AN: There are more new arts on my tumblr, the link is on my profile.
Chapter Ten
They were knee deep in attack bots and fuck knew where they had come from. Hulk was doing a good job of ripping them apart and keeping them contained, Steve was holding his own, Tasha was largely distracting them and pulling them back where she could, to stop them from spreading and trying to draw them back into the main melee as shooting them had proved to be largely ineffective. Barton wasn't really helping all that much.
Tony flew up in a straight spiral, and grabbed Barton by the back of his jacket from his position and moved him to a window ledge on the opposite side of the street as three bots in broken pieces crashed into where he'd been perched.
"Barton, you're about as much use as a handbrake on a canoe," said Tony, dropping him into a new position, "haven't you got more explosive arrow heads?"
"I am using the explosive ones!" shouted Barton as Tony flew back down towards the fight.
"Then make them more explodey," said Tony through the coms.
He swept down and grabbed a bot that had been making a break for the cops at their end of the street and stood on it's shoulders, and grabbed the head, ripping it off and shooting back up again.
Hulk roared at a crowd of bots that were gunning for him, grabbing two at a time in each hand and pummelling them onto the ground, smashing them into pieces before grabbing another set.
Tony spotted something moving in the air, "Shit, can they fly too- wait," he grimaced inside his helmet, "oh fan-fucking-tastic, absolutely typical, don't worry people, Abbot and Costello are here to save the day."
"What are you talking about, Tony?" asked Tasha through the coms.
Tony banked and smashed a bot into a wall, crushing its head, "Spider-thing and Shadey-guy have turned up."
Of all the fucking times they had to appear, they appear NOW, when I'm too busy to chase after them. Bastards.
"Well as long as they stay out of the way," said Steve as he used his shield to behead another bot, "leave them to it, it's their own fault if they get themselves in trouble."
"Gee, and I thought you were Mrs Mary Sunshine, Cap," said Tasha as she led two bots into Tony's range and he fired his pulsars at the two the blast back taking out two more in the process.
"We're not here to be babysitters," said Tony, finding himself on Steve's side for a change. "We can't take all of these things out, and look after a couple of amateurs at the same time."
Tony turned his attention away from the newcomers and helped Tasha beat back a wave that were coming for her. After he'd caved in yet another metal skull, he glanced around, trying to guess how many more they had left to take down.
"Jarvis, can you give me some numbers?" he asked grabbing a stray that had been climbing the side of the building towards Barton and tossing the bot in Hulks direction.
"Calculating, Sir," said Jarvis taking a second to estimate the numbers, "approximately 57 remaining, Sir."
"Good news, boys," said Tony, "we can knock off early, there's only a handful left."
"Doesn't feel like a handful," said Tasha, dodging a charging bot and sliding on the ground between Hulk's legs so he could grab it.
"TONY!" shouted Steve, "those two kids, the little one's hurt!"
"Kinda busy here, Steve," said Tony picking up two bots from the ground and smashing them into a wall, "you get a minute, you go kiss his boo-boo better. Besides I thought, 'it's their own fault' - you soon changed your tune."
Tony got back on the ground, grabbing a bot that was trying to slip through their line, out of the corner of his eye he saw Steve fight his way through a group of bots, and heading towards a side street where the two non Avengers had presumably headed.
"Fucking boy scout," said Tony.
"You're still on coms," said Tasha.
"I know," said Tony, "he was supposed to hear that."
Tony flew up high with the bot in his hands and then dropped it from on height onto a couple of the metal machines that had reached a police cordon. By the time he banked down he saw Steve emerging again, running directly towards a group of bots, Tony rose his fist in order to fire at one that had slipped by Steve and was making it's way to the opposite end that they'd been fighting at, when Shadow ran out of the side street. He ran directly at it and launched himself onto it's back, putting his feet on it's shoulders he ripped the bots head off with his bare hands and back flipped off again.
"Fuck," said Tony a little breathlessly, this guy had to be strong.
Tony was about to fly over him and lift up into the air and bring him into the main fight, when Shadow ran off in the opposite direction to the fighting. Tony narrowed his eyes, banking down and as Shadow rounded the corner, Tony banked after him, about to start chewing him out for abandoning the fighting when he saw the man in the centre of a fight with seven robots surrounding him.
"How'd those fuckers get past us?" said Tony, to himself, then ignoring the subsequent questions that came pouring over the com lines from the others asking what he was talking about. "I wasn't talking to you lot, shut up! Jesus, a guy can't have a quiet word with himself with you guys around."
Tony blasted two of the bots to pieces, but the Shadow was fighting them hand to hand, dealing blows strong enough to dent their metal casing, and easily blocking and dodging blows the bots were trying to deal him. He was ducking and weaving so well and quickly Tony didn't know where to fire.
It was both fascinating and impressive, Tony wondered if this guy could take him on, even with the fire power built into his suit, he reckoned there could be quite a lot of damage taken on his part.
Shadow jumped onto one bot, yanked it's head off and flipped himself backwards, using the removed head to crush the head of a second bot. Tony used the break in movement to fire off a couple more shots, and closed in, grabbing one that was going for Shadow from behind and crushing it into the ground, while Shadow ripped the head off the remaining bot.
The man turned towards Tony and he expected to see a look of gratitude on what he could see of his face, but instead he scowled at Tony.
"That one was mine," he said.
Tony lifted himself into the air and grabbed Shadow's body armour vest from behind and lifted him up, ignore his legs kicking in the air as Tony flew them up and higher, bringing them around the corner and back to the main fight.
"Jarvis, how many?" asked Tony.
"Approximately 25, Sir," said the computer.
"Here you go, Sparky," said Tony, dropping Shadow down on the ground near Tasha and a group of four bots that were closing in on her, "have fun."
Tony weaved off and crashed into a group of three, knocking them onto the ground and then blasting them whilst they were down, taking their heads clean off.
The rest of the fight passed quickly, Tony blasted, Steve beheaded, Hulk smashed, Barton appeared to have found more useful arrows as a couple zipped past Tony's helmet mid flight and actually took out a couple of the bots when they met their target and exploded. Tasha led strays, and Shadow jumped around like a wild thing, punching, kicking and ripping off heads.
When the last bot had been disposed of they naturally moved together, coming forward into a circle, looking around them to make sure that the last of the bots had been taken out. Tony noticed that Shadow was constantly looking over his shoulder, not moving from his position over a dismantled bot, putting as much distance as he could between him and Hulk.
Tony couldn't blame him that much, if he didn't know how much control Bruce had when he forced the change himself, he'd be afraid of Hulk too.
"Hey," said Tony, beckoning him over with his hand, "it's ok, the big guy mostly directs his friendly fire at Point Break, and he ain't here."
Shadow glanced up at Tony, then bolted, beating his feet on the concrete at full pelt, trying to get as far away from them as he could.
Tony looked at the others and sighed, "Twitchy little fucker, ain't he?"
Tony casually flew after him, easily catching up and grabbing him by the back of his body armour again, "I'll meet you all back at the tower," said Tony over the coms.
Shadow kicked his legs wildly into the air as Tony lifted him, trying to free himself of his grasp, "Let me go!" he shouted at Tony, despite the fact that they were now flying high above rooftops, over Madison to Park, heading straight for the platform of Avengers tower.
"Will you stop that?" said Tony, "if I drop you and you land on something that belongs to the city they'll bill me."
Tony rose higher into the sky, but the kicks and screams at him to let go did not stop, he half considered dropping Shadow as soon as he reached the platform, but he was so twitchy he didn't trust that he wouldn't just jump off it, splatter damage be damned, so instead he flew directly inside the building, Jarvis opening the doors for him on approach and didn't drop him until they were inside and Tony put his own two feet on the ground.
He raised the visor on his helmet and then raised his hands in the air, "Just chill the fuck out, will you?" said Tony, "I'm not going to hurt you, relax."
"Let me go then," said Shadow, his fists were clenched at his sides, his hood drawn forward, leaving only a scowl in view.
"We need to have a little chat first," said Tony, moving behind the bar, fishing out a bottle he'd stashed away from Bruce and putting two glasses on the counter, "drink?"
Shadow twitched so badly at that Tony thought he was able to make a dash for the platform.
"What's wrong? Is it your brother?" said Tony, pouring out two measures anyway, "He was with you. Did he get hurt?"
Tony watched the expression change, for a second the scowl changed into a look of shock, his lips parted and mouth opened slightly, then it flattened out into a line.
"Yes," said Shadow at last, "he was hurt, I told him to get out of there."
"So you're twitching like a crack addict because you want to make sure he's ok?" said Tony, "I get it, it's ok. You want to check on him, it's totally natural."
The Shadow said nothing, he simply squeezed his fists, his hood facing slightly towards the platform.
"You're his big brother, right?" said Tony.
"Yes," said Shadow.
"I could tell," said Tony, "only child myself, but I've known some brothers, they can have complicated relationships. If I was a betting man, oh who am I kidding? Ok, I'm a betting man, and if I had to make a bet, I'd say that joining in that little skirmish was his idea, not yours, right? He's the one who wants to be out there all the time and you follow after him to make sure he doesn't get hurt and right now you're putting yourself through hell because he did."
Shadow said nothing.
"What's your name?" asked Tony.
"Shadow," he said.
"What's your real name?" asked Tony, picking up the glasses and walking towards him offering one out.
Shadow looked between the glasses, well, Tony assumed he looked between the glasses because the hood obscured his eyes, then he reached out with a pale hand, grabbing one, knocking back the contents and handing Tony back the glass.
"None of your fucking business," said Shadow.
Tony grinned at him, "I'm Tony Stark."
"I know," he said, "everyone knows."
"Yes, but it's polite to introduce yourself," said Tony. He waited, Shadow remained close lipped. "Really not going to tell me your name?"
"Just leave us alone," said Shadow, "we just want to be left alone."
"Well you kinda screwed the pooch on that one, cupcake," said Tony, knocking back his own drink and then taking the glasses back to the bar to refill them. "The second you guys stepped onto the street wearing Halloween costumes, you should have known there would be interested parties."
"We're not interested in joining your party," said Shadow.
"I didn't say that we were the party that were interested," said Tony. He noticed that Shadow flinched again at that, he attention firmly drawn towards the platform now, "Hey, you might be strong, but don't think about it, it's a long way down, and if your little brother had to go back home, there's going to be nobody to catch you."
Against his better judgement, Tony deactivated his suit and stepped out of it, to show Shadow that if he suddenly decided to go on a flying routine, he wouldn't be chasing after him again.
"You two have caught the attention of some pretty powerful people," said Tony continuing, "no one knows what you guys are about, you're the flavour of the month and everyone is just dying for a taste."
"What do you want from me?" asked Shadow.
"Well it's up to you," said Tony, "you can make the choice. I'm not going to chase you down, but these other guys, they probably will. The way I see it you've got two options, tomorrow, because I can see how twitchy you are right now, you two come in for an informal chat with me and tell me what you guys are all about. If I think you're not a public nuisance," - at that Shadow made a sound which sounded distinctly like a snort, Tony chose to ignore it - "then I'll pass on the information and we'll leave you be. If you don't come to talk to me, then the other guys will come and talk to you themselves, and trust me, they don't offer coffee and cookies when they want to talk to somebody."
Shadow seemed to consider this. He stayed silent for a full sixty seconds and just as Tony was about to speak again, Shadow broke the silence.
"I'll come in," he said.
"Excellent," said Tony, "think you two can drop in around three thirty?"
"No," said Shadow, "just me. The boy stays out of this."
"I'm going to want to talk to both of you," said Tony.
"I'll tell you want you want to know," said Shadow, "within reason, but just me."
"Why?" said Tony, "surely he doesn't need you to pull his pants on for him in the morning, he can answer a few questions."
"I'm protecting him," said Shadow, "it's just me or neither of us."
Tony pursed his lips, but he supposed that if he could get Shadow talking, he might be persuaded, once he saw that Tony had only good intentions, to allow his little brother to be interviewed. Either way, he could get Fury off his back, and he could decide whether or not SHIELD needed to further assess them, of if he could offer them a probation period.
"Alright," said Tony, "deal."
The elevator pinged, they both turned their heads, the doors slid open and Tony saw Bruce, with a new pair of pants on, and pulling a vest over his head.
"There you are," said Bruce, "where the hell have you-"
Shadow bolted. He ran instantly for the platform the second that he had clocked Bruce and ran.
"WAIT, STOP," shouted Tony, "IT'S OK, HE'S NOT HULK, HE'S NOT GOING TO-"
Shadow was out onto the platform and before Tony had ran four steps he'd flung himself over the edge.
"NO!" shouted Tony.
He and Bruce moved at the same time, running out onto the platform, in time to see that Shadow had not free fallen and gone splat onto the pavement below, but was being swung through the air. A red and blue blur dipped, and the swung up again, and they were swinging from building to building, Shadow clinging onto the Spider-boy's back.
"Dammit," said Tony.
"It's ok," said Bruce, putting his hand on Tony's shoulder, "he doesn't know me, he probably just freaked. Not everyone is like you, Tony, not everyone gets that Bruce and Hulk aren't the same guy."
"Yeah, but," said Tony, "Jesus, jumping from this height? He must have known his brother was out there waiting for him. I mean who the hell would be crazy enough to jump otherwise?"
"They're brothers?" said Bruce, "when did you find this out?"
"Oh, I heard them talking the other day when I saw them," said Tony, "confirmed it tonight."
"Alright," said Bruce, giving him a good natured pat on the shoulder, "you can have one more drink, since you earned it, and you can tell me what he said."
"One more drink?" said Tony leaning his head against Bruce's shoulder and grinning at him, "you're so good to me."