Chapter 7 – Fury's Big Week (II)

The S.H.I.E.L.D. outpost in Roswell, New Mexico was filled with S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and covert operatives, all chatting amongst themselves. It was impossible to make out any conversation, and it all just sounded like television static. Pushing through the crowds, Coulson climbed on top of a Humvee, and spoke into a megaphone.

"Attention please!" Coulson announced. "Attention!"

Soon, all eyes were on him, waiting for intel. Coulson cleared his throat. "I would like to thank all of you for your prompt response time and your efficiency in preparing for this operation."

Coulson pointed south. "Our target site is about twenty miles outside of a small town called Puente Antiguo, though we will also be doing intel reconnaissance within town limits. We will always be civil and only expert authority when absolutely necessary."

Coulson heard a few of the operatives mumble, expressing their uncertainty. So, Coulson shared his own feelings towards the operation. "There is no way to be certain what we will find when we arrive, but I am a hundred percent confident that there is nothing that we cannot manage."

ooooo

Several miles south, the skies above the endless desert suddenly started to change. The color of the skies briefly distorted into the form of a nebula, and then dark clouds manifested into a hurricane-like eye. There was a flash of light, and an object, illuminated by white cosmic energy, was ejected from the eye and raced towards the surface like an asteroid. It impacted with the ground with a loud boom, and slowly, the cloud of dirt formed by the impact began to clear.

There, wedged in the earth, was a hammer. But not just any hammer.

It was Mjolnir.

ooooo

Beep beep beep!

"Shit…" Grumbled Agent Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye, who was currently resting in his home.

Turning over onto his side, Barton grabbed the phone on his nightstand and read the collar ID.

Fury.

"Dammit. It's too early for this…" Barton said, and answered the phone, not even giving Fury a chance to say hello. "This is the first day of the first week of the first vacation I've taken since I signed up to work for you."

On the other end, Fury chuckled. "Oh that's right, silly me. You get yourself some rest. I don't think providing extra muscle at a possible alien crash site is something you'd be interested in anyway."

Barton was suddenly wide eyed and sitting upright. He pulled himself out of bed and exited his room.

"Where am I going?"

"New Mexico."

ooooo

After a full day of travel, Barton finally arrived at the camp that S.H.I.E.L.D. had set up around the alleged alien crash site. He navigated his way through the camp, and finally located Coulson, who was chatting with Sitwell over some readings that were being displayed on a computer screen.

"Coulson?"

Coulson stopped what he was doing and turned towards Barton, giving him a half-smile. "Barton. Glad you could make it."

Barton put his hands in his pockets. "So Fury told me that you caught an alien?"

Coulson shook his head. "That's very inaccurate. We have encountered an extraterrestrial object?"

"Then where's the alien that it belongs to?"

"How would I know? I'm not the alien expert."

"Did you check with Hikesh on this?" Barton asked. "Isn't he our alien expert?."

"I sent him some schematics on the object, but he hasn't reported anything yet." Coulson answered. He did hope the Prothean had some viable info, otherwise they'd be stuck out here for months.

"So what exactly are we dealing with here?" Barton queried.

Coulson showed Barton a display of the object, and Barton saw that it was some kind of mallet. "A hammer?"

Coulson nodded. "That's what it looks like, yeah. But it's giving off massive power fluxuations, and it's almost as if it's reacting to the storm."

"Reacting how?" Barton asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Whenever there's a spark of atmospheric lightning, the readings in the object intensify to enormous levels."

"Have there been any mishaps with it?"

"No. The object hasn't been moved since we found it. In fact, no one can even lift it."

"What are the chances that somebody eventually does?" Barton asked.

"Not likely." Coulson answered with a smirk.

ooooo

From his perch overlooking the encampment, Barton looked on in shock as an entire squad of S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives were taken down by one woman. Not too long ago, Jane Foster and her assistant snuck into the encampment in an attempt to steal back their confiscated research. In the midst of their endeavor, Ms. Foster's assistant picked the hammer, and suddenly underwent a complete wardrobe change. Then, with very little effort, the girl dispatched the entire S.H.I.E.L.D. team and then nearly leveled the entire camp with a bolt of lightning. Lightning! The bolt was actually drawn to her like a conduit.

As the girl put her foot down on Coulson's chest and took something from his pocket, Coulson fired an arrow that he had been holding back. But just as it was about to hit her, the girl sprung a hand up and caught the arrow in midair. She locked eyes with Barton, and Barton could see a smirk on her face as she crushed the arrow in her grip. Then, she pointed the hammer towards him and Barton nearly screamed when a blast of electricity was shot out of it towards him. He leapt off of his perch as the bolt blasted it, and fell face first into the muddy surface below.

Pulling himself up, Barton saw the girl actually flying into the night sky away from the camp, carrying Ms. Foster over her shoulder.

As Barton continued to look on in bewilderment, he unconsciously picked up his walkie-talkie and contacted Coulson.

"You know you're gonna have to tell the boss about this, right?"

On the other end, Coulson gave an irritated response. "Don't remind me."

ooooo

"What do you mean she took it?" Fury said in disbelief. He was currently communicating with Coulson via computer, and watched as the image of Coulson sighed in exhaustion.

"I don't understand it either, sir." He admitted. "Ms. Lewis was somehow able to make off with the hammer and dispatch all of my best agents in the process."

"You said she was just a college flunk." Fury said. "How could she have taken down a platoon of highly trained operatives?"

"Based on the evidence given, we can assume that the hammer was able to enhance her physical attributes." Coulson guessed, and then sighed. "It's a mess up here, sir. All of our equipment is wrecked, the object is gone, and we don't have any idea of how to deal with Lewis."

Fury rubbed his temples. "Just stay put for now, Coulson. I'll figure something out."

Coulson nodded. "Yes, sir."

Fury cut the call, and sat back in his chair, putting his face in his hands. What next?

"I got the Hammer Tech data that you…"

Fury looked up and saw Agent Romanoff enter his office. She had stopped talking when she saw his expression, and frowned. "You don't look so hot, boss."

Fury chuckled darkly. "Haven't gotten much sleep in the past few days, thanks for noticing."

Then he looked up seriously. "I need you to get to Culver University and put eyes on Dr. Banner. I got word that General Ross is about to take action against him."

Natasha raised an eyebrow. "I thought Sitwell was on Banner."

"He was, but I had to send him to New Mexico."

"Why?"

"BECAUSE I GOT AN ALIEN OBJECT IN NEW MEXICO, THAT'S WHY!" Fury shouted in annoyance.

Natasha might've been slack-jawed, if her face could show it from underneath the overall blankness in her expression. After a few moments of silence, she nodded.

"I'll get right on it."

ooooo

Posing as a college student wasn't a difficult feat for the Black Widow. For the woman whose specialty is disappearing, blending in unnoticed was quite simple. As she made her way through the campus of Culver, searching for her target, she hoped she could get to him before Ross did anything stupid.

"Hey! Excuse me, wait up!"

Damnit…

Natasha turned to see a student, male, possibly twenty-one, come up to great her. Scowling in annoyance, Natasha tried to stear away from the young man, but he didn't seem to get the clue.

"You're in my psych class, right?"

Natasha shook her head and continued walking, not even facing the boy. "I think you're mistaken."

But the boy shook his head and walked up to her side, eyeing her curiously. "No, I recognize you. You really stand out."

Before Natasha could tell this guy to buzz off, the sound of glass shattering caught her attention. Looking over to her left, she saw a number of military vehicles had surrounded the glass walkway above the campus' library. Squinting, Natasha made out the image of Bruce Banner standing the walkway. Not only that, but the soldiers had fired canisters into the walway, and it was slowly being filled with knockout gas.

Immediately, Natasha made her way to the library, ignoring the shouts from the student behind her.

"Hey! Where are you going?"

Hiding behind a corner, Natasha peared back to get a closer look at the situation. She saw General Ross, barking orders at a female soldier.

"Put two more canisters in there!" He shouted.

Suddenly, there was a loud growl emanating from the walkway, and Natasha's eyes widened when a human hand pressed against the glass and suddenly started to grow larger until it was pulled back. Then, an enormous green… thing busted out through the glass and landed in front of the military posse.

The Hulk breathed heavily, venting its rage, and a frightening snarl formed on its face. Then, flexing his enormous muscles, the Hulk let out an ear shattering roar, and the soldiers instantly opened fire.

For the first time in months, Natasha's unreadable façade fell and was replaced by a look of pure horror.

Chapter seven! Yes, Darcy Lewis has Mjolnir. Please refer to my other fic, Thordis, because there is no way in hell I'm explaining that again. In other news, the Hulk is back in action, and Natasha has no clue what to do. That's a first, ain't it.