Author's Notes: YAY! Second part of the double installment! So don't forget to read chapter 11. Hope you all like it.


Chapter 12: I Spy

"So, Dr. Banner," Stark prompted, turning back to the quiet man who was returning to his analyses of Loki's golden spear, "You never answered my question. What do you say to a visit to Stark Towers after we save the world?"

"Thanks, but…" Dr. Banner shifted uncomfortably as he remembered what happened all those years ago, "… last time I was in New York, I kind of… broke Harlem."

"Well, I promise a stress free environment," Tony shuffled closer to the man, feigning interest in Prospero's device, "No tension. No surprises."

Suddenly, Tony activated the laser scalpel and jabbed Bruce in the side. Miranda jumped back, Banner yelped and Tony leaned in, gauging his reaction. It was the exact same look he had given her when he had surprised her earlier. God damn it! He was deliberately provoking them, trying to make them loose control. Perhaps Miranda had spoken too soon. Stark hasn't changed a bit.

"Nothing?" Tony asked Dr. Banner innocently. Much to Miranda's surprise, Banner was smiling at his antics.

She pushed her glasses up into her hair and pinched at the bridge of her nose, shaking her head in exasperation. To Stark, she pleaded, "Please tell me you're not doing what I think you're doing."

"Hey!" Captain Rogers called in warning from across the lab. Standing in the doorway, body rigid, he did not look the least bit amused. Crossing the room in three swift strides, he confronted Stark, "Are you nuts?!"

"Jury's out," he briskly replied. Ignoring his two team members, Tony continued observing Banner. When he realized nothing was going to happen, he asked in amazement, "You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz? Bongo drums? Huge bag of weed?"

"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve accused.

"For him… Yes," Miranda confirmed.

"Funny things are," Tony corrected, pointing the scalpel at her.

Steve glared at him, finally understanding why Miranda seemed to dislike the man so much. With arms folded across his star spangled chest, he reproached, "Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny. No offense, doc."

"No, it's alright," Banner assured him with a laugh and a smile tugging at his lips, "I wouldn't have come on board if I couldn't handle pointy things."

"Your tip toeing, big man. You need to strut… like Bewitched here."

Miranda raised a skeptical eyebrow, "I do not strut."

"I beg to differ," Tony smirked.

"You need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark," Steve stressed. Miranda snorted. If Rogers thought he could get Stark to do anything, he had another thing coming.

Picking up a bag of blueberries (Prospero's stomach growled. Where the Hell did he get that food?), Stark asked, "Why do people keep telling me that?" Popping one in his mouth, he continued, "Do you all think I'm not? Let me ask you this. Why did Fury kick Prospero off the Tesseract Project?"

"You think there is another reason besides SHIELD's racism?" Miranda scoffed.

Tony rolled his eyes, "I think it was a convenient excuse to get rid of you. You really think they had no clue who and what you were when they signed you on?"

Miranda's eyes widened. She had never thought of it like that. It had all been rather sudden. Not once did she use her powers and yet one day, out of the blue, Director Fury hands her a check for services rendered and a gives her a crap excuse about SHIELD's non-involvement with mutants. She had been so furious at the time. It never occurred to her that he was kicking her out, not because of her genetics, but because she was getting too close something.

Turning back to Rogers, Stark continued, "Why did Fury call us and why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables."

"You think he's hiding something?" Rogers asked disbelievingly and Miranda sighed. Captain America didn't get a chance to live through McCarthyism or Watergate. He came from a time where it never occurred to the average citizen that the government could be lying.

Shaking her head, Miranda asked Steve, "Didn't they have spies during WWII?"

"Well, yes, but…"

Tony cut in, driving his point home, "Captain, he's not just any spy. He's the spy. And he heads an organization of spies… His secrets have secrets." He pointed to Bruce and Miranda, "Its bugging them too. Isn't it?"

Nodding, Miranda explained to the incredulous captain, "For the few months I worked on the Tesseract, not once did Fury mention using it for an energy source. All I was told was that he wanted to understand what the cube was. Come to think of it…," she paused to look at Tony, "I was kicked off the project around the same time I began pushing about his intentions."

"See," Stark raised his hand and pointed to Miranda, "secrets."

"And what do you think of all this, Dr. Banner?" Steve prompted, turning to the fidgeting man.

"Uh…" Bruce deflected, trying to focus on the task in front of him. He didn't want to be involved in any of this, "… I just want to finish my work here and…"

"Doctor?" Rogers pushed.

Sighing, Bruce took off his classes and looked around at his fellow team mates, "A warm light for all mankind. Loki's jab at Fury about the cube."

"I heard it."

"Well," Bruce pointed to Stark with his glasses, "I think it was meant for you."

Like a dog trainer rewarding a particularly good puppy, Stark offered the bag of blueberries to Bruce. Again, Miranda's stomach growled. She really needed to eat something, and soon.

"He means the Stark Tower," Prospero enlightened. Bruce and Tony weren't the only ones who caught Loki's hidden meaning. "Even if Agent Barton hadn't told Loki about the building, it's all over the news."

"Stark Tower?" Steve asked, "You mean that big, ugly…" Tony gave the captain a pointed look. It was Pepper's baby after all. Rogers continued, "… building in New York?"

"It's being powered by one of the early Arc prototypes my grad students collaborated on," Miranda explained, pride in her voice, "It's fully self-sustaining."

"That building will run itself for what, a year?" Banner asked.

"With any luck," Tony winked at Prospero and popped another blueberry in his mouth, "Besides her students, I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now."

"So why didn't SHIELD bring him in on the Tesseract Project," Bruce asked Steve, "and why did they kick Miranda off? I mean, what are they even doing in the energy business in the first place?"

Stepping out from behind the large steel table that housed Loki's spear of doom, Tony pulled out his personal holographic tablet, "I should probably look into that once my decryption program finishes breaking into all of SHIELD's secure files."

Miranda smirked. She delicately placed her blue rimmed glasses back on the bridge of her nose. Activating her computer systems and folding her arms, she waited for the other shoe to drop.

"I'm sorry," Steve shook his head and glared at Stark in disbelief, "did you just say…"

"Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge," Tony began to swipe through his screen, "In a few hours we'll know every dirty secret…" He paused and stared at his hand. The readouts weren't making any sense. "Uh, Jarvis? What's going on?" He waited for a beat. When nothing happened, he shook the device and cried, "Jarvis!"

From the little tablet in his hand, the AI's British accent floated up, "I am terribly sorry, sir. I was distracted."

"Distracted?" Suspicious, Tony asked, "By what?"

"It's Ariel, sir. It's been such a long time since the two of us talked. He is the closest thing I have to family, after all."

"Ariel…" Stark turned to the smirking woman leaning against her work bench and cocked an accusatory eyebrow, "Ariel's in there too?"

The smirk turned to a full blown grin as Miranda drank in the look on Stark's face. Utterly priceless. "He's been running a decryption program since before Stuttgart. Been taking it slow though. Less likely to get caught. He's not plowing through SHIELD's mainframe like Jarvis."

"Because SHIELD definitely won't notice two advanced AI's in their systems," Tony scoffed.

"You know," Steve looked at Miranda, anger and disappointment warring across his face, "I expected this kind of thing from him," he pointed a damning finger at Tony. Then turning back to her, he shook his head, "but not from you."

The mutant glared at Rogers, her eerie blue eyes cold and distant. His words hurt her more then she cared to admit. "I am not going to stand here and defend my actions to you," she spat.

Rogers sneered, "And you all wonder why SHIELD doesn't want you two around."

"Hey!" Stark called, grabbing Steve's attention, "An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically… not awesome." Was Tony actually defending her? Miranda shook it off. Weirder thing had happened that week.

Captain Rogers stood back and stared down the group of scientist. They were so wrapped up in their work that they were missing the big picture. He had thought that maybe Miranda would at least understand. Apparently, he had misjudged her. Shaking his head, he explained his thoughts, "I think Loki's trying to wind us up. This is a man who means to start a war, and if we don't stay focused, he'll succeed. We have orders, we should follow them."

"Following is not really my style," was Tony's flippant response. For once, Miranda had to agree with him.

The soldier peered down at the billionaire. With a snide smile, he said, "And your all about style… aren't you?"

Something snapped in Tony at that moment. Everyone could see it. He dropped his perpetually amused façade and stared coldly at the man in front of him, "Of the people in this room, which one is; A., wearing a spangle-ly outfit and, B., not of use?"

This was getting out of hand. Stepping between the two glaring heroes, Miranda pushed them apart. "That's enough," she reprimanded, "Fighting amongst ourselves is exactly what Loki wants."

The woman was right, of course. Fighting each other only made things worse, but Steve couldn't help it. They were supposed to be working with SHIELD, not against it. Weren't they all on the same side?

Banner looked up at Rogers then. For most of the fight, he had stayed out of it. So when he spoke, his earnest words hit home, "Steve, tell me none of this smells funky to you?"

It did. The way Director Fury brushed of the captain's inquiries about Hydra weapons and their possible link to the Tesseract had put him on edge. It deeply troubled him. He was not used to feeling distrust towards his commanding officer. As a soldier, it could get you killed. But right now? He was beginning to think that his world of black and white was becoming a muddled grey.

Disquieted, he told the group, "Just find the cube," and left.

Out in the hallway, Rogers paused, Banner's words eating away at him. But before he could take the first step away from the lab, Miranda called out to him. When she caught up to him, with an authoritative hand, he stopped her from saying another word. He knew what this was about. Sighing, he looked her in the eye and said, "I know why you did what you did. My anger was misplaced. I'm not mad at you." He rested a firm hand on her shoulder, "I'm mad that you felt like you had to. This isn't how it's supposed to be. We're supposed to be better than this." He shook his head. What had happened to his world while he was asleep? When did everything go so wrong?

Turning toward the cargo hold, Captain Rogers made up his mind. He was going to find out for himself if Fury was the kind of man his teammates said he was. And if they were right, then he and the Director were going to have a problem.