"The gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's reports of the Tesseract." Banner announced, waving his scanner over Loki's sceptre. "But it's gonna take weeks to process."

       "If we bypass their mainframe, and direct route to the Homer cluster," Stark suggested, swiping a finger across the see-through screen in front of him. "We can clock this at around 600 teraflops."

       Banner chuckled. "All I packed was a toothbrush."

      "Y'know, you should come by Stark Tower some time." Tony smiled, sauntering over to the doctor and his work. "Top ten floors, all R&D. You'd love it. It's Candy Land." He delicately picked up a small rod from a nearby table.

      "Thanks, but the last time I was in New York I... kind of broke Harlem." Banner muttered, just briefly glancing up from his work as Stark circled around to stand beside him.

      "Well, I promise a stress-free environment. No tension, no surprises." The billionaire assured, before he placed the electric rod in his hand over Banner's torso.

        "Ow!" The Doctor winced.

         "Hey!" Captain America yelled, pacing into the room.

        "Nothing?" Stark questioned, leaning in to catch a glimpse of even the slightest bit of green.

          "Are you nuts?" Rogers grilled angrily.

          "Jury's out." Stark shrugged, as Banner went back to his recordings. "You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret?" He probed the scientist. "Mellow jazz, bongo drums, huge bag of weed?"

         "Is everything a joke to you?" Rogers snapped.

       Stark flicked his electric rod nonchalantly. "Funny things are."

       "Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny." The captain reminded. "No offence, Doc."

         "I-It's alright." Banner stammered casually. "I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things."

       Stark scoffed, ambling away from the doctor's work station. "You're tip-toeing, big man. You need to strut."

        "And you need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark." Rogers recalled.

        "Do you think I'm not?" Stark shot back. "Why did Fury call us in? Why now? Why not before?" He grabbed a nearby packet of blueberries, and walked back over next to Banner. "What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables."

"You think Fury's hiding something?

"He's a spy. Captain, he's 'the' spy. His secrets have secrets." Stark answered, before popping a berry into his mouth, and jutting a thumb in Banner's direction. "It's bugging him too, isn't it?"

"Uh..." The doctor mumbled awkwardly. "I just wanna finish my work here, and—"

"Doctor?" Rogers insisted.

Banner sighed, shaking his head slightly, and removing his glasses. "'A warm light for all mankind', Loki's jab at Fury about the Cube."

"I heard it." Cap nodded.

"Well, I think that was meant for you." Banner gestured to Stark on his right, who offered him the snack packet. The doctor took a blueberry as he continued, "Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the tower, it was still all over the news."

"The Stark tower?" Rogers quirked a brow. "That big, ugly—"

Tony tilted his head questioningly as he fixed the other man with a stare.

"Tower in New York?" Rogers resumed.

"It's powered by an arc-reactor, a self-sustaining energy force." Banner explained. "That building will run itself for what, a year?"

"It's just the prototype." Stark shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm kinda the only name in clean energy right now. That's what he's getting at."

"So, why didn't S.H.I.E.L.D bring him in on the Tesseract project?" Banner added. "What are they doing in the energy business in the first place?"

"I should probably look into that." Stark remarked, sauntering over to Rogers as he glanced at the small screen in his hand. "Once my decryption program finishes breaking into all of S.H.I.E.L.D's secure files."

Rogers' eyes widened for a split second. "I'm sorry. Did you say—"

"Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge." Stark explained. "In a few hours I'll know every dirty secret S.H.I.E.L.D has tried to hide. Blueberry?" He leaned the packet forward towards the other man.

"Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around." Rogers grimaced.

"An intelligence organization that fears intelligence?" Stark challenged, brows furrowing. "Historically, not awesome."

"I think Loki's trying to wind us up." Steve insisted. "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."

"Following's not really my style." Stark shrugged, bringing another berry to his lips.

Rogers smiled grimly. "And you're all about style, aren't you?"

"Of the people in this room," The billionaire asked sarcastically. "Which one is, A, wearing a spangly outfit, and B, not of use?"

"Steve, tell me non of this smells a little funky to you." Banner pleaded. "Especially (Y/N), the woman travelling with Thor. Why is she the only one Loki wants to see? Why not his own brother? I don't know... there's something she's not telling us."

Stark clicked his tongue. "You may be right about that. From the footage of her in New Mexico, she seems different now. Nevertheless, I quite like her. After all, she didn't snitch when she saw me hack into S.H.I.E.L.D's files."

Steve pursed his lips. "She gave us valuable information about Loki. There's no reason for us not to trust her."

"You practically had to force her to say anything." Banner reminded. "Otherwise she could've stayed quiet the entire meeting."

Rogers' eyes narrowed. "Just find the Cube." He grumbled, before he marched out of the lab. He glanced around him for any prying eyes, and went in search for some solid proof.

"That's the guy my dad never shut up about?" Stark hissed sourly. "I'm wondering if they should've kept him on ice."

"Huh." Banner whispered, walking over to glance at a monitor on the other side of the room. "The guy's not wrong about Loki. He does have the jump on us."

"What he's got is an Acme dynamite kit. It's gonna blow up in his face. And I'm gonna be there when it does." Stark corrected, ambling over to his own work across from Banner.

"Yeah. I'll read all about it." Banner promised.

"Uh-Huh." Stark agreed softly. "Or you'll be suiting up with the rest of us."

The doctor chuckled darkly, swiping away at his screen. "No. You see, I don't get a suit of armour. I'm exposed. Like a nerve. It's a nightmare."

"Y'know, I've got a cluster of shrapnel trying every second to crawl it's way into my heart." Stark confessed and tapped the arc reactor on his chest. "This stops it. This little circle of light. It's part of me now," He paced to a stop in front of Banner's see-through screen. "not just armour. It's a terrible privilege."

"But you can control it." Banner contradicted.

"Because I learned how to."

"It's different." The doctor shook his head.

"Hey," Stark swiped away Banner's work to one side of the monitor so they had a clear view of each other. "I read all about your accident. That much gamma exposure should have killed you."

"So, you're saying that the Hulk..." Banner smirked in disbelief. "The other guy saved my life? That's nice. It's a nice sentiment. Saved it for what?"

"I guess we'll find out." Stark smiled slyly.

"You may not enjoy that." Banner warned.

Stark walked away to his own desk before he said, "And you just might."