Love Struck ➳ C.Barton

Chapter 9//S.H.I.E.L.D

"The guy's brain is a bag full of cats; you could smell crazy on him."
BRUCE BANNER
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Banner continuously scans with a gamma-ray detection scanner on the scepter for radiation. Tony looks at his monitors, shifting and solving as many algorithms and equations as he could with the assistance of Alicia who was sitting on a chair behind him with a notepad and pen.

"The gamma readings are consistent with Selvig's reports on the Tesseract. But it's going to take weeks to process" Banner says whole looking at his screen which is now full of pages and pages of information.

Staring at the Doctor, Alicia looks back at her and Tony's screen "If we bypass their mainframe and direct reroute it" she says looking down at her notes then at the two men looking at her.

Clicking his fingers, Tony nods at her "We reroute it to the Homer Cluster; we can clock this around six hundred teraflops" he says while smiling at his assistant with pride.

Taking his glasses off Bruce stares at the pair "All I packed was a toothbrush."

Looking away from Alicia Tony turns to Banner "You know you should come by STARK Towers sometime" rolling her eyes Alicia watches Tony make his way over to Bruce "top ten floors, all R&D, you'll love it, it's candy land."

Avoiding Tony's eyesight Bruce stares at his screen still full of information "Thanks, but the last time I was in New York I kind of broke Harlem."

Pushing herself off of her chair Alicia makes her way over to the two men "Well, we promise a stress-free environment." Nodding his head, Tony looks at Banner "No tension, no surprises."

Suddenly, Tony pokes Banner with a little electrical prod, before Alicia could do anything Steve walks in looking pissed.

"OW!"

"Nothing"

"Hey! are you nuts" Steve exclaims looking at the three.

Looking at Steve Tony rolls his eyes "Jury's still out."

Turning towards Tony Alicia watches as his fascination turns back to Banner "You've got a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz? Bongo drums? Huge bag of weed?"

Staring at Tony Alicia realizes these are the usual things she suggests that Tony does to calm himself down "Is everything a joke to you?" Steve questions interrupting her train of thought.

"Funny things are" Tony responds while pointing the metal prod at Steve who was now standing across from the three.

Clenching his hands by his side, Steve glares at Tony "Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny."

Turning towards Bruce Alicia pats his shoulder "No offense, Doctor" she adds.

"No, it's alright. I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things."

Walking away from the table Tony turns back around to Bruce "you're tiptoeing, big man, you need to strut." Staring at Tony in annoyance Steve feels like he was about to snap "And you need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark.

Frowning at Steve Alicia interjects "and you think we're not?" She says growing annoyed at the male standing in front of her "Why did Fury call us and why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling you, well us?" She says staring at all of the men around the room "I can't do the equation unless I have all of the variables."

Standing tall and proud Tony nods his head at his assistant's rant, "You think Fury's hiding something?" Steve wonders concerned about the answer may be.