I Can't Help It - Steve Rogers

Chapter 7

"Dr Banner is only here to track the cube, I was hoping you might join him" Fury explains to Tony, reminding everyone that Bruce is here to find the cube and nothing else, apparently. "I'd start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a Hydra weapon" Steve suggests. "I don't know about that but it is powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his own personal flying monkeys" Fury replies and Thor looks at him confused. "Monkeys? I do not understand" he asks in confusion. "I do!" Steve exclaims and points at Fury. Tony rolls his eyes at the Captain and Steve seems to notice his sudden outburst and calms down slightly. "I understood that reference" he states quieter as he glances at everyone to see their awkward faces. However, he glances at Rachel and she gives him an assuring smile. She's the only one who truly knows how difficult this has been for him. She's the only one who's helped through it and been there when he needed someone. He's very grateful. "Shall we play doctor?" Tony asks Bruce. "This way sir" he replies and leads Tony to the lab.

"So, how do you like the suit?" Rachel asks Steve as they walk towards the lab to see Bruce and Tony's progress. "It's ok. It's more like the suit I wore for the shows than for battle" he replies, looking down at his suit. "I'm grateful though, thank you" he quickly adds and she chuckles at him. "Steve, I had nothing to do with that suit. You don't need to thank me for it. But I'll see if we can get you another one, after we stop Loki. If you'd like?" she offers with a smile. "We'll see" he replies with a nod. She understands what he means; he may not need it after they stop Loki so she leaves the topic alone as they approach the lab door.

They walk through the door to see Tony poke Bruce and Bruce lets out an "Ow" as Tony watches him intently. "Hey! Are you nuts?" Steve asks Tony, annoyed. "Jury's out" Tony admits and Rachel can't stop the grin that overtakes her face at Tony's response. "You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret? Mello jazz, bongo drums, huge bag of weed?" Tony quizzes Bruce while he continues to work on the sceptre. "Is everything a joke to you?" Steve questions Tony, amazed by how different he seems from his father, who was focused. "Funny things are" Tony responds, pointing at Steve. "Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny. No offense doc" Steve replies before apologising to Bruce. "It's alright, I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things" Bruce defends. "You're tiptoeing big man. You need to strut" Tony tells Bruce. "And you need to focus on the problem Mr Stark" Rachel orders Tony. "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 equations unless I have all the variables" Tony questions Rachel but she remains expressionless.

"You think Fury's hiding something?" Steve asks. "He's a spy. Captain, he's the spy. His secrets have secrets. It's bugging him too, isn't it?" Tony replies to the Captain and drags Bruce into the discussion. "Uhhh, I just wanna finish my work here-" Bruce starts to deflect but Steve interrupts him. "Doctor?" he urges sternly while Rachel stands quietly wondering if they're right. "A warm light for all mankind. Loki's jab at Fury about the cube" Bruce starts. "I heard it" Steve states. "I think that was meant for you. Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the tower, it was still all over the news" Bruce continues as he takes some blueberries from Tony. "Stark tower? That big, ugly... building in New York" Steve responds while Tony gives an unimpressed look and Rachel hides a smile. "It's powered by an arc reactor, self-sustaining energy. That building will run itself for what? A year?" Bruce assumes and looks to Tony for confirmation. "It's just a prototype. I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now. That's what he's getting at" Tony confirms and elaborates.

"So why didn't Shield bring him in on the tesseract project? What are they doing in the energy business in the first place?" Bruce questions and Rachel starts questioning Fury's intentions while Steve grows concerned of Fury's intentions himself. "I should probably look into that once my decryption program finishes breaking into all of Shield's secure files" Tony states casually causing Rachel to look at him in shock. "I'm sorry, did you say..." Steve starts. "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" Tony explains before offering Steve a blueberry and Rachel feels relieved that her secret isn't in Shield's database. She's thankful she's the only one who knows her secret. "Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around" Steve states, ignoring Tony's bag of blueberries. "An intelligence organisation who fears intelligence? Historically, not awesome" Tony argues.

"I think Loki's trying to wind us up. 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" Steve states to Tony and while Rachel agrees with him, she's also intrigued by Tony's point. Is there more to this than she's aware of? Is Fury hiding something? If so, what is it? "Following's not really my style" Tony replies before throwing a blueberry into his mouth. "And you're all about style aren't you?" Steve questions with a sigh. "Of the people in this room, which one is A: wearing a spangly outfit, and B: not of use?" Tony asks rhetorically. "Tony" Rachel scolds him. "Steve, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you" Bruce asks Steve but Steve only stares back at him. "Just find the cube" he replies before leaving the lab. Rachel sighs before leaving a few seconds behind Steve.