BURN [Marvel Cinematic Universe]

T H R E E

BURN-CHAPTER THREE; Puzzle piece by puzzle piece.

Natasha, Bruce, Thor, Steve, and Cain watch the monitor on the conference table intently, listening in on the conversation between Fury and Loki.

"It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me." Loki comments knowingly, referring to the large cylindrical glass cage he's currently in.

"Built for something a lot stronger than you." Fury sneers in response.

"Oh, I've heard." Loki replies, looking straight into the camera. Cain sees Natasha and Bruce glance at each other from his peripheral vision but keeps his eyes trained on the God of Mischief in the monitor. Something was off about the way he was talking, like the Hulk was a new toy. "A mindless beast-makes play he's still a man." Loki says, sounding poetic. Cain snorts softly, amused by Loki.

"Asshat." Cain whispers to himself, leaning forward to focus on the monitor.

"How desperate are you, that you call on such lost creatures to defend you?" Loki mocks and Cain tenses.

'Lost creatures, huh? Well, he certainly did get the creatures part right about me', Cain muses.

"How desperate am I?" Fury replies, anger ringing clear in his voice as he moves towards the glass cage slowly. "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." Fury lists until he's right in front of Loki, protected by the glass. "You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did." Fury threatens and Cain can't help but admit he's impressed with the speech. Loki merely smirks.

"Ooh, it burns you to have come so
close, to have the Tesseract, to have power- unlimited power, and for what?" Loki smiles and faces the camera. "A warm light for all mankind to share?" Loki mocks and Cain smirks amusedly, knowing what the God is getting at.

"Looks like I'm not the only one who knows your plans, Fury." Cain murmurs under his breath, ignoring the quick glance Natasha sends him. Loki faces Fury again, that same twinkle in his eyes.

"And then to be reminded what real power is." Loki finishes and Fury scoffs in amusement, backing away from the glass as he smiles.

"Well, let me know if "real power" wants a magazine or something." Fury teases before exiting the room. Cain chuckles, leaning back and folding his arms behind his head as the monitor turns off.

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Bruce jokes, glancing around at everyone surrounding the conference table. Cain shrugs, dropping his arms to fold them across his chest.

"Loki's gonna drag this out. So, Thor, what's his play?" Steve questions and Cain glances briefly at Thor before his eyes fall on the table. Cain was starting to grow bored again, no one wanted that for he was an even bigger ass when bored.

"He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard nor 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, facing Steve. Cain yawns, growing tired with the boring conversation as he rests his right elbow on the conference table, and his head on his right palm.

"An army, from outer space?" Steve asks incredulously.

"So, he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for." Bruce inputs, piecing together some puzzle pieces. To Cain, it feels like there's still a piece missing to completely understand Loki's plan. Thor glances at Bruce when the human mentions the name.