fossilised | it's a new plot!

That was surprisingly mature of Tony, though he suspected that there was more to it than that. There was no way that Tony knew that someone was in his Tower and hadn't gone to speak to him, but obviously it was more private than even Bruce had a right to know. Strange, usually he couldn't stop Tony from telling him everything in his head.

"And I suppose that extends to not telling Steve that the man he's searching for so desperately is there?"

He honestly didn't know how he felt about that.

On the one hand, he understood the need for choice and to be alone. But on the other, he knew how hurt Steve was and how urgently he looked for the friend he had known since he was a little kid.

“Steve might have been brought up poor for half of his life but he’s got to do and see amazing things, make friends, and very likely wasn’t raped or tortured for the last few decades so excuse me for raising my voice, Banner, but the only people that have a right to know where Barnes is right now is Barnes himself.”

He actually had raised his voice, sharply, and it was just painfully unlike him that even he seemed to understand that he shouldn’t have done it. He didn’t want to alienate Bruce, but he also didn’t want to send James into a tizzy attempting to run away from his problems.

“Steve is going to be there when James is ready,” Tony said, slumping back into the chair even if it meant wrinkling the back of his vest. “And they’re going to laugh and cry and eat gallons of ice cream and watch the Lion King and braid each other’s hair all night long. But it can’t happen yet because James just isn’t ready,” Tony said. He realized that he was pleading now. And that his hand was currently pressed down over Bruce’s knuckles, his fingers laying in the grooves between Bruce’s.

He immediately pulled his hand back and clutched it with his other hand.

He could feel the pulse in his head throb. The whispers were going to be bad today.

“I promised, Bruce. I promised to give him space where he’s safe and i don’t want to ask you to lie but please don’t tell Rogers.”

For all that the shouting took him by surprise, Bruce was actually pleased by it. It was so rare that Tony found anything that could get past his defences so much that it wasn't treated to the same blend of sarcasm and flippancy that everything else was, so this was wonderful. It was always good to see that true heart inside him, and that it was roused for a worthy cause was even better.

"I won't tell him where Bucky Barnes is, but I do want to tell him that I know he's safe. I think that Steve is scared that his friend is dead, or suffering, or even back in hands of HYDRA. Giving him that peace of mind is a kindness."

It was strange to hear Tony call the other man James, oddly intimate, which was why he stuck to Bucky. It was as if he hadn't earned the right to use the name James yet.

"But I agree with you that he should have that safe space to find out who he is, I'm proud of you for giving him that."

“Thanks, dad.” At least nothing had been said about Tony’s momentary need for a touch that was too intimate for his own persona. He just had very strong thoughts about holding Banner’s hand. They never had done that, but many versions of the two of them could only go that far with their affection. Anything else would bring out the dangerous side of Bruce Banner. “You can tell him anything you want about it, and I’m not going to stop you, but I will deny it until I’m blue in the face. And blue is not a good color on me.”

What would take two hours in the car took less than fifteen minutes by air. The quintet was already starting landing sequences and Tony stood to take the seat. He preferred to do the most dangerous stuff himself.

The compound was bustling when they landed and people ran over to greet them and tell them that Captain Rogers, Sam Wilson, the Vision and Natasha Romanoff were already in the conference room. The rest were on their way. They all seemed surprised to see Bruce, though, and the way they acted changed almost immediately. Tony hated that. He waved them off and straightened his jacket as he and Bruce stride across the grounds towards the main building, all glass and metal.

“You nervous?” He meant about Natasha of course.

The moment that they landed and stepped off the quinjet, Bruce became less. It always happened around other people, the ones who showed their fear of him through excessive politeness or cautious words. His shoulders hunched, he became quieter, as if to try and prove that he wasn't a threat.

It had been Tony who had been the first one to teach him to stand tall again.

Seeing Natasha had him sinking into himself as well, of course he was nervous about it, the woman had chosen the Hulk over him and the happiness that they might have had together. He swallowed hard and shook his head, though that was blatantly a lie.

"What's there to be nervous about?"

Tony glanced at Bruce but didn’t comment on the way he walked. Mousy. Unassuming. He did that. He shrunk, and he was already a smallish kind of guy to begin with. Two years as being the Hulk didn’t help the man who had tagged along for the ride, evidently not remembering much at all. They hadn’t spoken a lot about Bruce. They should do that. Tony was just an egoist and he focused on himself. He needed to get that out of his system and try to focus on other people more—

James was teaching him that just as he was teaching James that trust was possible.

He wished his friend was there. It would take the brunt off of him, at least. He could be callous and no one would care because Bucky was the guy everyone had been worried about for years now.

Tony paused outside of the conference room. The sleek black doors were shut and the bright sunshine flooded through the windows on either end of the hallway. The Avengers symbol embellished the curving handles.

Tony didn’t want to touch them, and then because that was ridiculous, he reached forward and pulled the handles towards him. Four sets of eyes looked up and four bodies rose. Not for him. They didn’t really like him. Not even the Vision all that much. Their eyes were focused on Bruce Banner.

Tony felt the sting of that. He was only useful for his role in getting other people what they needed to make their lives easier. Money. Technology. “Look who I found!” And even Bruce Banner. “Present from Thor. He says hello by the way.”

Steve rounded the table and offered his hand to Bruce, and Tony moved away in the opposite direction to sit himself down. Away from the action.

Tony was so quick to see what wasn't there because his bias made him look for it. He thought that nobody liked him or wanted to see him, and so he thought all the eyes on Bruce were because of that and not just because everyone was surprised to see him when he hadn't been heard from in two years.

Natasha looked awkward when she came up to stand in front of Bruce after, but they didn't actually say anything. Bruce's shoulders just hunched further and his eyes hooded with sadness, before he slipped into one of the seats. For a moment Natasha looked like she might cry, and then the perfect assassin's mask slid back into place and she chose a seat too.

Steve, having shaken hands with Bruce, strode over to Tony to offer his hand too, genuine smile at his lips. Hope in his eyes that the hatchet could be buried and maybe they could be friends again.

"Hey, Tony-- Bruce. Everyone. It's so good to see you all in one room again."

Tony was a man of many slights. And it was true. Most of them were all in his head. He just couldn’t help himself. He couldn’t help the way he felt. It had been a big disservice his father had done for him in his youth. He looked, honestly, a little surprised when Steve came over. He shouldn’t have been. They spent some time sitting on the phone together when they were both low and that hadn’t been helpful really save to get them talking. But this...?

He stared at Steve’s hand as the doors opened again and Clint sauntered in, and some guy he didn’t know came behind him, talking too much. The voice was familiar but Tony wasn’t paying any attention.

He had gotten to his feet and then slowly, reverently, slid his hand into Steve’s.

“Missed me, did you?” Because Tony missed him.

Steve clasped Tony's hand as if he fully understood the gravity of what was being offered to him, smiling one of those beaming smiles that even lit up his eyes. He wasn't a man who could lie very well, or at all most of the time, so Tony could be assured that the joy he was seeing was genuine.

"I always miss my friends when we have to be apart for a while. And thank you for coming back and giving me a second chance after what I did, I'm still sorry, I should never have lied to you."

“Shut up, Rogers,” Tony said, smelling the man’s aftershave (because of course he used it) and what was probably powder. It had such a strong reaction out of him that he pulled the man in for an embrace, not exactly as he had done with Bruce, but there was full body contact just the same. He couldn’t help it.

He’d missed Steve. He missed his warmth.

And he was currently hosting the guy’s best friend so... we’ll they were going to eventually be even on the not telling each other thing.

He released Steve as quickly as he had held him close and plopped back down before Rhodey elbowed his way over. “Don’t I get a hug?”

“Nope,” he told his friend, glad to see her had started to walk without the cane. It was an uncomfortable moment for them all as the Avengers all filtered in. The last time they had been together, it had been a brawl.

“Hey guys!” Whatever Tony might have said was swallowed up by the teenager bounding towards him. In costume. “Wow so cool to meet you guys! You know, when we’re not fighting. Mister Stark, hoooo... Doctor Banner? Wow!”

Steve felt something unwind in his chest when Tony accepted his apology and friendship back. With the Accords gone, it felt like maybe this might be a chance for them to rebuild into the strong team they had been before Ultron, when they had become like a family again.

Bruce blinked in surprise at the costumed teenager. He wasn't used to most people knowing his name, usually they worked hard to keep Banner and the Hulk separate, and it was the Hulk that most people knew. Though scientifically minded people sometimes knew that a physicist called Bruce Banner worked with the Avengers from time to time, he had no idea that Peter Parker was a scientifically inclined kid.

"Uh-- hi, it's nice to meet you too," Bruce said in confusion, holding out his hand politely. "And you are?"

So this was the kid that they should have had, but had Ultron instead. He was bright, but like all ten year olds (Tony had no Idea how old he actually was), he was rambunctious. And idiotic.

Peter changed his voice to make it sound deeper, reaching excitedly for Bruce’s hand. “Hey— Hi. Spider-Man. Nice to meet—“

“Parker, knock it off,” Tony said from the other end of the table. “I get the whole secret identity. However. If you’re here you have to trust people.”

“Parker? Who’s that?” Peter laughed nervously and tried to lean on the table before misjudging and almost falling over. He used the suit to catch him though and he tried to pull off looking cool with the web hammock he made. It didn’t work.

“Oh it’s that spider-kid, from the airport,” Sam said, coming to stand by Steve as Tony snapped at Peter to pull off the mask.

“Come on.”

“Mister Stark—“ That was a whine. But he did do as he was hold, sheepishly removing the hood. His hair was in total disarray. “Uh.. sorry guys. Peter Parker. It’s... still... really great to meet you.”

Bruce still just looked incredibly confused. He had no idea what the airport or the spider-kid were about, and he had absolutely no clue that Tony had taken him under his wing for a while and nearly inducted him properly into the Avengers. Before Pepper left and he ended up sinking into his little hole again.

So he just glanced around the table to where a few more people were looking nonplussed. They still recognised Parker, but were sort of confused as to why he was there. He was, after all, just a kid, and this wasn't a kid's game.

"I think somebody might need to fill me in on this later," mumbled Bruce, scrubbing a hand through his hair. "I've been a bit, uh, busy. Thor says hello, by the way, but he's taking an official hiatus from the Avengers. His father has passed away and he has the duties of a King to occupy him for the moment, but he says he'll always come if 'our need is great'."

Steve took his seat finally and frowned down the table, though out of concern rather than disapproval. Okay, maybe slight disapproval. "Nice to meet you again, Peter, it's always good to see another New York native. But do you mind if I ask why you're here?"

The kid looked around the room, filled with past and present and returned Avengers (minus Thor), and though he tried to remember that he saved New York when no one else would believe him about the Chitauri black market, he couldn’t help but feel a little out of his league. “Well. Well Happy sent me a Captain America emoji and today’s date and then dropped me off.” His hair seemed to pout, that was how animated the boy was. “I’m sorry, Mister Stark. I know I said I wasn’t interested full time but I thought when Happy told me to assemble, you needed me again.”

He spread something Tony Stark obviously had a hand in making on the table, as eyes shifted to Tony. He seemed to like the attention, because the older man was smirking

“He’s worked with the Stark Initiative in a consulting fashion twice now. Think of him like our first junior member. Someone needs to mentor him because today’s potential super heroes could easily turn into tomorrow’s super villains.” He turned to Bruce and waggled his eyebrows. “Like that? Literally just popped into my head.” Tony stood and sauntered his way over to the back of Peter’s chair, which he gripped, tightly. “Parker is strong, smart enough to disable all of the safety functions I built into his suit, and listens to authority as well as any of us.”

Of all people, it was Natasha that spoke up. “I think he should be here,” she said. He wasn’t that much younger than Wanda. And sure, Wanda still wasn’t completely right from what was done to her, but Natasha had started very young herself. She wished she had a guiding hand. Tony’s might not be the best hand but maybe Tony needed it too. “He’s proven himself capable to step up to the plate.”

But Scott kept making faces.

“You know we like, Uh, tried to kill a kid last year? No offense, your super powers are cool.”

Peter worked up. “So are yours! I love the whole growing thing!”

Scott rubbed the back of his neck. “The Gulliver’s Travels response was pretty clever—“

Peter frowned. “Who..?”

“Anyway,” Tony broke in, hands now on Peter’s shoulders to pull him back into the seat since he looked about ready to happily melt out of it. “I vote he stays. Intern capacity. Go get us coffee, Parker.”

Wanda and Vision both also agreed that he should stay, but even with the overwhelming majority thinking that it might not be such a bad thing, all eyes still turned to Steve to make the final decision. Perhaps he had been away and in hiding for a long time, but he would always be the undisputed leader of the Avengers. He was their moral core, what kept them as superheroes and not just vigilantes.

He still didn't look sure, but eventually he nodded and fixed both Tony, as his patron, and the kid himself with a stern sort of expression.

"Alright, son, but there will be some restrictions. I'm not sure intern is the right label and you don't have to get anyone coffee, but you'll be on training detail only. I'm not putting a minor into dangerous situations if it can be helped. I think a mentor system probably works best - Tony, you obviously already know Peter, so you can be his primary mentor. Bruce, why don't you join him as a secondary mentor?"

Bruce looked up, startled. Surely he was the last choice for any kind of mentoring considering what he could become, but Steve had picked him because Bruce was the most compassionate of their members and would balance Tony's devil-may-care style out well. Bruce opened and closed his mouth once or twice, before just shrugging helplessly.

"I guess this means you can't retire, Tony."

Tony shrugged as if it was no big deal. Bruce looked so pleased, so surprised, and he’d pretty much already made up his mind that he and Tony were going to get right back to business where they left off. Having been a disappointment, to James if no one else over the last day or so, and with a few beaming faces pointed in his direction, Tony couldn’t manage to say no.

“You’re still getting us coffee. Down the hall, four doors down. FRIDAY has our usual orders. Just bring it back.” There was no way that Tony could budge Parker if he didn’t want to be but that kid happily let himself be yanked out of the seat and he scampered off as Tony took it, beside Bruce and Rhodey. “So this is nice. Everyone together again.”

Wanda still looked like she hated his guts but he could live with that. She was creepy.

“What’s the first order of business, Cap?”

“We need to find Bucky. With everything going on, we need to make sure he’s all right. He’s going to be a target and it’s important that we find him first,” Steve said immediately. Most everyone agreed.

Tony felt his stomach bottom out.

Bruce knew this would have been coming.

He had also been thinking about how to divert it while giving some comfort to Steve, though honestly knowing that his friend was out there and didn't want to see him would probably leech any comfort out of anything. He had to be the one to speak here, because Tony was less universally trusted and would probably spill too much in an attempt to keep it secret.

"I saw him on my travels," said Bruce, mildly. It wasn't exactly a lie, the Tower was part of his travels, but it made it sound like he had seen him when he was far away from here. He waited for the general murmur of shock to pass by. "He was healthy and he'd found somewhere safe to stay, but he wanted to remain there without being bothered. I think we should respect that. From what I've seen, his status is well on the way to changing from villain to victim, so he'll likely be in less danger anyway. I think that he'll make the choice to come back when he's ready, and we don't have the right to push that choice forward."

“How long ago?” At least Steve seemed happy about that, to hear first hand that someone had seen Bucky. They all assumed that Tony was the one that released the exonerating material and Tony wasn’t about to say that it was Bucky and FRIDAY. “He looked... all right...?”

Everyone was quiet as Bruce filled Steve in on his friend. The little details made all the difference. Even something as small as Bucky looking like he had been eating went a long way to make Steve feel better. They’d all been through a lot, after all, and thankfully, Steve did not yet know that there was an entire ship of Asgardians hovering over the Tower in New York.

It had been reported on of course, but he wasn’t as connected to social media as everyone else.

And he had no idea that the Hulk had been off the planet for years.

Tony settled back as Peter bustled in with the coffee only to have Sam bring up the next topic. Namely. The ship.

“So does Thor being bsck have something to do with what’s blowing up my Twitter?”

Bruce didn't give out a whole lot of details because he didn't want to outright lie or give false information. He just told Steve that he hadn't actually spoken to the other man, but that he'd looked a healthy weight, clean, and he had been in a safe environment when Bruce had passed through. That had to be enough to go on.

Natasha looked thoughtful and unconvinced, but she was smart enough to keep her mouth shut for now. She would, however, be investigating this in her own time.

But then the subject got changed and this was also something that Bruce was the authority on, so he found himself holding forth again, which wasn't a natural state for him. He usually preferred to stay quiet, to let other people speak, and to pretend he wasn't actually there.

"A war happened on Asgard and the whole realm was destroyed, the people that are left are all the survivors, they've come to Earth with Thor as their King to find safety for a while before they start to look for a new home. At least, that's what I understand it as."

“How... Many...?” Wanda asked, her voice guarded as FRIDAY helpfully projected an image of the ship onto the far wall (to which Peter ‘wow’ed and nearly spilled Tony’s drink on him).

“A few thousand,” Tony answered, pushing the cup away from the excitable teen. “Oh. And Loki.”

He wasn’t sure why he said the name. It made his head pulse with longing and he paled slightly before he turned in the chair back to the ship.

“It’s complicated. They all got hair cuts and everyone is friends again. Like us.”

“They’re not like us, Stark,” Clint offered.

"Alright, there's no need to turn this into a fight. As long as Thor is keeping them all in check, then we can coexist for a while, but we're going to have to deal with the logistics of an alien species that have come to take residence on Earth for a while. That means negotiating with the government, and we need to get that ship out of sight before it gets worse than this."

That was all Steve, already taking charge and having people listen to him. "Rhodey, you and I will negotiate with the government on this. Tony; you, Bruce, and Peter can run interference on the Asgardians. Find somewhere incognito for them to stay, make sure they don't cause international incidents, find a new place for them to go. Vision, Wanda, Natasha, Clint, you four handle the mess that's still happening with the Accords and the leaked information. Find a way to make things right again, I know you're the best people for the job. Any questions? Objections?"

“Can I get assigned something,” Scott asked, only to have Sam tell him that they were on HQ duty. Not everyone got to have the fun tasks and whoever was left over had to mind the shop. Lang looked disappointed. “Man. Even the kid gets to go and meet aliens.”

“Because the kid’s parents are going to meet the aliens. He’s coming for supervision.” Tony hadn’t slipped. He’d been seeing Peter, at least a little bit, like the son he hadn’t ever had. Or wanted. And with Bruce back, he was feeling oddly paternal.

Like they’d done this kid thing before.

He wandered across the screen, telling FRIDAY to relay to Thor that he should take the ship above the clouds, and that they’d be coming to dinner. “Have him set three spots,” Tony said before he glanced at Rogers. “We should catch dinner. Soon. There’s probably a lot to talk about.”

Steve glanced gratefully at Sam. He knew that he could trust the other man to look out for HQ while he was gone, and that he really did understand the importance of always having people at base. Next time, he would make sure it was a different two people left behind, but there should always be someone on reserve in case of an emergency.

He nodded to Tony, accepting the invitation for a nebulous future dinner, before turning away to start on his own task, leaving Tony with Bruce and Peter for company. Given that Tony was concentrating on communicating with Thor, Bruce decided to try and look out for the new teenager in their party.

"So-- Peter, right? Do you have any questions for me?"

That was the stupidest thing that Bruce Banner, short of maybe experimenting on himself, had ever done. Peter did not stop talking from the moment that Bruce gave him the go ahead until they all piled into the back of the car waiting for them and were on their way back to the Tower. Tony just sat there, arm stretched across the back of the seat, legs crossed, and watched Bruce and Peter, who were seated across from him, interact. He was glad Happy brought the limo. This gave them a good amount of time not to be all cramped up together and gave Tony quite the vantage point for this interaction.

“I mean what else are the side effects? Are you radioactive?” Peter asked at one point. “Because I had Aunt May take me the hospital but they didn’t find anything wrong. Which is good. Because cancer would be a real bummer even if I can walk on walls—“

Technically, these were all questions but Bruce didn’t get a moment to break in with a reply.

Peter could talk.

“Do you like Star Wars? My best friend Ned and I are really excited about the new movie. What was it like in high school for you? I mean, you’re probably the smartest guy in the world, right?”

“Hey,” Tony protested but Peter didn’t hear him.

“You have like ten doctorates right? Amazing!”

Wow.

Bruce thought that Tony had the gift of the gab, but this was a whole other level and he found himself almost breathless by the onslaught of questions. He was a little sad that apparently Peter already knew that he was the Hulk, but also comforted by the fact that he didn't seem to be afraid of it. Again, quite like Tony, he could see why his friend had taken this superhero teen under his wing.

When he finally had a moment to get a word in edgewise, he opened his mouth and...

...the world exploded in pain.

Something hit the car side on right where Bruce was sat and buckled the metal, slicing right through his abdomen and left thigh. He felt the sudden dull roar of fury in his head and moaned aloud, more scared by that than any of his injuries. He could vaguely hear Happy swearing up front as he got the car back under control, but that was about it.

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