The jet lowered gently onto the deck on the helicarrier. I took and deep breath and followed Coulson out as the back of the jet lowered. The deck was bustling with people. Agents were performing running drills, mechanics were working on jets and standing nearby was Agent Natasha talking with a familiar face.

I could feel Coulson practically leap with excitement when he spotted him. Coulson had yet to meet Captain America in person, although he had been present when he was being 'defrosted' after being found in the ice. Unfortunately for Coulson, his communicator beeped at that exact moment and Fury's voice told him he was urgently needed on the bridge. He walked away dejectedly, glancing over his shoulder every few second before disappearing inside.

"Hey Nat!" I called out.

She greeted me with a warm smile as I approached her. "Hi Morgan."

As I looked up at the person who she'd been standing with, I was blown away. The photos I'd seen of him had not done him justice. He was tall, big and handsome.

"Captain Steve Rodgers, this is Agent Morgan Stark," Natasha said.

"Stark?" Steve questioned as he looked me up and down.

"I'm Tony Stark's daughter," I said, confirming his suspicions. "Howard Stark's granddaughter."

"I wasn't aware that Tony Stark had a daughter," he confessed.

"You obviously haven't mastered the internet then yet," I said with a laugh.

"One of the many things I'm working on." He extended his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"You too."

I could see the spark light in his eyes as his memories took him back to the days he spent with Howard Stark. Even though he and my grandfather had been friends, I'd barely heard anything about the man before he'd been discovered frozen. And it didn't take a genius to figure out why. My father spent his whole childhood coming second to a man that he'd never even met. It was like Tony had been the second child and nothing he could do would ever measure up to the favourite. It would be hard not to resent the person you'd been competing with your whole life. I had no idea what the atmosphere was going to be like when dad and Steve finally met.

"Is dad here?" I asked Natasha.

"No he's not. We thought you'd know where he is."

"I'm sure he'll be here soon," I promised.

Suddenly someone who looked very lost stumbled over across to us.

"Dr. Banner," Steve said as a greeting as he extended his hand.

"Yeah, hi," Banner said nervously. After shaking Steve's hand he went back to wringing his fingers as he anxiously looked at his surroundings. "They told me you'd be coming."

"Dr. Banner, I'm Morgan Stark. It's so great to meet you." We quickly shook hands. "I've read most of your papers and they are all extraordinary. I'd love to talk to you about your work on anti-electron collisions."

"Uh, of course." He looked shocked that a teenager wanted to discuss his work but I watched as he registered my last name and realised he wasn't standing in front of a normal teenager. "I'm surprised that your father is allowing you to work on this."

"I've been working for S.H.I.E.L.D for a few months now, specifically conducting research and analysing the Tesseract and its energy potential. But my father isn't aware that I will be here so I'd appreciate it if you kept it quiet until I speak with him." Both Steve and Banner nodded and I was grateful for their agreement.

"So the word is you can find the cube," Steve said.

"Is that the only word on me?" Looking at this nervous, small man, it was hard to imagine he could turn into the raging green monster seen in numerous videos on the internet. It looked like all he needed was a hug, warm milk and a blanket.

"Only word I care about."

The relief on Banners face was clear as those words sunk in. He was beginning to see that people here wouldn't look at him and see his past or his 'alter-ego'. All they would see is a great man trying to help save the world. That was all that mattered.

"Sorry to interrupt but we're going to need to step inside in a minute. It's going to get a little hard to breathe," Natasha said.

A siren echoed across the deck, followed by an announcement for the flight crew to secure the deck. The jets were immediately being strapped down and the crew made their way inside.

"Is this a submarine?" Steve questioned.

The sound of rotors being started up filled the air, the hum intensifying with each passing second.

"Really? They want me in a submerged, pressurised, metal container?" Banner and Steve hesitantly walked to the deck's edge and peered down at the engines emerging from below the water.

Natasha and I shared a knowing smirk as the helicarrier slowly began lifting from the water.

"No, no, this is much worse," Banner proclaimed as they realised exactly what was happening. Wind and salt water whipped around us as the helicarrier continued its steady rise into the sky.

"This way gentlemen," Natasha said, directing Banner and Steve towards a staircase that would lead us down below deck. We followed her inside and walked through the hallways as she pointed out various rooms, such as bedrooms, bathrooms and even a gym/training room. Banner trailed behind Natasha while I'd fallen instep beside Steve. It was odd to be standing next to someone who was not only a national hero but was technically 94 years old. I watched as his eyes scanned his surroundings, taking in every minute detail. I couldn't even begin to imagine how hard it would be adjusting to being in a new century. Everything would be so new and confusing for him. If I suddenly woke up 70 years in the future, I wouldn't even know where to start again. I'd probably spend a large amount of my time crying. Steve had only been awake for one month yet here he was already getting back to the thing he did best; protecting America.

"How old are you Miss Stark?" he suddenly asked.

"Call me Morgan please," I insisted. "I'm 18."

"You're so young," he remarked. "I'm surprised S.H.I.E.L.D hires people your age."

I shrugged. "S.H.I.E.L.D likes to recruit young talent. I was 17 when they first approached me."

"So was your father okay with all of this?"

"Not really, but I'm of legal age now so there's not much he can do about it. He worries about me, like any parent would. Which is why I haven't told him my real role in S.H.I.E.L.D. He thinks I just work out of their LA office. When he finally decides to make an appearance here, I'm going to have to finally tell him the truth about what I do here."

"Which is what?" he asked, intrigued.

"I work partly as a research analyst investigating the Tesseract but my main role in S.H.I.E.L.D is working as a field agent."

I watched Steve's eyes widen in surprise as he looked me up and down. "You're a field agent?" Surprise and disbelief laced his tone.

"Don't let her size fool you," Natasha called out over her shoulder. "She saved my ass last month in Istanbul. Took down an armed suspect with just her switchblade and saved me from getting a bullet in the back of my head."

"Wow," he said, clearly impressed. But as he looked at me again, taking in my 5'6" height and 120 pound frame, he was obviously still wondering how on Earth I manage to overpower anyone. I had originally thought my small size would be a huge disadvantage when fighting a man twice my size but Natasha had quickly taught me how to use it to my advantage.

"Looks can be deceiving," Banner said. He, of course, knew all about that.

"So what was my grandfather like?" I asked. I'd only ever seen photos and a few old video reels of him. I decided to take advantage of the fact that I was standing next to a man who'd personally known him.

Steve looked down at me with raised eyebrows. "You don't know?"

I shook my head. "I never met him. He died before I was born."

"Oh. I'm so sorry."

"Didn't anyone tell you that?"

"They only told me that he died. They didn't go into any detail."

"He and his wife died in a car accident when dad was young," I explained. It was still a sensitive subject for dad. The truth was I didn't know much about either of my grandparents. Growing up, I'd asked Dad about them a few times but I could see the discomfort and grief it bought him, especially when talking about his mother. I probably knew as much about Howard and Maria Stark as anybody with an internet connection.

"I'm so sorry," Steve said sincerely.

"That's alright. It wasn't anybody's fault."

"He was a good man. And brave. He once flew me to Austria to go behind enemy lines. We were suddenly being fired upon and he didn't blink. He helped save a lot of men that night."

I beamed as I listened to him speak. It seemed like the desire to help people ran through the Stark veins.

"He never gave up on you, you know," I said. "He always believed he would find you one day. Even on the day he died, he still had people out there searching for you."

"I was told that. I wish he'd let me go and lived his life."

"He couldn't. You were his obsession. His constant search for you took its toll on dad though. I should probably warn you about him. He can be a bit of an asshole at times, and because his dad spent most of his life searching for you, he kind of grew up resenting you a bit. I'm not sure how he's going to be around you."

Steve nodded gratefully. "Thanks for the heads up."

The hallway ended and we stepped out into the vast bridge. The entire front and side walls of the bridge were window panels, allowing us to see the clear blue sky ahead of us and the immense crystal sea now far below us. Rows of computers, each with a S.H.I.E.L.D agent stationed in front of them, lined either side of the room. Each agent had their job to do as the helicarrier continued gaining height. Orders were being spoken into headsets and fingers typed furiously fast across keyboards. Situated in the middle of the room was a large desk and in front of that were the controls, where Nick Fury currently stood.

This was not my first time in the helicarrier so I wasn't looking around with the same awe and amazement that Steve and Banner were. Steve walked over to stand in front of the controls, gazing out at the clouds as they passed by. He pulled out a ten dollar note and passed it to Fury as he walked by.

"Doctor, thank you for coming," Fury said as he extended a hand to Banner.

"Thanks for asking nicely. So, how long am I staying?"

"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the wind."

"Where are we with that?" I asked.

"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cellphones, laptops. If it's connected to a satellite it's eyes and ears for us," Coulson said.

"It's still not going to be enough to find them in time," Natasha said, her eyes glancing down at the image of Agent Barton on one of the computer screens.

"You have to narrow your field. How many spectrometers do you have access to?" Banner asked.

"How many are there?"

"Call every lab you know. Tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm, basic cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places." Banner took off his roughened coat and neatly folded it over his arms. "Do you have somewhere for me to work?"

"Agent Stark, would you show Dr Banner to his laboratory please," Fury requested.

I nodded and motioned for Banner to follow me. "Lab's this way."

As we stepped back out into the hallway, I watched his eyes dart around the walls. Obviously the man was apprehensive about being confined in such a small place with hundreds of other people and no obvious ways out except for an 8000 foot fall into the ocean below. I had no idea how he had control over 'the other guy' but I gathered keeping him calm and relaxed would help.

"The lab's been fully set up for you," I told him as we walked side by side. "It's got a neutrino detector, gammasphere, the works."

Banner nodded as his mind began calculating all the things he needed to get to work on. We had lapsed back into silence when he suddenly said, "Can I ask you a personal question?"

"Of course."

"You graduated from MIT when you were 16, you read papers on anti-electron collisions and your heiress to a company worth over a billion dollars. With so much available to you, why did you want to work as a S.H.I.E.L.D agent?"

I took a moment to digest his question as I unlocked the lab doors.

"I wanted to challenge myself," I answered. As the doors to the lab slid open I stepped inside and Banner tentatively did the same. He looked around at the shiny, barely touched equipment in the room before his eyes landed back on me. "My life was…predictable before. I never stepped out of line, I did what was expected of me. I went to college, I was going to learn the ropes of my father's business and one day take over. Then life changed. I realised I wanted more. And then S.H.I.E.L.D came along. When they approached me, they saw more in me than I ever did. I could have just been a lab technician or an electrical engineer, doing a 9-5 job for them and going home safe and sound at night. But they had more planned for me. They pushed me. Showed me I was capable of things I'd never thought possible. I became a S.H.I.E.L.D agent to help other people, but I also did it for myself."

He nodded in understanding as he neatly folded his jacket and placed it on a counter top. It felt good to finally put into words my reasons for joining S.H.I.E.L.D. I wondered if Banner understood me. Even if he didn't, it was still nice to talk to someone about it.

"Can I ask you a personal question?" I inquired.

"You want to know how I control him," Banner deduced.

I nodded, suddenly feeling guilty that I'd asked. "I'm sorry, it's none of my business."

"It's okay," he reassured me. "It, uh…it takes a lot of practice. Some days I'm not sure I have as much control over him as I think I do."

"Is that why you were living in such a remote area?"

"Yes. He's already hurt enough people."

"I really admire you for what you were doing out there. Even after everything that's happened to you, you still spend your life trying to help others."

"Well I wasn't going to let him control what little life I have left."

We settled into a comfortable silence as Banner began working on his tracking algorithm and I started turning on and calibrating some of the machines he would need. I found myself every so often glancing over at Banner as he worked. It was still hard to grasp the idea that this brilliant, small, harmless man could easily turn into a murderous, raging, green monster. I think it wasn't something I'd truly accept until I saw the transformation for myself, something which I hoped would never happen.

I heard a quick tap on the door and looked over to find Natasha in the doorway. "Let's go Morgan."

"Where we headed?"

"Stuttgart, Germany. We got a hit on Loki." I could tell from the look in her eyes she was hoping Loki wasn't the only one we'd find in Germany. It must be excruciating knowing your best friend is out there, under the control of a mad man who could make him do or say anything. Despite her attempts to make it seem like she was holding up alright, her desperation to get Barton back was written all over her.

"Alright, I'll meet you in the jet in 5."

"It's highly unlikely Loki will have the cube on him so keep working on that algorithm," she said to Banner.

"It should be done within the hour," he said as he looked up from his laptop.

Natasha nodded and spun around to leave. I began to follow her and was almost out the door before I stopped in my tracks. "I know Fury already said this, but thank you for helping us," I said. "You're going to help save a lot of people when we get Loki and the Tesseract back." Just before I slipped out the door, I saw Banner look up with a ghost of a smile on his face.

I just wanted to remind Banner of why he was here. Even though he's cooped up in what might feel like a small metal box surrounded by people he think he could hurt, he's still here for a good reason. He's here not just to get back the Tesseract but to save countless lives.