Daybreak | Steve Rogers

Chapter Five: Thunder

The quinjet shuddered as something collided with it, causing us all to fall to the side. I pulled myself back up, beginning to flick various switches as I attempted to help Nat keep us level.

Stark grabbed his mask and attached it, opening the escape hatch. "What are you doing?" Rogers called over the gale.

But he didn't get a chance to reply, too focused on the large man who had just appeared on the ramp. Stark tried to blast the guy, but was knocked to the floor by a large hammer. The man then grabbed Loki, twirling the hammer around as he jumped out of the quinjet in order to fly away. Stark grumbled as he staggered to his feet, "And now there's that guy"

"Another Asgardian?" Nat asked, only able to look away for a second.

Rogers pulled himself up and grabbed his shield, "That guy's a friendly?"

"Doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost"

"Stark, we need a plan of attack!"

He ignored the Captain, striding down the exit ramp, "I have a plan: attack"

I turned around, watching as Rogers grabbed one of the parachutes, "I'd sit this one out, Captain"

"I don't see how I can"

"These guys come from legend," Nat added, "They're basically gods"

He shook his head, fastening the parachute's buckles around his chest, "There's only one God, ma'am, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that"

——————

The man had eventually agreed to help us find the Tesseract after putting up quite the struggle, accidentally flattening a third of the forest we had been flying over. We had all gathered at the meeting table on the bridge, watching the security footage as Fury approached Loki's holding cell. He was trapped in a large, squat, cylindrical chamber cased in bulletproof glass and solid metal, guaranteed to stay intact no matter what.

I anxiously drummed my fingers against the table, seeing Fury approach the controls for the cell. "In case it's unclear... if you try to escape, if you so much as scratch that glass," he pressed a few buttons and opened up the hatch below the cell, "It's thirty thousand feet straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works?" He closed the hatch again, "Ant, boot"

Loki chuckled darkly, "It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me"

"Built for something a lot stronger than you"

"Oh, I've heard" the prisoner drawled, turning to look directly at the camera. "A mindless beast, makes play he's still a man," Nat and I glanced over at Banner, "How desperate are you, that you call on such lost creatures to defend you?"

The Director scoffed, "How desperate am I? 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"

Loki cooed mockingly, "It burns you to have 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 smirked and began to stalk away, "Well, let me know if 'real power' wants a magazine or something"

The video disappeared from the screen and Banner chuckled humourlessly, "He really grows on you, doesn't he?"

"Loki's gonna drag this out," Rogers muttered, "So, Thor, what's his play?"

"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 Earth in return, I suspect, for the Tesseract"

I scoffed and folded my arms across my chest, "And army from outer space"

Banner nodded, "So, he's building another portal, that's what he needs Erik Selvig for"

Thor frowned and turned to look at the doctor, "Selvig?"

"He's an astrophysicist"

"He's a friend"

Nat and I exchanged a wary look before she broke the news to him, "Loki has him under some kind of spell... along with one of ours"

"I want to 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" Banner replied to the Captain, nervously fidgeting with his glasses as he spoke.

Thor's expression darkened and he took an intimidating step forwards, "Have care how you speak, Loki is beyond reason but he is of Asgard and he is my brother"

I rolled my eyes, unfased by his behaviour, "He killed eighty people in two days"

"He's adopted"

"I think it's about the mechanics," Banner cut in before we could argue further, "Iridium. What do they need the Iridium for?"

"It's a stabilising agent," Stark called as he entered the room with Coulson, "It means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at SHIELD. No hard feelings, Point Break, you've got a mean swing" he assured Thor, patting his arm as he walked by. "Also, it means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long as Loki wants" he gave a few vague instructions to the crew that made me roll my eyes in irritation. He suddenly pointed over to an agent sat at a computer, "That man is playing Galaga. He thought we wouldn't notice, but we did!" The man paused and placed a hand over his eye as he looked at the controls, "How does Fury see these?"

Hill huffed and sent a glare to him, "He turns"

"Sounds exhausting," he remarked before continuing, "The rest of the raw materials 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"

The agent frowned as she surveyed him with interest, "When did you become an expert of thermonuclear astrophysics?"

"Last night... the packet, Selvig's notes, the extraction theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?"

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Rogers cut in, his eyes flickering from me to Banner.

The doctor nodded and began to pace, "He would have to heat the Cube to a hundred-and-twenty-million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier"

Stark shrugged as he added on to the theory, "Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilise the quantum tunnelling effect"

"Well, if he could do that, he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet"

"Finally, someone who speaks English!" the billionaire grinned, moving to shake his hand.

Rogers leant over to me, looking a little confused, "Is that what just happened?"

I nodded and smirked before turning back to hear Stark speak again, "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 a green rage-monster"

"Thanks"

I suddenly straightened up in my seat, trying to look a little more professional as Fury strode in. "Dr Banner is only here to track the Cube, I was hoping you might join him"

"Sir, I'd recommend starting with his sceptre"

Rogers nodded in agreement, "Yes. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a Hydra weapon"

The Director paused in thought before shrugging dismissively, "I don't know about that, but it is powered by the Cube. And I would like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys"

"Monkeys?" Thor asked quietly, "I do not understand"

"I do!" Rogers cut in excitedly, "I understood that reference"

Stark ignored his comment, turning to face Banner again, "Shall we play, Doctor?"

"This way, sir"