Tony after hearing Adams response jokingly asked, "What are you some kind of test tube baby?" He had thought Adam was merely joking around.
"Yes. I wasn't born but grown. I am the culmination of various genetic enhancements, although I can be considered human at the same time I am a weapon designed to protect the UNSC." Adam explained.
Upon hearing this both Natasha and Yelena both couldn't help but see similarities between themselves and Adam. Although they weren't grown in a lab like him, they had been taken as children and turned into a weapon themselves.
They both hadn't realized just how different he was from the others of his crew, it never occurred to them to ask why all the other crew members had family names were as Adam's uniform only showed one name.
"Wait you're serious?" Tony asked in shock, after seeing the serious expression and hearing his tone Tony realized Adam wasn't just joking around.
"Yes, I am being honest. I hope this doesn't affect our cooperation, but honesty is the best policy, especially when trying to build trust. Wouldn't you agree?" Adam asked Tony rhetorically.
"I will be building a translocation platform on Earth, so if you can find me a large island preferably, that I can purchase to begin construction it would be a big help. It will allow for easy transport between Earth and the space stations once they are completed as well as the Infinity. Although we don't have currency we have rare metals and gasses we can sell. We have been mining the asteroid field to begin construction of astroid bases and thus have plenty of gold, platinum, diamonds and such. We also have vibranium but we can't really sell that in bulk since the space stations and much of the ships will be made from the supply we have but I am willing to sell a little here and there." Adam went into further details and hashed out an agreement.
Once completed Adam returned to the Infinity bringing Natasha, Steve, Sharon Carter and Bruce Banner along with him and Yelena.
Sharon wanted to see her Aunt Carter herself since she was very close to her and was trained by her, while Bruce Banner was highly curious due to his love for science. Tony detailing his experience aboard the ship had peaked Bruce's curiosity, he hoped to gain knowledge on how to help his own situation and having access to advanced technologies could help him greatly.
Tony had some personal matters to attend to with his company as well as making adjustments to the Mark 7 armor, but he was given a communication terminal which allowed him to stay in contact with the Infinity.
The rest had to help prepare for the task of clearing HYDRA and bringing down SHIELD. Fury sent Cint back to where Doctor Erik Selvig was doing his work on the cube. He had orders to inform Selvig to stop all research and shut down the facility.
It would take some time to prepare, Fury and the others knew that just going on the offensive without a full plan would only lead to more issues. So they acted as if everything was fine when they returned, but in the shadows they began building cases against high level politicians and operatives so that when they make their moves. The world would know just who they were truly.
Months passed quickly and in this time much has been done on Adams side. Construction of various bases had begun, not just on the Earth but also several space stations had also begun. The sensor array had been completed, it would be able to track not just slipspace jumps but also any other warp or jumps within the whole sector.
It enhanced the Infinity's own abilities to track and monitor for attacks or invasions.
Adam had also moved the Infinity from Saturn to Mars, this was where he planned to build the Shipyard and Refit Station. The construction was slow but steady thanks to construction droids being created and manufactured aboard the Infinity.
Thanks to having access to Forerunner technology they were able to have access to many technologies that would expedite the construction process.
Everything was running smoothly until one day, as Fury was planning the upcoming ambush of Pierce and all other HYDRA agents he received an emergency call from the Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility, the underground SHIELD facility that Doctor Selvig was using to work on the Tesseract, his presence was requested immediately.
Fury quickly contacted Maria Hill and Phil Coulson and requested they gather a small team of trusted agents to join him in securing the facility. He had a bad feeling about this since the facility was being shut down and further testing was stopped. The only reason it was still an active site was to not tip off HYDRA and it was a secure facility to protect the Tesseract.
Within an hour Fury and his team arrived, Fury sent Phil Coulson and Maria Hill to begin removing all equipment and weapons from the facility. Fury went alone with a small team to talk with Erik Selvig about what was happening.
Deep within the facility, in a large room deep underground, Fury walked into the room and saw Erik with a few scientists working at a terminal arguing. They didn't even detect Fury and his few agents walk in, they were too busy handling whatever issue he was called in for.
"Talk to me Doc." Fury called over loud enough to get the scientists attention. Upon seeing Fury walking over Erik quickly made his way over to Fury.
"The Tesseract is misbehaving." Erik said as he got in step with Fury to explain.
"Is that supposed to be funny?" Fury asked incredulously.
"No it's not funny at all. Not only is the Tesseract active she is behaving." Erik said vaguely since it was the best description he could give at what was happening.
"I assume you pulled the plug?"
"She's an energy source, we turn off the power she turns it back on. If she reaches peak level..."
"We prepared for this doctor, harnessing energy from space." Fury cut off Erik since he didn't fully understand the situation.
"We don't have the harness, our calculations are far from complete. She's also throwing off interference radiation, nothing harmful, low levels of gamma radiation." Erik explained as he began working on a terminal connected to the device holding the cube.
Upon hearing Selvig Fury turned from looking at the cube to look at Erik, "That can be harmful. Where's Agent Barton?"
"The Hawk? He's up in his nest as usual." Erik said as he pointed to a section of a walkway up near the ceiling of the lab.
Fury looked up and saw Clint, "Agent Barton report." Fury radioed.
Clint made his way down to the floor by repelling down and met with Fury.
"I gave you this detail so you can keep a close eye on things." Fury stated as Clint approached.
"Oh I see better from a distance." Clint retorted.
Fury ignored the comment and asked, "Well see anything that might set this thing off?"
In the background, a female scientist called over to Erik, "Doctor it's spiking again." Erik rushed over to her station to try to stop the power spike.
Shaking his head in response Clint answered, "No ones come and gone, Selvig is clean, no contacts no Instant Messages. If there's any tampering sir it isn't from this end."
Fury who had walked up to the cube to inspect it turned to Clint and asked, "At this end?" he asked questioningly.
"Yeah, the cube is a doorway to the other end of space, right. Doors open from both sides." Clint explained his take on the situation.
Suddenly the cube began to surge and hum with power which shook the whole facility repeatedly, it was like a beating heart. The power continued to increase and large bursts of blue light began enveloping the cube.
Then a blue energy field began to spin like a tornado and a beam of energy shot out creating a large portal outlined in blue energy matching the cube. Within the middle a blackness speckled with stars like the night sky appeared and grew bigger and bigger until it became unstable and exploded out causing the facility to violently shake.
When Fury and the others had then looked to where the portal was they noticed a dark haired man holding a metal spear-like object with a glowing gem towards the top of it.
Fury's eye narrowed as he had a bad feeling about this man, "Sir, please put down the spear." Fury called out, hoping to at least assess the situation.
The man looked at them, then down at the Sceptre in his hands. When he looked back at the multiple armed guards approaching with their weapons drawn he gave a smile.
Then he shot the spear forward firing a bolt of energy which hit a piece of equipment and exploded.
The agents opened fire, hitting him but the bullets had no effect. He then leaped at one of the soldiers and stabbed him in the chest using the Sceptre. He made quick work at killing all the guards and scientists.
When Clint tried to attack, the man grabbed him by the wrist and placed the Sceptre lightly on Clint's chest causing a blue energy to penetrate his body, his eyes turned dark then returned to normal except they shared the same blue hue as the mans.
After taking over Clint he began walking to others who were still alive and repeated the action, seeing the situation becoming bad Fury began to use this chance to take the cube and leave.
Just as he got the cube out of the device and into a briefcase and began to leave quickly he heard the man finally speak. "Please don't, I still need that."
Turning to face the man Fury replied, "This doesn't have to get any messier."
"Of course it does, I've come too far for anything else. I am Loki of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose." Loki replied.
Hearing this Erik looked at Loki and couldn't help but confirm, "Loki? Brother of Thor?"
"We have no quarrel with your people." Fury said in response.
"An ant has no quarrel with a boot." Loki responded
"Are you planning to step on us?" Fury asked wanting to try to buy time for the explosion he knew was going to happen.
"I come with glad tidings, of a world made free."
"Free from what?" Fury asked.
"Freedom, freedom is life's greatest lie. Once you accept that in your heart..." Loki then quickly put the Sceptre onto Erik Selvig's chest thus taking his mind over, "you will know peace.
Fury seeing this happening didn't waver one bit and stared directly at Loki with his one good eye, "Yea you say peace, I kind of think you mean the other thing."
Loki smirked at Fury but before he could respond Clint cut him off, "Sir Director Fury is stalling, 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." Fury said as his mind raced at what to do next since now he knew he wouldn't be able to stale much longer since now Loki knew what he intended.
Selvig rushed over to the main terminal of the lab and confirmed Clint's assessment, "He's right, the portal is collapsing in on itself, we've got maybe two minutes before this goes critical."
Before Fury could do or say anything, in a flash Clint pulled his weapon and shot Fury in the chest causing him to drop the case. Loki and his new minions stepped over Fury like he was nothing, grabbed the case and quickly left, killing any agents that tried to stop them.
Fury had radioed the others of Clint being compromised and both Maria Hill and Phil Coulson had mounted a defense to try to stop Loki but were unsuccessful. Fury and the others barely made it out before the whole base had collapsed causing a deep crater on the surface above where the base used to be.
They tried to pursue Loki in a helicopter but he was just too powerful, using the Sceptre he shot down the helicopter Fury was in killing everyone on board, had Fury not jumped out when he did he too would've been killed.
He knew they were in trouble, it wasn't long before an SUV pulled up, driven by Maria Hill.
"Sir, we were able to get most everything out before the explosion, there wasn't much anyway since we had been slowly pulling out the materials related to the research anyway. The only ones not accounted for are Selvig and his team as well as the security detail that went with you." Maria reported to Fury the situation.
"They are dead, Selvig, Clint and Agent Roberts were taken by Loki. He did something to them, some kind of mind control. We are up against Loki and he has taken the cube. Call everyone, our new friends included. Adam says they are here to help, well now it's time to see what they can do. Loki took out my security detail like they were toddlers." Fury answered after he got into the back seat.
Phil began to make the necessary phone calls while Maria Hill rushed to the airstrip that they had left the Quinjet that they came here in. Fury stared out the window remembering what Adam had told him about the cube. Once again Fury pulled out an old pager, debating whether to call Carol or not.
Not only was Loki a threat, but he still didn't trust Adam and the UNSC. Even after everything Adam has done and shown he felt Adam was skating a fine line that didn't give him confidence in thinking he wouldn't dominate the Earth. Fury was a patriot and felt the UNSC should work within the UN, which is led by America.
But Adam refused any involvement, Fury felt Adam wanted to be above the government and this was dangerous. So Fury pressed the button, he needed backup he could rely on and he knew Carol would not only have his back but would be able to stop Adam if needed.