Earlier that day...
Tony had a wicked grin on his face as he walked through the halls of the Hellicarrier. Everyone that he walked by, failed to notice that he was holding something tight in his hand. In his hand was a small plastic baggie of six white, round pills. Tony was getting bored with all the serious work going on in the flying aircraft and wanted to have a little laugh. So he was going to prank some of the Avengers. He knew how he was going to get the Thunder God, Spangles, Kiddo and Doctor Banner. Fury, Romanoff, and Barton were a different story.
Tony quietly walked into the weight room where Steve was. Rogers stood in front of a large punching bag, beating away at it. He was throwing quick, yet powerful punches at it. Tony watched him for a second, slightly shocked at how the bag hadn't flew off the chain yet. He shook his head once before looking at Steve's blue Gatorade that sat on the bench somewhat behind him.
Quietly, the billionaire made his way over to the bench, careful not to be seen by the Captain. Tony swiped for the Gatorade and hid behind a pole in the room, blocking him from the Captain's view, should he decided to take a quick look around the room. Slowly, Tony slid down so that he was seated on the floor with his legs folded in front of him. Unscrewing the lid of the bottle, Tony dropped one of the pills inside. As soon as the white cylindrical hit the blue liquid, it instantly began to dissolve into the drink. Smirking to himself, Tony tightened the lid back on and carefully placed the clear bottle back on the bench. After, he silently crept out of the room.
Tony watched through the somewhat tinted glass once he was outside the weight room. It felt like forever to him, but eventually, Steve stopped to take a break. Tony smirked to himself when he saw Steve pick up his drink. Steve took a couple big gulps of the Gatorade before returning to his workout. Tony then left his spot by the tinted window in search of Thor.
Tony eventually found himself in the mess hall. There was hardly anyone there except for a few people. He spotted Thor in there, talking with one of the SHIELD agents. On one of the counters, there was a pack of pop tarts sitting on the counter half opened. Quietly, he sneaked over to the counter and hid behind it. Tony grabbed one of the pills and crushed it into tiny little grains. Cautiously, he looked over and saw Thor in the same spot, not really showing any sign that he was coming to retrieve the pop tarts any time soon. Taking his chance, Tony sprinkled the crushed substance all over the top pop tart. Luckily, it blended right in with it so it just looked like extra crumbs.
Slowly, Tony took his time leaving the mess hall and grabbed a bag of blueberries on his way out. He then made his way back to the lab where he knew that he would find Bruce and Skipper,who lay slept on the table. Sure enough, the Doctor was in there and was working on some kind of project. Bruce turned to look at Tony for a second as he walked through the doors but turned back to his project after sending a small smile at Tony. Tony walked up to Bruce and placed a hand on the man's shoulder, making the poor man jump.
"Do you need something, Tony?" Bruce asked, still a little shaken by the sudden contact between the two. Tony smiled and held the pill in the palm of his hand out for Dr. Banner to take.
"I made you a little something and I want to see if it works," Tony spoke sincerely. The corner of his lip twitched as he tried to look as reassuringly as he could for Bruce to take it.
"What is it? Something to keep the Hulk from coming out, 'cause that probably won't work. You would have to sedate me with-" Bruce started shakily. Tony held up his other hand to shush the Doctor.
"It does deal with the Hulk. However," Tony started when he saw the anxious look on Bruce's face. "if it works like it's supposed to, you should be able to control the Hulk if you were to hulk out."
"I-I don't know Tony, I've tried something like that before and it didn't work out too well," Bruce stated unsure as he slowly began fumbling with his research again. Tony sighed as he put his hand on the Doctor's shoulder again.
"Bruce, I can assure you that everything will be fine," he spoke as calmly as possible. Tony could tell that Bruce was very hesitant, but Bruce kept checking out the pill in the center of his palm. Seeing this, Tony gestured for Bruce to take it. Bruce watched him closely as he slowly reached for it. Now with the pill in Bruce's possession, he popped the pill inside his mouth and swallowed it. He didn't feel any different from before, but who knows, maybe he wouldn't feel any different until he actually did hulk out?
"Thanks Tony," Bruce sighed. Tony patted him on the back with a short 'you're welcome' before leaving the lab once more. Bruce watched him as he walked away before shaking his head once and went back to his he make sure Bruce doesn't turn his head to him, he put the pill in Skipper's coffee then he slammed his hand on the table make her jolted awake.
"Where's the fire?!"she exclaimed,then she groaned after she heard Tony's chuckled and glare at him,she took her mug and take a one big gulp of her mentally smirked triumphantly.
Now came the hard part for the billionaire. How was he going to get the three super spies to take it? Surely, they would know that something was up if he put it in their food or something. Tony pondered on what to do as he made his way to the bridge. He figured that he would figure all that out when he got there and saw what each of their situations were. Right when he was about to enter the bridge, an exhausted and worn out looking Natasha walked out. Tony stopped in his tracks and watched her for a second.
"Tired?" he asked. Natasha stopped and glared at him. He threw his hands up by his head in defense before she sighed.
"Yes, had a very rough day," she answered. Tony assumed that she had some sort of undercover mission that Fury assigned her which might have gone wrong in the end.
"You look like you need to rest. Do you need something to help you sleep at all?" Tony asked. Natasha studied his face for any sign of him trying to hit on her. She couldn't find a single trace of it in his face. Tony looked like he actually wanted to help her with something, rather than just hit on the Russian super spy. Seeing that she probably wasn't going to answer him, Tony deeply sighed and held out the small cylindrical object to her.
"Here take this," he instructed.
"What is it?" Natasha asked as she eyed it cautiously.
"It's just Melatonin. You know, that medicine stuff that dissolves on your tongue to help you sleep at night? Sorry, it's the generic brand but it works for me," Tony explained. Natasha studied him once more before quickly snatching it out of his hand. She popped it right in her mouth and began sucking on it. She then walked away without a word.
"You're welcome!" Tony called out to her. Four down, two to go. He walked into the bridge and saw that neither Fury or Barton were in there. Tony quickly waltzed his way over to Agent Hill when he saw her working on the computer.
"Hey where's Legolas?" Maria rolled her eyes at Tony's silly little nickname for Clint.
"He's in the infirmary," she answered annoyed. She did not want to deal with Tony at the moment. Maria was a very busy woman at the time and didn't need to be distracted by the immature billionaire.
Tony grinned before making a B line for the infirmary. Sure enough, Clint was in there and was getting patched up by one of the medics. He went and stood right next to the archer. Clint turned his head to acknowledge Tony's presence before his head was turned back around to the medic. Barton winced a little as the medic began applying antiseptic to his forehead where he had some scratches. Tony waited patiently and quietly for the medic to finish up his job before slipping Clint his 'pain medicine'.
"What do you want Stark?" Clint groaned in pain as he moved his body on the little cot to face Tony.
"I just heard that you had it a little rough down there with whatever you were doing. Nobody would tell me what 'cause-"
"It's classified," Clint finished for Tony. "and that you brings you here to see me, why?"
"Just wanted to give you a little something to help the pain. Maybe even speed it up your healing," Tony tempted. Clint looked up at him interested in what he had to offer, but just like Romanoff, was studying him for any sign of a joke. It surprised Tony himself mentally with how well he was able to mask his emotions and seem so serious to everyone.
"Do you have it with you?" Clint asked lowly. Tony smirked and nodded his head once before showing reaching inside of his pocket before showing Clint the pill.
"You want it?" Tony asked slyly.
"Yeah I'll take it," Clint nodded once. Tony placed it in Clint's palm before Clint tossed it in his mouth, quickly swallowing it.
"Good talking to you Legolas. Get better," Tony patted Clint on the back before walking out. He couldn't believe how easy they have all been to prank right now.
Tony made his way back to the bridge to see if Fury was anywhere near there. He figured that if he hung around for a little bit, then Fury would eventually appear. Sure enough, as soon as the doors to the bridge opened, he saw Fury in the center of the room. He was giving orders to the Agents working at their computers.
Tony began walking over to where the Director stood. On his way, he saw a bowl of mints and took a couple. He opened up one of the packets and threw the mint inside his mouth. When he opened up the other one, he threw the mint away before replacing it with the pill which didn't look much different than the mint itself. When Tony stood on the blind side of Nick, he waited patiently for a few seconds before grabbing Nick's attention.
"Want a mint?" Tony asked simply while sucking on the mint in his mouth. Fury turned to look at Tony and glanced down at his hand with the mint.
"Yes, thank you," Fury held his hand out for Tony to give him the 'mint'. Tony opened the plastic wrapper up the rest of the way and dropped Fury's 'mint' in his hand. As soon as the 'mint' hit Fury's palm, it was popped inside his mouth.
"You're seriously not gonna question the mint at all?" Tony asked a little confused. Fury eyed him curiously with his one eye as it narrowed slightly.
"Am I supposed to be questioning it, Mr. Stark?" Fury asked.
"Uh, no. No, it just surprised me that you didn't ask anything about it. With you being the super spy and stuff," Tony stuttered slightly. Fury stared at him for a second before turning away, giving orders to people around him again.
Tony blinked a few times to himself before turning away. He was deep in thought as he made his way back to the lab. How were they all so easy to prank? Especially, Fury, Romanoff, and Barton. Tony thought that he would've had to do something completely crazy to get them to take it. He was going to do some research and maybe fiddle with some of his armor to upgrade it. When he stepped inside the lab, Bruce was still working on whatever it was he was researching and showed no sign of feeling any different. Tony sighed deeply knowing that now he was gonna have to wait for it all to kick in before the fun began...