Okay. First chapter-first official posting of my Avengers fic. Guys, please, tell me what you're thinking. That's all I'm going to ask, becuase I've worked for months, almost a year on an Avengers fic. And this one...this one seems to be the one that I can live with posting. I've gone over this fic, over and over in my head. This is it, guys, this is what the last three fics have been building up to. This is gonna be GOOD. At least...I hope you guys will think it is.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything Marvel.
I frowned, when my phone beeped. I turned to Fury, but he nodded, and I took off, trying to stop the man before he escaped.
"CAPTAIN ROGERS, WAIT!" I screamed, trying to get his attention. As I reached him, and tried to stop him, he shoved me, sending me flying across the floor. I almost went out the window, but Fury stopped me. I winced, when his boot landed on the shoulder the Captain had shoved-I could feel a major bruise forming already. It might've even been shoved out of it's socket.
"Miss Stark, are you-"
"Fine. We have to go, Fury, he's escaping." He helped me to stand back up, and I cradled my arm, running down the stairs to the vehicles.
We caught him in Times Square, surrounding him. He was looking around, completely lost, before I stepped out and spoke up.
"Captain Rogers." He turned to me, his eyes going wide. He saw the resemblence, he was seeing her. And that's exactly why Fury brought me into this. I smiled softly. "I'm sorry for the show back there. Patchy the Pirate here thought it would be best to break it to you slowly."
"Break what?" He paused for a second, his darker blonde eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "Who are you?" I avoided the second question, answering his first one. I didn't even hesitate.
"You've been asleep, soldier. For almost seventy years." He frowned even further. But he didn't let the shock show. He was angry-he wanted to know who I was. He stepped forward, staring me down.
"Who are you." I smiled softly, and patted his cheek.
"Later, Cap." He turned around, staring around at the buildings. But he was thinking about her, I could see it in how he held himself, how he really wasn't looking at the scenery. "You gonna be okay?" He paused.
"Yeah. Yeah, I just...I had a date."
Doctor Selvig and I shared a look, as Fury entered the room. Adam was by his side, I knew Agent Hill was somewhere. Coulson was still handling evac, and the Hawk was in his nest.
"Talk to me, Stark." I turned to Fury, shrugging again.
"I got no clue, matey. She just started up on her own-Doctor Selvig and I were both out of the room."
"I know you guys have a schedule, and Ellie, you were the one who was supposed to be in the room." I grimaced. Fury raised a brow. I sighed.
"The Capsicle called me, he wanted an opinion on a book he was reading. I stepped out of the room because the Tesseract interferes with the wi-fi." Fury sighed. I raised my hands in defense. "It's not my fault you gave me two jobs." Fury pinched the bridge of his nose, crossing his arms.
"Doctor Selvig, is there anything you know for certain."
"The Tesseract is misbehaving." Selvig said, stepping away from it along with me. Fury was getting even more impatient.
"Is that supposed to be funny?" He asked. "If so, you've been around Miss Stark for far too long."
"No, sir. It's not funny at all. The Tesseract is not only active, she's behaving." Doctor Selvig said, as we joined Fury as he walked over to the Tesseract, standing on either side of him.
"I assume you pulled the plug." I shook my head. Doctor Selvig replied.
"She's an energy source. We turn off the power, she turns it back on." He turned a corner, and I went with him, speaking up again.
"If she reaches peak power-" Fury cut me off, stopping me in my tracks.
"We prepared for this, Stark. Harnessing energy from space." I shook my head. Doctor Selvig went to work on his computer, and I turned to Fury.
"But we don't have the harness. Our calculations are far from complete. And she's throwing off interference, radiation. Nothing harmful. Low levels of gamma radiation." Fury turned away from the Cube, and back to me, looking me in the eye.
"That can be harmful." He paused. "Where's Agent Barton?" Doctor Selvig scoffed.
"The Hawk? Up in his nest, as usual." He said, turning back to his computer. Fury pulled out his walkie talkie, and I stood next to Doctor Selvig, conversing with him over what to do. Fury waited at the bottom of the tree Barton made his nest in, and then they approached.
"Well, I see better from a distance." Hawkeye replied to something Fury said.
"Have you seen anything that might set this thing off?" One of the researchers turned around the corner, getting my attention.
"Miss Stark, it's spiking again." I looked at Selvig, and he went over to deal with it, leaving me to work on the calculations. If only...
"No one's come or gone." Barton's voice was breaking through my barrier. "Selvig and Stark are clean. No contacts, no IMs."
"What about Ellie's father."
"She hasn't spoken to Tony in months, Miss Potts either. She hasn't spoken to anyone at Stark Industries in a year. If there was any tampering, sir, it wasn't on this end." Fury frowned. So did Selvig, but I'd been considering it all along. I couldn't find anything.
"'At this end'?" Fury asked. Barton nodded.
"Yeah. The Cube is a doorway to the other end of space, right? Doors open from both sides." I turned back to the calculations, but looked up, as the energy of the Cube started to crackle.
Every head turned. I felt Adam move next to me, reach out and grab my hand, squeezing it tightly, pulling me right up against him. I squeezed back, pressing myself to him, sticking to him like glue. Like gravity was forcing us together-a magnetic force. Jesus, that sounds cheesy.
A beam of energy shot out of the Cube. It created what looked to be a portal-a door. It opened from both sides, just as the Hawk had stated. The energy built up, and as soon as it built up enough, the portal disappeared with an explosion of the energy. The energy rose, building up and settling in the ceiling. When I looked back down, and at the platform where the portal had formed, there was a figure there, kneeling. The figure looked as if it was burning, and a few agents approached the figure slowly, with their weapons armed and ready. Adam moved to stand in front of me, shielding me-from what, I wasn't sure. He was just being overprotective. The usual Adam.
The figure raised his head. He smirked, and chuckled darkly. He stood, holding a sceptre in his hand, with his arms out at his sides.
"Sir, please put down the spear." Fury called. The man lifted his sceptre-spear-thing, looking over it-and then he fired something from it. He aimed it at Fury, but it flew right over mine and Adam's heads, hitting a computer. The energy beam was almost exactly like the one from the Tesseract, I could see it. Fury hit the ground as well as Hawkeye, and some agents started firing their weapons. Adam joined them. The man attacked them, stabbing one of the agents with his spear-sceptre-energy-shooting-thing. He then turned suddenly, ricoceting the bullets that were fired at him by the other agents, and hitting them both with those bullets. He fired his sceptre once more, knowing a lab assistant out. He spun around as another agent attacked him, slicing that agent with his sceptre. Hawkeye, and Adam both started firing at the man, as well as three more agents. He was hit, but wasn't affected. He fired his sceptre again, but Hawkeye and Adam both rolled out of the way, and the beam hit the other agents, as well as a couple more lab assistants.
He knocked out literally every person in the room. I stayed hidden, with Adam by my side, squeezing his hand in a death grip.
As Barton got up, the man grabbed him, twisting his arm around so they were face to face. The man smirked. "You have heart." He stated simply, tapping Barton's chest with his sceptre. I turned to check on Fury, who was trying to collect the Tesseract and run. He gestured with his eyes to the exit. Adam looked at me, and we both nodded, crawling as quietly as possible toward the exit. When we reached Fury, we both stood, tiptoeing towards the exit. But the man stopped us.
"Please don't." We stopped in our tracks, with our backs towards him. "I still need that."
"This doesn't have to get any messier." Fury replied over his shoulder.
"Of course it does." The man said simply. "I've come too far for anything else." Fury turned, as well as Adam. I paused, my eyes going wide as he said his next words. "I am Loki, of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose." I bit my lip, as well as biting back a scoff/laugh.
"Loki, brother of Thor." Erik stated. My eyes went wide. Shit.
"We have no quarrel with your people." I said and turned finally, facing Loki, looking him dead in the eyes.
"An ant has no quarrel with a boot." I frowned.
"Are you planning to step on us?" I inquired, tilting my head to the side.
"I come with glad tidings of a world made free." He glanced at Erik, and then turned back to me, smirking. Adam was fidgeting, with mere millimeters keeping our bodies from touching.
"Free from what, Princey?"
"Freedom. Freedom is life's great lie. Once you accept that, in your heart," he spun around, pressing his sceptre into Erik's chest, "you will know peace."
"Yeah, you say 'peace,' but I kinda think you mean another thing."
"Sir, Miss Stark is stalling." I frowned, watching as Barton approached Loki. "This place is about to blow and drop a hundred feet of rock on us. She means to bury us." I smirked.
"Like the pharoahs. And yes, Erik, the portal is collapsing in on itself. And we've got two minutes to get the hell out of here." Erik looked away from the computer and at Loki. Loki turned to Hawkeye.
"Well, then." Barton pulled his gun. My eyes went wide, and Adam grabbed my hand, pulling me down with him. Fury was hit. He dropped, Barton picked up the Cube and shot both me and Adam to keep us down. He hit my side, but it was just a flesh wound. Adam was hit in the leg-it went clean through.
Fury pulled out his talkie, getting a hold of Hill.
"Hill! Do you copy? Barton has turned." Fury stood up, carrying Adam with him. I got up on my own, trying my best to dig out the bullet. "They have the Tesseract! Shut them down!" He put his talkie away, and literally threw Adam over his shoulder, moving faster. I followed-but I couldn't ignore the pain.
"We're clear upstairs, sir. You need to go." I heard Coulson say over the walkie, and rolled my eyes. Well, duh!
We managed to make it out the doors, and into a hellicopter waiting outside. Adam was placed into a seat, and I squatted behind the front seats, but kept out of his sight as I tried to dig for the bullet again. We were above the ground just as the landing pad began to crumble.
The portal finally collapsed in on itself, and it took the entire base with it. A wave was sent out across the landing pad, and then shot right out across the rest of the base. The base sunk in along with the portal. My eyes went wide.
"Oh my God."
"Ellie, love, what are you doing down there?" I bit my lip, turning to look Adam in the eyes. He sighed. "Come here, I have something to get that bullet out." I stood, and perched on the arm of the seat he was sitting in. He pulled my top away, getting a look at the entry wound, and I turned away so that I wouldn't see what he was doing. I really hate bullets.
The hellicopter made it over the base, and we caught Loki, Selvig and Barton as they just made it out of the base. Fury opened the door, and shot at the vehicle. Loki, in turn, blasted the hellicopter and sent it flying to the ground. Fury jumped out-Adam and I rolled out after him, landing with a hard thump on the ground, me landing on top of Adam. He groaned.
Fury kept on shooting, and I got off of Adam quickly, shooting at them as well...but it was too late. They were gone. Fury stood, and I sighed, throwing myself down onto the ground, wincing at the pain in my side. The bullet was still there.
"Director?" I heard Coulson over the radio. "Director Fury, do you copy?" Fury pulled out his walkie, holding it up to his face.
"The Tesseract is with a hostile force." He turned, getting a quick look at us. "I have men down. Hill?"
"A lot of men still under. I don't know how many survivors." I cursed myself in my head, covering my face up with my hands. I should've just stuck to the job, dammit, I shouldn't have focused on anything else.
"Sound a general call. I want every living soul not working rescue looking for that briefcase." Fury demanded, looking in the distance, where the stolen vehicle had disappeared into the night.
"Roger that." Hill replied.
"Coulson, get back to base. This is a Level Seven. As of right now, we are at war."
"What do we do?" Coulson asked Fury. Fury turned to me, and looked me in the eyes. I bit my lip, looking up at the sky, but took my own walkie out.
"We assemble."