Madness of the Serpent

Delinquent

The trickster god had returned to the makeshift laboratory in order to scrutinize the mortal scientist's progress. Dr. Selvig, having been re-energized by the miraculous emergence of the spirit being from inside of the sceptre's orb, had worked in a nonstop frenzy to understand the inner workings of the Tesseract. He had full, unimpeded access now that he was no longer under the watchful gaze of SHIELD, and Loki's effort to manipulate the mortal long before he had been contacted by Director Fury had been repaid tenfold. The mortal had not failed Loki in retrieving the phantom from the orb, and he would not fail in creating a stable portal for his army of Chitauri to spill forth onto the Earth.

"This is wonderful! The Tesseract has shown me so much. It's... it's more than knowledge – it's truth," the mortal exclaimed as Loki approached the clear strips of plastic that partitioned the portal stabilizer from the rest of the lab, his eyes filled with the glow of the sceptre's influence.

"I know," Loki responded with a surprising lack of malice, his tone almost gentle. "It uh... it touches everyone differently," he smiled fondly, imagining the glorious uses he would have for the otherworldly being he had regenerated from the power of the Tesseract. He could not imagine a more divine gift than a powerful spirit bound to obedient flesh, bestowed upon him by the clarity of the Cube.

"What did it show you, Agent Barton?" he asked the assassin he had pulled from guard duty in order to help coordinate the god's next movements.

"My next target," the archer said, his expression as placid as ever.

"Stick in the mud, he's got no soul," the doctor chuckled while the enslaved SHIELD agent glared at him in annoyance. "No wonder you chose this-this tomb to work in!"

"Well, the Radisson doesn't have three levels of lead-lined flooring between SHIELD and that cube," he responded with unexpected sass as Dr. Selvig nodded and smiled sheepishly.

"I see why Fury chose you to guard it," Loki said, his pale eyes watching the assassin. It was also why he had assigned the agent to watch over one of his most prized possessions.

"You're going to have to contend with him, sir," Agent Barton informed the god as they began to walk through the lab's center towards the staging area, where technical equipment was already being loaded onto the van which would soon transport the Tesseract to its final destination.

"As long as he's in the air, I can't pin him down," the skillful mortal continued. "He'll be putting together a team."

"Are they a threat?" Loki asked guardedly, looking down at his mind-slave.

"To each other, more than likely," came his unworried reply. "But if Fury can get them on track, and he might, they could throw some noise our way."

"You admire Fury," the Asgardian remarked, peering at the assassin appraisingly.

"He's got a clear line of sight."

"Is that why you failed to kill him?" Loki inquired, his tone bordering on displeasure as he walked past the assassin, who had paused in his own stride.

"It might be. I was disoriented. And I'm not at my best with a gun," Barton responded, watching the Asgardian as he began to pace like an agitated predator under the dreary lights of the abandoned underground system, his face lit from above with a bleak glow.

"I want to know everything you can tell me about this team of his," Loki spoke in a low voice, his hungry expression further intensified by the harsh lighting. "I would... test their mettle. I grow weary of scuttling in shadow. I mean to rule this world... not burrow in it," he finished, disgust in his voice for having to hide like a common criminal.