The mission was simple. This building, containing several illegal weapons, needed to be destroyed. Hulk would be there for the actual destruction. Black Widow was there as a supervisor, and Clint's job was looking out for snipers and sniping them if necessary. Steve had declined to go on the mission, stating that Hulk would be more than enough to deal with any combatants. Instead, he was going to be watching the video feeds with Tony.

The two of them had been on much better terms sense the incident yesterday. Seeing the better relations between the two, Fury had decided that he could let their lack of presence on the mission slide. It was strange to see the two working together, and the friendship did lower Steve's dependence on Shield, but Nick honestly thought that it might be a good thing. Nick wasn't joking when he said that Tony's new attitude about teammates could get him off of the 'doesn't work well with others' marker. If he could be trusted to be a useful part of a team, it would be so beneficial that any turned heads would be worthwhile.

The mission was off to a good start. Bruce let Hulk out without protest, and aside from asking for food initially, he was placated by the promise of getting food after the mission from Petra once Tony authorized her to do such. With him settled and ready, the whole team was ready to let Hulk do his job and see who to work on if anything messed up. Hulk somehow managed to fit thorough the opening and waited for the signal. When both Natasha and Clint were in position, the mission was started.

Hulk wanted to keep Petra safe for the mission. He wanted to protect her, and he didn't want to prove Bruce right. If Petra stayed safe and did her job- but that was getting ahead of himself. Gesturing to her, it took a few moments for her to understand the unspoken request. "Really? That won't get in the way of the destruction?" Petra asked, just to clarify. When Hulk just gestured again, Petra smiled and obligingly climbed to his shoulders and stuck on.

"What are you doing, Petra?" was asked over the earpiece. Even as Tony said that it should be obvious, Petra answered for both her and Hulk.

"I'm getting to a more comfortable and secure location"

"You actually do that?" Clint questioned.

"It seems that we do" Petra was quick to affirm. "When does the mission start?"

"Now" Tony responded. Without further ado, Petra whispered in Hulk's ear.

"Time to smash the stuff" Hulk smiled in anticipation, feeling her breath in his ear and with such good news. Hulk liked having a handler.

The destruction was just as fun as Hulk had anticipated, and Petra's presence just made it sweeter. Pillars were falling, cargo was flung, and Hulk enjoyed the quiet laughter Petra uttered at her mate's display of strength. Petra was very pleased with him, and that pleased Hulk. As a matter of fact, the two were so caught up in their own little world that they didn't actually hear when it was time to head out.

Clint thought that their display was sickening. One was trashing things and being carelessly destructive, and the other was clearly enjoying it. How could anyone be that happy surrounded by that much destruction. Worse, how could Petra be laughing at a time like this! Things were being destroyed, he couldn't even count how many gang members and security personnel were getting hurt by Hulk tossing something or destroying some support. Wasn't Petra supposed to minimize collateral? From the way that she was laughing as she tracked the motion of another crate to someone there who was trying to pick up one of the guns, she wasn't doing anything to stop it. Still, the way that she pointed Hulk away from one of the supports showed that she was doing her job… in some convoluted way.

"Why isn't she stopping Hulk from hurting those bystanders?" Clint asked his earpiece irritably.

"Technically, those aren't bystanders, Clint" Natasha rebuked him.

"Even if Hulk didn't get those guys, it would be your job to take out the would-be snipers" Tony said pragmatically, desensitized to the scale of the destruction by his ow weapons demonstrations and almost recognizing the proud gleam in Petra's eyes.

"Think of it as her doing you a favor" Steve agreed.

That certainly seemed out of place to Clint. "Why aren't you two fighting again?" He asked. It was true, Steve and Tony had been fighting like cats and dogs last movie night, and that had only been a few days ago.

"What changed since Friday?" Natasha added.

"That is none of your business" Steve said. He wasn't fighting Tony anymore, but he wasn't comfortable with someone confronting him about it.

"Did it have something to do with the fling protocol that Jarvis implemented three days ago?" Petra asked. She was listening by now, as most of the larger things were in some state of disrepair in the warehouse at the moment and she was currently pointing out smaller targets for Hulk to destroy.

"You know about that?" Tony asked.

"Well yes, I do know. I was curious about why you didn't come back to join us in the lab, and Jarvis answered when I asked why" Petra explained. When Hulk turned to her a little bit, Petra obligingly put the words in for him to. "Bruce, and as such Hulk, both know about that to. As this is happening on the intercom, I think that everyone listening to this knows to, now"

"Why is it that these discussions keep happening when everyone can hear them?" Tony mumbled, tired of how public these things were.

"Well to late" Natasha said. "Now everyone listening knows about Tony Stark's latest affair. Wonder how long until the media finds out?"

"Firstly" Tony angrily listed, "I am dating Pepper. Second, I am not planning on cheating on her, regardless of who is asking"

"Why is Pepper any different from your last hundred girlfriends?" Clint asked. When you had a chance to gossip about a famous celebrity, you tend to take it.

"Are you a reporter now, Clint?" Tony grumbled.

"You didn't talk this much about Bruce's relationship with Petra" Steve scolded. This might be his first step to fitting in. "Why are you hounding us?"

There was a moment of silence. Then everyone started laughing. Steve was not undercutting the rumor at all, and he wasn't even being accurate.

"Are you really trying to play that card?" Petra wheezed. The mission was all but forgotten by now, not that there was much left to do. "I know that you were watching the footage of last movie night, and that is about as far from saying nothing happened as you can get. Are you trying to convince us that you are dating Tony?"

No one else would actually say it, but everyone was thinking about it. Tony just turned to look at Steve with a frown. He shook his head in disapproval. Steve practically wilted. He didn't realize he had failed that badly. After a few moments, Tony built up a response to try and smother the ideas that Steve's response had created. "I have known Pepper for years before I started dating her. She also is the CEO of my company. I think that both of those are good reasons not to mess that up. I am actually, despite what you may think, taking that relationship seriously"

"If it's so serious, why haven't we seen her before now?" Petra asked. It was true, she had never once met Pepper during her stay at the tower, and she had been in the building multiple times.

"Look, can you please stop with this. I am not cheating on Pepper, and that is final" Tony responded. It did hurt that she hadn't been interested in meeting the girl who was his daughter, but he wasn't about to break up with her for that.

"Alright" Petra agreed, feeling sly. "I wont discus who you are seeing anymore, Dad"

That didn't help at all, but the conversation was thankfully distracted by a group of men in the prosses of recovering some of the intact weapons. Everyone scrambled to take care of them, but a few managed to get away.