While Nick Fury was heading to pay a visit to their newest guest, Deputy Director Hill had been dispatched to the mess deck to introduce herself; on Fury's behalf, to the rest of the senshi, who were now making themselves at home. To say that Jupiter's culinary skills had already won her a great deal of appreciation from the off duty crew was an understatement. She had apparently taken full control of the galley. Sailor Moon had quietly informed Hill that it was a therapeutic good for Jupiter as well since the tall brunette was still instinctively uncomfortable with the notion of the giant flying machine she was currently on. Hill agreed with the strategy but warned the duty cooks not to become too dependent on Jupiter's considerable talent. If a crisis arose, they would need Jupiter for far more important things than running the hot bar.

From what little was in SHIELD's files on the group, the one known as Sailor Moon was identified as the team leader. The young girl… woman… Hill corrected as she observed her behavior, was clearly devoted to the welfare of her team. It was equally clear they were devoted to her in turn. It was the sort of thing that Fury hoped for with the Avengers. He truly believed they had the potential to be so much greater. The question was if they could find it in themselves and each other. Perhaps the opportunity to work alongside these Sailor Senshi might provide the sort of example the Avengers needed to begin thinking and working as a team? Hill was skeptical. It was already clear that the 'Avengers' were erratic, disjointed, completely lacking any cohesion and Heaven help them all if they needed to rely on them in a crisis.

Meanwhile, Nick Fury entered the detention bay holding Loki's cell. Fury sized up his opponent calmly. This was the game that mattered and Loki was several moves ahead. Time to get started…

"Incase it's unclear, if you try to escape… if you so much as scratch that glass…" Fury tapped a control panel and a section of the deck sphinctered open beneath the cell, revealing the night sky beneath them. " it's 30,000 feet straight down in a steel trap." He eyed Loki with grim humor as he closed the deck back. "You get how that works?" He said gesturing to Loki and then to the controls. "Ant... boot."

Uranus nodded in agreement as she and the others in the conference room observed the proceedings. She frowned a bit as Loki merely smirked.

"It's an impressive cage. Not built; I think, for me."

"Built for something a lot stronger than you."

Mercury glanced momentarily at Dr. Banner. The apparent implication confirmed by Loki's reply:

"Oh I've heard. A mindless beast. Makes play he's still a man." Mercury felt her anger rise at the arrogant tone in Loki's voice.

"How desperate are you that you call upon such lost creatures to defend you?"

"How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control. You talk about peace and you kill because it's fun. You have made me very desperate." Fury replied. "You might not be glad that you did." He warned.

This warning seemed only to amuse Loki.

"Oooh…! It burns you to come so close, to have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power. And for what? A warm light for all mankind to share? And then to be reminded what real power is."

"Well let me know if 'real power' wants a magazine or something." Fury smiled darkly and left.

Sailor Venus smirked at Fury's closing retort as did Uranus. Neptune frowned. Mercury; meanwhile, began carefully considering all that they had heard. She would have felt better if she thought that Loki was the only one playing games here. She looked again at Bruce speculatively. SHIELD is so quick to have a plan for everyone aren't they? I only wonder what sort of plan they might have for us, or if they ever learned of Serenity's destiny? Would they try to prevent it? Mercury paused. It was true that the organization called SHIELD would bear watching. But SHIELD was made up of individuals. Men like Agent Coulson. Such a man Mercury felt secure in trusting to choose to stand for what was right. If his was the true voice of SHIELD, then Mercury felt certain that they need not fear for the future. Time alone would tell.

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Banner commented, pulling Mercury from her thoughts.

"Loki's going to drag this out." Captain Rogers surmised. "So… Thor? What's his play?"

"He has an army, called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard, nor any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth. In return; I suspect, for the Tesseract."

"Another alien invasion?" Venus groaned. "This is, what is it Mercury? This makes at least six now. I mean not including Makaiju?"

"Yes. I think so." Mercury agreed.

"SIX?" Rogers exclaimed in shock. "You mean this is a routine thing around here?"

"Not for us." Agent Romanoff replied. "SHIELD certainly has no knowledge of these other… invasions."

"That's because the previous invasions had to go through US first!" Venus declared with pride.

"Also the use of glamour and other magic helps." Mercury admitted. "Most of our enemies were still preparing when we began to confront them. They weren't ready to be exposed yet either."

"We're getting off topic here." Neptune reminded them. "We need to focus on this threat."

"An army. From outer space…" Rogers shook his head, still wrapping his mind around the idea.

"So Loki's building a portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for." Bruce Banner said, bringing them back to the matter at hand.

"Selvig?" Thor asked in surprise at the name.

"He's an astrophysicist." Mercury replied, recognizing the name.

"He's a friend."

"Loki has him under some kind of spell." Romanoff stated. "Along with one of ours."

"I want to know why Loki let us take him." Rogers stated. "He's not leading an army from here."

Uranus nodded in agreement. "He's too calm. Like he's waiting for something. So we have to ask ourselves what he gains by being here."

"He already has the cube. That can't be it." Venus answered pondering.

Mercury frowned. "Keep your friends close and enemies closer." She suggested. "We don't know what he has going, but he knows exactly where we are. He knows when he'll be ready to strike, so he has the advantage."

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki." Banner dismissed. "That guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You can smell crazy on him."

Thor advanced toward him in annoyance. "Have care how you speak! Loki is beyond reason but he is of Asgard and he is my brother!"

"He killed eighty people in two days." Black Widow responded bluntly.

"He's adopted." Thor offered.

"I think it's about the mechanics. Iridium... What do they need the iridium for?"

"It's a stabilizing agent." Tony Stark announced as he entered the compartment along with Agent Coulson. Stark then turned his attention back to finishing a conversation he had been having with Coulson.

"...I'm just saying. Pick a weekend;" Stark was saying, "and I'll fly you to Portland. Keep love alive."

Venus' ears perked at this. Being the 'Goddess of Love', Venus was constitutionally incapable of not getting involved in such things. She would have to get the details from Mr. Stark later. Besides, Agent Coulson seemed like a nice man and deserved a happy love. This taken in all in a heart's beat as Stark turned back to other matters.

"It means the portal won't collapse on itself Like it did at SHIELD." The billionaire continued with a shrug as he stepped past Thor and patted him on the arm. "No hard feelings 'Point Break'. You've got a mean swing.

"You…." Sailor Uranus growled. Neptune putting a hand on her arm to stay her from rising from her seat.

"Yep! Me!" Stark regarded Uranus with a smirk. "You know, you really should reconsider my offer. My door is always open if you want to reconsider. "Then he turned and clapped his hands together. "Anyway, it also means that Loki can make the portal as wide as he wants for as long as he wants."

Mercury nodded in grim agreement. While Stark might have been an insufferable egotist, he was also correct in his analysis.

"Raise the mizzenmast! Jib the top sails." Stark casually ordered the bridge crew on the level below as he stepped into Fury's command station. "That man is playing Galaga!" He pointed out in a self amused tone. "He thought we wouldn't notice… but we did." Stark then made a show of covering one eye as he turned and regarded Fury's displays.

"How does Fury even see these?" He asked.

"He turns." Deputy Director Hill replied drily.

"Sounds exhausting."

Venus suppressed a giggle, especially as she noticed the daggers Uranus was staring at Stark. Still; whatever bad blood existed between Uranus and Tony Stark, Venus appreciated people with a sense of fun. Stark was clearly enjoying himself, continuing to fiddle with Fury's displays as he resumed his discussion of the portal.

"The rest of the raw materials Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily."

"The only major component Loki needs is a powersource of high energy density." Mercury said as she put the pieces together."

"Exactly!" Stark beamed at her. "Something to.. kickstart the cube… " He agreed. "So… What's a bright girl like you doing in a place like this?"

"I WOULD be upgrading those repulsor units of yours but you haven't been returning my emails."

"And ouch!" Black Widow smirked.

Bruce Banner covered a smile as Stark raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. Mental note: Have JARVIS check through my emails...

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Hill asked Stark.

"Last Night." He replied. "The packet. Selvig's notes? The extraction theory papers? Am I the only one who did the reading?"

"Does Loki need any particular kind of powersource?" Captain Rogers asked.

"He'd have to heat the cube to 120 million Kelvin just to break the coulomb barrier" Banner answered.

"Unless Doctor Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect." Mercury conjectured.

Quanta what? Venus wondered, feeling the discussion having long since gone over her head and into the realm of wizards and super-geniuses. Well, at least one of those super-geniuses is ours. Glad SHE at least understands this.

"Well. If he could do that, he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet." Banner nodded in agreement.

"Finally!" Stark voiced in a satisfied tone. "You two speak english!" He gestured to Banner and Mercury.

"Is that what just happened?" Rogers asked very perplexed.

"You get used to it." Venus replied with a shrug.

Uranus groaned nodding in agreement. It sounded too much like one of Setsuna's tutoring sessions with Hotaru. Those always made her head hurt. She suspected that she would need a good run to shake off the brain pain.

Stark walked over and shook Banner's hand in greeting. "It's good to meet you, Doctor Banner. Your work in anti-electron collisions is unparalleled." Stark said. And then added, "I'm also a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."

Venus' eyes went wide. "What?" She asked with some alarm in her tone.

Mercury leaned over calmly and answered her in Japanese: "It's alright Venus. I'll explain later." She reassured.

"Thanks." Banner answered suddenly self conscious.

"Doctor Banner is only here to track the cube." Director Fury stated with finality to Stark as he entered the compartment. "I was hoping you and Sailor Mercury might join him."

"Let's start with that stick of his." Rogers suggested. "It may be magical but it works an awful lot like a Hydra weapon."

"I don't know about that. But it is powered by the cube." Fury replied. "And I would like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."

"Monkeys?" Thor asked clearly confused. "I do not understand…"

"I do!" Rogers declared with triumph then realized the generally unbelieving or bemused expressions from everyone else in the compartment. "... I understood that reference."

He looks like such a sweet and innocent little boy! Neptune grinned to herself. In a strange way he reminds me of Usagi.

"We may be able to help there." Venus suggested. "This wouldn't be the first time we've dealt with people under some form of mind control."

"Any assistance you can render would be appreciated." Fury replied.

"Shall we play, Doctor?" Stark asked Banner. "Miss Mercury?" He invited.

"In the meantime, perhaps you ladies could tell us about your group. As I said, the files are fairly scant and an appreciation of what your team can bring to the table could be helpful." Fury suggested after the three geniuses had cleared the hatch.

"If we could reconvene on the Mess Deck with our other teammates?" Venus suggested. "They should be part of this discussion. Just give us a few minutes to fill them in?"

Fury nodded. "Fair enough." He agreed. "Hill. Go with them and clear the forward mess deck of nonessential personnel."

"Yessir."

Fifteen minutes later, all hands had been cleared from the mess deck. Venus began by setting Artemis on the table. He was joined a moment later by Luna, who regarded Captain Rogers thoughtfully. Fury began by introducing himself, Deputy Director Hill, Captain Rogers, Thor, and Black Widow.

"Why I'm quite familiar with Captain Rogers." Luna said calmly to the surprise of everyone, including the senshi.

Steve pulled out another ten dollar bill and held it out to Fury.

"Keep it. Talking cats? I don't believe it either." He fell silent after a cross look from the cat in question.

"How can that be?" Sailor Mars asked her.

"This is not the first life I or Artemis have lived waiting for all of you to awaken. In 1938 I belonged to Doctor Abraham Erskine."

"Erskine?" Hill questioned. "The same Erskine who created Project Rebirth?"

"The same. And no. I did not study his notes." Luna stated with finality, cutting off any discussion of whether she could help recreate Erskine's formula.

"I did; however, observe as he chose a very special young man to become a nation's champion. I learned a great deal from Doctor Erskine. Abraham would be very proud of you Steven."

"Thank you ma'am."

With that said, Luna carried out complete introductions for each of the senshi seated at the table. Each in turn briefly describing their abilities. Luna tending the honors for Sailor Mercury and then she and Artemis gave a thumbnail brief on the Kingdom of the Silver Millenium.

"Not to offend, but we've been to the moon and sent probes to every planet but Pluto." Maria Hill noted. "There has never been any verifiable evidence of life, let alone civilization anywhere else in the solar system."

"When you consider that we're facing an alien invasion from another dimension, it doesn't seem all that hard to believe." Steve replied. Hill nodded in acknowledgment.

"After all, you're getting the story right from the cat's mouth." Venus grinned and flashed a smile at Steve.

Sailor Moon noticed the look in Jupiter's eyes. "Does the Captain remind you of your Senpai?" She asked in Japanese.

"Senpai? What senpai?" Jupiter answered dreamily.

Oh dear… Luna thought.

"While we wait word on the Tesseract," Fury said. "Agent Coulson will show you all to quarters."

"Thank you Director." Luna replied.

"If you ladies will follow me?" Coulson invited gesturing to the hatch.

"All right." Sailor Moon agreed. "Would someone get Mercury? She shouldn't stretch herself too thin."

"I'll see to it personally." Coulson promised. Sailor Moon was hardly the most dominating personality of the senshi, Coulson noted, but her position as leader of this team was unquestioned. Her concern for her teammates was clear. If the Avengers could learn to be a team like this. Phil shook himself. Despite what he had told Stark about this not being about personality profiles, the Avengers had no real cohesion There was no sense of collective identity or common purpose. The whole was not yet more than the sum of its parts. Time will supply the catalyst. It has to.

Sailor Pluto regarded him for a moment. Time seemed to be swirling around the man like a hurricane. The currents were too confused to read clearly. Pluto put this puzzle aside. She had another task to perform.

Pacing contentedly passing the hours away, Loki furrowed his brow as he sensed himself no longer alone.

"There are not many who can take me unaware." He said dryly as he turned to face his visitor. This was not whom he had expected. It was also far too soon. "I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage." He told the tall woman. Her dark hair reflecting an unnatural greenish tint. In her right hand a staff that bespoke of ancient and mystic power.

"Your disadvantage is far greater than you realize." She replied serenely.

"Do tell?" He invited with amusement.

His visitor merely smiled. "I doubt you could comprehend it if I told you. "

Loki frowned in irritation at the woman's remark. Who was this insufferable woman to insult him so? "What brings you to me then?" He inquired in a mix of invitation and irritation.

"Morbid curiosity I expect. Nothing more." She told him calmly. "Such a waste."

"Mock me at your peril woman. If you have nothing further to discuss, then be gone."

"Oh I'm quite finished here. Do not expect our next encounter to be as pleasant, Loki of Asgard. But heed these words as your future overtakes you. 'The fault; dear Loki, lies not in the stars, but in thine self."

With those words, Pluto left the chamber as Loki tried without success to make sense of their meaning.