All characters © Marvel Comics

Dusty.

That was the best word Tony Stark could come up with as he was led through a veritable labyrinth of tunnels beneath an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of Manhattan. At least it was abandoned to the public, most S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives knew better. They had constructed this site after last year's attack on the city for research purposes, earning some spiteful remarks from the resident genius superhero. Tony's facilities should have been enough for their needs, thank you very much, but they just had to have their own location. Perhaps he didn't offer enough control to Fury for their ornery director's taste, he mused. Tony wasn't sure if he would be willing to offer up Stark Tower to S.H.I.E.L.D. anyway.

The reconstruction all over the city was perfect for carrying out such clandestine projects, since most people wouldn't be worried about a warehouse considering the amount of work that had to be done. The civilians of New York City were too busy panicking over the restoration of Grand Central Station in the wake of the leviathan that had crashed through its front doors to care about what was going on in the city's periphery.

"I hope this is as important as you say it is. Seriously, did you have to wake me up at ten in the morning for this?" Tony said, keeping up with the two swift-footed agents leading him through the halls, suppressing a shiver. It was winter, and the cold reached them even in these sheltered tunnels. "Are you boys in some sort of hurry?"

Natasha was trailing behind the three looking attentive as usual. Tony was lucky he wasn't walking behind her; Agent Romanoff's lithe movements would have him too distracted to jab at the quiet agents. That wouldn't be much fun, would it? He suddenly found himself wishing Pepper had been invited to the super-secret meeting to lighten the mood.

"Alright, maybe ten o'clock isn't so bad. But seriously, I didn't even get a chance to grab my coffee."

He paused to give the agents a chance to apologize. They didn't.

"Hey, is there a dress code for this organization? I don't think I got the memo about 'dark and mysterious' garb. What ever happened to wearing sweats in the workplace? Tee-shirts are in this season, you might want to consider having casual Thursdays or-"

"Do you ever stop talking Stark?"

Tony turned and smirked at Natasha, crossing his arms as the little entourage finally came to what looked like an elevator. He hoped it was more reliable than it looked, because the thing looked rickety as hell. S.H.I.E.L.D. had rushed this construction; it was a small miracle that the underground facilities had been completed in little over a year. Tony made a mental note to offer his tech to Fury next time the director decided to do something fast and half-assed. If he was feeling benevolent.

"You know what? I take it back, Thursdays should stay professional. Thor wouldn't approve of us if we messed with his day."

As they stepped into the elevator Tony couldn't help but notice the tense look on Natasha's face. He had a moment to wonder about this before the lift jolted to life and began to descend. At least there were no more stairs from here, Tony had had his fill of those just to get down to the upper levels of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s new bunker.

"Is anyone going to talk to me? Please don't tell me Fury's taken my life-model decoy idea seriously. He hasn't replaced his agents with robots, right?"

Natasha scoffed and rolled her eyes. At least it looked like she did to Tony, the movement was so quick it was difficult for him to be sure. It was beginning to unnerve him that she was so edgy, she would usually offer up snarky responses right back at him. Her silence must surely indicate trouble. The gears were spinning rapidly in Tony's mind as they finally arrived at the lower levels of the facility.

"Banner, what's our status?"

Nick Fury was standing behind an array of screens, all glowing with various readings. In the relatively dim light of their makeshift control center the panels illuminated the man with a soft, eerie glow. All around were other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in various stages of diverse tasks. Most of them were only there to take readings and categorize research. Fury's question had been directed to what seemed to be a large, circular room closed off with glass that was situated in the center of the room.

The doctor raised a hand in Fury's direction in a silent request for time. Nick could truly be impatient sometimes, and Bruce would be lying if he said that demanding voice coming through the intercom didn't irk him. He did his best to keep himself focused on their research. Namely the Chitauri armor laid out on an examination table before him, and the Chitauri corpse a few feet away on an identical table. S.H.I.E.L.D. had done a wonderful job in preserving this specimen and Bruce was certain there were more of them in the organization's possession, but he wasn't privileged enough to know that kind of information. His task was to study the way the alien biological armor worked. So far, the doctor had discovered a great many things about both the Chitauri as a race and their technology, such as the way their so-called armor integrated with their nervous system and their complex physiological structure. He had to admit, though, that their visage never failed to send a chill down his spine. Bruce made a point to look everywhere but the creature's face when examining it.

"Doctor, I don't mean to rush you, but we're in a hurry here. You yourself said that body might not last if it's kept out too long."

Fury's blunt voice cut through Banner's thoughts, forcing a sigh from the man.

"Might not. I just wanted to take another look at its rate of decay, Director. It's remarkably slow, even considering the stasis it's been in. I can't explain it."

Bruce walked around the first table to the second, looking at the screen that showed him readings much like Fury's did. Stark tech, of course. It was remarkable how much information these scanners could glean from their subjects. As he suspected, the corpse was in nearly perfect condition, almost as it had been the day they collected the aliens from the streets. Something about it seemed… wrong. Bruce couldn't put a finger on it, but he knew something was going on with the dead creature. No matter how alien a being, it still had cells and a physical body. It should be breaking down by now, over a year after its death. No, it didn't just seemwrong… This was definitely wrong.

The alien wasn't the only thing out of place in this underground laboratory.

S.H.I.E.L.D. was notorious for experimenting with unknowns, but why they wanted access to the Chitauri's advanced biotechnology was beyond him. Surely they weren't planning on using it… were they? He also wondered why Fury had one of Tony Stark's old Iron Man suits and an arc reactor in the same lab. Then again, they had a mixture of Hydra and Chitauri weapons stashed here too, which S.H.I.E.L.D. had sworn never to experiment with again after the last 'Phase Two' incident. Bruce figured all the extra stuff was there for storage. Hopefully.

Tony was stunned, though only momentarily, by the interior of the lower levels of this base. He took everything back about what he thought before, this place was impressive. While the upper levels were mere passage ways, the lower levels were committed solely to research and development. Everything down here looked high-tech and positively sterile, like some twisted, not-bright-enough hospital. Creepy. At least it was spacious for an underground building. He had to admit, they had done a good job of creating this place in the time they'd had to do it, but they had no sense of style. The dim, blue light gave this place a very bad vibe.

Natasha took the lead from here, allowing the other two agents to trail behind. Most of these rooms had very large windows facing the hallway, and Tony could see busy workers inside nearly every one of them. They reminded Tony of insects working in a colony by the way they bustled about, handling little bits of nondescript technology even he wasn't familiar with. He felt very much like a kid in a candy store as he passed each room, longing to stop and watch through the glass. No, not just look, he wanted to get his hands on whatever these scientists were working on. It suddenly dawned on him that the excessive escort was probably to prevent him from doing just that; Natasha could lead him to wherever they were going on her own, but he needed more than one babysitter to keep him from stopping at every new room they came across.

"Director Fury's waiting for you, Mister Stark, if you wouldn't mind not slowing down to gawk at everything."

Tony looked back at Natasha, frowning.

"I don't gawk. That's not something I do, ever. It'd be nice if you'd tell me what I'm going to look at. Is this a consultation thing again? I hope not, those are so dull when there's no drinks. Hang on, is this a surprise party? I hope you know my birthday was in March. Well you should know, Agent Romanoff, you were at that one party I threw a few years back. Would've been great if Pepper hadn't crashed it and Rhodey hadn't stolen my suit. I mean, I know it was wild but let's be honest here, I thought I was dying at the time-"

He stopped abruptly when he caught sight of Natasha's scowl. It would be wise to stop rambling right about now, but since when was Tony ever wise?

"Are you mad at me? It's either that or something's going on, and I'd like to know what's got you in full serious mode."

The quartet stopped at what looked to be a heavily fortified door at the end of the hallway. This room, unlike the others, didn't have windows. The two nameless agents split off to a different hallway while Natasha keyed in some code on the door's keypad, then allowed her eye to be scanned. There was a faint unlocking sound and the door gave an imperceptible jolt. Before opening it, though, she turned toward Tony.

"If I tell you something can you keep your mouth shut?" Her voice was lower than usual, nearly a whisper.

No, of course he couldn't.

"Yes, of course I can." Tony said, nodding to himself as if affirming his own statement. He made a mental note to tell Pepper everything later.

Natasha sighed and looked around, hesitant. How uncharacteristic of her. "Fury's looking at something that I don't think we're ready to handle, Stark. Usually I'd go along with his plans, but this…? I don't know. You'll see."

Without giving him time to question she opened the door, revealing the control room. At first glance it reminded Tony of the Helicarrier's bridge, only darker and full of scientists. They were S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, he supposed, but they looked geekier than the usual grunts Tony had the pleasure of interacting with. And there was a big lab in the center of it all. Neat. His eyes found Fury almost immediately- well of course they did, that overcoat-with-eyepatch look was hard to miss. Tony and Natasha made their way to where the director was standing, overlooking the enclosed space below. Bruce Banner looked up from his work and smiled as the two entered the room, but Tony was too busy staring at the doctor's subject to return the expression. He recognized it all too well.

"Nick, mind telling me why we've got a dead alien down there? I thought we were getting rid of those things." He turned to look at Fury, who betrayed only the slightest annoyance at the informal greeting. Or lack thereof.

"Always a pleasure, Mister Stark." He gave the inventor a less-than-amused smirk before looking back down at Bruce. It seemed the doctor was wrapping up whatever he had been doing; agents entered the room from the other side and were in the process of covering up their specimens, no doubt to take them away to some super-secret storage.

"That was one of the bodies we uncovered after the attack, we've been studying its technology. We'd like to know how the mechanical parts of the creature integrate with its biology."

Stark listened to the director, but he wasn't sure if he believed Fury. Studying was harmless enough, but it wasn't in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s nature to just study. They were like Tony; they couldn't just sit back and look, they needed their hands all over stuff.

"Yeah? Well that sounds great, why am I here then?" Tony gave Fury an incredulous look. He knew very well he wasn't needed for looking at some dead alien.

"We'd like you to collaborate with Doctor Banner on his research."

Like hell they did. He didn't believe Fury for a second, but since he was already here Tony figured he'd play along.

"Couldn't we just go back to my place for that? It's nothing personal, it's just that my place is better than your place. No offense."

Fury raised an eyebrow at him, which he took to mean 'shut up Stark.' As if that was going to happen. Tony was about to make some other sarcastic remark when Banner joined them. Man, that guy could really sneak around for someone who was harboring a giant green rage monster somewhere in the back of his mind. That was neat too. He gave Bruce a big, friendly grin.

"Hey there, long time no see! Boss says we're on E.T. duty together, can't wait."

Bruce gave Tony a bemused look. The inventor was rough around the edges, yes, but he appreciated how well they got along together. Part of this was certainly due to the fact that they could understand each other, and the doctor found this comforting. Tony didn't always see him as a creature.

Fury was staring at the two expectantly. "You'll be restricted to this location while you are working on the project, no information or technology is allowed to leave. Do you hear me Stark?"

"Loud and clear. When do we start?" Tony said, putting on his best excited face and adding a little inflection to his voice.

"Right now. Doctor Banner will show you what we've got so far. I expect a preliminary report on your new findings by five o'clock this afternoon." Oh good, the director was just assuming they would come up with new findings. High standards much? "And Stark..." Fury paused, giving the inventor a serious look, "Don't touch anything that isn't yours."

With that, the director and Natasha walked toward the entrance of the room, leaving the two brilliant men in the midst of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s finest scientists. Bruce looked at Tony, his former levity evaporating.

"Listen, I don't know why they called you in, but something's wrong here. It feels like they're hiding something."

Tony blinked.

"It always seems like they're hiding something Bruce, probably because they usually are. These people have already ruined my Friday."

"It's Saturday."

"See? That's much worse. Who works on Saturdays anyway?"

Bruce couldn't help but smile as he led his friend to one of the many panels Fury had previously been observing.

"They asked me to help them understand this technology. It's the closest thing we've seen to a cyborg, or whatever you want to call it. For now they've only asked me to figure out how it works..." He opened a file on one of the screens which contained a full diagram of the Chitauri armor and stepped aside so Tony could see. "Well, I already know."

Tony scrutinized the diagram closely, magnifying the image displayed to near microscopic levels. Bruce pointed to what looked like tiny filaments branching from the surface of the armor meant to lie against the Chitauri's skin.

"See these? They work exactly like fungal hyphae."

"Fungal what?" Tony said, frowning at the phrase. It wasn't often he came across a term he wasn't familiar with. Banner looked similarly surprised.

"You know, hyphae? Certain types of fungi use them to connect themselves to the roots of plants. It's a symbiotic thing..."

He trailed off as he noticed the lost look on Tony's face. The man was excellent at math and physics, but biology didn't seem to be a strength of his.

"Anyway, this armor connects itself to the Chitauri's nerves with the tiny filaments you see. It creates a circuit between the nerve itself and the armor."

Tony stood up straight and nodded. "Cool. Why haven't you told Fury yet?"

Bruce looked at the image, wringing his hands together in a moment of thought. "I don't think I should. Not yet. They're not just interested in research Tony, I have a feeling they're going to try to use this technology. We shouldn't say anything until we know what they're trying to accomplish."

"Well then," Tony said, maintaining his nonchalance as he pulled out his phone. More Stark tech, of course. "Let's see what Jarvis can find, shall we?"

The two of them grinned as Tony plugged his phone into the console before him. Now, all they had to do was bide their time until the inventor's mobile could collect the data they required. With any luck they wouldn't get caught.

Hello! Thank you for reading (as I assume you have if you've gotten this far) and please feel free to leave comments.

I can only hope I've done these characters justice. Next chapter will be in Asgard, where we shall explore the fate of everyone's favorite Aesir brothers.

~Nightlance