When Two Minds Collide

Chapter 5- An Unconventional Meeting

They took quite a long time to collect Loki and make their way back to the quinjet. Even longer to arrive back at the helicarrier. It was an extremely awkward ride, Venom putting everyone on edge. When they did make it back, Jamie was feeling much better, so Venom retreated inside of her. The whole team, including Dr. Banner, gathered around a conference table in the bridge, listening through the monitors as Loki and Fury talked. Their feed on the monitor ended as Fury exited the room.

Banner smiled, crossing his arms. "He really grows on you doesn't he?"

Jamie couldn't help but smile as well. "He's certainly an arrogant little thing." She glanced at Steve, her smile faltering at the ever serious look on his face.

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

"He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard nor any world known." He glanced around the table. "He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth, in return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."

Steve deadpanned. "An army, from outer space?"

Jamie grinned at his bewilderment. "Not as uncommon as you would think."

'That was ONE time! Besides, Eddie and I stopped the rest of them from coming.'

"Do you need more than one instance though?" Venom grumbled, obviously not able to come up with a response.

'Loser...'

Never mind then.

Banner thought for a second. "So, he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for."

Thor looked alarmed. "Selvig?"

"He's an astrophysicist."

"He's a friend."

Agent Romanoff glanced at Thor. "Loki has them under some kind of spell- along with one of ours. Jamie, upon hearing the devastation in her voice, offered her a sad smile. She had heard about Agent Barton during her briefing.

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

"I, for one, agree with Cap," Jamie added. "He had ample opportunity to escape when you were fighting, and yet he didn't." She had been wondering about this the entire ride back. Why did he want to be caught?

Banner shook his head. "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."

Thor glowered at Banner. "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." Agent Romanoff's tone was icy, and Jamie couldn't help but be glad she wasn't on the receiving end.

"He's adopted?"

Banner continued to look thoughtful. "I think it's about the mechanics. Iridium, what do they need the Iridium for?"

"It's a stabilizing agent." Jamie's head snapped to look at Tony as he and Coulson walked into the room. Tony began to walk past the table. "Means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at SHIELD." He paused in front of Thor. "No hard feelings point break, you got a mean swing." Jamie suppressed a smile at the new nickname. Tony continued to walk to the control panels. "Also, means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long as Loki wants."

"Ah, raise the mizzen mast, ship the topsails." The personnel looked at him strangely. "That man is playing Galaga!" Tony exclaimed. "Thought we wouldn't notice, but we did." Jamie continued to watch, thoroughly amused. Standing now at the command area of the ship, Tony gestured to a few of the screens. "How does Fury even see these?"

Agent Hill was, apparently, not as amused as Jamie was. "He turns."

"Sounds exhausting!" He began to mess with the screens. "The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. 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?"

"Last night. The packet, Selvig's notes, the extraction theory papers- am I the only one who did the reading?" Jamie had attempted it, but it had made almost no sense to her.

Steve interjected. "Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Banner and Tony went off on a tangent about very sciency things that Jamie had no hope of understanding.

"Finally. Someone who speaks English."

Steve looked at Jamie quizzically. "Is that what just happened?" Jamie could only shrug her shoulders and match his bewildered expression. Stark and Banner shook hands.

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

'What an ass.'

Dr. Banner grimaced. "...Thanks"

Fury strode into the room. "Doctor Banner is only here to track the Cube. I was hoping you might join him."

Steve turned to Fury. "I'd start with that stick of his. It may be magical but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon." Hydra? What's Hydra?

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

A look of perplexion crossed Thor's face. "Monkeys? I do not understand."

"I do!" Jamie, along with everyone else in the room, stared at Steve. "I...I understood that reference." Jamie offered him a small smile and two thumbs up.

Tony brushed past the awkwardness. "Shall we play, Doctor?"

Banner gestured towards the doorway. "This way, sir."