Soliloquy to Silence

Chapter 4: Stay

Addetta picked up the sceptre. Again. Seriously, why hadn't Tony or Bruce told her not to yet? Surely it was "dangerous" and "could kill her"? In retrospect, Tony did let her climb buildings. Illegally. She placed it back on its rack when Bruce sent a slightly pointed look at her, proceeding to stand back as he scanned the weapon for the umpteenth time.

"The gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's reports on the Tessaract. But it's gonna take weeks to process." After a long painful silence, Bruce's analysing was a nice change, like a breath of fresh air. 

Tony seemed to agree. Looking up from the screen he was focusing on, he stated: "If we bypass their mainframe and direct a reroute to the Homer cluster, we can clock this around six hundred teraflops." Addetta ignored the science talk and sat on one of the benches in the lab.

Bruce lightly chuckled. "All I packed was a toothbrush."

Addetta smiled at Bruce's attempt to lighten the grim mood. Tony chuckled too and strode across the lab. "You know, you should come by Stark tower sometime. Top ten floors, all R and D. You'd love it, it's candy land." Addetta saw Tony pick up a small prod.

Bruce nodded, but Addetta could already tell that wasn't gonna happen. "Thanks, but the last time I was in New York I kind of broke...Harlem." Bruce stuttered as he concentrated on scanning the sceptre again.

Tony walked around him. "Well, I promise a stress-free environment. No tension. No surprises." Suddenly, Tony poked Bruce in the side with the prod.

Bruce yelped "Ow", and Tony looked into his eyes, looking for any reaction. Addetta had lept from the bench she was sitting on, her eyes glowing green and staring at Bruce and Hulk's aura. Upon seeing nothing from either of the two, she sat back down considering a small theory she had been mulling over since she had met Bruce.

"Hey! Are you nuts?" Steve stormed into the room, in his red-white-and-blue lycra.

Addetta loudly giggled directly at him, and spoke loud enough for everyone to hear: "Well duh."

Tony responded with an equally snappy comment: "Jury's out."

"Uh, no, they replied a long time ago. They concluded that yes, you are nuts."

"That was completely uncalled for. You need to watch your mouth missy."

"Oh, I do, do I? That's kinda difficult, looking directly at your mouth."

"Well, why don't you-"

"Hey!" Steve interrupted Addetta and Tony, and they both turned to look at him. Addetta skipped over to the screens on the other side of the room, singing 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' as loudly, tunelessly and annoyingly as possible.

Tony and Steve both sent glares at her. "Ooh, if looks could kill. Jeesh you guys are so tense. Chill out a bit." Wisely, Tony decided to ignore her, but Steve didn't. He stormed towards her, only stopping when she held up a glowing finger. He sent another look at her, one that clearly said: "What is a teenager doing here?" Addetta could tell that's what it said because as she lowered her hand, she glared at his aura. It was yellowy-green, suggesting annoyance. Typical. Grandad Freeze-ya-socks could be nice and respectful, but he didn't appreciate a teenager sassing him.

Tony had turned back to Bruce. "You really have got a lid on it. What's your secret? Mellow jazz? Bongo drums? Huge bag of weed?"

Steve appeared to be very unimpressed by Tony's antics. "Is everything a joke to you?"

"Funny things are." Addetta had to hand it to Tony, he really was on fire today.

The righteous man once again stepped up with fierce determination. "Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny. No offence doctor."