Quintessence || An Avengers FanFiction

Chapter 10: Tony, Please Focus

Kat watched through the monitor next to Natasha as Fury confronted Loki who was currently in his cell.

"In case it's unclear, you try to escape- you so much as scratch that glass-" Fury explained, pressing a button on the panel next to him. The floor below Loki's cell retracts leaving the open sky in its place, the wind howling and whipping through the room. "Thirty thousand feet straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works? Ant." He continues gesturing to Loki, then the panel. "Boot."

"It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me." Loki comments, glancing over at the camera in the corner of the room. His stare burning all the way through the lens and the monitor, as if he could see all of them watching.

"Built for something a lot stronger than you."

"Oh, I've heard...A mindless beast- makes play he's still a man..."

Kat glanced over at Banner, knowing that the comments were meant for him. He didn't appear bothered by it, but she could sense the mix of shame, embarrassment, and frustration radiating off of him.

"...How desperate are you, that you call on such lost creatures to defend you?" The god continues, his gaze locked on Fury.

"How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war, to 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." The director replies, never breaking eye-contact with the god before him.

"Ooh. 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?" Loki said, glancing at the camera then turning back to Fury. "And then to be reminded what real power is."

Fury surprisingly smiles as he leaves without a second glance, "Well, let me know if 'real power' wants a magazine or something."

The monitor shuts off as Kat blinks, having finally calmed down from her interesting encounter earlier in the woods. The entire group sighs as they sat, speechless, at the conference table in the bridge.

Banner then cut through the strange silence. "He really grows on you, doesn't he?"

"Loki's going to drag this out. So, Thor, what's his play?" Steve speaks, looking to the god standing off to the side.

"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 replies.

Steve blinks, "An army, from outer space?"

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

Thor's brows furrow in confusion, "Selvig?"

"He's an astrophysicist."

"He's a friend."

"Loki has them under some kind of spell- " Nat adds, but Kat finishes for her.

"Along with one of ours."

The woman's hand finds the girl's under the table, slightly squeezing it for comfort. Kat returned the gesture, trying to push all of the poisonous thoughts of what Clint had been doing since that night. She knew it wasn't really Clint, but she knew that she had to have hope.

As much a Natasha and Kat were like sisters, Clint and the girl were almost twins. Although they didn't look that much alike, they did have very similar personalities. They shared same attitude, and with him not here, it was getting harder and harder to look on the bright side. He had always been the one to cheer her up and give her hope. She knew for a fact that he would want her to be the same even without him there; but it was harder than anything she had done before. And realizing that was more painful than getting shot in the leg.