"Why do you call me Atreus?"
Loki looked at Karl, curiosity filling his eyes. For someone who prided himself on intellect, curiosity and a thirst for knowledge were always stronger than in most others.
"That name was personally given to you by your illiterate old father," Karl replied casually.
"?"
Loki was completely baffled. Whether it was Odin, or his biological father Laufey of the Frost Giants, neither could possibly be described as illiterate. In fact, both were wise rulers. Even someone as thickheaded as Thor wasn't illiterate. So where exactly did this illiterate father come from?
"None of that matters," Karl said indifferently. "You'll be coming with us. A lot of people are waiting for you."
With that, Karl notified Natasha to come pick him up.
Inside the Quinjet, Skye was visibly surprised by Karl's appearance. After all, he had said earlier that he wouldn't be coming.
The flight passed in silence. With Thor watching over him, Loki behaved himself the entire way and didn't try any tricks.
Soon, the Quinjet landed on the Helicarrier. Surrounded by fully armed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, Loki was escorted toward his holding cell.
As they passed Bruce's laboratory, Loki suddenly stopped and looked inside at Bruce.
Almost as if sensing something, Bruce lifted his head and met Loki's gaze.
Loki gave him a mysterious smile, then continued on toward his cell.
Inside the lab, Bruce was utterly confused. He didn't know that man at all—why was he smiling at him?
Rubbing his aching eyes, Bruce dismissed the strange encounter and returned to his work, continuing his search for the Tesseract.
Loki, meanwhile, was brought into a circular, suspended prison cell. Thick glass surrounded the cell on all sides, and massive mechanical arms held it aloft. Beneath it was nothing but ten thousand meters of open air.
At that moment, Nick Fury stepped forward and stopped at a nearby control console.
"All it takes is for you to try to escape," Fury said calmly, "even something as small as tapping on the glass."
As he spoke, Fury pressed a button. Instantly, the mechanical arms loosened, and the entire cell dropped slightly.
"Do you understand now?"
Fury looked at Loki. The meaning couldn't have been clearer—any movement from Loki, and the cell would plunge from the sky, ending in total annihilation.
Instead of being intimidated, Loki nodded with satisfaction.
"I have to admit, I'm quite pleased with this cage. Though I assume it wasn't built for me, was it?"
"Of course not," Fury replied. "It was built for someone even stronger than you."
Fury didn't bother hiding it. The cell had been designed for the Hulk from the beginning—after all, among everyone present, the Hulk was the most uncontrollable.
"Oh, I've heard about him," Loki said lightly. "A beast that does nothing but destroy."
He glanced up at the camera above him. On the other side of that feed, everyone was watching—including Bruce himself.
Bruce looked awkward. Loki was clearly talking about him. It seemed S.H.I.E.L.D. had indeed taken precautions against him. Still, Bruce didn't resent it. He didn't want the Hulk to hurt anyone either. Having something that could restrain the Hulk wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
"How little confidence do you have in yourselves," Loki continued, "to build something like this to guard against your own teammates?"
He was deliberately sowing discord, especially between Fury and Bruce. That alone would serve his purpose.
"Confidence?" Fury stepped closer, his expression darkening. "You provoke war. You steal something capable of destroying the Earth—something you can't control. You'd even destroy this planet just to enslave humanity. And you talk to me about confidence? Every shred of security I've lost is because of you. You forced this!"
Fury stopped directly in front of the cell.
"You will pay for this, Loki."
"Pay?" Loki burst out laughing, tears nearly forming in his eyes. "Don't give me that sanctimonious nonsense. All I did was take something from you. And you? You wanted the energy inside the Tesseract—limitless energy—to solidify your own rule."
His laughter echoed through the cell.
"And what would you do once you had that energy? Let me guess… build weapons? Slaughter others? Maintain your dominance over humanity? Do you really think you'd use it to make lightbulbs? Don't be ridiculous. You and I both know the power of the Tesseract is immeasurable. You just want to keep it firmly in your own hands."
"You're not much nobler than I am," Loki continued coldly. "The difference is, I don't hide what I am. Unlike you—wrapping yourselves in righteousness while rotting on the inside."
Loki dropped to the floor, lounging casually as he examined his surroundings, saying nothing more.
Fury's face was pitch-black. Loki had struck straight at the heart of it, exposing the true purpose behind their research. Just as Loki said, they wanted control over the Tesseract—nothing more.
With nothing left to say, Fury turned and left. He had come to extract information, only to have certain ugly truths laid bare.
On the other side of the camera, everyone's expressions were grim. Some of them knew Loki was absolutely right—but no one was willing to say it aloud.
"Haha… Atreus really is an interesting guy. I'd love to be friends with him."
Karl laughed openly. Seeing the dirty tactics of the American government torn apart so mercilessly by Loki was exactly what Karl enjoyed watching. Loki, at least, was brutally honest.
Steve glanced at Karl. His expression was so dark it seemed ready to drip. Seventy years ago, he had been willing to give his life fighting Red Skull over the Tesseract. And now, the country he had sworn loyalty to had become another Red Skull. He couldn't accept it.
Under everyone's gaze, Steve left the conference room alone, while Karl continued laughing.
"Loki is just trying to stall for time," Natasha spoke up, smoothing things over. The atmosphere had already begun spiraling out of control because of Loki's words.
"Thor," she continued, "you know Loki better than anyone here. What do you think he's planning?"
Thor looked at Natasha and replied, "According to Asgardian intelligence, Loki commands an army known as the Chitauri. They are not of Asgard and come from an unknown region of space. Clearly, Loki intends to use them to conquer Earth. In return, I suspect—"
"He'll use the Tesseract as payment."
Karl cut in suddenly. Among everyone present, only he knew the truth—the being behind the Chitauri was that purple tyrant, whose goal was to collect the six Infinity Stones.
Thor looked at Karl in surprise, then nodded. "Correct. He would trade the Tesseract."
"An alien army…" Tony stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Then he'll need to open a portal. That explains why he kidnapped Dr. Erik Selvig."
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