Safety Coffin

PenPatronus

Chapter 2 of 4

Reunion

MANHATTAN

NEW YORK CITY

Lights flickered beyond bruised eyelids. Smells singed his nose: burned metal, burned wood, burned flesh. Liquid splashed on his lips. Salt. Something nearby rumbled like an empty stomach. Hot wind snorted down on his face, stirred up the dust again, and he sneezed.

The sneeze activated red hot pain that shoved a scream through Tony Stark's throat. His entire body buckled, which just sent another wave of agony that originated from his left side. Each inhale felt like he was breathing shards of glass. Each exhale felt like a porcupine in his lungs. Tony rolled onto his right side and spat blood. Everything felt sharp, and looked fuzzy. The only light came from a short column of pink insulation that was burning like a candle wick. Something green vibrated in Tony's peripheral vision. He locked onto it, stared at it until his brain registered that it was one object, not three. Not an object, he realized. An arm. A green arm.

Hot wind on his neck. Not wind – breath.

More saltwater dripped. Not water – sweat.

Tony twisted onto his back and looked straight up. "Hey, pal," he coughed.

ONE HOUR BEFORE

Bruce Banner walked around the Tower three times before he approached the entrance. It was Spring in New York City, but he wore a hoodie over a wool cap to help the sunglasses disguise his face. He almost started running after he rang the doorbell. Undoubtedly Tony's security systems had been watching him for half an hour but, somehow, the doorbell felt…final. He'd committed. Committed to returning to the team.

The door opened. Tony Stark stood in the threshold wearing jeans and a black t-shirt, and chewing on a green apple. "Honey, I'm home," Bruce said. Tony merely blinked, took a bite of his apple, and blinked again. Bruce simultaneously sighed and rolled his eyes. "Why am I not surprised that YOU are not surprised to see me?"

"What kind of inventor would I be if I didn't know how to get through my own stealth technology? And what kind of friend would I be if my satellites weren't tracking your every move?" Tony grinned. "How was Fiji?"

"Hot." Bruce opened his mouth to say more, but Tony suddenly sprung forward and wrapped him up in a tight hug.

"Welcome home," Stark said. He squeezed his friend hard, then stepped out of Bruce's personal space, held the man at arm's length, and looked him over. "We've been worried about you," he said softly.

Bruce snorted. "Didn't you just say something about satellites?"

Tony shrugged. "I knew you were alive. But that was all I knew. It wasn't enough to keep me from worrying. Us—to keep us from worrying."

Bruce licked his lips and dropped his eyes to the floor. "I saw the news. I heard about Pietro. Everyone else…They're all ok, right? After…after Ultron?" Bruce folded his arms tight against his stomach and took half a step backwards. "Is Natasha…"

"We're good. She's good." Tony stepped aside and motioned for Bruce to come in. "Barton had a baby. Steve's training the new recruits. They stopped a bank robbery. It was pretty badass." When Bruce didn't make move to enter the building, Tony shuffled back into the door frame. "She told me what happened. Natasha told me everything. You needed some space, some time. I get that."

Bruce ripped off his hat and sunglasses and stuffed them into his coat pocket. "No, you don't," he snapped, sounding harsher than he intended. He took a beat, and an extra breath before he spoke again. "Sorry. And I'm sorry I left – the Hulk left – I'm sorry we left."

Tony studied his friend. He didn't speak.

"I left before the job was done, and I'm sorry," Bruce managed. He looked everywhere but at Tony. "I left when Ultron was still alive — more or less — when you and Thor were still in danger. If you'd died because I wasn't still there to help…" Bruce scrubbed both hands through his thinning hair.

"You know what I'm going to say." Slightly frustrated that Bruce still wasn't inside the Tower, Tony walked out into the sunlight and shut the door behind him. He faced Bruce and waited a solid sixty seconds before the other man finally made eye contact. "I'm ok. We're all ok. Ultron's gone – eliminated. Deleted. And I'm the one who's sorry." Tony held up his hands and shook his head when Bruce started to protest. "Ultron was my idea. Ultron was my fault. Don't interrupt me, buddy, I've been practicing this speech in the mirror for a month…" Stark wrung his hands and then buried them deep in his pants pockets. "Ultron was my fault. And I should've kept a closer eye on you when we went after Klaus. And I should've built a better Veronica and…" Tony spread his hands, exasperated. "And I'm glad you're home. You hear me? I'm just glad you're home."

Bruce glanced up at the towering structure. "Have you been inventing without me?"

"Of course," Tony scoffed, "but it wasn't half as fun. Come on."

Tony opened the door again. He put his arm around Bruce's shoulder and led him inside.

The second that the door shut behind them, the earthquake hit.

PRESENT

The Hulk, on all fours like a dog, had tented his body over Tony's. Every visible muscle twitched and every pore leaked sweat. His brow was furrowed even more caveman-like than usual. Above him, tons of brick, cement, and metal threatened to crush the pair. Bits of debris rolled off of trembling green shoulders and various chemicals slid down shaking arms. Brown eyes – Bruce Banner's eyes – were wet, afraid, regretful. Tony marveled at the emotion in them. He'd glimpsed Bruce behind that green monster before but, for once, there was more Banner there than Hulk.

"Buddy," Tony whispered, "are you all right? Nod if you're all right." Hulk moved his head barely an inch, and a pile of ashes and one slightly intact table leg showered down.

"Bad idea, my bad," Stark sputtered through a mouthful of dirt. "Give me one grunt for 'yes,' two for 'no,' ok?"

The sound that escaped the Hulk's throat was more of a mewl than a grunt. Something above them shifted, and Hulk ground his tombstone-teeth together and slammed his eyes shut with effort. Tony spotted the pulse point thundering in his throat.

A new sound. Wailing. It took Stark a minute to place it. "Help's coming," he whispered. "You hear that firetruck? We need to figure out how to tell them where we are so that they can dig us out. Are we in the same place? Did we drop down into the basement or did the tower just collapse on top of us? Maybe the buzzer for the door is down here with us. What can make noise – noise to tell them that we're alive, like the bell for a safety coffin!"

Hulk grunted through his teeth three times, and glowered at Tony.

"Right, sorry, yes-or-no questions," Stark remembered. His spine was on something sharp and he tried to shift his weight without moving the left side of his body. At least one rib was cracked and his left arm was fractured. A darkness settled in both corners of his left eye, and both corners of his right. Unconsciousness wasn't far away… "I remember stepping through the door. That's the last thing I remember. Do you remember that?"

Sweat pooled in the half-moons beneath the Hulk's eyes. He grunted once.

"It felt like an earthquake. Was there an earthquake?"

'Yes,' the Hulk grunted.

"Big earthquake…" Tony muttered. The darkness attacked and his eyes almost slid shut. Luckily (or unluckily), the throbbing pain in his arm woke him back up. "Big earthquake the second you come home? That's a hell of a coincidence."

More darkness. Stark blinked in slow-motion.

The Hulk's nostrils flared. "Tone…" he growled. "Tone-y…" Green blood trickled down his back, across his ribs, and onto Tony's shirt.

"I'm here, big guy," Stark whispered. "Thinking…That's what I do…I'm thinking…Think with me, think about coincidences…If it wasn't coincidence, then it was design. It was by design. An artificial earthquake. Somebody made an earthquake. Why? Why now? Why here? And…" Both eyes closed. Both eyes STAYED closed. "How…"

Louder sirens. Voices beyond the walls. The light dimmed as the fire ate up the rest of the insulation.

"Tony," Hulk begged.

Stark's eyes stayed shut. His body stayed limp. He didn't even flinch when a glob of green blood landed on his cheek. "An artificial earthquake triggered when you walked in…Maybe when another Avenger crossed the threshold? This is the first time since Ultron that two members of the team have been in the Tower at once," Tony whispered. The wheels in his head kept spinning for as long as they could.

The Hulk's knees and elbows wobbled. Some percentage of his energy got used up, and he dropped an inch. Tons of rubble dropped an inch closer to Tony's fragile body.

"Tony!"

"Bruce…" Tony's voice was less than a whisper. "Don't feel good…"

"TONY!" the Hulk roared. His left knee snapped – snapped like kindling – and he crumpled.

To Be Continued