—chapter five:
ring around
the nosy rosy

"CURIOSITY KILLED THE CAT.
NOT EVEN SATISFACTION
COULD BRING IT BACK."

     As funny and ironic—and kind of hypocritical—as it was for a scientist to be into astrology, Jackson really did enjoy checking her horoscope. It gave her insight and introspection into her life about the things she wasn't so sure about. And with the way natal birth charts were formed and how constellations took part in all of it, Jackson had dared to say that a little bit of astronomy—which was a very valid science—had gone into the process.

     She believed in astrology to an extent but she didn't let it affect her everyday choices. They would have a slight influence on her decisions, yes, but she wouldn't go as far as doing what the horoscope told her to do.

     So when Jackson offered to read Bruce his horoscope from this morning's paper, all she got was a sigh and a wave of his hand, giving her the O.K.

     "Whatever gets you back to me faster," he said, waiting to hear what the false fortune teller had to say.

     Jackson sat up and flipped through the paper. "You were born December eighteenth so that makes you a Sagittarius, which is Latin for archer, its constellation located in the Southern celestial hemisphere and listed by the second-century astronomer Ptolemy—just for some validity.

     "Okay, so today 'You may find that people are likely to challenge your mental process today, Sagittarius. Don't be surprised if they seem to argue with your ideas left and right. Your heart may be especially tender, and any sort of perceived attack could affect you deeply.

     "On the other hand, you can use your sensitivity to calm a situation that needs to be remedied.' That sounds about right."

Bruce let out a huff of a laugh. "I already knew all of that. So what does that prove?"

    "Then that means it's at least accurate. You wanna hear about your love life?"

     "I'd like to keep my love life the same way you keep your current work ethic: nonexistent."

    "All right, all right." Jackson set aside the newspaper and stood up, stretching. "What do you want me to do?"

    Before Bruce could answer, Tony swaggered into the lab. They both looked at him and he blinked. "Am I interrupting something? I could come back at a later time if you need me to. Just try not to make a mess in here while I'm gone."

    Jackson shook her head, blushing. "I assure you nothing was going on, Tony. I was only reading Bruce's horoscope to him."

    "She wore me down," Bruce interjected and Jackson wore a feigned look of hurt. Bruce only shrugged in response.

    "Horoscopes, huh? Read mine." Tony motioned to the newspaper that laid discarded on Jackson's chair.

     "When's your birthday?" Jackson picked it up and opened it to the page.

    "May twenty-ninth."

    "Let's see. . .ooh, Gemini. Okay, 'Your thinking is quite clear, Gemini, and you'll find that your emotions support your mental processes. Your psychic nature is strong, so you should trust your hunches. The masculine and feminine sides of your being are working together harmoniously to balance out the degree of give versus take in your world. The key to maintaining this careful balance is not taking on other people's problems as if they were your own.' Hm. That sound like you, Stark?"

   Tony pondered it for a moment and nodded sagely. "Now read me the career section, will you?"

    "Okay." Jackson nodded, scanning over the paper. "Uh. . .'Delegate duties instead of taking on everything yourself. You are in a key position. You have a good vantage point of everything around you. Give people tasks that will help the goal come to fruition. Make sure everyone is on the same page.'"

     "How 'bout that?" Tony commented, a little impressed.

     "Great. Now that we've all had our fortunes read—" Bruce started but was then interrupted by Tony.

     "Marie Curie hasn't read hers, yet." Tony pointed to Jackson and Bruce gave him a look. "Kidding," he then added.

    "Now that we've all had our fortunes read," Bruce repeated, "can we please get back to work? Fury isn't paying us to sit around."

    "You're right," Jackson agreed, nodding, "he actually isn't paying us at all."

    Tony let out a snort at that. Bruce gave Jackson the same reprimanding look he gave Tony, however it seemed to be a little softer around the edges when his gaze locked onto hers.

     "Alright, fine," she caved after trying to uphold her stance, "I'm sorry. I just couldn't pass up the opportunity. You walked yourself into that one, though."

     "Thank you," Bruce commended her. Jackson made her way over to where the scepter was perched and observed it. It was made of a rusted metal and in the center of the claw-like shape was a glowing bulb of some sort, the part that was being powered by the Tesseract. It had been put into the lab the night before but Jackson didn't want to deal with it then so she waited until morning to look at it with a fresh mind.

     "Is there any chance that there's something inside the Tesseract that helps power the scepter?" she asked, "For all we know, the Tesseract itself could just be protecting whatever's in it. Because a Tesseract without the other cube doesn't even make it a Tesseract. It makes it a cube."

     Bruce and Tony both looked at her, not really sure how to respond. Jackson took in both of their faces and shrugged. "It's geometry. Tony, is there anything else you learned about the Tesseract in the readings S.H.I.E.L.D gave you? Anything about its interface and its inner workings?"

     "You know as much as I do about all of this, Curie," Tony replied.

     Jackson quirked an eyebrow, not really sure whether or not to believe him. "I'm gonna go find a computer and see what I can dig up about this Tesseract thing. So, you know, we don't die in the process of trying to retrieve it." She then made her way out of the lab.

     "Is she always this nosey?" Tony asked once she was out of earshot.

     "Uh, 'curious' is the word I would use," Bruce answered.

     "And why would you say that?"

     "Her head's so full of information that her brain can't get rid of. So once she finds something—anything, really—it sticks, and it makes her want to know more."

     "So you're gonna let her curiosity kill the cat? Why not just kill the cat yourself?" Tony raised an eyebrow at the doctor.

     Bruce sighed. "The cat's a little hard to kill, especially when she keeps bringing it back to life. She takes herself down these. . .rabbit holes, giving herself more clues until she can find out a solution."

     "And how'd you find this out about her?"

     "I studied her," Bruce said, receiving Tony's suggestive brows in return. He then deflated and corrected himself. "Not like that. In a more. . .objective way."

    The suggestive brows were then raised.

     "Oh, stop it," Bruce reprimanded, "you know, she's been by my side for the past year so it's a little hard to keep her out of my sight. If you'd known her that long, you'd want to see what she does."

Jackson started her trek towards the bridge and stopped when Steve passed her by, letting him go wherever he needed to but tucking that action into the back of her mind.

     When she got to the bridge, she got a hold of Coulson and asked, "Agent Coulson, is there anything you can tell me about what's inside the Tesseract? Or what's going on with it? I just think I'd do a better job at understanding where all of this is coming from and getting an answer if I had a little more insight on the Tesseract. I can't solve an equation if I don't have all of the variables, sir."

    "The most I can tell you Miss Edwards is that the Tesseract is misbehaving and we are trying our best to get it back before enemy hands can misuse it," Coulson told her, "which is why you and Dr. Banner are here to help us locate it so we can know what it is."

     "I understand that. But since you've had it all this time I figured you would at least know what it does. Or where it came from, even."

     "We are doing the best we can to a hold of the Tesseract. Once we get it back, we'll know what to do with it."

     "But what are you going to do with it once you have it?" Jackson asked, the gears in her head starting to turn. The long pause Coulson emitted before answering couldn't have been a good sign.

      "I think it's time for you to get back to the lab, don't you think?"

     Jackson nodded, not wanting to get herself into trouble. She returned to the lab, leaving more confused than ever. When she got back, Bruce looked up, registering the stumped look on her face.

     "Any luck?" he asked, anyway. She shook her head and walked over to their shared workspace, picking up the gamma ray detection scanner and scanned it over the glowing bulb, deadly silent as she did it all, her mind deep in thought and trying to piece the things she already had together.

     "She's got her thinking face on again," Tony pointed out from his work station.

     "All the gamma readings seem to be level with the Tesseract," she finally commented, setting the scanner down and letting out a sigh. "Sorry, I'm just getting a little frustrated, is all. It's weird not having all of the pieces. Gah, I'm gonna stay up all night trying to figure out what this thing does. But that's okay because once S.H.I.E.L.D gets the Tesseract back, we all get to go home and not even wonder what they're gonna do with it once they have it. They're hiding something."

    Bruce squeezed Jackson's upper arm out of comfort before glancing at Tony with a knowing look.

    Jackson took notice of the subtle action and asked, "Bruce, why'd you glance over at him?"

    Bruce opened his mouth to  answer, but Tony piped up. "Let me ask you something."

     "Shoot."

     "What's your thought process like? How do you get from Point A to Point B?" Tony asked.

     Jackson was silent for a moment, thinking about her answer. "By reading. I read a lot, and I find things that make sense and then I connect the dots. But since I only have one dot, I can't get from Point A to Point B. I need more information. Any chance you know how long it's gonna take to process all of this?"

     "A long time. Probably weeks, as far as I can tell," Bruce responded.

     "Not unless we can bypass the main frame and direct a reroute to the Homer cluster, we can clock this at around six hundred teraflops," said Tony, messing with some of the things on his screen. "You know, you two should visit the Stark tower some time. Top ten floors are all R and D. You'd love it. It's practically candy land. And Pepper could use a gal pal."

     Jackson rolled her eyes playfully at that, while Bruce looked a little doubtful. "I don't know," he said, clicking his tongue as he checked the readings, "last time I was in New York, I sort of. . .broke Harlem."

     Jackson gave him a sympathetic pat on the back before squeezing his shoulder and sliding her hand away.

     Tony motioned between the two of them. "Are you always this touchy with each other?"

     "Uh, no. Not really," Jackson answered, "I'm just touchy in general. Gives me a better feel for everything. Literally. But you already knew that."

     "Anyway, I promise a stress-free environment. No surprises." Tony then walked over and poked Bruce in his side. Bruce jumped a little and yelped. "Ow!"

     Tony gave him a look. "You really do keep a tight lid on it. What's your secret?"

    "It's not yoga. I can tell you that much," Jackson piped up. It was then Bruce's turn to give her a look. All she did was shrug in response.

    "Are you nuts?" asked Steve, walking into the lab.

     "Jury's still out on that one." Tony spared him a quick glance before returning his attention to Bruce. "What is it, then? Bongo drums? Huge bag of weed?"

    "I tried weed when I was in college once," Jackson added sheepishly, "first and last time. Stuff gave me anxiety."

    "Is everything a joke to you?" Steve continued to grill Tony, ignoring Jackson's quirky response. But Tony was having a little bit of fun with it, as per usual. "Funny things are," he retorted, pointing the prodder at Steve.

    Steve looked unimpressed with his answer. "Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny. No offense, Doctor."

    "Eh," Bruce dismissed, keeping his eyes on his work, "I wouldn't have come aboard if it meant that I couldn't handle. . .pointy things."

    "You need to the focus on the problem, Mr. Stark," Steve urged.

    "You think I'm not?" Tony defended, "Why did Fury call us in? Why now? Why not before?"

    "Thank you!" Jackson agreed, startling Bruce in the process. "Why did Fury call you guys in after the Tesseract had been stolen and everything had gone to hell? Why is he trying to make us figure this all out while it's in use? I mean, shouldn't he know what it does by now if he's had it all this time?"

    "See?" Tony pointed his bag of blueberries in Jackson's direction and Jackson took a few. "She gets it. And it's bugging Banner, too."

     Bruce looked up at the three of them, trying to come up with a way out. "I'm just trying to finish my work and— "

     "Doctor?" Steve interrupted him, having a feeling that Bruce felt the same way. Bruce took off his glasses let out a breath. "'A warm light for all mankind', Loki's jab at Fury about the Tesseract."

    "I heard it."

    "I think that was meant for you." Bruce pointed at Tony. "Even if Barton hadn't told Loki about the tower, it's still all over the news."

    "Oh, yeah," Jackson remembered, "Stark tower's going green now, right?"

    "Bingo. You just earned yourself a blueberry." Tony offered his bag of blueberries and Jackson took a few.

    "Stark tower? That big ugly— " Steve started but was then cut off by the look Tony was giving him. He continued, anyway. " —building in New York?"

    Jackson nodded. "It's being run on an arc reactor, a self-sustaining energy source. It'll keep the tower going by itself for about, what, a year or so?"

    Tony shrugged. "It's just a prototype." Then to Steve, he said, "I'm kinda the only name in sustainable energy right now, is what she's getting at."

    "Why did they even bring him in on the Tesseract Project?" Bruce asked, "What is S.H.I.E.L.D even doing in the energy business in the first place?"

    "We'll see once my decryption program has broken into all of S.H.I.E.L.D's most secure files," Tony remarked nonchalantly. Steve turned to look at him, stunned by what he just heard. "You did what?"

    "JARVIS had it up and running ever since I hit the bridge. When it's done, we'll know every single one of S.H.I.E.L.D's most dirty secrets."

    "I was right," Jackson whispered to herself, surprised. "Any chance we'll know what the Tesseract actually is? And what's inside of it?" she piped up, fiddling with the detection scanner. "Besides the whole 'box of energy' thing. 'Cause I'm still stumped on that one."

    "You're in on this, too?" Steve asked her, a little disappointed. Jackson's shoulders slumped. "Steve, you can't tell me that this doesn't smell a little fishy to you. Didn't you go off looking for something earlier?"

    They all looked at Steve and he looked at the three of them, his expression stern.

    "Steve?" Bruce asked, "You know something?"

    Steve was silent, his stern expression unwavering. "Just find the Cube," he said and then walked out.

     "It's technically called the Tessera—oh, forget it," Jackson called after him but found it to be no use and went back to toying with the gamma detection scanner, waving it over the scepter and looking for potential clues. "This may come off as a dumb question but did you guys ever think to take the scepter apart? Break the hull to see what's inside? Like an Easter egg. I mean, it's glowing the same way the Tesseract is."

    "And risk blowing up part of the ship?" Bruce questioned, "I don't think so, Jackson."

    Jackson nodded. "Right. But what if we had the proper equipment to handle it? Then what? Hypothetically speaking, of course."

    "I. . ." Bruce started then trailed off, at a loss for words. He understood where she was coming from and he practically see the gears turning in her head as she started to wade into dangerous waters.

     Jackson waved her hands, dismissing the thought. "Forget I asked. However Steve was right about Loki, though. He's got a jump on us."

    Tony let out a hmph. "What he's got? Is an ACME dynamite kit. It's gonna blow up in his face and I'll be there to watch."

    "I'll be reading all about it, then," Bruce guessed, checking over his screens. "Or you'll be suiting up next to us." Tony strode over to where Bruce was working. Jackson took a seat in the chair that she had dragged out of the hull, letting her feet rest for a while, and fiddled with the newspaper she had left from this morning.

    "Oh, I don't have a suit of armor," Bruce responded, his tone a little strained, "I'm mostly exposed. Like a nerve."

    Jackson could understand where he was coming from, with her being so open emotionally all of the time. Being so exposed like that led to vulnerability and vulnerability led to the potential of getting hurt. She had learned her lesson with being emotionally unavailable so she'd rather get hurt and feel it than feel nothing at all.

    "I read all about your accident, Banner," said Tony, "that much gamma radiation. . .shoulda killed you."

    "So you're saying that the Hulk, that the other guy, saved my life?" Bruce asked, incredulous, "Thanks for the sentiment. Save me from what, exactly?"

    "Guess we'll find out."