Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or any of the characters! (Just in case someone thought that I did ^^)

Jane Foster was a naturally curious person.

Especially when it involved anything concerning astrophysics and any kind of anomalies. Such as this. After two years of nothing. Of Thor disappearing and never returning. Of fruitless endeavours and scientific studies that led nowhere. Finally her instruments had started up again!

She didn't know what they had recorded exactly. She didn't know whether it would help with her research at all and if it would lead her to Thor. It could be dangerous. Or it could be nothing at all and her stupid instruments maybe weren't working after all and it was all just a glitch. But she knew that she needed to have a look.

And she also knew that there was no such thing as a glitch when it came to her own inventions.

So, no matter the improbable disappointment. No matter the more-than-likely danger. Jane had always been bold to the degree of stupidity and recklessness. And she needed to know!

So she dashed away from her date (which – let's be honest – wouldn't have worked out), after Darcy, ending up at the abandoned Greenwich industrial estate. And despite her better judgement and her gut telling her not to wander off alone, she did. And that's where the mess started.

Not knowing how she got there or where she was exactly, she suddenly found herself in front of this massive black block of stone. Which was cracked open halfway through, with the upper half levitating above it. Her science-heart gave a leap at that. How was that possible? What about mass? What about gravitation?

Thor's arrival had definitely marked a colossal change in her research and her perception of the world and the universe around her.

She had accepted the existence of gods, of several worlds co-existing, of the Einstein-Rosen-Bridge actually being a thing. But she still was amazed and couldn't believe her eyes when seeing something as simple as a ten-ton brick defying gravity.

It was like... no she would not call it magic. Magic was a childish notion. She was an adult and she believed that there was an explanation to everything. Including this phenomenon.

And she would find out what it was.

So she stepped closer and examined this weird structure.

Actually – come to think of it – she realized that the gut feeling that had told her to turn and run the opposite way, had been replaced by a new, other feeling, a whisper tugging her towards the stone. She felt like a magnet being attracted to it. She couldn't defy the pull.

Then she saw the red light... or something red ... emanating from within the gap. She rose up on her tiptoes and examined it closer. It turned out to be a strange, scarlet liquidy-gas by the looks of it.

She rose up further to get a better look. And slipped.

To keep from falling she stumbled against the stone, saw the red thing coming for her and then everything went black.

Seemingly, on the other end of the universe, grey-blue eyes that had been more-or-less focused on the pages of a huge tome, snapped up and to full attention, staring off into the distance. A smile spread on the man's face.

To anyone standing around, it might have looked wicked, but internally he was cursing the universe's dry sense of humour.

"So... it seems the second infinity stone has claimed its vessel... And whom? Of course, none other than the insignificant Midgardian woman his oaf of a brother had met and seemingly fallen in love with while he'd been on earth... how interesting..." Loki thought as he leaned back and immersed himself into the pages of his book once again...