Zoë Aetós: Starting & Ending Action
Chapter Four
Zoë sat next to Bruce as they listened and watched the monitor of Fury interrogating Loki. His brother, Thor, wasn't as "handsome" as Natasha had made him seem though he was attractive in a… Australian lifeguard sort of way.
"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Bruce finally said, breaking the tension. He was referring to Loki, causing Zoë to glance at the blank monitor. It had shut off when Fury left the containment room. There was something about the god that had her on edge. When she looked at Natasha, she knew the red-headed assassin felt the same.
"Loki's gonna drag this out," Steve said. "So, Thor, what's his play?"
The blond god's arms dropped to his sides as he drew his attention away from the monitor and back to the group.
"He has an army called the Chitahuri. They're not of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."
"An army? From outer space?" Steve asked.
"So, he's building another portal," Banner mused. "That's what he needs Erik Selvig for."
Thor's face dropped slightly.
"Selvig?"
"He's an astrophysicist," Zoë told him. Thor shook his head.
"He's a friend." Zoë gave him a tiny sad smile.
"Loki has him under some spell, along with one of ours."
Rubbing a hand across his face, Steve shook his head.
"I wanna know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here."
"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki," Bruce said. He looked over at Zoë, acknowledging her for the first time since he learned the truth. "That guys' brain is a bag full of cats, you could smell the crazy on him." His words made her eyes get a big brighter from amusement and for a spilt second, Bruce's lips tilted up into a faint smile.
An outburst from Thor made Bruce tear his eyes away from Zoë.
"Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he is my brother."
"He killed eight people in two days," Natasha reminded him. That made Thor paused for a second.
"He's adopted."
"I think it's about the mechanics," Bruce said. "Iridium, what did they need the Iridium for?"
"It's a stabilizing agent," a voice said from above them.
The group looked up to see Tony standing in Fury's command center. He was joined by Coulson and Hill.
"I'll fly you there. Keep the love alive. Means the portal won't collapse on itself, like it did at SHIELD." He looked down at Thor, who was glaring at him. "No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing." He looked back at Bruce. "Also, it means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long as Loki wants."
Glancing at the agents at computers, he started making jokes.
"Uh, raise the mid-mast, ship the top sails." He paused before pointing his finger at one of the younger agents. 'This man is playing GALAGA! Thought we wouldn't notice. But we did…" Covering an eye, he looked around. "How does Fury do this?"
"He turns," Hill said flatly.
"Well, that sounds exhausting," Tony said mockingly.
Zoë glanced at a list of materials needed to open the portal on a screen nearly.
"The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily," she informed them.
"Only major component he still needs is a power source," Tony added. "A high energy density, something to kick start the cube."
"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Hill asked Tony.
"Last night," he shrugged. "The packet, Selvig's notes, the Extraction Theory papers… am I the only one who did the reading?"
Frowning, Steve asked an important question.
"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?"
"He's got to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier," Bruce said.
"Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect," Tony suggested.
"Well, if he could do that, he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet."
"Finally," Tony faked a relieved sigh. "Someone who speaks English."
As he made his way over to Bruce, Steve rolled his eyes.
"Is that what happened?" he muttered. Zoë leaned over, patting his shoulder gently.
"Welcome to the club," she said empathically.
"It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner," Tony said, shaking Bruce's hand. "Your work on anti-electron collision is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."
"Shut up, Tony," Zoë defended when Bruce looked away. "Bruce is only here to track the cube."
"And I was hoping you might join him," Fury said, walking into the room.
"Let's start with that stick of his," Steve said. "It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon."
Fury shook his head, crossing his arms.
"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."
"Monkeys?" Thor asked. "I-I do not understand that reference."
"I do!" Steve said brightly. "I understood that reference."
"Shall we play, doctor?" Tony asked Bruce.
"Let's play some."
They started off, but Bruce turned back, looking at Zoë.
"Coming Eve?" She smiled at the nickname but shook her head.
"I'll be there later; this guy needs me." She jerked her head at Fury who just rolled his eye at her. Bruce nodded and hurried up to catch Tony.
"Eve?" Zoë heard Tony ask. "Isn't her name Zoë?"
"Not when I met her…" Natasha glanced at Zoë.
"He's got it bad." Zoë groaned, head thumping onto the table.
"Got it bad?" Steve asked. "I don't—"
"And you don't have to understand, Captain," Natasha interrupted. Fury barked an order over to them.
"Romanoff, Aetos, report."
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