Almost an entire army of SHIELD Agents waited for them on the airstrip. They were armored to the teeth, the best protection they could have against a god. No, wait, two gods. They still didn't know if the blonde one, who was apparently Loki's brother Thor, was a friendly guy. Although he did let Cap take Loki in again and cooperated with everything. So far, so good.
Katya made sure the jet was properly shut down and empty before following the rest of the team to the bridge, where they took their seats at the table she was chilling at before. If possible, the bridge got busier while they were gone. Or it might also be the sudden noise after the silence of the jet.
Katya always liked to sit opposite Natasha so she could see her better and watch her back at the same time. It was a thing that had slipped in gradually. Steve didn't look at her weirdly when she took the seat next to him, this time planting her feet firmly on the ground.
It was a spy thing to always be on the edge of your seat. Literally. Getting up quickly could be the difference between a bullet in your head or your shoulder. She knew which one she would pick.
On the screens in front of them, on the surface of the table, everyone was able to see the big glass cell Loki was placed in. The cell was designed for the Hulk, but a god would do too. It must reach at least ten feet across, was circular and had a whole room for itself. Reinforced walls, heavy locks and security. The best of the best.
Fury walked into the screen, trying to intimidate the god. With his hands behind his back, the calculated expression on his face and the all black outfit, he would have intimidated any normal person. But not Loki. He looked mostly amused.
''In case it's unclear. You try to escape. You so much as scratch that glass.''
Katya watched as he pressed a big button that opened the hatch below the cell, revealing nothing but empty sky for miles. Her stomach flipped at the thought of free-falling with nothing to catch you, to slow you down. Cruel, but the Hulk could handle the fall.
The god stepped forward, peeking over the edge. Only the sound of the wind would be enough to make anyone afraid, but not him. He must have seen much scarier things in the galaxy.
''Thirty thousand feet, straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works?'' Fury shouted over the noise before closing the hatch again, having made his point. ''Ant.'' He gestured to Loki and then turned to the button again. ''Boot.''
Loki chuckled and smiled, not impressed at all. ''It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me.''
Katya's thoughts flashed to Doctor Banner, who had been working on finding the cube in his lab the whole day and had come out to listen to this conversation.
The man was so kind and never wanted to hurt anyone. But the Hulk would sometimes come out on his own, nothing he could do about it. As a safeguard, Fury had ordered to have this cage built, in case he lost control. She doubted if it could hold him though. She'd seen the destruction of Harlem.
''Built for something a lot stronger than you.''
''Oh, I've heard.'' Suddenly Loki turns towards the camera, knowing he's being watched by all of them on the screens. ''The mindless beast, makes play he's still a man.'' Natasha looked up from her monitor and carefully studied the reaction of the scientist, who just stared at his own computer. ''How desperate are you, that you call upon such lost creatures to defend you?''
''How desperate am I?'' The Director asked sarcastically. ''You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control.'' Loki watched calmly as Fury stepped close to his cell, a thick glass wall the only thing separating them. ''You talk about peace and you kill 'cause it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did.''
Loki simply laughed more, knowing he had gotten under Fury's skin. ''Ooh. It burns you to 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.''
Katja scoffed at the arrogance, earning a few weird looks from Steve and Thor.
Fury had trouble keeping the smile from his face too, thinking this was all very hilarious. ''Well, you let me know if Real Power wants a magazine or something.''
Stalking out of the room, Loki watched him before turning around to the camera again in such a creepy way it gave Katya goosebumps. He knew something and it was frustrating not knowing what it was. He could be planning something. No, she knew he was planning something, something that was set in motion already. She bet it involved Clint.
The screens turned black, the threatening over for now. Everyone took in what the hell just happened while Bruce tried to lighten the mood by making a joke. ''He really grows on you, doesn't he?''
Steve was the first to react, ignoring Banner's sentence completely. ''Loki's gonna drag this out.'' He was right. The god had no reason to work with them, nothing they could hold against him, so he could drag this out for as long as he wanted. Leaving Clint and the other brainwashed agents more at risk every second.
Natasha stared at the now black monitor. Katya could see the gears in her head working, trying to form a plan or figure out what Loki was up to. She liked to work problems like these on her own, blocking out the conversation around her.
Steve turned a little to his left, where Thor stood at the edge of the table. He hadn't watched the screen, but listened to the audio. He must feel so torn. This was his brother locked up. And even though he sucked, he was still family. Placing him in a cell and helping the people who captured him must hurt. ''So, Thor, what's his play?''
Thor turned around to the man, stopping his moping for a second. ''He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract.''
Katya's eyebrows shot into her hairline, completely shocked at what he just said. ''I'm sorry, what?''
Natasha shared a knowing look with her, feeling her confusion and shock. This was unlike anything they had ever trained for or seen before. It made them both feel uneasy that they didn't know what they were dealing with exactly. Aliens weren't new to the world, not that the people knew that, but still. A whole army of them?
Steve couldn't believe what he heard either. ''An army? From outer space?''
Bruce caught on to what Loki was planning. If he wanted his army here, he would need a way to get them here. ''So he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for.''
''Selvig?'' Thor asked confused.
''He's an astrophysicist.''
Thor frowned. ''He's a friend.''
Katya heard of the events in England a couple years ago, where Selvig found Thor together with one of his friends. The destruction was big, but apparently, Thor befriended the man working for SHIELD now.
''Loki has him under some kind of spell,'' Natasha explained to him, before her eyes flickered to Katya's, ''along with one of ours.''
That dreadful feeling filled her stomach again and the hopeful smile she meant to give Natasha turned into a grimace. They would try everything to get Clint back, to get him away from Loki's entrapment and clear his mind. Because he'd do the same for them, within a heartbeat.
''I wanna know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here,'' Steve said, which made sense. But maybe that's what the brainwashed people were for. Leaders of gangs ordered hits from their cells too.
The low voice of Banner came from behind Katya. ''I don't think we should be focusing on Loki.''
She nodded, looking over her shoulder at him. The anxiety radiated off him, which only made her feel worse for him. ''I agree. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats, you could smell crazy on him.''
Thor immediately took a step closer to the table, looking down on Katya, who didn't back down from his little display of power. ''Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he's my brother.''
Natasha, clearly not liking that her girlfriend was being threatened like that, spoke up immediately, shifting the god's attention to her. ''He killed eighty people in two days,'' she said dryly, her eyes still on the table.
That clearly faltered Thor's confidence. ''He's adopted.''
Katya couldn't help but smirk a little. Natasha had gotten him to back down with a few simple words, nothing less, nothing more.
''I think it's about the mechanics.'' Bruce spoke up, steering the conversation back on track. ''Iridium, what did they need the Iridium for?''
But Katya wasn't focused on him anymore. Her sensitive ears had picked up heavy footsteps coming through the corridor into the room. Natasha sensed it too, turning her head to look who came in. ''Iridium, what did they need the
''It's a stabilizing agent.'' Ah, Stark finally decided to show up. Coulson at his side, who he shared a few words with. ''Means the portal won't collapse on itself, like it did at SHIELD.'' Then he noticed Thor. Patting his big biceps, which the god clearly didn't appreciate, he tried to ease the tension between them. ''No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing. Also, it means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long, as Loki wants.''
He kept walking until he reached Fury's platform in the middle of the room, acting like he was the boss now. ''Uh, raise the mid-mast, ship the top sails. That man is playing GALAGA! Thought we wouldn't notice. But we did.'' Steve looked confused, not knowing what that was, while Katya just rolled her eyes at Stark's theatrics.
The man raised his left hand, covering his eye, trying to see the screens on his left-hand side. ''How does Fury do this?''
''He turns,'' Katya said dryly, just hard enough for him to hear.
''Well, that sounds exhausting.'' It kind of did, actually. ''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. A high energy density, something to kick start the cube.''
Maria, who had joined the conversation quietly, raised an eyebrow. ''When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?''
''Last night,'' Tony replied casually, a short silence letting the words sink in. He really was a genius, wasn't he? ''The packet, Selvig's notes, the Extraction Theory papers.'' He tried to jog their memories, but it looked like nobody read them, except Katya. ''Am I the only one who did the reading?''
''I did.'' All eyes turned to her and Tony looked way too surprised for her liking, but Natasha didn't look too different, a teasing smile on her lips. Katya normally never read these sorts of things, but because she had to wait for Rogers to show up last night, so something needed to keep her awake besides coffee. Not that she understood anything.
He walked towards her, patting her on her shoulder. ''Ah, Girlfriend, I'm impressed.''
Katya scolded. ''Touch me again and you'll have to replace that hand with one of your metal parts.'' Natasha snorted while Tony looked seriously scared, quickly retracting his hand and holding it behind his back.
Steve, who followed the whole interaction with a tired look in his eyes, interrupted the fun. ''Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?''
''He's got to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier.'' O gosh, nerd talk.
''Unless, 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.''
Stark gestured to Banner, happy he had found his science buddy. ''Finally, someone who speaks English.''
Steve voiced what everyone, including Katya, thought. ''Is that what just happened?'' Katya shrugged her shoulders when he looked at her, wanting to know if she understood.
''It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner.'' The mutual respect glistered in their eyes as they shook hands. ''Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled.'' Just when she thought Tony might go through one conversation without making a joke, he opened his mouth again. ''And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster,'' he quickly added, the words almost inaudible because of the speed he was saying them with.
Banner looked down awkwardly, not so happy now. ''Thanks.'' Katya felt for the man. People always saw him as the Hulk first and Bruce Banner the scientist second.
Fury was quick to interfere, walking back in from the conversation he had with Loki. ''Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube.'' It was a silent warning for Stark not to try anything with the doctor. ''I was hoping you might join him.''
''I'd start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon.'' Steve remembered something from his past, something that clearly disturbed him.
Natasha's eyes turned to Katya discreetly, not wanting to warn anyone else of her connection to the organization. The blonde nodded her head the tiniest, but she knew she had seen it. It did look like the weapons she had seen at her old employer's bases.
''I don't know about that,'' Fury denied, ''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? I do not understand.'' Thor spoke up for the first time again, having followed the conversation quietly.
Steve jumped a little in his seat, excited he knew what the man meant. ''I do! I understood that reference.'' He looked quite proud of himself and Katya couldn't help but give him an awkward smile to try and make him feel better about the fact that everybody else just rolled their eyes.
''Shall we play, doctor?'' Tony said from behind.
Banner gestured to the door. ''Let's play some.''