Chapter Three

Two days after returning home, I'd finally put the finishing touches on the party Tony had asked me to help plan. And when I say 'help plan', I mean 'plan for him because he had locked himself away in the lab with Bruce for reasons still unknown'.

This, of course, wasn't going to fly with me. If there is one thing I know about myself, it's that I can never keep my nose out of everyone else's business. My craving for being in the know is what landed me in a lot of sticky situations- such as ever meeting the Avengers in the first place. So it wasn't always a bad habit, necessarily.

Regardless, I hadn't seen Tony or Bruce leave that lab in almost 48 hours and despite Steve's insistence that they were just busy studying the scepter, I was finished with waiting around for answers and set out to find them on my own. So after Natasha finally finished picking out a dress for me to wear to tomorrow's party, I made my way to the very top floor of Avengers Tower to find my two little Science Bros.

Not bothering to knock, I rounded the corner and walked in on a suspicious yet oddly adorable situation. Bruce was standing in front of one of the many computer screens in the lab that displayed countless rows of numbers and what looked like a visual representation of a computerized brain. Tony was sitting on the floor behind him with dozens of papers spread out in front of him, rubbing his mouth the way he always did when he was deep in thought.

I cleared my throat to draw their attention, and this was the suspicious part. Bruce swiped his hand to the side, minimizing the equations he had been running and turned to face me with one fist tucked under his chin and the other pressed palm-down on the nearest table. Tony scrambled to pick the papers up for only a second before giving up and dropped onto his stomach in a feeble attempt to hide their content from me. With one eyebrow raised in confusion, I crossed my arms over my chest and waited for the excuses to start flowing.

"Oh, hi Charlie!" Tony chuckled. "What brings you up here? Shouldn't you be downstairs working on the party planning?"

"I finished," I answered simply before nodding my head towards the papers Tony was currently sprawled out on top of. "What are you hiding over there, Pink Panther?"

"I resent that nickname for innumerable reasons," Tony pointed out with one finger lifted in the air before pushing himself off the papers. "And if they were any of your business, I wouldn't be keeping them from you, now would I?"

Instead of answering, I turned my questioning gaze to Bruce and held up three fingers. "I'm going to countdown from three, young man, and if I don't have an answer by the time I'm finished, there will be serious consequences. Three."

Bruce sighed and pulled the monitor back in front of himself, causing Tony to point at him with a threatening expression as he pushed himself to his knees. "Don't you dare sell me out, Banner!"

"Two."

"I'm warning you, Big Green!"

"Tony and I are trying to start up the Ultron program using Loki's scepter." Tony dropped onto his back with an annoyed groan, burying his face in his hands, causing Bruce to wave his hands uselessly in front of himself. "She deserved to know, Tony!"

I planted my fists firmly on my hips, shooting both of them my best disapproving glare. "Let me get this straight. You two dummies were trying to set up an advanced interface using technology far beyond your understanding that's more than likely incredibly dangerous... and you didn't invite me?"

"Wait, wait a minute," Bruce shook his head while Tony sat up with a grin. "You agree with this?"

"Of course she does!" Tony jumped to his feet and hurried to my side wrapping his arms around me and laying his head on my shoulder. "She's like me, but not as smart, rich, or handsome."

I pinched Tony's cheek before pushing his head off my shoulder and walking over to his disorganized notes scattered across the floor, kneeling down to pick a few up and look them over. "I may not be as smart as you science-wise, Wonderboy, but I am definitely better with computers. And judging by your lack of knowledge in the area plus your limited time frame, you really should have brought me in earlier. Besides," I looked back at Tony over my shoulder, "remember what happened last time you tried to solve all your problems without me?"

Tony scoffed and shrugged, but he knew what I was talking about- that nasty little Malibu incident with Scary Orange and whatnot. "Are you gonna help or not?"

"Of course I'm gonna help." I scraped up as many notes as I could and carried them over to the monitor displaying the scepter's inner workings and dropped them onto the table. Before beginning any actual work, I turned back to Tony with a scolding look. "And don't try to keep me out of the loop next time, or there will be consequences."

"Ooh, consequences." Tony waggled his eyebrows with a smirk while Bruce pretended to gag behind him. "Yes please."

I rolled my eyes and turned back to my new project, thinking of the best way to harness an immeasurable amount of energy into an army of robots.

Things went on like this for the next 18 hours, I worked with Tony and Bruce on every possible solution and variable we could think of, but to no avail. Eventually it was almost time for the party to start, and we were no closer to an interface than when we had first started. Bruce looked like he was about to pass out, so I gave him a quick pat on the back. "Why don't you go take a nap before the fun-tivities start, Brucie?"

"I'm too tired to question your word choices," Bruce sighed, rubbing his face as he nodded slowly. "Yeah, I'll do that. Keep an eye on Tony, will you?"

"Anything for my favorite doctor. Go on."

I waited in the same spot until Bruce was completely out of the lab before walking over to where Tony was staring at the scepter with a blank expression. I knew he was upset, but he was just as bad at showing it as I was at trying to comfort him. So instead of saying anything, I simply stood in place and waited for him to speak first. Luckily, he did.

"What did we miss?"

"I have no idea." I bit my lip, furrowing my eyebrows in thought. "I really hate this thing. All it ever does is frustrate me. It's very un-swanky."

Tony chuckled once under his breath before letting out a deep breath. "There has to be something we didn't try. Some variable we missed."

"I'll continue to run variations on the interface," Jarvis offered overhead. "But you two should probably prepare for your guests. I'll notify you if there are any developments."

"Thanks, buddy."

"You're my favorite," I told Jarvis, looking up slightly towards the ceiling. "Don't tell the other kids though. They might get jealous."

"Of course not, madam."

Tony took one moment longer to stare at the scepter before snaking his arm around my waist and leading us both out of the lab. "Come on. We don't want your party planning skills to go to waste."

"We can just get drunk out of our minds and see if that stirs up any new ideas," I suggested with a small shrug.

Tony squeezed me closer to his side with a chuckle. "I knew I loved you for a reason."