1.8

I saw red behind my eyelids; the sun was rising. I sat up, stretching and rubbing my eyes and face. I felt the fire blanket slowly sliding off of me, and I instantly grabbed it. I shook my head, and I twisted my torso, sighing at the series of cracks I heard, and felt, go down my back. I slid off the table, and I got to work cleaning the lab for the fifth time. As I placed the paper and pens on my "sleeping table", I took three out of the stack.

Agent Romanoff Bruce will become the Hulk when we get hit

I folded the paper into a square, drawing an hourglass on it that matched Natasha's belt.

Director Fury watch for the grenade and watch for Hawkeye

I folded the paper into a square, drawing S.H.I.E.L.D.'s symbol on it.

Mr. Rogers this is a diagram for the control panel in engine three

After drawing a detailed layout of the panel and labeling everything, I folded the paper into a square, drawing the American flag on it.

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"Wait, wait, hold on." Tony lifted his hand, interrupting Steve. "How is this now about me?"

Steve, regardless of whether or not he was about to defend Tony, cocked his head to the side. His expression soured. "I'm sorry, isn't everything?"

"I thought humans were more evolved than this." Thor commented.

"Excuse me," I silently lifted myself off the wall as Fury turned to Thor. "Did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?"

I slipped by Natasha, slipping a note into her belt. If she noticed, she didn't give anything away. I was hoping that she trusted me enough to believe me.

"You treat your champions with such mistrust." Thor shot back at Fury.

"Are you boys really that naive?" Natasha wedged herself into Thor and Fury's debate, easily pulling their attention as I walked right behind Fury. "S.H.I.E.L.D. monitors potential threats."

"Captain America's on threat watch?" Bruce asked.

I saw that Fury's sleeve cuff was folded up over his wrist. I slipped his note into the fold. His gaze shot to my form through the corner of his eye. I glanced back at him, meeting his gaze. He sent me the tiniest of nods; I sent him one in return.

"Wait you're on that list?" Tony asked Steve cheekily. "Are you above or below angry bees?"

I walked behind Tony.

"Stark, so help me God," Steve replied, balling his hands into fists at his sides. "If you make one more wisecrack -- "

"Threat! Verbal threat! I feel threatened!" Tony threw his hands in the air dramatically.

I walked past both Tony and Steve entirely, walking towards his shield that was sitting on the floor.

"Show some respect." Steve demanded.

"Respect what?" Tony asked.

I bent down next to the shield, slipping Steve's note around one of the handle-straps. Neither man noticed a thing, continuing to yell in each other's faces.

Finally, I took one last glance around the room.

"You speak of control, yet you court chaos." Thor asserted.

My eyes landed on the tool that Tony had shocked Bruce with the night before. It was sharp enough to do some damage in the right hands, not to mention it could shock a person pretty good if wielded in the right way.

"That's his M.O., isn't it?" Bruce asked. "I mean, what are we, a team? No."

I grabbed it without hesitation.

"We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're -- We're a time bomb."

I silently slipped out the door.

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I walked at a brisk, yet semi-casual pace, keeping a smile on my face in hopes of waving away any crew worry or suspicion. I didn't want anyone panicking and setting the chaos of the day in motion early, thereby disrupting the way the events of the loop would pan out. I twirled the tool between my fingers, much like one would twirl a baton. I recalled when my sister, Jessie, was in our high school band's Colorguard, and my smile turned into something a bit more genuine as I absentmindedly continued my twirling.

For a short moment, I found myself thinking about my family. My mom was fifty-five, working as a receptionist. My dad was fifty-seven, working as a kindergarten teacher. They were finally considering retirement, but they were a bit hesitant; my little brother was still in grade school.

My brother, Jackson, was only fourteen. He was still going to Moss Creek Middle School. I called him often enough, wanting to stay in touch and be an encouraging older sister the best I could. He was a pretty chill little dude, but he still found things to passionately talk at me about. Last I heard, he was going to have a Lord of the Rings movie marathon with some friends of his. He said that they were more into sci-fi, but he swore up and down that he would get them into some fantasy before the school year ended.

My sister, Jessie, and I are only one year apart, making her thirty-seven at the time. She had served in the Navy for a handful of years after graduation, but, at the time, she and her husband, Steven, both worked at the same hospital. Funnily enough, they met in school and were studying the same field of medicine. If someone asked for a list of Neonatologists, they would see a Dr. Mitchell and a Dr. Mitchell right next to each other. Neither of them wanted children, yet they were happy to help others with starting their own families. I always thought it was sweet that my sister had gone from a life in the military to helping premature or otherwise injured infants fight for their lives.

Then, my sister, Julia, as I've said before, took after our dad and was an educator: she was an American History professor at Moss Creek State University at thirty-eight years old. Then, her husband was working as a freelance jingle-writer for commercials. Well, really, Gayle was a stay-at-home dad of four-year-old triplets. Olive, Teddie, and Graham, the most rambunctious toddlers you'll ever see. Poor Gayle takes care of his little cookies for hours, by himself, until mom gets home from school. But I've never seen a dad with so much patience, and both him and Julia love their boy and girls with everything they've got.

I released a soft sigh. It'd been a while since I'd been in Louisiana.

'Maybe I could visit home after all this is over?'

I reached the door leading to Loki's cell just as the bombs hit. After I steadied myself, I took a deep breath.

'Time to get back to work....'

I gripped the tool tightly in my hand, using my other to experiment with the panel on the wall. Turns out, it was no panel, but a scanner. My hand froze mid-air. I stared at the scanner for a moment.

"Aww man......" I whined childishly, letting my grip on the tool loosen once more as my other hand dropped to my side. "You've gotta be kidding me! I'm not gonna have access to this crap!"

I groaned loudly, tipping my head back towards the ceiling. Then, just to be thorough, I leaned forward. I put my eye in front of the scanner. I had to fight to make sure that I didn't blink as my eye was scanned with a bright red laser. I squeezed my eyes shut as the scan finished, shaking my head.

Then, the scanner beeped, the indicator light shining bright green as the door opened.

I stared at the scanner and the open door. I blinked.

"It actually opened?" I asked the air. "Since when was I ever allowed to be in places like this?"

"Since the director, apparently, trusts you with the future." Loki answered.

My eyes snapped to the inside of the room. Loki stood right outside the cell door, which was wide open, looking at me with a cheeky grin.

He raised his hands like a showman. "Like my magic trick?"

I gripped the tool tightly in my hand once more. I casually walked into the room, shrugging my shoulders. "It was pretty impressive that you got out, but I'd still appreciate it if you got back in." I sent him a smile, nodding my head towards a control panel. "I can close it up for you and everything!"

Loki's face scrunched up as if he were thinking of the scenario and didn't like what he saw. Then he shook his head.

He took a few slow steps in my direction. "I don't know, I quite enjoy the fresh air. And besides, I think we both know what will happen if I go back in there. I think you understand my predicament."

I furrowed my eyebrows and pursed my lips. I shook my head. "Well, I have to disagree with you. I think you should most certainly get in there, because we both know what you plan to do if you don't. So," I casually pointed at him with the tool in my hand. "I insist."

He scoffed in amusement, cocking an eyebrow. He crossed his arms. "You intend to corral a god with that?"

"I intend to try." I pressed the button on the end, sending the sound of clicking electricity through the air.

Without warning, Loki stepped towards me, shimmering into nothing. My breath caught in my throat. I dropped into a defensive stance, glancing around and waiting for him to reappear. I gripped the tool with white knuckles.

"Come on, man." I drawled, flicking my eyes back and forth. "You can't use magic in a fight like this. That's not fair!"

"Oh, believe me,"

I grunted as I was unceremoniously shoved from behind.

"With your advantage,"

I stumbled forward into the cell, just barely catching my balance.

"It is perfectly fair."

The cell door began to close behind me. I spun on my heels, launching myself towards it as fast as my feet could carry me. It sealed shut. Loki reappeared just on the other side, smirking at me as my focused, playful expression flipped to one of anger and desperation. I lifted my fists, slamming them against the glass, to no avail.

"Ghhaa!" I shouted in frustration.

I grabbed the tool with two hands, bringing it down in hopes of cracking the glass, to no avail. There wasn't even a scratch. I dropped the tool to the ground, roughly running my hands through my hair.

"Damn it!"

Loki chuckled, leaning against the glass with one arm. "So now you show off that raw rage." He uttered, just above a whisper. "You show so much joy on the outside. The happiness, the jokes, the smiles and laughs, but what are you really?"

I groaned, trudging to the far end of the cell and sitting against the wall. I propped my arms on my knees. I tried to ignore Loki's mockery, but my observant ears wouldn't block him out. So, I stared at him with a scowl as he berated me.

"A petulant child, refusing to give up her happy ending."

I felt a tear fall, and I quickly wiped it away, meeting his eye. "If you knew that you could fix everything, make everything right again, wouldn't you do the same?"

"Ah, but you can't, can you?" Loki asked. "Not everything. You are but a seer playing the part of a hero." He took his arm off the glass, straightening up. "This world is no story that your mother will tell you at night."

"You think I don't know that?" I snapped at him. "I've seen enough death to know that. I've seen enough ruined lives to know that. But if I can't use my knowledge to protect the people I can, then why am I even here?"

There were footsteps coming from down the hall. Loki and I froze, glancing towards the door. Within moments, Loki disappeared and the door magically opened. I felt a wave of something strange wash over me, and I realized that Loki was prepping another illusion. Knowing this, I attempted to get up. But I couldn't move. Not even my toes were responding to my attempts to curl them in my shoes. I was helpless as the footsteps grew closer.

Loki appeared both next to the panel and in front of the cell's open door just moments before Thor walked in. Thor's eyebrows furrowed, and I could see the storm brewing behind his eyes.

"No!!!" Thor charged at the Loki in front of the cell.

The Loki in front of the cell bent slightly, as if to take his brother's attack, only to shimmer and flicker as soon as Thor made contact. The illusion of Loki disappeared entirely, and Thor stumbled into the cell just feet in front of me. He fell flat on his face. Then he turned to the cell door in fury as it closed behind him. He jumped to his feet, turning to the only Loki remaining.

Loki propped his hands behind his back, tilting his head and mockingly asking, "Are you ever not going to fall for that?"

Thor attempted to escape just as I had - first using his fist, and then using his hammer. I squeaked, falling to my side when the glass cracked a bit and one of the claws holding the cell in place was shaken loose. Thor flinched in surprise at the noise leaving my lips and looked around the cell. His eyes passed right over me as if he didn't even see me. Loki paused for a moment, waiting for the cell to fall. When it didn't, he chuckled, a large grin spreading across his lips.

"I would be careful, brother." He said, meandering his way to the panel. "You are not the only one in that cell."

With a dramatic wave of his hand, the strange feeling that had settled over me had fallen away. I took a deep breath, shaking my head and rising to my feet. Thor's face turned to me, his eyes widening at my very presence.

"Jamie?"

I lifted my hand in greeting, not even bothering with a smile. "Hi."

Loki chuckled once more at the exchange, drawing our attention before he continued talking to Thor. "The humans think us immortal. Should we test that?"

"I'd rather we don't." I blurted out.

"I agree."

I turned my gaze to the door, finding Agent Coulson standing there with a large weapon like I'd never seen before. It had vents scattered over its surface that glowed orange, but that wasn't where my focus was. I rushed to the cell door next to Thor, hurriedly grabbing my tool from the floor (putting it in my pocket) and placing my hands against the glass.

"Move away, please," Coulson said, aiming the weapon at Loki.

I shook my head. "Coulson, what are you doing?" I kept my panic from my tone.

"You like this?" He asked Loki, refusing to even glance in my direction. "We started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer. Even I don't know what it does."

"Coulson," I kept my eyes on him as he pressed a button, making the weapon hum loudly. "Listen, if you stay here, Loki is going to kill you."

Thor turned to look at me, confusion and disbelief written all over his face. I ignored him.

"You will not make it out of this alive," I continued. "and Loki will still get away. Please, you have to get out of here!"

Coulson's eyes flicked to me for a moment, but he didn't budge, asking Loki, "Do you wanna find out?"

"We'll be alright, Coulson, but you won't be of any help to anyone dead. You're throwing your life away, Coulson, please!" I slapped my hands against the glass, the mask I wore falling off and revealing my fear to everyone.

Suddenly, another Loki appeared behind Coulson, shoving the tip of his sceptre into the agent's back. It pierced his heart...

"No!!!" "Coulson!" Thor and I shouted simultaneously, both of us slamming our hands onto the glass wall.

The Loki that stood next to the panel flickered and disappeared while the original let the sceptre slide out of Coulson's back. Coulsen fell to the floor, slumping against the wall, barely alive. Loki silently walked back to the panel as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Thor stood next to me, his breathing coming in short, angry gasps of unshed rage. My hands never left the glass as I slid down to my knees. I was silent; I had no words to say that could convey my anger towards Loki, my sadness at Coulson's condition, or my disappointment in my failure. Thor stared at Loki, and I stared at Coulson.

Loki pressed a button, causing the chute underneath our cell to open. Wind whipped and whistled around our glass cage, and all Loki did was smirk, pressing another button.

Then we were falling. Thor was quick to tuck me under his arm, and the two of us were sent from wall to wall like ragdolls as our prison flipped and turned. I had closed my eyes, hoping for a painless death more than survival, so I was only aware of Thor's attempts to break free from the glass by the movement I felt in his torso. There was a brief pause in our being thrown around, only for us to shoot forward with shattered glass behind us. He let go of his hammer, using his other arm to hold me as close to himself as he could. He took most of the thrashing as we hit the ground. He made sure that I barely touched the ground as we bounced and rolled what I'm assuming was a couple hundred feet. When we had finally stopped, he laid me on the ground and took some deep breaths. I was sore as hell, and I felt like a few bones were most definitely broken, but I was alive.

"Are you alright, Jamie?"

'Damn you and your big heart, Thor.'

I opened my eyes, tiredly glancing at him. "Yeah... I'm good. Sore, but good. Thank you."

I watched as his face, although tired and grieved over Coulson, fell into a smile of relief. "Thank goodness. I was sure that fall would have killed you."

I smiled a bit, forcing out a painful chuckle. "Oh yeah, me, too..."

He nodded his head with a sigh. Then, noticing how drained I seemed to be, he stood up. He sent me a soft smile. "Rest, Jamie. I will retrieve Mjölnir, and then we will reunite ourselves with our team."

I sighed heavily, closing my eyes as I let my body relax in the soil and grass. "Oh, good lord, that sounds wonderful!"

I listened as Thor chuckled under his breath and walked away. Once he was out of earshot, I opened my eyes once more. I looked around from my spot; he was nowhere to be seen. I heaved a shaky sigh one last time, pulling the tool from my pocket. I lined it up with where my heart was beating, resting both of my hands firmly on top.

I shoved it down, simultaneously pressing the shocking button.

Then everything went dark.