A few things to clear up here before we begin:
1. Major apologies for the lateness. Blame 4persephone and Neon Daisies for their God-damn addicting fics.
2. I aim to have this finished by the 7th, but I foresee another two chapters and I'm going away on the 7th to The Queen Of Sin's so I'm thinking my original plan to get this finished before the last airing of IM2 was a bit ambitious...speaking of which...
3. Iron Man 2 – Oh. My. Shit. You will literally have an aneurism over the awesomeness. It funny, terribly sweet on Pepperony and the graphics, especially in Tony's workshop, are out of this world. Doesn't the follow the book as much as the first one though, which kinda sucked, but still.
4. I was planning to kick the rating back to T because I'm not planning smut, but thinking of what's coming, it's gonna stay M, if only for the delicate content, which you will be warned of at the beginning of the next chapter.
5. As you may find out whilst reading, I am in no way a scientist. What I've written is completely, totally and 100% bullshit. Unless it would work, in which case I'm a genius.
Song of the Day: Shinedown – What A Shame
"Pepper?!" Tony yells again. The line is still dead. "Jarvis, call Pepper, now." Jarvis complies and Tony is then met with the three most infuriating beeps he has ever heard, informing him that his call cannot be connected and he should try again later.
"Fuck! Call the house." He snaps. Once again Jarvis dials the number and this time it rings...and rings, and rings, finally getting through to Jarvis' own voice telling him that no one can take his call. He curses again.
"Jarvis, what's going on in the house?" he asks as the coast of Portugal disappears below him, replaced with the calming blue of the Atlantic Ocean.
"I'm afraid I don't know, sir." Jarvis says.
"Well check dammit!" Tony's voice rises even further. "And for God's sake speed us up. Divert everything to thrusters."
"I am unable to perform both tasks sir." Jarvis replies in his infuriatingly calm voice.
"You're the most intelligent computer in the entire world and you're telling me you can't return to your central server and monitor the house?" Tony incredulously replies.
Jarvis pauses for a moment. If he weren't a robot, Tony would swear he was counting to ten.
"Might I remind you sir; I am built into the suit to monitor you. Returning to the mansion would mean cutting myself from the suit, leaving you without power according to protocol nineteen of your own request." He finally said. "I can, however, perform your second request."
Tony felt a phenomenal increase in speed and he adjusted his flight path accordingly, making a mental note to create a way for Jarvis to transmit back and forth between servers once he got back.
"What's our ETA?" he asked. Due to the near light-speed he was travelling, a miniscule shadow of the United States could be made out way, way in the distance.
"We will re-enter the USA in approximately twenty-seven minutes, with time of arrival home at forty-five minutes." Jarvis brought up the figures on his HUD. "I would suggest letting me take over on auto-pilot if you wish to achieve these times, sir." The AI didn't wait for Tony to confirm before taking control. "Might I also suggest arranging to see a doctor immediately. The speed you are currently travelling may negatively impact your spine and neck, even with the suit's protection."
"I don't care if my neck breaks, as long as it happens after I know Pepper's safe." He muttered. "Call her again."
'The hatches in the roof need to have a quicker motor in them.' Tony thought as he smashed through the only half way open metal doors in his roof. He braced himself above the set in the floor of the living room and looked around, flipping the face plate up as he did so. He noticed a plastic phone casing to his left and slightly beyond that the smashed remnants of what had once been Pepper's BlackBerry. The screen had been cracked and the scroll ball had been popped out, as had some of the keys.
'Well, that solves one mystery.' He thought. Nothing else appeared to be damaged, though this did nothing to settle the intense nausea in his stomach. "Jarvis?" he muttered.
"Yes, sir?" the AI answered, this time from above his head. Clearly his suit had re-connected with the central server.
"What the hell happened here? And where's Pepper?" he stepped forwards, away from the hole in the floor.
"Approximately one hour ago, Miss Potts was preparing herself a snack when a male and female approached the front gates. The male appeared to be in quite a bit of pain, judging from the sounds he was making. The woman identified herself as Elizabeth Ross but I was unable to identify the male, at which point I consulted Miss Potts."
"And what? She let them in? Just like that?" Tony asked, bewildered.
"I was able to bring up a visual of the visitors; Miss Potts assessed it and then let them in." Jarvis clarified.
"And then what happened?" Tony stepped as lightly as the suit would allow him towards the front door. Apart from Pepper's BlackBerry, there appeared to be no other sign of a struggle. He didn't know if this made him feel better or not.
"Miss Ross aided her companion through the door but he collapsed in agony. After a brief conversation with Miss Potts, she placed a call to you, but she dropped her telephone in shock when the man screamed again. She then helped Miss Ross escort the man into one of the guest bedrooms."
Tony stopped walking. "What? You mean Pepper's still here?"
"Affirmative, sir. She is currently in the first left bedroom of the guest wing." Jarvis said, as if this was glaringly obvious.
"Son of a-" Tony about-turned and marched towards the aforementioned room, bursting through the door when he arrived. The sight that greeted him chilled him to the bone.
Both Pepper and the other woman were forcibly holding Bruce Banner down to the bed as he writhed in completely silent but extremely obvious agony. Ross was trying to calm him down by talking soothingly to him, but it didn't appear to be working. Pepper's head spun around when she heard Tony enter, her face both a mix of extreme tension and spine tingling fear.
"Tony, help." She said breathlessly. Ross' head jerked up when she heard his name, her expression much the same as Pepper's.
"Get out of the way." Tony said gruffly, moving forward. Pepper jumped away from Banner as quickly as she could, but Ross stayed where she was.
"This is the worst I've ever seen him." She said to Tony. "He's been sedated."
"Clearly." Tony snorted. Banner began to thrash more wildly now that Pepper wasn't holding him down, so Tony did the only thing he could think of and punched Banner in the side of the head. His body went limp instantly. "There."
"Tony!" Pepper shrieked.
"It's ok, he can take it." Ross said to her.
"How much sedative has he had?" Tony asked.
"Enough to floor a herd of elephants." Ross muttered, stroking Banner's face and checking his head for and bleeding from the punch.
"Ok, can someone please explain to me what the hell is going on!?" Pepper hissed through gritted teeth.
Tony and Ross looked at each other before Ross stepped forward.
"I'm Betty Ross, this is Bruce Banner," she indicated to the man on the bed. "He has a…condition that was brought on by Gamma Ray poisoning back when he worked for the military. There was an incident at the lab we worked in and he got caught in an explosion a few years ago."
"And this exposure causes him to convulse?" Pepper asked. Both Tony and Ross smiled grimly.
"No, it's something a little more serious than that." Tony sighed. "The top and bottom of it is he transforms into a big green Hulk when he gets pissed. Something about his heart rate if I remember correctly." He turned towards Ross. "Though I don't remember him convulsing or anything the last time."
"Yeah well, never let it be said that Bruce doesn't like to be creative." She sighed. "He's been trying to create a cure or at least a preventative measure for months, and he finally thought he'd cracked it. That's why we're here." She shuddered. "Bruce said that if this serum went wrong, you'd be the 'last hope'"
Tony's brow furrowed. "But I'm not much of a scientist; I wouldn't know where to start, especially with him."
"Tony Stark wouldn't be able to help, but Iron Man would." Ross said grimly.
"Oh God." Pepper whispered, realisation dawning on her. Tony followed suit soon after.
"I'm the only one that can stop him." He said grimly. Betty closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Hopefully it won't come to that." She said finally. "We've brought some medical and scientific equipment with us. Before this," she waved her hand at Bruce's limp body. "He was talking about ways to alter the serum."
"I don't understand, how the hell did he do this to himself? What did he do to himself?" he gravitated over to Pepper, who was looking more and more green as the conversation went on.
"Like I said, he was trying to create a cure, he failed." She sat on the bed next to him and Tony stiffened instinctively, but calmed when he noted the serene look on Banner's face when she touched him. "He was fine for the first couple days, his heart rate was down, he said he felt normal. Then about three days ago he woke up in the middle of the night screaming in pain, and it's been pretty much this ever since. We left as soon as it started but we've had to go underground." At the look on both Tony and Pepper's faces, she explained. "Bruce used to work under my father's division before the explosion and dad's always kinda hated him, especially now I'm involved."
"Never made his resolution stick then?" Tony asked, smiling lightly.
"He told me about that," Betty said, returning Tony's expression. "Poor soul never stood a chance with the General." She looked over at Pepper and Tony, mainly how she could pretty much see the air of protectiveness exuding from Tony. "I'm glad to see you made yours though." She turned back to Bruce and ran a hand through his hair. "He should be out for a couple of hours at least, I'll let you know if he starts to change again."
Tony and Pepper correctly took this as a sign for them to leave and slowly backed out of the bedroom, Pepper closing the door behind them. She exhaled heavily and leaned against the wall next to the door.
"Come on." Tony grasped her hand as gently as he could and led her through the hall and down to the workshop. As he began the process of removing the suit, Pepper shakily made her way over to his desk and leant against it. She closed her eyes and tried to let the mechanical whirring of the bots drown out the horrific screams still running through her head. She didn't even move when the noises stopped, but she let out a squeak when Tony wrapped his arms around her middle and pulled her against him roughly, burying his head in her neck.
"Tony, what-"
"God, you scared the shit out of me." Came his muffled reply. He squeezed her tighter and let out a ragged breath. "I didn't know if you were hurt or not, it was the longest hour of my life flying back."
"I'm fine." She said, rubbing soothingly over his back. Tony's only response was to pull her impossibly closer, so much so that his Arc was beginning to indent in her chest. "Tony, the baby needs oxygen." She said in what she hoped was a joking manner. Tony sprang away from her instantly and she instantly regretted it.
"Shit, sorry." He placed a gentle hand on her stomach and a small smile made its way across his face, making Pepper calm slightly.
"We're fine." She said again. "Is Bruce going to be ok?"
The smile vanished from Tony's face and he shrugged. "I honestly don't know. I've tried convincing him to come to SHIELD headquarters and have the scientists look at him there, but he refuses." He sighed heavily and pulled Pepper over to the couch and sat them both down on it, Pepper on his lap. "I'll try and help him as much as I can, but I don't know how much I can do for him." He wrapped his arms around Pepper again, a little lighter this time and rested his head against her bump.
"I'm sure you'll be able to figure this out." She whispered to him, running her fingers through his hair and kissing the top of his head.
"How can you be so sure?" he asked, raising his head and looking her square in the eye. She surprised him when she smiled wryly.
"Well, he seems to think he was on to something before he even got here. Are you telling me you're not as smart as Banner?" she mock-gasped. "The great Anthony Stark defeated by a mere mortal, whoda thunk it?"
Tony blinked at her, and then a slow smile spread across his lips. He pulled her head down and kissed her long and slow.
"Pepper, I honestly don't know how you do it." He chuckled.
"What?"
"Make me love you without even trying." He said, and kissed her again.
Over the ensuing weeks, Tony converted his secondary garage into what was effectively a scientist's wet dream. He and Banner had discussed the basics of what they would need to create and test any new serums and Tony had supplied the equipment. No one knew that either Betty or Banner where hiding out in the Stark mansion, and Banner had no qualms about keeping it that way for all their sakes.
He'd gone in depth about Betty's father, explaining exactly what the General wanted out of him and why it was crucial that either the cure or the alternative measure be followed through. And as far as SHIELD was concerned, Banner was AWOL.
Banner wasn't stupid, he knew he was little more than a grunt to both SHIELD and the Initiative, and they more than wanted to keep him that way, so it was pretty safe to say that they'd have a few issues with him trying to cure himself, something that Tony brought up during their first proper conversation.
"I mean I get why you want to get rid of him, don't get me wrong," Tony had said. "But I mean have you ever considered just learning to control him? There's gotta be some way of doing it if it's all down to stress."
"I did try." Banner had replied. "I really, really tried. I thought I had him under control. I'd gone about a month without an accident and then the smallest thing set him off. I don't even remember what it was, but because I was so calm I went from zero to green in three seconds." He shook his head. "That's what made me decide, I hurt Betty." His face grew stony and he made eye contact with Tony. "I will never let myself do that again. I'd rather face the alternative."
Tony sighed but placed a hand on Banner's shoulder. "I'll help you, no matter what the help entails."
After that, it was just a case of trial and error. More often than not it was error, especially since Banner was still feeling the effects of what his first serum had done to him. Barely a night went by that the entire household wasn't woken up by screams of pain.
They were making progress, however, after the eleventh week and three nights of no interruptions. Banner himself had said he was feeling different.
"Ok, so how are we doing?" Tony asked as he entered the garage-slash-lab. Banner looked up from his work station and smiled gently.
"Well, don't be holding a parade for me just yet, but I think I might have cracked it."
Tony raised an eyebrow. "The cure?" he moved around to the computer Banner was stationed at and scanned the screen.
"Well if not the cure at least a serum to get rid of whatever the hell I did to myself the first time." He shuddered and pointed to a specific part of the chemical theory Tony was staring at. "See, what I did first was I combined carbon and palladium with all that," he indicated another bunch of equations, "and I think the palladium was reacting badly with both the carbon and me, so what I did instead was just take out the palladium." He tapped a few keys on the computer and a new chemical theory sprang up.
"So you're pretty much injecting pure carbon into yourself?" Tony stared at him.
"Amongst a whole other mess of crap, yeah." Banner chuckled. "Because of the gamma poisoning, my body is reacting way different to how a normal person would with all these chemicals floating around, so I can take it, as much as Betty refuses to believe me." He sighed.
Tony laid a supportive hand on his shoulder. "Look, once this is done, it's done. You can go back to playing happy families." He smiled and slapped Banner's shoulder, standing up from his chair. "Now, let's get to work."
Merely a week of constant scientific mastery later, Tony and Banner finally managed to finish the serum with only a few minor explosions. Pepper and Betty had been banned from coming down to the garage and neither men had left it for the entire week apart from to eat and use the bathroom, so when the final touches to the chemical goop lying in front of them were done, it felt like a lifetime had been lifted off their shoulders.
Banner lifted the beaker of dark greeney-grey broth and studied it against the light.
"So, what's the plan now?" Tony asked, shuffling his feet slightly in agitation. "I mean, do you inject it or what?"
To his surprise Banner shrugged. "Well that's reassuring." Tony deadpanned.
"Last time I did it, I injected it, but I think if I'd drunk it, it would have had time to break down correctly and do its job instead of nearly killing me." He said. "Saying that, because this is chemically different to the last batch, slightly weaker, I don't think it'd do the same damage." He bit the side of his bottom lip and snorted through his nose. "Well, I guess we'll find out. See you on the other side, Stark." He tipped the beaker towards Tony slightly, and before he could stop him, downed the liquid on one gulp.
"Fuck, Banner you ass." Tony stumbled over to his friend and pried the beaker out of his hand. Banner looked at him and licked his lips, then his face contorted into one of mild disgust. "What? What is it?"
"Ugh," Banner threw himself over to the sink in the corner and dove under the tap, gulping down as much water as he could. "It tastes like…like coconut and metal." He shuddered and gargled the water in his mouth. "I hate coconut."
Tony laughed, a noise combining mild amusement and a great deal of shock, rubbing his hand over his face to calm himself. "If you throw up, you clean up." He removed his hand when no reply came from the other man. He was hunched over the sink, breathing heavily. "Hey, I meant that you know."
Suddenly, Banner shuddered again, gripping the edges of the sink so hard his knuckles turned white. Fear shot up Tony's back.
"Jarvis, what's Banner's heart rate at?" he moved over to help but Banner held a hand up.
"Doctor Banner's heart rate is currently 180bpm and he is experiencing symptoms of tachycardia, I recommend sending for an ambulance." Came the crisp British accent above them.
"Bruce, you gotta calm down man." Tony said softly. Banner let out a small gasp of pain and doubled over.
"Get out." He rasped. Tony stood stock still. Banner span around and glared at Tony with shocking green eyes. "Stark, get everyone out!" he shouted and then yelled in pain again, clutching his ribs.
"Bruce?" a female voice came from the doorway. Betty was standing there and Tony rushed over to her. "Tony, what's wrong with him?" her face paled at the sight.
"We need to move, now." He dragged her through the door and back up to the house, but she fought him.
"Stark, what the hell did he do?"
"He drank what he made, didn't bother to test anything first, we need to evacuate the house now!" Betty still didn't comply.
"I need to help him." She said but Tony pushed her up against the wall of the corridor, gripping her by the biceps.
"Listen to me, he's changing and this time he has no control whatsoever. You and Pepper need to get out of here now! I'll try and contain him." He shook her when she looked towards the sounds of agony again. "Betty, please, just get Pepper out safe, I promise he'll be fine." He lied. He had to. Even Betty knew it, but she complied when she saw the fear in his eyes. She all but ran back up to the main house and Tony sprinted back to his workshop.
"Jarvis, prep the suit." Tony shouted as he entered. He didn't have time to change so he stepped up to the bots in his jeans and t-shirt. "Keep an eye on Banner."
"Doctor Banner has exited the garage and is making his way around the perimeter of the house. I can no longer track his health but his body was under a large amount of stress upon leaving." Jarvis said.
"Where's Pepper?" he asked as the final pieces of the suit slotted together.
"Miss Potts and Miss Ross are exiting the house via the front door. At this moment in time they are fifty feet away from Doctor Banner."
"What?!" Tony yelled. He exited the bots grasp a little too early and heard a rather annoying snap as one of the arms must have sheared a bolt.
"Sir, I find this most strange, but Doctor Banner's entire physical structure has altered. He still appears to be in quite a lot of pain."
"No!" Tony kicked off from the ground and through the ceiling and immediately saw the great lumbering outline of the Hulk making a beeline for Betty and a seven months pregnant Pepper running in the opposite direction. "Banner!" Tony tilted downwards and zoomed towards him.
He collided with the green monster mere feet away from the two women who screamed as the ground shook between them and the force of Tony's collision sent both men hurtling towards the cliff edge at the side of the house. Tony regained his footing quicker than the Hulk who let out a roar of frustration and punched his fist into the ground. Tony blasted towards him again, but Banner batted him away with a flick of his wrist and sent him flying into the wall of the mansion. He barely had time to pry himself from his wall indentation before the Hulk charged into him again, pummelling them both through the wall of the house and into the front room. Tony once again regained his footing quicker than the Hulk and immediately blasted both repulsors at him, sending him flying through his new piano. He ran after him and jumped on the Hulk's back, attempting a choke hold.
"Bruce, you have to calm down!" Tony hissed into his ear. The Hulk merely roared again and grabbed Tony's helmet, pulling him off his back with relative ease and hurling him through his indoor waterfall. Tony hit the stairway behind it and took the blow square in the back, taking a large chip out of said stairs. Once again he didn't have time to recover for the second attack; another tackled forcing them both through the wall and into one of the guest bedrooms, the bed annihilated immediately. Tony managed to time his repulsors to back flip over the green monster and send four blasts to his back.
Banner seemed mildly irritated by this and expressed his displeasure by picking up the large wardrobe (or what was left of it) and swinging it into Tony, sending him flying through the window to the right. He stopped himself mid-air and zoomed back, sending a quick punch to the Hulk's jaw and another two blasts, followed by another choke hold, stronger this time. Banner attempted to grab Tony's helmet again but he dodged the grab, making the Hulk flail behind his back for leverage. Roaring again, he backed them both up into the wall, smashing Tony behind him. And error message flashed on Tony's HUD and Tony groaned as he actually felt the force of the smash.
"Jarvis, flares!" Tony yelled. The small fireworks began to spout out in the minute gap between the suit's front and the Hulk's back, making the latter howl in anger. "Stings doesn't it, you big green bastard!" Tony applied more pressure to the neck between his arms and this time Banner faltered. He smashed once more into the wall and then in a last ditch attempt to get Tony off his back, he ran towards the gap where the window had once been, turning in mid air so that Tony would break the fall.
He didn't have time to think. By the time Tony realised what Jarvis was warning him of, they impacted the ground with a thundering crash. Tony knew he'd broken at least three ribs but he didn't have time to think about that, the Hulk was already up, stumbling slightly and groaning.
"Sir, you have taken critical damage to all defensive aspects of the armour and most weapons are offline," Jarvis' voice brought Tony back to his senses. He jumped out of the crater they had created and took a deep steadying breath.
"Jarvis, divert all power to chest RT." He commanded.
"Sir, I must object. The damage extent could create an expanded blast radius-"
"Jarvis, do not fucking argue with me, just do it!" he yelled as he saw the Hulk regaining his basic motor functions. He heard the low key whirring of the chest RT powering up and braced himself for whatever the hell Jarvis had been trying to warn him of. He found out five second later when the usual high energy blast tripled, not only blasting the Hulk through the entire house, but also throwing Tony backwards towards the cliff's edge. Tony scrambled for something to hold onto as he skidded on his front towards the cliff, finally anchoring himself by digging his gloved fingers into the soil, mere inches from a three-hundred foot drop into the ocean.
He breathed heavily and looked back up at the house, or what had once been a house. It now resembled something akin to Swiss cheese, there where that many holes decorating it. Carefully pulling himself up to stand, he squinted through the dust and rubble ahead of him. Everything seemed calm enough…
"Tony!" he heard Betty scream.
Having no use of his repulsors, he sprinted through the mansion as quick as his metal form would allow and out the other side he had blasted Banner through, stopping abruptly in the driveway and staring at the sight before him.
Betty and Pepper were sitting on the ground next to Banner, who was lying on his front in his human form, completely unconscious and looking like he'd gone ten rounds with Mike Tyson. Blood was seeping from a small cut on his forehead, but what confused Tony was why Betty was more interested in Pepper. And then he saw the steadily reddening patch of concrete beneath Pepper and the way she was clutching her stomach.
Even the miniature Arc Reactor in his chest couldn't stop his heart from freezing.
TBC