Frostbite

Three

Dr. Cho had fixed Barton up in record time. There was no scar, no wound to tend to; the technology was impressive. Once we were sure that he would be fine, everyone parted ways inside the tower. We all had our own spaces and went to finally wind down.

I quickly showered and changed into something more comfortable. We had been back for a few hours now, and the tower was completely silent. Not bothering to let my hair dry, I wandered down the halls, making my way towards the elevator.

"Where are you sneaking off to?" Steve suddenly asked from behind me. I jumped and spun around, eyes wide. He chuckled at my reaction and ran his fingers through my wet curls. "You didn't even try to tame it like you usually do."

"My hair choices do not mean I'm sneaking around," I replied lightly, swatting his hand away playfully. He gave me a wry smile and grabbed my hand.

"I had been hoping that if you were sneaking off somewhere that we could sneak off together," he admitted almost... suggestively. My heart raced in response, and the familiar butterflies made their debut in my stomach. I almost immediately agreed, but the nagging feeling I had about Tony came back to the forefront of my mind.

"There's something I need to check on first, but how about we go out tonight and I show Captain America a good time?" I teased, tracing my fingers along his chest. His gaze was smoldering, and he leaned down until our noses were almost touching.

"That sounds like a great plan, Frostbite," he mockingly whispered, pulling me closer by my waist. I didn't even have a chance to scold him for calling me that. Our lips met and the world melted away, like a fire had engulfed the two of us and had no intention of subsiding. After several long pleasurable moments, I managed to pull myself away.

"I'll see you in a bit," I breathed heavily, backing away with a wide smile. With a wink he turned on his heel and walked back the way he came.

I entered the elevator and waited patiently for my floor to come. Once the doors opened, I got off and peered through the glass windows into Tony's lab. Both him and Bruce were inside, animatedly talking. Maybe arguing. I was sure it had to do something with what was bothering Tony.

I crept around the outside of the room, staying silent and out of site. Jarvis's matrix was displayed in the center of the room, and there was a more complex looking blue one right beside him. The scepter was still sitting where I had left it earlier. The sliding doors had been left open and I attempted to pick up on their conversation. Neither of them said anything for what seemed like ages, but finally Bruce spoke.

"Fine, let's do it."

"Smart man. Let's get started," Tony suggested eagerly. He walked over to one of the computers and started hastily typing. Bruce stood behind him, watching the screen closely. I silently slipped through the doors and studied the blue entity that had these two so infatuated.

Once close enough, I could see small sparks of light shooting through the structure. Just like the way neurons fired in the brain... I glanced between the two different entities, and it suddenly clicked. Tony had created an Ultron program that would essentially protect Earth from anything in space, but there had been no way to actually apply it before. I gasped involuntarily, and Tony and Bruce whirled around in surprise.

"Are you freaking kidding me, Anthony?! You two are blindly screwing around with artificial intelligence and weren't gonna share with the group? There's too much about that scepter we don't know about!" I hissed, stomping closer. Tony let out a puff of air in annoyance and Bruce just stared at the ground, eyes wide.

"We are not going in blind. We know enough; this could actually work!" Tony retorted defensively, "Just give us the few days until Thor leaves without saying anything to the team. If it doesn't work then... no harm, no foul."

"You want to apply it to the Iron legion protocol?" I guessed, glancing below us at his small army of robots underneath the glass floor. He nodded, pursing his lips, letting my brain process everything.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you trying to do this?" I clarified, waving my hand at the equipment. I was sure I already knew the answer. He had never fully gotten over what happened in New York, but I thought it had gotten better over time. Apparently, I was wrong.

"We need it. You know we do. We can't match what's up there," he shook his head, his eyes taking on that haunted look from before. That look made my heart sink; I hated seeing him like this. I sighed. He wasn't entirely wrong either.

"You need therapy," I told him seriously, glancing at the computer screen one more time, "I'll help for a while, but I have a date soon. I'll be in and out to supervise you nerds after that though."

"We're being babysat?" Banner grumbled to Tony under his breath.

Tony snickered and replied, "She has nothing better to do with her time apparent-"

"Hey! I snapped, effectively wiping the grins off their faces and pointed towards the screen, "Obviously you do, because the equation that's running is wrong."

They both glanced over, and Bruce rushed over, realizing I was right, and canceled it. Tony narrowed his eyes at me and stuck his tongue out as if we were children again. I rolled my eyes and hopped up onto the counter, simply watching them work and double checking everything.

The others were going to be furious when they found out. Part of me worried about what Steve would say when he learned I let this happen. As if Tony doesn't do what he wants anyway. Hopefully, this wouldn't backfire in our faces.