Kong

Chapter 04

Bruce Banner hasn't been able to stop either looking at or thinking about Tara since she arrived with the others with a sour looking scowl on her face. She's pissed at Tony for having her turn into Queen Kong. He knows she hates that part of herself. Bruce and Tara are Joe looking at a monitor while the others listen as Loki gets interrogated.

"The mindless beast, makes play he's a still a man," Loki says. "How desperate are you, tray up I call upon such lost creatures to defend you?"

"How desperate am I?" Fury asks. "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. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad you did."

"Ooh," Loki purrs. "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 me reminded what real power is?"

Fury smiles. "Well, you let me know if Real Powernwantsh a magazine or something."

Loki looks at the camera once the SHIELD director leaves and he smirks.

Steve watches as tie monitor goes dark. Thor didn't even look, all he did was listen. He is torn apart as he stands there they all stand there. It's quiet all alert from the heart minister Tony has hooked to Tara, something Bruce doesn't understand at all.

Bruce is the one to break the silence. "He really grows on you, doesn't he?"

"Loki's gonna drag him out," Steven claomsn "so, Thor, what's his play?"

"He has an army called the Chitauri," Thor replies, coming to. "They're not of Asgard or any world known. He leans to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth. In return, I suspect, the Tesseract."

"An army?" Steve asks seriously. "From outer space?"

"So, he's building another panel?" Bruce asks as he leans against a desk beside Tara. "That's what he needs Erik Selvig for."

"Selvig?" Thor and Tara ask as they look at the man.

"He's an astrophysicist," Bruce says.

"He's a friend.l

"Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with one of ours," Natasha speaks up.

"I want to know why Loki let us take him," Steve says. "He's not leading an army from here."

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki," Tara says, the way she said his name caused her heart rate to go up slightly.

"Tara, calm down," Tony urges. "Your heart rate..."

Tara breathes to calm herself and she nods to Tony in thanks. Bruce glances at her for a moment before lookoktnawsy.

"Tara's right," Bruce says. "We shouldn't be focusing on Loki. The guy's brain is full of cats, you could smell crazy on him."

"Have care how you speak," Thor warns. "Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, amd he's my brother."

"He killed eighty people in two days," Natasha says from the table she's sitting at.

"He's adopted," Thor says.

"I think it's about the mechanics," Bruce claims. "Iridium, Wray do they need Iridium for?"

"It's a stabilizing agent," Tony says as he and Coulson enter the doom. "I'll fly you there. Keep the love alive. Means the portal won't collapse on itdelfl like it did at SHIELD. No hard feelings, Point Break," he says to Thor. "You've got a mean swing." He then turns his attention to the Iridium. "Uh, raise the mid-mast, shop to top sails. That man is playing GALAGA! Thought we wouldn't notice, but we did." He covers his eyes and he looks around. "How does Fury do this?"

"He turns," Maria Hill replies.

"I miss my shelter in the Forrest in Brazil," Tara whispers to Bruce, who smiles a little, he misses the quiet place he was at, too.

Tony looks around at thr monitors and without anyone looking, places a button sized hacking implant under Fury's desk. "Well, thst sounds exhausting. The rest of the raw materials, Ahemt Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source. A high energy density, so,etching to kick start the cube."

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Maria asks.

"Last night," Tony says. "The packet, Selvig's notes, the Extraction Theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?"

"Does Loki need a particular kind of power source?" Steve asks.

"He's got to jest the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin Judy to break through the Coulomb barrier," Bruce claims.

"Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect," Tony says.

"Well, if he could do that, he could achieve Heavy Iron Fisiopm at sun reactor on the planet," Bruce says.

"Finally," Tony says, "someone besides me and Tara speaks English."

Tara looks down, her cheeks pinking up. No one knows how smart she is. She used to work with Tony and his dad in New York. She was... is a genius. She just... doesn't like for a lot of people to know.

"Is that what just happened?" Steve asks.

Tony shaves Bruce's hand. "It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."

"Tony!" Tara exclaims.

"Don't worry, my furry friend," Tony muses. "You're still my favorite big gorilla."

Tara inhaled and she feels someone touch her back. She turns to loom at Bruce. He nods, telling her to stay calm and not to lose control. He heard Natasha and Steve talking. The only time Tara has some control over Queen Kong is if she turns on her own free will. But she loses all control as soon as she turns when angry.

"Dr. Banner is only here to track through cube," Fury says as he walks into the room. "I was hoping you might join him."

"Let's start with that stick of his," Steve says. "It may be magical, but it works a lot like a HYDRA weapon."

"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube," Fury says. "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 asks, puzzled. "I do not understand."

"I do!" Steve exclaims. "I understood that reference."

Tony rolls his eyes. "Shall we play, doctor?" Tony asks.

"Let's play some," Bruce replies and Tony walks away. "Wanna join us, Tara?" He asks. "Show me your brain power?"

Tara sees Natasha wink at her and she sighs. "Sure. But I'll show my smarts to you and Tony."

Bruce smiles. "That works."

It isn't long until Bruce and Tara find and join Tony in the lab.