Even in the rain, Kate's hands light up, the flames still small, contained. "Both of you, stop!"

The fire catches the eyes of both men, and they listen, watching her. The agent says nothing, but Blondie points to her hands. "Pardon me, maiden, but your hands are... burning."

Kate makes the flames grow, despite it being more difficult in the heavy downpour. "Yeah, they kinda do that."

"Oh," he says. "Carry on, then."

She raises a brow at him, walking closer, getting to what she wants to know. "What exactly is it that you're here for... sir?"

"Mjolnir," he replies easily.

"Ma-what?"

"My hammer," he amends, causing a thousand things to go through Kate's mind, none of her questions being answered, but she now has about a dozen incomplete theories.

"Oh, so that's yours?" She wants to ask him everything now, but she knows she'll have to play this right to get answers — and to protect the research.

Blondie looks at her like she's crazy. "Yes, that is what I said."

If it is his... "Can you lift it?"

"Of course I can."

"Good. Because I can't." She can only imagine what Coulson and Clint are saying, provided they've figured out what she's doing just by watching her. "But if I let you go in there and try to lift that thing like King Arthur or something, you have to stay and answer all my questions. Understood?"

Blondie's brows furrow. "Who is this King Arthur you speak of? I wasn't aware there was a king here."

Here? Surely he doesn't mean America. Where is this guy even from? "Okay, now I think I have even more questions," Kate says to herself. She looks at the man, covered in mud, still looking up at her from the ground. "Do you promise? Scout's honor?"

He bows a bit, his hand on his chest. "I promise most solemnly, maiden."

"Just so you quit calling me that, my name is Kate. Cool? Cool," she says. "And if you break your promise, there will more be guards where the others came from. And this time, there will be me." She makes the flames grow yet again.

He nods, glancing at her hands with curiosity. "Does that hurt you?"

"Hey, I'm asking the questions here, bub. And no." It's just concentrated heat, streaming up her arms to her hands, which are hot. But not burning. Not anymore. She sighs. "Look, you understand the terms of this verbal contract, right? We have a witness here, this is official." She glances at the agent, who's watching it all, ready to spring into action at the first sign of trouble.

Blondie nods again. "I understand the terms of our pact, yes."

"Good." Kate gestures to the base. "Come on."

She leads the man back inside, cautious, the agent not far behind. The flames in her hands shrink again when they walk through the hole in the plastic.

"Dr. Carson..." Francesca trails off, and Kate glances at her and Dave.

"He says the hammer's his, he's gonna lift it," she replies.

"Oh, my gosh," Dave mutters.

"And he'll answer all my questions afterwards," Kate adds, eyeing Blondie, confirming.

He tears his eyes away from the hammer, nodding at her. "Yes."

She expects him to go to the hammer immediately, but even as he looks at it again, he glances back to Kate as if asking permission. She gestures to the hammer. "Then... go for it, I guess."

He smiles, jumping off the walkway and approaching the hammer. Kate opts for the stairs this time, watching with bated breath as the agent follows behind her, still wary. The man pays no one else any mind, still grinning as he reaches for the hammer with his right hand. It closes around the handle, and he pulls with a familiarity.

But the hammer doesn't budge. His features soon morph into confusion, and he starts pulling with both hands, using all his strength, trying over and over again as Kate's hopes are dashed and she deflates. Finally, he realizes it won't work and steps back, looking up, screaming at the sky, rain still falling steadily. He sinks to his knees in the mud in utter defeat, looking at the hammer with despair.

The agent quickly runs over and restrains him, others arriving with guns to join him while Kate looks on in disappointment, the flames going out on her hands. As they take him away, Dave and Francesca walk over, both looking apologetic, though they say nothing. Kate finally sighs. "Did you audio record the hammer?"

"I-I tried, Dr. Carson," Dave stutters. "I don't know how good it was."

"Find out. I'm gonna find Coulson."

~_~_~_~_~

When Kate makes it to the main area, Coulson is directing people, watching as agents put Blondie in their small interrogation room. Kate can see him through the one-way glass. She looks at Coulson. "What now?"

He sighs. "We need to find out where he's from, who he is. He took out a lot of highly trained agents."

Kate's eyes widen. "Took out as in killed?"

"No, no, just... knocked 'em out. Still..."

Kate shakes her head. "Well, he certainly wasn't strong enough to lift the hammer."

"No." He looks at her pointedly. "That was a gamble, by the way. Even with your training and powers, he could've taken you out, too. At least hurt you — or your research assistants."

"I had it under control," Kate argues. "We made a pact — I let him try, he had to stay and answer my questions. I just... I wanted to know."

Coulson sighs again. "Yeah, I know."

He walks into the interrogation room, and the man looks up as the door closes. Kate watches, drowning out the chatter of the agents behind her.

"Hi. I'm Agent Coulson. Let me just cut to the chase here: You made my men, some of the most highly-trained professionals in the world, look like a bunch of minimum-wage mall cops. That's hurtful. In my experience, it takes someone who's received similar training to do what you did to them. So why don't you tell me where you received your training?" The man doesn't answer, so Coulson gives him options. "Pakistan? Chechnya? Afghanistan? No, you strike me more as a soldier of fortune type. Where was it? South Africa? Certain groups pay very well for a good mercenary like you. Who are you?" He still says nothing, just looking at Coulson. "One way or another, we'll find out what we want to know. We're good at that."

Coulson's pager beeps, and Kate glances behind her, wondering if anything happening back there will tell her why. Coulson looks at her as he passes, going to meet Sitwell. Kate's about to follow when she hears the man speak.

"Loki? What are you doing here?" He looks in front of him like he's speaking to someone, but there's clearly no one there. He pauses like he's listening, then asks, "What's happened? Tell me, is it Jotunheim? Let me explain to Father-" Another pause, during which he reacts as if he's just received devastating news. "What?"

Kate watches, fascinated, wondering what's happening in the man's brain, and if hallucinations can explain all of it. With what he's saying, he must know some sort of information about something. Then again, it might not help Kate at all.

He looks up at whoever he's talking to with glassy eyes. "Can I come home?" A pause. "Yes, but couldn't we find a way-" He's cut off, devastated for a few moments. He shakes his head. "No. I am sorry... Thank you for coming here." He pauses again, his eyes following something to the door, staying there. Right where Kate is.

She shifts uncomfortably, but she knows he can't see her. Glancing back, she spots Coulson with Sitwell. He looks at her, and she nods her head toward the interrogation room, asking for permission. Shockingly, he nods, and Kate turns back to the door. Blondie is still looking at it.

"Who's there?" he asks curiously. There's another pause, then, interestedly, "What does she look like?" He waits for an answer, then seems to sigh as he replies, "Her name is Kate." How does he know she's out here? She leans closer to the door, listening, willing everyone around her to still. The man shakes his head. "No." His eyes follow whoever it is — did he say Loki? — back to the space in front of him. "Thank you. Goodbye."

Kate decides to open the door, sorting out her questions and theories in her head. "Who's Loki?"

He looks up at her. "Kate."

"Oh, so you're speaking now?" she comments, crossing her arms as she stands in front of him. "Who's Loki?'

He seems surprised. "You're not going to ask about Mjolnir?"

"Oh, yes, of course I am. But I think you and whoever this 'Loki' is were talking about me."

He gestures to the door. "He saw you on the other side of that illusion. I wasn't aware you had that sort of magic here."

Magic? Kate shakes her head a bit. Stranger things... "No, not magic, Endora. Just two-way glass. So who is he?"

He looks at her for a moment, then finally says, "My brother."

"And how did he get here?"

"Magic."

Kate pauses, surprisingly detecting no hint of sarcasm in his answer. He's likely being honest — or at least he believes he's telling the truth. It's a shocking change from his silence with Coulson, and it brings up another question. "Why are you answering me?"

His expression says it should be obvious. "We had a pact. I must honor it."

"Well, at least you're honest," Kate says, thinking of her next question. There's too many to choose from, so she picks one at random. "Where are you from?'

"Asgard."

"Where is that?"

He seems confused by the question. "It's one of the Nine Realms. You'd need to use the Bifrost to get there from here."

"Where's this... 'Bifrost'?"

"Well... Asgard. But we use it to travel to the other eight realms."

"And is..." Kate doesn't even attempt to pronounce it "... the hammer also from Asgard?"

"It was made in Nidavellir, but it has been with me in Asgard for thousands of years."

"What does it do?" Kate is fairly certain it's not for hitting nails — and is also realizing that he just implied he's thousands of years old.

"I use it in battles, harness my power through it. It is my weapon."

Kate stops a moment; that doesn't sound... great. At least, if any of this is real. "Battles against whom?"

"My enemies."

"Well, yeah, duh, but who are your enemies?"

"Those who threaten Asgard and the ones I care about." Kate quickly wonders if they've somehow threatened either of those things. Blondie seems to smile, if only a little bit. "Don't worry. You are not one of my enemies — provided you give Jane Foster back her things."

Kate pauses. When did Jane enter into this? "You know Jane Foster?"

Before the man can answer, Erik Selvig opens the door. "Oh, Donny, Donny, Donny. There you are. It's gonna be alright, my friend." He walks over to the man — apparently Donny — and helps him out of the chair. "Come on, I'm taking you home now."

Better off going to a psych ward, Kate thinks, but she still isn't quite sure... She's never seen those particles before. She's never seen that hammer before. And why did it make fulgurites? And how did he know she was behind the door? Could this man's delusions be real, and if so, can they explain all of that?

Selvig nods to her as he leads Donny out. Donny looks back over his shoulder. "Goodbye, Kate!" Sevlig starts walking a bit faster, and Kate follows them to the main entrance. Coulson is already there, and he just watches as Donny and Selvig descend the steps. They start walking away, and Kate feels her chances at figuring out everything dwindling.

Then, Coulson calls, "Dr. Selvig!" Kate waits for him to bring them back, hoping he will. But instead, he says, "Just keep him away from the bars!"

Selvig turns around. "I will!"

As they continue on, Kate looks at Coulson. "Do you seriously buy that 'Donny' was just Selvig's delusional, drunk friend?"

In response, Coulson turns to another agent. "Follow them."

Kate smiles, heading back to the center of the base, where the hammer is. Dave is scanning around it with a metal detector, but he stops when Kate enters. "The, uh, the audio recording was bad, Dr. Carson."

He and Francesca follow with their eyes as Kate heads to the nearest laptop, giving instructions. "No matter. I need you to look up these key words: Loki, Asgard, Bifrost, and...? You know what, just those three."

"What for, Dr. Carson?" Dave asks, going to do it anyway.

"We're either going to delve deeper into some poor man's delusion... or we're going to figure out something about this hammer. Either way, we're learning."

Kate guesses at the spellings as she types in the words, hoping they're correct. Skimming the first few search results, she quickly finds a connection.

Thor.

A chain begins linking in her head.

~_~_~_~_~

"You don't seriously believe that he's some god, do you?" Coulson asks, a hint of worry in his voice.

Kate scoffs. "Of course not; my dad would have a heart attack if he heard me say that. And anyway, if that dude was some god, he would've obliterated this place, not to mention the fact that he couldn't even lift the hammer. However, there's definitely something to this. That hammer? Name's pronounced the same way he said it, and the symbol on its side looks similar to ones in the old drawings. Plus, Thor is the 'god' of thunder and lightning. Lightning hitting sand makes fulgurites — and those other particles are totally foreign."

"What, foreign to planet Earth?" Coulson asks, almost worried.

She shrugs. "Possibly."

"Kate-"

"There's gotta be space stuff at work here somehow, Coulson. That's part of what Foster and Selvig study, and it's connected to that storm. And I believe this Thor guy from the hospital is the guy in those pictures, and the guy that came for the hammer. He knew Jane Foster, among other things, and I'm pretty sure he stole her book back on the way out of here because I can't find it."

Coulson looks at her for a moment, clearly thinking. "Look, all this stuff may be much more useful to a therapist."

"Maybe. But you have to admit that it explains a few things."

"The glass-thingies, his strength, and that weird conversation he had with you, yes. But this is... far-fetched. I mean, you're gonna tell me that Thor is real and he's from, what, outer space?"

"Well, I'm not certain on the outer space part. But I saw Jane's notes, and those particles, again, are nothing I've seen before — and they're rainbow. The Bifrost is drawn as a rainbow bridge thing; it could be some weird space travel, I don't know. All I'm saying is, the theory that aliens helped the ancient Egyptians build the pyramids has been around forever. Who's to say some little green men didn't visit the Vikings, too?"

"That guy was neither little nor green."

Kate rolls her eyes. "You beat everything, you know that? Work with me here, Coulson."

He sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Kate..."

"Oh, come on. What did Sherlock say? When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever's left, however improbable, must be the truth?"

"Just... go read a book," Coulson replies. "And keep me posted on the eliminating the impossible part."

Kate's smile approaches a smirk. "That's my job, isn't it?"