"The gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's reports of the Tesseract," Banner said as he scanned the glowing blue-orbs at the tip of Loki scepter. "But it's going to take weeks to process."
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"If we bypass their mainframe," Stark began as he tapped furiously on a computer screen on the other end of the lab, "and direct route to the Homer cluster, we can clock this at around six-hundred teraflops."
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Banner chuckled, "All I packed was a toothbrush."
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"You know, you should come by Stark Tower sometime," Stark suggested as he made his way to stand next to Banner. "Top ten floors, all R&D. You'd love it - it's Candy Land."
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"Thanks, but the last time I was in New York, I can kind of broke...Harlem." Banner murmured as he continued to work on the computer in front of him, not even noticing the small hand-held zapper in Stark's hand.
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"Well, I promise a stress-free environment." Stark said. "No tension, no surprises," he listed off, and then suddenly pressed the zapper to Banner's side and electrocuted him.
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"Ow!" Banner cried out softly, as he spun around to stare at Tony. Tony narrowed his eyes as he surveyed Banner's reaction.
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"Hey!" Steve shouted as he burst into the lab.
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"Nothing?" Stark asked with a curious wince as he realized that Banner wasn't going to Hulk after he slightly electrocuted him.
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"Are you nuts?" Steve snapped.
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"Jury's out," Stark dismissively replied. "You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's you secret? Mellow jazz, bongo drums, huge bag of weed?"
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"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve demanded.
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"Funny things are," Stark quipped.
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"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny," Steve stated, and he hated himself for having to be strict, but he hated the fact that Stark was so careless. The Super-Soldier caught sight of Banner, and he gave him an apologetic nod. "No offense, Doc."
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"It's, uh, it's all right, I would've have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things."
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"You're tip-toeing, big man. You need to strut," Stark suggested gleefully.
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"And you need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark," Steve pointed out.
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"Do you think I'm not?" Stark shot Steve an annoyed glance. "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." Stark said as he replaced the zapper in his hand for a bag of blueberries.
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"You think Fury's hiding something?" Steve asked.
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"He's a spy. Captain, he's the spy. His secrets have secrets. It's bugging him, too." He nodded towards Banner, while tossing a handful of blueberries in his mouth. "Isn't it?"
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"Uh," Banner mumbled awkwardly, obviously not liking the fact that Stark had put him on the spot. "I just want to finish my work here, and-"
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"Doctor?" Steve insisted. Banner paused, realizing that he wasn't getting out of this with these two pressuring him to answer. Sighing, he removed his glasses and looked at them both.
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"'A warm light for all mankind'. Loki's jab at Fury about the Cube," Banner said slowly.
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"I heard it," Steve replied, encouraging the doctor to continue.
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"Well, I think that was meant for you," Banner pointed toward Stark with his finger. Pleased, Stark held out the small bag of blueberries out to the doctor, and Banner confusedly took a handful. "Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the tower, it was still all over the news."
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"The Stark Tower?" Steve clarified, not even attempting to hide his disgust. "That big, ugly-" Suddenly, Tony shot him a death glare. "-building in New York?"
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"It's powered by an arc reactor, a self-sustaining energy source." Banner explained. "That building will run itself for, what, a year?"
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"It's just the prototype," Stark answered in a cocky tone as he turned to look at Steve. "I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now. That's what he's getting at."
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"So, why didn't S.H.I.E.L.D. bring him in on the Tesseract project? What are they doing in the energy business in the first place?" Banner asked.
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"I should probably look into that once my decryption device program finished breaking into all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secure files." Stark said, crossing the room to one of the computer screens. Steve's blue eyes widened in shock.
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"I'm sorry. Did you say..." Steve began, but Stark cut him off.
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"Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge," Stark said in a matter-of-factly tone. "In a few hours I'll know every dirty secret S.H.I.E.L.D. has ever tried to hide. Unless, Agent Sitma would like to enlighten us," Stark suggested as he stared at the entrance of the lab. Steve looked over to see Christina casually standing in the doorway with her arms crossed. "Blueberry?" Stark offered Steve as he held out the bag in his hand.
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Christina strolled into the room. "Why would I know any of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secrets?"
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Stark rolled his eyes at Christina's act of innocence. "Oh, come on, Chris."
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"Don't call me that, Stark." Christina growled between gritted teeth. A shadow of a smirk formed of Steve's lips as he glanced between Stark and Christina.
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"Why not? You let Capsicle call you that? Anyway, of course you know all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secrets. You've been an agent since you were sixteen years old. You know just as much as Fury does, if not, more." Stark inquired.
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"Yeah, how do we know you don't know something that you're not telling us?" Banner asked, surveying Christina more carefully.
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"You two are implying that I know more than I'm letting on. Okay, yes, I admit that I have a high clearance that lets me in on way more information than the average agent, but I'm not keeping anything from any of you," Christina protested.
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Steve held up a hand as Tony opened his mouth to reply. "Lay off, Stark," he said in a stern and commanding tone. "She's telling the truth."
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"You and the Red Cobra over here, are obviously so close that you'd know when she was lying and when she was telling the truth. She's definitely not a highly trained assassin, who's every day protocol is to fool people into telling the truth and then kill them." Tony retorted, his words dripping with sarcasm. "I mean, hey, she fooled you, did she not?"
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"Have I ever given any of you a reason not to trust me?"
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"No," the three men replied.
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"Then there's your answer," Christina said simply. "Now you know why I didn't want you here, Stark." She narrowed her eyes at Stark, a secret lying behind her words: referring as to how she denied his clearance into the Avengers Initiative.
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"Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around." Steve said, glaring sharply at Stark.
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"An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically, not awesome," Stark replied.
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"I think Loki's trying to wind us up," Steve announced to Christina and Banner. Christian nodded her head in agreement, words not being able to form on her tongue. "This is a man you means to start a war, and if we don't stay focused, he'll succeed. We have orders. We should follow them."
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"Following's not really my style," Stark said blandly and popped another handful of blueberries into his mouth.
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"And you're all about style, aren't you?" Steve asked with raised eyebrows.
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"Of the people in this room, which one is A) wearing a spangly outfit, and B) not of use?" Stark asked, cruelly enjoying the flash of irritation that crossed Steve's face.
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"Steve, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you," Banner said.
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"Just find the Cube," Steve said shortly and turned, leaving the lab. Christina turned sharply and left with him.