It was night in New Mexico, in a S.H.I.E.L.D underground facility.

Agent Phil Coulson was waiting outside.

A helicopter landed.

Nick Fury and Tatiana Romanoff / Tarantula got off of the helicopter, walking toward Phil.

Tatiana was wearing her suit.

"How bad is it?" Nick asked.

"That's the problem, sir," Phil told him. "We don't know."

Ⓐ

They took an elevator down underground to the lab.

Phil led them down the way. "Dr. Selvig read an energy surge from the Tesseract four hours ago."

"NASA didn't authorize Selvig to go to test phase," Nick told him.

"He wasn't testing it," Phil told them. "He wasn't even in the room. Spontaneous event."

"It just turned itself on?" Tatiana asked.

Phil nodded.

"Where are the energy levels now?" Nick asked.

"Climbing," Phil answered. "When Selvig couldn't shut it down, we ordered evac."

"How long to get everyone out?" Nick asked.

"Campus should be clear in the next half-hour," Phil answered.

"Do better," Nick told him.

Phil walked away.

Nick and Tatiana walked downstairs into the lab.

"Sir, evacuation may be futile," Tatiana told him. 

"We should tell them to go back to sleep?" Nick asked.

"If we can't control the Tesseract's energy, there may not be a minimum safe distance," Tatiana told him.

Nick and Tatiana walked past an Agent Maria Hill.

"Agent Hill, I need you to make sure the Phase 2 prototypes are shipped out," Nick told her.

"Sir, is that really a priority right now?" Maria asked.

"Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on," Nick told her. "Clear out the tech below. Every piece of Phase 2 on a truck and gone."

"Yes, sir," Maria told him, walking away, leaving.

Nick and Tatiana walked toward Solveig.

"Talk to me, Doctor," Nick told him.

Solveig walked toward them. "Director."

"Is there anything we know for certain?" Nick asked.

"The Tesseract is misbehaving," Solveig told them. 

"Is that supposed to be funny?" Tatiana asked.

"No, it's not funny at all," Solveig answered. "The Tesseract is not only active, she's behaving."

"I assume you pulled the plug," Nick told him.

"She's an energy source," Solveig told them. "We turn off the power, she turns it back on. If she reaches peak level..."

They walked past the Tesseract.

"We prepared for this, Doctor," Nick told him. "Harnessing energy from space."

"We don't have the harness," Solveig told them. "My calculations are far from complete. And she's throwing off interference, radiation. Nothing harmful, low levels of gamma radiation."

"That can be harmful," Tatiana told them. "Where's Agent Barton?"

"Hawkeye?" Solveig asked. "Up in his nest, as usual."

Tatiana sighed, walking toward the balcony, looking up at Clint Barton / Hawkeye. "Dad."

Clint stood, walking downstairs to join Tatiana. "Where's your mother?"

They walked toward the others.

"Searching for Bruce Banner, otherwise known as the Hulk," Tatiana answered. "The Director wants him to be brought in before something happens."

"And your sister?" Clint asked.

"Working an interrogation," Tatiana answered. "You were given this detail so you could keep a close eye on things."

"Well, I see better from a distance," Clint told her.

"Have you seen anything that might set this thing off?" Tatiana asked.

A scientist looked at Solveig. "Doctor, it's spiking again."

Clint looked at Tatiana. "No one's come or gone. And Selveig's clean. No contacts, no IMs." Solveig walked toward the scientist. Clint and Tatiana reached Nick. "If there was any tampering, it wasn't at this end."

"'At this end'?" Nick repeated.

"Yeah," Clint answered. "The cube is a doorway to the other end of space, right? Doors open from both sides."

Solveig was typing on a computer. "Not yet."

The Tesseract stone sparked and glowed.

The building started to shake.

A stream of light shot out of the Tesseract stone, creating a portal on the other side of the room. It glowed brightly for a moment, sparking away, flying up to a part of the ceiling, striking it hard, staying there.

Armed guards walked toward where the portal had been.

Loki from Asgard was there, looking up, smirking. He was holding a scepter.

"Sir, please put down the spear," Nick told him.

Loki shot a blue blast toward them.

Clint tackled Tatiana and Nick out of the way, making the blast hit the wall behind them.

The blast disintegrated the wall.

Loki lunged closer.

The armed agents shot at him with little to no effect.

Loki stabbed an agent in the chest with the scepter, killing him. He turned toward two other armed guards, throwing knives into their chests, killing them. He shot a blue blast at the scientist, killing her. A guard stood behind Loki. Loki slashed the scepter into him, making him yell in pain. 

Tatiana and other agents shot Loki with their guns.

Loki shot a blue blast toward Tatiana.

Tatiana rolled out of the way, making the blast hit the floor.

Loki kicked an agent into the wall. 

Clint tried to grab a bow and arrow. 

Loki appeared behind him, putting the point of the scepter to his chest. 

Clint's eyes turned black as his freedom was taken away and he was made a slave to Loki. His eyes took on a blue color.

Tatiana shot Loki in the back with a crossbow, spinning to kick him. Loki ducked, turning to face her, trying to slash into her with the scepter. Tatiana ducked, backhand punching him in the face.

Loki gripped her throat. "You have heart."

Loki put the tip of his scepter to Tatiana's chest.

Tatiana's eyes turned black as her freedom was taken away and she was made a slave to Loki. Her eyes took on a blue color.

Loki smiled, letting her go.

Nick watched in confusion. "No."

Nick pulled the Tesseract stone out of the machine, putting it in its case.

Loki put the tip of his scepter to a guard's chest to turn him into a slave.

Nick closed the case, turning to leave.

"Please don't," Loki told him. Nick stopped. "I still need that."

"This doesn't have to get any messier," Nick told him. 

"Of course it does," Loki told him. "I've come too far for anything else. I am Loki, of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose."

Solveig stood, walking closer. "Loki, brother of Thor."

"We have no quarrel with your people," Nick told him.

"An ant has no quarrel with a boot," Loki told him.

"Are you planning to step on us?" Nick asked.

"I come with glad tidings of a world made free," Loki told him. 

"Free from what?" Nick asked.

"Freedom," Loki answered. "Freedom is life's great lie. Once you accept that, in your heart..." He turned to face Solveig, putting the tip of his scepter to his chest to make him a slave. "You will know peace."

Clint looked at the blue energy from the portal at the ceiling.

Nick looked at Loki. "Yeah, you say 'peace', I kinda think you mean the other thing."

Clint walked toward Loki. "Sir, Director Fury is stalling. This place is about to blow and drop a hundred feet of rock on us." 

Tatiana walked toward them. "He means to bury us."

"Like the pharaohs of old," Nick told them.

"They're right," Solveig told them. "The portal is collapsing in on itself. We've got maybe two minutes before this goes critical."

"Well, then," Loki told them.

Tatiana shot Nick in the shoulder, making him fall, walking toward the case with the Tesseract stone, walking out, leaving.

Loki, Clint, Solveig and the guard followed her.

Ⓐ 

They walked upstairs into the car park.

Tatiana walked past Maria. "I need these vehicles."

Maria looked at Loki. "Who's that?"

"They didn't tell me," Tatiana told her.

The boys got into the car. 

Tatiana got into the back, open part of the car.

Maria turned to leave.

The girls heard Nick's voice on the radio. "Hill! Do you copy? Barton and Romanoff have turned."

Tatiana stood from the back of the car, trying to shoot Maria.

Maria rolled out of the way, behind the wall, drawing her gun, aiming at the car, but was unable to get a clear shot.

Tatiana tapped on the top of the car, sitting down. "Go, go, go!"

Clint drove them away.

Maria shot at the car to no avail to stop them from leaving or to hit anyone with direct contact.

Ⓐ 

Nick was still in the lab.

The portal was still collapsing in on itself.

Nick walked toward the door, speaking into the radio. "They have the Tesseract! Shut them down!"

Ⓐ 

Maria ran toward a car, jumping in, driving after them.

Several other cars drove after them, shooting at the car.

Loki used his scepter to create a shield around the car, shooting the different cars, killing who was inside.

Ⓐ 

The building was shaking.

Everyone was running out as fast as they could.

Ⓐ 

Maria drove ahead of their car, turning to face them.

Clint continued to drive forward, pushing Maria backward.

Maria drew her gun, shooting through her windshield.

Tatiana was standing from the back of their car, shooting at Maria.

Ⓐ 

Outside the building, Phil and others were in a car.

Phil radioed in to Nick. "We're clear upstairs, sir. You need to go."

Nick ran outside of the building, into the helicopter.

The helicopter flew away.

Ⓐ 

In the tunnel, Maria and Tatiana continued to shoot.

Clint pushed Maria's car out of the way, driving past.

They got out of the tunnels into the night outside, driving away from the building as fast as they could.

Ⓐ 

In the lab, the portal exploded, taking the building and everything around it with it.

Ⓐ 

Rock concaved around Maria's car.

Clint drove away from the helicopter.

Nick opened the door of the helicopter, shooting at them.

Loki shot the helicopter with the scepter, making it catch fire.

The helicopter started to fall to the ground.

Nick jumped out of the helicopter when it got close enough to the ground where he could survive.

The helicopter crashed, exploding.

Nick stood, sighing.

He could hear Phil over the radio. "Director? Director Fury, do you copy?"

"The Tesseract is with a hostile force," Nick told him. "I have men down. Hill?"

Maria was getting out of her car. "A lot of men still under. I don't know how many survivors."

"Sound a general call," Nick told them. "I want every living soul not working rescue looking for that briefcase."

"Roger that," Maria told him.

"Coulson, get back to base," Nick told him. "This is a Level Seven. As of right now, we are at war."

"What do we do?" Phil asked.

Nick looked as if he already knew.