Chapter 16
Steve didn't like the fact that Natasha wouldn't tell them what was going on, so he tried to persuade her himself.
"Did he need you to crawl behind his desk to get something that fell back there? Again?" Steve asked, knowing this wasn't what had happened, but maybe getting her to talk was the best solution.
"Ask. Him." was her only reply.
"Natasha." Clint pressed.
"ASK. Him," her voice quieted down after nearly shouting the first word.
"In case you hadn't noticed, if he wanted us to know anything, he wouldn't be locked in his cell of a workshop," Bruce said, standing up from the table.
"It's his business!" Natasha said, her voice growing weaker. Clint knew her all too well. She was about to crack.
"Just tell us," Clint pressed.
"The uh-…" she was at a lose of words, even though she was now willing to tell them, she knew that Tony would explain it better, and that he'd explain it in a way that only Bruce could understand, "Arc reactor has this stuff in it, and it like… I'm not sure, he said it could go boom if it has this thing happen, and it-.." Natasha shook her head, knowing she must've sounded like a distraught moron.
Bruce felt an all too familiar fight or flight option rising in him. He chose flight. He ran down the stairs to the workshop, pounding his feet on each step.
Tony opened the door before Bruce could turn green.
"Don't you dare break that lock, it took years to perfect," Tony patted the large lock with the palm of his hand happily.
"You're really good at keeping secrets," Bruce growled at him, making room for the four people behind him to come in.
"Which apparently, you are not," Tony directed his complaint at Natasha, who hid behind an untrustworthy frown.
"I don't know how to fix the damn thing, and he does, so don't worry about it, he's probably not even alive, probably just some computer goon who got a hold of my files," Tony said, before they could start beraiding him with questions.
"That doesn't fix the fact that there's a ticking time bomb inside you," Steve murmured.
"Thanks genius, I got that," Tony glared back, imitating his stone solid soldier uniformity.
"Hold on, she never said anything about someone being in on this, whose alive?" Clint asked, having been the only one not distracted by the predicament to have caught what Tony said.
"Obidiah Stane," Tony said, his eyes meeting his fairly often visited acquaintance, the floor.
"He died in your factory," Bruce said, remembering the few times he had gotten Tony to talk about his past.
"Parently' not," Tony shook his head, turning it towards the screen he had been typing feverishly on moments ago, "Found this."
He turned the monitor so that the rest of the team could see it. It was a picture of Obidiah Stane's Iron Man suit, which was mostly destroyed, accompanied by an old photo of Obidiah.
"Body never found, assumed to be disintegrated", it said, on the top line, followed by a news story of the destruction of the factory.
"So he was only thought dead," Thor questioned, turning to Bruce for conformation that he couldn't give.
Bruce shrugged to the demi god.
"What do we do?" Clint finally asked after a rather long silence.
"Find this son of a UNICORN and kill him," Tony decided when it was obvious that the question had been directed at him.
Shorterish chapter, I know. Promise that the rest will be much more exciting.
I'm thinking that Obidiah will be making an appearance very soon.
I'm excited! :D
Let me know if you are too! Favorite, Follow, and Review to see the next chapter sooner!
-MarvelLuver