No one could have imagined the impact of Thor's hammer crashing down on Asgard one year ago. No one. Not even Thor himself. Not Odin. Not SHIELD. No one but the very individual who now holds supreme power. An individual who, while not animate, finds himself with a firm grasp over mankind; ready to crush them whenever the opportunity presents itself. All of this as a result of the phenomenon known now as: The Bifrost Effect.
The Bifrost Effect was felt across the entire solar system. In fact, the effect was so wide spread it was felt across countless solar systems. The shattering bridge caused complete anarchy for all planets with civilizations. Common occurrences of Mother Nature were sent into overdrive and into a state of complete disarray; nothing was stable. Asgard, even without knowingly doing so had caused complete and utter chaos on a larger scale when they were trying to stop an inevitable evil from spreading beyond its borders. The extensive energy waves projected from, what was once the Bifrost's confounds was now causing global-warming level disasters. The Earth and everything that mankind knew about it until this point thanks to science and the study of its rotations were non existent. The energy effects – or the Bifrost Effect as it was popularly called amongst scientists – had made human scientific findings void. Storms, tsunamis, cyclones, tornadoes and earthquakes tormented Earth. Carried by the last blast of the transmitting energy source of the Bifrost was Loki; enemy of Asgard, but nonetheless, adopted son of Odin and brother of Thor. Being cast down and his body forced into a state of complete and utter in-animation, the trickster was forced into possession. While his body lies dormant in the deepest, darkest depths of the sea, his spirit lingers buoyantly, eager to cause all sorts of havoc in his new found playground. While this is a fact to the likes of SHIELD and it's finest agents, to most, the cause of the supernatural disasters have been put down to that of their polar opposite; those natural in nature. Now, Earth's finest heroes are in the frontlines, trying to secure a sense of peace, safety and stability in the community that they had previously served calmly within. Now, the anarchy which these heroes strived to keep away from common life is present deep within its roots.
THE INVESTIGATION:
"Widow, Barton, Captain – We've just got word from Agent Coulson. There's something we need you to look into."
Fury's voice crept into the earpieces that each of the members had been given upon their admission into SHIELD. Whilst the events of the Bifrost Effect had been keeping them busy in the central posts of the city with common rescues of stranded, trapped or injured civilians, there was something of a much more important level required of them. Really, assigning the Captain and some of the finest SHIELD agents there were to aiding in common police and rescue op's work was Nick Fury being a nice guy, and that wasn't a common sight.
"We're reading you loud and clear, Patches. What've you got for us?" Hawkeye responded, using his free hand to click his earpiece, his other hand occupied by his signature bow.
The uneasy silence shared between the line had Clint smirking cheekily towards Natasha, but she didn't seem obliged to supply the same positive emotion.
"Agent Romanov." Fury said with a well assessed pacing. "Why don't you remind Mr. Barton of why he shouldn't call me by one of my many disrespectful nicknames?"
The Black Widow offered Barton a quick look, her fiery hair briskly mobbing over her shoulder as she did so. With a few well assessed steps in Clint's direction, her tightly fitted outfit drawing the archers attention the entire way, the Agent delivered a clean, tight fisted jab into Barton's nose.
Almost completely taken by surprise, Barton took a few moments to take a realization of what had happened, his hand snapping to his nose in some effort for false comfort, or saving it from bleeding after a few seconds.
"Ow!" he called loudly, his eyes tearing up from the tingling sensation working at the back of his eyeballs from the impact.
"Good!" Fury called back into the earphones almost exactly after. "That's a sign that we're back on the same page, Barton! Let's not have to go back to Nick Fury one-on-one basics then shall we? Remember your lesson this time?"
"You've got it, sir." Muffled Barton, clenching his nose still.
"Alright. Coulson's source in Phoenix has supposedly found us some samples of this Bifrost bridge that all these science geeks have been talking about. Get them back to SHIELD headquarters and we'll have a debriefing when you arrive. You're off clean up duty kids. The police can rescue the rest of the worlds drug dealers, alcoholics and hardcore gamers from their collapsed buildings." And with that, Fury's microphone cut out and the three heroes were left with their orders.
With a still pained look on his features, Barton locked eyes with his fellow colleagues. "Such a charming man, Fury, isn't he?"
"It's besides the point, Hawkeye." Captain America piped up. "We've got our orders and we best get right to them."
"I agree with the Captain." Natasha acknowledged with firmness.
"Okie-dokie. C'mon lap-dogs, let's get Fury's job done!" Clint cheered with false enthusiasm.
"Mr. Tony Stark; you've made quite the name for yourself this past year. You are the Iron Man!"
"I am.
But I mean, it's not like I ever denied it in the first place. See that's what people seem to be getting mixed up. Some people are assuming I denied being the Iron Man until I was forced into admitting I was him. Here's the difference, Dianne; I never denied that I was the Iron Man – I simply didn't state that I was him. That's not a crime and furthermore, it's the fault of the people for being so, in every sincere way, idiotic and not looking into the technicalities of the matter."
"Mr. Stark-."
"I know that wasn't the question, dear, I just felt the need to get that out there. Please continue."
"I…."
Tony's eyes glanced at the screen whilst he made some repairs to his suit, his eyes narrowing at the sight of himself. Was he really in the public eye in reference to all this now? He couldn't fly around the city anymore denying air laws and regulations because the big law enforcers knew exactly where to go if they saw a speeding Iron Man suit going round.
"Honestly Jarvis, I preferred this whole gig when it was you and me who knew about my macho alter-ego."
"In all honesty, sir, as did I."
"Oh?"
"It meant, sir, that I hardly had to educate you on what to say and what not to say before you went to any intensive interviews with beautiful missus Dianne's, sir."
"Right. Okay, so I'm going to pretend you didn't say that and that I don't want to disassemble you for being a total smart arse."
"I learn from the best, sir."
"Right." Tony pouted. "That still doesn't change that fact that you're a smart arse." Stark chuckled slightly, poking away with a screw driver at a loose bolt. He honestly didn't know why he just didn't get one of his high-tech devices to do this whole thing for him. It was more the fact that now – the world being much mellower and absent of warfare – the Iron Man wasn't entirely needed. Sure, he could've been going around saving cats from trees like the rest of the suited heroes, but that sort of thing had never really been Tony's style. He was a self-driven man. While his intentions might have become a little less self absorbed, he, even with that made most of his decisions primarily on what he'd be perceived as in the public eye as, or rewarded with. Now, who wanted to be seen as a weak-willed, cat saving hero that got paid in cabbages from some old hermit's garden? Not Iron Man – and certainly – not Tony Stark; billionaire.
"No, no, no. This isn't working." Bruce's glasses dropped off the bridge of his nose and onto the desk in front of him as he pulled a tired hand through his brown locks. He'd been working tirelessly over a cure for a new illness that had introduced itself to Earth as a result of the sudden energy influx from the Bifrost. Apparently, according to science and all things out of this world, the Bifrost Energy exposure was enough to effect the biological state of human beings on Earth; somehow in a selective nature. In all honesty, nothing was adding up, but regardless, Bruce Banner had his objective and goal and he was going to reach it one way or another. If he had to introduce himself to another Hulk-like scenario, he'd do it. So long as he could save people. So long as he could save young lives, families and countless others by manufacturing this biological cure.
"Mr. Banner?" a voice boomed from the doorway of Bruce's laboratory.
Turning, the tired-eyed biologist etched off his seat and tried to clear his vision to see just who it was that was talking to him. Reaching backward and finding his glasses, the doctor placed the spectacles back over his eyes. A tall, dark-skinned man stood in the poorly lit archway. His head was absent hair and one of his eyes (from what Bruce could tell, the left) was patched over. Long black leather jacket drawn over shoulders, the man paced forward and into the light to show his features much more clearly.
"Director Fury, right?" Bruce final spoke once he could see the man in the light.
"That's right." The man confirmed, nodding simply, his fingers tracing along some of the equipment in the room, almost absent mindedly as he made his way around to Dr. Banner. "Have you found the people of Earth a cure yet, Dr? I'd hate to sound pushy but people are dying." Nick stated blatantly.
"I understand that. I'm doing my best it's just that- this takes time."
"Funny how that works." Fury answered back emotionlessly, stopping his tracing and standing tall in one place.
"Funny, director?" Bruce asked uncertainly.
"Funny how you need time but the people of Earth don't have a moment to spare." Fury's tone was harsh. "You need to work faster, Dr. Much faster."
"I'm doing my best with what I have, Nick." Bruce broke the formalities, his eyes centering on Nick Fury and his shoulders rolling back to show some authority. There was no way Bruce was going to be taking the responsibility for the effects that this condition was having on people around the globe. His job was to find a cure as quickly as he could and that was exactly what he was doing. There was no time barrier on how long it would take him.
Before Fury could respond, his earpiece sounded and immediately he pushed his index finger against it. "Go ahead, Agent Coulson."
There was a pause whilst the message was received.
"Well that doesn't sound good. Get down there and interrogate the guy. We're going to find out just why he decided it was time to go haywire." Fury spoke as calmly as he could as if to not spook Dr. Banner's inner rage monster.
"I've got some things to attend to, Banner. Keep up the work. I hope for some more results next I'm down here." Fury spoke pointedly, turning on his heel and making out the door.
Heaving out a deep breath, Bruce leaned himself against his workbench, his eyes dropping to the floor as he realized the pressure he was under yet again. How the hell SHIELD kept talking him into this crap he'd never know.
Phoenix Secret Military Base
The base was a mess. Explosions were still being sparked by the looming fires and soldiers were still recovering from the unprompted and random attack of their commanding officers, General Harmsworth. While the General had now been subdued, no one had the authorization to speak with the man. SHIELD had made special arrangements that only Agent Phil Coulson would have the opportunity to have a word with Harmsworth. The fact that the General had no previous misbehaviours or stains on his record was enough to alert Fury that something was off here. Harmsworth was under some sort of mind control. The Bifrost was doing a whole lot of things, so maybe mind control wasn't out of the question either. Tracking through the ridden military base, Coulson rounded a corner into the only standing facility left and stepped in, closing the door behind him. Strutting through the hallways until he reached a small room, the Agent stopped once he'd finally spotted Harmsworth and folded his arms.
"Sorry I kept you waiting, General." Phil began. "I'm Agent Coulson. I'm with SHIELD. I'm here to talk to you about what happened here. Would you like to tell me?" Phil's tone was actually calm, collected and welcoming in every respect. He had a certain control and pizzazz that not too many people had in his line of work – and hell – everyone knew it came in handy.
"I- I've not got any idea what you're talking about, Agent." The General uttered, a clear distinction that he wasn't lying. "Wait a minute- SHIELD? What the hell is that?" the man piped up, confused.
"It doesn't matter, sir." Coulson trailed off. "Can you tell me what you remember before being sat down in this room?"
"S-…Sure." The General began. "I was doing my duties in my office. I felt a migraine coming on and went to lie down. I was tired, you know? I'd stayed up late the night before filing reports and whatnot. Anyway, I'm not all that prone to migraines and so, I immediately took to resting before it became something I couldn't manage. Next thing I knew, I was blacked out and…. It felt as though something was inside me."
"Inside you?" Coulson prompted.
"That's what I said. Like another person was controlling me. Like I was a puppet."
Coulson was about to break through to get some more answers, but the General stopped him.
"There's something else. A voice in my head kept on saying to find the Bifrost fragments that Captain America and the others had brought to the base. That if I found them, I'd have unimaginable power at my disposal."
"And did you find them, General? Did you find the Bifrost fragments?"
"I did. I took them off base and that's the last thing I can remember."
"Thank you, General." Coulson smiled pleasantly back.
"W-wait you believe me?"
"Usually, if someone says something as implausible as what you're saying – in my experience – they're telling the truth. It's the people that try and rationalize that make me uncomfortable." Coulson answered back before continuing on his way.
"Director Fury," Coulson clicked into his comm. "I think we've got a problem; an extra-terrestrial problem on a universal scale."