Serena's eyes glanced along the walls of the underground laboratory she was in. Clint and Natasha had filled her in on all the information they were able to give on the tesseract, as well as what could happen if it were ever to come into the wrong hands. The Tesseract was apparently, misbehaving, according to one of the astrophysics that was there, Dr. Erik Selvig. Clint Barton, or 'Hawkeye' as she learned he was called, was perched in the uppermost corner of the room, scouting the area.
Serena knew that he was doing a security check, but there were times when she could feel his eyes specifically on her. Not only that but there had been times when she reached into his mind and read his thoughts admiring her beauty. Lucky for her, she had perfected the art of being able to slip into people's minds, find the information she needed, and then slip back out.
She stood next to Nick Fury as he called Hawkeye down from his 'nest'. As Hawkeye began to talk to Fury and Dr. Selvig about what he thought was going on with the Tesseract, Serena wandered over to the table and began to look over the files for all the different Avengers.
The picture of her was while she was in her ACU's, her military uniform and she had her Oakly sunglasses on to shield her eyes from the sunlight. She shivered slightly and wondered how long S.H.I.E.L.D had been keeping tabs on her. She turned to the next file and saw Natasha and Clint's files. Hawkeye and Black Widow, Master Assassins.
She made a mental note to not piss either one of them off, although to be fair Natasha seemed to have an issue with her. She was currently on some mission, leaving as soon as they got back to the base to head to Russia. Serena turned the page again to see a picture of Tony Stark, Iron Man with a red 'denied' stamp across of it multiple times as if someone had fun stamping the shit out of the page. She smiled slightly. Guess some people couldn't make the cuts.
The next file was for a Dr. Bruce Banner, The Hulk. She shivered slightly as she turned to the next file. Some things she didn't even want to know about unless it was explained to her for the fear of someone freaking her out. She widened her eyes ever so slightly at the next file.
Steve Rogers, Captain America. She smiled slightly at his title. "Captain America," she stated, her smirk spreading across his face. She had heard stories about Captain America when she was little, in fact they all had. In the picture he looked young, his blonde hair swept neatly off of his forehead. His built stood proud, and she imagined how broad he must have been. As she read his birth date, she furrowed her brow in confusion. He had to be at least 80 years old. Why was his file in the Avengers? Did they seriously expect an 85 year old to be able to fight for the planet?
She sighed, before turning to the final file. When she did, her heart stopped. It was then that she placed her hand on the photo, running her hand over the picture. Those long blonde locks, the suit of armor, the red flowing cape. It was the man of her dreams. Literally, it was the man that was in her dreams.
Thor, of Asgard. "Thor...Thor..." she muttered. It was then she felt her body get tired, and a headache spread to her forehead. She closed her eyes, expecting to see darkness but instead there was a vision in her head.
She stood there, in a glowing garden. Golden flecks of light floated all around her. She looked to her hands to see she was wearing arm length gloves, and a silky white garden dress. She began to walk forward, as if her body were commanding her where to go. It was then she saw the man with the red cape turn to face her, a wide smile on his face. The sun reflected over him, making his features look like a golden amber.
"I was wondering when you would finally come here my lady," he said, setting down what appeared to be a large hammer. As he began to walk towards her, Serena saw the vision fade.
Serena snapped back to reality at the sound of a blaring alarm. She turned to see Hawkeye draw his bow, Fury standing by his side. There was a flash of bright green light, and Hawkeye pushed Serena behind him to shield her from whatever was about to come. It was then that the light vanished.
Serena turned her gaze towards the Tesseract, and saw a man with shoulder length black hair standing there. He wore emerald and gold robes, a scepter in his hand. His blue eyes scanned the room, looking from person to person.
"Sir, can you please put the scepter down?" Fury spoke up. The man hesitated for a second, before lifting the scepter threateningly. Hawkeye pushed Serena to the floor, as Loki fired a green blast of light in their direction. Serena hit the floor with a loud thud, and she watched as some of the S.H.I.E.L.D soldiers began firing in the man's direction. She watched as Hawkeye rushed to Fury's aid.
Serena slowly stood up, her world still slightly spinning. Focus, Serena. Find out who it is.
She focused just as she saw the man standing toe-to-toe with Hawkeye. "You have heart," she heard the man say, pressing the tip of the spear at Hawkeye's chest. Hawkeye looked as though he was sighing deeply, before resting his gun back in his holster.
"Clint!" Serena spoke up, coming from her spot behind the laboratory tables. It was then that the man set his gaze on her, full of fury. But as soon as they connected with hers, she noticed a slight soften in his gaze. "Serenity?" he questioned, more towards himself.
Serena narrowed her eyes slightly, staring him down. "I know not of what you speak, man of...emerald." she said, trying to think of the best way to get into his head. She knew better than to invade the mind of an armed man, especially when she had no idea what the weapon in his hand exactly was. It was a time for old-school tactics. Stalling would work best.
The man let a wide smile cross his face, before taking strides towards her. "All this time, the Allfather had us under the belief that you had been taken from our world... while you mearly remained here on Earth," he stated.
She watched as out of the corner of her eye, Fury pulled the Tesseract from the ring in which it was held. The man turned around, facing Fury. "Please don't. I still need that," he stated, gritting his teeth slightly.
Fury turned towards him. "It doesn't have to get any messier than this," he stated.
"Of course it does. I've come too far for anything else. I am Loki, of Asgard. And I have been burdened with a glorious purpose," he stated.
"Loki, brother of Thor!" Dr. Selving called, standing up from his corner spot.
"We have no quarrel with your people," Fury said, holding a hand up defensively.
"An ant has no quarrel with a boot," Loki retorted.
"Are you planning to step on us?" Fury asked, sarcastically.
Loki smiled merely for a second, before looking back at Serena. "I come with glad tidings, of a world made free. Freedom's is life's great lie..." he began, walking towards Dr. Selvig.
"Once you accept that, in your heart..." he paused again, before turning to face Dr. Selvig and pressing the spear against his chest. "You will know peace," he said, his face softening slightly.
Serena went to move towards Selvig, but she turned to see Hawkeye holding her back. His eyes looked glazed over, and even though his eyes were looking into hers, it seemed like he wasn't really looking AT her. It was like he was staring through her, into her soul.
"Sir, Director Fury is stalling. He means to bury us." Hawkeye stated, now struggling to hold Serena back as she began thrashing around.
"Like the pharaoh's of old," Fury said, with a small smile. "He's right, we have two minutes until this goes critical," Dr. Selvig said, typing something on the computer. Loki smiled slightly. "Well then..." he stated, before taking a gun off of a dead soldier and firing at Fury.
The room then broke into chaos as Serena elbowed Hawkeye in the solar plexus, and made to charge towards Loki. She attempted to enter his mind, just as he turned to face her. He seized her by her throat, before lifting her off of her feet and pressing her against the pillar.
"Beautiful but a fool. Did you not think that after 2,000 years that I would not find a way to shield myself from that powerful mind of yours? I am not just a God, but a King...Serenity. As you are," Loki stated, his blue eyes boring into hers.
Serena struggled. "I have no idea what you are talking about, psycho." she stated, seizing the opportunity to enter his mind once more. She succeeded for a mere second, seeing from Loki's point of view. She saw thousands of these alien-like creatures all hissing as they bowed to him, their neon blue eyes glowing in the dark.
It was then she felt herself being shoved out as pain entered her side, and once she pulled away she saw where Loki had stabbed her with a small dagger. He pulled her closer to him so his lips were inches from hers. "That's for the Grand Ball," he hissed, before letting her collapse to the floor.
She immediately pressed her hand to her side, staring after him. She watched as Hawkeye walked off with Loki, Dr. Selvig and one other security guard. She went to stand up but after five steps she collapsed again. It was then she felt a hand on her back and she turned to see Director Fury standing there, lifting her to her feet.
"Night Wolf, we must move..." he stated. She smirked slightly, allowing him to help her to her feet. "Now you give me a superhero name to me?" she joked, leaning on him slightly. "We have to evacuate the building, immediately!" she heard Fury yelling into his ear piece.
Serena slowly saw the world fade to black as she heard Fury yell out her name once more.
X.
The small, ten year old girl, laid in the open field with her waist blonde hair providing a somewhat blanket for her. She stared up at the sky, making the wind move in patterns so that they made the flowers dance around her. She grunted in frustration. It didn't always work when she wanted it to.
It was then that she heard footsteps approaching and she turned to see a boy about the same age approach her, his black hair neatly slicked back. He smirked slightly at her. "I can help you with that," he said, in a friendly tone.
She scrunched her noise up slightly, before standing to her feet. "I'm not supposed to talk to boys," she stated, folding her arms and turning away. The boy laughed slightly, before his face returned to its sincerity again. "And where would we be if we constantly listened to our parents?" he questioned.
"And what makes YOU think that you can help me with my...powers?" she questioned. She watched as the small boy lifted his hand up and turned it so that his open palm was facing upward. As he opened it, a small dove flew out and circled around her several times, before taking flight.
"Because I have powers too...so does my brother," he said, with a pleasant shrug.
"Oh.." she said, looking down at the ground. It was then that the boy stepped towards her and shook her hand. "I'm Loki, master of magic," Loki said, a wide grin crossing his face.
X.
Serena awoke from the dream, and began blinking rapidly to get the sleep from her eyes to see where she was. She heard faint voices talking in the distance.
"It's really just a huge, just a huge honor to have you on board sir,"
Serena immediately sat up, ready to insult whoever had just called her 'sir' when clearly, she had female hardware. It was then that she looked up to see Agent Coulson talking to a man in a brown leather jacket with blonde wavy hair that was slicked back. They must have become aware of her startled reaction, because they turned to face her not soon after she had awoken.
"Glad to see you are finally awake, Serena.." Agent Coulson stated. "What happened? Last thing I remembered I was stabbed in the side and the building was collapsing. Where is Director Fury? Is he alright?" she began firing off.
Agent Coulson smiled and chucking slightly, before turning to the man in the leather jacket. "Steve Rogers, I would like you to meet Serena McKenzie. One of your team members," he said, introducing the two.
"Captain," Serena stated, in awe. She was immediately lost in his blue eyes and sweet smile. "Serena," Steve replied, his eyes fixated on hers. "Serena is actually a member of the United States Army Reserves. A 1LT if I am correct," Agent Coulson stated, proudly. Serena was getting more and more weirded out at how many people knew what they knew about her.
Steve raised an eyebrow at her curiously. "Really? Its a pleasure to work with you, Lieutenant." Steve stated. She smiled back at him bashfully. Unlike her introduction with Hawkeye, Steve kept his gaze on her face and not her entire body. This made her feel more like a woman than a prize. Not saying that Hawkeye wasn't attractive, because he was.
"I'm just... I'm just surprised," Serena stated. "About?" Steve questioned. "Well... I didn't expect you to be so..." Serena trailed off.
Cute, her subconscious thought.
"Young," she stated, with a nervous laugh. Steve returned the smile, before looking down at the floor. "Captain America here was frozen in the ice, still alive for 70 years, Serena..." Agent Coulson spoke up.
He looked at Steve to bashfully mutter: "I've got all the vintage cards,"
Steve finally took his gaze off of Serena to turn back and look at Phil. "So, what is the plan?" he questioned. "We are going to take you to our alpha site, have you all suited up and then we will go from there," Phil responded.
"I've made some modifications to the uniform," Phil stated, looking at Steve once more. "The uniform? Aren't the stars and stripes alittle...old fashioned?" Steve questioned, resting his hand on the side of the wall. "With everything that is about to come to light, people could use a little old-fashioned," Phil responded.
He motioned for the two of them to take a seat, as they were still about twenty minutes out. Steve took a seat next to Serena, before looking at her. He could tell she was worried as she reached to touch her side where she had been stabbed. She lifted up her shirt slightly to see a blood-stained bandage.
"At least you have a good story with it," Steve said, breaking the awkward silence. Serena smiled slightly. "Yeah, well no good story ends with a bad guy getting away," Serena stated, making eye contact with Steve once more.
Steve leaned forward slightly, so that his elbows were resting on his knees as he turned to look at her. "Don't beat yourself up about it. You took a stand, you didn't just let him walk away," Steve stated, giving her an honest nod.
She smiled back at him. She was confused. Loki had acted as though they knew each other, which she absolutely refused to believe but now after all these weird dreams she had been having she wasn't quite so sure. She couldn't talk to Steve about it. The last thing she wanted a guy who she was potentially interested in was to know about how she had a villain wandering through her dreams, along with his brother. Maybe she could meet up with Natasha to talk to her about it soon.
"That's true," she stated.
Steve reached over slightly and put a comforting hand on her knee. "Don't worry, ma'am, I got your back. And that won't happen again this time," he said, with a warm smile.
She returned the smile back at him. Nothing wrong with old-fashioned chivalry.
Okay I have a lot of really good flashbacks and ideas for the upcoming chapters. It's a little slow now but I promise it will pick up! :)
xoxo