Liberty Is Mine |2| The Liberty Saga

Chapter Eight: The Helicarrier

In the laboratory, Bruce ran a scanner over Loki's sceptre, analysing the data as it appeared on a glass screen nearby. "The gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's reports on the Tesseract," he said, intent on the screen. "But it's gonna take weeks to process."

Across the room, Tony was setting up algorithms for the search on another screen. "If we bypass their mainframe and direct a reroute to the Homer cluster, we can clock this around six hundred teraflops," he suggested.

Bruce sighed to himself, shaking his head. "And all I packed was a toothbrush."

"You know, you should come by Stark Tower sometime," Tony told him, smiling. "Top ten floors all R&D. You'd love it, it's candy land."

"Thanks," Bruce said, wincing, "but the last time I was in New York I kind of broke... Harlem."

Tony shrugged. "Well, I promise a stress-free environment. No tension, no surprises." Suddenly, he jabbed Bruce in the side with a miniature electrical prod.

"Ow!"

"Nothing?" Tony studied Bruce closely, clearly checking for signs of green.

"Hey, are you out of your mind?!" Steve demanded, striding in with Elke not far behind.

"Jury's out," Tony told him, making Bruce chuckle. "You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz? Bongo drums? Huge bag of weed?" As if a thought had just occurred to him, he flashed a smile at Elke. "By the way, same to you. I saw you get knocked about some back in Stuttgart and no hint of the rumblies. Impressive."

"Ja, and I manage to have multiple conversations with you without punching you in the face even once," she countered. "It's called restraint. Is everything a joke to you?"

He shrugged. "Funny things are."

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny," Steve told him icily. He glanced over at Bruce. "No offence, Doc."

"No, it's alright," Bruce assured them. "Fischer's right, I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things."

Tony smiled at him. "You're tiptoeing, big man. You need to strut."

"As fascinating as Banner's situation is, do you think we might try focussing on the problem?" Elke asked pointedly.

"You think I'm not?" Tony asked, raising his eyebrows. "Why did Fury call us in, and why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables."

Steve's eyebrows drew together. "You think Fury's hiding something?"

"He's a spy, Captain. He's the spy. His secrets have secrets." Tony pointed to Bruce. "It's bugging him, too, isn't it?"

Bruce winced. "Uh, I just wanna finish my work here and..."

Elke narrowed her eyes. "Bruce?"

He hesitated. "'A warm light for all mankind', Loki's jab at Fury about the cube."

"I heard it," she said, nodding.

"Well, I think that was meant for you," he explained, turning to Tony. "Even if Barton didn't tell him, it's posted all over the news."

"Stark Tower?" Steve realised. "That big ugly—" Tony shot him a look. "—building in New York?"

"It's powered by Stark Reactors, a self-sustaining energy source," Bruce explained. "That building will run itself for... what, a year?"

Tony nodded. "That's just the prototype. I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now."

"So why didn't S.H.I.E.L.D. bring him in on the Tesseract project?" Bruce asked pointedly. "I mean, what are they doing in the energy business in the first place?"