Chapter 3
"Someone tell me what the fuck is going on here!" bellowed Nick Fury as he entered the room. Yes, it was good news that reports were coming in all over the helicarrier that the attackers were disengaging and pulling back-- at least he hoped so. For all he knew, this was some new ploy by Loki, who was getting ready to set off a zombie bomb or something.
The sight that met his eyes didn't make him feel any better. The enemy Norse god was no longer in the Hulk Cage, while the friendly Norse god was inside it. Coulson was frowning over the control panel, apparently trying to figure out how to release their high-powered ally. This day just kept on getting better and better.
Agent Coulson and Thor both looked up at his entrance, but it was Coulson who spoke. "Well, sir; it appears that Norse gods can be mind-controlled, and Loki was. He came out of it when I shot him with the 0-8-4." He motioned to a large gun laying on the floor by his side.
Fury looked at it and recoiled. "Why the Hell did you use that thing? Why didn't you get one of the Phase II weapons out of the armory, like I told you to do?"
The agent shrugged. "I couldn't get to it-- battle damage. So I ducked into the lab, and picked this up. It turned out to be a good thing, too."
Thor spoke up then. "Indeed, Colonel Fury! After the bolt struck him, Loki expressed sorrow for his actions, and healed the Son of Coul." Thor frowned "Though I do not understand why it put Loki into his Frost Giant form, or rendered him centuries younger..."
Fury did a double take "Healed?!?" On closer examination, he saw blood stains on the front and back of Coulson's suit, and felt his soul chill at their placement. "Healed from what? "
Coulson grimaced apologetically. "Before I shot him, he got the drop on me and stabbed me. Fortunately, I was able to shoot him before he dropped Thor in the Hulk Cage. But the energy released seems to have damaged the controls, so I can't get Thor out." Coulson frowned at the panel again.
"I am sure I can free myself with Mjolnir," offered Thor helpfully, lifting his hammer. "I was able to make one crack in the glass already, I'm sure that with a few more mighty blows, I should be able to effect my escape."
Nick Fury wondered if this was all an incredibly detailed nightmare. "No! The last thing this ship needs is another hole in it!" He dropped his head into his hand, and massaged his remaining eye. "And where's Loki, if he's all meek and humble and good now?"
"The jury's still out on the third one, but the first two definitely don't apply," said the Black Widow dryly as she entered the room. "He just scolded us for not being bright enough to figure out that he was acting under compulsion." She looked around, her eyes briefly pausing on the damaged mind-control spear and Coulson's 0-8-4 gun, before meeting Fury's eyes. "Sir, I witnessed Loki telling Agent Barton to stop the attack, and that we were allies now. He did tell Barton that it was just a "delay" so we could plan together, but after Clint left, he told me that this was a stalling tactic until the mind control started fading, and that we should "play along" until that happened."
"So where... is... Loki... now?" ground out Nick Fury. He felt somewhat comforted at the news that Barton was... not completely back to them, perhaps, but at least no longer an active combatant. For the moment, anyway; who knew what Loki's long-term plans were? Even if he'd been a victim of the same mind-whammy he'd dished out to Clint and Selvig, there was still the matter of sending the killer robot to New Mexico.
Romanoff shrugged. "He said he still had to call off the 'main attack' and... poofed out."
"Yes, we got treated to that stunt, too," confirmed Coulson. "I'm not sure if he was just going invisible or actually beamed himself out or not, but it sure looked like it."
"My brother can teleport," said Thor casually. "Not from one Realm to another, though he has other means to traverse between them, but within planetary distances, yes."
All three of the humans turned to stare at the Asgardian. "And you're just now mentioning this?" demanded Nick Fury.
"I... did not think of it? No one asked?" Thor sounded half-apologetic, half-affronted. "I did tell you he was a powerful and accomplished sorcerer."
Nick Fury was literally rendered speechless by this. How could Thor not have seen that Loki's ability to teleport should have been mentioned to his allies? It suddenly occured to him that they were giving Thor a lot more trust than his actual actions warranted. Yes, he'd defeated the giant robot in New Mexico... but before that he'd broken into a Shield base and beaten up a bunch of agents. Yes, he'd helped them fight the Hulk... after first kidnapping Loki from their custody and attacking two of their people with potentially lethal force.
Coulson spoke up, "You know, I think this is something we can thrash out later, after this 'main attack' has been neutralized." He looked up at Fury, "Sir, do you think we should pass this intel through the chain of command? Our people are going to need guidance on how to, er, make contact with Agent Barton and his forces before any unfortunate incidents occur."
A rush of fierce affection for his "one good eye" filled Fury. "Yes, see to that, Phil." He squeezed the smaller man's shoulder in gratitude for a moment. He didn't even like to think about trying to do this job without Coulson.
At that moment, he heard Rogers voice over the coms. "Stark has got the rotor fixed; it should be back on line... now. Where do you need us?"
"You and Stark should meet us at the Hulk Cage; we've another 'consulting' job for him... and also some new info to discuss."
"Aww... you guys just can't live without me." Stark couldn't let up on his habitual mockery, even though he still sounded a little out of breath. But he had restored Fury's ship to full working order, which bought him some slack... ah, hell; Nick wondered why he even pretended that he didn't secretly like Tony's habitual insouciance.
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As hoped, Stark had been able to free Thor from the Hulk Cage in short order; the fact that he did so by cutting out the cage door was annoying. But as Stark pointed out with impeccable logic, not only was Loki a quasi-ally now, but thanks to teleportation, the Cage could never have held Loki against his will in the first place. Stark had also tartly pointed out that as a Hulk-containment system, it had several conceptual problems from the get-go.
Nick decided to recast part of Tony's scathing analysis to the World Security Council later on. He had a feeling he was gong to need all the psychological ammo he could get.
But that was for later; first they had to deal with the presence of a shitload of mind-contolled ex-combatants and the absence of an ex-mind-controlled Norse god who'd decided to undo the "main attack" on his lonesome. After Stark and Rogers had unsuited, the Shield agents had done some housekeeping, and Thor had been introduced to vending machines, they all went back to the conference room to strategize.
"All of our 'new allies' have been settled in our trainee barracks." Phil Coulson informed the group. "Hill and I felt that was the best way to ensure that they only interacted with people who knew to humor them. So far, everyone has been very happy and cooperative. Oddly, they don't seem too concerned about Loki: They're mostly eager to get on with the 'Great Plan' as soon as possible. Mind you, they seem a little vague on what's going to happen afterward; just that everything is going to be immeasurably improved afterward." Phil Coulson coughed slightly. "It's a little sad to think we'll be arresting most of them once they're in their right minds again."
Fury rubbed his good eye and sighed. "Phil, we can hardly let targets on our 'Apprehend' list waltz off with a pat on the head."
"Oh, no: I don't feel that sad for them. It's just that I set our best interviewers to collecting intel from them... and I was thinking that as they 'came down' we might offer them amnesty in exchange for the infornation they'd given us, especially if they continued to give us more of it. After all, it's not like their former organizations would happily receive them back under those circumstances." Coulson gave Fury a look. "Clint did choose the more principled of our enemies to recruit for the 'Glorious Purpose'; a lot of them are potentially flippable."
Fury huffed. "All right, you have a go on that; let's see what we can do."
"How's Clint doing?" asked the Widow, leaning forward and fixing her eyes on Phil's.
Phil looked at Natasha sympathetically. "He's the only one who shows any personal concern for Loki. He's fretting that Loki is in poor shape, and won't take care of himself."
Thor nodded morosely. "Loki has always been thus. One must coax him to eat when he is engaged in one of his personal 'campaigns', and only Mother can induce him to sleep at such times."
"What kind of campaigns?" asked Cap with interest.
"The most recent one I recall was his advocating for permanently-maimed warriors; that the throne should pay for apprenticeships to new occupations, so that they might have a way to support a family, and thus could marry."
The entire room went still; it was Tony Stark who broke the silence. "Wait, you mean that disabled veterans couldn't get married?"
Thor shifted uneasily. "To marry, a man must be able to provide for any children born to the union. The stipand granted to men crippled in battle... it is enough that they need not beg for their meals, but it is not... Asgard cannot afford to grant luxurious wages to warriors who can no longer battle, or even train others in arms... the throne has always done its duty and provided for their sustenance, or course... is it not thus on Midgard?"
Fury answered, "On Earth, we see ourselves as having a duty to provide rehab and job-retraining to men injured in the service of their country, as well as 'sustenance' until they're able to get back on their feet." He thought a moment and shrugged, "Figuratively speaking."
Cap frowned. "That's pretty populist for a guy who was telling a crowd of Germans that 'subjugation was their natural state'."
Coulson coughed. "According to Clint, Loki's goal was to create a distraction while he stole the iridium. He'd told Loki about Nazi Germany while briefing him on..." Coulson colored slightly "...you, Captain. He said that Loki thought the Nazis were appalling, and asked if emulating them, would be sufficiently distracting to allow Clint and his team to escape unmolested. Clint assured him that Germans-- particularly the intelligentsia-- were very serious about 'never again', so that should be effective."
Natasha frowned and opened the desktop feed at her seat, then did some swiping. After a few seconds, everyone's panel lit up with video of Loki addressing the crowd at Stuttgart. She paused it as Loki was saying "In the end, you will always kneel."
"Thor, you're his brother. Does it look to you like he's more disappointed than happy that he's not getting any resistance from the crowd?"
The team studied the image. "Yeah, I do get a laugh-to-keep-from-crying vibe here," admitted Tony Stark.
"Yeah, but just a few seconds later he was trying to kill the old man who did stand up to him! And would have, if I hadn't gotten my shield up just in time!"
"Was he? How hard was the rebound off your shield, compared to Thor's hammer?" challenged Tony.
Steve frowned. "Now that you mention it, it barely registered comparatively."
Thor looked indignant. "Mjolnir is a mighty weapon. Nothing can be made of the fact that Loki's scepter is far weaker." He sounded so defensive that Fury wondered whether the rivalry between the two was as one-sided as Thor made out.
Still, playing family therapist to two Norse gods was not in his damn job description, so Nick contented himself by saying "It was plenty damn strong when he was taking out our security at the Pegasus Project in under 20 seconds."
Phil Coulson raised his eyebrows, then got busy with his tablet. In a few seconds, everyone's display was showing a split screen showing Loki in action at both Stuttgart and the Pegasus base. The contrast was dramatic.
It was Stark-- of course-- who said it. "Sorry to break it to you Gramps, but he let you win." When Rogers turned to glare at him, he raised his hands pacifically. "Hey, I'm not hating on you! I know you never finished basic training back in the day, because they put you on the show circuit right after Hydra stole the second vial, so it's hardly your fault. But still-- this guy took out a half-dozen armed Shield security guards single-handed in 14 seconds, mostly using his disco stick as a... stick. I mean, he fired it exactly three times. If he'd wanted to lay you out, he would have. Instead he drew things out until..." Stark's voice slowed down "...until I arrived. Son of a bitch! He scripted the entire thing!"
Nick glanced warily at Thor, but fortunately Thor either recognized that Tony wasn't traducing his mother or was too absorbed in the video he was watching to to have heard the expletive. Natasha said, "I'm afraid he's right, Steve. You can see Loki dialing down his skill level when he recognized your unfamiliarity with that form of combat."
Coulson intervened, perhaps wanting to save his hero from further embarrassment. "Since we already knew that Loki was acting under coercion, none of this is immediately relevant. What we need to know now is where Loki went to stop the other prong of his assault... and more importantly, if he succeeded." He glanced at Tony Stark meaningfully. "It's very annoying when someone who is supposedly working with you decides to go on a private crusade without telling you when, where, or why."
Tony sat bolt upright, a look of shock on his face. For a second, Fury thought that Coulson had finally gotten through Stark's ego. Then the man touched his ear and said "Wait! Loki and Selvig are doing what, Jarvis?"
Stark stood up. "Since when?" he demanded. Then "No, I'm not mad at you. Just tell me what's happening. He stood silently for a few seconds, an expression of intense concentration on his face. Then his eyes widened in alarm, and he called out "Jarvis? JARVIS!" Stark looked as frantic as Fury had ever seen him.
"Talk to us, Stark. What's going on?" Coulson projected both concern and calm as he-- and all the others-- rose to their feet.
Tony's eyes looked terribly vulnerable as he dropped his hand from his ear, and his voice was urgent. "We need to get to Stark Tower NOW! Loki and Selvig are there fighting over the Tessaract, which is doing weird things... and Jarvis isn't answering!"
"Everyone suit up," ordered Cap. "We'll meet at the Hanger Bay. Let's go foil the main attack."
The team dispersed. Coulson grabbed the 0-8-4 gun, and followed along.