It was hard to hide the relief that flooded over Tony when he received the message- and even harder to hide the anger that replaced that feeling on sight.
However, there was a time and a place for family drama; That place was not on a SHIELD helicarrier over the ocean, and absolutely not now. So in normal form, Tony Stark did what his family knew how to do best- he through on a sparkling smile and strode across the lab Agent Coulson had just lead him into, crossed the distance between himself and the other scientist that had been pulling in to trace the tesseract, Dr. Bruce Banner.
Bruce stiffened against the hug Tony pulled him into at first, then relaxed enough to wrap one arm loosely around the other man.
"Hey, Tones." the Physicist greeted his friend sheepishly.
"We've been worried sick about you. I have like... six different PI's on your trail." Tony admitted.
"I'm sorry- Tony... I can't do this here. We have a job, and I came in to do that job." Bruce replied shortly. Tony threw both hands up in a gesture of mock surrender and backed off.
"Alright, boss, where do you want me?" Tony ask, letting go until later. Bruce pointed and began to explain what he had got started as far as the mission when both men's attention was called up to the sound of the automatic doors unsealing and footsteps approaching. One of the SHIELD agents nearby called out 'CAPTAIN ON DECK' in a overly loud voice.
Steve Rogers strolled in, dressed in his old-fashioned suit (sans helmet), eyes already searching the room. Tony dove behind the computer he had been typing on.
"ANTHONY!" Steve called, following the shorter man as he crept away. "Tony where the hell were you?!"
"I was WELDING in the OCEAN." Tony groaned as Steve caught him by the back of his shirt and whirled him around. "I told you that."
"And I told you not to use JARVIS to lock me out of your coms." Steve growled back. SHIELD staff had slowly exited the room, leaving Bruce alone to watch the husbands argue- something he'd actually gotten more used to than he'd care to admit.
"I was under the ocean, Rogers. The OCEAN. I didn't have signal. I'm sorry I missed Fury coming in and ruining what I'm sure was a riveting Tuesday afternoon." Tony snorted.
"Oh you're always doing this. Leaving me looking stupid when there is a call for Iron Man." Steve spat back. Bruce looked from Steve to Tony and back before looking back down to his work.
"I don't make you look stupid. Agreeing to wear this spangly outfit Coulson designed for you makes you look stupid, it doesn't need my help." Tony smarted back. This caused the Captain to scowl deeply.
"You know, Tony, I am about sick of your sh-"
Bruce loudly cleared his throat and Steve's attention snapped sharply to the other side of the room where he stood. In an instant, his face softened and he gave a welcoming smile.
"Doctor Banner!" He greeted, and he, too, pulled Bruce into a more than slightly awkward hug. "So good to see you! You know Lauren has been-"
"Not right now." Tony barked. Steve's smile faded from his face as he turned back to Tony.
"Oh whatever." Steve rolled his eyes. "She's your sister, Tony- you'd think-"
"It is nice to see you, Cap. But Tony's respecting my request. This is high stress enough without adding things like devastated ex-fiancees and domestic spats to it." Bruce pleaded.
"uh-'Ex'?" Tony blurted, arms crossed over his body. Bruce looked over with pleading eyes. Tony once again held his hands up and turned back to the mission at hand on the screen before him.
"Sorry, Doc." Steve said quietly, pushing past Tony as he exited the lab.
"No, I'm sorry. Not later, now." Tony said, pushing the screen from Bruce's reach."Its just you and me since Steve came in here like a bull and scared everyone off, so you're going to talk to me." Bruce growled under his breath and squared up against Tony.
"Tony..." He warned, his teeth grinding under the pressure of his clinched jaw.
"Lauren doesn't- She's not... She's still got her ring on, man. She's looking for you- and she's a fucking mess." Tony's face reddening as his voice raised. Bruce's eyes fell to the floor, but Tony continued. "I don't know how to help her, she won't talk to ANYONE, not even Pepper- she's held up in her lab working on God knows what, JARVIS will only inform me if she eats and sleeps as follows safety protocols, but since he's equally hers I can't just override him to find out more. I started to bust in with a suit the other day, but Steve talked me down from that. She's just hurting so much and you just- left." Tony finished with disgust in his voice.
"You haven't talked to her." Bruce repeated. Tony shook his head.
"Maybe twice in the last three months. She orders food delivery, doesn't come out. She's been sleeping on the couch in the corner by your bookcase." Tony shrugged. "Won't see anyone."
"I- I-" Bruce stammered, searching for words. "Tony, you don't understand-"
"No, I sure as hell don't." Tony glared at his friend.
"I can't be the one to tell you." Bruce replied quietly. He finally lifted his eyes to face the other man, and Tony could see the absolute anguish in his dark brown eyes. "I cannot be the person who tells you what your own sister told me not to." Bruce reached past Tony and turned the screen back to him. "Please, I am begging you, let's just do this mission. Then, hell, I'll let you beat the shit out of me until the other guy says we can't do it anymore. But right now, we really need to do our jobs."
"Fine." Tony said, turning abruptly. "Back to work it is."
Down the hall, Steve stormed his way to the bridge, where yet again another overly eager rookie agent announced his arrival in an almost 'Star Trek' like fashion. With a roll of his eyes, he made his way over to where the Director stood.
"Director Fury." Steve greeted, standing at attention.
"Captain Rogers. At ease." Fury gave an amused half smile. "I heard you started a fight in my laboratory."
"I continued a discussion with my husband..." Steve shook his head, still annoyed. "Apologies for upsetting the other staff members. Honestly you should probably send them back in- I did just leave Tony in with Dr. Banner, who did just abandon his sister..."
"Yes, I meant to ask you- no one has been able to get in contact with Dr. Stark, and I hear you two often drink wine and talk shit about your respective nerds..." Fury laughed at the super soldier, who raised and eyebrow at the comment. "Have you spoken as of, say, this morning?"
"It's been a couple days." Steve replied. "She's, lets just go with, busy, sir."
"Mmm." The Director grunted. "So no Firefly."
"No, sir." The Captain confirmed. "No Firefly. Our son is actually over with her now, since Tony and I are both, you know, here for the foreseeable future."
"So much for all hands on deck." Fury sighed. "Down Barton, Down a Stark, Banner won't help fight..." He older man shook his head.
"We'll still give it all we've got, sir." Steve replied optimistically.
"Without the arguing, Rogers." Fury questioned.
"Sir." Steve gave a tight nod. "Yes, sir."
Peter Stark bounded from the school bus up the steps to his favorite (and only) Aunt's house, where he paused only long enough just inside to remove his shoes before bounding down to the basement level laboratory, JARVIS allowing the youngest Stark in without a word. He found Lauren lounging on the large, overstuffed couch in the corner, laptop on the table before her. She looked up and smiled, pushing her long, dark hair from her face. She reached over and pulled out a plate of frosted sugar cookies, Peter's favorite, and a Capri Sun juice as he threw his backpack down beside the couch and crawled up next to her.
"Hey Pete." She greeted, her voice muffled by a mouthful of cookie of her own.
"I missed you." Her nephew sighed.
"Me too, bud." Lauren Stark nodded. Peter looked over at his aunt, who had used her uncovered arm to slide her laptop toward him, so he could pick something to stream online for them to watch. It was not cold in the large room, and the eleven year old looked over the blanket his aunt had draped across her in an almost toga like fashion with curiosity.
"You cold?" Peter ask, really looking at his father's baby sister for the first time. He noticed she didn't really look exactly like her normal self. She wore no make up, which was very odd for her, and her face was pale. Her dark eyes were framed by even darker bags. "Aunt Lauren, are you sick?"
"A little, buddy." She nodded with a small smile. "Don't worry about it."
"Oh, I'm gonna." Peter replied. He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, making him look even more like a mini-Tony than he normally did.
"Peter..." Lauren sighed. "I'm fine. I have it under control."
"Do you?" He demanded.
"Yes." His aunt snapped in reply, popping the blanket from her other arm suddenly, revealing an IV hook up. "I have a medical degree, Peter. I promise you don't need to worry."
"But what's wrong?" The young boy pleaded.
"Just need a little boost, that's all. Come on, let's watch something..." She attempted to redirect the conversation and get the eleven year old to focus on literally anything else.
"Can we check the news?" He ask, his usual first stop when his parents were on a mission.
"Everything is classified." Lauren assured him. "Trust me, JARVIS is scanning. He'll let me know when and if the public has anything sighted. Otherwise, we're just waiting. Come on- Pick a movie."
Peter searched his aunt's face for a moment, looked past her to the IV bag sitting on the back of the couch, made a mental note of the label, then looked back to her as she waited.
"Sure, but let me run to the bathroom first." Peter agreed, and he bolted from the couch toward the bathroom.
Inside, Peter locked the door and took out his phone and opened the internet browser.
'WHAT DOES KI TREAT'
The first answer that popped up simply read: 'KI (potassium iodine) can help block radiological absorption by the thyroid and protect against or treat radiation poisoning'.
Peter thought for a moment, his mind running faster than he could keep up with. He opened the mirror cabinet and looked through the medications inside.
There were several bottles of half full vitamins, and something called 'Prussian Blue', which Peter again did an internet search for.
'Prussian Blue is a type of dye that can be administered in capsules to bind to radioactive elements and assist in the body's breakdown and passage of the elements, often used in radiological overexposure'.
Radiation. Peter had heard many, many discussions of the same when his uncle had the accident that gave the world the Hulk. He'd overheard more than enough to connect the dots- or so he thought.
Peter couldn't help himself now. Part of him wanted to call his father, to effectively tattle on his own aunt. But he wanted more answers.
He came out of the bathroom, bottle of blue pills in hand.
"Aunt Lauren, did you get radiation poisoning from Uncle Bruce?" He questioned.
"Excu- Peter Benjamin Stark!" Lauren shouted. "Did you go through my things?!"
"Did he?!" Peter squawked back, unphased by her shouting.
Lauren let out a deep sigh.
"No." She shook her head. "Not exactly."
"So tell me!" Peter squeaked back.
"Peter, listen to me-" Lauren began, closing her eyes, trying to gather her thoughts. "Its not-"
"Pardon my interruption, ma'am." JARVIS' voice came from above.
"Whatcha got, J?" Lauren replied.
"News is being reported on CNN, ma'am. Mr. Stark and the Captain, both."
Lauren silently thanked any and all powers above for the interruption. She looked at Peter.
"We'll talk later. News now. Just- Just promise me you don't mention this to your dad?"
Peter looked her over, the pleading look in her eyes, and he agreed. "Promise."
SOOOO, Believe it or not- this is a fic I've attempted to get out of my head like... three times now.
She-Hulk added new ideas for it, so here we go again.
Also, got a new, remote job, so I'll be writing regularly again.
I know this is a lot of question raising information, so just bare with me./
Thanks for reading! Please follow for updates!