It's Been a Long, Long Time

06

EXT. SKY ­- NIGHT

Thor and Iron Man battled. Iron Man grasped Thor, elbowing him and smashed him into the side of a mountain. Thor leapt off the mountain and took Iron Man with him.

EXT. FOREST

Thor and Iron Man crashed right back down, smashing down every tree possible. Iron Man yanked Thor up. Thor grabbed both hand boosters and began to crush them. Tony quickly charged as much energy as he could and shot energy in Thor's face. Thor fell back, losing his stance. Iron Man head-butted Thor, with his gold-titanium alloy helmet. Thor head-butted him with his head and sent Iron Man across the forest. Iron Man bolstered up and flew back at Thor, grabbing him by the arm and cape and swung him into another tree. Thor looked up, ready. Thor ran with all his patience out the window. Iron Man swung and missed, giving Thor the momentum to grab him, lift him and smashed him down hard. Thor summoned Mjölnir to his hand. Just as he was about to put the hammer down, Iron Man used his hand boosters to skid across the ground and tripped Thor over. Standing, Thor looked for them, but from behind him, Iron Man crashed into his back. Thor stood facing Iron Man. Captain America's shield ricocheted off both Thor and Iron Man, stopping them. They looked up and saw Captain America and Madam Independence standing on top of a fallen tree, with the shield back in hand.

"Hey!" Captain America yelled. "That's enough!" He jumped down and looked at Thor. "Now, I don't know what you plan on doing here."

"I've come here to put an end to Loki's schemes!" Thor answered.

"Then prove it!" Lieutenant Liberty said as he jumped down. "Put the hammer down."

"Um, yeah, no!" Iron Man said. "Bad call! He loves his hammer!"

Thor backhanded Iron Man with Mjölnir. Thor, losing all tolerance, raised the hammer and said to Captain America and Lieutenant Liberty, "You want me to put the hammer down?"

Thor leapt high into the air, raising his hammer. Captain America crouched down and held up his shield, keeping Madam Independence behind him. Thor brought his hammer down onto the shield and a massive implosion of light reacted to the vibranium shield creating a massive shockwave that blew up anything standing within a mile. Iron Man stood, looking around in shock. Lying right next to him were Captain America and Lieutenant Liberty, who never took their eyes off Thor. Thor looked at the men and the woman.

"Are we done here?" Captain America and Lieutenant Liberty asked.

Thor, Captain America, Lieutenant Liberty and Iron Man stood there.

INT. HELICARRIER HALLWAY - NIGHT

Dozens of S.H.I.E.L.D police escorted Loki, who was in handcuffs, smiling. As they passed the Helicarrier lab, Bruce stopped working on the Chitauri scepter and looked up. Loki eyed him as he walked, nodding and smiling. Bruce rubbed his head.

INT. HELICARRIER DETENTION SECTION NIGHT

Loki was free from his cuffs and was contained in a large glass cell held by hydraulic rigs. Fury walked up the control panel of the cell.

"In case it's unclear," Fury began. "You try to escape. You so much as scratch that glass."

Fury pressed a button which opened a hatch underneath Loki's cell. Loki peered as much as he could from the glass. Without seeing, there was the sound of gusting wind.

"Thirty thousand feet, straight down in a steel trap," Fury told him. "You get how that works?!" Fury closed the hatch and pointed at Loki. "Ant." He pointed at the button which would drop Loki into the steel trap. "Boot."

Loki smirked and said, "It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me."

"Built for something a lot stronger than you."

"Oh, I've heard." He looked into the camera.

INT. BRIEFING ROOM

The others watched on the monitor as Loki was getting interrogated. Bruce looked at the monitor, intently.

INT. HELICARRIER DETENTION SECTION

Loki continued. "The mindless beast, makes play he's still a man. How desperate are you, that you call upon such lost creatures to defend you?"

"How desperate am I?" Fury repeated. "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."

"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."

Fury smiled. "Well, you let me know if Real Power wants a magazine or something." He walked off, leaving Loki in his glass cell. Loki looked back at the camera, smirking.

INT. BRIEFING ROOM

Steve and Frank watched until the monitor went black. Thor, who didn't even look, just listened, stood there, torn apart. They stood there in stunned silence.

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Bruce commented.

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

"He has an army called the Chitauri," Thor told them. "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."

Steve and Frank asked in a serious tone, "An army? From outer space?"

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

"Selvig?" Thor repeated.

"He's an astrophysicist."

"He's a friend."

"Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with one of ours," Natasha said.

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

"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 said.

"Have care how you speak," Thor warned. "Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he's my brother."

"He killed eighty people in two days," Natasha reminded him.

"He's adopted."