I am trying to stick close to the movie, however some things are going to change. It will be mostly from Claire's point of view. When it does switch I will label it. Claire is my character, the rest belong to Marvel.…
Claire POV:
We walked in almost silence to the debriefing room. The only sound was our footsteps in the hallway until we reached Dr. Banner's lab. Natasha stepped inside and started to talk to Dr. Banner, persuading him to come to the meeting. The way she spoke to him reminded me of the way that Clint speaks to Laura. I gave him a soft smile as he looked towards me. I glanced to Natasha, giving her a look that meant 'we would talk later'.
"Claire, you're hurt," he said, moving over to me. I sighed and nodded a little. Everyone seemed concerned with my well-being, but not their own.
"I'm going to the med-bay after the meeting," I assured him. In the short time that I had known him, he became like a father to me. Lord knows he was more of a father than mine ever was. I pushed the thought of my father from my mind, not wanting to think about it.
Our small group continued down the hallway, passing the room that Loki was contained in. From the outside, it looked as if Fury was giving Loki a stern talking to. I looked at the containment center Loki was in and bit my lip. I winced slightly at the pain from my busted lip. This was designed for Dr. Banner, should he lose control, not for Loki. My heart sunk a little and I glanced to Dr. Banner. Deep inside of me, I knew that he wouldn't purposely lose control.
Together, Steve, Natasha, Thor, Dr. Banner, and I gathered around a table in the room. Dr. Banner and Thor chose to stand, Natasha and I sat. Steve was pacing around the room slowly. Waiting for Fury to finish with Loki. Natasha was sitting by an electronic notebook watching a feed from the room.
"Ant." Fury paused. "Boot." I leaned into Natasha's side to watch the feed, not having a tablet of my own to watch on.
"It's an impressive cage," Loki laughed. He looked directly into the security camera. He knew we were watching. "Not built, I think, for me."
"Built for something a lot stronger than you," Fury replied. Natasha glanced to Dr. Banner, giving him an apologetic look. I furrowed my brows, frowning, and continued to watch Fury and Loki.
"Oh, I've heard," Loki replied smoothly. He continued to stare at the camera, giving me chills on my arms. I rubbed them away quickly. Steve glanced to me, frowning, before turning back to the feed. "The mindless beast, makes play to be the man." Dr. Banner crossed his arms over his chest. He knew that the comment was directed at him. I looked up at Dr. Banner, as did Natasha again.
"That's not true," I spoke softly to him. He gave me a small smile and I returned it.
"How desperate are you?" Loki toyed with Fury again. I bit my lip, waiting for what Loki would say next. I prayed it wasn't a jab at me. I don't know that I would be as calm as Dr. Banner was about it. "You call on 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 'cause it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did," Fury responded, walking towards Loki. My brows furrowed again and I shifted in my seat.
"Ooh," Loki hissed out softly. "It burns you to have come so close. To have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power. And for what? A warm light for all of mankind to share, and then to be reminded of what real power is?"
At this point, Loki was no longer looking at the security camera, which I was thankful for. I could hear the venom is his voice though. He made me nervous, for a reason I couldn't explain. I knew he was capable of horrible things, but he spoke like he knew something we didn't. Fury took a few steps away from Loki's cell, nodding slightly. He started to walk out of the room as he spoke again. "Well let me know if Real Power wants a magazine or something."
I pulled my gaze from the screen as Dr. Banner spoke again, almost laughing. My mouth dropped some, I could not believe that he was laughing in this situation. "He really grows on you, doesn't he?"
"Loki's gonna drag this out. So, Thor, what's his play?" Steve spoke, leaning back in his chair and looking at us. He instantly took control and no one stopped him.
"He has an army called the Chitauri, they're not of Asgard nor any world know. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract." Thor's voice was soft, like he didn't want to believe what was happening. Maria walked up behind Thor, watching us interact.
"An army, from outer-space?" Steve questioned, glancing around.
"Aliens, lovely," I commented with a small laugh, earning a harsh glare from Natasha. I shrugged and spoke again. "It's what everyone is thinking, Tasha."
"So, he's building another portal? That's what he needs Erik Selvig for." Dr. Banner spoke up, ignoring me. I looked to him, almost able to see the gears spinning in his head as he pieced everything together.
"Selvig?" Thor's eyes narrowed.
"He's an astrophysicist," Dr. Banner nodded.
"He's a friend," Thor shook his head, looking down for a moment until Natasha spoke. I assumed he had met Selvig in New Mexico during his first trip to Earth.
"Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with…one of ours," She paused, her voice wavered. She wanted to say Clint, but I was thankful she didn't. I looked down, taking deep breathes, trying not to cry. Pulling my knees to my chest in the chair, I looked to Steve as he spoke.
"I want to know why Loki let us take him," Steve pulled the conversation away from Clint. "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, you could smell crazy on him," Dr. Banner spoke up, trying to lighten the mood some. He was right though. I didn't think Loki was our number one priority. Thor took a few steps closer to the table.
"Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he is my brother," Thor put a hand on the table, leaning forward. His eyes had darkened slightly. Frankly, I thought he was acting the way a protective big brother would act.
"He killed eighty people in two days," Natasha said dully, looking through her eyelashes at Thor.
"He's adopted," Thor shrugged slightly. It was in this moment that I felt bad for Thor. Not only did he have to accept the fact the Loki was a monster, but he would also have the break the news to his parents.
"I was too, but you don't see me killing people," I spoke up, looking at Thor. "There's got to be something else fueling his rage."
Suddenly, every head in the room was focused on me. I shrugged, looking around. Tasha's blue eyes bore into the side of my head and I turned to look at her. I gave her a look that said 'later'. Bruce and Steve were both looking at me with sympathy. Bruce's eyes were soft, as if he understood. Steve's eyes were nothing but sadness. Thor frowned, his brows furrowing and nodded some.
"I think it's about the mechanics," Bruce spoke again, taking his glasses off to clean. He put them back on before speaking again. "Iridium, what did they need the Iridium for?"
As soon as Bruce got done speaking, Tony Stark walked in with Coulson. "It's a stabilizing agent."
I turned to look at him with everyone else. He finished his conversation with Coulson, something about vacations and flying, and spoke again. "Means, the portal won't collapse on itself, like it did at SHIELD."
"So he won't kill himself trying to get his army through?" I questioned. Tony nodded, then looked to Thor. "That's what he needed Selvig for."
"No hard feelings Point Break, you've got a mean swing." He gently tapped the back of his hand to Thor's arm, almost like a playful hit. Thor looked at him with confusion. "Also, it means that the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long, as Loki wants."
Tony walked through the meeting area and to the screens by Maria Hill. I frowned and looked to Natasha as he commanded the monitors to be raised. He then suddenly pointed to his right. "That man is playing Gallaga! Thought we wouldn't notice, but we did."
I sighed and rolled my eyes, rubbing my forehead. Steve looked at me with confusion and then to the screen. I shook my head at him, telling him not to question Tony. Tony covered one eye for a second, glancing from screen to screen. "How does Fury even see these?"
"He turns," Maria quipped while rolling her eyes as well. She glanced to Tasha and me, looking at us as if asking a silent question of 'why was he here'.
"Sounds exhausting." Tony spoke, turning in circles and tapping on the screens. "The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs it a power source. A high energy density, something to…kick start the cube."
My eyes followed his hands, noticing a small glint of silver before he touched a machine. I glanced to Tasha, finding myself confused at his words. I made a mental note to confront Tony about the device I knew he had placed. Maria spoke the question that I had on my mind. "When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?"
"Last night," He shrugged. "The packet, Selvig's notes, the Extraction Theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?"
"The packet was pages and pages long, Stark." I looked at him. He nodded and smiled a little. I shook my head again in disbelief.
"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve asked. I could tell that he didn't do the reading either. I honestly thought no one except for Tony and Bruce did the reading.
"He'd have to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier," Bruce spoke, furrowing his brows as he thought. He twirled his glasses in his hands. I shifted nervously in my seat.
"Unless," Tony spoke again. "Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect."
"Well, if he could do that, he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet," Bruce chuckled again.
"What?" I spoke, standing up from my chair. I knew that my brows were furrowed in confusion. I ran my fingers through my hair.
"Finally, someone who speaks English," Tony said, walking over to Bruce, holding out a hand.
"Is that what just happened?" Steve looked at them, then to me. I shrugged as Tony and Bruce shook hands.
"It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. You're work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster." Tony said as they shook hands. I rolled my eyes, of course Tony would only think of that.
"Thanks," Bruce spoke, glancing away for a second. It was more of a question than a statement though. He was not sure how to react to Tony's statement.
"That's not why he's here, Tony," I spoke, moving around the room. I was starting to get fidgety. It was in that moment that Fury decided to join the meeting.
"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was oping you might join him," He spoke to Tony. This had bad idea written all over it. I hoped I wasn't the only one to see it.
"Let's start with that stick of his," Steve spoke from his chair. I had taken up to pacing the same three steps like Dr. Banner, though on the other side of the table. "It may be magical, but i works an awful lot like a Hydra weapon."
"Because it is," I whispered. The pieces seemed to click into place. Steve looked to me, interested in what I had to say. "Hydra used the Tesseract, Loki's using the Tesseract. It's the same power source."
"I don't know about that," Fury countered, "but it is powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."
Fury might not believe that both Hydra and Loki were using the same weapon, but I knew they were. I found myself staring at Fury. Why would he want to keep that information in the dark? I made a mental note to look up everything I could about the Tesseract as soon as I made it back to my room.
"Monkeys? I do not understand," Thor frowned.
"I do!" Steve exclaimed. His face flushed red as we turned to look at him. "I understood that reference."