A/N: Right. So we meet again.
This chapter jumps back a bit to right after Loki's sentencing. So, like a week before the end of the last chapter, I think. Time is stupid.
*Ahem* Let's move on though, shall we? Too much talk! Try this chapter on for size! SHAPABOOIE! (Totally stole that from Kung-Fu Panda.)
Ever since Jane had agreed to join Shield as Chief Scientist of the Astrophysics and Galactic Research Department, she had been developing her theory on the Einstein-Rosen Bridge and wormholes. There hadn't been many cosmic anomalies since the NY attack, other than tiny meteorites, solar flares, and space junk, and for the past month she'd been studying videos and whatever readings had been taken of the wormhole that the Tesseract had made in New York.
Shield had built a make-shift base right near the Bifrost landing site in New Mexico, which was quickly becoming an actual Shield facility. This is where Jane had been working since she had returned from Norway, giddily reveling in all the technology that she had at her hands to search the depths of the galaxy and understand more about where Thor came from, and more interesting, how.
"Woah…" Jane tapped on the keyboard loudly, her face now a mere couple inches from the screen.
The readouts from the Bifrost site sensors were scrawling feverishly across her monitor, showing what looked like the formations of another wormhole.
"What's up?" asked Darcy, who been not 'not' forced to join Shield, but only as an assistant/secretary role and Darcy had insisted staying with Jane and helping her with any desk work. "Is it Pete? Aka: Agent Hottie?" The bespectacled brunette started petting her hair and straightening her clothes, spending not a little amount of time on her ample chest region and arranging the visibility of her cleavage.
"Ummm…" Jane stuttered for a few seconds, staring at her screen. "Uh… no. No. It's um, yeah. You know that big red button you've been wanting to push since we started working here?" When they first started, Darcy had been barely able to keep herself from the comically clichéd red button located on the wall, but Fury's one-eyed death glare when he was introducing them to their new workstation kept her from even breathing in its direction, though she did send wistful glances its way every now and then.
"Yeah?" Darcy asked, her 'hottie-alert' ministrations halted for the moment, suddenly bouncing on her feet. "You mean the one meant for incoming, possibly hunky alien drop-offs?"
"Yep. Hit it." The clouds and stars on her monitor began swirl in a familiar way.
"Really?" Darcy was twisting her fingers and gazing with wide eyes at Jane.
"Darcy! Hit it!" If the readings on her computer were any indication (and Jane knew they were), somebody was about to appear in the New Mexico desert, and it wasn't Thor; Thor who was currently in New York, Jane thought somewhat forlornly.
Darcy ran over to the wall, but stopped suddenly, her hand inches from the button. "Oh my god, dude, I've been waiting to do this for a long time:" she swallowed then yelled, "We've got one!" and slammed the button. An alarm rang throughout the facility and red lights flashed from the ceiling.
As agents ran by the room, guns in the hands, the two women stared at each other, golden brown eyes meeting blue. "Um… We're totally going, right?" asked Darcy glancing at the door.
Jane grinned, her eyes bright with scientific curiosity, "Oh yeah." The two of them quickly grabbed their jackets, Jane also picking up her Stark Pad. Stark had supplied much the equipment in her department, but she'd never met the man. She wondered if he knew that most of the time Darcy used it to play Angry Birds.
The women joined the group of black-clad agents, white-jacketed scientists and lab assistants that cautiously surrounded the site. Head of the facility, Agent Peirce, stood separate from everyone, closest to the site.
Jane gazed up into the dark sky, the stars becoming difficult to see in the strangely bright and slowly swirling clouds. She was reminded strongly of Thor, and of the first time they met in the same spot. She wondered when she'd see him next. It had only been for a brief moment when they last met shortly after the NY attack. He'd come to make sure of her safety and to tell her of the circumstances of his brother and Thor's own fight against his him. He'd then left to go back to NY to help with repairs and morale. Jane hadn't seen him since.
"Okay people!" announced Agent Pierce, the small crowd quieting immediately. "I need all armed agents at the front. Everyone else is to remain in the back. We don't know who or what we're dealing with. There is a high likelihood that they will be extremely dangerous. If there is any indication of aggressive behavior, all non-essential personnel are to retreat into the facility and await further instruction. Headquarters have been notified of the situation."
The clouds began to funnel and everyone fidgeted with the oncoming arrival.
Peirce continued, "Alright, everyone back up. Agents, ready your weapons. No one fire until my say or until it is obvious that the individual is hostile."
Jane busily tapped away on her pad, recording and examining the readings coming through the wormhole. They seemed to be the same as the ones that had first brought Thor to Earth. When Thor had come to see her after returning Loki to Asgard, he'd come via a strange unidentifiable energy and not the Bifrost, and he said that it had not yet been completely repaired since its destruction. Apparently, somebody had fixed it since then.
There was about twenty or so agents loosely surrounding the tattooed circle on the ground. Most of the lab assistants had already retreated back into the base, and few other scientists stood just outside the doors 40 or so feet away. Jane and Darcy were the only 'non-essential' personnel still anywhere near the site.
The wind suddenly and fiercely picked up as a column of cloud, sand, and some unknown blue energy blasted to the ground from the sky. Darcy yelped, jumping and grabbing Jane's arm. Jane tried to keep her eyes on her pad, the data scrolling down her screen rapidly, but the dust was getting in everything, and she had to close her eyes against the debris.
After a minute, the sand-laden wind settled and the air cleared. Jane stood on her tiptoes with Darcy, peering past the shoulders of two aiming agents. In the middle of the circle crouched a single man. His face was hidden from view by longish dark locks, and he was dressed in fashion similar to Thor and the Warriors Three, though his dark leathers were torn in several places.
As the he stood, the agents leveled their weapons at his tall frame and Pierce walked forward to the very edge of the now smoking circle, his own pistol drawn.
"State your origin and intent." Peirce's command was the only sound to be heard as everyone waited in silence.
As the man stood to full height, several things were evident. First, as his face became visible, it was clear he was not going to talk anytime soon as his lips seemed to have been sewn shut, causing Jane to bring her hand to her mouth in reflexive sympathy; secondly, this was not the first time that Peirce or some of the agents had seen the man.
Peirce spoke into his wrist, saying something she couldn't hear, before addressing the man in the middle again. "Hands where we can see them, or I swear to God we'll shoot!"
The lone man simply stood unmoving, though Jane could see his eyes flitting from agent to agent.
Darcy whispered to her side, "Woah. What's up with this guy? He looks a like some dude from a Tim Burton movie."
Jane remained quiet as Peirce repeated his order, "Hands up!"
The man leveled his gaze at the head agent and slowly raised his hands to shoulder level. Jane noticed that on each wrist he wore a metal bracer, both looking like they had once been attached or hooked to something; their design was oddly modern compared to the rest of his clothing.
"Move in" Peirce ordered the agents, waving them in with his pistol.
This guy was obviously some kind of bad news. The agents moved in slowly, their pistols raised, a few of them glancing at each other warily.
Jane got a bad feeling and grabbed Darcy's arm, pulling her back towards the base. "Let's go, Darcy."
"Wait," she replied, "It's just getting good."
"No, Darcy" Jane begged pulling more fiercely, "I don't like this. Let's go."
Just as Darcy was about to refuse, the few agents that we're grabbing the man's arms hit the ground in a flurry of movements. The two women froze as they watched as the stranger now stood amidst the unconscious bodies of four agents, his hands clenched, his breathing slightly fatigued, and his gaze darting between Peirce and the other agents. Peirce held his hand to his ear for a moment, seemingly listening, then he glanced towards the door of the facility, then back to the stranger.
The man noticed this, though, and glanced to the door as well, but his eyes stopped on Jane.
"Oh shit," Darcy muttered, gripping Jane's arm tightly as the man narrowed his eyes in astrophysicist's direction.
"Inside, Darcy." Darcy no longer resisted as Jane pulled her back. The man suddenly began to lash out, using some sort martial arts to disable, disarm, and render unconscious each agent he encountered. Darcy had now taken the lead in the—what was now—run back to the base, a death grip on Jane's hand. Gunshots rose above the din of cries and yells, but the sound of hand to hand combat continued.
Darcy had reached the door and, as she was entering, Jane felt an iron grasp on her arm, and she was jerked back, away from the safety of the facility.
She was spun around, her back pressed against the man's chest, one of his hands pressed severely under her jaw and into her throat, nearly choking her. His other arm was strapped across her middle, trapping her arms to her side. She was now facing the group of agents (who were still conscious), their guns pointed at her.
Her mind was telling her that she needed to keep her head, to keep calm. But the press of the man's oddly cold body against her back, the near choke hold he had restricting any deep, calming breaths she wanted to take, and the guns pointed at her kept her slightly, slightly panicked. Just slightly.
Peirce hesitated, but kept his gun leveled. "Release her."
In response, the stranger shuffled to his right slightly, away from everyone. For some strange reason, Jane wanted to look at him, to see his face—something in her thought if she simply could make eye-contact with him, things would be better. But his restrictive grasp and the fact that he was behind her did not allow that.
"Freeze!" Peirce called, and Jane swore she felt a small laugh rumble in the man's chest. "Do you think using her as a shield, that you're going to get away? Do not think we will hesitate to kill her to get to you. But then again, with those bracelets, what can you do?"
The man's grip tightened painfully, and Jane wished that Peirce would stop talking. But then what the Agent said hit her. They would kill her? Did she mean nothing? Who was this guy that they would kill her to stop him? But she didn't want to die. Not when her research was just getting going. Not when there was a whole universe yet to explore and understand. What about Darcy? Or her mom who lived in Florida? She couldn't die when she hadn't even had a proper date with Thor yet. Not even a real dinner, or like a movie. They hadn't walked down the street holding hands yet, hadn't had their first fight, or talked about their favorite flavors of ice-cream. Had he even had ice cream? Strange, the thoughts that pop into your head when you think you're about to die.
A rifle shot broke the tense silence, and Jane flinched and shut her eyes, waiting to feel pain. But when none came, she opened them again, and saw everyone just as they were before. The grasp under her jaw let go and went somewhere above her head. She heard a small grunt and his hand came down, grasping a small dart. She took this brief moment of mobility, though he still held her around the middle, to look up at him.
"Again. Shoot him again! Take him down! Where's the Phase 2!? Someone get me the Phase 2!"
But Jane didn't really register what Peirce was saying because she was fascinated by the play of emotions going on in the man's face. His breathing had become much more haggard, and his eyes darted feverishly between the agents and Peirce. He was shuffling slowly still to the right, but his face conveyed no confidence. No conviction. The strange thing was that he simply looked tired, dark circles under his eyes. Her gaze fell on his lips, now bloodied with the strain of what looked like average thread, but she doubted that was it. His green eyes were shiny in the flood lights of the base, and his skin was pale against the darkness of his hair and clothing. His jaw was clenched and he grasped the dart tightly in his hand. Who was this man?
Born of a curiosity she never could control, words tumbled past her lips, "What happened to you?"
His head whipped down, his startling green eyes meeting her honey colored ones. Tired and angry. Definitely angry. He looked at her like she was something he'd scraped off the bottom of his shoe.
"I mean, uh. Never mind. Just ignore me."
His eyes roamed her face, like he was looking for something particular. From the corner of her eye, she could see the agents moving in slowly, but so did the man, and he moved more to the right, causing the agents to shuffle to a stop. He narrowed his eyes at her and sneered as best as he could with his lips in their condition. His gaze moved to somewhere over and past her head, back to her, to the agents, then back to her.
Growling, he sent her one last frustrated look, and shoved her at the agents in front of him, darting off somewhere to the right. Jane fell into Peirce, knocking both of them to the ground. She was tossed off to the side as the Agent jumped to his feet and several more rifle shots rattled through the air. Flipping over, she watched the scene unfold.
The stranger was in the middle several agents, looking as though he was about to best them again, but as he turned so he faced away from her, she saw several darts sticking out of his back, and she wondered how he was still on his feet. His movements became slow and clumsy, and he backed away, reaching for the foreign objects lodged in his body. The agents stood back, watching as the man stumbled backwards, his eyes dark and his brows furrowed in anger.
Peirce approached the faltering man, his gun raised. The stranger fell to his knees then, sent one last furious glare at the head Agent, and collapsed.
Jane felt someone's hand on her arm, and in an endorphin filled daze, she looked over to see Darcy kneeling beside her, worry and fright plain on her face.
"Jane! I'm sorry! I almost got you killed! Are you okay?! Shit, that was messed up! Did he hurt you? Jane?" All of this came out in her usual stream of babble that she resorted to when she was in trouble for something.
Jane rubbed underneath her jaw, knowing there was going to be bruises there in the morning, but turned her gaze back to the now unconscious man, who was now on the receiving end of a few angry kicks from Peirce. The agent then ordered for him to be taken inside to 'Bunker B.'
As she watched a couple of agents drag him away, Jane looked back at Darcy.
"Who the hell is that guy?"
A/N: Hey, what do you know, it's all one POV this time. Crazy right? I know, I know, all my Clint fans are wondering where he went! He'll be in the next chapter. I love both Loki and Clint, and am trying to give them both good development and screen time. Don't worry, though. Both are going to be in it to the end!
Loki recognizes Jane from when he sent the Destroyer to Earth in "Thor." Just in case you were wondering.
I don't like exposition... Don't like explaining how people got to where they currently are. I often forget little details, and then people get confused, including myself. That's not what really matters, right? They're there. Deal with it. Besides, if you're wondering how things got to where they were, and other science facts, just repeat to yourself "it's just a fanfic, I should really just relax." :P
Darcy's "we've got one!" and then hitting the button is a reference to Ghostbusters, one of my favorite movies. I might take it out. :P
So, what did you think? How's the story going overall? Are you confused on anything? (And, I'm also working on making my A/Ns shorter. Going well, isn't it? *sigh*)
Fun Fact! While we've yet to discover what Loki and Thor's favorite ice cream is, Clint's is Double Chocolate Fudge Brownie (obviously), Natasha's is Mocha with Almonds, Tony's is Coconut, Bruce likes pistachio, and Steve like Vanilla Caramel swirl. *Teehee*
