K-T Boundary
65 million years ago
A small, dark gray mammal peered out of its burrow, nose twitching in the sand-filled air. Dust swirled around, and the sky was black. Not that it mattered. The sky was black almost all the time now, rarely ever giving a glimpse of sun. Few plants grew, and the ones that did were small, dirt brown, and barely surviving. Eyes darting around, ears flicking away gnats, the small creature padded farther from its home.
There was nothing. Every direction the mouse-like creature turned there was nothing. Unless you counted desert and acrid air as something. Which the mouse did not. Blinking the mouse scurried toward a giant half-dead tree that sat in the middle of nowhere. It was the most unlikely thing to be sitting there, just existing, in the middle of a place as barren as this. As the mouse watched, a small, almost unnoticeable thing happened. Of course, the mouse noticed.
A tiny seed, as big as the mouse's nose, drifted down from the tree. The mouse's eyes watched it drift to and fro in the dusty wind until it finally hit the sandy ground.
The mouse smirked. Maybe there was hope for this dead world after all.
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Present Day
New York, New York
Sara Kaos Clyde walked swiftly down the street, barely taking in the familiar sights and sounds of New York. Usually, she would be taking in every minute detail, making sure that nothing was amiss in the city. Today, she could already feel that something was wrong. Deep inside, she again felt that tug on her essence that something terribly bad was upsetting the natural balance of chaos and order Sara worked so hard to keep steady. Her gut wrenched once again as she side-stepped into an alley and allowed the pull to whisk her form away from the city and toward the epicenter of the disturbance.
Syria
Flashes of light. Pulses of dark. Masked by the world, a dark portal throbbed.
Sara appeared and continued walking as if nothing had happened. She strode right towards the portal. The portal that no one could see. Except for her. She saw it in all its terrible glory, with flickers of dark jumping out, killing whatever they touched.
Grimacing slightly, Sara halted and reached out a hand. The portal seemed to shy away, but was slowly pulled towards the outstretched limb. The portal collapsed in on itself and was absorbed into her hand.
Breathing heavily, Sara sat down on a boulder and held her head in her hands.
"I'm getting too old for this," she muttered under her breath. Suddenly, a small child skipped around the corner of the dirt road nearby. Spotting Sara, her eyes lit up and she pranced to Sara's side. Sara looked up wearily and peered at the girl.
"Hi!" The young girl greeted in Arabic. Sara blinked and adjusted to the language change without thinking.
"Hello," she replied automatically.
"You look tired," The girl commented. "We have food in our hut. Would you like to join us for dinner?"
Sara gave the child a small smile. "I would love to. But are your parents all right with it?"
"My parents love having guests!" The little girl replied, smiling broadly. "Come! Come!"
She grabbed Sara's hand and proceeded to pull her back in the direction she had come from. "Quickly! Quickly! Momma's stew is almost ready!"
Sara resisted her body's urge to flinch and pull away and let herself be dragged to the young girl's hut.
Somewhere over the Atlantic
Nick Fury stalked to the edge of his elevated platform and shouted down at his co-workers, "Got anything yet?"
"Yes, sir. The disturbance in Syria seems to have disappeared. There aren't any weird radiation levels coming from there now." Maria Hill replied. "Should we continue to monitor it, sir?" She waited a moment. "Sir?"
"It just... disappeared?" Fury questioned.
"Yes, sir. Is something wrong?"
"Hill, I've seen signals like that before. Last time, it disappeared because of someone. I think it might be the same person. Do you have any footage of the area where the signals came from?"
"Yes, sir."
"Show them to me. Now. On the monitor."
"Yes, sir." Hill turned to one of the many computers on the Helicarrier and typed in a sequence. "Playing now, sir."
Fury turned to his screen and watched the film. At first, nothing appeared out of the ordinary. Suddenly, a figure appeared, as if out of nowhere. It stretched out its arm.
"This is when the strange radiation stopped, sir."
Fury bowed his head and paused the film. "Oh, Kaos, didn't I tell you not to mess with anything? I told you that thirty years ago. I guess you didn't want to listen," Fury whispered too low for anyone else to hear. In a louder tone, he addressed the Black Widow, who was leaning against the wall, looking bored. "Romanoff?" She lifted her head and looked at him. "I need you to locate and take in Sara Clyde. I need to talk to her. I'll send you her information once you're on your way."
"Should I use force?" Natasha asked.
"Only if threatened. Clyde is someone to be reckoned with." Fury replied. Natasha nodded and left.
Fury sighed. Hopefully, Kaos wasn't in a bad mood, or one of the Avengers would be toast.
