Magic | Steve Rogers

6

"In case it's unclear, if you try to escape, if so much as  scratch that glass, it's 30,000 feet straight down in a steel trap. You  get how that works?"

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

"Built for something a lot stronger than you."

"Oh,  I've heard. A mindless beast. 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 ? You threaten my world with war. You steal a fource you  can't help 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"

"Oooo. 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."

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Bruce asks once the monitors turn off.

"Loki's gonna drag this out," Lauren says.

"So, Thor, what's his play?" Steve asks.

"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 says.

"An army, from outer space."

"So, he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for," Natasha says.

"Selvig?" Thor asks.

"He's an astrophysicist," Bruce says.

"He's a friend."

"Loki has him under some kind of spell," Lauren says.

"Along with one of ours," Natasha says.

"I want to know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading 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 could smell the crazy on him," Bruce says.

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

"He killed 80 people in two days," Lauren and Natasha say at the same time.

"He's adopted," Thor adds.

Lauren chuckles.

"I think it's about the mechanics. Iridium... what do they need iridium for?" Bruce asks.

"It's a stabilizing agent," Tony says as he enters the room with  Coulson, then mutters something to him, " It means the portal won't  collapse on itself like it did at S.H.I.E.L.D. No hard feelings, Point  Break. You've got a mean swing", he says and taps Thor's biceps.

"Also", He continues, " it means the portal can open as wide and  stay open as long, as Loki wants. Raise the mizzenmast. Jib the topsails  . That man is playing Galaga", Stark says and points to an agent, " he  thought we wouldn't notice, but we did. How does Fury even see these?"  he asks at the controls as he covers his eye.

" He turns," Maria says.

Once again, Lauren chuckles.

"Sounds  exhausting. 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,"  Tony says as he walks away from the controls.

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

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

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

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

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

"Well,  if he could do that, he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor  on the planet," Lauren says without batting an eyelash.

"Finally, some people who speak English," Tony says, " I always knew she was smart."

"Is that what just happened?" Steve asks.

"It's  good 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 an enormous green rage-monster," Tony says as he shakes Bruce's  hand.

Bruce looks down at the floor and clears his throat uncomfortably.

"Thanks."

"Dr. Banner is only here to track the Cube. I was hoping you might join him," Fury says as he walks to the conference table.

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

"I  don't know about that, but it is 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 says.

"Monkeys? I do not understand," Thor says confused, but gets cut off by Steve.

"I do. I understood that reference," Steve says.

Tony rolls his eyes and Lauren tries to hide her smile. She can hide it from most, but not from Natasha.

"Shall we play, Doctor?" Tony asks.

"Lead the way," Bruce says.

The two geniuses then walk off to the lab.

" What was that?" Natasha asks in a hushed voice.

" What was what?" Lauren asks.

" You were smiling"

" Was not."

" Was too"

Now Lauren rolls her eyes as Natasha smirks.