The Calling
Amy tossed and turned in her bed in a fitful sleep. Dark visions played in her head while an eerie voice called her name. Moaning, she rolled over, clutching her blankets to her chest, her closed eyes flickering. Something bad was happening hundreds of miles away. And deep in the subconscious, she knew it was the ancient blue cube that they should've left in the ocean.
Coulson had a similar feeling as the helicopter landed in front of him. S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel were evacuating in cars away from the facility. Nick Fury and Maria Hill stepped out, heading towards the facility. "How bad is it?" Nick asked.
"That's the problem, sir. We don't know," Coulson said, following them into the building. "Dr. Selvig read an energy surge from the Tesseract four hours ago."
"NASA didn't authorize Selvig to test phase."
"He wasn't testing it, he wasn't even in the room. Spontaneous advancement."
"It just turned itself on?" Maria asked surprised.
"What are the energy levels?"
"Climbing. When Selvig couldn't shut it down, we ordered evac. I have to ask. Did you call Amy?"
"She doesn't need to know. How long to get everyone out?"
"Campus should be clear in the next half hour."
"Do better."
As they continued to walk deeper into the facility the alarms got louder and more technicians were fleeing. "Sir, evacuation may be futile," Maria said.
"We should tell them to go back to sleep?"
"If we can't control the Tesseract's energy, there may not be a minimum safe distance."
"I need you to make sure Phase 2 prototypes are shipped out."
"Sir, is that really a priority right now?"
"Until such a time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on. Clear out the tech below. Every piece of Phase 2 on a truck and gone."
Maria sighed, stopping. "Yes, sir." She turned to a couple of agents, ordering them to follow her. "With me."
Nick and Coulson continued their way, entering the radiation facility that housed the Tesseract, the area cluttered with machines and people fleeing. Dr. Erik Selvig hunched behind a CMS machine, concerned as the Tesseract glowed usually brighter, and a flare of blue shot out from it, hitting things at random.
"Talk to me, doctor," Nick ordered.
"Director," Dr. Selvig greeted.
"Is there anything we know for certain?"
"The Tesseract is misbehaving."
"Is that supposed to be funny?"
"No, it's not funny at all. The Tesseract is not only active, she's... misbehaving."
"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..."
"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, and radiation. Nothing harmful, low levels of gamma radiation."
"That can be harmful. Where's Barton?"
"The Hawk? Up in his nest, as usual."
Clint was up on the catwalk, a bow on his back and dressed in black tactical gear. Nick rolled his eyes, calling Barton on the earpiece. "Agent Barton, report." Clint began to rappel down from the catwalk expertly and walked up to Fury. They both walked back around the bottom of the facility in a discreet manner. "I gave you this detail so you could keep a close eye on things."
"Well, I see better from a distance," Clint argued.
"Are you seeing anything that might set this thing off?"
"Doctor, it's spiking again," a NASA scientist called out.
"No one's come or gone. Its oven is clean. No contacts, no I.M.s. If there was any tampering, sir, it wasn't at this end. Sir...I really think we need to call Rogers in on this one. She's the only one that understands this thing."
"At this end?" Nick asked, ignoring the pleas to call Amy in. He didn't really want a lecture at this moment.
"Yeah, the cube is a doorway to the other end of space, right? That's how Amy teleports from one space to another. The doors open from both sides."
Dr. Selvig typed something on his keyboard causing the monitor to flash. Suddenly, the blue cube thundered, shaking the entire facility and causing everybody to feel the tremors. The cube glowed brighter and emitted a ring of light that resembled a beam. The power hit the edge of the platform and began to form a vortex, which became a portal. A gust of blue energy knocked everyone back. The cloud shot to the ceiling and the portal on the platform opened as a man with a horned helmet walked through. The portal vanished, and the man grinned, holding a spear.
Amy gasped awake, sweat soaking her pajamas and sheets. Something was very, very wrong.
"Sir, please put down the spear," Nick warned.
The man responded by firing a blast of blue energy from his spear, while Barton narrowly tackled Fury out of the way. Everyone in the room shot at the man, but the bullets deflected off of him. Loki immediately took down everyone that was shooting at him easily with knives and energy blasts. Clint stood back up and attempted to attack him with his bow. Loki easily grabbed his wrist, disarming him.
"You have heart," said Loki as he placed the tip of the spear against Clint's chest. His eyes glowed black as his body relaxed and stood still. Loki smirked, going to control the other agents around the room, giving Nick a moment to sneak up and grab the Tesseract. He stuck it inside a briefcase and went to sneak out.
"Please don't. I still need that," Loki said politely.
Nick turned to face the intruder, holding onto the briefcase tighter. "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 a glorious purpose."
Dr. Selvig recognized the name from an old friend, looking up. "Loki? Brother of Thor?"
"We have no quarrel with your people," Nick reasoned.
"An ant had no quarrel with a boot," Loki scoffed.
"You planning to step on us?"
"I come with glad tidings, of a world made free."
"Free from what?"
"Freedom. Freedom is life's great lie. Once you accept that, in your heart..." Loki turned quickly to face Selvig, placing his spear against his heart, his eyes going black.
"You will know peace."
"Yeah, you say peace, I kind of think you mean the other thing."
From the vacuum chamber ceiling, the Tesseract's energy cloud rapidly builds into what may be an implosion. "Sir, Director Fury is stalling. This place is about to blow. Drop a hundred feet of rock on us. He means to bury us," Clint said to his new commander.
"Like the Pharaohs of old," Nick said.
"He's right. The portal is collapsing in on itself. You got maybe two minutes before this goes critical," Selvig said.
"Well then." Loki looked at Clint, who shot Nick without hesitation. Clint grabbed the case containing the Tesseract and left the lab with Loki, Selvig, and the other controlled SHIELD personnel.
As they gathered weapons and got ready to leave, Maria watched them in confusion. "Need these vehicles," Clint said, pointing to the SUVs.
"Who's that?" Hill
"He didn't tell me," Clint said, heading to the car.
Maria eyed them suspiciously as they got into a truck and began to drive away. At that time, Amy had a really bad feeling and shoved her feet into her flip-flops before teleporting herself away. She didn't know where she was going, but she let her gut follow her. As she landed, she stumbled as she saw the destruction in the room, alarms blaring, and a bleeding Nick on the ground.
"Nick! What happened?" she asked, seeing a bullet hole in his shoulder.
"Damn!" Nick hissed as Amy ran to grab a first-aid kit. Nick grabbed a walkie-talkie. "Hill, do you copy?" Loki and his crew looked back at Maria as she heard Nick's pained breaths. Amy returned, grabbing a pair of forceps and pouring alcohol on the wound. She carefully dug into the bullet wound and grasped the bullet. "Barton is..."
Maria realized what he was trying to say and turned and shot at Clint, who was already shooting back at her. Maria took cover, still firing at the men. Amy grabbed the bullet from his side, dropping it on the ground as she threw a bandage over the wound. "Nick...What did you do?!" she asked, helping him up.
"We were studying the Tesseract. It began to act up, and a man through came a portal."
"A man?" she asked as she swung his arm over his shoulder.
"He said his name is Loki...We have to hurry. He has the Tesseract!" Amy hurried, helping him run. "He's got the Tesseract! Track it down!" Amy could feel the Tesseract's energy vibrating in her bones as the integrity of the structure cracked. They had to get out of there fast.
Maria jumped in a jeep, taking chase of Loki and his crew as others followed her. Loki released a blast of energy, obliterating SHIELD trucks and causing a blockage in the road. "Shit," Maria cursed as she was forced to keep a distance on her pursuit.
"How did you get here?" Nick asked as they fled.
"I had a feeling...The Tesseract kept calling me. I told you this would happen, Nick! I fucking told you and now look what's happening! You should've called me!"
"This is why I didn't want to," he mumbled, already hating that she said those words.
Coulson was grabbing cases in a hurry and raced to the stairwell. He began to trip as the ground shuddered, others with him dropping cases full of information and equipment.
"No! Leave it!" he yelled as the agent went back to grab it. They didn't have a choice but to leave the cases behind and leave the lab, running for their lives.
On the open road, Clint and Maria were caught up in a truck race, where she pulled in front of him to try and block his path. Clint fired at her at close range, which caused Maria to shoot out her own windshield to try and hit him.
Coulson and his group made it to a Jeep, evacuating. "You're clear, sir! You need to go!" Coulson yelled into his walkie-talkie.
"Hang on," Amy told Nick, grabbing him as she teleported them onto a helicopter. The ground gave awake seconds after the helicopter left the ground, falling into a sinkhole. Amy watched, turning to Nick who gave the pilot orders. "Start talking. Now."
"Remember who's your commander, Lieutenant."
"Cut that crap off, Nick. Don't forget you trained your scrawny ass. I'm still a higher-level agent than you'll ever be. Now...Start...Taking."
"We were studying the Tesseract. I got word that it was becoming unstable so Hill and I came here instantly. This man...Loki...came from a portal of space. He said he was a God of Asgard."
"Loki...Brother of Thor...A Norse fucking god," Amy said. "He's the God of Mischief. What happened to Clint?"
"I don't know. He touched Barton with a spear and he turned on us. It must be a type of brainwashing. They have the Tesseract."
"Sir!" the pilot shouted as they hovered about Clint's car. Amy leaned over, seeing an attractive male looking up at her. Fury opened fire with his pistol as the man sent a blast of energy at the helicopter. The helicopter was skimmed by the blast, catching fire. Amy shouted, her hands going up to try and contain the fire. Realizing that they were crashing, she grabbed Nick and leaped out, teleporting them messily onto the ground with a crash. Amy grabbed her pistol, charged it with the Tesseract energy that lived in her body and began to fire at the car. But it was too far away.
"Director? Director Fury, do you copy?" Phil asked over the walkie-talkie.
"The tesseract is with the hostile force. I have men down. Hill?"
Maria was climbing out of the wreckage of her jeep, grabbing her walkie. "A lot of men still under, don't know how many survivors."
"Sound the general call. I want every living soul not working rescue looking for that briefcase," Nick ordered.
"Roger that."
"Coulson, get back to base. This is a Level Seven. As of right now, we are at war."
"What do we do?" he asked. Nick looked at Amy, who was glaring back at him. He had thought but knew the angry blonde next to him would protest.
"This is insane..." Amy said, changing her clothes in her office at HQ while Nick received medical attention.
"What choice do we have? We can't let that psycho keep the Tesseract," Nick said, wincing as his side was stitched up. He was sitting at her desk while the medic was doing their job. Amy came out of the closet and gestured to the files in front of her.
"They're not ready. A million things can go wrong. They're not a team. Tony is too egotistical. Steve just finally learned how to heat a frozen pizza without burning down my apartment, and Bruce Banner is a fucking time bomb waiting to implode. This mission is dangerous, Nick. Send me and Nat. I can take Clint down, without killing him."
"We need more help than you and Romanoff," Nick said, pulling down his shirt. "The Avengers Incentive is supposed to be the last defense against a threat that we cannot fight."
"I can fight the Tesseract. I have its powers."
"Exactly. You are probably the only thing that can fight Loki and retrieve the Tesseract. But you're only one woman. You need a team. The world needs the Avengers."
"Hell..." Amy sighed, grabbing the files. "Fine...You win. And wipe that smug look off your face."
Nick sat back in the opposite chair, still smiling smugly that he won this fight. "So?"
"Have Coulson call Nat. I think she's in Russia right now. Rumor has it that Dr. Banner is living in India. Sent Nat to get him. Then send Coulson to grab Tony. You and I will go grab Steve."
"So, we're doing this..." Nick said as Amy got up.
"You wanted a super-team, Director...What ever happens is on you."