SHIELD, of course, was smarter than that.
"We brought your suit." Phil said by way of greeting as Steve boarded. "You'll run into Stark often once we're on the Helicarrier, you're to stay in uniform at all times."
"What's this about?" Steve accepted his suit. "Why'd you bring in Tony?"
"He's the best brain we've got, and we could use it right about now. We gave him a briefing file; in a few hours he'll know more about gamma radiation than anyone but Dr. Banner himself."
"Dr. Banner?"
"Part-time gamma radiation specialist, part-time Hulk." Phil passed him a file with a familiar-looking A on the front. "Read up, Captain."
"Where've I seen this before?" Steve frowned at the symbol.
"Officially, it stands for Alpha Team." Phil told him, poker face as straight as ever.
"Officially." Steve cocked an eyebrow.
"Officially." Phil nodded. "Best get changed, the ride isn't much longer."
Steve followed Phil's advice, changing quickly and settling in to read as much of the file as he could. They'd found the tesseract, but something had gone wrong in their testing and Thor's—the extraterrestrial he'd tangled with a while back—brother, Loki, had used it as a doorway into SHIELD's facility. He'd destroyed the facility, killed more than eighty people, and taken Clint as one of his own.
Steve sighed; why couldn't they have just left the damn thing in the ocean?
Dr. Bruce Banner was a highly acclaimed scientist who'd experimented with gamma radiation a few years back as an alternative to Erskine's formula; instead, he'd given himself a terrifyingly dangerous condition. Natasha had gone to India to track him down so he could help them locate the tesseract, which apparently had a very distinctive gamma signature.
Natasha, efficient as always, had already brought him in by the time they arrived at the Helicarrier. Steve shook his hand firmly and made sure to look him in the eye. Dr. Banner seemed quiet and rather nervous, but he had a good sense of humor if you listened for it.
Steve managed to wait until they were inside before he asked.
"Widow, would you happen to know where—"
"I'm taking Dr. Banner to see Stark now, Captain, you're welcome to follow."
"Right." Steve smiled a bit sheepishly. "Thanks."
"Stark," Dr. Banner mused, "That's Tony Stark? The weapons specialist?"
"Former weapons specialist," Steve corrected.
"He's a consultant for SHIELD now." Natasha clarified. "He'll be assisting you in the search for the cube."
"Word is you can find it?" Steve asked hopefully. The sooner Dr. Banner found the tesseract, the sooner Tony could go home and get out of danger.
"That the only word on me?"
"Only word I care about." Steve told him honestly.
They entered the bridge, and Steve stopped short.
Tony was in a heated argument with Phil.
Phil, Phil.
"—bullshit it had nothing to do with me—"
"The world, fortunately, does not in fact revolve around you, Stark—"
"You're telling me you're playing high school principal for a—"
"Vice principal."
"Fuck you! For a mission that has absolutely nothing to do with the former number one weapons developer in the world who you just so happened to recently convince to design you a soldier? Bullshit this had nothing to do with me, you fucking played me!"
"My assignment at Midtown high school had absolutely nothing to do with you. You weren't even on our radar—"
"Funny, because according to Fury you never lost my number—"
"We don't lose anything. Doesn't mean you're on a watch list."
"Then what the hell were you there for?"
"That's cl—"
"If you say classified, I will literally scream."
"I think you've scarred the rookies enough for one lifetime."
"Oh my god, that was one time! It's not my fault your agents are so damn jumpy, I mean, come on, one teensy tiny explosion and they start trying to shoot me—"
"You were in a restricted area—"
"It's only restricted if you can actually keep me out, which, hello, of course you can't, I'm me—"
An alert was triggered then, cutting Tony off mid-sentence. Everyone reacted immediately, and Tony seemed to know well enough that he dropped the argument almost instantly. He disappeared in the surge of moving agents, but Steve only had a brief moment to worry before he and Natasha were being led away to a quinjet bound for Stuttgart, Germany.
He could only hope that if the danger was that far away, Tony might be able to stay out of it.
Chapter 9
Back in black, I hit the sack / it's been too long, I'm glad to be back…
"Miss me?" Tony grinned to the Black Widow as he hijacked her PA system.
He'd considered Shoot to Thrill, but considering as of yesterday he was technically retired, Back in Black seemed more appropriate. He shot past the quinjet and swooped in low, blasting the horned supervillain SHIELD was calling "Loki" back and away from Cap. He extended both hands, taking aim with his repulsors and a number of other weapons.
"Make your move, Reindeer Games." Loki put both hands cautiously in the air, his getup disappearing as he surrendered. Great. Magic. "Good move."
"You've had a very active retirement." Cap was back on his feet now, and he shot Tony a glance.
