A/N: So here it is, Chapter 10 of my story called 'Of Mischief and Madness'

Let me know what you think of it so far! Don't forget to review as your comments mean the world to me and really motivate me! It may be a bit confusing, with lots of questions that need answering but stick with it, all will be revealed! (wiggles fingers around glass orb like mystic Meg)

Enjoy :0)

Let the madness commence!

Chapter 10

-o-o-o-o-o-

" To hell with what fury said." His blue eyes turned warm as he smiled gently at me, " You don't deserve this."

There was a pause. And then, what he said next had my mouth falling open and my heart leaping up into my throat.

"I'm going to taking you home."

-o-o-o-o-o-

My body rattled and winds whipped at me as we pulled into a familiar gravelled drive. The escape from the Helicarrier had been easy, considering the amount of chaos that had been going on inside. Steve and I had managed to sneak away once the ship had touched ground. From there we had taken Steve's bike and begun our journey. To travel all the way back to England would have too far and time consuming, along with all the others; in Paris, in Patras, in Madrid, Ireland and Saint Petersburg. So instead we opted for going for the closest house my father owned in Philadelphia.

The motorcycle thrummed and revved as we pulled to a stop right before the large iron double gates that expanded the entire width of the drive. The lights of the surveillance cameras either side flashed, telling me my father was home, guarding the large magnificence of the three story house behind it.

Warmth welled up inside of me as I stared at its grand structure. It was home, or rather, had been home many years ago. It had been the house I had grown up. The house my mother had died in. We hadn't visited it since. My dad had demanded it, he could not bring himself to remind himself of the past.

But as I eyed every loving feature, every little detail of the house, I began to remember and began to feel like I was returning to something important. Like a wonderful dream.

I removed my arms form around my escorts slim torso and jumped off. The gravel beneath my feet crunched as I take of my helmet and handed it to Steve.

I sighed with contentment. It was an impressive mass of architecture. With huge double glazed windows. Large stone steps lead up inside. White columns either side of the entrance. Flower boxes under each window, identical, pristine gardens. I was suddenly reminded of a memory, of being pushed on a make-shift swing of wood and rope underneath the giant oak tree just left of the house. My mother pushing as she told me stories, of the unthinkable. We'd lived in it for as long as I could remember; until we had lost her.

I felt my companions eyes on me and turned, smiling at him with gratitude.

" Thank you. This means so much you wouldn't believe how much."

His blue eyes warmed in understanding.

My mind suddenly turned onto more serious and important matters. I nibbled at my lip as I gave him a worried glance. " Isn't he going to be angry that we have done this?" I did not need to explain to him who he was. But I could not stop the worry from seeping into me, causing me to doubt if I had made the right decision in leaving. Most of all, I worried they would come looking for me.

"He'll get over it, i'm sure." Steve said, his eyes twinkling gently. " Besides, we're not finished. There so much we have left to do, it is not over yet. Fury wont have time to focus on anything else."

" Your a sweet guy Steve, I cannot thank you enough." Without thinking I leaned over and brushed my lips against his cool cheek, just below the edge of his mask where the skin was revealed. He looked taken aback when I moved away.

I went to walk away but felt him grabbed my hand, stopping me gently.

" Jessica," he said, looking somewhat shy, " If there is anything you need. Anything at all, you know where I am. In fact, here." He handed me a peace of paper from the inside his glove, " Here is my number, call me if anything should happen. Or even if you just want to talk."

I felt my cheeks warm and took it from him. Feeling a bit awkward, I tried to lighten the mood a bit, " What's this? You're using mobile phones now?" I gave him my best 'I'm impressed' look, "Wow, You're moving up in the modern world."

He laughed, " Something like that." he started up his engine and prepared to set off, but not before saying, " Oh, and if you do need me, call, don't text." his smile was sheepish, "I haven't mastered that part yet."

" Thank you," I smiled at him, "And I will. Take care, Steve. Be careful."

Our eyes connected for a moment, and I felt a reluctance in saying goodbye, of being alone.

"Take care, Jessica."

And with that he was gone. In a cloud of gravel and dust he swung the machine around and took off, driving away into the distance.

I took a deep cleansing breath and turned to face the house. I took my first steps towards the gate, slowly, expecting the alarm and cameras to be set off with my movement. Frosty plumes of the night air left my mouth as I walked. I frowned, looking up as I stood before the gate. Eyeing the CCTV cameras. Why haven't they gone off yet? They should have moved at the slightest movement nearby.

I looked at the metal gate, only to find it was, surprisingly, already partially open.

Weird.

I glanced back, hoping to see Steve still somewhere nearby, but he was nowhere to be seen. He was gone. I was alone.

A coldness entered me that had nothing to do with the wind. With unease, I slid through the gap and began to walk up the drive and towards the grand white double entrance doors. My shoes echoed ominously on the steps. I reached out, turned the knob and swung the door open.

I eyed around the familiar darkened hallway that waited for me on the other side. It was pure white, and wide with a grand staircase of marble leading up, curving into the landing that awaited above.

I leant over and fumbled around trying to remember where the light switch was. I flicked it on and the great chandelier above flickered into sudden life, spreading its light to every shadowed crevice and corner.

The house was empty, I was alone. But something was prickling at my skin, something was telling me otherwise. Why did I feel so unease?

I shivered, and pulled my jacket closer around myself for comfort. I glanced at the tall mahogany grandfather clock standing by the coat rack. Half past five. Dad should be home by now. I should give him and call and let him now I'm here.

I made my way out of the hallway and to the left to the main lounge. It was a huge room that included nearly half of the downstairs. It had a kitchen at one end and a dining table at the centre which then led to an area with a large leather sofa and a huge fireplace.

I jumped. Something flashed in the corner of my eye and I turned my head to find that the large wall mounted flat screen television was turned on. The unusualness of it nearly made me scream aloud. Not only that, but a familiar broad shouldered man sat before it on one the chairs watching it. A drink of what looked to be brandy was sat before him on the coffee table along with various spread out folders and paperwork.

What the...?

" Dad?"

It was him, he was here, sat right in front of me. I was beyond confused. What on earth was he doing here?

It would have seemed normal to see, expect only two things bothered me. One, my father never watched television... ever. He considered it a waste of time. And two, on the muted screen was the news. Currently being played was a phone camera video of a city. Cars were ablaze, buildings were crumbling, glass lay scattered around the smoke filled streets. Despite the persons shaking hands you could depict creatures, strange alien like beings, covered in thick armour holding strange weapons that shot out lethal rays that scorched everything that crossed its path. And there, in the distance and flying around in the background, I could see the outline of figures. Red and gold. Black and red. Green. All of them fighting. The caption at the bottom read: "New York under attack as hundreds of thousand of civilians flee for their lives".

Holy mother of god.

I froze and looked back to my father sat upon the sofa.

"Dad?" Was that really my voice that just trembled?

He was just sat there. Watching the screen. Unmoving.

I took several steps to his side and knelt before him, taking his hands which were startlingly cool into mine.

"Dad are you all-?"

I stopped as I looked up at his face. The fact that he hadn't moved his hand away from mine at the touch had worried me; he was not a man for having his personal space intruded upon, even by me. But as I peered up at his face my dread grew tenfold. He appeared pale, his face was gaunt. His usually masculine and wide thick features were sharper, more prominent. Almost sickly looking. His eyes were unfocused, glassy. Unnatural eyes. And they were white in colour.

My body stiffened. What the hell was going on?

"Dad?" I tried to shake him, and yet still did not move. Did not even acknowledge me. It was almost as though he was in a daze, unable to react to the world around him.

I slowly rose and took a careful step away from him. A chill rippled down my spine.

Something was wrong, so terribly wrong.

Get help. The thought sprung me into a panicked action. I delved quickly for the piece of paper in my pocket, for Steve's number. I all but ran back into the hallway and reached for the telephone on the side table. I lifted it to my ear and started to punch in the number. Half way through I paused and listened. There was no sound, no beeping, no dial tone. Nothing. I looked down and saw that the power light was off but the cable was plugged into the wall. Why wasn't it working?

It was then that I felt it. A draught. A change in the atmosphere. A forbidding feeling, an oppressive sensation that warned me of nearby danger.

The hairs at my nape prickled. I froze and lifted my eyes up slowly to find I was no longer alone. A lone tall figure stood naught but a few meters away from me. My stomach plummeted and my lungs refused to work. My eyes widened as they wandered over his proud and confident stance, to his pale sharp features, to his long ebony hair. His long leather coat almost down to the floor. A deadly assassin garbed in green, gold and black. With emerald eyes that flashed almost a cat-like yellow in the dim light.

Loki.

He smiled at me; a languid motion of his mouth that all but stole the very air from my lungs.

" Why, hello again."

Stark, pure fear rushes into me, taking away all sense and reason from me. I can only stare at him agape, hand still holding the phone midway to my ear.

How did he get in here? What is he doing here?

I don't take the chance to ask him, instead I act quickly...

I drop the phone with a clatter. I spin and sprint up the stairs. My pulse quickens with adrenaline. My legs burn as I propel myself as fast as humanly possible up the steps. My hair whips across my face as I all but throw myself into my old bedroom, racing forward and reaching for another phone I knew was at my bedside.

But I was too slow.

A hand, long-fingered and covered in leather, grabs my wrist and stops me.

My wide gaze shoots up to find him beside me, my head barely coming to his shoulders. I move to pull away from him, but his grip on me tightens in warning. A promise.

" Please do not do that." It was cooed, almost as though to a small child. Deceptively gentle.

My blood rushes and my body starts to shake uncontrollably. The need to flee was paramount.

I use my other hand and grab behind me for the nearest object, something to defend myself with. My fingers brush against something... a bedside lamp! I yank on it, so hard that it pulls out of the socket, and with a great big jerk of my arm I swing it at him. He suddenly releases me, lifting an arm to bat away the offending piece of furniture. I throw myself back away from him, slamming myself against the nearby wall. I reach again for something to hit him with... a small worn porcelain doll.

I throw that at him. It sails through the air to him at full pelt towards his face, but he simply slides sideways, avoiding it easily. A flower decorated teapot was next, bouncing lightly against his chest, followed by a picture frame, and then a book.

I was flinging my arms like crazy, like a possessed cat backed into a corner, hissing and spitting, trying to defend itself. I must have looked like one too; with my hair across my face and arms flying in all directions, my breaths coming out in heavy wheezing pants. I paused midway with a shoe when I heard a sound coming from him. The sleek black and green leather across his shoulders bouncing lightly. It was then that I realised something...

He was laughing at me.

I threw the shoe at him and took his moment of weakness to make a mad dash for the door.

" Dad!" My hand clawed for the door, "Help! Call the pol-!"

An arm, slender and fast, wrapped around me. I was yanked back into the room. My breath was forced from my lungs at the sudden pull against my waist. I struggled wildly, but it was useless. I soon found myself slammed back against the now closed door, my body trapped effortlessly against another much taller and stronger one.

I whimpered against him as his hand wrapped around my mouth, silencing me.

"Shh." It came from right beside my face, his breath against my ear. I shivered.

We stood like that for a moment. With me trembling, panting heavily against him. With him holding me with ease against the solid oak behind me. I felt his heavy weight against me. Felt the coolness of his body. The strength of his hold. The power. It was frightening to think that I was probably causing myself more stress and damage than I was to him. He could have easily hurt me by now. I felt my energy drain from me in seconds, my body going slump against him.

"Finished?"

I could only nod against his cool hand.

" Now," He began, his voice low, almost pleasant next to my ear. " We're going to do this in a civilised manner. I am going to release you, and you will not make a sound. Remember mortal. Remember who I am and what I am capable of. If you fight me, then things will not remain so pleasant between us. You would do well to obey me. Do you understand?"

Again, all I could do was nod.

Ever so slowly, the hand around my face lowered, almost cautiously. I felt my lips quiver as a ragged breath entered my lungs. I lifted my eyes and met Loki's startling green ones; their colour bright and sharp. Dangerously alluring.

We stood like that for a moment. I remained still, the only thing moving was my chest as it rose and fell with each breath. Loki was silent, watching me closely. We continued to stare at each other, unsure of what would happen next, unsure as to who would make the next move.

He shifted, and then all at once his torso left mine as he stepped away from me and moved to stand a good few feet away from me. Oddly, he lifted his slender hands into an act of harmlessness. A promise of safety and that he would not do me harm. It did not fool me one bit; I trusted him as far as I could throw Thor's hammer.

" Why are you here?" It came out raspingly from my dry throat.

" I came to pay you a little visit." He lips quirk into a smile, "How is it you Midgardian's say it? Ah yes... I was in town and thought I would pop in to say hello."

" Well," I licked my lips nervously, " Why don't you 'pop out' again and don't forget to close the door behind you."

He tsked me gently and gave me a mocking look of disapproval. "Now that's not very friendly, is it?"

" What do you want?" The question was blunt and I wanted a blunt answer in return.

He gave an elegant shrug of his slender shoulders as though it were obvious. " I have come to make peace between us."

The look on his face seemed almost earnest. His smile was alarming in the sense that he looked almost boyish rather than menacing. Handsome. Alluringly perfect. Like the charm of a snake before it attacked and suffocated its prey.

" You're not welcome here." It was a simple statement; one that made me seem more braver than I felt.

" I wish to be your friend." His voice was soft, a silky enticement.

" Get out." I bit out, with my back still against the wall. My body was ram rod stiff, unable to peel itself away in case of any sudden attack on his behalf.

His eyes watched me carefully, cunningly. They delved right into me, boring into me as if they could delve into the very memories and secrets in my mind. " We are not so different you and I." he tilted his head at me, " Perhaps we could be of use to one another."

" I said..." I took a deep breath before practically growling at him, "...get out."

The smile remained but something in his eyes changed, they darkened. And if he were a cat I would have sworn they would have narrowed into tiny dangerous slits. I shivered involuntarily, and the room felt as though it had suddenly dropped a degree or two.

" Do you think it is mere coincidence that they chose you?"

The sudden changed of his demeanour and subject of conversation brought me to a halt.

I frowned at him. " What do you mean?"

I shuffled my feet as he let his gaze roam me from head to toe. Scrutinizing me. Judging me. " What reasoning did they give you for their actions?" He questioned with a slight sneer, " What did that pathetic mortal and his little menagerie of misfits promise you?"

I fell silent as his words began to sink in and I began to realise he was talking about Fury and the others. I felt my back tense up as he spoke about them, I felt defensive towards them, but at the same time I felt a solid ball of dread drop into the pit of my stomach.

" Was it power? Freedom? Perhaps your own weight worth in gold?" He did not stop to allow me to speak, but rather spoke the words to himself as though he were solving a puzzle aloud to himself, "No, that would not satisfy you. You do not appear to be one of those who are easily swayed with such trivial luxuries. But then what was it, I wonder?... Safety?"

I felt myself flinch at the word and for that mere second he eyes latched onto mine and glinted dangerously. Cleverly.

" Oh, so it was." He took a small careful step towards me and I stiffened further back against the wall, "He offered you protection." He was gleaning information from me without me knowing it. He was observant, too observation as thought my very face was deceiving me and telling him the answers that he sought. "But it was not for yourself." He stated suddenly, confidently, " But for a loved one, perhaps? The mortal downstairs, your kin."

My stomach dropped as he hit the nail right on the head.

My body moved, taking a step closer as my growing fear for my father overcame my fear for my own life. "Don't you dare touch him."

He smirked, " And yet still you are oblivious to all of this."

"I don't..." his gaze was too direct, too intense, I found myself stammering, losing confidence, "Please, just go." The plea was pathetic, I knew it, but it was all I had left to try and encourage him to leave. "Why are you here?" I asked him bluntly, " We are just ordinary people, of no importance to you, or to anybody else. Me and my father are of no interest to you. So just leave us alone. We are no threat to you."

" You are correct, I have no interest in your father." He gave a small pause before saying, "However, you..." his tone turned ominous, " I am most certainly interested in you." he took another step closer, " And although you are nothing but another mortal in this realm...ordinary you most certainly are not."

My confusion grew even more at that statement. My mind whirled, a kaleidoscope of questions and turmoil of what he was insinuating. I opened my mouth, ready to deny any claims he might say, ready to ask the questions I knew he had the answers for. But it closed when I met his gaze and I saw the raw intensity of his power, of his very soul from within.

" They've kept it all hidden from you, kept you in the dark all your life. But you will soon know the truth, because you know don't you?" Another step closer, the soft creak of his leather clad form the only sound that entered my ears. That, and my own racing heartbeat. He was so close, all I had to do was lift an arm and I would be in contact with him, his armoured chest was directly in front of me. His voice was a low seductive whisper, "You know deep down what happened. Of how you bested me. How you controlled the power of my sceptre. How you managed to influence it."

I did not dare to look up. I did not dare to look at his face, afraid of what I would see there. It wasn't true, I chanted to myself over and over in my mind, He's wrong, it did not happen.

" I don't know what you are talking about."

" I have to admit I was rather surprised myself at seeing such a feat. Did you tell them?"

I did not have to ask to know who them was. I opened my mouth to reply, but it closed quickly when I could find no answer for him. But somehow he knew the answer anyway.

"No," he drawled slowly, "of course you did not. You lied to them and kept it hidden because you were afraid of how they would respond." I swallowed the heavy lump that seemed to enter my throat and took the courage to look up at him. His eyes, I could not look away from them. "You may have misguided them for a time but eventually they will see you for what you really are, and when they do they will fear you. They will all reject you... things will change."

" Stop it." I shook my head, refusing to listen to him. I felt a wildness creep up into me, a sheer panic and loss of control I had never in my life felt before. "I will not listen to your lies."

" What will your father think?" Loki asked as though I hadn't spoken. "And the friends you try to defend so fiercely?"

"Stop."

He smiled, a flash of white teeth that chilled me to the bone. " Even your beloved Captain will abandon you."

"I said enough!"

I hadn't realised I'd shouted until the sound rebounded back loudly to my own ears. My chest heaved as the oppressive feeling of being cornered, of being manipulated all but suffocated me of reasoning.

It made me anxious, bewildered and frightened. But most of all, it was making me angry.

I felt my rage boil up into me. My blood heated and hands fisted tightly even as the dark haired demi-god just stood there, smiling, goading me. I am a quiet person, shy and somewhat socially awkward. I had never had a strong need to be violent to others. But right now, at this very moment, I wanted to smack that smirk right of his irritatingly handsome face.

" Do you really think I am that stupid as to listen to anything that you say?" I glared up at him, my anger feeding me, giving me courage. I took a slow step towards him, my jaw clenching, my shoulders drawing back as a swarm of negative feelings assaulted me. I moved so close to him that my body heat mingled with his somewhat chilled one. I could feel his power, his presence baring down on me, and I rebelled against it. I challenged him. "I don't care who you are." I started, "You dare come here? Into my house? And threaten my family?!" My voice grew in volume, until all my emotion flew out and through me in one great violent wave, " This is my life that you're playing with, you asshole! It is not a game! So take your pathetic, self-pitying, selfish, power-hungry face and get the fuck out of my house!"

There it was.

A pause. A prolonged, strained moment where neither of us spoke or moved. We only stared at one another. The longer it played out, the quicker my anger simmered, the quicker I lost my fire. There was no reaction from Loki. No flash of rage, no glint of a smile, no twinkle of cunning behind the emerald jewels of his eyes. There was nothing. Only an intense perusal, a delving of one soul into another, a secret knowing that I could not fathom. It was both mesmerising and frighteningly eerie.

How could someone's eyes be so bright, so deep and entrancing? And yet be so... empty?

" It's going to happen," he spoke quietly, surely, "sooner rather than later. The question is..." he tilted his head at me, "...are you ready for it?"

Ready for what? I wanted to ask. He was speaking in riddles. Surrounded by a mystery that I could not understand or comprehend.

" Jessica?!"

The voice boomed from down below our feet. My heart froze in its beat as I recognised it instantly, " Is that you up there?!"

I looked down as though I could hear my fathers voice from directly below my feet. I then looked sideways to the door, eager to run down to him, to warn him of the danger. But Loki's silken words caused me to pause.

" Until we me again, Jessica Manning..." I could almost feel his breath across the side of my face as his whisper faded away into emptiness, " ...daughter of Magdereth."

My head snapped back towards him, only to find there was no one standing before me. He was gone. My gaze darted around the room, only to find it empty. The various broken items across the floor the only sign he had ever been there.

I felt frozen into position. His words replaying over and over in my mind like a catching vinyl on a record player. Daughter of... who?

" Jessica?!"

My fathers voice broke me from my reverie. I shook my head and sprang towards the door, wrenching it open with bang and practically threw myself down the stairs. Only to find my dad standing at the bottom step, looking up at me expectantly and also with... annoyance?

" Oh my god." It came out in a rush as my breath caught in my throat. Relief flooded me and before I could stop myself I threw myself into him and held him in a tight embrace. "Dad! Oh my god! You're okay!"

It wasn't until I felt his hands on my arms, pulling me away from him did I notice his body was tense. His brows furrows low as his eyes bore into me.

"Jessie?" His tone was firm, disapproving, "What are you doing here? You are not supposed to be here."

I paused and looked at him; properly looked at him. He features where as I remembered them to be, full and masculine, and no whiteness clouded his eyes, he was normal again. It was almost as though he didn't even know what had happened to him. I was concerned for him, but he did not seem to share that worry. I had been classed as missing for the short time I was with Fury and his team. So why wasn't he asking me if I was all right? Why hadn't the police been called? Why wasn't he asking questions on where I had been? But most importantly, why was he here? We hadn't visited this house in years since what had happened. He had refused to. Yet here he was, standing right before me.

Something bit at me like a venomous snake in my mind. Hurt, doubt, and suspicion. Something was very wrong here.

His hand, large and firm wrapped suddenly around my wrist, drawing my attention back to him. " I asked you a question, Jessie, don't ignore me."

Enough was enough. I had been through so much these last couple of days, and today was no better. If anything, I was all the more confused and anxious than ever. I wanted answers, and I wanted them now. I pulled myself free of him, jerking my arm away which took him by surprise. I had changed much since my time with the others, I was no longer the little girl he once knew. Was for the best? I wasn't so sure.

" I really don't know what's going on any more." My hands rubbed at my face and then grabbed at my hair, tugging on it slightly as I tried to make sense of it all.

" I beg your pardon? What is going on?!"

I ignored him and strode passed him and delved into my coat pocket for Steve's number before moving into the living room.

" Jessica, do not walk away from me!"

I could not do this. Not now. My mind was in chaos. Nothing was making sense. I needed someone to talk to, to confined in. I walked to the sink and poured a glass of water, downing it a few deep gulps; the coolness invigorating. I turned and faced the television just as my father stepped through the doorway, his face like thunder.

" What the hell is going on! Do you think this is funny? A joke? I have a good mind to..." He carried on shouting but I wasn't listening at this point.

My eyes drifted over the television, silently despairing, watching as the people I considered my friends battled across the screen. Watching as the city was being destroyed. A city I had once considered as a home.

" … I've already told you before that..."

My vision blurred as the stress finally began to take its toll on me. I glanced around the room, the building that was filled with childhood memories. Pictures sat upon the fire mantelpiece. My mothers books still sat, untouched, in their shelves. The dining table was huge, a reminder of when we would sit around it as a family and eat our meals together. The sofa we had cuddle up and watched movies on. My gaze skimmed briefly across the coffee table, but then flew back as I noticed something.

" … will not be tolerated..."

At this point a tall imposing figure stood in my way, leaning into me, still shouting and pointing his finger at me. But I was far too focused on the papers that lay still spilled across its surface. I took a slow measured step, and then another, and then another. Approaching it with caution, trying to persuade myself that I was hallucinating and not really seeing what was before me.

I paused, before the table just as my fathers hand grabbed at me yet again, his fingers digging in hard.

" Are you listening to me Jessica!?"

I felt my father grow still, and felt rather than saw his eyes shift from me and down at the table too.

A curse escaped his lips, and his hand fell away.

I stood, still, unable to move, unable to tear my gaze away. I just stared at it all. My mouth falling open as a whimper escaped my throat.

No. Anything but this. Anything at all.

For there, amongst the various mess of documents were photographs. Professional ones, taken from a distance. Of Captain America; in jeans, in his costume, in a tube covered in ice and snow with only his pale frozen face visible through a small frosted pane on the front. There were photographs of Tony Stark; as iron man, in a suit at a dinner party, laid on what looked to be a hospital bed with a man leaning over him, place something circular in the cavity of his chest. There was some of Banner; as a normal man in a lab coat peering into a telescope, another as him as a green menacing giant surrounded by tanks and armed soldiers in uniform, aiming at him.

But most frightening of all were the ones I could see of me. There were pictures of me, as a child with my mother, as a teenager walking into school, as a woman standing awkwardly with her father at a dinner party. There were ones of me on board the helicarrier. Pictures of me in black and white, as though ripped from a camera footage; of me sitting with Steve in the canteen, of me touching Banners arm when he lifted the sceptre, of me standing before Loki's container, talking to him...

The last one that caught my gaze was that of me, being held tightly against Loki's towering black clad frame, his hands mercilessly holding me captive whilst mine rested on his sceptre. In that single time frame you could just make out the flow of energy, the glow of the sceptres power almost at Loki's fingertips, mere seconds before he dropped it and me in surprise.

" No."

All of them. Every single document. Every single note and picture had the same symbol in the corners. The symbol of a circle, with what looked to be an eagle at its centre. A symbol I had seen many times before.

S.H.I.E.L.D

I blinked, took a deep breath, and then blinked again.

The air was stifled. Noise was non-existent, the room was silent. Even the man behind me, whom I had considered my blood was unmoving.

They will see you what you really are, and when they do they will fear you. They will all reject you. Things will change.

What the hell was going on?

It's going to happen, sooner rather than later. The question is... are you ready for it?

As the cogs began to slid into place and the puzzle pieces slotted into position. I knew right then, I was not normal. Try and deny as much I'd like; I was not normal. I was... A freak?

I turned and faced him. My father. The man who I had grown up with. The man who had been with me as long I could remember, even after the death of my mother. Who had been my rock, my only friend. Who had been the only family I had ever had.

He was one of them? He had lied to me?

But now, as I looked at him, it was like looking at a stranger. He did not look at me with love or remorse in his eyes. The only emotion I could fathom from his cold gaze was that of resignation.

"You..." I swallowed, trying to rid myself of the emotion that was choking me from the inside. I was trembling so hard, I could barely stand. " What am I?"

I was quickly conjuring many of scenarios, the words he could possibly say to me in my head. But nothing could prepare me for what he did say, and for as long as I live I would remember them forever.

" You are an abomination."