The Science Lab

"Mr. Stark, Dr. Banner, come with me."

After their heroic adventures with Loki's otherworldly army, SHIELD decided to offer each of the Avengers their own living and workspaces at SHIELD headquarters. After collecting the team from one of their many late-night shawarma outings, Nick Fury made them wait in the main control room until he could come by and take each of them one by one to show them their new rooms and offices. Tony and Bruce were the last to be called.

"I should mention," Fury began, leading the two men down the hallway, "that the room I'm about to show you is for official SHIELD business only. If you want to amuse yourselves, you have your private residences to do so." He looked pointedly at Tony, who smiled unapologetically.

"Here we are," he said, stopping at a shiny metal door with a keypad on the adjacent wall. "The passcode is 'supersoldier76,'" Fury said, typing it in himself. He gave a little cough, then continued. "Agent Coulson is in charge of the Avengers' rooms' security," he explained. "He insisted."

The silver door slid open to reveal a large, gleaming white room. Computers and machines took up the entire left half, while large, black lab tables with assorted beakers and microscopes took up the right.

"Now that's what I call a lab," Tony remarked.

"SHIELD-related projects only," Fury repeated, and walked out of the room.

As the door shut behind Fury, Tony turned to Bruce.

"You know, Dr. Banner, I think what SHIELD needs is an enhancement of their science program. Don't you?"

Bruce smiled.

Steve was on his way to see Natasha for his weekly 21st century technology lesson when Fury stopped him in the hall. Steve was to deliver a message to Tony and Bruce who were in their lab. Steve walked to the designated room, but instead of finding the simple plaque reading "Lab 1," he was greeted by a sign welded to the door that read, "Super Secret Fort of Science – Science Bros. Only!" Puzzled, he entered Coulson's password into the keypad and was met with an angry beep telling him he had entered it incorrectly. Frowning, he tried again, with the same result. Finally, he decided to try it the old-fashioned way and knock on the door.

A rectangular eyehole he had never seen before appeared above the welded sign. A pair of brown eyes looked at him.

"Password."

"Come on, Stark, let me in."

"I'm sorry, that's incorrect." The little window closed and the eyes disappeared.

"Fury has a message for you!" he said, desperately knocking on the door. He knew how much Tash hated it when he was late to their lessons.

The eyes reappeared suddenly. "Does he now?" Steve nodded. "What is it? I can hear you perfectly fine from here.

"It's for Dr. Banner too," Steve said. "May I please come in?"

Tony pulled his head away from the peephole and turned around.

"What do you think, Dr. Banner, do we let Stars and Stripes in?" Steve rolled his eyes.

"Sorry, Captain, designated Science Bros only," called Bruce from the background. "You need an IQ of 140 or higher to get in, along with the password."

"Oh, you two are idiots," Steve said angrily.

"That may be, Captain, but don't forget, we're the ones standing inside the Super Secret Fort of Science."

"Just let me in already." Steve already feared the look on Natasha's face when he walked in today.

"Well, all right," Tony replied, "but only because you're on official SHIELD business," he said in a mock-serious voice.

The peephole closed and the door opened. Instead of the gleaming white room Director Fury had shown him a few days ago, he walked into what looked like an enormous pillow fort. Pillows seemed to cover all of the walls, and blankets were strategically draped around the room to form several sub-rooms. Posters of the periodic table were safety pinned to some of the blankets, as were several life-sized portraits of Tony in his Iron Man costume.

"We tried to get some posters of Big Green in here, but we had some technical difficulties," Tony explained. "Do you like it?"

Looking around the lab – the fort – Steve sighed and delivered his message.

"Just…report to the briefing room at six," he said, and walked out of the lab shaking his head.

Half an hour later, a piece of paper rolled into the Super Secret Mail Receptacle.

"From the desk of Director Nick Fury," read the header.

"Oh good, another one," Tony said.

"Misters Stark and Banner are reminded that although we have allowed them personal use of one of the helicarrier labs, this does not make it their 'Super Secret Fort of Science.' It is not improved by pillow structures. You do not need an IQ of 140 to enter. And it has no secret password. That is all."

Tony looked at Bruce.

"Busted?" asked Bruce, clearly amused. Tony nodded, grinning, then crumpled up the memo and tossed it into the Super Secret Trash Bin of Science.