"What did you just say?" I asked, cutting across Coulson, staring the man in the eyes. "You muttered something. What was it?"
The man shrugged, avoiding my eyes. "It was just a name, child, nothing more."
Coulson made to open his mouth but I cut him off a second time. I was done being ignored. If no one would tell me what was going on, then I would find out myself.
"No," I disagreed, and the intruder's eyes snapped to mine again. "That wasn't just any name. It was my name."
Coulson's mouth had dropped open. The blond man, however, was just staring at me with a mild curiosity. "Brynhild," I started, "is not a very common name."
The man nodded in agreement. "Where I come from, it is the name of a warrior," he responded.
"And where is that?" I pried.
"Far away, somewhere I doubt you've encountered."
"Try us."
This time, it wasn't me, but Coulson who asked the question. I shot him a curious look, and he nodded back at me. He would let me have this small victory if it got the man to talk.
"Asgard."
"As-what?"
"Asgard."
I shook my head. "You win," I conceded. "Never heard of it."
The man chuckled. "You are so like him," he said softly.
"Like who?" I demanded, my temper growing. Now this man, I didn't even know his name, was avoiding the truth. A man I hardly knew was trying to protect me from something unknown to me. I looked up at Coulson expectantly, but all I received was a slight shake of his head.
"No, Bryn," he scolded.
But I wasn't looking to Coulson. I was staring straight at the blond haired man. Being a good soldier could wait -- after all, I was only a kid. Breaking the rules and annoying adults was a part of the job description.
Behind me, I could hear Coulson groan. "Fine Bryn," he surrendered. "You get five minutes, but remember who you answer to."
I rolled my eyes. Coulson's last remark was a subtle jab to remind me that I was not that boss -- he was. That no matter how driven I felt in this moment, I would have to be the one to come crawling back to him. If I even dared to. But in that very moment, I hardly cared. This man, howevere strange the circumstances, knew something about me, and Coulson's timidness only reassured me that I had come to the correct conclusion. This man knew who I was.
Growing up in SHIELD, I had a built in family -- May, Coulson, an abundance of Agents that had my back. But they weren't flesh and blood. I had always wondered who had left me on Coulson's doorstep that fateful night, if they had known what he was or what I was to become. Did they know their child would grow up to be an Agent of SHIELD? Would they have wanted that for me? Were they even the good guys if they were giving me up? No one had ever come forward with any type of information on my family, even when I bribed some of the Academy's best and brightest to produce results but nothing was promising.
My only lead sat before me, leaning forward in the metal chair he was occupying.
"What is your name?" I asked. "Don't lie, Coulson's knocked out the video and audio recordings."
After a minute, the man spoke, his voice deep and quavering, as if he was unsure of what to say.
"Thor," he muttered," his voice hoarse. "My name is Thor."
My eyebrows furrowed. "So it's your hammer out there?"
He nodded. "Mjolnir, yes."
"Why can't you lift it if it's yours?"
"I was stripped of my powers and exiled here for a foolish mistake. I disobeyed my father, and I'm afraid that I am about to do it again very soon."
"Your father?" I asked. "And what do you mean, disobey him again?"
Thor smiled at me gently. "My father, Odin, King of Asgard. But if he is truly dead as my brother says he is, then I cannot keep it a secret much longer."
I groaned, stamping a foot into the ground. "Keep what a secret?" I pried.
The man looked me over with his electric blue eyes, eventually settling back on mine, a soft expression adorning his face.
"You, Brynhild."
