About a year later...

"Agent Dayne, could you come to the bridge?" Leila recognized the voice of Agent Coulson coming through the transmitter in her ear.

She held a finger up to her ear to respond. "On my way." She pushed herself up from her desk and began walking through the halls of the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier.

Other agents were excitedly whispering to eachother, and she even noticed that a few were pointing at her.

"She was in New Mexico, wasn't she?"

"I think so. She saw everything firsthand."

Leila was able to hear a few of their comments, which caused her to frown. She continued on her way, despite the uneasy feeling in her stomach.

Had something happened to Jane? Darcy? Erik? She hadn't heard anything, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Leila picked up her pace, jogging the rest of the short distance to the bridge.

Coulson inclined his head at Leila as she walked towards him. "There's something you need to see. Come on."

He opened the door to the control room with his badge and led her down the steps. She looked at him, puzzled as agents hurried around the room. A large window looked out over clouds and blue sky.

Agent Coulson tapped Leila on the shoulder and gestured across the room.

Leila's jaw dropped. Nothing was wrong.

Thor turned towards her and his face burst into a grin. "Leila, my friend!" He threw his arms up and walked towards her.

"It's been- I thought you were-" Leila smiled widely as he wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug.

"I am here. I know it has been a long while, but..." he trailed off.

"It's really good to see you."

"It is good to see you too!" Thor grinned. "So, you work for S.H.I.E.L.D. now?"

"Yeah, they offered me a pretty cushy consultation job after New Mexico. What are you doing here?"

"It's... kind of a long story. My brother, Loki, has stolen something called the tesseract. It's very powerful, very dangerous."

Leila nodded. She'd heard of the tesseract before, but wasn't sure exactly where. "And have you been back here... before now?"

"No. The bifrost, the bridge between worlds. It's broken. I would have come back sooner, but... I could not. It took a great deal of dark energy to bring me here." He sighed. "The tesseract belongs on Asgard. My people will know how to protect it. And, its power can fix the Bifrost."

The two chatted for several more minutes, catching up on the last few months. Thor had been busy on Asgard, and she on Earth. Leila had missed him, to her surprise. When she had met him, she was extremely wary, considering she had thought he was crazy. However, he had shown himself to be good at heart in the short time she had known him.

"Leila, there's something you should know. Erik was captured by my brother. We don't know where he is yet, but hopefully he is safe."

"Oh no." Dread rose in her stomach. "And Jane? Darcy?"

"At a remote observatory. Safe. S.H.I.E.L.D. made sure of it."

"That's good, at least." Leila sighed.

"Mister Thor? Doctor Banner and Mister Stark require your presence in their lab." An agent interrupted the two of them, shuffling papers in her hands. Leila's jaw dropped.

He chuckled. "Just Thor is fine." He turned to Leila. "I must go, but I will see you soon. I promise you that."

"You're being paged by Tony Stark and the Dr. Bruce Banner?" She gasped.

"Yes, the iron man. I fought him! And the doctor, he is one of the best. They're trying to find the tesseract."

"Wow." She blinked. They walked to the entrance of the control room together. "I'll see you later, okay?"

He nodded, and the pair went their separate ways. When Leila arrived at her lab, she felt a swell of pride when she read the nameplate by the door.

Doctor Leila Dayne, Astrophysics. She had finished her doctorate studies while she was staying in Washington D.C. and training for the S.H.I.E.L.D. job. Leila held her badge to the scanner and the door opened.

Leila sat down at her desk, piles of books surrounding her. Despite how much her mind was racing, she still had a lot of work to do.

-

What felt like an explosion caused the helicarrier to shake and Leila to fall out of her seat. She could feel the ground rumbling as she lay on her stomach.

"All hands on station," the PA system blared throughout the helicarrier as alarms flashed red in Leila's eyes.

Unintelligible chatter came from over her transmitter, but she was able to make out a few statements.

"External detonation,"

"Engine three is down,"

"Repair impossible while in the air."

Legs shaky, she got up and drew the pistol from the holster on her hip. Leila could feel the weightlessness set in her stomach as the massive aircraft began sinking. It was slow, but steady.

"We've got a perimeter breach! Hostiles are in S.H.I.E.L.D. gear. Call-outs at every junction."

Leila crept over to turn off the lights in her lab. She crouched by the door, out of sight but able to see if someone walked in.

Her breathing slow, she quietly glanced through the glass doors to see agents rushing past. She heard thuds from below her feet, sounding like something heavy was being thrown around.

A loud kick shook the doors of Leila's lab, and she bit her lip, nervousness rising through her body. The kicks came again and again, until finally the glass shattered and someone in full S.H.I.E.L.D. combat gear barrel in.

Leila aimed her pistol and squeezed the trigger. It was dark, but her eyes had adjusted enough and the bullet grazed the enemy's shoulder.

The person ran towards her, boots crunching on broken glass. He swung his fist at her head and she ducked quickly. He was holding an assault rifle in his other hand and Leila darted her hands forward to knock it out. The gun clattered to the ground and Leila kicked it away.

She kicked at his kneecap, hearing a crack and yelp as he fell to the ground. He swept a foot to knock her down and she fell, forehead hitting the ground with a THUD. Her pistol slid across the floor and out of her reach.

Grunting, Leila pushed herself up. The man stood up as well. He drew a switchblade from his vest and swung it at her face. She leaned backwards, but was too slow and it cut across her cheekbone, leaving a deep gash.

Leila hissed in pain and took a step back, putting her fingers on her face to try and stop the bleeding. After a moment the soldier rushed at her again, and she punched his throat.

He retaliated by swinging a fist into her ribs, which she blocked with the outside of her forearm. He grabbed that wrist, then while she struggled to get herself free, he dropped his knife and grabbed her other wrist.

The soldier held both of her wrists with one hand, and used his forearm of his other arm to press into her throat. She choked and struggled against him, but he was bigger and stronger than her and she couldn't overpower him in her position.

The soldier pressed even harder into Leila's neck, and black spots swam in her vision. She whimpered and scrabbled against his arm.

After a few more moments of struggle Leila wrestled one of her wrists out of his grip. She placed it on his arm and a surge of energy flowed out of her fingers, washing the dim room in a shade of blue. Immediately, angry red burn marks spread across his skin and he cried out in pain, but remained pressing her against the wall.

Leila dug her fingernails into his arm and another blast of blue power was sent into the soldier's arm. He loosened his grip for just a moment, but it was enough. She kneed between his legs, breaking his hold and allowing her to duck out of his grip.

Bruised and bloody, she crawled over to where her gun had fallen while the soldier was still hunched over in pain. Her hands were shaking so much that she picked up the pistol and it fell out of her grip. She scrambled to pick it up again and aimed it at the enemy soldier.

Leila's finger pressed onto the trigger again and again, the bullets flying out in blazes of blue flame. and she figured atleast a few hit their marks. A loud thump signaled the soldier hitting the floor, dead.

She coughed and took deep breaths of cool air back into her lungs.

"Systems back online." The PA system said, and Leila could feel the helicarrier stabilize under her. She sighed in relief and slid down to slump against the wall.

-

Thanks for reading!!