Basil sprawled out in the chair at a large black glass topped table. The chair was surprisingly comfortable and, most importantly, it had fun features. He had discovered that there was a leaver that moved it up or down. Something in the design allowed him to lean back in it, far enough that the he could kick his feet up onto the table top. And, much to his glee, it span. He let out a giggle as he spun round and round. Somehow his new super soldier body didn't get dizzy. So he was soon a laughing spinning blur.

Steve held out a hand and caught the chair by the arm rest, stopping it abruptly. "Basil, stop being a kid and pay attention". Basil huffed and looked down at the video feed playing on the table. Fury was trying to talk to Loki but it didn't seem to be getting anywhere. Steve shut the video off as Fury left the room. The last image was of Loki staring up into the camera like he could see right through it and the people watching.

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Bruce Banner remarked from where he was leaning on the top of a desk chair. He had left his blazer and his purple shirt war rolled up to the elbows. Glasses were perched on his nose. It was hard to see him as a rampaging green monster.

"Loki's going to drag this out", Steve said. He and Basil were still in uniform but they helmets had been left in the room they had changed in earlier. "Thor, what's his play?"

Thor was standing at the head of the table, a hand under his chin as he thought. He had forgone the red cape but was still in his black and silver armour. "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 suppose, for the tesseract".

"An army", Steve repeated tiredly. "From outer space".

"The name chitauri makes them sound like insects", Basil voiced. "Loki probably needs another portal to bring them here. One big enough to fit an army through".

"That's what he needs Erik selvig for", Bruce nodded.

"Selvig?" Thor repeated.

"He's an astrophysicist".

"He's a friend".

"Loki has him under some kind of spell", Natasha spoke up. She was in a chair on the other side of the table. "Along with one of ours".

"I want to know why Loki let us catch him", Steve said. "He's not opening a portal from here".

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki", Bruce replied. "That guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You could smell crazy on him".

"I don't think he's crazy", Basil murmured. "I think he's tortured. He seems desperate and misguided. As someone who had been tortured myself, I would know. It's in the eyes".

Thor looked up and glanced at Basil with an unreadable expression. "Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason but he is of Asgard. And he is my brother".

"He killed eighty people in two days", Natasha stated.

Thor shrugged. "He's adopted".

"That explains his self worth issues", Basil nodded. "His constant need for power and security. Just what did your family do for him to end up like that?" He tilted his head to look at Thor. "I mean. It's your family and now our planet is paying the price because of your family problems". Thor glared at him. Basil just smirked and leaned back to kick his feet up on to the table.

Steve sighed. "I'm sorry about him. He means no offence".

"No I definitely mean offence", Basil corrected. "These are humans that are paying the price of Asgardian issues. I have read the myths and is odin as a bad as a father as he is in those myths, then I think we should blame him".

"Maybe my father is partly to blame", Thor conceded with a glare. "But that does not sort out our situation now".

"Maybe it's all about mechanics", Bruce suggested. "I mean iridium. What does he need iridium for?"

"It's a stabilising agent", Tony replied as he walked into the room. He turned and muttered something to phill coulson before the agent turned down a different corridor. "It means that the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at Shield". He stuck his hands in the pockets of he jeans as he walked round the table. "No hard feelings point break, you've got a mean swing". He patted Thor on the arm and Basil sniggered. "Also, it means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long as Loki wants". He marched up to the control platform and gestured around at the computers. "How does fury even see all these?"

A woman who had been standing in the corner of the room, gave him a blank look. Her hair was pulled up into a no nonsense bun and her shield uniform indicated a high rank. "He turns".

"Sounds exhausting", Tony muttered as he turned back to them. "The rest of the raw materials agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. The only major component he still needs is a power source of high energy density. Something to kick start the cube".

"I have no idea what you're saying but I like your thoughts metal man", Basil pointed with a grin.

Tony sent him laser pointers back and Basil laughed. "How old is this kid?"

"I'm not a kid".

"He was twenty when we went in the ice", Steve answered. The whole table already knew that but it was sobering to hear out loud.

"Of course you're a kid, can you even drink?"

"Better than you probably can Metal man. And I am around ninety, thank you for asking".

"When did you become a expert in thermonuclear physics?" The shield agent interrupted Tony's and Basil's argument. Her name was something to do with land. Grass? Wood? Hill? That was it, agent Hill.

"Last night. The packet. Selvig's notes, the extraction theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?"

"Steve and I did the reading but we're from the 1940's and therefore only understood the simple parts", Basil offered.

"Does Loki need any particular power source?" Steve asked.

"He would have to heat the cube to 120-million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier", Bruce answered.

Basil groaned. "Again, unless it's something from our time period or to do with the human body and medicine, I have absolutely no idea what you're saying".

"Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilise the quantum tunnelling effect", Tony answered. Basil's complaint going ignored.

"Well if he could do that, he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet", Bruce shrugged.

"Finally. Someone who speaks English".

"Is that what just happened?" Steve blinked in confusion.

"As the only Brit here", Basil held up his hand. "I think I should be the judge of that".

Tony ignored them and crossed round the table to shake Bruce's hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you Dr Banner. Your work on antielectron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into a giant green rage monster".

Bruce didn't seem to know how to respond to that. "Thanks".

"Dr Banner is only here to track the cube", Fury stated loudly as he entered the room. "I was hoping you may join him".

"You should start with that stick of his", Steve suggested. "It maybe magical but it works an awful lot like a hydra weapon".

"I don't know about that but it is powered by the cube", Fury nodded. "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 muttered. "I do not understand".

"I do!" Steve exclaimed gleefully.

"This is a real world of Oz", Basil snorted. "We have a tin man with a heart", he gestured at Tony. "The scarecrow is Selvig and Barton. And of course there's the cowardly lion". He waved a hand towards Thor. The god gave him a confused look, not understanding the reference but knowing that he had been insulted.

Tony snorted. He walked round to give Basil a high five. "Good one Baz. Thanks for saying that I have a heart". He turned to Bruce. "Shall we play doctor?"

"Also, Fury", Basil called as the two men left the room. "I have some questions. Can I have some knives? And also, I've been in the ice for sixty six years, why haven't I been promoted?"

Unedited