When Two Minds Collide

They're At it Again

Jamie watched in amusement as the worker Tony had called out resumed his game of Galaga.
'Man has his priorities straight.'

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Steve stand and make his way towards the door. "Hey Steve!" He turned to face her. "Can I join you?" She wasn't entirely sure why she wanted to. Boredom, maybe? Yeah, probably boredom.

He cracked a small smile and gave a curt nod. At the confirmation Jamie sprung out of her seat and followed after Steve.

They walked side by side for a few seconds before Steve noticeably cleared his throat. "Are you alright after what happened earlier?"

'We do not need the help of a grown man in spandex.'

Jamie covered her snicker with a cough. "Yeah, we're fine. We're a bit sensitive to loud sounds and high frequencies."

"Oh. Well, I'm glad you're okay."

The corners of her mouth curved up slightly at the kind words. "Thank you." After another short pause, she looked around the corridor. "Where are we going anyways?"

A heavy sigh escaped Steve's lips. "To the lab. I need to speak with Stark."

Jamie smiled to herself. 'Oh, this should be good.'

"He really bothers you huh?" The pair arrived just outside of the lab.

A scowl appeared on Steve's face. "Like you wouldn't believe." Jamie chuckled and he sent her a playful glare.

Jamie glanced into the lab, her eyes widening considerably when she sees Tony zap Banner with a small device. "Did he just-"

She was cut off as Steve barged into the room. She followed close behind. "Hey!" A look of fury settled onto Steve's face. "Are you nuts?"

Tony glanced at both Jamie and Steve as they entered. "Jury's out." He turned back to Banner. "You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz, bongo drums, huge bag of weed?"

Jamie huffed. "Just drop it Tony."

Steve glowered at Tony. "Is everything a joke to you?"
'Here we go again.'

Tony pointed the device at Steve. "Funny things are." 

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny." He gave Banner an apologetic look. "No offense, Doc."

Banner glanced up at Steve before continuing his work."No, it's alright. I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things."

"You're tip-toeing, big man." Tony mused. "You need to strut."

"And you need to focus on the problem, Mister Stark." Steve interjected.

"You think I'm not?" Tony grabbed a bag of blueberries off of the table. "Why did Fury call us in? Why now, why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables."

"You think Fury's hiding something?"

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

Banner looked rather uncomfortable at being singled out. "Uh, Aah, I just wanna finish my work here and-"

"Doctor?" Steve prompted.

Banner removed his glasses, looking thoughtful. " 'A warm light for all mankind,' Loki's jab at Fury about the Cube."

Steve nodded. "I heard it."

"Well, I think that was meant for you." He gestured to Tony, who offered Banner a blueberry in return. "Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the tower, it was still all over the news."

"The Stark Tower? That big ugly-" Tony gave Steve a look. "-building in New York?"

"It's powered by an arc reactor, self-sustaining energy source. That building will run itself for, what, a year?"

"It's just the prototype." Tony clarified with pride. "I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now, that's what he's getting at."

"So, why didn't SHIELD bring him-" he gestured to Tony. "-in on the Tesseract project? What are they even doing in the energy business in the first place?"

'Jamie, I think we have been played.'

"Like a pair of cheap kazoos." Everyone in the room turned to look at Jamie. She smiled at them innocently, as if she hadn't said anything at all.

Tony shook his head slightly and continued. "I should probably look into that-" He meandered over to Steve, checking his phone. "-as soon as my decryption program finishes breaking into all of SHIELD's secure files."

Steve looked taken aback. "I'm sorry did you say-"

"JARVIS has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours I'll know every dirty secret SHIELD has ever tried to hide." Tony offered the bag of blueberries to Steve. "Blueberry?" Jamie reached between the two and took the bag from Tony. She propped herself against the table Banner was working at, eating blueberries as she waited for Steve and Tony to stop arguing.

"Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around."

"An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically, not awesome."

Steve took a deep breath, obviously attempting to keep his cool. "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."

"Following's not really my style."

"Never would have guessed that." Jamie mumbled under her breath. She raised her hands defensively as both men briefly turned to glare at her.

"And you're all about style, aren't you?" Steve retorted.

"Out of the people in this room, which one is "A" wearing a spangly outfit and "B" not of use?" Tony replied haughtily.

Banner spoke up. "Steve, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you?"

"Just find the Cube." Steve stormed out of the room.

With a huff, Jamie finished off the last of the blueberries.'Well that got a little heated.'