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     THE DREAMSCAPE OF DIANE'S MIND WAS OFTEN PLAGUED WITH HORRORS THAT NEVER ESCAPED HER EVEN UPON WAKING. Despite that, she still valued her sleep.

     ...If only she could get some sleep.

     "Shuri," Diane yawned, "Can we continue this tomorrow? I'm tired. I have work tomorrow and you have classes... We've been watching movies for the past 24 hours." Her head was exploding with mummies and Patronuses.

The young girl pouted. "But you said you felt great like four hours ago!"

Diane shut her laptop closed. "And now I don't feel well," she stated, tying her braids back.

     "Ugh, fine," Shuri whined. "But Pop Culture 101 begins again tomorrow at 18:00 sharp!"

     "Yeahokaywhatever," Diane muttered as she fell back into the bed, her crop top and palazzo pants camouflaging under the colorful sateen comforter.

     Shuri sighed and put Diane's laptop back on her desk. "Goodnight, Dede," she said, pressing a kiss to her forehead before leaving her room.

     "Mm, 'night," she mumbled, already slipping into a deep sleep. Just as she suspected, Diane dreamt of Brendan Fraser and dementors.

     "Expecto Patronum!" shouted the disembodied voice of Harry Potter. A figure stood between her and Brendan and the dementor. It conjured a wispy, blue-white Phoenix Patronus that warded it off but then bird grew bigger and brighter until—

     It imploded. Blue light, reminiscent of the Tesseract, flooded the space around her — tinting her vision azure — and suddenly it was like she was flung back in time to HYDRA's control. Now she was lying on cold, ridged metal as though she had fallen asleep there instead of her bed. The space in and around her felt as though it was jittering with excitement. With a groan, Diane tried to push herself off the ground with unstable arms but came to rest on her forearms after little success. She focused on the metal grate imprinting into her skin, struggling to catch her breath. That is until a pair of boots inches from her face finally caught her attention.

     The man in front of her was not like anyone she had ever seen, real or otherwise. Diane believed it to be her imagination running rampant. Surely, this leather and gold-wearing, glowing spear-wielding man could only exist in the land of dreams?

     She was vaguely aware of the voices behind her. It was a distant ringing in her ears as she glanced around, trying to gauge where she was. She gazed wearily back up at the man who was now watching her with a greedy delight that sent a frightening chill down her spine.

     The golden short-spear in his hand came up under her chin. She hissed as the sharp point pricked her skin, forcing her to look all the way up at him. The light from the luminous center of his weapon cast the man's sharp features in an eerie shade of icy blue. Toto, I don't think we're dreaming anymore, she thought weakly to herself.

     His voice was as smooth as silk when he spoke. "And where did you come from?" Breathing heavily, she only glared at the man, not much appreciating being questioned at spearpoint. "That's alright. I know who you are, Lady Diane, and soon, you shall as well..."

     "Sir!" An authoritative voice from behind her diverted his attention away from her. "Please put down the spear." Just don't put it down in my chest, she said to herself. The man's smirk only grew at the command. He stood to his full height, leaving Diane lying on the ground, a trickle of blood running down her neck. Her body was still pulsating and buzzing with the sudden surge of energy and it was taking everything in her not to collapse from the exhaustion of the impromptu cosmic travel.

     The man reared back the spear and fired a blast of energy at one of the agents. He left her behind on the platform and began attacking everyone in the room with incredible ferocity. Diane winced as the sound of gunfire pounded against her eardrums. She crawled down onto the floor, her silk pyjamas providing little protection from the cold, dirty concrete. With hands pressed over her ears, she waited until the frenetic energy in the room came to a standstill. She caught a brief glance at the banners hanging from the high ceiling and the enormous logo emblazoned across them. S.H.I.E.L.D., she thought distractedly, Why the fuck am I at a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility? Peaking her head over the top of the metal pad they had arrived on, she saw the man standing triumphantly over the unconscious bodies of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.

     She gasped at the sight of the destruction he had caused. The entire facility was in ruins. Any equipment in the room was either blasted apart or riddled with bullet holes. The sharp crack of sparks exploding from the wreckage made her jump.

     One of the agents got to his feet, but he was ambushed before he could take a single step. The man with the black hair grabbed hold of him. Diane couldn't make out what he was saying but she did see him press the point of the spear to the man's chest.

     At the end of the runway was another man she recognized as the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. clearly trying to go unnoticed as he removed the Tesseract from the machinery. Staying low, she ran over to him and grabbed his leather-clad arm, stopping him from touching it. "Stop," she whispered, "It could kill you."

     Diane raised a luminescent blue hand and reached for the Cube. She hesitated as her hand shook. This was the very object that Zola and Schmidt used to torment her and being so close to it now, all she felt was the power that flowed freely through every square inch of the universe. But they didn't have time for a trip down memory lane. Something told Diane that her augmented state growing within her signified their limited time in the building. She snapped out of it and plucked the Tesseract out of the prongs, nestling it gently in the open briefcase.

     He gave her a look, "Can you get us outta here?" She nodded, "Yes." He shut the case and gestured with his head to follow him.

     The silken voice stopped them in their tracks. "Please, don't." They turned around. "I still need that." The man had turned his attention to them.

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

     "Of course it does," he retorted. "I've come too far for anything else." Diane could finally see just how sickly his pallor was. "I am Loki... of Asgard. And I am burdened with glorious purpose." Her heart began to palpitate.

     "Loki..." One of the lab technicians proclaimed, getting himself off the ground. "Brother of Thor!" Loki scowled.

     "We have no quarrel with your people." Diane nervously glanced behind them at the energy pocket building steadily just above their heads. That's why she felt so... heightened. And why it wasn't letting up, but getting stronger. She tugged on the man's sleeve to get him to hurry.

     "An ant has no quarrel with a boot."

     "Are you planning to step on us?"

     "I come with glad tidings! Of a world made free."

     "Free from what?"

     "Freedom," he responded seriously. "Freedom is life's great lie. Once you accept that... in your heart..." He turned to the technician and corrupted his mind just as he had done to the other agent.

     "No!" Diane shouted.

     "You will know peace." A sinister smile crept across Loki's face once more cementing Diane's fear of him. She shut her eyes and gripped Fury's jacket even harder. The power surging violently around them was overwhelming her senses.

     "Yeah, you say 'peace'... I kinda think you mean the other thing." The energy crackled above them. Diane collapsed to her hands and knees, unable to stand it any longer. Concerned, Fury leaned down and draped her arm across his shoulders. "Hey, come on, Freeman. Come on," he urged as he raised her to her feet.

     Loki watched her with avarice glinting in his glacial blue eyes. "You see what happens when you people are left to your own devices? Well— our devices. You can't possibly hope to control what you do not understand." Diane felt like she was due to explode along with the building at any moment now.

     "Sir, Director Fury is stalling. This place is about to blow. Drop 100 feet of rock on us. He means to bury us."

     "Like the pharaohs of old," Fury said, confirming his plan.

     "He's right! The portal is collapsing in on itself. Got maybe about two minutes before this goes critical."

     "Well then," Loki gestured to the archer.

     Agent Barton lifted his gun and — before Diane could process it — shot Fury in the chest. "NO!" she cried as they both crumpled to the ground. Barton swiped the Tesseract away from her reaching arm. Furious, she scrambled to her feet.

     Loki raised his scepter and the blast struck her in the diaphragm. She flew back, hitting the hard floor with a harsh thud. She struggled to regain her breath just as the man's foot came under her and flipped her onto her back. The spear was once again threatening to pierce her skin but this time it was against her chest.

     Diane gasped as she suddenly felt her thoughts beginning to fade, swallowed by the very blue light that threatened to take her too. Everything went deafeningly silent. Then she heard Loki's voice in her head. "A Midgardian who wields the power of the Tesseract... even you don't know how you came to be." It pressed harder into her chest, piercing her skin through the silk. "I can show you. Would you like to know what you are?"

     She screwed her eyes shut and tried in vain to kick him off. No, stop. Memories flashed through her mind before slipping away into the cobalt depths of space. Stop resisting. Loki grew frustrated and pried further into her head. Get out. She was struggling to distinguish her own thoughts from his. I can show you truth.

      "I made new friends today, Ger!" A bright, young face with even brighter eyes.
     "Because I'm the monster parents tell their children about at night?"
     "Look after Geri for me, will ya, Steve? Love you."
     "I did it for you. For us!" A disappointed look and a broken heart. "No, Loki."
     "Come back to me, okay, Sarge?" A sad smile and teary eyes. "To you? Always, doll."

     Diane's face twisted in anger. "STOP!" Loki flew back in an explosion of pink, misty light. The entire room shook violently and she threw a frantic glance over her shoulder. The nucleus of the pocket began to bleed with strands of pink, staining it a bright purple. She scanned the room for Loki, but he was gone.

     Fury hobbled over to her, clutching his chest with one hand and a walkie talkie in the other. "You said you can get us out of here... now would be a good time," he grunted as he took her by the arm.

     She followed him out of the lab and into the depths of the building. He guided her around corners and down a short flight of stairs. "Well, yes, theoretically—"

     "Theoretically?" He looked back at her with incredulity. "Girl, we don't have time for theories. This building is about to come crashing down on top of us!"

     "Well, I could! But I was sleeping in my bed then woke up in the middle of nowhere!" she huffed. "I don't know where I am and have no concept of how large this compound is!"

     Fury took a sharp right down another long hallway. "You know where the direction 'up' is, right? If I get you to the right place, can you get us up to the roof?"

     "Yes!" They went through a door that led into a large communal cafeteria and out through another exit.

     "Alright then," was all he said after that. Diane felt like Fury was just taking her through random, nonsensical passageways before he finally stopped. "Right here," he panted. "200 feet up."

     "200 feet... damn Imperial system..." Diane muttered, thinking to herself.

     "Oh, for fuck's sake! 61 meters!"

     "Oh. Right," she closed her eyes and BAMF! They crashed to the ground in a crumpled heap.

     Diane shivered and hugged herself as a brisk wind swept across the helipad. "Come on!" Fury called out as he climbed into the helicopter.

     As Diane stood, she spotted the truck carrying the mind-controlled agents, Loki, and the Tesseract bursting from the lower levels and tearing across the sandy landscape. "No." She felt the wormhole finally collapsing in on itself and a new surge of energy pulsing through her body.

     "What the hell are you doing?" Fury yelled over the blades. She glanced at the section of the compound that was beginning to crumble. "Get your ass in this goddamn helicopter!"

     "I'm going after him. Just get to safety!" She raised her hands and the aircraft was surrounded in light and carried off into the air, away from the destruction. Then Diane broke out into a run — the ground coming apart beneath her feet until she reached the edge — and leaped.

     Her eyes burned vibrant pink as she allowed herself to free fall. Just as the heat and explosive force of the building touched the soles of her bare feet, she ignited her hands and pulled sharply upward, finally taking flight and leaving a trail of pink cosmic dust behind her like a comet. Her heart plummeted into her stomach as she was hit with a punch of euphoria and all the surplus energy that built up was able to burn off. Diane couldn't feel the wind anymore as her whole body was consumed by the power of the Tesseract. Noticing one of the trucks trying to outrun the explosion, she gave it an acceleration boost before continuing to soar over the desert.

     Once more, Loki had that malicious grin on his face, waiting for her to come to him. He stood and fired his scepter at her.

     Expecting his offensive attack, she already had a hand outstretched and, before the blast could hit her, a hole opened up revealing the star-speckled darkness of space. The portal swallowed the blast then closed back up while Diane rematerialized, landing nimbly on the roof of the truck. A small explosion ignited in the mountains in the distance as the portal reopened miles away.

     Loki looked around, confused. She spotted the case in his other hand. While his back was still to her, she jumped down and crept over to take it from him. Slowly, he turned his head to look at her.

     The corner of his mouth curled into a sinister smirk. "So, you are a fighter," he said as a revelation to himself. He faced her. "But tell me: how do you think you can stop me?"

     "It's something my sister likes to call 'black girl magic,'" she said, clenching her fists causing them to burst with pink light.

     "Well, I would advise you to act cautiously with such magic. The Tesseract's powers may be imbued within the fibers of your being, but you are still just a mortal and you don't have a clue to the true extent of it's powers."

     Diane shifted her back foot into a box and raised her hands in defense. "Perhaps not. But on this planet, I'm a warrior and a soldier. I've trained to survive with and without these powers. What are you here besides Thor's brother?" she emphasized, noting how it bothered him before.

     Loki sneered and fired at her once more which she dodged. He swung the scepter at her head, but she caught it and tried to push it away. He was much stronger than she expected and he easily knocked her over. She gaped as her head smacked against the metal bar along the edge of the truck, stunning her. "I," he stepped on her wrist causing her to cry out in pain, "am a god!"

     Seeing a tactical knife bouncing along the floor, she scooped it up and stabbed it through the leather and into Loki's calf. "A god who bleeds?" she taunted. He growled as he backed away and inadvertently freed Diane who jumped to her feet with speed. She figured out quickly that being a "god" gave him enhanced strength so she supplemented every attack with her powers while expertly blocking his. Her glowing fist connected with his jaw, sending him to the floor which almost threw him off.

     She reached down to pick up the case again but just as her hand touched the handle, it vanished in thin air. Stunned and confused, she scanned the bed for the case, however, Loki's hand sliced through the air and wrapped securely around her throat, taking her by surprise. Diane winced as he raised her into the air, pressing harder against her windpipe. He swung her around until she was dangling over the lip of the bed just above the rapidly moving rocky ground. The blood pounding in her ears got too loud for her to handle and the wind kicked up, loosening her hair and blowing it across her face.

     Diane gripped his hand with her fingers hooked under his, trying desperately to pry them open. He laughed cruelly. Behind him, the dull silver glint of the case caught her eye. Discreetly, she reached her hand out, ensuring it stayed below his line of vision. "You are a fast learner. I'll give you that," he said. Without looking, he stomped his foot down on the metal box halting its jerky movements as it slid across the bed in her direction. He tightened his hold. She choked, screwing her eyes shut. "Do you know who the Valkyrior were, Lady Diane? On Asgard, they were Odin's most elite warriors. You fight with the same ferocious nobility they did." His smile grew. "But they're all dead now," he said slow and menacingly. The scepter reappeared in his other hand. "Now, let's try this again, shall we?"

     She raised her hands to block him, but a bullet pinged off his weapon causing him to accidentally drop Diane. The wind was knocked from her lungs as she went careening off the back of the truck. Her body hit the gravelly road and it scraped up her arms and face as she tumbled across the unforgiving terrain.

     Coughing and groaning in pain, Diane sat up and tried to run after them but fell back to her knees with a cry. She reached her hand out, trying desperately to close the space between her and the truck. A hand came down on her shoulder. "You put up a good fight, but they're gone."

     Fury helped her back to her feet and walked her to the side of the road near the safely landed helicopter.

     "What was S.H.I.E.L.D. doing with the Tesseract?" she gasped, getting straight to the point. She made a sound of discomfort as the ground dug into her feet again.

     He observed her intently. Ignoring her question, he asked his own, "Where did you come from?"

     "No, no. It was your little science experiment that brought me here. You answer my questions first," Diane panted.

     "Research," was all he said.

     "Tuh," she rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I figured that much out for myself. Did your people at least make it out?"

     "Not all of them."

     "Search and rescue on their way?" He nodded. Diane stepped away from Fury, standing on her own. "Who was that... man?"

     "A threat to global security and a major thorn in my ass. The kind of problem that I'm going to need a lot of assistance getting rid of."

     "And just how do you plan on doing that?" she interrogated, genuinely curious about what he could do about it.

     "A plan called the Avengers Initiative. A group of powered individuals who can protect the world from superhuman threats," he explained, watching her with a steady gaze.

     "So you want me to join your glorified janitorial crew? Because that's what this sounds like right now. Cleaning up the mess you just started."

     "We've already had contact with Loki's people. When his brother landed in the middle of New Mexico and incited their family feud on a small town. They are not the first and they won't be the last. This world is at it's most vulnerable right now. It needs people like you, Sergeant Freeman."

     She furrowed her brows, finally realizing that he had been calling her by her name. "How do you—"

     "Here," Fury pulled a scrap of paper out of the inside of his jacket and scribbled something on it with an official-looking S.H.I.E.L.D. pen. "This might give you a... different outlook." He handed it to her.

     Diane examined the tiny slip of paper. Hastily and sloppily written on it was... "An address?" She cocked an eyebrow at him. "What is it?"

     "I suppose you'll just have to follow that yellow brick road, Sergeant Freeman."

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