Disclaimer: Second verse, same as the first. I do not own anything beyond my plot (where visible), and my OCs.
Chapter 2
He takes a slow, deep breath in, and holds it for a count of five, then exhales, equally slowly. After three repeats, Bruce finds his conscious awareness within the altered reality of his inner mind. This reality shows a small clearing in an old growth, hardwood forest. The trees are densely packed together, except in an area roughly 60-80 feet in diameter. Off to one side was a thatched roof, stone cottage with something like a barn door covering the entrance. Two stumps sat around the remains of a fire pit. One was average sized, likely from an oak or something similar. The other was much larger, and was probably from a sequoia Bruce had seen once.
He went to the smaller stump, and sat down, not saying a word. This was how it began between them. They each appear and sat down to wait. Time had no meaning.
Eventually the forest just...shifted...
While there was no visible movement, it was the same gut wrenching sensation reminiscent of a roller coaster drop that told Bruce He was here. "Banner," came the grunt, as the large, viridian form of the Hulk settled on the other stump.
"Hulk," Bruce acknowledged, "We have a safe place to stay for now." He always got straight to business while here in this place.
"Good. Safe is good. Tin Man?", Hulk responded.
"Yes, with Tony Stark. But I think he'd like 'Tin Man'", Bruce smiled at the idea. Hulk smiled back. They talked a bit more, confirming the parameters of safety and control they'd established years before Bruce left.
He'd finished just one cup of green tea the whole time he was within himself. And JARVIS only records Bruce enjoying some tea. All in all, about 10 minutes worth of footage.
Once the first cup was empty, he prepared another and then, "JARVIS, expand this window and let's begin deconstructing the Iron Man."
"Of course sir," the AI clipped out and immediately complied. The translucent window trebled in size, then filled with files of scrolling data and dozens of images. Bruce settles even more on the cushion, and begins to read, occasionally flicking files back and forth over images for clarity. He sipped tea and learned about the suit that Tony Stark built.
Several hours later, JARVIS came back on. "Sir, Mr. Stark wanted me to remind you of your impending dinner engagement," the AI intoned softly, breaking the doctor's concentration.
"Oh, did he? Alright then. Is there anything I need to do now?", Bruce brought himself back to the present.
"Nothing is required, Dr. Banner, thank you," JARVIS told him. Bruce just nodded and put the files on the Iron Man armor in the order he had questions. He then made to stand from the cushion when Tony knocked on the door and strode in.
"Banner? What are you doing on the floor?" he asked, spotting the physicist's broad back across the room.
"Oh you know, the usual," Bruce's answer is flippant, but he didn't care. Using his knees, he backed away from the table and then flexed his toes for bracing to stand up. Banner turned to his new benefactor and took in the sight of Stark's business persona. He had left that morning in a band tee and faded jeans, but this evening found him wearing an expensive looking pair of black suit pants with creases Bruce assumed were sharp enough to cut veggies. Tony's white button down was broken by a loudly patterned tie of red and gold, and the sleeves were rolled up in a bid for casualness.
Tony got a look at the now cold tea service situated in the center of the table. "So meditation over wet grass?"
Bruce gave him a half smile. He picked up the tray and went to the kitchenette to put the tea things away. "Something like that," he responded, "So where to?" He noticed Tony hadn't brought anything resembling food with him as he'd hinted at earlier that day.
"Ah, thought we'd try one of the places here in Stark Tower, around level 8?", Tony offered.
"I guess. Beats going out into the city," Bruce replied, moving towards the door. "Shall we go?"
Tony nods, and they head out into the hall. Bruce pulled the door closed behind him. They walk down the hall to the elevator, not speaking, just enjoying a companionable silence. Once inside the elevator, Tony pushes the button for the 8th floor and they waited for the chrome box to move on it's journey.
"So, manage to get much reading done in between slurps of wet grass?", Tony asked, snarkily.
A corner of Bruce's mouth quirked up a little. "Yes actually," he replied, "I have questions on some bioanalytics from the suit and reactor to establish a good baseline on you before moving on to any new ideas for improvements."
"Huh, okay. We can go over some of that during dinner. The reactor stuff we'll keep for later," Tony allowed. He never gave out details on the arc reactor, maybe the larger one that powered half of lower Manhattan along with his building. But never the one that kept him alive.
Bruce nodded, the movement clearly visible in the high shine of the chromed elevator car. Tony smirked in return. They arrived on level 8 and the elevator's door opened onto an open air mall of nothing but restaurants. Stark Industries paid good money to keep its employees happy, and that included good food available at most hours. There was such a variety, global really, and it caught Bruce by surprise.
"Damn Stark," he whistled, "This is a hell of a perk here."
Tony's smirk got wider. "Yeah, brings all the boys and girls to the yard," he quipped. That took Bruce a minute. Pop culture references less than 5 years old were harder for him to understand since the accident at Culver. He shook his head and moved out of the elevator, looking over his choices. He saw European cafes, and American dives, before settling on something southeast Asian. He pointed it out to Tony, "There okay?"
Tony looked at the choice, "Hmpf, suppose so. Anything wrong with cheeseburgers?"
"Nope, too heavy after all this time though," Bruce answered calmly. Tony nodded thoughtfully and agreed, "Cheeseburgers another night then."
Bruce considered his compatriot closely. His usual quick wit was subdued for some reason, the sarcasm he carried and used as a weapon sheathed for the moment. He wondered if it was the subject at hand, or something else pressing on Stark's mind. Watching Stark's face as they cross the courtyard, he couldn't determine any new stressors, just the same ones lining his face and eyes. Bruce inwardly sighed and thought, 'I wonder how long this trust thing will go on. And when we'll end up screwing it up?' He felt the Hulk grumble in the back of mind and grinned a little. 'Something we'll talk about later Big Guy.'
"Something funny there, Mean Green?", Tony asked.
"No, just thinking."
"Oh?", Tony prompted.
"Well, smiling at this new found freedom for one. I kinda like it, and hope I get to enjoy it awhile," Bruce was a pessimist, always. He saw Tony's face fall into a frown, and he started to mutter, "We'll damned well see about that..."
Bruce frowned, about to argue, but they'd arrived at their destination and changed topics back to something safer.
At this time of night, this and several other places had changed from a 'grab it and go' atmosphere to a more relaxed dine-in one, allowing the two scientists to take advantage of the seating arrangements to sit in a booth out of the way of the normal flow of people coming and going. SI usually had round the clock employees stationed in the tower working in various departments.
A young waitress dropped off menus and sparkling water, then disappeared for a few minutes. The menu was slightly heftier than the lunch boards hanging behind the counter. Bruce saw some Vietnamese dishes that looked good. Tony found some stir fry. The waitress took their orders, and returned with drinks. Tony elected to have coffee, since Bruce refused alcohol. The little restaurant had a good Lapsang souchong tea for him to try.
The dishes came to the table, and Bruce inhaled deeply of the wonderful aromas of the Banh can* and Banh tom* he'd ordered. "Perfect," he murmured, reaching for the shell of lettuce to wrap around a crispy shrimp.
"Interesting choices, Doctor," Tony comments, picking up chopsticks for his chicken stir fry.
"Favorites from that area. Now, bioanalytics," Bruce said, after a good bite of the shrimp.
"Sure, what in particular?" Tony slurped a few noodles waiting for Banner to formulate his questions.
"The suit provides certain protections against the elements, and against gravitational forces. But, in the Chitauri Incident, you had issues with space that you want to overcome?", Bruce explained.
"Hm, yes. There's the basics, and the hermetic seal against most airborne contaminants and encounters. The HUD is linked with JARVIS, who does most of the primary monitoring."
Bruce smiled, "Leaving you to play cowboy, hm?"
Tony's usual smirk bloomed into a full smile, teeth and all, "Aw, you figured out my secret!" he quietly exclaimed, clasping a hand melodramatically to his chest. Bruce rolled his eyes at the overreaching drama.
Tony laughed and finished his dinner. He sipped his coffee while waiting for Bruce to finish his tea.
"Answer me this Banner, do you always drink tea?", he queried, honestly curious about the answer.
Bruce hummed a little, enjoying a slow sip of the last of the tea he had ordered with his dinner. His smile should have been an answer, but he knew it wasn't enough, not for Tony Stark.
"Less stimulating than most coffees, especially green and white teas, which are my preferences. Has nothing to do with the Other Guy, if that's what you 're wondering. Purely my own tastes," was his answer. He felt the Hulk's grumble at the half truth. Both of them enjoyed the teas, but realized that Tony was not quite ready for the full weight of information about their level of cooperation. Bruce doubted that would ever happen. He trusted no one anymore.
Tony nodded, "Good to know. I'll make sure JARVIS tells the staff about it so you don't run out down in R&D." They finished up their meal and headed back to Bruce's apartment, high on level 30.
* (both) – Banh can – soup; Banh tom – fried shrimp and sweet potatoes, from Wikipedia