Things have changed since Loki was assigned to work for Agent Gibbs. NCIS now plays a bigger role in the world of counterterrorism and intelligence, while Loki has assumed his place beside his brother Thor as a protector of the Nine Realms. And, lik...
Kate leaned her head against the car window, watching the road slip past beneath them. The rhythm of the car was soothing, especially after the adrenaline at NCIS. Torres sat beside her, driving toward the destination Vance had given them.
Abby, Ducky, and Jimmy, along with Jimmy's wife Breena, had been taken into protective custody until this whole thing ended, their location known only to Vance. Kate felt better knowing they were safe, at least for now.
The sooner they could end this, the better.
I'm going to see Gibbs and DiNozzo and McGee again. As myself, Kate Todd, instead of as Agent Sniper.
Kate felt both anticipation and fear for that upcoming meeting.
As she stared out the window, the crimson tendrils belonging to the strange power inside her obscured her gaze, reaching across her eyes from the edges of her vision. The car vanished around the agent, leaving her staring into a circular structure, elaborate gears interlocking across the golden walls, and in the center, an ice structure that branched from the podium to the ceiling, wild and erratic and glimmering slightly.
Loki and Thor stood in the space, glaring at each other. "Why have you done this?" Thor demanded, his hair shorter than the last time Kate had seen the Asgardian Avenger.
"To prove to Father that I am a worthy son," Loki hissed, practically spitting the words out. He was dressed in elaborate Asgardian armor, complete with a helmet with golden horns that curved up and back. Kate remembered that helmet from his invasion of New York, although the armor had been altered. "When he wakes, I will have saved his life, I will have destroyed that race of monsters, and I will be true heir to the throne."
I wonder if those monsters are the frost giants.
"You can't kill an entire race!" Thor insisted, sounding distraught.
"Why not?" Loki asked, his eyes gleaming. He laughed, looking like he was beginning to lose his grip on sanity, before his smile then faded. "What is this newfound love for the frost giants? You could have killed them all with your bare hands."
Yep, I was right.
"I've changed," Thor said.
"So have I," Loki said, and lashed out with his spear, striking Thor quickly in the face. "Now fight me." He struck again, this time sending Thor sliding across the floor as the god didn't fight back. "I never wanted the throne! I only ever wanted to be your equal."
"I will not fight you, brother!" Thor yelled.
"I'm not your brother," Loki spat. "I never was."
"Loki, this is madness," Thor cried.
"Is it madness?" Loki retorted. Kate could see the emotion in his face, the unhinged anger. "Is it? Is it? Come on, what happened to you on earth that turned you so soft? Don't tell me it was that woman! Oh, it was! Well, maybe, when we're finished here, I'll pay her a visit myself!" Faint tearstains were visible on Loki's cheeks, the glint of tears in his eyes. And Kate found it ironic, knowing that Loki himself would be sent to earth and fall in love with a mortal woman.
With a roar of anger, Thor lunged at Loki, and Loki moved to meet him.
Kate's gaze cleared just as Torres was slowing the car. "We're here."
She looked at the wooden cabin perched a hundred yards in front of them. If Gibbs or any of the others were still here, they would need to alert them that they were not enemies.
"What's the plan?" Torres asked, glancing over at her.
Kate didn't answer, just opened the door and stood. "Gibbs," she called. "It's Kate. I don't want any trouble. I want to help. NCIS Agent Torres is here with me. Vance sent us to help you."
Torres opened his door and got out, holding his hands up like she was doing. They waited for an entire minute, Kate counting down the seconds in her head. Then the cabin door opened and Gibbs stood there.
"Kate," he said quietly.
Kate felt a rush of relief wash over her. "Gibbs."
****
McGee couldn't stop staring at Kate as she and Torres sat down on the floor of the cabin, across from the computer geek and Rogers. Gibbs closed the door and sat down.
"They were right," McGee marveled. "You're alive. Kate, how are you alive?"
Kate smiled at her former coworker, remembering how young he had been when he had joined the team, so many years ago. She and Tony had enjoyed taking advantage of his probie status. Oh, how she missed those days. "It's a long story, Tim."
"Then why don't you tell it?" he prompted.
Gibbs looked at her and nodded. "Go ahead, Kate."
Kate took a deep breath, holding McGee's gaze. "You didn't work at the Navy Yard when Ari Haswari held us hostage in autopsy. Ari...he was part of a splinter group that worked with HYDRA."
"HYDRA was destroyed," Rogers asserted.
Kate looked at him. "No, it wasn't. It reformed, within SHIELD, and grew stronger, a parasite within the organization. I don't know everything about it, but I do know it exists." She paused for a moment. "I'm sorry. I know that's what you sacrificed yourself to stop.
"Anyway, Ari selected me to be enhanced, to be a part of INTEL's super-agent program. When he shot me, I did die. But Aadland, the scientist who enhanced me, had done work on Project HERACLES. I don't know all the details of it, but it was able to bring me back to life."
"Project HERACLES is based on research done on the Tesseract," Torres explained as Kate trailed off. "It manages to keep one from truly experiencing death, even if something...well, even if they are killed. The strain is used as a preparation for enhancement. It's called the Thanatos strain. Kate is the last recipient of the Thanatos strain of the super-agent enhancement. After her, Project HERACLES was decommissioned and reborn as Project TAHITI. That's another long story. To make it short, all we know is that due to previous enhancement at Ari's hands – probably when he kidnapped her back in 2004 – Kate was able to survive the sniper blast."
"I thought you said she died," McGee pointed out.
"I did," Kate said. "I don't know the specifics of how it worked. But even though that bullet had blown through my brain...I don't know. They were able to grow the tissue back. HERACLES was dismantled and reformed into TAHITI before I came out of enhancement."
"But HERACLES was not a sustainable project," Torres said. "There are currently only two remaining people the Thanatos strain was used on, and Kate was the only one of those who underwent the HERACLES process."
"Who is the other?" Rogers asked, frowning.
"Captain James Barnes," Kate said softly. "The Winter Soldier."
Rogers started, his eyes widening in shock as he fell back. "Bucky?"
Kate glanced at Torres, puzzled, before looking back to Rogers. "Bucky?" she repeated.
"Captain James Barnes," Rogers said quietly. "I called him Bucky. He was my best friend. And he's dead. I saw him fall."
"Barnes isn't dead," Kate told him. "He's my partner. He's the Ghost, the Winter Soldier." She glanced down. "And he is very much a part of HYDRA."
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