Respect | S. Rogers [1]

41 | SECRETS

May 2012
SHIELD Helicarrier

The group, minus Tony, was listening to the conversation between Fury and Loki, who was mocking him trying to belittle them as a race. Rose watched the screen on the table until it went black.

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Bruce mentioned sarcastically, standing behind Agent Thompson who was sitting on one of the leather chairs around the table. They had met previously when she had gotten back from Germany.

To her left, at a considerable distance, Steve spoke: "Loki's gonna drag this out." He looked at the Asgardian. "So, Thor, what's his play?"

Regaining his composure after hearing his brother speak such cruel words, he explained to them the situation, standing in front of them. "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."

Rosemary refrained from fidgeting.

Steve stared incredulously at the god. "An army... from outer space," he said tentatively, speaking Rosemary's thoughts.

"Wonderful," she grumbled.

Banner began tying nods in his brain. "So, he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for," he concluded.

Thor turned around to ask him: "Selvig?" Mistaking his worry for confusion Banner replied: "He's an astrophysicist," not realizing Thor most likely didn't know what the word meant.

"He's a friend," The golden-haired man clarified.

"Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with one of ours," Agent Romanoff explained to him from Rose's right, who watched the conversation unfold silently.

"I wanna know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here," Steve pointed out. Rose nodded slowly.

Dr 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 could smell crazy on him."

His statement made Thor look at him warningly. "Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he's my brother."

"He killed eighty people in two days," Romanoff deadpanned.

Thor shifted, uncomfortable. "He's adopted."

If it weren't for the situation, and if she knew the people better, she would've laughed at Thor's attempt of an explanation.

Dr Banner kept trying to bring back his theory to the conversation. "I think it's about the mechanics. Iridium, what do they need the Iridium for?"

Entering the room with Agent Coulson, Tony chimed into the conversation. "It's a stabilizing agent." He lowered his voiced whispering to Coulson, "I'm just saying pick a weekend. I'll fly you to Portland. Keep the love alive." Parting ways with the agent, who was eager to leave, he faced the rest of the group. "It means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at SHIELD."