"I've been thinking about it the whole way over here Nicky and I just can't decide. How about I let you weigh in, yeah? Do you want me to give you a dressing down now or after I finish cleaning up this mess for you?" Tony Stark strolls onto the bridge of the Helicarrier like he owns the place, which he might as well. Fury turns and gives him a glare with his one working eye, but Tony is unrepentant. So what if he's basically taking the other man to task in front of the entire bridge crew and a certain Commander Maria Hill? At the end of the day, they both knew that this was Fury's fuck up.
After all, Tony was working for the World Security Council. He was working with SHIELD on a number of projects and had been for years. All Fury had to do was bring him onboard Project PEGASUS as well and maybe this wouldn't have ever happened. Maybe it still would have, but thanks to Fury's decision, they would never know.
Well, Tony knew. He'd let this happen. He'd let it all happen. And so far, everything was going according to his plan.
Funny, the last time he was around, he hadn't even been called in yet. Coulson had shown up at his Tower to let him know about the Tesseract's theft so he could consult with them, but it wasn't until the events that would take place in Stuttgart, Germany in just a little while, that they'd actually called him up to be backup for Rogers and Romanoff… as Iron Man.
They really had taken the 'Iron Man Yes, Tony Stark not recommended' thing to the extreme back then. But this time around, things were different. Iron Man didn't exist and Tony Stark wasn't just recommended, he was required by the World Security Council when a fuck up of this magnitude took place.
Would he have preferred to be back home with Pepper and Morgan right now? Of course he fucking would have. His baby girl was the goddamn light of his life, and here Fury and Loki were, pulling Tony away from what mattered most to him in this whole wide world. But alas… alien invasions wait for no man.
In the end, he was just glad that Pepper had already given birth. It would have been nerve-wracking for her to be nearing the end of her pregnancy right as this bullshit with Loki was finally happening.
Turning to face him fully, it seems like Fury has finally decided he's going to actually rise to Tony's challenge and take the bait.
"You are not the God of Science, Stark. We don't have to consult you on every bit of research we do."
Tony scoffs and flings out a hand, tossing some holograms into the air between him and Fury that show the data on the Tesseract which SHIELD had Natasha bring him.
"Far more than a bit of research, isn't it Fury? And not the God of Science, am I? Maybe not yet. Still, why don't you tell me something with that big spy brain of yours… of the top one thousand research projects in the world, just how many am I bankrolling at this point?" Fury clenches his jaw, glancing between the holograms and Tony for a long moment.
"… About sixty percent."
Grinning a sharkish grin, Tony steps right through the holograms, getting right up into Fury's face.
" Try eighty, Director. But I guess I can ' t expect much competence from SHIELD these days, can I? Gone downhill quite a bit since my father and aunt were in charge."
There's a vein on Fury's forehead now and the man looks about ready to pop a blood vessel. Tony is wondering just how much further he can push this when another voice suddenly pops up.
" Is that the Tesseract? That the thing I'm going to be tracking down?"
Whipping around, Tony's eyes light up as he sees Bruce Banner entering the bridge staring at his floating holograms with curiosity shining in his eyes. The scientist already looks so much better than the last time around, so much less antsy and nervous. But then Tony knows exactly why that is.
Perhaps trying to head Tony off at the pass, Fury is the first to answer, calling out from past the holograms.
"That's right, Dr. Banner. We need you to track the unique Gamma Radiation signature that the Cube gives off so we can-!"
But Tony is already circling around the holograms. He could have stepped right back through them like he did before with Fury, but doing so would have interrupted Bruce's view and he could always see the brilliant man's mind at work. Besides, it would have been rude! Grinning like the cat who caught the canary, Tony approaches Bruce from the side instead, hand outstretched as he cuts Fury off.
"Dr. Banner! Big fan! I-!"
He's just about to say the line, unable to help himself… when Bruce surprises him. First, the man doesn't hesitate to step up and take Tony's hand in his, giving it a good, firm shake completely unlike the limp one he'd gotten the last time around. Second…
"Dr. Stark. I'd say I'm an even bigger fan. I'm especially a fan of the way you've helped me in overcoming the Hulk and evading my would-be captors for the last two years."
For a moment, Tony's brain short circuits. But… only a moment. The world slows to a standstill as his eyes quickly travel past Bruce's big grin to where one Phil Coulson has quietly made his way over to Natasha's side, the two SHIELD Agents all but fading into the background of the Helicarrier's bridge until they're called upon. There's a bland smile on Agent Coulson's face that Tony is all too easily able to read into. Coulson and Banner had talked and somewhere along the way, they'd both been able to figure out who Bruce's mysterious benefactor was.
… That was Tony's own fault, of course. And to be fair, it wasn't like he'd ever had any intention of keeping the truth from Bruce once this was all over. Still, it was supposed to be Tony's big reveal. He was going to have to get back at Phil in some way for that.
Barely missing a beat as time resumes normal speed, Tony has a wide grin on his face as he wags a finger in Phil's direction.
"Spilling my secrets, Agent! Naughty, naughty!"
To anyone normal, they probably wouldn't even notice the slight hitch as Tony reacted to Bruce ' s reveal of his extracurriculars. Which of course meant that everyone in the room probably saw it. Save for Bruce himself.
Smiling even more blandly than before, Agent Coulson just tilts his head to the side.
"Apologies, Mr. Stark. I suppose I'm just an over-excited puppy sometimes."
Ah, so that was how they'd figured it out. Bruce had thrown Tony's amusing description of SHIELD Coulson's way, and Phil had connected the dots from there. Well, joke was on him, because now the Agent was getting weird looks from everyone who had heard him, including Natasha, Fury, and even Commander Hill.
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