Chapter Text
Late nights were the norm for Nick Fury. Nick Fury, as far as he was concerned, was in the business of making sure the world kept turning. People liked living nice, boring lives. It was his job to take the trash out. There was always some mad scientist, some would-be terrorist, out to disturb the public peace. It wasn't enough to simply blow the assholes up. Learning the precarious nature of the real world would terrify Joe Average, so handling these issues required appropriate planning and a subtle touch. It meant long hours. Nick didn't mind, no matter how much his doctor bitched about "overwork" and "not enough sleep" and "too much stress." It kept his life interesting.
Granted, a lot of those long hours were devoted to paperwork. Like now. Some band of Chinese superscientists had gone rogue, and the government was wringing its hands and refusing to talk. And all this on the Indian border, perfectly positioned to start a secret war. Idiots and assholes, the lot of them! Nick sighed and selected teams to deploy to the border.
A small blue distortion appeared right about his desk and exploded. Goddammit, he was too busy for personal fuckery. Nick blinked the light out of his eyes and reached for the panic button.
The Tesseract was on his desk.
The Tesseract was on his desk.
The air by his desk fizzled, and Loki appeared, dolled up in his Renaissance Faire wannabe coat and crouched on the ground. "Is this working? I'm improvising a bit." Nick slammed the panic button, shoved the Tesseract to the other end of the desk, and drew his gun. "I'll take that as a yes. Let me adjust the spell..." He vanished, just as SHIELD agents poured into the room.
"Get that somewhere secure," Nick snapped, jerking his head at the Tesseract. One of the agents gingerly picked it up and backed out of the room, eying it like a bomb. Nick made a mental note to give her a bonus.
"Better," Loki said, reappearing on his computer screen. "You'll need to preserve this message."
Several agents instinctively raised their guns, and someone cursed. Nick waved them down. "He isn't here." He made a show of placing his gun on the desk and folded his arms. "Coming back for another asskicking?"
Loki gave a thin-lipped smile. "If only. Asgard has fallen to Thanos. He rules an army larger than you can imagine, and he plans to burn the Nine Realms to the ground. Earth is next."
"Is that so." As if Nick would believe a world out of Loki's mouth.
Loki laughed humorlessly. "You don't understand the danger you face, do you. Listen: you defeated one Chitauri fleet, one that had barely established a beachhead. Thanos rules the entire race, and more besides. He views your victory as a challenge to his power."
Certain details began to draw Nick's attention. From the way he crouched, Loki seemed to be hiding from something. His face was drawn, and suspicious stains darkened patches of his clothes. "You have a handful of years. Asgard has fallen, but the victory came dearly, and Thanos will need to regroup. The Tesseract's true power lies in its ability to warp space. Use it to build a new Bifrost and contact the other realms. You will need to form an alliance with them." Loki smiled, despair writ across his face. "An impossible feat, but the only hope we have. Thor and Heimdall will tell you more when they arrive. I need--" He broke off and looked up. "Ymir's icy blood!"
A large, armored hand descended to wrap around Loki's head and jerked him into the air. The image on the screen tilted crazily--Loki screamed something, muffled by the hand--then shifted over to show a giant, purple man. The giant laughed as Loki swung his legs up in a kick and slammed an ornate sword through the alien's struggling body.
The image blinked out.
Son of a bitch. Nick was going to be here all night.