Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Thank you for my beta, WithinHerHeart :)


Chapter 9

Tony followed Bruce and Dahlia back to the lab, claiming that he needed to be "where the magic happened". To be honest, she suspected that Fury would have sent the billionaire to the lab anyway, regardless of what he wanted to do, for the main intention of getting him out of the way. She didn't need to be a genius to know that Nick Fury and Tony Stark had issues with one another. And she didn't mind sharing the space with the other man. Despite the image the headlines often painted, Tony was actually easy to get a long with – a little overconfident, yes, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. And it was clear that a friendship had been formed speedily between the two geniuses.

From a third person perspective, Dahlia found it almost adorable how quickly Bruce and Tony fell into sync with each other. They didn't talk much, but they didn't need to. They were in their element, their natural habitat, and it was simple to adjust to extra bodies. And, when Bruce passed Tony a screwdriver when he neared, without the man even opening his mouth, Dahlia was beginning to suspect that they could read each other's minds. It was like a dance, she mused, a very science based and computer orientated dance.

Dahlia wasn't really apart of the dance. She was seated at her desk, focusing on the data that had gathered on her screen and noting down the readings from the analysis of the sceptre they'd recovered with Loki, which was currently strapped to one of the desk tops under an intense biometric scan. Tony had offered her a bag of blueberries upon arrival – because apparently, he keeps packets of the sweet fruit in his inside jacket pocket – and she chewed steadily. She tried to focus on the information in front of her, she really did, but Bruce could be seen directly through the transparent computer screen and it was such an easy distraction.

It frustrated her how much she was affected by him, a man she barely even knew. She'd never let herself get this enamoured by another person before, let alone someone she was working with and definitely not someone that S.H.I.E.L.D kept on their radar. So what was so special about Bruce Banner?

Realising a heavy sigh, Dahlia tried to focus on the screen once more and chewed harshly on a handful of blueberries, like the strong movements would help her keep her in check.

Professionalism, she reminded herself, keep control. You can do this.

Her eyes slid to the back of the room slowly.


Bruce was busy adjusting the configuration of the gamma radiation detectors, to the same unusual radiation reading that had been picked up from the sceptre. His glasses sat on the bridge of his nose and his torso was practically bent over the desktop as he focused. Or at least, he tried to, but it was hard to give something your full attention when you were aware of a gaze on you.

He could feel her eyes on him, bringing goosebumps to his skin and heat to the back of his neck. He shifted awkwardly under the attention and cleared his throat awkwardly, as if it could relieve the tension that had fallen - well, it had fallen on him. For the life of him, he couldn't think of a reason why Dahlia would be so interested in him. His first thought was out of self preservation; that she was watching to make sure he didn't get too angry and call the Other Guy, but she said she hadn't read his file and he believed her. But what other explanation was there? It couldn't be that she was…attracted…to him…right?

Automatically, he pulled away from that thought. He mentally reprimanded himself. What was wrong with him? Why would she possibly be attracted to him? She was…she was his complete opposite. She could do much better, he told himself. Besides, he wasn't that lucky.

And even if she did, it would change completely once she found out about…the other guy. She'd run screaming in the opposite direction – like everyone else did.

Maybe that was why he hadn't told her about Hulk, because he knew what would happen once she knew and…

'And you want to keep Dahlia around for as long as possible,' a small voice in the back of his mind added knowingly. He couldn't deny it.

Dahlia's eyes were back on him. His resistance wavering, Bruce allowed his eyes to lift over the rim of his glasses to meet with hers. Her light green orbs widened ever so slightly at being caught and pink dusted her cheeks with her embarrassment, but she didn't look away.

A smile quirked at his lips and he watched the soft curve of her own when she returned it hesitantly. Nervously, she traced her tongue along her bottom lip and bit down. He found himself following the path before he was entirely aware what he was doing.

Deep inside him, Hulk peeked curiously at the girl and he let out a small growl. Panic surged through him, and he clamped down roughly on the feeling, blocking it out, the effort winding him a little. Bruce forced himself to look away, instead watching his trembling hands holding onto the edge of the desk in support.

Too close, way too close…


Unable to stop it, hurt rose in the centre of her chest when Bruce broke their staring contest, a horrified look on his face. Yeah, well, that says it all doesn't it? He's disgusted by you, a little voice told her spitefully, and this is before he knows what you've done. Imagine his face if he did…

Dahlia shook the thoughts away firmly. She hadn't thought like that in so long, she wouldn't break her streak now. Shoving another handful of blueberries into her mouth in an attempt to break the lump in her throat, she once again tried to continue with her work, making quick and brief notes, but it didn't last long.

The image of Bruce, staring so intensely back at her, seemed to shoot right to the forefront of her mind. Even the memory could cause her heart to elevate and she cursed herself for that. She shouldn't have let herself get caught – everything would be awkward now – he was probably laughing at her right now – but his eyes had just been so captivating.

They'd seemed too vulnerable when they'd first locked, as if he wasn't entirely sure whether he was doing the right thing. Then it had seemed to melt into his contentment, she guessed, something peaceful and warm. She could remember the way they'd darkened, with lust that she had obviously imagined, and the shiver had yet to leave her. And then, for a moment, before he had pulled way from her, she could have sworn – it must have been seeing things – it was only for a split second, she couldn't be sure – but it was such a bright colour of green, almost unnatural yet primitive, and she was ashamed of how attractive she found it.

But she would deny entirely when Steve suggested it, that it was her pondering over the man that had distracted her – and it was why she hadn't noticed Tony sneaking up behind Bruce with a screwdriver and jab sharply into his side.

"Ow!" Bruce yelped, jerking away from the tool and shooting Tony a look that clearly said 'what the hell are you doing?'

"Hey, are you nuts?" Steve's voice filtered into the room, demanding an answer. Dahlia sat up straighter in her chair, flustered, and wondered how long he had been standing behind her.

Tony ignored him completely, focusing a critical stare on his fellow scientist. "You really do have a lid on it don't you? What's your secret? Mellow Jazz? Bongo drums? Huge bag of weed?"

"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve continued, clearly flabbergasted.

"Funny things are."

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny. No offense, Doc," Steve apologised as an afterthought.

"Yeah, it-it's alright. I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle…pointy things," Bruce assured with an almost bitter smile at the end, turning back to his work as if that was the end of the discussion.

Dahlia blinked in confusion. Threatening the life of everyone on this ship? Huge, green rage monster? She was seriously starting to regret not reading that file when Phil had offered it to her.

"You're tiptoeing, big man," Tony laughed, "You need to strut."

"And you need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark," Steve told him firmly.

"You think I'm not?" he shot back, "Why did Fury call us in? 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 Fury's hiding something?" Steve questioned his voice a mixture of resentment, disbelief and doubt.

"Steve, Fury always seems to be hiding something," Dahlia told him gently, "Has ever since I met him."

"See, Dahlia agrees with me," Tony stated smugly, "Fury's a spy. Captain, he's the spy. His secrets have secrets." He tossed a handful of berries into his mouth and gestured towards Bruce, "It's buggin' him too, isn't it?"

Bruce looked up, surprised by the sudden converge of eyes towards him. "Uh…I-I just wanna finish my work here, and…"

"Doctor?" Steve interrupted, inquiringly.

Bruce's eyes scanned the three faces, taking in the expressions – Tony's encouraging one, Steve's curious one, and Dahlia's imploring one – before sighing his defeat, removing his glasses. "…A 'warm light for all mankind'," he quoted, "Loki's jab at Fury about the cube…"

"I heard it."

"Well, I think it was meant for you," He pointed at Tony, who offered him the bag of blueberries. He hesitated for a moment before taking a few and continuing, "Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the tower, it was still all over the news."

"The Stark Tower? That big, ugly…"

"Steve!" Dahlia hissed out a warning, as Tony glared darkly at him. Silently, she wondered what had happened to anger her usually polite and respectful friend.

"…building in New York?"

"I remember reading about this," Dahlia leant back in her chair, thoughtfully, "It's powered by arc reactor technology right? The first real self-sustaining energy source. I read that companies all over the world were lining up to make a deal for this new development."

"Only a few hundred at the moment, but it's just a prototype at the moment. Just wait until the real thing," Tony smirked at her before turning to Steve, "You see, I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now – that's what he's getting at."

"So, if S.H.E.I.L.D is supposedly using the Tesseract to develop a new source of 'clean' energy…" Dahlia started.

"…Why didn't they go to Tony first? Exactly," Bruce finished with a small nod, "And what's S.H.I.E.L.D doing in the energy business in the first place?"

"I should probably look into that," Tony stated as he crossed the room to the workstation that he had taken for his own, "Once my decryption program finishes breaking into all of S.H.I.E.L.D's secure files."

Steve's lips pressed into a frown. "I'm sorry, did you say-"

"JARVIS has been running it since I hit the bridge," Tony interrupted to explain, fingers sliding across the screen to check the progress of the program, "In a few hours, I'll know every dirty secret SHIELD has ever tried to hide."

Dahlia got up from her seat and scooted around Steve's towering form to examine the work of the program. "Very impressive Mr. Stark," she hummed her approval.

"Lia, don't encourage him," Steve ordered, a disappointed expression on his face.

"Don't look at me like that," she told him pointedly, "I've never met anyone who can crack S.H.I.E.L.D's firewall, and trust me I've been trying to get access to my real life as soon as I was recruited. I'm allowed to be impressed."

"I like you," Tony grinned. "Blueberry?" he offered.

Dahlia shot him an amused look and accepted the offer of treats.

"Yet you're confused as to why they didn't want you around," Steve shot at Tony.

"An intelligence agency that fears intelligence?" he started, his expression hardening once more, "Historically: not awesome."

"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 focussed, he'll succeed," Steve chided, "We have orders. We should follow them."

"Following's not really my style," Tony shrugged, nonchalant.

"And you're all about style, aren't you?" Steve spat back.

Tony took a threatening step closer. "Of the people in this room, which one is a) wearing a spangly outfit and b) not of any use?"

Dahlia frowned deeply. "Alright, enough you two…" she moved to stand between them. Although she was dwarfed by their much taller forms, she was proud that their gazes still turned to her. "We're all going to be working here, together, whether you like it or not, so you better learn how to get along, all right?"

Tony looked ready to object, so Bruce interfered. "Steve, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you?"

Dahlia could see the conflict on her friends face and would have felt sorry for him if it wasn't for her frustration at his less than friendly attitude towards Tony. He was a solider, taught to follow orders – it must be hard to believe that the people you were working for, the supposed 'good guys' may be just as corrupt as the bad ones.

"Just find the cube," he finally reminded them, before turning and quickly exiting the lab. Through the lab window, she could see him stop, pause and then turn and head in the opposite direction. Something told her, he was going to do some investigating of his own.

"That's the guy my dad never shut up about? Wondering if they shouldn't have kept him on ice," Tony muttered bitterly.

Protectiveness surged within Dahlia. "Hey, he may be acting like an arse today but the stupid bugger is my friend, so no bad mouthing yeah? I like you, and I'd hate to have to kick your backside."

"The guy's not wrong about Loki though. Neither were you," Bruce conceded, "He does have the jump on us."

"Well, he did the last time S.H.I.E.L.D came into contact with him, I wouldn't expected anything different now," she shrugged indifferently.

"What he's got is an Acme dynamite kit," Tony corrected, circling the computer screens skilfully, "It's gonna blow up in his face. And I'm going to be there when it does."

"Yeah, me too," Dahlia agreed.

"Yeah? I'll read all about it," Bruce told them quietly, carefully avoiding Dahlia's gaze when she turned sharply towards him.

"Uh-huh. Or you'll be suiting up with the rest of us."

Bruce's laugh was humourless. "Nah, you see…I don't get a suit of armour. I'm exposed. Like a nerve. It's a nightmare."

"Hey, none of us are completely protected, not really. Sometimes it's just better to learn to live with your demons, than to let them fight you. It's a losing battle," Dahlia whispered wisely.

"You know, I've got a cluster of shrapnel in my chest, trying every second to crawl its way into my heart. This stops it," Tony told him, tapping the light in the centre of his chest that glowed brightly through the fabric of his Black Sabbath shirt. "This little circle of light is a part of me now. Just like our little flower and her strong will. It's a…terrible privilege." He stepped up to the other side of Bruce's computer, looking at him through the transparent screen.

"But you can control it."

"Not always."

"But that doesn't mean you can't learn how."

"It's different," Bruce stated, clicking on different files of information in an attempt to end the conversation.

Frustrated, Tony swiped at the screen, clearing it so he had no choice but to pay attention. "Hey. I read all about your 'accident'. That much gamma exposure should have killed you."

Dahlia stood up straighter, her head inclining in interest.

"So you're saying that the Hulk – the other guy saved my life? That's nice. That's a nice sentiment. Saved me for…what?"

"I guess we'll find out," Stark answered, moving back to his desk.

"You may not enjoy that,"

"And you just might."

Bruce sighed, already emotionally drained by the conversation. His eyes darted towards Dahlia, who was staring at him curiously, wondering. He gave her an awkward smile, which she returned fleetingly. She arched an eyebrow questioningly and he suppressed a wince. Yes, time was running out. He'd have to tell her soon – it would be unfair to her – if something happened –

"I'm going to get some coffee," he announced loudly, straightening up, "Does anyone want anything?"

"Black, five sugars, no milk," Tony responded instantly without raising his head.

"I'll come with you," Dahlia stated quickly, already heading for the door.

Bruce stayed back for a moment, breathing in deeply to try and prepare himself for the story ahead, and wanting to stall it for as long as possible.

"Go get her big guy," Tony winked playfully at him.

He ducked out of the door after Dahlia, humiliation flaring pink on his cheeks. Tony's chuckle followed him down the hallway.