Author Note:

Latest update, nearing the battle scene of the Avengers. It WILL extend to an after the Avengers thing. Hints of romance. I'm not a big fan of like seeing someone and loving them like once. Charlotte admires him, and he admires her. They aren't in love yet...just want to clarify that.

But anyway, thank you for the favorites and follows and the reviews it's really awesome!:)

Enjoy


4.

Bruce watched as Charlotte walked out of the research lab. She looked at him differently than others did. He remembered Natasha's look of fear whenever she glanced at him. He then compared it to Charlotte's look of admiration and the fact he looked him at him like a normal man.

She was a good looking woman too. She was a medium height of five foot five, just below the average height of women in America, had curly blonde hair and her eyes that just looked at Bruce with admiration. She didn't even spare Tony a look like that. Even if Tony was in a monogamous relationship, it didn't stop the propositions he received. But the thing was, she wanted to talk to him. Even though she knew about the...Other Guy.

"I can't wait till be bust this guy," Tony murmured.

"Maybe you'll be suiting up with us," Bruce muttered fiddling with the touch screen, "I don't have a suit, it's more like a nerve leaving me exposed, vulnerable."

"You know this," Tony said tapping his small arc reactor, "Is the only thing keeping me alive right now. It's like a nerve, a terrible privilege."

"It's different though, you can control it."

"You know, Carlson was right, that much radiation should have killed you."

"So you're saying that the Other Guy 'saved' my life?" Bruce asked in disbelief, "From what?"

"I guess we'll find out, but from what I gathered, if you had died during the exposure, you probably wouldn't have met Little Miss Doctor Carlson."

Bruce flushed and Tony snickered.

"You wanted to see me Director Fury?" Charlotte asked walking up to a circle platform, his control platform where he ordered people around. She almost smirked as she saw him turning to look at each side of the screens.

"Yes how are you doing with locating the Tesseract?"

"Well we've locked on its radiation trail and Dr. Banner and Mr. Stark are tracing the area for a match," she supplied.

"Very good, once we find the Tesseract we will be dropping you off at the research facility in California so you can proceed with Phase Two," Fury said.

"What exactly is Phase Two?" Charlotte asked.

Fury opened his mouth to say something before Black Widow came from a side saying something about the Hulk, a warning, and Loki's plan.

"Wait, who's Loki?" Charlotte asked. What the hell is going on outside the research lab?"

"Loki, he stole the Tesseract, planning something devious, adopted brother of Thor, killed eight hundred people in two days," Black Widow rattled off walking pass Charlotte, "Did they tell you anything?"

"No," she called out. Why the hell was she here? Fury just said something about dropping her off back in California why was she on this freaking floating boat? She thought she would be conducting her research here.

Charlotte shook her head walking in the direction away from the research labs. All of the Avengers and Director Fury were in there and it looked heated. She stumbled upon a big circle room with a large glass container in the middle. The man that had given off a creepy vibe.

He stared at here with wonder.

"Dr. Carlson, are you in the containment room?" Director Fury asked her.

Charlotte pressed a finger on her ear communicator, "Yes."

"Watch Loki," he said. Charlotte heard the voices of Tony Stark and Captain America. They were probably fighting.

"So this is what you mortals have reached," the man in green said with a sarcastic smile, "to have me watched by the research scientist. No superpowers to claim, no special talents other than brains, no muscle, no power."

"Loki, God of Mischief from Asgard, I presume?" Charlotte asked, "Honestly, if anyone knows anything about not having brawn but having brain and being powerful, it's you."

Loki stared at her and cocked his head to the left.

"But then again, you did have the audacity to mother a horse," Charlotte mused thinking back to the college course she took on mythology, "So there goes your brain. You're not powerful at all."

How dare he look down at her like that. Last time she checked he was the one caged up.

"You know, S.H.I.E.L.D. is not the only one with files on you, I know about your research, I know about your bitterness," Loki said.

Charlotte stiffened. He had a file on her too, "Really know?"

"Yes Barton told me everything Fury told him," Loki said with a smirk, "You do know that S.H.I.E.L.D. can't do anything to gain your research back. Doing this, searching for the Tesseract, they are going against the Council and the Council is the government."

"I think you should get your information in check," Charlotte said, "the Council came up with the idea for Phase 2. You can't manipulate me with your silver tongue."

Charlotte realized that Fury had been true to his part of the deal. She was a research scientist and a research scientist alone. She had heard murmurs, and Agent Coulson had told her about this Avenger's Initiative.

Charlotte's eyes widened. That was why Fury didn't drop her off at California right away. She understood his plan. If things went sour he would want her on his 'team'. Her eyes grew steeled. Fury has a hidden agenda and now she knew. She looked at Loki and he gave her a snide, toothy smile. He knew she knew, he had manipulated her when she thought he hadn't.

But there was something more in his grin. He had a plan, too. Things were about to go sour.

Back in the research lab:

"What is this Phase 2?" Tony asked Director Fury, "You want to build weapons for S.H.I.E.L.D. using the Tesseract?"

"The Tesseract does not belong on Earth, you mortals do not know how to handle its energy," Thor bellowed.

"Is that why Dr. Carlson is here?" Tony asked, "Does she know you are stealing the Tesseract for her to harness? I don't think she does, if she did I don't think she would have come."

"She would have, she needs her research to be published," Fury said.

"Well where is she? I will offer her a job at Stark Tower right now," Tony said challenging.

"Petty mortals, I thought you were more evolved than this," Thor sneered.

The argument broke out in the research lab and unknowing to them that Loki's minions were breaking into the ship boat.

Charlotte stared at Loki who was just smirking at her. Suddenly, an explosion sounded somewhere, shaking the boat. She stumbled slightly, reaching down to pick up the tablet she dropped. The ferocious sound of a growl or roar filled the boat.

Bruce, he had Hulked out. She looked up at Loki who wore a self satisfied look. This was his plan, this was how he planned on making this go sour. He didn't say anything about knowing about her own superhuman abilities, Barton didn't know or did he?

Charlotte cast one last look at Loki before running off to the noises and roars she was hearing. She found Thor swinging his hammer around as a giant, muscular green rage monster of Dr. Banner swung brutishly at Thor. Thor was hitting the Hulk repeatedly with his hammer as the Hulk raged on.

Her eyes widened in shock as she ran over to the fight unfolding. She had studied the Hulk after her own accident and when she left the government research facility. The Hulk was a rage monster, the chemical makeup of everything primal in human beings. The Hulk probably felt incredibly threatened by the enclosed space, the fact another person was hitting him with a hammer or the fact the Hulk was encountering something that was the same strength as him.

"What are you doing?" Charlotte cried, "He is not an animal!"

Thor paused to look at her before Hulk hit him into a stack of crates. Charlotte ran up in front of the Hulk slowing into a walk as she approached him.

"What the hell are you doing?" She heard a woman's call out and immediately recognized it as Black Widow's.

Performing an experiment Charlotte muttered in her head. She struggled to keep her heart rate down, she felt a slight ache in her back but nothing bad enough to sprout wings.

"Bruce," Charlotte said with a lilt.

The Hulk growled in her face so she amended her statement, "Hulk?"

The Hulk grunted and Charlotte gave him a warm smile. She had figured that everyone called him Bruce and if Bruce didn't want to be associated with this green monster than how did the green monster feel about being associated with Bruce?

It was a classic Dr. Jekyll - Mr. Hyde and even though Charlotte didn't like English literature in the slightest, preferring mathematics-naturally, she understood the fundamentals of the story. Mild mannered Mr. Hyde had an experimental accident and yielded Dr. Jekyll. Neither wanted any association with each other but had to learn to deal with each other.

"Do you think you could give us Dr. Banner back, Hulk? We need him to help us with the Tesseract," Charlotte said holding up her hands soouthingly.

The Hulk stared at her and Charlotte held her breath but then Thor shot out of the crates with his magical hammer in tow and he hit the Hulk with every bit of godly power he had. Charlotte fell to the ground on impact. Black Widow came out of the shadows and towed her out of the room.

She wrenched herself out of Black Widow's grasp and glared at her, "I had everything under control!"

"You can't control that thing," Widow told her in her stiff voice.

"Not with that attitude," Charlotte said.

Her heart was beating but more in a Dr. Banner's smile speed not a I'm going to sprout some wings spead. Her senses started heightening, something that happened first but never noticed by Charlotte since her transformation usually happened all at once. She felt eyes on her and Widow. Charlotte's eyes flittered and her necked twitched as she turned her head with small movements. Her ears, still heightened from her previous transformation, detected a clink of metal.

She quickly went through her mental catalog of sounds. It was either a switch, a button but her common sense told her it was a weapon.

Charlotte heard a swish and grabbed Black Widow pulling her to the metal ramp on the side of the ship. A sharp thwack sounded. Charlotte looked up spying an arrow embedded on the metal wall just where she Widow was standing.

Her brow furrowed in confusion as Widow whispered, "Clint."

Charlotte turned a questioning look at her before Widow snapped out of some trance and said, "Go, protect yourself, we'll handle this."

Charlotte opened her mouth to question but stopped at Widow's persistent stare. She stood up and walked quickly over to a control room where all the computers were down. Fury was in there speaking to Agent Hill.

"What is going on?" Charlotte asked.

"Another thing, Fury, you brought a civilian on board with no previous training," Agent Hill said.

Charlotte put her hands on her hips. Fury looked at Charlotte saying, "Loki's forces have come aboard the ship, which is why I need the sun put on the left."

She was soon forgotten as Fury stormed angrily to the command center.

"Sir, the Hulk and Thor are destroying the left hanger," an agent said.

"Well someone take a jet and distract the Hulk," Fury said.

"How will that help?" Charlotte said indignantly, "You can't try and treat him like a caged animal, that will not help anything."

"Dr. Carlson, I assure you more capable hands are taking care of this," Fury said.

She scowled, she knew what he was saying. Loki implied it. This was the situation, it had gone sour now Fury wanted her on his team. But she wouldn't join a team that tried to contain something that couldn't, shouldn't be tamed. So she left the control center back to the hanger.