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"All personnel, the evacuation order has been confirmed," Janet said into the loudspeaker. The alarms were going off and the agents at the base in New Mexico were hurrying to vehicles to leave. "Proceed to your designated vehicles for all campus evacuation. This is not a drill. Emergency personnel proceed to your designated vehicles for all campus evacuation." She removed her finger from the button, grabbing her radio off of the table next to her. She briskly walked up the stairs and down a narrow hall, using the flickering lights as a guide to the being's room.
Her boots sounded on the linoleum floor as she neared the large metal door. She pulled her lanyard off of her neck, waiting for the scanner to turn green to let her in. As soon as she heard the beeping of the scanner, she opened the door, finding Rayne still sound asleep.
"Nova," Janet called, pulling a pair of black boots from a shelf filled with neatly folded clothes and clean shoes. She grabbed a pair of black pants and a white shirt labelled 'CHAMPION' in red lettering. "Rayne?" Janet looked over at the sleeping woman. Her skin was a pale blue, so was her hair. Sweat slicked her face, making her curly hair stick to it. She looked scared, whimpering every time she turned in her bed.
Janet furrowed her eyebrows, hearing something creaking. Her eyes drifted to the shelf, moaning and trembling. Taking a step back, Janet kept her eyes on both Rayne and the shelf. "Nova, wake up," she begged, backing into the desk. The shelf rocked harder, starting to lean forward.
Bumping into it, she knocked the desk lamp over, hearing the bulb shards scatter across the floor. Janet's suit helmet snapped up, just as the shelf fell over. She shrank down, covering her head. She waited for the sound of the shelf colliding with the floor, but heard her own heavy breathing.
She looked up at the shelf, seeing blue energy rippled across it. "Janet?" Rayne's voice called out. "Are you there?" Her breathing was ragged and heavy, like she just finished sobbing.
Janet flew from under the shelf, returning to her normal size. She looked at Rayne, worried. "Are you alright?" she asked.
Gold danced around in Rayne's eyes as she answered the question. "I- yeah," she answered, furrowing her eyebrows. "I'm- I'm fine. Just a..." She sighed, holding her forehead. "Bad dream."
Janet pushed the shelf back against the wall with urgency as she spoke quickly, "We're evacuating," she said, grabbing the folded clothes. She set them down on Rayne's bed. "Get dressed and meet me downstairs. Quickly."
Rayne didn't even get time to question the brunette, for she was met with the clicking of her room door closing behind her. She shuffled around, throwing on her clothes, grabbing the leather jacket from the back of her desk chair. She would worry about the broken lamp later.
Quickly walking down the metal staircase, Rayne walked into the lab where the Tesseract was kept. Janet and Dr. Selvig were too busy looking at computers screens to notice her. "What's wrong?" she asked, getting their attention. Janet looked up from her screen, taking in how Rayne lightly stumbled over to them.
"Nova," Janet called, gesturing the girl over to what they were looking at. Rayne walked over to the row of computers, seeing a bunch of numbers and stats displayed on the screen. She knew those numbers; they were reports on the Tesseract's energy levels.
"What's the problem?" Rayne asked, furrowing her eyebrows. "The levels are normal."
"Rayne," Janet placed her hand on Rayne's shoulder. "That was ten minutes ago." She pressed a button on the keyboard and a new report popped up, showing the energy levels spiking and climbing.
"That can't be right," Rayne stammered.
"Talk to me, Doctor," Fury's voice echoed, getting all of their attention.
"Director," Doctor Selvig acknowledged. Fury walked further into the room.
"Is there anything we know for certain?" Fury asked.
"The Tesseract is misbehaving," Selvig explained.
"Is that supposed to be funny?" Fury asked.
"No, it's not funny at all," Selvig said. "The Tesseract is not only active, she's misbehaving."
"How soon can you pull the plug?"
"She's an energy source. We turn off the power, she turns it back on."
"If she reaches peak level-" Janet added, looking from Rayne to Fury.
"We prepared for this," Fury told them. "Harnessing energy from space."
"We don't have the harness," Selvig said. "My calculations are far from complete. She's throwing off interference, radiation. Nothing harmful, low levels of Gamma radiation."
Fury turned to look at Selvig. "That can be harmful," he said. "Where's Agent Barton?"
Selvig walked back over to his computer. "The hawk? Up in his nest, as usual," he answered.
Fury held a radio up to his mouth. "Agent Barton. Report," he spoke into it. "Rayne." The girl looked over, seeing the Director signaling over to himself. As Barton came down from his spot, Rayne walked over to Fury.
"I gave you this detail so you could keep a close eye on things," Fury said, glancing over to Agent Barton. The three walked toward the machine that held the Tesseract.
"I work better from a distance," Barton told him.
"Have you seen anything that might set this thing off?"
A NASA scientist called Selvig over, telling him that the energy levels were spiking again. Fury, Barton, and Rayne stepped up onto the platform, in front of the Tesseract.
"I wasn't aware of any disturbances within the Tesseract before I came down," Rayne said, placing her hand on the Tesseract.
"No one's come and gone," Barton explained. "And Selvig's clean. No contacts, no IM. If there's any tampering, sir, it wasn't this end."
"At this end?" Fury asked.
"Yeah," Barton said. "The Cube is a doorway to the other end of space, right? Doors open from both sides."
The Tesseract sparked, pushing Rayne's hand away. Rayne looked down at her hand, seeing a red welt from where the Tesseract rejected her.
"What's that?" Selvig asked.
Rayne swallowed, stepping back as the Cube sparked again. She could see strands of her brown hair fade into bright blue. She was stuck in her place, staring at the Tesseract as the sparks became bigger.
"Rayne," Janet called, trying to get Rayne to turn around. "Rayne, get back." Fury and Barton stepped off of the platform as a beam of energy pulsed out of the Cube. Rayne held up her hands, trying to keep the portal from opening. She heard a woman's distorted laugh echoing through her head.
"What is she doing?" Barton asked. "She's gonna get herself killed."
Rayne saw a spark of yellow as the energy exploded, throwing her to the floor. She slid across the floor, the brown returning to her hair. A blue energy cloud floated to the top of the room, going unnoticed by everyone as they had their eyes set on something- someone else. Rayne sat up, turning to the platform. There were two beings on the end of the platform.
There was a man. His face and hair was slicked with sweat, and he wore green Asgardian clothing. In his hand, a golden scepter, topped with an energy similar to the Tesseract. Behind him, was a woman. She stood tall, with dark eyes and dark hair. As soon as she canvassed the area, her eyes locked on Rayne.
Rayne's mouth gaped open as she stood to her feet. She stepped back, shocked. In all of the years she's been on Earth, she'd never even heard from any of her sisters, let alone seen them. But now, her sister was standing in front of her, staring at her like she wanted to absorb her energy, leaving her as dust.
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