Author's Note: The italicized scenes at the beginning of each chapter are scenes that differ from canon. They might have occurred before the entire series or just before that chapter itself, and they might have occurred on a different timeline. So yes, I expect it all to be confusing. Yay! (Sorry, I'm got out of the ER earlier this week and I'm still super high on narcotics from the doctor, so TBH I'm not sure if half of what I'm saying makes any sense.)

Also, yes, I'm well aware I have waaaay too many WIPs. Trust me, what I have published is like 1% of what's working on my computer right now.

Chapter One - One Cat, Two Cat, Red Cat, Blue Cat

"And if you don't die somewhere along the line, you'll be an independent agent in four years."

She barely stopped in time to avoid running into him, trying to force down the feeling of suffocation that was wrapping itself around her heart. "Okay," she squeaked out. Then her eyes widened and she cleared her throat. "Sorry! Er, I mean, um." She cleared her throat a second time and then confidently said. "Okay."

He stared at her. Then he sighed. "I'm going to regret this."

She winced. "I didn't mean to— This isn't— Wait—" She groaned. Then she straightened and focused.

Blink.

"—don't die somewhere along the line, you'll be an independent agent in four years."

She barely stopped in time, reorienting herself. Then she straightened. "Thank you, sir."

Fury nodded once. "Good. Barton is waiting for you." He pushed open the door to the gym and waved her inside. "Good luck."

She stepped in and glanced back when he closed the door. Then she cleared her throat and glanced around the gym. A few people were in there, working in pairs or individually. But none of them looked like the person she was there for. Ariel frowned and turned. Maybe if Fury was still there she could catch him in time to—

"Hayward, right?"

She barely managed to stifle the way her heart jumped at that and she stared up at the man that hadn't been there before. "Yes, sir. Are you Barton?"

"Last I checked," he said, shaking her hand firmly. Then he motioned and started walking over to a clear area of the gym. "And please, call me Clint. I'm not gonna force someone to call me Barton while I'm beating their ass."

Her eyebrows shot up. "I'm not exactly unable to defend myself."

"Maybe not," he said, shrugging as he came to a stop. He faced her. "But there's a difference between being skilled and being on my level. Call me humble. We're going to start things off with a baseline test. Okay?" He didn't even wait for an answer. "Hit me."

"Hit you?" she asked, settling into a stance.

"You're going to do whatever you can to hit me." He smirked. "We'll probably be here a while."

"Whatever I can?" A smile curved her lips. "Okay." Ariel took a deep breath.

Blink.

"-between being skilled and being on my level. Call me—" Clint broke off with a yelp of surprise as her fist slammed into his face. "What the hell?" he sputtered.

"You told me to do whatever I can to hit you," she said innocently.

"That doesn't—" He groaned, touching his fingers against his nostrils and then glancing at them to check if he was bleeding. "I really didn't mean use your powers. Let's try that again. This is supposed to let me measure your—" He cut himself off just in time to catch her fist. "Seriously?"

"You said to try again!"

"God, why did Coulson put me up to this?" He pinched his nose. "When I say go, try to hit me without using your powers, okay?"

"Fine."

"Go."

He leaned easily to the side to avoid her first punch and then deflected the one that followed immediately. She swept at his feet as a distraction, but it wasn't good enough. A frown curled her lips and she threw a punch again, followed by another. He grabbed her around the wrists and frowned. "See, I heard that you were gonna be bet—"

He swallowed his words when her forehead slammed into his nose and he gurgled for air. Ariel ripped her hands from his and grinned at him. "How was that?"

"Fuck!" He made a strangled sound and leaned forward, pinching the bridge of his nose and watching the blood splatter on the floor. "Alright, you like to play dirty." His voice was nasally. "I can work with that. Now get me a goddamn icepack."

"A— right. Where—" She turned, searching. She found the shelving unit along the back wall and moved over to it. She retrieved an icepack and wipes. "Here. Uh, sorry," she said, holding out the icepack. When he took it, she got down on her knees and started wiping up the blood. She stood up to find him holding out a hand. "Right." Ariel gave him a wipe.

Clint cleaned off the blood on his skin and cleared his throat. "That was a bit uncalled for."

She took the bloody wipes and threw them away. Then she dried her hands on her shorts. "Sorry. Maybe I shouldn't have hit you so hard."

He lowered the icepack, wrinkling his nose as if to try to make sure that it had stopped bleeding. "I let you," he said simply. "How about we move on to your aiming?" Motioning to her, he kept the icepack against his nose again and led the way out the door. "Shooting range is this way. You good with a gun?"

"I hit within an inch of the bullseye nine times out of ten," she said, shoving her hands in her pockets.

"Yeah, not good enough."

"Really?"

"My job is to turn you into a top-tier agent. And you can't even think about being that until you hit the bullseye every time."

"And that's why Schrödinger got a Nobel Prize. He theorized about the time-evolution of wave-function, which is, as you know, the postulate of quantum mechanics. He decided it had to be unitary, which of course ties in with the quantum Ham—"

"No, there's no 'as you know' involved here. You lost me about three hours ago when you first started adding numbers to this conversation. There has been absolutely no me knowing anything involved anywhere." Clint didn't look at her, still crouching on the catwalk with his gaze fixed on everything happening far below them.

"Well excuse me for trying to figure this out. I'm just trying to come up with something more substantial for the director than your door analogy." She scratched out a few more notes in the book open across her knee. "Do you think he'll want me to explain Heisenberg's uncertainty principle? It's a little difficult to get into, but I think it would help me explain everything else much better."

"If you think so. You're not putting together a PowerPoint, are you?"

"Coulson told me that PowerPoint presentations can be essential for proper and efficient communication within a group that consists of more than two individuals that are approaching a situation from various levels of knowledge. And that it's beneficial in maintaining a steady—"

"Right, right. God, why did I ever let him near you?" Clint groused, finally throwing a glance in her direction, though it was only to pout. "Besides, you don't have time for that. He's here."

"I know. But I could have time if I really wanted to." She snapped her thick notebook shut and then leaned forward, staring down at the path Selvig was taking Fury on. "He's rambling."

"A bit," he agreed. "He's a scientist, though. They all tend to do that. A PhD is like a free pass on eccentricity."

"Huh. I should get a doctorate."

"That," —he turned a stare to her— "is a terrible idea and I wouldn't wish that type of punishment on the world. You'd be insufferable."

"Barton, Hayward," Fury called. "Report."

Clint hopped up over the railing and rappelled down to the floor. Ariel tucked her pencil behind her ear and her notebook under her arm before following close behind. She landed in a slight crouch and turned a grin to the man waiting for them. "Hey, Director. You're looking good. Did you hit the spa recently?"

His one-eyed gaze flicked from Clint to her, sharply. "Let's take a walk, you two." He turned on his heel.

Clint glanced sideways at her and signed touchy, raising his eyebrows and pursing his lips. Ariel grinned and fell into step behind Fury. "Of course, sir. You know how much I enjoy a good stroll."

Fury made a scoffing down and shook his head, turning down a hallway before stopping. He turned to face them. "I gave you two this detail so you could keep a close eye on things."

"I see better from a distance," Clint replied easily, studying his fingernails. "I taught Ariel, so it makes sense that she'd be the same way."

"Are you seeing anything that might set this thing off?" Fury asked, glancing past the partition over to where the scientists were bustling about their laboratory set up.

Clint shook his head. "No one's come or gone. No contacts, no IMs. If there was any tampering, sir, it wasn't at this end."

Something in Fury's demeanor changed and he straightened. "At this end?"

"Yeah. The cube is a doorway, right? To the other end of space?" Clint frowned. "Ariel's looked into it more, but it seems pretty basic to me. Doors open from both sides."

"Right. Hayward, report."

"Do you want the short version or the long version?" she asked, holding out her thick and worn notebook to him. He took it, but she didn't wait for a response to her question before she continued. "Are you familiar with quantum tunneling? Of the nuclear fusion processes that happen in the Sun?"

"No," he said dryly. "I can't say I'm exactly familiar with that."

"Um, right. What about microprocessors? So if you think about the transistors in those—"

Thunder ripped through her words and Ariel crouched, bracing herself as the floor shook. Clint threw an arm in front of her, his hand going to the gun at his hip. "What the fuck?"

"The Tesseract," Ariel breathed. Her hand went to her own gun. "That's not good."

Fury moved back towards the raised platform and Clint and Ariel carefully kept themselves placed between him and the cube. "Selvig," Fury snapped out. "What's going on?"

Blue arced from the surface of the cube and the roar started winding up. Selvig was standing at the controls, shaking his head as he studied the numbers. "I don't know!"

With a loud, trembling whine, blue spewed out of the cube and shot across the room. Ariel brought up her gun and scowled when there was no enemy for her to fight here, just whistling energy pooling in mid-air. The humming got louder, higher, sharper. Her earpiece started going haywire, blaring in her ear, and to her right she saw Clint's hand snapping up to his hearing aids. The screeching became unbearable and she clawed her coms unit out and dropped it.

The pool of energy exploded outward in a maelstrom and the air whipped across everyone in the room, sending technology and papers scattering. The energy itself scattered upward in a tornado of light, gathering at the ceiling. Ariel kept her gun up, shaking her head to try to clear the spots in her vision.

There was a figure on the platform where previously there'd been nothing. He rose to his feet—tall, imposing, pale—and sharp blue eyes looked around the room, scanning everyone and everything inside.

Ariel steeled herself. "I'm thinking hostile," she said, training her gun on the man.

"Sir!" Fury yelled. "Please put down the spear!"

The man looked down at the staff he was holding, almost as if he hadn't realized before that it was there. He lifted it, as if considering its presence. Then his arm tensed.

"Sir!" Ariel said, tackling Fury out of the way of the blast. The heat seared against her skin as it shot by. The air filled with the sound of gunfire and Ariel scrambled forward so that she was between the director and the intruder. She heard Clint helping Fury to her feet behind her. The man was just standing there, seemingly unphased by the bullets ricocheting off his body.

Then he jumped, soaring through the air and tackling one of the men holding a machine gun. Ariel shot, but her bullet was just as ineffective as those before her. So she just caught her breath when the intruder's weapon speared through a fellow agent's chest. "Sir, we need to get you out of here."

"The Tesseract," Fury said sharply.

"Where the hell did he go?" Clint spat out.

He spun on the spot and Ariel did the same, bringing up her gun again. Clint ducked a hit from the attacker and got off a couple shots, not that they did much good. The man grabbed his wrist, stopping his gun in his tracks, and smiled. The expression was thin and sickly and sharp. "You have heart," he murmured, bringing the spear up to Clint's chest.

The veins in Clint's neck flashed blue and he paused. Ariel swallowed and threw a cautious glance behind her. Fury was moving towards the Tesseract, case in hand, and so she returned her focus fully to her teacher just in time to see him lower his weapon. He turned to her, eyes burning blue. She frowned. "Hands in the air!" she yelled, not sure if she was ordering Clint or the man next to him.

Clint stepped between her and the intruder and leveled his gun at her. "Stand down."

She faltered. "I— Clint?"

"I said stand down."

She stared at those blue eyes and then her gaze flicked to the man, who was grinning loosely. Ariel scowled.

Blink.

"Where the hell did he go?"

Ariel turned and shoved past Clint. She ducked under the spear and slammed her gun into the man's middle. He grunted and an elbow snapped into her chin, throwing her head back. Then another hand came around her head, gripping her hair, and cold metal pressed into her chest.

He leered at her. "You have heart."

Ice raced through her lungs, stealing away her ability to breath. Her vision went black. And then it went blue.

She was staring at him, but she wasn't seeing him. No, she was seeing so much more than that. The hand gripping her head loosened and fell away and she dropped her gaze to meet his. "Do you see it?" she gasped.

His gaze flicked across her face. "See . . . it? What is it you see?"

Her eyes shuttered closed for a moment and she took a long, trembling breath. "Everything. I see— It's beautiful."

"Hayward!" a familiar voice behind her barked. "What are you doing?"

She turned and locked her gaze on Clint. "You can't see it, can you?" she asked, sadness creeping into her voice. "You're missing so much."

His expression was dark and he kept his gun up, looking between her and the man that has shown it all to her. "Stand down."

"I'm sorry."

"Please don't," the stranger interrupted. "I need that."

Ariel jerked her gaze to Fury where he was crouched in front of his case, the Tesseract inside. He flipped the lid shut and slowly got to his feet. "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 glorious purpose."

Selvig climbed shakily to his feet. "Loki?" he rasped out. "Brother of Thor?"

Loki glared at him, but anything he might have said was interrupted by Fury. "We have no quarrel with your people." He glanced to the side at Clint as the man backed up to stand beside him.

"An ant has no quarrel with a boot," Loki responded easily, stepping towards the scientist.

"You planning to step on us?"

Ariel dragged her gaze across the room as they spoke, numbering the agents with the blue eyes. The agents that could see. Too few. Far too few.

"Once you accept that, in your heart," —Loki touched his spear against Selvig's chest. The man gasped and blue crawled up his neck. Ariel smiled. If anyone could understand, Selvig would— "you will know peace."

"Yeah, you say peace. I kinda think you mean the other thing."

Ariel glanced towards the energy boiling on the ceiling. "He's distracting us," she murmured.

"She's right," Selvig said, leaning over one of his computers. "The portal is collapsing in on itself. You got maybe two minutes before this goes critical."

"Well, then . . . ." Loki glanced at Ariel. "It's your time, my dear. Take care of them."

She glanced curiously towards Fury and Clint and tilted her head to the side. "Come with us," she offered eagerly. "Then I can show you. It's so beautiful, Clint. I've never seen anything like it before."

"You're going crazy," he ground up. "Snap the hell out of it, Ariel!"

She sighed. "Fine, then." Then she brought her gun up and got off two quick shots. Both men dropped like stones. She pivoted, moving her gun to Loki. Bullets might not work initially, but technically she could have all the time in the world to kill him if she really wanted.

"What are you doing?" Loki demanded.

"I don't need you anymore," she said absently. "You've shown me it and now you're just in my way."

His expression flickered dangerously and then he smiled. "Oh, but I'm not. You've seen it all, but I can help you understand it. You do need me. I can explain, help you learn."

She considered that for a long moment. Then she nodded and lowered her gun. "I'll get you out of here." Ariel climbed onto the raised platform. Movement caught her eye and she glanced to the side at Clint. "We can't have that," she mused. She stepped forward and dug her heel into the wound in his shoulder. "Stay down," she warned. "It's better that way."

He groaned, shrinking away from the pressure and gasping wildly. She leaned all of her weight into him as she stooped down to pick up the case. "Thanks for this. It'll be helpful." When she stepped back, Clint whimpered just a touch.

Tesseract in hand, she turned and moved past Loki. "Vehicle this way," she said, voice clipped. "The entrance tunnel is guarded, but that won't be a problem."

"Excellent," Loki rasped.

She led him down a level, cutting easily through the SHIELD agents that tried to stop them. When they reached the parking garage, she directed several agents forward into cars and passed the Tesseract to Loki. "We need these vehicles."

"Who is he?" Hill demanded.

"That's need to know."

"Hill! Do you copy?" Fury's voice came blaring through the walkie-talkie on the agent's belt. "Hayward is turned!"

Those words made Hill snap up her gun and Ariel sighed. "I really wish you hadn't done that."

Blink.

"Hill! Do you copy?"

Ariel lifted her gun and the bullet dropped Hill like a rock, shot clean through her forehead. She stooped and unhooked the walkie-talkie from the woman's belt before moving to the driver's side. "We have one minute left." And the moment the car's engine was running, she floored the accelerator.

The walkie-talkie crackled to life again. "He's got the Tesseract! Track it down!"

Ariel turned a corner. "Followers?" she snapped out.

"None," Loki called through the window, sounding pleased.

The vehicle burst out into the night and the ground rumbled beneath them. White flashed in the rearview mirror. The steering wheel began to shake and the ground began to crumble apart behind them. Ariel frowned and sped along down the road.

She glanced aside at the helicopter rising into the air. "Chopper," she said sharply. "Take it out."

She wasn't disappointed when Loki blasted the helicopter out of the sky and, in a whirlwind of flames, it crashed to the ground. A smile twitched Ariel's lips.

"Director? Director Fury, do you copy?"

She frowned down at the walkie-talkie.

"The Tesseract is with the hostile force. I have men down. Hill?"

No response. The smile returned.

"Sound the general call," Fury ordered. "I want every living soul not working rescue looking for that briefcase."

Loki's voice came through the window over the roar of the wind. "Let's find somewhere to hole up, my dear."

"Coulson, get back to base."

Ariel nodded. "I'll make sure to keep them off our tail. Selvig? You ready?"

"This is a Level 7."

"Of course," the scientist breathed, staring out the car window at the starry sky.

"As of right now, we are at war."