"Erik….take a look at this!" Jane Foster called to Selvig as he entered their base from the RV, his hair still slightly damp from the shower.

"What is it?" Selvig asked as he made his way to the desk where Jane sat in front of a computer monitor displaying a series of graphs.

"I entered the data from all three events. They didn't originate in the atmosphere."

"I know," Selvig replied.

"What do you mean you know?" asked Jane, perplexed.

Jane and Selvig looked away from the monitor to the entrance as multiple black cars, SUVs, and a van pulled up outside. Men and women in dark clothing and suits along with a brunette woman, her hair pulled back and sporting a military style jumpsuit, exited the vehicles, swarming like locusts.

"What's going on?" Darcy asked as she exited the RV, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

Jane stood as the brunette woman approached, accompanied by two muscular men in similar dark military style garb, as she gave directives to others in uniforms and suits.

"Erik Selvig?" the woman asked as she neared them.

"Yes..." Selvig said nervously as the woman displayed what looked like a government ID.

"Maria Hill. I'm an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. You're being detained for questioning in the abduction of agent Phil Coulson," Hill said, one of the two agents on either side of her stepping forward and cuffing Selvig, the other ready to intervene if he resisted.

"What?! That's insane! Erik hasn't abducted anyone! We're scientists! Wait! Where are you taking him? Hey! Those are ours! We need that! " Jane cried out, aghast, watching as Selvig was led away as other agents gathered up computers and scientific equipment.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"This Randolph...he's an expert in the stories told of us long ago? They're fiction," Loki questioned Coulson.

"That's why it's called mythology," Coulson replied.

"Why would anyone study what they know to be untrue?"

"To gain insight about the people who created them," Coulson answered Loki's query.

"They were backwards and ignorant, simple minded and foolish as are the majority of Midgardians today."

Without warning, Loki experienced another episode of sharp, crippling pain that shot through his brain like a lightning bolt, another vision flashing before his mind's eye, he holding a scepter in his hand as he stood behind the man he now knew to be Coulson, thrusting it into his back, leaving the man mortally wounded, sitting propped against a wall, blood staining his previously neat dress shirt, trickling from his mouth.

Coulson noticed Loki wince as if he had just been struck with a migraine, holding his head with one hand as he swayed on his feet. Though his abductor and jailer, Coulson's natural instinct to be concerned for others' wellbeing kicked in, evident in his expression.

"You all right?"

"You said I lacked conviction....You were right," Loki struggled to speak, continuing to hold his head before the pain began to recede, Coulson confused as Loki stepped to the panel that controlled the force field surrounding the cell, deactivating it, "I find you innocent. You will help me to discover who is guilty."

"Do I get a choice?" Coulson asked, warily stepping out of the cell.

"Of course. Verda would enjoy a pet. I'll have a proper habitat constructed."

"I'm not sure I consider that a choice."

"You have experience in investigation," Loki stated more than asked.

"It's one of many parts of my job, yes," Coulson answered.

"Then tell me, where do we start?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Erik Selvig sat alone at a table in a small interview room that S.H.I.E.L.D. had commandeered for their use at the local police headquarters. They had removed the handcuffs, much to Selvig's relief. He thought back to the evening before. Their getaway had seemed flawless. The two sitting in the car in the parking lot that Selvig was sure were Coulson's backup in case his meeting went sideways had hardly given Loki, Sif, and Verda a second glance as they'd exited the bar, obviously believing them to be locals and unrelated to the reason they were there. The only surveillance camera he was aware of in the bar was over the bar itself and the cash register and he hadn't entered the building. It had likely been some time before they realized Coulson had disappeared. After driving Loki and the others outside of town and seeing them off, he had returned to their base, informing Jane and Darcy that 'Lucas' had contacted an acquaintance, Selvig driving him to meet them.

Selvig thought back to those last few moments in the desert. Loki had called out to someone, a moment later the Bifrost descending. He attempted to recall familiar names from the stories he had been told as a child. Rifling through the files in his brain, it came to him. It was worth a shot as at this point he had nothing to lose.

"Heimdall...if you can see me, if you can hear me...tell Loki I've been arrested by S.H.I.E.L.D," Selvig said aloud in the empty room.

"I can both see and hear you," a deep, resonant voice replied, "I will inform my prince of your plight."

Selvig looked to his left to see a tall, muscular and imposing man, his skin ebony, his eyes golden, almost appearing to be glowing, wearing a helmet and armor. What he could not see was that his own eyes had taken on the same golden hue.

"Thank you," Selvig answered, that being all he could manage to say.

Heimdall's image was gone as quickly as it had appeared, Selvig's eyes returning to their natural color just as the door to the room opened, the woman who had given her name as Maria Hill entering along with an African American man with a goatee and a cleanly shaved head, an eye patch over his left eye, Selvig unable to help wondering what the story was behind the loss of it.

"Dr. Selvig. Can I get you anything? Coffee?" Nick Fury asked cordially.

"No, thank you," Selvig answered.

Fury and Hill seated themselves in the chairs that had been placed opposite Selvig at the table.

"I'm Nick Fury, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. I don't do too many of these anymore. I usually leave them to people like Agent Hill here. This is a special case. Not only is Phil Coulson a colleague, he's also a friend. Why don't you save yourself a boat load of trouble and tell me where he is?"

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"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm a scientist. I'm here studying atmospheric anomalies," Selvig said, doing his best to sound convincing as he feigned ignorance before Hill produced a digital voice recorder.

"We must return. Goodbye, Erik Selvig," Loki's voice emanated from the recorder, slightly muffled.

Hill stopped the playback, glaring back at Selvig.

"Who's that you're speaking to? Who are you working for?" Fury asked.

"I'm not working for anyone."

"I'm going to ask you one more time. Where's my friend?" Fury said, sounding more than a bit perturbed and impatient.

"Where's mine? Bruce Banner hasn't been heard from since he had dealings with you people."

"Is that what this is about? Banner left the country of his own accord. He's eating a lot of Indian food these days. Actually, that sounds pretty good. I don't suppose there's a place to get Tandoori around here? We're just keeping an eye on him. Believe it or not, that's more for his safety than ours. I've given you what you asked for..."

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Selvig said.

"Trust me, I've heard some weird ass shit in my day. Some of it actually turned out to be true."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Hello again, sister," Verda's voice said from within Lorelei's cell, Lorelei seated on the edge of her bed looking up from the book she was reading to view Verda's form in the same place as previously.

"Your dearest love was here. I still fail to understand what it is you see in him," Lorelei said, closing the book in her hands and setting it aside, rising from the bed.

"I wouldn't expect you to. You've no idea what love means."

"What is it you want?" Lorelei asked impatiently.

"I've come to inform you that the next queen of Asgard will not be a bilge snipe," Verda replied, "Considering you said that you would go to your death more quickly, I couldn't wait to tell you."

"Asgard will come to regret the day that pitiful excuse for a prince takes the throne, a worthless quim for a queen at his side," Lorelei sneered.

"This will be my last visit. It would not be proper for the Queen of Asgard to speak with such a low creature. Farewell, sister," Verda said before her image vanished.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Loki and Coulson stood in front of two stone slabs that held the bodies of Krieger and his partner in crime as Loki disengaged the energy field surrounding both corpses.

"They've been searched? All that was found was my card?" asked Coulson, Loki confirming.

Coulson moved to the side of the slab upon which rested Krieger's body. Krieger's nose was obviously badly broken, almost smashed flat and depressed into his skull as was the midsection of his forehead. There were obvious additional injuries to the brows and cheekbones.

"Your brother did quite a number on them. You did a damn fine job of simulating him considering the disfigurement," Coulson complimented Loki, now understanding why the nose of Loki's rendition of Krieger had looked off, "These are the masks they were wearing?" Coulson asked, picking up and examining the mask lying on Krieger's chest.

It was a full face mask made of a solid resin material, vaguely similar to the masks once worn decades ago by hockey goaltenders. Coulson turned it over to look at the inside, his expression darkening at the sight of dried blood.

"No manufacturer's mark...custom made. No way to trace them. They know how to cover their tracks. My card was either a mistake on Krieger's part or a plant to misdirect you."

"If it was meant as a misdirection they must have reason to wish you harm as well," Loki responded.

"Elementary, my dear Watson," Coulson replied, Loki obviously from his expression not understanding the reference, "Sherlock Holmes...though he never actually said that in any of the books. I read them all as a kid. They taught me to think like a detective which turned out to be useful when working on cars with my dad, too."

"I'm afraid my knowledge of Midgardian literature is lacking."

"You should give them a read. I think you'd enjoy them," Coulson suggested, placing the mask back where he had found it on Krieger's body.

"My time will soon be far more limited," Loki informed Coulson, "I am to take the sacred vows of kingship. My father wishes to enjoy what time remains to him less encumbered. I was not his choice to be his heir. My father had intended my brother to ascend the throne. The king of Jotunheim was murdered as well the next day."

"Jotunheim?"

"The realm of the frost giants, one of the nine realms of which Midgard, your Earth, is a part. They are all connected as the branches of a tree. We call this 'tree' Yggdrasil. The realms look to Asgard for guidance and protection, all but Midgard who petitioned my father to be allowed to go their own way. It was a foolish choice but my father granted their request."

"So the king of another realm was murdered along with your brother? Jotunheim is an ally?"

"They warred with us at the time of my birth. Laufey, their king, the same who is now dead, attempted to conquer all nine realms, including Midgard. My father defeated him. Since then we have existed under an uneasy peace. In keeping with the treaty, as their own source of power and defense as well as offense was taken from them, we protect and would defend Jotunheim from aggression by others."

"We fought a war to stop a madman from taking over the whole kit and caboodle on Earth seventy years ago. Has anyone in any other realms been targeted?"

"Not thus far."

"There has to be a connection. I assume a child of Laufey has taken the throne."

"His brother. Laufey had seven wives yet had no-" Loki began before falling silent, appearing contemplative.

"You think of something?" Coulson asked.

"You have released the prisoner," both men heard Heimdall's deep voice say from behind them.

"He is innocent of Thor's murder. He has agreed to assist me in the investigation as he has experience in such matters," Loki told Heimdall as he and Coulson turned to face Asgard's gatekeeper.

"I've never investigated the murder of royalty...or an extraterrestrial...or extraterrestrial royalty," Coulson confessed.

"Erik Selvig has been taken captive by S.H.I.E.L.D."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Verda stood on the balcony off the great room of Loki's chambers enjoying the view along with the fresh air. Hearing the doors open behind her, she turned, expecting to see Loki enter, surprised instead to see the Queen of Asgard standing before them.

"My Queen," Verda acknowledged her, bowing her head.

"As you are to be my daughter I thought we should get to know each other," Frigga said with a warm, welcoming smile as she crossed the room.

"Of course," Verda replied.

"You will also take my place as Queen. Are you ready for such a responsibility?"

"It seems I have little choice but to make myself so."

"I will prepare you as best I can but in the end you must forge your own path. Every Queen is her own person. I'm quite a different person than Bestla, Bor's Queen, as you will be from me. I go now to speak to my King. Upon my return, together we will find something suitable for you to wear to the coronation as you will stand with your betrothed. You will then share the secret you and my son are keeping from me," Frigga said, turning and walking to the doors, exiting Loki's chambers.

Verda stood speechless before the doors opened once again, Loki entering, Coulson trailing behind him.

"Verda!" Loki called out in alarm just as she sensed a presence behind her.

Turning swiftly, Verda's eyes fell on a female in a white hooded bodysuit, a mask obscuring her face, her right hand raised as it gripped a dagger. The figure stabbed downward before Verda had time to recover from her shock, the point of the dagger breaking her skin, sinking into her flesh through the pendant of her necklace in the open space between the tree and circular border around it, dislodging a few of the tiny gold leaves.

With a cry of fright and pain, Verda fell back from her attacker. Losing her footing, she lay supine on the floor, raising her hand to the wound as Loki thrust his arm out, Mjolnir rocketing to him from where it rested beside the chaise. Loki hurled the hammer in the assailant's direction, Mjolnir catching her full in the chest, sending her flying over the balcony to plummet to the courtyard below. Loki deftly caught Mjolnir as it returned to him before rushing to Verda's side, Coulson remaining where he stood, unsure what he had just witnessed.

Verda sat up, Loki setting Mjolnir down as he knelt beside her, assessing her wound.

"It's nothing," Verda assured him before he assisted her to her feet.

Coulson had crossed the room to the balcony, looking over it at the body below, Asgardians who had been in the courtyard and witnessed her fall gathering around her, einherjar moving them aside, taking control of the scene.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Having rushed to the courtyard, the einherjar moving aside for them, Loki, Coulson, and Verda now stood at the side of the would-be assassin, her chest heaving as she struggled for breath. Blood trickled from Verda's wound, staining the front of her gown as Loki wrapped an arm protectively around her.

Coulson knelt beside the woman, reaching out and removing the mask to reveal the visage beneath it. All three stared in shock and confusion as they viewed a carbon copy of Verda's face.

"Loki..." Verda's double said with her last breath as she set her eyes on the God of Mischief before life drained from them, leaving them fixed on Loki in a glassy stare at the same time as Verda's body went limp as she swooned.

"Verda!" Loki exclaimed, catching and lifting her in his arms as he addressed Coulson, "I'm taking her to the healing room. I leave this to you," Loki said to Coulson before turning to one of the einherjar, "This man is Coulson of Midgard. I've given him authority to investigate the murder of my brother. Do all that he says. When he is finished here, escort him to my chambers to await my return."

The einherjar nodded, Loki anxiously crossing the courtyard cradling the unconscious Verda.