I Prefer the Cold {A Loki Fanfiction}

Chapter Two

After two days of standing around and keeping an eye on the same scientists, you'd think I would have been driven mad. Listening to the scientists' conversations was actually interesting. I couldn't understand some of what they were talking about, but most of it could be comprehended. Basically, they were testing just how much energy the Tesseract gave off.

Today seemed a little different. They gave each other frantic glances, wandered to different stations in stressed gaits, and whispered with their heads close together. Something was wrong, but I couldn't figure out what. I looked toward where Clint was; maybe he had an idea. My uncle was perched in a small observation railing in the far corner of the lab. I couldn't make out his expression, but he seemed to be staring intently at the commotion below him.

My attention was drawn from Clint when a scientist hurried over to a guard near the entrance to the lab. They whispered to each other for a moment or two, and then the guard left. I tilted my head, curious as to what their secret conversation was. About five minutes later, an evacuation alarm went off. Nothing good could come from that... My fingers drew closer to the trigger on my assault rifle as I thought about why an evacuation was called.

Was the Tesseract about to explode? Maybe it was giving off fatal waves of radiation. Perhaps some enemy found the testing facility.

Movement near the entrance of the lab tore me from my distressing thoughts and made me raise my weapon. Thank God I didn't shoot, as the director of SHIELD, Nick Fury, had just walked in. He called out a name, Selvig, and was soon joined by one of the scientists. I had heard of Selvig; he was present during the whole Thor showdown in New Mexico. He allegedly knew quite a bit about the mythology behind beings like Thor. I honestly thought they were some religious stories until I heard about the New Mexico incident.

The two of them spoke for a while, and then called my uncle down. I strained my ears to hear what they were saying, but couldn't really catch anything. All three of them had conceded looks on their faces, making me a little fearful about what was going on (I was never the bravest agent, which was probably why I was still such a low-level agent).

"Doctor!" A female scientist spoke up, "Its spiking again,"

Selvig walked over to her and stared at the screen in front of them. Director Fury and Clint remained where they were, in front of the Tesseract, and continued to speak. I could hear bits and pieces of my uncle talking about the Tesseract being tampered with. Just as he finished speaking, the Tesseract let put a pulse of light. The two men immediately turned their heads toward it and watched. A buildup of anxiety formed in my stomach, fearing that they were standing too close. If that thing exploded, like I'd previously anticipated, there was no way they'd survive. It was pure energy!

The Tesseract continued to spark, making loud, high-pitched crackling noises as it did so. My entire body tensed up as it let out a larger pulse. This time causing the ground to shake. The sparks steadily got larger and louder. Everyone was completely silent as they gawked at the cube. The flickers coming from it began to spiral. It looked like a tiny blue galaxy to me. My minute trace of amusement was short-lived when a beam of light was shot from the thing that held the Tesseract. At the end of the shaft, a portal-looking thing began to form. I could make out a black background and... we're those stars?

The bottom center of the "portal" was the brightest part. It flowed lustrously against the space-like background behind it. Just as I could begin to make out a figure shape, the portal popped like a bubble, sending a surge of blazing energy everywhere. My hair flew back at the gust that went along with the flood of blue light. It was strong, but not exactly strong enough to knock someone off of their feet. A lot of the "popped bubble" got caught in the large dome of the ceiling. I watched it swirl around and catch itself. It began to build up in a bright light.