Happy Saturday, Readers! Here is the second chapter of the day!

Disclaimer: I do not own any Marvel characters that may be used or any Marvel storylines or arcs.

Claimer: I only own the character Elizabeth Jones (Lowri Jones and any other names she uses) and her story, past, present and future.

Recap

Everyone's eyes locked on the creature appearing to be kneeling on the platform dressed in green and holding a large shiny stick with a shining blue light at the top, the blue was the same colour as the Tesseract, it was as though the shiny stick held a piece of the Tesseract.

Silence fell around them as the creature slowly stood and Lowri realised it wasn't a creature, but a man with long black hair and a sadistic smile on his pale face.

Lowri felt her stomach twist uncomfortably when she saw how his eyes searched the room eagerly, almost as if he was searching for his next prey.

There was tense atmosphere in the room, each holding their breath as all the agents reached for their handguns as a precaution.

"Sir." Nick began, he took a small step forwards but halted before he reached the platform that the Tesseract was on. "Put down the spear." He finished. The pale-faced man looked down at his sceptre in his hand, almost as if he was confused, he looked up and his sadistic smile transformed into one of pure evil and he thrust the sceptre forward and aimed at the group of scientists gathered at the back of the cavern.

A blue shot, similar to that of the blue shot Lowri had received during the war, came out and hit the wall behind the group of scientists and the agents in the room reacted quickly with their guns.

Bullets began flying everywhere and Lowri was aware of everything going on around her, through the bullets she could see that the man on the platform had the sceptre aimed knowingly at Nick.

Lowri acted on instinct and threw herself at Nick as the blue shot travelled across and hit the space just behind where Nick had been standing.

Lowri shot to her feet but somehow, the man with the sceptre managed to divert all bullets from him and sprayed them backwards and half a dozen found their way into Lowri's stomach and she tumbled off the platform where the Tesseract was.

Her stomach ached with the bullet holes and she pressed her hand to them, lying on her back. She stared up at the ceiling and then she twisted her body so she could keep the strange man in her eyesight.

The man jumped down from the platform with light feet and headed for the nearest agent standing by, Clint Barton.

Clint reached his gun, now strapped at his side once more but the man grabbed hold of Clint's arm to stop him and he had that sadistic smile on his face again as he pressed the tip of the sceptre against Clint's chest and it was as if a blue light passed from the tip of the sceptre and straight into Clint' heart. For a second, his eyes changed to black but then faded to a bright blue, the same colour as the gem in the sceptre.

Clint slid his gun back into the holster and looked up at the man, as if he was expecting his next order.

Lowri's stomach ached horribly, and she could feel one of the bullets still inside her and it was slowly making its way out.

She spied Nick just across the platform from her, he was alright. He didn't get hit, he was packing the Tesseract away into a case. He got to his feet slowly and began to walk away.

Lowri rolled back onto her back and grimaced uncomfortably as the bullet shifted in her stomach again.

"Please, don't." The man said, his voice sliced through the silence in the cavern, Lowri rolled onto her side once more, her hand cupping her stomach. He looked pale and sweat dripped off his face, "I still have need of that."

Nick froze where he stood but he didn't turn back to face the man. At this point, Lowri heaved herself up to her feet, she used the end of a desk to hoist herself up, her hand still clutched to her stomach, blood dripping through her fingers.

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

"Of course, it does." The man said as this situation was the simplest thing in the world. "I've come too far for anything else." The man continued, he stepped forwards and Nick turned slowly. "I am Loki," The man breathed out, he bent his head slightly, "Of Asgard. And I am burdened with glorious purpose."

Asgard. The name rang through Lowri's mind. Asgard is out of this world and it brought Lowri's mind to another event that happened a little while ago involving an Asgardian prince named Thor, he's a Demi-God, is this strange man related to him?

"Loki!" Doctor Selvig exclaimed, Loki turned to him and narrowed his eyes. "Brother of Thor."

Loki's eyes spoke of scorn. Obviously, there was some tension going on between the brothers. Lowri scrutinised him, he and Thor were as different as chalk as cheese.

"We have no quarrel with your people." Nick said carefully.

"An ant has no quarrel with a boot." Loki replied simply, he gestured with his sceptre as Lowri leant against the desk and pulled her hand away from her stomach. The bullet was working its way back through her stomach and she was still bleeding.

"Are you planning to step on us?" Nick asked, he dropped his tone and took a small step towards Loki.

Lowri kept her mouth shut, she was never that good at talking people down. That's more of Nick's expertise.

"I come with glad tidings of a world made free." Loki answered, his sadistic smile grew and he looked far too happy about whatever he had planned.

"Free from what?" Nick asked hotly, judging by his tone, Lowri got the impression that he was keeping the conversation going because he was killing time.

"Freedom." Loki answered, he spread his arms and stepped forward. "Freedom is life's great lie. Once you accept that, in your heart," He continued, he raised his sceptre and in one fluid movement, he stepped closer to Doctor Selvig and pressed the tip of the sceptre to his heart, "You will know peace." Loki said, he smiled as Doctor Selvig fell under his control.

"Peace?" Lowri asked, speaking for the first time. She pushed herself off from the table and stumbled towards him. She reached for another desk and leant on it heavily with one of her hands still pressed against her bleeding stomach. Her entire right-hand side of her torso screamed in pain at her but she ignored it. "Do you even know what peace is?" She asked, tilting her head at him.

"Do you?" Loki asked simply. Lowri scowled at him and this seemed to entertain him further.

"More than you think." Lowri replied. She stepped away from the desk, her strength began to come back to her and she could hold herself upright, she still held her hand to her stomach. "I have tried my best to keep the peace intact in this world for a very long time." Lowri said, as she spoke, the bullet finally found its way out of her stomach and it fell into her hand covered in blood.

Lowri smiled as she held the bloody bullet up to look at it.

"I, for one, am tired of war and I am tired of men assuming that they can rule the world because they have 'greater gifts'." Lowri said, she locked eyes with Loki as she tossed the blood covered bullet away.

Loki moved swiftly, he took the two steps between them and pressed the sceptre against her chest before she could move away. The tip of the sceptre rested just above her heart and for a terrifying moment she thought she was going to fall under his control but nothing happened.

Loki looked down at the sceptre, his eyes narrowed as he stepped back and looked at it with a confused look on his face.

"Don't try that again." Lowri said in a low, dangerous tone. "You won't like what comes next."

Loki watched her curiously and then snapped his attention to Clint, who began speaking as he walked closer.

"Sir, Director Fury and Agent Jones are stalling. This place is about to blow and drop a hundred feet of rock on us. They mean to bury us." Clint said. His voice seemed so unrecognisable, it was monotone. And his eyes that were once friendly, now seemed blank and empty.

"Like the pharaohs of old." Nick said with a smirk as he spread one of his hands out calmly. Doctor Selvig, with his startling blue eyes, moved to one of the monitoring computers and looked at it intently.

"He's right." Doctor Selvig added, "The portal is closing in on itself. We've got maybe two minutes before this goes critical."

"Well then," Loki said, he looked from Clint and in one swift movement, Clint pulled out his handgun and shot Nick dead in the chest and Lowri just under her ribcage. Lowri was thrown backwards with that familiar aching pain just under her ribs and blood poured from her again.

She cussed as she hit the floor and rolled into the foetal position, "God damn it!" She yelled, she hurried sat up and spied Loki making his exit with Clint, Doctor Selvig and several other agents and scientists under Loki's control, with the case holding the Tesseract.

Lowri dragged herself over to Nick and she with relief when she saw him jerk open his coat and shirt to reveal a bulletproof vest with the bullet just above his heart.

"I guess my party trick is better than yours." Nick said with a forced laugh. "Hurts like a bitch, though." Nick slowly sat up and rubbed at his chest, "Hill, do you copy?" Nick asked, he let out a cough as he pulled the bullet from the vest. "Barton has been compromised."

Lowri offered her hand for Nick to grab hold and she helped him up.

"We need to get out of here, I'm sure one of those minutes has already passed." Lowri said, they immediately began heading for the exit. Lowri grabbed his arm and pulled him with her but Nick pulled his arm from her grip and pushed her forward.

"Go, help Hill. Use your goddamn fire if you have to." Nick insisted. "Stop Barton."

Lowri grimly nodded her head, "Will you be alright?" She asked, showing him genuine concern but her pause only angered him.

"Go!" Nick yelled, he shoved her away from him and Lowri stumbled before she caught her balance and ran as fast as she could down the hallway, she bolted down to the loading bays and the tunnels leading out, her chest screamed at her and she was breathing hard, her lungs ached with the lack of oxygen but she knew that time was running out.

She neared the loading bays and found it to be completely empty. She looked up and down and then took a running jump and called her fire to her.

Lowri's fire roared into life and spread outwards from her chest, engulfing her immediately in the curling flames.

There was traces of destruction along the roads leading to the exit and she could hear the engines of two cars working hard. She caught up with Maria near to the exit, she dimmed her fire as she neared and extinguished her fire completely when she slid into the passenger seat.

"Nice of you to join us!" Maria yelled. Lowri shot her a good-humoured smile and gripped onto the handle on the side of the truck.

"Got a little side-tracked back there!" Lowri yelled back, she braced as Hill sped up after the truck just ahead of them.

The ceiling above them cracked suddenly, and it began crumbling above them. "Can you go any faster?" Lowri yelled.

Maria pressed down on the accelerator but it wasn't fast enough. The earth above them came tumbling down and huge pieces of rock rained down on them.

Maria applied the brakes heavily and the back end of the truck was hit by a huge piece of rock and it went into a spin.

Rock began crashing down in front of them and the truck crashed into rock, dust was spewed up and everything was dark and shaking.

"Maria, you alright?" Lowri asked as the truck settled back, there was a small gap in the roof of the truck and rock had fallen through.

Lowri couldn't see the rock between them and she couldn't see Maria either, nor could she hear her.

"I'll live." Hill replied, Lowri heard a shift in the rocks and then she gingerly moved too. She managed to free her hands and she lit her hands-on fire, illuminating just how far they were underground.

"Your head." Lowri said, Maria had a cut on her forehead, not a huge one, but it probably hurt and blood was present.

"You're bleeding too." Maria said.

Lowri dismissed that, "Look, there's a gap through there. You get through, I'm going to see if I can get back through." Lowri said.

"Why?" Maria asked as she began to shovel the rock from her gingerly.

"There was some people left in the loading bays, I think. And there was a turn off just up the road back there, I'm going to check to see if everyone got out." Lowri said. She managed to wriggle out of the truck and she sat on the door.

"Director?" their earpieces buzzed into action once more and Lowri's mind was taken back to Nick. Had he been able to get out in time? "Director Fury, do you copy?" Phil asked more urgently.

There was a terrible cracking sound over the earpieces and then Nick's voice came on.

"The Tesseract is with a hostile force. I have men down." Nick said, Lowri exhaled as soon as she heard his voice. "Hill, did Jones get to you?"

"Yeah. She's here right now. There's a lot of men still under, but I don't know how many survivors." Maria answered.

Lowri took out her earpiece and slid it into her pocket, she pulled herself from the truck and looked back at Maria.

"Maria, I'm going to start the search." Lowri said, she jumped down from the truck and began making her long journey back into the collapsed tunnel.

In no time at all, there was a team of agents working with her to aid in the rescue effort which took all night. Somehow, fires had started but Lowri could easily deal with those.

The big machines were brought in to move the fallen earth out of the way and luckily there wasn't that many people still trapped underneath, because Lowri had called the evacuation early on.

That night was long, she worked well into the early hours of the next morning before she found herself back in S. H. I. E. L. D. HQ with a cup of coffee in her hand and she stood in Nick's office, standing in front of the window, having had no sleep whatsoever.

Did you see my little reference to Captain America: The First Avenger?

Sadly, there will be no update next week as I am away! I shall update on the 26th (once again, if I have time. I've been put into work almost everyday that week.)

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