103- Avengers (9)

Mason decided to intervene before the discussion could spiral any further.

"Be that as it may, we do still have to find the Tesseract before starting any quarrels about its ownership. Not that there should be any, after this vote." He glanced around the table before continuing. "And that is why we’re here, isn’t it, Fury?"

Fury smiled. It was not a particularly reassuring smile. If anything, there was something almost sinister about it, as though he found the bickering more amusing than irritating. Or maybe a spy’s smile was never something reassuring.

"As unruly as a bunch of Boy Scouts," he said dryly. "But yes. That was the purpose of this meeting. Doctor Banner, the stage is yours."

Five and a half pairs of eyes turned toward the scientist.

Banner visibly cringed at the attention.

After a moment of hesitation, he pushed himself out of his chair and walked toward the computer positioned against the wall. His movements were almost awkward, as if he would much rather be anywhere else than standing in front of a room full of people who were waiting for him to explain how the fate of the world was about to get considerably worse.

"As Tony mentioned, while Loki was playing with you in Germany, he had his pawns steal Iridium."

The computer screen changed.

A picture of a metallic element appeared, accompanied by a collection of scientific data that meant very little to most of the people in the room. Thor zoned out. Steve leaned forward on his elbows, examining it seriously. Mason did not care to pretend, staring at Banner only.

Banner pointed toward it.

"It is an exceedingly rare element. It barely exists naturally on our world, and most of what we have comes from extraterrestrial sources—meteorites that crashed into Earth over the course of its history."

He paused, glancing at the information on the screen.

"Doctor Foster confirmed our earlier theories. According to her, Iridium is the only known element capable of stabilizing the energy output of the Tesseract."

Tony raised an eyebrow. "Only known element?"

Banner gave him a tired look. "Unless you have another candidate you’d like to suggest."

Tony shrugged. "I'm just saying. You never know."

Banner sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"So, the good news is that Loki has acquired a stabilizing agent. Something specifically suited to containing the energy of the Tesseract and preventing it from exploding. So we can pretty safely rule out the possibility of Loki using it to wipe our planet off the map."

No one was happy about the good news. He turned away from the screen.

"The bad news is that Loki theoretically has everything he needs to construct a functional portal."

The room went quiet. Quieter. Banner continued nonetheless. "All that remains is for him to actually build it."

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Mason felt his mind immediately begin working through the possibilities. Should he nudge them towards the New York lead? It could help, but it could also focus effort in the wrong place. Mason still found himself trapped by the same dilemma. Knowledge could truly be a curse.

Thankfully, while he was hesitating, Fury spoke up, "I won't lie to you. The situation ain't good."

"But it ain't hopeless either."

His gaze settled on Thor. "Thor, you understand Loki the best among us. I assume that without his spear, he's unable to control people's minds? Or, at the very least, isn't nearly as good at it?"

Thor's brow lowered.

"That weapon is not an Asgardian weapon. And I know him to be capable of controlling minds. But anyone with sense could see that those he controlled were not acting of their own accord. He is also an expert at illusions, but he needs to be in someone’s proximity to change them."

"Good. That means seamless control is out of the question with his spear destroyed. Which makes identifying him and his associates that much easier. And with the way he has behaved so far, I believe him to be too arrogant to do the job himself. It would feel much more in character for him to send his men to gather supplies, even if his control has become flawed."

He turned toward the screen.

"We've been working under that assumption since yesterday. Every report that comes in is being screened for abnormal behavior. Individuals behaving strangely, sudden changes in personality, unexplained acts of violence or cooperation. Anything that might indicate Loki has gotten his hands on someone."

Natasha leaned back slightly in her chair.

"And how many have you found?"

"Enough to keep us busy."

That answer did little to reassure anyone. Fury turned toward her.

"Agent Romanoff, we already have agents deployed at several key locations. We're covering as much ground as we can, but our primary focus will be the United States."

He walked toward the center of the room, his hands clasped behind his back.

"We've got several teams working to determine where construction might be taking place. Loki needs to stay hidden while he works, but he also needs relatively easy access to the resources required to build his machine."

Mason nodded slowly.

That was the problem with trying to hide something on that scale.

A device capable of opening a portal through space was not something one could assemble in a basement with a screwdriver and a prayer. Loki needed equipment. Materials. Power. Somewhere large enough to house whatever monstrosity he was building. Which, again, brought Mason to think of New York.

He kept that thought for now, letting Fury continue.

"Our current objective is straightforward. We stop Loki before he finishes constructing the portal.”

His voice hardened.

"But if he does finish, we still have an idea of where he'll most likely open it. We can exclude any remote places because opening a portal through space will necessarily create a big commotion, so there’s no hiding it. If he opens it in a remote area, he certainly understands we would simply nuke the area. It cannot be a small town or city either for the same reason."

Tony slumped further into his chair and rubbed his face. "So what you're saying is that he's most likely going to attack somewhere too important for us to simply nuke. That's reassuring."

Fury nodded gravely. "Although there have been sightings of strange individuals all over the world, we've identified the majority of them in the continental United States. More specifically, the concentration is highest along the East Coast."

A map appeared on the screen.

The eastern half of the United States lit up, several locations marked with small points.

Mason leaned forward. Fury pointed toward the cluster. "We've got a lot of ground to cover, but the pattern is narrowing. Agent Romanoff will help us narrow it further."

Natasha's eyes remained fixed on the map.

Fury continued. "For the moment, we're looking at Washington, New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Baltimore, and Miami."

Steve stared at the list. "That's your definition of narrowing?"

"Compared to the entire country?" Fury gave him a pointed look.

Mason abruptly leaned forward, his decision taken. He looked at Banner and asked, "This machine is made to create the portal, it needs a secondary energy source, correct?"

Banner nodded, looking intrigued at where Mason was going with this. "That’s right. Although the Tesseract is a source of potentially infinite energy, it exists within a sort of self-contained system. This is actually very interesting, we theorized that the Tesseract is meant to be used on its own-"

Fury stopped him. "Please, get to the point, Doctor."

Banner smiled awkwardly. "Right. Sorry. Yes, for the machine to work, there has to be a potent, secondary source of energy kick-starting the machine. The Tesseract will be the energy that creates and maintains the portal, while the secondary source of energy will activate it."

Mason nodded, "I see. So, we have a supremely arrogant god who likes to toy with people, and who needs to find a vast energy source. Nuclear power plants are out of the question, as those would get bombed the moment the portal opens. So he needs to find a source of equal power inside one of those seven cities. Presumably somewhere that would be symbolic." He sent a pointed glance at Tony with that.

Tony realized where Mason was going, and his body shot up with an outraged gasp. "That motherfucker!"

"Language!" Steve blurted out.