What The Light Touches | Natasha Romanoff

Chapter 7 || Are You Nuts?

"The gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's reports on the Tesseract. But it's gonna take weeks to process."

I watch closely as Bruce works, observing how in depth he is. His focus is impeccable. Even Tony is impressing me. I knew the two men were smart but watching them actually work is fascinating.

Glancing back at the monitors, I run through multiple algorithms and equations in my own head, trying to calculate as I speak, "If we bypass their mainframe and direct a reroute to the Homer cluster, we can clock this around...six hundred teraflops."

From across the room Bruce chuckles, "All I packed was a toothbrush."

Tony laughs at that, Banner grabbing the billionaire's attention. Tony parts from a monitor and approaches the doctor.

"You know, you should come by STARK TOWER sometime. Top ten floors, all R&D. You'd love it, it's candy land."

"Thanks, but the last time I was in New York I kind of broke...Harlem."

Raising my eyebrows, I nod discreetly in slight approval. The man may turn into a ruthless beast, but no one can deny that the power the Hulk has is incredible. It's almost admirable...despite the fear it imprints on civilians, I think it is quite possibly one of the most applaudable and amazing things.

"Well, I promise a stress free environment. No tension. No surprises." Tony then zaps Bruce in the side with a small electrical prod.

"Ow!" Bruce whines, rubbing the spot before Steve walks in, "Hey!"

"Nothing?" Tony asks Bruce, ignoring Steve's shout. I know the man is wondering what Bruce's secret is, how he controls the Hulk, how he doesn't transform every single second. I, too, am wondering that.

The star spangled man in blue tights marches inside, "Are you nuts?"

"Jury's out...you really have got a lid on it, don't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz? Bongo drums?"

"Oh! A huge bag of weed?" I offer an option, to which Tony points at me, agreeing, thinking that was the answer.

"Is everything a joke to you two?" Steve hisses at both Tony and me.

We share a look before shrugging, Tony speaking for us, "Funny things are."

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny. No offense, Doc."

Bruce brushes Steve's comment off kindly, "No, it's alright. I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things."

"You're tiptoeing, big man. You need to strut." Tony winks at Bruce but Steve jumps in accusingly, "you need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark."

"You think I'm not?" His answer is fast, quick to the defensive.

"Why did Fury call us and why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables."

He has a point there. Fury is a man of plans. He has a plan for everything, always one step ahead. So, if this is so serious, why did he wait to call us all in? Why did he wait to get us all together? Fury understands something and knows a deeper meaning to what's happening...Loki. What Loki said to him...

It's starting to make sense. It's starting to add together. Fury knew that Stark was the man to find the cube, yet he held back on calling him in. For what reason?

"You think Fury's hiding something?" Steve doesn't really ask, he is more so angry than anything. It's like he got offended that Tony is questioning the director, so I jump in, taking a crack at it.

"He's a spy. Captain, he's the spy. His secrets have secrets. I've worked with Fury for years and I know that for a fact. Tony has a point. Think about it." I watch as Steve starts to think. He may think I'm sarcastic and too aloof, but he and I clearly have an understanding that when it comes to the lives of others, we both take it seriously.

"Agent," He speaks to me, telling me to go on and explain to help him understand a bit more.

"'A warm light for all mankind, Loki's jab at Fury about the cube."

"I heard it," He nods, following along with me.

Pointing at Tony, "Well, I think that was meant for you. Even if Barton didn't post that all over the news."

Frowning, Steve glances down in confusion, "Stark Tower? That big ugly-" Tony glares him down, causing the Captain to clear his throat, catching himself before he does more damage.

"Uh...building in New York?"

Nodding, I pull a picture of it up on my monitor, turning it to show him as I point, "It's powered by Stark Reactors, self-sustaining energy source. That building will run itself for what, a year?"

"It's just the prototype. Yeah, I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now." The billionaire tosses a blueberry in his mouth cockily, not breaking his intense stare down with Steve.

Bruce now adds to the equation, "So, why didn't SHIELD bring him in on the Tesseract project? I mean, what are they doing in the energy business in the first place?"

"Exactly," I point at the doctor and nod at him appreciatively, to which he returns before focusing back on Loki's scepter.

"I should probably look into that once my decryption programmer finishes breaking into all of SHIELD's secure files." The man walks around the table while looking at a small device, reading files and numbers.

Steve, as expected, widens his eyes in surprise, "I'm sorry, did you say–" "J.A.R.V.I.S. has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours we'll know every dirty secret SHIELD has ever tried to hide... Blueberry?" Tony offers Steve his bag of blueberries, to which the man just scoffs,

"Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around?"

Tapping Tony on the shoulder, he tilts his wrist so the bag faces me. Smiling at the fact that he didn't need to look at me to know what I wanted, I reach in and take a few, tossing them in my mouth.

"An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically, not possible."

"I think Loki's trying to wind us up. This is a man who means to start a war, and if don't stay focused, he'll succeed. We have orders, we should follow them."

Ugh. Leave it to Steve to put a damper on everything. He sounds like Ares. Always focused on war regime. They both like following battle plans and giving orders. Boring, if you ask me. Ares and I never really got along. While I was a great asset in battle, I always went in my own path, following what I believed to be the right thing to do.

That's why Poseidon and I attempted to overthrow Zeus. Olympus needed a change and we intended to make that happen...but we failed, and were sent here. With the mortals. On earth.

Poseidon has returned home, however. Leaving me alone, but thriving. I don't need to listen to anymore orders and I certainly won't listen to any given to me by a man in spandex.

I realize that they have started arguing and instead of joining in on the fuss, I let them hash it out before Steve sighs in defeat, telling us to find the Cube before he leaves the lab.

"I think that went well, don't you?" Tony inquires sarcastically. Bruce and I shake our heads with a chuckle before we get back to work.

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A/N: So...I think y'all are gonna enjoy what I got in store.

hehe