"Are you sure it's 43%?" Payton questions looking from Fury to Coulson to me to Sitwell.
"Says on the screen." Sitwell gestures to the face recognition.
"But how would the face tracker track me when I don't look like him." I question.
"We salvaged some blood from the wreckage of the SHIELD base and discovered it wasn't human when we ran some tests." Fury explains. "We added that into the tracking algorithm to get a more accurate read on him."
"So that means..." I put the pieces together. "I'm related to the Loki, the God of Mischief who is the adoptive brother of Thor, Son of Odin and the God of Thunder?"
"Its seems to be." He deadpans while setting his hands on his hips.
"I mean... that would explain some stuff, I guess." I mumble under my breath.
"What do you mean it explains some stuff?" Fury demands.
"Well." I scratch the back of my head. "Back during the war, when I first discovered my powers I was turning kind of blue..." I look between Coulson and Payton. "Literally."
"How does that have any correlation to Loki?"
"Loki is a Jotun."
"What's a Jotun?" Payton asks.
"A frost giant from the Jotunheim which is one of the nine realms in the Yggdrasil." I look over at her then clear my throat. "If you're aren't a full blooded Jotun, you can switch from a human lookin' form to a Jotun frost giant lookin' one." I explain.
"When did you become an expert in Norse Mythology?" Agent Hill questions from behind Fury making our attentions snap her way.
"1938." I state. "I read some college textbooks on mythology and that was one of the chapters. I had to refresh my memory a bit last night and earlier today, but..."
"You went to college?" Payton asks a bit dumbfounded.
"No." I shake my head.
"Then how did you... never mind." She waves it off.
"So do you think you're part... Jotun?" Fury refocuses the topic.
"I guess." I shrug. "It explains why I don't remember most of my childhood and me turning blue."
"Do you turn full Jotun?" He asks.
"No." I answer quickly. "I'm only 40%, you have to be like... 50% or more to turn full on Jotun."
"So, you're a god?" Hill pipes in.
I let out a breathy chuckle.
"Come on, Hill." I smile and put my hands on my hips. "I know how much you praise me, but I'm not a god."
"Well, at least we know where she gets her sarcasm and cockiness from." Payton sighs.
"You betcha." I click my tongue and wink at her.
"Sir, we have word from Agent Romanoff that they're on their way back from Stuttgart." A blonde haired agent reports. "But they are running a bit into a problem." He adds.
"What kind of problem?" Fury turns to him.
"She said that Stark flew out of the jet to follow the guy who took Loki. Rogers jumped out after the three." He explains.
"Tell her to land the damn jet and find them." He responds a little bit annoyed.
"Yes, sir." He nods and pushes his earpiece to talk.
"And you." Fury turns back to me. "Is there anything in the mythology saying anything about Loki's strengths and weaknesses?"
"Not really." I shrug. "They don't really like to list the weaknesses of their all mighty gods. Even if they did, there are too many versions of the stories that we couldn't pinpoint his strongest weakness."
"This is going to be harder than I thought." Fury sighs and runs a hand over his head.
Timeskip
Payton and I are sitting at the conference table in the bridge as a squad of SHIELD police surround Loki who is in cuffs, slightly looking around at the bridge.
His eyes land on me and he looks a bit dumbfounded. We make a short eye contact and he starts to smile mischievously while I just glare at him. Loki quirks an eyebrow up at the glare then looks forward when they enter a hallway.
Once Loki exits, Steve and Natasha walk in still suited up with a large man with long blonde hair and in some sort of armor.
Steve sits down in the empty seat to my left at the end of the table while Nat goes to the opposite side of the table, a seat down from the end. The large man goes up to the head of the table as Banner and Madi walk in also.
Banner stands near us, across from the man while Madi takes a seat next to Natasha, immediately whispering something to her.
"Whose this?" I ask Steve while pointing towards the unknown man.
"I am Thor of Asgard." The man answers, overhearing me. "Son of Odin and the God of Thunder."
"Oh." I remembering what I read. "Aren't you supposed to be in Asgard?"
"I came down to stop Loki's schemes." He responds.
I nod in understanding as the monitors come up on the table showing where they took Loki.
The Cell
"In case it's unclear." Fury walks over to the control panel and types something into the keyboard. "You try to escape. You so much as scratch that glass." He presses a button making a hatch open underneath Loki's cell but it doesn't phase the demi-god.
"Thirty thousand feet, straight down in a steel trap!" Fury says over the loud wind before closing up the hatch. "You get how that works?"
"Ant." He points at Loki. "Boot." He points at the button.
"It's an impressive cage." Loki smirks. "Not built, I think, for me."
"Built for something a lot stronger than you."
"Oh, I've heard." Loki looks at the camera.
The Bridge
We all watch the monitor as Fury interrogates Loki.
Banner hears that and looks over at the monitor more intently.
"The mindless beast, makes play he's still a man." Loki's smirk widens as he continues. "Or is it the blonde Jotun you don't trust because you don't know the full extent of her powers?"
I run a hand through my hair as Payton looks at me knowingly and Thor furrows his eyebrows in confusion at the statement.
The Cell
"How desperate are you," Loki turns his gaze back to the director. "that you call upon such lost creatures to defend you?"
"How desperate am I?" Fury takes a step towards the cell. "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." He lists. "You have made me very desperate... You might not be glad you did."
"Ooh." Loki lets out. "It burns you to come so close. To have the tesseract, to have power," He throws his head back slightly. "unlimited power. And for what?" He looks at the camera again. "A warm light for all mankind to share," He looks back at Fury. "and then to be reminded what real power is."
"Well," Fury smiles. "you let me know if Real Power wants a magazine or something." He walks off leaving Loki alone in the glass cell.
Bridge
Loki smirks at the camera before the monitor goes black.
We all just sit there in silence, too stunned to say anything.
"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Banner pipes up breaking the silence.
"Loki's gonna drag this out." Steve ignores his comment. "So, Thor, what's his play?"
"He has an army called the Chitauri." He answers not looking at any of us yet.
"The Chitauri?" I question, the name sounding familiar.
"Yes." He nods. "They're not of Asgard or any world know." He turns to us. "He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."
"An army?" Steve's voice gets more serious. "From outer space?" He looks at me and I give him the same slightly worried look he's giving me.
"So he's building another portal." Banner says, fiddling with his glasses in his hands slightly.
"That's what he needs Erik Selvig for." Madi adds.
"Selvig?" Thor looks at her.
"He's an astrophysicist." She informs.
"He's a friend." He counters.
"Loki has him under some kind of spell," Natasha looks at her hands. "along with one of ours."
"I wanna know why Loki let us take him." Steve admits. "He's not leading an army from here."
"Maybe he has some kind of plan involving the helicarrier." I suggest.
"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki." Banner interjects. "That guy's brain is a bag full of cats, you could smell crazy on him."
"Have care how you speak. " Thor warns him. "Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard... and he is my brother."
"Not just your brother." Payton mumbles under her breath making Thor furrow his eyebrows and Steve look at her.
"He killed eighty people in two days." Madi deadpans.
"He's adopted." Thor weakly defends.
"I think it's about the mechanics, Iridium." Banner gets back on track. "What did they need Iridium for?"
"It's a stabilizing agent." The infamous Tony Stark answers as he walks in with Agent Coulson which he whispers a few things to him before they go their separate ways. "Means the portal won't collapse on itself, like it did as SHIELD." He continues as he walks towards Fury's desk.
"No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing." He says to Thor as he passes him, patting the god's bicep slightly. "Also, it means the portal can open as wide, and stay as long as Loki wants." He informs referring to the Iridium.
"Uh," Stark gets up to Fury desk and looks around the bridge. "raise the mid-mast, ship topsails." He commands. "That man is playing Galaga!" He points to a random person the right side of the computers. "That we wouldn't notice... But we did."
Stark looks at monitors while covering one of his eyes.
"How does Fury do this?" He questions.
"He turns." Agent Hill blatantly answers.
"Well, that sounds exhausting. " He groans as starts to mess around with the monitors. "The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source." He sticks a button size hacking implant under Fury's desk without anyone noticing and clicks his hands together. "A high energy density, something to kick start the cube."
"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Hill questions with her arms crossed over his chest.
"Last night." He deadpans. "The packet, Selvig's notes, The Extraction Theory papers." He lists. "Am I the only one who did the reading?"
"I did." Madi mumbles under her breath so no one can hear.
"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" I ask.
"He's got to heat the cube to a 120-million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier." Banner answers.
"Unless," He walks over to Banner. "Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect."
"Well, if he could do that he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet." Madi adds in.
"Finally, some people who speak English." Stark smiles and walks over to Banner to give him a handshake.
"Is that what just happened?" Payton and Steve say at the same time making Steve go a little red.
"I never know what the hell you are saying when you talk all doctor-y n' stuff." Madi quips back.
"It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner." Stark gleams as he shakes his hand. "You're work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled." He compliments. "And I'm a huge fan of he way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage-monster."
Banner purses his lips together. "Thanks."
"Nice to see you again, Tony." Madi smiles over at him.
"Nice to see you again too, Mads." He smiles back.
"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube." Fury reminds as he walks into the bridge. "I was hoping you might join him and Agent Barton."
"I thought Agent Bar-"
"There can be two Agent Bartons!" Madi cuts off Stark.
"I don't know your last name." He defends.
"We've been friends for two years and you don't know my last name?" She scolds, he shrugs.
"Let's start with that stick of his." Steve pulls the focus back. "It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a Hydra weapon." He looks at me for confirmation and I nod in agreement.
"I don't know about that," Fury informs. "but it is powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."
"Monkeys?" Thor questions. "I do not understand."
"I do!" Steve perks up making Stark roll his eyes. "I understood that reference." He says proudly, I pat his shoulder while sighing.
"Shall we play, doctor?" Stark turns to Banner, he nods.
"This way, sir." He leads him down the hallway.
"Wait for meeee!!" Madi calls as she jumps up and runs after them.