Timeless (Captain America x Reader)

Chapter Seven

Steve and Y/N walked down the halls together, each of them in their suits as they approached Banner's lab.

Steve saw Tony poke Banner with a miniature electrical prod before running in, looking thoroughly pissed with Tony.

"Hey! Are you nuts?" Steve questioned, his glare directed at Tony.

Tony, however, chose to ignore Steve. "You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow Jazz? Bongo Drums? Huge bag of weed?"

"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve asked, catching Tony's attention.

Tony chuckled, "Funny things are."

Y/N tried to intervene and calm the situation, but Steve was quick to snap back at Tony.

"Threatening the safety of everybody on this ship isn't funny. No offense, Doctor," Steve countered.

"No, it's alright. I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things," Banner said trying to ease the tension.

"You're tiptoeing big man, you need to strut," Tony suggested to Banner.

Y/N stepped in, "Maybe you need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark."

Tony was taken back, "You think I'm not?" he questioned. "Why did Fury call us and why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us?" Tony continued. "I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables."

"You think he's hiding something?" Steve asked.

"He's a spy, Captain, he's the spy. His secrets have secrets. It's bugging him too, isn't it," he asked pointing at Banner.

Banner struggled to find the right words, "I...uh...just wanna finish my work here and-"

"Doctor?"

Bruce waited a moment before responding. "A warm light for all mankind, Loki's jab at Fury about the cube."

"We heard it," Y/N added.

Banner then pointed at Tony, "Well, I think that was meant for you. Even if Barton didn't post that all over the news."

"The Stark Tower?" Steve guessed. "That big ugly-" he was paused by a glare from Tony. "Building in New York," he finished.

"It's powered by Stark Reactors, self-sustaining energy source. That building will run itself for what, a year?" Banner asked Tony.

Tony shrugged, "That's just a prototype. I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now," he bragged not so subtly.

"So why didn't S.H.I.E.L.D. bring him in on the Tesseract project?" Bruce asked, referring to Tony. "I mean what are they doing in the energy business in the first place?"

"I'm sure Tony can look into that once his decryption program finishes hacking into all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secure files," Y/N said shifting her gaze directly at Tony.

He furrowed his brows, "How did you know?"

Y/N let out a soft laugh, "Please, you placed a button-sized hacking implant on the bridge when you made that comment about Fury. You really couldn't have been more obvious," Y/N added.

"Wow," Tony said sounding impressed, "She's good."

"I can also see your program running in the background," she said pointing at one of his hologram displays.

"I'm sorry," Steve started, stunned that Tony would hack S.H.I.E.L.D. "Did she say-"

"Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge," Tony interrupted. "In a few hours, we will know every little dirty secret S.H.I.E.L.D. has been trying to hide from us."

"I can probably speed that up," Y/N said walking over to his decryption setup before typing away.

Steve scoffed, "Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around," he said to Tony.

"Come on, Steve," Y/N said looking up from the computer screen. "An intelligence organization that fears intelligence?"

"Historically, not possible," Tony said piggybacking on what Y/N said.

Steve shook his head, "I think Loki is 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," he said shifting his gaze to Y/N. "We should follow them," he said in hopes of bringing out the soldier in her.

"Following is not really my style," Tony countered.

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

Steve had finally managed to hit a nerve in Tony, "Of the people in this room, which one is;
A. wearing a spangly outfit, and
B. not of use?"

"I mean at least your little girlfriend is smart, she's actually being helpful in this situation. Remind me why she's with the man that is still stuck 70 years in the past again?" Tony continued.

"Tony," Y/N practically shouted as she made her way over to them, trying to stop the two from fighting each other. "Steve," she said turning to him, face to face. "Tell me none of this smells a little funky to you?"

Steve took in the possibility but quickly shook it off, like an obedient soldier. "Just find the cube," he said to Tony, refusing to meet Y/N's gaze as he left the lab.

Tony laughed, "That's the guy my dad never shut up about, I mean at least you're worth it," he said looking at Y/N. "Wondering if they shouldn't have kept him on ice."

"Tony," Y/N snapped, sounding rather offended. She shook her head as she ran out of the lab and after Steve.

"Steve," Y/N called out after him. "Hey," she said putting a hand on his arm and halting his movements. "Talk to me."

Steve looked down at her, still fuming about Tony. Y/N managed to calm him down, he couldn't stay angry with her. "Tony...I don't know why I expected him to be anything like Howard."

"He isn't Howard, he's Tony, and nothing is going to change that. Just ignore him, and what he says...who cares what he thinks?"

Steve looked into Y/N eyes, he knew that she had meant what she said. Yet, he still found himself curious, he took off again, Y/N hot on his trail.

"Steve, where are we going?" she asked.

Steve stopped and put a finger to his lips, signaling for her to be quiet. He nodded his head at the secure storage room in front of them.

They both stood at opposite sides of the door and slid it open with all their might. They walked in and saw that storage 10-C was a large warehouse type room, stacked with crates.

"Come on," Steve said jumping his way up a higher level in the room, Y/N following his lead.

Steve opened one of the steel crates and was angered by what he saw, as was Y/N...Hydra weapons.

"The world really hasn't changed," Y/N said with disappointment in her voice.