Chapter Three

Bruce waited patiently by the corner of the street for Adam to reappear. It was getting dark over Brooklyn, the lights of Manhattan lit up the distant skyline.

"Anything?" Bruce asked for the fifth time as the smaller blond man appeared.

"He's not here," answered Adam as the pair began to walk away. Tony was looking at security cameras to try and find any glimpse of the man Fury had sent them after, Steve was making rounds of the streets he knew the same as them. Only Bruce had paired up with Adam who had an advantage. SHIELD's source, whom Bruce suspected was an ex or current girlfriend of the man they were tracking, had given them a scarf, that although covered in perfume had enough scent for Adam to volunteer to try and trace. So far, it hadn't worked and they had had five dead ends.

Bruce knew that SHIELD could handle the arms dealer they were tracking, they had made the link to Tony just to get him on board. The only reason the Avengers were on the case instead was to keep them busy and out of trouble. Fury had learnt the hard way that a group of superheroes with a lot of time on their hands would cause some trouble. He didn't want them messing around with Hornet or something similar again.

"Steve, do you have anything?" Bruce asked once the super soldier remembered how to answer his phone.

"I'm not sure. I've found the car Tony detailed, but there's no one around."

"I've got you there, Cap," Tony chimed in. "Oh, and Bruce, you should probably change your pin, at least give me a challenge when trying to tap into your phones." Bruce rolled his eyes, getting a smirk from Adam who still looked slightly unsure of Tony's quirks. "I can keep an eye on it from here, it's about to rain so you guys might want to step inside." As soon as Tony said that, the heavens opened.

"Okay, see you tomorrow, Steve." Tony hung them up and Bruce followed Adam back to the car. Inside they dripped water everywhere and Bruce had to dry his hands on the seat before he could hold the steering wheel. He say Adam look away again as he started the engine. It was the same look he had been given the first time they set out in the car.

"Not a fan of cars?" Bruce asked after a while.

"Actually, I'd rather be the one driving," Adam answered, still looking away.

"I don't mind if you want to take the wheel." Adam sighed, his whole frame moving slightly.

"You can't go on the subway; I can't control a car or machinery. Do you remember what I said, back in Orlando? About the side effects. The main one is epilepsy. It's a pain, it won't come for months, then all it takes is a few lights, too much drink or not enough food and I get a fit. If I was still on the radar they'd have taken away my driving licence." Bruce was quiet for a moment, Adam had mentioned side effects and he said they could look into it, without really having time to explain them as Bruce handed him the files back in Orlando.

"We'll work on it." Adam gave him a disbelieving smile.

"Why should you, when you're working on your own, condition?" That was true, Bruce still looked for a cure.

"Because Steve needs you more than he needs a normal me," Bruce said at last. Steve needed a stable Greyhound more than an average physicist. So Bruce would follow his Captain's lead.

"Then thank you." They drove in silence until they reached the bridge and joined the traffic jam. "I don't know what I can do to help," Adam said at last. "I'm not a doctor or a scientist. Yates chose me because I was the fastest runner in his regiment; he thought he wouldn't have to add much to make a difference."

"It's okay, we can work it out. I can ask Maria if there's a specialist at SHIELD, someone who knows more about what Yates was doing than I do." Bruce had the basic training to be a medic, he knew what he was doing but anyone with a medical degree knew more.

"You've got a great girlfriend there." Adam gave him a grin.

"We're not a couple," Bruce said quickly. He needed to work on that, not only did Clint like Maria but now apparently Adam thought there was something there too. Bruce knew better than to let anyone close enough to get hurt, and he had to admit, to hurt him again. He had been running for too long, sometimes he had a selfish moment.

"Right, sorry." There was a heavy uncomfortable silence in the traffic. Idly Bruce wondered how many people had had the same discussion with Natasha, only the probably presence of knives would make the atmosphere even more awkward.

Bruce sighed as he got out of the tower lift. As much as having some team work to do was good, he wished SHIELD would sort it out themselves. The four of them didn't exactly know what they were doing. It was probably Fury's version of team-building day in the office without having any aliens on hand.

"So updates," Tony chimed in, appearing out of nowhere in a blur of noise. "No one's come near the car, it's raining and Juliette got Spanish and Portuguese mixed up in Cuba."

"That's not hard to do," Bruce muttered. Especially when no one signposts the border.

"So what exactly are they looking for again?" Adam asked nervously. Bruce felt sorry for him, he was new and half of them half didn't want him there, and he probably thought he had just annoyed the Hulk.

"Some girl called Hemlock, except they're going after the people who created her: Horizon. They've been looking for years and they found a base in Cuba. Oh, and Bruce take a look at this." Tony handed Bruce a pad without stopping mid-flow. "So someone did some research, and our friendly neighborhood Agent has something hidden." Bruce looked at it and shrugged.

"Coincidence?" The look Tony gave him spoke volumes. "Seriously, Tony you can't make that sort of accusation without knowing anything about it."

"Of course I can, I do it all the time." Tony took the pad back and sauntered off. "You should ask your girlfriend about it, she might know." Bruce didn't even bother rectifying that, Tony hadn't listened the first three hundred times.