Vital Communication Chapter 5
Disclaimer: same as before – do not own anything except the plot and original characters, where visible. One OC begins to appear here, so that one's mine. Please don't sue for playing in the sandbox, it's so much fun!
Once they had finished with the last of the press junket, Tony and Bruce were free to return to the lab and 'play time'. They spent the next few days working on the Iron Man armor, completely dismantling it. Parts littered every surface in Tony's personal lab. Holographic models of those assembled parts hovered between the tables. Currently, they stood side by side in front of one of the projections, a boot.
"This is the problem I saw before," Bruce said, pointing at the ankle.
Tony reached into the holograph, grabbed the image and twisted, breaking it apart. The specific junction exploded into an expanded view, and the condition monitor went immediately from green to red.
"Wow, just from the tablet?", Tony asked, surprised. The tablets had a fundamental low resolution problem he could never quite solve.
"This spot has a critical line of hydraulics twinned with an odd group of sensors monitoring fitness levels, lactic acidosis, and hypoxia. The hydraulic line is very weak. Has been for the last three iterations of the suit," Bruce explained, ignoring the half jibe.
"If it blows, it will short out more than those sensors," Tony takes up the explanation, sighing. "Well, that saves a crap ton of work, doesn't it?"
Bruce flicked a glance at his co-worker, a half smile curling at his mouth. "The hydraulics are important to that section, but we can move the sensors. JARVIS, can you take those sensors and line them up with the others? I want to study them all together later," Bruce said, drawing the sensor cluster out of the junction and flicking it to aside. JARVIS took the set from there and moved it to join a growing group of other sensors on the far side of the lab.
Bruce ran a hand through his hair, tousling the loose, salt and pepper curls and sighed. His tired, brown eyes sought out the clock and blinked in surprise. "Ah, Tony? Didn't you have some charity thing with Pepper tonight?" Bruce asked.
"Wha?" Tony half articulated, busy with the physical pieces of the ankle joint, prodding the loose tubing that carried hydraulic fluid around the whole foot.
"Tony!" Bruce reached over to grab him by the arm.
"Bruce! What?", Tony snapped.
"Pepper? Charity event?", Bruce clipped out.
"Oh damn, that's tonight? J-man, how much time?", Tony nearly shouted at the AI.
"Mr. Stark, you have 15 minutes before Ms Potts begins looking for you," JARVIS responded.
"Better get moving then, dammit all. Next time, I'm roping you into coming with us, Banner, make no mistake," Tony grumbled, tossing the screwdriver to the table and practically storming from the lab.
"Yeah, there's a good idea, me, with the rage monster, at one of those balls," Bruce muttered half-heartedly, once Tony'd left.
"I know you Banner," Tony stuck his head back in through the lab door, "If nothing else, things would be more lively with you around." Bruce laughed and waved Tony away.
"JARVIS, save everything and shut it down. I'll take the sensor package to my tablet please. Can you tell me how crowded level 8 is right now?", Bruce addressed the AI as he cleaned up from tinkering with the armor.
"Of course sir. Level 8 is experiencing 60% of total capacity. Will you be going there, or back to your apartment?", the AI informed him.
Bruce sighed, drying his hands. "I can't hide forever, like a princess in a tower," he muttered.
"Very good, Dr. Banner," was the soft response.
Instead of working over the sensors at dinner, Bruce chose to catch up on the news, and grabbed a copy of the Times on his way across the courtyard on level 8. What he didn't count on was the overwhelming feeling of being watched as he looked over his choices this night.
'What a time to be alone. We're supposed to be safe here', he grumbled to himself. He made a slow scan of the food court, trying to spot any anomalies in the room. He couldn't see anything different, but felt truly uncomfortable. The Hulk moved in his mind, not threatening his control, just shifting, ready as always. The courtyard looked normal, but Bruce had only been down there twice before. Once with Tony, once with a team from the R&D levels. His first solo trip, and he lacked confidence. He growled to himself, frustrated. He knew it wasn't agoraphobia, just plain anxiety at not having been in social situations like this in so long. Perhaps the early stages of that phobia. His work in Third World countries let him keep and maintain a certain distance from the populace. He saw only what appeared to be Stark Industries employees having dinner. A few were entertaining obvious outsiders, but no one glaringly different, or that would make Bruce uncomfortable. He ran a nervous hand through his hair and turned back to the elevators. Once there, he flashed his SI badge at the ID reader and it allowed him to punch the button for his level.
Only when the doors closed on Bruce inside the elevator, did he take a good, deep breath.
"JARVIS?", he whispered.
"Sir?", the AI was confused.
"Check the entry logs and security tapes today for anyone unusual overstaying their welcome. Something nearly upset the Other Guy out there, and it wasn't the crowd. Inform Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts as well," Bruce instructed, leaning on the half lie.
"At once, sir. If it makes a difference, you have my apologies, sir," JARVIS said, genuinely apologetic.
"It's all right. You couldn't know, nor be everywhere at once," Bruce left the elevator and headed for his apartment. Tired now, he didn't want to bother with cooking, but went to the kitchen anyway.
He considered the issue of safety outside of the labs that wouldn't insult him, or piss off the Hulk. It wasn't like they could be kept locked up. That eroded his control like nothing else.
He heated some canned soup kept in his cabinet for nights he was too tired for more elaborate preparations, and ate at the little cafe table. Suddenly drained of energy, he could barely finish and just left the dishes standing on the table and padded to the bedroom.
He stripped for the shower, addressing the AI as he went, "JARVIS, leave another message for Mr. Stark. Tell him we need to talk about a series of safety protocols for the Other Guy."
"Yes sir. If I may, I will include that message with the results of my search," JARVIS agreed.
"Sure, that's fine. I'm going to bed after this, so I won't need you for the rest of the night. Thanks JARVIS." Bruce stepped into the shower, and tried to quell the slowly rising sense of disquiet.
A short time later, he turned off the water, toweled himself dry and pulled on sleeping pants. He got into bed and made himself comfortable under the sheet and comforter before closing his eyes and attempting to fall asleep.
Meanwhile, miles away at a glamorous high end hotel ball room, Tony Stark and Pepper Potts wined and dine with stars, socialites and other famous people over another boring fundraiser. Tony wasn't even sure what it was for. His phone chirped, alerting him to the incoming text message, making a frown briefly cross his face. He pulled the device from his pocket, gaining Pepper's attention from her conversation with an actor seated at their table.
"Tony?", she asked him. He held up a finger, prompting silence for just a moment while he queued up the text he'd received. He read it, the frown creeping back onto his face.
"There's a problem back at the tower," he said, looking up and locking gazes with Pepper.
"Bruce?", she whispered, a little afraid.
"Indirectly. Security is getting involved, but JARVIS says he's safe and back at his place," Tony replied.
"Why wasn't I called directly?", Pepper wondered, reaching for her clutch.
"Problems, Stark?" one of their table companions quipped. The table of famous people laughed, enjoying the idea of seeing Stark inconvenienced.
"Nah, just an experiment I left running," Tony shrugged indifference, the lie dripping from his tongue easily, "An intern sent me the results. It failed. Pep. I think I'm done for the night, how about you?" Tony brushed them off. He hated insincere people, and none of these people had ever cared for anything except for how much money he could throw at them.
Pepper blinked at him for a split second, then turned on a fake, megawatt smile. "Sure Tony. We have an early morning in the office anyway," she replied, wiping her mouth with her napkin before folding it next to her plate. Tony dropped his right on his plate, and stood, pushing his chair back. He helped Pepper out of her chair, mindful of her couture gown. The power couple stalked across the ballroom, heedless of any scene they presented, their minds already focusing on whatever problem awaited them.
Pepper quickly called Happy, asking for the limo to be brought around. Tony sent JARVIS a text, calling for the information his AI had assembled. Once in the car, their public personas shed, they got down to business.
Pepper called the head of security, and demanded an update, using the information Tony fed her from JARVIS's scans.
"Why Mr. Thomas, were there 6 military personnel present in Stark Tower during operating hours today? There are no contracts or other outstanding business with anyone in the Armed Forces," Pepper practically snarled into her phone. Tony thumbed through JARVIS's report, curious himself as to why so many were in the tower. Had the military figured out that Bruce was now staying there? Were they after him now?
He inserted an earbud into his ear, and called his AI, "JARVIS, talk to me."
"Sir, Dr. Banner left the lab for level 8 to go to dinner. Once on level 8, security footage shows him getting increasingly uncomfortable before turning back to the elevators and badging for his floor. Then he asked me to message you about any unusual persons at the Tower and then safety protocols for the Hulk before arriving back to his apartment," JARVIS explained.
"What else does the security footage show?", Tony asked, at the same time Pepper told the head of security, "Get all of the people those visitors were signed in to see, and bring them to conference room 10. I want to talk to them when I arrive. Do not tell them what it's about. Yes, recall them if they've gone home."
They spent the rest of the ride back to Stark Tower coordinating a response to this test of the security net. Meanwhile, the object of concern suffered nightmares of fear, fighting, blood, loss, and flight; unaware of their efforts to protect him and everything Stark had built.