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The doorbell rang and Damon, drawing the short straw, went to answer it. His eyebrows shot up as he saw who it was: a tall, bald black man with a long leather coat, heavy boots, and an eyepatch. “Stefan,” he called over his shoulder without taking his eyes off the man, “there’s a Quentin Tarantino character on our doorstep!” The man gave him an unamused look, which amused Damon a great deal. “So what’s up? You collecting for charity?” he guessed facetiously. “Some kind of really hardcore boot camp for troubled youths? I’m all for it.”
“You must be Damon,” the man finally said, tolerantly.
Damon lounged obnoxiously in the doorway. “Depends. Are you here to repossess my soul? Good luck reselling it, I’ve put a lot of hard miles on it.”
Stefan came up behind him, equally bemused by the visitor but much more polite about it. “Hello,” he began. “Can we help you?”
“We are totally not joining your pirate ship,” Damon cut in, “unless it’s in space, then I’m in.”
“Actually I’m looking for someone,” the man told them mysteriously. “You might know her as Daisy.” He glanced between the brothers. “I was told she might be here.”
“Daisy!” Damon shouted loudly. Stefan gave him a discreet push aside and gestured for the stranger to come in, without actually saying the words—force of habit, really.
“Thank you,” the man replied, stepping cleanly over the threshold. He glanced around the high-ceilinged foyer. “Nice place. Edwardian?”
“Nineteen-ten,” Stefan confirmed cordially, leading him into the living room. “It was originally built as a boarding house.”
“Been in the family long?”
Something about his tone made Stefan think he knew more than he should, but Stefan tried to play it straight anyway. “Yes, since it was built. Sorry, I’m Stefan Salvatore,” he introduced, shaking the man’s hand.
“Colonel Nick Fury,” he responded.
Predictably Damon goggled. “Nick Fury? Seriously? That is a kick-a-s name! You really do have a ship of space pirates, don’t you?”
“That’s my brother, Damon,” Stefan added, slightly apologetic. “Daisy doesn’t really get many visitors,” he hinted.
“Which is how I like it,” Daisy commented, finally appearing from upstairs.
“Daisy! You didn’t tell me you knew any rogue paramilitary mercenary bada-ses,” Damon accused.
She walked into the living room, facing Fury with an inscrutable expression. “He means that as a joke,” she explained to her visitor, then added to Damon, “But that is, in fact, what he is.”
She sat down on the couch and the others followed suit, Stefan and Damon flanking her and Colonel Nick Fury on the other side of the coffee table. He glanced at the two brothers questioningly, but Daisy’s expression clearly said he should get to the point—or get out. “The Tesseract’s been stolen,” he opened bluntly.
Daisy sighed, not having known this but not exactly surprised, either. “That was inevitable,” she commented.
“Are we in a Madeleine L’Engle novel?” Damon cracked.
“What’s the Tesseract?” Stefan asked, more to the point.
“I don’t mean to be rude,” Fury responded brusquely, “but we’re on a time crunch here. Are you willing to help us or not?” He stared straight at Daisy.
She gave it some thought. “I’m willing to hear some more details.”
Fury sat back with a sigh. “The Tesseract is a powerful piece of alien technology,” he explained briefly. “It could be the secret to abundant clean energy for all of humanity. But it’s been stolen by a hostile alien force, intentions unknown but definitely not good.”
“Aliens?” repeated Stefan skeptically.
“I told you spaceships would come into this somehow,” Damon quipped. “From the looks of it we’re facing a dystopian future. Fortunately I look good in black.”
“I don’t think aliens are any more far-fetched than vampires,” Fury pointed out coolly. That got their attention. “In fact aliens make a h—l of a lot more sense to me.”
“Who are you?” Damon demanded, giving Fury a hard look.
Daisy put a hand on his leg to still him. “Colonel Fury is the director of SHIELD, an international paramilitary intelligence agency,” she revealed, “which handles all manner of threats from the sci-fi and fantasy categories.” She sounded mildly disdainful.
“Oh, like Men in Black,” Damon decided disrespectfully. “You’re, like, Will Smith’s dad.” He seemed fine with the concept now.
“I’ve consulted for them in the past,” Daisy added. “I note my advice was not taken.”
“The Tesseract is too powerful a force to merely give away,” Fury argued. It sounded like a conversation they’d had before. “If we can learn its secrets—“
“You’ve been studying it for sixty-five years,” Daisy interrupted. “The world is not exactly rolling in clean energy. And my opinion is that the Tesseract is too powerful a force for humanity to control.”
Fury clearly disagreed on this point but let it go. “Well, now it’s been stolen by someone with a bad track record when it comes to Earth,” he repeated. “We’re putting together a response team.”
“Sorry,” Stefan interjected politely, “could we go back to the aliens for a second?”
Fury’s look said no. “I have a feeling it’s about to get even better,” Daisy predicted dryly. “Who stole it?”
“An Asgardian named Loki.” He braced himself.
“A-s Guardian?” Damon repeated dubiously. “That’s a little more dystopian than I was hoping for.”
“Asgard, as in… the Norse Trickster God?” Stefan corrected, eyebrows arching with disbelief.
“I wish I’d thought to try this prank on someone,” Damon commented with disappointment. “The absurdity level is off the charts, but I can’t think of anyone else awesome enough to pull it off.”
“Which, logically, means it’s all true,” Stefan noted, “ridiculous as it sounds.”
“The Asgardians came to Earth centuries ago and were worshipped as gods in Northern Europe,” Daisy clarified, “but really they were aliens. Or I suppose they prefer the term ‘trans-dimensional beings’.”
“Next week on Unsolved Mysteries…” Damon cracked. “Did they build the pyramids and kill the dinosaurs, too?”
“Who’s your response team?” Daisy wanted to know, patting Damon’s leg to show him he wasn’t being entirely ignored.
“We’ve got Natasha Romanov, Steve Rogers, Tony Stark—“ Fury listed.
“Whoa, Tony Stark?” Damon cut in. “Iron Man? He’s also an alien-hunting superhero?”
Stefan rolled his eyes. “Isn’t he kind of a… showboating vigilante?”
“That’s exactly what he is,” Fury agreed dryly, “but all in all he’s a good man, and we could use that suit of his on our side.”
“His father was one of the original engineers studying the Tesseract after World War II,” Daisy told them. “It was Howard who brought me onto the project.”
“Wait, Howard Stark, World War II, Steve Rogers,” Stefan recalled. “You don’t mean the Steve Rogers, do you? Captain America?”
“Oh my G-d, that propaganda-spewing ‘supersoldier’?” Damon scoffed. “Isn’t he, like, a hundred years old?”
It took Fury a moment to realize that the vampires had lived through World War II—and possibly many other events as well. “No, he was lost,” Stefan remembered. “Literally lost on a mission. What happened?”
“He was in suspended animation in the Arctic,” Fury told them. “We found him last year and revived him. Hasn’t aged a day.”
“Wow, Captain America,” Stefan breathed, clearly in awe.
“Romanov’s trying to bring in Banner,” Fury added to Daisy.
“Interesting,” she commented. “Anyone else?”
“We would’ve had Barton,” he went on carefully, “but he’s been brainwashed by Loki and is working for him. At the moment.”
“Even more interesting.”
“Who’s Barton?” Damon asked suspiciously.
“An ex,” Daisy told him, confirming his qualms. “He’s an archer.”
“What?”
“Wooden stakes projected at high speeds,” she elaborated dryly. “Not someone you want to anger. In fact your whole team sounds a little unstable,” she judged.
“We could use a stabilizing influence,” Fury acknowledged pointedly. Daisy was still reluctant. “This isn’t about power for any one man, or government,” he pressed. “This is about protecting the entire Earth from outside threats. You gonna tell me you can just sit back and let the power of the Tesseract be used against us?”
“No,” Daisy admitted thoughtfully. “I couldn’t do that.”
Fury seemed satisfied. “So you’ll come with us, then.”
“I will,” Daisy agreed. “But you may get more than you bargained for.”
“I want to come,” Damon insisted immediately. “And so does Stefan.”
Stefan looked slightly startled to be volunteered, but he didn’t object. “If you think we could help,” he demurred to Fury.
“We’re at least as strong as Captain America,” Damon boasted. “And, we can fly. Can Captain America fly?”
Fury looked to Daisy for her opinion. “I think they could be useful,” she decided.
Fury gave a sharp nod and stood abruptly. “There will be a plane waiting for you at the airport,” he announced. “Be on it in an hour.”