He fought Thor. The literal Thor. And, considering the circumstances, he wasn't doing that bad. Then, Cap showed up and tried to play middle man. Thor ended up slamming his hammer into Cap's shield, and a whole explosion happened. Tony was fine. The forest was not. It ended the fight, though, and they grabbed Loki and all got back on the Quinjet, once again heading to the Helicarrier.

Once there, Natasha, Thor, Cap, and Dr. Bruce Banner watched Fury interrogate Loki on a monitor. As they were discussing Loki — Thor's adopted brother, who killed eighty people and mind-controlled not only Agent Barton but also Dr. Eric Selvig, an astrophysicist — Tony walked in with Coulson, discussing the portal Loki wants to open.

Tony cracked jokes, distracting everyone as he put a hacking implant under Fury's desk. He didn't trust him; there were definitely things he was keeping from them all.

He explains to them that Loki needs a power source to open the portal, and he thought he was using Dr. Selvig to figure it out. Dr. Banner understood.

"He's got to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier," he'd said.

"Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect," Tony replied.

"Well, if he could do that he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet."

Tony smiled. "Finally, someone who speaks English." He shook Dr. Banner's hand.

"Is that what just happened?" Cap joked.

Tony ignored him. "It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. You're work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. Also, I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."

"Thanks," Dr. Banner replied.

Then, Fury walked in, and they all talked. Cap understood a reference to The Wizard of Oz, and he seemed very proud of himself. Then, Tony joined Dr. Banner in the lab, going to help him track the Tesseract.

And now, finally, they're here, using gamma radiation and the scepter they found with Loki to do it.

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

"If we bypass their mainframe and direct a reroute to the Homer cluster, we can clock this around six hundred teraflops," Tony replies.

"And all I packed was a tooth brush."

Tony smiles, chuckling. "You know, you should come by Stark Tower sometime. Top ten floors, all R&D. You'd love it, it's candy land."

"Thanks, but the last time I was in New York I kind of broke... Harlem."

"Well, I promise a stress free environment. No tension. No surprises." Just then, he pokes Dr. Banner with a small electrical prod, wanting to see if it would bring out the Hulk.

"Ow!" Dr. Banner shouts.

"Nothing?" Tony asks when he doesn't turn into an enormous green rage monster.

At that moment, Cap just has to walk in. "Hey!" he shouts. "Are you nuts?"

"Jury's out," Tony replies. He looks back at Dr. Banner. "You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz? Bongo drums? Meditation?"

"Is everything a joke to you?" Cap asks.

"Funny things are."

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny." He looks at Bruce. "No offense, Doctor."

Dr. Banner shrugs. "No, it's alright. I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things."

"You're tiptoeing, big man," Tony says to him. "You need to strut."

"And you need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark," Cap says.

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

Cap stops. "You think Fury's hiding something?"

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

Dr. Banner doesn't even look up. "I-I just- I just wanna finish my work here and-"

"Doctor?" Cap interrupts, looking at the equipment. "A beat."

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

"I heard it," Cap replies.

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

"The Stark Tower?" Cap asks. "That big, ugly building in New York?"

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

"That's just the prototype. I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now," Tony says.

"So, why didn't SHIELD bring you in on the Tesseract project? I mean, what are they doing in the energy business in the first place?"

Tony picks up a bag of blueberries and begins eating them. "I should probably look into that once my decryption programmer finishes breaking into all of SHIELD's secure files."

Cap is taken aback. "I'm sorry, did you say-?"

"Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours we'll know every dirty secret SHIELD has ever tried to hide." Tony holds out the bag of blueberries to him. "Blueberry?"

Cap ignores the question. "Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around?"

"An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically, not possible."

"I think Loki's 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, we should follow them."

"Following isn't really my style."

Cap smiles mirthlessly. "And you're all about style, aren't you?"

It's Tony turn to bristle. "Of the people in this room, which one is, A, wearing a spangly outfit, and B, not of use?"

Dr. Banner cuts in, "Steve, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you?"

He thinks for a moment, then shakes his head and leaves. "Just find the cube."

~~~~

It doesn't take long for Fury to find out about Tony's hack. He storms into the lab. "What are you doing, Mr. Stark?"

Tony is unfazed. "Kinda been wondering the same thing about you."

"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract."

"We are," Dr. Banner cuts in. "The model's locked and we're sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile."

"And you'll get your cube back, no muss, no fuss," Tony adds. He turns to the scream next to him, which had classified Shield files displayed on it. "What is Phase 2?"

Before Fury can answer, Cap storms in and practically throws an assault rifle on the table, angered. "Phase 2 is SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons." Everyone looks at him in surprise. He looks at Tony. "Sorry, the computer was moving a little too slow.

Fury sighs. "Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that we're-"

"I'm sorry, Nick," Tony cuts him off. He turns the screen, showing him files containing the plans to build the weapons.

"I was wrong, Director ," Cap says bitterly. "The world hasn't changed a bit."

Then, Thor and Natasha enter. Dr. Banner looks at Natasha. "Did you know about this?"

"You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?" she replies.

"I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed."

"Loki's manipulating you."

"And you've been doing what exactly?"

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you."

"Yes, and I'm not leaving because, suddenly, you get a little twitchy. I'd like to know why Shield is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."

Fury points at Thor. "Because of him."

"Me?" Thor asks, surprised.

"Last year earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned," Fury replies.

Thor shakes his head. "My people want nothing but peace with your planet."

"But you're not the only people out there, are you? And, you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, they can't be controlled."

"Like you controlled the cube?" Cap cuts in.

"You're work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies," Thor says. "It is the signal to all the realms that the earth is ready for a higher form of war."

Cap's brows raise. "A higher form?"

Fury ignores him, talking to Thor. "You forced our hand. We had to come up with something."

Tony scoffs. "Nuclear deterrent. 'Cause that always calms everything right down."

Fury raises a brow at him. "Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?"

"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep-" Steve starts.

"Wait! Wait!" Tony says. "Hold on! How is this now about me?"

"I'm sorry, isn't everything?" Steve asks.

Thor chuckles mirthlessly. "I thought humans were more evolved than this."

Fury looks at him. "Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?"

Thor rolls his eyes. "Did you always give your champions such mistrust?"

"Are you all really that naive?" Natasha asks.

Dr. Banner says, "S.H.I.E.L.D monitors potential threats-"

"Potential threats?" Natasha says. "Captain America is on that watch list."

"You're on that list?" Tony says, looking at Cap. "Are you above or below angry bees?"

Cap's jaw clenches. "One more crack, Stark, and-"

"Threatening!" Tony shouts. "I feel threatened!"

As their argument devolves, behind them, Loki's scepter begins to glow a bright blue.

"You speak of control, yet you court chaos," Thor says bitterly.

"It's his M.O., isn't it?" Dr. Banner says, becoming agitated. "I mean, what are we, a team? No; we're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're-We're a time-bomb."

Fury looks at Tony. "You need to step away."

Tony puts his arm around Cap. "Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?"

Cap shoves Tony off. "You know exactly why! Back off!"

Tony looks at him angrily. "Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me."

"Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?"

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist." Father, he thinks.

"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you," Steve replies. "The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you."

"I think I would just cut the wire."

Steve shakes his head, smiling in disbelief. "Always a way out. You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero."

"A hero?" Tony asks. "Like you? You're a lab rat, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle!"

"Put on the suit, let's go a few rounds."

Thor laughs. "You people are so petty... and tiny."

Tony moves away from Cap. Dr. Banner, still agitated, starts. "Yeah, this is a-"

Fury looks at him, but talks to Natasha. "Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr. Banner back to his-"

"Where?!" Dr. Banner asks. "You rented my room!"

"The cell was just in case-"

"I'm case you needed to kill me, but you can't! I know! I tried!" Everyone stops, quietly shocked. He continues. "I got low. I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out! So, I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good, until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk!" He looks at Natasha, who's looking at him with controlled fear. "You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?" Her hand is on her gun. So is Fury's.

Cap calmly speaks up. "Dr. Banner... put down the scepter."

Dr. Banner looks down at his hand. He hadn't realized he'd picked it up. Before he can say anything, the computer beeps.

Tony runs over to it. "Got it."

Dr. Banner puts the scepter down. "Sorry, kids. You don't get to see my little party trick after all."

"Located the Tesseract?" Thor asks.

"I can get there faster," Tony says.

Cap starts, "Look, all of us-"

"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard," Thor argues. "No human is a match for it."

Tony starts leaving anyway. Cap shouts, "You're not going alone!"

"You gonna stop me?!" Tony asks.

"Put on the suit, let's find out."

"I'm not afraid to hit an old man."

"Put on the suit."

But Dr. Banner has been looking at the computer, at the readings on the Tessaract. His eyes widen. "Guys-!"