Chapter 12 - Rachel Stark

As Steve falls from the sky, I am finally able to get the jet's control back to normal. All of the alarms cease and I am able to put the jet on standby. I hover above the confrontation, watching as the guys duke it out below me. 

I am not able to see everything, but I see a shield hit Tony's chest, and then Thor's. Steve says something to the men and walks over to them, putting his shield back on his arm. Thor continues the conversation, taking a threatening stance as he hits Tony with his hammer. Eh, he probably deserved that. 

Suddenly, Thor turns to Steve and breaks into a sprint.

"No Steve, no don't do that," I mumble from the plane. I watch as Thor raises his hammer. Steve crouches down, putting his shield over his head for protection. Just in time too, because just as he does, the hammer comes down and connects with his shield, sending out a sonic wave around them. It sends Tony, who had gotten up, flying backward again and it even knocked Thor down as well. 

After everyone below recovers, I land the jet a few feet away from where the guys had gathered, Loki in the middle of the circle they formed. 

I walk to the back of the jet, pushing the button to open the ramp for the boys. 

"So, are we ready to head back?" I say with my hands on my hips. Steve offers a tired nod as Tony walks up to the open jet. I turn to Tony and whisper, "So I see you've met Thor." He turns his head to me, the mask coming up, revealing his face. He gives me a sarcastic look. "Like I said, literal god." 

I had mentioned my time in the Southwest to Tony once he found out I was involved with S.H.I.E.L.D. and he never believed that I had seen a god. 

Thor and Steve each have a hand on Loki as they pull him back into the jet. Once everyone is situated inside, I start the jet up again, setting course for the Helicarrier. 

"Director Fury, do you copy?" I ask into my comm. 

"Agent Stark, I copy." 

"Please send your coordinates, we should only be about 40 minutes out," I say. 

"Has he said anything yet?" Fury asks as the coordinates flash across my screen. 

"Not a word," I say, mumbling so that the guys in the back have a harder time hearing me. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once we land on the Helicarrier and disembark from the quinjet, a large team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents relieve us from keeping an eye on Loki. We follow behind them until they split off towards the prison unit and the three of us head back to the command center. 

"Where did Stark go?" Steve asks from behind me. I shrug without looking back as we enter the large room. Each of us takes a seat at a big conference table; the computer banks and Fury's podium are laid out in front of us. I send a wave over to Agent Maria Hill, who is leaning against a railing near the table.

Steve and I take seats next to each other as Bruce and Thor stand on the opposite side of the table. Natasha joins us as well, sitting next to where Thor is standing. The screens in front of us flick on, showing Loki being shut into his cell. The static clicks off as Fury begins talking.

"In case it is unclear, you try to escape. You so much as scratch glass," Fury says to Loki, as the bottom of the cage opens. Wind whips around underneath the cell as the glass case holding Loki threatens to drop. I remember the designs for that. It was for... oh.

"Thirty thousand feet, straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works?!" Fury then closes the hatch and points at Loki. "Ant," then points at the control panel, "Boot," Loki smirks. I nod, impressed by Fury's apt analogy. 

"It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me." 

"Built for something a lot stronger than you." When Fury says that, I look over sympathetically to Bruce, who flinches with the remark. 

"The mindless beast makes play he's still a man. How desperate are you, calling on such lost creatures to defend you?" I look around the table, watching as Thor, Banner, and Steve watch Loki's obnoxious monologue. 

I try to keep from rolling my eyes.

"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 because it is fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did." Fury retorts.

"Ooh. It burns you to be so close. To have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power. And for what? A warm light for mankind to share, and then to be reminded what real power is." Loki finishes. Nick just looks at him and smiles.

"Well, let me know if 'Real Power' wants a magazine or something." Fury walks out and the tape cuts.

"He really grows on you doesn't he?" Banner asks. I smile slightly at him and then turn to Steve.

"Loki's gonna drag this out. So, Thor, what's his play?" Steve is so cute when he goes all Captain America. Wait, WHY do I keep thinking this stuff? I need to pay attention. 

"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 finishes and I suck in a big breath.

"An army, from outer space... You have got to be kidding me." I say out loud. Steve turns towards me and smiles.

He leans closer to me and whispers, "I feel the same way." into my ear, sending a shiver up my spine. I take a deep breath and attempt to refocus on the conversation. 

"So he is building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for." Bruce realizes.

"He has Selvig?" I ask, shocked.

"And Barton," Natasha says, pain crossing her face. She covers it quickly, but I saw it.

"Oh Nat, I am so sorry," I say, reaching out and patting her on the shoulder.

"I wanna know why Loki let us take him. He's not running an army from here." Steve says.

"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 says with a slight chuckle. I don't laugh.

"Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he's my brother." Thor says.

"He killed eighty people in two days," I say in an extremely monotone voice. Natasha nods, looking over to Thor. 

"He's adopted," Thor states simply. I send him a sarcastic grin.

"Well then. Let's focus on the science. Iridium, what did they need the Iridium for?" Bruce looks over to me, hoping I could help further his train of thought. I was about to state my idea but I was rudely interrupted.

"It's a stabilizing agent," my brother answers the question then turns to Coulson and mumbles something. Every one of us at the table turns our attention to Tony, who is walking over to us, the ego so perfectly embodied in each of his steps.

"Means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at S.H.I.E.L.D." He then turns to Thor, "No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing." I roll my eyes. He quickly turns his attention back to Iridium. "Also, it means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long, as Loki wants." He walks over and stands atop Fury's podium and turns to the crew, waving his arms around. 

"Uh, raise the mid-mast, ship the topsails." There is a quick pause as Tony points to one of the agents in the computer banks. "That man is playing Galaga! He thought we wouldn't notice, but we did." He covers one eye and looks at the ship's control panel. "How does Fury do this?" 

"He turns," Agent Maria Hill answers. Love this woman.

"Well, that sounds exhausting." Tony sighs, fiddling with something in his pocket. "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. A high energy density, something to kick start the cube." he snaps his fingers as he steps off the podium, walking towards us.

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

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

"Um, excuse me brother, but I do have a degree in the field," I say with a smirk on my face.

"Hey sis," Tony says as he waves, keeping his arm pinned to his side. I wave back.

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve asks, trying to take it all in.

"In order to break the Coulomb barrier, he needs to heat up the cube to one hundred million Kelvin," I say, desperately trying to be useful in this situation. 

"Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect." Tony mumbles, pointing to me.

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

"Finally! Someone besides my sister who speaks English!" Tony smiles and goes over to shake his hand. I can see the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Steve turns to me and asks, "Is that what just happened here?" I smile at him and chuckle a little bit. 

"I'll explain it all later," I say with a smile. My smile quickly fades as Fury walks in, drawing my attention away from our moment.

"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you two would join him." Fury says, pointing between Tony and me.

"Let's start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon." Steve says. I look over to Steve and nod. 

"I think his scepter has something to do with the energy reading I saw before we left." 

"I don't know about all that, but it's 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." Fury finishes.

"Monkeys? I don't understand." Thor says.

"I do! I understood that reference!" Steve says, clearly happy that he finally understands something. I see Tony roll his eyes. 

"Shall we play, doctor?" Tony says. 

"Let's play some," Bruce replies. Tony points to me and then points down the hallway, signaling that I should go with them. I push my chair out behind me, placing a hand on Steve's shoulder as I walk out, silently congratulating him for his pop culture reference recognition. He offers me a small smirk as I head off, my stomach doing somersaults.