Loki has the Tesseract and Nick Fury has no other choice than to form the Avengers for the first time. Sounds familiar?
Well. It would be if Tony was Iron Man ( he isn't ) instead of just the Merchant of Death. If Natasha was the Black Widow, and not only the Widow. If Bruce Banner was the Hulk and not Clint Barton. If Maria Hill was a SHIELD agent and not working for Tony. If Thor hadn't spent the last three hundred years on Earth. If Steve was Captain America. If...
If the world had gone had gone as it was supposed to, instead of this clusterfuck.
So I'm not saying right away how everything is different, but I think you can probably guess more than a few things just from this first chapter.
Basically this is me doing the whole movie ( starting just after Loki's arrival because it was the best moment to introduce the change ) while putting the characters in each other's place, but with their actual personality ( a bit altered because of their experience, but still mainly the same ), mostly.
I could get around to doing the whole MCU experience like that, if, you know, I actually get around to doing it.
Chapter 1: An actual thing
Fury thought of the Avengers files once again, and couldn't keep himself from snarling – someone else would have sighed, probably, but he was Nick Fury, not someone else.
Images appeared in Fury's mind, from the various reports he had read about the individuals he was considering to bring in. Sights he has seen himself, conversations he had had when he had met them, if only for a short moment for some of them.
Images of a cybernetic prosthesis that went deep into the right arm of a man, as some kind of exoskeleton to replace the flesh, wires for the damaged nerves that had been torn away in a terrible fall, decades ago. "If you'll excuse me, Director, but I get some viciously macabre hallucinations if I don't clear my blood every two days or so, and I tend to get unpleasant when that happens.". Water dripping slowly as SHIELD's scientists unfroze a symbol of WWII, her shield still in her hands after all these years. "Asgard might be my home, Director Fury, but Earth is where I came to life, and do not be mistaken, for I will do anything necessary to protect it, no matter from whom, yourself included.". A tall and muscular man missing an eye, with thunder crackling at his fingers when the agents tried to keep him in a cell. "The only reason I'm here, Fury, is because you cannot be worse than Ross, and because you've offered to take Banner in. But don't be mistaken: because I trust him doesn't mean I trust you yet.". Glints of red and gold in an otherwise black suit of high tech armor as the faceplate was taken of, revealing the hard-faced woman and her fortitude. "I don't remember who I'm supposed to be, Director, but I do know what I'm supposed to do right now.". Skin turning to green, muscles doubling in volume, and the promise that should the man be pushed too far, the transformations would not stop here. "The world might have changed in seventy years, Director, but I doubt it changed so much that no evil is left to face." Entirely black tactical gear, unremarkable at first, but in fact very different from anything he had ever seen, hiding a blue light that literally dictated a life, on a man who could rival any of SHIELD's best agents as far as efficiency went, the world's intellectual elite when it came to a battle of brains, and Fury's own stubbornness. "It is my brother you are talking about here, Nicholas Fury, and no one knows better than I what he is capable of.". Two dangerously sharp blades linked by an unbreakable chain, the seal of Asgard's protégés on both the handles, and promising a death without mercy to their enemies. "He might not be a good man, Director Fury, but he's the one who will do anything to save the ones who deserve it the most, be it by damning his own soul. And for that I will never betray him."
It was just... plain weird. Like someone had taken the personality and powers of the world's mightiest heroes, and put the whole into a blender to get a very unreal remix.
Good thing, Fury guessed, that so far there hadn't been a need for the Avengers to become an actual thing. Just imagining Anthony Stark anywhere near SHIELD's digital files sent a shiver down his spine. And let's not talk about Steve Rogers getting on the Helicarrier – some agent would probably try to shoot him dead on sight. Maria Hill was completely loyal to Stark, and that was a shame because Fury had been keeping an eye on the woman to recruit her before the whole Afghanistan thing. Getting a hold of Thor or Natasha Romanoff was just impossible, and the two were compromised when it came to dealing with Loki anyway...
At least Barton was already on SHIELD's payroll, and as for... Well.
Fury cringed.
There hadn't been a need for the Avengers to come together... until now.
Since, you know, Loki Laufeyson had just barged into a supersecure research facility through the Tesseract, brainwashed Dr. Selvig, Dr. Banner, and Maria Hill – who was here on behalf of her boss, since the Starks were the closest thing to experts on the matter of the Tesseract – and Fury, alongside Barton and Coulson, had barely escaped before they got themselves mind-controlled too.
He had no choice, apparently.
The fact that they had to bomb down their own facility in order to stay out of Loki's reach – which hadn't exactly worked the way Fury hoped it would, considering Loki wasn't dead in the rubble and had the Tesseract, but anyway, at least they were alive – was enough of a hint.
The world was in danger – when wasn't it? – and he needed to do something to make sure they still stood a chance in this oncoming war. SHIELD had noticed a few people who could be beneficial to any kind of superpowered situation, Fury had somehow managed to kind of get on the good side of each of them – or at least, to not get on their bad side, which was always a win – and now it was time to try and make something of it.
You know, before the mad norsen god with a horned – Stark would probably say something about the word "horny" here, not "horned", and that was only the least important reason why Fury was hesitant to call the man – helmet tried to enslave the Earth – or whatever he was actually planning to do.
Fury didn't wait a moment when the call reached the woman to whom he needed to speak about this.
"You are called back on duty, Miss Victory. Loki has the Tesseract, Erik Selvig, Bruce Banner and Maria Hill changed sides, and yes all their files are in your nightstand, as well as your potential teammates'. I'll contact you again."
Fury snarled – no, no sighing allowed, like, ever, he's Nick Fury and Nick Fury didn't sigh – as he put the phone back in his pocket, before looking back inside the jeep – Loki and his newly appointed minions had disappeared in the sunset, with Stark's armor, no less, and wasn't that a huge problem? – which meant no one was actively trying to kill them right now. Which meant SHIELD could go back to actually dealing with the situation – Fury was aware that Loki might send Iron Mercy to clean up behind him, thank you very much, but he kind of hoped it wouldn't be the case right away. Like, it'd be good if they actually had the chance to start planning a solution before everyone got eradicated.
Was he getting a little pessimistic here, or was that only an impression?
Barton and Coulson were politely – scratch that, Coulson was politely looking at him, waiting for orders, while Barton alternated between keeping an eye out for any threat and boredly looking back at Fury.
The one-eyed man pinched his nose – nose-pinching was allowed, though sighing wasn't.
"Alright, what's the situation?"
Coulson checked something on his cellphone, his left-hand fingers drummed quietly on his walkie talkie for a moment, and eventually a mild-mannered answer came up.
"A few confirmed deaths, two dozens of confirmed survivors, and a lot of men still under the rubble."
"Sound the general call. I want every living soul not working rescue looking for that brief case."
They were going to get the Tesseract back, they were going to get Loki in custody – or at least, to ship him back to Asgard – and they were not going to let the world come to an end.
Even if Fury had to call in the Freak Show for that to happen – that is, the ones he could actually get a hold of.
He looked grimly at Coulson.
"This is a level 7."
A moment of silence.
"Coulson, you go and get Stark and Rogers. Tell them what happened to Hill, and that she cannot be trusted anymore. Barton, you come with me to the Helicarrier. We cannot let this go."
There. The Avengers were going to become an actual thing.
Fury still wasn't convinced it was a good idea, but hey, who could say they had set up a former KGB agent and current genius, a formerly brainwashed supersoldier with half a metal arm, a green and unbreakable archer, a norse not-so-mythological god and a woman trained by Asgardians as if she was one of their own, together under the command of the legendary agent who had been the symbol of the Allied victory during WWII? Against another not-so-mythological god, two of the world's most renowned scientists, and the woman who used the Iron Mercy in combat?
If it didn't go like advised, no one could blame Fury for failing where someone else had done it – because, no, no one had ever done that before.
Yes, he wasn't convinced.
But he sure as hell was going to try making it work.
If only because they didn't have another choice against Loki.
