Wouldn't Leave You (A Captain America Fan fiction)

Arguments and Interrogations

Chapter 13 - Rachel Stark

As I sit in one of the corners of the lab, I slowly come to the realization that with these two, having a degree in the field they're discussing doesn't mean that you'll understand anything that they are saying. Although I have contributed little things here and there, Tony has upstaged me at every turn. He's a total ass. He's made me feel like I have been no help whatsoever, even though I was able to answer some of Bruce's questions that he wasn't able to. 

"The gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's reports on the Tesseract. But it's gonna take weeks to process," Bruce says.

"If you guys could bypass the mainframe and direct a reroute to the Homer cluster, you can clock this around, six hundred teraflops," I say, staring at the screen in front of me. Currently, I am trying to understand and record the analytics that the Tesseract and the scepter are pushing out. 

"You know, you should come by Stark Towers sometime. Top ten floors, all R&D. You'd love it, it's candy land." Tony says to Bruce as he circles the two of us.

"Thanks but the last time I was in New York I kind of broke... Harlem." Bruce says skeptically. I peak up above my screen and look over to Bruce. 

"I agree with Tony. I think you'd enjoy the tower. Plenty of fun toys there," I say. Tony gestures over to me in agreement then looks patiently back to him. Bruce smiles over to me, then reroutes his attention back to the scepter. 

"Well, I promise a stress-free environment. No tension, no surprises..." Tony's voice trails off, making the lab go silent until I hear the zap of an electric pen. Bruce shouts and jumps away from Tony, who is staring quizzically at him. 

"Hey! Are you nuts?" a familiar voice shouts. I sit up straighter as my heart starts to beat faster. Steve walked into the room with so much gusto it took my breath away for a second. I quickly refocus. 

"You really have a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz? Bongo drums? Huge bag of weed?" Tony asks, partly sarcastic, partly serious with his full attention still directed towards Bruce. 

"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve asks, standing defensively.

"Funny things are." Tony challenges.

"Tone, threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny," I say seriously. I freeze up and slowly turn towards Bruce. "No offense." I hold my hands up and he just chuckles. 

"I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things." He comments, shifting his weight forward and refocusing on the gadgets in front of him.

"You need to focus on the problem Mr. Stark," Steve says.

"You think I'm not?" He pauses and turns to me, asking for a defense. I turn to Steve and shrug, making Tony sigh. "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." Tony retorts.

"You think Fury's hiding something?" Steve says turning to me. I shrug, agreeing with Tony. 

"He is the biggest spy. He has a lot of secrets." I say. "Bruce?"

"Uh... I just wanna finish my work here and..."

"Doctor?" Steve asks.

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

"We heard it," Steve says, gesturing to me, speaking for both of us.

"Well, I think that was meant for you, Tony. Even if Barton didn't tell him, it is still all over the news." Bruce says. My head clicks to the side and I sit back in my chair to think. Why is it meant for Tony? I turn my head back to the group in realization. He means the...