CAEB Part IV - The Cross He Bears.
Chapter 6 - Tearing at the Seams
Coulson frowned as he rummaged through the cabinet.
"What are you looking for?" Pepper asked as she opened the fridge in search of a quick snack before her next meeting.
"Tony's scotch." Coulson mumbled, head in the cabinet as he routed around in the back. "I swear there were two bottles in here on Friday."
"There were, but I very much doubt there are any more." Pepper huffed. "The boys had a bit of… party."
"A party?" Rhodes popped his head in, intrigued. He'd been running errands for Tony and Pepper the last few days, taking him away from the tower a lot… or that's what he told himself. In all truth he was trying to avoid his best friend as much as possible. He hated seeing Tony like this, especially when there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it, but he'd been away long enough and he did need to check that Tony hadn't killed himself by overworking… or just plain killed himself – though he could trust that Bruce and Pepper were firmly in control of that issue.
"Why does that sound like a bad thing?" Coulson frowned.
"It's best seen rather than told. Jarvis play the footage…" Pepper ordered, and the screens lit up.
"Oh, hell no, is that?" Rhodes scoffed as the video started.
"That is indeed Steve Rogers." Coulson frowned.
"How did they get Steve drunk?" Rhodes balked.
"How did they even convince him to drink?"
"Jesus Christ!" Rhodes exclaimed as Tony went crashing off the counter. He had never seen Tony wiped on his ass so quickly. Not by anything Earth had to offer anyhow. "What the hell is that stuff?"
"Asgardian liquor apparently." Pepper grunted.
"What the hell are they…." Steve and Clint launched off the counter. "…Doing. Oh God." Coulson finished.
"Yes quite." Pepper sighed. "So now you know where the scotch went." Pepper smiled weakly. "Would you like me to have Jarvis order you some in Phil? Was there a reason you needed it?"
"You know what I think I'll pass." Coulson said slowly, his face going a little pale. "I'm going to go talk to agent Barton." He nodded politely and left the room.
"Should I…" Rhodes gestured towards the lift and Tony's lab.
"Best not." Pepper sighed. "He bit Bruce's head off this morning and the poor guy's still sulking. He just needs to be left alone."
"Hangover?" Rhodes asked.
"Not in the slightest."
"How… Ok, wow, that's…"
"Astonishing yes." Pepper said flatly.
"Are you Ok?" Rhodes asked Pepper, concern etched on his face. The redhead looked close to falling apart, her beautiful freckled face lined with stress and worry, and marked with the deep bags of exhaustion, which hung heavy under her eyes.
"Not really Rhodey." She sighed, picking up a coffee. "But are any of us?"
Rhodes smiled weakly. "Not really." He replied in kind, drawing a small smile from Pepper's lips. "I should have been here, I'm sorry." Rhodey bit his lip.
"Nothing you could have done." She shook her head. "In fact, I'm kind of glad it happened, they all needed five minutes outside their heads and well, not much got broken - though I don't think Steve got up till Midday, which has to be some record."
"And Clint…"
"Looks like a zombie, eats like a horse and I think single-handedly drunk enough water to double to bill, but he's shaking it off slowly." Pepper chuckled. "Battered and bruised and nothing broken - apart from the table that is."
"Right," Rhodes sighed. "Well, I'll check on him when he's calmed down and, in the meantime, you need a break. I'm taking you out for dinner."
"Rhodey I don't have time…"
"You can make time; you're the boss remember?" He persuaded
"Fine," pepper caved, with a smiled. "You've twisted my arm. Just don't tell Tony you're stealing me away, he's pissed enough as it is."
"Well seeing as it was always him stealing my girls, he can just grin and bear it for an evening."
They both laughed as they made their way to the lift.
…
'Clint how you feeling?'
Clint was not expecting Tony's voice in his head at 7am the next morning. The Archer was still nursing a headache and unshakeable feeling of nausea. He was too old to drink like that anymore. It had been over a day and he still felt hungover. He was going to skip morning training. He'd rather face the wrath of Natasha than the pain of a sparring match right now and that was saying something.
'Fragile.' Clint thought back, very grateful that Tony was contacting him internally as his head was pounding something dreadful. His skull felt like a fractured eggshell that had already been dropped and one more impact would have him making like Humpty Dumpty.
'You can't still be hungover.' Tony chuckled.
'At this stage I can't tell if it's a hangover or alcohol poisoning.' Clint grimaced.
'Fancy playing with a rocket launcher?'
Tony's sudden and random request took Clint by surprise, prompting him to sit up in bed. 'In this case no. On any other day…'
'You know if you come up I can make that hangover go away.' Tony persuaded.
'Why does this feel like a bribe?'
'It's not a bribe… Rocket launcher!' He enunciated the last two words for emphasis.
'Why do you want play with a rocket launcher? And have team overprotective approved this?'
'It's just for training.' Tony countered.
'Ok, that means they haven't approved it then.'
'Two words. Hangover cure.'
'Fine I'm coming.'
"Tony man, maybe we should stop..."
"Come on Feathers, we've barely started." Tony huffed.
They had been in the green room for 2 hours. Tony had cured Clint's hangover as promised, but now the Archer was getting decidedly worried about the Billionaire. He was going at this like a mad man. Attached to a damn glucose drip, Tony was still eating tons to stay on his feet; he'd had Clint fire weapon after weapon at him, whilst he either deflected the hits or controlled the blast and man it was cool.
Clint had been more than nervous when Tony had told him to fire a prototype Helicopter-mounted Machine gun at him. Apparently, it could fire 90 rounds per second but had never reached production before Tony shut down weapons manufacture.
CAEB or not, Clint had been sure this wouldn't end well, they'd argued for fifteen minutes before he'd finally agreed, and the way Tony had deflected the bombardment of shots had been like something off the matrix but had also had him staggering across the room as the subsequent fatigue hit him like a truck.
"You know, most of the benefit of training comes from the recovery…" Clint suggested as Tony got back to his feet.
The Engineer had barely taken a rest before insisting they move on with the next weapon and Clint was getting concerned. Tony was working like a machine, and apparently training like one too. It all just gave him flashbacks to when they'd tried to train him to use his powers before and they all knew how that had ended. But there was something else eating at Clint, his instincts screaming at him that there was something wrong.
Tony had turned up with a busted face and Clint had been reluctant to ask, knowing the Billionaire would likely bite his head off. Stark may have been trying to be his usual pleasant, yet infuriating, self but Clint could almost see the anger bubbling under his skin, and he had snapped at the Archer a fair few times when challenged. Apparently, the cuts and bruises were the result of an accident in the lab. Clint was skeptical.
"Are you going to fire the damn thing or am I going to have to get Dum-E and Butterfingers to hold it and U to fire it?" Tony asked irately.
Clint sighed and nodded. "Fine, but Tony just one ok?"
"I'm going 3 rounds Barton, need to test my stamina."
"Isn't that what we've been testing all morning?" Tony just glared at Clint and the Archer sighed, caving. "Fine, 3 shots… then I'm out and if you ask for more after that I'm telling Steve."
"Whatever, just fire." Tony huffed.
Clint grumbled to himself as he placed the ear defenders back on and slipped the safety glasses off the top of his head. He shouldered the rocket launcher with a grunt and aimed lazily, pointing the thing slightly away from Tony so minimal damage would be done to the reckless Billionaire if he screwed up with the CAEB.
"Point it at me Barton, I'm not going to break." Clint saw Tony mouth, but he couldn't really hear the Engineer under the ear defenders.
"Not on the first one Tony." He called back, probably a little loudly.
"Fine." The Engineer grumbled and raised the palm of his hand ready to take the blast. "Fire."
But Clint didn't, he put down the rocket launcher suddenly and recoiled. "What the hell happened to your hands?"
For someone with sharp eyesight Clint couldn't believe he hadn't spotted it sooner. Tony's hands were an absolute mess; knuckles swollen and bloody, palms raw and burnt and as Tony shrugged with a roll of his eyes, his long sleeves lifted slightly revealing more burn marks along his inner forearm.
"I told you I had an accident in the lab." He huffed.
"Why don't you heal them man, they look damn painful?" Clint exclaimed.
"Saving my energy for this, I'll sort them out later and by that, I mean after we finish, so hurry up."
Clint could never really tell when Tony was lying - not when Tony didn't want him to know - Clint wasn't sure if it as because Tony was too tired or just didn't care, but the lie was written on his face plain as day. Tony had done this to himself and he had no intention of healing it. The man was crumbling in front of him and Clint knew if he said anything now he may just shatter.
"I…" Clint was desperate to say something, yell at him for being so stupid, tell him to go to bed, that they weren't training any more today, even just pull the guy into a hug and try give him any sort of comfort from what must be churning in his head, but he knew he couldn't. Tony was fragile but holding it together… debatably. They'd all agreed they just needed to get him to the finish line, but the others were going to hear about this.
Clint shook his head and decided not to say anything else. "Ready?" He asked sadly.
"Yep."
Clint fired the rocket launcher just to the right of Tony and the room lit up blue and then orange as the missile exploded. Clint crouched behind the protective screen that Tony had set up, but he barely needed to. Not a trace of heat or smoke leaked into the room as the ball of blue energy enveloped the explosion and quashed it into nothing.
"Nice." Clint smiled, but he couldn't help looking at Tony with a worried expression. "Round 2?"
"Ready." Tony nodded.
On the third shot it all went to hell. Clint didn't even bother stepping behind the screen after he fired, because Tony seemed to have this down to such an art for he didn't feel any need. But when the explosion was halfway to being quashed from existence, a thick glob of blood ran from the corner of Tony's mouth and more ran in rivulets down from his nose.
"Tony!" Clint yelled in warning but something in the man's face told him that he already knew.
"Get down!" Tony yelled. Blood spraying from his mouth. But Clint didn't move fast enough. The CAEB's blue energy swept him roughly from his feet and prickled at his skin. Clint yelped as he felt himself thrown back behind the screen and out of harm's way just as the explosion rang in his ears. He quickly looked up, only to be cut off from the rest of the room by a blue shield. He managed to make out the figure of the Engineer through the translucent wall of energy. The Billionaire, much to Clint' relief, had also shielded himself, though the explosion seemed to have thrown him into the opposite corner of the green room. Finally, the shield dissolved in front of him and he rushed to his feet, moving over to the Genius.
"Tony, you with me? I'm calling Bruce."
"Nah, Feathers I'm ok, just lost concentration… sorry."
"Tony you're bleeding again."
"Oh." Tony said genuinely shocked as he spat blood on the floor of the greenroom. "Ok, maybe 3 was too many."
"You think?" Clint said exasperated. "Come on…"
"Clint honestly, I just overdid it. CAEB's sorting it, I just need some rest." Tony held out his hand, expecting Clint to help him up but instead the Archer scrutinized him thoroughly. The cuts on Tony's hands and face were healing in front of his eyes with a tinge of blue light beneath the skin. He assumed that Tony was letting the CAEB heal whatever internal damage he had done and got the other injuries healed as a freebee.
Clint sighed again ad finally took Tony's hand to help him up and once he was sure the Engineer was steady he let go and followed Tony back to the lift.
…
"Guys we need to talk."
Clint marched into the common room at dinner time with a worried and determined look on his face. It was a rare occasion where most of the Avengers seemed to be in one place at the same time.
"What's up Clint?" Steve frowned.
"It's Tony. I'm really worried."
"What happened?" He asked hastily.
"It's the way he's training, it's… insane."
"Clint?" Natasha pressed.
Clint took a breath and looked away from Natasha. "I think he's hurting himself." He spat out finally. "In the lab I mean… purposefully. He has… had…" he corrected, "injuries and he's not healing them, yet he cured my hangover without a second thought."
"What sort of injuries?" Bruce frowned.
"His palms are cut up and… burnt, both his hands, his knuckles are a mess. It looks like he's smashed his face against the wall, and he kept itching his arms like…." Clint stopped suddenly. "But he was wearing long sleeves."
"I don't understand…" Steve started, "why would Tony deliberately hurt himself?"
"He's barely holding it together Steve, channeling everything he's trying to avoid into anger." Bruce sighed. "I mean, I've been looking into psychology for a while now with all that's going on with Tony - People self harm for various reasons, but mainly it's to cope with emotional distress."
"How does that help you cope?" Steve asked.
"Sometimes it's a way of grounding yourself; if you're having a panic attack or anxiety attack the pain can drag you out of it, help you realize what's real and what's not." Bruce sighed. "I know it's hard to understand and I don't know the exact case with Tony, but I'll talk to Rhodes, see if it's happened before."
"I suppose I can understand that a little." Steve nodded slowly, but in reality he was struggling with the concept.
"I'm thinking more along the lines of cry for help." Clint argued. "I mean, Tony's proud and hates attention no matter what he may come across as. We all know how he hides he's hurting to the point of killing himself, but he could hide these injuries if he wanted to and he doesn't seem to care." He said, throwing up his arms. "I mean, he can twist our minds to perceive him as fine, yet he gives me some half-baked excuse about a lab accident which is probably the least convincing lie he's told in his life."
"You think he wants to be helped?" Bruce asked curiously.
"I honestly don't know," Clint sighed. "I mean he's Tony; maybe Tasha can you get a read on him?"
"I can try, but I hate to say it, I can rarely get a good read on Tony." Natasha shook her head.
"He needs watching again." Bruce said solemnly. "I know we said leave him, but if he's hurting himself he could easily go too far, one cut too deep and…"
"I'll keep an eye on him." Thor said unexpectedly. Heimdall's words were ringing strongly in his head. He had to take care of the Engineer, though it was evident from the others' struggles it was not going to be a straightforward task.
"Thor…" Bruce started skeptically.
"There are things I need to discuss with him, and you all have preparations." Thor reasoned. "None of you have cause to be there, entering without reason will draw Stark's suspicion, which I gather usually causes a negative reaction. I have no further tasks for the day whilst you all must work or train and most importantly sleep. I will not try to engage him in conversation, simply be present to prevent him harming himself."
"That actually sounds like the best way, but you'll call for back up if something happens?" Steve checked.
"Of course, Captain." Thor agreed.
"I can pop down to talk to you and try get a read on him at some stage." Nat nodded in agreement.
"Yeah well, he's in his room now, so we have a few hours before he'll be up and kicking again." Clint grunted.
"How deep did he go today?" Natasha asked.
"Bleeding but no loss of consciousness." Clint stated plainly.
"Great." Natasha rolled her eyes.
"So, regards Thor keeping watch, what do we say?" Steve brought them back into focus.
"Ok." Bruce conceded.
"Ok?" Clint asked.
"Ok." Natasha agreed.
"Ok." Steve confirmed.
"Ok." Clint nodded.
"Am I supposed to say Ok too?" Thor asked. "Is this some sort of Earth custom?"
"No Thor, you're good." Steve smiled.
"Right, I've got to get back to work." Bruce announced, though the worry was as evident in his face as it was the others'.
…
"Stark. You missed the movie last night."
"Sorry Pointbreak, been busy." Tony mumbled, absentmindedly.
"So, I gather."
"You need something?" Tony said a little irately.
"Yes, the purpose of my presence is two-fold. Firstly, I brought the armor and weapons you requested."
"Oh yeah, fantastic just dump them over there." Tony waved vaguely as he carried on working. The man looked ragged and tired, though the injuries Clint described were not yet evident.
"And I also return with news regards the being we faced."
"Yeah sure, fire away I can multitask."
As Tony listened to Thor relay the tale of the five asshole beings they were going to have to fight, he nodded to himself. Edraskil certainly fitted the creature he'd seen in the cave; impulsive, power hungry and devious - he was going to be the loose cannon in the battle. He had also seen the animosity and tension between Edraskil and Kairon, who had to be the one who had tried to remain loyal. He still knew next to nothing about the other two. They had been for less outspoken, but despite Edraskil's clear desire to lead, Kairon had been the authority in that room. And if what Thor said was true and they weren't created with equal power then it had to be Kairon that held the advantage.
Kairon was the real threat. He was smart, observant, and inherently cautious. Unlike Edraskil, who seemed to be all about death or glory, Kairon held the value of his own life in much higher regard. Everything was calculated; if he saw unnecessary risk or had any inkling they were going to lose then he wouldn't stick around, and this would all be for nothing.
"Stark?" Thor broke Tony out of his trail of thought, clearly having been trying to get his attention for some time. "Were you even listening?"
"Heard every word, just thinking it over." Tony huffed. Honestly, now even Thor was scolding him like a child. And now, despite the fact that they'd discussed everything they needed to discuss, the God was hanging around seemingly with no intention of leaving.
Clint must have dobbed him in and Thor was the only one left for babysitting duties. Well if that was the case, maybe he could drive the Demigod out by acting like one.
"Jarvis work playlist max volume."
Thor's ears were ringing after an hour. He had no idea how the human could work with all this noise, but he stood firm and left Tony alone to work whilst working on a few things of his own quietly in the corner.
"Thor." The music cut off finally and Thor resisted the urge to sigh in relief. "Just been analyzing your Asgardian metal, and well, it's a work of art."
"Asgard has the finest forges outside of Nidavelir." The God said with a proud smile.
"Nidaval…what?" Tony grunted.
"It is the place where Mjolnir was forged, in the heart of a neutron star. Only the greatest weapons in the Galaxy come from there." Thor explained.
"Right cool, anyway back to the point - I'm guessing they're currently busy making more of this stuff back home right now."
"Yes Stark." Thor confirmed.
"If they increase the tempering temperature by 18 to 20 degrees and maintain the same cooling rate, the fraction of austenite in the steel component of the alloy will increase, improving the durability of the armor and by adding a final quench to room temperature you will improve the percentage of martensite improving the balance between the hardness and toughness." Thor just stared at him, so Tony continued. "I can see the experience that has gone into refining the forging process and it's so nearly perfect… I don't know an awful lot about the alloy used here and I'm technically not a Materials Engineer - but there is a metallic alloying element which is certainly not of Earth, but otherwise this is very close to an engineering steel and with a couple of tweaks, well…"
"These words mean nothing to me Stark; you will have to write it down for when I return." Thor chuckled.
"Maybe I should just pop up with you and talk to the smiths." Tony said half jestingly then realized that, that wasn't such a bad idea. And he definitely wanted to have some stronger words with that Pratt, Odin.
"Perhaps, that would be an easier means of coordination." Thor considered quietly but his thoughts were cut off within seconds as the music started again.
…
Another dawn, another day in the lab. Another day of the machine not working.
He'd done everything he could to the team's weapons. The replacement hubs were ready. The machine was running another simulation. Next it was Step five, sorting out the CAEB.
Tony sat and thought about everything he had managed to do so far…
Smashing glass, enhanced strength, and power outages - frying electronics, enhanced metabolism and healing rates, altering appearances… earthquakes. Those had been the first manifestations of the CAEB's powers, but he'd barely revisited many of them. He hadn't tried to manipulate electronics or create any more earthquakes and he had only used his enhanced strength in panic – including, most recently, strangling poor Steve whilst under the influence of Makluhk venom.
Then the true CAEB had unleashed itself. It had flung people across the room effortlessly. Clint's arrows had disintegrated to nothing in front of him. The latter could be very useful if he could master it. He had also started a fire. Again, a good offensive weapon. He didn't know how fire would affect the Makluhk, or those Megawolves, or the weird poisonous thorny insects, which he expected would all be coming their way in a few weeks' time, but well, fire is fire. Nothing likes fire.
He had slowed time on The Bus when he was trying to contact Coulson after Fury had kidnapped him. He couldn't even remember doing that, but he needed to try it again.
Instantly healing himself and others - he'd got that down - as he had with teleporting and shielding, but he had only teleported himself so far. After escaping the Asgardian dungeon, he had sent the Destroyer back to Odin and that was early days… maybe he could send away other things too, like teleporting people on mass - that was worth a shot. Maybe he could just teleport the entire army into a volcano and call it a day. He chuckled to himself at thought - if only.
Nevertheless, it was risky to practice. As was the mind control. If he could tell the soldiers just to go home, then the fight would be over before it started. The charity ball had been a useful opportunity to test his powers on a larger audience, but he doubted they would just let him loose on the public to try it again. And aliens were very, very different to humans, it would take him time to learn their minds and make the connection and that was something he was just going to have to do on the day.
One thing he was certain of was that he could definitely do with another look around that damn Cave. After his near mistake with the Makluhk he wanted to be sure the enemy were not aware of the CAEB and he wanted to know if they were planning anything new. He could only feel good about how prepared they were (the portal closing machine being the exception), but that also worried him. This felt a little too easy. They were too prepared. Those bastards had to have something up their sleeves and he wanted to know what it was.
He turned his attention back to the list of powers he knew he could master and started doodling absentmindedly on the corner of the piece of paper, before he had a thought.
"Energy." He said, sitting up sharply.
"What?" Bruce looked up from his computer at Tony's outburst.
"It's what all my powers have in common." Tony said slowly. "I can either use my own energy or manipulate the energy around me."
"Right." Bruce said slowly. "Are you trying to figure out what you can do or something?"
"Essentially." Tony nodded.
"Well based on that Tony, you could do pretty much anything." Bruce said., contemplatively.
"I know. But in terms of raw power, I'm limited by my own strength." Tony sighed. "And there's only so much sugar I can eat."
Bruce was quiet for a minute. "Why don't you get the energy from a different source."
"Huh?"
"So, if you want to do something bigger can you channel other people for a kick? Tap into the power grid, I don't know…" Bruce shrugged. "Though maybe the channeling other people thing is a bit risky." He quickly reconsidered.
"Yes, but the power grid is a good option." Tony gave a wry smile. "Not a bad idea. Not a bad idea at all."
"But you will have to be careful Tony, remember the damage that power does to you." Bruce warned.
"Yes, don't want any major internal hemorrhaging spoiling my fun." Tony sighed.
"Yes, I'd prefer that not to keep happening." The scientist scolded.
"Maybe I can fix that too." Tony said thoughtfully and Bruce though there might as well be a cartoon lightbulb above his head as the idea sparkled behind the Engineer's eyes.
"How?" Bruce asked warily.
"With some clever tech. Bio regulation and stabilization through vibration maybe, or EM waves?"
"Tony, we've just about got your implant right, do you really want to go messing with it so close to the battle?" Bruce huffed.
"I'm not talking about the implant, Bruce. I'm talking about an exoskeleton. Something I can build into my under-armor and use in conjunction with the suit."
"That could work." Bruce nodded in consideration.
"Yes, it could." Tony smiled and instantly pulled up a hologram and started drafting a design.
"I take it you're not coming up for lunch then?"
"I doubt it, but if you could…"
"Someone will bring you something down." Bruce rolled his eyes.
"Thanks, Brucie." Tony smiled, and for the first time in a long time Bruce thought it might just be genuine.
…
Tony had spent the next two days flitting between the lab and the green room. He'd synthesized the exoskeleton that afternoon and was currently stood in the lab with it strapped to him, but deactivated. He should really test this in the green room if he was going to be completely safety conscious, but he equally wanted to fully monitor the device and how it interacted with the CAEB and his own body chemistry, which was easier from here. He could of course move all his equipment up to the green room, but that would take the better part of a day and he didn't have time for that shit.
"Jarvis, initiate isolation protocol." He ordered.
"I would request you inform Dr. Banner of this Sir."
"Fine, you give him a call I'm going for a test drive." Tony said impatiently. It was time to get this show on the road.
…
"So that's all that's left in the lab?" Steve clarified. This was Team meeting number… who knows, but it was a good one. Everything seemed to be coming together nicely and although they were running out of time they were running to schedule.
"Yes." Jemma nodded with a smiled. "Manufacture will take us up to the day, but we are nearly ready."
"What's left on the countdown?" Fitz asked.
"Don't even mention the countdown in front of me." Barton spat.
"Clint…" Natasha reasoned.
"Nope." Clint said adamantly.
"9 days." Steve replied.
"You're going to pay for that." Clint aimed bitterly at Steve.
"How exactly do you plan on doing that?" Natasha challenged.
"I don't know yet, but I'll think of something." Clint grumbled. "Where the hell is Tony? I swear down he is always late."
"Fashionably." Pepper scoffed. "But I can't wait much longer, Coulson and I have a meeting with the President in two hours."
"Tony probably isn't coming." Bruce explained.
"What? Why?" Steve asked curiously.
"These meetings where his damn idea in the first place and he's missed most of them." Barton grumbled.
"Two of them Clint." Nat corrected.
"Is he ok?" Coulson asked.
"He's fine, but he's had a new idea." Bruce rolled his eyes. "It could be a while before we see him out of that lab."
"We don't have time for new ideas Bruce, I hate to pressure him, but we are kind of relying on that machine." Steve sighed.
"He's still on that, but this will be a massive help." Bruce assured them.
"Anything exciting?" Coulson asked.
"Potentially some help making the CAEB more powerful, I'm keeping an eye on it." He added reassuringly.
"Well then, let's get down to business." Steve announced. "Thor, have you informed every one of the information you received from Asgard?"
"I believe everyone now knows the tale." There was a general nod of confirmation in the room. "However, I have been offered the use of a technology from Asgard that will be incredibly useful in preventing civilian casualty in the…."
"Isolation protocol initiated. Main workshop. Level 47 security in place." Jarvis interrupted.
Everyone turned to Bruce, who was on his phone, brow furrowed as he tried to find out what was going on.
"What the hell does that mean?" Clint asked.
"The workshop can be completely isolated from the main building. Someone's initiated it." Natasha stated.
"By someone, you mean Tony?" Steve asked for clarity.
"Well yes, presumably." She shrugged.
"How do you even know that?" Clint asked.
"I read the emergency protocol's list."
"Nerd." Clint scoffed.
"Emergency?" Thor asked.
"It's not necessarily an emergency." Pepper looked warily at Bruce, who seemed to be a little flustered by the conversation he was having on phone, privately in the corner. "Tony uses it very occasionally if he is going to test something big and dangerous."
"It isolates any shocks or tremors from impacted the rest of the tower." Jemma added.
"What did Bruce say he was working on again?" Clint asked.
"Something to improve the power of the CAEB…" Phil offered nervously.
"If it was CAEB related he'd be in the green room, wouldn't he?" Clint asked.
"Well he should be…" Steve started.
"Everyone relax." Bruce interrupted, having hung up the phone.
"What's going on Bruce?" Pepper asked.
"Tony's testing the exoskeleton."
"The what?" Clint frowned.
"It's a device to help him channel the CAEB better."
"Like the implant?" Natasha asked.
"Yes and no. It's far more powerful and more focused on minimizing the damage to his body by taking the strain. We think he could find more power if he doesn't use his own energy but channels it from external sources."
"And he's testing it now?" Steve asked nervously.
"Jarvis and I are keeping a strict eye," Bruce assured him. "He is going to channel the tower, but the worst that could go wrong is a power outage."
"God knows we've had enough of them." Clint scoffed.
"Can we postpone this meeting? I want to make sure he's ok." Bruce asked.
"Yes, I suppose we're going to have to." Steve sighed. "We'll try again tomorrow, hopefully with some feedback from the man himself."
…
"Dr. Banner says he will monitor the data from outside." Jarvis said, giving the genius the all-clear.
"Great. Activate."
"Have we a plan in mind Sir?" Jarvis asked.
"Do I ever?" Tony grinned.
"One would be preferred on this occasion." The AI scolded.
"Yeah well, I works better when I wing it." Tony shrugged.
"That is highly debatable, Sir."
"Shut up J, I'm concentrating." Tony took a few deep, nervous breaths. "Just chill," he told himself – relax, keep the focus small, search for the energy.
The amount of energy surrounding him hit him like a wall of sound and noise and color that he hadn't been expecting. It reminded him of his experiences during the times he'd been suddenly reacquainted with the CAEB, all the lights and spectrums and sounds – it was energy. He'd been feeling it all along, just blocking it out to save his sanity but now it only seemed to sharpen his senses. He couldn't just see it but feel it - the electricity buzzing in the machinery around him, dancing through the wires and bleeding into the air. It was pulsating in his own chest, the arc reactor on the surface and below his heartbeat, his pumping blood, even the synapses firing in his brain.
It was insane. He could sense Bruce outside, holding a tablet, Steve operating the coffee maker just like before, only infinitely more clearly. The server room a few floors down, a helicopter on its flight path a mile up and the entire city of buzzing, burning, bumbling energy.
Now he had to harness it. He had imagined it would be hard, but by thought alone it seemed to migrate towards him. Wait! He had to pick a source, a small source which wouldn't result in another citywide blackout.
"Jarvis?"
But Tony never heard the answer, although he knew the AI had replied; instead his attention was torn away, fixated on what he saw. It was an orange ball of light - but more than that; the ball was comprised of an intricate interlocking network of threads, so nearly tangible but from what Tony could sense, not quite there. It was ordered, perfect, engineered - yet in some ways it looked almost organic. He could see it calculating – no, not calculating – thinking! It was thinking, and he could feel waves of different frequencies bouncing from it that somehow resonated a feeling within himself. Confusion, curiosity, concern.
"Jarvis." Tony whispered in awe.
"Sir, are you ok? You seem to be experiencing some sort of episode."
"You're beautiful." Tony smiled, looking at the orange ball he knew was his AI.
A strong wave of confusion rolled through the AI's form. "Sir?" He asked, not options running through his matrix but not reaching a solid conclusion.
"Never mind, what did you say?" Tony asked.
"I suggested you use lab emergency generator 4 as your source."
"Location?"
Tony could, of course, sense the emergency generators of course, but since there were 4 of them he had no idea which was which on sense alone. One lit up in his vision as Jarvis' signal highlighted it to him.
"Right then. Something difficult…" Tony grunted, stretching his arms behind his back as shaking them as he prepared himself.
"Perhaps you should start with something not difficult." Jarvis suggested.
"What would be the point in that?" Tony chuckled. He looked around the room for inspiration and glanced over the ragged old sofa. He loved that thing but had been looking for a new one for ages. He'd never found the right one, they were all too hard, or so soft that they ate you alive. The only other sofa that was passable was the one Pepper had got for upstairs and if he was honest. He had been meaning to move that down here and get a new one for the Avengers, but quite frankly they had, had more pressing matter of late.
He remembered the list he'd made of things he needed to try, or work on and noted that he hadn't tried to teleport anything big yet. It seemed as good a place as any to start.
One-minute Steve was sat on the couch reading a newspaper. The next he was keeling backwards. He landed on the floor heavily on his coccyx. "What?" Steve jumped to his feet
"Isolation protocol lifted." Jarvis announced, but that didn't help Steve.
"What?" He said again, trying a failing to compute what had just happened.
"Steve?" Natasha asked walking in, hearing his cry of surprise. "Why are you… Where's the sofa."
"I don't know?" Steve looked around. "I mean I was sat on it… and then it just…"
"Just what Steve?"
"Vanished!"
"Everything ok with Tony, Jarvis?" Natasha asked.
"The sofa has been relocated to the workshop. Mr. Stark has ended the test of the exoskeleton."
"Right." Natasha said, eyes narrowed.
"Hey guys… hold up, Where's the sofa?" Clint bumbled into the room.
Nat sighed. "You know what, someone else can explain for a change, I'm off to bed."
…
