Frostbite

Five

Thor would aid us in our search for the tesseract and brought Loki back with us to the helicarrier. Once we were aboard, agents came and escorted Loki down to the holding cell below. Rogers, Nat, Banner, Thor and I were sitting at a table on the bridge watching what was happening on a monitor.

I had picked the farthest seat from Thor. I was still agitated at him for throwing me out of the jet; he had apologized numerous times. He claimed he had forgotten his own strength.

Fury finished interrogating Loki and the screen went black. Still no tesseract. Banner was fidgeting, obviously disgruntled at their conversation.

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" he said sarcastically.

"Loki is going to drag this out. Thor, what's his plan?" Rogers inquired, hoping for some insight. Thor glanced up, breaking out of some reverie.

"He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard. He wants to lead them against your people. They will capture him the Earth, for the tesseract in return," he told us gravely. More aliens. Great.

Rogers looked around in disbelief, "An Army? From outer space?"

It wasn't all that surprising after hearing how Thor had popped up in the first place. His people were proof that there are more life forms out there.

"So, he's building another portal. That's what he took Erik Selvig for," Banner said thoughtfully.

"Selvig?" Thor repeated, stunned.

"He's an astrophysicist," I informed him, leaning back in my chair lazily.

"He is a friend," he replied sullenly.

"Loki has him under some sort of spell, along with Barton," Natasha told him with a far look in her eyes. She met my gaze, and I attempted to offer a reassuring smile, but just ended up grimacing instead.

"I want to know why Loki just let us take him. He can't lead an army from here," Rogers pondered aloud.

"I don't think we should be focusing on him. His brain is a bag full of cats; you can smell crazy on him," Banner joked, shaking his head. Nat and I shared a look of amusement.

"Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason, but is of Asgard and my brother," Thor warned, standing from his seat.

"He's killed eighty people in two days!" I shot back, brow raised, inviting him to challenge that.

"He's adopted."

"What did they need Iridium for?" Banner asked.

"It's-" I began to answer but was interrupted.

"It's a stabilizing agent," Tony explained while climbing the stairs to the platform with Agent Hill and Coulson. I rolled my eyes, putting my head on the table and tried to tune his rambling out. It only ever worked for so long, unfortunately.

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Agent Hill asked him skeptically. He glanced at her for only a second before responding.

"Last night. Am I the only one who did the reading?"

I snorted, not surprised that he had.

"Does Loki need a particular power source?" Rogers asked, ignoring Tony's question.

"He'd have to heat the cube to a hundred twenty million Kelvin to break through the Coulomb barrier," I answered, shaking my head. Rogers gazed at me as though I had grown two heads.

"One of my minors was astrophysics," I explained, a smirk creeping onto my face. He shook his head and smiled.

"And here I thought at least one Stark had come out semi-normal."