All Along - Steve Rogers {1}

Chapter 21: We're A Time Bomb

The early morning sun was blindingly bright as it streamed into the lab through the wide bridge window. Tony and Bruce were casually seated in the corner of the room in front of the lab windows, feeling the heat of the sun upon their backs. It had been just over three hours since both Steve and Nellie had stormed out of the lab and, despite the irritation he felt towards her, Tony found himself checking the doorway every few minutes for his aunt's return.

When the sound of approaching footsteps caught his attention he turned expecting to see Nellie, but instead he was met with a very angry Director Nick Fury. "What are you doing Mr Stark?" He demanded, his leather trench coat billowing out behind him.

Fury stopped in the centre of the room, his gaze an uneasy one to be subjected to but Tony kept his expression emotionless. "Uh, kind of been wondering the same thing about you." He said nonchalantly as the monitor directly in front of him whirred with efficiency. His encryption bug had been successful and was currently sweeping through all of Shield's servers.

"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract. Where is Barnes?" He retorted, completely ignoring Tony's quip.

Bruce decided to join in, his smile a little smug. "We are." He said blatantly. "The model is locked and we're sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile." He explained as he pointed to the monitor on the opposite side of the room. "And Eleanor is taking a little time away from tense family reunions. Things got a little heated." He added with slight awkwardness, avoiding glancing at Tony.

With astounding timing, Nellie and Steve rounded the end of the corridor just as Bruce spoke her name. Nellie's ears piqued in interest at the mentioning of herself, her pace and Steve's quickening as they raced through the corridors to get back to the lab. Their hands were still entwined, the small gesture setting Nellie's heart afire with adoration and love. The matter at hand was of course urgent, but she was going to be forever all consumed by Steve and the love they had for each other.

"You'll get your cube back, no muss, no fuss." Tony said sneeringly, ignoring Bruce's comment regarding Nellie, his eyes flickering back to his monitor as it beeped with a notification, the words 'Phase 2' in broad letters across the screen. "What is Phase 2?" Tony asked excitedly just as Nellie and Steve entered the room.

Steve slammed the gun down onto the nearest table, the sound bouncing around the room as all eyes shot to the duo. Nellie had of course seen this level of anger before, his beautiful blue eyes were narrowed, his jaw set and clenched in the way that she found so seductively attractive, he was not going to back down and neither was she. "Phase 2 is Shield uses the cube to make weapons." He announced, his voice icy. His eyes then shot to Tony. "Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow for us."

Tony's expression molded from excited to impressed. They had actually done some digging. His eyes roamed from the weapon, to Steve, to his joint hands with Nellie, and then to her face. He faltered for a moment; she had been crying. The evidence was clear on her face, there was a blotchy freshness to it, her eyes slightly red, she had tried her best to mask it but it was obvious. Was that because of me?

Nick Fury turned to the duo defeated. He sighed, ready to voice his excuse. Nellie, who had caught Tony's stare and decided to look away from him, grew tired of being quiet and let her silent rage be voiced. "Why do you have these?" She demanded, her voice unwavering, as she pointed at the gun with her free hand. "They should have been destroyed."

Fury placed his hands on his hips, unwilling to completely roll over and show his belly. He moved towards the duo, feigning innocence. "Rogers, Barnes, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that we're..."