Hey there! Welcome to the first chapter of the second installment in my Adopting the Broken Multiverse series. If you haven't read it yet, check out the first story in the installment, Home is where you make it, else you might be a bit lost at first. And if not, enjoy anyway, and as always, reveiw and let me know what you think!

Sometimes in life, things happen that we have absolutely no control over.

Take puberty, for example. Other than the fact that steroids can mess with it, there's no way to control when it finally strikes, causing you to have all sorts of new feelings, emotions, growth and other horrible things that make you feel completely awkward. All you can do is try your best to not trip over you suddenly weirdly proportioned body, strap on your new bra to keep the lumps of fat growing on your chest constrained, or keep a steady supply of tissue and lotion on hand next to your bed for the steadily increasing happening of blood running down into one head instead of the other. And that's not even all the other fun things that females get to go through that make them want to stab people and gorge on chocolate all while sobbing uncontrollably the entire time.

Cancer is another thing that, while we can try our best to keep our skin and body healthy, it can sneak up on us at any time in our life, completely changing our lives. There are several different options for cancer, including attempted removal, chemotherapy, skin grafts…unfortunately sometimes all you can for the person is make sure their life is comfortable and pain free as possible. Sometimes the cancer will show back up if removed, sometimes not. That's just the lottery of life.

Sometimes you can pray to God, angels, mother earth, whoever you believe in, and hope for a miracle. Sometimes you can make a deal, if you're willing to pray the price of what you ask for.

Sometimes you meet someone who needed a friend because you just happened to be at the right place at the right time.

Ashley's life so far seemed like a whole string of events that kept happening she had no control over. She wasn't going to complain about most of them, mind you, but at this point she had to admit her life was way more eventful than any normal persons should, ever since the funeral when her cousin asked her to move to Beacon Hills and live with him and his dad. She'd been stabbed, chased, bitten, partially possessed, infected by a succubus, kidnapped and drugged. She'd made friends with angels, demons, hunters, werewolves, tulpas( not that she knew it at the time), a rich playboy genius, a baby shape shifter and lots of teenagers, all the while trying to live a somewhat normal life and maintain a relationship with someone who wasn't a steadily going crazy werewolf with murder issues.

Unfortunately for her, she was failing on all accounts. Her best friend and companion was dead because he saved her life from a barrage of glass spikes, her not really boyfriend (more like stalker she is attracted to and had sex with once) wanted to kill her cousins best friend for reasons, and the fragments of grace given to her by her archangel friends/guardians were not only very slowly regenerating inside her, they were leaving her little…let's say quirks…to get used to.

One of which decided transport her all the way to a German museum after she passed out from a power overload, also technically due to the grace. She could even partially tell whose grace it was this time, as it had a mischievous feel to it, one she could sense while unconscious. Lucifers had a more serious tone to it, though it would often reflect his dry wit. It wasn't known what exactly had been shared with her so far, only that she was showing signs of Gabriels sense of justice, which could be a very good thing…or a very bad one, considering the circumstances. She was going to need training if the grace continued to grow, however, lest it overwhelm her every time.

In her unconscious state, she could tell something was being blocked from her, but no matter how hard she concentrated on it, on getting around the wall to see what was behind it, it would elude her grasp, sometimes leaving her with a brief jolt of pain. Whatever it was, it was determined to stay hidden from her. It would have made sense if it was keeping the loss of Gwaine from her, considering how badly she reacted to it when it first happened, but she could still that clear as day, and could still feel pain from it. As she searched through her memories in the darkness, a bright green light suddenly started brightening the darkness, waking her from her unconscious state.

When she finally opened her eyes, waking finally, it took a bit for her to adjust to the location she was in, confused as when she had passed out, she had been in a dark warehouse lit only by the moon, surrounded by werewolves. Now, however, she was in a brightly lit room on a hard floor, propped up with her back against the wall. Letting her eyes adjust further, she spied a tall, dark haired man sitting on a bench in front of her, a mix of curiosity and confusion written on his face, his leaf green eyes intense as he watches her become more coherent, dressed in expensive looking clothes that looked tailored to his body and holding a cane.

She blinks a couple of times as he continues to look silently at her, eyes almost looking like turned a bright blue for a second, before she clears her throat and breaks the silence. "Um…hello. How long have I been here?"

He cocks his head to the side, contemplating her. "About 15 minutes." He says in a smooth English accent.

"Not too bad then. I don't suppose anyone else was here with me? Also, where exactly is here?"

"I'm afraid you…arrived, alone. Out of a pool of bright light." He adds in, eyebrow quirking up at her as she silently groans. "And I believe we're in Germany presently. Might I ask where you expected to be?"

"You're kidding me..Germany?" She says, trying to stand up and ignoring the momentary dizziness from it. "I'm going to kill them, I swear… I'm going to put laxatives in his cookies for a year. Halfway across the stupid globe…" She starts muttering under her breath as the stranger watches on amusedly, renoticing him halfway through her silent rant and blushing. "Sorry, I'm a lot farther away than I thought." Suddenly something else occurs to her. "You're awfully calm for someone who just saw a girl drop outta no where right in front of him."

"Magic is not unknown to me, though I must say I wasn't expecting it."

"Oh good." She says, relieved for some reason. "Because I'm still trying to get used to it. It would help if I had a little bit of control over it I guess, but that would be too easy I guess. At least didn't land in front of someone who was gonna freak out and start running around like an idiot." She walks over to the balcony and sees a large group of people down below, surrounding an assortment of various artifacts, and the man walks up beside her, looking down as well. A balding man below is giving some sort of speech. "Is this some sort of museum? Because that honestly looks like a two headed unicorn table."

The man beside her gives a strained smirk, and she notices that he doesn't look like he's feeling very well. "It is. And that table is actually a fake. The real one is far beneath your pacific ocean, sleeping with the fishes as they say."

Ashley gives a snort at that, and he glances over at her, surprised at her amusement. "Figures. People will believe anything you tell them. My name's Ashley, by the way. What's yours?"

He looks at her for a moment, gaging whether or not to tell her, before looking back down at the crowd below. "Loki."

"Loki huh? That figures, you aren't the only guy I've met to use that name. Tell me, are you a mischief maker as well? You planning on pulling some sort of bloody prank tonight?" When he looks back at her, slight shock in his eyes, she gives a tired smirk of her own. "Don't look so surprised, the last Loki I met was big on violent pranks for a while, basically pranking anyone he thought deserved it with ironic justice. Of course, he wasn't actually Loki, but he still enjoyed his jokes. Stuck two friends of mine in TV land for who knows how long, made one of them do a genital herpes commercial."

"Sounds like someone I could get into trouble with. What did this Loki pretender do to you?"

"Me? He sent me and Gwaine to his place and we watched it all on TV with him. He said I was an innocent and liked that I thought it was funny, so he didn't want to get me involved. I ended up figuring out who he really was and making friends with him because of that."

"So you enjoyed his tricks then? You didn't see his magic as unseemly?"

He sounds sad when he says this, and she looks over at him. "Not at all, why would I? If you're good at something, you shouldn't have to hide it. Well, I mean, if you're good at killing small animals or something like that I wouldn't suggest flaunting it, but magic? That's something you should be proud of."

"You're a very strange female."

"Thanks! So I gotta ask…does your mischief include a bit of bloodshed?" When he nods, she continues. "Is it something you feel you gotta do? And no talking will stop you?" Another nod. "Well, you better get at it then. It was nice to meet you Loki, or whatever your name is, but since no angels have dropped outta nowhere to fuss over me, I'm guessing I need to find a way to get a hold of someone in America since they apparently aren't hearing me. Good luck."

"You might want to wait until I'm done." He says suddenly as she goes to head down the stairs. She turns around and looks at him. "Lest you get trampled as everyone runs screaming out of the building while I do my work. Look away if you cannot stand the sight of blood, or do not, it matters not to me."

"I…thank you." She says, moving off the stairs to let him pass, confused that he would warn her, considering he seemed not to care about much, instead watching with a cold indifference. She goes to the balcony, curious as to what he's up to, and watches as he walks with purpose down the stairs, making it to the bottom and swinging his cane up, knocking the guard beside him out before grabbing the man giving the speech around the neck and dragging him to the unicorn table, slamming him down on it. As she continues to watch, he takes a shiny metal tool out of it and switches it on, causing spikes to whirl round loudly right before he jabs it into one of the mans eyes, causing blood to fly as the eye is dislodges from his face.

She understands what he means about panicking people now, as they freak out and start screaming, causing him to look around and start to smile at the chaos he created. She finds herself wondering as well what he could need the mans eye for, since he said it was something he needed to do. When he finally finishes he looks up, pleased, eyes seeming to change colors again, before he nods up at her and walks out. Breathing heavily, wondering how much trouble she's in, she waits a couple of minutes and follows him out, everyone else gone from the building, and she really wishes she had that phone from Tony. At least she has her blade, not that she can use it to contact anyone, but she can defend herself if need be.

Walking out, she makes it in time to see a crowd running away once more, and a man that looks suspiciously like Captain America fighting with a man dressed in green and black leather armor, with a gold helmet adorned with large curving horns. Sneaking closer, she sees the leather clad man get knocked aside, noticing that it's the man claiming to be Loki wearing it. The two continue to fight, some sort of jet hovering close by, ordering him to surrender as he gets kicked in the head by the Captain America look alike before knocking him aside.

Suddenly there is a rock song blaring from the intercom system of the jet, and a very familiar looking red and gold suit comes soaring towards them, blasting Loki with his energy cannon and knocking him against the steps, the glowing staff flying from his hands and towards her. As he struggles back up, Tony is joined by the look alike in standing in front of him, weapons out and looking menacing. "Make a move reindeer games." Tony says, making her roll her eyes. To her surprise, Loki holds his hands up in surrender, armor shimmering and changing to simple leather clothes and a duster jacket, still in green and black. "Good move."

Happy to see a familiar helmeted face, she steps out of her hiding place, picking up the scepter on her way over and noticing the strange hum of power coming from it, so unlike her archangels but powerful just the same. Frowning at it, she looks back up and runs over to the jet as they start herding a now handcuffed Loki into it. "Tony!" She yells, causing the genius to look over from where he was talking to the blue clad man with the nice ass.

"Charlies angel? What are you doing here?" He asks, voice muffled through the suit. "Shoudn't you be back in the states teaching brainless teenagers? Or are you on a hunt with the too tall duo?"

"I wish." She says with a loud sigh, noticing the others looking at her strangely. "Kind of a long story, but needless to say it's an angels fault. Mind if I hitch a ride with you and whoever your friends are? My phone got left at home and I'm still confused why I'm here in the first place."

"Eh, not my friends, but I'm gonna say hop aboard anyway. Mind if I take this?" He replies, escorting her on the ship and taking the scepter from her, handing to someone dressed all in black once they're onboard and sitting next to her. "Welcome to the shady government program known as SHIELD, and a constant thorn in my handsome backside."

*********( )**********

"Wait wait wait. Just, wait. You're telling that's actually Captain America? And Loki? As in god of mischief Loki?" She asks in disbelief once they finally take off and she swaps stories with Tony, a woman with red hair glancing back at her every once in a while with a suspicious expression. Loki was seated across from her, strangely silent the trip so far as he listened to the conversations taking place. Tony had removed his faceplate so he could talk to her more easily, and had given her an uncomfortable hug when she told him about Gwaine. Loki had actually flinched when she talked about it, making her wonder how many Norse myths were actually true.

"You hang around with angels and have a hard time believing Thor and Loki are real?"

"It's not that, just that Gabriel used to pretend to be Loki, and Lucifer killed what he said were all the pagan gods on earth, so I thought they were dead. Crowley had mentioned something about tulpas before, but never got a chance to explain. And don't ask what tulpas are, I'll explain later." She says, stopping him as his face takes on the same look he got when he started quizzing her on ghosts.

"I'll hold you to that." Tony says, smirking. "Now, we're having sort of a situation right now, so we probably won't be able to take you home at first, but we will eventually. Good news is, you get to see a real airship and hang out with me while I do science. Which is a treat in itself, because science is my bitch."

"Oh joy." She says dryly, causing him to grin. "I figured I wouldn't be lucky enough to go straight home. As long as the woman in the front doesn't try and murder me I should be good."

"Agent Romanoff? Yea, she can be scary. Don't worry, I'll go tell her what's what. Not like she can stop me, I'll just hack back into the system. Be right back." He stands up, walking over to talk to Captain America ( or Steve as he asked her to call him) and the scary redhead, and she takes the chance to look across at Loki, who's staring back at her.

"Do you plan on showing your distaste for me now that you know the truth?" He sneers, taking her aback slightly. "Now that you know the golden boy Thor is real? That your friend is my enemy?"

Ashley simply shrugs, giving a him a smile. "If the stories are true, he doesn't sound like someone I'd have fun around. I prefer someone with a few brains in their head, who won't kill first ask questions never. I already had to convince two friends of mine not to do that anymore, and it took way longer than it should have." He looks at her with his eyes narrowed. "Besides, I just saw you grind a guys eye out of his socket. If that doesn't make me want to stop talking to you, I'm good."

"And why exactly were you not perturbed by that? I assume it's something humans don't see often."

"I told you, a friend of mine used to pretend to be you. He got very…creative with his pranks, and some of that creativity was pretty bloody. Only when they deserved it, of course, but still. That, and I traveled a lot with monster hunters…vampires and werewolves leave some big messes."

He leans back in his seat, the sneer gone from his face. "You aren't the norm for human females, are you?"

"Not at all. My life is filled to the brim with crap that would make some people wanna run away and hide in a hole for the rest of their life. I just happen to have friends to make it not so bad."

"Like the wolf you lost."

Her face crumples slightly. "Yes, like Gwaine. I'll never be able to replace him. He helped to keep me sane and grounded, and was my constant companion."

"I…had a son like that." Loki says softly, causing her to look up at him, eyes wide. "My fath…Odin, was scared of him growing too powerful, so made up a prophecy saying my son would be the death of him. They led him to an overgrown island, where they tricked him and tied him to a stone and drove a sword through his jaw and into the ground. I begged for them to release him, but all they did was say it was for the best."

"Fenrir?" She asks softly, and he nods.

"Yes, though he preferred Fenris. "Loki said, then frowns. "I don't know why I told you that, it is none of your concern.

"Maybe you just needed someone to share with, since it doesn't seem like your brother is the listening type."

"He is not my brother!"

"Adoption doesn't matter if you grew up as family. " She says with a shrug. "Most of the people I consider family aren't related to me at all. That doesn't stop me from caring about them. Tell me, Thor's mom…do you still care about her? Would you be upset if she was hurt or got sick?"

"She cannot get sick." Loki mutters, but doesn't deny anything. Ashley smiles as she feels she's proven her point, if only about his mother. As she looks over Tony seems to have won his argument, making his way back to her with Steve following close behind.

"It was a tough battle, but I got the point across." He says with a smirk. "I told her you're an asset for help with supernatural stuff, and could only help us. Also that I've hired you as a consultant and either you come along or neither of us come along. She accepted."

"You also threatened to turn the jet off and let it free fall until she agreed." Steve said deadpan.

"Semantics!" There's a sudden echoing of thunder through the jet, causing Ashley and Loki to both jump as lightning strikes immediately.

"What's wrong?" Steve asks Loki, who looks up nervously. "Scared of a little lightning?"

"I'm not overly fond of what follows." Loki responds, Ashley looking around as well as she gets his meaning. Suddenly there is a thud from atop the jet, causing everyone to look up. Tony puts his faceplate back on and opens the hatch, just in time for a muscled blonde man to fly into the jet, hammer in hand that could only be Mjolnir. Tony lifts his hand to try and blast Thor away, but gets knocked away before Thor turns to Loki, fear showing on the dark haired mans face. Ashley tries to get her belt unlocked so she can jump towards him, but before she can Thor grabs him by the throat and jumps out of the jet with him.

"Annnd now there's him." Tony says in irritation as Ashley finally gets unbuckled, and stands up. "Stay here with Romanoff, I'll be back."

"Think he's a friendly?" Steve asks.

"Doesn't matter, if he kills or free Loki, the tesseract is lost."

"Stark wait, we need a plan of attack!"

"I have a plan: attack." Tony says before flying off the same way Thor went. Steve shakes his head and grabs a parachute, strapping it on.

"I'd sit this one out Cap." Romanoff calls out.

"I don't see how I can."

"These guys come from legend, they're basically gods."

"There's only one god mam, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that." Steve says before jumping off as well. Romanoff shakes her head while Ashley goes up to the front to watch and see if she can spot all of them, worried for all of them.

"He's only partially right you know." She mutters, causing Romanoff to look over in surprise.

"About what exactly?"

"God doesn't dress like that. I'm pretty sure he dresses like a bachelor who stays home all day because he's a bum and a deadbeat dad."

Romanoff gives her a strange look. "And the one god thing?"

"Well, we kind of have physical proof of Thor and Loki, don't we? Plus I've met a couple others."

"…Stark wasn't exactly lying about you, was he?"

"More like bending the truth. I definitely know about supernatural crap, though I'm not sure how I can really help in this situation. I can promise to help though, if I can." She gives the woman a grin. " If anything it's one more person to try and rein Tony in." Romanoff smiles at that, though it's a dark smile, and they both stay silent waiting for everyone to hopefully come back. Ashley spends the time trying to contact someone again, wondering why she isn't getting through, but with no success. Was this one of the little quirks Gabe was talking about? Because if so they were going to be having one heck of a long conversation. Of course, she hadn't tried for Crowley yet, but that was mainly because she had been told Growly was about to give birth, and she didn't want to tear him away from that. Besides, he usually just ended up appearing where ever she was.

After about 30 minutes the bay door finally opens back up, and everyone piles back in, Steve being carried by Tony and Loki dragged in by Thor, again by the throat. Once the door shuts back and Loki is thrown back against the seat, Thor is startled to see a peeved looking young woman in front of him, arms crossed and eyes narrowed. "Do you always grab your brother by the throat and haul him around? Because if so I don't blame him all that much for trying to get away." Tony and Steve both look on, Tony in amusement and fascination and Steve in horror. What's wrong with you? Isn't he supposed to be your brother?"

"I…he can handle it, he is not some weak little.."

"Don't you dare finish that sentence, buster. You're currently on a ship full of what you were probably going to say." She says, poking him in the chest, not at all worried bout the fact he was a full head taller than her or at least 150 pounds heavier. "Frankly it doesn't matter if he can handle or not, that shouldn't be your first reaction to how to move him around you meathead! We don't even treat prisoners like that, much less people we like!"

"In Asgard we use whatever means necessary to get the job done. And I was not hurting him, I was being gentle." Thor replies, pouting a bit at being talked own by this little girl. Behind her, Loki snorts at Thors version of being gentle.

"Yea? Well you aren't in Asgard right now, you're on…what's the word, Midgard? You're on Midgard, and your way isn't always going to be the best way. So suck it up, Buttercup, and stop making violence your first choice. You're old enough, you must have a brain in that big blonde head of yours, use it." With her rant finished, she plops beside Loki and crosses her arms, glaring at Thor until he finally looks away. Tony has a big grin on his face as she finishes, while Steve just looks back and forth between the two as if expecting something else to happen. Romanoff, however, is smirking from the front seat, having heard it all.

"Can I adopt you?" Tony asks, still smiling. "I know you're an adult and all, but with that sass you could definitely be one of mine already. It comes with a shiny black card and all the toys you could ever want, some you might not want, and a nanny by the name of Pepper."

"I know you don't care, but do you really want Pepper to find out you called her your nanny?"

"Eh, she knows it's true. I need round the clock watching apparently, even with her being the CEO of Stark industries. Wish she'd stop insisting I go to board meetings though, sitting still that long without having something to keep my hands busy is like a prison sentence, and they're just so damn boring. Seriously though, you would make an awesome Stark, and I could make you a suit with a wing motif! What do ya say? "

Ashley rolls her eyes at him, and he grins, winking at her, and turns around to talk with Romanoff, Steve taking a tentative seat across from them and attempting to start a conversation with the still pouting Thor. "You know, I think the one who has ever made him pout that much was our…his mother when she got to him for something." Says a voice from beside her, and she glances over to see Loki looking at her. This close to him she notices how pale he is, the dark circles under his eyes, that for all purposes he looks almost like he's fighting a fever. "I'm surprised, usually he doesn't take to being told what to do very well."

"Yea well, just because he's a prince on Asgard doesn't mean he can do whatever he wants. Here he's just another guys who can fly and is good at beating people up."

"You say that like you know of others of the like."

"More than you would think. Are you ok, by the way? You look like you don't feel good."

He looks startled for a moment that she would ask, and this time as his eyes flicker from green to sickly blue, there is a look of cruelty that flickers along with it. She sees as well that he has to work to change them back, a bead of sweat dripping down his face. "I'm fine, no need to worry yourself. I simply haven't slept well lately. Bad dreams." He looks away, ending the topic, and she sighs heavily, sensing a lie but letting it go for now.

"Is he always that rough with you?"

Loki leans his head against the wall, eyes closed. "He wasn't lying when he said he was being gentle, his version of gentle just happens to leave bruises still. It was how we were raised, how he thinks he can toughen me up to be more of a warrior like him, instead of relying on magic and tricks."

"What's wrong with using magic? Does it not help?"

Loki smiles weakly. "Magic is supposed to be a womans art, not a mans. Men are expected to be almost exact replicas of Thor, all muscles and grunting and lack of brains. My using magic is something they look down on, no matter times it helps them in battle."

"That's kinda dumb, no offense. Some people are better suited for other ways of doing things. It's like…if you have a fish and a squirrel, and tell them both to climb a tree, the fish will think it's not as good as the squirrel because it can't, when it's just better at other things."

He stares at her for a couple of seconds. "Are you calling me a fish? Because I have been known to change shapes from time to time, but fish was never one of them."

"Seriously, that's what you got from all that?"

He smirks, and she realizes he was joking with her. "Unfortunately, Asgard doesn't see it that way."

"Asgard sounds like it sucks for anyone who doesn't fit the mold."

"That it does." He says softly. Thor looks over with a guilty look on his face, eyes pained. The rest of the trip is silent, other than the background noise of the jet, as everyone finds themselves in quiet contemplation.

*************( )*************

Finally making it to their destination, Ashley steps off of what looks a military sea base, with men running all over and lots of big expensive weapons everywhere. A nondescript looking man in a suit walks up to them, talking for a moment with Romanoff while Thor escorts Loki off of the jet, holding him by the arm this time instead of the neck. She glances over just in time to see his eyes turn that sickly blue again, before he wretches out of Thors grip.

"Unhand me, Odinsson!" He snarls, leaving Thor looking like a wounded puppy. "I do not need your help to walk! Or do you want to make sure your prisoner stays with you?"

"Brother.." Thor starts, before the man in the suit steps up.

"If you don't mind, Thor, we actually have someplace perfect in mind to keep him from doing anything harmful, if you'll release him over to us."

"Son of Coul, it is good to see you once again. If you are sure it will hold him, so be it. Just remember, he is a prince of Asgard, and to be treated as such."

"Prince of Asgard still? Surely you must jest!" Loki laughs darkly, and Ashley feels something strange coming from him.

"He wont be tortured, if that's what you're implying. And yes, we're fairly sure." He gestures beside him, and two files of soldiers march on either side of Loki, guns in hand. Loki has s smug look on his face as they start marching him away, eyes still that sickly blue as for a couple of seconds his gaze lands on Ashley and he grins, leaving her chilled to the bones and covered in goose pimples. She frowns, turning to Thor to ask him a question, instead coming face to face with the suit.

"You must be Ashley. Agent Romanoff says we picked you up at the same location we apprehended Loki."

"Hey, Agent, leave her alone!" Tony says loudly, getting in between the two of them and glaring at him. "She's an old friend, and has a perfectly legit reason for being randomly landed in the middle of Germany with no warning. She's also my little helper with this whole deal, she carries all my snacks and claps when I do something amazing, so back off."

"You have another thing coming if you think I'm gonna clap every time you do something you think is amazing, because I know you, and you'll expect me to clap at everything you do. You would have me clapping for you standing there doing nothing."

"Are you saying you won't clap, but you'll carry my snacks? Because I can work with that."

"Agent Romanoff filled me in on the situation." The suit says, interrupting before Tony could keep going. "We don't plan on doing anything unless she gives us a reason, just wondering if she might be willing to help us, given the fact she's the only one Loki has seemed receptive with."

"I have a friend that acts a lot like him." She says with a shrug, wondering how he knew her name when all Tony used was nicknames on her so far. "I don't know how I could help though."

"Call me Agent Coulson, and it may be as simple as talking with him. For now, however, we should get you all inside so we can take off. If you'll follow me." He turns around, clearly expecting them all to follow, and after sharing a glance with Tony she walks alongside him into the Helicarrier, popping the blueberry he offers her into her mouth, wondering what crapfest she was being involved in this time. Behind them, another agent carries the scepter Loki had been using, top glowing brightly like a beacon.