Lost Before The Dawn
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Warnings: Some Violence.
Chapter Playlist: 'Arrival' and 'Doors Open From Both Sides' from 'Avengers Assemble'.
'In sleep he sang to me, in dreams he came.
That voice which calls to me,
And speaks my name.'
- 'Phantom of the Opera' Andrew Lloyd Webber
The Tesseract chamber was a seething mass of chaos, as Jane rushed in, Lisa following at her back.
"Jane!" Patsy called over to her from a workstation. The brunette hurried to her side.
"What is it? What's happening?" she asked, looking at the readouts. In front of them, held in a metallic cradle that allowed them to test and hold it without fear of disintegration, was the Tesseract. Jane was used to seeing it serene, a cool, icy blue. Tonight, it was pulsing, flashing between blinding white light and lightning silver, an audible humming emanating from it.
"I don't know. We were just checking the energy levels, when James measured an energy spike. The Tesseract just turned itself on," the older woman explained, her brow furrowed deeply.
"That's not possible. There has to be some kind of trigger, a catalyst," Jane breathed, eyes dancing across each screen as her mind spun. "It can't just turn itself on and off."
"Well, feel free to speculate, Jane," James, her other research associate, tall, tanned and dark, snapped as he hurried past. "But right now, we've got a massive energy source and it's only getting more active. We need to shut it down."
"Have you switched off the power relays to the cradle?" Jane turned to him, frowningly. The dour scientist rolled his eyes.
"Tried that," Patsy cut in before he could retaliate. "Just switched itself back on."
"Well, try again," Jane replied. "Shut down the whole base if we have to." A cool, calm voice slipped into the conversation.
"Miss Foster," Agent Barton, clothed in black, piercing eyes watching her intently, stepped up. "Perhaps you should consider reporting this to Director Fury."
"Not until I know if we can or can't contain it," Jane eyed him uneasily. For some reason the inscrutable SHIELD agent unnerved her.
"Jane, if we don't contain this, this thing is going to make Hiroshima look like a picnic!" James muttered.
"Thanks for that," she rolled her eyes, her stomach roiling at the thought. "Come on, let's try cutting the power one last time, then we'll look at other options."
James marched off, muttering to himself. Jane refused to let it get to her; she knew it was his way of coping with stress. Plus he was British…sarcasm was their default mode.
Agent Barton faded into the background, as Jane all but glared at the shining cube in its high-tech cradle.
Why are you doing this? Why now? What's happened…?
Jane…
She jumped as a voice echoed in her head, gasping. For a moment, the lights disappeared, and the chamber was plunged into darkness, the computers running down until their crystal screens were dark.
She stood in the darkness, her breathing unnaturally loud on the silent air.
Jane…
That voice again. Was she going mad?
Suddenly the lights flashed back on, and the computers whirred back into life. Jane looked towards Patsy, who shook her head.
"That wasn't us," the older woman called. "It's the Tesseract."
Jane sighed, gritting her teeth. If they couldn't shut it off, then they needed to contain it. She looked towards Patsy and James, who watched her grimly. She glanced towards Agent Barton, stood in the shadows, and sighed.
"Call Director Fury," she gave in. "I'd recommend a full evacuation. If this goes up, who knows how much damage it could cause?"
Barton inclined his head once, before marching away, already barking orders into his earpiece. Jane turned back to her fellow scientists, thrusting aside the fatigue, as she glanced towards the flashing, pulsing cube.
"In the meantime, we need to finish our calculations and hope we can control the power surge before it gets too big," she continued. The two older scientists nodded, and went to their respective workstations, Jane going to her own and pulling up her calculations.
She was not going to let this go to hell. Not when they were so close.
He smiled as he felt the mortal woman's determination. How sweet of her, and foolish, to attempt to do the impossible.
The Tesseract of Asgard was far more than a simply, paltry energy source. It…she was so much more. She was far beyond anything the simple Miss Foster and her band of ragtag scientists could hope to understand.
On his side of the Universe, he readied himself for the transition. It would come soon, and while it would not be…pleasant, the discomfort would be short-lived, and he had little doubt he would face opposition on the other side.
If one could call their meagre excuses for soldiers 'opposition'.
Regardless, he would not be unprepared.
As he felt her desperation and her grim resolve, as the hours wore on, on the other side, he smiled.
It was a shame really, that all her work would go so easily to waste. Perhaps he would keep her, after he took power. She might yet be useful…
He looked to the murky shadows of his exile, and breathed his last, relishing the fight to come.
I'm coming, Jane Foster…
Hours later, and Jane was no closer to figuring out how to harness the energy of the Tesseract and redirect it safely. James and Patsy worked diligently at their workstations, interns and lab technicians scurrying back and forth between them all, but Jane remained focussed.
Above them, Barton watched over all, his alert eyes missing nothing.
Full evacuation was underway, and Agent Coulson had already been down to check on their progress. Fury was on his way.
The Tesseract had settled down, but its energy levels were still too high for Jane's liking, and all attempts to probe it had been unsuccessful. They couldn't get close enough to take any readings bar what the scanners were telling them, and that was little enough.
It was like trying to climb a mountain with a twig.
Suddenly, a deep, husky voice echoed commandingly in the cavernous chamber. "Talk to me, Foster."
Jane turned from her workstation, to discover Fury marching briskly towards her, his stern face giving nothing away.
"Director," she began, glancing away from her work for only a second.
"Is there anything we know for certain?" the Director came to a halt beside her, his eye roving the graphs and equations scrawled across the screen blankly.
"The Tesseract's having a temper tantrum," she breathed, irritated as he leaned in closely.
"Is that supposed to be funny?" he asked.
"No," she snapped. "It's a fact. The Tesseract is active, and it's behaving. Every attempt to probe or scan it, and it repels us."
"Barton said you pulled the plug," Fury continued, and she nodded, eyes flying over her equations, looking for the missing link, something that was bothering her.
"It's an energy source. You turn off the power, and the Tesseract turned it back on," she replied, opening up another window as Patsy sent her some readings. Her mind raced as she factored in the new data into her calculations. "If she reaches peak level, Chernobyl and Hiroshima are going to look like campfires compared to this…"
"Thanks for the optimism," Fury sighed. "We prepared for this, Miss Foster. Harnessing energy from space."
"But we're not ready," Jane snapped. "We're still months away from fully understanding the Tesseract, yet alone successfully harnessing its energy safely."
Fury sighed, and Jane forced herself to breathe. That sick feeling in her stomach was overwhelming her, and she fought it back determinedly.
Jane frowned as the radiation levels spiked. "What is it?" Fury demanded.
"She's been throwing off radiation for hours, low level, interfering with our scanners. It's just gamma radiation, too low to be harmful," she explained.
"I still wouldn't take the chance," Fury muttered, glancing towards the Tesseract grimly. "Where's Agent Barton?"
"Up there," Jane waved over her shoulder, and Fury stalked away, muttering into his radio.
"Jane, James, it's spiking again," Patsy called, and she hurried over to her workstation. Jane paled, the energy readings were much higher.
"I swear, this thing is like a bloody sentient being," James grunted, as they frowned at the readouts. Jane exhaled.
Like a sentient being…like something alive…and when something's alive, it needs to get rid of excess energy, right? So, we need something for that energy to do…
"I got it!" Jane muttered, hands already flying across the keyboard, as her mind raced. She keyed in the new scenario and ran the simulation, almost punching the air when it came back successful. "We just need to keep the motor running without pressing the gas pedal…"
"Huh? English please?" James muttered sarcastically.
"A feedback loop. Feed the energy back on itself, in a continuous cycle, round and round, and replace the energy that the Tesseract outputs!" Jane explained hurriedly, already rushing back to her workstation. The energy levels spiked again, and her eyes widened. No, dammit! I had it, I had it!
"Get away from there!" she shouted to Barton and Fury, stood in front of the Tesseract. They glanced to her, then moved back, as the humming emanating from the Tesseract grew in volume and intensity, and it grew brighter and brighter, losing its bluish hue almost entirely.
The air crackled with power, as everyone paused in their work, looking up in trepidation as the Tesseract spat and hummed, as if almost in distress. With a roar, a beam of pure energy shot from the Tesseract, and the air around a platform scanner rippled and shuddered, as it was torn apart.
Jane squinted through the light, glimpsing dark space and burning stars, before the energy exploded outward, ruffling the hair pulled back into a tight ponytail against her neck, almost painfully hot.
Everyone ducked, but the wave of energy passed over them harmlessly, and silence reigned in its wake.
Except for the sound of breathing, harsh, laboured.
Jane glanced up, and gasped. On the platform, wreathed in smoke, was a crouching man, long dark hair, slicked back. She glimpsed long robes of some leather material, before a SHIELD soldier blocked her view as they advanced, warily, forward.
A moment later, her view cleared again, and she could see the man had risen from his crouch, and she gasped again. He was tall, taller than almost anyone she had ever met bar Thor. His face was pale, almost ghostly, and he looked ill as he eyed them all calculatingly.
But it was his eyes that caught and arrested her. Even from this distance, she could see how vivid they were, but she couldn't discern their colour. They gleamed with a malevolent amusement, and a cold intellect.
To her shock and fear, they found and met her gaze, unblinkingly, as a wild, exhilarated smile grew on his thin lips.
A gleaming, golden spear rested in one hand, its tip deadly looking, a blue, oval crystal lying in a nest of spikes. It reminded her of the glow of the Tesseract, which now lay dormant and serene in its cradle.
"Sir, please put down the spear!" Fury shouted, still so calm. Jane felt her heart race, as the man looked towards the Director, then down at his weapon. To her confusion, he then looked at her, and winked.
He raised the spear, and it thrummed with power, as a ball of burning blue energy flew from its tip. Instinctively, Jane threw herself aside, but it wasn't aimed at her.
As she hit the hard, concrete floor, she was dimly aware of gunfire, and screams of agony, as things exploded somewhere behind her, and a dark shadow flew over her head.
Jane pulled herself up onto her elbows, looking around frantically, her breath coming fast and hard. She groaned as a sharp pain spiked in her side, and she pressed a hand to her ribs. Great, possible cracked rib.
Way to go, Jane.
What she saw when she looked up made her forget any pain. Patsy lay on her side, a few feet away, unmoving, an ugly burn marring one side of her face.
"No," she whispered, as she crawled across to her, feeling frantically for a pulse. There was none.
"Jane!" another voice groaned, and she glanced up through a mist of tears to find James kneeling beside her. "It's too late. She's gone."
Jane was barely aware of Fury rising to his feet, as she forced herself to do the same, leaving Patsy and backing away behind a workstation, as she faced the stranger who had killed Patsy.
All around them lay SHIELD agents and soldiers, some wounded, others dead, while a few slowly got to their feet. Jane called out a warning, but it was too late for Barton, as the stranger caught his wrist and trapped it.
"You have heart," he muttered, his voice velvety, almost silken in its smoothness. Familiar…
"No," Jane breathed, as her eyes went wide in realisation.
The stranger gently put the tip of his spear to Barton's heart, and the entire thing glowed a deep blue, before the energy streamed from it and into Barton. He groaned, and Jane watched in horrified fascination as his eyes turned black, then settled into a bloodshot filmy blue.
He sighed, and lowered his gun, placing it back into his holster.
It couldn't be. Those were dreams, just dreams. They weren't real. Jane watched, enthralled and paralysed, as the man smiled and moved away from Barton.
Exhilaration from the fight still sang in Loki's veins. The satisfaction of a plan well-executed.
As he turned away from the one known as Barton, and proceeded to enslave the remaining living mortals, he smiled to himself.
Despite the fact his back was turned, he was all too aware of the one-eyed man as he took the Tesseract and placed it in a carrying case, and of the two scientists watching behind him.
He had only caught a glimpse of his brother's woman before he had leapt from the platform, but she was as he expected.
Beautiful yes, but irrefutably bound by the weaknesses of her species.
"Please don't," he called softly, as he turned away from his latest recruit. The magic of the Sceptre burned through his body, and he felt the rush of exhilaration even as his body ached with fatigue from his journey. Regardless, he was still alert and ready, for any tricks this Director might throw his way. Jane Foster has not trusted him, and he suspected he would do well not to underestimate him.
When he was dead, it would no longer matter, either way.
He met the hard, implacable gaze of the one-eyed man, and smirked. "I still need that."
"This doesn't have to get any messier," Fury replied calmly.
"Of course it does," he replied coldly. "I've come too far for anything else."
That caught the mortal's attention, as he turned to face him, the case holding the Tesseract held defensively to his side. That would not stop Loki taking it, however.
"I am Loki, of Asgard," he said proudly. "And I am burdened with glorious purpose."
The mortal woman gasped, and he surmised she not only knew the name, but all her recollections of their metaphysical encounters was slowly filtering back. Surprising, that was faster than he'd expected.
"You…" she breathed, as he glanced at her with a savage pleasure lurking in his eyes. "But you're Thor's brother…"
"Do not speak that name in my presence, mortal!" he snapped, rage burning through him for a moment. He was not Thor's brother. He was not connected to that vain, pathetic, arrogant child. He moved towards her, as the male shifted in her direction, protectively. He almost smiled at the futility of the gesture; if he wished to harm the woman, then no one could stop him.
But as he did not, for now, he allowed it. To her credit, she didn't even flinch at his roar, but he did glimpse fear in her eyes, but also…curiosity. Interesting, if foolish.
"You mortals," he looked towards the Director momentarily. "With your pathetic weapons and your paltry defences, you believe you were so safe. But there is always a way in…"
He glanced back to Jane, stepping close. She didn't move under his gaze, as he gently caressed her cheek with his fingers. "You opened the door for me. I thank you for that," he whispered. "I will reward you for it."
"But I didn't…" she gasped, eyes wide with confusion.
"Oh but you did," he smiled with pleasure. "Your mind is mine, Jane Foster…"
"But we have no quarrel with your people," Fury interrupted them, cautiously. Loki moved away from the woman, returning his attention to the impudent mortal.
"An ant has no quarrel with a boot," he replied contemptuously.
"Are you planning to step on us?" the Director asked incredulously.
"I come with glad tidings," Loki continued, hefting his Sceptre. "Of a world made free."
"Free from what?"
"Freedom. Freedom is life's great lie. Once you accept that, in your heart…" Loki trailed off, turning suddenly and pressing the blade of his Sceptre to the male scientist's heart. Jane gasped, moving forwards, hands raised as if to stop him, but he pinned her with his eyes. "You will know peace."
It couldn't be. It just couldn't, yet the evidence of her eyes and her mind was almost too much for Jane to deny.
This man, this mad, impossible creature, was the voice in her dreams. She watched in paralysed horror as James's eyes turned black, and then blue as Barton's did, before he relaxed and stood, as if to attention.
She stiffened, wondering if she was next, but he…Loki ignored her entirely, as Fury spoke again.
"Yeah, you say 'peace'. I kinda think you mean the other thing," he muttered coldly.
Jane jumped as Barton strode across the chamber, interrupting the duel of wits between Director and invader.
"Sir, Director Fury is stalling," he barked, coming to Loki's side. Jane looked up, and her stomach bottomed out. The excess energy from the Tesseract was pooling above their heads, swirling and rushing around the chamber like a wave of poltergeists. "This place is about to blow. Drop a hundred feet of rock on us. He means to bury us."
The excess energy had nowhere to go, and no way to dissipate. Jane wished she'd had time to try that solution for the quantum tunnelling effect, but it was too late.
"Like the Pharaohs of old," Fury murmured with a grim smile.
"He's right. The portal's collapsing in on itself," James murmured as he crossed to a workstation. "We've got about two minutes before this goes critical."
"James," Jane hissed, as she crossed to his side, taking his side. "James…"
He paid her no heed, pushing her aside as he typed on the keyboard. Abruptly, she felt her arms pinned behind her back, as one of the other enslaved SHIELD agents took hold of her tightly, but not painfully.
"Well, then," Loki breathed, and Barton raised his gun and fired in one deadly, graceful move.
Fury collapsed with a grunt of pain, and Jane cried out in denial.
"Hush, my dear," Loki purred, turning around and stalking towards her. Jane tried to move back, but the agent holding her refused to let her move. The pain in her side flared, and she bit back a gasp as Loki took hold of her chin.
"You were a great help to me, Jane Foster," he purred with a smile. He raised the Sceptre, and was gratified as she eyed it warily, before meeting his gaze defiantly. "You are a brave one, aren't you?"
Jane didn't answer, just did her best to stare him down. She should have known she'd never win a staring contest with a Norse God. This close, she could see the colour of his eyes, and wasn't sure how to describe them. As the light changed, so did the colour of his eyes, from vivid icy blue, like the Tesseract, to deepest emerald green.
She shook herself free, scolding herself for worrying about the colour of his eyes when he was holding her prisoner. Loki, Thor's brother. Memories returned, of screeching metal and bolts of flame, and the sickening crunch of metal against bone.
She felt the cold touch of the blade against her jaw, tearing her from her memories and back to the nightmare of her present, but she refused to flinch. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction.
Loki chuckled, and paused.
As satisfying as enslaving her would be, he felt reluctant to do so. No…he would keep her as she was, for now. Looking into her dark eyes, afire with rage and fear and defiance, he felt a rush of pleasure wash through him.
Oh yes, he'd rather break her than enslave her. What a final victory that would be, over his damned…false kin, to have his great love as his willing servant?
He lowered the Sceptre, and raised his hand, drawing forth his magic. He forced her muscles to relax, her eyelids to drop, and her mind to slow until she succumbed, and her knees folded. The agent holding her caught her, and lifted her into his arms.
"Sir, we must go!" Barton called, a hint of urgency in his monotone voice.
"Very well," Loki glanced towards the ceiling, and the ever more lethal energy field, and turned away with one last word to the agent carrying Jane Foster. "Guard her well. She is as precious to me as the Tesseract. Now come."
And with that, he turned and led the way from the chamber, Barton by his side, the scientist and the two agents carrying the case and the mortal, a crater of death and destruction left in their wake.
Soon, it would become a tomb.
Loki smiled to himself, as he glanced back at the somnolent human woman, caramel hair now loose and freely grazing the floor, eyes closed by the force of his magic. As they entered the adjoining corridor, he felt anticipation wash through him, but he had long learned patience.
He was arrived, but there was still much to do before he could claim his rightful throne.
Looking at her, Thor's great love, and now his prisoner, he felt sure he would enjoy it, every step of the way.
Once he was through, no one would be able to doubt his superiority, his rightful place above them all. He would be victorious and beloved by his new people, at last.
A/N: Loki, Loki, Loki what am I going to do with you...? *shakes head*
To be continued...