Bruce Banner's journey to Stark's mansion was an easy one. Since meeting and forming what Pepper called a 'Bromance' Tony had bought him a slightly smaller house with a large lab, just 2 minutes' walk away. Even though they lived so close, it had been a while since seeing each other. Bruce was busy in his lab with a new scientist from S.H.E.I.L.D helping him with some Hulk stuff as he called it, Stark was battling his own demons and having constant meeting with his company and associates about New York and 'Stark Suits'.
As soon as Bruce got a call from a very demanding Agent Natasha Romanoff, he decided it would be best to go see what she wanted. Last time he went to go see Natasha he ended up leaving, she gave him a cold look with her piercing green eyes. It freaked him out, a look that could kill you in an instant. Grabbing his Stark phone he left his house under the full security Tony had fitted and took the 2 minute stroll to Tony's house.
As he arrived JARVIS automatically opened the front door to him, and an announcement boomed around the house that he had arrived.
"Bruce, it's been a while hasn't it" Tony said as he walked towards Bruce. Natasha lurked behind Tony, always wary of Bruce.
"It has, I'm sorry I didn't come and see you sooner. Fury set me up with a new lab assistant and I have been trying to get her to do things in a logical order and to tidy up after herself. God, I want her to leave, but I must admit she is excellent help" Bruce told Tony while walking down to his workshop.
When they got to the workshop, they went straight over to the table with chairs around it. There were only enough chairs for all 6 avengers, so far only 3 were taken. Clint Barton and Steve Rodgers were expected within 6 hours and Thor was expected within the next couple of days, they were struggling to get in touch with him.
"So any more news on bad man Ironman?" Bruce asked Natasha and Tony.
"Is that what we are calling him now?" Tony asked, slightly annoyed that his name was in the title of the copycat.
"No it is not" Natasha said very matter of factly. "He is simply a copycat. The latest information we have is that the suit in question is black and silver, not red and gold. This is good as people can easily distinguish between Tony and the copycat, but also bad because people might think that it is a new Stark suit." Natasha explained.
Tony thought about how he could explain to the public that it wasn't him in the suit while Romanoff went into more details.
"The suit is very similar to Mark 42 in appearance but it does not split into small pieces for easy essem-"
"So my suit is better, I mean I already know it's better than that monstrosity but he doesn't have all technology?" Tony asked full of hope, he really didn't want any one or any company to become close to his ideas or designs.
"Yes Tony your suit is better, but we have no idea of how much of your tech this person has their hands on." Natasha was starting to angry, she thought Tony was like a child.
"What do you mean 'My Tech' is he using my stuff to make his own suit?" Tony nearly shouted.
"This person could be male or female, don't assume that it's male!" Natasha yelled. "Also yes some parts have your company logo on, meaning that they are yours. I suggest you look through your company's records, look for anything suspicious or out of the ordinary" Natasha told Stark.
Tony Stark didn't usually take orders from anyone, but Romanoff's idea was a god one. He pulled out his Stark phone and wandered off into an office in the workshop to make some calls. He would probably have to hack into the company's mainframe seeing that only the accountants had access. While Tony made the necessary calls and hacking, it was only Romanoff and Banner left around the large table.
Bruce tried to look busy by pulling down his glasses from his head to his eyes and started to scan the documents set out along the table. Meanwhile Natasha started to clean her gun, pulling it apart into all the pieces and cleaning slowly and carefully, glancing up at Bruce every so often. Bruce was uncomfortable around weapons; he preferred talking out differences, Hulk on the other hand liked to smash things into small pieces. It had taken Bruce all but 10 minutes to make a comment about the gun in Romanoff's hand.
"Do you mind?" Bruce asked looking up and Natasha.
"Mind what?" Natasha answered looking up.
"Getting that gun out anytime you can, an accident could happen" Bruce said calmly.
"I'm simply cleaning it so when I do have to use it, I know it works smoothly. We don't all have an Ironman suit, a hammer, a shield or a giant green alter ego you know" Natasha said without taking her eyes of Bruce.
"Whatever I doubt you will need to use it anytime soon, so just finish what you are doing and put it away, you are like a child with a new toy. Always getting it out and showing people who don't really care." Bruce was annoyed that all the S.H.E.I.L.D agents seem to pull their weapons out, or have them on show all the time. He didn't have the Hulk on display all the time, and it was normally S.H.E.I.L.D agents fault that he was push over the edge.
Bruce decided it be best to leave to leave while he was still himself, to go and see how Stark was doing with his company. He found Tony screaming down the phone at probably was just a lowly paid intern because the company directors were busy. Tony slammed down the phone and put his head in his hands; Bruce sat down the other side of the desk and waited patiently for Tony to calm down. Slowly Tony's head came to look at Bruce; they sat like that for a few minutes, happy to be in each other's company again.
"I take it they were far too busy to talk to the man who signed their pay checks?" Bruce offered Tony, he didn't look impressed.
"The people I pay millions to every year yes, the secretary who I don't even remember the name of, more than happy to talk about everything and anything to keep me on the line. I swear people just forget about Pepper, we were at a party a couple of days ago and some blonde bimbo just started hitting on me right in front of her, made me laugh though… Pepper not quite as impressed" Tony said shaking his head.
Bruce laughed, enjoying the company of his best friend again. It was only 3 months ago they met and Bruce felt like they had known each other since childhood.
"Stop paying them, I'm sure they would really want to talk to you then" Bruce said chuckling.
They both got up and walked out of the office and back towards the large oak table where Natasha was sat, with her gun back in holster out of sight. This pleased Bruce but she didn't look happy.
"I just got a call from Clint, they are stuck in traffic, but on the positive side he has Rodgers" Natasha explained.
"At least they are trying" Bruce said sitting back in his seat, looking through the documents on the table again.
As they sat in traffic, Steve was annoying Clint. Steve was bored and hot due to the fact he hadn't changed clothes when Clint suggested on the plane, because of this Steve was complaining like a 5 year old denied a toy.
"Why is it so hot in California" Steve moaned turning up the air conditioning to maximum, they had been in the car for 10 minutes.
"Because you refused to change like I did, jeans and a long sleeve shirt is not what you in California. You wear this" Clint explained, gesturing to himself wearing a vest top, shorts and flip flops. Even Clint though that he was hot so he had no idea what Steve was feeling.
Within seconds of Clint saying this Steve pulled off his shirt, leaving him topless. Steve threw his shirt out the window with disgust. He leaned forward to the fans that provided the cool air. Women in the cars around stared at Steve, Clint knew exactly why, Steve seemed a bit oblivious. Steve didn't know why women like him so much Clint, Tony, Bruce and Thor tried to explain that women liked muscles and blonde hair but Steve didn't really care about this attention, he ignored it.
Suddenly traffic started to move again, quickly they were out of the traffic caused by an accident involving a car and cyclist. After another 30 minutes of driving Clint and Steve arrived at Tony Stark's mansion. They walked towards the door and Tony opened it before they could knock.
"Oh I thought it was the pizza guy but apparently it's male strippers at the door" Tony mocked as he let both of the men in. they walked towards the work shop, half way down the stairs the doorbell rang. Tony nearly ran back to the door to collect the pizza. Clint and Steve carried on down the stairs to the workshop where they found Bruce and Natasha.
Natasha looked up and smiled when she saw Clint; it had been 3 months since they last saw each other. She got up and hugged Clint then stepped back and shook hands with Steve, Natasha seemed much happier now that Clint was in her line of vision. Bruce suddenly realised that the 2 men had arrived and put down the pictures of the suit he was studying, he walked over and greeted both men then saw Tony struggling with the pizzas and went to help.
For the next hour, the 5 of them ate pizza and filled in Clint and Steve with what they knew, which wasn't much at the moment. All they knew was that the suit originated in the east, around Asia and used some Stark Tech which Tony was not please about. They would find out more when Tony visited his company in person and demanded answers. But until then they decided to relax, once they had finished the pizza, they all went upstairs to watch a movie in the theatre room, as they headed up the stairs Pepper arrived home, shocked to find the Avengers in her house.
"Hi everyone" Pepper said happily walking over to Tony giving him a hug and a quick kiss. Tony roughly explained that they were all staying in the house for a few days; Pepper seemed happy enough and went into the theatre room with them to relax after her flight. They decided to watch Man on a Ledge; they all fell asleep half way through. Tomorrow they would find out Stark Industries relationship with the Bad Ironman, but now sleep was in order.
Author's Notes:
I'm back! and on summer break so expect a lot more updates!
Still no reviews though, so I have no idea if you guys wants a Clintasha romance or not!? I will have to decide myself then :(
Next chapter involves some good action so stick around Avengers!