Unexpected

Getting Experimental

I wished that I could've stayed in the boxing room, punching bags pointlessly with Steve instead of making my way to the Triskelion's laboratories, but I followed Agent Romanoff anyways. Retying my hair into a neater braid I tried to make myself as presentable as I could before we arrived at the door to the designated laboratory door. The pair of us swiped our I.D. cards and the metal door slid open to reveal Mr. Anthony Stark, Dr. Banner, and Director Fury standing around arguing in a room filled with highly technical machines, doo-dads, and exercise equipment. Off to the left was a door and large glass window that lead to an adjoining room. Somewhere in my mind I thought of how much Dr. Selvig would have loved all the high tech machines here. Coming in halfway through the argument, none of it made sense and Mr. Stark and Dr. Banner seemed to be using technical, mechanical jabber that I certainly didn't understand.

Natasha cleared her throat, drawing the men's attention to the pair of us. As soon as he caught sight of Romanoff and me, Mr. Stark flashed an award winning grin and came over to us. "Ladies!"

I must admit that the man didn't look like a millionaire, nor a scientist right now. He was in a band t-shirt and jeans which seemed oddly casual when most agents were either dressed like they were in a nice office building or were in combat suits or work out outfits. He wasn't even wearing a lab coat like the vaguely scruffy-looking man I assumed to be Dr. Banner was. "Good to see you again Romanoff." Stark continued before screwing his face up playfully, pretending like he was trying to remember something, "Or is your last name Rushman? I forgot. How do you keep your aliases in check?"

"Stark." Natasha greeted, crossing her arms, "Not still miffed about that whole business are you?"

"I never hold a grudge." Mr. Stark said with a shrug, though it was obvious he was being sarcastic. I got a feeling sarcasm was his first language instead of English. The man then turned to me, his grin coming back full force, "And here's the lady of the hour! How are you doing Blondie? Looking better than last time I saw you."

"I'm fine Mr. Stark-." I answered as he took my hand in a handshake.

"Tony, please." He insisted.

"Tony." I repeated, "Same to you. Last time I saw you, you were a metal missile flying that nuke into the wormhole."

At my words Stark's face twinged and I wondered if I had hit a sore spot. No wonder, even as I was still experiencing a slight case of PTSD, how much more would he after almost dying like that? The millionaire quickly hid this look again with his charismatic attitude as I continued quickly, "I wanted to thank you for the flowers you sent to my hospital room."

"Hey, no problem, Blondie." Tony waved me off before gesturing to the doctor, a middle aged man with ruffled, slightly greying dark brown hair, glasses over his dark brown eyes, and a timid, closed mouth smile, "Let me introduce you to my colleague and part time rage monster, Dr. Bruce Banner.

Banner sighed at Tony's comment referring to the Hulk before almost shyly offering his hand to shake, "Nice to meet you."

I had been a bit afraid of the idea of meeting this man before, but now seeing him, the sadness and patience in his eyes and the timid, demure way he held himself, I decided I trusted the man instantly as I took his hand warmly, "Pleasure."

"Okay, niceties aside, let's get down to business." Fury said with a tone of long-suffering. Honestly, I had forgotten the man was there, but now he commanded the attention of the room. I nodded respectfully to him as he continued, turning to the doctor, "Dr. Banner, would you care to explain the plan to Agent Copper here."