First, thank you to The Wind Whispers To Me for allowing me to continue this story. I stopped writing a couple years ago when I started school and work. My mind was so bogged down that I couldn't think straight. I went as far as deleting all of my work even the relatively popular stories I had... Now I have it all straightened out and have a few ideas.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy!

The Unknown Variable

Chapter One: Trust Issues

Bruce let a small sigh escape from his lips as he watched the coffee pot slowly fill with 'the life-blood of science' as Tony would say. He rubbed at his face as he fidgeted and tapped the fingers of his free hand against the countertop. He could still hear them in the conference room a bit down the hall. They weren't bothering to keep their volume down and he had seen plenty of agents walk down the halls with a multitude of different looks, smug, curious, and the usual mask of total indifference.

He groaned again, pouring a cup before turning around to go back to the conference room. He stopped short at the door when Steve slammed his hands onto the table before he made his way to his chair farther in the room near the corner.

"Why isn't Stark here again?" he groused.

"Board of Directors meeting," Natasha said evenly.

"And he needs to be there?" Steve asked. "Last I heard he barely had anything to do with the company apart from his name being on the products."

"Stark still heads the R&D," Natasha said as a strange look crossed her face, not exactly visible to everyone in the room, and Bruce was really to tired to try and figure out what it was.

"And he goes to the meetings because Pepper makes him," Natasha added at the end.

"Which means he isn't fully invested in this team. I don't trust Stark to have our backs and if it's only Iron Man we need why is he here?" Bruce watched Steve's brow crease as he bit his tongue to keep from snapping back at him. "Couldn't SHIELD confiscate the suits? Train someone more qualified and dedicated."

Bruce knew for a fact Tony's dedication wasn't the issue but he kept quiet and looked back over to Romanov as she signed and replied with a negative.

"It doesn't work that way Captain. But believe me, if it did I would make sure Stark was out of here as soon as possible. Another downside would be we would need him for repairs and updates. It's not that SHIELD R&D is bad, but even they couldn't handle the suit. Plus it doesn't help that Stark coded the suits to self-destruct if anyone not on his "list" tries to take it and that list is short."

Bruce was so shocked that she spoke so much in a single turn that he almost missed the look she sent him; long and steely because he knew she knew he was on that list, not that Bruce would ever find a reason to need or want to use the suits….. Tight spaces and heights weren't overly his thing. As far as he knew it was only Pepper, a man named Rhodey, and himself allowed to use the suits besides Tony.

Steve slumped into his seat and let out a sharp breath. Thor, who had remained quiet stepped toward the table, arms crossed over his massive chest and a thoughtful expression on his face.

"And what are you to do about that?" he questioned, voice low as he looked over his SHIELD brothers and sister. He had no problems with the Man of Iron. Stark was fine to him, if not a bit odd and rude. But the man reminded him of his warrior friends back home on Asgard, and for that he was quite fond of him.

Bruce almost groaned as he looked away from them to the screen displaying footage from the recent battle. Bruce had thought that was what Steve was so angry about. Tony didn't come to the debrief, but that somehow spilled down into this and Bruce didn't understand how it got to this point.

The door slammed open, cutting off what was about to be a reply from Steve or Natasha, Bruce really didn't care. Fury stormed in, clad in his usual all black but missing his coat which Bruce hadn't seen without it since he got here. The man was silent until he stood at the head of the far side of the table, looking them over with a stern eye. Natasha moved to get to her feet.

"Sir?" she questioned evenly.

"Sit down, Agent Romanov," he said sharply.

She did as told and silence fell over the room until Fury dropped what looked like DVD cases onto the table. Bruce straightened up and Fury looked down and taped his fingers against the plastic.

"So, you all would like to know a little more about Tony Stark," he said evenly, not looking up at them. "I mean you must, seeing as quite a few of my agents are distracted by your discussion. And you aren't the only ones. It's hard to know a lot about a man who wipes out all of our information about him, as well as his wife, as soon as we get it in our systems. Damn practically before! Before we can even get a look."

Fury stopped to pick up one of the slim boxes, revealing the picture of Tony, his suit, Pepper, a man who had to be they Rhodey that Tony told him about, and a man Bruce didn't know, with bold text on the top, 'IRON MAN'. Bruce didn't like this.

"These arrived yesterday," Fury started again. "I don't know who sent them or where they came from. I ordered them to be tested for safety. There were traces of an unknown energy signature but they passed the tests meaning they aren't harmful. Just your regular old DVDs, if you count for the fact they production made."

Natasha practically vaulted out of her seat to snatch the first, as Clint got everything else set up. Fury sat in his seat as did Thor and Clint as Natasha slipped the DVD into the player.

As she moved back into her seat, the screen flickered on and the others in the room stared at it. Nope, Bruce definitely did not like where this was going.