Enemies
Enemy: A hostile or opposing force
Chapter 1: Enemies
"Coulson!” I called after my advisor, a.k.a. mentor.
As I ran to him I could see the helicopter, carrying the director, making its circles to prepare for a landing as I slowed my pace. My boots clunking slightly at my heavier steps and my hair beginning to thrash about my face as I came to a stop next to him.
“AGENT MUSE!” He began, his eyes hidden behind his signature dark shades, being forced to yell over the whipping air caused by the helicopter blades.
“RIGHT ON TIME! DIRECTOR FURY IS JUST ARRIVING!” He said as we both turned to see the helicopter slowly lowering itself onto the S.H.I.E.L.D. landing deck.
I put a hand up to hold my hair in place, keeping the blue tendrils from getting into my eyes. I could feel the cold air whisked around from the helicopter against my bare abdomen. My S.H.I.E.L.D. combat suit was a specialized model that consisted of a short black sleeveless jacket that hung open atop a black zipped top which cut off under my chest, exposing my abdomen, along with black leggings that ended above my knees finished with fingerless gloves and boots as well.
The helicopter lowered itself to the ground and just before it touched down the door slid open revealing Deputy Director Agent Maria Hill who quickly got out and headed over to us as Director Fury himself exited at a more casual speed, seeming genuinely calm despite the situation.
He proceeded over with a collected demeanor as always, his long black leather coat flying up behind him as a result of the circulating air from the slowing helicopter blades. As he walked he looked around observing the chaos that surrounded us.
Only a few hours prior Coulson had gotten the notification that The Tesseract, one of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s secret treasures that had been found at the bottom of the ocean along with Captain America himself, had started misbehaving. As a result, Agent Coulson had been called in to inspect the situation and begin an evacuation of the premises, bringing me along because, as he claimed, Director Fury himself wanted me there.
Unfortunately for us, the NASA campus was highly populated and the inhabitants were in panic, which, as always warranted a common lack of intelligence that only worsened the pounding headache I had been nursing since earlier that day. Luckily I had been ordered to stay out of range of the populous and wait for further orders, which were to be given by the man standing in front of us.
Director Fury looked to Phil and then down to me with his one eye before his gaze returned to Phil.
“How bad is it?” He asked simply, a seemingly reserved reaction to the predicament.
I looked up to Phil as he responded, taking his shades off.
“That’s the problem Sir, we don’t know.”
Without even a verbal response, director Fury turned, proceeding into the building, followed by Agent Hill, Coulson, and myself.
By now the building was clear of all civilians and only agents remained as we headed down a lengthy hall and boarded a metal elevator.
“What do we know so far?” Director Fury asked, as Agent Hill scanned her S.H.I.E.L.D. badge giving her the access to proceed to the lower floors. Access that my own badge would not have given me.
As a level 4 agent I was both excited and nervous about being present with all of them. Neither Director Fury nor Deputy Director Hill intimidated me, I saw them often enough when Coulson reported directly to them. It was the simple fact that, as a level 4 agent and a young one at that, I was being allowed access to one of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s secret operations bases. I knew little about the operation itself, only knowing that it involved the Tesseract, of which my knowledge was also limited. The only things I knew about it were the stories that Phil had told me about in the days of Captain America. It was thrilling to finally be included in a higher level operation, since often Phil would be called off somewhere that I didn’t have access to go. However at the same time it made me uneasy. I had no idea why I was there or what was going on. Phil had said that director Fury wanted me there but nobody had told me why, however I didn’t dare asking about it. I just kept quiet and listened as Phil caught director Fury up on everything.
As we descended further my headache progressed. I tried to shake it off and keep my wits but my body was beginning to tingle. We slowed to a stop and the elevator door opened and director Fury proceeded out, followed by our group. I began to wonder if they had forgotten about me, if I wasn’t really supposed to be there, but I dared not ask. I wanted to be included for as long as I could. It was after all a high level operation.
“Dr. Selvig read an energy surge from the Tesseract four hours ago.” Phil Coulson told the director as we walked.
Agents and NASA specialists scrambled about, moving large boxes and equipment around as I took in every detail of the secret underground base. I placed my hand to my forehead for a moment, hoping the flesh of my hand would cool my head and ease the pain of my headache but my whole body had begun to heat and sweat slightly. I quickly took my hand away, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. I didn’t want to be sent away for medical attention.
“NASA didn’t authorize Selvig to go to test phase.” Director Fury responded.
“He wasn’t testing it. He wasn’t even in the room. Spontaneous event.” Phil informed him.
“It just turned itself on?” deputy director Hill asked.
“What are the energy levels now?” Director Fury asked, as if Hill’s previous question was irrelevant.
“Climbing. When Selvig couldn’t shut it down, we ordered evac.”
“How long to get everyone out?” director Fury asked.
“Campus should be clear in the next half hour.”
“Do better.” Director Fury stated simply, yet with surprising authority.
With this Phil nodded, turning to execute his orders and I turned swiftly, following suit.
“Agent Muse.” I heard the director call, causing Phil and I to turn around.
“Yes, Sir?” I asked, a bit surprised.
“You come with me.”
My eyes widened slightly and I looked to Phil as if seeing if it was alright. His eyes flickered to the director and then back to me as he stepped closer to me.
“Are you going to be alright?” He asked, placing his hand to my forehead, his cool hand soothing the pain slightly.
He had known about my headache the entire time.
“I’m fine.” I replied, lying through the pain.
Director Fury needed me for something and I wasn’t about to miss out on some action because of a headache. He nodded and turned, heading off to do his duty and I turned to face director Fury, catching agent Hill pull back from whispering something to him. They both looked back at me and I proceeded over to them as director Fury proceeded forward, not wasting a moment. As we walked on he spoke to me, keeping his attention forward, Maria Hill stationed between us and continuing to look back at me.
“Agent Coulson tells me you’ve had a headache today, since before we were notified of the situation.” He said with the inclination that it was a question.
“Yes, Sir.” I began, trying to pull my thoughts together and ignore the headache.
“Will it be a problem?”
“No sir.” I responded assuredly.
There came no reply as we began to descend a long winding staircase. Agent Hill got closer to director Fury and began speaking in a hushed tone, the only sounds I heard being the reverberations of her hard “S” sounds and “C”’s echoing off of the walls. Curious as I was to hear their conversation, she continued giving me looks, silently ordering that I stay back.
We reached the end of the stairs, director Fury and Hill reaching the landing before I did and beginning to raise their voices at each other, though it had become hard for me to make out their words. My head was throbbing and each time I descended a step, my knees felt as if they were incapable of supporting the weight of my body. I forced myself to stand up straight and hold myself together as I descended the last few steps, seeing agent Hill look at me. I tried to make my pain as inconspicuous as possible, determined to look strong in front of them. She exchanged a few last words with Fury, her eyes flickering back to me as I leaned against the wall, attempting to look more like I was waiting as I held myself up against it for support, before she turned and left, taking a handful of other agents with her.
Director Fury turned to me then.
“Still doing alright?”
I stood up straight, nodding.
“Yes, Sir.”
He stared at me a moment, his face still calm as if analyzing me before he faced the large open area next to him and proceeded in, beckoning me with his hand.
“Talk to me doctor.” Director Fury announced, waltzing into the room with purpose.
The room was large with a lot of high tech equipment and S.H.I.E.L.D. engineers. They were all in frenzy, hurrying around the room and quickly sliding their hands across holo-screens. I looked all around, doing a three sixty and looking at the arced ceiling before facing forward again, hearing someone respond to the director.
After turning, I saw not only the owner of the voice, Dr. Eric Selvig a consulting astrophysicist with SHIELD, but before him there was an enormous contraption, a bright blue light emitting from it. Upon closer inspection I was able to see that it was a cube and in that instant, I knew that it was the Tesseract, mesmerized by its light and the presence that a mere object could hold. It was as if I could feel it in my bones, a far more impressive thing in person than in the stories I’d heard.
Dr. Selvig, stepped from behind the contraption, his old age and bulk causing him to teeter from left to right on his hips as he walked. I wondered what had become of his younger associates. Surely Jane Foster would have been more suited to such a job in a place with such rigid surroundings.
“The Tesseract is misbehaving.” He stated.
As he began walking over to us another engineer, with some sort of rod stepped up to the contraption and poked at it, causing a small burst of energy to reach out and suddenly an immense surge of pain went through my body and I fell to my knees, grabbing my head.
“AAAGH!!”
Director Fury turned to me as Dr. Selvig came up next to him and froze.
“Agent Muse?” Fury asked with some concern as he approached me, Dr. Selvig close behind.
“What is it?” He kneeled down in front of me.
“M-“ I struggled to speak, the pain growing. “My h-head…”
Director Fury turned to the Doctor.
“Where are the energy levels at right now?”
Dr. Selvig looked flustered, trying to find his words for a moment before answering.
“Climbing exponentially, but it’s nothing that can harm us. Only low levels of gamma radiation.”
“That can be harmful.” Fury stated matter-of-factly.
“Can.” Dr. Selvig emphasized.
“But the levels are too low to cause any real harm…” The doctor informed him.
“It couldn’t possibly be the cause of this…” he stated looking down at me in bewilderment.
“Is it possible certain individuals can be sensitive to the radiation?” Fury asked.
“I suppose it could be…” he trailed off.
“Perhaps she’s too young to be around so much energy.”
“My age has nothing to do with it.” I growled, turning to him, glaring as I felt the sweat that glazed my face.
Everyone insisted that being fifteen was too young to be a SHIELD agent, everyone but Natasha, she had started young and knew how I felt. My age had nothing to do with my skill level, and though it wasn’t peak level, I was skilled enough to be a field operative and I would not tolerate being underestimated or assumed weak.
I gripped my head, fighting through the pain as director Fury attempted to help me up. As he brought me back to a standing position I kept my hand to my head, stabilizing myself and placing my hand on his chest to let him know I was alright to stand.
“I’m fine.” I stated as the pain withered a bit and he let go.
The Dr. seemed to accept this with some surprise to my words, nonetheless he said nothing more about it. In the meantime Director Fury continued to question Dr. Selvig about the situation as I looked over at the Tesseract.
“Is there anything else we ought to know about?”
“Yes. She’s not only active, she’s…behaving.” He struggled at the last part as if trying to find the right word.
“I assume you pulled the plug.” The director asked.
“She’s an energy source.” Dr. Selvig began, walking back over the control panel, Director Fury and myself following.
“Every time we turn the power off she turns it back on.”
He rounded the panel and stood behind it.
“If she reaches peak level-“
“We prepared for this doctor.”
Director Fury cut him off.
“Harnessing energy from space.”
“But we don’t have the harness. My calculations are far from complete.”
Listening to them I became confused. As they spoke of space and harnessing energy I found it all somewhat shocking. All of this time these things were going on in the world beyond my knowledge. Something as big as harnessing energy from space was hidden, not only from me and the rest of the low level agents, but from the entire world.
“She’s throwing off interference, radiation.” Selvig continued as Fury turned to look at the Tesseract.
Director Fury looked over to the Tesseract as the doctor spoke then turned to face him again.
“Where is agent Barton?” director Fury asked.
Selvig scoffed.
“The hawk? Up in his nest. As usual.”
He pointed his thumb up behind him, to a balcony overlooking the room. Director Fury put his hand up to his Bluetooth and called for Barton to report. I could see him moving from his perched position though my vision was a bit blurry and he proceeded over to descend a rope. As I watched him slide down I noticed large NASA banners with our S.H.I.E.L.D. symbol on them, reading a bunch of things related to Dark energy and dark matter as well as the words “Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S.”. I knew that this was the S.H.I.E.L.D. operation that involved the Tesseract and that, as with all S.H.I.E.L.D. projects, the acronym had to mean something, but my attempts to discern that meaning were futile.
Clint approached and Fury headed over to meet him half way, leaving me standing off to the side as they began speaking.
Out of nowhere another intense surge of pain overcame my body, I brought my hands up to my head, fighting to stand as my knees threatened to give way.
“Ghh!!”
The pain was immense and my vision began to blur further, my hearing phasing out as my legs became weaker. I looked over to director Fury and Clint, making out vague shapes and sounds as my vision seemed to tint blue and in the next moment I collapsed to the floor.
(3rd POV)
“I gave you this detail so you could keep a close eye on things.” Fury began scolding Clint as he walked over to him.
“I see better from a distance. “ Clint said plainly.
“Did you see anything that could have set this thing off?”
“Set it off? No.” Hawkeye said then turning to look back at agent Muse.
“She shouldn’t be here.”
“I’m the judge of that.”
“With all due respect Sir, I understand your intent but she is too young to be involved in this.”
He turned so as not to alert her that they were talking about her.
“And that’s not the only problem.”
“Agent Barton, I understand your disproval of agent Muse’s presence in this organization but she needs to be here.”
Agent Barton remained silent, accepting the director’s words.
“Have you seen any suspicious activity?
“No one’s come or gone.” Hawkeye said as he and Nick Fury walked up to the Tesseract.
Suddenly they both heard one of the scientists announce that the Tesseract was spiking again and turned upon hearing the sound, catching sight of agent Muse with her hands on her head and stumbling.
“Should we do something?”
“She's tough.” Fury responded keeping his one eye trained on her.
“You were saying?”
Hawkeye stared at Muse for a moment longer before turning back to the director and crossing his arms.
“If there was any tampering Sir, it wasn’t at this end.”
Fury looked over to the agent beside him, unsure of what he meant.
“At this end?” He asked.
Hawkeye looked over to his superior, defending his statement.
“Yeah, The cube is a doorway to the other end of space right? Doors open from both sides.”
Suddenly the Tesseract activated and bursts of energy began pulsating out from it. Fury and Hawkeye stepped back, the ground began shaking and could be felt all over the facility. They stood at the ready, waiting to see what was happening and suddenly a large beam of light blasted forward. In the next moment a scream was heard and both men turned, seeing agent Muse on the floor and convulsing. Hawkeye attempted to run over when he noticed that the beam was forming a portal at the far end of the chamber. They both stared in shock as agent Muse’s screams faded under the sound of the energy beam. It continued to fill out until an enormous blast of energy abruptly filled the room, causing everyone to avert their gaze.
(Agent Muse POV)
A pain unlike any I had ever felt before surged through my body as I convulsed on the ground. I could feel myself screaming but I could scarcely hear it. The hysteria lasted for only a few minutes before it began to wither, my vision coming back to me slowly as well as my hearing and I could see that I was facing the stand with the Tesseract. I still couldn’t move, pain still lingering and weak from the writhing. As I looked over and my vision began to clear I could see everyone in the room standing still and in silence, noticing director Fury standing next to Clint. As I looked at them I could see something moving far in front of them on the other side of the room, I tried to push myself up, managing, only to press my hand to the floor in a futile effort. The form slowly began to rise and I realized it was the figure of a man. He stood slowly from his kneeling position as I realized that he held in his hand a spear of some kind with a glowing blue orb that was vibrant even from where I laid.
I could barely make out his features but I could see that he wore a garb of black leather, accented with emerald green cloth and what seemed to be golden armor. His skin was pale with long black hair that was slicked back down his neck, the tips curling slightly at the edges.
“Sir! Please put down the spear!” I heard Fury yell, breaking the silence as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents pointed their firearms at the figure and slowly approached.
I could see the slight movements as the man looked down at the spear, as if having forgotten it was there and Director Fury’s request had been a reminder. In the next moment he looked up to Fury appearing both confused and insulted and instantly he pointed the spear at the director and a beam of blue light shot forwards. Clint bolted to the director’s front to block the attack, sending them both flying backwards into some machinery as the few scientists that were left standing became panicked and scrambled. The agents with weapons charged at the man stupidly as though he had not just displayed his power.
The man leapt at them, a crazed look on his face as he brought his spear down into an agent’s chest and landed. More agents began shooting at him and with excellent reflexes he spun around, letting daggers fly though the air and hitting the agents directly in the chest with precision. Their bullets merely bounced off of him as if there were some sort of invisible energy field around him as he turned for the next attack. He pointed the spear at the scientists who were only hiding, not even attacking him as if he wanted to eliminate everyone in the room. As I laid there I saw his destruction and insanity. I tried to move my body, only managing to pull myself mere inches across the smooth floor, easing myself onto an arm, only to fall again. My body was weak, and I was being utterly useless as this maniac slaughtered everyone in the room. If I did not get up soon, I would be the only one left.
His movements were bestial and ragged, moving like an animal with unbelievable precision. He was clearly not human. As I pushed myself onto one elbow one of the men he had knocked down before stood and he turned swiftly, as if having sensed him there, and sliced across his chest with the head of the spear. More agents got to their feet, having been blown to the ground from the blast of energy and I too tried to regain myself but to no avail. Clint knelt at the front of the pack and as the man sent another energy blast their way, he rolled out of the crossfire and to the side. Another agent came at him, foolishly and the man proceeded to kick him with great force, sending him flying high into a wall, like no human strength could.
The crazed and unknown man stopped then, looking around seemingly disoriented, at the room full of dead bodies as if making sure he’d finished them all off. As he scanned the room I assumed he thought I was yet another dead body, for I was also on the floor and he had not made an attempt to attack me. Suddenly Clint began to stand and the man was beside him in an instant, Clint spun around with his gun ready to shoot, but the man caught his wrist, contorting it so that he could not shoot. And for the first time he spoke, in an accent.
“You have heart.” He said as if mocking Clint.
I was surprised upon hearing his accent, knowing now, for sure, that he was foreign. He looked down to Clint’s chest and protruded the spear’s tip into it causing something strange to happen. Blue filled the veins in Clint’s body, climbing up to his neck as they faded to silver, resembling mercury. His eyes turned entirely black before the darkness faded and his irises were all that remained blue. I observed this with confusion as the man smiled seemingly pleased with the result and suddenly Clint stood straight, replacing his gun to his holster. My eyes widened, deducing that Clint was under some sort of mind control.
The man, now apparently content, cockily shifted his spear to the opposite hand and turned swiftly to the others, some of them slowly getting up to my relief, they were not all dead. However after seeing what he had planned for them, my relief faded. Another agent’s chest was soon met with the tip of the man’s spear, his veins and eyes repeating the same process that Clint’s had.
I tried desperately to push myself to my feet, gaining little headway as I managed only to stabilize myself on both elbows. I looked up to Clint, and then over at the man. He still had not noticed me but suddenly I noticed director Fury over near the Tesseract’s stand, sneakily removing the cube with his leather gloves and placing it into a case before trying to sneak away.
“Please don’t” The man’s voice resonated through the nearly silent room, the only other sounds of groaning, and snapped electrical cords sparking.
He turned away from his latest victim and faced the director.
“I still need that.”
Now was my chance. His back was to me and though the pain throughout my body was immense I had to be of some use. If I wasn’t able to get to my feet the director could die. I strained every muscle in my body, managing to roll onto my side and position myself to stand, working up the strength for the act as I heard Fury speak.
“This doesn’t have to get any messier.” He stated, slowly turning around.
“Of course it does.” The man began, his voice low and smooth.
“I’ve come too far for anything else.”
Fury turned to him fully now as I saw Dr. Selvig begin to stand, teetering slightly after clearly being hurt during the fall and checking woman scientist for signs of life.
“I am Loki. Of Asgard.” He continued, now providing a name to his face.
“And I am burdened with glorious purpose.”
This Loki, this man whom had just killed everyone in the room, who was savage and beast like, who was ruthless and murderous, he was insane. The way he spoke, the way he moved, the way he conveyed his thoughts, everything about him was wrong and he would pay for what he had done to everyone, if only I could manage to stand.
Suddenly Dr. Selvig began to stand.
“Loki.” He began.
“Brother of Thor.”
I looked up to him and then to the man named Loki. I vaguely remembered the mention of Thor when Phil had taken me to an excavation site in New Mexico, where we had first recruited the scientists.
The man looked over to Selvig as if utterly disgusted with his statement before Fury spoke up.
“We have no quarrel with your people.”
The man looked to Fury with haughty contempt.
“An ant has no quarrel with a boot.”
I looked over to him shocked, pulling my legs forward to push myself up.
Ants.
He had compared us to ants, and he was the hypothetical boot. He had claimed he was stronger than us, humans, one of which he clearly was not. He had placed himself on a pedestal of power and comfortably set his foot down atop us. It was insulting in the least, it was revolting at most and I would prove him wrong for such a presumptuous statement.
“Are you planning to step on us?” The director asked.
The man suddenly changed demeanor, cockily smirking and walking a few steps and looking Dr. Selvig in the eye.
“I come with glad tidings.”
Before he even went on I glared at him, knowing that was far from the truth as I struggled to get to one knee, fully feeling the effects of the small movement and having to hold myself up with all of my power as the pain intensified. I had begun to notice that the energy from the blast from the Tesseract had been accumulating at the peak of the dome within the ceiling of the room, it seemed that the more it gathered, the weaker I became.
“Of a world made free.” He continued.
“Free from what?” Director Fury asked with immense skepticism evident in his voice.
“Freedom.” The man’s features suddenly expressed seriousness.
I looked up to the man quickly, sweating profusely and heaving breaths as if my lungs would collapse in on each other. Freedom from freedom. It was an insane notion, it was twisted and revolting. This man truly was mad.
“Freedom is life’s great lie.” He went on, walking slowly.
“Once you accept that, in your heart.” He turned swiftly to Dr. Selvig and protruded the tip of the spear into his chest as he lost himself to the man named Loki’s control.
“You will know peace.”
I glared at him hard. He was insane and he was dangerous. He needed to be stopped. With what power he already seemed to have, if he got his hands on the Tesseract he would be a force to reckon with. I looked up to the ceiling again, noticing that the energy had gathered into a large cloud and began to swirl, clearly symbolizing that whatever was about to happen would not be good. The pain within my body continued to grow and my strength began to wane even more, my elbows and body beginning to crumple once more. I fought for my strength in bitter frustration. I was an agent and to lie there like a weakling was inexcusable.
“You say peace, but I kind of think you mean the other thing.” Fury responded.
Just then Clint walked over to the man named Loki.
“Sir, director Fury is stalling. This place is about to blow. He means to bury us.” He said stopping next to him and turning to face Fury.
“Like the pharaohs of old.” The director stated, smirking.
Dr. Selvig proceeded to announce that the portal was collapsing in on itself and I looked up to see the cloud of energy beginning to pulsate. I wrenched a knee forward in desperation to stop this man, feeling a tremendous burning sensation and I let out a loud groan.
In that one instant the man named Loki whipped his head toward me and we locked eyes. His eyes were a crazed blue green as I glared at him with my own grey orbs, threatening him with my eyes, knowing that my body was too weak to stand yet. In the next moment Clint took out his gun and shot the director, sending him falling to the ground.
“N-GHUH!” I groaned, trying to yell to the director.
Hawkeye proceeded over to him, wrenching the case that held the Tesseract from his hands.
The man named Loki thinned his eyes in confusion at me, as if questioning my existence. He had been so sure of his complete obliteration of everyone in the room, and yet there I was, only alive because of my pathetic weakness. It was shameful. No one else had been affected by the radiation, and they had all died. It was my job to avenge their deaths and to stop him. Even if the fortress collapsed on us, I could not allow him to leave with The Tesseract.
He tilted his head, still blatantly confused and began a slow and steady stride over to me.
“You…” He began, speaking directly to me for the first time.
As he approached the pain worsened as I forced and fought my body, trying to push myself to my feet, managing in pure desperation alone to bring the other knee forward. I was thankful for his slow advance, without his dramatic approach I would most likely be yet another among the dead bodies.
“How did I miss you?” He asked as if genuinely believing he would receive an answer.
He was only a few feet away from me now and I struggled to push myself unsteadily onto my feet staggering as the pain only continued to worsen. He must have taken this as a sign of damage because his features exhibited even more surprised shock.
“Or could it be that you were simply overcome by the blast?” He asked smirking, as if mocking my strength.
I growled, glaring up at him as I slowly regained what little strength was left in me. I was intelligent enough to know that, that amount of strength would barely affect him, let alone give me any chance of survival. I had seen his movements. He was precise, intelligent, deadly. But that was not a factor to me. All I had to do was stall him long enough for the portal to collapse on itself and he would be dead just like the rest of us. My plan surely lacked in heroics, or strength but I didn’t care. This man was a lunatic and he was a murderer and I was the only coherent person left in the room with the hope of stopping him. Even If no one knew it was me, I would avenge the deaths of the director, and of the scientists and agents limp on the floor around me.
I forced myself into a fighting stance, if only to give the illusion of strength. He would not see me weak. The enemy would never see me weak.
“I’m not so easily beaten.” I stated, glaring like a basilisk.
He seemed surprised by this, amused almost, for a smirk spread across his lips.
“No, surely I would have recalled one as peculiar as you.” He said coming to a stop before me.
His eyes scanned me, inspecting me, lingering on my hair. I assumed his statement was directed at it's unusual shade of blue. I bit my lip holding in the pain and clenched my hands into fists, readying myself for any random attack, not allowing myself to be caught off guard.
“What have you done to Clint and the others?” I demanded, not taking my eyes off of him.
He laughed slightly, a breathy rolling laugh as he produced the spear and pointed it towards my chest.
“Would you like to see?”
I quickly looked down, attempting to grab hold of the spear before he shoved it forward towards my chest and suddenly the only thing I could see was blue as I felt myself being blown back against the wall, hitting it violently and sliding down. I was sure that he had bested me and opened my eyes, sitting up and realizing that I still had full control of myself. As my vision cleared I looked around seeing the man named Loki plastered against a machine, his spear on the ground a few feet from him. My brow furrowed in confusion as I watched him slowly pull himself up, bringing a hand to his head before looking to me with the same amount of shock.
“Sir.” Clint got his attention.
“We need to get out of here. Fast.”
The man looked up at him in shock then back to me before getting up and retrieving his spear. He looked back to me again as he began walking towards the exit with the other men in tow. I began to push myself to my feet but suddenly the pain had returned just as intense as it had been before and once again I collapsed onto the ground. I looked up to them, near the exit seeing that man smirk back at me as if satisfied by my pain. I glowered at him, hating him with all of myself in that moment. He had gotten away, and not only did I hate him for it, but I hated myself. Even in death I would never be relieved of that shame and as he turned the corner I felt the full wreckage of that shame. I clenched my fists and closed my eyes, feeling the pain overcome my body again and looked up to the swirling energy which had become a sort of vacuum, swirling the air in the room around and sucking machinery up into it.
It was then that I saw the director sit up, pulling what appeared to be an arrow head out of his abdomen and it registered that Clint had used his specialized gun. The director immediately got his communicator out and called for agent Hill, informing her of the situation. He got himself to a standing position and looked around the room, spotting me amongst the flying debris.
“Agent Muse!” He called.
“He got away!” was all I could think to say as a piece of metal flew passed my head.
“We need to move! This place is going to blow!” he yelled.
I tried to get up, knowing that it would be futile and shook my head as my hair blew about my face, getting stuck in my eyelashes and mouth.
“I can’t move! Go without me!” I yelled.
And for a moment I thought of Coulson. I imagined what his reaction would be to find out that I had been among the many to die in the accident when suddenly the director hurdled over the broken machinery and ran over to me. Before I knew it he had picked me up, put me on his back and began running to the exit. He was carrying me military style with my torso across the back of his shoulders and each of his arms entwined with one of my limbs to keep me supported.
"Director! Put me down! You're too slow carrying me!" I yelled as he continued to run ducking and dodging falling debris.
"Shut the hell up!" he yelled, as if sick of everything as he dodged a falling pipe.
Knowing that he had made up his mind, just as I'd have done in this situation, I obeyed and watched everything fall and turn to ruin as he ran. As he ran out of the building it began to collapse as I heard Coulson’s voice over his communicator, relieved that he was alright. He made it to a readied helicopter and handed me off to an agent inside before he got in himself.
"Take off!" he demanded in a few moments we were in the air, the ground beginning to crumble as soon as we took off.
I was able to see out of the door of the helicopter where the director held on to the roof and watched as the entire facility began to slowly crumble, in shock that I had made it out alive. And suddenly in the next moment there was a blast of energy from within the underground chamber and agonizing pain filled every vein in my body, sending me into convulsions again.
“HNNNNGHHAAAH!!”
My vision began to blur but I could still make out a small blue glow moving beneath us and I could make out director Fury commanding the pilot to follow and I knew it was him. That man. He was getting away and I was still useless.
The helicopter lowered closer to the ground and I could vaguely see that the blue light was indeed Loki's spear. He appeared to be sitting in the bed of a truck. Fury pulled out a bazooka from the back of the helicopter, at first seeming a bit excessive, but after quick second thought it was not. The helicopter turned and gave us a good angle on the truck as it swerved uncontrollably. Fury put his finger on the trigger and aimed. Loki saw this coming and aimed his spear at us sending a blue flash at the helicopter before Fury had time to pull the trigger.
I gasped as the helicopter jerked and began to swerve. The violent jerk only intensified my pain and I groaned loudly.
"We're going down!" yelled the pilot.
I couldn't help but think how ridiculously obvious his statement was as I saw us getting closer and closer to the ground. Fury abruptly dropped the gun, grabbed my arm from behind his back, and jumped out of the helicopter, pulling me with him. As unprepared as I was, and in such a physical state, I fell unorthodox and landed on my side, rolling violently and bouncing to a stop across the hard ground. The impact of the fall made my head blur once more and I Looked to the side, seeing the blue glow slowly vanish into the distance.
He had gotten away.
Because of me.
I closed my eyes, feeling incredible shame and pain at the same time. So many had died in such a short time and the Tesseract had been stolen, only to be used for unknown intentions. I could hear Fury on his communicator only a few feet away, taking in the fact that the director himself had saved my life, not once but twice. I could only think what a pointless act it was and that he should have left me to die for being such a disgrace when suddenly I heard Coulson’s voice.
He was alright.
Relief filled my body along with the pain. Despite my shame I was relieved that I had survived if only to ease his pain and it was then that I realized I must have survived for a reason, I must have survived to stop Loki in the future, to avenge those who had died and to get the Tesseract back and in a few moments I felt myself falling slowly yet deeply into unconsciousness.