Chapter Text
The tesseract glowed, surrounded by technology meant to harness it.
Tiana was in the middle of the room, supervising and trying to see where they were getting on the research done on the mystical item. She stood next to Dr. Eilonwy, a young, Welsh blonde who was head of the research committee. Dr. Eilonwy had a clipboard, a pink button up shirt on, a navy pencil skirt, and glasses on the top of her head; it contrasted with the black SHIELD suit that Tiana wore, with its belts and holsters and pockets.
“We haven’t been able to quite harness it yet,” Eilonwy was saying, tapping on her clipboard with clipped-short fingernails. Her blue eyes were on the tesseract, then on Tiana. “It’s a bit of conundrum, really, but it’ll be an endless power source if we can crack it.”
“I know,” Tiana said, nodding. She surveyed the room, eyeing the men and women in lab coats. The glow of the tesseract seemed to turn their skin a slight blue. “When can I expect some results?”
“Perhaps by next week,” Eilonwy said, a bit regretfully. Her eyes went on the clipboard again, flipping papers over the top. “There’s a lot to be done; we’ve been running tests since February, but it’s a whole new world, relative to our experiences.”
Tiana nodded. It would have to do; she couldn’t force them to work any harder than they were already working; the strain already showed under Eilonwy’s eyes.
Looking about, Tiana asked, “Where’s Dunbroch? Isn’t she supposed to be keeping an eye?”
Eilonwy laughed a little, pointing up high. “She’s in her nest. Bird’s eye view and all that.”
Indeed, Merida Dunbroch was perched up above everyone else, with her bow in hand and her flaming red hair spilling out of its hasty bun. If there was anything that couldn’t be tamed about the agent, it was her hair, though she was also known to pull the rare, order-defying stunt.
Tiana cracked a smile. There hadn’t seemed to be a lot to smile about lately, but at least people were the same, even if the world was not.
Suddenly, the tesseract began to glow brighter, a great noise filling the massive room; the machines crackled, and Eilonwy flew to the monitors, looking at the stats and messing with controls frantically.
“What’s going on?” Tiana demanded, following the Welshwoman’s movements with no small amount of dread. Whatever happened, however, she would be ready for it; there would be no meeting it with fear.
“I don’t know; something’s, erm, ramping it up, turning it on… accessing it. It’s, this isn’t normal!” Eilonwy didn’t even look at Tiana, though she did stare at the tesseract, as though trying to figure it out purely from sight.
“This thing’s a doorway, isn’t it?” Merida was next to Tiana in a surprisingly small amount of time, eyeing the tesseract distrustfully; her bow was still in hand.
“Yes, so?” Eilonwy said, clipboard already forgotten on the nearest surface.
“Well, doors open both ways,” Merida said ominously, and as if on cue, an opening appeared, stretching blue energy until a form could be seen.
Tiana drew her gun, the energy whipping the hair around Eilonwy’s and Merida’s faces. Tiana’s was too tightly pulled back.
A blue-clad figure appeared, face clammy-looking and eyes darting around. Her hair was white, her eyes blue, and she breathed in the air like she was experiencing this particular kind of air for the first time.
And then she smiled.
“Who are you?” Tiana demanded, gun drawn. Whatever had the power to access the tesseract could not be good news.
The white haired woman looked around, eyeing each of them. Her eyes seemed to glow blue, and she began to stride towards them, showing her pale legs through the slit in her dress. “I am Elsa, of Asgard. I am…” she stopped, seeming to think for a moment. She smiled again, but it was entirely humorless. “I have a great destiny on your world, mortals.”
There was something completely off in the way she looked at them, as though she could see through them. It was like they were ghosts to her, immaterial and easily swept away with a wave of the hand.
“Elsa…” Eilonwy said, instantly recognizing the name. “I’ve met your sister, Anna; you’re from another world!”
Elsa smiled again, though there was an irritated tightness to the look, and her hand seemed to tremble as she waved it. An ice staff appeared in her hand, and she stood still.
“What is your purpose here? Why have you used the tesseract?” Tiana demanded, pointing her gun at Elsa.
Elsa laughed at the gun, a soft, almost distracted sound. She smiled again, saying, “I have come to conquer.”
Alarm struck throughout the room, as scientists gasped in shock.
It wasn’t a total surprise to Tiana; anyone could see that this deranged alien was bad news. She said, in a tone dangerously even, “We have no quarrel with you, Elsa.”
“An ant has no quarrel with a boot,” Elsa said dismissively, adding, “Submit, and you will not be harmed.”
There was something detached in her face, something that threatened she had no connection with right or wrong, only a single-minded mission.
It was time to end it.
Tiana shot at Elsa, and found, to her shock, that the bullets froze in mid air and fell to the ground.
Elsa surged forward on a wave of snow, like an avalanche, filling the room and dropping the temperature several degrees.
Merida had already dived in front of Eilonwy, firing off an arrow at Elsa; several other SHIELD agents shot their guns.
Elsa stopped their bullets, and then brutally hit them in the head with her staff; she froze one man solid.
“Eilonwy! Get the others out of here!” Merida shouted, as Elsa closed in on her; she slammed her bow into Elsa’s midsection, but found her arms caught in the woman’s icy grip.
“You have heart,” Elsa said, looking thoughtful.
As Tiana watched in relative horror, she touched her staff to Merida’s chest, and there was a small glow there before it disappeared entirely. Merida slackened, standing still.
“Dunbroch!” Tiana shouted.
“Tell me, what is the fastest way out of here?” Elsa said, and to Tiana’s shock, Merida responded, eyes glowing blue,
“There are trucks outside; I can get you there.”
“Let her go,” Tiana said dangerously, pointing her gun at Elsa. She knew it was fairly useless, but she intended to follow it up with her fists if she had to. In any case, the threat was made clear.
“Shoot her.” Elsa’s words had barely left her mouth before Merida drew her handgun and shot Tiana in the abdomen.
It hit her bullet proof vest, but god, it hurt. It like being slammed with a sledge hammer, and Tiana fell down with a gasp. She wheezed, trying to get the air back in her lungs.
She looked up in time to see Elsa tap her staff to Eilonwy’s chest, and then move on to several of the SHIELD agents.
“I’ll be taking this,” Elsa said, and there was a manic glint in her eye; she had Eilonwy put the tesseract into a suitcase, specially made for it.
The lights began flashing red, as Eilonwy hit the controls to make the place self-destruct. Her eyes were glowing blue too, almost with an icy look to them.
Self destruct was imminent without the tesseract in its place.
As Tiana was regaining her breath, clutching her side where some ribs were undoubtedly broken, they trooped out.
“Tiana, is use of the trucks authorized?” came crackling over her communicator in a Southern drawl, and Tiana recognized Charlotte’s voice.
“No, stop the intruder at all costs! I repeat, stop the intruder, she has the tesseract!” Tiana said, getting to her feet and running despite the agony in her ribs.
She raced to the trucks, but the crew was already gone. Charlotte stood there, saying, over the sound of the alarms going off, “I’ve got several crews after the intruder; we’d better get you out of here!”
Tiana threw herself into the passenger side, and Charlotte drove like a mad woman. As they drove, they slid on ice, of all things, at this time of the year. Great icicles skewered trucks, and made driving nearly impossible.
Arrows were also sticking in the walls.
They only narrowly got out before it exploded.
Elsa was gone. The tesseract was gone.
And there was only one thing that Tiana could think to do.
“Call Mulan and Rapunzel; we’re activating the Avengers Initiative.”