Thank you for all of the support and interest so far. I'm going to try my best on this story so constructive criticism is always appreciated, and I am thankful for the advice that has been provided for these two stories.

Chapter 2

A tall, lithe figure enshrouded in darkness sat perched precariously on the rooftop ledge. Long, calloused fingers poked out from underneath fingerless gloves as the man held onto the brick wall of the staircase entrance beside him. The other arm lay atop his crouched knees as he gazed off into the night. The figure, dressed in a dark long sleeved tight-fitting shirt underneath a sleeveless hooded leather vest and black cargo pants tucked into laced, heavy combat boots, blended seamlessly into the night. His hood, raised up and over his head, cast the figure's face into darkness. Sighing in exasperation, the man let his head droop down as his shoulders slumped tiredly.

A sudden flash and a crackling below had his slumped posture straightening in alert. Tilting his head, Barton pushed up from his perch and jumped towards the ledge of the rooftop across from him as a dark sizzling ball of light sat hovering inches above the ground below. Landing on the ledge he stealthily dropped to the fire escape below him with a soft thump. Nimbly, the agent, showcasing impressive acrobatics skills, climbed and leapt until he descended onto the hard tarmac of the alley below. Letting his booted feet softly hit the floor, he paused as he examined the pulsing light in front of him. Silver and black lightning flickered angrily around a pale grey core as it rotated slowly in front of him. A soft whirring hum and the crackling of the lightning interrupted the eerie silence of the night as the light sat menacingly before him. Hesitating at the new unknown threat, Barton nervously fingered at his belt where a long metal black box was tied. Pulling the box from his belt, he pushed the button on the side of it and watched as the top of the box lit up. Waving it towards the ball of light low beeps echoed piercingly into the alley as a red light lit up the at the top of the box. The man clipped the box away back into his belt as he pressed at the screen of his watch that was clasped securely around his left wrist. The box, seemingly some sort of energy scanner, was linked directly to his watch like his various other gadgets that littered his belt for convenience. Muttering a curse at the readings he had just scanned, he frowned at the light orb.

Sudden, frantic beeping drew his attention back to his watch and away from the ball of light. Eyes widening at the fluctuating readings, he snapped his gaze back towards the energy ball just in time to witness as a tremble rippled through the core as the surrounding layer of lightning swelled to twice it's previous size. Lifting his arm to cover at his exposed eyes as the ball shone with a blinding silver light, his feet hastily put as much distance between the unstable energy and himself. Sharp cracks echoed in the alleyway as the core began to fracture and vibrate and pulsing energy was released further out of the ball towards the startled agent. Flinching and raising his arms in front of him, the agent unwillingingly closed his eyes as the energy rushed at him. Like an outstretched hand crackling tendrils reached towards him, beautiful but deadly. Cringing, he prepared for the impact only to look up stunned as the lightning seemed to fade before his eyes and soon the energy mass disappeared. Startled at the sudden development, Barton could only stare at the darkness before him.

Pulling out the scanner again and waving it around the deserted alley, a nervous relieved sigh was released from a tense mouth when no lingering energy was detected. His other hand, reaching up towards his ear, pressed at his communicator.

"We have a problem."

Hadrian watched the man as he tapped away at his wrist. His presence masked with a simple disillusionment charm, the wizard had arrived just in time to witness the alleyway fracturing and rippling before spitting out a crackling mass of dark energy. Frowning at the presence of another, he could only watch as the agent approached the dark mass and then fussed over a black device he had pulled out. Concentrating on the churning mass, emerald eyes narrowed in suspicion at the energy. The pulling sensation in his navel only heightening with his closer proximity to the ball as he stared unblinkingly at it. It was this urgent pull that had, suddenly gripping him as he had sat on his sofa reading a book on elemental magic, had him apparating blindly to where the urging sensation was the strongest. Fortunately arriving as the mass crackled into existence, the sharp crack associated with apparating had went unnoticed by the agent. Biting back a groan as he had first watched the agent approach the energy mass, he had shuffled from foot to foot anxiously. The fact that the man had thought it was safe enough to approach the highly unstable energy mass was extremely disconcerting to him; the lack of self-preservation had truly baffled him. Shaking his head at the man Hadrian had grimaced with each growing second as he had continued to watch and wait. So now here he stood watching the agent frown at the device in his hand.

A churning sensation in his gut and sudden sharp, piercing beeps had Hadrian whipping his head towards the energy mass as it seemed to tremble. Dense layers of pressure pushed towards him as the orb fractured from the core outwards. Dark bolts of lightning flashed towards the darkness of the alley as the agent backtracked quickly. Unfortunately not fast enough, the wizard grimaced. Uttering a curse he waved his hand towards the energy. With a silent Immobulus towards it he frowned at the ineffectiveness of the spell as it continued to fracture and unravel outwards. Reaching twice it's previous size the orb lifted and then flew toward the agent with a blinding light. Swearing, Hadrian twisted on his heel and, with a muffled crack, appeared before the man, relieved for his previous foresight of casting a disillusionment charm upon himself. Feeling familiar tingles of whispers on the edge of his hearing, he closed his eyes as he raised his hand towards the mass; listening to his magic he let his palm face towards the orb and intercepted the crackling energy. Pausing before his outstretched hand with a hiss, the orb sat suspended in the air before him. Waving his other hand it disappeared beneath the camouflage of a disillusionment charm. Sighing silently in relief, Hadrian let his arm fall to his side again as he turned to watch the agent behind him, still keeping the now invisible orb in his sight. Shrinking back into the shadows, taking care not to make any noise to attract the other and therefore rendering his temporary invisibility ineffective, he observed as the agent collected himself with an exhale. Reaching towards his ear to his communicator with a trembling hand, the agent muttered lowly into it. Straining to hear, Hadrian held his breath.

"We have a problem."

"...nt Barton, go.." Static filled sentences greeted the wizard's ears from the other side of the agent's line. Stepping forward slightly to hear better, Hadrian continued to try to eavesdrop on the man's conversation.

"First encounter of a potentially volatile energy at my co-ordinates. Could prove a threat."

"What i...energy status..."

"Disappearance confirmed. Energy readings of the area suggest so."

"-or Fury... -me in."

"Affirmative." Nodding in confirmation at his orders, the agent ended the call. Barton, who Hadrian now knew the other as, rubbed his shadow enshrouded face that sat behind a dark hood with one gloved hand. Groaning, he straightened up and, with one last wary glance, turned and walked away. Hadrian waited until he was no longer able to hear or sense the other with his magic before he turned back around to fully face the disguised energy. With a thought from the wizard, the disillusionment charm surrounding the energy shattered, revealing it to him again. Reaching towards the mass, he grasped it between both hands as it continued to pulse. Lightning writhed and climbed up around his wrists as the core vibrated between pale palms. Goosebumps wracked his lithe frame as the cold, bitter bite that was emitted from the mass. Shivering at the raw power and the darkness he could feel in it, Hadrian closed his palms together and trapped the energy in his hands. Closing his eyes as he concentrated on exploring it with his magic, Hadrian sighed tiredly as he recognised the energy. Or should he say death magic, he groaned. Clapping his hands together with an almighty clap, the presence of death dispersed into the air.

Touched by death twice, the young wizard was familiar with this particular magic. It wasn't the first time he had came across it either; ever since the war ended he had encountered death magic on numerous occasions. A persistent tug in his navel as his magic guided him, he'd have no choice but to follow the urging, often leading him to such instances of these encounters. Although this may not have been his first encounter with death magic, this was certainly the most volatile and hostile the magic had been.

However, the emergence of such powerful death magic startled Hadrian. Following with the knowledge his magic had granted him over the years he had lived, to witness such an obvious imbalance in Magic should be impossible. Death magic was a powerful, ancient magic that had existed since Time had first began. Without death there was no life; the perfect balance and harmony bringing about existence as a whole. The existence of harmony, necessary in nature, balanced the precarious equilibrium that was the cycle of life. The philosophy of Yin and Yang itself, the theory in which everything exists with a contradictory opposite that serves to balance the other out, dictated that each side has, at its core, the other present; neither side could be superior to the other, for harmony could only exist with a perfect balance of both life and death. An imbalance in one would bring about an imbalance in the other and so a natural shift would occur in nature's equilibrium to balance the two opposites again; a surge in death would bring about the creation of life and vice-versa. Nature would naturally maintain the balance and harmony and everything would return to the way it should be before the imbalance could be felt or experienced.

So for the wizard to witness such an obvious surge in the power of death as a visible sign before himself truly baffled him. It should be said that no visible signs of an imbalance would present itself unless nature could not manage to balance it out; usually the balance would recover before any adverse effects could be felt but here he stood frowning into the space that the death magic had previously occupied. There were, however, exceptions to the natural balance and nature's ability to maintain it but these were very rare. Hadrian himself had never witnessed this before, being only a young wizard, that had only existed for but a comparatively mere millisecond of the earth's life, but his magic had never led him astray. Something had happened. Something would be coming. The scale of life had tipped towards a side and yet there was still no sign of it's recovery to a stable equilibrium. Death was running rampant but what was to come, the last wizard did not know.

The soft thumping footfalls of a pair of booted feet softly echoed down the hallway as the agent marched down it. Gently coming to a halt outside the door, he raised a fist and softly knocked. Hearing a soft reply from the occupant within, with a slight hiss of the door, Agent Barton quietly entered. Coming to a stop in front of the desk in a shoulder length stance spreading of his legs, he crossed his arms behind his back and looked at the wall in front of him behind where the inividual sat grimly on the other side.

"Sir." Slightly scarred hands, hardened with experience, steepled into a pyramid hovered below a stoic face. A laptop, discarded to the side, lay half open on the left of the desk as a manilla folder sat neatly to the right. A high tech tablet lay innocently on the desktop encaged between leather covered forearms as the other individual braced themselves upon the mahogany surface. The stoic faced man nodded at the agent in acknowledgement.

"Report, Agent Barton."

"Eight days of observation of the main point of activity at the co-ordinates provided in the report were unsuccessful in determining their source. Coincidentally, on the ninth evening of observation a different disturbance of energy was recorded." Licking his lips, the agent ploughed on. "Readings and observation on site describe the energy as highly volatile and highly dangerous."

Leaning forward, the seated man stared at his employee as the other's jaw clenched in frustration at his own lack of breakthrough in his mission; Fury sighed under his breath as he watched Barton shuffle agitatedly at his so-called failure. Shaking his head, the director opened the folder at his side and drew the agent's attention away from his self-reflection and back towards himself.

"I've read the report and our team analysed the readings further agent. From the readings you collected, we managed to compare the energies and have established certain... similarities between them that could provide a possible relation of the two. It could be a coincidence but our line of work very rarely gives us such headaches over something as... meagre as a coincidence " At the mention of a 'coincidence' Fury's lips curled back in a snarl of disgust; the frown lines upon his forehead and around his eyes tightened in response to the man's ire. Slamming the folder shut, the director pushed the file towards the agent across from him. "Besides, circumstances have changed. I'm taking you off of the mission and assigning you to another."

"But si-." His protests halted by the raise of a slim hand, the agent closed his mouth with a sharp click.

"No arguments agent. I need you on another case." Watching as the other slumped in dejection of the thought of a failed mission, Fury continued on in a softer tone. "I need you Barton, I need the best I have. I'll assign another agent to the other case but I need the best of the best for this one. Someone I trust."

"What about Natasha, surely her skills need not be overlooked."

"I have Romanoff in Russia, undercover and communications offline. I can't call her back even if I wanted to. Not until her mission is completed. So you are my only choice. Besides, it's not her skills I need but yours for this mission."

"Sir?" Bewildered, Agent Barton squinted at his superior, his forehead scrunched as the agent tried to determine what the other meant. Gesturing towards the file he had discarded before, Fury watched as Barton stepped toward and picked up the mission debriefing. The archer rifled through the contents, frowning in thought down at the words he read. "Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S, sir?"

And so began Agent Barton's project pegasus mission. Tasked with the observation of Dr Selvig and his work with the Tesseract, Barton was to report directly to Fury with any findings whilst, also, providing additional force to the security of the project through his unrivalled efficiency and height advantage as he overlooked the facility from his perch above.

Long, quiet days passed where the monotony soon soothed the agent into a dreary, predictable routine; eat, observe, report, sleep, his routine hardly varied from the simple mechanic schedule he had set himself. His reports detailing the lack of progress in figuring out the mysteries of the Tesseract by Dr Selvig and his team of scientists, would be met with a silent, grim faced Fury on the other line. His frustration at the lack of breakthrough warring at his relief at no security threats to the highly classified mission, the director would grunt an affirmative and soon end the conversation with a gruff "keep vigil agent" and, with a beep in his comm, the line would be cut.

...

Barton sighed and hunched further into the shadows as he watched Dr Selvig and his team leave the room. Gazing silently at the back of the disheveled scientist as the door swooshed shut behind the group, the agent suppressed a yawn behind a gloved fist. Clasping his hands behind his back and straightening up, he gazed around the room in an alert fashion. Nodding his head at the empty room, a sudden intense blue light caught his eye. Whirling around to face the Tesseract, he watched as the cube pulsed and intense blue lightning coiled around the confines of the cube begging to be be let out. Startled, the agent watched as the cube vibrated with energy and soon a wave of blue had him stumbling back a few steps. Backing up, the agent raised a hand to his ear as the blue light receded back into the cube. Panicked footsteps echoed as, with a bang. Dr Selvig raced into the room towards the frantic monitors.

"Sir, we have a problem."

"The Tesseract has awakened. It is on a little world. A human world. They would wield it's power..."

...

"But our ally knows its workings as they never will. He is ready to lead. And our force, our Chitauri, will follow."

...

"The world will be his. The universe yours. And the humans, what can they do but burn?"

Sorry for the long wait. Thanks for reading!