A/N: Because this always irked me about Tony's assessment in IM2.

Disclaimer: I publish on a fan fiction site… Nothing belongs to me.

Heavy Metal Heart

With great interest, Bruce watched as Tony's deft fingers flew across the keyboard. He had never met a person that practically thought in the programming language. To Tony, programming came as easy as breathing (or, given there was an arc reactor in his chest, even more easily than that).

He even studied in that language as the physicist had learned just minutes ago.

Bruce had known pretty much everything about Selvig's work before the Chitauri invasion, and had caught up quickly on the scientist's more recent publications and works. However, he knew that Tony's background on astrophysics had been patchy at best and yet, the engineer had been more than capable of putting everything together in one night; he had even been able to quote Selvig by then end of it. Not even speed-readers (and Bruce was one of them so he would know) were that fast. So, he had asked.

The answer had been fascinating.

Everything that was not electronic, Tony had given to JARVIS for scanning, and then… magic happened. A stream of zeros and ones appeared all around the workshop together with a code-hologram in 3D that was complex to the point of mindboggling.

Then, Tony started to play.

Being his restless, ever-moving self, the billionaire walked about the room and pulled up related codes at will, putting together the information to a picture so complete it was eerie.

"Is it more difficult when you feel sick or tired?" asked Bruce. Tony looked at him with an expression that bordered on exasperation, and the physicist quickly clarified. "I mean, when you feel sick, do you prefer reading over… this?"

Tony looked thoughtful.

"There was only one instance where I had no choice but to read the old-fashioned way because I couldn't make sense of the code," replied he. "Even with a fever, I still prefer this method."

"So, what happened?" Bruce was curious what could have possibly interfered with Tony's genius.

"I was dying."

Bruce felt a chill running down his spine. The Other Guy roared.

"Tell me."

Director Nick Fury was not often afraid, but when he was suddenly faced with a certain physicist who was practically shaking with suppressed rage while trapped inside of a room just big enough for the Hulk to appear, he felt distinctly uneasy.

Dr. Banner had slammed open the door to his office twenty seconds ago.

'How dare you?'

That was all he had uttered so far.

"How may I help you today, Dr. Banner?" he asked nonchalantly pretending to be far calmer than he felt.

"Anxiety, depression, migraines, lack of concentration, dyslexia, insomnia, fatigue, loss of appetite, vertigo, hallucinations… Do you want me to continue?"

"I'm afraid I don't understand."

"These are all signs and symptoms associated with heavy-metal poisoning," Bruce hissed.

Why would the doctor… It clicked an instant later. Fury may not be a genius like Banner or Stark, but he was not stupid. Banner was furious, and he only allowed himself to be when he wanted to protect somebody. Tony Stark had the talent of bringing out both Banner's and his counterpart's protective instincts.

"I don't see how this is relevant today, Doctor."

"Tony's assessment for the Avengers program took place during a week that should have made it impossible for him to stand upright, not to mention fight a supervillain while saving his own life with the help of clues given by his long-dead father, which were so utterly ridiculous and random I have no idea how he could have recognized them on a good day, while being mortally ill notwithstanding," the genius scientist declared. His eyes narrowed in anger and there was a green tinge to them that put Fury on edge.

"Dr. Banner, I think you should try to stay calm."

"No!" was the physicist's sharp reply. He seemed to have the Hulk under control if only barely. "I've got this," he muttered almost to himself. "I have the right to be angry on Tony's behalf!"

"I understand completely, Doctor," replied the Director of SHIELD hoping not to sound too placatory. "However, don't you see that this conversation is pointless? Yes, we assessed Stark. Yes, we decided not to recommend Stark for the Avengers. Ultimately, he became an Avenger regardless of Agent Romanoff's evaluation. Discussing this achieves nothing and is irrelevant."

"Oh, no, this will achieve something, believe me, Director. What I would like to know is why you thought you had the authority to issue a personality profile on Tony without involving a psychiatrist or a medical doctor! Natasha is excellent at what she does, but she is not qualified to take heavy metal poisoning into account. You benched Tony regardless of what it might entail…That Captain Rogers would later see Natasha's initial assessment and would draw his own conclusions, which in turn would result in heavy prejudice against a potential teammate. Do you honestly believe that Steve would have judged as harshly without that information? Steve is a kind, honest, openhearted person, and never before or after have I seen him criticize anybody as harshly as Tony. You cannot fault the scepter; it only enhanced what was already there. That whole chaos on the Helicarrier? Agent Coulson?" Fury refused to flinch. "All this could have been avoided or at least inhibited if you had sought actual professional advice and taken into consideration the sheer medical implications of heavy metal poisoning directly into the blood stream," he emphasized the last part of the sentence. "Tony was so out of it, he'd been forced to manually evaluate his father's notes! Anybody else wouldn't have been able to tie his or her own goddamn shoes! And he still got out of it on top with minimal collateral damage. Later, he didn't say 'screw you' when you approached him about Loki even though you performed a medical procedure without consent, which implied you did at least some research before you decided to interfere but not enough to actually consider the psychological and physiological impact of dying from heavy metal poisoning – while being completely aware of it! If that is not a hero, I don't think I want to know what is."

With this, Dr. Banner swept around and left Fury's office, not bothering to look back.

Fury sat down again, his hand slowly moving away from the gun he had started to remove from its holster.

It was almost funny: They said the Hulk was dangerous like a hurricane, but it was Banner who was the driving force of nature. The genius knew all the sore spots of his opponents and apparently did not hesitate to use it in order to gain the upper hand, which was not unlike what his very unique friend excelled at. Also, not unlike Stark, Dr. Banner had a very protective streak when it came to the few people who genuinely cared for him without a hint of fear.

That was good and important to know. Fury appreciated loyalty. It was also good to see that the Avengers team was getting closer.

He turned on the intercom, "Agent Hill, could you please send Dr. Reynolds and Dr. Marquis to my office? I would like to discuss an old case with them. Thank you," said he.

Then, he resumed reviewing the latest action reports.

A/N: Thanks for reading! I love reviews :-)