The Hawk's Sister

Galaga and Flying Monkeys

Dahlia stands next to Nat watching the monitor that shows what's happening in Loki's cell, Nick walks over to the control panel "In case it's unclear. You try to escape. You so much as scratch that glass." Nick starts before pressing a button, opening the bottom of the room bellow Loki's cell. "Thirty thousand feet, straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works?! Ant. Boot." Nick tells Loki, pointing to him and then the button. "It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me." Loki smirks. "Built for something a lot stronger than you." Nick expounds. "Oh, I've heard. The mindless beast, makes play he's still a man. How desperate are you, that you call upon such lost creatures to defend you?" Loki says. Dahlia clenches her fist when she sees the look on Bruce's face "Can I kill him yet?" she asks Nat in Russian. Nat shakes her head and chuckles slightly in response. "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 'cause it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did." Nick tells Loki. "Ooh. It burns you to 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." Loki smirks. "Well, you let me know if Real Power wants a magazine or something." Nick tells him before walking out, Loki looking at the camera smirking.

The monitor goes black goes black making Dahlia sigh and pinch the bridge of her nose "He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Bruce comments. "Loki's gonna drag this out. So, Thor, what's his play?" Steve asks. "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 responds. "An army? From outer space?"Steve asks seriously. "So he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for."  Bruce realises. "Selvig?" Thor asks. "He's an astrophysicist." Bruce tells him. "He's a friend." Thor responds. "Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with one of ours." Natasha tells Thor. "I wanna 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 crazy on him." Bruce comments. "I second that." Dahlia adds. "Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he's my brother." Thor tells them. "He killed eighty people in two days." Natasha says. "And has control of my big brother, Selvig and who knows who else." Dahlia adds to her friends statement. "He's adopted." Thor tells them.

Bruce ignores them and carries on talking "I think it's about the mechanics. Iridium, what did they need the Iridium for?" he asks. "It's a stabilizing agent." Tony says walking in with Phil. "Means the portal won't collapse on itself, like it did at S.H.I.E.L.D." he continues as he walks over to Thor. "No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing. Also, it means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long, as Loki wants." Tony tells them before turning to the crew. "Uh, raise the mid-mast, ship the top sails. That man is playing Galaga! Thought we wouldn't notice. But we did." Tony says making Dahlia chuckle. Tony cover his eye and looks at the screen "How does Fury do this?" he asks. "He turns." Maria tells him. Tony looks around the monitors "Well, that sounds exhausting. 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. A high energy density, something to kick start the cube." he continues. "When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Maria asks. "Last night. The packet, Selvig's notes, the Extraction Theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?" Tony asks. "Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve asks. "He's got to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier." Bruce says. "Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect." Tony responds. "Well, if he could do that he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet." Bruce continues. "Finally, someone who speaks English." Tony smiles motioning to Bruce.

Steve looks at Dahlia "Is that what just happened?" he asks. "I think so..." Dahlia says before trailing off. Tony and Bruce shake hands "It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster." Tony tells him. "Thanks." Bruce says looking down. Dahlia opens her mouth to say something but stops as Nick walks in "Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him." he tells Tony. "Let's start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a Hydra weapon." Steve pipes up. "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." Nick says. "Monkeys? I do not understand." Thor says. "I do! I understood that reference." Steve smiles. Dahlia smiles slightly as Steve looks proud of himself "Shall we play, doctor?" Tony asks Bruce. "Let's play some." Bruce agrees before they leave. Dahlia looks at Maria "Anything on Clint?" she asks. "Not yet, we're still looking though." Maria responds. Dahlia nods and looks down slightly, Natasha grabs her hand "We'll find him." she says. "I hope so." Dahlia responds.