STEVE P.O.V.
I snapped my head quickly to Tony, whose words seemed to catch in his throat. But then I saw his gaze fixated on Silvia, and sighed. She's got us all twirled around her finger. I didn't think it with malice, though. It was merely the truth. Her story had us all desperately outgunned, struggling to find a way to look at her and not immediately be saddened.
Her eyes were locked on Tony's as well, ans Tony nodded in greeting to her. "Silvia," he said before continuing, this time rather slower. "It means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at S.H.I.E.L.D. No hard feelings, Point-Break." He patted god's muscular arm. I rolled my eyes. "You've got a mean swing. Also, it means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long as Loki wants." He was in front of all of us now, meaning he was looking over the people who were working on their panels and computers and other technology I had not the knowledge about.
The familiar, annoying, smug look crossed his face, and he raised his arms to be bent at his sides. "Uh, raise the mizzenmast. Jib the topsails." I shook my head and sighed, pondering on his words and trying to understand them for a moment, before giving up. Silvia seemed to know what they meant though, for the thinnest of smiles crept up her lips. I stared at her, eyebrows furrowing together subconsciously. You've seen her before, Steve. But where? I snapped myself out of my reverie before she noticed. The answer was already sneaking into the base of my head, but I shook it away, not wanting to remember.
"That man is playing Galaga!" Tony said, pointing to his right; I turned my head and indeed found one agent's screen showing a game on it, though I was certain I had never seen the likes of it before. "He thought we wouldn't notice, but we did…. How does Fury even see these?" Stark pointed at the several computer screens that were in front of him.
"He turns," Agent Maria Hill answered with gritted teeth.
"Sounds exhausting—The rest of the war materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. The only major component he still needs is a power source of high-energy density." I think I saw him stick something below one of the computers. I dismissed the thought eventually, but tucked it away for further reference. "Something to kick-start the cube." Tony snapped his hands in all modesty.
"When did you become an expert in thermo-nuclear astrophysics?" Hill asked, crossing her arms and glaring at the billionaire.
"Last night," Stark answered with a triumphant grin. "The packet, Selvig's notes, the extraction theory papers? Am I the only one who did the reading?" He threw his hands up in exasperation.
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, instead cutting into the conversation, "Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?"
"He'd have to heat the cube to a hu—"
Someone's cough interrupted Dr. Banner's explanation, and we all looked to where it came from, including Silvia who was previously scratching the edge of the table.
Thor cleared his throat and coughed again. "I'm sorry, go on."
Bruce shook his head, as if to clear out a thought from his mind before continuing, "As I was saying, he'd have to hea—" He was interrupted again. We all looked to Thor, who seemed to be choking.
"Something's—caught in my—throat!" he managed between gags, gripping his neck. I sprung to my feet and was just about to try the Heimlich Manoeuvre when someone started tugging at my sleeve. I looked up and saw that it was Silvia, wand in hand.
"Anapneo," she calmly pronounced, and Thor's airway seemed to clear at once. The god coughed once, twice, before saying a thank you to the witch. The girl nodded and walked back to her chair, where she sat and started to scratch the edge once again. As I stared at her in surprise and wonder, Thor resumed standing where he once was before the occurrence.
"Can I continue now?" Banner asked, lip still curled in amusement. "Thank you… He would have to heat the cube to a 120-million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier."
"Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunnelling effect," Tony cut in.
"Well, if he could do that, he could achieve heavy ion fusion at every reactor on the planet."
Up until that point, I had been lost.
"Finally," Tony exasperated, holding his hand out to Banner, "someone who speaks English."
"Is that what just happened?" I said, voicing out my own thoughts. I could see that Agent Romanoff agreed with me. I nearly jumped when I felt something brush against my arm, but then I looked down and saw that it was a piece of folded paper. Someone cleared her throat softly and I saw that it was Silvia, her eyes looking expectantly at me. With eyebrows raised, I unfolded the piece of paper and read her neat handwriting.
"I think by 'English' Tony means 'Gibberish'," it read. A smile crept up my lips and when I looked up I saw that she was smiling as well, albeit a bit more hesitently.
"Well, lookie here!" Tony's voice erupted from over my shoulder. "Making friends already, Capsicle? Come on, let me see that." He came up from behind me and almost snatched the paper from my hand, but I quickly crumpled it up and threw it to Silvia, who easily caught it and tucked it into her pocket, smirking slightly.
Tony didn't try to get it back. Instead, he introduced himself more properly to Dr. Banner. Then The Director walked in.
SILVIA P.O.V.
I stiffly observed as The Director walked in, eyes already trained on me. "I understand that you've got your emotions under control now, Miss Malfoy. Do you still want answers as to how I know about you?" he asked.
"Not really," I replied, shrugging my shoulders carelessly. The others were watching with anticipation at my answer. "I know that the Ministry is connected with many people, and it doesn't really surprise me that you're one of them. I only assume that they told you about me as soon as I escaped. The Ministry can be like that sometimes—desperate for help, I mean." With a sigh, I ended the rather mouthful of an answer and sunk back into my chair.
"Good. Because I wasn't really in the mood for answering questions," Fury stated, and I inwardly sighed in relief.
"Are we done here then?" I asked, starting to get off my chair. "Because I was planning on explo—"
"Yes, actually, we're done," Blacky interjected, and I felt a sudden wave of anger come over me. Not soon after, however, it just died out, like a fire. I tilted my head before standing up, paying no mind that not a single soul followed me. Before the elevator doors closed, however, I heard Tony say something in his usual, frisky voice: "Shall we play, doctor?" I assumed that he was talking to Banner. Then the doors closed and I felt myself relax at the new sense of solitude.