Clint watched as Fury and Selvig talked, likely about how the whole magical Cube, doorway to space was misbehaving — if Fury's look was anything to go by. He'd watched the various scientists try to pull the plug, like the Cube wasn't its own power source.

"Agent Barton. Report."

Clint stood quickly, throwing the line off the balcony and making his way down to Fury. He knew exactly what the Director was going to say, it was the same every time they spoke.

"I gave you this detail so you could keep a close eye on things," Nick said, looking over at Barton sternly as they headed towards the Tesseract.

"I see better from a distance," Clint said, resisting the urge to quirk his lips at the man. It would ruin the moment, and it was far too serious of a situation for it.

"Have you seen anything that might set this thing off?" Nick questioned, looking at the man curiously. He knew if there was anything to catch, the marksman would have seen it.

"Doctor! It's spiking again!"

Clint ran his eyes over the Cube, noticing how it seemed to be almost trying to vibrate within its restraints. "No one's come and gone. And Selvig's clean. No contacts, no IM," Clint reported. He then turned to look closer at Fury, he wanted to see the man's expression on his next assessment. "If there’s any tampering, sir, it wasn’t this end."

Nick frowned in confusion. "At this end?" He questioned, confused.

"Yeah," Clint agreed. "The Cube is a doorway to the other end of space, right? Doors open from both sides." Even toddlers understood that simple understanding — even if the various NASA scientists they located for here couldn't get it through their heads that space doors would work the same.

Clint watched as the Cube sparked, jolting slightly within its restraints. He thinks Selvig mutters something but the Cube jolts more violently, the building creaking ominously around them as they back away from the increasingly glowing Tesseract.

The sparks continue to grow in size, the Cube doing its best to light up the entire space just with its own glow. Before finally, it does one final shake, almost knocking them all from their feet before it glows so bright, Clint almost had to look away as it condensed into a single beam.

From the end of the beam, a portal forms. The portal must be this door to the other end of space that the Cube was meant to be able to make, Clint thinks as he gets to Fury's side. The portal opens wide before exploding into a thick cloud. As the cloud began to disperse around the room, it revealed someone kneeling on the platform.

They're the wrong colour. Was the only thought going through Clint's mind as he locked eyes with a figure he hadn't seen from his teenage years in the circus.

He froze, his hand moving away from the weapon at his side as he watched Loki get to his feet. He looked so different, here in the lab, compared to within the circus tent. The spear looked wrong in the man's hand compared to the little ballerina box he worked so hard on before.

Loki. Loki was a God. The God of Mischief. Clint met a God all those years ago within the tent. A God called him little hawk. No wonder the man was so confused that he could always find him, he shouldn't have been able to. The God was likely using some power to make his eyes gloss over him, yet he always managed to fight through it.
No wonder the others thought him crazy when he mentioned a man on the highest perch of the tent.

"Sir, please put down the spear!" Nick called, watching as his agents closed in on the man, drawing their weapons. However, he did feel the way Barton froze next to him — which was very worrying.

Loki drew his eyes away from the not-so-little little hawk from so many years ago and looked down at his staff. Grinning, he pointed it towards the man that spoke out against him. He was almost disappointed when Clint unfroze and pushed the other mortal out of the way.

Clint acted on instinct, pushing Fury out of the way of the blast, sheltering the man from the following explosions. Rolling towards some shelter, Clint could only watch as Loki continued to attack the men around him. He was confused this was so different to the Loki he met so many years ago.

He grunted as the shelter he was hiding behind exploded knocking him away. Clint was winded as he landed on his front. He'd just gotten to his hands and knees, getting ready to grab his weapon when he felt a hand grab his arm — hawling him to his feet. He tried to fight it, but the strength of the body was too strong. Instead all he could do was stare into blue eyes. They should be green.

"You have heart," Loki said, softly, staring at his little hawk. He was gentle as he pressed his staff to Clint's chest and let the stone do its magic. This way he could keep him; this way he wouldn't be forced to kill his little hawk.

Clint felt cold spread out from where the staff pressed against his chest. It wrapped slowly around him, holding him carefully in its hands as his body relaxed into Loki's hold.

He watched as Loki — his new master? — walked towards another agent, accepting them into his powers as well. Clint spotted Fury pulling the Cube out of the machine at the same time that Loki did.

"Please don’t," Loki said, watching the Tesseract go into the briefcase and the mortal try to walk away. "I still need that."

Nick stops, not turning to face the man as he answers. "This doesn't have to get any messier."

"Of course it does. I've come too far for anything else," Loki said in retaliation, stopping himself from snapping. "I am Loki, of Asgard," he declared, even if he felt he could hardly say he was anymore when he was under the ownership of Thanos instead of the AllFather. "And I am burdened with glorious purpose."

"Loki, brother of Thor?"

Clint instinctively knows that Loki wouldn't take that well. He had to figure out whether it was from the blue haze or maybe his own experience hidden in the shadow of his older brother.

"We have no quarrel with your people," Nick declared, turning to face the man.

Loki looked down at his staff before looking up towards the mortal with a slight grin. "An ant has no quarrel with a boot."

"You planning to step on us?"

Clint watched carefully, Fury wasn't normally one for such chit-chat. The director has disciplined him plenty enough for chit-chat through the comms to understand this is not normal. He needed to figure out why, and he scanned the room, trying to locate the larger picture.

"I come with glad tidings, of a world made free," Loki said, walking towards where he presumed was the head scientist who dared link him to his oaf of a brother — was he even his brother? They were not related.

"Free from what?" Nick asked, trying to keep the man's attention.

"Freedom," Loki answered. "Freedom is life's great lie. Once you accept that—" he turned sharply, drawing the head scientist into his grasp as he pressed the staff against the man's chest "—you will know peace."

A whooshing noise caught Clint's attention and he turned to look at the dome above where the portal first formed. The cloud he originally thought had dispersed throughout the room had congregated into a swirling ball, slowly tearing apart the place. Already, most of the dome's ceiling had been taken apart.

"Yeah, you say peace. I kinda think you mean the other thing," Nick retaliated.

"Sir, Director Fury is stalling," Clint cut in, walking to stand next to Loki. "This place is about to blow and drop a hundred feet of rock on us." He looked up at the ceiling before looking down again. "He means to bury us."

"Like the pharaohs of old."

"He's right," Selvig said, looking over the readings shown on the computer screen. "The portal is collapsing in on itself. We've got maybe two minutes before this goes critical."

"Well then," Loki said towards Clint, watching as the man swiftly drew his weapon and shot the other. His little hawk always had great accuracy.

Clint picked up the case, noticing that he'd likely hit in a space where the man's vest would have saved him. He thought for a second whether he should put another bullet through the man's head but Loki was still moving and he couldn't make the God wait.

They made their way out of the room, hurrying through the twisting and turning corridors. Finally, then ended up in the unloading space, some of the cars having already left leaving the gate already open.

"We need this vehicles," Clint said, hardly glancing at Hill as he headed towards the closest car that could take Loki out of the building and free of the danger radius.

Maria frowned, noticing the strange man Barton was escorting. She didn't know who he was, and she was meant to have a record of everyone on the base. They looked crazed, from lack of sleep or maybe even something worse. And something wasn't right, not with the way the other two were acting. "Who's that?"

"Didn't tell me," Clint answered, conscious that he had to be quick with this part not to be caught. Fury could wake up and notify them at any point. Just as he thought that, Hill's radio crackled to life with Fury's voice. He drew his weapon, firing at the agent watching her dive behind the wall.

Clint hurried, avoiding the returned fire from Hill as he got Loki into the vehicle. Before starting it up and speeding out of the bay into the tunnels, hearing the roar of another jeep following them — likely Hill. There was also plenty of noise to suggest the rest of the cars had begun their chase and evacuation.

Glancing in the wing mirror, Clint watched as Loki fired a beam from his staff causing the closest vehicle to fly into the air, blocking the path of many of the remaining S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicles. He continued, before seeing headlights coming from the right of the junction he was approaching.

Grunting, Clint drew his weapon again, ramming Hill's jeep as she turned to face him dead on. He shot through the glass, trying to knock her down, or kill her. He dodges her shots at him, taking the moment to get the upper hand and free them from the trap as he swings his vehicle around her.

Loki watches as the woman turned her car back around so that she could continue her chase of them. He did have to give her some credit for how determined she was. Just when he thought she'd catch up and cause them more issues, the building around them groaned as the roof collapsed, trapping the chasing agents behind the piles of rocks. Looking towards the exit, he only hopes Clint can get them through the opening in time as the ceiling keeps collapsing around them.

Clint grips the wheel tighter as their vehicle nearly flies out of the entrance seconds before the building fully collapses in on itself. He continued to hold it tight as he had to twist and turn around the bullets as Fury shot at them from his chopper.

He was thankful when Loki shot down the helicopter. With the chopper down, Clint was able to focus more on putting the power down as he made sure to disappear out of their tracking radiuses before they could get anything up and running. There was a lot of desert between them and the next resting spot for Loki.

2010