A/N: Enjoy the series as it takes you through the movies, Avengers (2012) to Infinity Wars with some short story surprises with my OC. Please do not put this in a community without my permission. You may PM me and ask me, otherwise please do not put it in the community without my consent. That is all I ask, thank you.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. The Avengers belong to its respective owners. I just own my OC. Writing for fun, and not for profit.

Chapter 1: Doors Open

Prologue

"Alright guys, good show tonight, let's pack it up," Clint Barton said to his crewmembers behind them as they worked on dissembling the circus carnival at Coney Island. He clasped his hands together.

"Almost done, Hawk," his crewmen chanted in sync, as men carried boards on their shoulders, walking back and forth along the stage.

Clint smiled, and nodded, watching them pack up their show. He let out a tired sigh, and grabbed a hold of his neck, leaning his head back to stare up at the night skies over Coney Island, New York. He glanced out in the audience, eyes peering through the empty seats.

His eyes scanned down the last row once but then twice when he thought he saw someone slightly move. It was a woman. She blended within the seats so well; it would've been hard to miss her had she not moved only to rest her foot in front of the seat ahead of her.

Hmm…a woman sleeping in his carnival?

That was something that didn't happen to Clint Barton, master archer and known swordsman in his domain.

People usually liked his performances and they were usually in awe. They were not asleep.

Clint hopped down the stage and walked right over to her.

"Well, well," he whispered in a slight drawl. "What have we here?" He crossed his arms over his chest, and flicked his eyes up and down her small frame rooted to the chair. She looked like she was comfortable in her black sweater, arms crossed over her own chest. Her dark brown hair was long and curled around the crook of her shoulder, in a loose ponytail. Her sweater rose up and down with her quiet breathing and he could only vaguely see red and purple bruise marks along her waistline that made him frown.

Her spectacles had fallen off her nose, and was about to fall down to the floor, so Clint carefully reached for them and folded them in his hands.

The soft yet calloused touch of his fingers had woken her up. She blinked at the grogginess she suddenly felt from her dead sleep. She stretched her arms up, and Clint could fully see the bruise on her stomach in which the girl now suddenly became aware of, and she quickly shoved her sweater down.

Embarrassment aside, she suddenly realized who she was facing. It was him, Hawkeye, the master archer, and the famous swordsman. Her mind was reeling, and she couldn't form any complete sentences right now because she was so flustered at his presence in front of her. She glanced around her surroundings and noticed that the show was over. Another flood of embarrassment waved through her as she realized that she'd fallen asleep, and now she was going to have to make a quick get away to go home.

"Um," she tried to find her voice. "I'm sorry I better get going." She was about to get up from her seat, but he pushed her back down. She closed her mouth tight, and looked into his fiery blue eyes.

"No one falls asleep during my show and get's away with it," he said, feigning seriousness before he smiled slightly at her.

The tension disappeared between them. "Heh, you're funny," Zoe said.

"Sometimes," Clint said, handing her, her glasses. "I believe these belong to you?"

She looked at them and nodded. "T-thank you," she stammered, taking them from his large hands. Everything about him seemed to make her grow weak, and she just wished that she could run away right now. She put her glasses on the bridge of her nose, and now saw Hawkeye in full view with his costume. She couldn't help but turn pink at his slight bulging muscles, glancing curiously at the straps wrapped around his arms.

"You know," he began. "I never met anyone who slept through one of my brilliant performances before." He flashed her a brilliant smile.

She frowned. The cockiness he shown on stage returned.

"Well, don't let it go to your head," she said and then quickly realized the mistake she made. He arched an eyebrow at her. "Uh, I mean, look, I'm just tired. I've been here many times."

Clint squinted his eyes at her. "Yeah. I've seen you before. You've been in here a couple times with your parents. Your dad was really impressed with my performance. How come you came alone this time?" he asked.

She bit her bottom lip, feeling the cool air hit her rosy cheeks. "I just needed to get away. Every time I see your show, I dream that I could be up there too. But…" she sighed, and sat up in her seat. She rubbed her eyes together with her fingers. "It's never going to happen. Look, I'm sorry I ruined your ego, Mr. Barton, but I'm just going to go."

She said, and got up from her seat. She was about to turn and walk away until a thought occurred to her. Hmm, maybe he needed a thank-you or something. "Thank you for saving my glasses."

"I get thank you's all the time," he said. "What I don't get are names."

She drew in a deep breath, looking up at the huge Ferris wheel in the distance, all lit up in twinkling lights.

"Zoe Sawyer," she said, glancing back at him.

"You can stay if you want, Miss Zoe Sawyer," Clint said. "It takes a lot to bruise my ego. I do admire that you tried."

He continued to talk over her flustered face. "Since you like it here so much, you can be my stage sweeper. We could use the extra help."

Zoe let out a half-snort and covered her mouth to hide the blush forming on her cheeks. "You'rehilarious! Is this how you get girls to bed?"

Clint's face turned brightly pink at that and he shook his head. "No," he scowled.

"Look, I'd love to stay, but I have a strict curfew," she cringed.

"How old are you?" Clint asked, glancing up and down her small size.

"That's really none of your business, but if you must know," he nodded at her and she arched an eyebrow at him of his persistence. "I'm twenty-two, and still live with my parents, unfortunately," she said. "So I kind of have to follow their rules. Yes, it does suck, but I have to," she stressed. She couldn't begin to tell him how much it sucked to be ruled by her parents at her age. She still felt like a little kid.

"I'm betting it sucks even more," Clint said, motioning a quick nod to her stomach, and Zoe winced.

She drew in a deep breath. "You don't know-"

"I know plenty," Clint said, his eyes gazing darkly at her. "I know more than you can imagine."

Zoe gulped. Did he really know what it was like?

"There's a job opening for the circus. We leave tomorrow at dawn, if you're interested." Clint said.

Zoe's eyes softened and hugged herself, feeling a little bit unconscious.

"Thanks, but I can find my own way out," she said softly, and turned to run away from him.

"Suit yourself," Clint said, watching after her as she weaved in and out of the bustling people of Coney Island.

~*A*~

It was extremely late by the time Zoe entered her parent's penthouse in Manhattan. She took the train, and then rode the elevator in her parent's building. She leaned her head against the wall of the elevator, replaying the night over and over in her head. She'd love nothing more than to get out. But she couldn't. They wanted her to have a good education, go to NYU, and become something amazing like her workaholic father who worked with big time CEO's all over the globe. Her parents were so damn complicated it nearly drove her insane. One minute they could be super helpful and super sweet to her, but the next they were yelling and screaming and… Zoe bit back the bitter memory that threatened to come back. She was like playing tug-o-war with them.

She stepped off the elevator and stopped walking for a brief moment when she noticed the door was slightly cracked open. Taking a deep breath, she pushed the door open, and walked inside her parent's massive sleek and modern penthouse, a place Zoe wasn't too fond of. It made her feel weird, and awkward. It wasn't her style anyway. She preferred the old-fashioned antique type if she had it her way, but she didn't.

"Mom?" she called, taking off her jacket. "Dad?" she asked, glancing around her surroundings. She half-expected them to be up, waiting for her, and ready to reprimand her for staying out too late with wine glasses in their hands, but neither seemed present. She hugged her jacket over her arms as she went in search for her parents.

She walked into the living room, and stopped dead in her trek. A hurtling scream escaped from her lips at the horrible sight before her own eyes. She ran over to her parent's mangled bodies twisted and matted in blood. Their faces pale and lifeless, staring upwards at her. She leaned over the bodies, and gasped. She knew it was stupid and probably pointless to feel for her mother's pulse, but she tried and placed two fingers against her mother's neck, but she felt nothing. Zoe swallowed hard.

"No," she whispered. "No," she repeated over and over again, as her hand stumbled for cell phone in her back pocket, she began calling for the police.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Miss Sawyer," A sharp voice in the dark pierced through her ears.

She looked up shakily, and searched for the corners of her living room. "W-who are you?" she asked tentatively, stepping back, nearly falling.

"My name is Director Nick Fury," he said. "And if you call that number, you'll be blamed for your parent's murder."

"But I…" she began but he held up a hand.

She eyed him curiously, glancing at the dark eeriness that seemed to swirl around him as he walked further.

"Didn't do it?" he asked. "We know. You were in Coney Island, drooling over a certain archer we've had our eye on for quite some time now."

Zoe sighed, the feelings inside of her tight in a jungle had loosened it's grip on her heart. "What do you want?" she asked. She didn't know what to feel right now, except she was just tired.

"A job opening just opened up for S.H.I.E.L.D. and we'd like you to be on it," Fury said, hands clasped behind his back. He was now underneath the chandelier lighting and Zoe could see him full frontal. He dressed in a black leather trench coat, and wore one eye patch. He reminded her of a pirate, and to be honest, he was kind of intimidating.

But did she have a choice? All of this looked bad right now.

"What's S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Zoe asked.

"It's something that your father worked for," Fury said. "He was a very good scientist and a very good man…until he got too deep with Hydra."

"Okay," she sighed, annoyed at the crypticness. "What's Hydra?"

"Our arch-nemesis," he said, a small smirk played on his face.

"My father couldn't have…" she said softly. "He worked with big companies all over the world. He was an entrepreneur, he traveled a lot…and…" she struggled to figure this out.

"That was his cover to protect his family." Fury said.

Zoe scoffed. "Right,protect his family. If he was such a goddamn protector than why the hell did he do this to me?" she asked, lifting up her shirt to show Fury the bruises on her stomach.

Fury stared at those purple and deep red marks along her skin. "Well," he drawled slowly and tentatively. "You can blame Hydra for that."

Zoe sighed, and pulled her sweater down. She looked at Fury again, wondering who this man was. Every word out of his mouth seemed so damn convincing to her that she was considering the job offer, after all she was in between jobs right now, and she could use the money now that her parents were dead. But why would S.H.I.E.L.D., this unknown company to her, ask her for a job?

"Miss Sawyer," Director Fury said, walking around her parent's bodies in the middle of the living room. "We've been watching you, your whole life. We know what you're capable of," he said, taking out a file. He set it on the coffee table and she blinked at it. That was hers? She chewed her bottom lip, and didn't want to see it. "You're quite the actress, and you can keep your head full of secrets. You keep secrets from your best friends, and then they leave you. You're happiest on stage, performing for the arts. You're creative, that's where you excel. At one point in your life, you even helped stage a robbery for one of your best friends in Soho…" Fury said.

Zoe looked at him with dread. She wasn't proud of that, but she did it.

"Your father bailed you out and…" Fury said, stopping to see her facial expression change into a painful memory glossing over her face. She sat down on the sofa. "Yeah. Not so good times after all, huh Miss Sawyer?"

Zoe tried to fight the tears threatening to overwhelm her. "I just want it to go away," she whispered. "I didn't mean to get caught up in…" she swallowed hard.

"I know," he said. "That's why if you join S.H.I.E.L.D. and work for us, in hopes you can track down certain characters when we need them, then…perhaps we can come to a certain understanding of one another."

"Don't you have people for that?" Zoe asked.

"We do," Fury said. "And you'll be training with one of them. I need someone I can trust in the field. Your father was a good man, Zoe. He was trying to get every information he could from Hydra, spill it all, and turn his badge in to S.H.I.E.L.D. He wanted to get away from Hydra's evil methods of brainwashing. He wanted his family back, but evidentally Hydra found him first," Fury said. With a wave of his hand, he pointed to her parent's bodies on the floor.

Zoe felt a feeling of dread and guilt wash over her.

"I am sorry you had to endure such severity of this, but I am offering a chance to redeem yourself," Fury said. "Now that his cover's been blown, we need someone else to replace him, someone we can trust," Fury said.

"You can trust me?" she asked.

"I trusted your father," Fury said. "He was a friend, and loyal to S.H.I.E.L.D. even if sometimes he did go a little crazy. He continued to feed us Intel on Hydra to the best of his abilities. Get us the information we need, and you'll be rewarded, with you know competitive wages, and training benefits and all that."

She swallowed hard, and sighed. She didn't have to continue school at NYU. She didn't have to work at odd hours of the night. She didn't have to fall in with the bad crowd she had in the past. She didn't have to think about joining a circus to get away. She could just be herself. She could find out what really happened with her father, and what really went down with this mystery group called Hydra. She would know and learn everything she could. She would learn everything she could about S.H.I.E.L.D. She liked to read. She liked to escape within different movies and shows. She liked great spectacles that made her feel she could do anything in the world, and not be who she really is…not that she ever knew who she was. She was still working on that and maybe she'll find her place with S.H.I.E.L.D. She looked up at him and licked her lips.

"When do I start?" she asked.

The corner of Fury's lips curled into a smile. They could start right now.

~*A*~

While Zoe Sawyer heard the warning signals inside one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s facilities, it wasn't her priority right now to run and hide. She'd been given a direct order to find him, to find Agent Clint Barton. It'd been a long time since she'd seen him, and it was only a brief moment of meeting, but she could still remember as a teenager she would go to Coney Island circus and watch that show every single night, wishing she could just perform up there without a care in the world. She didn't know what kind of name she'd have, but she'd always wanted to be someone else. Whenever the traveling circus was in town, she would be there to watch the amazing Hawkeye. She never had the guts to ask and be a circus performer, then again her parent's would have never approved. She walked down the hallway and toward the balcony where she could only guess that's where he'd be.

She glanced down the balcony, hearing the sound of a hiccup coming from the glowing cube downstairs that the scientists were currently working on. She chewed her bottom lip and stepped closer to Clint, who was sitting underneath the railing, holding tightly against the railing so he didn't fall.

"How's the view from up here?" she asked with a grin on her face.

Clint Barton spun around to face the familiar voice he heard behind him. His eyes widened as he glanced at the small slender figure standing right before him, the same small girl he spotted sleeping in his carnival. He thought he'd lost her a long time ago.

She was all grown up, no matter how short she was, and dressed in a S.H.I.E.L.D.'s uniform. He'd recognized her from her hazel eyes, now covered with contacts, and a brown ponytail curled against her shoulder.

Their moment in the past may have been brief, but it was interesting, because seriously no one ever slept during a circus show. No one, but she did.

"When did they find you?" he asked, as eyes his eyes stared at her while she walked closer towards the railing. She leaned her arms against it, and he turned back to stare down, peering at Dr. Selvig and his work on the glowing blue cube in the middle of the room.

"Wow," she exclaimed in awe. "You reallycan see everything from up here."

"Zoe," Clint said slowly, glancing up at her.

"Hmm?" she said thoughtfully, placing her index finger along her lips. "Right about the same time my parents were found murdered. You?"

Clint arched an eyebrow, but then shook his head. "You know I'm not one for show and tell, Sawyer."

Zoe winced. "Agent," she corrected him. "Agent Sawyer." She looked down at the cube and then at Barton. "That cube looks shiny, probably too shiny."

He squinted his eyes at her, studying her curiously, and glanced down at her. "Are you even cleared for this level?"

"Funny you ask that, partner," Zoe said, looking down at him.

He was sitting within the railings, paying close attention to what was happening downstairs. Not much by the looks of things, but in Zoe's past experience, she didn't trust that cube with a ten-foot pole.

"What?" he asked, glancing up at her for a brief moment to stare in her hazel eyes.

She watched his face slightly pale.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no. I work alone. I was trained by the best, not trained to baby-sit," he said.

Zoe rolled her eyes. "I was trained too, you know! Also by the best," she stressed. "I can handle myself in the field. I just can't handle my emotions very well, which is why I'm still technically a level six," she said. "But I don't know why Fury wants me with you, you'll have to ask him that," she pointed downstairs.

Director Fury glanced up at the balcony, hands on his hips.

"Sir?" Clint asked, and unraveled himself from the railing so he could jump and twirl down the cable that was attached to the ceiling and the floor. Meanwhile Zoe just took the stairs to join them a moment later.

"Could've just taken the stairs, Barton" Zoe teased. Clint eyed her curiously and then opened his mouth to protest to Fury.

"Sir, this can't, we can't, you know I don't play well with others," Clint said in a low whisper, leaning closer to Fury, eyeing Zoe carefully, as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Think of it as a lesson then," Fury said. "Forboth of you." He sighed. "Look I just figured since the two of you met, it might be a little bit easier to train with one another, that's all."

"We didn't know each other for that long," Zoe scowled, walking next to Fury.

Meanwhile Clint walked on the other side of him. "Yeah, and it wasn't like rainbows and sunshine in the sky, or anything," Clint said, glancing across from Fury at her.

Zoe glanced back at him and scoffed. "Yeah, no, it wasn't anything at all like that."

"She was drooling on my seat," Clint said.

"I was not drooling on your seat-"

"Sawyer, Barton," Fury said. "Just can-it and learn to work with each other."

"Yes, sir," they mumbled in sync, however reluctantly.

"I gave you this detail so you can keep a closer eye on things," Fury said to Clint. Clint wrinkled his nose in disgust, and looked over at his new partner.

Zoe glanced around her surroundings at the different technology that was tracing the energy levels of the Teseract. She didn't think it was a good idea to be working on the Tesseract, but she wasn't about to question her boss's orders.

"Well, I see better from a distance," Clint replied.

"Have you seen anything that might set this thing off?" Fury asked.

"Doctor, it's spiking!" one of the blonde scientists announced worriedly.

Zoe's eyes darted toward the scientist, and glanced at the cub uneasily.

"That could set it off," Zoe said slowly, glancing at Dr. Selvig as he quickly joined the scientist to read the cube's spike levels. He was an interesting looking guy, who looked no more like he was in his mid-fifties? He seemed charming enough wearing plaid, and a badge tacked to his pocket. She didn't feel any threat coming from this guy.

Clint glanced at her, as she stepped wearily beside the machine in the middle of the room that was harnessing the blue cube inside.

"No one's come or gone, and Selvig's clean," Clint said. "No contacts, no IM's. If there's any tampering, sir, it wasn't at this end."

"At this end?" Fury asked.

"Yeah the cube is a door way to the other end of space, right? Doors open up both sides," Clint said.

"Sawyer, what can you tell me about-" But Fury didn't have time to finish.

A sudden pressure shuttered the room, causing everyone to slow down in their trek, and a portal began to tear its way through the fabric of reality. The sudden movement of the cube had shaken the facility, nearly causing Zoe to stumble on her feet.

This was nothing like she'd ever seen before in her life. She peered through the portal, in awe, watching space tear into the room, making a portal, getting bigger and bigger until it suddenly swooshed.

Zoe, Fury, and Barton took cover until the energy swirls fazed out. Smoke filled within the room, and the agents tentatively stepped toward it with guns in their hands.

Zoe couldn't help but stare at the man? Was he a man? She glanced at him, taking in every detail of what he looked like…black long hair, straight back, he wore a green and black cloak, and he was holding some kind of scepter. He seemed like a man, alright, but there was something very very off about him.

Zoe's hand lingered in the air for her gun, beside her holster's hip, ready to take action, unsure what this guy might do.

"Sir, put down the spear!" Fury said.

He lifted the scepter, and studied the essence of it. Inside the scepter, Zoe noticed the same type of glowing energy in between the hooks like it was harnessing on its own or something.

He suddenly shot his scepter at him, which emitted a blue light of energy hurtling toward Fury.

Zoe took this moment to run. She whipped out her gun, and aimed it at the hostile target, running forward. The hostile target flew in the air and landed on top of her, shoving her down hard against the ground that had caused her gun to fly out from underneath her.

He used his scepter to try and change her, but Zoe blocked the scepter with her arm, and smacked him in the face with the butt of her free hand. A low growl emitted from his throat, and shot his hand toward her neck, gripping onto it, to lower her energy.

Zoe coughed, and tried to gasp for air, as he smiled, watching her suffer. Zoe needed to do something fast. She winced as he brought down his scepter toward her heart, while she kicked and tried to squirm out from underneath him. She reached out for her own knife from her boot and flipped it outwards into a longer spear.

Taking one last gulp of air, she went to smack him against his head with her own spear, but within a swift movement he used his scepter to block her. Zoe scrambled out from underneath him, now that he was distracted by her own weapon. He got off of her, and she scrambled back onto her feet, ready to take on the hostile target.

Zoe stood wearily as the hostile target smiled with amusement. She moved to attack him, lunging forward, but he blocked her spear with his own scepter, and raised both of their spears in the air. He pushed hard onto her shoulder, gripping it into a tight crunch. She cried out in pain, and he butt-headed her causing her to stumble backwards. And with her distraction, he shoved an energy ball toward her that caused her to fly down on the ground, and loose her weapon.

She groaned, feeling the effects of the forcible impact this hostile creature had given her. Two more agents tried to shoot at him, but then he flew down on them, and stabbed them with his scepter.

Barton darted and rolled on the ground toward Zoe. Zoe winced. She looked at him as he helped her up. "I'm fine," she said. "Just give me another weapon." She said, and he nodded, holding out his extra weapon toward her. She winced, using his shoulder, she pushed herself up. The fight wasn't over until the hostile target was dead.

Another set of agents fired at him, but the hostile target was much too fast for their weapons, for he threw his own weapons at them, hitting them squarely in the chest.

He shoved another ball of energy toward the blonde scientist, and then with a sharp spear he whacked it across another agents face as he also tried to hold him down.

Barton and Sawyer continued to shoot at him, aiming for his face. Barton hit him square in the face, while Sawyer tried to aim for the scepter. The hostile target growled in bitterness as he shoved another blue energy source toward them. Barton and Sawyer dodged out of the way, rolling onto the ground to get away from the blue energy source flying toward them. It hit the machine, and sparks exploded in the room, causing the other agents to jump out of the way.

The hostile target glanced at his destroyed surroundings, and smirked. He glanced around for potential survivors that he could possible use.

Silence echoed in Zoe's ears. She was hurt, and she was tired, and she didn't know how many survivors were around. But she couldn't think about that right now. She was still alive, and still breathing, which meant she still had a job to do. This hostile target meant mean business, she could see that. He had such a forcible impact on her that she didn't have time to think about his weaknesses like she usually did with her past opponents.

"Barton?" she whispered.

"Yeah," he said.

She army-crawled over to the railing and used the bar to push herself up and onto her feet. She staggered over to Barton, and helped him up, but then she suddenly felt pushed backwards, and her body slid across the floor.

"Damn it, Barton, stop shoving me-" Zoe began to speak as she brushed her hair out of her eyes, in search for Agent Barton. But she stopped talking when the hostile target spoke to her partner.

"You have heart," the hostile target said.

Shoot, shoot, shoot, Zoe thought frantically. She had to do something fast.

Zoe turned her head to find any kind of weapon. She spotted a dead agent, and crawled over to that agent. She grabbed the gun out of the agent's hand, and went to aim at the hostile target, but stopped when the scepter had already reached Barton's heart, and she felt a hand on her arm. She looked at Fury and then at the target.

Barton put his gun back in its hostler, now fully under control of this hostile target. Fury reached for the machine and grabbed the blue cube, and put it in the silver case. She was about to shoot the target again but Fury stopped her, shaking his head. "We need time, Sawyer," he said in a whisper. "You're with me."

"But-" she was about to protest until the hostile target spoke again.

"Please don't," he said. "I still need that."

Zoe aimed her gun at his forehead. "Yeah, what for?" she demanded.

"Wanna join me and find out?" Loki asked, showing her his scepter.

She glanced at the glowing gem inside the scepter, and stepped back wearily, not wanting to take a chance.

"This doesn't have to get any messier," Fury said.

"Of course it does," the target replied. "I've come too far for anything else."

Zoe squinted her eyes, eyeing him curiously, wondering what this guy's deal was.

"I am Loki of Asguard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose," Loki said.

"Loki," Dr. Selvig said, standing up from the fallen woman on the ground. Zoe turned her attention to Selvig, and then at Loki. "Brother of Thor."

"We have no quarrel with your people," Fury said, holding his hand in the air.

"An ant has no quarrel with a boot," Loki said.

"Now, can I shoot him?" Zoe asked, standing beside Fury.

"You planning to step on us?" Fury asked.

Barton turned to face Fury and Zoe with curiosity in his blue hazy eyes.

"I come withglad tidings," Loki said as he walked slowly. "Of a world made free."

"Free from what?" Fury asked.

"Freedom," Loki said, eyeing Zoe. She shifted uneasily, slightly lowering her weapon. What?

"Freedom is life's great lie," Loki continued, smiling at her. "Once you've accept that, in your heart," he began and then suddenly pointed the scepter into Dr. Selvig's heart, turning the scientist also against them.

Zoe wasn't sure what Fury's plan was here, but she was ready to kick this guy's ass. No one tried to tear apart S.H.I.E.L.D, and no one turned her family against her. And no one spread lies about freedom either. This guy was definitely crazy.

"Sir," Zoe said, clenching her teeth together, keeping her gun fixated on Loki.

"You will no peace," Loki whispered to Dr. Selvig.

Barton glanced warily at the swirling blue energy above Zoe and Fury.

"Yeah, you say peace," Fury said, glancing at Zoe. "I kinda think you mean the other thing."

"Sir, Director Fury is stalling," Barton said, walking over to Loki. "This place is about to blow. Drop a hundred feet of rock on us," Barton stepped next to Loki and looked up at the swirling blue energy field above them.

Zoe looked up as well, and widened her eyes. Her heart dropped to the floor. What on Earth was Fury thinking? She glanced at her director worriedly.

"He means to bury us," Barton said, glancing at Fury. Zoe looked down at Barton's cold voice and felt her heart twinge.

"Like the pharaoh's of old," Fury said.

"He's right," Selvig said, reading the portal's energy levels on the computer screen. "The portal is collapsing in on itself. We got maybe two minutes before this goes critical."

"Well then," Loki said, turning his head toward Barton.

Barton took out his gun and suddenly shot at Fury. Zoe shoved Fury down, taking his place, and felt the shrapnel hit her chest, knocking her out and on top of Fury. Barton then took the moment to take the brief case that carried the Tesseract, and walked out of the room, following Selvig and Loki.

"Hill," Fury said, taking out the shrapnel out of Zoe's chest. She cried out, and buried her face within his warm chest. Blood spilled out, causing her to breathe heavier and go into shock. She was shaking in his arms. "Do you copy?" he asked. "Barton has been turned."

She shook against him, as he ran out of there, taking to Hill on the radio. "They have the Tesseract, shut them down!" he said.

"And get Barton out of there," Zoe whispered, looking into Fury's one-eye. Fury looked down at her, as he held onto the threshold to steady them while the swirling blue energy force field continued to explode.

Fury took Sawyer in his arms and ran through the maze of the tunnel, weaving in and out of the falling structure.

"We're almost free, Sawyer," Fury said, glancing down at her. "Stay with me."

Zoe nodded slowly, "I'm okay, sir," she said in a drifting daze. "Just keep me alive enough so I can shoot the bastard next time."

He chuckled warmly at her as he dodged out of another couple of sparks flying toward them.

"We're clear upstairs sir," she heard Agent Coulson on the radio. The voices on the radio seemed to keep her awake. "We're good to go."

She closed her eyes just to save her energy, as Fury ran out of the doors and hurtled toward the helicopter.

Fury shoved Zoe in an empty seat inside the helicopter, and jumped inside, sitting next to her. The helicopter started to fly up in the air just in time before the ground could crumble below them.

Zoe pressed her face against the window, glancing down as she watched her second home get destroyed. Any facility of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s was considered her home, and it made her sad to see it crumble.

She peered out the window, glancing down and saw the jeep. "Sir!" she shouted, pointing toward them.

"Move," Fury ordered the pilot. The pilot turned around, and Fury started to shoot at the jeep.

Fury aimed for the jeep's window. Glass shattered around Barton and Selvig as they swerved along the grass. Loki aimed his scepter at the helicopter and hit a blue energy force at the helicopter that caught on fire, causing the helicopter to stall in the air and shrivel within the fire.

Fury grabbed onto Zoe, and jumped out of the helicopter before it could crash onto the ground, exploding into pieces.

He laid Zoe on the ground, and continued to aim at the jeep, regaining its trek back on the main high way, loosing Fury's bullets.

"Director," Coulson said on the radio. "Director Fury do you copy?"

Fury sighed, lowering his weapon. He knelt down beside Zoe, and brushed a hand over her forehead, brushing her hair out of the way. She was still alive, and she could probably make it. He needed her to. After all, she took a bullet for him.

He took out his radio to respond. "The Tesseract is with a hostile force," Fury replied, glancing at Zoe and then back at the helicopter. "I have men down. Hill?"

"A lot of men still under," Hill replied over the radio. "Don't know how many survivors."

"Sal the general called," Fury said. "I want every living soul not working rescue looking for that brief case."

"Roger that," Hill replied.

"Coulson, get back to base," Fury ordered.

"This is a level seven," Fury said with a deep sigh.

"As of right now," Fury continued into the radio. "We are at war."

"What do we do?"