"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Doctor Banner broke the silence, smiling.
"Loki's gonna drag this out. So, Thor, what's his play?" Steve asked.
"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. Return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."
"An army, from outer space." Steve glanced around the room.
"So he's building another portal." Bruce said.
Atea was listening, but she'd remembered this from her visions. Loki and that creature, talking about a war.
"So this is what he was talking about," she murmured. The others looked at her.
"What do you mean?" Thor asked.
"I had a vision a few nights ago. About Loki. He was being tortured, and there was this hooded creature talking to him. They talked about a war, and it handed Loki the sceptre he has now. Think about it, Loki looks terrible, but better now. This isn't him. Something happened, something that made him feel betrayed." She looked at Thor. He looked uncomfortable.
"It doesn't matter whether Loki knows what he's doing or not. He has the Tesseract and he's killing people." Steve told her.
"That's what he needs Eric Selvig for," Bruce continued from his earlier thought.
"Selvig?" Thor looked at him.
"He's an astrophysicist."
"He's a friend." Thor told them. How does he know Dr Selvig? Atea wondered.
"Loki has him under some kind of spell," Natasha explained, "Along with one of ours." She looked away.
Barton, that's who she was talking about on the jet.
"I wanna know why Loki let us take him," Steve interrupted, "He's not leading an army from here."
"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki; that guy's brain is a bag full of cats. It smelled crazy on him." Bruce said. Atea frowned, that isn't very nice. Something's wrong with Loki.
"I care how you speak," Thor warned him, looking upset, "Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard. And he is my brother."
"He killed eighty people in two days." Natasha countered.
". . . He's adopted."
"I think its about the mechanics. Eridium, what do they need the Eridium for?"
Tony walked into the room, he hadn't showed up until now, "It's a stabilizing agent." He talked quietly to the man beside him, who Atea knew as Coulson. "It means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at SHIELD. No hard feelings, point-break," he clapped Thor on the shoulder, "you've got a mean swing."Thor glared at him. So the hard feeling are still there.
"Who's this?" Tony asked, looking at Atea.
"This is Atea Eriksen," Hill introduced him to her, Atea hadn't even seen Hill walking up behind them.
"What are you doing here? Are you some new mind blowing recruit of Fury's?"
Atea had never been shy, and she wasn't going to start being shy now, "You could say that."
"You're what, fifteen? Sixteen? Do you even know how to fight?"
There was another glass of water on the table, she concentrated on it, and it flew into Stark's, drenching him in water. He yelped, jumping back in surprise. Everyone laughed at him, including Atea. After a few seconds of initial shock, Tony regained his composure, grinning slightly.
"That was a cool trick you've got there."
"I have a few others up my sleeve."
"Anyways, it also means the portal can stay open as wide, and as long as Loki wants." Tony ordered the officers to raise the screens, but they all looked at him, not doing anything. It seemed Tony wasn't on good terms with anyone here.
"That man is playing Galaga!" He pointed at one of the officers, "Thought we wouldn't notice, but we did."
He continued to mutter some things that Atea couldn't hear. To be perfectly honest, she was getting incredibly bored and exhausted.
Tony and Bruce started talking about science stuff that Atea didn't even understand, much less anyone else. They were talking about the portal and the Tesseract, but that was all she could grasp.
"Banner is only here to work on the Tesseract," Fury said entering the room, "I thought you may want to join him."
"I'd start with that stick of his," Steve said, "It may be magical but it works an awful lot like a Hydra weapon."
"I don't know about that, but it's powered by the cube. I want to know how it turned to of the smartest men I know into his own personal flying monkeys."
"Monkeys? I do not understand . . ." Thor looked confused.
"I do." Steve said pointing at him, looking proud. Tony rolled his eyes, Atea smiled at him. "I-I understood that reference."
"Shall we play Doctor?" Tony asked Bruce, he nodded and they left the room.
"I'm leaving too," Atea announced, "I don't know about you guys, but I'm exhausted. Natasha, Steve, I'll see you guys bright and early." She said, pretending to be excited. She headed back to her room and fell asleep quickly.
The next few days passed quickly, Atea being trained by Hill, Natasha and Steve. They worked on her physical strength, but they also trained her powers, trying to see what else she could do and mastering the skills she already had. She was exhausted each day after training. Her muscles were burning, but she knew this was for the best. On the third day, Natasha wasn't at training. Steve and Hill told Atea she was interrogating Loki.
"Will she be able to? I mean, he doesn't really seem like he'd be willing to answer her questions." Atea was suspicious if it would actually work.
Hill smiled, "Oh Romanoff has her ways. Trust me."
Atea shrugged and they continued to train.