Agent Hill raced after Loki and his companions, but he had used the Mind Stone Scepter to control a large number of key base personnel, who knew the layout of its passages. With the base itself on the verge of collapse, explosions everywhere and thick smoke blocking her view, the pursuit ultimately came to nothing. She could only watch as Loki escaped completely, taking Dr. Selvig and a group of controlled agents with him.
The underground research base was completely crippled, with wreckage strewn everywhere, equipment ruined and passages collapsed. The air was thick with the smell of scorched metal and traces of the Tesseract's energy.
Nick Fury stood in the middle of the devastated laboratory, staring at the fragments of liquid metal on the floor, still slowly reassembling and writhing here and there. His expression was graver than ever.
Loki's arrival, an alien invasion, the Tesseract's abnormal activity, the Mind Stone Scepter's mind control...
This was no random case of aliens snooping around. It was the beginning of an all-out war.
Earth was about to be thrown into chaos.
Without a moment's hesitation, Nick Fury made the call, unlocked the highest level of authorization and launched the Avengers Initiative on an emergency basis.
S.H.I.E.L.D.'s summons went out that very night, and the long-shelved superhero contingency plans were fully activated.
Captain America, Steve Rogers, who had slept for years and only recently readjusted to modern society, received the assembly order at once, along with Bucky, who still stayed by his side and had long since broken free of the Winter Soldier brainwashing and regained his senses.
At Stark Industries in Manhattan, Tony Stark had just completed preliminary testing of the antigravity engine and was working with Dr. Banner on new energy particle theory. He was brought into the Avengers project