WYWF

Chapter Four

Word Count: 2,195

The list of people who could make the Hulk-sedative was varied, but not very long. "Cross match it with what the others found out" instructed Tony. He looked at the others "uh… What did you find out?"

"That Ross' tech was taken by S.H.I.E.L.D" Stated Steve.

Tony shrugged. "That narrows it down a lot. And somehow doesn't surprise me. JARVIS, who among these people have access to S.H.I.E.L.D?"

Five names proved viable in the end:

Max Schneider

Lillian Hope

Henry Lee

Joe Sanford

Meredith West

Tony got JARVIS to bring up the profiles of the new suspects. "Let's see. Schneider was taken out five years ago due to injury. Head trauma. I doubt he could do anything now. Hope is viable, but doesn't have the clearance to access any of the fun stuff. Lee has a brother in S.H.I.E.L.D, a high up. Used to work for Stark Industries? Well, we screened all the newbies for intelligence so I guess he can't have been that bright."

"He is on the list, don't forget." Interrupted Steve. Tony seemed affronted at the suggestion.

"I'll have you know that my screening procedures were created by the best minds in the country. Anyone with any promise of greatness would have been brought to my attention and-"

"Squashed down?" Natasha suggested dryly. Tony's mouth tightened. He ignored her statement and continued. "Sanford's the one I think we should focus on. He's on the bomb squad, and it doesn't look like he's the detonating type. Apparently he's been reprimanded a few times for, quote, unquote 'being too creative'".

"I know the guy." Confirmed Natasha. 'He could do it. Genius, but with his head up his ass, like most of them are." She looked pointedly at Tony before continuing. "He could probably be brought if you paid him enough, the mans… greedy."

"I've seen him around too. The guy's a bit of a twat." Barton confirmed. Natasha nodded and suggested her plan.

"Tony, you keep Fury busy while Hawk and Cap, you go find Ross' tech. See if anything's missing. I'll handle Sanford, offer to pay him big money if he can make me a Hulk sedative. If he manages it, we can compare it to the sample and see if we've got a match. Sound good?"

Black Widow's 'Adventure'

Getting onto the base was easy. Splitting up was as simple as ducking into a bathroom and letting the others go ahead of her. If caught, she would make up a story about leaving something in her old office. The assassin walked calmly down the halls. She had learned far too many years ago that the best way to go unnoticed was to blend in. She knew where Sanford was. Third floor, laboratory 5. He had three assistants, but they should be out at lunch, something she had learnt that scientists rarely did, so he would most likely be present. Not that she didn't have at least twelve back up plans in case something went wrong.

Maybe it should bother her, how easy it was to slip back into assassin mode, even if she wasn't actively trying to kill anyone. Maybe it should bother her how little it bothered her. She'd made some sort of peace with her past, not hiding from it, but not confronting it either. She was what she was, and that's the thing that let her sleep at night. The Black Widow nodded to a couple of the patrolling guards on her way through, and they nodded back.

She entered the lab silently; Sanford was too engrossed in his work to hear the door opening, even if he could hear her footsteps approaching. He had a paunchy frame and short grey hair with round glasses and an even rounder face. Natasha stopped a few feet away and cleared her throat before jumping right in, using her 'I'm a professional agent, but you can also trust me because I'm a woman' voice, much like the one she had tried to use on Banner all that time ago.

"Mister Sanford, my name is Natasha Romanoff I have a proposition for you."

He widened his light blue eyes at her and cleaned his glasses pedantically. "For me? What is it you are after?" his voice was reedy and grated on her nerves.

He was obviously playing dumb from the way that his eyes travelled up and down her body when his glasses were placed back on his nose. Natasha had met many, many, guys like this in her line of work. And not one of them had ever gone without pain in the end. She smiled as pleasantly as she could, knowing the effect it often had.

"Look. I'm in in a bit of a pickle" cue self-depreciating laugh. "I'm a bit… scared".

Sanford brought it like a blonde model presented with tiny dogs. "Scared? Well what can I do to help?" the guy almost seemed genuinely interested.

"It's Banner. I know I'm not supposed to speak ill of a colleague, but, well… you know how he is." She swallowed and looked him straight in the eye. "I want something that can bring him down if it becomes necessary. Not kill him. But let's just say I'd sleep a lot easier if I could make him do so as well."

Sanford gave what he must have thought was a sympathetic smile and gently patted her hand. "Now now my dear. I'm sure we'd all like to have some sort of security against these things, but to make a sedative for the Hulk?" he tittered "it would take an awful lot of time, not to mention resources and research."

"I know it would, sir, and that's why I'm willing to pay. When my parents died, they left me everything they had, which was… not a small amount. Far more than I could use in any one lifetime. Possibly even more than Stark could use in a year." That got a laugh out of him. Good. Laughter was good.

"Alright. I shall see what I can do. But no promises! In fact I don't see why we can't—"

He was shut off by the door opening again. But instead of the expected lab assistant, there was a highly unamused Nick Fury. Sanford paled.

"Agent Romanoff." Fury jerked his head outside. Natasha nodded and followed him out.

Captain America's 'Adventure'

Technically, when they had called in, only Tony and Clint had said they were going to visit Fury, so Steve felt like he was in the clear enough to break off at a corner and leave his companions after Natasha had ducked out. He took the same path as he had done on the quest to find the alien weaponry and laughed when he saw how reinforced the door had become. Still smiling, he reached into the pocket of his civilian styled pants (though seeing as Tony had brought them, he doubted that most civilians could afford such pants) and drew out a little mechanical circle. Placing the apparent 'bug' on the lock, Steve was impressed at the speed at which the 'access granted' light came up and the door smoothly swung open.

Stalking inside, he looked around at the stacks of cases. It had to be in here somewhere. Thankfully, Tony had yet another invention to make this easier. A simple tracker that hacked into the tracking chip that was placed into each case and was logged with its contents. The clear rectangle on his hand showed a map of the place, complete with a glowing red dot.

Even after all this time in the future, Steve was amazed at what technology could do. He couldn't help but mentally put it into his memories of before. Could he have saved more people if he had this sort of technology back then? He knew, rationally, that the elder Stark couldn't have produced it and brushed off his meandering thoughts. He had a task.

Creeping further and further in, the air got colder and developed a chemical like taste from the conditioning units that rested well above his head. His footsteps still echoed quietly in the cold metal chamber, but he doubted anyone was there to hear them. Finally, he reached the place where the red dot was glowing on the screen. It was a stack, about eight high of silver cases. He reached up and grabbed the first one. It wasn't particularly heavy so he swung it down to his feet. Kneeling down on one knee, he reached for the clasp. He flicked it open when a torchlight fell on his face.

Squinting up at the figure, who thankfully moved the light down, he made out Maria Hill, Fury's feminine mini-me. She gave him a kind, almost condescending smile and held up a hand to help him up.

"Captain, this way please. And would you mind putting the case back? I'm a little bit too short."

Steve sighed. "Yes ma'am."

Hawkeye's 'Adventure'

Clint watched Natasha and Steve remove themselves quietly from the group and tried to crush the growing feeling that this really wasn't going to work. Like no one would notice two of the Avengers on the ship and not check where the others were? The arrival of their team had never meant less than total disaster, or at least a very pissed off Fury, so people were bound to get antsy when they appeared. Not that Natasha couldn't go unnoticed if she wanted to, but you only had to follow the trail of fainted women to find Steve, Clint thought with a smirk. It would be nice, but it would make discretion rather difficult and he knew which one he'd rather have.

We walked down the corridor, looking as bored as hell as a matter of habit. If someone questioned where he was going, he'd just say the cafeteria. They'd probably check anyway. He meandered further down the halls, towards the chemical bay. If they had been building a chemical gas weapon, then this is where they would keep it. There were patrols here, but he simply nodded at them and gave his best "I'm only the messenger" look. It seemed to work, as he got further and further and further into the belly of the ship. Until a woman stepped out to meet him. Brown hair, brown eyes. Hill. Godammit. She rolled her eyes at him. And gave him a look that made it clear that she was this close to patting him on his head. "Agent Barton. Why don't you go get some coffee in the cafeteria?"

He nodded his head. "Right-o". And walked back the way he came.

Iron Man's 'Adventure'

Tony saw the last of the team vanish and widened his smile. So far so good. He strutted though the doors and to the computer swathed platform to wait for Fury, who stalked in less than a minute later. Tony noticed that Hill wasn't by his side was kind of relieved, that woman was kind of scary, if he did say so himself.

Fury did not beat around the bush. He got right up in Tony's personal space and looked him right in the eye. 'Stark, how dumb do you think we are?"

Tony did not move back, instead he tilted his head. "Is that a trick question?"

Fury's eye narrowed. "Do you think we don't know that you're up to something? We do actually monitor things around here."

Tony gave him his best puppy dog look. "Really? Because we're honestly not up to something."

Right behind him, an alarm sounded. An agent called up to the black-clad Fury "Sir, seems we have a security breech in the containment sector."

The Director turned towards Stark. "Really? Nothing? Is that why we have recorded four Avengers entering the base and only one Avenger is in my sight? Don't play cute with me. What are you up to?"

"I resent the implication! Up to something!" Tony opened his mouth to continue, but Fury cut him off. "Look, I'm guessing this has something to do with Banner, am I wrong?" Tony did nothing and Fury sighed. "Look. I know you're worried. And believe it or not, we kind of are too. But there's no need to go behind our backs. We're on the same side here, and you need to realise that or I. Will. Shut. You. Down. Understand? Now stay here."

He didn't wait for Tony to answer before walking out.

Once the wayward Avengers had been rounded up and thoroughly dressed down like a set of rebellious teenagers, they sat down for a debriefing. All of Ross' tech had been accounted for and Sanford had been on watch for the past year, making it impossible for him to make the gas without S.H.I.E.L.D noticing. So there was another one out. Meredith West was the only one left on the list. An ex-S.H.I.E.L.D agent, now working in a top-security lab for the US government. Nothing on her records suggested she brought the elusive chemical, but as Natasha pointed out, it didn't rule out any back alley purchase.

They decided to pay her a visit.