Hello, Leslie Smith here with my second-ever fanfiction. This is quite a bit different to my other story, Accidentally in Love, because it isn't supposed to be all fluff and games and cute little crushes. This particular story is going to get a bit rough, so hang on tight, dear readers. This is basically going to be a slightly AU version of the Avengers, with an added character called Emmaline Mason. This is just an intro chapter, so a lot of things won't be making too much sense, but if you keep reading, I promise it will. Anyway, I've already written about 15k of this story, but I'm still in the process of editing and spicing things up a bit, so you should be able to expect updates within a few days. Also, to my AIL readers: like I said, I'm not abandoning the story. This is just a project for me to do while I have writers block.

Anyway, here's chapter one! Enjoy!

Another absolutely boring day. Well, not too boring, I suppose. Clint Barton was assigned to security detail with me, so at least I had a friend. But all the same, all we were doing was watching a bunch of scientists work on the Tesseract. I didn't particularly want to be on guard duty, and neither did Clint, but it was our job and we couldn't exactly complain.

Clint and I were perched in his 'nest', as I and another friend of mine Erik Selvig liked to call it, just watching. We both noticed Director Nick Fury walk into the lab at the same time and raised our eyebrows at each other.

"Do you think that he actually listened when I sent the other agents to tell him?" I asked curiously, and he shrugged, keeping his eyes on the Tesseract. After a while of looking at the cube from afar a few months back when Clint and I first started this job, my inner scientist kicked in and I went down to examine it. Needless to say, I didn't like what I felt. I have a… shall we say, gift, for feeling and hearing things, but not physically; with my mind.

And the cube was alive, I could tell. And its presence was not exactly of a kind nature. Once I had gotten a feel for it, I began to notice it more and more often, and it scared me. Not that I would ever tell anybody else that, not even Clint or Natasha, but I was well and truly frightened.

I had told Clint that it didn't feel right, and he immediately told me that I needed to contact Fury. I didn't think that it was the smartest things to do, but I did talk to Agent Maria Hill about it, and I knew she would contact Fury whether I told her to or not. People at SHIELD had come to trust my intuition.

I decided to take the long way down, the human way. Just because everybody else here knew that I was a little less (or maybe more, it just depended on how you looked at it) than human doesn't mean that they had to see it. Knowing about what I could do and seeing me do it are two different things. Considering we were very, very high up, it took me a few moments for me to walk right next to Fury.

I kept my mouth shut as he discussed the Tesseract with Erik. In fact, I mostly zoned out until I noticed a NASA scientist walk up to Erik, Fury and I.

"Doctor, it's spiking again," the man said nervously to Selvig. I didn't blame him for being frightened. Hell, I was frightened of the damned thing, and I was a freaking super hero. I heard Clint's steady voice from the ear piece I was wearing, and so could Fury.

"No one's come or gone," he informed us, "Its oven is clean. No contacts, no I.M.'s."

"If there was any tampering, it wasn't from this end." I concluded, not betraying how worried I was about the Tesseract. Fury turned to me and frowned.

"At this end?" He questioned.

I had had a long time to think about exactly what I thought the Tesseract – or whoever was controlling it – was doing, and I didn't think Fury would like my answer any more than I did. "Yeah. The cube is a doorway to the other end of space, right?"

Fury nodded his assent, probably wondering where I was going with this. "Doors open from both sides," I explained, just as the entire room, most likely the entire facility, began to shake and thunder. The flaring noise rang out in my mind painfully, so I could only imagine how it felt to the less-than-sensitive ears of all of the others. The eerie blue glow of the Tesseract flashed brighter and shone all across the room, before building up into a sort of beam and hitting the platform next to it.

There it is, I thought dazedly at no one in particular. Damn, I hate it when I'm right. A vortex opened, and out burst a portal, just like I said it would. Space appeared on the other side of the portal, and shining and twinkling stars shone before me as I looked in awe. My shock from amazement only lasted so long before my instincts kicked in. And not a moment too soon.

A cloud of smoke rose impossibly out of the portal, and I threw both of my hands out and attempted to create a corporeal shield around Selvig, Fury and I, but the smoke wasn't allowing it. Not only was it impairing the vision of everybody in the room (including me) but it was doing something to not allow me to use my powers. I gasped in shock as I tried again and again with no results. My powers had never failed me like this, not once. It was almost like that smoke was targeted directly towards me.

And because I am too human for my own good, I tapped into my life energy to create the shield. It wasn't strong because I hadn't practiced this way, but I could still create one. Sure, it would probably kill me, but it was my job to protect people. Selvig was my friend, and I had known Nick Fury my entire life. I had to protect them. Besides, I had made my peace ages ago with death. I've been ready to die for a long, long time now.

I could feel my very life force slip away from me as the shield I created broke, and I collapsed on the ground at Fury's feet. The last few things I remember seeing were the smoke clearing a little and the face of a grinning man that I would never, ever forget. And then, because it was so damn clichéd, I passed out.

I woke up on a helicarrier with one hell of a headache with Nick Fury, Agent Phil Coulson, a personal friend of mine, and Agent Maria Hill, who I somewhat tolerated for the sake of my job. Everybody's eyes turned to me, but then turned away. I frowned, catching the mood, and digging through Fury's recent memories.

Oh, no, I thought, shocked. Clint and Selvig, captive. Rage filled through me like nothing I've ever felt before. They were two of the smartest men I knew, albeit about different subjects, but all the same. And Clint was my best friend, my brother. My heart seemed to ache at the same time that I felt so incredibly angry, and I had no idea how to handle these emotions. I was raised better than to feel so deeply like this, only to feel it when others felt like this. Not this time, apparently. These feelings were all my own. And all of those scientists at the base, murdered. I couldn't do a thing to stop them. Fury's memories had given me at least some sort of an explanation to my powers not functioning, at least.

"What did you do to her?" Fury ground out to the man called Loki, who in turned, flashed a smile.

"Ah, the Mind Witch. You realize," he said, touching my unconscious face with a sort of staff, "that we have much in common, this Emmaline Mason and I. It is such a shame that my poison gas seemed to be too much for her. I had high hopes, you see. She would have made an excellent plaything."

"If you kill her, you son of a bitch…" I heard Clint say, going to attack Loki.

I brought myself back to the present in order to not see what I knew was going to happen. I was, for lack of better words, disgusted. This alien man and I had nothing in common. And even if we did, he should have known better than to target the people that I loved. There were no words exchanged between the four of us until we landed on Fury's newest toy in the middle of the ocean. And even when Fury did speak, it was to give orders. I only paid half attention to what he was saying until I heard my name, after Maria and Phil walked away.

"Agent Mason, with me." Director Fury said, motioning for me to join him.

"Yes, sir?" I asked, snapping out of my brooding mood and prepared to take orders.

"As I'm sure you've probably already figured out, the Tesseract was stolen by Loki of Asgard." He explained quickly.

I frowned. "Loki of Asgard? Thor's brother, Loki?" I asked. I had met the god of thunder a year or so back in New Mexico at the same time I met Selvig, and another friend of mine, Jane Foster. And besides, Thor was a good person, even if we weren't on the best of speaking terms. How could someone related to him be so monstrous?

Fury nodded grimly. "Yes, him. The Tesseract emits a high frequency of gamma radiation, and I know for a fact that SHIELD alone can't trace it."

I nodded, catching on to his words. "So who can?"

The man smiled humorlessly. "I'm sure you already know the answer to that question."

"Dr. Bruce Banner."

"Right. He's still in Calcutta right now, but I've already set up a contact for you there that will bring him to you, but you need to leave immediately."

I raised my eyebrows. "You want me to go and get him? Isn't Agent Romanoff more suited to go?" Despite spending my whole life training, Fury was usually hesitant about sending me into potentially dangerous situations. I knew why, of course, and it was somewhat justified in a way, but not exactly. In my mind, it was completely ridiculous and a total waste of resources.

"Agent Romanoff already has a job to do." He dismissed easily. "Helicarrier 51B-9789 is waiting for you, and three others full of agents will be following you there in case of an incident."

"I've read the files. He's gone too long without an incident for me to need an army."

"I'm not going to risk it. Don't argue with me, Agent Mason. Go now. You won't need a bag."

"And if he doesn't want to go?"

Fury paused for a moment, and then smiled slightly. "Persuade him with any means possible."

And there's chapter one. Please review, tell me what you liked, what you didn't, any questions (not about the plot or about Emma, because I can assure you that they will be answered), comments, or just plain ol' criticism. Don't worry, I'm a big girl, I can handle it.

-Les