"Agent Reynolds, the choppers are standing by for take-off. You've got half an hour until they get there." I heard Fury's voice over the earpiece.

"Great."

"Okay, I think that cave is the one they're in." Tony said as I reached the clearing in the center of the Island. There was a steep rocky cliff, and a cave in the center of it, the entrance covered with snow. I began to walk towards it, snow crunching under my boots.

"Be careful." Thor murmured.

The rock face was jagged and steep, and my feet slipped around as I tried to scramble up. After a few minutes of grunting, however, I managed to swing my arm over the side of the rock and shimmy up to the entrance of the cave. I couldn't see Loki or Anna, however, and clambered to my feet, unsheathing Denearmul.

"Ah, the illustrious Shadow allows us to bask in her presence again." I turned to see Loki, standing a few feet away by the ledge. He was holding a sword very similar to Denearmul, but far less intricately designed.

"Loki." I inclined my head.

"Don't you think it would be best if we stepped inside? The wind out here really is biting." Loki smiled pleasantly, motioning towards the cave. keeping my eyes on him, I back within the walls, holding Denearmul tightly.

"Where's the spear?" I asked.

"With your sister," Loki glanced behind me, and I turned to see Anna. Her hair was dripping, but just starting to dry, curling around her face. Over the past few months I'd begun to have fleeting memories of my past, but in all of the memories, Anna looked nothing like this. The girl standing in front of me now, holding the spearhead aloft like a mad woman, was no relation of mine. She just looked a hell of a lot like my sister.

"Good to see you again."

"Mmh, even after you shot at my oxygen tank." I snapped back.

She shrugged, "Nothing personal, you'v got to understand. It was all for this, and you were in the way. I've got to say, Claire. You really did help us out."

"Oh yeah, and how's that?"

"Well, I was counting on you to find the Submarine, and get me the spear. All I had to do was follow you right to the crate, and take it from you. Loki promised me it would be a lot harder, but I guess he overestimated your intelligence." She smirked, and as she did, the realization hit me.

She wasn't my sister. She hadn't been for some time; probably since the crash. Losing her entire family like that, displaced and alone. Then a mysterious, attractive, silk-tongued man had come to her, offering her a new life. One where she was on top. Where she had all the playing cards, and she could keep them as close to her chest as she liked.

Steve was wrong; Loki wasn't using any mind control over Anna. She'd bought into this willingly. She wanted all this. She wanted the power and the control.

She watched me carefully, waiting for me to make my move.

"I don't know who the hell you are," I said, struggling to keep my voice even, with the anger that was bubbling up inside me, "But you really aren't my sister. My sister died in a car crash a year ago, along with her parents and her sister."

A line appeared between her eyebrows.

"You aren't my sister."

I swung Denearmul down as hard as I could, focusing all my energy and emotions into it. Green energy exploded from it as soon as the tip touched the rocky ground, and Anna and Loki were both flung into the air. The spear flew out of her grasp, an I reached out, catching it just before it hit the ground.

Anna managed to crawl over to Loki, who was at the entrance to the cave. They both watched me as they clambered to their feet.

"Claire, don't you dare." Anna warned, as I held the spearhead delicately between finger and thumb, daring her to come any closer.

"You have no idea how powerful that spear is," Loki said earnestly, "It could kill you."

"You two were happy to take that risk."

"I know how to use it." he spat.

"Give it back!" Anna screamed, taking a step forward. Loki swung an arm around her waist, much the way Steve did with me. I was surprised for a second, looking from one face to the other. Anna was fighting with Loki, clawing at the air to try and get to me, but effortlessly, he had a tight grip on her, his eyes trained on my face.

His gaze was completely unreadable. Was that compassion? I couldn't quite work it out.

He mouthed something to me. Two words.

Do it.

I gulped, opening my mouth to say something, but he shook his head, pullng Anna up so she was close to him.

"Stop fighting." He ordered, "It's not worth it."

"Everything we've done!" she screeched, "Everything we worked for over the last six months, and you're going to let her walk away with it? I - I want that spear Loki!"

"You want it?" I called, drawing her attention back to me, "Go get it."

I let the spearhead drop from between my fingers, and fall to the floor. The second the point hit the ground, it cracked the rock, sending all three of us flying again. I crashed across the stony floor, pain exploding up my shoulder. Screaming out in pain, I looked back up to where Loki and Anna had been standing just in time to see them disappear.

"Claire, get your ass out of there. That cave isn't going to hold." Tony ordered. I snatched up Denearmul with my left hand and scrambled to my feet, stumbling out of the cave to the rocky ledge.

"Get back into the clearing!" Tony yelled, as another reverberation from the spear sent me flying from the ledge, rolling into the snow in blinding white searing agony.

I didn't pass out though. I made sure I kept consciousness, gripping Denearmul with my left hand, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in my right.

I don't know how long I was lying in the snow for, but after a while, I heard the blades of a chopper. The lights swung over head, and I waved desperately with Denearmul, trying to catch their attention.

Within ten minutes I was being ushered onto the Chopper by Agents, being sat down and questioned. I told one of them about my shoulder, and they examined it, before coming to the conclusion it was dislocated.

"We're going to have to pop it back in." They explained, and I nodded, squeezing my eyes shut and bracing myself for the pain to hit me again.