...

"She had that look of total fear in her eyes,

And as we drove away from there she looked at me and

she smiled"

First Aid Kit, "King Of The World"

They worked through the whole night without exchanging more than a couple of phrases here and there, all work-related and to the point. Green has lost his robot-like serenity less than an hour after that little incident, reverting back to his fidgety, awkward self. He seemed to be perfectly happy to get back to his work, building and refining his algorithm without ever getting his eyes away from the monitor. Quite literally happy too, in a strange, slightly surreal way that contrasted heavily with his anxious and panicky demeanor.

There was a change of guard at some point too, though Tony's only caught on to it as it was almost over. The soldiers replaced each other gradually, one by one, over a period of two hours, at seemingly irregular intervals. The overall level of precaution involved in the whole affair was baffling to Tony, but he knew he would not get any answers from the soldiers themselves, and trying to press Green was akin to walking a minefield with a blindfold on.

Jarvis was still working on decrypting the S.H.I.E.L.D. files, but Tony was sure he would soon get to the bottom of this. Dr. Robert Green's peculiar mannerisms and impetuous mood shifts were interesting all on their own, but, combined with the atmosphere of stifling secrecy and intense pressure in the lab, created a puzzle entirely too fascinating and fun to ignore.

Tony probably wouldn't have even noticed the arrival of the dawn, if he hadn't turned to Green with a question about the algorithm's integration with the Helicarrier's systems, only to see the man with his back to the desk, staring at the sunrise with wide, greedy eyes.

"You look like you haven't seen the sun in ten years," Tony smirked, testing the waters.

Green mumbled something in response before returning back to his monitor.

"What?" Tony tried.

The man only smiled that little one-sided smile of his, and Tony felt another wave on intuitive, just-out-of-reach knowledge crush over him. There was something here he was missing, some simple truth he was on the verge of grasping… Ugh, it was no use. He'll just work himself up into another headache like that. Besides, there were other, a tad more pressing matters to consider.

"So about that whole 'complete monster' thing…" he began, trying for his most casual tone.

"It's fine. I'm not offended."

"You should be."

"No, I really shouldn't," Green shook his head, that small crooked smile still twisting his lips. "You don't know me."

"Are you on something?" Tony asked then, leaning forward a little, squinting hard in the physicist's general direction. "You don't look like you are, but that's the only thing I can think of that would explain the almost compulsive smiling which, just between the two of us, Bob, is creeping the hell out of me."

That got a short chuckle out of the man, and made his smile look even more fake. "Sorry. But I'm afraid it's the only thing that keeps me from taking the .6 screwdriver to someone's throat right now."

Tony cringed, suppressing a sigh. "You know, before Afghanistan, before… before the SI changed course, a lot of people have considered – and called - me a monster. They were probably even right. But the thing is-"

"No. Please, just… Don't."

"What?"

Tony turned to look at Green then, and saw the man tiredly rubbing at his eyes beneath his glasses.

"Please don't think that I don't appreciate your efforts in this, whatever it… whatever you tried to say," he began in a tone of quiet resolution. "And I know it is going to sound a bit… well, childish, I guess, but I have to reiterate that you really. Don't. Know me. If – or should I say 'when' – you find out the truth, you are going to regret this conversation, regret trying to sympathize with me. And I am going to regret letting you. So… let's not even start."

"You're not going to give me any details, are you?"

"These people are put here to prevent exactly that."

The conversation has died down after that, and not ten minutes later Tony's tablet has given off a small ping that signalized the completion of the decryption protocols. Tony has transferred the files to a larger monitor glass before him, quickly going through the files marked "Secret", "Top Secret" and "Strictly Confidential" in search of something that would shed some light on this whole farce with the S.H.I.E.L.D., and the Army, and the Tesseract…

'…and if deemed viable, proceed to Stage Two as soon as…'

"Son of a bitch! They want to weaponize it."

"Sorry?"

Tony swallowed the first dozen of curses – most of them taught by Rhodey – that came to mind. "The fucking Cube," he hissed instead. "I should've known. I should've fucking- See, this is exactly why I quit the weapon business."

"You quit the weapon business?"

Tony blinked.

"Four years ago now," he said slowly. "Right when I became Iron Man."

"I'm sorry? Is that some kind of title or…"

Tony blinked again. And then again for good measure. Green just looked on at him, nothing but honest confusion on his weary face.

"You don't know about Iron Man," the engineer shook his head. Honestly, it's been four years already, and I never did 'subtle', how can you not- "But you knew Stars-and-Stripes back there, didn't you?" he accused.

"Captain America?" Green frowned. "Sure. We all read the comics as kids, right? I even had a chance to work with some of Dr. Erskine's res-" he stopped abruptly, eyes going wide, realizing he's said too much.

And then it all just clicked.

All those bits and pieces, intuitive thoughts just beyond Tony's grasp that used to elude him as he concentrated on them, all of those little clues and signs, the infuriating oddness of it all… The picture that has finally formed itself in his mind seemed ridiculously simple and obvious now, but at the same time... He has read the reports on the Culver 2006 Incident, he has seen the readings from the area, there was no way, no way in hell-

He looked at the other man with new eyes.

"That much gamma exposure should have killed you."

There was a smile on the physicist's face again, but unlike those Tony has seen before. A grimace of desolation.

"It did," Bruce Banner said.

It all made sense now, shit, and answered so many questions, yet created so much more new ones at the same time. They were bubbling just under the surface, threatening to spill out of Tony's slacked mouth right into those dark hollow eyes in front of him, and what-

"What are you doing, Mr. Stark?"

It was Tony who startled and flinched this time, surprisingly enough, while Gre- Banner, shit, it was Banner, did not move a muscle. He was quick to recover though.

"Kind of been wondering the same thing about you, Nick," he said, turning to face Director Fury entering the room.

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

"We are," Banner replied instead of him. The complete, detached calm that has settled over the man after Tony's revelation was a bit unsettling to watch. "The model's locked, and we are sweeping for signature now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile."

"Yeah, and you'll get your Cube back. But I'm more interested in…" Why has the Army faked Banner's death? "What is Phase 2?"

A flash of red and blue from his left caught Tony's attention just in time to see Rogers walk into the lab, a weird-looking gun in his hand.

"Phase 2 is S.H.I.E.L.D. uses the Cube to make weapons," the soldier said, dumping the gun on the nearest workplace.

Fury was ready of course, strewing excuses left and right as if on cue. "Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. It doesn't mean-"

"Hell yes it does," Tony scowled. "Picking up right where I've left off? For fuck's sake, this one even incorporates the old Jericho missile designs!"

Rogers was shaking his head. "I was wrong, Director. The world hasn't changed a bit."

And as if the level of tension wasn't high enough for even the corner guards to start picking up on it, exchanging nervous glances and gripping tightly at their guns, Romanoff has picked that exact moment to enter the lab as well, an air of urgency and authority about her that simply begged to be challenged.

"Sir," she said, addressing Fury, "the prisoner has let us know that a surprise attack on the Helicarrier is in the works, probably soon, though I'm not sure of the scale. We should prepare."

Fury nodded, then quickly looked over the lab, finally focusing on Banner, a frown of concentration, or maybe apprehension, on his face.

"Dr. Green?" he said in a casual, informal tone that nonetheless had the weight of an order behind it. "You might consider removing yourself from this environment."

Banner's mouth twitched, a hand stopped halfway to his glasses.

"Playtime's over, huh? It's been nice, working again," he muttered, looking away from everyone, then lifted his eyes at Tony. "Nice working with you."

A wave of frustration and outrage swelled in the engineer then, and he had to consciously restrain himself from spilling it out on Banner, turning to face Fury and Romanoff instead. "What, that's it? He's done his part, and you're putting him back in his box?"

"What box?" Rogers frowned.

"You're in on it, aren't you? This is going on with your permission?" Tony pressed, pointing at Fury in accusation. "Well, I won't let you just-"

"It's alright, Mr. Stark. Tony." The voice from beside him sounded low, and warm, and suffocating, like sand. "It's for the best."

'Do as I do!'

Tony closed his eyes, swallowed a sigh. He was right, of course. Probably. Not the time, not the place, shit like that. The guys with the guns were still standing in all corners and by all exits, and stirring shit up now would bring nothing but misery, on Banner first. But he'll be damned, fucking damned if he let those assholes have the last word.

"I'm not done with you yet," he said, turning to face the other man, looking him right in the eye. "Your work on anti-electron collision is still unparalleled, you know."

The expression on Banner's face then was almost enough to kick the floor from under Tony's legs. Not just awe, more than gratitude. Pain.

"Thanks."

A/N: Rather a short one, this, but I saw no point in dragging the reveal further off. Hope you still like it!

Next chapter will be longer, and it's where the action starts, but 'til then please leave a review if you have time!