Chapter 1: Contact with the world and someone not-so-Green
Notes: Welcome to the next part in my AES04 series, this follows my Version 1 of Rebuilding an old Bridge (if you read that a while ago then I would recommend to read it again since I changed it a tinny bit)! I know I took my time with this but I hope you guys can forgive me and I hope you will like it! Feel free to leave reviews/comments to tell me what I did good and what I could improve. ^_^
BTW the title may change since I didn't know how to call this part of the series, if you can think of a better title tell me and I will think about it! :)
Oh and I haven't decided with whom I should pair Tony! Personally I'm for FrostIron but ScienceBoyfriends would be cool to. Make suggestions what pairing you would like (you can make others than those two). :D
"Blah blah in italics" = words in Bengali (spoken language in Calcutta)
Anthony Edward Stark – long thought dead son of Howard Stark, biggest shareholder of the rebuild Stark Industries and in certain circles feared assassin Blue Knives – walked through the halls of his tower in New York City with his beautiful assistant Natasha Rushman at his left and the CEO of Stark Industries, Virginia 'Pepper' Potts at his right.
When Tony had begun buying shares of Stark Industries with the money Jarvis had given him, he had been surprised how cheap it was to buy but after doing research he and Natasha had found out that after Howard's and Maria's deaths the stocks had slowly but steadily been dwindling down and the then CEO, Obadiah Stane had realised this and left the sinking ship (but not before grabbing his 'share' of money) and left everything to his then secretary Pepper Potts who had tried her best to safe the company but her best had sadly not been enough. So when Tony had revealed himself alive to the world, people had been sceptic since Howard had declared Tony to be dead but after a blood test had supported his claim the uproar calmed. When asked why Howard had told the world that Tony was dead he would tell them that it had been 'a reasonable assumption since he [Tony] had been kidnapped and had been believed to be dead' and if they asked what had happened during his stay with the kidnappers he would give no comment and let their imagination do the rest.
It worked pretty well that way, everyone was so preoccupied to come up with explanations of what could have happened that they almost missed how Tony bought most of the company and got it slowly back to it's feet.
With Pepper and Natasha's help and some brilliant staff from R&D Tony replaced the weapons production with medical and technological advances that boggled the minds of the whole world and Stark Industries shoot up from bottom to top almost over night.
Simultaneously Tony and Natasha had aced the tests that they had been given by SHIELD without breaking a sweat and Tony had decided to hide his face behind a metal mask, which is why he now wore an earring on his left ear the small amount of metal made it easier to create the mask.
Only in the presence of Natasha, Clint, Phil, Jarvis and Director Fury Tony let the mask retract while working in SHIELD. Natasha and Tony had settled perfectly into their double life and had even gained friends in Clint and Phil – Jarvis had caught up with Tony what he had done during all their time apart and had become something like an father-figure to the two assassins.
Tony had even built a tower where he, Natasha, Clint, Phil and Jarvis each had a floor as well as a common floor (a few floors were still empty) and the lower levels were R&D of Stark Industries but only those with the proper authorisation were allowed into the upper floors by Tony's newly created A.I….
But back to the present: Tony, Tasha and Pepper were discussing something that was extremely important to Tony – and thus for Natasha too – something that would change everything, not for the world but for one man in particular. Tony even had the consent from Director Fury for this, which made it even better in Tony's eyes – even without it he still would have done it eventually but the older mans approval meant he had back-up in this if needed.
Pepper – who only knew that Tony work for a government organization with a too long name – was happy to help the person that had saved the company almost single-handedly and even became something like a friend during this, especially since it was for a good reason.
The thing they were planning to do was to give the gamma expert and man on the run from the military, Doctor Bruce Banner, a place to call home without fearing that the military would hunt him down any second.
At the moment they were discussing how they should contact the man since finding him wasn't the problem for Tony and Tasha but they didn't want to scare him off during their first contact or at the revelation that they were working for a government organization – even if it was more a part-time thing – which made it a bit more difficult.
Natasha was for the direct approach, which meant Tony and herself going to the Doctor's current hiding place and just ask him while giving him basics of what he would get himself into. The suggestion hadn't really surprised Tony, he understood that Tasha was thinking of slowly building trust with this sometimes dangerous man and trust couldn't grow on lies, it would only be failed to doom and they all didn't want a green rage monster at them because of a misunderstanding.
Pepper more thought of sending someone else or just a message since she was afraid for the safety of her friends if they were to confront Doctor Banner.
But Tony argued that a messenger or just a message would send out the wrong signs, namely that Banner would think they were afraid of him and would only want to lure him into some kind of trap with their offer and so they decided on Natasha's suggestion.
Now they only needed to prepare everything for the flight to Calcutta…
The flight had gone without a problem and Clint had invited himself into the 'party' to tag along. Natasha and Tony tried to ignore the warm feeling that they experienced when Clint said with a grin: "You won't get rid of me even if you want to, besides Director Fury approved of my request to come with you guys!"
They were walking through the dirty streets of a shadier part in Calcutta in normal street clothes (Tony wore his hoodie so that no one would recognise him immediately) and chatted in various languages – it was a game for them to see who knew the most (Tony always won, followed by Natasha and Clint). It also confused people if they were listening in on their conversation.
When they came closer to their destination they stopped talking and split up. Clint took to the roofs to observe, in case Banner should run away and they had to pursue him and Natasha stayed by Tony's side.
The building – if you could even call it that – where Banner was staying was extremely run down as Tony could observe but while running with Natasha from SHIELD and after joining SHIELD they had seen even worse so that didn't bother him as they stepped into it.
Tony knocked on a door and they heard noises as if someone was running around, probably to grab the most essential to run away. To stop the Doctor Tony talked loud enough so that he could be heard through the door – which wasn't a problem since it was extremely thin. "Doctor Banner? My name is Tony I would like to talk to you. I have a proposal that could interest you."
He heard a muffled curse and a shouted "I don't care! I won't be used as some weapon for you guys."
"We are not from the military Doctor Banner. We rather wanted to give you a chance to escape the military permanently."
"…What do you want form me?"
"Come to my place, live there, work in the R&D labs, live a life without being chased."
"What would be in for you?"
"Another genius to talk to and maybe a future friend?"
"…Come in."
When Tasha and Tony stepped into the room – eyes scanning it for escape routes – they saw a young man with dark hair, dark brown eyes and casual clothes near the window, duffel bag hanging over his shoulder.
Every line in the other man's screamed of fight or flight, which was why Tony only moved slowly as he took of his hoodie as Natasha closed the door behind them. Tony ruffled a hand through his flattened hair and starred at the Doctor evenly whom just dawned who exactly was standing in front of him.
"Tony Stark…"
