Chapter 4

Fury had gone down to talk to Loki and the others minus Tony were sat watching. When he finished the video feed cut out and the others all looked at each other.

"He really grows on you doesn't he?" Banner said as the feed disappeared.

"Loki's gonna drag this out." Steve told them. "So, Thor, what's his play?"

"He has an army called the Chitauri. They are 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 disclosed.

"An army, from outer space." Abi muttered. "Well that's new."

"So, he's building another portal." Banner said. "That's what he needs Eric Selvig for."

"Selvig." Thor exclaimed.

"He's an astrophysicist."

"He's a friend." Thor said.

"Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with one of ours." Natasha said.

"I want to know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here." Steve pointed out.

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki." Banner told them. "That guys brain is a bag full of cats. You could smell crazy on him."

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

"According to them he killed eighty people in two days." Abi said gesturing to Maria Hill whose mind she read.

"He's adopted." Thor added.

"I think it's about the mechanics." Banner cut in. "Iridium... What do they need the Iridium for?"

"It's a stabilising agent." Tony answered as he walked into the room talking to Coulson. "It means the portal won't collapse on its self like it did at shield. No hard feelings, point break. You've got a mean swing." He said slapping Thor on the arm. "And I'm sorry about the stomach you did throw me." He added to Abi who shook her head. "Also it means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long, as Loki wants." He then rambled some nonsense neither Steve nor Abi nor Thor understood. "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."

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Maria asked.

"Last night. The packet, Selvig's notes, the extraction theory papers. Am I the only one who did the readings?" Stark lifted his arms.

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

"He'd have to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin, just to break through the coulomb barrier." Abi told him. Everyone turned to look at her in shock. "What? I was a science officer remember." She muttered.

"Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilise the quantum tunnelling effect." Tony said with a nod at Abi.

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

"That's true." Abi said.

"Finally two people who speak English." Tony said walking over to where they were stood.

"Is that what just happened?" Steve mumbled.

Tony held his hand out for Banner to shake. "It's good to meet you, Dr Banner. Your work with antielectron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of how you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."

"Thanks." Banner said looking uncomfortable.

"Dr Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him." Fury said walking back in. "You can too, Miss Rogers seen as you seem to know about this stuff." Abi nodded.

"I'd 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." Fury said. "And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."

"Monkey? I do not understand." Thor said knitting his eyebrows together.

"I do." Steve said pointing at Thor. "I understood that reference."

"Shall we play, Doctor and I feel like you need a nickname." Tony said to Abi who shook her head.

"This way." Banner said setting off as Tony and Abi followed him.