At the top secret SHIELD facility in New Mexico.

Darkness had fallen over the desert as the helicopter landed in the middle of the large campus in the middle of nowhere.

Phil was waiting for it as Agent Maria Hill opened the door for Laura and Fury.

She didn't even have time to change out of one of her black suits she had work but she grabbed her Glock before the two personally flew out to Stark Industries to get her.

She looked around, seeing hundreds of SHIELD agents scrambling to put equipment onto Hummer's and armored vehicles as fast as possible.

"Ms. Watson." Phil nodded.

"Hey Phil." she waved and smiled back.

"How bad is it?" Fury asked him.

"That's the problem sir. We don't know." Phil answered.

Laura frowned and looked over to Fury.

"If you're follow me Ms. Watson." he gestured her to walk inside the building.

She complied and the four walked inside towards the elevator.

She was given a debriefing of the situation on the ride over and given the highest SHIELD security clearance.

Saying she wasn't pleased with what SHIELD was trying to do was an understatement.

Trying to harness energy from The Tesseract.

But alarm bells were going off in her brain saying there was something else going on.

After all it was SHIELD.

They took the industrial elevator down to the massive underground chamber carved underneath the building hundreds of feet below.

"Dr. Selvig read an energy surge from the Tesseract four hours ago." Phil explained.

"NASA didn't authorize Selvig to test phase." Fury stated.

"He wasn't testing it, he wasn't even in the room. Spontaneous advancement." Phil clarified.

"So what It just turned itself on?" Laura asked confused.

"What are the energy levels?" Fury asked him.

"Climbing. When Selvig couldn't shut it down, we ordered evac." he warned.

"How long to get everyone out?" Fury asked.

"Campus should be clear in the next half hour." he reassured him.

"Do better." Fury ordered. He nodded and left them.

They walked over to a circular staircase that led them further beneath below the surface.

"Sir, evacuation may be futile." Hill warned him.

"We should tell them to go back to sleep?" he asked sarcastically.

"I think what Hill is trying to say is that if we can't control the Tesseract's energy, there may not be a minimum safe distance to run to." Laura quipped while crossing her arms.

He stopped walking in place and turned to her.

"That's why you're here Watson." he said but whispered something into Hill's ear.

"Yes, sir." she nodded.

"With me." she ordered two nearby armed agents who left with her.

"And what exactly did you order her to do?" Laura asked suspiciously.

."That isn't your concern. Your priority sis getting The Tesseract under control." Fury gave her a warning look but she simply glared up at him.

Knowing he was hiding something.

They walked into the chamber where the Tesseract itself was inserted in the CMS machine.

She saw Dr. Selvig working by it with the dozen other SHIELD scientists and agents guarding the room.

"Director. Ms. Watson." he greeted them.

"Doctor Selvig. Tell us everything you know." she asked.

"Well uh the Tesseract is misbehaving..." he began.

"Is that supposed to be funny?" Fury asked unamused.

"No, it's not funny at all. The Tesseract is not only active, she's..." he began but Laura interrupted him.

"It's an energy source. If it reaches it's peak level…" she warned while glancing between the two of them and Selvig nodded in agreement.

"We've tried turning her Ms. Watson off but she turns herself back on." he added.

"We've prepared for this doctor. Harnessing energy from space." Fury replied.

"And look how well that's turned out." Laura said angrily.

"Watson…" Fury repeated, ignoring her jab and she ignored him back.

"We don't have the harness. Our calculations are far from complete. Now she's throwing off interference, radiation. Nothing harmful, low levels of gamma radiation." Selvig said nonchalantly.

"That can be harmful." Laura muttered, knowing what happened in Harlem.

"Where's Barton?" Fury asked him.

"The Hawk? Up in his nest, as usual." he pointed to Clint who was high up in the scaffolding in the corner of the chamber, glancing his eyes around the large faculty.

"Agent Barton, report." Fury ordered in his comm piece.

He repelled down and Laura smiled.

"Hey Clint." she nodded.

"Hey Laura. They dragged you into this to huh?" he nodded back.

"Like I had a choice. I just came willingly this time." she sighed with annoyance.

"I gave you this detail so you could keep a close eye on things." Fury told him.

"Well, I see better from a distance." he argued.

"Did you see anything that might set this thing off?" Fury asked him.

"No, No one's come or gone. It's oven is clean. No contacts, no I.M.s. If there was any tampering, sir, it wasn't at this end." he answered.

"At this end?" Laura asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, the cube is a doorway to the other end of space, right? The doors open from both sides." he suggested.

"Yeah…" Laura frowned, not liking the sound of that.


The Tesseract emitted another burst of radiation, getting their attention.

Another one shook the entire campus, loosening the concrete foundation above them.

Laura jolted in place but steadied herself.

She was standing next to Fury as she went wide eyed, seeing the radiation from the Tesseract channel in it before launching fifty feet outwards.

She saw it widen into a portal and gripped her gun.

Space was on the other side of it!

The portal collapse on itself, engulfing them in the energy and she used her arm to cover her face.

Her hair was blown around from the wind and on the platform revealed a man with long black hair.

He looked up to them as agents slowly walked up to him with their rifles aimed at him.

Laura's knuckles were turning white, seeing the sinister smile on his face.

Everyone was in a standoff and she looked to see him carrying a spear with a glowing blade.

"Sir please put down the spear!" Fury demanded loudly.

He looked down to it but aimed it at them.

He fired a blast at them but Laura tackled Fury out of the way.

Clint shoved a scientist from the blast as agents were trying to shoot at the intruder.

He easily dodged the gunfire and stabbed two of them.

He tossed two knives at the two agents throats as bullets bounced off him.

Laura fired her gun while laying sideways on the floor next to Fury but he fired another blast towards them.

The shockwave separated them as she was flung high into the air and landed hard on the concrete.

She winced in pain as Clint scrambled upwards with his gun but the man instantly ran to him and grabbed his wrist.

He struggled to free himself from his grasp Laura forced herself upwards to her hands and knees.

"You have heart…" the man aimed his spear at his hear.

Clint's eye's dilated blue and he stopped resisting.

Laura dropped her mouth as he placed his gun back in its holster.

She stared in shock but arched her head back to see she was right by the CMS machine holding the Tesseract.

She saw Fury was silently approaching her and met his eyes.

She nodded silently at it and he held up a metal briefcase nodded back.

She reached up for it with both hands as the man brainwashed another agent and she slowly began to walk backwards towards Fury.

"Please don't." she heard the man's voice and the two stopped in place.

"I still need that." he warned as she turned her head back to him.

"This doesn't have to get any messier." Fury said slowly.

"Of course it does. I've come too far for anything else. I am Loki of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose." he introduced himself.

Laura frowned, knowing what happened with Thor in New Mexico.

"Loki? Brother of Thor?" Selvig realized and he glanced angrily at him.

"We have no quarrel with your people." Fury tried deselecting the situation.

"An ant had no quarrel with a boot." he threatened.

"You planning to step on us?" Laura spoke up, trying to stall for time while still holding the Tesseract.

"I come with glad tidings, of a world made free." Loke smirked at her.

"Free from what?" Fury asked.

"Freedom. Freedom is life's great lie. Once you accept that, in your heart…" he began but instantly rushed to Selvig and placed the spear against his heart, brainwashing him the same way he did to Clint.

Laura narrowed her eyes at him as the energy cloud from the Tesseract above them began to destabilize.

"You and I have a different meaning of the word peace." Laura spat.

"Sir, Director Fury, and Watson are stalling. This place is about to blow. Drop a hundred feet of rock on us. They mean to bury us." Clint alerted Loki while walking up to him.

"Like the Pharaohs of Odin." Fury admitted.

"Not my best plan I'll admit…" Laura shrugged her shoulders.

"He's right. The portal is collapsing in on itself. You got maybe two minutes before this goes critical." Selvig warned while looking at a projection of it on a monitor.

"Well then."


Clint grabbed his gun and quickly shot Laura and Fury in the chests.

She winced in pain as the two were flung backwards, causing her to drop the cube.

She landed hard on her back as the cube bounced away from her.

Loki grabbed the Tesseract off the ground and Clint grabbed the case by Fury's feet.

The two and Loki walked out of the chamber and out to the garage.

"Need these vehicles." Clint told the group of the parked SHIELD cars nearby.

Hill was managing the evacuation but she saw Loki climb into the back of a truck suspiciously.

"Who's that?" she asked Clint as static on her radio went off.

"He didn't tell me." Clint ignored him while getting into the driver seat.

The roof above her was beginning to collapse.

"Agent Hill!" Fury's voice was heard in the radio.

Down below, Laura stumbled upwards while clenching her chest where she got shot.

"Mother… that still hurts." she groaned while unbuttoning her jacket and tossed it aside.

She reached between her white blouse and bullet proof vest and pulled out the bullet that struck it.

"At least it wasn't armor piercing this time." she tossed the bullet aside and glanced over to Fury speaking into the radio.

"Barton is…" he warned but Clint shot back at her.

She dove behind a wall as Clint got into a Jeep and sped off.

She returned fire but the bullets bounced off the speeding truck as it left the garage.


In the chamber, Laura and Fury helped each other run out as the energy field began to collapse on itself.

"He's got the Tesseract! Track it down!" Fury warned Hill.

She jumped into a truck and sped after them.

They weaved between the evacuating vehicles through the tunnel.

An agent shot at Loki in one of the cars but he blasted it easily, causing it to crash into the wall.

Laura and Fury were sprinting out of the building as they dodged the falling ceiling.

Hill made a handbrake turn to spin around in front of Clint but he rammed her.

She shot through the window at him and he returned fire.

Laura and Fury ran up the stairs and made it outside just in time.

"You're clear, sir! You need to go!" she heard Phil's voice in his radio.

They made it to the helipad as the ground began to crumble beneath their feet and dove inside the chopper.

It lifted off the ground as Hill and Clint were still shooting at each other.

They made it to the entrance of the tunnel and she spun the Jeep around.

The Tesseract emitted a large explosion, getting Laura's attention.

She watched as the entire campus sunk into a large sinkhole where the chamber was as they flew away.

The tunnel was quickly collapsing as Hill and Clint were driving out of it but a boulder fell onto the roof of Hill's jeep.

Clint sped past her and out into the desert.

Laura and Fury's helicopter flew by over ahead and she pointed at them.

"Look!" she alerted Fury. Clint turned off the road and drove the other direction.

The pilot flew low overhead as Fury slid the door open.

The two grabbed their guns and fired at the windshield. Loki shot a blast at the engine, causing the chopper to spiral out of control.

"Shit!" Laura yelled and she and Fury jumped out of it right before it crashed into the ground.

The blades dug into the dirt behind them while the two continued to fire at the fleeing vehicle.

Laura was on her side as she emptied her clip but frowned, seeing Clint drive away with Loki, Selvig and the Tesseract.

Fury helped her up and she sighed.

"Director? Director Fury, do you copy?" Phil got his attention over his radio.

"The tesseract is with the hostile force. I have men down. Hill?" he asked.

"A lot of men still under, don't know how many survivors." she said while climbing out of the wrecked Jeep.

"Sound the general call. I want every living soul not working rescue looking for that briefcase." he ordered.

"Roger that."

"Coulson, get back to base. This is a Level Seven. As of right now, we are at war." he said gravely.

"What do we do?" Phil asked. Fury looked over to Laura who raised an eyebrow.

"You can't be serious."