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Kneeling behind a throne, a clothed, armoured figure known as The Other, bowed. "The Tesseract has awakened. It is on a little world. A human world. They would wield its power..." The Other faced a horned shaped shadow. Loki. Loki was handed the Chitauri Scepter, a long golden handle, fitted with a blue gem encircled with silver blades. "But our ally knows its workings as they never will. He is ready to lead. And our force, our Chitauri, will follow." Tens of thousands of Chitauri stood ready in a seething mass of neat rows and columns... the ground simply quaked. "The world will be his. The universe yours. And the humans, what can they do but burn?"
⍟ⴵ
Out in the New Mexico desert, a remote research facility was in a state of panic. It was an evacuation. A swooping helicopter flew in. Chaos. Men in suits ran around. Soldiers on foot jumped onto Humvees, accelerating the hell out of there. A voice bellowed from hidden loudspeakers. Standing a few yards from the landing pad, a Fed in a suit with badass shades, peered at the helicopter as it landed. This was SHIELD Agent Phil Coulson. Walking out of the helicopter was SHIELD Agent Maria Hill, following her, SHIELD Director Nick Fury climbed out. Hill and Fury approached Agent Coulson. "How bad is it?" asked Fury. "That's the problem, sir. We don't know." Coulson replied.
Agent Coulson leaded Hill and Fury through the radiation section of the facility. Hundreds of technicians and other staff ran around, taking only the essentials. "Dr. Selvig read an energy surge from the Tesseract four hours ago." Coulson said. "NASA didn't authorize Selvig to test phase." "He wasn't testing it, he wasn't even in the room. Spontaneous advancement." "It just turned itself on?" Hill asked. "What are the energy levels now?" Fury added. "Climbing. When Selvig couldn't shut it down, we ordered the evac." "How long to get everyone out?" Fury asked. "Campus should be clear in the next half hour." "Do better."
"Sir, evacuation may be futile." Hill added. "We should tell them to go back to sleep?" "If we can't control the Tesseract's energy, there may not be a minimum safe distance." "I need you to make sure that PHASE 2 prototypes are shipped out." "Sir, is that really a priority right now?" "Until such 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." "Yes, sir."
Fury entered the lab facility where the Tesseract was being held by a compact muon solenoid coil chamber. "Talk to me, doctor." Dr. Erik Selvig emerged from behind the CMS machine, concerned. The Tesseract was glowing unusually brighter and flare rings shot out at random. "Director." Selvig said. "Is there anything we know for certain?" "Tesseract is misbehaving." "Is that supposed to be funny?" "No, it's not funny at all. The Tesseract is not only active, she's... misbehaving." "How soon until you pull the plug?" "She's an energy source. If we turn off the power, she turns it back on. If she reaches peak level..." "We've prepared for this, doctor. Harnessing energy from space." "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." "That can be harmful. Where's Barton?" "The Hawk? Up in his nest, as usual."
