Elixir was bored.

And being a follower of Loki, being bored means thinking of ways to get rid of boredom.

Or in this case, leave this horrible room he was stuck for at least a week.

Sure, the food was tolerable. The one called Natasha and Tony still visit him. But boredom is boredom.

The escape plan took ages to plan, but at least it took up time.

First, he can just leave a illusion to trick the so-called 'cameras', but then getting his way around the building before going out the front door is going to tricky without anyone noticing. And not to mention coming back. He wouldn't want anyone to figure out his visit to the outside world.

He only would have one chance, and he wouldn't want to waste it.

He couldn't use invisibility because he just started, and a lot of factors contribute to it. Far too risky.

He couldn't use disguise. The only people he saw that might be able to go in and out were the agents that brought his meals, Natasha and Tony, oh, and the one that tried to shoot him. But he didn't know enough of them to pretend to be them yet. And if they somehow met, he would have to dash for it.

He didn't even try the windows, knowing the glass would be extra-extra-extra protected. Even if he did succeed in breaking them, someone down below would notice.

Teleportation? No, last time he ended up in a door, literally.

So, make yourself less noticeable as possible. As in 'don't look at me I am air' kind of being ignored was his best bet.

If everything goes to plan, his day will be more exciting than ever.

If it doesn't, well, he will go back to the metal box.

OOO

Steve Rogers happened to bump into Clint in the supermarket. But before he can say anything, Clint asked him if he had his phone on him.

He happened to have remembered to bring it today.

Clint went on to phone Natasha. He poured out every single thing about the shooting.

He said he would come back in the afternoon.

Steve agreed with Clint on the hallucinating part, but suggested that maybe next time when he sees Elixir, he doesn't carry his bow in as well.

'I would rather not meet him again.' Clint muttered.

'Shouldn't you apologize?'

Clint promptly turned on his feet and left.

Steve sighed and grabbed another box of cereal from the shelf.

OOO

Pepper rarely gets curious about anything. But when she does, nothing can be in her way.

She had heard about Tony visiting this being from another for ages, and she wondered what about the being could've got Tony's attention for so long.

She asked to pay the magical being a visit, and when the guards refused to comply, she simply said 'Director Fury's orders' and the guards scampered off.

'The authority Fury had in his hands.

Pepper cautiously opened the door. She found a boy sleeping soundly next to the table.

She expected him to be older.

'Hello?'

The boy continued to sleep.

Pepper stepped inside and closed the door behind her. She didn't look where she stepped and slipped on one of the Rubik's cube pieces. She landed sprawled across the floor.

One of her heels flew through the air and went through the illusion of the boy.

Then Pepper had one of her rare moments of confusion and shock.

The next second she was running out of the room screaming something about ghosts.

OOO

Elixir felt a clench in his chest. His illusion was figured out. He now had little time left to run.

But this place is as confusing as the palace. Sometimes the metal box will move up, or otherwise it will move down. The maps on the walls made no sense whatsoever to him.

Panicking, he thought of running back to his holding room when out of the blue a man came crashing into him around a corner.

'Excuse me, I shouldn't be-' He started, only to stop in mid-sentence when he realized who he was.

Elixir started backing off, knowing his magic wouldn't keep him from the man now they came in physical contact. He recognized him from before. The man was the one that shot at him.

Well, the one without a bow.

But the man only let his lips curled up into a smile.

'Good morning, young man.'

'Good- morning.' Elixir sputtered back.

'Are you lost?'

'Well.' Elixir pointed at the map on the wall. 'Do you know where the exit is?'

'You need to go down to the main floor first.'

'Where am I now?'

'Level 35.'

'Oh, right.'

'I may escort you downstairs.'

'No, no need.'

'You can use the elevators?'

'You mean the boxes that move up and down? Um, not quite.'

'Then allow e to at least teach you how.'

The man led Elixir down the corridors to the metal boxes. He then pressed one of the many buttons. The doors closed on their own and the box started to move down.

'You see, the numbers on the buttons, then mean the floors. The main floor is '1', and if you want to go to the cafeteria, you go to '5', the levels below the ground have a 'B' on them.'

Elixir nodded.

'I see.'

'What's your name?'

'Um, Elixir.'

'No last name?'

'No.'

'You don't have a family then?'

'Well, not really connections. Because, you see, I am created from a potion accident.'

'Oh, I understand.'

'Really? Not many do.'

The man nodded and tucked his hands behind his back.

The box stopped and the doors opened. A few people filed in, not taking a glace at Elixir because of the 'ignore me' aurora. He had the strange urge to bolt out of the box, but the man laid a comforting hand on his shoulders and held him back.

The doors closed. The box continued its way down.

The box was unusually silent. People only whispered to each other. The rest had their nose in the thing Tony called a 'phone'.

The box suddenly jolted. People toppled over. The box came to a screeching halt and the lights went out.

Elixir felt trapped. The screens from the 'phones' illuminated some of the faces.

'What's going on?' someone asked.

'Did we just broke down?' another scoffed.

An alarm sounded in the distance. Gunfire could be heard.

'I think the whole building shut down and we are under attack.'

'Why would someone want to attack Shield?'

An explosion somewhere nearer sent vibrations through the elevator.

'Everyone calm down. Someone try the call button.' The man's voice called out.

'It's not working!'

'Try the phones.'

Everyone took them out and started typing furiously, and then a moment later brought them to their ears.

'No signal.'

'Then everyone just wait it out, it shouldn't take long for someone to-'

Another explosion rocked through the elevator, making it screech down ever so slightly.

Everyone froze. Nothing fancied the idea of crashing down to the bottom.

(Author's note: Unless you are a Shield agent, please do not attempt the following.)

'Right, don't wait it out. Someone go up and lift the hatch and climb out to see where we are.'

'But-'

'Either we stay here and fall, or we have a chance to escape.'

The elevator screeched another few centimeters down.

People shuffled around and a man disappeared through a hole.

'We are stuck between 9 and 8!' he shouted back.

'How far up?'

'Not very.'

'Good, another one go up and try open the door. Careful what is outside.'

The two grunted and huffed as they tugged on the doors. They slid open.

'The corridor is clear.'

'Right, everyone else, leave you possessions behind, but bring whatever you need to arm yourself. Elixir, you go first.'

OOO

Clint stuck an arrow in a Chitari soldier, whirled around and knocked another off his feet before stabbing him in the back of his head.

He arrived at the Shield facility thinking about how to explain to Nat when he sees her, only to find the building bombarded by ugly aliens on flying scooters.

Ah well, save the explanations for later then.

He rushed into the building after some of the aliens. Many of the agents dealt with the situation like interstellar armies attack them every single day. Some of them were armed with proper guns and tasers, while others had to improvise. Chairs, phone books, table legs, phone cords, scissors, clipboards, pens, and (sacrificed) electronics became deadly.

Ok, so the agents will deal with them fine. Clint thought as he elbowed another in the stomach and sent him sliding around the floor with a kick.

'Nat?' He shouted over the intercom.

'Clint!'

'Are you ok?'

'Yes, I am fine.' There was a pause on the other side, and then- 'Though some of the agents might be stuck in the elevators, and the explosions definitely wouldn't help them hold.'

'There's nothing we can do for them now.'

'Then get up here. Stark went off, but I told Bruce to stay in the lab. You might need to check on him while I-' She was cut off once more. '-spar with a few here.'

'Copy that.' And Clint headed for the stairs.

OOO

Stark wasn't intimidated by the attack at all as he took down the flying scooters with his awesome-powerful-Stark-lasers. He took the whole thing as target practice, except the targets will fire back.

He shot upwards, leading the scooters further away from the streets and unwary pedestrians. Without Thor, these things will have to be taken down one by one.

And he wasn't sure what exactly is happening inside the building either. He hoped the Chitari wouldn't make things more complicated by releasing the mass of deadly villains kept in Shields holding cells.

Maybe he should suggest to Fury an alternative instead of keeping villains, magic energy sticks, and other wipe-out-a-whole-civilization-with-a-press-of-a-button thingys all in one single damn place.

At least the portal was temporary. Tony thought. Not like last time.

The scooters tailed him like a swarm of angry bees as he tried to take sharp turns and through tight spaces, which eliminated most of the unfortunate ones, but still left him half a dozen to blast.

'JARVIS, where's Pepper?'

'The agents got Miss Potts to safety, sir.'

'Good.' He turned around and blasted another in the face. 'Is there anyone needing to save in the facility?'

'Many people were trapped on elevators. Agent Coulson managed to lead his group out.'

'Good.'

'Sir, Mr Elixir is not in his holding room anymore.'

'What?'

'He seemed to had just escaped before the invasion occurred.'

'Why didn't you tell me earlier!?' And do these people watching the video cameras have brains made of crap?

'Sorry sir, you seemed busy.'

'Fine, I forgive you this once. Where is he now?'

'With Agent Coulson.'

Ok, no need to add another on his worry list then.

'JARVIS, how many are there left.'

'Only two are still after you. The rest went into the building. It seems like they are looking for something.'

'What are they looking for? Glowstick of doom? Tesseract? My incredible inventions?'

'They paid no attention to them.'

'Oh.' Tony took out one of the scooters, sending it crashing into the other and both of them plummeting into the streets below.

'Right, job finished here. Anything else for me?'

'Sir, Agent Coulson and his group were cornered by a squadron.'

'Is there anyone else who could help?' Flying laser suits don't work well in corridors.

'Agent Barton is on his way.' In all the chaos, Tony still remembered that Clint and Elixir should be separated. But, with other more hostile targets at hand, maybe Elixir wouldn't get impaled on some wall with a dozen of arrows.

Yeah, he wouldn't.

Tony proceeded to take out the enemies' parked scooters along the shattered windows, as well as spectating the fleeing Chitari from the front door as they were overwhelmed by the might of Shield agents.

Agent Hill tackled the last one down and strangled it with the wire of a mouse.

'Oh, and make a note for me JARVIS,' Tony added in a deadpan voice. 'Next time remind me to give Agent Hill only wireless mouse next time she asks to borrow one.'

'Of course sir.'