One With Earth [Avengers]

Run Away

ANNA

I followed behind Director Fury and Agent Hill, observing my busy surroundings closely. People were bustling, it was only when things really hit the wall the Director would pay a visit. According to the debrief things were looking really grim. I barely caught the words exchanged between them and Agent Coulson before he was off to do something Fury had assigned. We were met with stairs and before I realized it Maria broke off from us and I did a quick sprint to catch up to Fury.

"Stay close Roarke." he spoke to me as we entered a humongous room filled with scientists in lab coats, wires, and other gadgets, but the most horrifying thing was the pulsating blue cube in the middle of the room. It screamed danger, and its screaming was giving me a headache. I flinched away from it and turned my attention elsewhere.

"Talk to me, Doctor." Fury said to the older man standing by.

"Director." he acknowledged.

My attention was taken away once again when I noted a familiar life force in the room. I'd know that signature anywhere, my eyes searched and found my old sparring partner cooped up in the railings above us. I smiled at him and he gave a curt nod back.... Right, business mode. I hardened my face once again and went back to the two men in front of me.

"How soon until you pull the plug?" Fury questioned.

"She's an energy source. If we turn off the power, she turns it back on. If she reaches peak level..." he trailed off looking almost longingly at the pulsating cube. I hated how he referred to it as 'she', it is not living-- and it will only bring death. The Tesseract was as animate as a Duracell battery. I took a sneak peak at its file, sneak because I didn't have the clearance level to even know of its existence at the time.

Fury didn't accept his answer. "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." he brushed it off but my eyes widened at the mention of that particular radiation.

"That can be harmful. Where's Agent Barton?" Fury looked around for any sign of Hawkeye.

"The Hawk? Up in his nest, as usual." He gestured behind him.

Fury called Clint over the coms and I couldn't help but smile as he repelled from the railings and made his entrance... Fury wasn't so excited. I followed him as he met Clint halfway and we walked around the facility trying to be discreet.

"I gave you this detail so you could keep an eye on things." he spoke.

"I see better from a distance." Clint replied.

"Are you seeing anything that might set this thing off?"

"No one's come or gone. Selvig is clean. No contacts, no I.M.'s. If there was any tampering, sir, it wasn't at this end." He ticks his observations off the list.

"At this end?" Fury and I both ask.

"Yeah, the cube is a doorway to the other end of space, right? The doors open from both sides." the archer explained.

I bit my lip and brushed my hair out if my face, this wasn't good. I stole another glance at the cube. "Who could be trying to open the door on the other side?" I muttered to myself

I shouldn't have asked that...

The room started shaking as a vortex formed around the sinister cube then turned into a beam which turned into a portal. I gasped and stepped in front of Fury, shielding him from whatever may come. When the portal dissipated we were left with the figure of a man, kneeling. Guards surrounded him and he looked up at us, mischievous smile on his face, he stood, staff in hand.

I got a good look at him, attractive, but something inside me was screaming 'run away'. Probably the fact that he came from the Tesseract. Overall, he was terrifying and I was a deer in headlights.

"Sir, put down the spear." the director called to him.

The new man looked at the scepter in his hand like he didn't even notice it was there. He smirked and before I knew it I was tackled to the ground with a blue wave barely missing me.

I stood up and stayed protectively in front of the director while Clint and some other soldiers in the area took the direct approach and went to attack the new arrival. It was no use, the man deflected bullets and took out guards with the energy from his scepter and small silver throwing knives. Then the raven haired man held his spear up to Clint's chest and I saw his eyes turn black then glow blue as he put his gun away. My eyes widened. "Clint, no." I whispered. His aura was engulfed in blue and he was lost.

Behind me, Fury was busy. He took the ominous cube and placed it in its case. He motioned to me and we tried to leave the lab discreetly while everything was in chaos.

"Please don't, I still need that." the man appeared behind us.

I turned my head to look at him and I narrowed my eyes at him. "Haven't you done enough?" I felt my skin heating up when his eyes brightened and he smirked at me. At a closer look he seemed tired and worn. I sneered at him.

Fury put a hand on my shoulder as he turned to face the new comer bringing me with him. "This doesn't have to get any messier."

"Of course it does. I've come too far for anything else. I am Loki of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose." His silk voice spoke the words as if they were rehearsed.

My eyebrows furrowed. "Asgard?" I whispered to myself. I've heard of that before.

"Loki? Brother of Thor?" The crazy doctor stepped behind the crazier man.

"We have no quarrel with your people." Fury said, a little confused.

"An ant has no quarrel with a boot." he smiled, I grimaced.

Fury raised an eyebrow. "Are you planning to step on us?"

"I come with glad tidings, of a world made free." A grin was growing on his face and it made me sick.

"You sure about that?" I said quickly.

"Free from what?" Fury asked.

"Freedom." he said it like it was the only answer possible. "Freedom is life's great lie. Once you accept that, in your heart-" he cut off, turning to the doctor, putting the scepter to his chest. The older man's eyes turned black and he was gone. "- You will know peace."

"Yeah, you say peace, I kinda think you mean the other thing." as the director said this the energy cloud above us builds rapidly.

Clint stepped in. "Sir, Director Fury is stalling. This place is about to blow, dropping a hundred feet of rock on us. He means to bury us."

Fury smirked. "Like the Pharaohs of old."

Now the crazy doctor spoke. "He's right, the portal is collapsing on itself. You got maybe two minutes before this goes critical."

"That doesn't sound good." I looked cautiously to Director Fury.

"Well then..." Loki said looking at Clint and I didn't even have time to react before he pulled the trigger and I blacked out.