𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫

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07:12 am

The following morning

          CHARLOTTE ATTEMPTED TO stifle a yawn as she rested her head against the desk in the laboratory. Against her better judgement, she had decided to join her dad and Dr Banner in the lab that morning.

She observed as Bruce held a scanner in his hand and traced the length of the scepter on the screen, his image being relayed to the screen as he operated the device. He re-positioned the cord that attached it to the device, which was lying on the surface of the bench he was working on, so that it did not snag the weapon's blade.

"The gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's reports of the Tesseract," the Doctor stated. The scan was shown under an enlarged image of the gem set at its head, as well as the Cube, on the transparent monitor. "But it's going to take weeks to process."

"If we bypass their mainframe and direct route to the Homer cluster," Her father started from the other side of the room, where three computers were analyzing the data.

As her father entered the desired requirements and ran the computer, Charlotte noticed that the large base that was attached to SHIELD's mainframe with three thick cords had a backdrop sporting the'Stark Industries' logo.

"We can clock this around six-hundred teraflops," he informed them.

Bruce chuckled at the technology he had brought with him, "All I packed was a toothbrush," he remarked.

"I didn't even bring one, Dr. Banner, so you're doing better than me," Charlotte joked, earning a smile from Bruce.

"You know, you should come by Stark Tower sometime," he offered to the doctor, unconcernedly raising a thin prod from one of the tables he passed, fiddling with it as he coaxed, "Top ten floors, all R&D. You'd love it-it's candy land."

"Yeah, Dr. Banner! You can meet Dum-E and U!" Charlotte said, lifting her head from the desk as she offered a friendly smile.

"And they are?" Bruce asked slowly, a confused look on his face.

"They're menaces, is what they are. Charlotte sounds her every waking moment with them, plotting my demise." Tony mumbled, passing a knowing glance in her direction.

"Dad created them; they're a pair of robotic arms that ' help ' him in the lab." Charlotte used help in a light sense, hence the use of air quotes.

Bruce looked between the two Starks, "Thanks, but the last time I was in New York I kind of broke Harlem," he declined with a glance down as Tony circled around to his side before the two focused on the display of readings.

"Well, I promise a stress-free environment," her dad continued, moving behind Dr. Banner to his other side, "No tension, no surprises," he said as he suddenly jabbed him on the side, startling Charlotte when the zap of the electric caused Bruce to jolt where he stood, a small pained exclaim sounded from his lips.

"Dad!" Charlotte scolded as Tony narrowed his eyes, leaning closer as Bruce met his gaze while holding his side. Even for him, that was reckless.

At the same time, Steve walked into the lab and angered by what he had witnessed, glared at the billionaire. "Hey! Are you nuts?!"

"Jury's out," Tony quipped towards the Captain and Charlotte watched them with a tense expression. Her dad turned back to Bruce, ignoring Steve, "You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz, bongo drums," he leaned closer to that his daughter couldn't hear him, "...huge bag of weed?" he questioned in admiration.

"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve asked angrily.

"Funny things are," her dad replied with a gesture of the prod.

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship, including your own daughter, isn't funny," he cast a glance towards Bruce, "No offense, Doc."

"A-Ah, it's alright. I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle," he looked at the eccentric billionaire at his side, "...pointy things."

Tony smirked and breathed out a chuckle as he stepped away, stating, "And if I knew that Dr. Banner here could change into a beautiful green monster full of rage at the slightest of pinch I wouldn't have done it," he gave Steve an odd look, Charlotte didn't know if it was of teasing or hatred, "You're tip-toeing, big man - you need to strut."

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

"You think I'm not?" Tony questioned. He turned to pose to him, grabbing a bag of blueberries from a desk, "Why did Fury call us in? Why now - why not before? What isn't he telling us?" At the three gazes fixed on him, he finished logically, "I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables."

Charlotte tried to think of an answer to that, but Steve replied first; she pouted and folded her arms across her chest, she was beginning to feel incredibly small and forgotten about as the three adults conversed.

"You think Fury's hiding something?" Steve's brow furrowed.

"He's a spy. Captain, he's the spy. His secrets have secrets," Tony declared as he tossed a couple of berries into his mouth, "It's bugging him too, isn't it?" he asked, turning to face Bruce, who had resumed working.

Bruce stammered, glancing between them with wide eyes before looking down again, "I just want to finish my work here, and-"

"Doctor?" Steve prompted, interrupting him.

Bruce cast his eyes to Tony before sighing, sending a glance towards Steve before removing his glasses, "A-A warm night for all mankind - Loki's jab at Fury about the Cube-"

"I heard it," the Captain nodded.

"I didn't," Charlotte chipped in only to receive a look from her dad to keep quiet. Again, the pout returned.

Bruce looked at her before stating, "Well, I think that was meant for you," He reached into the bag and picked a few blueberries from the bag that Tony had offered him. "Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the Tower, it was still all over the news."

Charlotte lightly cleared her throat and when he looked at her she glanced down at the berries bag, signalizing she also wanted some. With a soft chuckle, going undetected by the rest of the room, he quickly walked to her and let her take as much as she wanted.

"The Stark Tower? That big ugly-" both Tony and Charlotte sent him a challenging look, and Steve paused his insult, relaying in the presence of the tower's designer and his daughter. He sighed before finishing, "-building in New York?"

"It's powered by an arc rector - it's self-sustaining energy source," Bruce explained as Charlotte kept looking at Steve, upset at his insult as she chewed on the berries, "That building will run itself for what, a year?" he unbuttoned the cuffs of his shirt, clarifying as he rolled them up.

"It's a prototype," Charlotte declared proudly, making her dad ruffle her hair; a equally proud smile on his face.

"I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now - that's what they're getting at," Tony excused smugly, elaborating it to the soldier.

"So, why didn't SHIELD bring him in on the Tesseract project? I mean, what are they doing in the energy business in the first place?" Bruce wondered.

Charlotte did find that strange, her dad was really good at working with artificial and natural energies. And he has been in contact with S.H.I.E.L.D for four years now - why didn't they call him?

"I should probably look into that," Tony began as he circled around Bruce again, checking his phone, "once my decryption program finished breaking into all of SHIELD's secure files."

Steve gaped at him, dazed even, "I'm sorry, did you say-" he objected.

"JARVIS had been running it since we hit the bridge," Tony said, returning his cellphone to his back pocket, "In a few hours I'll know every dirty secret SHIELD has ever tried to hide."

"Yet, you're confused about why they didn't want you around," Steve said snidely, shaking his head at the billionaire. Charlotte wanted to tell him that he was wrong, but she decided that it would be best to remain hidden in the background.

"An intelligence organization that fears intelligence?" Tony drawled as he withdrew his blueberries back to himself, "Historically, not awesome."

"I think Loki's trying to wind us up," Steve announced at the two, he glanced at Charlotte as well to make sure she was paying attention. He was unsure if the girl understood what was going on around her. "This is a man who means to start a war, and, if we don't stay focused, he'll succeed," he met both of their gazes, asserting, "We have orders - we should follow them."

"Following's not really my style," Tony retorted.

Steve adopted a long suffering expression as he remarked, "And you're all about style, aren't you?"

"Of the people in this room, which one is A, wearing a spangly outfit, and B, not of use?" her dad quipped at him.

Charlotte didn't want to snicker the way she did but she couldn't help it. Technically, he wasn't wrong - at least not about the suit. She didn't know him very well, but she felt as if she were being reprimanded by a teacher.

"Steve," Bruce beckoned before he could reply, "tell me none of this smells a little funky to you."

With a disgruntled frown, he returned his attention to Tony and swept his eyes down the length of him before returning them to his face, "Just find the Cube," he ordered before turning and marching out of the lab without a second glance.

Tony maintained an impassive stare at the familiar disappointed look, exhaling once the Captain exited.

"Are you okay, dad?" Charlotte asked immediately walking over to her dad, her tone full of worry.

He looked at her and smiled tightly, nodding, "Me? I'm fine, honey. I'm just surprised, that's the guy your grandpa would never shut up about?" her dad scoffed, before turning to his screens and manipulating the data astride the scepter as Bruce adjusted his glasses while he read the information on the small screen he was carrying - he crossed the room to another large suspended interface as her dad continued, "Wondering if they should've kept him on ice."

His daughter frowned at that notion, "Dad, that's mean..." she didn't like the way Steve had just spoken to her dad, but at the same time, she thought that her dad was being unfair towards the Captain.

"You're right Charlie, sorry I said that," Tony quickly told her, but without actually meaning it. 

"The guy's not wrong about Loki," Bruce inputted as he modified the view of the strands of the radiation signatures, "He does have the jump on us."

"What he's got is an Acme dynamite kit - it's gonna blow up in his face," Tony predicted as he passed where Bruce was working and analyzed the touchscreen he had set up before, "And I'm gonna be there when it does."

"I'll read all about it," Bruce stated, sliding a compressed file to the edge of his screen, the data transferred to the one Tony was working at.

She watched them work, and Charlotte couldn't help to see how in sync her dad and Dr. Banner were - she was impressed. Except for JARVIS and DUM-E, her father never had a workshop helper, apart from herself - her father didn't get along with anyone. So seeing him actually get along with a stranger was a refreshing moment to see.

"Uh huh - or you'll be suiting up with the rest of us," Tony responded as he examined the information he received.

Bruce permitted an incredulous scoff before enlightening, "Ah, you see, I don't get a suit of armor. I'm exposed like a nerve," he glanced at Charlotte and smiled sadly, "It's a nightmare. And for someone that brought their kid to work I'd think that a situation where everyone would have to suit up would be your highest concern." he paused for a moment before turning directly to the ten-year-old, "Can I ask you a question?"

Charlotte gave a shy smile as she looked at her father, who nodded affirmatively.

"How do you feel about being in the same room with a monster?" he asked her with a tired tone. "It doesn't scare you?"

Tony flicked his eyes between the doctor and his daughter with a worried glance.

Charlotte, however, remained calm, "I don't see a monster - only Dr Banner." she gazed up at him, making Bruce stare at her before his lips lifted to a lopsided smile.

"Thanks, kid. That's good to know." the doctor told her with a genuine tone, making her grin. "I promise that I'll try not to scare you, okay?"

Charlotte nodded in response, a small and sympathetic smile on her face. She pitied the doctor; he was a kind man, from what she could tell. "I don't scare easily." She said with a sarcastically smug grin, causing Bruce to chuckle.

"She's really doesn't." Tony chipped in, watching from the sidelines as ths doctor and his daughter conversed.

"Yeah well, we'll see about that."

"You know," Tony began, proud of his daughter's mature attitude. Her presence appeared to have a calming effect on the doctor. "I've got a cluster of shrapnel trying every second to crawl its way into my heart," he shared, abandoning his monitor and advancing towards the other man as he tapped his arc reactor in indication as he continued, "This stops, this little circle of light and..." he paused as he looked at his daughter with a sad smile, she looked back at him with a downcast frown, "I lose everything."

He came to a halt and turned to face Bruce through a transparent screen. Though he worried his hand over another on, the doctor met his eyes, "It's a part of me now, not just armor. It's a terrible privilege."

"But you can control it," Bruce countered.

"There was a time when I couldn't. But I learned how," Tony said in a softer tone. "It wasn't easy. Hell, I nearly died in the process, but I knew that if I wanted to see my little girl grow up, then I would have to put the work in."

"It's different," the doctor objected as he shook his head, "As much I respect that, you can still control it. I can't, I tried," he finished, resuming his work.

"Hey!" Tony interjected, dragging his hand along the bottom of the touchscreen on Bruce's side to minimize all of the data, "I read all about your 'accident'. That much gamma exposure should've killed you."

If that was the case, Charlotte believed Dr. Banner wasn't as ordinary as he thought he was, even after being exposed to radiation. Maybe there was more to this meek doctor than he was letting on.

"So you're saying that the Hulk-" Bruce cut himself off and averted his gaze with a smirk at the name the media had adopted, "-the Other Guy, saved my life?" after seeing Tony silent, reinforcing his point, he continued with an ironic tone, "That's nice - it's a nice sentiment. Saved it for what?"

"No one deserves to die, Dr. Banner..." Charlotte weakly stated, looking sadder as the two talked.

Bruce gave the girl a reflective glance, wishing he could tell her she was mistaken and naive. But how could he? Even the Other Guy could see that the girl looked innocent in his eyes. As a result, Bruce remained silent, preferring to allow Tony to continue the discussion.

"As my daughter sweetly put it, no one deserves to die," the genius shrugged, "Except, of course, the bad guys' ones, right honey?" he didn't need to look at his daughter to see her exasperated expression, "Besides, I guess we'll find out why your Other Guy decided to keep you alive," Tony mused.

"You may not enjoy that," Bruce retorted.

"And you just might."

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author's note

apologies about the wait-google docs updated and decided to delete all my drafts, so i had to write a lot of this story section from scratch again.

not my favourite chapter tbh, it's just another very dialogue heavy filler  chapter , but things are starting to pick up!