Vanish • The Avengers

nine

Beau was in the commons of SHIELD, which was sort of like a huge cafeteria lounge room. She had always wondered how much was time and money had been spent building all these things and all the different buildings. It really was a huge facility.

She was there, biting on an apple while she talked to Agent Hill, who she had become fond of. Hill had trained Beau a couple of times, and they became friends from there.

They were at a table, Maria eating a sandwich while Beau was sipping on a bottle of water. Beau dropped a napkin on the ground, and she bent over to pick it up. While she was bent over in her chair, she saw footsteps approaching her table, and heard a voice speak. Beau turned, now invisible.

"Hey, Miss Hill, do you have any idea where I can find Beau? I've been looking for her everywhere, I want to talk to her."

"What? She's right h-" Maria said, turning to her left, and seeing nothing. She realized what Beau had done.

"Oh, I meant to say that she was just around here. I think I saw her going that way." Maria said, pointing in whatever direction came to mind first. The boy thanked her, and ran off. Once the coast was clear, Beau turned back and sat up.

"Well, thanks for covering for me", she said to Maria.

"You're welcome, but... Why? he seemed like a nice boy to me."

"His congressman dad basically bought him an internship here. Fury wanted against it, but the Council passed it. He's the most annoying boy I've ever met." 

"I see. But still, you never cease to amaze me. How do you do that?"

"How many times are you going to ask me that?-"

"Agent Waters, please come to the lab facility immediately," Fury's voice rang in their earpieces, interrupting their dialogue.

"On my way," Beau said, her finger pushing the button on her earpiece. She waved at Maria, and they parted ways.

**

As soon as Beau walked into the lab, she sensed tension. She saw people in lab coats running around with papers, data, clipboards.

She walked around, eyeing for a familiar face. Most of the people here never left the lab, too intrigued in their work. She finally saw Fury talking to Clint, and made her way over.

"Yeah, the cube is a doorway to the other end of space, right?" she heard Clint say as she reached them. She realized they were talking about the tesseract.

"Doors open from both sides."

Suddenly, she heard a thunder. She turned towards the noise and saw the tesseract. It shook the whole lab, and then it shot out a blinding light, creating a portal. Everyone shielded themselves, and Beau did as well. She turned her shield on, now cautious and ready. She had covered her eyes with her arm, and when she removed it, she saw it.

A man, slowly standing up. He was huge; tall, well built, and lean. He wore some type of armor. He had a helmet with big horns on his head, and had black wispy hair coming out from underneath it.

She looked at his face, and he looked insane. She saw it in his eyes. He was smiling, but it sure as hell wasn't friendly. His complexion looked like that of a drug addict, pale, sweaty, and sunken. He looked around, and locked his eyes on her. Specifically, the purple orb of protection surrounding her. He cocked his head slightly, eyes squinting at her in curiosity.

"Sir, please put down the spear," Fury said behind her. The man looks down at his weapon, as if inspecting it, but Beau knew. The man's demeanor changed quickly, extending his arm, shooting a beam of energy and light at them. Beau was quick enough to grab Fury, engulfing him in her shield. The beam of energy the man had shot was deflected, but not bounced off. Beau could only do that if she had her hand on her shield, reflecting an attack directly.

The man looked surprised, then mischievous. All hell broke loose after that. Bullets flew towards him, and they bounced off of him.

What the hell?, Beau thought to herself.

The man jumped towards a group of agents that were shooting at him, and shot them with his spear. He then walked over to Clint, and he took out his gun, but the man grabbed Clint's hand, restraining him. 

"You have heart," the man says, looking straight at Clint. He raises the tip of his spear into Clint's chest, and pushes in lightly. Clint's veins glow through his skin, and his eyes sheen black for a few seconds, until they turn into an icey blue. Beau knew right away that something was wrong. She realized that Fury was no longer behind her.

The man saw her on the ground and their eyes locked. Beau held a gaze of endurance, while the man stared at her malevolently. He made his way over to her, his heavy footsteps pounding on the floor. He held his spear below him, pointing it at her. As he was opening his mouth to speak, Beau turned. She disappeared right in front of his eyes, and the look on his face did not match the attitude he had carried throughout the events. His jaw dropped, and he thrust his spear out at the ground. Beau turned her shield on, and crawled away as fast as she could. She saw Fury grabbing the tesseract, and apparently, the man did, too.

"Please don't, I still need that," The man said calmly.

Fury turned around, now realizing he had been caught. "This doesn't have to get any messier," he said.

"Of course it does," The man smiled mischievously. "I've come too far for anything else. I am Loki, of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose."

Beau heard this as she was escaping the lab. Loki? Why does that sound familiar?

She realized that her safety really was in danger, and she ran out of the lab, following other frantic agents that were running for safety.