Don't own Marvel.
The research facility that SHIELD had set up the Tesseract in was a few miles away now. It had gotten dark outside as the black suburban cruised down the nearly deserted interstate. The desert stretched in front and behind the car as it shuttled along the dark road.
Coulson crossed his arms, pressing his finger briefly to his earpiece to listen to a comment that did not pertain to him. The young woman in the back seat let out a groan as they came nearer to the base.
Ash felt the energy pierce her consciousness before anything else. After she felt it hit her in a wave, her eyes shot open, taking in everything all at once. Where was she? Where was Lauren? Then she remembered the bee sting in her neck… that must have been a sedative of some sort.
She blinked back sleep from her eyes as the fogginess cleared from her head. The wave of energy hit her again and she groaned from the sheer force of it. she clutched her head between her hands as she realized she was in a moving vehicle.
"Miss Wilson?" a calm voice said her name from the front seat and she zoned in on who was speaking. "Miss Wilson, can you hear me?"
She closed her eyes tightly before answering. The energy was becoming a lot to focus on. She had never felt anything like this before. "It's Doctor Wilson," she managed.
"Well then, Doctor, we have a lot to fill you in on."
She let out another gasp. This energy… she had never felt so… powerful. "Damn right you do," she mumbled again. She was never this obnoxious, not in normal circumstances. But then again, this wasn't exactly a normal circumstance… she was in the back of a moving government car heading down the interstate in what looked to be the middle of the desert. For all she knew these guys were going to kill her. "Where's my friend? The blonde?"
The agent in the passenger seat answered her question. "She is safe, thanks to you. She will be back to work in no time. That's why we are bringing you in. Did you know you were capable of such prominent atmospheric disruptions?"
Ash just stared at the guy, the darkness weighing in on her as she realized it was nearly ten o'clock at night. "Why don't you start off telling me your name? You obviously know me and I think it only fair for me to know you."
The agent let out a small sigh, but he never dropped that same, monotonous manner. "My name is Agent Coulson." He indicated to the driver. "This is Agent Sitwell along with a few others you will not need to know." Ash looked behind her at two other men in what looked like SWAT team suits in the seats behind her. Instead of SWAT team badges, though, they bore badges that said SHIELD. What the hell was SHIELD? Something told her she would find out soon enough.
"Fine, Agent Coulson," she said coolly. "As a matter of fact, I did know about my abilities. I have had them since I was very young."
Coulson nodded then. "Well, then Doctor Wilson, we hope you can be of service to SHIELD here in a few moments."
Ash buried her face in her hands in irritation. "What about my job? I have patients that need tending to in the morning…" she trailed off as she was hit with another bout of energy. No one answered her about her job.
The car travelled to the point that could only be the main point of emission for the energy. By this time, every sense was tingling, every nerve standing on end. "If you will follow me, Doctor," Agent Coulson said as he opened the door for her and she stepped out gingerly. She nearly fell over and had to brace herself against the car for a moment. She wasn't sure if her dizziness came from the sedative or the energy. Probably both.
All around her, scientists and agents were rushing madly around. What was going on here? She followed Coulson, though. Mainly because she did not have much choice either way. Power kept hitting her in tidal waves. She was barely able to compare it to the waves that she felt from a dying patient's heart beat: slow, methodical, but with each pump sending out any and all it had to give.
She shuddered at the mental picture. Something told her that this thing- whatever it was- wasn't dying. It was becoming more powerful as she grew nearer to it. She could also feel herself growing more powerful as well. She suddenly felt as if she could run three marathons, jump over the building, or lift the black suburban that had carried her here.
All those thoughts were quickly pushed from her consciousness as she entered the building to her left. She kept her eyes trained on the back of Agent Coulson's balding head, focusing on her breathing. Everywhere, people were rushing around.
"Um, Agent Coulson?" she said. "Is it just me or is this an evacuation?"
Coulson turned around briefly, retaining that same brisk pace, but talking to her at the same time. "We have a critical situation that struck after that disturbance you caused. We are evacuating any personnel that are not required to be here."
And yet here he was, dragging her, a civilian neurosurgeon, into all of this. She stopped dead. "What's causing this?"
Coulson sighed in irritation and turned around to face the now stationary woman. "Doctor Wilson, if you follow me people with more expertise in this field can explain it to you."
Ash let out a huff, staying where she was… until she felt an M16 prod her forward. If there was one thing she knew from her experience in the ER, bullet wounds were a main source of injury to her patients. She could never get over the look on the patients' faces as they described the feeling of being slapped with a hot poker wherever the bullet wound had occurred. She had no interest in challenging that theory and decided to keep moving. "But I want to go home after I finish this. Tonight. That's my condition." She was barely able to discern Coulson's slight nod before they were walking through the halls again, dodging people.
Coulson took her through hallway after hallway, down several flights of stairs, and finally into a large room that looked like an airplane hangar. She looked up to see long cables coming down from the rafters… and leading straight into a metallic arch that held some sort of… The wave of energy that hit her this time came directly from a glowing blue cube situated just under the arch. She could see the currents it was emitting.
Scientists moved around frantically. "Sir, It's spiking a second time, much higher gamma readings than before." The woman that had spoken was situated at a desk, obviously monitoring whatever that thing was.
Ash looked over at Coulson who had answered his radio suddenly. "Yes sir. I will meet you up there. Yes. It just spiked again. We are gaining high readings of gamma. I will see you at the helicopter pad." Coulson turned to Ashley. "Doctor Wilson, may I introduce you to Doctor Erik Selvig."
An older man in a plaid shirt stepped away from the woman that had just spoken to briefly shake hands with Ashley. "Erik, she can help you. Fury wanted her here for that reason. See if you can get her to pinpoint where the emission is the strongest."
Erik shook Coulson's hand, but he was obviously very stressed out. Ash tried not to tremble as a wave of sheer energy hit her again. "We may not have long, Phil. This thing has not ever been this active."
Coulson nodded in understanding. He turned to Ashley. "My Director will be down here shortly. Thank you for your cooperation." And with that, he turned on his heel and walked back the way he had come in.
Ash turned to Erik. "So you are a doctor?' he said absently. "Tell me how Philip thinks you are going to help me." he began to type away at a laptop as he spoke, obviously not paying much attention to Ashley.
"Well," she said. "I suppose he decided my talents could be of use." She heard Erik laugh a bit.
"Doctor Wilson, If we don't get this thing back to a stable point whatever 'talents' you have will not be enough."
Ashley chewed her lower lip, tying her hair back with a rubber band. "What is this thing?"
Erik kept working, walking over to plug something into the computer's mainframe. "It's called the Tesseract; highly powerful, extremely dangerous if used in the wrong way. There are several theories surrounding its origins, none of which overlap or draw any connection with eachother."
"But what does it do?"
"We have been developing it for over a year now at this position in an attempt to harness clean energy. We got a reading of atmospheric disturbance a few hours ago just north of the city- I am guessing that was you since Coulson seems to think you can help calm it back down."
Ashley nodded. "Why don't you just unplug it?" she asked, indicating the countless cables that extended from the ceiling. Selvig shook his head.
"It's a power source, Doctor Wilson." He kept typing away at that computer, running calculations over and over again. "It generates its own energy."
Ash nodded in understanding. "Doctor Selvig, would you like to see my powers?" she suddenly had an idea. She as quite surprised that this would work given the fact that SHIELD- or whoever they were- had just brought her underground like this. They must have really been desperate if they thought a civilian could help them.
Selvig looked up from the laptop. "Only if you are stopping the rate of gamma emissions from this thing," he said.
Ash nodded again. "Watch." She stripped from her jacket, exposing her now dirtied blue hospital scrubs. The car wreck had left a cut on her elbow and she noticed blood had dried down her forearm when she had been unconscious. Nevertheless, she continued to edge towards the source, the power practically pulling her towards it. she gained a feeling of control she had never felt before. This cube, this Tesseract, could be her friend. She could use it to do so much good with her powers, save so m any lives…
She edged closer to the glowing thing, each step taking her closer to the source of this wonderous power.
Clint Barton sat lazily in a small alcove high above the Tesseract. He twirled a knife in one hand, keeping a cold and watchful eye on all the happenings below him. this was getting interesting. He had just been about to come down to find Coulson when the man had barged in with a woman in tail. She looked like a doctor- if her clothes were any indication of her profession- and she looked pretty bad off.
So she had been the source of this? She had caused this thing to start malfunctioning? From what he had gathered listening through the SHIELD scanners that was the case. He just found it amazing that a civilian with no record of extraordinary capabilities could just surface like this.
He looked over the railing, propping his elbows on it and resting his chin against them. The doors opposite the side he was on opened up again and he was able to make out Director Nick Fury walking through the doors, his black leather jacket fanning out behind him as he all but ran through the doors. "Talk to me, Selvig," Fury's deep voice reached up to the alcove Clint was sitting in and he was able to detect every word Selvig said as well.
"This thing has gotten worse by the minute."
"Why don't you just unplug it?"
"She's a power source. We unplug her she just powers herself back up again."
Clint was able to make out one of the female scientists speaking as well. "Doctor, it's spiking again."
Erik went over to help the female scientist. Clint could not help but notice that as the female doctor- Wilson, he thought her name was- got closer, the more powerful the Tesseract grew. Surely Fury could see that.
"Where's Barton?" Fury asked as he looked around.
Erik looked up. "Who? You mean the Hawk? He's in his nest."
Clint rolled his eyes. Selivg knew that he hated that name, yet the old man seemed to use it when referring to the young assassin. With a roll of his eyes, the archer stashed his knife in his boot and let a rope down to the level that Fury and Selvig were on.
Fury walked over to him then. "I thought I put you in charge of keeping an eye on this thing. How can you do that when you're way up there?"
Hawkeye remained looking dead ahead at the Tesseract and the stupid woman that kept getting closer to it. If she got any closer she would physically be able to touch it. Since the gamma emissions had started, no one had been able to get up near it. "I see better from the sky," he said simply as he kept walking. The woman was about to touch the Tesseract.
"Do you think it's wise for this woman to be anywhere near here?" Clint turned to Fury.
"Coulson gave me a brief of her powers. He thinks she's the one that made it start acting up in the first place. If she can get to the safety switch at the base of the cube we should be able to power it off enough to keep it level."
"I don't think it's this end that's making this thing tick, Director. I think it may be something at the other end."
"The other end?"
Clint nodded. "It's essentially a door, right? Doors open both ways."
Fury squinted his one good eye, taking in what the archer said. Then he turned to Doctor Wilson. "Doctor, this situation has just been deemed unsafe. You are to come back to the outer ring now."
The woman appeared not hear him, or it was too late by the time she did. Because just as her hands met the Tesseract, the strongest wave of energy yet shook the building… and a stream of blue gamma shot past the woman's slim figure and blasted into the wall at the opposite end.
Ash didn't know exactly what made her reach out for the Tesseract. After a bit of talking, she and Erik had decided it would be best if she tried to stabilize it. in touching it, she knew she would cause some sort of energy give off, but she had not expected this…
She felt her bangs flutter around her face as she dipped down behind the arch that housed the glowing blue cube. The stream of pure energy had been caused by her. That she was sure of.
When it was over, she looked up. The Tesseract itself was stable, but a glowing cloud of gamma hovered in the far corners of the room, turning and zapping like a surreal lightning storm.
It wasn't the storm that was the worst part, though. As her gaze travelled downward, she noticed a hunched over figure, smoking and covered in rubble. Every instinct in her untrained body told her to run. Instead, she ducked down and out of the way behind the arc that housed the Tesseract.
She peaked out to see the figure raise his head, an evil smile plastered on a really pale face. She discovered herself to be hyperventilating- but she wasn't sure if it was form panic or the rush of adrenaline that had come with exposure to that much power. Fear soon took its place though as the- alien? Man? What was she even supposed to call it? -Stood up slowly, brandishing some sort of staff with a glowing orb at the end of it.
How had all of this happened to her in a mere matter of hours? Just this morning she had been studying for an exam to pass for surgical qualifications. Now she had unleashed an alien dude badly in need of a haircut and a shower.
"Sir," she heard a voice that belonged to the tall, black man in an eye patch- Director Fury, she thought his name was. "Put the staff down."
She peaked out from her hiding spot again to see what he would do. He seemed to deliberate for a moment before letting lose a ball of energy directly at Fury and the other agents. A bunch of computers had gone down in the process and Ash covered her head protectively. She just wanted to be home right now. This was not how she wanted to die. And she was drawn to a startling realization that that was quite possible. She watched as the alien man took out five armed gaurds, their bullets deflecting off of his chest and making his way over to the Tesseract before sending another ball of energy at the female scientist's station. The woman fell down in a shower of sparks, but she didn't get up.
Out of all the ruckus, Ash could feel the last electrical impulses that drove the woman's heart to beat tremble feebly before the light left the scientist's eyes.
The alien man made it past her, heading straight for an agent with a short buzz cut and killer arm muscles- why she noticed this at a time like this she had no idea. Maybe she was hoping his physical fitness would stop the alien man.
She watched in horror as the alien grabbed hold of the agent's arm, keeping the gun that the agent held aimed away from him… and pressed that glowing thing at the end of his spear lightly into the agent's chest. A wave of energy rocketed through the agent- one she could feel was just as strong as the Tesseract had been- and his eyes glazed over in a light blue glow. The agent slipped his pistol into its holster as the alien man turned away from him. She watched as he did the same to another guard. They were seemingly under his control now.
She curled up against the metal arch. The alien man still did not see her, and she hoped he would pass her by. A strong hand lighted on her shoulder, and she looked up to see Director Fury indicating the cube. He wanted her to get the cube!
Gathering her courage- which was considerably lacking- she reached up for the Tesseract and slipped it into the case fury held open. He nodded to her as he closed the case and pushed her forward towards the door.
"Please don't." Ash stopped in her tracks and so did Fury. "I still need that." The alien man had spoken… and he sounded straight out of a Lord of the rings movie. Ash could not register how stupid she was to even think that in these circumstances.
"I think we're finished here," she heard Fury say quietly, steadily. His assuredness helped to calm her at least. "And who are you to stop us?"
The alien man smirked. "I am Loki of Asgard and I am here burdened with glorious purpose."
Ash could make out Selvig's voice as he stood up from the dead scientist's body. "Loki, brother of Thor?" Ash had no idea what that meant, but it seemed to annoy the alien.
Fury just stood there, case in hand as Ash looked on. It was all she could do. If she ran, she knew her knees would give out before she got very far. Her breaths came in shallow gasps. "And what would that be? We have no quarrel with your people."
The man twitched his head slightly. "An ant has no quarrel with a boot." Ash really hoped this wouldn't turn into a monologue- she really didn't think she could stand being in a life or death situation much longer. "I come here with glad tidings," the alien man- Loki? - began. Yep. There was a monologue attached to this. Ash had only seen met this guy a few minutes ago and she could already tell he was a spotlight lover. "I am here to free this world of freedom. Freedom is the great lie. You were made to be ruled and once you accept that-" he turned around to Erik and placed the tip of his staff into the old man's chest. "You will know peace." The old man's eyes turned blue like Agent Barton's had.
Ash really wished Fury would just shut up and try to make a get away, but for some reason he stayed planted where he was. "Yeah. You say peace. I kind of think you mean the other thing."
Just then, a blast shook the building, coming directly from the gamma storm cloud thing. Ash coughed up a bit of dust. "Sir," she could make out the agent with the buzz-cut's voice as dust rained down. "Director Fury is stalling. He knows the Tesseract is unstable."
What the hell was that guy's problem? Hadn't he just been working with Fury mere minutes ago? Ash looked over at Erik who had piped up as well. "He's right. We have very little time before this goes critical."
Loki looked to Hawkeye and nodded. The agent pulled out a pistol and aimed it directly at Fury, shooting the director in the stomach. Before she had time to think, she felt a tug on her body and she pulled energy from the Tesseract, drawing up a blue force field to block the agent's bullets. It nearly knocked her out, the sheer force of it.
The alien man cocked his head to the side, half amused, before he aimed his staff at her and delivered what should have been a killing blast directly into her chest. She felt her body fly through the air, skid to a halt, and then everything went black.
We will get more into Ash's powers next chapter, just putting that out there, so most likely your questions will be answered :)
Thanks for all of your wonderful reviews! I hope this will live up to the wonderful suport you all have given me already!
~Sirius