XLXII.
After he put the armor away and telling those around him that 'Iron Man was resting' Tony as himself stayed behind. He met up with Rhodey to see if he was okay, he was, thank god. Then asking for his help to make sure everything that could be grabbed by thieving hands and used against Tony were either destroyed (ie the alternate arc reactors from the droids underwater) or on its way to being dismantled/cleaned up by SHIELD.
With Rhodey shaken but overall unharmed Tony started making his rounds first by calling Pepper who was fine having evacuated after making sure Hammer was arrested. Upon hearing that Tony released some of the tension that remained. Good. One less thing to worry about. "Is Bruce alright?" She asked anxiously to which Tony answered,
"He's a little banged up but with some rest, he should be right as rain." He better be. It's been a few hours now and the man hadn't so much as twitched, Bruce was still out for the count. Any longer and it'd start to worry him and the possible problems that might arise by having Bruce be unconscious in his place and yet still use the body that would've blacked out just fine.
Happy, when Tony spoke to him bragged about taking out several goons with the spy, he was also alright. With everyone Tony cared about safe and accounted for he told Rhodey to set up a meeting both personal and one with his bosses so something like this wouldn't happen again. This was exactly why only he was allowed to altercate the suit. Maybe now the military will take him seriously after their blunder.
The next day was eventful filled with cleaning up, a little bit of press and a lot of worrying. There was some flak about the possibility that Tony orchestrated the whole thing but between the fast action of Pepper and SHIELD, yet again, evidence was quickly put up that relieved him of all blame. The two forces made for a visceral team he found. He already set up a date with Christine for a full coverage interview. Bruce, however, was still knocked out. Remembering his own experience of blacking out and how hard it was to come back gathered his courage. Looks like Tony was going to have to go in and wake Bruce up himself.
Extra 10
T: Okay, go.
B: I'm unconscious.
T: Think that matters? You aren't getting out of this so easily!
B: 'I once went out on the lam with a fellow hero because the president at the time was a supervillain, resulting in other heroes hunting us down.'
T: The hell? What crazy ass dimension did you really come from? At this point, I might as well flip a coin. False is Heads.
B: Don't do that.
T: What, flip a coin? Too late. Oh, it was tails. Truth is my answer then.
B: *Aggravated Silence*
