Forced Hands

Sequel to: Ashen and Harm's Way.

Established Tony Stark X Ivan Vanko

Post Ironman 2

Post Avengers 2012 – AU SPOILERS

Post Ashen and Harm's Way. Estabished Tony Stark X Ivan Vanko. SLASH. Post Avengers 2012. Reviews will decide if more is written. SPOILERS FOR AVENGERS 2012

His whips splayed out grabbing the creatures from their flying crafts. Right out of the air, tearing them into the ground, Dynamo continued to press around the perimeter that Ironman had set. He stayed well enough out of sight of anyone. He had been called in at the last moment to help assist. Though, to be honest with himself, no one would know he was ever there in the end. He opened his helmet and looked around as something else began to unfold.

Grey eyes watched as the creatures fell one by one. He moved along the inner beltway of the buildings that created a hollow in the city, a courtyard that was filled with humans. They struggled and staggered to grab hold of something to keep standing, to run. Just because the creatures had been felled, did not mean that the panic would be ebbed so easily.

"Go!" He screamed as his helmet came down over his face. He walked to the first alien creature he could find and kicked it, content that it would raise up to combat him he turned around. His comm pinged in his helmet. Tony's picture appeared in his HUD.

"Da?" He asked.

"It's done…go on ….get out of here." The voice said calmly. "get back to Malibu." he stated. "Before S.H.I.E.L.D. finds you."

"Chicago." He replied dryly waiting.

"Fine I'll uh…meet you there." Tony's voice was strained and quiet. "I have some stuff to tie up but as soon as I'm done I'll be there."

"Are alright?" Ivan turned around pulling his shoulders back to retract his whip lines.

"Yeah no helmet." He said softly, quietly as he risked being over heard. "I'll see you in Chicago make sure my spare mark VI is operational."

"Da… Promise."

"Promise." Ironhide cut the communication and sighed.

"You ok?" Steve gave him a sidelong look as he looked down to the woman trying to bandage him. "Please it stopped bleeding. I'll be fine thank you." He took the gauze and held it to his side and motioned her off. "Stark?"

"I'm fine." Tony looked up and silently cursed at the state of his building. "I cannot believe the luck." he murmured.

"Buildings can be rebuilt." Steve nodded as he looked down checking his cut.

"Oh tell that to Pepper please." he sighed. "She's gonna kill me. I'm what does this make me…88% in the hole?" he sighed and turned "Jarvis do I have sufficient repulser power to fly?"

"No sir." the computer droned in his ear.

"Great." Tony rolled his eyes. "I'm hoofing it." he looked back up. "Should have grabbed another suit from the tower before we came back down." he turned his head. "I hate walking."

"Race you?" Hawkeye smiled. "Gandolf…" He jabbed moving past toward a S.H.I.E.L.D. van to check on Natasha who sat holding an ice pack to her forehead as she waved the archer away.

"He'll never let you forget that." Steve laughed.

"Ah he's an elf." Tony waved a hand.

From behind a police barricade a woman screamed. "MR. STARK!" The blonde woman with the dark brown hair screamed his name again holding up something in her hands. She called out over the sound of the crowd that had gathered. She pushed against an officer trying to explain her way through the barricade.

Tony turned to her and saw she held a brief case. His red mark VI travel suit. He shook his head. "Damnit." he muttered and stormed forward and took the case from the woman pushing the officer's off her slightly. "Thanks." He said softly. "Who gave this to you?"

"He said to tell you…Peaches, but I don't know what that means." She nodded.

"Of course not, thanks." He said and walked back toward Steve.

"Special delivery?" Steve asked finding a place to sit on the hood of the police car he was near.

"Something like that." He looked around before speaking Russian into his headset for a moment. Jarvis tell crimson to get to Chicago.

Natasha walked up. "Crimson?" she smirked. "I did not know you spoke Russian." her eyes lit. "Crimson?" she asked again as if it really peaked her interest.

"A bit…I picked it up here and there. Business meetings you know." Stark stonewalled.

"So who is crimson?" She asked softly. "Shall I warn Miss Potts of some beautiful young thing that threatens to steal you away?" She smirked. "I know how you are about red heads." She said but he seemed to ignore her line of questioning.

"That's not overly necessary." he nodded. "I have this well under control." He moved to a S.H.I.E.L.D. van and kicked his legs. "Jarvis disengage Mach VII locks." he said softly and the suit began to click off; from toes to neck, disengaging the suit locks.

Tony sat shucking off parts, and scraped metal pieces. "It's going to take ages to sort that all out." he murmured softly dropping a gauntlet into the pile next to the two pieces of his helm. With a sigh he pulled the neck cuff off and dropped it.

"Mr. Stark do you require medical attention?" The female S.H.I.E.L.D. agent approached. He waved her off slowly and continued to sit there shucking off armor.

"That was strange." Natasha said as she leaned against the police car next to Steve.

"What is?" Steve asked turning to her to press her hair back. She gave him a dirty look but didn't move to stop his advance. Steve reached down and pulled a piece of clean gauze from his side and lifted it pressing to her head. Natasha stiffened but did not protest the attention.

"He is usually all over women." She murmured. "I worked undercover as his P.A. for a short time." she nodded.

"I'm so sorry about having to work for him, but today was stress filled if you don't recall." Steve licked his lower lip and continued to dab at her forehead. "He like any of us will be out of sorts for a bit."

"You don't know Stark. Not like I do; the stress would have made him more likely to flirt." she frowned.

"I thought he was with his… what is she again?" He asked quietly.

"Pepper his P.A, yeah that's the public face for sure, but no one really knows. Intel says they return home together, but it doesn't say much else." she murmured as Stark shucked off the last bit of armor and stepped up to the brief case armor that soon began to wrap it's way around his body.

"It's his business not ours Natasha." Steve said as her eyes came round to his. "Leave it well enough alone." He murmured. "It's not for you to worry over."

Natasha smirked at him. "You think I worry?" She shook her head. "You're mistaken Mr. Rodgers."

Steve shrugged, his hand drawing back, as he watched Stark bag up what was left of his suit in a body bag he'd conned off of the ambulance driver; to place the scrapped up parts of the former suit into. He shook his head. "Stark! Hey, I thought we were going for food?" Steve called out.

"Oh! I said what 3 blocks? I'm thinking more like 6 states." He saluted. "Captain." His after burners activate as he stood, a foot off the ground, holding the bag. "I'll be around." he stated. "I'm going to grab the Tesseract before I go, let me know when we're ready to do …ya know whatever."

"You're taking it?" Natasha stood, "What are you going to do with it."

Stark tipped his head back and forth. "Not going to let S.H.I.E.L.D. touch it. That's what I'm going to do with it." He murmured.

"You can't do that." Natasha said.

Thor came from behind them and found a place near Stark. "Agreed." Thor nodded slowly. "However, the Tesseract shall not be permitted to S.H.I.E.L.D. again…I will however require it to return my brother and myself to Asguard."

"Have a way to activate that power big guy?" Stark smirked. "Or were you just going to hold it in your hand?"

"I-" Thor's mouth shut tightly and he looked over to the S.H.I.E.L.D holding tank. Loki sat down on his knees, eyes closed, Waiting.

"Give me 48 hours." Stark said. "I'll get it into a transfer device that you should be able to control." he motioned his hand this way and that. "I'm pretty sure." he nodded. "I am still working out the equations in my head."

"Fine." Thor said calmly.

"We'll take you and Loki somewhere safe for the next 48." Natasha assured but she glared at Stark. "Fury will have your head for this you know that?"

Steve nodded and soon Stark was gone into the clouds above, without rebuttal, without a word.

"He is rather impatient." Thor observed.

Steve could only nod watching the suit stop at the top of the tower for mere moments before skittering off across the skyline.

Vanko smiled and offered the white cockatiel a sunflower seed that she greedily took. He grabbed another and bit down on it to split the shell and smiled up as the bird came down pecking at his lips. "I thought I told you I didn't like you kissing on girls." Tony walked in and slowly; setting down a large silver case. He moved easily to where the Russian sat and slowly, gingerly, sat down on the couch. Ivan smirked and grabbed another seed.

"Hey girl." Tony smiled as the bird tottered his way and down to his shoulder. "Hi there." he smiled at her and pet her beak. "Miss me?" he asked, but she just tweeted and moved back to Ivan for another seed. "Thank you, for your help today." he nodded. "I know it wasn't easy for you. Ya know keeping under the radar."

"Was fine." Ivan insisted reaching over to turn the billionaire's neck slightly. "Bruised."

"Yeah I have a few cracked ribs." He nodded. "Breaks and fractures from Hulk grabbing me out of the air." He sighed. "You didn't pick up, I called you and you didn't pick up." He lifted his shirt groaning at his bruises.

"Was occupied." Ivan spoke softly as he reached up putting his thumbs under the shirt to survey the billionaire's many bruises. "Many creatures no time for sentiment."

"Tried to call Pepper too." he frowned at the admission. "But I tried to call you first."

"Like said …was busy." Ivan moved to face the billionaire more fully and he shook his head. "I get wrap for ribs." he nodded. "Nothing to do for broken ribs." he touched the reactor. "Heart?"

"Yeah it's fine Jarvis ran diagnostics on the way here." he nodded as Ivan twisted it and drew it out. Pulling his glasses from his pocket he put them on the bridge of his nose and examined the reactor and the attached wiring. Satisfied he lowered it back into Tony's chest and snapped it into place as he had done countless times before. "Told you."

"Just Checking, you have habit to not tell." he murmured and reached down offering up a peach to the billionaire out of a bag at his feet.

Tony took it with a smile and laid back against the larger man. "I the Mondays." he said softly.

"Da." Ivan said wrapping his arm around Tony's shoulders resting it on his sternum just over his reactor.

"TV?" Tony asked.

"Nyet…too much about invasion, want peace, want quiet." he murmurs softly. "Just want this." he said and reached up pulling his glasses off tossing them to the coffee table. He shifted slightly and Tony moved with him in the shift holding onto each other in a casual sort of way they had grown accustomed to. "What is in case?"

"Tesseract." Tony mumbled.

"What?" Ivan blinked. "You have this?"

"Yup." He yawned. He pulled closer, and in moments the billionaire's eyes had lidded slowly and he went limp. "Rest..." Ivan smiled and looked up. "Jarvis tell Potts he is here." he nodded. "She worries." he looked to the kitchen bar and smiled at the picture that Pepper had taken of them and left in the loft for them almost six months ago.

"Of course sir." Jarvis droned.

"Will there be anything else sir?" A female voiced piped up.

"No Jacosta." he nodded. "Thank you." he settled back and closed his eyes. His free arm reached out to the coffee table and blindly he thumbed the lights off using the control on the coffee table. "Jarvis set security."

"Yes Mr. Vanko." He stated and the locks began to click around the small loft.

The next Morning: Ivan shook his head and waved the bird away from the metal tube. "Away." He told her and began checking the system scans. Tony came around and nodded at the mesh mold that stood before him and reached up flicking away its outer shell. "and you think this will work?" Vanko asked.

"Yes, when Thor and his brother take both ends and twist the container into a viable seal it will complete the circuit so to speak." He came around. "You saw my numbers Ivan." he reached down grabbing his stylus and started to write his equation in the air and it was soon whisked away to a small table. "You saw my calculations, they are solid you said so yourself."

"Da." Ivan nodded. "Just be sure."

"I'm sure." Tony sighed and reached down picking up the white bird and perching her up on his shoulder. "Is daddy neglecting you?" Tony made a kissy face at the bird. "I'm sorry." he moved her to her large tree and she moved to it easily and he placed a few dried pieces of fruit in her bowl.

Ivan smirked but didn't speak as he continued to micro weld the seals on the Tesseract activation chamber. "They will go back to the …" his word trailed off.

"Asguard apparently." Tony sat down at a stool across from the Russian and pulled his phone pad out and began to micro weld the other side.

"Ribs." Ivan announced.

"Not hungry." Stark replied and accepted a scan from Vanko's terminal. "Oh my ribs…" he frowned and pulled up the imager pictures and flipped through them zooming in on some serious breaks. He was certainly stiff, and now he knew why."Take these while I was asleep did ya?"

"Da." Ivan nodded. "Four broken ribs, fractured arm, and leg." he nodded. "You need medical attention." He murmured, it was a statement not an order.

"Ah well, later." Tony rolled the image back to the other terminal. Ivan glared over the container and blinked a few times. "Look I didn't say never." he shook his head. "So testy." He turned around and grabbed another piece of the device.

"Pepper send Stark tower schematics." Ivan nodded. "Made changes."

"To what?" Tony shook his head. "The bedroom?"

"Research division." Ivan shook his head slowly. "My lab."

"Okay." Tony smiled. "I give, but agent Coulson was able to bypass my security, should S.H.I.E.L.D. find you in New York." Tony gave him a look.

"Won't." Ivan said certainly and they were silent for a long moment. "Promise."

Tony nodded. "Promise." he repeated and then they fell into a silent work relation as they always had in the lab. Their silence only broken by the start of Tony's music list, and the occasional flapping and tweeting of their bird. "So I'm thinking about having someone over."

"Da?" Vanko looked up.

"What do you know about the Hulk?" Tony leaned back in his chair and smiled despite the pain in his chest.

Ivan sat up and set down his welder and lowered his glasses to the table. "Crazy." He said softly.

"Oh he's not crazy." Tony said trying not to laugh, the laughing is what hurt the most.

"Meant you." Ivan said and stood up moving to their supply room.

"Awe come on Ivan!" He laughed but then he suddenly stopped and grabbed his torso. "Okay that hurts." He grit his teeth and laid back, but even the pain couldn't help his smug smile.

To be continued if reviews are positive