The tesseract is shown. The Other is speaking, he says that the tesseract has been awakened and that its on a human world. He says that the humans would wield its power but their ally knows it power better and that he is ready to lead. He hands Loki the scepter then says that the Chitauri will follow him.
"Who's speaking?" Thor asked.
"His name is The Other." Loki said, looking mildly uncomfortable.
Thousands of Chitauri are preparing for battle. He says that the world will be Loki's and the universe will be his and says that the humans can't do anything but burn.
"The Universe will be who's?" Tony asked.
"Thanos'" Loki answered.
A helicopter flies over a SHIELD base. Someone over a PA says that the evacuation orders been confirmed. Agents are fleeing the premises.
Coulson watches as a helicopter lands, Maria and Fury step out of it. Fury asks how bad it is.
Coulson says that they don't know.
"Its very bad." Steve said.
They enter the building. Coulson says that Selvig read an energy surge from the tesseract 4 hours ago.
Fury says that NASA didn't authorize Selvig to test phase.
Coulson says that Selvig wasn't testing it and that he wasn't even in the room.
"Then how-"
Coulson says that it was a spontaneous advancement.
Maria asks if it just turned itself on.
Fury asks what the energy levels are. Scientists are packing up their things.
Coulson says that they're getting higher and that Selvig couldn't stop it and that they ordered evacuation.
"Well, it's an infinity stone. A pretty much uncontrollable force." Gamora said.
"Infinity stone? What?" Bruce asked.
Fury asks how long until everyone is out.
Coulson says it should be clear in the next 30 minutes.
Fury tells him to do better.
Scott stuttered out a laugh.
Fury and Hill are walking down a set of stairs. Maria says that evacuation might be futile.
Fury rhetorically asks if they should tell them to go back to sleep.
Maria says that there might not be a safe distance if they can't control the tesseracts energy.
"She's right, you obviously know very little about this object." Strange said.
"Oh, and you do?" Fury asked.
Fury tells her to make sure the phase 2 prototypes get shipped out.
Maria asks if that is really a priority.
"It shouldn't have been a priority." Steve said.
Fury says that until the world ends they'll continue to act as if it will sipn on. He tells her to get every piece of phase 2 onto a truck.
She says okay and leaves.
Fury walks up to Selvig and asks him if there's anything they know for certain.
"There isn't."
Selvig says that the tesseract is misbehaving.
Fury asks if that's supposed to be funny.
Selvig says that it isn't funny and says again that the tesseract is misbehaving.
"Really? I was certain it was doing exactly what it was supposed to." Loki said, quietly.
Fury asks how soon until they can pull the plug.
"You can't." Nebula said.
Selvig says that the tesseract is an energy source and if they turn the power off it turns it back on.
Fury says that they've prepared for this when they started harnessing energy from space.
"I don't think you prepared for exactly this, but there's no way anyone could have known what would happen." Bruce said.
Selvig says that they don't have a harness and that their calculations are far from being complete. He says that the tesseract is throwing off interference because of low levels of harmless gamma radiation.
"Sounds pretty harmful to me." Clint said.
Fury says that it can be harmful and asks where Clint is.
Selvig says that Clint is up in his nest as usual.
"It is not my nest." Clint protested.
"Sure." Natasha mocked.
Clint is in the rafters watching them. Fury asks him for a report. Clint climbs down and starts walking with Fury. Fury says that he gave Clint the detail so he could keep a closer eye on things.
Clint says that he sees better from a distance.
Fury asks if he sees anything that might set the tesseract off.
A scientist tells Selvig that the energy is spiking.
Clint says that no one's come or gone and that its clean. He says that if there was tampering with the tesseract it wasn't at their end.
"See, he understands. You're not the only ones that have access to it." Valkyrie said.
Fury questions him.
Clint says that the cube is a doorway to the other end of space and says that doors open from both sides.
"I see I'm the only one there who actually thought about that." Clint said.
The tesseract starts emitting blue energy, a shock wave shakes the facility.
The tesseract opens a portal on the other side of the room. The portal vanishes and Loki is in its place. He stands up slowly. Fury asks Loki to put the spear down.
"I think that's the only time I've ever hears Fury say please." Natasha mused.
Loki looks at the scepter and back at Fury.
Now that the light is on Loki, the avengers did as Loraine told them, looked more closely. "You are looking a little worse for wear there, Reindeer games." Tony said.
Loki fires. Agents start shooting, Loki jumps and stabs the agent. Two more agents start shooting at him, the bullets ricochet off of him and hit them. He kills a few more agents then stands still.
Thor noticed something off about Loki as well. Normally he wouldn't attack first, in fact he always scolded Thor for doing exactly that throughout their youth. But he kept these thoughts to himself.
Clint stands up, Loki disarms him and twists his arm.
Off-screen, Clint look murderous.
Loki says he has heart and presses the scepter to his chest. Clint's eyes turn black, then his irises turn a bright blue, the color of the scepter.
"Ok I don't want to ask, but I'm going to anyway. Why me?" Clint asked. "And don't say it was because 'I had heart' there are so many people you could have taken so why me?"
"You seemed competent." Loki said.
Clint was unsure whether to be complimented or insulted so he went for both. "Thank you... you dick."
Fury is packing away the tesseract, Loki presses the scepter to another agents chest. Fury gets ready to leave. Loki asks him not to take it because he needs it.
"I don't think he's just going to give it to you." Valkyrie said.
Fury tells him that it doesn't have to get messier.
Loki says that it does and introduces himself by saying that he is Loki of Asgard and he's burdened with glorious purpose.
Selvig asks Loki if he's Thor's brother.
Fury says that they have no quarrel with the Asgardians.
"No... not my people, but there are others who mean to start a war." Loki said.
"There are always people why want to start a war, just last week you were one of them... well their last week not your last week." Coulson said.
Loki says that an ant has no quarrel with a boot.
Fury asks if he's planning to step on them.
Loki says he comes with glad tidings of a free world.
Fury asks what they're free from.
Loki says that they're free from freedom and that freedom is life's great lie.
"He's not technically wrong about that one." MJ said.
"Explain." Clint said.
"Well, humans are a race of colonizers, pillagers, conquerors, we promise freedom, but only for certain people." She said. "You don't really believe the lies the government tells us... do you?" She asks. "I'm not saying I agree with what he did, I'm saying that his point is right... sort of"
Loki says that once they accept it they'll know peace. He touches the scepter to Selvig's chest.
Fury says he thinks that Loki means the opposite of peace.
Clint walks up to Loki and tells him that Fury is stalling ad that the building's going to blow. He tells loki that Fury wants to bury them.
Fury compares them to the Pharaohs.
"Well, if that were to happen, then, the control on everyone would break and we would all be fine, but of course things never work out the way we want them to until the last minute." Tony said.
Clint says that the portal is collapsing and that they have 2 minutes before it gets critical.
Loki turns to Clint. Clint shoots Fury, who falls to the ground.
"You didn't take the head-shot." Natasha noticed. Clint looked at her, silently asking her to elaborate. "We both know you could have hit it, there's a reason you didn't."
"Are you telling that some part of my mind was still my own, and recognized Fury as someone important so that's why I didn't kill him when I had the chance?"
"I know it probably sounds crazy-"
"It makes sense."
Clint grabs the case with the tesseract, they all walk away. Loki stumbles a bit. They walk out to the parking lot. Clint says they need the vehicles.
Maria asks who he's with.
Clint tells her that he didn't tell him.
Quill snickered a bit. A few people looked at him, confused. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry but that was a little funny." He says.
"Peter, stop laughing." Gamora said.
"I'm sorry." Quill's expression sobered.
They get into the car. Maria walks away slowly. Over comms Fury asks her is she copies and tells her that Clint's been compromised.
Maria turns around quickly, Clint shoots her, she quickly darts behind a wall and shoots at him as he drives away. Inside, Fury stands up and says that Loki has the tesseract and tells the agents to shut him down.
Maria gets into a car and starts chasing them. Loki fires at one of the cars with the scepter. Fury starts to run out of the building, agents lose their footing and fall down the stairs.
"That's what I'm scared of happening to me. In my dreams I'm always in the middle of the road and a car is coming at me and I cant get up the curb fast enough." Ned said.
"Shut up Ned." Peter whispered.
Coulson stands, the agents go to grab the things that fell. Coulson tells them to leave it and go.
"This looks like something straight out of my nightmares, where I fall in a dangerous situation and suddenly can't stand up again." Ned said.
Maria gets her car in front of Clint's and shoots at him. Coulson and his agents are out of the building.
"We're clear upstairs, sir. You need to go." He says. Fury gets out of the building and into the helicopter. Clint throws Maria off. Fury takes off in the helicopter. The building crumbles.
"Oh, my god." Wanda whispers in horror.
Maria gets stuck in the wreckage. Clint, Selvig and Loki escape. Fury starts to follow them, he leans out of the helicopter and starts shooting at him. Loki fires at the helicopter, sending it spiraling down. Fury jumps out before it crashes. Loki, Clint and Selvig get away. Coulson, over comms, asks Fury if he copies.
Fury says that the tesseract is with a hostile force and that he has men down. He asks for Maria.
Maria says that a lot of men are still under and she doesn't know how many survivors there are.
Fury says to sound a general call and that he wants every living soul that isn't in rescue to look for the briefcase. He tells Coulson to get back to the base and that they have a level 7 threat and that they are at war.
"For what it's worth, however little it may be to you, I am sorry for the destruction caused to your city." Loki said.
"It ain't worth much but I accept your apology, you aren't forgiven though." Fury said.
"I expected as much." Loki said, the teleported over to Clint. "And I do apologize for taking your mind." He said then teleported away.
Clint stayed silent, not ready to accept the apology. While this may have been five years ago for Loki, it was five days ago for the avengers, the memories are still fresh.
Natasha is tied to a chair in a broken down building, 4 men surround her. One of them hits her in the face.
"What are you doing tied to a chair?" Steve asked.
"Sometimes you need to get captures to get information." Natasha answered.
Luchkov, in Russian, says that this isn't how he wanted the evening to go.
Natasha, in Russian,tells him she knows how he wanted the evening to go and that this was better.
Luchkov, in Russian, asks if she's working for Lermentov. One of the men walks over to Natasha and tips her chair backwards. Luchkov, in Russian, asks if Lermentov thinks they have to go through him to move their cargo.
Natasha, in Russian, says that she thought Solohob was in charge of export business. The man lets her chair back down.
Luchkov, in Russian, says that Solohob is a front and tells Natasha that her information is outdated. Then he calls the famous black widow another pretty face.
Natasha, in Russian, asks if he really thinks she's pretty.
A few people laughed at the comeback.
Luchkov, in Russian, says to tell Lermentov that they don't need him to move the tanks. Someone grabs Natasha's jaw, Luchkov grabs a pair of pliers.
Someone gets a phone call and says that its for Natasha.
Luchkov takes the phone and tells the person on the other end to listen carefully.
Coulson, over the phone, says that Luchkov is at 1-14 silesky plaza and that he has an f-22 8 miles out. He tells him to put Natasha on the phone ore he'll blow the block up before he can make it to the lobby.
"Wow."
Luchkov hold the phone to Natasha's ear. oulson says they need her to come in.
Natasha says that she's working and that she's in the middle of an interrogation and that Luchkov is giving her everything.
Luchkov looked confused and says he didn't give everything. Natasha gives him a look.
"He kind of did." Hope said.
Natasha says that he can't pull her out of this.
Coulson says that Clint's compromised.
Natasha puts him on hold. Luchkov takes the phone. Natasha kicks him in his no no area. Still tied to a chair, she stands up, kicks one of the man and wacks another with the chair. She forces the chair down on one's foot and backwards headbutts him. Coulson is listening to all of this.
A few people giggled.
She front-flips onto another guy to break the chair. She kicks the last guy in the chest, backs up to get a running start, spins her thighs around his head and takes him down. She ties Luchkov's ankle to a chain and tosses him through the hole in the floor. She picks up the phone and her heels.
"Badass." MJ said.
She asks where Clint is.
Coulson says he doesn't know.
Natasha asks if he's alive.
"He's alive." Clint said. "Obviously."
Coulson says they think he is and that they'll brief her on everything once she returns but they need her to talk to the big guy first.
Natasha says that Tony trusts her as far as he can throw her.
"We keep each other at an arms length." Natasha said.
"What makes you think I'm the big guy?" Tony asked. Natasha gave him a look that said 'isn't it obvious?'.
Coulson says that he's handling Tony and that she has the big guy.
"Bozhe moi."
"Sorry Bruce." Natasha said.
"No it's fine, I get that reaction a lot. People tend to be wary around a guy that can kill you with a single punch when he's angry."
A little girl is running through a small village in Calcutta. She runs into a house, 5 people are inside, including Bruce who is washing his hands. The woman, in Hindi, asks the girl who she is and tells her to get out because there is sickness there.
The girl, in Hindi, says that Bruce is a doctor and her father isn't waking up. She says he has a fever and that he's moaning but his eyes won't open.
Bruce, in Hindi, tells her to slow down.
The girl goes to talk about her father again. Bruce points to the 2 children and asks her, in Hindi, if her father is like them.
The little girls says please.
"I must admit. She was very convincing." Bruce said.
"What?" A few people asked.
The little girl leads Bruce to a house. She climbs through a window. Brue tells himself that he should've gotten paid upfront.
"So, it was a setup." Steve said.
Natasha walks in and tells him that he picked a hell of a place to settle if he's supposed to avoid stress.
Bruce says that the secret isn't avoiding stress.
Natasha rhetorically asks if yoga is.
"No."
Bruce notices that she brought him to the edge of the city and assumes that Natasha has that place surrounded.
Natasha says that its just them.
"That's not true." Loki said, quietly.
"What to you mean" Strange asked, equally as quiet.
"They would be idiots if they sent her in there alone with him, I know for a fact nobody who worked for them at the time trusted Bruce." He answered.
Bruce asks if the little girl was also a spy then asks if they start that young.
Natasha says that she did.
"That was different and you know it?" Clint said.
"How, how is that any different?" Natasha asked.
Bruce asks Natasha who she is.
Natasha gives him her name.
Bruce asks if she's there to kill him and says that that won't work out for everyone.
Natasha says she isn't and tells him she's there on SHIELD's behalf.
Bruce asks how SHIELD found him.
Natasha says that they never lost him and were only keeping their distance and they helped keep other interested parties away.
Bruce asks why.
Natasha says that Fury seems to trust him and that she needs him to come in.
"Nick Fury does not trust me." Bruce said.
Bruce asks what would happen if he says no.
Natasha says she'll persuade him.
Bruce asks what happens if the other guy says no.
Natasha says that Bruce has gone over a year without an incident and she doesn't think he wants to break the streak.
"We both know it doesn't work that way. I don't have any control over him." Bruce said.
Bruce says he doesn't always get what he wants.
Natasha says that they're facing a potential global catastrophe.
Bruce tells her that he actively tries to avoid those.
A few laughs were heard.
She holds out her phone, a picture of the tesseract is on the screen and says that its the tesseract and that it has the potential energy to decimate a planet.
"Which is exactly you shouldn't have been experimenting with it like that." Gamora said.
"Oh and you should." Fury asked.
"No one should. All I'm saying id you should use it for what it is not for what it can be or for what you think it can be." Gamora said.
"And how are you such an expert on this?" Fury asked.
"I don't have to answer that." Gamora told him.
Bruce rhetorically asks if Fury wants him to swallow it.
"I'll have you know, Dr Banner, that something has already tried." Fury says.
Natasha tells him that Fury wants him to find it. She says that it's emitting a gamma signature that's too weak for them to trace and that no one knows gamma radiation like Bruce.
Bruce asks if Fury isn't after the monster.
Natasha says that Fury isn't based on what he tells her.
Bruce asks her if Fury tells her everything.
Natasha tells him to talk to Fury and that he needs him on the case.
Bruce says that Fury needs him in a cage.
Natasha says that no one is going to put him in a cage.
"Maybe not but you tried." Bruce said.
Bruce slaps the table and tells Natasha to stop lying to him. Natasha pulls out a gun. Bruce backs away, half-smiling and apologizes. He says that he just wanted to see what she'd do. He tells her that they can do this the easy way where she doesn't shoot and that Hulk doesn't make a mess.
Natasha, still shaken lowers her gun and tells the agents outside to stand down. The agents surrounding the house lower their guns.
Bruce rhetorically asks if it was just them.
"You were testing her." Shuri said.
"I wouldn't call it a test, well I would, but I was proving to her that I knew she was lying." Bruce said.
"And how, exactly, did you know I was lying?" Natasha asked.
"I knew nobody at SHIELD trusted me, would they have really sent you to come and get me alone?"
Fury is talking with the counsel members. One of them says that Fury is dealing with forces that he cannot control.
"He's right." Tony said. Fury glared at him.
Fury asks the councilman if he's ever been in a war and if he felt an overabundance of control.
The councilman asks if Asgard declared war on the planet.
Fury says Asgard didn't but Loki did.
"Not me, Thanos. I was a mere pawn in the grand scheme of things. Sent here to do his bidding." Loki said.
"So you were a puppet." Clint said.
The councilman says that Loki can't be working alone and asks about Thor.
Thor looked insulted, that that man thought he would bring harm to Earth.
Fury says that their intelligence says that Thor isn't hostile but they can't depend on him because he's worlds away.
The councilman says that Fury should be focusing on phase 2 and that this was what it was designed for.
"Designed exactly for what?" Hank asked.
"Other-worldly threats." Coulson answered.
"Well, in that case, based on the what green and angry just told us, maybe they are necessary." Tony said. "Just not here." He added.
Fury says that phase 2 isn't ready but Loki is. He says that they need a response team.
The councilman says that the avengers initiative was shut down.
Fury says that it isn't about the avengers.
the councilman says that they're running the worlds greatest covert security netword and asks Fury if he;s going to leave the fate of the human race to a group of freaks.
The avengers looked offended.
"It's because of us that the human race isn't extinct." Tony said.
Fury says he isn't leaving anything to anybody. He says that they need a response team and that they nay be isolated and unbalanced. He says he believes that with the right push they can be what they need them to be.
"You had an awful lot of faith in us." Tony said.
"I was right, wasn't I?" Fury said.
the councilman says that war isn't won with sentiment.
Fury says its won with soldiers.