20

Chapter 20Summary:

Steve and Bucky time.

Poor Underoos.

Hello Bruce. Hello Hulk.

Goodbye Ross.

Chapter Text

"Steve's a punk. He taught us more escape holds that the rest of us put together, that and his bloody shield." Bucky replied.

"The shield?" Milton asked.

"He flings that around like it's a discus, Sir. A discus that can stop a car or cut a tree in half. That and a pistol were all he had as weapons. He did more damage with the shield than he ever did with a gun. His aim's for shit."

Simms choked off a laugh at the insulted expressions on both Rogers' and Milton's faces.

"I see." Wordsworth nodded, biting his own lips. "Shields have little use in modern warfare."

"No, they don't." Steve agreed, modern warfare didn't describe what the Avengers did, not at all. "Neither do artists."

~~~

February 1st 2002

"How'd it go?" Bucky sat on the steps of Steve's Lady, as they all had taken to calling his house/shop.

"Good." Steve grinned. "Really good." That evening Steve had held the first of the self-defence and art classes for Bayonne Police department and the aged care home the department supported. "There were a few stunned codfish looks. But on the whole, it went well."

"Well enough to go back?"

"Oh, hell yeah." Steve's grin grew. "You should have seen it. Oh, shit it was good. Hodge was there."

"Hodge? Gilmore Hodge?" Bucky remembered Steve and Peggy telling him about Hodge's introduction to military life.

"Yep, him." Steve chuckled. "He took one look at me started spluttering. Shut up pretty quick when I offered to re-introduce him to Peggy."

"Sounds like you had fun." Bucky laughed.

"I did. Commander Kettering asked if I'd like to take some counselling classes with the VA. Get my certificates, properly this time."

"Didn't you get them last time?"

"Nah, Peggy had them fudged. None of my documents were genuine, last time. So, yeah, it'd be nice to do it properly."

"Yeah." Bucky nodded. "I guess it would."

"Don't tell me you were waiting up for me? Worried I was going to get lost?" Steve teased.

"Nah, I knew you'd be fine." Bucky shook his head. "Darcy asked me to remind you. It's Nat's eighteenth birthday on Monday and we're having a dinner for her on Sunday night, so much sure you clear the night."

"Eighteen? But…?"

"I know… Time travel is for shit." Bucky grumbled.

"You're not wrong, pal." Steve groaned. "I keep forgetting that Wanda's not a kid. We went through so much and I just… I'm struggling to get my head around the fact that even though they look like kids, they're adults. Maybe not physically, but mentally they are. I have to remind myself some times."

"Don't be tellin' Nat or 'Lena, you'll get your ass handed to you. Again." Bucky warned.

"That I do remember." Steve agreed. He'd slipped up and had the two teens ambush him and leave him hanging from a rope, a hundred and sixty feet in the air over an abandoned quarry on Tony's lakefront property. It took him an hour to climb the rope and the cable it was tied to, back to the dubious safety of land. He still wasn't sure how they'd gotten him out there, in the first place.

~~~

August 11th 2002.

"Sir?"

"Yeah, J?" Tony answered absently, he was working on designs for a multi-legged robot for search and rescue.

"Sir, a death certificate for Richard Parker has been lodged with Births, Deaths and Marriages."

Tony's head came up and his jaw tightened. "I… I don't think there's anything I can do, J…" he whispered.

"No, Sir, I agree but I felt that you should know."

"Yeah…" Tony's head fell into his hands and his shoulders shook. "Oh, Underoos… I'm so sorry."

~~~

June 21st 2003

"Sir?"

"J?"

"A death certificate for Ben Parker has been lodged."

"Ben? Underoos' Uncle Ben?"

"Yes, Sir. May Parker is listed as his widow."

"Oh, geez…" Tony let his head fall into his hands. "You just can't win for losing, can you, kid?" He muttered, ignoring the tears that coated his cheeks.

~~~

January 2nd 2004

"Sir!" JARVIS' voice was sharp, when interrupted the quiet conversation that Tony and Steve were having, regarding Asgard and the Guardians of the Galaxy as Quill called them.

"JARVIS?" Both men spun towards the door of Tony's office.

"Sir, Mrs May Parker and Master Peter Parker are walking up the front steps."

Tony and Steve barely had time to exchange glances before the doorbell chimed and someone thumped on the door, hard.

"Uh…?" Steve looked at a Tony frozen in shock. He shook his head and pushed himself to his feet, glancing again at Tony, who was now trembling. He headed out of the room and down the hall to the front door, before taking a deep breath and opening the door.

"You are not Tony Stark." May Parker snapped. "Where is he?!" It wasn't so much a question as a demand.

"I think that Dr Stark is-"

"I don't give a rat's ass what you think, Rogers." May said coldly. "Where is he?" She demanded, ignoring the crying toddler in her arms.

"Why don't you come in and we'll see what we can do to help you." Steve said.

"The only way you can help, Captain…" the word was spat out, "is to have Stark explain why my nephew is two years old, when I can very clearly remember him being seventeen."

"Oh, boy…" Steve grimaced.

"Yes." May nodded and shifted a struggling Peter from one arm to the other, only to have him wriggle until he managed to hit the ground. Then he was off and running down the hall.

It took Steve a few seconds to react and by the time he did, Peter was out of sight. All that was left was the sound of his wails. Wails that died off into noisy little sobs.

Tony stumbled from the office, Peter wrapped tightly in his arms, the toddler's arm were just as tight, around his neck.

"May…" His voice was broken and rough.

"What did you do, Stark?" May demanded.

"No, no, I didn't. I wouldn't. No…" It seemed to be all that Tony could say.

"Ma'am? If I might? Tony didn't do this. We don't know who did, but Tony was the first victim." Steve said.

"Victim?" May asked, her eyes narrowed in anger.

"Yes, ma'am." Steve nodded. "Come in and I'll explain what we know." He lead her into a cosy living room and gestured for her to sit. "The last time Tony saw Peter, Tony was… dying." May caught her breath and Steve nodded. "Yeah. It was… wasn't good."

"That would be why Peter is so upset?" May asked.

"I'd assume so." Steve nodded.

"You say Stark was the first victim?" She asked. "Victim of what? Of who?"

"What is time travel, ma'am. Who? We have no idea and no amount of research we've put in, so far, has lead anywhere."

"Time travel?"

"Sort of." Tony spoke for the first time. "What's the last thing you remember?" He asked May.

"Looking at my hand as it turned to dust." She answered.

"Yeah, not good." Tony sighed. "Do we know what Peter remembers?" He tucked Peter's head into his neck.

"T'anos." Peter lifted his head and spat the name, shoved his thumb into his mouth and then pulled it out again. "You 'ad the stones and 'napped. T'anos went t' dust. You died. You left me…" The tears started again and Peter's head was buried in Tony's neck.

"Oh, dear…" May let a single tear slide down her cheek. "How do we fix this?" She asked. "I've taken leave, but… Ben was on a veteran's pension, he did the staying at home stuff, not me. I love Peter but I'm not mom-material. I made this up as I went along, last time, I won't do it again."

Steve hummed. "Tony?"

"Steve?"

"Didn't you say that you'd bought the house behind the boys' place? And the one behind Buck's?"

"Yeah…?" Tony looked at Steve a little sideways.

"Why don't you let May and Peter have one of them and Peter can stay with one of us, during the day and May at night?"

The other two adults blinked. Was it that simple?

"…'Es, p'ease." A little voice said.

"Okay, we can do that." Tony nodded. "If you want?" He asked May.

"Yes, that could work," May nodded. "So, you said that you don't know who did this? Do you know what happened?"

"What, sort of. How, not a clue. Not a single clue." Tony said. "At best we can tell you what happened to us and those around us. And what we plan to do to stop Thanos before he really gets going."

"How about I make us some tea while Tony gets started?" Steve offered.

"Thank you, Captain." May gave him a small smile.

"Call me Steve, please." He patted her hands and stood up, heading for the kitchen. "I'll be back in a few."

"I woke to JARVIS' voice…" He heard Tony say.

~~~

April 16th 2005

Bruce opened his eyes and slammed them shut again, his head pounding. In the back of his mind Hulk rumbled quietly.

Bruce's eyes opened with surprise. 'Hulk?' He pushed the thought towards his alter-ego.

'Banner?' Hulk's rumble settled in a vaguely disgruntled muttering. 'What happened to us?' 

'I don't know.'

'Where are we?' Hulk asked.

Bruce looked around him. "Oh, dear Lord." He whispered.

'Hulk remember this place.' Hulk whispered in his mind.

"Yeah, buddy, I remember it, too." Bruce was whispering, too.

'Hulk not want to stay here.'

"No, I don't, either."

'We leave?'

'… I…' Bruce stopped himself as he automatically went to agree. 'Soon, we need to stop Ross from coming after us, again.'

'Hulk need to smash?'

'No, not yet. Give me a chance to see if I can get us away from him using words.'

'Banner good with words, Hulk good at smashing.'

'We are and if we need something smashed, I'll call you. Promise.'

'Kay. Hulk wait.'

Bruce felt Hulk hunker down and do the equivalent of dozing. He took a deep breath and made himself think. What would Tony or Clint do?

"Twist the truth and make him see what we want him to see." Bruce muttered. "Right, first thing's first. The formula." He pushed himself to his feet, with a groan, and crossed the room to the computer that he kept as his primary work station and gave a pleased grunt, when he saw it was already up and going. His fingers flew across the keys as he moved through the latest equation for the formula, sending a copy to a backup drive, that was quickly ejected, before he started to make changes. Symbols and numbers altered as he went through the formula. Then it was a case of backing-up those changes and wiping the main computer. A few more minutes were spent in hiding the first drive in a box of photographs and the second in an old chemistry textbook.

He pulled out a cell-phone and made a call that he really didn't want to make.

"Ross." The voice snapped.

"It's… it's Banner…" Bruce made his voice stammer a little.

"Banner?"

"Yes, I… I need to meet with you…" Bruce heard hulk rumble before settling again. "I…"

"Give me half an hour." Ross said shortly.

"Can we make it two hours?" Bruce asked. "I just need to… I'm playing basketball, needed to clear my head." He knew that Ross wouldn't wait that long but he was counting on the man giving him at least an hour.

"Two hours? Why so long?"

"I'm across campus and we're just taking a bathroom break, before we get back on court." Bruce said, letting his voice gain a little confidence without sounding strong. "I've reached a point in my research that is… I'm not sure how much further I can go. I need some… advice…?" He made the last word sound hopeful.

"Two hours." Ross agreed. "I'll be there."

"Thank you." Bruce let himself sigh, just enough to be heard by Ross, before the man disconnected the call.

"Time to get us out." He said, knowing that hulk would hear him and a smile pulled at his lips as Hulk grunted in agreement. He quickly crossed to his bedroom and grabbed a mid-sized backpack, tossing a couple of changes of clothes in it, along with a first aid kit, a towel and a couple of bottles of water. Then he did something that caused Hulk to make a questioning growl.

He took a scalpel from a lab kit and slashed his clothes, the bedsheets and the even the towels in the bathroom, leaving only one change of clothes laying on the bed.

"Why?' Hulk asked.

'To make it look like someone else has done it.' Bruce replied. 'We'll go play some basketball with a couple of college boys. Ross will turn up while we're not here and find the place looking like this. He'll send someone to bring me back here and I can have the boys say that I've been with them for a while. Then when I get here, I can act like I think he did this.'

'That will make him let us go?'

'Not by itself, but I'll also tell him that I've taken the formula as far as I can without years of extra study.'

"Banner smart, Banner learnt numbers and letters to fix us.'

'I did, but I'm not going to tell Ross that. I want him to think that I'm not as smart as we both know I am, that I can't fix the formula.'

'What will Ross do?'

'I'm going to tell him that he'll need more people working on this.'

'And if he finds more people?'

'It won't help. The only reason the formula worked, is because of what dad did to us when we were little.'

'Banner still little.' Hulk muttered.

'Little-er' Bruce laughed.

'Banner do what Banner needs to do, to keep us safe.'

'You got it, buddy.' Bruce nodded. He quickly pulled off the ripped clothes and threw them into the closet with the slashed remains of the rest of his wardrobe, then dressed in the set of clothes he'd left on the bed, followed by a pair of running shoes. He picked up the backpack and closed the door behind him, he knew that the security system wouldn't kick in until nine o'clock and it was still a few minutes away. He slipped the pack to his shoulder and after a deep breath, began to walk, quickly moving up into a jog and then to a near sprint.

Once he approached the basketball courts he slowed to a jog, grateful that he'd kept himself relatively fit at this point in time. He called out to the boys playing and quickly joined their game. Half an hour later he called a time out and implied that he needed a bathroom break.

Instead of finding a bathroom he ran back to his cottage/lab and deliberately set off the security system, before heading back to the basketball court.

It was less than fifteen minutes later that a large black SUV pulled to a stop beside the court.

"Dr Banner!" A young-ish man in a military uniform stepped out of the vehicle.

"Yeah?" Bruce answered.

"General Ross is waiting for you." The man called. "Back at the lab."

"Dammit, I asked him to give me a couple more hours." Bruce muttered, loud enough for the man and his driver to hear.

"Brass is always impatient, man." Laughed one of the college boys. "Better not keep his ass waiting. They's 'll make ya pay fer it later." The other two boys laughter joined in.

"Tell me about it." Bruce laughed back, he trotted over to his pack and pulled the towel and a water bottle from it, before slinging the pack over his shoulder and heading back to the SUV and the door the soldier was holding open for him. "Thanks." He gave man a smile and settled into the back seat. He was a little surprised but quite pleased that Hulk was trusting him as much as he was.

After the first snap, he'd spent months working in connecting with Hulk and as a result the two had almost become one, both of them finding a sense of peace within the connection and shared body. And that connection was still there. Emotionally and mentally, if not physically.

The drive across campus was short and quiet, allowing Bruce to plan out his actions and reactions, depending on how he thought Ross was going to behave. Pulling to a halt, the soldier leapt out to open the door for him and escorted him into the lab, which was really only Bruce's living room kitted out with scientific equipment.

Once inside the door, Bruce jerked as though startled.

"What the hell did you to my lab?!" He squawked, raising an amused grunt from Hulk and a startled look from Ross.

"Nothing, Dr Banner." Ross answered. "This was how we found it."

Before he could go on, another soldier approached. "Sir, we checked the security log. Someone entered the building twenty-three minutes ago. They were gone when the system rebooted, ten minutes later."

"Ten minutes?" Ross asked, looking around the room. "That's a lot of damage to be done within ten minutes."

"Sir, we suspect it to be a team of three or four people." The soldier shook his head.

"Did they take anything?"

"No, Sir. But…"

"But?" Ross asked.

"Given the… mess… in the bedroom and bathroom, we feel that this was a personal attack on Dr Banner not a professional one."

"The mess?" Bruce asked turning to face the soldier.

"I'm sorry, Dr Banner, the clothes in the bedroom and bathroom, along with all the bedding and bathroom linens have been… shredded."

"Shredded?!" Bruce made sure to sound shocked. He started to head in that direction only to have Ross pull him up.

"Dr Banner? Perhaps you should check your computer to ensure that your work has not be stolen."

"Oh, God." Bruce turned and darted in the opposite direction, letting his fingers touch the keyboard and fire up the computer. Or attempt to fire up the computer.

It didn't work and Bruce was internally pleased that something that Tony had taught him had worked so easily. 'TinMan smart.' Hulk laughed.

"It's dead." Bruce whispered.

"Please tell me you do regular backups?" Ross asked, rubbing a hand over his face.

"Of course, I do." Bruce replied, sounding indignant. "I do double backups."

"Double backups?" Ross asked.

"Same hard-drive, I just… I do a backup, spend ten- or fifteen-minutes checking that it's worked properly and then delete the external drive and do it again. That's standard."

"Where do you keep the drive?"

Bruce didn't answer, instead he climbed to his feet and approached the bookcase, pulled a hardback copy of 'The Fundamentals of Chemistry' from the shelf and opened it to reveal a hidden pocket.

"Very good, Dr Banner." Ross nodded. "You'll at least be able to return to your work without delays."

"And that was why I wanted to speak to you." Bruce said absently, making sure that it seemed as though her were distracted.

"Oh?" Ross asked.

"I can't go any further." Bruce slumped down onto a broken chair.

"Dr Banner, your work is vitally important, you can't give up now." Ross started.

"No, you don't understand. It's not a case of want, it's… at this point in time, I simply don't have the knowledge to go any further than I already have."

"Ah." Ross grunted, his frown fading. "What do you need to progress?"

"Fifteen years to study math, ten years to study nuclear chemistry, the same for nuclear physics and probably four or five to study biology."

"What?" Ross blinked.

"I'm a biochemist, general, not a biologist. I've reached the point, that I can't go any further without knowing a hell of a lot more than I currently do."

"So you what? Want to give up?"

"No, Sir." Bruce said. "This project needs more than I can provide. If I hand it to you, I know that you can find people that are able to do what I can't."

"Ah." Ross grunted. "You do realise that would remove your grants, don't you?"

"I do, but this project…? It's… Like you said, it's very important. More important than my profession pride." Bruce shrugged. "What good is pride if I can't ever get it to work?"

"So very true, Dr Banner." Ross nodded. "It would mean giving up this house."

"Nothing here is mine." Bruce said. "All I have is my clothes and a box of photos." He paused. "And didn't your man say my clothes have been shredded?"

"He did."

"So, that means that all I have is my backpack." He pointed at the door and the pack he'd dropped when he'd come in. "And my mom's photos." He pointed to a box on top of the bookshelf.

"Corporal, please fetch down Dr Banner's photos and check them."

"There's a pair of old HDDs in there, they've got all mom's home movies on them." Bruce warned them. "Or did, when I last checked them."

"And when was that?"

"Not since I moved in here." Bruce whispered.

"Not since your father's death, then?" Ross asked.

"Probably prior to that." Bruce shook his head.

"Hmm…" Ross paced around the room and watched as the soldier retrieved the box and checked that the contents were what Bruce had said. "If we accept your… resignation…? What will you do? Where will you go?"

"Probably a motel for a couple of nights. I need more than two changes of clothes." Bruce sighed. "Then…? I'm not sure. This project has been my life for the last… ten years…" The last two words were whispered. "I think I want to travel, maybe visit the city. Tony Stark tried to get me to work with him a few years ago, he was looking to develop a new department, or something, but I was in the middle of an area of advancement and I honestly thought that I could finish the project on my own." He shook his head. "I let my ego get ahead of the science."

"We'll provide you with accommodation tonight, Dr. I'll even authorise a deposit to your account to compensate you for the damage caused tonight. However, I will have to insist that you sign a Non-Disclosure Agree form." Ross said.

"I thought I had already signed one?" Bruce asked, he really didn't want to sign a second one. The first was in regard to the information provided by Ross and said nothing about Bruce using it, himself.

"You did?" Ross turned to the soldier at his side. "Corporal, did Dr Banner sign an NDA for this project?"

"Our records state that there is one on file, Sir." The soldier replied after glancing through his folder.

"In that case, find a motel for Dr Banner and see to a deposit, he's been left with only the clothes on his back. Five thousand dollars. No. Ten thousand." He turned back to Bruce. "Consider it a… severance payment, as well."

"So, you'll accept my resignation and take the project? You'll find people to complete what I started." Bruce knew that the changes he'd made would ensure that the project would never be completed enough to reach the human testing stage.

"I will, Dr." Ross nodded. "If you like, I have two men heading for West Point tomorrow, you can ride with them as far as New York?" He tilted his head in question. "They can drop you at one of Stark's factories."

Bruce felt Hulk brighten and take an interest in the conversation, when he heard the name 'Stark'.

'Hulk like TinMan. Hulk want see TinMan.' Came the whisper into his mind.

"A lift to New York would be helpful." Bruce gave Ross a timid smile and felt Hulk smile, too.