Interlude
[Classified Location], SHIELD Helicarrier
April 2011
The containment unit had been built for the Hulk, but Natasha supposed it worked just as well for superpowered aliens.
Loki was pacing slowly about the cell, back to its door, when Natasha slipped out of the shadows and stood on the platform.
He froze, then turned, a predatory smile on his face. “There are few people who can sneak up on me.”
“I have a unique skill set,” Natasha deadpanned. “And you knew someone would come.”
“After all the tortures Fury can concoct, you would appear as a balm, as a friend?” He paused. “And I would cooperate.”
“I want to know what you’ve done with Agent Hill.”
“I’d say I've expanded her mind.”
“And after you’ve won? After you’re king of the mountain? What happens to her mind?”
Loki raised an eyebrow. “What do you care for Agent Hill? I received the distinct impression that she does not care for you.”
“The feeling’s mutual,” Natasha said. It was true that she and Hill had had friction in the past. “But someone I care about cares about her. So here I am.”
“Ahhh,” Loki said, focusing more intently on her. “Agent Barton, correct?”
“You just get into every corner of her mind, didn’t you?”
Loki raised his hands, palms up. “I cannot do any differently.” He regarded her for a second longer, and smiled again. “Is this love , Agent Romanova?”
Natasha almost, almost flinched at the name. She hadn’t used it in a decade, and it was a reminder of a past that she kept buried. “Love is for children. I owe him a debt.”
Loki sat down, a slow movement that nonetheless belied his deadly strength. “Tell me.”
Natasha carefully pulled up a chair, calculating furiously in her mind. She needed to get something from him, something to end this and free her to hunt her Soldier. She and Loki examined each other carefully, and something in Natasha responded, recognizing a kindred spirit: someone who wore masks and traded in secrets for a living, who treated others like pieces on a chessboard.
This was going to be quite a mental battle.
[Classified Location], SHIELD Helicarrier
April 2011
“JARVIS, gimme the algorithms.”
“Screen five, sir.”
Tony flipped through the algorithms as fast as his fingers could move, calculating in his head and skipping one step after another. If he could just get the software to cooperate…
“These gamma signatures are definitely consistent with what Selvig got off the cube. But it could take weeks to get a hit off the cube; we have no idea where in the world to look.”
“Hopefully Foster can sort out how to track the opening of a bridge,” Tony said absently. “That’d be another angle. Maybe she’ll spot something we don’t.”
“Yeah, where is she?” Banner asked.
Tony turned away from the screen, blinked glowing number afterimages from his retinas, and said, “I sent her to get sleep. She’d been awake for forty-two hours, said she didn’t sleep in transit or anything. She almost set her hair on fire somehow messing with my wiring.” Hopefully she’s learned her lesson. This is my lab.
“At least she brought clothes,” Banner said dryly, putting down the scanner and stepping over to a computer. “All I packed was a toothbrush.”
Tony narrowed his eyes, thinking about how easy Banner was to work with. The guy was so easygoing and low-profile, but it hadn’t taken Tony long at all to develop a healthy respect for the unassuming man’s sharp mind. And he could just tell that Banner was a boiling little ball of anger and resentment underneath all that mellow. Tony’s incisive curiosity reared its head. “You should come by Stark Tower sometime. Top ten floors are all R&D. You’d love it, it’s Candyland.”
“Thanks, but the last time I was in New York, I kind of… broke Harlem,” Banner said awkwardly.
Tony picked up a pen and meandered around toward the other man. “Oh, come on, that’s what building specs are for. They make ‘em stronger nowadays. And I promise a stress free environment. No surprises, no sharp things…”
Just as the door opened, he stabbed the pen into Banner’s ribs.
“Ow!”
Tony examined Banner’s hazel eyes intently. “Nothing?”
“Hey!”
“Oh, look, it’s Mr. Star-spangled Soldierboy,” Tony said amiably, then turned back to Banner. “You really have got a lid on it, haven’t you? What’s your secret? Mellow jazz? Bongo drums? Huge bag of weed?”
“Is everything a joke to you?” Rogers said angrily.
Tony gave him his best condescending look. “Funny things are.”
“Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship is not funny. No offense, doctor.”
“Maybe not if you’ve got a flagpole up your ass,” Tony said agreeably.
Banner ignored Tony. Irritating. “No, it’s all right. I wouldn’t have come aboard if I couldn’t handle… pointy things.”
“And you need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark,” Rogers said with even more anger.
Oh, it’s go time. Tony squared his shoulders and stepped toward the captain. “You think I’m not? At this point, all we can do is wait for a spectroscope somewhere to pick up the cube’s signature. In the meantime, I’ve got my own little project going. Why did Fury call us in, and why now? Why not before? What isn’t he telling us? I can’t do the math without all the variables.”
Rogers stared. “You think Fury’s hiding something.
Tony made a note to research whether naiveté could be physically painful. “He’s a spy. Captain, he’s the spy. His secrets have secrets.” He pointed at Banner. “It’s bugging you too, isn’t it?”
Banner raised his hands. “I just want to… finish my work, and go—“
“Doctor?” Rogers’ voice brooked no arguments.
Banner hesitated, but at last he began to speak, and Tony mentally slapped himself on the back. He’d read the impassive scientist right. “”A warm light for all mankind’… Remember Loki’s jab at Fury?”
“Yes?” Rogers said. They’d all watched the surveillance tape.
“Well, I think that was meant for you.” Banner nodded at Tony, whose mind began spinning, factoring this into the situation. “I think he wants to communicate something to you.”
“Because of the tower,” Tony mused. Why would Loki want to communicate with me?
“The Stark Tower? That big ugly…” Rogers trailed off as Tony cast him a look like Really ? “…building in New York?”
“It’s powered by Stark Reactors,” Banner continued, undeterred by their friction. Tony had to give him kudos for patience. “Self-sustaining energy source. That building will run itself for what, a year?”
“And it’s just the prototype,” Tony added to Banner, unable to resist the pride he felt in this accomplishment, then turned back to Rogers. “I’m kind of the only name in clean energy right now, is what he’s getting at.”
“So why didn’t SHIELD bring him in on the Tesseract project from the beginning? For that matter, why not Foster? Selvig’s good, and he's got more experience, but Foster is just straight-up brilliant. It just makes sense to combine his experience and her new outlook.”
“And you,” Tony added. “No one knows gamma radiation like you do, and this cube is putting off a hell of a lot of it.”
“Ah… yeah, that too,” Banner said. “I mean, what are they doing in the energy business in the first place? Isn’t SHIELD a defensive organization?”
Tony decided he might as well spill. The Captain was standing there like a blond rock, brows furrowed and trying to process all this. Tony visibly saw him consider the possibility that Fury was lying and then brush it away, ever the good soldier. Time to shock him out of it.
“Yeah, I’ll look into that, once my decryption program finishes breaking into SHIELD’s secure files,” he said, lifting his StarkPhone, where JARVIS’ progress report ticked upward in the top corner.
“I’m sorry, what?” Rogers was shocked. Angry. Excellent, that was better. Anger made people think more clearly. At least this person. If only Tony could redirect said anger…
Tony smirked and popped a dried blueberry in his mouth. “JARVIS has been running it since I hit the bridge. Won’t be long before I know every dirty secret Fury’s ever tried to hide. Blueberry?” He proffered the bag to Rogers, wondering if the soldier would take the olive branch.
Rogers slapped it away. “And you’re wondering why they didn’t want you involved in this.”
“SHIELD is keeping secrets from the people who are trying to help,” Tony countered. “We can’t do our job like good little flying monkeys unless we have all the information. An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically not awesome.”
Rogers visibly controlled himself before he spoke. “Loki’s trying to turn us on Fury, to split us up. This is unfounded paranoia and it can only be detrimental. We have orders and we should follow them.”
“Such a good little soldier,” Tony mocked. “Following’s not really my style.”
Rogers stepped closer, an infuriating little smile on his lips. “And you’re all about style, aren’t you?”
Tony felt a muscle jump in his jaw. This arrogant little… “Of the people in this room, which one is A) wearing a spangly outfit and B) not of use?”
Rogers puffed up like an offended blowfish, but Banner headed off the rising tension. “Steve, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you.”
Tony watched Rogers’ face closely without seeming to, a skill he’d perfected in years of corporate meetings. Once again, Rogers almost seemed to be considering the possibility, but again, he brushed it off. “Just find the cube,” he snapped, and walked out of the lab.
Tony narrowed his eyes at the window. It was one-way glass, and he saw Rogers hesitate, then square his shoulders and set off toward the hull of the ship, not the bridge and the sleeping quarters.
Or possibly not the hull. Possibly he was heading for the storage units.
Smirking, Tony glanced back down to see if Banner had noticed, but the man was oblivious, already back to focusing on the staff.
Excellent.
“That’s the guy my dad never shut up about?” Tony mused. “Wonder if they shouldn’t have kept him on the ice.”
“He has a point about Loki,” Banner said.
Tony frowned. “There’s something off about this. Why is Loki trying to communicate with me?”
“Divide us. Like the Captain said.” But Tony could see that Banner was just playing devil’s advocate, that he had doubts too.
Tony shook his head. “It’s possible. But I get the feeling that there’s something bigger going on. We’re missing something. And if we’re not careful, we won’t find out until we’re all at ground zero of an alien invasion.”
“And I’ll read all about it,” Banner said dryly.
Tony turned to the other man, who was now adjusting one of the instruments on screen eight. “Or you’ll be suiting up with the rest of us.”
Banner laughed without amusement. “See, I don’t have a suit of armor. I’m exposed. Like a nerve. It’s a nightmare.”
“You’re afraid of it,” Tony said.
Banner was silent.
“I’m right, aren’t I? You’re afraid of what’ll happen if you can’t control it. Afraid of what’ll happen if you can. You’re tiptoeing, big man. You need to strut.”
There was something just beneath the surface of Banner’s pleasant expression. Tony knew he’d hit a nerve and waited.
“I have good reason to fear the H— the other guy,” Banner said at last.
Tony shrugged. “And I have good reason to fear the suit.”
“Ah, but you can control it.”
“Because I learned how.”
“It’s different.”
“Is it?” Tony swiped the data off the screen and met Banner’s eyes. “I’ve read up on your accident. That much gamma radiation? Should’ve killed you.”
Banner scoffed. “So you think the other guy saved my life?”
“I think he exists to protect you,” Tony countered. “I think he shows up when you’re in danger or angry or in pain. And I don’t know why you of all people, but I do think if you stop being afraid, you can learn to at least not break Brooklyn, this time. Capsicle might get miffed.”
“You might not like it if I do,” Banner said tightly.
Tony looked back. There was something underneath this man’s surface. The longer Tony observed him, the more he was sure that Banner was a ticking time bomb, just ready to blow up in the face of anyone stupid enough to betray him again.
“You just might,” he said at last.
Banner shot him one more look, a mix of apprehension and something else Tony couldn’t name, before at last he turned back to his screen and Tony followed suit.