"Did he mention anything more about his brother? Anything else?" Selvig asked Darcy after pulling her aside upon her and Loki's return as Loki sat at a small table inside Selvig and Jane's base of operations, eating the sandwich Darcy had bought for him. Selvig had noticed how Loki had examined it first as if it were foreign cuisine or, Selvig thought, with the trajectory of the man's life recently perhaps he was fearful of being poisoned. After perusing what lay between the bread and seemingly satisfied that it was edible, Loki had taken a bite and now appeared to be enjoying it.

"I did most of the talking. I know, not a surprise. I think he's more the strong, silent type. He asked where he could get money and a phone." Darcy answered. Selvig's phone rang, Loki looking over in their direction at the sound of the ringtone. Selvig took his phone from his pocket as Darcy returned to the table to join Loki and eat her replacement sandwich. Selvig noticed Loki watching him as he answered.

"Hank! Hello. Yes, I know. It's been too long. I didn't expect you to return my call so soon. I thought you'd be busy. No...no...everything's fine…" Selvig said as he glanced at Loki before exiting the building to continue the conversation.

Selvig knew that his old friend and colleague, Hank Pym, the founder and CEO of Pym Technologies, a man whose genius...and wealth...made him one of the few to rival Tony Stark in those departments, had once been a consultant for S.H.I.E.L.D, though he wasn't sure of the exact nature of the work he'd done for them. He knew only that Pym had warned him about them in the past and seemed to hold quite a grudge. As succinctly as he could, he explained the situation and told him of the mysterious 'Lucas'.

"You told him the same thing I'd tell him." Pym told Selvig. Pym stood in his office as he spoke to Selvig on his phone, looking out of the window. "Go back for a second...you said he stopped a two ton vehicle...?"

"I didn't mean he actually stopped it. Just fluke timing."

"You're sure about that? You said there were dents." Pym asked.

"There's no way a man-" Selvig began before Pym interrupted him.

"You've heard of Steve Rogers?"

"Of course I've heard of Steve Rogers. You're not saying…"

"I'm not saying anything except to watch yourself. The whole thing could be a ruse. He may very well be an agent himself...one of their experiments. People have been trying for years to replicate the process they used on Rogers. Like I always say, if it was done once, it can be done again."

"You think he may be a plant, spying for them? We're studying atmospheric anomalies, nothing S.H.I.E.L.D. should be interested in."

"There's not a whole lot S.H.I.E.L.D isn't interested in." Pym replied. "They could very well be the cause of them. Some new weapons technology. If that's the case…."

"They wouldn't want a couple scientists poking around." Selvig finished. "Now that I think about it...the whole reason we were out there...we picked up some strange readings, an energy signature...never seen anything like it, not outside the theoretical. Whatever caused it was over and done before we made it there. I haven't had a chance to really dig into the data yet."

"It may have been a set up to get you out there in order to meet up with him. Whatever data you have make sure you have it backed up, and then back up the back ups off site. If they come after it, it'll be like the Grinch Who Stole Christmas, they'll take everything. You'll be lucky if they leave you any toilet paper to wipe your ass." Pym warned.

"I'm planning on taking him out for a drink later...hoping to get him to open up, give me more information." Selvig informed Pym.

"If you find out anything more, let me know. If it turns out he's on the level, I'll talk to him. I want you to check in with me, let me know what's going on. We still don't know what happened to Banner. I don't want to see you end up as the next hide and seek champion."

"I know...I mentioned him when I was trying to discourage him...not by name but it wouldn't be hard to figure out who I was referring to...maybe I shouldn't have. I'll give you a call in the morning." Selvig said, sounding uneasy.

"You do that. Give my number to Jane as well. Don't get yourself too twisted up in knots. He may well be who he says he is. There's some good people in S.H.I.E.L.D., people like I was with good intentions, that believe they're serving their country, keeping people safe, all that, but I've suspected for quite awhile that they've been compromised. Just keep your eyes open."

"Alright. I will."

"Take care of yourself, Erik."

"You too. Thanks."

Selvig ended the call, placing his phone back into his pocket as Jane exited the building and approached him.

"Was that Hank Pym?" Jane asked.

"Yeah...let's take a walk." Selvig said, walking away from the building, Jane following with a curious expression, noticing how troubled Selvig appeared to be. She'd known Selvig her entire life, he having been a colleague of her father, and rarely saw him appear as anxious as he now seemed.

Selvig related his conversation with Pym to Jane who grew increasingly discomforted by what she was hearing, her unease now matching Selvig's own. They had not traversed far from their base, Jane glancing back at it.

"He thinks he could be some kind of super soldier?" Jane asked.

"You saw what he did. I thought the same as you did, a fluke of timing and physics, I could show you the formula to explain how it's possible...of course I'd have to estimate a couple of the variables...but now I'm not so sure. He's obviously educated...S.H.I.E.L.D doesn't recruit high school dropouts."

"Lots of people are educated...we're educated. Wouldn't S.H.I.E.L.D. want an American?" Jane asked.

"They'd take whoever fit their criteria. America didn't care what nationality the people were that worked on the atomic bomb and recruited Nazis to work on the space program."

"Are you still going to take him out for a drink later? Maybe I should go with you."

"No...he may be more willing to open up to another guy, just the two of us. I'll be fine." Selvig looked at Jane and her petite frame. "If he wanted to do me any harm, there's not much you could do to stop him, even if he hasn't been juiced up with some kind of super soldier serum." Selvig now looked over to see Loki exit the old service station and scan his surroundings, his eyes falling on them. "We should get back."

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

Loki walked the streets of the town of Puente Antiguo. He had informed Selvig and Jane as they returned that he was going on an "excursion." Selvig had jokingly directed him to stick to the sidewalk before inviting Loki to join him at the local tavern upon his return, telling him that after what Loki had experienced recently, he deserved a drink. Though the carjacking and robbery story was a fiction, Loki had to agree with that assessment.

Almost everything was unfamiliar to him as the last time he had visited had been before electricity or gas powered vehicles. He reflected on all that had brought him there, to a small, nondescript, dusty town surrounded by desert on Midgard. It was certainly not a situation he would have predicted only a few days previously, he thought to himself. As he came upon a clothing store, a mannequin in the window caught his attention, the human representation's fair skin tone and the copper colored wig atop its head recalling Verda to his mind. He wished nothing more at the moment than to be back in his own bed, her arms wrapped around him, his about her, the feeling of her soft, warm skin against his own, the smell of her perfume, the scent of her hair. Though he'd had other lovers over the course of his life, unlike Verda, none of them had ever made such an impression or truly held a place in his heart, both parties having merely fulfilled the physical needs of the other.

Loki found himself questioning what it was about her that set her apart. She wasn't the most beautiful woman he had ever known...or taken to his bed. Was it merely the kinship he had initially felt due to their struggles related to their sibling? Was it her obviously innate talent in magic...though generally something of that sort would instead arouse a sense of rivalry within Loki. Was it that, unlike others, she had never asked him for any 'special favors' that his status could grant to her? She had not asked to be given a position in the palace, it had been his idea. She had not asked him to take on the mantle of a teacher, he had taken it upon himself to do so. If she had asked, he likely would have said no to both requests. Loki had a natural abhorrence to doing what others asked of or demanded of him which had been a major contributor to the friction between himself and his father. It had to be his idea (or at least he had to believe it had been.) More than any of those things, however, was what she had said to him with such sincerity and conviction…that she would gladly give her life for his own. Not that he would ever ask such a thing of her or allow her to ever do so.

Realization struck him as he recalled Verda sitting on the chaise, the clear crystal stones held in the palm of her hand. They had completely slipped his mind due to his exhaustion at the time, both mental and physical, and what had taken place after. He held out his hand as he stood in front of the shop window, summoning the stones to appear within it once again. He had not been dishonest with Verda. He had come by them recently, not by the most honest of means, though he was quite sure that he who had possessed them before himself had also procured them in an equally dishonest manner and hadn't a clue what they were. Loki had also been honest with Verda when he told her that he was not fully aware of the extent of their capabilities. In order to explore one of those capabilities that he did have knowledge of, however, he would have need of something he was unlikely to find in the middle of a desert. Stowing them away again, he glanced once more at the mannequin before continuing on his way.

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

Selvig entered the tavern, Loki trailing behind. Evening having fallen and with it the temperature, at least enough to be more comfortable, and Loki had 'changed' into his original black ensemble, Selvig assuming he had kept extra clothing in the pack he had been wearing on his back. Music blared as people laughed and conversed loudly in order to be heard over it along with the sound of billiard balls making their distinctive clicking sound as they collided. The song currently playing, an upbeat 70s era rock and roll tune, ended and was followed by another.

"Rita must be tending the bar tonight." Selvig said. In the time Selvig had been there, he had visited the local tavern enough times to know the blond female bartender, younger than himself but approaching middle age, though she was doing her best not to appear as if she was, to be an avid fan of the music of that particular era. As Selvig took a seat at the bar, Loki sat beside him taking in his surroundings, appearing to Selvig as if he had just been deposited on an alien planet, Selvig unaware of course that was actually the case.

Rita, the bartender, her hair done in a style that was popular more than a decade previously wearing heavy makeup approached the two men on the other side of the bar. Loki looked at her curiously.

"Hi fellas! What's your poison?" she asked. Loki looked to Selvig in confusion, taking the term poison literally.

"The usual." Selvig said to Rita.

"And what about you, tall, dark and handsome?" she asked Loki flirtatiously.

"Ale, please." Loki answered uncertainly. He watched as Rita filled two large glass mugs from the tap and also filled a shot glass from a bottle, setting a mug in front of each man and the shot glass next to Selvig's.

"Thanks, Rita." said Selvig.

"Thank you." said Loki. Rita moved farther down the bar as another man approached and sat down.

"Is she…?" Loki asked.

"Is she what?"

"The paint...her face..."

"Oh! No, no. Not that I'm aware. She does lay it on pretty thick though, in more ways than one, but I suppose when you depend on tips…" Selvig answered.

Loki raised his glass to his lips then made a face, setting it back onto the bar.

"What is this?" he asked.

"Beer...ale...I'm guessing you've never had American beer."

"It's vile."

"It's certainly not like the European variety. Takes some getting used to. I'll show you a trick." Selvig said, calling Rita back over and ordering an extra shot of whiskey. Rita sat it on the bar, giving Selvig a smile, before hurrying off to assist another customer once again. Picking up the shot glass in front of him and the one Rita had just sat down, he poured one into his mug and the other into Loki's. "Give that a try." Loki raised the mug again tentatively and took another swig. "Better?" Loki took another long drink, to Selvig's amazement emptying half the tall glass mug. "I guess so."

"Yes, thank you." Loki replied.

"Your brother. Tell me about him. Unless you'd rather not talk about it. If not, I understand."

"He was a good man. A far better one than myself I now realize. We were very different from each other, as day is to night. We fought at each other's side during many battles. I'm afraid I didn't appreciate him as I should have..." Loki said, looking down into his glass.

"That's usually how it goes. You said you fought together. You were both in the military?"

"Military?" Loki asked.

"The armed forces….the army...navy...the RAF? Royal marines?" Selvig responded.

"Yes." Loki answered simply. Selvig decided against asking for more specifics.

"So what happened?"

"We were hunting in the forest...we were taken by surprise. He was run through with a sword." Loki explained. Selvig appeared shocked.

"A sword? That's a rather unique murder weapon these days. And you believe this Coulson you asked about, S.H.I.E.L.D was involved?"

"There were four assailants. I was subdued by one, unable to come to his aid. Thor slayed two of the remaining three, the two survivors escaped. One of the fallen had this on his person." Loki said, removing a card from his pocket and handing it off to Selvig. Selvig examined it before handing it back to Loki.

"Your brother's name was Thor...like the Norse God of Thunder? Odin's son?" Loki looked to Selvig in amazement at his mention of his father's name and his recognition of Thor's.

"Yes….you've heard of us-them?"

"Of course. I was told the stories as a child. Odin...Thor...Loki...when I used to get in trouble as a boy, I'd tell my mother that Loki made me do it." Selvig said, chuckling before taking another drink from his mug.

"Why would you say such a thing?" Loki asked, trying not to sound incredulous.

"You know...he's the God of Mischief." Selvig explained. "I'm sure my mother would have said I gave him a run for his money."

"I rather doubt that." Loki said, finishing the last of his drink.

"So you were there, you saw it happen...why do you think they left you alive? You're a witness." Selvig asked, suspicious of Loki's story. Loki was reminded of Sif's accusations. Why had he told Selvig the truth? It would have been far better to lie. He'd never had any scruples against lying in the past, even to his father.

"They were wearing masks. I couldn't see their faces. I'm determined to learn the answer to that question." Loki replied. As Selvig listened to Loki and took note of his demeanor, he found himself more convinced that Loki was telling the truth. But then a S.H.I.E.L.D secret agent would be an expert at convincing deception, he reminded himself. Selvig finally finished his own drink. Loki was looking across the bar at two men at the pool table finishing their match, replacing the cues.

"How about we have another drink and play a round?" Selvig asked.

"I'm afraid I'm unfamiliar with the sport."

"You've never played pool?" Selvig asked, finding it hard to believe. He knew pool to be a staple activity on most military bases. He recalled Loki's initial reaction to walking into the bar as well. Visiting the pub was an even more popular activity for a military man. His suspicions were aroused once again. "The basics are pretty simple. I'll teach you."

"Alright." Loki agreed. He was beginning to relax somewhat, not from the alcohol, which was having little to no effect on him due to his physiology, but merely from becoming more accustomed to his surroundings. He was even finding himself enjoying the music, so unlike anything he had ever heard before. A new song began to play, this one a disco tune with a catchy beat from Rita's preferred era, Loki listening to the lyrics, finding that they spoke to him...something about an inferno, burning things down. Selvig summoned Rita once again, ordering two boilermakers, this time Loki pouring the shot himself into his glass as both men left the bar, drinks in hand, making their way to the pool table.

"Pool's essentially a game of geometry and physics but as I said, the rules themselves are pretty simple." Selvig said, racking the balls before grabbing a cue and handing it to Loki before taking one himself. He moved Loki to the end of the table and placed the cue ball on the green felt as he explained the rules and instructed Loki on the proper way to strike the cue ball with the cue. "You break. I'll take stripes, you're solids." he told Loki.

Selvig stood back, picking up his drink from the small table nearby. Loki positioned himself as he had seen the men at the table previously do and as Selvig had instructed. Loki sent the cue ball into the others.

Selvig watched as the balls separated, spreading out. Selvig came close to spitting out the drink he had just taken from his mug, almost choking to avoid doing so, as he watched all the solid balls find their way into the various pockets, leaving only the striped still on the table.

"How the hell did you do that?"