Disclaimer: Sadly, I own nothing related to Marvel, either the comics, movies, TV shows, etc. All of that belongs to the Disney Corporation (though I might try kidnapping Captain America and Hawkeye some day, just for fun).

AN: Shorter chapter this time around, but it's just how this part played out. Please enjoy, and don't forget to review! Thanks!

Chapter 7: Hanging with the Geniuses:

I guessed that it would be at least an hour or two before I'd see any of the others, so I put together a list of quick lessons for Cap, in case he had time for them. He probably wouldn't, since he was busy trying to save the world, but I liked to be prepared.

Once that was done, I grabbed a quick bite to eat, and sat down to see what there was to watch on the television/monitor/screen on my wall. To my surprise, I found a few movies saved into the system, some of which hadn't even been released yet. Given that this was super-secret government agency, however, I suppose that shouldn't have come as a shock –though it did make me feel a bit spoiled, having the chance to watch them before the public did.

After a few hours, I tossed aside my remote and went looking for everyone. I guessed that Bruce would be back in his lab by now, so I headed that way, hoping that he would drop a few hints as to what had been discussed in their little "super hero" meeting.

I was right, of course –Bruce was there, but he had company. Working with him was Tony Stark, who was busy throwing around scientific terms and ideas that went way over my head. It was kind of fun watching the two of them go back and forth over ideas, and Bruce seemed to enjoy having another scientist to talk and work with.

"Oh, Adena," Bruce said with a kind smile, "Come to join us science nerds?"

I had to laugh. "Kind of, even though I'm no science nerd." I felt my stomach grumble. "Actually, I think I'm going to raid the cafeteria. Anyone want anything?"

Tony held up his hand. "If they've got something snackable and in a bag, I'll take it. Preferably chips or fruit snacks, given the choice."

Bruce shrugged. "Same for me."

Leaving them to it, I turned and went in search of munchies.

When I got back, it was to find Cap arguing with Tony. Rolling my eyes, I sighed and stepped into the room.

"Jarvis has been hacking into the system ever since I took my tour near Fury's computers," Tony was saying. "I want to know what he's got planned in regards to the Cube, particularly after we find it for him and help him retrieve it."

"That's not how it works," Cap snapped at him. "We have orders. We should follow them."

"Um, I'm not a good little soldier boy like you, so no, I won't follow them," Tony replied, keeping cool. "Besides, Fury is a spy –his secrets have secrets. What I am concerned about specifically is what they have in mind for the Cube. I doubt it's for renewable energy, like he claims."

Bruce awkwardly cleared his throat. "Stark's probably right. With his company researching clean energy, if Fury's people were trying to use the Cube for renewable power, why didn't they bring Stark in earlier to help with research and development?"

Cap looked like he was going to take a swing, which meant I had to step in, preferably before someone got hurt. "Cap?" I asked, getting his attention. "What's going on?"

He scowled in Tony's direction, and shook his head. "Nothing," he replied. "Just find the Cube," he ordered the others before leaving the room.

As he vanished down the hall, I looked over at Tony, who looked mildly annoyed. "Seriously, I can't believe that's the guy my dad always went on about," he complained, heading over to a computer.

"Your dad?" I asked, offering him a bag of fruit-and-yogurt clusters.

"Yeah, apparently Dad knew the good Captain way back in WWII," he replied, taking the snack bag while simultaneously going over whatever science stuff he was looking at. "Wouldn't stop going on about how great a hero the man was."

I took a seat on a convenient chair, out of the flow of foot traffic, and opened a bag of chips and a soda I'd brought. "So, your family and Cap go way back?" I asked, popping a chip into my mouth.

Tony shrugged. "Dad was one of the scientists who helped make Golden Boy there what he is. Apparently he got to know the guy and liked what he stood for, not to mention all of the great things he did for the nation."

Swallowing my mouthful of chip, I had to smirk a little. "You're not jealous, are you? Because with the way you bait him, it's almost like you've got a sibling rivalry thing going on with him."

"Oh, please," Tony replied, rolling his eyes. "The mere thought of possibly being related to the guy in the spangled outfit is too nauseating for words."

I shrugged. "I just tell it how I see it," I innocently replied, eating another chip. "Not my fault you've got issues."

He looked like he was going to say something snarky to me, but decided against it. I smiled at him again. "Besides, Cap's a good guy. He's not all suave like you, but he's a good man. Just try to be decent to him, will you? It's not his fault he was a Popsicle for seven decades and isn't all caught up."

"Actually," Tony said, pointing at me, "it is, technically, his fault. Crashed the plane into the Arctic with his own hands."

"To save the world," I reminded him. "That's a good reason to crash a plane into the ice."

"Ah ha," Tony replied, waving a finger as though he were chastising me. "The point is, he did it under his own free will, and under his own power. Therefore, it is his fault for being a Capsicle."

"Uh, excuse me?" Bruce said, waving a hand at us. "Hi, I'm here, too, you know."

Laughing, I waved back at him. "Hi," I said cheerfully. "I've got snacks, if you want any. You looked busy, and I didn't want to interrupt to give them to you, in case what you were doing was important."

Bruce smiled and came to snag a bag of chips and a bottled water from me. "Thanks," he said, taking a seat. "Sometimes I get so wrapped up in my work, I forget to eat."

I shrugged. "Well, that's what I'm here for, I guess: playing teacher and caretaker to the world's heroes."

"There are worse jobs," Tony commented. "Besides, it's kind of nice having a normal person around here. All of those agents hanging around kind of make me annoyed."

"I second that," Bruce put in, raising a hand while the other held his chip bag.

"Well, it's nice to know I'm being useful," I muttered, feeling more than a bit resentful of my current situation. "I honestly have no idea why Director Fury wanted Cap to lug me along on this crazy stunt, but here I am –utterly useless. I'm supposed to be teaching Cap about modern life, but he's busy with other things. It's starting to drive me a bit crazy, having nothing to do."

Both men looked a bit thoughtful. "You could hang out here with us," Tony suggested, popping a handful of food into his mouth.

It was a nice gesture, but I seriously doubted that I'd have much to talk to these geniuses about. "Thanks, but science and technology aren't really my strong points," I said with a smile. "And you guys look busy doing science-stuff."

Tony waved my words aside as he threw his empty snack bag into the trash. "We can talk music, sports, TV, whatever you want," he said, wiping his hands on his jeans. "Multi-tasking is a breeze for a guy like me. Science can be fun to talk about, but how about those Lakers?"

I had to laugh. "Sorry, not a sports fan, either," I told him. "Music, though, is another subject entirely."

For the next half hour or so, Tony and I tossed some regular conversation back and forth. At first, I could hardly believe that I was hanging out with Tony Stark, of all people. My brother worshiped the man, if not because of the Iron Man suit, then for the glamorous lifestyle he had. If my brother were here, he'd be asking Tony about how many cars he had, and whether or not he could 'test drive' them.

I, however, kind of liked the man behind the brains and the wealth –well, sort of. Tony could be a pain in the ass when he wanted to be, but he was still a nice guy who was funny and seemed to enjoy life. Sure, he drank a bit much sometimes, but he ran his business fairly well and seemed to care about his employees. He also traveled the world for fun, business, and charity, and was trying to do right with his company by focusing on making things other than weaponry.

It was fun, talking to him about all of this. I asked about his world travels, and he told me all about racing in Monte Carlo, sunbathing in France, and having pizza in Italy. He also said that, if I ever got the sense knocked into me and decided to quit working for the government, he would hire me to work at Stark Industries.

"I'm sure I could find a place for you somewhere," he offered as he made another visit to the computer screens. "In fact, I think my assistant could use an assistant of her own."

I perked up at that. "You mean Pepper Potts?" I asked, interested in spite of myself. "I've read about her and seen her on TV. She seems nice."

"Yup, she is," Tony said with a nod. "If you ever need work, I'm sure Pepper would be happy to have you."

Great as that sounded, I gently let go of that little daydream. "That won't be for a while," I cautiously told him. "I really do want to help Cap fit into the world."

"Yeah, that I don't get," he said, looking over at me. "Why help the poor guy when there are tons of people who can do it better?"

"I'm helping him because Director Fury asked me to," I replied with a shrug. "And because Cap needs someone more sympathetic and in touch with the real world."

Since Tony looked invested in what he was looking at, I let conversation go at that point, and sat back to actually look around and see what it was he and Bruce were working on. Looking over at a far table, my gaze landed on a very strange object lying on top of it. "What's that?"

Tony followed my line of sight. "Ah," he said, motioning me closer. "That would be Loki's troublesome little scepter. He had it on him when he popped over to Earth, and according to Fury, he used it to take over the minds of a few key agents."

I shivered. "Really? That's kind of creepy." Seriously, mind control was not cool.

Meanwhile, Bruce, who until now had been so focused on his work that he didn't really acknowledge we were there, looked up. "Creepy, yes, but also interesting. I'd love to know how it works, but so far, we aren't getting anywhere."

Since I didn't want the conversation to go any deeper into the secret government work they were doing (and to stay clear of any science lingo they might use), I changed the subject.

"So, Tony, who's Jarvis?" I asked. "I heard you talk about him earlier."

"Jarvis is not a 'who,' Adena," he said, reaching into his back pocket. "Jarvis is a 'what.'"

For a second, I thought he was handing me a phone, but it was actually more like a palm computer. After the object was in my hand, it popped open, and a British-accented voice greeted me with, "Good afternoon, Miss Adena." It sounded so human that I freaked out and almost dropped it.

"This is Jarvis," Tony explained. "He's an advanced computer system I designed. He runs my houses, almost like a butler or housekeeper. Better, actually, because I don't have to pay him, and he doesn't talk about needing a raise or days off."

Fascinated, I looked at the device even closer. "So, he's with you all the time?" I asked.

Tony shrugged. "Pretty much. He's loaded inside my armor, where he can keep track of my vital signs, power levels, that sort of thing." He paused. "And because he's better than talking with open air. Well, most of the time, anyway. Very handy, if I do say so myself."

"Thank you, sir," the computer replied.

"Back to work, Jarvis," Tony ordered, his hand moving to take the device from me. Suddenly, he stopped. "Actually, why don't you play around with him for a bit?"

I stared at him. "Seriously?"

Tony nodded. "Sure. He can do multiple things at the same time. While he focuses on hacking into Fury's computer, he can also keep you busy for hours, if you know what you want him to do or if you want him to answer questions. Go ahead."

I looked at the miniature computer in my hands, holding it as though it were the most precious thing in the world –which it might well be. In my book, anyone who could create their own personal computer system/artificial intelligence was an absolutely cool genius!

"Just talk to him, and he'll talk back," Tony instructed as he toyed with whatever he was looking at on the screen in front of him. "Jarvis, play nice with Adena, okay? She's got my permission to get answers to her questions." He thought about that for a second. "Well, most answers. No personal or company info, Jarvis; remember that!"

"As you wish, sir," the British voice replied.

"Now that's classy," I said, looking at the device. "British accents are cool."

"Thank you, Miss Adena," the computer said. "How I may help you?"

Now, I thought the talking Apple phones were cool; Jarvis was about a billion times cooler.

Besides the slick human-sounding voice, Jarvis could tell me a bunch of facts about Tony Stark that I never knew –but not anything Tony didn't want me to know. Once I figured that out, I decided to be nice and only ask about his car collection, the numerous houses he had, and a few other things that my brother would want me to ask.

When I got tired of talking about Tony, I began asking all sorts of other stuff about his company, like what they were up to now in regards to reliable, renewable energy. I also asked what kinds of cool gadgets the Iron Man suit had, but got only a short list; it probably wouldn't be a good thing if others knew all the weapons that Iron Man had in his arsenal.

After a while, though, I did get a little bored talking to a machine, and from the way my legs were going numb, I needed to stretch my legs, very badly.

Forcing myself up from my chair, I stretched, popping a few muscles as I moved. Neither scientist really paid much attention to me until I tapped Tony on the arm to offer him back his pocket-sized Jarvis.

"Why don't you keep him for a little bit?" he offered, smiling as I stared at him. "I have him on a couple of these computers, so it's no problem. Go ahead and hold on to that for a while. Jarvis will tell you if I need him back."

Holding tighter to the item in question, I smiled. "You know, I might get used to having one of these for myself. Too bad I'm computer-challenged, or else I'd make one for me!"

The way Tony's eyes lit up told me that he'd just had a brain storm. "Tell you what," he said, coming to lean against a table beside me. "Once this whole thing with Fury is over, I'll make you your own little Jarvis computer. Forget getting an Apple phone; I'll make you a phone all your own, fully-loaded with Jarvis on it. How about that?"

I was so excited, I almost squealed. "Really? You'd do that?" He nodded. "You do know that I'm going to hold you to that, right?"

"Yeah, I know," he said. "Now, go away. Bruce and I have more science stuff to do."

Tucking Jarvis into my pocket, I headed out into the hallway, no set destination in mind. Who knew that Tony Stark could be such a nice guy?

AN: I know, shorter chapter this time around, but the next one will be longer, I promise. Review?