Pepper hadn't known anything much about the Tesseract, so she listened intently while the director explained S.H.I.E.L.D.'s history with the artifact. Tony had heard rumors of course, his father's minions got a bit talkative at Stark Christmas parties and young Tony had heard a few things he'd never admit he knew about to anyone, especially Fury.
"I suppose my first question is why would you implant something like that into Coulson. It could have killed him," Tony said quietly.
"He was already dead, Stark. Or do you not know the story of Lazarus?"
"Are you comparing yourself to Christ now? Even for you, that's quite nervy," Tony said, standing up to pace the room. He was worried and a worried Tony was an unpredictible Tony. Pepper watched him carefully.
"Actually, Agent Hill named the procedure. She's got a background in theology. Who would have guessed?"
"That explains the sensible shoes and whiff of brimstone that follows her. So - alien artifact implanted in Agent Coulson. Explain."
"While it is true that the Tesseract destroyed anyone who touched it directly, it appeared to only have that effect on hostiles. And we didn't implant it, technically." The director rubbed his good eye and sighed. "The fragment implanted itself once I agreed to give over Coulson as a host."
"Excuse me, what?" Tony was wide eyed and as close to shocked as Pepper had ever seen him.
"It," Fury looked constipated and Tony should have laughed, but he was too curious. "The piece implanted in Coulson was from your father's lab. The lab I should have blown up years ago. Who knows what other headaches Stark left for me." Fury took a deep breath, trying to compose himself as Pepper handed him some coffee. "I made a sort of deal with an alien rock to save my agent's life but the damned fragment played us." He stood up, and went to stare out of one of the large office windows. Seeming to make a decision, he turned and faced them.
"The fragment is sentient, it's not hostile exactly. But it's determined to get to its source."
Pepper froze. "You mean, the Tesseract. Oh, but Phil," she stammered.
"Phil would obviously die, again. That is not in our best interests as you can imagine. Stark, we need you to make sure that my agent remains alive and the Tesseract is back in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s control. Obviously the fewer people who know about this mission, the better."
JARVIS announced visitors entering the Tower lobby and Tony grinned sheepishly.
"Um, that may be harder to control than you planned."
PDPDPD
The man stood, staring up at the Avengers Tower, shaking his head. Taking a steadying breath, he looked down at the engraved invitation for the tenth time that morning.
The Magnificent Iron Man (AKA the equally Magnificient Anthony Edward Stark),
Requests the Honor of having you move into the totally cool revamped Avengers Tower, complete with mini bars, stripper poles and super secret stuff that Shield should seriously salivate over! (Say that fast three times!)
Come early and watch the latecomers ooh and ahh over the coolest secret hideout ever built in plain sight.
Oh...and bring some cookies or something, don't want to be rude to the brilliant genius playboy philanthropist hosting this shindig do you?
"Agent Barton? Is that you?" a low voice broke through Clint's thoughts of self recrimination and he found himself staring into the concerned gaze of Dr. Bruce Banner.
"Dr. Banner," Clint nodded. "Sightseeing?" Bruce held up his invitation and Clint rolled his eyes. Of course, he should have known that others would be waiting to jump onto this train wreck.
"You got one too," the doctor noted. "Well, are you going to do it?"
"What? No, I'm just, curious. I could use a distraction about now. Too many thoughts...never mind. How about you?"
"I live alone. It's better that way." The two men regarded each other for a few moments until a whirlwind of color and laughter sped into them.
"Darcy, watch where you're going," Jane Foster yelled, as she paid the cab driver.
"I was watching, well, sort of - this place is huge. Look at the giant A up there. Wonder if it stands for Assh-"
"Darcy!"
"Oops, sorry. He saved the world or whatever. But have you read some of the stuff about him?"
"Norweigan tabloids are not known for their objectivity," Jane smirked, then seemed to notice the two men watching them. "Sorry guys, it's our first time in New York." They headed towards the shiny gold doors and seemed surprised when they walked with them inside.
"Um, do you work here?" Jane asked them. Clint laughed.
"For Stark? No way. I'm just here for the booze." He waved his invitation and stared when Jane produced one of her own to show them.
"Who are you?" Clint asked, suddenly wary.
"Jane. Dr. Jane Foster and this is Darcy Lewis, my assistant. Mr. Stark invited us and I really wasn't going to come, but Darcy, I mean Miss Lewis," she stammered.
"She means Darcy," the girl in question said, holding out a hand. Clint looked at the outstretched hand and seemed to relax. Gripping it gently he almost smiled.
"Good to meet you both. Thor mentioned a Jane. Was it you?" he asked the doctor, who blushed.
"Um, yeah, that would be me. He - isn't here?"
"No idea," Bruce spoke up quickly. "But we're getting weird looks from security. Maybe we should let them see our invitations." He held out a hand to Jane, then Darcy. "Dr. Bruce Banner."
"Nice to meet you," Jane said excitedly. "I've read some of your work. It's amazing." Bruce blushed a bit then remembered his original statement.
"Thanks - the guards?" The four of them made their way to the security desk and showed the invitations to a very puzzled guard who picked up the nearest phone and spoke quietly into it. After a look of shock, he nodded and hung up which seemed strange to them but no one mentioned it.
"JARVIS says to go straight up. He'll stop you on the right floor."
"JARVIS?" Darcy asked.
"At your service, Miss Lewis," a disembodied voice said and the intern spun around, looking for the speaker.
"Who was that?"
"Go into the elevator, you'll see," the guard said and went back to his work. Puzzled, the four did as instructed and started the long climb to meet with Tony Stark.