Loki and Hailstohm were engaged in silence after her last comment as Gibbs came up and rapped on the doorframe. "Loki, we've got to go."

"What is it?" Loki asked, stepping toward the Marine. Hailstohm tilted her head, looking curiously at the NCIS agent.

"They found something," Gibbs told him. "Let's go."

"Enjoy your stay in Asgard, Lady Hailstohm," Loki told her courteously, turning to leave the balcony.

"Wait," she commanded. "You go to Midgard, correct?"

Cautiously, Loki and Gibbs nodded. "Yes," Gibbs answered.

"Then I will come," Hailstohm asserted. "I wish to see Midgard again, to see the world my ancestors sought to subjugate."

Gibbs cocked his head, lifting an eyebrow. "Aren't you about to start peace negotiations, Lady Hailstohm?"

"There are a lot of legal and technical proceedings that I, as a warrior, have no part of," Hailstohm said. "Besides, Asgard and Midgard are in a sort of understanding, no? If Jotunheim is to finally come abreast of events in the Nine Realms, I as the next queen should know Midgard, and they know me."

Loki felt his stomach sinking. He had been hoping to get away from the frost giantess and her insistence on his acceptance of his heritage. "Midgard and Asgard are not in any sort of understanding," he said stiffly.

"Then what are you and your brother doing traipsing around down there?" Hailstohm retorted.

"We're Avengers," Loki told her. "But there has been no envoys exchanged between our peoples."

"I will come, nevertheless," Hailstohm stated. "I am sure the Allfather will permit it."

"I'm sure," Loki said, barely resisting rolling his eyes. "Let's get Bishop."

"The mortal girl?" Hailstohm interjected as Loki began to turn away. "She watches you, Odinson."

"And you noticed that by watching her?" Loki retorted, eyeing the warrior.

"Always watch the watchers," Hailstohm replied, and Gibbs nodded approvingly.

"Rule 35," he said, turning and walking away. "You can come, Hailstohm."

Hailstohm grinned and hurried after Gibbs, and Loki shook his head, wanting to protest but knowing it wouldn't do any good. Why does she have to come?

***

The sky was dark by the time Hailstohm had received permission from Odin to accompany the NCIS agents to Midgard, and Bishop, Hailstohm, and Loki had changed out of their evening clothes into more acceptable traveling and working garb. Gibbs having never accepted the Asgardian formal attire in the first place had no need to change.

Horses were brought forward for the four to ride out to the observatory. Loki grasped the bridle of the blood bay gelding one of the stable attendants brought him, patting the horse's neck. "Hello, Sigmund," he murmured to the animal. "It's good to see you again, old friend."

Bishop swung up onto her horse and directed it over to Loki as he mounted up. "What's with this Hailstohm?" she asked in an undertone. "What does she want?"

Loki glanced over at her. "She wants me to learn about my heritage," he said stiffly and after a moment of hesitation.

"Why?" Bishop asked, to which Loki only shrugged.

Gibbs and Hailstohm both mounted up and the four rode out through the city of Asgard. "I must say, I have great interest in your Midgard and NCIS," she told Gibbs. "And I wish to learn more about your 'rules.'" She glanced back at Loki and gave him a wicked smile, and Loki heard her voice in his head once again.

I play by one set of rules. And they belong not to Odin.

Bet they don't belong to you.

Heimdall was waiting outside the observatory, eyeing them neutrally as they approached. Dismounting, Loki led Gibbs, Bishop, and Hailstohm toward the guardian of the Bifrost, eager at the prospect of returning to NCIS and the rest of his team.

"Agent DiNozzo was quite insistent," Heimdall told them. "I believe he's found a lead on your case, Agent Gibbs."

"That's what I'm hoping, Heimdall," Gibbs said as the group followed him into the observatory.

"Agent Bishop, I would suggest you check your phone machine when you get home, your brother left you another message," Heimdall said, glancing back at her.

Bishop just looked at him, then shook her head. "I can't believe this," she muttered.

Heimdall slid his sword into the pedestal and the gears began to spin. "A word of advice, Loki. Keep an eye on your mind. Power is corrupting."

Loki glanced back at Heimdall, but there was no animosity in the gatekeeper's eyes, only caution. And perhaps just a hint of worry.

****

Loki, Gibbs, Hailstohm, and Bishop landed in the NCIS parking lot, the whirling, blurred colors of the Bifrost swirling all around them and cutting their marks into the pavement. Then the rainbow bridge was gone and the Navy Yard stood before them.

The four trooped into the building, Gibbs getting Hailstohm a visitor's pass, which she clipped to her leather tunic. All the employees gave her strange looks, what with her dull blue skin, cranial ridges, red eyes, and silver cascade of braids. But Hailstohm didn't care about their curious looks, just looked back at them with equally inquisitive eyes.

They took the elevator up to the squad room and saw DiNozzo and McGee at their desks, along with Jane Foster, Darcy Lewis, and Ian Boothby. Loki furrowed his brow. What in Helheim are they doing here?

DiNozzo glanced up, a welcoming grin touching his face, and then leaned back in his chair as he saw Hailstohm. "Whoa, Avatar!" he exclaimed. "Where did you pick up Neytiri?"

Hailstohm looked down at DiNozzo, her brow furrowed. "Are you mocking me?"

"Who is this?" McGee asked, looking puzzled.

"I am Hailstohm, of Jotunheim –" Hailstohm started, but DiNozzo cut her off.

"And you are burdened with glorious purpose?" he finished, laughing. When Hailstohm gave him a puzzled and slightly infuriated look, DiNozzo gestured to Loki. "Hey, it's his line."

Loki glared at DiNozzo. "How do you even know about that?"

"Hey, SHIELD's got a ton of classified video footage of you," DiNozzo replied. "Some of those videos are downright funny."

"So, you're Hailstohm," McGee said, attempting to get the conversation back on track. "I'm Agent McGee."

Hailstohm slapped her fist over her heart, tapping twice. "It is an honor to meet you, Agent McGee." She glanced at DiNozzo. "And who is the disrespectful one here?"

"That's Agent DiNozzo," McGee said, and Hailstohm nodded curtly at him.

"What, no salute for me?" DiNozzo asked, and Hailstohm just narrowed her eyes.

"When you deserve it, I will give you the greeting of honor," she told him. "Now, who are these others?"

"I'm Jane Foster," Jane said.

"Darcy Lewis."

"Ian Boothby."

"Why are they here?" Loki asked, glancing at DiNozzo. "They're not supposed to be here."

"Thanks a lot," Jane said.

"No offense, but I really don't want to hang out with you," Loki told her, and Jane glowered at him.

"DiNozzo," Gibbs said. "What are they doing here?"

"McGee needed help interpreting the gravity data from Ghost Street," DiNozzo answered. "So Vance gave us permission to hire Jane temporarily."

"What's with the other two?" Gibbs asked.

"Hey!" Darcy exclaimed. "The other two can hear you."

Gibbs just leveled his stare at her and Darcy threw up her hands. "Okay, okay, I get it, we're not wanted."

"Yeah, they just tagged along," DiNozzo said. "We couldn't get them to leave and I couldn't find an exterminator that specialized in getting rid of human annoyances, especially since the Avengers made a point of only dealing with extraterrestrial threats. And I don't have Terminator's number, so they're still here."

"What did you need us for, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked. "Update!"

McGee and DiNozzo jumped out of their seats, McGee almost knocking Darcy over in his rush to get to the center of the room. "Watch it!" she exclaimed.

"Fornell told us that Halo and her partner are on the FBI watch list," DiNozzo said. "Their monikers are Aurora and Flare. But they know nothing else." He fell silent and Gibbs just looked at him.

"Really, DiNozzo? We know nothing else?"

"I may have a lead on them," he said. "But the non-agents will have to leave."

Gibbs turned and looked at Jane, Darcy, Ian, and Hailstohm. After a moment, they filed out of the room, the three humans looking curiously at the frost giantess.

"What is it, Tony?" Gibbs asked as the agents moved into a closer group.

"I know who Aurora and Flare are," he answered in a low voice. "McGee, Abby, and I broke into SHIELD to test Halo's DNA left on Loki's dagger. The DNA didn't find a match, but I pulled two personnel records and found exact matches for their descriptions."

"You broke into SHIELD?" Bishop hissed.

"Who?" Gibbs demanded.

"STRIKE agents Thalia Mars and Isaac Connor," DiNozzo said grimly. "The two agents Bishop and I replaced on STRIKE."

"So they're not dead," Loki said.

"Good guess," DiNozzo said sarcastically, and Loki glared at him.

"And a neighborhood in Norfolk Naval Station burned to the ground," McGee said. "We suspect Halo, or I guess, technically, Aurora."

"Let's go," Gibbs said.

****

"I would have thought the mortals would be staring at the wreckage, not at me," Hailstohm commented as she ducked under the yellow police tape after the NCIS agents.

"Well, they don't see a blue girl every day," Loki told her. "You're a bit of an oddity here."

Hailstohm grunted.

"What happened here?" Gibbs asked the crime scene coordinator.

"Eyewitnesses say there was a sudden flash of light and one of the houses caught fire. There have been multiple reports of a woman walking in the light. From the preliminary investigation, extreme heat started the fire. Everything points to it being a natural fire, the only traces of any kind of accelerant being too randomly spread to be anything but what was already in the homes. There's no accelerant at the point of origin, at the house at the end of the neighborhood."

"Halo," DiNozzo mouthed at Loki.

Hailstohm stood with hands on her hips, staring at the wreckage thoughtfully. Loki sighed and flicked her fingers towards her, casting an illusion to make her blue skin white, red eyes blue, and silver hair platinum blonde. She didn't even notice, but a couple of the investigators noticed the sudden change and jumped.

Gibbs' cell phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket. "Gibbs," he answered. After a couple moments, he nodded. "Thanks, Carpenter. We're on it."

"What?" Loki asked.

"We got a call on the BOLO for Sniper," Gibbs replied, nodding at the investigator. "Let's go."

/**/

I'm sorry for missing last week's update. I had a huge wave of midterms last week and needed to study. But now there's a new chapter!

What do you think of Hailstohm coming to earth with the NCIS agents? And Halo's burning of a neighborhood? Excited to see Sniper (ahem, Kate) coming up?

Thanks for reading!

Skylar Wittenborn