Ross, Rhodey, Jarvis and Tony
A/N: Disclaimer's in the first chapter.
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Ross was ... not a happy man. Being thwarted by rent-a-cops and a good security system had not made for a good day a few days ago. So he'd started planning something bigger, more ... impressive. And he'd had to gather his men back up. They had evidently been let go with just a warning.
Stark's first mistake. Now, his men were as angry as he was. This was becoming personal. They would *have* the monster, one way or the other. Or they would bring Stark Tower crashing down around Stark's ears.
Fortunately, he hadn't had all the experimental tanks at Culver last year. There were still two more, since they were designed to work in pairs. Some adjustments had been made to the equipment, since the monster had initially been dropped by the weapons, but had somehow been able to rally. This time, there would be no rallying.
Even better, the rest of his special-trained unit had arrived with the tanks. So now, with his entire team and their tech available, Ross determined to mount an assault on Stark Tower and get the monster.
"Move out. I want Alpha team with me. Beta team, you hold position on the far side of the tower, so we trap the monster between us." Ross snarled at his team. The two groups split up and took off for their assigned positions.
What they found when they got there confused the holy hell out of Ross. Because Stark Tower had suddenly sprouted some very ... interesting defenses.
The Lobby level, which had been wreathed in large amounts of see-through glass, was suddenly blocked off, the glass backed by what looked like huge panels of metal. Worse, a close inspection of the upper floors led to the discovery that the glass on those floors was similarly backed. Ross could only assume that the entire Tower was thus protected, even if he couldn't really see the upper floors.
Ross cursed, and grabbed a bullhorn. "STARK, I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME!" He bellowed. "SEND OUT THE MONSTER OR I WILL COME IN AND TAKE HIM."
The answer came from somewhere Ross didn't expect.
Rhodey had stayed in town once he'd dropped Betty off, but he hadn't stayed at the Tower. For one, Tony had enough guests at the moment. For two, he was still Air Force and they still owned his time. So he bunked down with the regular Air Force units sent to help keep the peace and clean up the mess.
Still, he'd been helping out every day. As such, it was kind of hard to miss the two very odd looking tanks and the soldiers around them heading straight for Stark Tower.
"Ross." Rhodey growled. "Jarvis!"
"I am aware of his approach, Colonel. The Tower is going into defense mode now, and I have alerted Sir."
"Good. I'll see if I can at least stall the idiot. Maybe even get him to back off. Not counting on it, but I'll try."
"Be careful, Colonel. Those tanks seem to be the same as the ones Ross used against Hulk at Culver University. They generate powerful sound waves."
"Noted. I'll watch my ass." Rhodey told Jarvis, and flew over to the Tower.
He got there just in time to hear Ross' bellowed demands, and dropped down out of the sky facing the idiot, his guns trained on him. He stopped when he was about ten feet off the deck, and hovered there.
"I'd like to see you try, Ross." Rhodey told him. "I'll enjoy watching Tony take you apart piece by piece. You even try to lay a finger on Banner, you're going to regret it for the rest of your life. You do remember the reports of what happened to the last few folks to piss Stark off, right? Or did you skip those reports because Stark's just a weak, helpless civvie who is beneath your notice?"
Ross glared up at him. "YOU! You kidnapped my daughter! You ... you brought her here! To where that ... monster is. You put her in danger! I'll see you court-martialed for that! I'll see you drummed out of the service with a dishonorable discharge!"
"Try it." Rhodey growled. "I DARE you to bring me into a courtroom, Ross. I'd *love* to see you try to defend your own actions while trying to demonize mine. I kidnapped your daughter? I put her in danger? You kidnapped her first, Ross. You forced her into Cheyenne Mountain with threats to Banner's life, and then kept her there against her will. I just gave her a fucking choice on what she wanted to do with her life. As for danger ... refresh my memory, again, on who it was that brought her to a battlefield and damn fucking near got her killed? Wasn't me. Wasn't Hulk. Wasn't Banner. That was all you, Ross. So really, between the two of us ... I think I've got the stronger case, don't you?"
"And you do realize that if you try to fuck with me, on top of fucking with Banner and your daughter, that Tony will take great pleasure in eviscerating you? Your pension? Forget it. Military benefits? Say bye-bye. Your career? Hope you like freezing cold and blistering heat, because you're going to find yourself stationed in the Antarctic and the center of the Sahara desert, busted down to private and having to clean the toilets of the people you bossed around just a few short weeks before." Rhodey snorted, knowing that, if anything, he was completely underselling Tony's vindictive side. Ross wouldn't know what hit him.
Then, behind his mask, he grinned. "And even if you do somehow manage to get me drummed out of the Air Force ... do you really think that will wreck my life? Really? I'm Stark's best friend. This suit is *mine*. It won't run for anyone else. So even if I got drummed out of the Air Force, all it'd mean is that I'd go into the *private* hero business. Join the Avengers. Save the world, rather than just a little chunk of it. So go ahead. Do your worst. No matter what you do, I win."
Then, he silently called up his targeting program and took aim at the tanks' weapons. Ross was going to try something anyway. He could *feel* it. Maybe it was the fact Ross was all but literally frothing at the mouth.
Sure enough, Ross practically shrieked "Fi ... "
That was as far as he got before Rhodey took action and blasted the tank weapon to heck and gone with a carefully aimed blast. He did not, after all, want to kill any of the soldiers, or even wound them if he could avoid it. After all, they didn't have much of a choice as to whether or not they followed Ross' orders.
Ross shrieked in rage. "I'll see you arrested for this! You'll never breathe free air again!" He howled.
Rhodey just gave him a shark-toothed grin he couldn't see, and said. "Bring it. I'll enjoy taking you apart in court."
Jarvis had been watching Ross very carefully since he first arrived in the city. His initial attempts to get anywhere near Doctor Banner had been fairly easily thwarted with just the presence of the security teams and one or two of the Tower's security systems.
Jarvis was quite sure that state of affairs would not last. He was finally proven right when the rest of Ross' team arrived with two familiar experimental tanks. Jarvis instantly activated the Tower's full line of defenses.
Tony, after receiving Jarvis' request, and planning for the presence of the Avengers, had put certain measures into place. Primary among them was a way to strengthen the exterior of the Tower against attack. The glass was far too easily broken by a multitude of weaponry for Tony's peace of mind.
Thus he had put into place on every floor thin panels of adamantium that would slide out of hidden alcoves and cover the glass, protecting the inhabitants. The adamantium, even as thin as Tony had made it for this purpose, was tough enough to withstand a *lot* of punishment. It had proven its worth during the invasion, as Jarvis had slapped them into place when the portal opened. Quite a bit of the glass had been broken, but the Tower had remained otherwise intact.
As he did that, he alerted Sir to the problem, beating Sir to the punch by 1.76 seconds, as Sir had been alerted to something being amiss when the window shields in his lab had slammed into place.
"Sir, General Ross is approaching with two of the experimental tanks he used on Hulk at Culver University."
Tony blinked when the light quality in his lab changed, and glanced up. "J ... "
Jarvis didn't even let him get his full name out before he explained the situation. Tony immediately wheeled himself over to where there were several computer screens available for use.
"Right, pull up the video. He wants to play hardball ... "
"Sir, Colonel Rhodes seems to have noticed the General's approach and is flying towards the Tower."
"Ohhh, excellent. This is going to be *fun*. Jarvis, record everything. I'm going to want this for posterity. And where's Bruce?"
"He is asleep in his quarters with Doctor Ross." Jarvis said.
"Perfect. Let's hope he stays that way until this is over." Tony said. "And make sure Rhodey knows about the tanks' weapons."
"Indeed, and already done, sir." Jarvis told him.
Tony watched, grinning impishly as the tanks rolled to a stop and Ross started bellowing like a bull. Then Rhodey flew down and ...
Well. Tony was just a bit impressed. Rhodey wasn't even giving the guy the courtesy of using his rank. Given that Rhodey had been in the Air Force since he was eighteen and had never been one to be insubordinate, it was a pretty damn good indication of just how pissed off Rhodey was.
Tony was reduced to outright laughter at Rhodey's comebacks to Ross' threats, though. Because Rhodey was right. There was literally nothing Ross could do to Rhodey that would put Rhodey on the losing end of the equation. Oh, Tony knew losing his commission would hurt like hell, but he wasn't wrong as to what he'd have available to do with himself if that happened. And if Ross tried to put Rhodey in jail ... yes, Tony would have entirely too much fun tearing Ross' life to pieces before he buried the man so deep he never saw daylight again.
"Tell Rhodey there's a second tank on the other side of the building, would you? We can't really do anything about it and Ross is just dumb enough to try to use it anyway."
"Of course sir." Jarvis said.
"And then tell Rhodey I'm on my way to back him up. Keep recording, let me know if anything changes. I'm going to get my suit."
"As you wish, sir." Jarvis said, swiftly passing on the warning about the tank and Sir's imminent assistance with the matter.
Tony hustled to the elevator and up to the penthouse suite. It was the work of moments to override the panels that blocked access to the assembler out on the balcony, and they closed automatically behind him. Seconds after that, he was in the suit and flying to Rhodey's assistance, covering Ross with his weapons while Rhodey went to take care of the tank on the other side of the Tower with his heavier weapons. Tony could take out tanks with his stuff fine, but his ammunition was more limited than Rhodey's, so he let Rhodey do it.
Ross glared up at him with pure venom in his expression. "Stark. Hand over the monster. Now."
"Monster?" Tony asked. "What monster? You mean the space whales? They're not actually under my control. I think you need to talk to Fury about getting your hands on them, but good luck getting Fury to share."
Tony laughed, making sure it didn't carry through the speakers, because Ross looked like he was one small push away from a stroke, heart attack, or brain aneurism, he wasn't sure which.
"I *mean*." Ross snarled. "Banner. The Hulk. He's government property. He's not safe to be around. He needs to be contained."
Tony saw red. "Bruce Banner is not fucking government property and he never will be. Last time I fucking checked, the United States had declared slavery illegal, Ross. You'll get Banner over my dead body. And the dead bodies of the rest of the Avengers. And just in case you didn't know, or had forgotten, let's count them, shall we?"
"First, there's the Black Widow. Known worldwide as the scariest motherfucking assassin ever. Then there's Hawkeye ... the world's greatest marksman and sniper, who can hit any target *without looking at it*. And of course, there's Captain America. Steve Rogers, the man who tore HYDRA a new asshole because they killed some friends of his."
Tony grinned. "And then there's Thor. God of Thunder, to whom lightning is a playtoy." Then, he switched to a 'game show host' sort of voice. "But that's not all!" And back to normal. "There's also Wolverine, who is nearly as unstoppable and unkillable as a certain green guy. And Gambit, who can blow up anything he touches. And last but damn sure not least, Loki. Scary ass guy with powerful magical abilities and more brains than you and half your goons combined."
"And even if you, by some miracle, get past all of them, there's still one left. The Hulk himself. Your fights with him have never ended in your favor, Ross. What the hell makes you think that's ever going to change?"
Right about them, a boom announced the death of the second tank's weapon. Tony grinned behind his mask. "And now you don't even have any tanks to throw at him. Go home, Ross, and quit while you're ahead."
For half a second, Tony thought Ross was going to tell his men to open fire on him. At the last possible second, Ross evidently decided that was a bad idea, the first bright idea he'd had in years, and signaled his men to back off.
Tony watched them go with no small amount of pleasure. Once the men and tanks (only the weapons were broken, not their ability to move) were out of sight, he headed back up to the balcony.
"Jarvis, tell Rhodey to use the balcony. He deserves some down time for that." Tony said.
"Of course, sir." Jarvis said, relaying the comment. "He says he will be happy to do so, though he might not be able to stay all day. He anticipates there will be problems over this."
"Yeah, so do I. I can't wait to blow the hell out of everyone that tries anything, though. I'm not going to back down on this. Not now, not ever."
"Nor should you, sir. Doctor Banner has as much right to a normal life as anyone else." Jarvis agreed.
