Chapter Thirteen: Protoss

"Artanis, thank you. If not for you, Loki would have slipped away again," Thor gave Artanis a great bear hug, clapping him heartily on the shoulder.

"It's nothing. Didn't I tell you to call me as soon as you found Loki?" Artanis looked at Thor with a hint of exasperation—this fellow forgot everything the moment he saw Loki.

"Haha, I forgot. But it's fine, you made it here anyway," Thor scratched his head sheepishly. As the two spoke, Iron Man arrived with Steve in tow.

There was no time for idle conversation now. It seemed this newly arrived figure was an ally of Thor’s, perhaps not unlike the so-called Warriors Three from last time. Tony glanced twice at Artanis, whose appearance was rather distinct from Thor's, then hurriedly called Natasha. The most important thing now was to bring Loki in.

The Quinjet, having already turned back, arrived swiftly and ferried the group to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s current headquarters.

S.H.I.E.L.D.—Helicarrier

"And who is this?" Having handed Loki over to the guards and breathed a sigh of relief, Natasha was the first to look at Artanis.

Artanis’s attire was striking: gold armor adorned with blue gemstones of all sizes, even more ornate than Thor's own battle gear, and of an entirely different style. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s records held no information on him.

"This is Artanis, from the Protoss. He’s my friend, and he’s come here specially to help me," Thor introduced Artanis with a serious expression. Artanis nodded amiably to the others. Though there were many wicked souls aboard this ship, the gathered few were pure of heart.

"Protoss? What's that?" Captain America admitted he’d never heard of them, and Natasha shook her head as well; no trace of such an existence appeared in any myth or history she knew.

Thor furrowed his brow, aware of the Daul Laws of the Protoss Empire, but uncertain how to explain.

Artanis took the initiative. "You can think of us as another Asgard. Our people are allies of Asgard, which is why I have come to lend my aid."

"Another Asgard..." Natasha’s brows knit in thought, then relaxed. Another god, then? Best leave such headaches for Director Fury.

Steve said nothing. He had yet to properly learn about Asgard; he planned to review the files Fury had given him when he had the chance.

As for Dr. Banner, he was unfamiliar with such legends and kept silent.

Meanwhile, Loki had already been brought to the special prison Fury had prepared.

"Let me be clear: if you try to escape, even so much as scratch the glass," Fury said, stepping to the control console and activating the airlock beneath the cell, "this entire chamber will drop from ten thousand meters in the sky. Do you understand?"

Fury closed the hatch. Loki glanced down at the dizzying view below.

"Right now, you’re an ant, and I’m the boot," Fury declared, supremely confident in the prison.

"Hahaha, nice cage," Loki chuckled, settling in the center of the cell. "But it wasn’t built for me, was it?"

"It was built for something much more powerful than you," Fury replied, impassive.

"Oh, I’ve heard of it." Loki smiled up at the surveillance camera. "A stupid beast, pretending to be a man. How desperate must you be to bring in such a monster to help you?"

"How desperate am I?" Fury was eager to glean some information from Loki, so he played along. "You threaten our world with war, steal a power you can’t control, speak of peace with blood on your hands. You forced my hand, and you will pay for what you’ve done."

"Wow," Loki said with mock awe, "it must be torture for you to have failed. With the Tesseract in your grasp and its boundless energy—what will you do with it? Light up the world?"

Loki sneered, seeing through S.H.I.E.L.D.'s so-called Phase Two. "Then you’ll realize what true power is."

Fury curled his lips in a cold smile and said no more. The god of mischief was as sharp-tongued as ever. "Let me know if ‘true power’ wants to read a magazine to pass the time."

In the conference room, Dr. Banner watched as Loki's feed was shut off. "You're all transfixed by him, aren’t you?"

"Loki’s just buying time. Thor, what is he really after?" Steve had found Loki’s surrender suspiciously easy and suspected more was at play.

"He commands a Chitauri army. They’re not from Asgard or any of the Nine Realms. Loki plans to lead them against Midgard. I believe he’ll give them the Tesseract, and in return, they’ll help him conquer Midgard."

"An extraterrestrial army?" Steve asked gravely. An army from beyond the stars was a dire threat.

"So he wants to build a portal?" Dr. Banner caught on quickly. "That’s why he took Erik Selvig."

"Selvig?" Thor caught the familiar name, interrupting Banner.

"He’s an astrophysicist," Banner explained, turning to Thor.

"I know him. He’s a friend of mine," Thor’s face darkened. "Loki used some kind of magic to control him."

Natasha looked at Thor. "And one of our agents as well." She hoped Thor knew how to break the spell.

"Mind control?" Thor blinked and turned to Artanis. "Artanis, do you have a way to lift that magic?"

Everyone looked to Artanis. "That will require further analysis—if you can capture them alive," he replied, nodding, then shaking his head.

Natasha was visibly more hopeful. Some hope was better than none. Steve glanced around and said, "Why did Loki surrender so easily? Here, he can’t command any army."

Dr. Banner gave his opinion. "I think we shouldn’t focus on Loki. His mind is impossible to read—he’s a lunatic."

"Watch your words," Thor leaned forward, hands braced on the table. "Loki may be unreasonable, but he’s an Asgardian, and my brother."

"He killed eighty people in two days," Natasha replied, not even looking up.

Thor awkwardly straightened up and withdrew his hands. "He’s adopted."

Artanis frowned at the mention of Loki’s death toll, but quickly relaxed—he trusted Loki wouldn’t do something so reckless.

"I think our attention should be on the portal. Iridium—what do they want with iridium?" Dr. Banner tried to steer the discussion back to Loki’s earlier targets.

"Iridium is a stabilizer," Tony Stark announced as he entered the conference room, Agent Coulson at his side.