Devil of Menace

1 - Tesseract

The helicopter lands and Nick, Maria, and I step out onto the rooftop of a SHIELD facility. The cold night winds whip the base of Nick's jacket as we join Agent Coulson. "How bad is it?" Fury asks. Coulson sighs, "That's the problem Sir, we don't know." My mind races with possibilities as we pass fleeing technicians gathering the essentials to be evacuated. "Dr Selvig read an energy surge from the Tesseract four hours ago." Coulson explains. "NASA didn't authorise Selvig to test phase." Fury exasperates. Coulson nods in agreement, "He wasn't testing it, he wasn't even in the room. Spontaneous advancement." Maria buts in, "It just turned itself on?" She asks. I roll my eyes, "You can't turn it off." I murmur. "What are the energy levels?" I ask curiously. "Climbing," Coulson begins, "When Selvig couldn't shut it down we ordered evac." Fury nods once, "How long to get everyone out?" He asks. "Campus should be clear in the next half hour." Agent Coulson states. Fury sighs, "Do better." He orders before we continue on through the facility.

"Nick, evacuation may be futile." I suggest. "We should tell them to go back to sleep?" He retaliates. Thankfully Maria steps in before I can say my piece, "If we can't control the Tesseract's energy, there may not be a minimum safe distance." Fury blanks her statement entirely stating that he needs her to make sure Phase 2 prototypes are shipped out. I furrow my brows, the fuck is Phase 2?, I think. "Sir, is that really a priority right now?" Maria asks. "Until such a time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on. Clear out the tech below. Every piece of Phase 2 on a truck and gone." Nick orders. Maria nods, "Yes sir," before turning to some nearby agents, "With me." She orders. "What's Phase 2 Nick?" I ask, but he dismisses me with a wave of his hand as we enter the radiation facility housing the Tesseract.

The room is cluttered with machines and people bustling around trying to evacuate themselves. "Talk to me Doctor." Nick orders as Erik Selvig emerges from behind a CMS machine, concern etched on his features. The Tesseract is glowing brightly at the end of the room, flares of blue firing out, hitting objects at random. "Director." Selvig nods. "Is there anything we know for certain?" I ask. "The Tesseract is misbehaving." Erik voices. Nick turns to look at him, "Is that supposed to be funny?" He asks incredulously. "No, it's not funny at all," Selvig clarifies, "The Tesseract is not only active, she's... misbehaving." He repeats, struggling to find a better alternative. "How soon 'til you pull the plug?" Fury asks. "She's an energy source. If we turn off the power, she turns it back on. If she reaches peak level..." Selvig trails off. "We've prepared for this doctor. Harnessing energy from space." Nick adds. I suddenly feel as though I'm missing a significant chunk of information regarding the plans for the Tesseract.

"We don't have the harness. Our calculations are far from complete. Now she's throwing off interference, radiation. Nothing harmful, low levels of gamma radiation." Selvig explains, I scoff. "That can be harmful." Nick agrees before asking, "Where's Barton?" I turn to look at the walkways and scaffolding adorning the ceiling, hoping to spot the agent. "The hawk?" Selvig queries, "Up in his nest, as usual." He says, causing me to laugh. "Agent Barton, report." Nick says into his earpiece. Barton rappels down from his perch in the railings and makes his way towards his, dressed head to toe in black tactical gear. The three of us walk around around the bottom of the facility, away from Selvig. "I gave you this detail so you could keep a close eye on things." Fury scolds. "Well I see better from a distance." Barton retorts. Fury turns to me as if to say, is he serious, and I nod. "Are you seeing anything that might set this thing off?" Fury asks, looking to the Tesseract. Clint sighs, "No-one's come or gone. It's oven is clean, no contacts, no I.Ms. If there was any tampering Sir, it wasn't at this end." He explains.

I run my hands through my hair, that last sentence catching Nick's attention. "At this end?" He provokes. "Yeah, the cube is a doorway to the other end of space, right?" Clint looks at me in conformation. I nod, "Doors open from both sides." I finish. Just then a tremor rocks the building as the cube begins to glow brighter, a ring of light blasts forth from it. The blast hits the edge of a platform and a swirling blue and black vortex starts to form. A gust of blue energy from the vortex forces us backwards, the cloud shoots up from the ceiling. A man emerges from the portal, kneeling in the smoke. The greasy man looks up grinning, a sceptre in hand, he frowns as he sees us looking at him. "Sir please put down the spear." Fury barks. "Sceptre." I whisper under my breath as I brush the dust from my outfit. The man retaliates with a blast of blue energy, Barton tackles Fury out of the way as I dive away from it's path, making myself invisible in the process. Every agent in the vicinity begins to shoot at the man but the bullets appear to deflect off of him. Using the sceptre and a number of knives he quickly eliminates those who fired at him.

Clint attempts to attack him but he grabs his wrist and quickly disarms him, "You have heart." He utters. He places the point of the sceptre against Barton's chest and his eyes begin to glow a bright blue, like the Tesseract. Barton stops resisting his hold and appears to be in his control. I see Fury sneak up and grab the Tesseract, placing it in a briefcase. As he attempts to sneak out the man stops and says, "Please don't. I still need that." I emerge from the shadows saying, "Awfully polite for a villain." Nick speaks up, "This doesn't have to get any messier." The man scoffs, "Of course it does. I've come too far for anything else. I am Loki of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose." I blink a few times as I register his words, "Asgard." I mutter as a memory of hearing the name before runs through my mind. "Loki? Brother of Thor?" Selvig asks, stepping forwards and the name clicks in my memories. "We have no quarrel with your people." Fury states. Loki turns to him, "An ant has no quarrel with a boot." He spits. "Hate to say it but he's got a point." I say, causing Loki to smirk at me as Fury glares.

"You planning to step on us?" Fury rebuts. "I come with glad tidings, of a world made free." Loki explains, Barton stood motionless at his side. "Free from what?" Fury asks. "Freedom. Freedom is life's great lie. Once you accept that, in your heart..." Loki turns to Selvig and repeats what he did to Clint, Selvig's eyes also glowing. "Freedom?" I ask, "See my best friend is very big on freedom so I might have to disagree with that one." I explain. "You will know peace." Loki states. "Yeah, you say peace, I kind of think you mean the other thing." Fury yells as this energy cloud begins to rapidly build. "Sir, Director Fury is stalling. This place is about to blow. Drop a hundred feet of rock on us. He means to bury us." Barton explains. "Traitor." I whisper at him but he says nothing. "Like the Pharaohs of Odin." Fury adds. Selvig checks his machine before saying, "He's right. The portal is collapsing in on itself. You've got maybe two minutes before this goes critical." Loki nods, "Well then." He makes his way towards me and places the sceptre on my chest. A tingle shoots down my spine as my body absorbs it's energy, "That felt good, do it again." I provoke. Loki's brows furrow in anger but he knows he can't waste his time on me and instead looks to Clint who shoots Nick with no hesitation. Barton grabs the case containing the Tesseract and leaves the lab with Loki and his minions.

I rush over to Nick, helping him up, "You good?" I ask. Nick nods and removes the bullet like it's nothing, "Barton is-" He begins to say but is cut off by the sounds of gun fire through the comms. Nick and I run out of the lab, Nick clutching his side. "He's got the Tesseract! Track it down!" I yell through my earpiece. Pipes burst around us and walls crack as the energy coursing through the building causes an internal earthquake. We reach the roof and run across the tarmac, clambering into the helicopter.

As it takes off the building begins to collapse into it's own sinkhole. We watch from above as the building implodes. I spot a truck containing Barton, Selvig, and Loki leave the wreckage and instruct the pilot to follow it. Nick open fires with his pistol as a blast hits the helicopter, causing it to burst into flames. I absorb the energy of the flames as we jump down from the wreckage, I pull the pilot down with me. We recover a few seconds too late as the truck is out of range for a clean shot. "Sound the general call. I want every living soul not working rescue looking for that briefcase." Fury orders. Hill's voice crackles through, "Roger that." And we breath a sigh of relief that she's okay. "Coulson, get back to base. This is a Level Seven. As of right now, we are at war." I watch Fury's demeanor change as Coulson asks the all important question.

"What do we do?"