In the realm of Asgard, Thor kneeled to his father, Odin. After he assisted his fellow avengers in the battle against Nexastra he had returned home to find a number of his fellow Asgardians had vanished. Loki had gone missing too and Odin feared that the anomalies had taken him, so he requested for Thor to search for his brother.
Thor landed on earth. This was not the first time Loki had run off to do heaven knows what; but this was a unique situation and he decided he could use the help of friends. People who helped him when Loki tried to help aliens invade New York.
The Avengers were assembling what was left of themselves. Ironman had joined Hulk in disappearing so they were already down two members, Their reserves had taken a hit with the two Spider-Men they had nowhere to be found.
Captain America lined up what little he had to work with. Black Widow, Hawkeye, Thor, War Machine, Ant-Man, The Falcon, The Winter Soldier, The Wasp and Captain Marvel, with She-Hulk filling in for her missing cousin. Not the team he’d go with, but it was the team he’d work with.
Ant-man was one of the few scientists they still had. Mr Fantastic, Iron-Man and Hulk had all vanished in the three amalgam events he’d witnessed. His job was to build the blueprints Stark had left behind and then go from there. The rest of the Avengers were to help Thor look for Loki. They were in mutual agreement that Loki going missing, while probably a result of the Amalgam waves, was still something to be sure about; the last thing they needed is the legendary trickster messing around with things that could make matters worse.
In a doppelganger avengers tower, Mystique, under the guise of Maria Hill had infiltrated the avengers, faking her true self’s death and weaving a story of her being sent here by Stark’s recklessness. Wilson had promised her a path home if she helped him find shards of whatever had broken his weird little device.
Not long after the fight with Carnage had subsided, he had been placed in a containment cell in the helicarrier. Iron man had waited for them to get back to the tower before he revealed his surprise. His suit folded open to reveal something that made his fellow scientist’s hearts stop.
A Shard of Nexastra.
Stark was once again building his machine, Reed Richards was wholly against it; if the shard sent them from their world to this; what the hell would it do if there was a wave here? Regardless, Fury gave Stark the go-ahead. Mystique, meanwhile, was infiltrating the tower specifically to get to the shard. Wilson figured that if it broke his device, it could help him fix it.
Mystique stayed away from Fury, lest he recognise her as not the real Maria Hill. Once she had done this, she could focus on locating her son. It was a simple plan, wait for an opening, maybe get one over on Stark for shooting her, then get the shard to Wilson.
In distant space, in the home universe, A distrustful looking man awaited a meeting. Loki, the god of mischief, stood before a sight that would make lesser men quake in fear. The mad titan himself, Thanos. Between the two was a hologram of the tesseract, the container of the Space stone. The deal was Loki would recover and give him the stone, as well as the mind stone located in his spear, in return; he would be spared from Thanos’s judgement and in turn; Thanos would ensure the Avengers would vanish along with the rest of the heroes and leave earth all for him.
The tesseract was currently stored in the Avengers Tower, locked deeply behind hundreds of locks, child’s play for Loki. Thanos sent him off and awaited the stones.
Loki landed in New York, near the Tower. Time to get to work.
Stark and Banner discussed their situation over the machine. Using the Infinity stones had occurred to them, but even the ones he was certain were on earth weren’t here. Speaking of universes, the spider-people had an extra member, not from their world. Stark darkly pondered aloud if the whole multiverse was at stake. Banner didn’t reply; in the other room, Mystique listened in. She could use this to her advantage.
The Machine flickered to life. Stark pulled out the shard.
Richards was on standby to shut down the machine, Fury and “Hill” were watching closely.
Tony put in the shard.
Loki entered the tower and strolled towards where the tesseract was stored. As he made his way down a heavily fortified hallway, using his sceptre to knock out anyone before an alarm could be raised. He approached the storage room the tesseract was in and couldn’t resist shooting a cheeky look at a security camera.
Cap got the avengers to assemble, Thor rushed ahead. She Hulk tore the locking down exits open. They reached the storage areas of the tower in no time, but Loki was already gone. Thor was enraged and, in one swing of his mighty hammer, smashed through the wall. He scanned the skyline of New York and happened upon a glimpse of his brother, atop a clock tower. Before Cap could say anything; Thor flew off.
Tony stared into the wave, the machine had worked! He could see amazing sights he’d never imagined. A green ringed man fought a yellow alien, then he blinked and suddenly saw an undead spider-man eating his wife. He kept staring, maybe he could find their home universe!
The machine powered off. Stark and Banner both turned to look at Reed, enraged. He replied with a snide remark that they knew it worked, so it was time to actually have a plan. The scientists, with Fury in tow, left the room during a shouting match.
The fake Hill offered to guard it. Fury, wanting to make sure that the scientists didn’t kill each other, agreed. The second they were out of earshot, she powered it back on.
Looking into the wave, she saw herself standing among a destroyed Xavier Mansion and chuckled. Suddenly, a jovial song hit her ears. She shot around, Wilson was staring at her, singing a little song under his breath.
He saw the machine was active, and admonished Mystique for seemingly going back on their deal and taking forever, leading him to having to find his own way in. He snarked that she was lucky that the eggheads had gotten distracted, letting him sneak into the almost empty tower.
He looked past her and saw the wave. His eyes brightened and his smile grew wider. He pushed past her to look in. He saw himself dressed in spandex, in a suit, he saw what looked like a creepy monster version of himself, he saw himself with a sword but then he saw something new. A person, staring at him like it was a screen. He felt a sudden urge.
He smashed the glass to the machine, Mystique asked what he was doing in a hushed, enraged tone. Wilson didn’t answer, he reached into the destabilising wave and felt a hilt.
Mystique rushed to power down the machine. Like unsheathing a Sword, Wilson pulled his hand out, clutching an alien looking blade.
Coulson’s car sped through the roads of New York, Not only had Loki taken the tesseract, he had stolen a few Shards of Nexastra that they had kept nearby. Whatever he was planning couldn’t be good.
His car pulled into the clock tower, he drew his pistol and made his way to the top. What happened next happened in almost a flash; as he reached the top, Loki ambushed him and knocked him out with the sceptre. Cap, Thor and the rest of the Avengers arrived not long afterwards, just in time to watch him crash through a glass rooftop for the tour entrances. Black Widow, enraged to see her friend crumpled on the floor, opened fire. The bullet nicked him in the shoulder, enraged, He threw the sceptre at Black Widow, piercing her head in a shocking display of gore. Loki chuckled, He’d have to try calling for extraction once he’d dealt with these fools.
Before he could finish his internal snark, an arrow pierced his back. Clint Barton was right behind him, before Loki could even say a word the original Hawkeye kicked him in the chest with enough force to send him falling across to the nearby rooftop where Captain America waited to unleash patriotic justice on him for their fallen friends.
Loki, in desperation, raised his hand that was clutching the shards to block the attack. Cap stopped mid swing, horrified that Loki had them. He heard a Nordic war cry and shot his gaze upwards. To his horror, Thor was charging with his hammer. If that thunder hit the shards, it would start another wave. He dashed past the injured Loki and raised his shield.
Thor’s Mjolnir collided with it, severing Captain America’s arm. A blast of thunder struck the building, obliterating it, and the thunder reached the shards.
A new wave leapt forth.
Wilson stood triumphantly with his new weapon. Something about it was calling to him. Mystique regained her Hill form and Wilson swung his sword, carving through the tower as if it were butter. He looked back at mystique and gleefully shouted that the deal was off, then jumped away.
Mystique went to follow him, but the world around her started to shift. Wilson landed in the wobbling concrete and stared around him. Injured Avengers began appearing like weeds. Black Widow, Clutching her head. Captain America, arm reattached. Thor, electricity still surrounding him. Wilson clutched his sword. He could see it now. This world; it was nothing but a playground. It was time to play.