Author's Note- Here. Have a new chapter! One very important note- I'm gong to college to study political science. My knowledge of military operations and workings is limited to what I read on the news and/or all the random Google searches I did while writing this. I apologize if this isn't 100% accurate in any way, shape, or form.
Anyway. Insert usual "I don't own Marvel characters" warning here. Okay. Enjoy!
"You always need a favor, Tony," Rhodey grumbles when he hears Tony's voice on the line, and normally, that remark would leave Tony smarting and a bit defensive. Not now.
"If you come through on this one, I'll get you anything you want," Tony promises. "Anything. Mark VI, a vacation home in Mallorca, anything."
"Mark VI? You must be desperate," Rhodey remarks. "What could be that important?"
"What do you know about U.S. Army General Thaddeus Ross?"
He can hear Rhodey's frustration over the phone. "I'm Air Force, not Army, remember, Tony? I'm in Paris right now at a conference, I don't have time for you to waste."
"Would I be asking you if I didn't think you could help?" Sure, he's all charm and swagger, typical Stark, right now, but he's certain that if Rhodey keeps stalling, he's gonna fall apart into maybe a million pieces and he won't know how to put himself back together.
"What's really going on, Tony?" There's the sound of a sigh through the phone. "Who did you manage to piss off now?"
"Why do you always assume that it's me who's done something? I didn't piss Ross off, he fucked with me first. Anything I said to him was purely in self-defense, I swear." He holds up his free hand in a sort of 'I surrender' gesture, even though Rhodey can't see it.
"Jesus fucking Christ Tony. What happened?" There's resignation in Rhodey's voice. An idea forms in Tony's head.
"I'm coming to Paris. We can talk then." He hangs up before there can be any protests.
He doesn't even have to cajole Bruce into coming to Paris, although he can't decide if that's because Bruce wants to be on the move again, or because he's so resigned to Ross coming after him that he doesn't think it matters where he is. They manage to slip out to the waiting car, which takes them to the plane. The ride is short, only an hour or so, and they spend it in silence.
The airport they land at is private, just outside Paris, and Rhodey meets them there. He looks a little unsettled when he sees Bruce with Tony, but doesn't say anything until they're all in the back of the car, hidden behind tinted windows.
"General Ross," Tony prompts him, as if there was a never a stop to the conversation.
"Why don't we skip the part where you pretend you don't know half the story anyway and get to the part where we discuss specifics?" Rhodey suggests. "I'm not supposed to be leaving the conference for any reason, much less to give out government secrets to you, Tony."
"So you admit that you're willing to give me top-secret information?"
"That was not what I said. You tell me what you know, I'll fill in what I can, then leave so you can go self-destruct somewhere else." He gives Bruce a wary glance, but doesn't say anything about the fact that Tony's got a wanted man with them.
"Short version: I meet Ross in an elevator in Monte Carlo, he tells me he knows I'm there with Dr. Banner, I offer him technology in exchange for not arresting Dr. Banner, he refuses, I threaten him with my vast weapons arsenal, he refuses again, threatens me, and gets out of the elevator."
Probably it's the length of time that Rhodey's known him and the amount of absurdly stupid things Tony's done in front of him that stop Rhodey from commenting on the fact that Tony threatened and/or General Ross with weapons he'd swore he'd never make again. In fact, he doesn't even look shocked, which, later, Tony will realize should have been a clue as to what was going on.
"What I want to know is this," Tony leans forward in his seat, "What is Ross planning? I know there's a plan in place, new weapons, whatever. "
Rhodey's eyes travel to Bruce again.
"I already have an idea about what kinds of things they could be working on," Bruce says quietly and Rhodey's mouth opens and then snaps back shut, like he's not really sure what the appropriate response is here. Then he turns back to Tony.
"I'm not Army so I can't give you specifics, but it's common knowledge that Ross is bitter about S.H.I.E.L.D. keeping Dr. Banner's location confidential. In the past few months, ever since the battle in Manhattan with those weird aliens, he's been developing some sort of plan for what he would do if S.H.I.E.L.D. ever decided to cooperate with him."
"So why did S.H.I.E.L.D. turn now?" Bruce asks, essentially reading Tony's mind.
"You guys work for them, you'd know more than I do," Rhodey replies. "But regardless of their motivation for selling you out, Ross is definitely got something going on, and it's pretty specific."
Tony raises his eyebrows as means of saying "Go on".
"He's been involved in building a facility in rural Pennsylvania, which is supposedly gonna be used for radiation testing, and he's been recruiting scientists for that, experts in gamma rays, mostly."
All of this, except for the location of the facility, Tony could have guessed himself. "What else?"
"He's got a list of experiments he wants perform and no, I don't know the specifics, but he's been requisitioning all sorts of medical equipment. Anesthesia, IV equipment, needles, drugs."
"What kind of drugs? I need details here, Rhodey, and you're not giving them to me!"
"Sedatives."
Rarely, very rarely, does Tony actually feel panicked. After all, he frequently travels thousands of feet up in the air wearing something he basically built in his garage. Usually, if he does panic, it involves the arc reactor and the thought of dying if it's taken out for too long. However, his brain is now running through every possible thing that Ross could be doing with that equipment, and it's not coming up with anything remotely positive. Yeah, Tony's got a bit of a problem admitting (even to himself) that he cares about people, but he does care about Bruce, loves him really, and thinking about what Ross wants to do to him is making Tony angry and panicked. He tries to keep his features as neutral as possible, because while Rhodey's seen him in all sorts of compromising positions, Tony's not ready to start sharing his feelings with him. Next time, Bruce is looking oddly calm.
"What else?" Bruce asks. "I know Ross and he's not just interested in the medical aspect."
Rhodey looks distinctly uncomfortable being asked directly by Bruce about whatever Ross has planned for him. "He's developed a stockpile of weapons. Machine guns and rifles mostly, but also some experimental stuff from other joint Armed Forces projects. That stuff is pretty nasty. They're really just stun guns with bullets, but anyone who gets shot with it is immobilized while they're bleeding from the bullet wound. And that's just the stuff I know about. I'm guessing he's got more. Ross has been working on this project for years and he's had a long time to figure out what he wants to do."
For a moment, there's silence while Tony absorbs this information and Bruce looks pensive.
"If you were me, what would you do?" Bruce's voice is low and quiet and still strangely calm. Tony realizes that he must be incredibly used to this, even more used to this than he ever lets on. It's likely that they'll never talk about that, but Tony makes a mental note to somehow indicate to Bruce that he knows how awful this is.
"If I were you, I'd run." Rhodey looks like the answer came from his mouth before he could even think. Tony likes Rhodey, but sometimes, his stupid military programming gets in the way of him being an actual human being. For Rhodey to admit that running from the Army is in Bruce's best interests is pretty significant. Ordinarily, Tony would make a snarky comment about this and getting the moment recorded on film. "I'd get on a plane and go as far away as I possibly could, somewhere without any other people around. I'd disappear forever."
Bruce nods flatly. "I tried that."
"And?"
"I found things I liked better than isolation," he says, eyes sliding over to Tony, and their fingers interlace.
