Loki grinned as he stared at the containment cell spinning around as it fell disappearing into the clouds. Loki knew his destiny as the King of Earth was nearly complete. Loki just needed to kill one person. The one individual whose power and future bloodline would rival his own. This threat was revealed to him by the gem inside his scepter. The Mind Gem that Thanos gifted him revealed knowledge beyond his own understanding.
He would use this knowledge to build an Empire that would last at least one thousand years. Then he would summon an army to get revenge on his adopted father Odin. Odin lied to him about his destiny, his identity and took him from his biological family the Frost Giants. Odin would bow down to him and Loki would rule Asgard, Earth and the rest of the nine realms as Emperor.
"You're gonna lose." Phil Coulson muttered
He lay against the wall his breathing labored and slow. A trail of blood leaked out of his mouth as he spoke.
"Am I? Why do you think that?" Loki asked skeptically
"It's in your nature." Coulson responded confidently
Loki walked towards Coulson with a swagger in his step. He laughed at Coulson's response and grinned mischievously.
"Your heroes are scattered, your floating fortress falls from the sky... where is my disadvantage?" Loki questioned
"You lack conviction." Agent Phil Coulson retorted
"This scepter has shown me the future Coulson. Once I kill Anakin Skywalker. The one person destined to defeat me and create an Empire greater than the one I will control. Then I'll win. This whole exercise wasn't about those foolish idiots you call heroes forming a team to defeat me. It was me manipulating your organizations efforts to stop me. I made it so that your boss Fury would call on Palpatine for help and Anakin would be nominated by Palpatinr to join this little group of yours. You have no idea what the future has in store..."
Coulson shot Loki with his massive blaster canon before Loki could finish. Loki was blown through the wall behind him and was forced to scurry away as more Shield Agents approached.
"They needed something to bring them...the Avengers needed something to bring them..." Coulson kept repeating to himself
****
"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket. I guess he never did get you to sign them. He was your number one fan." Nick Fury said to Steve Rogers
Fury tossed the bloodstained Captain America trading cards on the table. Tony Stark sat silently while Fury glared at both of them. Steve Rogers picked up one of the cards sadness in his eyes.
"We're dead in the sky in this aircraft. Loki managed to escape in the choas. Our communications, the location of the Cube, Banner, Thor... I got nothing for you. I lost my one good eye. Maybe I had that coming. Maybe I shouldn't be mad at you but mad at myself."
Steve Rogers stared at Fury with a mixture of emotions while Tony Stark's face was unreadable and blank. Fury walked towards Rogers.
"Yes. We were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number, though, because I was playing something even riskier. My greater plan was something that had a low chance of success but nonetheless I still wanted it to succeed...there was an idea, Stark knows this, called the Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people to see if they could become something more. To see if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could."
Nick Fury stopped speaking his head bowed low. He sighed and then looked at Tony Stark whose expression was now a mixture of anger and sadness.
"Phil Coulson died, still believing in that idea. In heroes." Fury said
Stark suddenly got up and left the bridge of the ship. He walked past the pilot's podium with its two screens on opposite sides of each other and gave a dismissive smirk.
"Well, it's a good old-fashioned notion." Fury said pointedly to Steve Rogers
Steve Rogers stood next to Stark by a walkway with an intact railing. Stark leaned on the walkways railing frustrated. Steve put a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"Was Coulson married?" Steve asked
"No. There was a, uh... cellist. I think. They weren't married but they loved each other." Stark replied
"I'm sorry. He seemed like a good man." Steve said
"He was an idiot." Stark said bitterly
"Why? For believing in fighting the good fight?" Steve argued
"For taking on Loki alone." Stark said
"He was doing his job." Steve contested
Stark scoffed and shook his head.
"He was out of his league. He should have waited. He should have gotten backup..." Stark said tears in his eyes
"Sometimes there isn't a way out, Tony." Steve replied
"Right, you said that before." Stark muttered
"Is this the first time you've lost a soldier?" Steve asked gently
"We are not soldiers! I am not marching to Fury's orders!" Stark bellowed
"Neither am I! He's got the same blood on his hands that Loki does. But right now we've got to put that behind us and get this done. What's Loki's next move? What is he planning?" Steve said
"I don't know. But there is one way we can find out. Get Dr. Jane Foster to track the energy residue from Loki's scepter. From where Coulson was killed." Stark said
"So we have a plan. That's good. It'll help us get through this and put an end to all this." Steve said
YOU ARE READING
Avengers Wars Episode I: Steps Into Shadow
FanfictionIts 2011 and chaos has struck the world. A Shield facility was attacked and a powerful item of cosmic origin known as the Tesseract was stolen. The culprit is a Frost Giant named Loki of the pocket dimension Asgard whose employer is unknown. Shield...
