"I see." Not as glorious as losing a limb in battle, but Thor had to agree with her. It was better than the alternative. "And your... colleague?"

Elaine input a few vocal commands to the computer, telling it to open her email and read the first few to her. After the third one, she paused.

"Thank you, Mr. Stark," she said suddenly. She couldn't face him, since she wasn't sure if he'd moved or not, so she kept facing where she knew the computer screen was. "Apparently, there was a large, anonymous donation for our library recently. It was a very kind gesture, and much appreciated."

"A fire, about ten years ago. The smoke effected her eyes and part of her brain, so she hasn't been able to see since." Kae shrugged. "We manage okay anyway."

"If it was an anonymous donation than how do you know it was me?" Tony looked at her with raised eyebrows. "It could have been the Cap, or someone else."

"I would imagine it is... difficult," Thor said. Truthfully, he had no idea; he was hale and hearty and would likely go out drinking with Stark later on. He had no clue how one functioned without being whole.

"He's the type who would," Elaine acknowledged. "I'll give you that. But I doubt he has the resources to burn. However, he seems to be friends with a 'self-obsessed multi-billionaire' who likely only needed a little push." She shrugged a bit, a faint smile on her lips. "An anonymous donation, of course, since it's not like we're a big, important library, but it's appreciated all the same. We can always use donations."

Kae shrugged. "It was hard to get used to but it's not so bad now. I just have to be a little more cautious." Which was true. She still wished that she could climb things but, knowing her, even if she tried she'd just fall flat on her back anyway.

Tony snorted. "Yeah, I'd guessed that," he muttered. Not that the place was bad or run down or anything, but libraries always needed money. And her computer and programs couldn't have been cheap either.

There wasn't much Thor could say to that. He and caution weren't well-acquainted, after all.

"This anonymous donation is probably going to go towards everything," Elaine said. "Repairs and maintenance, first, most likely. Fixtures. Then likely hardware and software, and if anything is left, towards the collection." That was typically how money trickled down through the library, as much as she wanted it otherwise. She was fond of the collection, and wanted to see it well-kept, but the building itself was more important.

It didn't take Steve long to realize that the group research just wasn't going to happen today. He and Bruce were just fine with the books, and Clint might even be alright with them, but it was obvious Tony and Thor were bored with it. With a sigh, he got up.

"I'm going to get coffee," he said. He looked at Bruce and Clint. "Either of you want some as well?"

"Uh, no thanks," Bruce replied, shaking his head a bit. "Caffeine isn't... such a good idea. You know, with the other guy..." He shrugged a bit.

"Alright," Steve said. He glanced at Hawkeye. "Clint?"

Barton was quiet for a moment. "Black tea, no sweetener," he settled on after a few moments. "Looks like Stark's way ahead of you." He looked out at the reception desk.

Tony nodded, taking that into account while he watched anonymous intern #2 come in with his coffee. He nodded and took the coffee, and then subtly shooed the intern back out the door before the intern could get too interested as to why Tony Stark was at a small library.

"Why is the collection last?" he asked, looking over at her. "The building is necessary, yes, but it shouldn't take much to keep this place up."

Steve rolled his eyes a bit.

"He couldn't even be bothered to go around the corner himself," he commented. Regardless, he started to make his way towards the desk.

"The building is old," Elaine replied. "A lot of things like the wiring and plumbing need to be updated and reinforced and such. That takes time and money the library usually doesn't have. We need new fixtures, a lot of our lighting is outdated, I'm told, and we need new shelving units before we can expand the collection, anyways. The central air needs attention, as does the heat. I'm also told our public computers could use some updates to both hardware and software. After that, we can think about expanding the collection." If the building had been newer, then it wouldn't be a problem. But personally, Elaine liked the old building. It had history to it. She 'glanced' over when she heard footsteps, and it took her a moment to identify them. "Taking a break, Mr. Rodgers? Or is there something I can help you with?"

"No, just going around the corner for coffee," Steve replied. He was proud of himself for not sounding quite as uneasy about it as he would have in the past.

"I completely understand," Elaine replied. "Maybe I should send my minion with you, I'm sure he'd be glad to get out of his little corner for a while."

Tony nodded. Okay, most of that made sense, and also told him that the library really had no money. Idly he wondered if he could get away with donating his company's "old" (here meaning two years old) computers to the library. After wiping off all the important information, of course.

"That sounds like a good plan," Tony said with a smirk. "I'd offer to go with you but my minion already brought me my coffee." He took a sip and almost sighed happily. Good, the intern had remembered that he liked a shot of dark chocolate in his espresso.

"Yeah but that's because you're too lazy to do it yourself," Kae said, making her way over to the desk with three unlabeled books. "Lainey, someone peeled off the stickers again. Are we sure I'm not allowed to beat normal peple with my crutches?"

Elaine paused when she caught a whiff of the coffee. She grinned a bit.

"You take a dark chocolate mocha?" she asked. "There may be hope for you yet, Mr. Stark." She faced the spot where she heard Kae's crutches. "No, we're not allowed to do that, still. Just make new stickers." She would do it herself, but she had no idea which books they were without scanning the barcodes, and making new stickers via vocal commands was tedious. "Have Benjamin do it, he's been wanting something other than shelf-reading to do. And if you do make him do it, tell him I need him to make a coffee run." Clearly, Benjamin was her minion.

"Aye aye." Kae grinned and picked up the books again, going off to find Benjamin. Hey, what good were minions if you couldn't boss them around?

Tony snorted and took another sip of his coffee. "One of these days we need to introduce Thor to coffee," he said to Steve. Because the god was hilarious when drunk, and Tony could just picture how much fun he'd be on a sugar/caffeine rush.

Steve snorted just slightly.

"You should know better," he said. But he didn't outright tell Tony not to do it. He knew his friend by now and to be honest, it might be amusing to see Thor on a caffeine buzz.

Elaine didn't say anything, but grinned a bit when a young man in his late teens, maybe early twenties came skidding around the corner. No doubt he'd jumped at the chance to go on a coffee run with Captain America. Leaning down, she pulled her debit card out of her purse and held it out to her intern.

"Salted caramel mocha," she said. "And get yourself something, too." She could treat her intern once in a while.

Benjamin grinned. "Sure. Anything else you want me to pick up? Snacks or anything?" Because he'd be damned if he didn't stay out for a little while. He'd been cooped up in a back office doing things for most of the day so far already.

"You've been warned you're on babysitting duty right kid?" Tony looked at him.

Benjamin blinked a couple times, looking at Stark, then at Steve, then back to Elaine. When he spoke next his voice was just the littlest bit squeaky. "Uh, sure, I guess."

"Relax, Ben," Elaine said. "Salted caramel mocha, and a sugar cookie. And get what you want."

"I need to go get coffee, as well, so I'll go with you," Steve said. "Just ignore Tony." Inwardly, he was sighing. He'd gotten that sort of reaction from quite a few people lately.

"Okie dokie." Ben looked at Steve for a few more moments before he shook himself a little. "Okay. See you soon, then." He lead the way out of the library and down the street to the coffee shop.

Tony snickered. "Poor kid doesn't know what hit him," he said with a brief grin. "Just wait until he meets Thor. Or Natasha."

"Don't traumatize my minion," Elaine replied. "I only get one right now, and I need him for things that require actual eyesight. And he's my gofer."

"You okay, son?" Steve asked as he walked with Benjamin around the corner to the coffee shop. The young man seemed a little twitchy, still. "Really, it's best to ignore about half of what Tony says."

Tony snorted. "I'm not going to do anything to him," he said innocently. "But if he happens to run into Natasha, well, not my fault." Fortunately though he was mostly joking.

"Yeah," Ben said after a moment. "I just... hadn't realized Elaine was serious when she said you all were coming to the library."

Elaine just rolled her eyes a bit (not that it worked all that well) and listened to a few more emails. She forwarded a few to Benjamin's email, so he could pull what was requested, and then took off her headset. It was a slow day, apparently.

"We do seem to have invaded," Steve replied. "We felt it was best not to go to any of the bigger libraries, though. Too much attention." He snorted slightly. "Not that Tony is taking it seriously..."

"I get the feeling Mr. Stark doesn't take much of anything seriously," Ben said cautiously, pulling open the door automatically for Steve. He was used to opening doors for Elaine and Kae, after all.

"Seems like it most of the time," Steve replied. He paused a bit when the door was held for him, but went through. "Although he does love his computers."

"He gets separation anxiety. He's more attached to his phone than half the people I see. And he's a crazy genius with more money to throw around than many small countries." Ben shrugged and headed for the line, which was fairly short.

Steve just rolled his eyes a bit at the fairly accurate description of Tony. The line moved pretty quickly, since it seemed like the girl behind the counter was good at her job, and soon it was their turn.

"Hey, Ben," the barista greeted. "Gofering? Or training a new minion?" She grinned even as she started putting together the first drink. She knew Elaine always took the same thing. Steve just blinked at the assumption.

Ben blinked before he grinned. "Yeah, something like a new minion," he said teasingly. "He's still new. He has no idea what he's gotten himself into, either."

The barista tutted for a moment as she finished making the drink and put it on the counter.

"A shame," she said, "he's wasted on your boss." She grinned impishly a bit. Clearly, she was implying that Steve was attractive. It took a moment for the implication to sink in for him, and when it did Steve turned faintly pink. That was something he wasn't used to.

Ben snickered. "Oh I'm sure she can imagine," he said with a grin. "Oh, I've actually been given an allowance this time to get something for the both of us." He nodded at Steve. "Miracle of miracles."

The barista grinned and held up a hand. Oh yes, she loved her regulars.

"Lay it on me, then," she said. "Salted caramel mocha is done, what's next?"