《 It's Been A While 》Steve Rogers X Reader

~ Chapter 11 ~

Back on the helicarrier, Loki is put into a giant pressurized glass container, rigged to fall from the helicarrier either with the push of a button or the crack of the glass. Fury is down there with him while the rest of us watch from the helicarrier's table screens.

"It's an impressive cage," Loki starts to pace. "Not built, I think, for me."

"It's built for something a lot stronger than you."

"Oh, I've heard." Loki turns and stares into the cameras. Staring at us. "A mindless beast. Makes play he's still a man."

Natasha glances at Bruce, as do I. I soon focus my attention on Thor. Never once did I think I'd see a God in the flesh, and a prince at that. He was something alright.

"How desperate are you? You call on such lost creatures to defend you." Loki continues, to which Fury replies.

"How desperate am I? You threatened my planet with war, steal a force you can't hope to control. You talk about peace, but you kill cause it's fun." Only a few inches away from the glass, Fury looks Loki dead in the eyes.

"You have made me very desperate. And you might not be glad that you did." Loki winced. Such a drama queen, honestly.

"It burns you to have come so close. To have the tesseract, to have power-- unlimited power-- and for what?" I sit up in my seat at Loki's notion.

"A warm light for all mankind to share?" Loki looks away and towards the cameras. I listen to his ridiculous speech, searching for a hidden meaning because, if I'm being honest, I feel like we overlooked something in the situation. Was there something he knew? Something he's trying to tell us?

"And then to be reminded of what real power is." Or maybe he just wants to mess with our heads spewing this nonsense. Fury walks away and the live feed cuts off. I groaned in my seat, earning a few looks.

"He sure does grow on you, doesn't he?" Bruce mocks as I strech.

"He's making my headache grow even worse, if that's what you meant. I need a drink," I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples.

"Loki's gonna drag this out." Steve begins. He has a serious, commanding tone. Not "scary" commanding, but "share your ideas with the class" commanding.

"Thor, what's his play?"

"He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgrad or any world know." As Thor speaks I pull up my digital notebook on the screen and begin to jot things down. You know, in case another God or alien wants to pick on us.

"So," I try to spell Chitauri to the best of my ability. "What's his business with these Chitauri and the tesseract?" Steve catches my eye, focused and prepared to listen. "I mean, how are these two events connected at all?"

"He means to lead them against your people, in turn for the tesseract I presume." Thor crosses his arms.

"So the earth for a giant ice breaker, got it."

"An army. From outer space." Steve recites, trying to wrap his head around things.

"So in order to bring these Chitauri here..."

"He needs to build another portal." Bruce chimes in. I snap my fingers and point at him.

"That's where Selvig comes into play." All eyes are on me.

Rule #54 Don't back down and stay confident. Even if you're wrong. Prove your point.

"Barton can gather the basic materials needed to somehow conjure up another portal and Selvig will use that big brain of his to stabilize and widen it to Loki's desire."