[A/N]: Here's your bonus chapter for hitting the goal finally! đ But seriously⊠what's the hold-up? We usually knock this out by Tuesday or Wednesday, so why did it take until Friday this time? đ Anyway, goal's complete, chapter's here, and now we move on.
Next goal: 450 Power Stones by Sunday. Let's see if we can hit that one faster. I'm counting on you! đȘ
The desert highway cut through the Mojave like a knife wound.
Director Nick Fury tracked the horizon through the SUV window. Agent Phil Coulson drove. The silence between them was comfortable until Fury broke it.
"Status report, Coulson. And keep it short."
Coulson's fingers tapped the wheel. His tone carried that characteristic dry delivery that made even disasters sound like minor inconveniences. "The X-Men are locked down at the mansion. Xavier's still angry about District X, specifically, about the three mutants who were fatally injured because our response team was twenty minutes late. The Jean Grey situation while U-Men attacked didn't help his opinion of our competence. He was quite vocal about that."
Fury's jaw tightened. "We fucked up."
"Twice. Technically three times if you count the intel delay, but who's keeping score?" Coulson glanced at him.
Fury filed it away in the growing list of debts owed. "What about the Morlocks?"
"Quiet, but they've got a trainer now. Someone good, actually, who's teaching them advanced combat techniques, tactical coordination and power application that's borderline military spec." Coulson's tone sharpened. "No digital footprint or paper trail. Whoever they are, they're better at staying invisible than most of our field agents. It's actually impressive if it wasn't so concerning."
Fury filed that away, too. "Fantastic Four?"
"Sue Storm's past her due date and Reed's running himself into the ground. The Summers couple visits regularly with their son Nathan. Jean and Sue seem to be bonding over this. It's actually nice. Makes you remember they're human under all those powers."
"Spare me the Hallmark moment." But Fury's tone lacked real bite. "Heroes for Hire?"
"They've gone legitimate and turned profitable, even expanded their roster. Luke Cage brought in Iron Fist. They're taking everything from corporate security to missing persons cases. Clean record so far. Cage is surprisingly good at the business side."
Fury went quiet. Then: "And Jay? Still AWOL?"
Coulson's lips twitched. "Ah. So that's the real question. I wondered when you'd get there."
"Agent."
"He and Domino went dark after delivering Nathan Summers. That was four months ago." Coulson's voice carried a hint of admiration. "Though he's made purchase requests. Stark security systems, high-grade medical equipment, a modified Humvee with specs I couldn't decipher, something about climate adaptation and terrain stabilization. Oh, and enough construction materials to build a small fortress."
Fury grunted. "He's building a base. The question is whether it's a fortress or a love nest."
"With Jay? Both. Probably armed to the teeth and decorated like a five-star resort." Coulson quipped.
The Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility rose from the desert floor. Security lights blazing against the dark. Even from the access road, they saw personnel running.
They arrived to controlled chaos. SHIELD agents coordinated evacuations while scientists downloaded data. The air itself tasted like ozone and copper, like lightning about to strike.
Dr. Erik Selvig met them at the entrance. He was pale, sweating with eyes too wide.
"Director Fury, thank God. It's the Tesseract."
"Talk to me, doctor. What's our situation?"
"It's pulling energy from space itself. The readings are off every chart." Selvig practically dragged them toward the research bay. "We've never seen anything like this. It's as if the cube decided to wake up and start rewriting its own manual. It opened a door, Director. And I don't think we can close it."
The main research area hummed with wrong energy.
The Tesseract sat on its platform, throwing off light that hurt to look at even made Fury's eye water. Energy readings scrolled across monitors, each showing impossible spikes.
Agent Maria Hill, who was stationed here, coordinated on her tablet. Her voice was sharp and controlled with no wasted words. "Director. Energy output increased by forty-seven percent in six hours. Rate of acceleration is exponential. Critical threshold in T-minus ninety minutes."
"Shut it down," Fury said, finally.
Selvig's voice cracked. "We tried to. Multiple times but the Tesseract won't respond. It's not following any protocols. Director, it's like the cube is acting on its own."
Fury's hand dropped to his sidearm. Useless against a cosmic cube, but old habits die hard. "Then we evacuate. Hill, clear everyone except essential personnel. Get meâ"
Then the Tesseract exploded as pure cosmic energy lanced out, struck the far wall, and tore reality like paper.
The portal expanded as a swirling vortex of blue-black that hurt to perceive. Wind screamed through the facility but not air movement, but something else. Something that tasted like metal and emptiness in the space between stars.
Papers scattered, alarms wailed and monitoring equipment detonated in cascades of sparks and smoke.
Personnel hit the floor from the shockwave.
And through the portal, a figure stepped through.
Loki.
He moved with predatory grace, each step deliberate and precise. His armor gleamed black and green, far darker than Thor's silver brilliance. The scepter in his hand pulsed with the same sickly blue glow as the Tesseract, like a heartbeat made of malice.
The portal collapsed with a sound like a scream, cut short, after which only silence remained.
Loki surveyed the facility with cold amusement. His eyes tracked across cowering scientists, armed agents, the chaos he'd created with his mere presence. His smile was all sharp edges and barely contained contempt. When he spoke, each word was precisely chosen.
"I am Loki, of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose."
Fury drew his weapon without hesitation. "Sir, put that weapon down."
Loki's head tilted slightly, regarding Fury with the interest a cat shows a mouse. "You have made me feel welcome. I am... touched." The word dripped with sarcasm. "Tell me, do you always greet visitors with such hostility? Or am I special?"
"Only the ones who kick down our door uninvited. We have a no soliciting policy."
Loki's smile widened, showing teeth. "How quaint. The ant talks back." His tone shifted, becoming colder. Losing the theatrical edge for something more genuinely threatening. "An ant has no quarrel with a boot. Yet the boot falls all the same."
The scepter moved with fluid grace toward the nearest SHIELD agent. The tip touched his chest, and for a moment, nothing. Then the agent's pupils dilated and flooded with blue light. His face went slack, expression erasing itself before reforming into something that wasn't quite human anymore. Fanatical devotion where personality used to be.
Hill's voice cut through the moment like a blade with pure tactical assessment. "Hostile action confirmed. Defensive positions everyone. Do not let that thing touch you."
She was already moving, weapon drawn, positioning herself between Loki and the civilians.
Then chaos erupted.
Fury fired. Three shots, center mass, perfect grouping. But Loki moved impossibly fast. Too fast, as the god was not bound by human limits. Bullets sparked off invisible shields, the scepter deflecting them with casual flicks that suggested he found this all terribly boring.
SHIELD agents converged but the scepter touched each one in turn. Each touch created another blue-eyed thrall. The transformation was instant and absolute as trained operatives became puppets.
Hill's pistols barked in controlled bursts. She didn't waste ammunition on Loki's shields. Only aiming for joints, gaps in armor, anywhere the barrier might not cover. Every shot calculated. But Loki deflected each round with casual gestures that bordered on contemptuous.
He was playing with them and enjoying it.
Suddenly, he saw Selvig running toward the data terminals, probably trying to shut something down.
Loki appeared in his path with speed that made the human eye see gaps in motion. The scepter touched Selvig's chest almost gently.
"Please don't." Selvig heard himself say it, even as his mind screamed. Even as his consciousness felt something cold and invasive wrap around his thoughts like chains.
Then his body betrayed him as it stood at attention. And his mind, his brilliant scientific mind, felt Loki's will crush down like a mountain. Burying Erik Selvig somewhere deep and dark and screaming beneath the surface.
"Tell me about the Tesseract, my friend." Loki's voice was conversational. Almost friendly. Like asking about the weather. "Can it open a portal large enough for an army?"
"Yes." The word tore from Selvig's throat. Each syllable fighting against his will. His mind screaming 'no' while his mouth said 'yes.' "With proper stabilizing element and sufficient power input, theoretically yes. Energy requirements would be astronomical, but with the right configurationâ"
"Excellent. You're going to help me with that." Loki turned toward Fury, who was backing toward the exit. His expression shifted from pleasant to something colder. Something that had seen the abyss and been changed by it. "You should have left it buried, Director. You've meddled with forces you cannot hope to comprehend. Peace in our time? How quaint. How naive."
"Yeah, well, we don't have a habit of running from fights." Fury fired twice more, but both shots were deflected. "We've dealt with bigger threats."
"Oh?" Loki's eyebrow arched. Interest flickered across his face, genuine for once. "Do tell. What threats? Your little green rage monster? Your man in the metal suit? Your frozen soldier from a bygone era?" His voice dropped, becoming something haunted. Something that had seen too much. "I have seen what waits between the stars, Director Fury. I've felt the hand of true power close around my throat." He paused. "Your world needs guidance. I'm here to provide it. To rule you. To save you from yourselves."
"We're not big on taking orders from anybody. Especially not magical space."
Loki's face went cold. The mask slipping to show rage beneath. "You will kneel. All of you. It is the unspoken truth of humanity. You crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power and for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel."
Fury's finger tightened on the trigger.
But Loki was already moving. Vanished and reappeared across the room in the span of a blink.
In front of Agent Clint Barton.
The archer's bow was drawn. Arrow nocked. Aimed at Loki's heart. Hawkeye didn't miss. Never missed.
But the scepter touched Clint's chest before he could release.
The change was different this time.
Clint's eyes flooded blue. All his skills, all his training, all that made him one of SHIELD's best, now serving a new master.
Loki smiled. Pleased. "Ah. You. I have need of someone with your particular set of skills."
Clint spun with fluid grace. His arrow flew toward Fury.
The Director dove. The projectile embedded in concrete, where his head had been a second ago. Buried two inches deep and still vibrating.
"Hill, full evacuation protocol! Seal this section! Somebody get me a goddamn perimeter!"
"Evacuation initiated. ETA three minutes to lockdown." Hill was already on three channels simultaneously. Her voice cut through the chaos with practiced calm.
Loki moved toward the Tesseract with purposeful strides. Selvig and Barton flanked him like well-trained hounds. The enslaved agents formed a protective cordon with coordinated precision that spoke of Loki's tactical mind working through theirs.
Fury's hand found the self-destruct authorization. "Not on my watch, you son of a bitch."
The facility's demolition charges armed with a mechanical whine.
Loki glanced up as the ceiling began to crack. Dust raining down on him, but his smile didn't fade. "Oh, how dramatic. A grand gesture. Futile, but I appreciate the effort." He gestured, and the scepter flared. Debris that should have crushed them simply... didn't. Deflected by invisible force. "But I didn't come this far to be buried by mortal tantrum."
Barton, his mind now a tactical engine serving Loki, had already mapped their escape route. "Vehicles in Emergency tunnel three."
The group moved with terrifying efficiency as explosions chased them through corridors. Loki's scepter carved through obstacles that Barton's arrows couldn't handle. The thralls moved as one organism, each compensating for the others' movements without needing to communicate.
They emerged into the desert night as the facility's main support columns gave way and the underground complex collapsed into a massive sinkhole.
Fury stood at the perimeter, watching millions of dollars and decades of research disappear into the earth. His jaw clenched so hard Coulson heard teeth grinding.
"Sir." Hill's voice was quiet. Respectful of the moment but waiting. "Orders?"
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