Third person POV
Nick Fury walked into a top-secret SHIELD facility with a determined look on his face, closely followed by Maria Hill after they dropped off by a helicopter. As he walked into the building, he hoped that the team stationed at the location were over reacting and there was nothing wrong with the tesseract. The last thing he wanted was for Dr Kimberly Rogers to find out that he was still in the possession of the Asgardians artefact, he hadn't had to deal with her directly since she and Steve Rogers had moved to New York three months ago and he wanted to keep it that way. Even though he hadn't technically lied to her about the location of the tesseract, he didn't like the idea of facing down an angry demigod and her super soldier husband.
Phil Coulson was waiting patiently for both Director Fury and Commander Hill at the entry of the facility. He cringed a little when he saw the look on the Directors face, nothing good ever came from that look. Usually someone would end up being yelled and most time it was Coulson who was on the receiving end of the director's outburst.
"How bad is it," Fury asked without even stopping to great one of his most loyal agents.
"That's the problem, sir," Coulson said, trying to hide the worry from his voice. "We don't know."
The director and the two agents made their way through the facility, passing fleeing SHIELD technicians who were carrying anything that was deemed as essential out of the building.
"Dr. Selvig read an energy surge from the tesseract four hours ago," Coulson informed his superior, walking quickly to keep up with the man.
"NASA didn't authorise Selvig to test phase B," Furry snapped, clearly annoyed by the situation.
"He wasn't testing it; he wasn't even in the room. It was a spontaneous advancement," Coulson said quickly, trying to protect his friend from Fury's anger.
"It just turned itself on?" Hill asked, sounding more than a little concerned.
"What are the energy levels?" Fury asked, not even acknowledging his second in charge.
"Climbing. When Selvig couldn't shut it down, we ordered evac," Coulson told the pair, partly to try to ease Agent Hills concern.
"How long to get everyone out?"
"Campus should be clear in the next half hour."
Fury stopped to look at the loyal agent that he had known for over a decade, he knew that Coulson was doing the best he could but he needed everyone to do more.
"Do better."
Coulson turned walked in the opposite direction to give the orders for the evacuation to move at a faster pace as Fury and Hill continued deeper into the facility. The pair didn't take note of the fleeing agents that passed them, only focusing on the problem on hand that was the tesseract.
"Sir, evacuation may be futile," Hill told her boss as he continued to walk briskly towards the room that held the problem object in question.
"Should we tell them to go back to sleep? "Fury asked, sarcastically.
"If we can't control the tesseract's energy, they may not be a minimum safe distance."
"I need you to make sure that all the Phase 2 prototypes are shipped out," Fury said as he turned to face his second in charge that was following him.
"Sir, is that really a priority right now," Hill asked, questioning man's priorities.
"Until such a time that the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on. Clear out the tech bellow. Every piece of Phase 2 needs to be on a truck and gone."
"Yes, sir," she said as she turned to the agents around her, needing them to help with the remove the items. "With me."
As the agents hurried to follow Fury continued to walk into the radiation facility that housed the tesseract, looking for Dr. Selvig. The room was filled with agents and technicians as they rushed to pack all the important machinery that was surrounding them. Finally, he found the doctor behind one of the lagers machines.
"Talk to me doctor."
"Director," Selvig replied, moving from the machine that held the cube that was growing brighter by the second.
"Is there anything we know for certain?"
"The tesseract is misbehaving," the doctor replied in an uneasy voice.
"It that supposed to be funny?"
"No, it's not funny at all. The tesseract is not only active, she's...misbehaving," the doctor said, trying to find the words to explain what was happening.
"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..." he says, frustrated that the director doesn't seem to understand.
"We've prepared for this doctor. Harnessing energy from space," Furry said, thinking back to when he first met Carol Danvers.
"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," Fury said, thinking about what gamma radiation had done to Bruce Banner. "Where's Barton?"
"The Hawk? Up in his nest, as usual."
Fury looked up to see Clint Barton, who was dressed in full black tactical gear, in the scaffolding of the building. He was in the corner of the room, perched in his spot, actively watching his environment around him as he looked for any signs of danger.
"Agent Barton, report," Furry called as he watched the expert marksman walk along one of the catwalks and rappels down to the ground.
"I gave you this detail so you could keep a close eye on things," Fury snapped the agent.
"Well, I see better from a distance," Barton shrugged as if it should have been obvious.
Fury rolled his eyes at the agent who seemed to take his code name of Hawkeye too seriously.
"Are you seeing anything that might set thing off," he asked as a NASA scientist approached Dr. Selvig.
"Doctor, its spiking again," Selvig to him in a panicked voice, as Fury realised that the situation was getting worse by the second.
"No one's come or gone. It's oven clean. No contacts, no I.M.'s. If there was any tampering, sir, it wasn't at this end," Barton informed him.
"At this end?" Fury questioned.
"Yeah, the cube is a doorway to space, right? The doors open from both sides."
Before Fury had the chance to reply, the tesseract activated again, causing the building to shake around them. Everyone in the room watched as cube began to glow a bright blue as more energy began building it by the second. The energy continued to build until a blue beam shot out of the cube, connecting it to one of the machines. A vortex started to form in front of the SHIELD team, who watched as it started to grow, unsure about what they needed to do to stop it.
All of a sudden, a portal formed, causing even blue energy bursts from the portal that blinded everyone in the room. The energy levels dropped as quickly as they started as they started to rise, leaving the room in complete silence other than the ragged breaths of a man. As Fury's vison slowly started to return, he noticed a man who was on his knees that seemed to have appeared from the portal.
He looked like he had been to hell and back, his black hair was pushed out of his face, which is covered in a light sheen of sweat. He has large bruise like circles under his eye, giving him the appearance that he hadn't slept in a number of days. But what was concerned Fury the most about the stranger was the scepter that was in his hand.
Sir, put down the spear!" Fury said as he tried to diffuse the situation before anything could happen.
The man looked down at the scepter that was in his hand and slowly started smile. Standing up slowly on shaky legs, the man lifted the scepter as he aimed it at Fury and Barton and spent a burst of blue energy at the pair. Barton tackled his superior to the ground, shielding him from the blast. Every single person who was in the roomed armed with any sort of weapon, raised them and took aim at the man and opened fire on him. Before anyone has the chance to react, the man started to move towards the agents that were shooting at him and took them out one by one using both the scepter and daggers that he had hidden. When he had disposed of all the agent that he deemed to be a threat, he stood still, waiting for the next person to make a move with a smile on his tired face.
From his spot on the floor, Barton quickly scrambled to get to his fee and pulled his gun on the strange man before he had the chance to attack Fury. But the man quickly made his way over to Barton and grabbed his arm, ensuring the gun was nowhere near either.
"You have heart," the man he lifted the scepter and held it to the marksman heart.
As soon as the scepter touched Barton, his eyes began to glow black as the night sky before they faded in an unnatural, hazy blue that matched the glow of the tesseract as he stopped fighting the man's grasp on him. The man makes his way around the room, slowly taking control of the remaining agents, one by one. Each of the agents' eyes turning black before fading to blue as the stopped resisting the man's control.
Taking his chance, Fury slowly made his way over to the tesseract and carful placed it in to a specialised briefcase, in hope he could make it out of the facility alive with the Asgardian artifact. While the man has his back still has his back turned, Fury attempted to make his escape.
"Please don't. I still need that," the man said casually, causing Fury to stop and face him once more.
"This doesn't have to get any messier," Fury said in an attempt to stall the man, knowing that the building would collapse on its self at any moment.
"Of course, it does. I've come to far for anything else," The man said before introducing himself. "I am Loki of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purposes."
"Loki? Brother of Thor?" Selvig questioned, only to be ignored by both men.
"We have no quarrel with your people," Fury told the Asgardian, refusing to show any fear as he stood up to the god.
"An ant has no quarrel with a boot," Loki smirked, angering Fury.
"You planning on stepping on us?"
"I come with glad tidings, of a world made free."
"Free from what?" Fury asked cautiously as Loki made his way over to Dr. Selvig.
"Freedom," Loki began to say as he places the scepter on the doctor's chest, causing his eyes to glow in the same way that Clint's previously had. "Freedom is life's great lie. Once you accept that in your heart. You will know peace."
"Yeah, you say peace, I kinda think you mean the other thing," Fury said as the roof above them began to crumble.
"Sir, Director Fury is stalling. This place is about to blow and drop a hundred feet of rock on us. He means to bury us," Clint informed Loki against his will. There was a small part of his brain yelling him not to help the god but he wasn't in control of his own mind and wasn't able to stop himself.
"Like the Pharaohs of Odin," Fury chuckle darkly with as smug look worked its way on to his face.
"He's right. The portal is collapsing in on itself. You got maybe two minutes before this goes critical," Selvig said as he looked over the energy read outs coming from the computer.
"Well then," Loki said as he looked over at Clint with a Cheshire cat grin on his face, motioning towards the director of SHIELD. Without any hesitation, Barton pulled his gun out of its holster and aimed it at his former Director. Not missing a beat, Barton pulled the trigger, shooting Fury in the arm and causing him to drop the briefcase that he was holding.
Clint snatched the briefcase out of the directors reach and followed Loki out of the facility, leaving Fury behind to bleed out on the floor of the crumbling building.
Maria Hill watched in confusion as a group of agents left the building carrying restricted weapons that they shouldn't never have been able to access. Eventually a man dressed in black and green leather walked out, followed closely by Barton and Dr Selvig.
"We need these vehicles," Clint told her in a hollowed voice her as the group started to climb in to the parked cars.
"Who's that?" she asked, gesturing towards Loki who had already climbed into one of the trucks.
"Didn't tell me," Clint shrugged, following Loki in to the vehicle.
Maria watched them suspiciously as the remainder of the group climb into truck. Without any warning, the walkie talkie clipped to her belt started to receive a message as the group began their getaway.
"Hill, do you copy," Fury asked, attempting to make contact with her. "Barton is...".
Before Fury could even finish the sentence, Hill has pulled her gun out of its holster and fired at the man she considered a close friend. Barton, who had quickly realised what Fury was going to tell his second in charge, had already started to fire at her forcing Hill to take cover as she continued to shoot at the fleeing truck.
Maria Hill watched in confusion as a group of agents left the building carrying restricted weapons that they shouldn't never have been able to access. Eventually a man dressed in black and green leather walked out, followed closely by Barton and Dr Selvig.
"We need these vehicles," Clint told her in a hollowed voice her as the group started to climb in to the parked cars.
"Who's that?" she asked, gesturing towards Loki who had already climbed into one of the trucks.
"Didn't tell me," Clint shrugged, following Loki in to the vehicle.
Maria watched them suspiciously as the remainder of the group climb into truck. Without any warning, the walkie talkie clipped to her belt started to receive a message as the group began their getaway.
"Hill, do you copy," Fury asked, attempting to make contact with her. "Barton is...".
Before Fury could even finish the sentence, Hill has pulled her gun out of its holster and fired at the man she considered a close friend. Barton, who had quickly realised what Fury was going to tell his second in charge, had already started to fire at her forcing Hill to take cover as she continued to shoot at the fleeing truck.
Fury clutched at his side, where he had just pulled out the bullet that Barton shot him with, as he tried to make his way out of the facility that would cease to exist within a matter of minutes. Putting aside his own pain, as he had done a number of times before, Fury ran as fast he can while trying to stay in constant communication with Hill.
"He's got the tesseract! Track it down!" Fury ordered her before abandoning any other effort to contact the commander.
Pipes were busting in the walls around him as he made his way through the once state of the art facility. The walls had started to shake even more as the portal began to implode on itself. Pushing through the pain once again, Fury forced himself to move faster as he tried to reach his waiting helicopter that was still on the tarmac.
After what seemed like a life time, Fury made it back above ground. Taking note of his location, he quickly made his way across the tarmac and on to his helicopter just in time.
"You're clear, sir! You need to go!" Coulson informed him over the walkie talkie, giving the pilot the signal to take off.
Fury watched as all the work that he had put into the tesseract research was destroyed in a blue flash as the facility imploded on itself. But he reminded himself that there was no time to mourn the loss of the agents or their work. Loki was still out there and needed to be taken down.
From his seat on the helicopter, Fury could see Coulson and his team make it out of the facility just in time and muttered a silent prayer of thanks that one of his longest serving and most trustworthy agents made it out alive.
Spotting the truck that was carrying Loki as made its way out of the tunnels under the facility, Fury ordered his pilot to follow it. As they get closer, Fury pulled his gun out of its holster and opened fire at Loki but his gun is no match for the scepter. Aiming at the helicopter, Loki sent a blast of blue energy at them which skimmed the top of the helicopter.
Although it wasn't a direct hit, the blast was strong enough to cause the helicopter to catch fire. Taking his chances once again, Fury jumped from the helicopter just as it hit the ground and exploded, taking his piolet with it. Still dazed, Fury stood up and continued to fire at Loki but it didn't do a thing as the truck was too far away.
"Director? Director Fury, do you copy," Coulson's panicked voice called out over the walkie talkie.
"The tesseract is with hostile forces. I have men down. Hill?"
"A lot of men still under, don't know how many survivors," his second in charge replied.
"Sound the general call. I want every living soul not working rescue looking for that briefcase."
"Roger that," Hill replied quickly, already putting the orders in motion.
"Coulson, get back to base. This is a level 7. As of right now, we are at war."
"What do we do?"
As he looked around the destruction that surrounded him, Fury could only think of one thing he could do. He just prayed it worked.