Unexpected // An MCU Story (Book One)

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Dr. Banner gave Tony a quick tour of the workspace before we dove into the project, determined to find the Tesseract.

"The gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's reports of the Tesseract." Dr. Banner reported, scanning over the scepter with a device. "But it's going to take weeks to process."

"If we bypass their mainframe and direct route to the Homer cluster we can clock this at around 600 teraflops." Tony responded, looking at the screen before him.

"All I packed was a toothbrush." Dr. Banner chuckled as Tony walked toward him.

"You know, you should come by Stark Tower sometime." He offered, making me smile. "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." He declined, and I instantly knew what he was talking about.

"Well, I promise a stress-free environment." Tony assured. "No tension, no surprises." He poked him in the side with something that shocked him, wanting to see what would happen.

"Ow!" Dr. Banner exclaimed, looking up in amusement as Tony leaned forward and studied his face.

"Hey!" Steve called from somewhere nearby. 

"Nothing?" Tony asked, expecting a worse reaction.

"Are you nuts?" Steve walked in, clearly angry at the situation.

"Jury's out." Tony told him before turning back to Dr. Banner. "You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz, bongo drums, huge bag of weed?"

He smiled, clearly not offended and a little surprised that no one there was scared of what could happen. I don't think he expected us to trust him like that.

"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve asked, and I scoffed.

"Funny things are." Tony answered seriously. 

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

I scoffed again, rolling my eyes as I so often did.

"It's all right, I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things." Dr. Banner told him.

"You're tip-toeing, big man. You need to strut." Tony told him as he walked next to me and grabbed a bag of blueberries he had stashed.

I held out my hand without stopping my work, smiling to myself when he poured some in my hand. 

"And you need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark." Steve instructed.

"Do you think I'm not?" Tony responded, looking over at him. "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?"

"You couldn't tell?" I asked, not looking up from the screen.

"He's a spy." Tony deadpanned. "Captain, he's 'the' spy. His secrets have secrets." He ate a handful of blueberries and gestured to Doctor Banner. "It's bugging him, too. Isn't it?"

"Uh..." He looked up, clearly not wanting to be involved in this situation. "I just want to finish my work here, and-" 

"Doctor?" Steve pushed, making him sigh and take off his glasses, deep in thought.

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

"I heard it." Steve nodded.

"Well, I think that was meant for you." He told Tony, who looked away and stuck out his arm to offer him the blueberries, too.