It wasn't until Christina had walked down the hall into the atrium of the Helicarrier and sunk down into a chair next to Steve at the table that she really understood what was going to happen. She knew that Loki was a lot more dangerous than anyone around her was letting on. She also knew that Fury was most likely keeping the real reason as to why Loki wanted to destroy Earth in the first place.

Banner and Natasha walked into the room, and just as Natasha sat down next to Christina, a screen came up on the transparent glass table, displaying the footage that was taking place between Loki and Fury as Loki was being introduced to his new cell. Loki seemed to be relatively pleased to be placed in this cage. Christina frowned as she watched him smile.

"In case it's unclear, if you try to escape, if you so much as scratch that glass," Fury pressed a large red button on a control panel and the hatch beneath Loki's cage opened, wind whistled and filled the room. "It's thirty-thousand feet straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works?" Fury asked as he pressed the button again, closing the hatch. "Ant," he gestured to Loki and then at the button. "Boot."

Loki chuckled as he began to roam around his cage, "It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me."

"Built for something a lot stronger than you," Fury replied.

"Oh, I've heard. A mindless beast," Loki said. "Makes play he's still a man. How desperate are you, that you call on such lost creatures to defend you?"

"How desperate am I?" Fury mocked. "You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control. You talk about peace, and you kill because it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did."

Christina gritted her teeth as she watched Fury. Damn him for displaying our vulnerability to Loki, she thought. She crossed her arms and placed them on the table, but winced and gasped audibly as a fiery pain shot through her shoulder.

"Ooh," Loki breathed out as if he were intimidated. "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."

"Well, let me know if 'real power' wants a magazine or something," Fury replied and stalked out of the room.

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Banner asked, breaking the thick tension in the room. He sounded relatively amused as he looked around the room for conceding opinions.

"Hey, Natasha," Christina called out, Natasha looked up from the table to meet Christina's stare. "Can you do me a favor and pop my shoulder back in place?"

Natasha nodded and stood from her chair, as did Christina. "Don't scream," she warned and Christina leaned on the table with her good arm, enabling Natasha access to her bad one.

"Come on, I'm tougher than-" Christina was interrupted my Natasha jerking her right shoulder back. Christina let out a low growl of pain as she felt her shoulder blade grinding back into its proper position. Christina groaned as she rolled her shoulders a few times before thanking Natasha and sinking back down into her seat.

Steve gave her a small smile before getting back on the subject. "Loki's gonna drag this out," he said, and let his eyes drift over to Thor. "So, Thor, what's his play?"

"He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard, nor 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, seriously, his hard eyes meeting every single teammate's. He looks like he just came back from a Comic-Con convention, Christina thought.

"An army - from outer space," Steve clarified with a hint of sarcasm creeping into his tone. He glanced over at Christina and made eye contact with her, a frown covering his chiseled features.

"So, he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for," Banner pointed out, removing his glasses. Christina could practically see the wheels turning in his head as thoughts raced through his mind.

"Selvig?" Thor repeated, recognition flashed across his face.

"He's an astrophysicist," Banner explained, clearly unaware that Thor was acquainted with the man in question.

Christina began to wonder how much the other teammates actually knew about each other; she had been given access to the files because she had been one of the people who helped decide which members were going to be in the Avengers Initiative or not.

"He's a friend," Thor replied quietly.

"Loki has him under some kind of spell," Christina spoke up.

"Along with one of ours," Natasha finished, worry and concern present in her voice as she thought about Barton.

"I want to know why Loki let us take him," Steve threw out into the air, a frown still present. "He's not leading an army from here."

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki," Banner answered before he continued: "That guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You could smell crazy on him."

"Have care how you speak," Thor spoke out abruptly. "Loki is beyond reason, but he is still of Asgard. And he is my brother."

Christina rolled her eyes. "He killed eighty people in two days." She deadpanned. Thor glanced over at her, meeting her stare.

"He's adopted," Thor resigned.

"I think it's about the mechanics," Banner piped up, and welcomingly changed the subject. "Iridium...what do they need the iridium for?"

"It's a stabilizing agent."

Steve heard Tony Stark before he saw him. He saw the dark-haired billionaire come sashaying into the room while whispering something in Coulson's ear. Coulson almost looked embarrassed by what Stark had said to him.

Stark brought his attention back to the rest of the room and continued speaking as if he hadn't stopped. "It means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at S.H.I.E.L.D.," he strolled toward Thor and patted the large bicep of the Asgardian. "No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing." Stark kept walking further into the room, talking all the while. "Also, it means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long, as Loki wants. Raise the mizzenmast. Jib the topsails."

Christina watched in pure amusement as Stark stopped in front of the control screens and glanced over at one of the agents. Stark smirked. "That man is play Galaga. Thought we wouldn't notice, but we did."

Steve looked around in confusion. Christina chuckled to herself and leaned over to whisper to him: "Galaga is a videogame, Steve."

"Thanks," Steve replied. You know, despite us 'breaking up', it's really not awkward, Steve thought as he looked back over at Stark.

Suddenly, Stark covered his left eye with his hand as he turned to look at the screens. "How does Fury even see these?"

"He turns," a female voice answered. Steve looked over and saw a dark-hair woman with a moderately annoyed but professional look on her face: Agent Maria Hill.

"Sounds exhausting," Stark remarked. His eyes had caught onto one of the screens, and he was reading the information on it, before touching and controlling whatever was on it. "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," he turned to face everyone, snapping his fingers ceremoniously, "kick-start the Cube."

Christina narrowed her eyes and tilted her head in a mocking manner before asking: "When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?"

"Last night - the packet, Selvig's notes, the extraction theory papers? Am I the only one who did the reading?" Stark asked in disbelief that no one else had bothered to read the notes.

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

"He would have to heat the Cube to one-hundred and twenty-million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier," Banner answered, pacing while fumbling with his glasses.

"Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect," Tony said as if it were obvious.

"Well, if he could do that, he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet." Banner replied smartly.

"Finally, someone who speaks English," Tony responded pleasantly.

"Is that what just happened?" Steve asked, turning to Christina. She shook her head, and gave him a small grin.

"It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner," Tony greeted. "Your work on antielectron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage-monster."

"Thanks," Banner replied awkwardly.

"Dr. Banner is only here to track the Cube. I was hoping you might join him," Fury announced, making his entrance.

"I would start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon." Steve suggested.

"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the Cube." Fury said. "And I would like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."

"Monkeys? I do not understand," Thor said with a confused frown. Christina grinned despite herself.

"I do!" Steve shouted, pointing his finger in excitement. He turned to Christina, beaming, and then looked back at Fury: "I-I understood that reference."

Steve looked so proud of himself, for actually understanding what the people around him were saying. Christina allowed a large smile to spread across her face as she looked at him.

Stark rolled his eyes in annoyance at the Super-Soldier's excitement before he turned to Banner: "Shall we play, Doctor?"

"This way, sir," Banner said with a small grin on his face.