A/N: So this is one of the plot bunnies that has been eating away at me. It's unrelated to either of my previous stories, and while the last two were rather light and fluffy, this one is going to be dark. Really dark. Along with angst there will be blood and violence, as well as sexual themes (no surprise there). It will also be slash, so if you don't like it no one's twisting your arm and forcing you to read it or anything. I'm not overly sure how this will be received, so I'd like some feedback. The story came from the idea of Bruce teaching someone else how to deal with having a beast inside of them and it became... literal, I suppose. Also, if anyone following other stories of mine peeks in here wondering what's up, I apologize for the delay in the other fandoms I write for. Once a ship or idea enters my mind it sort of deadlocks the others until I get over it (which, unfortunately, can take a really long time). And lastly, I do not have a beta reader at this time. Anyone who has beta'd before and doesn't mind combing over a chapter looking for grammar and POV violations can PM me if interested. I'd be forever grateful.
Summary: During a mission for SHIELD, Tony is attacked by a creature strong enough to take apart his armour. After the attack he's forced to come to grips that he's changing, and learn how to control himself.
Pairings: Tony/Bruce (main) and maybe a little Clint/Natasha (maybe)
Disc: I don't own anything to do with these guys, no matter how much I wish I did.
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"We're about ten clicks out Tony, prepare to deploy," said Bruce Banner, belted into the passenger's seat of the SHIELD Black Wolf Class transport. He held a Jarvis enabled tablet in his hands. It provided a continually updating readout of the conditions. Rain pelted the windshield, the outside world dark and in the clutches of a storm.
"It's going to be a rough flight, Stark," said Natasha Romanoff, who was piloting. Lightning struck somewhere beyond to punctuate her words, and thunder crashed, exposing the wilderness beyond. Wind buffeted the wings and the entire craft swayed.
"Yeah, yeah, just tell me when to jump," Tony groused, doing a quick double check of his armour. He hated doing Fury's dirty work. Investigating a downed meteorite out in the boonies of British Colombia wasn't really his thing. He had work to do in his lab with Bruce. The two of them were enabling his suit for short burst space flight, and doing a stupid errand collecting a bit of space debris for SHIELD was getting in his damn way.
"Alright, we're in level with the object. The crash site is five clicks due east. According to the brief satellite imagery we've been able to pick up it'll be in the middle of a crater approximately twenty feet deep and forty feet across, amongst a lot of debris," said Bruce, pulling up a 3D image of the area in question. The crater was nestled into the roots of the mountain, surrounded by broken granite and splintered wood. "All of my scans detect low amounts of radiation, especially gamma radiation. Your suit, and the work I've done to your arc reactor, should prevent any contamination. Once you've gathered enough samples, come on back. Good luck, Tony."
Tony nodded, jaw tight, as his mask slipped over his face. Natasha flipped a switch and the ramp began to lower, exposing the dark night beyond. Wind and rain whipped inside, splattering the interior, as red warning lights flashed.
With a hum his thrusters primed and he rocketed out into the blustering night. The wind tried to push him but his compensators kept up easily as he flew low, skimming the tops of the towering pines and cedars. Light bounced off of the cliffs around him with every flash of lightning.
Jarvis uploaded the images in the screen before him, providing a constant readout of the area. Bruce's face appeared, tired and smiling, on his heads up display.
"You're getting close now," he said.
"Thanks, couldn't see that."
Bruce rolled his eyes. It was a clear sign of Banner's unending patience that he could just absorb all of Tony's sarcasm without turning into the Hulk. He'd been dealing with a snarky Stark all night. Between friction with Pepper and Tony being a bitch about going and doing a mission for Fury it was a credit to his character.
"Tell me again why I'm here," said Tony as he broke through the tree cover. The crater in question appeared below him and he began to slow, circling the wreckage. Jarvis's scanners began to pick apart what he was seeing and transmitted all the data back to Bruce.
"Well, dropping me in the middle of a potentially dangerous situation could result in the Other Guy stomping all over precious evidence," said Bruce, who wasn't looking at the camera anymore. "Rogers and Barton are busy saving the world in Europe, and Thor of course is abroad."
Tony sighed while Bruce smiled. "We could be working on the Mark XI."
"I believe Pepper threatened to have the lab deadlocked until further notice and disinfected until we both stopped living in it," he said, his voice serene.
One of the hazards of their new 'Science Bro' status was that they tended to get absorbed into a project to the point where new and interesting forms of life began to grow out of discarded Chinese takeout boxes and they missed a shower or two.
"Pepper-shmepper, this is progress we're talking about." Tony didn't want to think about Pepper. They'd had one of many blow-outs earlier that evening. Tony couldn't even remember how it had started, but he was sure it was his fault. It usually was.
Tony touched down low in the crater, analyzing the scans. There wasn't much in the clearing - Jarvis pointed out several interesting pieces of a meteorite, but there was nothing remotely resembling technology or bizarre alien anything. Thinking to himself about a night well wasted, he began to dredge through the mud, setting the case he'd brought close at hand. He and Bruce had designed it to prevent any gamma contamination to anyone that handled it, and Bruce had thoughtfully upgraded his arc reactor to withstand any poisoning. Voila, Fury had decided he was a perfect candidate, so here Tony was, digging for bits of radioactive rock in the muck.
His sensors lit up as he picked up the shards that Jarvis had indicated and held them up before his visor. The rain made quick work of the mud, exposing shiny, twisted metal.
"What do you think, Bruce?" he asked.
"Could be pieces of an artefact," was the easy reply. They certainly looked like some kind of tempered steel, which meant it wasn't your fun of the mill meteor. "You'll have to gather a few more to get a better idea of what it is. Maybe go down further and see what's at the epicentre?"
He snapped the case shut and made his way down to ground zero. Jarvis informed him that radiation levels were higher, but manageable with the arc reactor alone, so he lifted his mask to stare down at the mud with his own eyes.
Something had been there, a kind of pattern, but it was washing away as the rain and mud pooled in the rock and filled what had been there.
"Jarvis, what can you make of that?"
"I'm attempting to extrapolate the possible pattern due to runoff from the rain, but it is difficult sir."
"Forward what you've got to Bruce and see if he can make any sense of it. Anything down there?"
"Just a few more pieces of metal much like what you have already collected."
Tony sighed and knelt, digging through the debris, pulling up more tiny scraps. There was a sound to his left, several rocks skittering down the mild incline of the crater. He glanced up, narrowing his eyes. His regular vision couldn't penetrate the darkness, so he snapped the mask up.
"Jarvis, give me a quick thermal scan of the area. We're looking for life forms."
"Sir, the prior scans indicated no sign of life."
"Just do it, Jarvis." He put the last of the scraps into the case while the program booted and ran. He heard another skitter of rock and a high, sharp howl.
Tony flinched, stepping back. His boot slipped on a rock and he sunk into the deep pool of water that had gathered. "What the hell was that?"
"Most people would call it a wolf, sir."
Tony snorted, unimpressed. "Is your sass patch over-clocked?"
"I do believe his self-teaching software and your sarcasm are a bad influence on Jarvis," said Banner.
The thermal imaging came up, imposing it over his real-time view. At the top of the ridge just beyond where the trees began again was a small image, but the bulk of it was hidden away. He felt his stomach tighten just a little as he tried to step out of the puddle and gain his bearings.
"Prime the weapons systems."
Bruce's voice came out of the speakers, sounding concerned. "Tony, is everything alright down there?"
"Peachy-keen, Doc. Just a really big wolf out here looking for a snack. Get anything from that info Jarvis sent you?"
"Nothing yet. Looks vaguely Nordic, but I don't have much experience dealing with that sort of thing. Not really my field. Although, there are some disturbing pieces to the pattern leading away to the north east."
"Leading away?" asked Tony, raising his hands. Leading meant footprints. And the Big Bad Wolf was to the north east.
"Be careful. Natasha and I are circling around for pick-up where we let you out."
"Ten-four. Couldn't be happier to get the hell away."
Tony was about to take off when the infrared image quadrupled in size and another howl rang out. It wasn't one of his prouder moments when, instead of taking off, he tried to back pedal and slipped on a mud-slicked rock. He went down in a spray of water, sending his case flying off into the darkness. The thing launched down the crater wall at him, scrabbling over rocks and bits of snapped logs.
"Jarvis, get the infrared off, let me see this bastard!" he snapped, raising his hands. There was a high, keening whine as he blasted the beast. It dodged, weaving down the wall as bits of debris flew. He blasted it a few more times, but it was ready for him every time.
The infrared dropped and Tony had just enough time to see a shaggy, hairy something fill his vision and descend on him. Something sharp began to drag along his armour, scraping like claws. There was pressure at the weak point on his neck as something -ohshititsbitingme - started to squeeze, ripping back and forth trying to find purchase.
"FUCK OFF!" he roared. "JARVIS, two hundred percent into the blasters, I don't give a damn about the power drain!" His blasters fired, flashing brighter than the lightning. The thing was thrown off of him with a ripping snarl, its fur sizzling around an open wound. Whatever it was hit the rocks opposite him and rolled, once, before it crouched and sprang again. There was a bolt of lightning, but the light didn't reveal anything that made sense.
Tony felt his heart climbing, he could hear Bruce yelling into the headset trying to figure out what the hell was wrong, but this was beyond anything Tony had ever dealt with.
The thing - whatever it was - was the biggest fucking wolf he'd ever seen. He didn't even know they could get that fucking big. It was as big as a bear. A grizzly bear. Maybe bigger. Pure muscle, matted and wet fur, mad glowing eyes. Silver eyes.
"Jesus Christ!" He fired his full power into the beasts stomach. It twisted to the side, shrieking in pain before it swiped at his face. Tony yelped as the golden cover of the mask and the display system was swept off, could hardly feel the pain as its claws sliced through his cheek. He heard his mask land somewhere nearby, felt the rain pelting his face and blinked blood from his eyes. The creature roared, a snarling, guttural sound, as it ripped at his armour plating. Its eyes were even more pronounced, completely alien.
He forced back against the beast, but he wasn't able to dislodge it. "Jarvis, thrusters at full capacity!"
His boots sparked and flared, but the creature's grip was too tight. The two of them rocketed backwards, slamming into a piece of granite which fractured under the force. The creature rolled, tossing him like a ragdoll, before it leapt upon him, slamming its paws (hands?) against him again and again, crushing his chest, arms, legs, whatever it could reach. He could still hear Jarvis reading off the destruction to the suit, to Tony's body - his body was on fire with pain - the impact strength was rivaled only by Thor and the Hulk.
He fired a shot, this time into its neck, and it yelped in pain. Tony could smell singed wet fur, the reek of its humid breath. Its claws started to pry underneath of his armour at his neck, slicing though his skin.
"BRUCE!" he was screaming, as he fired again. It knocked his hand aside, clamping its jaw around his arm. He heard the crack as his arm started to fracture under the pressure, pain twisting up his entire body. "!"
Tony rolled, trying to protect his face and reactor, but the creature tore the back plate off of him, its claws dragged through his flesh, and he felt his body jerked back. He could feel the poppoppop of its teeth puncturing his shoulder, its jaws twisting. He wasn't even sure if he was screaming anymore, but he was choking, on rainwater, on blood, on mud, he was gagging, the pain was unbelievable.
For the first time he felt, truly felt, the weight of his own mortality. He hadn't felt that way against Obadiah when he ordered Pepper to kill them both, or when Vanko had attempted to kill him and blow up the damn city. Not even when he'd been cradling a fucking nuke. No, that had all been a mixture of noble self-sacrifice and riding his own fucking danger high. This was different, this was terrifying. He wished he'd died in Afghanistan, because the terror of the explosions and rattle of bullets wasn't even close to being ripped apart and eaten alive.
There was a crunch that spiked up his back before this lower half disappeared. It hadn't been shorn or ripped away. He knew only because he would have died of shock. The thing had crushed his spine. It was comforting, in a way, to know it would be over soon.
Something like thunder was echoing through the crater, and a shadow slammed into the ground above his head. He didn't know people hallucinated when they died, but perhaps it was the pain. He could swear there was a giant foot next to his head.
The creature was snarling, howling, and the feet disappeared as more thunder (it sounded like cries of rage, it was so loud it was shaking the ground around him) reverberated through the crater. Its scraping, loathsome weight was no longer at his shoulders, and he could hear crashes, yelps and snaps getting further away... he didn't care, though... the rain, the sound, even the pain was drifting...