"We have to be getting close. We should be seeing something by now…" Jane said as she raced the vehicle down the road. Selvig in the passenger seat continued to examine the device in his hand.

"Whatever it was, I think we missed it." Erik informed her.

"Damn it!" Jane swore in aggravation and disappointment.

"Hey...innocent ears! That's twice today you've sworn. I'm your intern. You're supposed to be setting a good example." Darcy said, speaking with her mouth half full as she'd just taken a bite of her sandwich.

"You're old enough to drink. I think you can handle it. I just can't believe we haven't seen anything...with those readings…."

"It may not have lasted long….seconds, a few milliseconds even. With this sort of thing it's often a matter of being in the right place at the right time. All the gadgets in the world can't replace good old fashioned luck." Erik informed her.

"Maybe I need to find a research partner that's Irish instead of Scandanavian. You know, luck of the Irish, four leaf clovers, the Blarney Stone..." Jane quipped looking over at Erik with a teasing smile.

"Kissing the Blarney Stone is for eloquence, not luck." Selvig responded.

"Jane!" Darcy cried out from her seat in the back as she stared wide eyed and pointed towards the windshield.

Startled, Jane turned her eyes back to the road, her brain registering, to her horror, a dark haired figure in the distance, a pack on his back who was just turning to face the oncoming vehicle. She realized she was driving even faster than usual, and she was known to have a lead foot. Selvig looked up from the device in his hand at Darcy's warning, spying him at the same moment as Jane, his eyes now wide with fright.

Jane slammed on the brakes, the vehicle's tires squealing against the pavement in protest of the sudden command to cease spinning. As if in defiance of that command, the vehicle continued to slide forward. Jane felt a sickening sensation in her midsection, as if she were about to vomit, sure that though the vehicle was slowing quite rapidly there was no way it could stop in time. Not wishing to witness the demise of the man in the road, though she knew there was no way to avoid the fact that she would hear and feel the vehicle striking him, she squeezed her eyes tightly closed.

The vehicle came to a sudden, jarring stop, the immediate nature of its forward momentum ceasing sending all three occupants lurching forward in their seats, the contents of Darcy's sandwich spilling into her lap and the back end of the vehicle rising a foot off the ground for a moment before gravity pulled it down onto the pavement once again.

Jane slowly opened her eyes to see what the other two of the vehicle's occupants already were viewing with amazement. The man stood at the front end of the vehicle looking back at them, seemingly unscathed, both arms out and his hands against it as if he himself had brought it to a halt, though Jane was sure it was just an illusion of timing. Her mind addled, she must have simply overestimated how long it would take to come to a stop. The occupants of the vehicle and Loki continued to stare at each other for a few more moments.

"Talk about luck…" Jane said under her breath. Selvig popped open the passenger side door and exited the vehicle.

Jane exited next, Darcy following, the sandwich contents in her lap falling onto the pavement. She discarded the bread onto them as well.

"This is why I hate eating in the car!"

Selvig stepped forward even with the front end of the vehicle as Loki removed his hands from it. Selvig's face expressed his astonishment as he noticed slight indentations in the metal where Loki's hands had rested. By this time Jane had moved up to stand at the other side of the vehicle's front end, across from Selvig, Loki between them. Darcy had joined Selvig, looking around him at Loki cautiously, noticing the indentations as well.

"Holy shit!" Darcy exclaimed.

"What the hell are you doing? You came damn near to getting yourself killed! This is a road, not a hiking trail!" Selvig scolded.

"So it is. My apologies." Loki responded.

"Are you alright?" Jane asked, she also noticing the two dents on the front of the vehicle. .She looked to Loki's hands. They appeared uninjured and unbroken, no sign of any swelling, bruising or blood.

"Yes, I'm unharmed."

"So what are you doing? Car trouble?" Selvig asked. "We can call someone for you."

"No...I have no means of transport." Loki said then noticed the strange look Selvig was giving him. "I've lost it."

"How do you lose a vehicle?" asked Selvig. Loki's mind that had momentarily been rattled by the swift approach of the vehicle began to recover, his thinking quickening once again.

"It was taken from me along with my communication device and currency." Loki answered. Selvig continued to regard him strangely.

"You're saying it was stolen...you were carjacked...communication device? You mean your phone? They took your car, your phone and your money?"

"Yes." Loki responded. Jane looked at Loki sympathetically. She walked past him to Selvig and spoke to him quietly, her back to Loki.

"Obviously he's not from here. He's clearly in some kind of shock. He probably had no idea what he was doing."

"You're likely right." Selvig said to Jane before looking to Loki once again. "We'll give you a lift into town and you can file a police report."

"Is there a place there I can obtain more currency and a….phone?" Loki said, recalling the term Selvig had used.

"Yes. We'll show you. Get in." Selvig said.

"My side. This way." Jane said, walking past Loki once again back towards the driver's side door, Loki following. Selvig and Darcy made their way back to the passenger side doors. Once inside, everyone seated, Jane turned the vehicle around in the road, heading back towards town. Darcy looked over to Loki.

"Seatbelt. Trust me, with Jane driving…." Darcy told him. Loki looked confused then noticed the strap across Darcy's shoulder and traced it to where it connected then looked to his left, pulling the one on his side across himself and latching it.

"I'm Jane Foster. This is Erik Selvig…..Darcy." Jane said Darcy's name as if an afterthought.

"Hello." Darcy said, "You owe me a sandwich by the way."

"I'll get you another." Selvig said.

"Selvig? You're a warrior?" Loki asked, sounding somewhat surprised to hear the name and familiar with the meaning of the last syllable in the ancient language of Asgard and the lands of Midgard that once looked to Asgard and Odin for protection.

"Hardly. I'm a scientist. Selvig is my family name. I'm Scandanavian."

"I noticed a slight distinction in your speech from the fairer members of your party." Loki paused for a moment. "Þakka þér fyrir góðvild þína. (Thank you for your kindness.)" Loki said. Selvig turned to look at Loki in surprise to hear a language, or at least a variation of it, spoken in his homeland.

"Verði þér að góðu (You're welcome)." Selvig responded.

"Skilja dömurnar þetta tungumál? (Do the ladies understand this language?)" Loki asked. Darcy was now looking from Loki to Selvig in confusion.

"Nei, við ættum að tala ensku. Við viljum ekki vera dónaleg. (No. We should speak english. We don't want to be rude.)" Selvig answered.

"Yes, of course." Loki said, reverting back to english.

"Are you also-?" Selvig began to ask. He had of course noticed that Loki did not speak with an American accent but it didn't sound in any way similar to his own.

"No. I'm...familiar with that land...though it's been quite some time…"

"Where are you from?" Selvig asked, curious. Many people in his place of birth learned english. Few people born outside of it bothered to learn to speak the language of his birthplace.

"Where do you believe I'm from?" Loki asked, dodging the question.

"I had you pegged as British."

"You would be correct." Loki answered, having planned to agree to whatever origin Selvig assigned to him.

"You haven't told us your name." said Selvig.

"Lucas." Loki said, using the alias he had devised with the help of Odin's advisors. He knew it had to be something close enough to his own name so that if he had need to develop relations with Midgardians to accomplish his mission he would grow accustomed to it and respond to it more readily.

"So what brings you to New Mexico?" Selvig inquired. The more he spoke with "Lucas" the more a sense of something being strange about him intensified. His manner of speaking was more formal than any of his British friends and acquaintances and his use of certain terms was unusual. Just as when he faced a scientific enigma, he found himself intrigued.

"My brother was recently murdered. His killers have not yet been identified. I'm here to attempt to do so."

"That's horrible! I'm so sorry." Jane said from the driver's seat. His brother murdered and then carjacked and robbed...most definitely not someone with the 'luck of the Irish' Jane thought, recalling her and Erik's conversation.

"Why do you believe they're here?" Selvig asked. Just as Selvig felt a sense of strangeness surrounding Loki, Loki was experiencing something similar. That same shift he'd sensed right before Thor was attacked and that he'd experienced a few times since came over him once again.

"Are you acquainted with a man named Coulson? Phil Coulson? Are you familiar with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division?" Loki asked.

"I don't know anyone by the name of Coulson. You're talking about S.H.I.E.L.D?" Selvig asked, the color draining from his face, his countenance one of unease. "Yes, I'm familiar...at least somewhat. I wish that I wasn't. I know a couple of others that wish the same. One of them has disappeared. No one knows where he is or if he's even still alive. He hasn't been heard from since he had dealings with them. He was a scientist, an expert in gamma radiation...the man was a genius, had seven PhDs."

"You believe him to have been slain at their hands? So they're known to be a band of murderers?" Loki asked.

"I don't know what to believe. He could still be alive and in hiding for all anyone knows. They're not 'officially' in the murder business. For having such a long name it doesn't tell you a whole lot about what it is they actually do. I know they started off as a scientific arm of the military in World War II and it seems they're still involved with science to a degree. I've known a few scientists they've attempted to recruit that turned them down. They're a government agency, they're supposed to be protecting us though no one's really sure how. You know how it goes, though...how often throughout history people ended up needing protection from those that were supposed to be the protectors. I understand you want justice for your brother, but I'd keep my distance from that bunch. Hire a private investigator and let them go poking their nose around."

"Thank you for your counsel." Loki replied, going silent. He spent the rest of the journey watching the landscape go by out of the window, Selvig glancing back at him from time to time.

Finally reaching the old service station where Jane and Selvig had set up shop, Jane parked the vehicle.

"Well, here we are." Selvig said, opening the door and exiting, the others doing the same. Loki examined his surroundings with curiosity.

"Hey, you said you were going to get me another sandwich." Darcy said to Selvig.

"Here," Selvig said, pulling out his wallet and handing a bill to Darcy, "The police station isn't far from the sandwich shop. Lucas, go with Darcy and she'll show you where it is. If you're hungry Darcy can grab something for you." Loki nodded, following Darcy who gestured for him to accompany her.

"What do you think?" Selvig asked Jane as both watched Loki and Darcy walk across the street.

"He's a little strange. More than a little. He talks like he's straight out of Shakespeare. Maybe he kissed the Blarney Stone." Jane joked, referencing their earlier conversation. "He gives me a weird vibe. Not 'bad' weird necessarily, just..I don't know how to describe it." Jane answered.

"Me too. I think there's more to his story. If his brother had dealings with S.H.I.E.L.D...if that's what got him killed, I'd like to know why. I'll take him out for a couple of drinks, loosen him up, see if he'll tell me more. I'm going to call Pym too, see what he thinks, maybe have Hank talk to him. He knows more than I do. The bank closed fifteen minutes ago. If he needs to call someone to wire him money, he won't be able to get it until tomorrow. He'll need a place to stay...weather's supposed to be nice, he can sleep on one of the lounge chairs on the roof….if you're ok with that."

"Yeah….yeah, that's fine. I'm not going to kick him out on the street, not after what he's been through." Jane replied.

"Alright then. If I can I'd like to keep him from getting in over his head. With his emotions running high as they likely are after his brother and S.H.I.E.L.D involved that'd be easy to do. If his parents are still living, and he looks young enough I'd think they probably are...it'd be hard enough to lose one son. I couldn't imagine losing two."

*********************

Sif traversed the corridor towards her chambers. She had just returned from her daily training session, her hair damp with perspiration. Before that, she had been granted an audience with Odin, requesting to be sent to Midgard. Now that her suspicions had been allayed, her feelings towards Loki had shifted to the opposite end of the spectrum. He was Thor's brother, a living link to him, and the heir to the throne. He should be protected at all costs. She still couldn't believe that Odin had sent him into the chaos of Midgard unaccompanied. In Sif's view it was akin to tossing him into a pit of vipers. She would merely trail him, only making her presence known if there was any danger to him. To her dismay but not surprise, Odin had denied her request.

Sif thought highly of Odin, and as others did, respected his wisdom. She also knew, however, that the death of Thor had greatly affected him, though he did not publicly display his grief, putting on the strong front he felt was necessary and expected of a king. He was also soon due to undergo his extended period of rest. Along with those factors was the uncertainty and unanswered questions connected to both Thor's death and that of Laufey. Any of those factors alone could potentially have a detrimental effect on his judgement and reasoning.

Sif entered her chambers, the door closing behind her. She froze as she viewed a female figure standing in the middle of the room dressed in the gown of a palace servant, a woman she recognized but whose identity was unknown to her.

"Lady Sif." Verda said.

"How did you get in here?" Sif asked, feeling violated that someone had been able to gain access to her chambers in her absence.

"I apologize for my trespass, but I need to speak with you alone."

"Who are you?" Sif asked.

"I'm Verda. I'm a chambermaid here in the palace. I'm a friend of Loki….more than a friend…."

"I suspected as much. Leave it to Loki to charm the chambermaid into granting him favors. What is it you want?" Sif asked, perturbed. She was feeling worn from her exertions and continued to be weighed down with sorrow at the loss of Thor, at the moment having little desire to converse with Loki's strumpet.

"I need your help. Loki is in danger."