Take Me back to the Start | B. Barnes

41. Mistrust

"He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard, nor any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth, in return, I suspect, for the Tesseract." Thor explains his brother's plan as the uncomfortable feeling that Loki caused still remains. I almost want to laugh hysterically, that's how insane everything sounds to me now. Judging Steve's look, he doesn't seem to completely believe it either.

"An army? From outer space?" His voice is serious, repeating the words to make sure that he understood them correctly.

"Chitauri." I let it out with an ironic laugh and just want to hope that I'll wake up from this nightmare but I'd be dreaming too long if it was really a nightmare. Right now, I'm in a room with a super-soldier, a Hulk, a spy and a God. "And I thought the moon landing was unbelievable."

"So he's building another portal. That's what he needs Eric Selvig for." Bruce summarizes with a concentrated look and Thor looks up with concern in his blue eyes.

"Selvig?"

"He's an astrophysicist." The doctor explains shortly and the God nods knowingly with regret. He hoped it wouldn't be the one he knows.

"He's a friend."

"Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with one of ours." Natasha speaks up, clenching her teeth and fists. Maybe she's talking about the arrow man from the computer screen, they seem to have a pretty close connection.

"I want to know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here." Steve questions and I nod agreeing, leaning against the table and folding my arms over my chest.

"Steve's right. It was way too easy to capture him, there must be something behind that. He even seems to enjoy his imprisonment as if he planned this."

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You could smell crazy on him." Bruce scoffs, probably despising Loki the most out of everyone in this room. Understandable, it looked like the God of mischief wanted to provoke him or the Hulk.

"Have a care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard. And he is my brother." The blonde God defends his family and Natasha frowns in disbelief from the table.

"He killed eighty people in two days."

"He's adopted." Thor changes his mind within a second, leaving us all in surprise. I still try to figure out how I'm supposed to work with these people on the field excluding Steve.

"I think it's about the mechanics." Bruce assumes, trying to comprehend the psychopath's plan. "Iridium... What do they need the iridium for?"

"It's a stabilizing agent." Someone else clarifies as he walks in with Agent Coulson by his side, talking quietly to him. The familiar look of this man hits me like blow and my eyes widen. Those dark eyes and brown hair, just alone the way he walks and talks reminds me of the one and only Howard Stark. It's like seeing a ghost from the past. "It means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at SHIELD."

"That's the actual person I thought you'd like to meet. That's Howard's son, Tony Stark." Steve whispers into my ear, enlightening me. And now I suddenly remember Howard's words from the night we became good friends. If I ever had children, I would want you to be their godmother. God, if he was actually serious...

"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. Raise the mizzenmast. Jib the topsails." Tony Stark playfully slaps Thor's upper arm as he continues to walk around and he suddenly stops, staring at me curiously as if no one else was in the room. How well does he actually know me? How much did Howard tell him?