Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to the Avengers or any of the characters (except Penny).
Btw, I'd really love to hear what you gotta say about this story!
Chapter 1: Bruce
Penny was eating at the science floor cafeteria, making doodles in her notebook. Bruce said hi and she moved her dish a bit to the right to make some room for him. It was an unspoken rule of comradeship between them.
She became a regular in that floor around a year back, after the "Incident" in New York. She was the first in the mornings and the last to leave. Some days, he was sure she had some small bunk somewhere with her name on it. It was puzzling to see someone so young so motivated in their line of work.
"What are we working on today?" he adjusted his glasses. She smiled, looked tired and sighed. "Same as always... I'm stuck. I figured out most of the formula and I'm pretty sure I'm missing a chunk. I mean, something is clearly missing and I can't sort it out". She got some noodles and cheese and chewed slowly.
"Want me to check it out? I may see something in it" She passed on her notebook and kept her friendly expression "Wanna try some? I made extra just in case you wanted to try'em out". He snorted, grabbed a few noodles with his fork and made a yummy gesture. She giggled "Do you ever sleep Penny?"
"Sleep? Very unproductive. I have to make this work. Fast." Her expression and tone changed, she seemed worried. "Pen, you need some rest. When was the last time you slept in your own bed?"
She cleared her throat. "Monday. I think." He thought it best to leave it at that. "Today is Friday Penny. This formula is... different." He was on to her, damn it.
"I wouldn't say "different" it's a different approach, that's all". He went through the first page, it had some subject statistics. "So, you recreated this numbers with Jarvis' mainframe?" She took the notebook from him in a non-subtle way. "No, I mean, Dr. Erskine didn't have Jarvis and pulled this off in the forties. We don't need a computer, we need a brain."
"Well, that's why you're on it Dr. Morse." Fury's voice was harsh and unfriendly. Bruce resumed his lunch in his own plate. "Director Fury". He stood still right in front of her. She frowned and gave him her notebook with the statistics. "Not improving?"
Her concerned look came back "Nope. But I'm almost there. I know I am." Bruce thought seeing Fury showing some sort of emotion in his face, only lasting a second. Maybe his eyes were failing him. Fury gave her back her notes "You have until the end of the month." "That's two weeks from now! Why do you put her a deadline?"
She took her notebook back while getting up and left the noodles for Bruce, ignoring his attempts of getting her off the hook "I'll go on right away."
Bruce rushed up and grabbed her by the arm "No, Pen, you need to get some food and rest." Both Fury and Penny were startled at Bruce's sudden rush. "She hadn't been to her home in 4 days. Whatever you need this formula for, it can wait. Now eat."
"No, it can't. I need to work it out!" Heighten your voice to a potential Hulk: bad idea.
"You need to finish your lunch. NOW!" His brown eyes had a slim line of green around. Fury placed his hand on top of his gun. "Bruce, you don't scare me, c'mon." Still, she grabbed her fork and sat down.
She looked at Fury, who wasn't entirely convinced that Bruce was being himself. "I'll go on once I'm done eating. And I'll keep working at home" Fury cleared his throat "That's confidential information." Without looking up she said "Did that line ever work with Stark?" Bruce snorted yet again and swallowed water. "You're not Iron man Dr. Morse." She looked up defiantly "Nope, but you need me to figure this one out."
Sleep deprived Penny was as moody as Stark, he realized he had experience in this mediation area after all. "Hey, why don't we all calm down a bit? Fury, we all take work home. Give her the night off, she hadn't slept much." Fury raised his eyebrow "Dr. Banner" Bruce's eyes were still slightly green, Fury knew better than upsetting him.
Suddenly he was losing the high intimidating ground with all the members of his team.
He placed his fists on the table and lowered his face to her level "This agency invested a lot of time and effort on you Dr. Morse. You have two weeks. After that, we pull the plug on this project." She dropped the fork, she wasn't hungry anymore. "Understood sir."
He took off without checking Bruce's eyes again. She took a deep breath in order to keep her quickly reddening teary eyes. He grabbed her hand "What's all this about Penny? You can tell me."
She gave his hand a quick squeeze. "Thanks Bruce, but I can't". She took a deep breath and stared at her noodles "Maybe I should go hit something."
"That always worked for me."
