Demons
We're getting closer and closer to the end! It's kind of sad…
Special thanks to all who reviewed for the last chapter!
YukinaKid (Aw, thanks. I was worried! I write Tony and Bruce occasionally but I like to focus on Clint for the most part. ^^), Qweb (In the heat of the moment it was forgotten, it was fixed in this chapter ^^ thanks!), Margaret (lol, ninjas ^^ Thor is on permanent vacation in all my stories. I cannot write him, lol. I usually mention him off doing something, I may have forgotten this time ^^ Also, I'm a jack of all trades photographer. I do everything but studio based stuff. I've done events (weddings, teas, concerts), location portraits and product shots. Nothing too well known, yet. I've had magazines use my images before though.), discordchick (Yep! That's one of the things I loved about this prompt ^^ So emotional!), ShadowAbsol13 (Yay! I love Clint, he's my favorite…I beat on him often though…glad you like him now!), jpgFury (lol, I loved that line to! Hulks so cute, I wanna give him a hug ^^), Sandy-wmd (^^ I'm glad you're liking it so far! Hulk has it's merits though, invincibility...), Olympus97 (I love Clint/Tony Bromance, I'll try to fit some in for you, but I've found it's difficult from Bruce's prospective. Your Lie has a lot of that though, if you want a fix ^^ Thanks for reading!), kimbee (^^ YEAY! I LOVE, LOVE! I'm glad you're liking it! This has been a very fun first prompt ^^), annierules (Aw, thanks so much! You rock!), Kneel to the Glorious Porpoise (Wow your username is long! Kudos! This is all thanks to kimbee who gave me the awesome prompt! I'm glad you are enjoying!), Hawaiichick (Yep, lots of angst. More emotions to come!), PlushChrome (I so totally understand! Fanfiction is so much fun to get addicted to though! I'm glad you like my story!)
I hope that all made sense, I'm kind of exhausted ^^ Enjoy!
Chapter Seven
It was so quiet in the Panic Room that Bruce was sure they could hear a pin drop as the men digested the information about their fallen teammate. Clint's injuries were extensive and could very well force him from the Avengers Initiative. That thought alone was enough to make Bruce's stomach turn painfully.
"I should head back." Steve announced finally and started to back from the room. His blue eyes fluttered from Tony to Bruce and back again. "I should see if Natasha needs anything."
"Wait, I want to come." Tony announced, but couldn't move due to the drugs currently weighing him down. "Get me a wheelchair, something – I want to see him."
Bruce glanced at Steve, but focused back on Tony before their eyes could meet. "Tony, we can't move you yet. Not until we're sure you can control the Hulk a little bit better."
Anger flooded Stark's expression and Bruce noticed his eyes flash green, but the rage deflated as quickly as it erupted. "This sucks." He grumbled and closed his eyes to relax a bit more.
Bruce had a pretty solid idea of what was happening in Tony's mind at the moment. Hulk was probably screaming his head off – fighting to regain total control over his new host's body. Hulk probably wanted to see 'Birdie' as much as Tony wanted to see 'Feathers,' but it wouldn't be safe for Clint. Not until Tony had better control over his new situation.
Steve tried to look sympathetic, but Bruce knew the man had no idea what Tony was going through. Bruce did. He was the only one who could relate to what Tony was dealing with mentally and physically.
"I'll, um – it'll be okay." Steve offered as he backed out of the room. On some level Steve must have realized that the best person to deal with Tony was Bruce, but Banner could tell that he was having some trouble leaving a teammate in distress. "I'll be back later. Or sooner, if there is any change with Clint." Was his last promise before he left them alone – sealing the door behind him.
With Steve gone Bruce let the room go silent. Tony was still on the bed with his eyes closed. Anyone that happened to pass by would probably think he was asleep. Bruce figured that Tony was attempting to work things out in his head. Problem solve – like he always did.
Finally Tony opened his eyes and looked at Bruce. "Can you help me regain control? I can't help you rebuild the machine like this. If you can help me they can give me the drug that allows me to move, at least."
The idea of teaching Tony Stark patiences was laughable under normal circumstances - not that Tony wasn't smart enough to learn, he was a certified genius. Tony was the kind of guy who could learn a whole section of study in a night – he had proven he could do that. However what was happening was far from normal circumstances with new variables that would cause setbacks.
There was also a difference from problem solving or working out a puzzle and retraining a personality.
Tony wasn't one to restrain his emotions – well, that wasn't exactly true. He had masks that he slipped in and out of as easy as changing socks. Still, when he got angry he rarely held it in. Case and point would be the frequent arguments he had with Steve over relatively nothing.
The circumstance and desperation were enough that Bruce could bet that he'd have Tony's full attention. It was just a matter of finding a system of calming that worked for the billionaire and Bruce had a very strong feeling that meditation wouldn't be helpful for Tony.
"Okay." Bruce agreed and pulled up a chair. This was going to be a long afternoon. "Let's get started."
They spent the next three hours with Bruce teaching Tony, to the best of his ability how to meditate and a few other helpful tricks to keep his emotions in check. After a while they had both grown tired and Bruce decided to call it a night. He hated to leave Tony alone so he called Steve to watch over the new Hulk and found a place to curl up and sleep.
Bruce slept for almost eighteen hours. Not because he wanted to but because his body demanded it. When he regained consciousness he learned from Steve that Tony was still asleep although he had woken up a few times. After wandering around for a bit Bruce ended up outside of Clint's recovery room.
It took him a few minutes to gather the courage needed to knock on the door. Natasha opened the door a few seconds later. She stared at Bruce for a calculating moment before she stepped aside to let him enter.
Clint lay on a bed identical to the one Tony had been given in the Panic Room, but there were more tubes and machines hooked up to the fallen archer.
"How is he?" Bruce asked quietly even though he knew nothing would disturb his heavily drugged friend.
"Unconscious." Natasha replied coolly. "But that's what happens when an idiot tries to sooth a rage monster." She added offhandedly as she sat back in the chair closest to Clint's bedside.
"It," Bruce started but stopped to consider his words more carefully. "Tony and Hulk were in a lot of pain, Hulk didn't realize who was around him or I think he would have stopped." Bruce sighed. He had told Tony the story as well. How Hulk had felt guilt and helped Bruce carry Clint's broken body out of the complex. How the Hulk had shielded them from the gunfire and saved their lives.
Tony had smiled as arrogant as ever and said, 'told you so.'
Natasha seemed skeptical but nodded. "Steve said as much."
Bruce knew that Natasha wasn't Hulk's biggest fan. Ever since the incident on the Hellicarrier she kept her distance from the green beast and demanded that her partner did as well. Clint of course did whatever he wanted, whether it was healthy or not.
"I never thought he could act like that." Bruce admitted. "He was so careful when he held Clint."
The redhead rolled her eyes and seemed angry to Bruce. "Normally I wouldn't believe a story as wild as that, since I didn't see it with my own eyes, but coming from you – " She shook her head and shrugged a shoulder. "It's hard to believe, but I believe you." Natasha exhaled loudly. "Just for once I wish this idiot would have gotten out of the way."
Bruce looked back at Clint and couldn't help but agree. Clint was the only human out of all the Avengers. Natasha, Steve and Bruce all had versions of super-serum pulsing through their veins. Thor was a God and Tony was part machine – sort of. Clint was just a normal guy. Well, as normal as an ex-carnie/criminal/SHIELD agent could be.
"He'll be okay." Bruce told her after a stretch of silence. Natasha looked at him and with a silent expression asked Bruce how. With a flicker of a smile Bruce answered the unasked question. "Because if he isn't fine Tony and I will figure out a way to fix him." He promised.
Over the next week Tony slowly regained enough control over his emotions to be taken off the paralytic drug. He and Bruce focused all their time and attention on rebuilding the machine – or at least their version of the machine.
Between the two of them they managed to figure out the mechanics of what had happened and to the best of their abilities they had recreated a machine that, in theory, should be able to switch things back to normal.
The biggest problem they were facing was that they weren't positive contraption would work exactly how they wanted. Without seeing the original machine or being able to question it's creator they had no idea if the thing would work or make things worse.
Meanwhile Clint was still unconscious, the doctors had placed him in a medically induced a coma. They explained that his body needed time to recuperate from the trauma it had gone through. The doctors wanted to wait until Clint's ribs started to show improvement and the swelling to go down around his spine before waking Clint up.
Bruce learned another reason from Natasha – Clint had a bad habit of escaping medical before he was suppose to leave and the doctors didn't want to risk that if his back was fine.
Steve acted as messenger most of the time. Going from Natasha to Tony and Bruce with new information or bringing them food and other useful items.
After SHIELD picked up a possible lead Natasha left to investigate. She told Steve not to leave Clint alone – she didn't trust SHIELD with her partner unsupervised.
Steve had remained with Clint after that and only took breaks when Bruce came to stay in his place. Clint didn't look any better, or worse as the days were checked off the calendar.
"I say we try it." Tony announced after they checked and rechecked their mechanical creation. The simulations they had run were pretty much useless – there was no real equation to figure out if it would work in the end. The results they had gotten were disconcerting at best.
Bruce looked up from his notes and blinked. The tests they had run were complete disasters and the likelihood of their survival was raised rather high against them.
"Tony we have no idea what it might do to us if something isn't wired or programed correctly." Bruce pointed out carefully as he absentmindedly cleaned his glasses on the hem of his shirt. "Judging by the last test I'd say the odds of something going wrong is worth betting a small fortune on."
Tony set a wrench down on the table a little harder than necessary and narrowed his eyes at Bruce. "You want to know what I think?"
No, Bruce thought to himself numbly – he didn't want to know. Bruce just wanted Natasha to come back and have all the answers, but she'd been out of contact.
"I think," Tony continued without any more prodding. "You like the quiet."
Slowly Bruce started to protest but Tony held his hand to silence his friend and continued. "No, don't try and deny it Bruce." Tony's agitation had Bruce flinching back a step. Now that he was on the lower Hulk suppressors Tony had less control over Hulk – if he lost it the beast could make an appearance. Neither of them wanted that but Tony didn't seem to care at the moment.
"You like the quiet – it's nice. You're getting used to it again and don't want to risk it ending just yet." Tony snapped angrily. "What happened to 'I'm going to fix this Tony,' huh, Bruce?"
"I am going to fix it." Bruce promised earnestly. He understood Tony's impatiences. Hulk should never have been the billionaire's responsibility.
"Then why aren't you willing to try it?" Tony yelled, eyes a dangerous mixture of brown and green.
Bruce glared back with his own anger unchecked. "Because it could kill us!"
"It's not going to kill us!" Tony barked back bitterly. "We've run all the test possible, but those tests were insufficient. They don't have all the data of our genetic makeup or the Hulk's – whatever. It's impossible for them to be one hundred percent accurate. We won't know if it works unless we outright try it."
"Tony, don't be a fool." Bruce snapped and shook his head hard. "We can't rush into this. Natasha will be back soon – "
"And what if she comes back with no useful information?" Tony growled as his skin turned a shade greener. "Then what? We wait some more?"
"Tony, you need to calm down." Bruce coached, his own anger suddenly replaced with fear.
"No!" Tony roared as his body bubbled and expanded. Bruce stepped back as Hulk tossed a fist into the ground where he had been standing. The beast let out another rumbling growl as his big green eyes glared down at Banner.
"Fix Hulk." Bruce's former other half demanded.
Bruce sighed heavily and nodded to the beast. "I'm working on it." He promised.
I anticipate there only being two or three chapters left, but I'm a bit behind in typing them all up…no worries though. I'm going to try and have the next chapter up by Friday.
Reviews and Reviewers are loved! ^^
