The Bird

The door to the lab slid open and I stepped inside. Dr. Banner was running a scanner over Loki's spear while my dad, who had changed into more comfortable clothing was across the room from him.

"Skye. Come to yell at me-" I wrapped my arms around him, burying my face in his chest. "Hey." He wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "What's going on?"

"I'm sorry." I whispered. "For everything."

He moved back slowly, me still attached to him until I was sitting on a stool. He gently pulled away from me, having to peel my hands from his shirt.

"I ned to work, hon. But we'll talk later, okay?" He brushed some of my hair from my face. I nodded in reply.

Dr. Banner who had been silent through our conversation spoke up. "The gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's reports of the Tesseract. But it's going to take weeks to process."

"If we bypass their mainframe and direct route to the Homer cluster, we can clock this at around 600 teraflops."

I furrowed my brow and mouthed 'what?' They might as week have been speaking a different language.

"All I packed was a toothbrush." Dr. Banner laughed.

"You know you should come by Stark Tower sometime. Top ten floors, all R & D. You'd love it. It's candyland." My dad picked up something from one of the tables.

"Thanks, but the last time I was in New York, I kind of broke Harlem."

"Well I promise a stress free environment. No tension, no surprises."

He zapped Dr. Banner with the item he'd picked up off the table, causing Dr. Banner to cry out.

"Hey." Another voice called out.

"Nothing?" My dad asked, staring intently at Dr. Banner.

"Are you nuts?" Captain Rogers asked, walking into the lab, still in his suit, which showed off his muscles nicely.

"Jury's out." My dad said, making Dr. Banner laugh. "You really have a lid on it, don't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz, bongo drums, huge bag of weed?"

"Is everything a joke to you?"

"Funny things are."

"Threatening the safely of everyone on this ship isn't funny. No offense, doc."

"It's alright. I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things."

I was pulled from my daydream about Captain Rogers' backside by my stomach growling lightly. I slid off the stool, knowing my dad would have food somewhere. I found a bag of blueberries and made my way over to the three men gathered around Loki's spear.

"And you need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark." Captain Rogers said. I could feel his eyes on me for a second as I walked past him.

"Do you think I'm not?"

There was a sharp pain in my side and I jumped, letting out a squeak as my dad zapped me with the stick. I slapped his arm, having to refrain from sending a few things flying his direction.

"Why did Fury call us in?" My dad continued to speak to Captain Rogers as he grabbed the blueberries from my hand. "Why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us. I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables."

"You think Fury's hiding something?"

"He's a spy. Captain, he's 'the' spy. His secrets have secrets. It's bugging him too, isn't it?"

We all looked to Dr. Banner. "Uh...I just want to finish my work here, and..."

"Doctor?"

"'A warm light for all mankind.' Loki's jab at Fury about the cube."

"I heard it."

"I think it was meant for you." Dr. Banner pointed to my dad. My dad, in turn, held out the bag of blueberries. "Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the tower, it was still all over the news."

"The Stark Tower? That big ugly...building in New York?" I had to swallow a laugh at my dad's face.

"It's powered by an arc reactor, a self-sustaining energy source. That building will run itself for what, a year?"

"It's just the prototype. I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now. That's what he's getting at."

"So why didn't SHIELD bring him in on the Tesseract project? What are they doing in the energy business in the first place?"

"I should probably look into that once my decryption program finished breaking into all of SHIELD's secure files."

"I'm sorry. Did you say..."

"Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours I'll know every dirty secret SHIELD has to hide. Blueberry?"

"Yet you're confused about why they don't want you around."

"An intelligence organization that fears intelligence. Historically, not awesome."

"I think Loki's trying to wind us up. This is a man who means to start a war, and if we don't stay focused, he'll succeed. We have orders. We should follow them."

"Here we go." I said under my breath, earning a look from Dr. Banner.

"Following's not really my style."

"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?"

"Steve, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you." Dr. Banner said.

Captain Rogers looked to Dr. Banner then my dad. "Just find the cube." He turned and stormed from the lab.

I let my eyes follow him until he was out of sight before turning back to my dad.

"Really?" I turned and walked from the table towards the door.

"Not you too." My dad called.

I just shook my head, leaving the lab. I saw the blue of Captain Rogers' suit turning a corner and I rushed after him.

"Captain! Captain Rogers!" He stopped turning to me.

"Miss Stark."

"Look, Captain Rogers, I-"

"Steve."

"Huh?"

"Please, call me Steve, ma'am."

"Okay, Steve, but you have to call me Skye. None of this ma'am business. I'm not old enough for that yet."

"Sorry ma-Skye."

I had to hold in a girly squeal at the sound of my name coming from him.

Was I seriously flirting with Captain America?