The Armorer

A cellblock built for a king

It takes a couple of weeks before I come up with the optimal alloy for the construction and the best cell is designed. There's also the problem of placement; we had the options of putting it under the cafeteria or under the housing block, and there were benefits and drawbacks to both locations. We ended up putting it in the basement of the cafeteria because nobody was entirely comfortable with the idea of Loki hanging out beneath us as we slept. Also, the housing block has power generators in case of emergency, and nobody wants Loki near power, just in case.  The biggest benefit is that guards will have access to coffee and there is a small kitchen under construction where the guards will be able to have good meals on their breaks. One cook will be on duty when the main kitchen is closed, which is also nice for the rest of us. The laundry facilities are also in the cafeteria basement, so that's handy too.

I'm actually the only Avenger who will be living here full-time. The main Avengers training facility is still in upstate New York and that's where most of them stay. They come out on a regular basis to relax, mostly, or to talk about armor, so by default, I end up making a lot of the smaller decisions. The room we're going to use originally was designed for extra storage, so it's just a question of redefining that storage from food staples to a trickster god. There is one way in and out, which has its benefits and drawbacks, and two safety doors are installed to seal off the corridor at different points. they are meant to be easy to trigger and should be triggered at any irregularity. The only way to open them is up on the third floor of the housing block; we've devoted space to audio and visual surveillance of mostly the cell room, but also of the cafeteria, just in case. The guard can close and open the security doors and also flood the entire building with a knock-out gas. Also, just in the cell, is a gas that induces itching. It is literally so irritating that immediately all you can think about is scratching. I tried it on myself and was satisfied; then I had Thor try it to make sure that it would affect other physiologies similarly and was pleased with the results. It's non-fatal and can easily be countered with water; the idea is that if Loki starts acting up, he gets a shot of this in the air of his cell to occupy him until his nefarious scheme is halted. Then the sprinklers in the cell go on to rinse it away. If this deterrent gas is released, it simultaneously turns off the water taps in the bathroom so there's no release until we grant it. And to deter the guard from playing with it, any release of the gas is to be accompanied by 53 pages of actual paperwork that have to be read and filled out by the on-duty guard in question before he or she can go home. If Loki behaves himself, he doesn't ever have to know it's there.

The containment cell is freestanding and consists of my alloys shaped so that they support the glass-and-electricity panels that Tony devised. The alloy that tested best had a substantial amount of platinum in it; five pounds for every ton of finished metal and twelve pounds of vibranium per ton were the most expensive components. You should have seen Tony's face when I gave him the purchase order. I made the corner units, which support the glass and permit the glass to be electrified. The alloy is extremely strong and is attached to pylons that go deep into the earth; since  Seattle is in the Ring of Fire, there's been a lot of earthquake-proofing going on, and in the event of an earthquake or a volcanic eruption, this cell in particular has to hold.

Over the structural elements, I worked with Asgardian metalsmiths. They made a skin out of the golden metal they use to not only make it prettier but to hide the structure so that Loki can't figure out how to defeat it. It looks really attractive, all in all, for a prison cell; they etched designs into the skin. The cell is accessed through a small panel that has a keypad. The code is eight randomly-generated numbers, and the guards of the watch don't have them. If they're needed, the guard on the third floor has a program to generate the numbers; he or she then uses their wireless communication gear to call it over to the cellblock. Of course, there's a record every time that program is used, and every time the door is opened. Accountability is crucial. The bathroom is kind of a delicate situation; we feel like we've balanced privacy for the prisoner with security by constructing a half-wall in front of the toilet and shower. When the guards are seated behind their console, from the waist down Loki will not be visible. If a guard needs to, though, there's no door on the cubicle, and at ninety degrees from the console, there's a clear view in. The guards are to stay behind the security console unless there's a clear need. There will be two guards on duty in the cell room, one outside the locked door, and one up in the third floor security office at all times. They will be relieved every four hours, on a staggered schedule, so the there aren't patterns  in the guards that Loki can easily exploit. Everybody is being trained not to talk to Loki, but that's most likely going to be imperfectly observed over the long run.