"Something's been haunting me."

"Every night, I have the same dream."

"It starts with this thing... a glowing, blue cube. It seems harmless at first, but it's so much more than that."

"It's... powerful. I can't explain it, but there's so much about it. I don't even know what it really is, but someone wants it. I hear this voice... this nasly, creepy voice."

"The Tesseract has awakened."

"It is on a little world – a human world."

"They would wield its power... but our ally knows its workings as they never will."

"He is ready to lead and our force – our Chitauri – will follow."

"A world will be his – the universe, yours."

"And the humans, what can they do... but burn."

"And what do you think they want to do with it?"

"I honestly don't know at all. But with all the nightmares... It's very bad."

New York, 2012 --- Four years later.

Amara Rosas slid a coffee to her brother, who caught it in his hands to better wake himself up. It had been four years since they moved back to New York. Four years since he became a hero, four years since he joined S.H.I.E.L.D, four years since Stane & Vanko. He had been leading a relatively peaceful life now, surrounded by his older sister, and his now-six-year-old nephew.

But ever since the nightmares, Zach found himself jolting awake. Everyday, he heard the same distorted voice in his sleep. Every time this creature snarled, Zach always woke up, and tried going back to sleep.

Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it didn't.

"Haven't seen you this restless since the times Natasha came to visit," Amara noted. "At least you both didn't wake up either me or Jayden." In the four years that followed Vanko's defeat, Zach had immediately become an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D, and as she had said, Natasha Romanoff became his Supervising Officer.

True to her word, she had taught him everything she knew, her martial arts training (to which Zach was a quick learner), training as a spy, weapon skills (she had said this if ever he was unable to use his powers), and other skills in tactical strategies, interrogation, and multilingualism. 

However, S.H.I.E.L.D had confirmed that Zach possessed a universal translator implant in his neck, allowing him to understand and speak any language, but Zach never knew how or when he had even got one.

And along with their relationship at S.H.I.E.L.D, they still continued their so-called "Friends with Benefits," where they'd spend the night with each other, as well as time together. "I'm starting to think Jayden likes Natasha," Amara said as she warmed a cast-iron skillet. "He's been asking when "Auntie Nat" will visit again."

"Well, Nat's always loved kids," Zach answered as he took a sip. "When we visited a friend of hers, their kids would always flock to her. Barton's kids are adorable as hell." He added in a small whisper as he heard heavy footsteps coming from behind him. "Oh, he's woken up, Mimi." He smiled as Jayden ran outside his room, and towards his mother.

"Mommy! Mommy!" Jayden happily yelled as Amara smiled and took him lovingly into her arms. "Oh, good morning, my little ángel!" Amara kissed her son's cheeks. "How are you today, mi amor?"

(Jeremy Maguire as Jayden Rosas)

"Muy bien, mommy," Jayden recited in Spanish, just as Amara gasped in happiness. "Oh, that's good, baby!" She turned back to her brother, who continued to have his breakfast. "Did you say good morning to your uncle Zachy?" She asked him with a small tickle.

"Buenos días, Uncle Z!" Jayden smiled at him, as Amara set him down and he ran to his uncle. "And buenos días a ti, mi sobrino asombroso!" Zach greeted him with a small ruffle to his hair. Amara widened in amazement. "My son and my brother are speaking in Spanish, that is amazing!" She gasped. "Even though you have that implant, Zachy, I'm proud. Now, Jayden," She turned back to her son. "Have you done your homework for school tomorrow?"

"I did, mommy!" Jayden answered. "Uncle Zachy helped me a lil' bit, was that okay, mommy?"

"Only if you understand it after he taught you, baby." Amara accepted. "That's fine then." She turned back to Zach, who was waiting patiently. "Jay, honey, why don't you watch that Avatar show while Mommy talks to Uncle Z, okay?"

Jayden nodded and ran to the living room, sat down and began playing Avatar: The Last Airbender, just as Amara took a seat next to her brother. "Will you be okay though, Zachy?" Zach took a moment to think, and then nodded. "I should be, Mimi." Amara simply hugged her brother around the shoulder and kissed his cheek. "I hope you will, pequeñín." She whispered. "Love you, baby bro."

Zach smiled back at her, and leaned his head on her shoulder. "Love you too, sis."

"Hey, Uncle Z?" Jayden called from across the room. "Show n' tell's on Friday, and I wanted to ask if I can take Goosey?"

"Oh, sorry about that, buddy," Zach apologized as he walked over to his nephew, admirably watching Zuko teach Aang firebending. "But you know Goose isn't like any other kitty, yeah? We don't know how she'd react when she sees lots of kids touching her, yeah?"

"Aw, man!" Jayden whined and pouted as he crossed his arms. "But maybe you can take your Iron Man action-figure given to you by Tony Stark himself?" Zach hinted, just as the six-year-old's eyes widened and ran to grab it.

"I swear," Amara sighed. "You spoil that boy too much."

"I'm his uncle!" Zach argued. "I can do that!"

—---------------------

S.H.I.E.L.D Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S Facility -- New Mexico, 2012.

In the New Mexico desert, a helicopter flies down towards the facility, where agents were panicking. Something was very clearly wrong as they were leaving on foot, vehicle and by helicopter. The helicopter set down in front of Agent Phil Coulson, who was oddly wearing sunglasses in the middle of the night.

Out walks the right-hand-woman of S.H.I.E.L.D, Agent Maria Hill, and behind her is Director Nick Fury. Fury, in the past four years had assembled his list of candidates for the Avengers Initiative, and had found them all in the span of one week.

First he had found two brains for the team, father-and-son, Tony Stark and Zachary Danvers-Stark. However, Tony served as consultant, yet his alter ego, Iron Man, was on the Avengers. Comparatively, Zach served as an Avenger, and had trained with S.H.I.E.L.D for four years under the guidance of Natasha Romanoff, one of his best agents.

During the same time, he had discovered that Bruce Banner – a scientist irradiated by gamma radiation in an attempt to refuel the Super Soldier program – had become a raging green giant, and had reentered the U.S, and that there were atmospheric disturbances over New Mexico.

Banner, under the alter ego of The Incredible Hulk, had faced a Abomination similar to himself, a man named Emil Blonsky who injected himself with a form of the serum, and the disturbances related to a magic, immovable hammer, commanded by the God of Thunder, Thor of Asgard.

And just when those cleared up, a team had discovered the iced body of none other than the Star-Spangled Man with a Plan, The Captain America, Steve Rogers. Rogers was still alive even after seventy years on ice, and was frankly upset when he found himself in 2011 last year, claiming, "I had a date."

"How bad is it?" Fury asked Coulson, as the two approached the agent, who whipped off his sunglasses. "That's the problem, sir," Coulson replied. "We don't know – what took you so long?"

Nick gave a knowing to him, just as Coulson understood. "Oh– they wanted to talk?" He asked. "I thought May was keeping an eye on them?"

"She was," Fury commented. "But things went sideways, so here we are." Coulson lead them inside the facility, leading them through a crowd of hundreds of engineers, technicians and other staff, who were fleeing in panic. "Doctor Selvig read an energy surge from the Tesseract four hours ago," Coulson testified.

"NASA didn't authorize Selvig to test phase," Fury ordered.

"He wasn't testing it, he wasn't even in the room," Coulson testified once more. "Spontaneous advancement." "It just turned itself on?" Hill repeated in her own words.

"What are the energy levels now?" Fury demanded. "Climbing," Coulson replied. "When Selvig couldn't shut it down, we ordered evac."

"How long will it take to get everyone out?" "Campus should be clear in the next half hour."

"Do better," Fury commanded, just as he headed to the Radiation Facility floor, but Hill had stopped him right in his tracks. "Sir, evacuation may be futile," She argued to him. "Should we tell them to go back to sleep?" Fury answered back.

"If we can't control the Tesseract's energy," Hill told him. "There may not be a minimum safe distance." Fury turned back to her, with a directive glance. "I need you to make sure that PHASE 2 prototypes are shipped out."

"Sir, is that really a priority now?" Maria questioned him, but he turned back to her, staring her down. "Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intended to spin on," Fury exclaimed. "Clear out the tech below. Every piece of PHASE 2 on a truck and gone."

"Yes, sir." Maria understood, and called to the standing agents around her. "With me."

NASA Space Radiation Facility – Vacuum Chamber

Fury entered inside the facility, approaching the Compact Muon Solenoid Coil Chamber, where the Tesseract was being held. "Talk to me, doctor!" Fury commanded Dr. Selvig, a renowned astrophysicist, and former Professor at Culver University.

"Director!" Selvig greeted Fury as he approached the machine. "Is there anything we know for certain?" Fury asked him.

"The Tesseract is misbehaving," Selvig explained, just as a lab tech inserted a steel rod into the cube, burning the rod in front of them. "That supposed to be funny?" Fury asked in a not-funny manner.

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

"I assume you pulled the plug?" Fury asked. "She's an energy source," Selvig explained once again.; "If we turn off the power, she turns it back on. If she reaches peak level..."

"We've prepared for this, doctor. Harnessing energy from space."

"We don't have the harness. Our calculations are far from complete. Now she's throwing off interference and radiation. Nothing harmful, low levels of gamma radiation."

"That could be harmful," Fury coyly answered, remembering how Bruce Banner turned out. "Where's Barton?"

"The Hawk?" Selvig answered, just as he pointed up. "In his nest, as usual." Agent Clint Barton sat perched – like a hawk – above everyone, as the sharp-shooter of S.H.I.E.L.D for his uncanny ability to never miss a shot with his bow and arrow. All decked out in black, he was the perfect archer.

"Agent Barton, report," Fury commanded the archer via radio headset. The archer obeyed his orders and repealed down from his nest as Fury explained. "I gave you this detail so you could keep a close eye on things."

"Well, I see better from a distance," Barton answered, having a keen eye for targets.

"Are you seeing anything that might set this thing off?" Fury asked him just as another NASA scientist gave Selvig more detail. "Doctor, it's spiking again."

"No one's come or gone, but Selvig's clean. It's oven is clean, no contacts, no I.M.'s." Barton detailed. "If there was any tampering, sir, it wasn't at this end." Fury turned back to Barton, expecting full well what he meant. "At this end?" He repeated.

"Yeah, the cube is a doorway to the other end of space, right?" Barton reasoned. "The doors open from both sides–"

Selvig clicked away at his station at the energy readings of the Tesseract, it had spiked in the time they were all there, like it knew they were waiting for it. Some sentient, cosmic knowledge...

But just as suddenly, the Tesseract shoke violently, and the whole building rumbled, big enough that Coulson, Maria, and Fury all felt it, even in different places of the building. The cube then dispelled forms of energy outside of its range as it rumbled more, but then had stopped as it hummed loudly.

The energy had spiraled around it on both sides, as if it were to open, and then to everyone's surprise, it pushed out a light blue beam towards the other side, opening a portal or wormhole on it. The portal had stretched to the height of the building until the energy built up exploded... and what was left in it's place was a figure on their knees.

The agents approached the figure, as the blue flames died out on the person, and the figure looked up with a crazed grin on his face. He breathed heavily as he saw his new surroundings, and feasted his eyes on Fury & Barton.

This was none other than the Asgardian trickster, the God of Mischief himself, Loki Laufeyson.

Loki, being the adopted son of Odin and Frigga, and younger brother to Thor Odinson, was recently thought by his brother to have died by falling off the Rainbow Bridge of Asgard. However, he was resurrected by the six-fingered being known as The Other, and his master. And now with their forces and Scepter by his side, he intended to rule Midgard and the Nine Realms with an iron fist.

"Sir, please put down the spear!" Fury yelled towards him, hoping to be more civilized than weapons. Loki dropped his head to the Scepter in his right hand, and took its grace in his hands. His master had assured him this would grant him the power to "sway mortal minds with a mere touch".

Loki admired his new weapon for a few more moments before thrusting it at Fury with an energy blast, knocking out a couple servers. The agents had taken their sign to start shooting, but Loki leapt on his feet, also being bulletproof, and stabbed the first one in the heart, blood splattering on the blade.

Agents started shooting behind him, for which he took two pocket daggers and flung them at them, stabbing both in the shoulders. Loki mercilessly blasted scientists, killed soldiers and even vaporized agents. Loki however had stopped his onslaught as he admired his carnage and destruction.

Barton, having been sent across the room, stood up and took his gun as quick as he could, but Loki was quicker. Before Clint could move, Loki looked into his eyes, and grinned. "You have heart," he slithered out in a silky voice, as he put the head of the scepter on Barton's chest.

The mystical blue energy had traveled from the head and into his body, as Clint looked up to Loki, his eyes clouding over with black and then blue, now under the God's control.

Barton now holstered his weapon, as Loki smiled at what his master's word was to be true. Fury watched in horror as more of his men were put until Loki's spell, but he thought quickly and reached for the Tesseract quietly, and put it in a safe suitcase for it. He clasped the box quietly, and proceeded to leave.

"Please don't," Loki politely responded, as Fury stopped in his tracks. "I still need that."

"This doesn't have to get any messier," Fury answered without turning back.

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

"Loki?" Selvig repeated as he stood up. "Brother of Thor?"

Loki side-eyed Selvig, seeing the woman next to him now dead on the floor. Loki breathed deeply, as his rage of simply being known as just Thor's brother. He believed he was destined for greater things, unlike how Thor was widely popular on Asgard. "We have no quarrel with your people." Fury announced with intentions of no bloodshed.

"An ant has no quarrel with a boot." Loki's rebuttal to the director went. "You plannin' to step on us?" Fury questioned.

"I come with glad tidings, of a world made free." Loki announced to him and his pawns.

"Free from what?" Fury asked the god.

"Freedom," Loki bluntly answered, as if it were an obvious answer. "Freedom is life's great lie. Once you accept that, in your heart," Loki spun around and placed the head of the scepter onto Selvig's chest, against his heart. Selvig gasped in what he expected was pain, but he shuddered as his eyes clouded over like Barton's, fully black, then turning blue.

"You will know peace." Loki whispered, for in his twisted mind, he thought of himself as a messiah, freeing people from their own clutches.

"Yeah, you say "peace," Fury answered back. "I think you mean the other thing." Barton looked above them, seeing the rift was expanding and noticed Fury was stalling for time. The cloud was building faster and was ready to explode.

"Sir, Director Fury is stalling," Barton snitched. "This place is about to blow, and drop a hundred feet of rock on us. He means to bury us."

"Like the pharaohs of old," The man wisely answered, an allusion to the ancient times of Egypt.

"He's right," Selvig acknowledged. "The portal is collapsing in on itself. You got maybe two minutes before this goes critical."

"Well then." Loki turned to Barton, who took his firearm and shot Fury in the chest, watching him fall to the ground as they grabbed the Tesseract's case, as all of Loki's pawns now followed a guise to make the other agents believe they were imprisoning their leader.

Moments later...

As the next hour fell upon them, the entire base was completely engulfed into the ground. Many agents managed to flee, as well as Loki, Barton, Selvig, and most of the other agents now under Loki's control.

However, Fury survived what would have been a fatal gunshot wound for he had been wearing a bulletproof vest, and Coulson and Hill were already escaping and trying to stop Loki. The director now stood outside the destroyed base near his destroyed helicopter.

"Director?" Coulson radioed into the comms. "Director Fury, do you copy?"

"The Tesseract is with a hostile force," Fury radioed in. "I have men down. Hill?"

"A lot of men still under," Hill responded immediately. "Don't know how many survivors."

"Roger that," Fury answered, but focused on Coulson. "Coulson, get back to base. This is a Level Seven. As of right now... we are at war."

"What do we do?" Coulson asked. Fury just stood there, thinking. 

But a sign of hope was still on his face.