Hi all! Here is the next instalment of this story ^_^ I wonder if any of you have any thoughts on who breached FRIDAY… hehehe Regrettably, I cannot give anyone any idea of when this story is going to be finished, I never really saw myself writing something this big and still not having any smut! But! I promise you all, it is going to happen. At some point. And it will be explosive *sniggers*
As always, the characters in this story are the property of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I make no money from this story, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter Twenty- Thor Returns
"Banner!" Thor bellowed, getting the attention of the Hulk, the beast charging towards him with a roar. The door to the Hulk room stood open, and Thor let the charging man slam into him, making sure that Tony and Bucky were out of the way. Thor's hands gripped the huge, green forearms, and spun them around so he could throw the Hulk into the room and back out quickly, hitting the button to lock the doors and contain him until he was able to calm down and return to his rightful mind, as Banner.
Bucky had never been so grateful to see someone he barely knew as he was then, giving him a chance to run to medical and get everyone to gather there. He knew that Thor was the only person with the strength to match the Hulk, especially if Steve's stories on the battle of New York were anything to go by. He heard Thor running behind him and turned to the medical bay to find Steve and Vision already there, the former looking furious.
He laid out Tony on the bed and brushed his hair away from his fair, trying to find out just how badly hurt Tony was. The mechanic whimpered in pain when his ribs were touched. "He was hit by Hulk and put through a wall with me- I think his ribs might be broken," he panted, his own body throbbing in pain as bruises healed and bones knitted over cracks.
Steve pulled off Tony's shirt and swore as mottled bruising had already begun to form on the tanned skin. "Language," Tony huffed, groaning in pain.
Bucky swallowed thickly, knowing the amount of pain he must be in. His metal fingers gently brushed the bruised cheek. "Holding up?" He murmured.
Eyes glazed in pain, Tony nodded once and winced in pain. "Yeah, still alive."
Bucky smiled. "Glad to hear it. Your buddy from Asgard saved our hides."
"Thor?" He asked.
Bucky nodded. "Yeah, the dude who helped when I went psycho in the gym."
Steve quieted them as he tried to put what little medical knowledge he had into use. He strapped Tony's ribs tightly, washed the many cuts on his body, and stuck butterfly stitches over the deepest cut that was on his chin, hoping that it would not need actual stitches as the only person with that kind of medical knowledge was Bruce, and he was too big and green to deal with that.
Tony tried to sit up and roared in pain when his ribs deeply protested. Bucky gently pressed him back down. "You're safe in here. You need to rest or you're going to make your ribs worse, please," he begged.
Tony snorted. "Bruce isn't who I'm worried out, it's whoever set that whining off- noticed it's stopped?"
Bucky frowned. "I thought you couldn't hear it, you were unaffected."
He nodded. "I was. FRIDAY notified me of it, and it was the only explanation why Bruce hulked out for no reason at all."
"Think that's something to do with the file being stolen?"
Tony quirked his lips and nodded. "I have no doubt. Someone is playing games with us, and I want to know why. If they've planted something like that in the tower, what else have they done? We're sitting fucking ducks right now."
Vision appeared at their side. "No, I do not think the game would be to take us out so soon. I think this is more of a cat playing with its prey. Do you recall what happened with Loki when he was here? He caused dissention among the Avengers by setting off Bruce into a rage that turned him to Hulk."
Thor suddenly entered the room. "I can assure you this is nothing borne of Loki- he is dead."
Tony blinked at him. "Well, I'd say I'm sorry but that would be lying- but I am sorry you have lost a brother."
Thor nodded at him. "Thank you. I can only apologise for my delay in returning, I know I was only supposed to be gone a few days. Events on Asgard put back my return to Midgard."
Steve smiled and clapped his shoulder. "You haven't missed much, in all honesty."
The God of Thunder looked at him. "I appear to have missed plenty- the Hulk almost obliterated these two."
Tony sat back up, waving Bucky off from stopping him and gingerly hopped to his feet. "Yeah, not without protest."
Steve gave him the side-eye, but he ignored it. Bucky watched him move around, worry etched on his features. "We still don't know what this person's game is. Tony's right, we are all sitting ducks if this fucker can break into the tower's security system and set off FRIDAY defence protocols- and trigger Bruce into hulking out."
Vision agreed, Wanda appearing at his side, her arm wrapping around his waist. "Bruce is back to himself, he is asking to be released."
Steve noticed her arm and chewed his lip, hiding a smirk, Bucky knew. "Alright, we'll let him out in a moment. Wanda, did you notice anything going on?"
She shook her head, curls bouncing. "No, afraid not. I was practising with Natasha, we were both on the upper levels with the target practise area. FRIDAY requested we remain out of the way until the incident had been resolved. What happened?"
Bucky sighed. "Someone set off FRIDAY's security protocols, some sort of whining started and Banner changed to Hulk, nearly killed Tony. It would appear that someone has infiltrated FRIDAY and taken some files, planted something that would go off, or has timed something."
Wanda cocked her head and frowned. "How is that possible?" She walked over to Tony and used her powers to strip Tony of his bloodied clothes and put new ones on without having to move him much, saving him the effort of trying to change later.
He smiled at her gratefully. "I have no idea but I'm going to find out. No one's good enough to not leave any trace of being there, I just need to find the bread crumbs and then I'll know."
She stopped him from moving around with a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Tony, stop a moment. Let us help you."
Stiffening at her words, Tony faced her hazel eyes hard and cold, softening only marginally when they met hers. "I have limited patience, Wanda. How do you think I can trust anyone to help me when they abandoned me? Yes, I was an idiot to ever think Ross would play by the rules and I got you locked up on The Raft, it killed me to think of you shut away there. But when push came to shove, I was left alone. I'm sorry, Wanda, I love you, I do. But right now, I need to be alone."
He asked them all to leave him alone, save for Bruce, who has asked to fetch him a Stark Pad so that they could try and investigate who had managed to infiltrate FRIDAY's system. Bucky was last to leave, giving Tony a blanket in case he got cold in the medical bay. The billionaire gave him a nod of appreciation then turned to Bruce, effectively dismissing him.
-oo0oo-
It was a couple of days before Tony was allowed to leave the medical bay, and that was only because Bruce had gotten Tony to a stage where the only damage left was his broken ribs, for which he had already contacted Helen Cho and requested she bring her cradle so that he could repair that damage in a matter of minutes as opposed to the weeks it would take for them to heal properly.
He was, however, under very strict orders not to overdo it, or he could risk one of the ribs curving inwards further and piercing a lung. Tony had agreed to only sit in his workshop and use the Stark Pad, he would not work on his suits until he was healed.
After he'd spent time shuffling down to the workshop, stopped several times for breath and had to take a detour via the penthouse to get a clean shirt from sweating through his current one, he finally made it. On entering, he had to blink several times, wondering what the hell had happened to his workshop.
Bucky came out of his little kitchenette and stopped dead, a sheepish look on his face. "Err…hi, sorry, I wasn't really expecting them to have let you out yet," he said, rubbing the back of his neck.
Tony blinked again. "Right… I don't understand."
"Well, I figured you would benefit from having your workshop cleaned up a little, and maybe if things were arranged in a way you could get around easily."
Tony was still blinking, now more owlishly. "I still don't understand."
Bucky rolled his eyes. "If things were a little closer together then you could use the surfaces as a support when moving around, just until your ribs are healed. Then I'll move everything back to where it was before."
"Err…well, thanks, I guess."
Bucky nodded and left him to it, jogging up the stairs whistling to himself. Tony had to chuckle to himself at the hand-caught-in-the-cookie-jar expression Bucky'd had on his face when he had walked in, but he couldn't deny it had been incredibly thoughtful of the man. He supposed he really should let the bloke know that he forgave him for that daft kiss.
Finding his comfy desk chair, Tony sank into it and heaved a sigh of relief when his ribs finally stopped protesting at him. Grabbing his Stark Pad, he settled back, put his feet up, and began surfing through his system to work out who the hell had broken into his AI.
He delved into every back door he knew of, certain that whoever had done it would have left a tiny shred of their existence. No one, not even Tony, was good enough to hack something and not leave a trail, no matter how well they covered their tracks. So, he started digging, checking everywhere he would check had he done the hacking.
Four hours of traipsing through every little nook and cranny, and he had found nothing. Frustrated to no end, Tony bellowed in fury, launching his Stark Pad across the room and crying in pain when his ribs flared in agony.
Feet thundered on the stairs outside his workshop and Bucky appeared. "Tony? Are you okay?"
Tony looked up, eyes narrowed in pain, arm wrapped around his chest and heaving in pain. "I'm okay," he gasped. "Nope, gonna be sick!"
He tried to fight it down, knowing full well it would cause him a fuck load of pain to throw up with broken ribs, but the pain was making him light headed and dizzy, nausea climbing until he knew he couldn't hold it back.
He saw Bucky kick an empty metal bucket over to him and he fell to his knees just as he vomited thankfully hitting the bucket. A warm hand rubbed his back, Bucky's voice murmuring soft words of comfort in his ear as he emptied his stomach, tears running down his cheeks as he tried to get his breath, his ribs ablaze with pain that made his head swim.
When there was nothing left to come up, Tony slumped against Bucky's warm frame and sobbed, begging for pain relief. He was gently scooped up and held against Bucky's chest while he was carried out of his workshop and back to the medical bay. Bruce was stood waiting with a shot of something and several tablets.
"Bucky called ahead that you were in pain," he explained.
Tony looked up at the soldier who shrugged. "You were a little out of it while losing your stomach, so I asked Bruce to have something ready for you."
Laid back out on the bed, Tony took the offered pills and swallowed them without water. "What's in the shot?"
"Something to help you sleep, you need to rest, Tony. Helen Cho will be here in the morning so I can repair your ribs, but it'll be pointless if you puncture a bloody lung when I already warned you to take it easy."
Tony gave a lopsided grin at Bruce. "Sorry, Brucie-bear."
The scientist rolled his eyes and stuck Tony in the arm with the needle and smiled. "Get some sleep, Tones. We'll get you fixed up in the morning."
Tony's eyes rolled in the back of his head, but not before he felt a hand card through his hair, a cold hand, and a soft 'sleep well' whispered at him as sleep took him.
-oo0oo-
Bright light hit Tony's eyelids when he came to, making him wince a little and try to squint a little until his eyes adjusted to it. He could hear voices in the distance, getting louder as they got closer, and then Bruce with Helen Cho in tow rounded the corner.
"Good morning, Mr. Stark," Helen greeted him brightly.
"Hi, doc."
"How do you feel?"
"Like I got hit by a Mac Truck, stomped on by a rhinoceros and then thrown about by the Hulk."
Bruce snorted at the last one and shook his head. "Colourful in your explanations as always, Tony."
Tony huffed a slight laugh, wincing a little. Helen gave him a check over, her face set grimly when she studied the bruises on his chest. "Jesus, Tony, it's a miracle you're even alive!" She cried.
"Yeah, I know, if it hadn't been for Bucky I wouldn't be." Tony grabbed Bruce's arm when he turned to leave. "I'm not blaming you, Bruce, it isn't your fault. Buck was there so we don't need to even consider how things could have turned out."
Bruce offered him a brief smile and patted the hand holding his arm. "I know, Tony, but it isn't the point. This is another reason I've tried to isolate and destroy The Other Guy, he's dangerous."
Tony frowned and squeezed his arm. "No, Bruce. Hulk isn't to blame for this either. He lashed out because that noise was hurting his ears, it's sort of like dealing with an overgrown child. Besides, The Other Guy has saved my life in the past- New York, remember?"
Helen interrupted them to get Tony shifted to the cradle so she could set it to work on repairing his ribs. The two doctors were trying to work out how to safely move him without too much jostling when Steve appeared.
"Time to fix up those ribs?" Steve asked.
"Yes," Helen answered. "Could you perhaps help us move Tony into the cradle? The two of us are strong enough but I'm concerned about too much jostling."
Steve nodded. "Err, you okay with that Tony?"
He shrugged. "Whatever."
Steve looked hurt at his flippant attitude but said nothing. Tony didn't have the energy to feel sorry for the captain, and since he still hadn't forgiven him for withholding the truth about his parents, Tony didn't think he needed to feel sorry for him.
He was shuffled to the edge of the bed by Helen and Bruce, then the covers were raised up on his left side, leaving him to just slide into Steve's waiting arms. The super soldier was gentle when he shifted Tony closer to his chest, walking over to the cradle. He couldn't help but note how warm he was, the same heat that always seemed to exude from Bucky.
And if he snuggled into that heat for a moment, soaking it up, then no one noticed, and he couldn't be blamed for a delusional moment. Blue eyes met hazel, a softness in the blue ones there for a moment. Tony looked away as he was lowered into the cradle and muttered a grunted thanks.
Helen appeared and smiled down at him. "Okay, Tony, the cradle is going to reset your ribs into the position they should be in, then it's going to close the breaks in the bones. It'll take around half an hour to do, so try not to move at all." He nodded and gave her a thumbs up as she closed the lid over him.
The machine whirred to life and he closed his eyes against the bright beam of the laser that scanned his body to locate the breaks. He grunted as some sort of force tugged his ribs back into the correct position. When he opened them, he found Helen smiling above him, and returned his earlier thumbs up.
Now the cradle was knitting together the breaks in his ribs, it was a surreal feeling, he could literally feel the pain ebbing away as his ribs were repaired. When the thirty minutes was up, he felt like a new man. There was no pain in his ribs anymore, the bruising was all gone from his chest, and breathing no longer felt like he was being stabbed.
The cradle was opened, and he hopped out grinning like a mad man. "You, doc, are an absolute genius. I swear I can't remember the last time I felt this good!"
Helen laughed at his enthusiasm. "Once we get the funding, we can have this mass produced and sent to every major hospital. It'll revolutionise medical care and cut down on the number of beds being used in hospitals, not to mention that people won't need as much time away from work to heal, no longer leaving families with money troubles when someone needs to be off work for extended periods of time for broken bones, surgeries and so on."
"What's the hold-up on the funding?" Tony asked.
Helen sighed. "The company I was accepting the funding from no longer found it financially feasible to mass produce them, so they pulled out."
Tony tapped his chin in thought, trying to work out a way that it would be financially feasible. He could understand why the company she had gone with had thought that, the cradle Tony had originally funded Helen to make had cost a fair amount of money, so the idea of producing them on such a large scale would cost more, plus there was cost of treatments, upkeep on the cradles and other factors to be considered.
"Leave it with me, let me see what I can find out. I'll get FRIDAY to send over any specs I can come up with," Tony offered, the gears in his brain already turning, but he needed to speak with Pepper before he could go ahead.
Helene smiled and thanked him, getting everything ready to go again. Tony left the medical bay feeling more energetic and went back to his workshop to retrieve his no doubt smashed Stark Pad. Everything had already been returned to how it had been set out before Bucky had moved everything, and his Pad was alive and sat on his work top.
-oo0oo-
Tony caught up with Thor later in the day and found out what had been going on with Asgard. Thor got him up to speed with his father's grief over losing Loki on Svartalfheim, the battle with the Dark Elves and Jane being almost consumed by the Aesir.
He expressed his relief that Jane was in good health again, and offered Thor his condolences of Loki's death, despite what had gone on in New York when the God of Mischief had been on Earth.
Thor crossed his arms over his massive chest and huffed out a sigh. "Brother Tony, my father is no longer of good health, and it is feared that he will not be among our realm for much longer."
Tony frowned. "Ah, sorry, Point Break."
"Thank you. This does mean that I now have a dilemma."
Tony's frown deepened. "I don't follow."
"When my father passes, I will be expected to take the throne. When that happens, my visitations to Midgard will become more troublesome if I am to be ruling over my people."
"Ah, I see. That does present a problem."
Thor nodded. "Indeed, but I am sure there will be a way to work around this. Perhaps I will need to sort out some form of communications between our realms in order to know when the Avengers need me."
Tony shrugged and nodded. "I suppose it's a possibility. Let me know if you come up with anything, I'd be more than happy to work on that with you."
The Asgardian thanked him for the offer and returned to his room within the Tower. Tony updated FRIDAY's security protocols to include Thor once more now that he was back on Earth and smiled as Thor bounded off to his room like a child. Some things don't ever change.
-oo0oo-
Everyone seemed to be pleased to see the God of Thunder had returned, with Bruce laughing wildly when Thor asked after the Big Guy. Bruce informed him that The Other Guy was always ready to go a few rounds but stopped when Tony stared pointedly at him. The pair laughed and promised not to do it in the tower.
Dinner was a pleasant affair with everyone chatting amiably, and even Bucky was involved in the conversations. Tony found it all too easy to get along with them that for a moment he forgot what had happened in Siberia. But the events soon crashed back in his mind and he became subdued once more.
Bucky tried to draw him back in, and Tony felt a pang of gratitude at the soldier for trying, but Tony wasn't interested in playing happy families. The point of the matter was still that no one had bothered to really try to apologise for the way he had been treated.
Leaving the others to it, Tony retreated to his workshop and picked up where he had left on trying to work out who had infiltrated FRIDAY. At some point a mug of his favourite concoction had appeared, for which he gratefully glugged and continued working until well into the night.
Just as dawn began to peak over the horizon, Tony cried hurrah when he found the bread crumb he had been searching for. The system had been accessed from someone using a Stark Industries log on, though he couldn't locate which one. But it meant one thing- whoever had gotten into his AI had done so from within SI, and it wouldn't be too difficult to start monitoring the employees of the company.
What bothered him most was that it had been someone from his own company, each employee was thoroughly checked for financial issues, shady backgrounds, criminal records and so on. The likelihood that someone had managed to gain access under the radar was slim, but not impossible.
Tony drew up an email to Pepper and requested a meeting with her ASAP so he could notify her of what had been found. He didn't list any specifics of why he needed a meeting, if the hacker could access FRIDAY, then they could easily get into his emails. And the last thing he needed was someone upping their game before he could close the net around the culprit.
Feeling satisfied with his findings, Tony shut off the lights to his workshop and headed back up to the main level of the tower, hoping to grab a snack before he headed to bed, eyes gritty from staring at his Stark Pad for so long.
As he approached the kitchen Tony found the lights on and voices from within. Standing just outside the doorway he listened, his inner voice telling him to stop skulking around his own tower.
"Really, Stevie, it isn't fair. He's been hiding away in his own home since we returned." That was Bucky.
"Come on, Buck, it isn't our fault if he doesn't want to deal with us."
Tony frowned deeply at that.
"No, Steve, it is our fault. Tony shouldn't feel the need to retreat. At the end of the day, this is his home and he can revoke our invitation to be here."
Kudos to Bucky, Tony chuckled to himself silently.
"He won't do that, Bucky. He just needs time to come around, he will do eventually. This sulking has gone on for long enough, he has to come out of it sometime."
Tony's mouth fell open and he was about to barge in when Thor's voice echoed around the room. "I think that what you both did to Tony was unnecessary and cruel. I am quite surprised he has allowed your return, any of you, and that before long, you will have outstayed your welcome if you do not repair this rift in your alliance. Far be it from me to tell you how to behave, after all, I am still trying to become accustomed to Midgardian behaviours, but I do believe that it is only a matter of time before this blows up in your faces."
Grateful to Point Break for speaking out for him, Tony left without ever letting them know he had been there. Silently, he fumed at Steve fucking Rogers and his sense of righteousness. Perhaps it was time to get them to move on, things weren't going to change if Steve still thought Tony had held this grudge for long enough.
