INT. HELICARRIER NIGHT.
The Quinjet touched down smoothly on the Helicarrier's landing deck, the faint hiss of hydraulics and the soft hum of the engines filling the air. The sky above was an endless expanse of gray, streaked with the faint orange glow of the setting sun bleeding through thick clouds. The rhythmic thrum of rotors overhead created a constant backdrop, blending with the distant sounds of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents bustling around the deck.
The ramp lowered with a mechanical groan, and Steve Rogers was the first to step out, his face set in a determined expression, jaw clenched tight. Tony Stark followed just a step behind, his armor's servos softly whirring with each movement, though he'd retracted his helmet, revealing a mixture of exhaustion and annoyance etched into his features.
Ben Tennyson descended next, walking alongside Thor, the Asgardian's towering presence impossible to ignore. Mjölnir hung loosely in Thor's hand, but his sharp, watchful eyes betrayed the tension simmering beneath his stoic exterior. The contrast between the two was striking—Thor, regal and godlike, while Ben exuded a more grounded confidence.
Natasha following behind from a reasonable distance, her eyes never living Loki's back as they escorted the trickster god, to containment.
Loki walked in the middle of the group, his hands bound in sleek, reinforced cuffs designed specifically for enhanced individuals. Despite his restraints, he carried himself with an infuriating air of arrogance, his posture straight, chin slightly raised, as if he were a guest rather than a prisoner. His emerald-green eyes gleamed with mischief, darting from one Avenger to the next, studying them, calculating. A faint, knowing smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth.
S.H.I.E.L.D. agents flanked the group as they approached, their rifles subtly angled, fingers resting near triggers—not overtly aggressive, but ready, just in case. Maria Hill stood nearby, her sharp gaze assessing the situation, while Nick Fury observed from a distance, arms crossed, his expression unreadable beneath the shadow of his iconic eyepatch.
"Well, isn't this cozy?" Loki remarked with a sly grin, his voice dripping with mockery. "Escorted like royalty. I'd say I'm honored."
Tony rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, don't get too comfortable, Reindeer Games. We're fresh out of red carpets."
Ben shot Loki a sideways glance, his fingers unconsciously brushing the Omnitrix on his wrist. There was something unnerving about how calm Loki was, as if he was exactly where he wanted to be. This isn't over, Ben thought. Not by a long shot.
Thor's grip on Mjölnir tightened slightly, his jaw flexing. "Silence, Loki. Your words are as empty as your promises."
"Oh, dear brother," Loki replied smoothly, his grin widening, "you wound me."
Steve remained silent, his eyes forward, his posture stiff with discipline. But his mind raced, piecing together the puzzle that was Loki. This felt too easy. The god of mischief didn't just get captured without a plan.
As they neared the entrance to the Helicarrier's interior, Fury finally stepped forward, his voice cutting through the tension like a blade. "Get him secured. I want eyes on him at all times."
"Yes, sir," Hill responded crisply, motioning to the agents.
As Loki was escorted away, he glanced over his shoulder, his smirk never fading. His gaze lingered on each of them, but it settled on Ben for just a heartbeat longer than the others. There was something in his eyes—amusement, curiosity, maybe even recognition.
Ben's brow furrowed. 'What is he planning?'
The doors slid shut behind Loki, leaving the team standing in tense silence.
Natasha was the first to break it. "Well, that wasn't ominous at all."
Thor exhaled heavily, his gaze distant. "His capture was too simple. He is up to something."
Steve nodded. "Agreed. We need to stay sharp."
Ben glanced at the sealed doors, his fingers tightening into a fist. "Yeah," he muttered, his voice low. "This is just the beginning."
The team exchanged looks, the weight of unspoken truths hanging between them as they moved deeper into the Helicarrier, the storm outside mirroring the one that was about to unfold within.
The night was shrouded in an eerie stillness aboard the helicarrier. In the dimly lit hallway, dozens of SHIELD agents escorted Loki, his hands cuffed but a confident smile plastered across his face. As they passed the helicarrier's lab, Bruce Banner looked up from his work on the Chitauri scepter. His brow furrowed, a flicker of unease crossing his features as he caught sight of the mischievous god walking by. Loki nodded at him, his smile widening, while Banner absentmindedly rubbed his temple, as if trying to ease an impending headache.
In the detention section of the helicarrier, the atmosphere shifted dramatically. Loki now stood inside a large glass cell, the cuffs removed but his freedom curtailed by the imposing hydraulic rigs that held the structure in place. Nick Fury approached the control panel with deliberate steps, his expression a mixture of caution and authority.
"In case it's unclear," Fury began, his voice steady and commanding, "you try to escape, you so much as scratch that glass…" He pressed a button, and a hatch beneath Loki's cell opened with a hiss. Loki leaned closer, peering into the abyss below. The howling wind that rushed up from the depths was enough to send any ordinary man into a panic. But Loki was no ordinary man; he was a god.
"Thirty thousand feet, straight down in a steel trap," Fury continued, his gaze unwavering. "You get how that works?" He closed the hatch with a finality that echoed in the silence, then pointed at Loki.
"Ant."
He followed that with a finger directed toward the ominous button that would send Loki plunging into the void.
"Boot."
Loki's smirk deepened, his eyes shimmering with amusement. "It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me."
"Built for something a lot stronger than you," Fury countered, his tone unyielding.
"Oh, I've heard," Loki replied, casting a sidelong glance at the camera that observed their exchange.
In the briefing room, the other agents watched intently, their eyes glued to the monitor displaying Loki's interrogation. Bruce Banner, still wrestling with his thoughts, scrutinized the screen, his mind racing.
Back in the detention section, Loki leaned against the glass, his demeanor relaxed despite his precarious situation. "The mindless beast makes play he's still a man. How desperate are you, that you call upon such lost creatures to defend you?" he taunted, his voice laced with mockery.
"How desperate am I?" Fury shot back, his patience wearing thin. "You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control."
He paused, letting the weight of his words hang in the air.
"You talk about peace and you kill because it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did."
Loki leaned forward, his eyes sparkling with mischief. "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, only to be reminded what real power is."
A small, amused smile crept onto Fury's face. "Well, you let me know if Real Power wants a magazine or something." With that, he turned and walked away, leaving Loki alone in his glass prison. The god watched Fury retreat, a sly smirk still playing on his lips, his gaze drifting back to the camera that captured his every move.
INT. S.H.I.E.L.D. HELICARRIER – BRIEFING ROOM
The low hum of engines thrummed beneath the metallic floor, a constant reminder of the colossal machine suspended in the sky. Dim lights cast sharp shadows across the room, where the glowing image of the Tesseract pulsed ominously on a digital display. Around the table, tension thickened like storm clouds—Steve, Tony, Bruce, Natasha, Thor, and Ben gathered, each carrying the weight of unspoken thoughts.
"Wow, isn't he just a ball of fun," Bruce muttered, arms crossed as he leaned against the edge of the table.
Steve didn't smile. His gaze remained fixed, sharp as a blade. "He's planning something."
The words settled over the room like frost, silencing even Tony, whose fingers stilled over his tablet. Ben shifted slightly, his expression calm but eyes alive with calculation. He spoke, voice steady, the kind that didn't need to rise to command attention.
"From my guess… he's after one of two things." He let the pause linger, forcing them to lean in, if only mentally. "Either something critical to whatever machine he's building—or us. Maybe both."
Steve's brow furrowed. "Us?"
Ben nodded. "Loki's not just thinking about brute force. He wants to divide us. Distract us long enough for whoever's helping him to finish the job." His voice dropped lower, weighted with certainty. "Bring the army through."
Silence settled again, heavier this time. Steve's jaw clenched. Thor's usual arrogance faded into a contemplative frown. Even Natasha's stoic mask cracked, a flicker of unease in her eyes.
"You might be onto something," Natasha said quietly, stepping forward, her gaze flicking to the display. "If Loki wants to bring an army, he'll need a stable portal. That kind of power drain—"
"—requires the Tesseract," Ben finished, his tone matter-of-fact.
Tony sighed, the weight of reality pulling even his sarcasm down a notch. "Great. So we've got a homicidal diva with a god complex, a cosmic cube, and an intergalactic army RSVP'd to the party."
Steve ignored the quip. His eyes remained on Ben. "How do you know all this?"
Ben met his gaze without flinching. "Pattern recognition. You study enough wars, you start seeing the threads. Loki's not a blunt instrument—he's a scalpel. And right now, we're the patient."
"My brother is no fool. His pride blinds him, yes—but he does nothing without purpose. If he allowed himself to be captured, it is because he knows what will follow." Thor explained, as he moved closer to the table, before continuing his words.
"He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not from Asgard or any world known to us. He intends to lead them against your people, promising them victory over Earth in exchange for the Tesseract."
Steve's brow furrowed. "An army? From outer space?"
Banner nodded, his expression grave. "So he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for."
"Selvig?" Thor echoed, confusion etched on his face.
"He's an astrophysicist," Banner explained.
"A friend," Thor added, his voice strained.
Natasha stepped forward, her demeanor serious. "Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with one of ours."
Bruce exhaled sharply. "Then the question isn't if there's a plan. It's how deep we're already in it."
Ben stepped closer to the display, fingers moving over the console with swift precision. Schematics of the Helicarrier flickered into view, overlapping with energy readings—most stable, but a few flashing red anomalies.
"Whatever Loki's after," Ben said, eyes narrowing at the irregular patterns, "he's counting on us being too distracted to notice. Which means…" He stopped, turning to face them fully, the room's low light casting sharp lines across his face. "We're already missing something."
Tony leaned in, squinting at the data. "Yeah, well, missing things seems to be Fury's department."
Banner shook his head. "We shouldn't focus solely on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats; you can smell the crazy on him."
"Careful how you speak," Thor warned, his voice low and intense. "Loki may be beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he is my brother."
Natasha crossed her arms, her gaze unwavering. "He killed eighty people in two days."
"...."
"He's adopted," Thor replied, defensively.
"Iridium," Banner interjected suddenly. "What did they need the Iridium for?"
"It's a stabilizing agent. It means the portal won't collapse on itself, like it did at SHIELD." Tony explained, standing from his seat.
He then faced Thor, a smirk playing at his lips. "No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing." He patted Thor on his arm. "Also, it means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long as Loki wants."
To the crew, he commanded, "Raise the mid-mast, ship the top sails. That man is playing GALAGA! Thought we wouldn't notice? But we did." He covered one eye, surveying the room. "How does Fury do this?"
"Simple," Agent Maria Hill interjected. "He turns."
As Tony inspected the monitors, he discreetly placed a button-sized hacking implant under Fury's desk, the action unnoticed by the others.
"Well, that sounds exhausting," he remarked. "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."
"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Hill asked, incredulous.
"Last night. The packet, Selvig's notes, the Extraction Theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?" Tony shot back.
Ben could only shake his head at just how ridiculous, that statement was though it just showed how much Tony was.
Steve turned to Banner. "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," Banner explained, his voice steady.
"Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect," Tony added, a glimmer of excitement in his eyes.
"If he could do that, he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet," Banner clarified.
"Finally, someone who speaks English," Tony replied, a grin spreading across his face.
Steve looked between them, a realization dawning. "Is that what just happened?"
Tony and Banner exchanged a handshake, a shared respect illuminating their expressions.
"It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner," Tony said, his voice sincere. "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."
Banner looked down, a hint of embarrassment creeping into his demeanor. "Thanks."
Just then, Nick Fury strode in, his presence commanding. "Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him and Tennyson."
Steve nodded, his focus sharpening. "Let's start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon."
"I don't know about that," Fury replied, "but it is powered by the cube. 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 said, his confusion evident.
"I do! I understood that reference," Steve said proudly, eliciting an eye roll from Tony.
"Shall we play, doctor?" Tony asked, a spark of mischief in his eyes.
" You too kid, come along. Let's see if can play with the big boys." Tony said, as he patted Ben on the shoulder to follow. Ben looked around the room before, saying " I'm 21."
" That doesn't change the fact that your currently the youngest person on the entire carrier." Maria retorted, from her station not botheting looking back at the dark lines crossing Ben's forward.
Looking around no one said anything in his defense, and all just stared at him. Sighing, Ben turned around to follow the two old man too the lab. Hey, if they were going to treat him as a kid he'd treat them as old man.
INT. S.H.I.E.L.D. HELICARRIER – LAB
The hum of the Helicarrier's engines served as a constant backdrop, mingling with the faint beeping of monitors and the soft whir of advanced equipment. Stark's lab was sleek, cluttered in a way that only geniuses found organized. Tony stood at a holographic display, fingers dancing through projections of energy signatures. Bruce leaned against a workstation, arms crossed, his expression a mix of skepticism and reluctant curiosity. Ben was there too, standing off to the side, flipping through data on a tablet with casual efficiency, though his sharp green eyes tracked every detail.
Tony broke the silence first, his tone dripping with that signature Stark sarcasm.
"You know, for a guy with 'god' on his résumé, Loki's not exactly subtle. Big entrance in Germany, stealing shiny cubes… it's like he's trying to get on the cover of Villain Weekly."
Bruce didn't bite on the joke. "That's the point, isn't it? Theatrics. Distraction. He wants us looking one way while he's pulling strings somewhere else."
Ben didn't look up from his tablet. "It's not just about distraction." His voice was steady, cutting through the casual banter. "It's about control. Loki doesn't want chaos—he wants order. His order."
Tony shot him a sideways glance, arching an eyebrow. "Thanks for the fortune cookie wisdom, Tennyson. Next, you'll tell me water's wet."
Ben finally looked up, locking eyes with Tony, unbothered by the snark. "You're missing the point. He's not just after the Tesseract. He's after us."
Bruce straightened slightly, curiosity piqued. "Us? Why?"
"Because we're standing in the way," Ben replied, stepping closer, the tablet lowering to his side. "Loki knows brute force won't win. But if he can get us fighting each other, doubting each other—he's already won. Divide and conquer. Oldest trick in the book."
Tony rolled his eyes, but there was a flicker of unease beneath the bravado. "Please. We're not exactly a kumbaya group to begin with."
"And that's exactly what he's counting on," Ben shot back, voice sharp now. "You think this is just about alien armies and magic cubes? No. It's psychological warfare. He's already in your head."
Bruce gave a small, grim nod. "He's not wrong."
Tony bristled, turning back to his holograms with a scoff. "Oh, great. Now I'm getting psychoanalyzed by the kid and the rage monster. What's next? A trust fall exercise?"
Ben didn't smile. He just stared for a beat, then said quietly, "You're proving my point. And again stop calling me a kid"
That shut Tony up for a moment. The lab fell into silence again, but it wasn't comfortable. It was the kind that settled deep, making even the brightest screens feel dimmer.
Bruce exhaled slowly, breaking the tension. "So… what's the plan?"
Ben glanced at the data one more time, then set the tablet down.
"Simple," he said. "We stop playing Loki's game—and start playing ours."
Tony didn't respond, but the flicker of respect in his eyes was impossible to miss.