Clint's POV
I watched over Dr. Selvig and the Tesseract from my perch. It was my last mission before my vacation but with the Tesseract acting the way it was; this was going to be an unpredictable mission. I had just finished checking in when Director Fury walked into the room. My com came to life when he summoned me, so I repelled down from my perch.
"I gave you this detail so you could keep a close eye on things." He snapped at me.
"Well I see better from a distance." I stated bluntly. He should have known this by now.
"Are you seeing anything that might set this thing off?" It sounded like he was genuinely concerned.
"No one's come or gone. Selvig's clean; no contacts, no I'M's. If there was any tampering, Sir it wasn't from this end." I was beginning to wonder if putting me on this mission was the right move; as of right now it seemed pointless.
"At this end?" I suppressed a sigh; wasn't it obvious?
"Yeah, the cube is a doorway to the other end of space right? Doors open both ways." I deadpanned.
Suddenly the Tesseract started crackling. Light bursted from it, and the next thing I know is there's some kind of portal open at the other end of the room; followed by a burst of energy that flies at us when it closes. Everything happened so fast. One minute Director Fury was telling someone to put down a spear. Then I'm dodging an explosion that came from the spear.
As I quickly jumped up to point my gun at the threat, my arm is grabbed.
"You have heart!" He stated before putting the tip of his spear to my chest. Afterwards I was no longer myself; I was no longer in control of my mind. I holstered my gun and stood there. I listened to Loki as he introduced himself to Director Fury.
"Sir, Director Fury is stalling." I said as I walked over to Loki." This place is about to blow. Drop a hundred feet of rock on us. He means to bury us."
"Like the pharaohs of old!" Fury said before Dr. Selvig confirmed what I had said.
I did not even hesitate as I quickly drew my gun and shot Fury. I grabbed the case as we started to move out and I handed it to Dr. Selvig.
Vivian's POV
I finally arrived at my destination around five in the morning. I got out of my car, grabbed my bag, and headed to the door of what looked like a small bunker. I punched my pass code into the little box next to the door. Multiple audible clicks were heard and the door slightly opened, I slipped in soundlessly. Once inside I closed the door and punched in a different code, which put the bunker into lockdown. I walked down the fifteen-foot corridor and pushed the button for the elevator. I barely had to wait ten seconds before there was a ding. The doors opened and I walked in. I waited as the elevator slowly went down into the sub basements.
Thankfully, this bunker was long forgotten by everyone, so I did not have to worry about anyone barging in. I still had plenty of precautions in place, just in case. Finally, the elevator stopped and once again, the doors opened. I flipped the light switch on as I stepped into the room. Dim fluorescent lights hummed to life. I started pulling off the dusty white sheets that covered the computers, monitors, and other tech. Once everything booted up I sat down at the keyboard and got to work. Hours passed when my phone started ringing. I looked at the caller ID and answered quickly.
"This better be good, Coulson." I stated firmly, not in the mood for games.
"We've managed to get the team together and we will be heading to the helicarrier." Phil said with the smile coming in through his voice.
"The Avengers Initiative?" I questioned with a frown. "I thought that was scrapped."
"More or less it was put on hold. With Loki in control of the Tesseract, controlling Barton and Selvig… We thought it was best we have a good plan in order just in case things went bad. Well in this case worse."
"Do I even want to know how you managed to get Dr. Banner to agree? I mean he does not exactly want to turn into the Hulk especially after what happened with Harlem." I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes.
"He agreed to track the Tesseract, not becoming the Hulk." If I wasn't paying attention to his tone, I would have missed the fact that he sounded a little disappointed.
"How's he going to track it?" I was only putting the information I've been gathering, since Phil could only pass me well, very little to nothing. How I hate not having clearance.
"I'm not actually sure I'll know more when he explains what he's going to be doing. All I know is something about the gamma radiation signature the Tesseract is giving off." I could tell that science was not his strong suit.
"Gamma radiation. That's it!" I leaned forward and started typing away on my computer.
"What's it?" Phil asked questioningly.
"I have to go bye Phil!" I didn't even wait for a response; I just ended the call and got back to work.
My mind was going a mile a minute. I started hacking into every lap with a spectrometer to track gamma radiation. Once the spectrometers were pointed in the right direction, I took a break to get something to eat from the kitchen area of the bunker. I constantly keep this place well stocked and have upgraded tech, to keep this place up and running. After I ate, I went back to my floor with my equipment and took up residence in front of the monitors. I searched through all of the notes and files I have of the Tesseract, multiple times.
"What is Loki planning? Why does he need Dr. Selvig?" I ask myself aloud, if someone else had been in the room, I'm sure they would have locked me up in a mental hospital. "Psycho god hell bent on becoming a King by world domination."I said as I rested my head on the desk. "Came out of a portal created by the Tesseract… Dr. Selvig was there and so was Clint but why those two?" I sat up and grabbed papers that Phil sent me about the mission site, which by all accounts would get him fired or worse locked up for committing treason. I grabbed my pen and started flipping through pages.
"Loki needs an army or he has one. Clint… Agent of Shield. Been through a shit load of combat. Has taken down a ton of enemies. Eliminated or taken into custody."My thought process continued on that line of thinking. I grabbed my thermos of coffee that I brought back from the cafeteria with me. "That's it enemies! Shield has plenty, and with a way of controlling them, Loki instantly has allies. This means he probably will need something from Shield and will use force to get it." I scribbled notes down on a blank piece of paper.
"So back to the question of why Loki needs an Astrophysicist." I sighted a paper that I quickly grabbed; it was information about the collapse. "Bingo! The release of energy from the portal caused the building to collapse that's why he needs Dr. Selvig. Loki's looking for a stabilizing agent to keep the portal from collapsing." I continued to scribble notes on my paper as I thought about what could be used. I was just about to go lay down because I was stumped, when it popped into my head. "Iridium! But where in the hell would he be able to get enough of the stuff." So I programmed the computer to automatically search the web for Iridium and it would only notify me of promising leads.
I must have been exhausted because I don't remember falling asleep. The next thing I know is the monitor is letting out a loud beeping noise that startles me. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and the blurriness disappeared. I focused on the screen and clicked the link. That's all I needed, I know where they are going to be. I grabbed the stuff I came with, and headed back up to the ground floor in a hurry. I looked at the time on my phone after I punched in the code to unlock the door. It was about 7 pm the next day, since it showed the date on the screen. I sighed because James was going to kill me. I really didn't realize how long I was working. I exited the bunker and sealed it up again. I hopped into my car and dialed James.
"Everything is alright." I stated firmly when he answered his phone. I gritted my teeth as he calmly went off on me for not checking in earlier. He had me talk to Hailey so she would go to bed without fussing then when she was done I talked to him for a few minutes. I debated whether or not to tell him where I was going. "I'm heading to Stuttgart, Germany. I'll be fine but I have to go, I'll check in when I get there."
"You better." I smirked when he said that because I knew that tone very well.
"I promise."I said before hanging up the phone. I called the airport and managed to buy a ticket for the next flight to Germany. I put the car in drive and took off.
