When we got back to the Helicarrier we all went to the main room as Loki was being escorted to his cell. There was a camera in the room where he was being held, and Nat and I sat the table and brought up the screen to listen to what Loki was saying.
"In case it's unclear, if you try to escape, you so much as scratch that glass..." Dad pressed a button and the metal under the glass cell opened, "It's 30,000 feet straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works? Ant... boot."
"It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me." Loki replied.
"Built for something a lot stronger than you." Dad responded.
"Oh, I've heard. The mindless beast, makes play he's still a man. How desperate are you, that you call on such lost creatures to defend you?" Loki asked.
"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." Dad answered.
"Ooh. 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 mankind to share. And then to be reminded what real power is." Loki said.
"Well, let me know if "real power" wants a magazine or something." Dad said as he walked away.
Loki turned and smiled at the camera before the screen turned off.
"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Bruce joked.
"Looks like Loki's gonna drag this out. So," Steve looked up at Thor, "Thor, what's his game play?"
"He has an army, called the Chitauri. 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." Thor answered.
"An army. From outer space." Steve stated.
"So he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for." I said.
"Selvig?" Thor questioned, looking at me and I nodded.
"He's an astrophysicist." Bruce said.
"He's a friend." Thor replied.
"Loki has them under some kind of spell. Along with one of ours." Nat said.
"I wanna know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here." Steve said.
"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You can smell crazy on him." Bruce replied.
"Have a care how you speak! Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard and he is my brother!" Thor responded.
"He killed eighty people in two days." Nat said.
"He's adopted." Thor replied.
"Doesn't give me an excuse to kill people." I mumbled.
"I think it's about the mechanics. Iridium. What do they need the iridium for?" Bruce questioned.
"Stabilizing agent." Tony answered, walking into the room. "They don't want the portal collapsing on itself like it did at S.H.I.E.L.D." Tony walked over to Thor, "No hard feelings Point Break. You got a mean swing. Also, means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long as Loki wants." Tony stood at the spot my dad usually stands, "Raise the mizzenmast! Jib the topsails!" He joked, and people stared at him. Tony then pointed at a man, "That man is playing Galaga! Thought we wouldn't notice. But we did." Tony put a hand to his eye and looked at the screens around him, "How does Fury even see these?"
"He turns." I answered.
"Sounds exhausting." Tony replied. "The rest of the raw materials Burton can get his hands on pretty easily. The only major thing he needs is a power source of high energy density. Something to kick start the cube."
"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Hill asked Tony.
"Last night. The packet. Selvig's notes, the extraction theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?" He asked.
"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" I asked.
"He'd have to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier." Bruce answered.
"Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunnelling effect." Tony replied.
"Well, if he could do that, he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet." Bruce said.
"Finally, someone who speaks English." Tony walked over and shook hands with Bruce.
"Is that what just happened?" Steve asked.
"Nerds." I coughed.
"It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. Your 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 to Bruce.
"Thanks".
"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him." Dad said as he walked in.
"Let's start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a Hydra weapon." Steve said.
"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." Dad replied.
"Monkeys? I do not understand." Thor looked confused.
"I do!" I smiled at Steve, who looked very proud of himself, "I understood that reference."
"Shall we play, Doctor?" Tony asked Bruce.
"Let's go." Bruce replied, leading Tony to the lab.