"The Gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's reports on the Tesseract," said Dr. Banner, working busily, scanning the scepter. "But it's going to take weeks to process."
"If we bypass their mainframe and direct route to the homework cluster we can clock this at around six hundred teraflops," said Tony, busy on some equipment he'd brought from his own lab.
"All I packed was a toothbrush," said Dr. Banner with a laugh.
"You know, you should come by Stark Tower some time. Top ten floors- all R and D. You'd love it, it's a candy land."
"Thanks but – last time I was in New York I kind of – broke – Harlem."
"Well, we promise a stress free environment," offered Bella, who was finding Dr. Banner pleasant to work with. "No tension, no surprises."
Tony suddenly zapped Dr. Banner in the side with something.
"Ow!" said Dr. Banner.
"Tony? What are you doing?" demanded Bella. Had he just zapped the Hulk in the side? Was he trying to get everyone killed?
Tony stared hard at him, ignoring her. "Nothing? That's all?"
"Hey!" said Captain America, who had just stepped through the door. "Are you nuts?"
"Jury's out," said Tony.
"Is everything a joke to you?"
"Funny things are."
"Tony, you're endangering everyone here," said Bella. "It's not funny. Er, no offense, Dr. Banner."
"None taken. I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things."
"You need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark," said the captain.
"You think I'm not? 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?"
"Do you trust him, Captain?" asked Bella. She honestly didn't know whether she should or not.
He hesitated.
"Captain, he's a spy," said Tony. "He's the spy. His secrets have secrets." Apparently, he was not dealing with any of Bella's indecision. "It's bugging him, too, isn't it?" Tony nodded toward Dr. Banner.
"Doctor?" asked the captain.
"I… I just want to finish my work and…"
"You're with me on this one, right, Izzy?" said Tony.
"Yes. A few things just don't seem quite right about this whole thing. What's S.H.I.E.L.D. doing in the energy business? Doesn't seem like something involve themselves in, does it? And why didn't they call Tony in sooner?"
"I should probably look into that, as soon as my decryption program finishes breaking into all of SHIELD's secure files," said Tony.
"I'm sorry, did you just say – ?" said the captain.
"JARVIS has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours I'll know every dirty secret SHIELD has ever tried to hide. Blueberry?" He offered the other man a small bag of them.
"Forget what I said about them not calling Tony in," said Bella. "Tony, I have to agree with the captain on this one."
"You call your dad Tony?" said the captain.
"Oh, come on, Izzy. An intelligence organization that fears intelligence?" said Tony, before Bella could answer the question. "Historically, not awesome."
"I think Loki's trying to wind us up," said Cap. "This is a man who means to start a war and if we don't stay focused he'll succeed. We have orders, we should follow them."
"Again, I'm with the captain," said Bella.
"Following's not really my style," said Tony.
"And you're all about style, aren't you?"
"Out of all the people in this room, who is, A) wearing a spangly outfit, and B) not of use?"
"Just find the Cube," said the captain, and left.
"Guy's not wrong about Loki," said Dr. Banner. "He does have the jump on us."
What he's got is an ACME dynamite kit," said Tony. "It's going to blow up in his face, and I'm going to be there when it does."
"I'll read all about it," said Dr. Banner, who was busy on a computer screen.
"Mhm, or, you'll be suiting up with the rest of us."
"Now, you see, I don't get a suit of armor. I'm exposed, like a nerve, it's a nightmare."
"You know, I've got a cluster shrapnel, trying every second to crawl its way into my heart. This – stops it –" Mr. Stark tapped the arc reactor in his chest. "This little circle of light. It's part of me now, not just armor. It's a terrible… privilege."
"But you can control it," said Dr. Banner.
"Because I learned how." Tony walked over to the computer and stood on the other side of the screen.
"It's different," said Dr. Banner.
Tony cleared the screen from the other side. "Hey, I read all about your accident. That much Gamma exposure – should've killed you."
"So you're saying that the Hulk – the Other Guy – saved my life? That's nice. That's a nice sentiment. Saved it for – what?"
"Guess we'll find out."
"You may not enjoy that."
"And you just might."
"You can use things that are bad and turn them into good," said Bella. "Do you know where I gained my intelligence from? I was created in a program that made me into a weapons designer. That's all they put in my head. The knowledge to design and create weapons. And to learn more. They also enhanced my ability to learn and reason, in order to keep up with new discoveries. My IQ… I don't even know if it's it possible to have one so high without being mentally enhanced. I designed weapons because it was all I knew how to, and did it well. But then I was put into a situation where I could use my knowledge for good. I helped design the first Iron Man suit to help Tony escape from terrorists while we were in Afghanistan. There's a place in this world for everything, a good use for everything – including enormous green rage monsters."
For those of you who might have thought it odd that, in the last chapter, Bella didn't recognize the Wizard of Oz reference, remember she didn't grow up in an environment where she would have seen a lot of movies, and I don't think she would have gone out of her way to see the Wizard of Oz after that.
And yes, Molly Grace 16, Loki will be doing his fair share of messing with her, starting in a chapter or two. And I must say, thank you for reviewing every chapter. Reviews make my day.