"Yerrick…" Elliot Randolph's doppelganger, he who had met Verda at the cairn that fateful day nearly a year prior said as he approached then knelt before the svelte man in the long, hooded leather tunic whose face was obscured by the black, gold trimmed mask almost identical but for its color to those worn by Thor's assassins. The masked man turned, his hands clasped behind his back, to face Randolph.

"You may rise. You have news?" Yerrick asked in his almost monotone, deep voice from behind the mask, a voice Randolph had always thought sounded as if it belonged to a far larger man. Yerrick turned back to face a wall of television sets in the metallic paneled room, all tuned to various news channels, each displaying video of some sort of unrest, violence and warfare and its aftermath in various places around the globe.

"They've taken him." Randolph said, standing.

"Everything is proceeding as planned." Yerrick said, both he and Randolph now stood before the series of screens watching in silence for a few moments. "Do you know from whence all of this originates? All of this destruction? All this suffering and chaos?" Yerrick asked Randolph.

"Greed? Selfishness?"

"Those things and more. They live their pathetically short lives in a mad scramble for power, for identity. At the heart of it all is one great lie. As did their ancestors, they have spent their lives lying to themselves and to each other. I have come to put paid to that lie, to free them from it, to bring order to disorder. They were made to be ruled. Only when they accept that can they experience life's true joy. The wretched creatures of this realm will finally know peace."

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

"He kept her down here for a year? But then I suppose when you have a lifespan of a few thousand years, a year must be like...what...a week?" Coulson said as he, Randolph, Loki and Verda traversed the dark, narrow, winding, cobwebbed corridors of the subterranean crypt, both Coulson and Randolph carrying electric lanterns, their bluish tinted glow lending to the eeriness of their surroundings.

"Time passes for us at the same rate as it does for mortals." Loki informed him. He also found it hard to believe, though he knew it must be true, that Verda's past self had been held in such a place for so long.

"He had convinced her that Loki's life was in danger and she was to save it. That was what allowed her to endure. He also provided books and various amusements...television, video games..." Verda led them into a room, a small bunk along one wall, a television, DVD player, and a video game system sitting on a stand, all plugged into a large battery powered generator.

"Video games?" Loki asked.

"Yes. Your brother had grown quite fond of them...one of the petty amusements I spoke of. They are an effective means of escape from reality."

"Every anti-social teenager's dream come true." Coulson quipped as he examined the room and the modern devices that clashed with the ancient stone walls of the crypt. "He's not here. I doubted he would be but sometimes you get lucky. If he shows up anywhere on the planet with a security camera-" Coulson began before the sound of multiple bootsteps reached them, echoing from far down the corridor. Coulson silently pointed to the others and motioned for them to stand along the wall by the doorway before switching off his lantern, Randolph taking the cue and following suit.

"No one ever came down here the whole time I was here. It has to be him." Verda whispered.

"He must have brought friends." Coulson whispered in response.

The bootsteps grew nearer, the glow of a lantern preceding them. All four stood stiffly, holding their breath, preparing themselves for a confrontation. A body appeared in the doorway, shining his light into the room for a moment before withdrawing, Coulson taking note of what he could see of him reflected in the dead television screen along the far wall from the entrance to the room...a man sporting the black uniform of a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, the lantern in one hand, a firearm in the other. The bootsteps passed the doorway, continuing down the narrow corridor, Coulson counting what he thought to be ten men.

"Walters! I didn't call them in. What are they doing?" Coulson whispered, troubled and confused. Loki produced Mjolnir in his hand, stepping through the doorway.

"Are you looking for me?" Loki said, his voice echoing, startling the men who turned, raising their rifles, deafening gunfire erupting, chipping shards of stone from the walls as Loki hurled Mjolnir in their direction, the hammer bringing down the group of ten like dominoes before returning to Loki's hand. Coulson stepped out of the doorway, looking towards his downed agents. "It appears you've lent me an army of traitors." Coulson cautiously approached the downed, silent and still men lying in the corridor

"Walters was as solid and loyal an agent as any I've ever known. Where's Miles and Solukis? We have to find them. Let's go." Coulson said, fearful for the fate of the two women that had accompanied them there.

Coulson's question was answered as they swiftly exited the church, rushing towards the van parked on the street nearby. Cautiously opening the back doors, the four found the two missing female agents lying in the back, obviously deceased, their necks broken.

"Would they not agree to betray us?" Verda asked. Loki looked down on the two deceased females with trepidation.

"She's here. We must go." Loki said with urgency. Verda's expression displayed her disbelief as she put two and two together, recalling Loki's question about the inmates in the dungeon.

"No...it couldn't be." Verda said.

"Who are you talking about? Who's 'she?'" Coulson asked.

"My sister."

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

"She wasn't on the ship, she wasn't among the survivors when we arrived on Midgard. She couldn't have used the Bifrost. She had to have died on Asgard." Verda said as she sat next to Loki on the bench seat within the quinjet.

"As you well know, the ship and the Bifrost were not the only means to travel to Midgard." Loki replied.

"What would her relationship be to Randolph? How would she have known he was Asgardian to seek him out?" Verda asked. Randolph, the Randolph of the current time, had remained in Seville, Coulson assigning a retinue of female S.H.I.E.L.D. agents as protection which Randolph had been pleased to accept. "They never knew each other. He came here and chose to remain before her crimes."

"Perhaps his identity was exposed in the future and she sought him out, putting him under her thrall."

"Fury's meeting us. If it is your sister, what you've said she's capable of, it might solve another mystery." Coulson said as he made his way back to them from the front of the aircraft. "What do you think she's hoping to accomplish?"

"The same thing as before, all she's ever cared about...conquest. Not just this realm, the others...perhaps even beyond. But I still don't understand...why would she have only Thor murdered? Why not murder both of you and your father and take the throne? And why send me back?" Verda asked.

"The last time she tried, she was resisted. She learned from that her abilities were not enough, she must also have legitimacy. One with her abilities wouldn't have to actually sit upon the throne to wield power. If a king of Asgard dies without an heir or naming a successor, his queen, or if both were to die, the next closest kin to either, could claim the throne. My father has no other surviving family. My uncle was slain in battle long ago before he had children."

"She had Laufey killed...you have a claim to that throne as well."

"Yes...though I had no intention of pressing it."

"If she were somehow able to convince you to do so, that would be two down, seven to go. But Hela had legitimacy, she was Odin's first born. She was still resisted and she was far more powerful than my sister could ever hope to be."

"That's true." Loki said, looking thoughtful.

"If Lorelei is behind all of this, there must be more to her plan, something we're missing." Verda said.

"Something...or someone." Loki responded.

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

"How much do you know of earth history?" Fury, Coulson seated beside him, asked as he sat across from Loki and Verda at a conference table.

"I admit it has not been a subject of great interest to me." Loki admitted.

"Seventy years ago, we fought a war…" Fury began.

"Yes. Against a madman. Coulson made mention of it."

"It gave rise to a terrorist paramilitary organization called Hydra. They may have existed in some form even before that. Its origins are a bit murky. Nazi Germany went the way of the dodo but Hydra survived. We're still dealing with them today. They've infiltrated other organizations, governments, they're like a virus. They aptly named themselves after the mythical creature with nine heads...at least I hope it's mythical, I'm not sure of anything anymore. In the stories if you cut off one head, another would grow back in its place. We take them out somewhere, they crop up somewhere else. Sometimes it feels like we're playing whack-a-mole."

"Midgardians make a sport of clubbing such defenseless creatures?" Loki questioned, disgusted.

"They're not real, it's a game...never mind. Recently we've received intelligence that a good number of their members have been abandoning ship, recruited away by some new organization. Krieger and his friend had contacted us not long before they ended up on Asgard and from what Coulson's told me, had their faces rearranged by your brother. This new group must have gotten to them before they'd decided to take the deal.

I've been contacted in strict secrecy by someone high up the chain of command in Hydra actually asking for our help to find out who these people are. I suppose as the saying goes, better the enemy you know...of course my response was 'that's your problem, not ours,' but now it looks like it might well be ours too. The strange thing is they don't seem at all interested in recruiting Hydra's female members. I thought maybe they were just misogynist bastards. There's women in S.H.I.E.L.D. that I'd put money on in the ring over any man any day of the week, but If this Lorelei is involved, it would make sense."

"She's building an army." Verda said.

"She's Asgardian. From what we've learned from you about your people that would make her damn near impossible for us to beat, even with the weapons available to us. Even if we take out her human army if she can just whisper a few sweet nothings in a guy's ear, she'll just raise another pretty damn fast. All she'd have to do is take a walk down Bourbon Street in New Orleans on a Saturday night. If you're right, if all of this is your sister's doing...how do we stop her?"

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

"I guess this isn't much of a honeymoon." Coulson said as he, Verda and Loki walked the corridor after leaving the conference room.

"A what?" Verda asked.

"The rings. I noticed when you got back. Congratulations, by the way. Guess you don't do that on Asgard. On Earth, in some cultures anyway, when a couple get married they usually go on a trip, a vacation. It's called a honeymoon."

"That would be nice. I hear Alfheim's beautiful this time of year." Verda responded.

"Alfheim?"

"It's the realm of the light elves." Verda answered.

"Elves? So they're real too?" Coulson asked.

"Speaking of travelling, I want you to return to Asgard." Loki said. Verda turned her head, looking at Loki in disbelief.

"Why? Don't tell me I'll be safer there. We both know that not to be true." Verda said, touching the pendant of her necklace. "I'm not leaving you, not again, not this time."

"I have some calls to make." Coulson said, sensing an argument was brewing and not wishing to be caught in the middle of it, quickly excused himself and continued down the corridor.

"My mother is an able fighter but she never accompanied my father into battle."

"As she herself told me, every queen is different. I'm not your mother. I'm to make my own path." Verda said.

"No, you are not my mother, but the day will come when you will be one yourself. Your duty will lie elsewhere."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, my place is by your side. Even after all you had done, after Thor returned you to Asgard and your father locked you away, I never wavered. Though you had buried it deep, I knew who you really were, that the boy who had saved me that day must still be within you. My loyalty will forever lie with you."

"That's what I'm afraid of." Loki responded darkly.

"I don't fear death, I fear life without you. We should both return to Midgard. You are king now. Asgard's army is yours to command. They should be made ready. Sif should be given the opportunity to avenge both Haldor and Thor."

"You're right, of course." Loki said, seemingly acquiescing to Verda's insistence on remaining with him.

"I've been thinking..."

"That could prove dangerous." Loki quipped with a mischievous grin.

"I'm serious. How many portals are there on Asgard to Midgard?" Verda asked. "I'm only aware of the one."

"Two...one in the mountains and one in the forest. The one in the mountains exits on Midgard in a desert, the other into another forest. Which did he use to bring you to Asgard?"

"The forest. It was not too terribly far from New Asgard. It's likely Randolph and my sister are somewhere not far from there as they've sent others through twice recently. I thought it rather ironic considering the forest was where I first met you."

"You do realize the pit you fell into was a trap of my own making. It had been intended for my brother, not girls. I was never that desperate." Loki said with a grin.

"Yes, he told me. I had already come to suspect as much." Verda answered with a smile. "We must now come up with a trap of a different sort...this one for my sister to stumble into."