Somewhere in the mountains, location undisclosed.
The watchtower searchlights spun through the darkness like white crescent blades, cutting in circles. Building after building stood shoulder to shoulder, their brilliant lights illuminating the pitch-black mountain hollow. Rows of radar dishes stood in formation in the darkness behind the complex, heads raised like a field of sunflowers.
A pitch-black steel bird flew over the mountains and arrived above the brightly lit cluster of buildings. It was a black armed helicopter, its red indicator lights flashing conspicuously beneath its whirling rotors. Military SUVs and heavy transport trucks formed a long convoy on the road below, their headlights piercing the night like blades of light.
"Attention, all personnel. The evacuation order has been confirmed. Board your assigned vehicles and leave immediately. I repeat, this is not a drill."
The loud, clear evacuation order repeated over every speaker throughout the complex. Fully armed soldiers and suited civilian personnel followed instructions, carrying out the evacuation swiftly and orderly.
The helicopter descended with a low roar and landed in a cleared area. S.H.I.E.L.D. Director and super-agent Nick Fury ducked out of the cabin, his black trench coat whipping in the rotor wash like a black battle flag.
S.H.I.E.L.D. Deputy Director Maria Hill and senior agent Phil Coulson, who had been waiting there, led their director into the direct elevator to the top-secret laboratory. They descended vertically to the very bottom of the facility and entered a spacious lab, where a hemispherical dome dozens of meters high hung overhead like an inverted pot lid.
"What's going on, Doctor?" Nick Fury strode into the laboratory and asked loudly.
Dr. Erik Selvig—a physicist with a balding head—quickly came forward. Before this, he had been working on a complex circular electronic device in the center of the room. A blue cube was fixed at its center, deep azure energy flowing through it like water.
"The Tesseract. Its reaction is a little abnormal."
"Is this some kind of joke?"
"Not at all," Dr. Selvig said. "The Tesseract is not only extremely active, but it's also displaying some unusual reactions."
"I assume you've tried unplugging it?"
"We did, but it's an energy source itself." The doctor shook his head. "We unplugged it, and it turned itself back on. And if its energy reaches saturation—"
"Isn't that exactly what we want, Doctor?" Fury stopped walking. "Control over cosmic energy?"
Dr. Selvig moved to the computer on the lab bench. "No, we're not ready yet. My calculations are far from complete. It keeps producing interference waves and radiation, though it isn't harmful—just very low levels of Gamma rays."
Fury's single eyelid seemed to twitch when he heard the words "Gamma rays."
"It can still be harmful."
As he spoke, he pressed his earpiece. "Agent Barton, report."
Senior agent Clint Barton agilely slid down from above along a black rope. He was a top-tier archer and one of Fury's most trusted agents. It was said that he possessed the eyesight of an eagle, hence his codename, Hawkeye.
"No one's gone in or out. No outside contact, no instant messaging." Barton walked up to the machine, his sharp gaze studying the mysterious cube. "Even if someone did tamper with it, it wasn't from this end."
"'This end'?" Fury repeated his wording.
"The cube is a doorway to the other end of the universe, isn't it?" Barton crossed his arms. "A door can be opened from both sides."
As if in response to his words, the cube suddenly emitted a strange sound. The dark-blue fluid abruptly accelerated, and highly concentrated energy dispersed like a cloud of mist. Invisible ripples burst from the tiny cube, and the entire facility beneath their feet shook violently. The steel framework gave off a chilling groan.
Dr. Selvig's expression seemed to freeze as he watched every instrument reading begin to spike wildly! The continuously radiating energy formed a violent vortex over the cube's surface like rushing air. The roaring grew louder and louder, battering everyone's eardrums.
The surging energy reached a peak, and a blue laser shot forward like a sword. Space screamed as it was torn open, and blue energy swept through the room like a transparent tidal wave.
The energy vanished, and space returned to normal. A man stood where the beam had pointed. Blue light like flames swirled around his body. He held a black Scepter, its tip glowing pale blue.
He slowly raised his head, a sinister, cruel smile on his face.
His name was Loki, the God of Mischief from Norse Mythology, from the divine realm known as Asgard.
The fully armed agents in black surrounded him. Seven or eight gun barrels aimed at him as the encirclement slowly tightened.
"Sir," Fury said, breaking the silence, "put down your spear."
Loki glanced sideways at the Scepter in his hand, seeming to hesitate for half a second. Then he suddenly raised it, and a dazzling blue sphere of light howled out like a cannonball. Agent Barton shoved his boss aside just in time, and the sphere blasted the lab bench behind them to pieces.
The agents pulled their triggers without hesitation. Seven or eight gun barrels spat fire at him in unison. Loki leaped through the gunfire and lunged forward like a flying goose, every bullet bouncing off his body. He darted about like a black serpent, his Scepter swinging rapidly with trails of blue light. The agents had no chance against his astonishing strength and reflexes. In the blink of an eye, every agent in the room had been knocked down.
Loki slowly turned around, his gaze sweeping across the wrecked laboratory before finally settling on Nick Fury and the Tesseract beside him.
He smiled coldly and raised his Scepter again. A hum like an engine starting sounded as blue energy formed a vortex at its tip, like a fully drawn bow.
A blast beam suddenly shot out from the depths of the darkness and exploded against the Asgardian's back before he could react. Loki staggered and fell to the ground, the energy gathered on his Scepter dissipating instantly.
"Who!?"
He growled and immediately turned his gaze toward the source of the ambush.
The figure hidden in the darkness seemed to have suddenly appeared on the circular walkway more than thirty meters above the floor, which ran along the laboratory's inner wall. It was someone completely wrapped in Black Armor, with white stripes painted across the armor on the limbs and chest. The eye section of the helmet was a V-shaped visor that lit up with a pale blue glow the moment Loki shouted.
He had made no sound. The room contained the world's finest agents as well as a god from Asgard, yet not a single one of them had noticed when or how he had entered.
He jumped down from over thirty meters up, landing in a half-crouch. The impact of the metal armor echoed through the room with a metallic hum, and the laboratory's gray-black composite alloy floor sank in sharply.
Loki cautiously tightened his grip on the Scepter, its glowing blue tip aimed at the black-clad intruder. One of his boots unconsciously slid back half a step.
"Who are you?"
No answer. The armored figure was clearly not the type to waste words. Without saying a thing, he raised his palm, and a blue pulse beam blasted from it straight at Loki's face.
The Asgardian had no room to hesitate. Relying on his superhuman reflexes, he flicked the blast aside with his Scepter and closed the distance in a stride. He feinted, stepped diagonally to the other's side, and swept the Scepter toward his opponent's cheek with a trail of blue light.
Loki had been raised as an Asgardian Prince since childhood. Though he was not a combat specialist, his fighting skills were by no means lacking. The Scepter shifted endlessly in his hand, carving trails of blue through the darkness.
But the tight net he had woven still could not disrupt the other's rhythm of attack. Loki did not clearly see his opponent's movements, but his Scepter was deftly knocked aside by an armored forearm. A black armored palm struck his chest with thunderous force, sending him staggering back two steps. The figure immediately spun, sweeping a leg in a broad, obtuse arc like a whirlwind. Loki barely raised an arm to block, but the force still sent him airborne. He rolled twice through the air before crashing heavily to the ground.
This was completely different from the plan. Loki considered himself a god, believing he had few rivals on Earth. Who would have thought that less than three seconds after making his entrance, he would run into someone this tough? Were Earthlings really this troublesome nowadays?
Agent Barton crouched behind cover, carefully observing the situation. He turned his head and asked the director, who was hunched behind a lab table opposite him, "Was that one your arrangement too?"
"No." Fury narrowed his single eye as he studied the Black Armor and lowered his voice. "For now, let's wait and see."
Loki rose from one knee and abruptly flung up his hand. The Scepter spat out another blue sphere. The highly concentrated energy howled toward the Black Armor, only to suddenly crash into a barrier that sprang into existence. Flame-colored light appeared before the Black Armor, swiftly forming an intricate Magic Circle that blocked Loki's sneak attack like a shield.
Loki froze for a moment, but his opponent clearly had no intention of giving him time to stand around. The Black Armor raised its right palm, and an energy beam mercilessly exploded across Loki's rather handsome face, blasting him backward. His back slammed solidly into the laboratory's circular inner wall. After falling to the ground, he could not get back up, and his Scepter slipped from his hand and rolled aside.
Loki lay on the floor, gritting his teeth as he struggled. Trembling, he reached toward the Scepter not far away. But the Black Armor strolled over and planted a heavy black boot on his hand.
Loki raised his head with a twisted expression, almost forcing the words through clenched teeth. "Who exactly are you?"
The wearer of the Black Armor finally spoke, his voice seemingly processed mechanically and unnaturally low.
"Your nightmare."