Not An Avenger

The Tesserect

"It's an emergency. Call me." Experience had taught me that receiving such a text from Tony Stark meant probably nothing serious. He obviously hadn't heard the story of the boy that cried wolf. However, against my instincts, I called him.

"Hey, honey. I'm really in a fix here. I've found this great lingerie store and its Pepper's birthday tomorrow. Do you think...."

"Okay. Let me stop you right there. A- This definitely not an emergency. B- I'm in middle of an important research, taking a break from my residency which, by the way, is very important to me. C- I'm working in a secret government facility where cell phone use is restricted to minimum. You see where I'm going with this?"

"All right Ms. I'm-too-busy-to-talk. Won't disturb you again." He hung up before I could say anything. He was audibly hurt.

I hated this part. I wondered why I ever signed up for this research. I've been holed up in this jail like research facility with practically no contact with the outside world, for 3 months. I didn't blame Tony for those 'emergency calls'. I knew he missed me. I missed him too. My eccentric billionaire friend who was occasionally a superhero. But I couldn't afford to get any more warnings on my cellphone usage otherwise I'll lose the privilege entirely.

At least the research was going somewhere. I had been assigned to study the biological effects of low doses of Tesserect energy. The Tesserect is a mystical object (no one really knows anything about it, except that it is a high energy source), which has been in SHIELD's possession for some time.

In the first two months, the mice died even on the lowest exposure possible. Then unfortunately (or fortunately) an accident occurred with a physicist who was working with Dr Selvig on the Tesserect radiation studies. He exposed himself to the Tesserect for a little bit too long and.... well... he died.

It was his cadaver that really boosted my research. I was able to identify most of the biochemical and physiological changes of Tesserect energy on the human body. All I had got from mice was roasted meat. (I'm a vegetarian by the way, so - no use.)

And today I was getting even ahead. I had subconsciously remembered that all of Dr Pavlov's reports (that's the physicist, God rest his soul.) had been consistent with another set of reports I had seen before. The only problem was that I couldn't remember whose reports they were. So I had to basically go through the files of every patient I'd ever treated. I was getting really monotonous.

I remembered how it was only a year ago that I'd become a doctor and got this internship at SHIELD through the USMLE. How drastically my life had changed in the past year. I was musing about my life in India when the alarm rang. I was wondering I it was a drill, when Agent Coulson burst into my office.

"This is not a drill, ma'am. You have to evacuate no. Preserve as much of your research as you can."

"What happened? Why are we evacuating?" My voice still had its accent, even after a year of living here.

"The Tesserect is unstable. Its emitting low amplitude gamma radiations spontaneously. We are afraid if Dr Selvig is not able to contain it, there might not be a minimum safe distance."

"Let me help." Such life endangering situations were supposed to be a part of working at SHIELD.

"This is not your field, Amrita. There is nothing you can do by staying here." He addressed me with my first name. We had become good friends on our field trip to New Mexico but Phil was always professional. He was obviously worried.

I could be stubborn if I wanted to. But I realized that he was right. I was not a physicist. I knew nothing about the workings of the Tesserect. (to be fair, neither did they)

"You can help by taking the phase 2 prototypes to safety." He offered, seeing the dejected look on my face.

I wasn't really a fan of phase 2. I basically meant using the energy of Tesserect to build weapons.

"Is that really a priority right now?" I asked.

"Director Fury's orders." He simply stated.

I sighed and went off to see to my given assignment.

The task wasn't as easy as it sounded. As soon as I drove my van filled with weapons out of the facility, it was hit by what I would call the mixture of an earthquake and a tornado.

Hopefully, the campus would have been cleared by now. It was completely destroyed by the impact. Acres of solid infrastructure blown to dust like sand castles.

However, the 'earthnado' didn't stop there. The underground tunnel on which I was driving, started collapsing. I felt like I was playing I racing car game like I played when I was a kid. Except this was an actual race against death. I saw vans alongside mine, driven by SHIELD techs getting trapped beneath the debris. There was nothing I could do to help them. I drove on with full speed.

It was a good half an hour later I actually felt safe and my heart rate returned to normal, though I had left the 'earthnado' behind twenty minutes ago. Remember when I was talking about life and death situations working at SHIELD, before? Screw that! This was the real shit!

I contacted the SHIELD HQ and learned that the earthquake was due to the Tesserect. It was used from outer space to open a portal here. An alien called Loki came out from it and stole the Tesserect.

I thought after all the strange and crazy things I've seen, nothing would surprise me now. I've been constantly proven wrong.

Anyways, we had orders to reach the New York base, so I continued driving.

The rest of the drive was uneventful, except a call from Tony. He had learned about the explosion at the facility, and was worried about me. I reassured him and even helped him pick out a gift for Pepper. After much persuasion, he agreed not to give her lingerie and settled on jewelry.

He was curious about what actually happened. I couldn't tell him, of course. Though I thought he would soon be brought in on the loop. He was Iron man, after all. And SHIELD wanted to retrieve a highly valuable stolen item from an all-powerful alien. His help would be needed.

I wondered if it would be enough.