Bella had to admit, turning her knowledge to clean energy had certainly paid off. Stark Tower was amazing.
Pepper was standing by one of the holographic screens. Bella had opted for staying and helping her rather than going out to help Tony. She would just been in the way.
Bella sat on one of the couches, watching. Nothing much needed to be done now, just wait.
"Light her up," said Tony.
Pepper pressed a button on the screen. Bella got up and walked over.
"How's it look?" asked Pepper.
"Like Christmas, but with more me."
"We did it!" squealed Bella. No matter how many times she created something that worked, it was still exciting, every single time.
"We've got to go bigger on the public awareness," said Pepper. "I'm taking the jet to DC tomorrow."
"Pepper, you're killing me in the moment. Remember? Live in the moment?"
"Get in here and I will."
He appeared a moment later through the door leading outside.
"Levels are holding steady… I think."
"Of course they are, I was directly involved," said Tony. "And, of course, Izzy, too. Which brings me to my next point, how does feel to be a genius?"
"Well, now, I wouldn't really know now, would I?"
"What do you mean? All of this –" he gestured around to the room – "came from you."
"No, all of this came from that." She smiled and tapped his arc reactor. "And you," she added, looking at Bella.
"Stark Tower is your baby. Give yourself some credit. Ten, twelve per cent."
Pepper's smile vanished. "Twelve per cent."
"An argument can be made for fifteen."
"Twelve per cent of my baby?"
"Well, I did do the heavy lifting – literally, I lifted the heavy objects, me and Izzy – and the security snafu? That was on you. My private elevator, it was teaming with sweaty workmen."
They walked over to the couches.
"I'm going to pay for that remark about percentages later in some subtle way, aren't I?" asked Tony as he sat down.
"Not going to be that subtle," said Pepper.
Tony's phone rang.
"Mr. Stark, we need to talk." It was Agent Coulson's voice.
Tony picked up his phone. "You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark. Please leave a message."
Bella clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter. Pepper, too, was grinning.
"This is urgent."
"Then leave it urgently."
The elevator doors opened. Agent Coulson stood there, holding his cell phone to his ear and something under his arm.
"Phil!" exclaimed Pepper.
Bella and Tony exchanged glances. "Phil? Why is he Phil?" asked Tony. "Uh, his first name is Agent," he added, addressing Pepper.
Bella shrugged and followed Pepper over to the elevator.
"Come in! We're celebrating," she said.
"Which is why he can't stay," said Tony.
Coulson handed the object under his arm to Tony. "We need you to look this over as soon as possible."
"I don't like being handed things," said Tony.
"Which is fine, because I love to be handed things," said Pepper, taking it from him and handing it to Tony.
"Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday," said Tony.
"This isn't a consultation," said Agent Coulson.
"Is this about the Avengers?" asked Pepper. "Which I know nothing about."
"The Avengers Initiative was scrapped," said Tony. "And I thought I didn't even qualify."
Bella got up and headed in his direction.
"I didn't know that either," said Pepper.
"Apparently, I'm volatile? Self obsessed? Don't play well with others?"
"That I did know," said Pepper.
"What is it?" asked Bella, turning to walk toward Tony.
"Miss Stark?" said Coulson.
"Agent Coulson?"
"I need to talk to you. Now. Without anyone else listening." He glanced at Tony, but Tony was too occupied to have heard.
"Outside," said Bella, gesturing to the door which led to the place where Tony landed.
He followed her onto the strip. It was cold outside and many, many stories above the ground. "We need your father to help track something. And we want your help."
"Track what?"
"The Tesseract. We had it… until yesterday."
"What?!" Bella almost yelled. "How did you lose it?!"
"What? Do you know what it is? Did Barton tell you?"
"No, no. Of course not. Barton doesn't tell me about what he's doing for you." Bella had worked in a HYDRA lab once and found some files about the Tesseract. "I found out… before I met Tony. How on Earth did you lose a glowing cube of energy… oh, no. Oh, no. Please tell me that someone just misplaced it and that no one… oh, no."
"It was stolen yesterday. We want you and your father's help tracking it."
"Someone broke in and stole it. And now he's mind controlling Agent Barton."
Bella's mind couldn't process any of that for a moment. "What?"
"I can't explain everything."
"Okay." Bella was used to not knowing everything. The people she'd worked for before meeting Tony were generally very tight lipped. "Why couldn't this be said in front of Tony?"
"It's not him, it explained about that in what we gave him. It's Miss Potts I didn't want to hear about it. You know how it is."
Bella had never thought she'd find herself working for S.H.I.E.L.D. But that cube had enough power to destroy the planet. Besides, she'd been responsible for a lot of things that harmed the world. Maybe, somehow, this would be a way to start making up for them. "I'll help you. But don't think this means anything. I won't develop weapons for you or work for you. I'm doing this because of the Tesseract - and Agent Barton."