Seeing everyone turn their eyes toward him, Thor's face darkened, but he had nothing to say and could only pretend not to notice.
The more he had looked down on them before, the more embarrassed he felt now.
He had confidently gone to deal with Loki, only to fail and actually help Loki instead. What could he possibly say in his defense?
Fortunately, Nick stepped in to smooth things over. "As long as we have a way. You'll retrieve the Tesseract when the time comes. I'll find someone to deal with Loki."
At those words, Steve and the others looked up at Nick, confusion filling their eyes.
"You still have something up your sleeve?"
Thor voiced the question on everyone's mind.
Nick nodded. "I contacted Tony. He'll help."
The expressions on Steve's, Banner's, and Flint's faces all changed.
Thor keenly sensed the shift in the atmosphere. He had been about to ask who Tony was, but he shut his mouth instead.
"Director, how could you ask that guy? We can't count on him."
Steve stood up and voiced his displeasure.
Banner said nothing, but he looked at Nick the same way.
Nick had expected this reaction, but he had to tell them. Otherwise, he feared they would start fighting among themselves when Tony appeared, before they had even taken down Loki.
"Captain, calm down. I don't have a choice. Tony is the only one who can deal with Loki right now. If we don't ask him, what else can we do?"
Although Steve agreed with Nick's point, he still refused to accept it. "That guy's power is certainly unfathomable, but how do you know he genuinely wants to work with us and isn't just playing us?"
"If he turns on us at the last minute, we'll really be facing disaster."