Chapter 9 Working in the Lab

Later on, we are all in the lab and I am surprisingly good at science and this sort of stuff. Tony said it runs in my veins for some reason. I just smiled.

Now, Bruce is scanning with a gamma ray detection scanner on the scepter. I assume for radiation. And Tony keeps looking at his monitors, shifting and solving equations. Well, he must have been a nerd in school. I'm on the other side of the room looking at my monitor but right now I am not solving equations. I am trying to find a way into where we think Clint is, as Natasha thinks she and I can go and break him out. I told her that it was risky but she said that she isn't going to condemn him to life like that.

Bruce broke the silence, "The gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's reports on the Tesseract. 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 said.

"All I packed was a tooth brush."

"You know, you should come by STARK TOWERS sometime. Top ten floors, all R&D. You'd love it, it's candy land." Tony smiled.

I laughed, "It sounds so much better when you invite men over. When you invite women over, they get the wrong idea."

"Not my fault Katniss." Tony smirked at me.

I rolled my eyes and Bruce just looked at us weirdly.

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

I winced a little. I feel bad for Bruce. No one would want to live like that.

"Well, I promise a stress free environment. No tension. No surprises." Tony smiled and then poked Bruce with a miniature electrical prod.

Steve then walks in and I hurry over to him, "What's the matter?"

"Nothing." Steve lies.

"OW!" I hear Bruce yell and Tony is peering at him.

"Nothing?" Tony asks.

Steve looks at Bruce, "Hey! Are you nuts?"

"You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz? Bongo drums? Huge bag of weed?" Tony asks.

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

"Hey, Steve." I warn, "Don't do something you'll regret."

"Mediator huh?" Bruce asks me.

I nod, "Well, seems now I am going to be."

"Funny things are." Tony says.

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny. No offense doctor." Steve said.

"No, it's alright. I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things." Bruce says waving it off.

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

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

"Hey, hey." I step in between them, "What did I say about not starting a fight?"

"This isn't your problem Miss Romanoff." Steve says.

I glare at him, "Oh really? Then why was I called in? Why was I taken away from my mission? I could have taken Loki down, right then? I didn't because I was called in about some crisis. And I didn't know the crisis was about the man who was in the exact same room as me." I cross my arms, "Don't any of you, ever dare say this isn't my problem. This is definintly my problem."

All three of them gulp and then Steve speaks but not to me, "You think Fury's hiding something?"

"Isn't he always?" I ask.

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

Bruce kind of stutters, "Uh...I just wanna finish my work here and..."

"Doctor?" Steve asks. "A beat."

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

"I heard it." Steve says

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

"The Stark Tower? That big ugly..." Steve pauses in his sentence because Tony gave him a look that showed how annoyed he was, "building in New York?"

At least Bruce wasn't taking any sides. Yet...

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

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

"So, why didn't SHIELD bring him in on the Tesseract project? I mean, what are they doing in the energy business in the first place?" Bruce asks, referring to Tony.

"I should probably look into that once my decryption programmer finishes breaking into all of SHIELD's secure files." Tony remarked casually.

"I'm sorry, did you say...?" Steve looks shocked.

"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 says and holds out a bag of blueberries, "Blueberry?"

I grin and come over to stand next to him, "You know Stark. That's actually not a bad idea." I take a blueberry and pop it into my mouth.

"Someone understands at least." Tony smirked at me.

"Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around?" Steve asks. I wasn't sure who he was talking to but I assumed he was talking to Tony.

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

"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." Steve tries to knock some some sense into Tony's hard skull.

"Following is not really my style." Tony said popping a blueberry in his mouth.

I grinned, "I'm not following them either if SHIELD doesn't have the sense to tell me everything."

Tony smirked at me, "Well, you're on my side aren't you?"

"I'm not on anybody's side but my own. I just don't like the idea of following orders blindfolded." I said crossly.

"Isn't that what you've been doing all your life?" Tony asked rudely.

I scoffed, "Not by choice."

Steve cleared his throat, "Sorry to break this up. But I need to speak to Stark."

I waved a hand, "Go ahead. It's not like I care."

Steve smiled at Tony, though his smile was not particularly friendly, "And you're all about style, aren't you?"

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

"Steve, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you?" Bruce asks.

Steve looks like he's thinking about it. He's never going to be on our side though. He's a soldier and a highly obedient one at that.

"Just find the cube!" Steve says rudely and walks out of the lab towards the HULL of the ship. As he walks away, I can see that he looks shaken up about it.

"That's the guy my dad never shut up about?" Tony asked, "Wondering if they shouldn't have kept him on ice."

"The guy's not wrong about Loki. He does have the jump on us." Bruce reminded him.

"What he's got is an ACME dynamite kit." Tony said, "It's gonna blow up in his face, and I'm gonna be there when it does."

"And I'll read all about it." Bruce said and I frowned feeling sorry for Bruce.

"Uh-huh. Or you'll be suiting up like the rest of us." Tony said and looked at me.

I rolled my eyes at him and he looked away.

"Ah, see. I don't get a suit of armor. I'm exposed, like a nerve. It's a nightmare." Bruce reminded us as if I could forget.

"You know, I've got a cluster of shrapnel, trying every second to crawl it's way into my heart." he points at the mini-arc reactor in his chest and I wince, "This stops it. This little circle of light. It's part of me now, not just armor. It's a...terrible privilege."

"But you can control it." Bruce says

"Because I learned how." Tony says as if trying to teach Bruce.

"It's different." Bruce tries to read the computer screen in an attempt to ignore Tony.

I walk to the other end of the room. Of course Tony could try and help Bruce. It's not like he ever offered to help me.

Tony slides the data aside and looks at Bruce. "Hey, I've read all about your accident. That much gamma exposure should have killed you."

"So, you're saying that the Hulk... the other guy... saved my life?" Bruce asks a little shocked, "That's nice. It's a nice sentiment. Saved it for what?

"I guess we'll find out." Tony remarked and they both got back to work. I went over to sit next to Tony.

"You might not like that." Bruce says

"You just might." Tony says. The lab got quiet and everyone was working once again.

I decided to update today (Saturday) instead of on Sunday!  I may update again tomorrow if there's time. I'm trying to write a lot before I go on vacation. Three weeks without internet! :(

So, what did you think? What did you think of her little arguments with Tony? Do you think they are like brother and sister? What do you think about her in this chapter? What do you think she'll do next? 

Sneak Peak: Talking to Loki

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~Annette