The Man My Father Always Talked About • A CAPTAIN AMERICA STORY

4

~4~

    
      Clara and Tony walked together to a meeting Agent Hill had called. As they entered, Loki's speech to Fri filled the room, creating a sense of unease between them all. When it ended, everyone stayed silent, not knowing exactly what to say.

Bruce finally broke the silence. "He really grows on you, doesn't he?"

"Loki's gonna drag this out," Steve stating the obvious. "So, Thor, what's his play?" Steve asked.

The god stood with his arms crossed as he contemplated his brother's action. "He has an army called the Chitauri," he started. "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."

"An army? From outer space?" Steve asked in disbelief. Sure, a man flying around in an iron suit and a doctor that turns into a rage monster makes sense, but aliens were a whole new level.

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

"Selvig?" Thor asked.

"He's an astrophysicist." Clara answered, having read over his files the not two days ago.

"He's a friend," Thor said.

"Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with one of ours," Natasha continued, holding her head up high and tough, though Clara knew she was worried for her brainwashed friend.

Steve looked around the room at the team. "I wanna know why Loki let us take him. 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 answered.

Thor's expression changes as he became defensive against his murderous brother. "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." Natasha said, glancing up at the god and waiting for him to defend Loki again.

"He's adopted," Thor mumbled in defeat.

"Iridium, what did they need the Iridium for?" Bruce asked.

"It's a stabilizing agent," Clara said, only someone else said the same thing. Tony was pacing the room, being awfully silent. It was odd to Clara that he hasn't spoken up until now.

"It means the portal won't collapse on itself, like it did at SHIELD," Tony explained. He approached Thor and patted his arm. "No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing."

Clara coughed to try and get her brother to stop from getting off track. "It also means that the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long, as Loki wants."

"Uh, raise the mid-mast, ship the top sails." Tony said as he stood by the control pad. He pointed to one of the agents on the deck below them. "That man is playing Galaga! Thought we wouldn't notice. But we did." Tony announced, getting off topic again. He began to cover his eye and look at the monitor. "How does Fury do this?"

"He turns," Agent Hill said.

"Well, that sounds exhausting," Tony huffed. "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." Clara furrowed her eyebrows at her brother as she watched him place something on the monitor. She was curious about it, but didn't bother to interrupt the conversation.

"When did you become an expert in
thermonuclear astrophysics?" Maria asked.

"Last night. The packet, Selvig's notes, the Extraction Theory papers," Tony shrugged.

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve asked.

"He's got to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier," Bruce answered.

"Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect," Tony added.

"Well, if he could do that he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet." Clara said.

"Finally, someone who speaks English." He patted his sister on the back.

"Is that what just happened?" Steve asked. He glanced at Clara, who wore a smile in victory as she leaned back in her seat.

"It's good to meet you, Doctor Banner. You're 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." Clara's smile disappeared as she frowned at her brother.

"Thanks," Bruce weakly smiled.

Clara heard footsteps and spun her chair around to see Nick Fury enter the room. "Doctor Banner is only here to track the cube."

"Let's start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a Hydra weapon," Steve spoke.

"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," Fury said.

"Monkeys?" Thor asked as he raised an eyebrow in confusion. "I do not understand..."

"I do!" Steve almost jumped in his seat. All eyes were on him as he leaned back in his seat in embarrassment. "I understood that reference," he explained in defense. Tony rolled his eyes as the room fell silent. Clara looked down to hide her smile, not wanting the captain to feel even more embarrassed.

"Shall we play, doctor?" Tony asked.

"Let's play some," Bruce answered. Everyone started to leave the room until it was just Steve and Clara.

"Shouldn't you be joining them?" Steve asked. Clara was too busy staring down at the monitor in front of her, watching the surveillance camera as Loki starred the camera down like he was looking right at her. "Clara?" She looked up and met Steve's eyes before turning the monitor off and getting up from her chair.

"See you in a bit Cap," Clara said, getting up and leaving the room quickly.