursed her lips for a moment and then turned around to go sit at the desk; elbow set on her knee as she bent over and set her chin firmly on her upturned hand. She almost looked petulant if I didn't take into account that she was already an adult. Her height didn't help matters. If she broke five-two I'd eat my helmet.

"You were lucky in a way," I added. "You were already a part of SHIELD. Some people out there don't have a clue what to do, so they panic. I mean what would you do if SHIELD wasn't on site to help you out? Really, what would you do? I want to know."

She frowned. "Probably panic. Go to a hospital or wait for someone to help me… police or something."

I nodded sagely. "And when those people showed up scaring you, and you started killing them with your power totally by accident?"

"Run."

"Get chased down, probably shot, been a fugitive… all because there wasn't someone out there that could help – someone like you."

"Making me feel guilty isn't going to do any good."

I shook my head again and looked at the other poster hanging on the wall. "I'm not trying to guilt you into doing the job, Sarah. I'm telling you why SHIELD brought me onboard. I've been there."

She finally sat up. "You were on the run?"

"Eh, sort of," I replied. The truth was a story best left untold. "When I first got my powers I wanted to be a hero. I was fifteen at the time."

"A hero?" Sarah sounded the word out like it was something foreign.

I nodded. "It took me a while, but I made it. It isn't exactly like the stories you probably read as a kid, but I made a difference in people's lives, you know?"

She seemed confused. "You sound American. Why haven't I ever heard of you?"

"That's a different story, and I don't want to get off track." Turning around to face her I remembered back to some of the Protectorate advertising posters I'd seen of Legend. Assuming the correct pose, fists on my hips and legs spread a little wider than shoulder width apart, I smiled at her.

"What I do out there isn't like what Tony Stark does in his Iron Man armor. He's flashy, not to mention photogenic, and he has a company to run. I do it so lives won't be lost unnecessarily, and I do it for other people like me, that don't have someone to turn to that they can trust."

Sarah ducked her head and I fell out of the silly pose, approached and squatted down a couple of feet in front of her.

"I'm on my way to a possible threat to the people of a very small town in New Mexico. They're just average people going about their day, without a clue as to what's going to happen tonight." When she finally raised her eyes to mine I continued. "It may be nothing, but there's the possibility that it may well be something bad. All I want for you to do is sit in the quinjet and watch – nothing else. Watch me do my job. If you still want to return to a desk afterward then I'll talk to Agent Hill and we'll get things going in that direction."

"I don't want to fight," she whispered. "When I joined SHIELD I did, but not anymore."

With a shrug I smiled softly when I realized she was a bit too damaged for something rough. I'd have to wait and approach her in another year or so, after she'd had some time to acclimate. "Well, I could probably use a computer tech as well. I'm decent with them, but I definitely can't do some of the things I've see the others do."

My communicator beeped on my belt and I stood, reached down to activate it and said, "Valkyrie here."

"Thirty minutes are up." It was Phil.

"On my way, Agent Coulson."

Sarah's eyes lit up and she nearly jolted out of her chair as I clicked off. "Agent Coulson?"

I cocked my head. "You know him?"

Her mouth was working, but nothing was coming out. Finally she found the words she was looking for. "Phil Coulson? Oh my god… I'm coming. Give me a second."

Sarah jolted for her dresser and then changed her mind and backtracked to the closet as I watched on. The lights on her chest plate lit up again, but I don't think it was fear this time around. Huh. Who knew Phil Coulson had a fangirl?

All this time I wasted when I could have just come in and said, "Phil needs you on the job."

She would have squeed and been bouncing on her toes at the hanger bay waiting for our arrival.

A few seconds later and she had donned some knee boots that matched her armor and then ran to a makeup table to check her hair. She cringed, but touched it up with a few passes of a brush.

"Okay, I'm ready!"

I opened the door for her. "So, you know Phil?"

"Are you kidding? He's a legend at the Academy. I've studied all his declassified missions, especially the ones when he's teamed-up with Melinda May." Sarah came to a shuddering stop and looked up at me. "She's not here, is she?"

"Uh, no. Agent Carter is though."

She sucked in another breath. "Sharon Carter? Great-granddaughter of Peggy Carter? One of the founders of SHIELD? Holy crap!"

I really wish I knew what the heck she was talking about. "She's the co-leader of my team."

"Holy – holy crap," she whispered when she turned away from me. "Don't make an idiot out of yourself. Don't make an idiot out of yourself. Shit… I'm making an idiot out of myself."

Before we made the turn to the main hall I dispelled my armor and watched Sarah nearly jump out of her skin. "What…? How…?"

"I'm a valkyrie. I can do these sorts of things."

"A val… but that was just a joke."

"Not really."

The security guy gave me a nod and took the lead while I put a finger to my lips for Sarah to hold her questions until later. The entire trip to the top I watched as her chest plate blinked on and off. She had to be a terror to be around before they figured out how to regulate her powers. No wonder she was jittery. I doubted she has even seen the light of day until recently, overly white skin aside. Maybe I should have stocked up on sunscreen. We were going to the desert after all.

When we rounded the corner of the building and spotted the back of the quinjet I noticed the boarding ramp was down and Phil had one hand braced on one of the supports looking at us with a satisfied express.

"Oh my god. Oh my god," she whispered. "It's really him."

The whining was a constant thing at this point. I really didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Is your suit supposed to do that?"

Sarah's head flicked to me and then down to her chest plate. "Oh, uh yeah; it's safe."

Leaving the topic alone I just waited until I reached the ramp to say anything else. "Agent Coulson, Agent Sarah Garza."

"Pleasure," he said automatically.

Sarah looked like her throat tightened up; either that or she forgot how to speak properly. All that came out was a high pitch chirp before she slapped her armored hand over her mouth and nearly dashed into the quinjet. Phil looked to me for an explanation.

"She's a really big fan of yours. Take it easy on her."

"Wait… me?"

I nodded, keeping my voice low when I answered. "Apparently you and someone named Melinda May are really big at the Academy."

"Huh."

I hit the button to shut the ramp and called up front. "We're good to go, Sharon."

She showed a thumbs-up and I heard her calling for clearance while Phil and I took our seats. Sarah was already strapped in and was watching every single movement Phil made until I bumped her with my knee to break her out of the trance.

"So, have you thought about a codename?"

"What? Oh, uh, not really."

I nodded, trying to keep her attention diverted. "What is it that you do? I mean I know you store energy of some type in that chest plate."

"Um… it's called darkforce." She lifted her right gauntlet. "This one shoots blasts of energy, and the left one shields, sort of."

"Sort of? It only shields against certain things?"

She shrugged in a jittery way. "No, it pretty much works against anything. It absorbs anything fired at it. Physical objects too, like chairs, bricks, water."

Those sounded strangely specific, almost as if it was an experiment done to test the limits of her powers, or maybe those were accidents.

"Where does it go?"

She winced slightly. "That's the question. Nobody knows. I make a shield someone throws something at it, and then it's gone. There's no residue left, I'm not breaking it down and absorbing it, and it doesn't appear anywhere else that we know of. It's just… gone."

I believe Sarah had Phil's complete and undivided attention by this point.

He looked at her with a measured gaze. "My experience with darkforce is somewhat different."

She nodded. "I know. Daniels, right? I heard how you took him down. All the scientists were talking about how brilliant you were… are… I mean you still are… not that you…." She stopped abruptly and looked straight down. "Shut up, Sarah."

I already knew the story. Daniels could disrupt and absorb energy: stun guns, street lamps he was passing, or the electrical impulses in the human body to name a few. He was a remorseless killer after the accident. Sarah, on the other hand, just generated the stuff and kept her sanity, such that it is.

When she looked back up, it was if her ramblings were a thing of the distant past. "You said you'd tell me about the valkyrie thing if we were in the quinjet."

"Yeah," I nodded. "About that…."

3.3

May 31, 2011, Puente Antiguo, New Mexico (north of Roswell)

It was near sunset by the time we arrived in Roswell. Apparently, the locals get skittish when confronted with almost-state-of-the-art-aircraft. Everything is UFO themed in the surrounding hundred miles. So, visitors tend to think everything smaller than a commercial airliner is of alien origin. Even then, it's better to fly over during the daytime – flashing lights in the sky attract attention. That's what I was told anyway.

If only they knew that it wasn't little gray aliens, but big hulking Asgardian brutes, they might direct their eyes somewhere else.

Since I did promise Sarah she could stay in the quinjet, I offered her the option. She wouldn't be seeing much in the way of anything besides hanger crews going about their business. We wound up taking a SHIELD SUV to the original site of my visit outside of the desert town. Sarah tagged along. Where Phil went, she went.

Full dark had come upon us when we eventually arrived few hundred yards out from where I originally landed.

Four SUVs were waiting for us and a bald man with glasses and a business suit seemed to be in charge of everything. As we approached, I tagged everyone with my bugs so I could find out what my eyes couldn't in the darkness. Most were around and within the SUVs, but there were a couple of scouts on the north and south sides with binoculars, scanning the area.

"Agent Sitwell," Phil said upon approach. "This is my team, agents Carter, Garza and Hebert."

Thankfully, Phil informed me about my cover or else I might have asked when I became an official agent of SHIELD. While it wouldn't be out of the question to have a consultant on site, it was still a little early in the game for one to be there without cause. Sitwell nodded in our direction, obviously not noting us as anything other than hangers-on or extra hands for the time being.

"What's the situation?" Phil asked.

"Cloud cover has been building since nightfall, just in this area. How did you know it was going to be here?"

"Last minute intelligence; it's reliable. Any traffic?"

"Nothing since leaving the main road. This place is officially the middle of nowhere."

Phil turned to me and lowered his voice below the moderate wind gusts. "Any idea what time we can expect them?"

"You saw it in Nevada. When the light hits, they'll be here right after."

"That's not helpful."

"What can I say? I've only used the thing once."

He nodded. "Wait until after they show to see if you need to suit up. The less people that know about you the better."

"No problem. What about Sarah?"

"Everyone here already has clearance to know about her."

"Gotcha. I'll take her around back and think of something to…."

We were interrupted by a crack of lighting racing across the sky and then two others followed from different areas. It was a tad too unnatural looking to be anything else. Lightning just didn't behave like what I was seeing in the sky.

"They're coming!"

I sent the swarm I'd been collecting since our arrival out into the darkness, but it was slow going. The winds had picked up to a constant thirty to forty miles an hour in a very short span of time. Sarah looked over to me and I motioned to the SUV if she wanted, but she shook her head.

Sharon was less stressed and more excited as she blocked her face from the wind and the dust it was kicking up with a single hand. I'm sure she'd already read all the files on me and SHIELD's experience with the Asgardians, and here was her first chance to actually meet one – I hoped anyway. If the Bifrost was involved then odds were against it being one of the other realms. I had a grim passing thought that Earth might be a new place where Odin could send all the people that piss him off so we could watch them – sort of a prison planet. Hopefully, that was just my brain making more of thing than was already there.

More lightning streaked across the sky and I involuntarily ducked along with everyone else in the area, like that could actually help if it decided to strike anywhere around us.

"There!" someone yelled right when I saw a column of iridescent blue light appear from nowhere and slam onto the Earth… miles away.

"Dammit," I cursed.

It held for a good fifteen seconds and then winked out of existence. Phil looked over at me and I had nothing to do but shrug.

"I was close… sort of."

Closer than I realized.

Another column lanced out of the sky and hit the ground not two hundred yards away, followed seconds later by an explosion. I spun away, summoned my armor and jumped for Sarah and Sharon, tackling them to the ground moments before the entire area was showered with debris. Rocks, dirt, sand, multiple forms of once living desert plants pelted the area as everyone took cover.

I wasn't exactly the greatest protection being as thin as I was, but it was something.

Ten or fifteen seconds later the last of the debris had settled and I pushed up off the ground.

"Are you guys okay?"

Sarah spit dirt out of her mouth and brushed at her face. "I should have stayed in the truck."

Sharon didn't bother with a status update for me, instead falling straight into her training. "What was that?"

Dispelling my armor I pushed away and stood, giving Sarah a hand up. Sharon was already scrambling to her feet.

"I don't have a clue."

Phil was already barking out orders. "Teams one through three, find where the first one hit. Four, stay here and work relay. "Hebert and Carter, you're with me."

Sarah looked back and forth not knowing what to do. I waved her on. "Come on if you want."

Gathering my swarm, I sent it ahead to scout out the area while I looked up at the sky and the dissipating cloud cover. Hopefully that was the last of them for the night. It didn't take long at all to find what I was looking for, except it wasn't a person at all.

"Agent Coulson."

Phil stopped and turned to me.

"There's a crater up ahead and something at the center of it. It's not a person. You might want to…."

He cut me off. "We have reliable people on the other one. Tell me what you know."

We kept on moving while Sharon closed ranks with us.

"I think – I think it might be a hammer. It's definitely hammer shaped, like what Thor carried."

He thought on it for all of two seconds. "Mjölnir?"

We'd both evidently done our homework on the more popular Norse legends over the recent weeks.

"If that's what it is, then it could definitely cause this much damage. Though if it's Thor's hammer then where's Thor?"

Reaching into his suit coat, Phil pulled out a small radio. "This is Coulson. Begin operation Haircare."

I had to stop at that one. "Haircare?"

"I'm not the one that comes up with the names."

With a shrug I continued on. "There's nothing else around, except for a lot of dust."

Phil nodded and came to an abrupt stop at the edge of the crater. "Is it safe? Any radiation?"

None of my bugs were dead, well, except for the ones the hammer hit, but that really didn't mean much. A lot of bugs are a lot more resistant to the effect of radiation than humans.

"There shouldn't be anything harmful. It's a method of travel, not a weapon."

He grimaced right after I mentioned the word 'shouldn't'. Then he called for someone to check the area for safety's sake. There wasn't much else for me to do except for twiddling my thumbs. I didn't like not knowing what was going on at the other site. While odds were that it was an Asgardian and most likely Thor, his hammer being here didn't settle my nerves in the slightest. In fact, it did the exact opposite. What exactly could separate Thor from his hammer and is it here on Earth?

"Maybe I should…." I made a swooping motion to the air with my hand. When he looked doubtful at my idea I added, "People are going to find out about me sooner or later."

Sharon nodded. "We've already prepared several press releases depending on the situation."

"Prepared for what?" Sarah asked.

"Me going public."

While it wasn't on the top of my to-do list, eventually it would be unavoidable. As Weaver I could blend into almost any crowd and do my job even without a costume, but Valkyrie was a little too flashy to conceal for long, much like the giant beams of blue light that keep crashing into the ground. Hence, the press releases.

Revealing Asgard was a different matter altogether.

One of the reasons we were as prepared as we were was that it was impossible to hide the Bifrost Bridge when it opened. We made sure the landing area was out in the middle of the desert to minimize the exposure, but eventually someone with the proper equipment is going to see something out of the ordinary. There was a reason Jane Foster was in Puente Antiguo.

"What's the Director have to say?" he asked Sharon.

"Take it one day at a time."

"Give me a minute."

With that, he walked away and pulled out his cell. "Sir – we found it."

After that he was too difficult to overhear. The wind was still blowing pretty well, and I didn't need to spy on him with my bugs to know who he was talking to. It's best not to get caught listening in on a conversation with Fury, at least not since I started working for him anyway.

"What is…?" Sarah asked as she mimicked my swooping motion.

"Fly over the other scene."

"You can fly?"

"Valkyrie." I pointed at myself. "Remember?"

"So, it's not a winged horse?"

"No – my armor."

Sharon grinned. "I've got to admit: I'm interested in seeing that myself."

"Phil flew with me when I first got here."

"He did?"

Sarah's eyes went wide. "He lets you call him Phil?"

"Well." I shrugged self-consciously when I realized what I said. "Not to his face."

"Valkyrie," Phil called out, holding up the radio. "They found the other landing site and there's nobody there."

"Dammit."

"There was AFID confetti at the scene," he said grimly.

I blinked and looked to Sharon. "What?"

"In this wind?" she said before cluing me in. "Anti-felon identification. A stun gun was used."

With a nod I summoned my armor. "So whoever just came down from Asgard might have just been kidnapped, and if they weren't then whoever tazed him or her might have had the situation reversed on them."

I spun the possible scenarios in my head. If the human won then they'd have someone superhuman under their control. If the superhuman won then the human would be in serious danger. That was keeping in mind that there was a human and an Asgardian with nobody else involved. There were too many variables involved and standing there guessing was just wasting time.

"Sorry, Agent Coulson, I have to find whoever it is right now. Sharon, you might want to call Hill and tell her to have the press release on hand."

Phil grabbed my wrist before I activated my wings. "At least try to stay under the radar. If you can't, we'll deal with it. Just make the attempt."

I nodded and the wing constructs popped out before I shot up into the sky and headed south. It didn't take long for me to see three SUVs with their lights on the runes the Bifrost left behind. There was a dirt road that was barely visible now that the clouds had finally cleared. I followed it to the only road in the area and that led to Puente Antiguo. Luckily enough, it was poorly traveled at night. In fact, there were only three cars. My bugs did the rest.

The economy car that was headed outbound only had one person, the driver. The minivan that was heading inbound had two people, one of which was a baby – highly doubtful it was that one. The third, which had just been passed by the minivan, looked like a horrible cross between a Hummer and a RV. Several people were inside, but it took me a few moments to hunt the person that was lying down in the back of the vehicle.

You'd think there'd be more useful bugs around during the evening. They had a pretty nasty ant infestation in a trashcan located in the back. Moving them around I could tell the person was definitely big. That was all I needed.

Diving down I timed it well enough to land with a hard thump on top of the very flat roof of the giant van-thing. It swerved and I almost lost my footing. I hadn't planned this far ahead. It wasn't like I could stand out in the middle of the road and hope they stopped, and I wasn't about to pull some action movie move and swing around and through the windshield. Those things were a lot harder than they looked. Thankfully, the decision was taken out of my hands when the driver slammed on the brakes.

Before I went flying, I jumped and my wings caught me well enough to arrest my forward motion.

"Darcy!" a female complained loudly.

"What?" the driver screamed back. "Something's on our roof, and at this point I'm thinking Pterodactyl. This night couldn't get any weirder."

I lost the conversation at that stage, but decided to take advantage of the moment. Clicking on my communicator I signaled Sharon.

"Go ahead," she responded almost immediately.

"Follow the main road into town. It's Foster's group."

The side door to the vehicle opened and I ducked and dropped to the other side, dispelling my armor when I hit the ground.

"There's nothing out here," a man called inside, presumably Eric Selvig.

That gave me the perfect opportunity to rap on the driver's side window and scare the bejesus out of Darcy Lewis.

"GAAAAH!" Thankfully, all she saw was a woman in a blue uniform. "Oh."

Once the window was rolled down I looked up at her. "License and registration."

"But, I wasn't speeding, Officer… wait a second. You're not a cop."

When Selvig rounded the vehicle and spotted me, his eyes went wide and I could swear he paled right in front of me. "Darcy, do what she says."

"Why am I even here?" she grumbled. "No amount of credit hours is worth this. Here."

She handed down her license and a slip of paper that I made a small show of looking at before returning them to her.

"I need everyone to step out of the vehicle. Leave any weapons you have inside."

"We don't have any weapons," she said while glaring at me.

"Really? No batons… maybe a stun gun."

"Oh… um. Right. I have one of those."

I spared a quick glance down the road and spotted two pair of lights, in the distance, heading in our direction at a high rate of speed. The only other mobile person had to be Foster, who was dropping down to the asphalt as I gestured to Selvig to move on.

"Is SHIELD here about the event?" he asked.

"No questions." Once I caught sight of everyone I gestured to the rear. "Assume the position at the rear of the vehicle, please."

"Eric…," Foster said, looking to her mentor for an explanation.

"She's SHIELD, Jane. Just do as she says."

"Who's SHIELD? What's SHIELD?"

One of the SUVs pulled in close to the back while the other cut to the side and crossed off any attempt to move the vehicle from the front. I glanced inside and nearly groaned at who I saw laid out unconscious on the back seats.

"A colleague of mine once got involved with SHIELD," Selvig explained to his two friends. "He was never seen again. Just to do what they say and hope for the best."

Tapping my communicator again, I waited until Sharon answered.

"It's Thor."

~O~

Why do they call those ammonia ampules smelling salts? I've always wondered; not really enough to bother looking it up, just in passing. Anyway. Thor didn't like me waving it under his nose very much.

"Raah! Begone!" he bellowed as he jerked up and swatted at my hand knocking the ampule across the vehicle's interior.

I left it. In the long run it would probably help with the smell; nacho cheese Doritos permeated the entire vehicle.

"You!" he accused me. "Where am I? What manner of…."

Sue me; I got tired of being yelled at. "You want to tell me why you're on Earth and why you threw your hammer away?"

He stood abruptly nearly colliding with the ceiling, but stopped himself short. "My hammer? Where is Mjölnir!"

"Would you please be quiet? There are civilians around here and your yelling is really getting on my nerves. Remember the agreement you have with SHIELD not to expose yourself when you come here?"

He wavered slightly and shook his head, sighing afterward. "My apologies. I am… out of sorts. I was attacked by a slight of a girl with a puny yet powerful weapon capable of felling even the mighty Thor with a single blow."

I nodded and rubbed at my temple. "It's called a stun gun… and really? A stun gun can take out an Asgardian? Color me severely disappointed."

While my opinion of him at the feasts was fairly low, I could appreciate that he was probably one of the most powerful warriors they had. When he starting referring to himself in the third person, my opinion of him dropped by an order of magnitude.

I watched as he raised his hand and his jaw firmed in concentration. A few moments passed and his face twisted, clearly agonized.

"Where is it? Where is Mjölnir? It does not come when I call."

Brushing off my pant legs I rose from my crouched position. "Relax. We found it about ten miles out. I'll take you there as soon as you tell me why you're here and not at the Nevada landing site."

He took one menacing step toward me and stared me down. "You'll take me there now."

Thor made a very imposing figure, and could most likely squash me like a grape, but I stood my ground. He was appearing more and more like a typical bully every second that I learned more about him. Granted, he could back up all of his claims of power and whatnot.

"You don't want to piss me off, Thor," I said through clenched teeth. "Now back up."

"Hello," Phil said from the doorway, stepping inside. "You used an unsecured landing site and possibly exposed yourself to a number of civilians. Would you like to explain this to me now or Director Fury later?"

Thor finally backed away and turned. I could swear he looked ashamed or something equally as alien to him.

"My father has banished me, son of Coul. I have been stripped of my accouterments, my weapon, and my rightful title as Prince of Asgard for my attack on the Jotuns." He swung back around to defend himself. "They dared enter Asgard to steal the Casket of Ancient Winters on the eve of my coronation. I was to be King!"

Phil raised his brows in mild surprise. "Wow. Tough break. So this Winter Casket. Is it a weapon?"

Thor jerked his head in the positive. "A powerful one, yes. It was protected by the Destroyer and the Casket still rests secure in our vaults."

This was sounding worse and worse as we went along.

"I'm guessing the Destroyer is a guard," I asked.

"It matters not, valkyrie. Why are you not in your armor? Are you ashamed of your position?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "My name is Taylor, and like I said before, we're in public where were supposed to be keeping Asgard a secret, at least for the moment."

Phil glanced at me and waggled his finger between the two of us. "Is there something going on here I need to know about?"

I shrugged. "He doesn't like me for some reason, and I think he's an ass, but other than that, no."

"I have no patience for your dark witchcraft, Taylor of Midgard."

"Witchcraft?" Phil looked somewhat impressed. "Have you been holding out on us?"

I rolled my eyes. "He's talking about my bug control powers."

"Oh." Phil looked around at all the scientific equipment scattered everywhere before returning to the topic at hand. "Do you have a way to travel back to Asgard?"

Thor grimaced again. "Heimdall has refused to open the Bifrost, most assuredly on orders from my father."

"Hmm, then we might have a problem."

3.4

"What sort…," Thor swatted at a fly that was buzzing annoyingly at his ear. "What sort of problem?"

"An Asgardian on Earth, perhaps permanently," Phil said before leaning out the door to speak to one of the agents. "Have a team out here to pick all this equipment up. I want everything copied and sent off to Sci-Tech ASAP."

Thor shook his head and all but glared at me. "I am heir to the throne of Asgard. Father would not leave me to languish on such a backward realm as Midgard for long. This is but a temporary punishment."

I nodded. "Sort of like sticking a child in the corner for not obeying his parents. Yeah, I can see that."

"I am not a child!"

"Valkyrie," Phil diverted my attention. "Please don't annoy the thousand year old warrior prince."

He had a point. I backed off a step and folded my arms. Thor still seemed to take offense at the whole thing.

"You allow a mortal to call you by your profession, yet not me?"

I shrugged. "He's calling me by my codename. It's a sign of respect. You're just calling me valkyrie like I'm the one that's supposed to clean your boots at night before flopping down on your bed so you can…."

"Valkyrie," Phil repeated himself. "Would you update Agents Garza and Carter on what we've found? Coordinate with Agent Hill as to what she wants to do about our extended visitor."

I pursed my lips but acknowledged his order. The second I stepped out of the van-thing I heard Thor call out one last barb.

"My boots need no cleaning, sorceress, and I would sooner bed a Bilgesnipe!"

While grinding my teeth, I had to hold back from sending the entirety of the van-thing's ant collection straight up his overly clean boots and up his arrogant legs. Could legs be arrogant? His could. I swear it's like he had some phantom pheromone that just set me off every time I saw him.

"Bilgesnipe. You know; huge, scaly, big antlers. You don't have those?" Thor said within range of the bugs I left behind.

"Don't think so," Phil replied.

"They are repulsive, and they trample everything in their path."

Phil shifted. "You know, Valkyrie was the one that saved you. Those people were delivering you to a local area hospital. Once you woke up, you'd be lost and alone in a strange land. Considering your ravings, they probably would have loaded you up with enough thorazine to keep you placid and drooling on yourself until your delivery to the closest asylum. You see, Prince Thor, right now you're nothing but a myth from Earth's ancient past, and without your armor and hammer, how exactly do you prove that you're really the Thor of legend?"

There was a lengthy pause and I noticed Thor had shuffled to the side and sat down.

"My apologies, son of Coul. I've let my anger rule me once again."

"I'm not the one that you need to apologize to."

Thor let loose with an incomprehensible sound. "That woman is infuriating… but it will be as you wish."

"I'm not your father. Do as you like. Just remember one thing: while you're here, SHIELD is responsible for you, and we don't hold to monarchies, so you won't get any special treatment because of who you are or who you used to be. Actually, that's more like three things, but the sentiment is the same."

"Understood." Thor took to his feet once more. "May I retrieve Mjölnir now?"

Once I was clear of the area, I started jogging along the road until I found an outcropping of rock large enough to hide me in the darkness, so I could summon my armor. With that done I shot up into the sky as fast as possible.

Phil stood up for me, and I didn't exactly know how to feel about that. I've gone so long without caring about what people really thought of me that I've become numb to much of their opinions, except when directly confronted by them. I could have taken note of Phil's example and talked Thor down, but I let him poke at my insecurities. Physical attributes aside, I could have been the bigger person, but I wasn't, and at the moment that really annoyed me.

It didn't take long for me to find Sharon and Sarah. A temporary camp was already being set up at the edge of the crater and within as well. There were agents already here that hadn't seen the show, so I had to land a decent distance away before hiking to the crater.

"There you are," Sharon said when I eventually showed up out of the darkness. "Everything's secure?"

I nodded and looked over to our SUV to see Sarah looking particularly bored. "Yeah, Thor's been banished from Asgard for starting a fight with one of the other realms. Well, not starting one, but retaliating apparently."

"Banished? Here? What are we supposed to do with him?"

With a shrug I relayed Phil's orders. "Agent Coulson wants Hill to figure it out."

That looked like it left a sour taste in her mouth. "It's our purview – super powered individuals."

I didn't exactly like where this conversation was going. "You're not suggesting that we bring him onto the team, are you?"

"A full blown Asgardian? I mean he's Thor."

"He's an ass and I seriously doubt he'd like being ordered around by a couple of 'puny mortal women'." I even threw up air quotes for emphasis. "He got tossed out of his home by his own father for disobeying orders. Can you imagine what he'd do here?"

"I didn't get the impression he was that much of a jerk. He was nice enough to everyone in Nevada."

"Maybe it's just me he doesn't like."

She purposefully didn't say anything for a few moments. "Well, you do come off as abrasive now and then."

Abrasive; I suppose that's one way of describing me. That wasn't something I could deny and still be truthful to myself.

"Hm, and I thought I was pretty restrained with him this time around." Before I got all maudlin, I dismissed the subject. "What do you think about Sarah?"

"Bipolar?"

"I don't think so."

She shrugged. "I haven't seen enough of her to make an informed decision."

"She's still dealing with the trauma from the lab explosion, so I don't know that putting her in the field would be such a good idea. Maybe a desk job with us until she can get back into the swing of things? She is a highly rated computer tech."

"I can agree to that," Sharon relied. "It would give me more personal time to evaluate her skills."

With a nod I said, "I'll let her know."

I hadn't taken two steps away from Sharon before the wind picked up again quickly followed by rolling cloud cover much lower in the sky than before. "Crap. Not again."

Sarah looked around, clearly aware that things were getting weird once more. "Do I need to get into the SUV this time?"

Something seemed different. When the Bifrost shot it's blue beam of light, the weather seemed to be more violent. This time it just seemed to be a sudden spring storm. Considering what we had witnessed that night, I decided to expect the worst.

"Might not be a bad idea."

In fact, I decided to join her, and Sharon did too. Once she shut the final door and the wind was muffled enough, I looked around and spotted two SUVs on approach.

"Coulson's coming."

"You think it is Thor doing this?"

I shrugged. "I don't have a clue."

A sprinkle of rain started up and the wind died down to a moderate breeze, at least something that wasn't creating an annoying whistling noise. My bugs down in the crater started picking up some weird light that shouldn't be there beyond the pair of spots that SHIELD had set up.

"It's the hammer," I said. "Thor is approaching. I'm guessing they're linked."

We sat and waited until the SUVs came to a stop. That's when I decided to join them. I'm not really the waiting around type. I'd much rather have a good seat for the show. Slipping out, I slammed the door behind me and raced around to one side that didn't have much in the way of anyone around. Thor didn't bother waiting either. I doubted rain was much of a hindrance to someone like him. At least this time it wasn't a downpour, not enough to seriously impair my bugs.

He took a measure of the scene and then started down inside of the crater while Coulson watched on.

A crack of thunder sounded directly above us and a brief bolt of lightning lit up the sky for no more than a second. The air was charged with enough static electricity to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and give me a general creepy feeling of impending doom.

All the while I was trying to figure out why Odin took his son's weapon away only to toss it a few miles down the road. It seemed like a pointless gesture. Was Thor supposed to spend all his time down here looking for it, and we were just lucky enough to have found it this quickly? I mean it was the desert, and the hammer wasn't all that big. If he didn't see where it landed, one person might very well take months to hunt it down. That is if someone else hadn't run away with it in the meantime.

Thor circled the ground where it lay. The handle was almost at a forty-five degree angle, just waiting for him to pick it up. He looked determined, but moderately satisfied at the same time. I suppose I would be too if someone took away my favorite enemy-smashing tool and I just found it again.

The entire crater was lit up in an ethereal blue emanating from Mjölnir, and when Thor grasped the handle it surged once more. Another crack of thunder made me flinch as I watched on. Thor frown and reached down with his other hand, straining, pulling, adding an inarticulate frustrated yell to the effort, to no avail. Mjölnir stood firm on top of the now drenched earth, and Thor was on his knees, staring in disbelief and anguish at his failed attempt.

"Damn," I whispered to nobody.

That's when I noticed a presence approaching from the side. At first I discounted whoever it was as one of a couple dozen agents roaming around, catching the scene. However, visibly, nobody was there. This became even more apparent when the rain stopped.

"Heartbreaking, isn't it?"

My fist was already in the air to my left where nobody should have been, but I held it a half second before pulling back.

"Loki," I said in a harsh whisper considering the scene before us. "What are you doing here?"

He was dressed not in his royal finery or even in the casual garb he wore around the palace when going about mundane duties. It was a suit that could have come from any number of high end stores on Earth; green, of course. He looked… normal. I almost didn't know how to feel about that. I was so used to everyone coming down here in Asgardian armor and flouncing around as if they belonged. Here was someone I thought of as an inconsiderate elitist that took time out to actually think about how to fit in properly.

"I was there, you know, when Father banished him. He called on his father and his father's father to strip my brother bare of all his worldly possessions – those that he cares for the most in any case." A grim smile crossed his face. "I was there when Thor called our Father an old fool. Can you imagine? Any other Asgardian would have had his citizenship stripped and most likely be thrown in the dungeons for such insolence."

"Ah," I said. "You're here to gloat."

I hadn't discounted the invisible intruder still to my right and I continued probing Loki with my bugs, which seemed to have grown the ability to phase completely though a solid body. Obviously, it didn't take long for me to come to the proper conclusion.

"Not in the slightest, dear valkyrie. Thor is my brother. There is no other that loves him such as I." He gestured down in the crater where Thor was still kneeling, rejected by Mjölnir, completely broken. "However, I do recognize that his arrogance is what brought him here."

I nodded. "Of course you do. He was tossed out right before his coronation, right."

Loki blinked and then shook his head with a resigned smirk. "I have no designs for the throne. I have better things to do than watch over our realm like a beloved pet while the Allfather sleeps."

"Sleep?"

That made a whole lot of sense. I could almost see Odin talking to himself. "After a difficult day of smacking down my son I think I should go take a nap. Loki – handle things."

"The Odinsleep," he said as if I would understand. When he saw that I didn't, an explanation followed. "The King of Asgard, in this case my beloved father, is personally tied to the Nine Realms, but to Asgard most intimately. In simplest terms, he expends energy constantly in its defenses, its wards, and the power that is used in all of the enchantments. After my brother's coronation he was to sleep and reclaim his strength.

"Yet another result of my brother dashing off to face the Jotun hordes was that he was to be rescued by said father who overtaxed himself in the process. Odin lay within his chambers possibly never to wake again."

Shit. "I'm sorry."

The corner of his mouth ticked slightly in acknowledgement. "If only matters of import resulting from this mess could be dealt with so easily. In his stead, until his death, or until Thor redeems himself I am duty bound to take my father's place."

Double shit. "Uh…."

"Yes, how eloquent."

I was prepared to deal with Odin until the time came to step down, whenever that was. I was even prepared to deal with Thor, but in no way was I expecting Loki to ever take the crown, the same Loki that Brunnhilda intimidated on my behalf only a month ago.

"Which explains why you're here," I surmised.

"I have more important things to deal with than sitting on that throne looking wise and impacted. So, I find myself coming to you on the proverbial bended knee."

"Me?"

"Watch him," he turned his attention to his brother who was being pulled to his feet by two burly SHIELD agents. "Do not let him come to any harm."

This was the point where I stood there boggled. "He's Thor. It's not like I can make him do anything he doesn't want."

"No more. Father stripped him of his power and his immortality. He has no more strength than the average mortal of his size and health."

"Well, put it back!" There was no way I was going to be a babysitter to a thousand year old asshat.

Loki shook his head. "I cannot risk war with Jotunheim. The only reason they sit idle is because of my brother's punishment."

"Wait. You said he could redeem himself. Let's do that instead."

The newly appointed King of Asgard turned and walked behind me. "My mother, my father, and I have been trying to instill some measure of humility in my brother for hundreds of years. If it is as easy as you seem to think it would be, then by all means do so, but he cannot know. That would defeat the purpose of the punishment."

I walked with him, curiously enough in the direction of my invisible but not unknown intruder.

"He just has to be humble? I mean… how much humble?"

With a jutting if his chin in the direction of the crater he said, "The reason he could not lift his hammer is because he has not been found worthy to wield Mjölnir and thus rule the Nine Realms. Another gift from my father: an enchantment. Once Thor is able to lift the hammer only then he may return to Asgard and not a moment before."

"This is so fucked up. I don't even know where to start."

"Here." I noticed the exact moment the invisible Loki and the fake merged together out of the corner of my eye, because he was suddenly holding out a very large axe type weapon. "I would not see my brother unarmed."

I blinked. "That's… a big axe."

"It is Jarnbjorn, the weapon Thor favored before Odin commissioned the hammer. He is most familiar with its use. See that it is given to him."

That's something I wasn't exactly understanding. "You're not going to talk to him?"

Loki shook his head. "I would only bring sad tidings. It would be better if you were the one presenting this to him. I know of the mutual animosity you hold for one another. Consider this a peace offering. Inform him of my best wishes and that I would consider it a favor paid in full if he would put aside his typical idiocy and act like a king. Now I must return to Asgard."

I took the axe and frowned at him as he disappeared from view. The three flies I'd tagged him with let me know his exact location, but I thought it best to keep that knowledge to myself, at least for the moment.

Babysitting Thor; I couldn't think of a worse person to do the job. This was definitely an upper management decision. I'm sure Hill could assign someone to him that wouldn't piss him off every fifteen seconds. Not to mention him pissing me off. Phil had a way with him. Besides, I was busy with other things, and if what Loki said was true then Thor no longer qualified as superhuman anymore.

Yeah; definitely not my area of expertise, and definitely not my responsibility. Except for the axe. Once that was done I was out of here.

3.5

I stood outside the ever expanding temporary structure SHIELD had erected at the crater. I was wet, the general area smelled like ozone and plastic, and I had a really big axe in my grasp. This wasn't one of my happier days on this new Earth. In fact this particular day was ranking lower and lower every passing minute.

"Tell me that's not another Asgardian relic that just landed," Phil asked with a very tired voice.

I looked over my shoulder at him. "Not exactly. I just had a visit from Loki."

His eyebrows lifted with interest. "Odin's blood brother?"

There were something like five different versions of the Norse myths, each one stranger than the first. There was even a comic book a couple of decades back if you could believe that; I couldn't. Thor was a frog in that one. He wielded Frogjolnir, the mighty frog hammer. Then there was a female Thor. I'm not even going to try to explain that one. It was hard keeping track of all them, but for the most part all the people from the oldest version were mostly present on Asgard. Their relationships were off though, much like Loki and Odin's.

"Uh, no. The mythology here got that part wrong. He's Thor's brother; son of Frigga and Odin."

The incoming headache was apparent on Phil's face. "Another one?"

"No." I shook my head and tried to think of a way to condense the story. "Short version: Odin is in a coma of sorts and Loki is the king until his dad wakes up. He stopped by to give me the heads-up and to drop this off, because he knew Thor wouldn't be able to lift the hammer."

Phil narrowed his eyes at me. "I really don't want to hear the long version, do I?"

"I'll write a report." I couldn't believe I just said that with a straight face.

He paused in thought for a moment before asking, "Is our agreement still in place?"

"As far as I know. He really didn't talk about anything other than Thor's banishment and how much he didn't want to be on the throne."

Phil looked to Jarnbjorn with skepticism. "Is giving a very depressed former prince a sharp weapon the best of moves?"

While I doubted Thor would cut his own head off, I also doubted he'd go on a rampage against people that hadn't done anything to him but help. He just didn't seem like the type. Then again, Phil was pretty insightful.

"I'll wait until later, but I do need to talk to him, relay a message."

"Do you think that's wise? You two haven't exactly gotten along since his arrival."

I just nodded and passed the axe to him. "I'll try not to antagonize him."

He hefted it and looked at the edge appreciatively. "It's heavy."

"And sharp. Be careful where you point the thing."

Leaving him to his play with Thor's axe I pushed aside the plastic sheeting that served as a temporary door and made my way inside. Two armed agents stood outside a room, but they didn't appear overly threatening upon my approach. My ID was scanned and approved before one of them opened the door for me.

Thor didn't even flinch. He was sitting on a metal chair, hunched over a table, staring at the surface as if he'd been poleaxed. A partially clean towel sat to the side and a pitcher of water was his only company.

Since he took offense at my manner of dress earlier, I went ahead and summoned my armor before taking a seat across from him.

"I'm sorry I was a bitch earlier."

That didn't get a reaction, but I suppose he had things more important on his mind.

"Loki stopped by."

That statement however did. He flicked his eyes up at me and it looked as if he was trying to figure out why I was telling him this.

"I take it you know what the Odinsleep is?"

A flicker of concern crossed his face. "My father recovers his strength through this method."

I nodded. "That's what Loki said. He also said that your father wasn't prepared for it this time, and that your mother is concerned about him waking up anytime soon."

Thor slid his eyes away from me and across the table, contemplating something.

"That leaves Loki sitting on the throne."

Thor grimaced and looked back at me. "Why is my brother not here to say this to me himself?"

I pressed my lips together to keep from snapping a smart-ass comment. "He said that he would bring only sad tidings. He just stopped by to check on you, drop off an axe, and ask me to watch out for you. He said to quit acting like an idiot – his words – and instead act like a king so he can go back to doing important Loki stuff that doesn't involve sitting on the throne."

He ground his teeth, flexing muscles along his jaw. I held up my hands defensively.

"I'm just relaying the message. He was actually concerned about you and not his typical self."

"Of course he was concerned. Loki is my brother." I sat there and kept quiet for a few moments while he shifted on his seat. "What of the axe?"

I shook my head. "He called it Jangborn…."

"Jarnbjorn," Thor said with acknowledgement. "He knew that I would not be able to wield Mjölnir; that I was found unworthy."

"Ah, you know about that."

He looked at me oddly. "My father laid an enchantment upon Mjölnir. The runes… 'Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.' He has taken away all that I am. Now I am mortal, unworthy, and another will take my rightful place."

I frowned at the implied message he just sent. "Everything you are is a hammer?"

Thor's eyes tightened as he glared at me. "Mjölnir is more than a simple war hammer, Taylor of Midgard. It is my token of power as Gungnir is my father's. With it I control the elements; the wind, the rain, the storm. I could lay waste to entire cities with but a mere gesture, crack open the ground beneath your feet with a single blow, call it to me from across the galaxy and it would come. Nothing would or could stop it save for the Allfather himself."

I nodded. "And it is wielded by a man."

He blew a frustrated breath. "You could not understand."

"Oh, I think I could understand a lot." Leaning back, I relaxed on my chair. "I know what it's like to have my power stolen from me. It was just temporary at the time, but I remember the feeling of helplessness like it was yesterday."

Reaching up I ran my fingers across my forehead where I remember Bonesaw taking her liberties.

"I just lay there, powerless, while my head was being cut open right here." I traced the line for him. "The villain was monologuing and there was nothing I could do but stall for time. I had to be saved in the end, but I still fought in the only way I knew how."

Thor grabbed the towel that was beside him on the table and wiped at his face, afterward whipping his rain soaked hair back. "Look around, mortal; there is no battle to win, no foe to be vanquished, nobody to come to my defense."

With a tight smile I stood. "That's where you would be mistaken. You're just searching in the wrong place. If you're looking for the person to beat into submission, try staring in a mirror. You are your own worst enemy at the moment."

Standing, I pushed the chair back in its place. "By the way; I'm here. So is SHIELD. You have…." I was about to say friends, but that was pushing things. He'd never believe and I'd be outright lying if I said it. "You have allies. It's up to you to ask for help. We won't force it on you."

~O~

The SHIELD scientists were putting in some serious overtime. For them, an event like this was like shotgunning several energy drinks one after the other. Weird stuff needed analyzing; especially the 0-8-4. That was their designation for an 'item of unknown origin'. While pretty much everyone in the crater knew that it was Asgardian, it still qualified until the moment they knew exactly what it was and how it was made. In my estimate Mjölnir would always be an unknown, because I doubted even Thor knew all the particulars that were involved in its creation and it was even more doubtful that Odin would be giving us any answers.

"Are you here for a try?" one of the techs asked me.

I glanced over at the brunette with the English accent who was setting a sample of something into a centrifuge at her station.

"Sorry?"

"The hammer. Word has gotten out about the whole 'only the worthy' can lift it. Wouldn't budge for me, and Fitz is about to have kittens," she said gleefully.

I looked over to the short guy she pointed out, crouched at the base of the additional pit they carved out in a fruitless attempt to lift it with a backhoe. He was furiously trying to chip away at the unexplained diamond hard dirt underneath.

"Uh…." I really didn't know what to say.

"Go on," she said with a shooing gesture. "Everyone's tried."

She leaned in and stage whispered. "Even Agent Coulson."

That would probably be my luck. I'd pick up the hammer and Thor would most likely have a coronary right on the spot.

"I don't think so."

She smiled questioningly at me with a tilt of her head. "You're not even the least little bit curious?"

Ignoring her urgings I approached the hammer and Fitz, the guy she pointed out, looked up at me.

"Oh, another one," he said with a thick Scottish accent. "Well, go on then, so I can get back to work."

I crouched next to it as it sat atop its perch. "No luck?"

"None. They're bringing the laser next to see if we can burn through this muck."

I shook my head. "You won't be able to; it's an enchantment."

He looked at me, obviously waiting for the punchline. "Aaaand?"

"A riddle, Agent Fitz. The answer to who'll be able to lift it lies with Odin and what he considers worthy traits in a person."

He glanced to the side, back to his fellow scientist. "Right then. Simmons, is this a joke? I have real work to do."

I looked back and caught Simmons in the middle of pointing at me, before she snatched her hand back and smiled innocently.

"Doh! You're her! The girl from Asgard!" He nearly fell from jumping up so fast. "I mean the uh… the woman from Asgard, because you are… I have a million questions."

"Submit them to Agent Hill," I said hopefully quick enough to quash his enthusiasm.

"But... everything we could learn from such an advanced civilization. It's…."

"I was there for a couple of weeks, Agent Fitz, and I didn't spend any of that taking anything apart. I have very little idea on how anything works beyond anecdotal references."

"But you said we couldn't lift it because of an enchantment."

"Fitz," Simmons said when she approached. She gave me an apologetic smile. "Sorry, you'll have to understand our enthusiasm. This is a once in a lifetime chance to study a genuine alien artifact. Any information that you could relate to us would help immensely… even anecdotal"

I sighed and look at both of them before turning my attention back to the hammer. "I'll tell you want I know about it, but it's not much."

"Excellent!" Fitz said under his breath with a triumphant clenched fist about to pump in the air.

I looked it over noting the designs, or possibly a continuous series of Asgardian glyphs and runes. Then I recalled some of the things Brunnhilda told me about my own sword and all the personal weapons of all the warriors.

"The metal is called Uru. It's mined and forged on Nidavellir, the realm of the Dwarves."

Simmons interrupted me. "I'm sorry, did you say Dwarves?"

With a nod I said. "I know. It sounds weird. That's where the myths came from, actual dwarves. Short, long beards, like to dig stuff up."

Her mouth was comically open and then shut at the end of my explanation.

"Anyway, the heat required to melt or smelt, or whatever they do to form it is the equivalent to the center of a sun. They have special forges where they work it into shape. Then it gets passed onto the Asgardians where they mix in the technology. Don't ask, because I know nothing about any of it. After that they add the enchantments; that's the decorative work around the hammer. I'm pretty sure Odin did all the detail on this one."

Fitz looked as if he thought I made the whole thing up. "Are you telling me that the little scribbles on the hammer are what's making it so heavy?"

"Doubtful. Thor said there were runes on the side that explained why he couldn't lift it."

"It's blank," Fitz pressed. "Smooth as a baby's bottom."

"They're invisible right now."

He nodded. "Invisible runes. Right then. Thanks so much."

"Fitz," Simmons smacked him on the side, before turning to me. "Really, thank you. It may not be much, but it's more than we had three minutes ago."

I reached out for the handle and held my palm less than an inch away. There was something there, static, something otherworldly making me pause in thought. A moment later I knew, deep down, that I couldn't be worthy of much of anything where Odin was concerned. In some ways I'm sure we were similar, but in far too many I knew we weren't. No, I wouldn't make a fool of myself by trying. Besides, what would I do with a hammer that created storms and bashed earth? It would probably spend most of its time in my pocket dimension with my unused sword, not to mention my unused spear.

A collection of Asgardian weaponry wasn't what I needed.

When I turned away and started making my way up the temporary stairs they'd laid down I noticed Thor off to the side, finally out of the room set aside for him. His gaze followed me to the top where he waited to the side, measuring me or judging me, I couldn't tell which.

"All the others have tried."

It was strange that he would know that considering the room he was in didn't have a view of the crater.

"It's not my place, and I doubt I'm worthy."

"All the more reason you must attempt to lift Mjölnir. With my father in the Odinsleep it is a dangerous time for my realm. A majority of the city's defenses can only be activated by him alone. Without my presence I fear those less scrupulous would take advantage."

"Loki doesn't count?"

He pursed his lips and exhaled slowly. "My brother's talents lay in other areas. Asgard needs a warrior and I have been found lacking. You may not be."

I tried to figure out exactly what drives him to say was he does at times. It's a fruitless effort. He's an ass, but he's not stupid. I doubt Odin could raise a son over a thousand years and have him turn out like that. Loki was right. He simply lacked humility, and that was one of the most difficult lessons to teach someone. Using logic won't work, because they have to put someone else before their own self-interest – try teaching that to someone that's lived for a millennium. It was an impossible task.

"What are you asking me to do?"

He nodded in the direction of his hammer. "Attempt to lift Mjolnir. If you do, then return to Asgard and watch over it until my father wakes."

"And when I can't lift it what do I get? No thanks. I don't need the added humiliation of knowing Odin doesn't find me worthy."

"You seek to take advantage of this situation? Have you no honor?"

I pressed my lips together, annoyed. "I have plenty of honor. It's your arrogance that has led you to this point. In your own words you have endangered Asgard. Fix it and go defend it yourself. I have duties here on Earth."

Thor turned his head away and focused on the hammer. "Would that I knew how."

With a sigh I reached up and rubbed at my forehead. "Maybe learn to put others before yourself? That's the opposite of arrogance, isn't it?"

"And how should I do this, Taylor of Midgard?"

I shook my head. "That's a good question. I haven't been overly humble for a very long time. Maybe we both could use a dose."

A grunt issued forth from him. "Agreed."

When I felt the conversation had run its course, I turned to leave, but Thor had one last question.

"Where is Jarnbjorn?"

"Agent Coulson has it. I'd suggest not looking so depressed if you want to get it from him. I think he's afraid that you might do something… rash."

"Nonsense," he protested. "I am a prince of As…."

Thor stopped himself once more remembering everything that was taken away from him. "A prince of nothing."

I smirked and opened the door. "And that's the attitude that will make him keep it from you. Try some calm reason."

With a nod I turned again and still couldn't make it out of the damn carter room.

"Would you help me?"

My hand froze on the doorknob and I swear I wanted nothing but to run back to Sharon and Sarah and get the hell out of New Mexico. However, here was someone in genuine need of help, and the entire Nine Realms was depending on him to pull his head out of his ass. If I denied him and walked away then I was no better and most likely much less of a person.

"You told me that I have allies among those of you here," he said. "Are you an ally, Taylor of Midgard, or were they just words spoken without true intent behind them."

I plastered on a nice fake smile and turned to him. "Why me? I'm curious."

He shrugged and looked away. "The core of my being is warning me away from you. You have been nothing but a thorn in my side since I first laid eyes upon you at the feast and Brunnhilda glared at me with anger in her eyes. She hasn't looked at me in that way for centuries."

Ah, everything was starting to make sense, finally. I made his old flame remember why she was annoyed with his ass, and he was in some sort of valkyrie doghouse where she was concerned.

"I didn't tell her to treat you that way."

A touch of melancholy made its way on his face. "Nobody commands Brunnhilda except for my father and even then I question the hold he has on her."

I nodded. "Then we're a lot alike. I follow the orders of people I respect."

"Then I ask of you once more. Will you help me, and if not me then the people of Asgard who might suffer in my absence?"

Releasing the doorknob I sighed. "I don't know if I can. We don't exactly get along."

"Perhaps that is a failing of mine. As I said, everything I am is telling me to avoid you. Every choice I have made recently has been in error. That should be reason enough to seek aid specifically from you."

I'm pretty sure I was just insulted, sort of. "Okay. First thing I suggest is seeing a SHIELD psychiatrist to see what they could recommend. Mental health isn't my forte. The people that hang around me are… I should say weren't the most stable of individuals. That's changed recently, but I still wouldn't trust my views over theirs, at least not yet."

Thor looked uncertain. "Psychiatrist? What is this?"

"A healer of sorts."

"A mortal healer?"

"You're mortal now. Try not to insult yourself," I shot back. "I've seen some in my past and they helped me. You should try that first. You asked for my help and that's my first piece of advice. So, should I talk to Agent Coulson and see if he can set up an appointment?"