We've done it.
Tony stared at Loki, sitting restrained on one of the seats of the quinjet.
He would never have believed that they could defeat Loki – not, of course, that he'd admit it. And Loki just surrendering? Something was very wrong with that.
"How's Izzy?" Tony called to the front of the quinjet. Agent Romanoff was the pilot.
"Your daughter is fine."
"So, she didn't accidently trigger the Hulk? You know, you'd think that would be something worth just, you know, mentioning to her. So she didn't accidently make him mad. Or to me, being her father and all."
Agent Romanoff didn't say anything.
"Have you met her yet?" Tony asked, turning to Captain America. "Izzy, I mean."
"Miss Stark? I passed by in the hall a few times. I don't think she saw me though, she was too busy."
Thunder rumbled in the distance. Loki started to look very nervous.
"What, scared of a little lightning?" asked the captain.
"I'm not overly fond of what follows," replied the alien.
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"It's an impressive cage," said the man on the screen. "Not built, I think, for me."
"Built for something a lot stronger than you," said Director Fury.
Bella leaned closer to the screen, over Agent Romanoff's shoulder.
"Oh, I've heard," said Loki. "A mindless beast who makes play he's still a man."
Bella glanced over at Dr. Banner, who didn't appear too bothered. It seemed so strange that such a quiet man could turn into a green monster if he got angry.
"How desperate are you, that you call on such lost creatures to defend you?"
"How desperate am I?" said Director Fury. "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."
"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."
Director Fury walked away. "Well, let me know if Real Power wants a magazine or something."
There was a long silence.
"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" said Dr. Banner.
"Loki's going to drag this out," said Captain America. Bella had heard about him being there and being alive, but hadn't really paid much attention – in her life, she'd seen stranger things, and she hadn't even really known who he was before that, except for hearing years ago he was responsible for HYDRA's destruction. "So, Thor, what's his play?"
Bella's attention jerked to the blond newcomer wearing the Norse armor. No one had said a word about him yet. Thor? As in the god of thunder from Norse mythology? Well, if Loki's real…It was becoming difficult to surprise Bella after the last day or two.
"He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard nor any world known. He means to lead the against your people. They will win him the Earth, in return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."
"An army, from outer space?" repeated Cap.
"So he's building another portal," said Dr. Banner. "That's what he needs Eric Selvig for."
"Selvig?" said Thor.
"He's an astrophysicist," said Bella. "He was working on the Tesseract project."
"He's a friend," said Thor.
"Loki has them under some kind of spell – along with one of ours," said Agent Romanoff.
Bella and Agent Romanoff exchanged glances. Where was Barton now?
"I want to know why Loki let us take him," said Cap. "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," said Dr. Banner.
"Have a care how you speak," said Thor. "Loki may be beyond reason, but he is of Asgard. And he is my brother."
"He killed eighty people in two days," said the Black Widow.
"… He's adopted," said Thor.
There was a short silence.
"I think it's about the mechanics," said Dr. Banner, breaking the silence. "Iridium, what do they need the Iridium for?"
"It's a stabilizing agent," said a familiar voice.
Bella's head turned toward the voice. "Tony!" she greeted.
"Hey, Izzy. The stabilizing agent means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did on S.H.I.E.L.D." He walked toward them and addressed Thor. "No hard feelings, Point Break, you've got a mean swing." He turned back to the table. "Also, means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long as Loki wants."
Tony walked over to a set of screens where Director Fury usually stood.
"Uh, raise the mizzenmast. Ship the topsails," he said.
Everyone on the bridge turned to stare at him for a moment, then went back to work.
"How does Fury even see these?" asked Tony, covering one eye and
"He turns," replied a female agent standing nearby.
"Sounds exhausting." He turned back to the group gathered around the table. "The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily," he continued. "Only major component he still needs is a power source – of high energy density. Something to kick start the Cube."
"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear physics?" asked Agent Hill.
"Last night. The packet, Selvig's notes, the extraction theory papers – am I the only one who did the reading? Aside from you, Izzy."
"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" asked Captain America.
"He's have to heat the Cube to a hundred and twenty million kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier," sad Dr. Banner.
"Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilise the Quantum Tunnelling effect," said Tony.
"Well, if he could do that he could achieve heavy-ion fusion at any reactor on the planet."
"Finally. Someone who speaks English."
"Is that what just happened?" asked the captain.
Tony and Dr. Banner shook hands. "It's good to meet you, Doctor Banner," said Tony. "Your work on anti-electronic collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."
"…Thanks," said Dr. Banner.
"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube," said Director Fury. "I was hoping you might join him."
"I'd start with that stick of his. It may be magical but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon," said the captain.
"Actually, Captain," said Bella, "it does work on the same principles as a HYDRA weapon. HYDRA weapons were powered by the Tesseract, as is Loki's spear. We are still not completely sure how the mind control part works. However, judging by what I have seen, magic is definitely not involved in anyway."
"How do you know how HYDRA weapons work?" asked the captain. "Did S.H.I.E.L.D. give you information on them?"
Bella had studied them thoroughly while "employed" by a small group that had carried on HYDRA's work. But she didn't exactly want to confess that to anyone just yet, especially to someone who had just finished fighting HYDRA. Well, technically it had been seventy years ago, but to him it was probably closer to a few months, if not less. Coulson had filled her in on all of that.
"And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys," said the director.
Bella had never been so grateful to anyone in her life.
"Monkeys?" said Thor. "I do not understand –"
"I do! I understood that reference," said the captain.
Bella hadn't, but after seeing everyone else's reactions, she decided not to say so.
"Shall we play, Doctor?" said Tony.
"This way, Sir."