CHAPTER ONE

Loki

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"And there came a day, a day unlike any other, when Earth's Mightiest Heroes and Heroines found themselves united against a common threat. On that day, the Avengers were born — to fight the foes no single superhero could withstand. Through the years, their roster has prospered, changing many times, but their glory has never been denied. Heed the call, then for now — the Avengers Assemble!"

NEW MEXICO
USA

"You know Coulson, those shades really suit you."

"Thank you, they're new."

Ana stood next to her fellow agent, her hands clasped behind her straightened back. They were at the New Mexico facility where an evacuation was occurring when they heard the Tesseract was misbehaving. The power source was found just before the discovery of Captain America, who was frozen in the Artic. Since Ana studied American History in university, she knew all about the war hero. She also had to physically remove Phil from Captain Rogers' recovery room, his obsession made him open to watching the legend while he slept.

At the helicopter landing pad, Director Nick Fury and Agent Maria Hill stepped out of the copter, approaching the two agents. "How bad is it?" Fury asked the two, peering down at them with his right eye.

After sharing a look with Ana, Phil sighed out, "That's the problem, sir. We don't know." Ana led them into the internal facility floor as they discussed the issue. Many technicians and other staff ran around, taking only the essentials with them.

"Dr. Selvig read an energy surge from the Tesseract four hours ago." Phil informed the Director.

"NASA didn't authorise Selvig to test phase." Fury said with a shake of his head.

Maria Hill walked beside him as she watched Ana turn her head around, "He wasn't testing it, he wasn't even in the room." She shrugged a shoulder, "Spontaneous advancement." She said before turning her attention back to the front.

Maria blinked, "It just turned itself on?" She asked Ana in bewilderment, though her tone of voice was level.

Fury focused on Phil, "What are the energy levels now?" He asked cautiously. They didn't fully understand the power of the Tesseract, but they know it could cause catastrophic damage.

"Climbing. When Selvig couldn't shut it down, we ordered the evac."

Fury watched as many agents and scientists hurried along, carrying various cases. "How long to get everyone out?" He asked.

Ana helped an agent who dropped his cases, placing them on his cart with a smile. He nodded in thanks before hurrying down the hall. Phil mentally calculated the time and turned to his superior, "Campus should be clear in the next half hour." He nodded.

"Do better."

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Maria had left Director Fury and Ana, leaving them to arrive at the lab where the Tesseract was being held by a compact muon solenoid coil chamber. It's blue hue sparked and pulsed as scientists prodded at it.

"Dr. Selvig." Ana called as she and Fury walked to his side. He stood up from his place behind the CMS machine, concerned.

"Talk to me, doctor." Fury ordered.

"Director. Agent Michaels." Selvig nodded with a grim expression. Ana looked around while Fury and Selvig discussed the Tesseract misbehaving. She smirked, her eyes landing on the man up on the railings, watching the scene from afar.

"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." Selvig's comment made Ana focus back onto the conversation. She's seen what gamma radiation can do to an ordinary scientist. Talk about big, green and angry.

Fury noticed Ana's eyes widen and looked at the doctor seriously, "That can be harmful. Where's Barton?" He asked having not seen the agent with his right eye.

Selvig scoffed out a laugh and gestured to the railings over his shoulder, using his thumb to point him out, "The Hawk? Up in his nest, as usual." He said gruffly. Fury smirked at Ana before putting a finger to his earpiece.

"Agent Barton, report."

Clint rappelled down from the catwalk and walked up to Fury and Ana. Clint gave his protégé a fist bump as he nodded at his boss. They walked around the facility in a discreet manner.

"I gave you this detail so you can keep a closer eye on things." Fury said to Clint. "It would've gone to Michaels, but she was busy on another assignment."

Ana glanced around, she didn't think it was a smart idea to be working on the Tesseract, but she wasn't going to say that to Fury. Last thing she needed was another lecture.

"Well, I see better from a distance." Clint replied.

"Are you seeing anything that might set this thing off?" Fury asked.

"Doctor, it's spiking!" A female scientist announced worriedly. Ana's eyes darted at the cube uneasily, she could literally feel the thing pulsing with energy.

"No one's come or gone, and Selvig's clean." Clint said. "No contacts, no IM's. If there's any tampering, sir, it wasn't at this end."

"At this end?" Ana asked curiously.

Clint looked at her and nodded, "Yeah, the cube is a doorway to the other end of space, right? Doors open from both sides." He said.

"Michaels, what can you tell me about-" But Fury didn't have time to finish.

The flaring rings and glow of the cube spouted out brighter and louder. The Tesseract's energy built up into a beam which hit the end of a platform that was wired to the CMS device. The great maelstrom beam fired the Tesseract energy which opened up a portal. From the portal, the blackness of space, beautiful and mysterious, with a billion stars appeared and a gust of blue energy clouds filled the room, blinding everyone. The Tesseract's energy formed into a cloud that reached to the top the facility's vacuum chamber ceiling. The sudden movement of the cube had shaken the facility, nearly causing Ana to stumble on her feet.

She had never seen anything like this before in her life. She peered through the portal in awe, feeling overwhelmed by its alluring effect. Fury, Clint and Ana took cover until the energy pulses died down. Ana furrowed her eyebrows when she heard heavy breathing from the platform. S.H.I.E.L.D. agents slowly approached, weapons in hands. A figure was kneeling on the platform, smoke coming off it. Ana and Clint stayed by Fury's side.

Ana couldn't help but stare at the man. She glanced at him, analysing what he looked like — black long hair, a green and black cloak with golden features, and he was holding some kind of sceptre with a glowing blue stone. Much like the Tesseract.

Ana's hand hovered over her gun holster, ready to take action if need be.

"Sir, please put down the spear!" Fury shouted.

He lifted the sceptre, and studied it for a while before suddenly, he shot his sceptre at the three, shooting out a blue light of energy. Ana instantly shoved Fury out of the way while Clint dove to the side. She whipped out her gun and aimed it at the man, running forward. The man grinned wildly, flew in the air and landed on top of her, shoving her down hard against the ground.

He lifted his sceptre to try and change her, but Ana was faster, she punched his jaw and rolled away from him, jumping back up. A low growl emitted from his throat, he looked at her in curiosity. She couldn't have been able to resist him, her reflexes were inhuman.

Ana stood alert, reaching for her vibranium plated daggers. She twirled them so she clutched them backwards and took her fighting stance. He observed her, intrigued. She moved to attack him, lunging forward, but he blocked her dagger with his own sceptre, and raised both of their weapons in the air. She quickly pushed hard and freed herself from the man. He swung at her numerous times but she managed to dodge them.

Agents tried to shoot him, but then he flew down on them, and with his knives and energy blasts from the sceptre, took them down.

Clint darted towards Ana. She looked at him as he lifted her arm. "I'm okay." She said but then looked down at the wide gash that ran from her elbow, round to the inside of her palm. She looked at it in surprise, she didn't feel the man cut her. Clint took her gun holster's band and wrapped it around the wound. The black mesh material stopping the bleeding.

Another set of agents fired at the man, but he was too fast for their weapons and threw his own at them, hitting them squarely in the chest. He shoved another ball of energy toward a scientist, and then he whacked his sceptre across another agents face when he also tried to hold him down.

Barton and Michaels continued to shoot at him, aiming for his face and hands. The man growled as he shoved another blue energy toward them. Clint and Ana rolled out of the way when it hit the machine and sparked, causing the other agents to jump out of the way.

"Clint?" She whispered.

"Yeah. I'm here." He said, a few metres away from her.

They stood up and Ana gasped, the man was right behind her and she turned around, her daggers now back in her hands. He stood there as she slashed at him, but her daggers went through him as if he was a hologram. She looked at it's smirking face confused before she was pushed to the side.

The man shot an energy pulse, hitting her right in the side. She groaned, feeling the burning energy surge within her. It felt like her insides were burning. Her ears were ringing as she tried to stand. Clint ran towards her but the man appeared in front of him.

"You have heart." He said, noting the urgent look in Clint's eyes as he stared at Ana.

Ana felt her senses come back as she stood. She had to do something fast. She spotted her daggers a few feet away from her and ran as the man pointed the end of his sceptre at the middle of Clint's chest. A surge of blue flooded through him, reaching his eyes as they turned black.

By the time Ana reached her daggers, she felt a hand on her arm. She looked at Fury and then at the man. Clint put his gun back in its holster, now fully under control of the man. Fury reached for the machine and grabbed the Tesseract, putting it in the silver case.

"Please don't." The man said. "I still need that."

Ana clutched her daggers. "What for?" She demanded.

"Would you like to join me and find out?" Loki asked, showing her his sceptre. She glanced at the glowing gem inside the sceptre, and then to Clint, clenching her jaw.

"This doesn't have to get any messier." Fury said.

"Of course it does." The man replied. "I've come too far for anything else." Ana narrowed her eyes, eyeing him curiously, wondering what this guy's deal was.

"I am Loki of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose." Loki said. Ana's stance faltered for a second, Loki? Ever since the whole Thor incident, Ana has been studying Norse mythology. She knew who this Loki was.

"Loki." Dr. Selvig said, standing up from the fallen woman on the ground. Ana turned her attention to Selvig, and then at Loki. "Brother of Thor."

"We have no quarrel with your people." Fury said, holding his hand in the air.

"An ant has no quarrel with a boot." Loki said.

"Now, can I stab him?" Ana asked, standing beside Fury.

"You planning to step on us?" Fury asked.

Barton turned to face Fury and Ana with curiosity in his blue hazy eyes.

"I come with glad tidings," Loki said as he walked slowly. "Of a world made free."

"Free from what?" Fury asked.

"Freedom." Loki said, eyeing Ana. "Freedom is life's great lie." Loki continued, smiling at her. "Once you accept that, in your heart." He began and then suddenly pointed the sceptre onto Dr. Selvig's chest, turning the scientist against them.

Ana wasn't sure what Fury's plan was here, but she wanted to know what Loki did to Clint.

"Sir." Ana said, keeping her daggers aimed at Loki. Her arm wound throbbed and Loki smirked, noticing the falter.

"You will know peace." Loki whispered to Dr. Selvig.

Barton glanced warily at the swirling blue energy above Ana and Fury.

"Yeah, you say peace," Fury said, glancing at Ana. "I kind of think you mean the other thing."

"Sir, Director Fury is stalling," Barton said, walking over to Loki. "This place is about to blow. Drop a hundred feet of rock on us." Barton stepped next to Loki and looked up at the swirling blue energy field above them. Ana looked up as well, and widened her eyes. She glanced at her boss worriedly.

"He means to bury us." Clint said, glancing at Fury.

"Like the pharaohs of old." Fury said lowly.

"He's right." Selvig said, reading the portal's energy levels on the computer screen. "The portal is collapsing in on itself. You got maybe two minutes before this goes critical."

"Well then..." Loki said, turning his head toward Clint, who doesn't even hesitate.

Clint took out his gun and suddenly shot at Fury. Ana shoved Fury down, taking his place, and felt the bullet hit her shoulder, knocking her over. Clint then took the briefcase that carried the Tesseract, and walked out of the room following Selvig and Loki.

"Hill." Fury said, taking out the bullet out of Ana's shoulder. She groaned, and Fury took her hand to place over the wound. "Do you copy?" He asked. "Barton has been turned."

She shook against him, the blood loss getting to her, as he ran out of there taking to Hill on the radio. "They have the Tesseract, shut them down!" he said.

"Get Clint out of there." Ana whispered, looking into Fury's right eye. Fury looked down at her, as he held onto the threshold to steady them while the swirling blue energy force field continued to explode. Fury took Ana's arm and wrapped it around his leather clad shoulder and ran through the tunnels, weaving in and out of the falling structure.

"We're almost out, Michaels." Fury said, glancing down at her. "Stay with me."

Ana nodded slowly, "I'm okay, sir." She said in a daze. "Just make sure we get out before this place blows." He chuckled at her as he dodged out of another couple of sparks flying toward them.

"We're clear upstairs, sir." She heard Agent Coulson on the radio. "We're good to go." Fury ran out of the doors towards the helicopter. He placed Ana in an empty seat inside the helicopter, and jumped inside next to her. The helicopter started to fly up in the air just in time before the ground crumbled below them.

Ana pressed her forehead against the window, glancing down as she watched the facility get destroyed. She peered down and saw the jeep that carried the three men. "Fury!" She called, pointing toward them.

"Move!" Fury ordered the pilot. The pilot turned around, and Fury started to shoot at the jeep.

Ana pulled out her last dagger and aimed for the jeep's window. She smirked and swung her hand, watching the glass shatter around Clint and Selvig as they swerved along the grass. Loki aimed his sceptre at the helicopter and shot out a blue energy force, causing the helicopter to rock in the air as it caught on fire.

Fury grabbed onto Ana, and jumped out of the helicopter before it could crash to the ground. Ana groaned when she landed on her shoulder wound, and looked up to see that Fury continued to aim at the jeep. It was no use, the car had disappeared.

"Director?" Coulson said on the radio. "Director Fury do you copy?"

Fury sighed, lowering his weapon. He knelt down beside Ana and brushed her hair out of the way. She was healing, slowly. She would make it. He needed her to. After all, she took a bullet for him.

He took out his radio to respond. "The Tesseract is with a hostile force," Fury replied, glancing at Ana and then back at the helicopter. "I have men down. Hill?"

"A lot of men still under." Hill replied over the radio. "Don't know how many survivors."

"Sound the general call." Fury said, "I want every living soul not working rescue looking for that brief case."

"Roger that." Hill replied.

"Coulson, get back to base." Fury ordered. "This is a level seven. As of right now, we are at war."

"What do we do?"

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Cue The Avengers title screen! Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it is the beginning of the Avengers phase. I'm really excited to write this and please comment, I would love to hear what you think.

Q- Who's your favourite Marvel villain?