The fact that the first noise that Tony Stark had made in months had been a groan that had sounded something like 'fuck' and had somehow almost brought Bruce to tears was not something that either of them would ever mention. The tears had obviously been in the aid of science, Banner confirmed to himself as he watched what seemed to be a miracle pulling himself upright in the sheets, looking around at Bruce with a very familiar smirk plastered across his face: "Seen something you like Hulky-boy?" Stark teased, shifting and trying not to complain vocally about the stiffness in his legs: "Or did you finally notice that I really am a sex god?" He added, vocal strength slipping a little as he looked around, one leg dangling off the side of the bed, the other still tucked under the sheets.
Bruce had only just noticed his mouth had been hanging open, forming an almost perfect 'o' as he took in the sight of a talking, moving and somehow exactly the same as before Tony Stark. The science had worked; implanted deep in his chest was the reactor that Bruce had never seen him without, glowing a bright, vivid blue that seemed to be lighting up the room slightly.
"You not talking today?" Tony asked curiously, scowling as he forced his other leg to slip off the bed too, persuading himself to actually sit up, curling his hands around the edge of the mattress and keeping hold, not quite sure he dared to attempt to stand up: "Have I been out so long that I've missed such a major scientific development as Bruce Banner losing the ability to speak?"
"We thought you were dead..." The other man muttered in reply, finally regaining some motor functions and managing to walk over to him, ignoring the mess that the medical bay was in. Biting his lip hard he reached forwards, resting a hand on the other's shoulder, partly to check he was real and partly out of pure curiosity. The skin beneath his touch was warm and damp with sweat. But it was definitely real.
"I'm not?" Tony pointed out aloud, giving Bruce a confused look, resting his hand over the top of the other man's, holding it steady as he felt him shake a little: "Why would I be? I'm Tony Stark, I don't die. Thought we'd established that with the whole Loki issue..." His gaze faltered as he looked around the room, taking in the smoking devices and mass of broken machinery and spilled oil: "Did you hulk out in here? Pepper's going to kill you for ruining so much of our te-" Anthony paused, giving the room another once over with his eyes, pulling a face when he suddenly realised there was someone missing from their celebrations: "Where's Pepper?" He asked, turning an almost accusatory look on his friend: "She hadn't... How long was I out? Bruce, where is she?" Every hint of humour was gone from his voice, replaced by a tone that the other could only identify as panic.
But what could he tell him? How was he supposed to explain the mess of the past few months and the current state his girlfriend's body was in? How do you tell someone that the one thing they can't live without is probably in agony from a broken heart?
"I-I don't know..." He confessed honestly, looking rather ashamed of himself for not knowing something so important to Tony: "I think there's a gala on tonight or something...?" Bruce suggested, hoping that Tony would possibly remember something that he didn't know.
"Typical..." Tony muttered with a smile, memories of previous gala nights flooding back to him slowly, mind still groggy from sleep: "I'm gonna go surprise her..." He decided aloud, gripping the bed again and using it to push himself up, unsteady on his feet as he tried to take a few steps, body about fifty miles behind his brain as he started to make plans to surprise her.
"Tony! I need to run some tests... Check your brain and body still works... This is a medical miracle and I need to record the results..." Bruce called after him, springing to his feet and moving to stop the other man before he could get too far, the spark of scientific curiosity igniting suddenly in his brain.
Stark sighed, cocking his head back to look at the other man, propping himself on the door frame slightly, still not quite sure of his own body: "Fine. My name's Anthony Edward Stark, born April 4th. My parents were Howard and Maria Stark. I handed CEO-ship of my company Stark Industries to Virginia Patricia Potts, who I always call Pepper, last year. Social security numbers five, I live at Malibu Point with a load of bots and an integrated computer system called JARVIS that's based on our butler when I was a kid. I'm part of a team called the Avengers who kicked Thor's little brother's ass last year. Oh. And I'm Iron Man." He reeled off, turning around again to leave: "And my hands work fine. Peace, Bruce!" Tony called back, offering the other man a two fingered salute as he left.
The bravado was starting to wear off once he managed to escape the SHIELD building (avoiding about fifty highly confused young agents, a few high security doors and the laser testing room) then found (stole) a car from outside and used it to get back home. Tony had no idea where Pepper was, or who he needed to talk to to find her, presumably it would be a simple case of waking up JARVIS and asking him where she was, after he'd found something to wear, hospital scrubs weren't exactly befitting of a billionaire who needed to surprise his girl.
"Wake up, Daddy's home!" Stark called, voice laden with glee as he stepped over the front porch to the Malibu mansion, he'd been expecting the door to swing open as it usually did to a perfectly clean house, fire burning and his girlfriend's clothes still thrown across the back of the sofa from the misdemeanours the night before and her shoes where he'd fall over them. Tony was almost certain that Pepper left them there on purpose. One of the bots would be in the kitchen causing trouble and JARVIS would be already awake and reeling off a list that he'd only have to be reminded of at least three more times by the beautiful ginger-blonde pacing the lounge on her phone or fast asleep on the sofa, curled up under a blanket mid-way through catching up on Sex in the City or Desperate Housewives.
What he hadn't been expecting was the door to get jammed on the mountain of mail that was flooding the hall, and JARVIS not to respond. The air seemed thick with the scent of dust and dirt and something that Tony had only ever smelt in the washing basket when he'd forgotten to empty it for almost a year.
Just how long had he been out of it?
Before he could gather his thoughts his head started to spin again. Grabbing at the wall in panic, he tried to steady himself on his feet. He knew somewhere in his head that he shouldn't have come, he should have stayed in the hospital with Banner and let himself be prodded and poked, at least until his muscles had recovered, but it seemed the more he explored, the more worried he became.
Why was this place such a mess? Had she left him? Was there something going on that he didn't know about?
The floor decided to lurch again in a horrible, nauseous move to slap him in the face as Stark felt something grab for him, catching him with a very familiar bleeping noise, it was faint, like it hadn't been used for months, but he recognised it: "DUM-E?" Tony asked, still a few inches off the floor, gazing down at the dust he could easily write his name on. His question earned him a bleep in return, promoting the man's next curiosity: "Mind pulling me up buddy? The ground's a bit too close."
With an affirmative noise, he found himself on his feet again, his mechanical armed friend scooting backwards a little as if to look at him. Almost on instinct, Tony offered his hand, high-fiving him with a grateful smile pulling at his lips: "What are you doing up here? And where's JARVIS? Did U pour smoothies in him again?" The questions were falling from his mouth as he processed what he had seen, looking around at the house: "And haven't you been cleaning this place for me? Where's Pepper? Did she tell you not to or did you forget? Do I need to get you a new memory chip?"
The robot, if it could, would have shaken his head at him, making an almost sorrowful noise as it reversed into the house a little deeper, forcing him to follow him into the dust. The entire place was silent, the usual electrical hum in the background seemed to have been switched off.
The silence he could cope with, he could probably cope with the dust too if it wasn't for the mess. It was as if someone had shattered every single trace of his and Virginia's relationship, the photographs that usually covered the fireplace had been pushed off, the glass shattered across the floor, and her blankets had gone from the end of the sofa. It felt like the bot knew something he didn't. Tony suddenly realised as he ran, the lethargic feeling disappearing as he bolted up the stairs, slamming the bedroom doors open as he hunted, parts of his memory still patchy as he tried to remember which one had been theirs.
Finally he found it, the room was in the same state as the lounge, bed sheets ripped back and most of her stuff and his pulled from the wardrobes, designer clothes and shoes littering the floor, shattered glass and torn photographs tangled into the mess. What had happened? Had she left? Had they been robbed or attacked? Or had she done this herself? Tony knew he had to find her, it was the one thing he was clear on as he yanked his clothes from the mess, tearing off the hospital gown and running back down the stairs, trainers gripped in his mouth by the laces as he waved at the bot to follow him, taking the stairs down to the lab four at a time as he tried to think. The power was off, which was why JARVIS was offline, but the only people who knew how to do that were himself, Pepper and the bots. Jumping the last three steps he shattered the glass door with his elbow, sidestepping the mess and looking around the lab. With JARVIS offline the security for the house was nothing, which explained why he'd managed to open the front door and smash through the lab glass without any issue. Unlike upstairs, this place was clean, well, it was Tony's version of clean that nobody else understood, tools still abandoned exactly where he'd left them, and the other two bots powered down in one corner, limbs dangling sadly.
DUM-E caught up with him seconds later, having operated one of the maintenance lifts to get back down to the lab, only to be accosted with a screwdriver the minute Stark caught sight of him: "Did you do this?" He asked the bot, giving him a glare. The mechanical device just bleeped at him again, shaking rapidly in retaliation, waving at the mainframe casing for the household electrics.
He'd known that would be the answer, he reasoned as he pulled the casing open, grabbing the handle and slamming it upright again. The household systems kicked back in almost instantly, JARVIS seemed to be coughing as he spoke, low level lighting stammering back to life in the lab: "Welcome back Mr Stark, Your vital signs are low and displaying a distinct lack of iron and sugar. May I suggest that DUM-E create you a smoothie to return them to normal?"
"No. I want you to tell me what happened?!" Tony corrected him sharply, looking around the room as the light illuminated the Iron Man suits. DUM-E disappeared from behind him to greet his brothers who had come back to life in a cacophony of electrical noises.
"Mr Stark, my systems were deactivated by Miss Potts during her last visit fifteen weeks ago." The computer pointed out bluntly: "Until a system restoration has taken place, I am unable to offer a suitable answer to your enquiry."
"Where's Pepper?" He asked, not quite listening to the last answer that he'd been given, yanking on his shoes and giving the other bots an upside down salute, indicating that he'd at least noticed them.
"Miss Potts is attending the Maria Stark Foundation Charity Gala as the representative from Stark Industries; the event is being broadcast live on television if you would like me to provide a link, Sir."
"Yes!" Stark almost yelled, starting to pace the room in frustration as the flat-screen behind him started to broadcast some bleach blonde reporter's shrill voice through the lab as he picked up an abandoned piece of…something or other, he'd remember soon, fiddling with it as he tried to stay calm. He could just march into that gala and pronounce his resurrection and pull her into his arms and kiss her till she ran out of furious things to say to him about not staying dead and making her life easier? Couldn't he? Or should he wait and clean the place and get Happy to bring her here? Surprise her on the doorstep and finally ask her to be his always? No doubt by now the other Avengers were well aware by now that he was no-longer a cabbage and would give him a few days at least to indulge the love of his life? And it wasn't as if SHIELD were already on the doorstep accosting him and dragging him into custody to check he wasn't a skrull.
His pointless daydream was suddenly, sharply interrupted by the woman's words. Virginia Potts... Hurt... Emergency hospital...collapsed in a bloody mess...screaming... He couldn't even bring himself to turn around, back to the screen as the words poured from it, flooding the dusty air around him.
She was hurt.
Pepper was hurt and he hadn't been there to save her from her demons.
"JARVIS, deploy the mark seven and set co-ordinates for wherever Pepper Potts is, hack the emergency services if you have to." He ordered, already running as the armour clamped around his body, mind suddenly blind to any other thoughts but her, and her safety.
Whatever had happened to the house didn't matter, so long as she was okay.
Tony would never forgive himself if they turned into Romeo and Juliet.