Sorry for the long delay. This chapter just got derailed by a bad case of writer's block. We think we finally have it solved, so without further ado, we present this next chapter of our story.

Had Director Fury been aware of the short conversation between Sailor Pluto and his captive, Fury would have been as perplexed as Loki about it and would no doubt have demanded a full explanation from Pluto, not only as to its meaning and purpose, but more importantly, how she had gotten through all security protocols on the detention level without his expressed authorization in the first place. As it was, the security cameras watching Loki's cell never faltered, nor did they ever show anything other than Loki patiently strolling about the cell. Of course, even if anyone had noticed Loki's expression turn slightly less amused and somewhat more pensive, they could never have known that the security cameras had been experiencing what amounted to a 'Hiccup' in time during which they dutifully recorded Loki, by himself, in his cell and blissfully unaware that it had ever been otherwise.

It was more technically involved and infinitely simpler for Sailor Mercury to jam the listening devices planted in their quarters as the senshi gathered in the room assigned to herself, Sailor Moon, and Sailor Mars. It had not been an unexpected move but it was still dismaying. All the while, the night stretched on as the massive helicarrier headed west. The extended darkness adding to the pall of gloom and anxiety that shrouded the ship. Even after a full eight hours of sleep (strictly enforced by Luna) and then breakfast (prepared by Jupiter) it would be another two hours or so until dawn broke over the eastern United States.

"My visit unsettled him for a little while." Pluto told the others. "But Loki won't be kept off balance for long. He has his game well thought out. He'll make his move soon."

"But is Loki our only threat?" Venus asked seriously, turning to Sailor Moon. "I'm not even sure this SHIELD agency even trusts itself let alone us."

"That may be true Venus." Sailor Moon replied with surprising calm. "But Loki is a threat to everyone. We'll worry about 'maybes' later. Right now we've got one bad guy who's still holding most of the cards."

The others nodded in agreement.

"So what do we do?" Mars asked. "Normally I'd try to do a fire reading but that's obviously not happening here. I don't think Fury would appreciate it if I started a blaze on his helicarrier."

"We wait." Sailor Moon answered unhappily. It was always hard waiting for the bad guy to make a move but until either Loki made his move or the Tesseract was found, then there was precious little else to be done.

"Well I should head up to the lab and see if there have been any new developments." Mercury told them. She did not expect there would be but it was possible. Besides, she was worried about Bruce. This whole thing had to be a total nightmare for him. There was no place to go up here and he was surrounded by people who claimed they meant no harm but whose intentions he couldn't entirely take at face value, given the cage they had built for him. What was worse was that if anything did happen, Bruce and Mercury were both quite certain that whatever SHIELD had prepared would not be enough. She wanted him to know that he wasn't alone.

"Well I made a bento for Dr. Banner." Jupiter smiled, presenting it to Mercury.

"Thank's Jupiter." Mercury smiled. "I'm sure he will appreciate it."

"I should probably make one for Agent Coulson and one for Steve... I mean for Captain Rogers."She blushed as Venus grinned at her slip.

"Better make it a large one." Mercury smiled. "Although I'm certain he doesn't like to advertise it, Captain Roger's body would require probably at least twice a normal intake of calories to fuel those muscles. Unlike us, hes not running on magic."

Jupiter grinned. "Great! I'd better get started!" She got up to head for the galley.

"I'll go with you." Sailor Moon volunteered cheerfully, figuring to snag a few tasty morsels while Jupiter worked. She scooped Luna up in her arms.

Mars stood up. "I think I'll go with you Mercury."

"All right." Mercury agreed considering.

"So will Venus." Artemis piped up. "I'll go with Luna and scope things out."

"In the kitchen, Artemis?" Venus queried dubiously.

"Exactly! The one place you should never go!" Artemis narrowly dodged an annoyed swat from the Soldier of Love.

"Well, Neptune and I will just have a little look around." Uranus looked at her partner and then at Pluto. "You and Saturn want to come along?"

"No. You two go on." Pluto answered. "Unless you want to stay for Hotaru's physics lesson?"

"No thanks." Uranus replied. "We'll be going now." She said pulling Neptune to the door.

The board is set. Pluto told herself.

"So how do you know Uranus anyway?" Venus was asking Stark a little later. Bruce Banner listening with some interest, relieved to not be the center of attention as he sampled his bento.

Stark smirked. "Monaco." He replied. "I figured 'what the heck!' I own one of the cars, I might as well drive it.' So I get in and there's this hot shot in a red car drops down under me and is blocking me out like it's his personal mission in life. And he's really, like really getting on my nerves. Then he starts pulling away from me and that's when Ivan Vanko walks out onto the track and I see the red car flipping over in the air. And the next thing I know I'm in a fight for my life and then Happy and Pepper's and I didn't even notice someone running past us to where the next three cars had crashed in a billowing ball of flames. I'm completely unaware that 'Captain Planet' is pulling these other drivers out of the wreckage because quite frankly, I'm just a little busy. So I finish up with Vanko. I finish up a very long day by reviewing the footage of what happened and JARVIS says to me that there's something else I should see."

"Jarvis?" Venus asked.

"JARVIS. Just A Really Very Intelligent System. He's kinda like my Man Friday. Although FRIDAY can be a bit of a sass." He noted, thinking of the back up program he had developed to replace JARVIS if it ever became necessary. "Anyway." Stark continued. "I've got to tell you that here I thought SHIELD's refractive camouflage was state of the art. Whatever tech you ladies are using? Camouflage that prevents the observer from even believing their own eyes? I have to say that's impressive. You really ought to let me take a look at that."

Mercury smiled almost apologetically. "I'm not sure how much you could learn. Our glamour is a magical in nature."

"Magic huh?" Stark questioned as if humoring her. "That's your story and you're sticking to it hmm?"

"Magic." Mars affirmed in reply.

"Have it your way." He shrugged. "Anyway, after Vanko was taken care of, I figured I'd pay a visit to Miss Tenoh and I told her that I was paying for her car as well as the other cars Vanko destroyed and the medical expenses for the other drivers, who seemed to be recovering quite well and wasn't it lucky that somehow, someone managed to get those guys out alive. That's when she began to get a little tense." More than a little tense,he recalled. "And I told her that I could use someone with her talents. After all, my top driver for Team Stark , well he hadn't been too happy when I pulled him out of the car at Monaco and he signed on with another team like just the very next day.

"Now that got her attention." Tony remembered. "And I said that as long as it didn't reflect badly on Team Stark or Stark Industries and lets face it, how could it compared to the storm yours truly had kicked up? That her other activities were her own affair. So far so good or so I thought." He paused a moment. "And then I may have admitted that the whole Vanko thing might possibly have been partly my fault."

Venus cringed. "So you basically admitted complicity in murdering her car."

"Yeah. Probably not a good move on my part. She turned down my offer in a rather spirited manner." Tony then looked at Mercury. "Anyway, my turn. You know, I had Jarvis check through my old emails and I'll be the first to admit it that I really should have been paying more attention. Jarvis tells me your modifications should increase thruster efficiency by 17%. So How did you get into mechanical engineering?"

Mercury noticed the look of interest in Doctor Banner's face and flushed a bit with embarrassment. "Actually mechanics is just a hobby. My primary focus is in life sciences, That's how I first noticed you had replaced the palladium power cores you have been using with something else."

"Yeah. That's kind of a proprietary secret." He took a moment to casually check the monitor in front of him. His expression a self satisfied smirk at what he saw. It was a look that did not fade even as Director Fury entered the compartment.

"What are you doing Mr. Stark?"

"Uh, kind of been wondering the same thing about you."

"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract."

"We are."Banner replied. "The model's locked and we're sweeping for the right signature now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile."

Stark nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Then you get your cube back. No muss, no fuss." He checked his monitor with interest. "What is 'Phase 2'?" Stark asked.

Venus and Mars listened with interest as Mercury began to feel very uneasy. They turned as Captain Rogers walked in and dumped an odd looking gun on a counter. Uranus and Neptune right behind him and all three equally unhappy.

"Phase 2 is SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons." Rogers regarded Stark levelly. "Sorry, computer was moving a little slow for me."

Mercury frowned, considering the conversation she had with Agent Coulson. Should she have told the others what she had learned? She had been told in strict confidence. Not ordered to remain silent, but trusted to be discreet with the knowledge she had been given. In time she surely would have discussed it with her friends. The New Era was coming and when that time arrived, it was unclear whether SHIELD would remain non-hostile. But Usagi was right. Right now, Loki was the threat and it was the threat they had to keep focused on. Yet it appeared that the matter was going to go off in their faces anyway.

Fury tried to soothe the Captain's concerns. "Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. That does not mean that we're making..."

Stark cut him off as he almost casually punched commands into his monitor interface and then swiveled the screen to face Fury and Rogers. "I'm sorry Nick." He remarked with false apology. "What were you lying?" He asked as the monitor displayed the blueprint for a Tesseract enhanced missile...

In the quarters assigned them, Sailor Pluto and Sailor Saturn looked up in shock as the massive carrier suddenly shook.

In the briefest of moments a single thought raced through Pluto's mind: The battle has started.

To Be Continued...

A/N: I deliberately cut short the scene in the lab because A) it's been done before, and B) Unfortunately there is not a whole lot even five of the senshi can do to change it in my opinion. So instead we will just have to see how everyone lands when the next chapter comes. Until nevt time!