Chapter 1
Chapter 1
There are moments in life, when you realize you cannot fix what you’ve done. And it can be painful. Very painful, indeed. That precise moment when your mind finally clicks into place, and everything sets in. I still remember the second I saw his expression change from powerful and happy, to one of guilt and denial. Standing on the helicopter pad of Stark Tower, with me by his side. The moment he realized he had made a mistake. Though it all truly hit him that day, I cannot say it happened all at once, no. It happened gradually. Perhaps it started the day I first met him.
I remember it was approximately 8 in the morning when I got the call from my supervisor; on my day off, nonetheless. Not 3 hours later, I was sitting in a coffee shop, in a small desert town, somewhere in New Mexico. I had just helped several other agents load a woman’s science tech into a van for inspection, as I was told.
“I’m on the verge of understanding something extraordinary! And everything I know about this phenomenon is either in this lab, or in this book, and you can’t just take th- HEY!”
As she tried to take the journal from my grip, my coworker, Matthews, held her back long enough for me to put it in the back of the van. As we walked around the side of the van, we heard Coulson say:
“Thank you for your cooperation.”
And he left them with an easy-going smile.
I felt bad for the poor woman, I did. As I sat in the diner/coffee shop, drinking my black tea, I wondered if the woman would ever see her equipment again. I didn’t want to take her life’s work away from her, but it was my job. As an agent part of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s P.E.G.A.S.U.S. program, it was my duty to help the American government research objects and beings of alien origin to help better understand them. When the hammer crash landed on Earth’s surface, S.H.I.E.L.D. immediately took interest, no questions asked.
As I walked out of the small town’s only diner, I looked over to the woman’s lab: now empty. Looking slightly up, the figures of three people sat on the roof, hunched over the edge, as if they had nothing to lose were they to fall. That poor woman had lost everything at the expense of one of S.H.I.E.L.D.‘s investigations. Feeling pity for her, I walked back to my car and drove to the crash site.
///////
It was about 4:00 in the morning when it happened. It was still dark outside, but I did not miss the report over my radio.
“Agent down. We got a perimeter breach.”
The siren started blaring so loud, I could’ve swore my ears were bleeding. I had been helping a scientist take notes on how Mjölnir was responding to us before Thor had so politely endangered our lives with his tomfoolery. Within 10 seconds of the siren firing on, we were escorted into a safe area with other scientists and lower level agents.
“I need eyes up high, grab a gun.”
It was a couple of minutes before I heard someone screaming. Not 3 minutes later, we were escorted back to our stations, Thor following the security guards willingly, with a look of defeat on his face.
That was the first time I had met my prince.
And it wouldn’t be long before I met my king.
10 hours later when I was still working at the crash site, from the second level balcony, I saw him enter. He was tall, had short black hair, and wore what looked to be a designer suit, with a scarf draped over his shoulders of green and black. I looked around for a moment to see if anyone was going to report this man, but no one even looked at him. Confused yet amazed that this man had gotten passed security, I watched as he attempted to lift Mjölnir, struggling before giving up. He looked around a second before meeting my eyes.
To say he looked shocked that I had spotted him would be an understatement. Though he quickly regained his composure, I did not look away. Looking back to the hammer, then back to him, he looked around once more to see if anyone else had caught him. But no, I was the only one who could see him. At this point in my life, I had only read stories about the Norse Gods from story books I had found in Calder’s personal belongings. I did not know who Loki was. He turned soon after and walked away. That was the last I heard from him.
Until May 4th of 2012.
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I don’t know whether he knew I was there, or if it was just luck, but when we crossed paths once again, they did not part for long time afterwards.
It was just past midnight when I got word that Director Fury was on site. We had been monitoring the Tesseract for two days trying to figure out it’s predictability patterns, but we had had no luck in our research. But everything changed when the Tesseract powered itself up just four hours before. I was helping a scientist in the corner of the room, directly below Clint’s hideaway, when I heard the Director’s voice from the other side of the hall.
“Talk to me, doctor.”
Selvig turned to face Fury. “Director,” he answered.
“Is there anything we know for certain?” “The Tesseract is misbehaving.”
The director gave the doctor a look. “Is that supposed to be funny?”
“No, it’s not funny at all,” he answered, simply, “the Tesseract is not only active, she’s... behaving.”
Despite having instructions to focus on my work, I could not help myself from listening to their conversation.
“My calculations are far from complete. And she’s throwing off interface, radiation. Nothing harmful,” Selvig explained, “low levels of gamma radiation.”
“That can be harmful;” Fury protested, “where’s Agent Barton?”
I looked up to see Clint’s feet dangling over the edge of his balcony, and then disappear as he got up from his seat.
Clint and I got along quite well, I had known him for 3 years at that point. We often spoke via cell phone or direct messages, usually about work and his family. I saw him as a friend, and I was glad to have him by my side.
Without warning, the Tesseract suddenly grew bright with a surge of power, electricity crackling around it. The crackling grew and grew, getting brighter and brighter within seconds. Suddenly, a beacon of blue-white light sprang to the other end of the room, attaching to the platform, creating a sphere of blue electricity, causing me to almost fall backwards onto my workbench. The sphere grew within mere seconds, a black hole-resembling-thing appearing, until it exploded, the light regrouping at the top of the ceiling. From the middle of the platform, came a man, burning with the same blue electricity from the Cube.
As I got up from the ground, security slowly creeped up, guns drawn. As the man slowly emerged from the smoke, a large, evil smile became visible on his face. He sauntered up to a standing position, a spear in hand. I couldn’t see his face from the distance, but somehow, I knew it was him.
Fury came forward, walking slowly towards the Center of the room.
“Sir, please put down the spear.”
The man slowly raised his spear. He looked at it, back at Fury, and shot a bolt of white light from the tip. Blasting a computer not 4 feet away from me, I ran and jumped to the floor, covering my head with hands as debris hit the ground.
Loki lunged at a security officer, who began firing gunshots at him. The man stabbed him, and threw tiny, but dangerous daggers at the necks of other officers firing at him, instantly killing them. Proceeding to destroy another computer, and killing at least 4 more men in the process, he had successfully destroyed almost the entire lab in seconds flat.
Coming up to Barton, he grabbed the Hawk’s arm, and twisted it.
“You have a heart.” He said with a gravelly, deep voice.
The man tapped the agent on the Center of his chest with the spear, as Fury quickly tried to get the Cube into a protective case for transportation, trying not to burn himself through his gloves. Seeing Barton turn was a horrific sight. The only man I considered a friend of mine, now a slave for this strange man. I felt anger, and immediately got to my feet, shoes accidentally slamming onto the ground with a thud. Loki turned his head in my direction, ready to shoot once more, but then he saw my face.
At this time, I was able to get a decent look at his face, as he had his time to recognize mine. His face was long, he had strong cheekbones, and what looked like to be bags under his eyes. I felt bad for him. (If you cannot tell already, it’s a fault of mine.) He looked so tired and drained, his face very pale, even in the lower light. He tilted his head slightly backwards, as if he felt threatened by my very existence, and walked towards me. I, of course, stayed in my place because I was frozen with fear. This man, who had tried to lift Mjölnir, had taken over Clint Barton, and destroyed an entire lab was walking towards me, most likely to take over my body as he did Barton’s.
My suspicions were correct.
The only words he spoke before tapping the sceptre to my chest were:
“We meet again, Calderson.”