Devil of Menace

9 - Lab

I watch the readings on screen as Banner scans the sceptre with a gamma ray radiation detector. Tony looks at his own monitors, scanning through and solving numerous equations and algorithms. "The gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's reports on the Tesseract. But it's gonna take weeks to process." Banner says after joining me at the screen. "If we bypass their mainframe and direct a reroute to the Homer cluster, we can clock this around six hundred teraflops." Tony explains and I laugh, "Teraflops? No way are they a thing." I scoff. Banner smiles before saying, "All I packed was a toothbrush," in response to Tony. Tony smiles at the genius, "You know, you should come by Stark Tower sometime. Top ten floors, all R&D. You'd love it, it's candy land." Banner nods hesitantly, "Thanks, but the last time I was in New York I kind of broke...Harlem."

"Well I promise a stress free environment. No tension. No surprises." I narrow my eyes in suspicion at Tony's statement and am proven justified when he prods Banner with a mini electrical rod. Steve obviously chooses that moment to walk in the room, seemingly pissed at Tony. "Ow!" Banner jumps in response. Tony stares at Banner closely, looking for a glimpse of green. "Hey!" Steve shouts. Tony jumps to face him, "Nothing?" He murmurs sarcastically, like a guilty toddler. "Are you nuts?" Steve asks. Tony ignores him, "You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz? Bongo drums? Huge bag of weed?" Tony jokingly interrogates. "Is everything a joke to you?" Steve grumbles angrily. "Funny things are." Tony shrugs.

"Tony." I warn but he smirks at me, "What?" He asks. "Play nice." I order and he rolls his eyes. "Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship is not funny." Steve snaps, "No offense doctor." He adds gently. "No, it's alright. I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things." Banner says. I place my hand on Steve's bicep to try and calm him and he accepts it, closing his hand over mine. "Neither of you are gonna drop this are you?" I ask the pair, still looking Steve in the eyes. "Nope." Tony pops as Steve shakes his head. I give up and stand next to Banner, watching the whole argument play out. "You're tiptoeing big man. You need to strut." Tony teases. "And you need to focus on the problem Mr Stark." Steve rebuts.

"You think I'm not? Why did Fury call us and why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables." Tony rants. Steve looks taken aback, "You think Fury's hiding something?" He asks. I sigh, "He's a spy Steve. We rarely tell the whole truth." I explain. Tony nods, "His secrets have secrets." He points to Banner, "It's bugging him too. Isn't it?" He prompts. "Uh- I- I just wanna finish my work here and-" Banner stutters out. "Doctor." Steve interrupts. There's a beat of silence before Banner speaks again, "'A warm light for all mankind', Loki's jab at Fury about the cube." Steve nods in acknowledgement, "I heard it." Banner sighs and motions to Tony, "Well, I think that was meant for you. Even if Barton didn't post that all over the news."

"Stark Tower?" Steve asks incredulously, "What that big, ugly-" Tony gives him a look, "building in New York?" Steve finishes. "It's powered by Stark Reactors, self-sustaining energy source. That building will run itself for what, a year?" I ask Tony. "That's just the prototype. I'm kinda the only name in clean energy right now." Tony brags. "So, why didn't SHIELD bring him in on the Tesseract project? I mean, what are they doing in the energy business in the first place?" Banner explains. I scratch my forehead, "Fury kept talking about 'Phase 2.' Steve this is the only project that Fury personally works on that I don't know about." I explain. "I should probably look into that once my decryption programmer finishes breaking into all of SHIELD's secure files." Tony says, looking around the room for something. Shock paints Steve's feature, "I'm sorry, did you say...?" He interrupt him, "He's had JARVIS running it since he hit the bridge." I mention and Steve sighs. " In a few hours we'll know every dirty secret SHIELD has ever tried to hide." He holds out a silver bag of blueberries to Steve, "Blueberry?" He asks but Steve blanks him.

"Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around?" Steve snaps at Tony's behaviour. "An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically, not possible." Tony retorts and I nod in agreement. "I think Loki's trying to wind us up. This is a man who means to start a war, and if we don't stay focused, he'll succeed. We have orders, we should follow them." Steve voices his theory. "Following isn't really my style." Tony smiles. Steve smiles falsely, "And you're all about style, aren't you?" His response clearly hits a nerve with Tony, "Of the people in this room, which one is; A. wearing a spangly outfit, and B. not of use?" Tony retaliates. "Stevie, come on." I sigh, hoping he'll see our side of things. "Steve, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you?" Banner asks. Steve appears to consider the possibility before shaking it odd like the obedient soldier he's engrained to be. "Just find the cube." He snaps before leaving the lab.

I run my hands over my face and sigh at the events of the last few minutes. "That's the guy my dad never shut up about? I'm wondering if they shouldn't have kept him on ice." Tony grumbles. "Tony." I snap, "Don't." Tony crosses his arms and looks at me, "What? You're gonna get defensive because you're sleeping with the guy. I can see right through you." He shouts. "That's low, even for you Starko." I mumble, silence filling the room. Banner breaks the awkward tension, "The guy's not wrong about Loki. He does have the jump on us." I nod. "What he's got is an ACME dynamite kit. It's gonna blow up in his face, and I'm gonna be there when it does." Tony explains. "And we'll read all about it." I say.

"Uh-huh." Tony says, he turns to Bruce, "Or you'll be suiting up like the rest of us." He says. "Ah, see. I don't get a suit of armor. I'm exposed, like a nerve. It's a nightmare." Bruce sighs dejectedly. "You know, I've got a cluster of shrapnel, trying every second to crawl its way into my heart." Tony explains pointing at the arc reactor. "This stops it. This little circle of light. It's part of me now, not just armor. It's a... terrible privilege." I squeeze his shoulder and give him a tight-lipped smile. "But you can control it." Banner exasperates. "Because he learnt how." I say. "It's different." Bruce murmurs as he turns to read the data. Tony slides the data aside with his finger so the pair are face-to-face once more. "Hey, I've read all about your accident. That much gamma exposure should have killed you." Tony explains.

Banner looks at him in confusion, "So you're saying that the Hulk... the other guy... saved my life? That's nice. It's a nice sentiment. Saved it for what?" He asks. Tony hesitates and I step in, "I guess we'll find out." The three of us return to our respective screens, me next to Banner and Tony on his own screen. "You might not like that." Banner says.

"You just might." Tony counters.