Floating. She was floating through the darkness. She could feel herself moving, but there was no wind whipping past her, no whistling in her ears, she was just gliding in the nothingness. Was she drowning? Was she dead? All she can remember was her body being on fire, searing pain ripping through her skin and bones, melting her muscles into goo. Maybe someone had put out the flames but had drowned her in the process. So saving her by killing her. How stupid.

She tried to wiggle her fingers, open her eyes, kick her legs, but she was paralysed, locked inside her own body like a prisoner. How many times had she felt like this? It was actually kind of nice, not being able to feel anything, no pain, no hurt, no anger, it was euphoric. Maybe she was floating down a river somewhere in the Amazon, after Pirate man killed her and dumped her body off into the ocean, which also explained the floating sensation. Or maybe she was a ghost, drifting through the afterlife, long undead road to nowhere. Or maybe she was just dead, dead and gone and she would only have herself for company for the rest of her existence. How boring. She can get annoying sometimes.

God how long had she been here? It felt like an eternity, her arms and legs ached from just hanging limply by her sides. So she wasn't led down, nor was she sitting up, or leaning against something. So basically she was flying. She'd always wanted to fly, to travel. Now she can fly to wherever she wanted! But it was in her mind, rather than in actual real life. How depressing. It was like being unable to touch a loved one, just being able to stare at them. Annoying.

"Olivia."

A smooth voice wormed its way through the black and surrounded her in a warm cocoon. Maybe she was dreaming, she thought she was dead. He sounded worried. Scared for her. How can he reach her here? How can he have such power as to speak to her in the beyond? Why was he here? Of course he was here. He was Iron Man.

"Tony?" She gasped as she made her lips moved; maybe she wasn't dead after all.

And as soon as she responded, the peace she had grown used to shattered into a million pieces. She stopped floating and was now falling, free-falling off the tallest building in the world. The power of the wind whipped all of her hair behind her in a long trail; she felt the cold biting her skin as she plummeted to the centre of the earth. She tried to open her eyes but she couldn't, they had been melted closed, her arms and legs blew uselessly like rags behind her. She was okay with not flying now, she just wanted to be on the ground, safely and not in a big bloody puddle. She opened her mouth and momentarily she couldn't breathe, her throat constricted and she was dying. Then she filled her lungs with a big helping of freezing air and screamed, screamed as loud and as high as she possibly could, hoping someone would catch her before she splattered, some helicopter/Tom Cruise person would swing by her and grab her and take her into the sunset.

"Miss Holmes."

Her eyes shot open. She was in Stark's office. What? The same beautiful view from the ceiling-to-floor glass windows, the same spacious white bookcases filled with random old books lining the walls, the same ugly black and white checked two-seater sofa in the corner, and the same smug- faced twat sat in front of her behind the protection of his expensive glass desk.

"Miss Holmes?"

She looked at him; there was concern as well as slight disgust in his face. "Tony, what are we doing here?"

He frowned, and then chuckled lightly. "You are pitching your 'brilliant' idea to me about our new system generators."

"What?" She looked down at her lap, she was wearing the same clothes she was wearing at the interview, and her idea notes were resting in a blue folder on her knees. She looked around again, maybe the whole 'Shield' situation was a dream, she was day-dreaming and now she's back to the safety of Stark's office. She then turned to the sofa, expecting to see Pepper typing away furiously on her new laptop, but it was empty. "Where's Pepper?"

He smiled, which turned slowly into a grin, a big Cheshire-Cat style grin, bearing all of his front and back teeth, which were weirdly pointed like small little daggers. She didn't remember him ever having pointy teeth, only a pointy tail and pitchfork. "She's outside."

Olivia turned her head towards the door and then made the chilling discovery that the door had gone. Where the glass wall once was, which lead from the small front desk on the top floor to his office door, now replaced with white plaster. No door, no exit. No Pepper. No noise. This was a dream.

"Yes, it sure is." Tony was now leaning over her, his face stretched to accommodate the huge, un-natural grin that had now taken up half his head.

"Always knew you had a big head Stark." She chuckled.

BAM. His hand felt like a hammer to the side of her head as she was thrown off of her chair and sent sprawling to the ground. Thick, strong throbs radiated from the impact site, and a loud ring screamed in her ears. She clambered to her hands and knees and shook her head, trying to regain her balance.

"Sorry, I should've warned you about the step." A warm hand tucked under her arm and gently lifted her to her feet.

What the heck was Coulson doing there? She opened her eyes and discovered she was no longer in Stark's office but now in a very familiar long, grey corridor. She knew where she was going, and she was actually quite excited. Now she remembered, she had met Coulson and his gang of goons before.

"Miss?" She smiled and nodded quickly.

Exactly ten minutes down this shining grey road resided the man she had watched in awe for months, a superhero. She remembered this moment; she was 20, and Stark had sent her to meet a medical marvel, Stark's father's project.

And as she stepped through the last remaining metal door, her eyes fell upon the unconscious form of a very muscular man, still wearing his blue and red uniform. He would've looked peaceful, had it not been for the blue tinge to his skin, the ice that crept from his neck all across his jaw and had now frozen his whole body. She remembered gasping at him, how was he still alive? With all the ice that stuck to his body? Had his organs frozen in the process?

"We need to keep him frozen to allow him to remain stable as we melt the ice slowly."

Background voices, blurred conversation with the most boring man in the world. She only had eyes for the man who had inspired billions, who had fought for his country with honour and valour. She approached him slowly until she was standing next to him. God he was cold, was he even breathing?

"Isn't he just awesome." Coulson whispered to the doctor. Ha.

She leaned in, wanting to see any signs that he was alive. Something, machines lie, the heart monitor that showed a small, flat heartbeat could lie. Never believe in something you can't see for yourself. He wasn't breathing. This isn't how it happened.

"Doctor"

His eyes sprang open and he stretched his mouth wide to take a giant gulp of air, he broke his arms free from the ice and was now wriggling even more to try to free himself. She yelped, jumping backwards. He turned to her and grabbed her roughly by the upper arms. This is definitely not how it happened.

"Help ME." He screeched; his eyes wide and blue, his skin turning to cold, hard, clear ice. His hands stuck to her skin and she screamed again.

Then a shot ran through the air and Rogers exploded into millions of little tiny ice pieces, the force knocked her and everyone else in the room flat on their backs.

But now she wasn't in the medical centre. She was lying on grass, long dewy grass, tickling her arms and face. It was dark; she could see each and every star in the sky, including the big, white, beautiful moon. A warm summer breeze blew gently against her face. This was a memory she did not want to relive again. She shut her eyes, trying to block out what was happening, what was going to happen, she felt her eyelashes moisten, as fear crept up her throat .

"Olivia." It was him. His silky, velvety, heavenly voice filled her ears and mind and she instantly felt at ease, she felt safe, as if he had wrapped her in his warm arms and had shielded her from everything bad in the world. "Open your eyes." But she knew what was going to come next. And she did not want to open her eyes, to play along, to watch the scene all over again. Why did she have to see this again, have to experience this.

But she succumbed to the temptation and did as he commanded. There he was, in all his ethereal beauty. Long, slick black hair, white illuminating skin, lean body clad in leathery uniform. A long, golden spear shimmered into existence in his right hand, a long billowing black and green cape spread from his shoulders to his feet, and the most frightening of them all, a glittering golden helmet appeared from his chin all the way to the top of his head, where two massive horns sprouted from the temples. "Loki."

His blank expression changed, he frowned deeply and bared his teeth, he was like a predator and she was his prey, he lifted his spear in the air and brought it down in her abdomen. She didn't feel any physical pain this time, other than the piercing pain spreading from her chest, the sting of betrayal cutting through her heart like an arrow.

"You truly are a pathetic worm, crying like a little infant child, you look disgusting, you are disgusting."

"Loki." She was crying, bawling, her chest heaving and her breath coming in quick, deep gulps. "Please." She had lost control; never did she think that she could become so vulnerable, especially to someone like him. What was wrong with her? Pathetic. She deserved this. She loved him.

He raised his spear above his head, his face shrouded in darkness, he radiated power and rage, he wanted to hurt her. Crack. A flash of lightning illuminated his face and body, his wide eyes, his maniacal grin, his pale skin. This was an image that replayed in her mind time and time again. It was burned into her mind, a scar in her brain.

He grinned widely as he brought down his spear, and she closed her eyes, waiting for the pain. And it didn't disappoint as three seconds later she felt the agonising electricity shoot through her chest and run down her limbs.

It didn't last too long, which she was grateful for, but there was an aftermath, that left her whole body tingling, she felt every inch of her muscles, every sinewy strand burn as if she was being slow- roasted over a lovely warm fire. It was a nice feeling, it was better than being freezing. She was very comfortable, it let her readjust herself and calm herself down after what she had just re-lived, or what she thought she had re-lived… Very confusing. Stretching her arms out in front of her, she tried regain the feeling in her limbs. But was immediately stopped by sharp, painful tugs from the creases in her elbows and in the middle of her hands.

What the hell?!

Her eyes snapped open and was met by a bright grey ceiling with no indentations or patterns. Where…? She looked around, machines were either side of her, fast, high pitch beeping came from them, two of the walls were made just of windows. She raised both arms to see little trails of blood coming from the needles in both creases of her arms. She began breathing more heavily, but she was utterly horrified to find that something was down her throat, constricting her breathing and stopping her from swallowing, she couldn't even move her mouth. She began gagging, choking on whatever the hell was in her mouth and throat. She tried to move her hand to pull it out but was stopped by a warm hand gently wrapping around her own.

"Hey, hey, it's okay, calm down." A deep and soft voice sang to her.

She stared into baby blue eyes and instantly felt at ease, even if there were small tears flowing out of the corner of her eyes.

"I'll go get someone to , y'know." Motioning to the tube in her mouth, she nodded quickly.

A nurse soon came in and slowly removed the horrible plastic hose thing from her chest, up her throat and out her mouth, which was shortly followed by spluttering and retching on Olivia's behalf. God she forgot how good it was to breath properly again, or have her mouth empty.

"Can… take…" She lifted her arms.

"Oh, I can take the ones in your arms out, but not the ones in your elbows, sorry, it's just a precaution, if anything happens, if you need any pain killers or something." The nurse smiled sympathetically, she reminded Olivia of candy floss, really nice and sweet, but a little too sickly if you get too much of it. So she nodded in agreement and let the nurse nearly rip the thin needles from her veins, like an animal.

Olivia grinned and bared the pain, fighting the urge to vomit, until the nurse left the room, just before one lingering look at the man sat on the chair next to Olivia.

He was staring at her, trying to read her face, his hands clasped in between his knees. His arms rested on his thighs as he leaned forward slightly. "How are you feeling?"

She looked up at him and smiled. "Shit..." She rasped.

He blushed slightly and nodded. "Oh, sorry." There were a few minutes of silence when he finally shifted his position so he was leaning back in his chair. "I've been sat here for a while, I recognise you, d'you work for Stark?" She nodded slowly, frowning slightly. "Ah, I, uh, visited his building, he wasn't there but I looked around at what his father had done, y'know machine wise." She smiled again and nodded. "Anyway, I think you were there, I was actually lost and wondered into your little workshop, we spoke, and you said about your 'hot-headed, statue-like fellow employees'."

She laughed, or at least tried to, sounding a bit like a 90 year old heavy chain smoking monkey. "Was year ago."

"I haven't got out much." He smiled.

Just as she was going to start a meaningful conversation with the lovely man, the one and only Miss Miserable herself appeared out of thin air. "Rogers, you're needed upstairs." She spared one glance at Olivia, not making any facial movement, and then turning and striding down wherever.

He sighed. "Y'know, I really don't understand half the things that they say up there." He shrugged before heading out the door, then turned. "Get some rest; I'll be down as soon as I can."

She nodded and watched as he disappeared out of her sight. She grinned and led back down, she knew she was unable to go back to sleep, but she didn't mind, she was looking forward to Captain America coming back to her, and charming the crap out of her.

But first things first, what the hell happened?