Chapter 2: A New Lead

Since arriving at the new facility he'd noticed there were no windows in the building at all. At first he had known what number of days he had spent there simply by counting off the days. However, time moved differently there and with no windows to help him tell the passing of the days it was downright hopeless. He had lost count after three days.

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Tony was hunched over his work with a plethora of empty coffee cups scattered around. His hair was not it's usual calculated chaos but true chaos. The bags under each syrupy brown eye were testament to his lack of sleep. Tony was scowling at the screen as he reviewed for the umpteenth time the SHIELD files and the field reports the forensic teams had made. It was in this dilapidated state which Pepper Potts found Tony in when she came to check in on him. Tony was too wrapped up in his thoughts to hear the telltale clicking of heels that signaled Pepper's approach. So naturally he also didn't notice when she came directly behind him to examine his work.

"Oh god Tony." Pepper breathed.

"JESUS!" Tony placed his hand over his thumping heart, "You need to wear a bell or something. Damn. Where did you come from?"

"Tony have you slept at all since the last time I saw you?" she asked as she examined the empty cups with a critical eye.

"Nope. Running on coffee fumes right now." Tony answered airily, "J, that reminds me. Have Dummy bring me another pot."

"Tony." Pepper crouched down on her haunches. She looked up into her employer's eyes with a imploring expression, "You need to sleep. Whatever you're working on will still be there when you get back." she reasoned.

"Unless they dissect his heart or brain." Tony said ominously. Pepper didn't understand but she knew Tony well enough to not try to figure it out.

"Tony." she grabbed his hands and gently pulled him to his feet. "Sleep." she cooed soothingly. Tony blinked slowly and stared blankly forward before nodding his consent. There was nothing more he could do until they slipped up again. He had gone over everything a hundred times. It was up to fate. He hated leaving things to fate...

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The artificial light poured down on him from the bulky metal construct sharing the desolate metal room with him. Bruce couldn't tell if he'd been in this room before. Details slipped from him in his heavily sedated and sleep-and-nutrition depraved state. He just knew it wasn't his sleeping cell. And in some ways that was worse and in others it was better. For in his cell torture never came to him other than the long hours that dripped by with his hazy, languid state. Torture always followed him when he was brought out of his cell and as such in some ironic twist his cage had become a sanctuary from the worst of it.

Bruce's head lulled back and forth. Out of instinctive curiosity he was trying unsuccessfully to get a better view of the room from where he was bound. The sterile metal table beneath him was familiar in only that he had been forced onto tables like it for previous experiments. He was in a dull metal room, something that looked like a mix of a laboratory and a interrogation room. The only distinguishable objects in the room were the table, him, and the heavy high-tech looking light that was currently beaming down on him.

There was a metallic clang as the door shut again.

The woman in a labcoat from before stepped into his vision and the hulk inside Bruce snarled viciously; a dangerous snarl of pure hatred. "SMASH!" roared in his hazy mind and it was as much Bruce's thought as it was the Hulk's.

The snarl must of reached his face because the labcoat took a step back and commanded the guard in the room to sedate him more. The guard did just that and when it didn't cloud Bruce's vision with fog he realized that he was slowly growing immunity. The labcoat hissed about 'it' becoming more feral as the experiments continued.

Bruce had been slipping for weeks now. At first he had been conscious of the changes in his behavior. He saw them as being tools to survival; withdrawing was only natural. However as time went by Bruce's very consciousness began to blur with the animalistic instincts. They had tortured the Hulk to the surface too many times in too little time and Bruce had consequently been losing his humanity bit by bit.

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It was dark by the time Tony finally got the call he'd been waiting two weeks for from SHIELD. Coulson appeared on the TV screen.

"Stark we got a new lead."

Tony jumped up from the lab table and was in the suit room in a matter of moments.

"Where are they?" he asked anxiously.

"Tennessee. Sending you the directions now."

"ETA?"

"Less than a hour at top speed." Stark said as he stepped into his newest suit and the helmet closed.

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Bruce released a woozy groan as the light above him grew.

"This could all end if you would just speak." the labcoat spoke dispassionately.

When Bruce didn't say anything yet again the labcoat wasn't surprised. "You just have to share the secret to the experiment that made you what you are today." With no response she sighed. A moment later she swabbed his arm sterile and injected something into his bloodstream. It didn't take long for whatever they had injected into him to take effect because moments later it felt like his blood was boiling. Agony. Pain. So much pain. It felt like they were burning him from the inside out. Every nerve in his body was writhingthrashingscreaming in pain. His mouth opened in horror but no noise came.

His vision began to blot before it disappeared entirely. The last thing he saw was a flash of light so bright his eyes were boiling in their sockets. He almost thought he heard a loud blast but he was too far gone at that point.

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When Tony blasted through that wall to find the man he'd been searching for strapped to a metal table he saw red. Rage enveloped him in a fiery shroud as he took in the other man's sorry state. He was breathing shallowly and sweating profusely. It looked like he was at deaths gate. Tony instantly surmised that they had put something in his system that was disagreeing with him. He felt the rage lick at his innards and cloud his vision with even more irrational thoughts and impulses. Something moved in his peripheral vision and he instantly repulsored the man coming at him with a electric baton. The scientist he recognized from the video was on the ground looking terrified. Tony took a step towards her and raised his repulsor to her face. His intimidating visor loomed in her vision before she passed out from fear. He kept the repulsor aimed at her considering his options while he was still in his rage.

"..ark! Stark! STARK!" Fury's voice slowly started to come into his hearing over the comm system in his helmet.

The anger was suppressed for the moment as he put his hand down and responded irritably, "What Fury?"

"Agents are coming in now. What's your status?"

Tony looked back at the man on the table and felt his anger drain from him. He was moaning miserably even while unconscious.

"I found the man. He's got something in his system that's burning him up. I need to get him to my lab and see what they put in him."

"Stark-" Fury started but Tony cut him off as he broke the restraints off the man and lifted him up into his arms. He looked down into the man burning up in his arms and felt his will strengthen.


Hello! Author here! Thank you for all of your comments! I'm a very grateful and attentive author, so if you have a question I'll answer it as long as it doesn't give you spoilers!

Thank you again for those who commented! Please continue to comment! And to the silent readers-thank you for the favorites and follows. And for those REALLY silent readers-I still love you!

Bruce and Tony finally meet-well...sort of. Brucey-boy was kind of out of it at the time but still! Thoughts?

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