I Can't Help It - Steve Rogers

Chapter 6

Everyone except Tony gathers at the desk on the bridge to listen to Fury question Loki in his cell. "In case it's unclear, if you try to escape, you so much as scratch that glass... it's 30,000 feet straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works? Ant. Boot" Fury explains to Loki, showing him the security precaution of the cell. Rachel smiles at Fury's reference to the ant and boot as she remembers Loki using it when he stole the tesseract. Loki only chuckles at Fury, seemingly enjoying himself. "It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think for me" he states with a grin. "Built for something a lot stronger than you" Fury quips. "Oh, I've heard. A mindless beast, makes play he's still a man. How desperate are you? To have called on such lost creatures to defend you" Loki argues while looking directly at the camera. Everyone glances at each other warily.

"How desperate am I?" Fury repeats, making Loki look back at him. "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's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did" Fury lists. "Ohh, it burns you to have come so close. To have the tesseract, to have power. Unlimited power. All for what? A warm light for all mankind to share, then to be reminded what real power is" Loki responds with a devilish grin, sending a chill down Rachel's spine. He's up to something, she thinks to herself. "Well, let me now if 'real power' wants a magazine or something" Fury states as he exits the room to meet everyone on the bridge.

The surveillance ends and everyone raises their heads at each other. "He really grows on you doesn't he?" Bruce states with a smile. "Loki's gonna drag this out. So, Thor, what's his play?" Steve states as Rachel looks beside her to see him looking up at Thor. "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 explains. "An army? From outer space" Steve states in disbelief, glancing around at everyone and Rachel shrugs her shoulders at him, simply stating that she's accepted the bizarre truth.

"So, he's building another portal, that's what he needs Erik Selvig for" Bruce explains, slowly piecing things together. "Selvig?" Thor questions with a worried expression. "He's an astrophysicist" Bruce adds. "He's a friend" Thor replies, explaining his worried expression. "Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with one of ours" Nat explains, refraining from showing any emotion about Clint. Rachel gives her a sad look but Nat avoids her glance. "I want to know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here" Steve suggests. "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 argues as everyone looks over at him. "Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason but he is of Asgard, and he is my brother" Thor threatens as he steps forward and stands up straight. "He killed 80 people in two days" Rachel states. "He's adopted" Thor defends and Rachel only chuckles slightly.

"I think it's about the mechanics. Iridium. What do they need the iridium for?" Bruce asks, getting back on topic. "It's a stabilising agent" Tony answers as he enters the room beside Coulson. He quickly finishes his conversation with Coulson before walking towards the group gathered around the table. "It means the portal won't collapse on itself, like it did at Shield" He explains before approaching Thor. "No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing" he says raising his hand patting Thor on the arm. "Also, it means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long as Loki wants" he finishes as he stands at Fury's control panel. He starts barking orders to the Shield agent but they only give him unimpressed expressions and continue with the work they were doing.

"That man is playing Galaga, he thought we wouldn't notice but we did" he states and Steve glances at everyone in confusion. Rachel subtly leans towards him and whispers "Don't worry, it's just a game" before sitting straight again. He looks at her and smiles slightly before Tony convers one eye and turns. "How does Fury even see these?" he asks in disbelief. "He turns" Maria answers. "That sounds exhausting" Tony replies before clicking the screens. "The rest of the raw material, 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" he concludes proudly. "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?" he answers smugly.

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve asks, wanting to move on as he seems to be irritated by Stark. "He'd have to heat the cube to 120 million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier" Bruce explains and Tony makes his way towards him. "Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilise the quantum tunnelling effect" he replies. "Well if he could do that, he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet" Bruce responds knowingly. "Finally, someone who speaks English" Tony retorts. "Is that what just happened?" Steve mutters and Rachel smiles at him.

"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 nods awkwardly and mutters a 'thanks' before Fury enters the room.