Natasha Romanoff walked through the halls of Stark Industries towards Pepper Potts's office. She had been working undercover for more than six months now – ever since Tony Stark had blindsided S.H.I.E.L.D. by declaring himself Iron Man – and was being summoned by one of his inner circle for the first time. As it turned out, Legal wasn't exactly at the forefront of Stark Industry's concerns, but that didn't mean she wasn't able to do her job.
For the past couple of months, she had noticed Tony had been acting more reckless and self-destructive than usual. Fury and the scientists at S.H.I.E.L.D. had hypothesized that the arc reactor keeping him alive was slowly poisoning him, but they were at a loss for what to do.
Natasha reached the office that had "Pepper Potts, PA" on the door and opened it.
"Hello, Ms. Potts?"
Pepper looked up from her desk. She had mountains of papers stacked up beside her and was looking more frazzled than usual. Natasha had seen Tony's personal assistant on the news, and she had seemed to be running after Stark, trying to clean up whatever mess he had made. But according to Tony's file, she had been working for him for years and gotten him through some difficult times, so she must at least somewhat enjoy working here.
"You requested assistance from Legal?"
Of course, being the newest member of the team, Natasha would not typically be the first person called upon to assist Pepper on an "urgent matter," but she had her ways of getting where she needed to be.
"Yes, well, as you may have heard, Mr. Stark has been going through some, uh, things at the moment and has decided to appoint me CEO."
Natasha stared for a moment. Tony Stark was letting someone else run his company? She knew he was prone to act irrationally at times, especially recently, but this still seemed to come out of left field. But of course, Natasha maintained her composure and smiled pleasantly at Pepper.
"And you would like me to gather the necessary documents?"
"Yes, if you could, that would be very helpful. Mr. Stark wants this done as soon as possible."
Pepper opened her calendar and made a note.
"We'll meet at his house at seven tonight."
Natasha nodded, still unsure about what was going through Stark's head. And with that, Pepper walked out the door, leaving her standing in the office.
Natasha walked up to the doors of Tony's Malibu house. She had seen pictures and layouts of the house in the pre-mission briefing documents, but standing in front of the multi-million-dollar mansion was something else entirely. She knocked on the door and was greeted by Pepper.
"Oh good, you're here. I'll get Mr. Stark."
Pepper turned around and disappeared down the steps into what Natasha assumed was Tony's basement workshop. She reappeared a few minutes later, with Tony following behind her as she spoke to him.
"You just need to sign the papers."
He was even worse for wear than when she had last seen him. His hair was a mess, and the bags under his eyes were so heavy it looked like he hadn't slept in days. And as Tony got closer, Natasha could see thin lines that looked like veins crawling up the side of his neck.
"Alright, fine."
He took the papers from Natasha and scrawled his name at the bottom, mostly missing the line his signature was supposed to go on.
"There, done. Now, if you'll excuse me, Dum-E thought it would be a good idea to start hitting U with his fire extinguisher, and I need to get back before they destroy the place."
But Natasha saw a chance she had to take.
"Mr. Stark, I assume that you now have an open personal assistant position, and I would like to apply."
Tony looked at her like he had just noticed she was there, but Pepper nodded.
"You're right. Tony, I was meaning to tell you, now that I'm the CEO, I won't be around to do everything for you, and you certainly need someone."
"I think I can take care of myself."
Pepper glared at him and put a hand on her hip.
"Really, when was the last time you had a meal that wasn't a motor oil milkshake or whatever it is you're always drinking?"
"Fine, fine, I'll get someone."
Tony rolled his eyes and turned towards Natasha.
"You said you wanted the job, right? What was your name again?"
"Natalie Rushman. I started working in Legal a few months ago."
"Okay, you can start by telling everyone I'm busy and not to bother me."
He had already turned around and started walking back towards the steps, so he looked over his shoulder as he spoke. It took a second for Natasha to process what he was saying.
"Really, not even an interview, and I've got the job?"
"If you're a lawyer, then you're definitely qualified to be my PA."
But he grinned at Pepper, who rolled her eyes.
"It's not as easy as it looks."
Pepper took a second and flipped through the papers on her clipboard.
"And don't forget, you're leaving for the conference in London tomorrow."
"Oh, right, that! What would I do without you?"
He winked at her, turned around, and disappeared down the steps.
Pepper signed and gave Natasha a knowing look as she walked her to the door.
"Well, he's all yours now. Just make sure he gets everywhere on time, and you'll be fine."
Natasha thanked Pepper, and as she made her way to the street, she couldn't help but let her highly trained poker face relax and smile to herself. Only a few months in, and she had already landed herself a position right next to her subject. Despite Stark Industry's notoriously high-tech security systems, this was looking to be one of the easiest espionage missions she had ever conducted.
The only problem was that this meant spending time with Tony Stark, who, from their brief interaction, Natasha could tell wasn't the easiest person to deal with. But Fury had put his trust in her, and she was nothing if not persistent.
Natasha had been standing on the airstrip in front of Tony's private jet for three and a half hours. She had gotten a message from Pepper early that morning advising her to show up at least two hours later than the scheduled time but decided that to be on the safe side and make a good impression, she would be there on time anyway.
Just as she was contemplating whether she should start to worry, a bright yellow Audi came racing around the corner. Tony stepped out of the passenger's side, wearing tight jeans, a t-shirt, and sunglasses with his hair pushed back. He certainly looked better than he had the night before, but Natasha could still see the faint purple lines along his neck that he had attempted to cover with concealer. His driver was looking less upbeat. He was a bigger man and had a tired look in his eyes as he pulled luggage out of the trunk.
Tony waved to Natasha.
"Good morning! Come on, Happy, we've got places to be."
Tony strolled past Natasha and bounced up the steps of the jet. Happy lumbered past him, giving Natasha a nod as he passed. When they were all settled in their seats, Natasha took out her schedule.
"We're going to be late to the conference, but we should be there in time for your speech."
"Good, fashionably late. Besides, mine is the only one that matters."
Tony put his feet up on the seat in front of him.
"Do you have your speech planned out?"
Happy looked up from the magazine he was reading.
"He usually just wings it."
"And it gets a standing ovation each year. Seriously, these science geeks can never get enough of my brilliance."
Happy sighed and turned to Natasha.
"I'll be standing near the exits to the auditorium, making sure there's no funny business."
Natasha frowned. Her assignment was just to monitor Stark and gather information about his illness, but she couldn't do that if something happened to him.
"Is there ever any "funny business?"
Happy sat up straighter in his chair and turned his full attention towards Natasha, happy to talk about his role.
"You can never be too careful. With such a high-profile person at a high-profile event, you never know who might be trying to cause problems."
Tony looked up from his phone.
"By that, he means he's paranoid. Nothing ever happens, so Happy's real job is making sure I never have any fun at these things."
Happy frowned, seemingly bothered by the affront to his work, although Natasha assumed this was par for the course with Tony.
"You have plenty of fun."
10 hours later, the plane landed at Heathrow Airport, and Happy drove Tony and Natasha to the hotel where the conference was being held. Each guest was given a room, but seeing as they were already more than three hours late, Natasha had insisted they all change into their formal clothes on the plane.
As they walked into the hotel ballroom, Natasha glanced at the chandeliers on the ceiling and the waiters carrying plates of hors d'oeuvre. She had infiltrated many high-society parties in the past, but those had been hosted by Russian oligarchs or Sokovian military leaders, not scientists. Happy grabbed their bags and dragged them up to their rooms, while Tony was already surrounded by a group of people.
One man in a military uniform was trying to get his attention.
"Ah, Mr. Stark, so good to see you here. I hear you've got some new arc reactor upgrades in the works."
Tony smiled at the man.
"Colonel, you know I always do."
"You also know the military is always looking for clean energy technology. I'd love to sit down with you for a chat."
"I'll see what I can do, you can make an appointment with my assistant."
Tony excused himself and walked back to where Happy had joined Natasha near the bar. He grabbed himself a glass of wine and chugged it. When he finished, he had a look of disgust on his face and rolled his eyes.
"You'd think these idiots would have figured out by now I'm done with military weapons. Although I can't blame them for trying, now that they're stuck with Hammer tech.
Happy glanced behind Tony.
"Speak of the devil…."
A man in a bright blue suit and too much hair gel was walking up to them with a massive grin on his face.
"Tony, my man, just the guy I wanted to see!"
He put his hand on Tony's shoulder, and Natasha noticed that Tony flinched slightly. But he recovered quickly and glared coolly at Hammer.
"You're far from the only one."
Hammer's smile didn't falter, but he took his hand off Tony's shoulder.
"Haha, well it turns out I'm going on right before you, in just a couple minutes actually, and I thought, I don't want to steal your thunder or anything, so maybe we should compare notes and make sure we're not giving the same presentation, you know? That would be awkward."
"I'm not worried about that, Justin. Besides, we definitely don't have enough time for me to explain everything to you. It's very complex, and I doubt you would be able to understand it."
Tony took another sip of wine as Hammer responded with an odd mix of laughing and stuttering as he tried to come up with a response.
But Tony's eyes had drifted away from Hammer to another man behind him. The man was standing with a group of scientists but did not appear to be participating much in the conversation. He had dark curly hair and was wearing thin-rimmed glasses. The dark suit he was wearing looked slightly raggedy, and Natasha felt that while he looked a bit out of place in this ballroom, he would have been at home peering into a microscope in a laboratory. Tony pushed past Hammer and approached him.
"Dr. Banner! It's nice to see you again."
Banner turned around a smiled nervously.
"Oh, uh, hello, Mr. Stark."
"I haven't seen you at the last few conferences, where have you been?"
"Uh well, you know, personal – family stuff."
He absentmindedly ran his fingers through his hair.
"Well, anyways, I've been reading up on the work you've been doing on gamma radiation, and it's fascinating!"
"You have? Wow, uh, that's great, thanks."
Banner smiled, and his cheeks turned red as he looked down at the ground.
"Of course I have!"
Tony turned to Happy and Natasha.
"Dr. Banner here is a genius physicist, probably the smartest person I've ever met, not including myself. I'm sure I've told you about him, Happy?"
"Sure have."
Natasha could see a smirk creeping up on Happy's face.
"Let me get you a drink."
Tony grabbed Banner's arm and pulled him towards the bar. As they left, Happy turned to Natasha.
"Tony's got something of a crush on that guy. He's always looking for him at these scientist conventions."
"Oh?"
But Natasha was barely paying attention. The man had looked oddly familiar and "Banner," she was sure she had heard that name before. Natasha excused herself and walked to the bathroom, where she locked herself in a stall and took out her S.H.I.E.L.D.-issued phone. The phone was synced up to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database, and she had access to all their classified files in case she needed information while on a mission. She searched up the name "Banner," and when a file popped up, she gasped. It was a report that all the top S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had received months ago about the man S.H.I.E.L.D. had concluded was the Hulk – Dr. Bruce Banner.
Natasha skimmed the file and tried to make sense of it. It said he was last tracked to a village in Uzbekistan where he was hiding from the military, so why would he risk going to a conference in London? Sure, nobody here except her would recognize him, but the Hulk making an appearance in a five-star hotel ballroom wouldn't be good. Natasha collected herself and walked back to where Tony and Bruce were sitting at the bar. Tony was looking at Bruce intently as he held what was probably his fifth glass of wine that night.
"How long are you planning to stick around here for?"
"Uh, I'm not sure, I'm not a big fan of crowds."
"How about we go up to my room? It would be much quieter there."
"I, uh – "
But before Bruce could respond, Natasha tapped Tony on the shoulder.
"Mr. Stark, you've got to be on stage in a couple of minutes. Hammer's demonstration malfunctioned, and he ended early."
Hammer's Iron Man suit knockoffs had, in fact, malfunctioned, but he was still on stage trying to get them to work. Tony didn't even turn around to answer.
"Just a second, I'm a little busy right now."
"No, Tony, don't worry about me, I don't want to keep you."
Tony frowned slightly but allowed Natasha to pull him away from the bar.
"Oh, okay, well, see you around then, Bruce."
He flashed one last smile at Bruce, but he had an annoyed look on his face when he turned to Natasha.
"What was that for? And I thought Happy was a kill-joy."
"Come on."
The two of them walked towards the auditorium.
Bruce watched Tony get dragged away by his assistant and sighed. He always enjoyed talking to Tony, even if he was always a bit intimidated. The man was Tony Stark, after all, and now he was Iron Man, too. He had been excitedly telling Bruce all about the new tech he had perfected and was going to present.
Bruce had been on the run for a couple of years now, and he had been dealing with the Hulk for long enough that he was confident he wouldn't be putting anyone in danger by coming here. Plus, it was nice to have some semblance of his former life back, even if crowded places always did make him anxious. But it had taken a while for him to travel across Europe. He didn't want to take a plane just in case the unthinkable happened.
Bruce got up and walked towards the auditorium. He needed to leave soon – he had a train to catch – but first, he wanted to watch Tony present. There was already a large crowd of people there, so Bruce stood towards the back. He could see Tony's head of security, Happy, standing in front of the back exit with his arms crossed.
The rest of Hammer's Hammer drones that were still standing were being shepherded off the stage, and even from a distance, Bruce could see sparks flying off one of them.
Tony bounced up onto the stage to thunderous applause from the audience. Bruce smiled; he almost thought he was at a rock concert rather than an academic conference.
But as Tony started speaking, Bruce frowned. The last Hammer drone was almost off the stage, but it was shaking uncontrollably, and more sparks went flying. Suddenly, a piece of metal from the drone's head shot out straight at Tony.
Bruce heard Happy shout, "Get down!" but he was already rushing towards Tony. He was lying on the stage, his hand clutched over the side of his abdomen.
As Bruce got closer, he could see blood seeping through Tony's shirt and the black drone fragment still sticking out of his body. Tony's assistant and Justin Hammer were leaning over Tony, and Hammer was talking frantically.
"Tony, Tony, you okay? Because you know this wasn't my fault, right, I mean, they were working perfectly before! Here, let me get that out for you."
He reached over to pull the fragment out.
"No! Don't remove it, or he's going to bleed out."
Bruce took off his jacket and pressed it around Tony's wound, making sure not to move the fragment. He looked at Tony, who was groaning in pain.
"Tony, are you okay?"
"Brucie, are you here to save me?"
Tony tried to smile, but it turned into a grimace as a wave of pain shot through him.
"I'm trying, Tony."
A few minutes later, the paramedics arrived and put Tony on a stretcher. His assistant was standing in the corner speaking quietly into her phone, and Happy was yelling expletives at Hammer.
Tony was close to losing consciousness, but he grabbed Bruce's hand as they started to wheel him away.
"You're going to be okay Tony, you'll be okay."
He hoped more than anything that he was right.