A/N: Hello! This is my first Avengers fanfiction, and I'm not sure what I'm doing really, but I think it's okay. Well, I don't know. It gets better as it goes on. Anyway. I wrote the first six chapters in exam week during the two days in which I had no exams at all but had to sit in silence and work. So I did something interesting. I love the Avengers, but I've only seen it once, so if the characters seem a bit dodgy, please don't kill me, they aren't showing it in my local cinema anymore so I can't see it again :( Yeah, anyhoo, I'm rambling. So, enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers because I do not work for Marvel :(

Steve Rogers lay on the California beach, sunglasses on, dozing slightly as the sun began to set. It was mid-April, and warm enough that the beach parties had begun. One was being set up a little way down the sand from where he lay. As music began to blare loudly, he opened his eyes and sat up, lifting his sunglasses. He saw people jumping up and down in time to the beat and smiled. Lying down again, he still couldn't help but wonder at how things had come along since his time. They could just plug in those huge black blocks, and they were away. Amazing.


Tony Stark was a little busier. He was mixing drinks behind the bar of his home in Stark/Avengers tower (he still preferred the name Stark tower). His party was in full swing, and as he slid martinis to three of his guests, he grinned. Another guest approached him and he passed her a drink too. She smiled and he left the bar to mingle with his guests, flattering or patronising where he saw fit. After all, you always invited a few people you didn't like to a party. Or he did, anyway. It made things more interesting.


Bruce Banner sat down at his desk with a cup of strong coffee and several pages of notes on a patient suffering with an unknown disease. Well, maybe suffering was the wrong word. It looked unpleasant, but they weren't in any pain. It was a disease no one had yet been able to identify; it was unknown and unheard of. But since the patient wasn't in pain, he could take his time over it. It was a pleasure to sit here puzzling it out, watching the rain over the Scottish highlands out of the window.


Natasha Romanov and Clint Barton finally threw caution to the wind, doing 120 on a Russian mountain road in a sleek silver convertible. The wind was freezing, but they were wrapped up in layers of furs. Both of them were exhilarated to feel the wind through their hair. They weren't running from anything. Not even to anything. They were just looking for a thrill, and driving like maniacs did the job perfectly.


Thor strode through the halls of Asgard, Odin at his side. They discussed the current state of Earth, the effort still going into fixing New York City after last year's attacks. As they passed by a burnished bronze podium, Thor held out his hand, and Mjolnir flew into it. He smiled slightly as he said:

"Time to check on the beast." Odin nodded and turned left, down another marbled corridor. Thor carried straight on, then down a long flight of stairs. These stairs were the least grand in all of Asgard, and went down the furthest. They led to the dungeons. Thor reached it and looked around. There were fifteen cells, seven along each of the left and right walls, and a larger one at the very back. This one contained chains, charms, and Loki. Thor strolled over, taking his time, saying:

"So, brother, how are we today?" There was no reply. There was no reply. There wouldn't be, of course. Loki had been gagged for many months; his lies spread too easily to let him speak. Thor reached the cage and stared into the darkness inside. The empty darkness. He scowled. This must be one of Loki's tricks. He had to still be there; Odin had placed the security charms himself. The cage should have been impenetrable from either side. And yet… if Loki was just playing invisible, the chains would keep his shape. Instead, they hung loose, trailing across the ground. Thor noticed a discarded gag lying next to them, and began to panic.

"Guards!" He roared. Several men wearing winged helmets ran down the steps. "Loki has escaped." He explained urgently. "We need to search for him. Take everyone you can find and search all of Asgard." The guards nodded and jogged away. Thor returned to the throne room where he knew the rest of his kin would be. He saw no time to run, so used Mjolnir to fly down the halls. He burst into the throne room and shouted:

"Loki is gone!" Everyone grew silent, turning to look at him with expressions of horror.

"But… how?" Frigg asked.

"Mother, I know not. But I know what must be done."

"Thor, you cannot!" Sif cried. "How will you do it?"

"Sif, you know how I will do it. The Tesseract is the only way. I have a duty to the people of Midgard, and a duty to Director Fury. They need to know what could be unleashed again." Sif nodded mutely and turned away. A guard rushed in and said:

"There is no sign of him, my lord."

"I thought as much." Thor said. "I will go. I will use the Tesseract. But I ask this: When I am on Midgard, someone must use their powers and bring the Tesseract back to Asgard. It is too dangerous to let it remain with the humans."

"But… Thor. That means you will be trapped on Earth."

"I know. I will accept that to save the humans. I am but one person. They are many."

"I will bring the Tesseract back." Odin emerged from a narrow corridor at the end of the throne room. "Your duty is important, my son. Come with me." Thor nodded, said a brief farewell to his family, and followed Odin to the room where the Tesseract was kept. Thor picked up the metal container that no one had ever removed it from. Odin nodded, and they twisted each end, Odin letting go at the last second. Blue light surrounded him, and he felt Earth's distant gravity dragging him down…

He woke up on a dusty plain in the evening sunlight. He slowly held up the Tesseract, and a tendril of bronze fire lifted it into the air and away, back to Asgard. This was it now. He was stuck on Earth. But at least this time he had Mjolnir. He wasn't helpless. However, he didn't know where he was. That could be an issue. He stood up, shook the dust from his hair, and started walking, looking for civilisation. But after half an hour, he was exhausted, hot, and no closer to… well, anything, really. He turned around full circle, facing the way he had come, and cursed to himself in Old Norse. There was a huge building not far from where he had started off. He advanced towards it, noticing as he did that there was a large image on the concrete floor in front of it. As he got closer, he realised that it was a very familiar image; a rather square shaped eagle, wings spread in flight.

"Oh." He said. "Well, that was easy."

Aaargh, it looks so weird! It's too bitty. This will not go on for long, I promise you. Next chapter will be better (I hope). Reviews and constructive criticism are lovely lovely things :)

Thanks for reading :)