Chapter 23: Prep Work

A/N: Why should Tony deal with all the problems Fury did during Fury's Big Week when he can just head some of them off at the pass ahead of time?

-x-X-x-

"Time to go, Doctor Banner."

It has been one hundred and eighty-three days since the last time that Bruce Banner transformed into the Hulk. Just over six months without 'incident'. Which is why, even as adrenaline flows through his veins at the sudden sound of someone in his makeshift, jerry-rigged laboratory, Bruce does his level best to stay calm.

Easier said then done though when you were pretty sure you were completely alone just a second ago, and then all of the sudden someone is talking to you from just across the room where you were confident nobody was there mere moments before.

And to think, it'd been such a good day up until now too. He'd just gotten done watching the opening ceremonies for the 2010 Stark Expo on his ancient, barely alive CRT television. Would he have preferred to have been able to attend in person? Of course he fucking would have. But Bruce had grown used to the way his life had changed since his mistake five years ago. Since he'd turned himself into a monster.

Honestly, seeing Tony Stark on stage, talking about the Expo's history, showcasing a few new toys and also highlighting some of the projects that others would be presenting at the Expo had… it'd reinvigorated Bruce. Perhaps that's why he'd been leaned over a microscope mere moments after the opening ceremonies were over, studying another sample of his blood.

Now, of course, he slowly raises his hands in surrender and just as slowly turns to face the weirdly robotic voice of whoever's found him. Not for his own sake mind you, but because if they were armed and did decide to shoot him, it would go very, very badly for them… and he's trying so hard not to turn into a big green rage monster these days.

Funnily enough, his adrenaline actually shorts out for a moment when he finally lays eyes on the owner of that robotic voice. His first instinct is 'robot'… but then as he looks it over a bit more, he realizes no. That's no robot, that's a suit of armor. An incredibly advanced, high-tech suit of armor at that. Gaping in amazement at the matte black, sleek metal suit, Bruce almost forgets himself. Almost.

There's no visible guns at the moment, but then there doesn't really need to be if whoever this is thinks they can just manhandle him into submission. Looking over the armored suit however, Bruce doesn't like their odds. Offering a sheepish smile, his hands still raised in surrender, he tilts his head to the side.

"Look… that's a really nice piece of technology you have there. But if you think that suit is going to help you take down the big guy, you've got another thing coming. This is a really bad idea."

He doesn't have high expectations of managing to talk down someone with this kind of technology. This level of advancement has to come with a whole lot of confidence in their capabilities. But he figures he owes them, himself, and the surrounding area at least the attempt. A hundred and eighty three days… he really doesn't want to break his streak if he can help it.

The armored suit tilts its head to the side at that, and then a chuckle comes out of it.

"Well done, Dr. Banner. I think you're the first to realize this was a piloted vehicle, rather than just a robot."

Bruce flushes a little bit, feeling his ears go a little hot at the praise. Been a while since he got a compliment for his intelligence, he supposed. He's not used to them.

"As for this being a bad idea… no, I don't think so. I think this is a very good idea, that will preempt some very bad ideas on your part and the part of one Thaddeus Ross."

What? Bruce furrows his brow, confused by that. Fortunately, his mysterious visitor seems to like to hear himself speak, because he's happy to elaborate.

"I'm not here to capture you or apprehend you or experiment on you, Doctor Banner. I'm here to warn you that it's time to move along."

That causes Bruce's jaw to clench and he has to take in a few deep breaths to calm himself down again. It wasn't like he was unused to moving around a lot in the last five years. It was just… he was finally making some real progress here. He could be getting close to a cure, especially with the help of Mr. Blue, his long-distance research partner. So…

"Why?"

Whoever's in the suit doesn't seem perturbed by Bruce biting out his question. They should be, because at the moment Bruce is trying not to get too angry. No one wins if he gets too angry. Only… the next thing out of that metal faceplate of theirs is like a bucket of ice water right down his back.

"Because earlier today General Ross got actionable intel that you were here in Rio de Janeiro, Doctor Banner. In a couple of days he'll have traced you to the bottling factory. He's already mobilizing his forces and he'll be here within the week to try to take you into his custody. At which point we both know what will happen. You will transform and go on a rampage, and people might get hurt."

Bruce flinches. People WOULD get hurt. People always got hurt. Still… fuck. Honestly, he believes them immediately. It had been a while since Ross had tracked him down. Too long. Bruce knew he couldn't stay ahead of the United States General forever, so it made sense that he was finally due for a visit.

The armored figure was right. If Ross was a week away from Rio de Janeiro, then Bruce had a very short window to escape the country and slip out of the General's net before he closed in on his location and caused another incident. It was just… Bruce looks around at his ramshackle lab almost mournfully. He was so close. If only he could-

"Let me guess. You're thinking about Culver University. You're wondering if any of the data from your original experiment might still exist. Let me stop you right there, Banner. If you go back to America, Ross WILL find you and he WILL cause another incident. More than that, he's still desperately working on trying to create super soldiers. What do you think will happen if he or any of his lackeys gets ahold of some of your blood, hm? You've done well to run this long, Doctor Banner. But you can't stop now."

Bruce stares with wide eyes at the armored figure. How? How had he known? More than that, everything else he was saying was… enough to chill Bruce down to his very bones. Unfortunately, his visitor wasn't done quite yet.

"Oh, and lose Mr. Blue's number. And please don't send him any more of your blood, I just got done destroying the last sample."

Another surge of emotion and adrenaline rushes through Bruce and this time he has to clench his hands into fists to try to calm himself down. Still the armored figure doesn't react with any sort of fear.

"What? Why would you do that? What are you talking about? Mr. Blue is helping me. He's the only one who's been helping me."

"He's using you, Banner."

Bruce blinks as he suddenly gets an alert on his computer. Glancing over, he sees that he has a new email from a scrambled address. There's an attachment. Carefully, hesitantly, he reaches out and opens it… and stares, eyes starting to water with tears of frustration as he reads through Samuel Sterns', aka Mr. Blue's research into his blood.

His long distance research partner hadn't just used the blood Bruce had sent him a month back for the purposes of trying to synthesize a cure. No, he'd been looking into other purposes as well. His overarching goal was rather noble to be fair… he seemed to want to make humans practically immune to every type of genetic disease known to mankind. But he was playing with fire. Bruce could have told him that if he'd known, but he hadn't known because Mr. Blue, Professor Sterns… had kept it from him.

Letting out a shuddering breath, Bruce nods and looks back to the silent, watching figure in his laboratory.

"You're right. I'll cut off all contact."

His visitor tilts its armored head to the side.

"Good call, Dr. Banner. Consider this a token of my appreciation for your work."

A black square dislodges itself from the armor, dropping down into a metal palm. Then, the figure moves over to a nearby filing cabinet and sets the black square on top of it. Bruce stares at it worriedly for a moment before biting the bullet and just fucking asking.

"What… what is it?"

The armored figure almost seems to radiate amusement.

"It's a Starkphone, Doctor Banner. Modified to be untraceable and undetectable. You'll find everything that's left of the original experiment from 2005 on it, along with all of yours and Professor Sterns' work over the last year. I'm not unsympathetic to what you're giving up here, Banner. But with this, you won't be giving up half as much."

That was… Bruce eyes the Starkphone hungrily. Even still…

"This feels like a Faustian Deal. What's in it for you? Why are you doing this for me, exactly?"

The armored figure pauses.

"Hm, been a while since I was compared to the Devil. As for why I'm doing this… I'll just be honest with you, shall I? I've got a lot on my plate right now. It's going to be a busy couple months. The last thing I need is to worry about you and Thaddeus Ross tearing up a United States City because of his obsession with you. Giving you this warning along with the phone is my way of heading off a major disaster, plain and simple."

That makes a lot of sense, actually. Of course, just as Bruce is getting ready to nod his head in agreement, his mysterious visitor has to cap it all off.

"For you, Doctor Banner, today might just end up being the most important day of your entire life. For me, it's just another Friday."

… Alright, fuck this guy, just a little bit. Even still, the assholish behavior actually kind of sets Bruce at ease, much to his own surprise. It makes sense in a way. Someone who could develop a highly advanced suit of armor like the man in front of him is wearing wouldn't really care about Bruce or the monster within, outside of the potential damage that he might cause.

"I'll leave you to start making your travel plans, Doctor Banner. Oh, and since you're going to see my own personal thoughts on your condition anyways when your curiosity finally forces you to use the Starkphone, I'll just tell you now… you're going about this all wrong."

Bruce frowns, but the armored figure isn't done.

"You think of the Hulk as something to be purged, to be purified from your body. You consider him a disease, an affliction to cure yourself of."

Gritting his teeth, Bruce does his best to hold back the urge to snarl. Green creeps into his vision as he bites out his response.

"That's because he is."

"Is he? Or is he just the other part of you that you've never allowed yourself to acknowledge before? Ask yourself this, Banner. If your passenger is nothing but a big green rage monster, why does he share your love of Betty Ross?"

Bruce blinks but before he can answer, the armored figure turns and leaves. He does so damn near silently too, disappearing out the door and off into the sky before Bruce can do more than get off of his stool. He stares after his unexpected visitor for a long moment, those final words echoing in his head… and then he goes and grabs the Starkphone off of the filing cabinet, along with a few other essentials before leaving without a single backwards glance.

-x-X-x-

Meeting Bruce again had been… interesting. Part of Tony just wanted to bring Bruce Banner onboard altogether. He could have probably 'cured' Bruce in a single afternoon, completely removed the Hulk from him entirely, and left him as a simple mild-mannered scientist.

But Tony didn't want to do that. Not only did he feel like the Hulk deserved to exist, it would invite far too much attention if he took Bruce completely off the board and started protecting him. Tony didn't want to deal with Thaddeus Ross and his particular brand of insanity just yet. Actually, he didn't want to deal with the man ever, if he could help it… which he could.

That could wait though, because now that he'd gotten Bruce out of Ross' warpath, there wasn't going to be any battle between the Hulk and the Abomination in Harlem in June. And that meant Tony could focus entirely on juggling his duties at the Stark Expo alongside the upcoming extraterrestrial visit from Asgard.

He already had Dr. Foster, Dr. Selvig, and Poli Sci Major Darcy Lewis visiting the Expo at the moment. Being their primary backer when it came to resources had allowed him to gently strongarm them into coming out for the opening ceremonies. Of course, soon enough the atmospheric disturbances in New Mexico would draw the three of them away from the Expo… giving Tony the perfect excuse to follow and make a nuisance of himself when Thor arrived on Earth for the first time.

Dealing with the Hulk and Ross and Blonsky alongside all of that was one mess too many… so Tony had just shunted the problem down the road. Would Ross find Bruce again and make a mess of things later on? Maybe. Or maybe Tony would just keep Bruce one step ahead of Ross until the stars aligned for it to be the perfect time for the Hulk to take center stage.

Of course, there was also the possibility that Bruce would take everything Tony had given him and devise a 'cure'. Tony hoped not, but he'd already decided he wasn't going to stop the man if that's what Bruce wound up doing. It was out of his hands now.

Though, visiting Bruce had left Tony thinking about the other rage monster he had very much ON his hands still. And so, flying back from Brazil, the billionaire finds himself paying a visit to one James Barnes, former Winter Soldier.

"How we feeling today?"

Still in the cozy, fully furnished prison cell where Tony had stuck him, the man looks up from the book he's reading and presses his lips tightly together.

"… Fine."

Tony hums and nods. Just as he'd hoped, being allowed to recover in a lot nicer circumstances then the first time around had helped Barnes break free of the conditioning a lot faster. It also helped that Tony had basically bombarded him with his past, giving him access to nothing but the mission records of the Howling Commandoes as well as some really dumb films made about their exploits for James to watch.

In fact, one of the first things to come out of his mouth that Tony was ninety-nine percent sure was all Barnes and not the Soldier had been a grumbled 'That's not what fucking happened at all' while he was watching one of the old war movies Tony had prepared for him.

And yet…

"Think you're ready to maybe go out for a walk, Barnes?"

Pure, unadulterated panic spreads across the man's face.

"… I'd rather not if it's all the same to you."

Yeah, that was about what Tony had come to expect. James Buchanan Barnes had been quite the suave, extroverted individual according to history. But as he was now… he was afraid of everything. Mostly though, he was afraid of himself and the damage he could cause.

Tony just shrugs, still all smiles.

"Sure Barnes. Not a problem. Anything I can get for you in the meantime before I go?"

When the brainwashed assassin actually hesitates for a moment, Tony perks up, curious what's about to come out of his mouth. Unfortunately, it's not some ludicrous request like a thousand pizzas, unfortunately. Instead, it's a rather ragged…

"Why?"

When Tony raises an eyebrow in response, Barnes closes and uncloses his one flesh and blood hand. The metal arm is gone, removed at his request several months ago.

"… Why are you doing all of this for me? Keeping me safe? Taking care of me? Helping me? I… I remember. I killed him… and her."

He doesn't say their names, thank fucking god. Tony has come a long way since Siberia… he's literally traveled through time in fact. But hearing his mother or father's names from Barnes' lips would have been… triggering as the youth called it these days.

For a long moment, Tony considers the question. Then, he quirks up the side of his mouth and answers.

"Because I'm a super villain Barnes. I'm taking over the world and you play an integral part in my plans. Why else?"

For a moment, just a moment, Bucky Barnes flashes a grin right out of an old, yellowed photo. He even snorts too, before getting solemn and withdrawn again. With a roll of his eyes, Tony claps his hands together.

"Well, this has been fun but I am a busy man so if you're intent on keeping yourself locked up, I'll leave you to it. Let JARVIS know if you need anything."

"… Yeah."

Truthfully, Tony is one hundred percent using the other man's own fears against him. Barnes had 'woken up' here in this place, regaining so much of what he lost under Tony and JARVIS' care. He felt safe with them because of it. If Barnes suddenly did want to go outside, Tony actually didn't really have a plan for that… he'd have to improvise and while he was pretty damn good at that, it still might get messy.

But by offering the recluse the opportunity, he allowed Barnes to be the one to shut down the idea, time after time. And that kept the former Winter Soldier complacent and under wrap, just as Tony needed him to be.

Leaving the super soldier to his very, very slow recovery, Tony heads back to the Expo. He's only been gone for an hour, barely enough time to be missed. This time around, there will be no Vanko. No drones. Still some Justin Hammer, but Tony is willing to let the little guy continue to live in his shadow and ultimately make Tony look better by comparison.

For every winner, you have to have losers after all.

-x-X-x-

A/N: Everything is going according to plan. Next up, Thor, Jane Foster, and New Mexico!

Hm, in the meantime, what do you guys think Bucky's ultimate fate in this fic should be? Does he quietly retire, wind up Tony's bodyguard, something else I haven't thought of yet?

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