The Unseen Avenger ∘ Marvel

chapter twelve; and it begins

I exit my room quickly, stepping out into the hall and heading towards the hanger. I have to get to the quinjets before the Avengers leave, or just take one myself. Either way, I'm going to end up on the ground.

I side-step past SHIELD agents with ease despite the fast pace I was traveling at. It was only a sharp corner that had me swerve to the side to avoid a certain Captain, who was surprised by my urgency, "Whoa, Agent Firman, what are you doing?"

"Heading toward a jet. This the way towards one." I state, halting for a second to address, "I know technically I wasn't invited into your superhero initiative, but I've decided to come anyway."

His response is immediate, "No, you aren't. You are in no condition to fight."

I cross my arms, slightly shaking my head. If there was one thing I had noticed about our most recent interactions, the man had attempted to talk to me like I was supposed to obey him. Yet I didn't protest quite yet, "We're stopping an alien invasion. None of us are truly in fighting shape."

Rogers just attempts to walk past me, disregarding my previous statements. I begin my trek towards the hanger again, and I hear a scowl, "Cinna-"

"My name is Sienna," I correct as calmly as I can, stopping again and narrowly missing running into another agent in the narrow hall, "and I'm coming with you to Stark Tower."

"How did you know-"

"I'm a spy, I'm a professional at knowing things I shouldn't. Now I suggest we keep moving."

"Sienna," he says, making sure he pronounces it right, which I would've appreciated if the next words didn't follow, "I order you to stand down. This isn't just some mission-"

I almost laugh, finally through with him standing in my way, "You know what? I'm not going to. You don't have the authority, Captain Rogers, to order me to do anything. I suggest you stop acting like you do."

A moment passes. I take a step closer to him, readying another barrage to convince him to stop hindering me, "I read your file. You weren't always the big guy you are now. You were scrawny kid barely 5 feet. You were in no fighting shape, yet you still did everything to get into the army. I may not be an Avenger, but I am not going to let aliens invade Earth while I just sit around. You stopping me from doing just that? It's terribly hypocritical. Now, we can stand here arguing, or we can start walking. Either way, I'm coming with you."

I raise an eyebrow as the Captain stares at me. I begin to grow impatient with his lack of a response, moving again towards the hanger. I receive no reprimand as he joins me, and a smirk tugs at my lips for no reason at all, him commenting, "You make a hell of a point."

"That's the intent."

Nat and Barton file in with us. I give Clint a smile, he returns it.

"Sienna-" Natasha starts. Rogers gives her a look, and we go off walking again.

We arrive at the hanger, automatically going to the first quinjet we see. A younger SHEILD officer stops us. Is that Bradley?

"You are not authorized to be here-"

Cap just raises his hand, "Son... just don't."

Clint gets in the pilot's seat while Natasha hands us earpieces.

"Keep these on so we know how to contact each other. Stark is...."

Iron Man flies past us. Nat rolls her eyes," He's intercepting Loki now."

I secure my earpiece the grab the nearest data pad. I tap on it a few times as Cap looks over my shoulder.

"What are you doing?"

I smile, keeping my eyes on the screen at all times, "Hacking into Starks security cameras. I like to know what are dearest billionaire has in mind and how our villain will react."

I get the feed. I rejoice under my breath as I get several different locations on the Tower. I zoom in on the outside feed. Selvig, one of the doctors under Loki spell seems to be tampering with.......what is that?

"The CMS device," Natasha says," Powered by the cube to open the portal. It's been assembled a lot faster than I thought."

"Shut it down, Dr. Selvig." Stark yells in a mechanical voice. Iron Man hovers over the CMS. Selvig just looks up, eyes wild.

"It's too late!" he shouts," It can't stop now. He wants to show us something! A new universe."

Any other way to say crazy?

"Okay," Stark says, then aims his hands at the CMS and fires without hesitation. Energy pushes him back as the device seems to explode off it. Selvig tumbles backwards. The CMS is unharmed. How is that possible?

Stark flies around a little, dumbfounded. He then lands his suit and goes through the gauntlet that unsuits him. He disappears inside.

I tap at the data pad a little more, giving us an inside view of the penthouse. I see Loki, holding his scepter. Stark casually walks down the steps, towards the bar.

Where else would he go?

"Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity." Loki purrs. Only the sound of his voice makes my skin crawl. I want to slit his throat.

"Uh...actually, I'm planning to threaten you." Stark answers, pouring himself a drink. Should have left on your suit, Tony.

Loki smiles, "You should have left your armor on for that."

Did I actually just agree with the alien?

"Yeah, it's seen a bit of mileage. You've got the blue stick of destiny. Would you like a drink?"

"Stalling me won't change anything."

"No, no, no! Threatening. No drink?" Stark says, shaking the bottle," You sure? I'm having one."

"The Chitauri are coming, nothing will change that. What have I to fear?"

"The Avengers." He says flatly.

Loki looks at him, confused.

"It's what we call ourselves," He puts his bottle down," sort of like a team. 'Earth Mightiest Heroes' type of thing."

"Yes, I've met them."

Stark walks forward, smiling,"Yeah, takes us a while to get any traction, I'll give you that one. But, let's do a head count here. Your brother, the demi-God; a super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend."

Did he compliment Rogers? The world is about to end then.

Stark goes on, "A man with breath taking anger management issues; three master assassins, and you, big fella, you've managed to tick off every single one of them."

I'm included in the Avengers?

Loki just smiles, "That was the plan."

"Not a great plan. When they come, and they will, they'll come for you."

Damn right we will.

"I have an army." The alien boasts.

"We have a HULK."

I smirk at his response.

"I thought the beast had wandered off."

"You're missing the point. There's no throne, there is no version of this, where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you. Because if we can't protect the Earth, you can be damned well sure we'll avenge it."

Loki walks up to Stark, scepter raised.

"Does he really think that's gonna work?" I say almost laughing. Cap gives me a quizzical look.

"Stark's reactor core is powered by the Tesseract," I explain," So is Loki's scepter. Both pure energy can't take over each other when it's the same energy! It's physical law!"

Rogers still looks confused but nods. We look back at the screen.

"How will your friends have time for me," The alien purrs," when they're so busy fighting you?"

Loki taps Stark on the chest with his scepter. Ping! And physical laws stand strong.

"It should work." Loki says

"Well, performance issues. You know?" Stark answers, always the joker.

In anger, Loki grabs Stark by the throat and flings him across the room.

And everything was going so smoothly...

"Hey, Clint," Natasha yells to our pilot," Tony's about to get it so speed up!"

"Hush Tasha," He yells back," This thing can only go so fast."

We look back at the screen to see Loki throw Stark out the window

I imagine Stark's death would be from overdrinking, not free falling. We see Loki standing over the edge. Suddenly, a red pod shoots out from nowhere. It flies down as the alien looks around bewildered.

"Show us the street." Natasha orders.

"Not yet," I say.

A moment passes. I'm giving up hope.

Then, Iron Man flies up, hands raised at Loki.

"And there's one other person you pissed off!" He yells, "His name was Phil."

Loki raises the scepter as Stark fires at him, sending the alien on his rump.

"Okay guys," Clint says," Were almost here."

We look out the window. The CMS fires a blue beam into the sky. It seems to rip apart the tranquil seen, creating a wormhole. I look into, seeing space.

Things, grey and armored, seem to be riding some kind of flying chariots. At least a hundred come into view as I stare out the window. Aliens, extraterrestrial things, have invaded. My heart seems to jump into my throat a few times as I watch.

And so it begins.